This week I’m giving you two very different coming of age novels. We’ve got a found family of free-spirited, music-loving ‘hippies’ set in the 70s paired with two pre-teen strangers with gay dads forced together at summer camp. These were both 4 star reads for me and will appeal to many! Let’s dive in.
MARY JANE by Jessica Anya Blau
*Contemporary Fiction
*Themes: Coming of age, found family
*TW: Drug use, foul language
Mary Jane is our 14 year old protagonist living in Baltimore in the 70s. Her parents are cold, rigid, and conservative, teaching her the essentials to becoming the perfect housewife. Mary Jane lands a summer nannying job with the Cones family who are everything her family isn’t; warm, care-free, nonjudgemental, and fun. When famous musician Jimmy and his wife Sheba, a well-known actress, move in with the Cones over the summer to help cure his drug addiction, Mary Jane is exposed to a new world, one that is full of music, laughter, body positivity and sex talk. Over the summer, Mary Jane finds herself fully intertwined with the Cones, Sheba, and Jimmy, forming a family that is more than her wildest imagination. Opening her eyes to the future possibilities, we watch Mary Jane evolve into a confident, assured and grounded teenager. A lovely character-driven novel full of people who will remind you to let loose and live a little!
TO NIGHT OWL FROM DOGFISH by Holly Goldberg Sloan & Meg Wolitzer
*Middle Grade, Contemporary Fiction
*Themes: Young Adult, LGBT, Epistolary, Family
*TW: Anxiety
A modern-esque telling of “The Parent Trap”, TO NIGHT OWL FROM DOGFISH is a refreshing and fun read in the form of emails. Avery Bloom and Bett Devlin live on opposite sides of the country, have nothing in common other than being raised by single, gay dads, and have no interest in adding more friends to the roster. When their dads meet and fall in love at a work conference, the two girls are forced to form a friendship at summer camp. Despite their resistance, Avery and Bett form an unbreakable bond not even their dads saw coming. But when things go awry at summer camp (and with their dads), they’re thrown into a predicament and desperate to keep things going as planned. Is the bond between Night Owl and Dogfish strong enough to withstand the obstacles thrown their way? A delightful read that will resonate with all ages, TO NIGHT OWL FROM DOGFISH is an easy, quick journey with two delightful characters.
The Bookmarker 
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