[Review] A & L Do Summer by Jan Blazanin

Title: A & L Do Summer

Author: Jan Blazanin

Publisher: EgmontUSA (May 10, 2011)

In Iowa farm country, sixteen-year-old Aspen and her friend Laurel plan to get noticed the summer before their senior year and are unwittingly aided by pig triplets, a skunk, a chicken, bullies, a rookie policeman, and potential boyfriends.

A & L Do Summer was a hilarious and pleasant read that had me grinning from ear to ear throughout! It was generally light-hearted even when the main character, Aspen, and her BFF-cum-partner-in-crime Lindsey were constantly getting into trouble, or when they were getting bullied by three incorrigibly disgusting boys in their school (maybe it has to do with how Aspen describes those bullies). The story manages to turn some pretty severe situations, such as Aspen and Lindsey getting arrested, into funny events that made me laugh. Not to say it’s a joke to get arrested, of course. Ahem. But seriously, it’s not every day we get to read a teen book involving two teenaged girls, three barn pigs, one chicken, one skunk, and one bully named Ferret!

Aspen was witty, sarcastic, down-to-earth, and practical, but her bark is definitely worse than her bite. Despite how Aspen was forever using her satirical wit to rant about how her family (and life, in general) sucked, she was actually a big softie at heart. She was also incredibly loyal to Lindsey, who admittedly has a knack for coming up with adventurous, risky and ridiculous plans; Aspen earns brownie points from me just for being willing to go along with these wacky schemes! Lindsey makes a fantastic supporting character; instead of being shunted aside, she gets a lot of spotlight as well. I liked how the book focused not just on Aspen’s life, but what she AND Lindsey did together to create an unforgettable summer. The title is “A & L Do Summer”, after all! As a city girl in a farming town, Lindsey is scarily naïve (she believes, to the disgust and pity of country girl Aspen, sows and hens get to go on vacation after giving birth), extremely rash and does things before thinking carefully, but she is pure-hearted and a whole lot of fun!

The other characters in the book were really likeable and I enjoyed their interactions with Aspen. Some of them included the local police chief, Chief Sierra, whom I eventually grew to pity as he had the trouble-making Aspen-and-Lindsey duo around; Aspen’s cranky old neighbor who keeps a skunk for a pet and walks it in a baby stroller; Manny, Aspen’s playboy older brother and Lindsey’s crush who is always squabbling with Aspen but helps the duo out of trouble; and of course, Clay, Manny’s best friend whom Aspen starts crushing on. I loved Clay and Aspen’s budding romance, they were so freaking cute together! It was obvious to me right from the start that they liked each other, but it was so sweet in a first-love kind of way that both didn’t admit it until they grew closer.  The romantic content of A & L Do Summer was of course very clean and healthy, which I know doesn’t sound very passionate and all that, but I honestly thought the speed of its development was just right for the context of the story. Trust me, although I was mentally urging Clay to hurry up and kiss Aspen, I found myself smiling at each and every of their interactions.

So yeah, I think you can conclude from my gushing that I had a good time reading this book, so if you’re looking for a summer of fun, mischief and plans-gone-wrong, pick up this book right away!