While on vacation at her parent's getaway cottage, Rose and her friend Windy overhear conversations about sex and sex-related issues between the corner store's teenaged boy employee and his friends and girlfriends. Between swimming and watching horror movies, the girls spend the next few weeks trying to get the low-down on what's going on between the employee and his girlfriend. Meanwhile, Rose's parents are fighting and a miscarriage from the previous summer is the source of tension between her parents. Near the end of the story, Rose's mom ends up saving the newly pregnant and emotionally distressed girlfriend of the corner store employee, when she is spotted floating in the water of the beach.
Middle school girls in particular will enjoy this book because the characters are on the cusp of venturing into adolescence. Readers will find familiarity with the discussion of boobs, Rose's inexplicable interest in the corner store employee, sudden infatuation with horror movies, and difficulty dealing with her parents' issues which really have nothing to do with her. I think it's very refreshing that the story is set in summer, so many realistic fiction books involve the drama of the school year; it's nice to know that summers aren't perfect either. Havighurst's tasks of adapting to their physical bodies comes into play in this book because the girls compare and question the development of their bodies. Rose and Windy also learn about appropriate sex roles as they see the drama unfold between the employee and his girlfriend.
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