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Parr, Maria

Lena, the Sea, and Me

304 pp. | Candlewick | August, 2021 | Trade ISBN 978-1-5362-0772-9 $16.99 | Ebook ISBN 978-1-5362-1817-6 $16.99
(2) 4-6 Translated by Guy Puzey. Illustrated by Lara Paulussen. Parr (Adventures with Waffles, rev. 5/15) returns to the seaside Norwegian community of Mathildewick Cove, where we once again follow the adventures of narrator Trille and his best friend--the blunt, fearless, and often outrageous Lena. Two years have passed, and the friends are growing up, as well as growing (a little) apart. Trille spends more and more time with newcomer Birgit, a kind Dutch girl who to the smitten Trille looks "almost like sunshine" and who makes his head go "all fuzzy." Meanwhile, Lena has been relegated to the bench after the soccer team gets a new coach, and she is consumed with regaining her place as starting goalkeeper. Parr does a wonderful job of tracing Trille's nascent coming of age and the changing dynamics of the children's friendship while simultaneously filling the book with drama and incident, season by season. Trille and Lena are caught outside in a dangerous hurricane on the same night his mother gives birth to a new baby; Trille accidentally stows away on his grandfather's fishing boat--fortunately, since an accident occurs and he's there to save Grandpa's life. Characters are vividly drawn, with both humor and pathos, and dialogue zings. As for Trille's crush, it ends bittersweetly, with Birgit heading back to Holland but proposing they study abroad together someday (but also mentioning that, if she had to choose someone romantically, she'd choose a girl she met when she lived in Kenya). At book's close, Trille has achieved a happy equilibrium, content in the company of Grandpa and Lena but with eyes opened to possibilities that await him in the wider world.
Reviewer: Martha V. Parravano | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2021

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