Take It from the Top

Ages 8 to 12, Grades 3 to 7

Set at a camp over the course of six summers, this contemporary realistic novel follows the friendship—and falling out—of two girls from different backgrounds who thought they'd be friends forever and find out that's not the case when a production of Wicked brings all their buried issues to the surface.

Eowyn Becker has waited all year to attend her sixth summer at Lamplighter Lake Summer Camp. Here, she’s not in the shadow of her Broadway-star older brother; she’s a stellar performer in her own right. Here, the pain of her mom’s death can’t reach her, and she gets to reunite with her best friend, Jules Marrigan—the only person in the world who understands her.But when she gets to camp, everything seems wrong. The best friend reunion Eowyn had been dreaming of doesn’t go as planned. Jules will barely even look at Eowyn, let alone talk to her, and Eowyn has no idea why.Well, maybe she does…There are two sides to every story, and if you want to understand this one, you’ll need to hear from Jules, too. Told in a series of alternating chapters that dip back to past summers, the girls’ stories will soon reveal how Eowyn and Jules went from being best friends to fierce foils. Can they mend ways before the curtains close on what was supposed to be the best summer of their lives?

About the Author

Claire Swinarski is the author of multiple books for both kids and adults. Her writing has been featured in the Washington Post, Seventeen, Milwaukee magazine, and many other publications. She lives in small-town Wisconsin with her husband and three kids, where she writes books, wears babies, and wrangles bread dough.