All rights reserved.** This post contains affiliate links for your convenience.** Click here to visit Cynthia Lord’s website. It is a fresh concept for a story with a satisfying ending. Nate deals with Grandmother Lilah’s dementia. The plot is well-paced and readers won’t want the story to end. The story is narrated by Lucy who gives readers a good feel for life on the lake. She struggles with ambivalence towards her father and a need for him to notice her photographic work. She encounters rivalry and the complexities of new friendships.

Half a Chance is packed with adventure, wonder, friendship, artistic endeavors, and nature. Lord’s characters are realistic and engaging. Why I like this book: This is a heartwarming coming of age story by Cynthia Lord, author of the 2007 Newbery Honor book Rules. It is a lazy summer read that is so captivating that you feel like you’re there with Lucy, Nate and the lake. Through her photos of the loons, the mountains, the lake and the community, Lucy also captures pictures of Grandmother’ Lilah’s memory loss, something that Nate’s not ready to see.

Lucy enjoys being with Nate’s family and learns that his grandmother is a naturalist. Since Grandmother Lilah is in poor health, Nate invites Lucy to help with the family “Loon Patrol.” Their goal is to help keep the endangered loons safe, carefully document their activity in a journal and report their findings. Lucy photographs the loons and the birth of their chicks.

Nate likes Lucy’s photographs and wants to help her with the contest. Lucy meets her neighbor Nate and his family, who visit their Grandmother Lilah at her cottage every summer. She enters anonymously. She studies the photo scavenger hunt list and begins to take photos of her new lake surroundings. When she discovers that her father is judging a photography contest for youth, she is eager to enter to see if she has talent. Lucy misses her father and is tired of starting over again. Her father is a famous photographer and takes off on another travel shoot before the family settles. Synopsis: Twelve-year-old Lucy Emery’s family has moved to an old cottage on a New Hampshire lake. Themes: Moving, Photography, Friendship, Dementia

Rules by cynthia lord characters