The Hidden Summer by Gin Phillips

From Goodreads, 

"After a falling out between their mothers, 13-year-old best friends Nell and Lydia are forbidden from seeing each other for the whole summer. Nell struggles with the thought of not only losing her best friend, but also losing the only person in whom Nell finds refuge from the difficulties she faces at home. Determined to find a place of their own, Nell and Lydia spend the summer hiding out in an abandoned golf course where Nell and Lydia find mysterious symbols scattered throughout the grounds. As they reveal the secret of the symbols, Nell discovers she isn't the only one seeking haven and begins to uncover what’s really been hidden all along, finally allowing herself to be truly seen.

Hidden Summer is a quietly beautiful coming of age story about self-discovery, family, and friendship. An elegantly written children’s book debut from an award-winning author in the vein of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and for fans of Moon Over Manifest."

Goodreads - The Hidden Summer

I have always wondered what it would be like to live with my best friend, even if it were only for a couple of months.  We went to different colleges so we definitely skipped out on living with each other.  And now we live in different states and only see each other a couple times a year.  I like to think we would have grand adventures, but in reality, I think we would have gotten tired of each other. 

The Hidden Summer starts with Lydia presenting her best friend Nell with a problem.  Lydia's mother doesn't want her to spend time with Nell.  Lydia's mother thinks that Nell's mother isn't a good influence, thus meaning that Nell isn't a good influence.  Nell decides to take things into her own hands and presents Lydia with the option for them to still spend the summer together.  Nell says they should spend their summer at an abandoned golf course close to where they both live.  Nell creates cover stories for both of them and they start spending their days at the golf course.  Lydia keeps reminding Nell that eventually, they have to return home for good.  Nell has to decide if she is going to run away forever or return to her life at home. 

This is very much a coming of age story.  Nell and Lydia both have dysfunctional moms but in varying ways.  Lydia's mom comes across as being the perfect mother but in reality, she ignores Lydia.  Nell's mom is sometimes nice and sometimes she isn't, but she never seems genuinely happy to have Nell there.  Both girls want more out of their mothers and as a result, end up running away to the golf course.  They have grand adventures and make tons of memories, but in the end, Lydia wants to return home.  Her father is coming home and she misses her family.  It takes a little longer for Nell to realize that family is all you have that will always be there.  This is really a story of growing up and being happy with what you have because other people have it worse.  

Unfortunately, this book left some things unfinished for me.  At the beginning of the book, we learn that Lydia's mom doesn't want her around Nell and her mom.  We know there has been a fight or something between the two to cause this.  However, we never learn about what caused the riff.  I really wanted to know what Nell's mom did that was so bad that Lydia's mom didn't approve of.  Also, the ending was rather abrupt and didn't have a grand finale.  I think the ending would have been better if the mothers had figured out what the girls were doing all summer and they would have realized why they had spent all summer at the golf course.  Also, them making up and getting over their fight for the sake of their daughters' friendship would have been a good ending too.  

I think that after doing a book talk on this book in my class that some of the students will want to read it.  I think that people with dysfunctional parents will totally relate to Nell or Lydia.  There are some other characters that I think some students could relate to.  I give this 2 stars.  The ending really killed it for me.  It had a good story, just not a lot of pizzazz as it neared the end.