Family Reunion

By Caroline B. Cooney

When the invitation to the Preffyn family reunion arrives interrupting a perfectly decent summer vacation, 15-year-old Shelley Wollcott is anything but enthusiastic. It’s not that Shelley has anything against her relatives, she just can’t stand it when they give her that “what a pity” look. It’s not her fault that her real mother walked out on the family or that her father has remarried yet again. With Dad away on business and her older sister visiting their mother in Paris, Shelley must face the “perfect” Preffyns’ reunion with only her prankster younger brother and her insecure new stepmother at her side. It’s an opportunity to uncover the family’s secrets, but Shelley isn’t sure whether, when she discovers the truth, she’ll laugh or cry.

In this funny and poignant novel by Caroline B. Cooney, Shelley learns to appreciate all the members of her unusual family—including herself!—in ways she never anticipated. And she discovers things are often not as perfect as they seem.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Jul 1, 2009
• ISBN: 9780307567536

Caroline B. Cooney

Caroline B. Cooney was born in New York, grew up in Connecticut, and now lives in South Carolina. Caroline is the author of about 80 books in many genres, and her books have sold over fifteen million copies. I’m Going to Give You a Bear Hug was her first picture book, based on a verse she wrote for her own children, Louisa, Sayre, and Harold, who are now grown. I’m Going to Give You a Polar Bear Hug is the sequel! Visit her at carolinebcooneybooks.com or Caroline B. Cooney’s author page on Facebook.

Reviews for Family Reunion

[sueincyprus · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a thoughtful, sometimes poignant book about family relationships, set in the USA. Shelley, who is nearly 15, narrates it; she is the middle child of divorced parents, and is gradually becoming used to her stepmother Annette. However she finds it difficult to forgive her mother for having moved out. Shelley feels that she can never live up to her more glamorous older sister Joanna - in Paris with her mother for the duration of the book - although they get along well, and she is frequently frustrated by her impulsive, generous and inventive younger brother Angus.

They go to their cousins for a big family reunion, worried about their 'perfect' cousins looking down on them, only to discover that there are cracks in their cousins' family too...

Seeing the story through Shelley's eyes works well; she struggles to discover who she is, and how to relate to people, and slowly realises that she's not just someone's sister or daughter, but a valuable person in her own right. This could be clichéd and trite, but the writing is very good, with plenty of subplots and a realism that shines through.

Recommended to anyone from the age of about eight or nine; probably not of much interest to younger readers, as it does cover early boy-girl relationships (albeit in a very low-key way) and probably particularly useful to older children/younger teens who are in blended or broken families.

[ermsmediacenter · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

At a family reunion, Shelley comes to terms with her parents' divorce, her mother's absence, her new stepmother, and being the "stable" member of her colorful family.