THE SPACE BETWEEN YOU AND ME by Julie True Kingsley; Islandport Press, 2024; 287 pages, $18.95; ISBN 978-1-952143-66-3.

THE SPACE BETWEEN YOU AND ME

An unknown pundit once said: “There is nothing wrong with teenagers that reasoning with them won’t aggravate.” Try telling your teenage daughter not to date that boy.

South Portland author Julie True Kingsley’s debut young-adult romance novel, “The Space Between You and Me,” is a high-energy tale of young star-crossed teens awash in hormones, idealism, dreamy romantic
images, and an age-old culture clash that threatens to upend everyone’s hopes.

Kingsley is an educator and cofounder of The Manuscript Academy, an online writing community. She knows teens and how they think, and paints a vivid and wholly believable picture of young love and class
distinctions set in 2016 on a Down East Maine blueberry farm.

Clementine (Clem) Fountaine is a 17-year-old young woman who aspires to enter Julliard as a dance student. Both smart and a smart-mouth, she attends school in California but summers on her father’s blueberry farm. When the seasonal migrant workers arrive, Clem is smitten by Rico, an 18-year-old boy from Mexico, and the attraction is mutual (that’s the problem and he knows it).

It’s a summer of hard work for everyone, even Clem, helping her father and rehearsing for her Julliard audition. Clem has also attracted the attention of a rich summer boy and there will be jealous tension. She can’t hide her feelings for Rico, but everyone warns her to avoid a summer romance with a migrant worker.

Then the real reason why Rico left Mexico is revealed and the workers, townies, friends and parents get involved to help a boy who really needs support. Clem and her friends cook up a plan that just might work.  Both Rico and her best friend advise her to pursue her dream of dancing, and “Enjoy today. It’s all we can do.”

OXBOW ISLAND GANG: SUMMER BATS by Rae Chalmers; Maine Authors Publishing, 2024; 192 pages, $16.95; ISBN 978-1-63381-394-6.

OXBOW ISLAND GANG: SUMMER BATS

Oxbow Island is somewhere in Casco Bay, the fictional setting for all five of Rae Chalmers’ wonderful “Oxbow Island Gang” novels. Sadly, “Summer Bats” is the last in the series.

Chalmers lives on Peaks Island (a real island in Casco Bay), and has penned a delightful series of books featuring kids and adults, mystery, adventure and nature, each revolving around a central nature theme: beavers, lobsters, crows, frogs and now bats. She intends her books to be for middle-grade readers, but jokes they really are for everyone 8 to 88.

Her enduring characters appear again in this last adventure: 12-year-old Bear and his best friend, 13-year-old Olivia; elderly and kind Mrs. Frost, the brilliant and talkative Professor; Zoe, the hippie cab driver; Officer  Calvin, the island cop; Bear’s charming and wise grandmother; and Honey, the dog. It’s the July 4th holiday weekend, and the island is overrun by summer tourists.

Bear and Olivia explore an old fort and discover a huge bat colony living there. They are frightened and fascinated, and learn much about bat habitat, benefits and the eight species of bats in Maine. They also have wonderful summertime fun riding bikes and swimming. They enjoy the hilarious July 4th parade and the even funnier island fundraising softball tournament (kids beat the adults in a wild championship game).

Along with the humor and funny scenes, there’s drama, too. The Professor and his estranged artist sister reunite; Olivia deals with a snotty tourist kid; and Bear worries that old Mrs. Frost is about to
die. There’s really no mystery here, but who cares? The story’s lessons are indelible: friendship, trust, respect, courtesy and care for others. Mrs. Frost says it best with her advice for her young friend Bear: “Never lose your kind heart.”

Bill Bushnell lives and writes in Harpswell.