Eleven Kids, One Summer

The Rossos are back, and this time they're heading out to Fire Island for the summer. Here's what happens:

Abigail and the Train Trip Disaster

Abbie spends the whole ride from New Jersey to Fire Island being embarrassed by her family. When they finally get there, she goes exploring on her own and meets Justin, Lacey, and Mel, three kids about her age. The exciting part? Justin is not only a movie star, but all three kids are also main characters in Just a Summer Romance, by the famous author Ann M. Martin. ;)

Calandra and the Mystery Next Door

Candy managed to snag a room of her own in the house that the family is renting. She becomes convinced that the house next door, which has been abandoned for quite awhile, is haunted, and decides that she's going to solve the mystery that summer no matter what.

Faustine and the Great Fish Protest

Faustine is walking along the beach one morning when she happens upon some fishermen. She witnesses them catching and killing a fish, and is horrified by how inhumane the process is. Not only does Faustine stop eating and/or using any animal products at all, but she and Dinnie start picketing the fishermen. One of them gets so mad that he goes to the Rosso parents and complains.

Hannah and the Ghosts

Just like in the last book, Hannah feels like the odd one out in her family. She wants to make the summer a little more interesting for herself, so she decides to play jokes on her family. At first, it's just little stuff, like replacing the sugar in the sugar bowl with salt, and short sheeting people's beds. Then Hannah gets serious. She does her best to make Candy think that there really IS a ghost next door, and she tells Justin that Abbie has a crush on him. This makes Mel (Justin's girlfriend) mad, which makes Lacey mad, which means that Abbie suddenly has no friends. She manages to straighten things out with them, and Hannah never confesses her role in that little situation. Finally, Hannah makes a friend her own age, and she doesn't have as much time to torment her family.

Ira and the Hospital Adventure

Ira gets Lyme Disease. That's all.

Janthina and the Beauty Treatment

The Rossos have relatives staying with them for awhile, and Jan is feeling ignored. Not only is she not the baby in her own family anymore (that would be Keegan), but everyone is fussing over her little cousins. Jan wanders over to the set of the movie that Justin is filiming on Fire Island, and gets a full-on beauty treatment from the makeup person. She hurries back home, sure that her makeover will impress her family. When Jam gives herself one last look in the mirror, though, she decides she doesn't like her hair. So, she cuts it....right up to her ears. The family definitely notices that!

Dagwood and the Million Dollar Idea

Woody needs to make some extra money, so he makes little animals out of rocks and shells, and paints designs on other shells. He actually does pretty well for himself!

Gardenia and the Movie on the Beach

All the Rosso kids are asked to be extras for Justin's movie. Dinnie has a hard time just staying in the background and not showing off for the camera, so she's given a small role as a dog-walker. Suddenly, she's sure she's going to be a famous actress someday.

Bainbridge and the Case of the Curious Kidnapping

Bainbridge is looking after baby Keegan at Fire Island's craft fair when he spots a cute girl working at one of the booths. He's so busy flirting that he doesn't notice when Keegan goes missing. After a frantic search, he's found with Hannah, who gets a nice talking-to.

Eberhard and the House of the Cursed

It's almost the end of the summer, and Candy still hasn't solved the mystery of the house next door. So, she hires Hardy to investigate. The fishermen that Faustine and Dinnie had been harrassing earlier in the summer make up some crazy story about the people who lived there, and Hardy believes it at first. Then, Hannah tells him that she'd heard the same story at the beginning of the summer, which is what gave her the idea to play jokes on Candy and make her think the house was haunted. Mystery solved....

Keegan and the End of Summer

The Rossos go home. Seriously....how much action did you think there'd be in a chapter that focuses on a freaking baby?

Rating: 3

Thoughts and Things

• Let's talk about the timeline of the Rosso books, shall we? At the beginning of Ten Kids, No Pets, the kids are 14, 13, 13 11,10, 9, 9, 8, 7, and 6. Since the book covers a whole year, they should all have been one year older at the end and two years older in this one. Nope; in this book, they're 15, 14, 13, 12, 11, 10, 10, 9, 8, 7, and 6 months. I guess the Rossos got stuck in the same time warp that the BSC members did. ;)
• Abbie's friend Lacey is blond, sophisticated, and from NYC. Now where have I heard that before?
• Speaking of, has anyone ever read Just a Summer Romance?
• Those fishermen were awfully patient with the twins. If some kid was picketing me like that, I would have gone to the parents first thing!
• I totally used to envy how Candy got her own room! That was all I wanted growing up. Well, that and Claudia Kishi's dibble wardrobe....