Monday, October 4, 2021

Lena, the Sea, and Me by Maria Parr illustrated by Lara Paulussen Translated from Norwegian by Guy Puzey

 A sequel to Adventures with Waffles

In this novel, Trille and Lena navigate growing up and the topsy-turvey emotions of the preteen stage.  Trille develops a crush on a girl from the Netherlands, Lena is forced off the local soccer team, and Trille's mother seems to be going through menopause (she is only forty-five years old . . .hmm?!).  Trille suddenly finds a lot of reasons to trek up the hill to the farm (where his crush just happens to be living), practice the piano and to neglect his relationship with fiesty Lena and also his beloved grandfather.  Even though the main characters are experiencing  tumultuous feelings, they manage to find adventure around the cove and in the sea.  

Opportunities to discuss the importance of family and friendship and how feelings can distort our thoughts, attitudes and actions.

I did not like the sequel as much as Adventures with Waffles, but it was mostly because of the stage Trille and Lena were "enduring".  Ms. Parr portrayed the feelings of a crush (the mindlessness and the selfishness) and how middle school kids act well.

Warning: When Trille asks his Birgit, his crush, whom she likes best out of the boys, she replies, "Well, probably Keisha." (Keisha is her best friend, a girl, whom she met in Africa).  One reviewer took this sentence as a homosexual reference.  I am not sure. 


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