Megan Knotts is going into 7th grade, and having the worst summer of her entire life. Actually, the worst summer in the history of the universe, according to her. She's trapped in rural Vermont with her two health-nut, artist parents and her evil boy-crazy older sister Ginia, with no cell phone, no internet, no TV, and worst of all, no best friend Lucy, who was supposed to come with her. Told from Megan's point of view, this is the story of one extremely selfish girl who gets lost on the Appalachian Trail with her dog Arp, described as "white, fluffy, and about the size of a bag of tortilla chips." Megan decides that since she's already lost, she and Arp might as well hike all the way to Massachusetts to find Lucy (and her very ill mother) at her grandmother's house. It's not an easy journey, and Megan realizes too late that she has almost no food or water, and no real survival skills -- but also that she desperately needs to complete this journey to prove that she's a better person and a better friend to Lucy than she has been. Realizing you've been a complete jerk is tough, but choosing to grow up, apologize and do better takes more courage than a lot of people have. Funny, with a wonderful first-person voice! Megan will remind you of a lot of people you know (possibly even yourself at times), and maybe help us all to remember that people change. 6th grade and up.
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Megan Knotts is going into 7th grade, and having the worst summer of her entire life. Actually, the worst summer in the history of the universe, according to her. She's trapped in rural Vermont with her two health-nut, artist parents and her evil boy-crazy older sister Ginia, with no cell phone, no internet, no TV, and worst of all, no best friend Lucy, who was supposed to come with her. Told from Megan's point of view, this is the story of one extremely selfish girl who gets lost on the Appalachian Trail with her dog Arp, described as "white, fluffy, and about the size of a bag of tortilla chips." Megan decides that since she's already lost, she and Arp might as well hike all the way to Massachusetts to find Lucy (and her very ill mother) at her grandmother's house. It's not an easy journey, and Megan realizes too late that she has almost no food or water, and no real survival skills -- but also that she desperately needs to complete this journey to prove that she's a better person and a better friend to Lucy than she has been. Realizing you've been a complete jerk is tough, but choosing to grow up, apologize and do better takes more courage than a lot of people have. Funny, with a wonderful first-person voice! Megan will remind you of a lot of people you know (possibly even yourself at times), and maybe help us all to remember that people change. 6th grade and up. ( )

Megan Knotts is going into 7th grade, and having the worst summer of her entire life. Actually, the worst summer in the history of the universe, according to her. She's trapped in rural Vermont with her two health-nut, artist parents and her evil boy-crazy older sister Ginia, with no cell phone, no internet, no TV, and worst of all, no best friend Lucy, who was supposed to come with her. Told from Megan's point of view, this is the story of one extremely selfish girl who gets lost on the Appalachian Trail with her dog Arp, described as "white, fluffy, and about the size of a bag of tortilla chips." Megan decides that since she's already lost, she and Arp might as well hike all the way to Massachusetts to find Lucy (and her very ill mother) at her grandmother's house. It's not an easy journey, and Megan realizes too late that she has almost no food or water, and no real survival skills -- but also that she desperately needs to complete this journey to prove that she's a better person and a better friend to Lucy than she has been. Realizing you've been a complete jerk is tough, but choosing to grow up, apologize and do better takes more courage than a lot of people have. Funny, with a wonderful first-person voice! Megan will remind you of a lot of people you know (possibly even yourself at times), and maybe help us all to remember that people change. 6th grade and up. ( )

Loved this middle-grade novel about an eleven-year-old girl stuck in Vermont for the summer--no Internet, no cell phone, and worst of all her best friend cancelled at the last minute. Unfortunately, Megan does not take to Vermont very well. She refuses to participate in "art time" or appreciate the beauty of the country. Basically she is a big pill -- even to her friend who only cancelled because her mom's cancer treatments were not going well. When Megan gets lost during a hike and ends up on the Appalachian Trial, she decides she will walk to Massachusetts to be with her friend. After all, it's only 30 miles or so. She figured she'd make it by nightfall . . . Not quite. But she does have quite an adventure and learns something about herself too. I loved the voice of the character, loved the story, and had quite a few laughs. I'll definitely be recommending this to my daughters and my elementary school students. ( )

This was an acceptable book. That's about all I can say - the plot wasn't especially contrived, the main character's development wasn't too weird, nothing too boring or too unbelievable happened.

Okay, so I prefer the classic My Side of the Mountain. This one is okay too. ( )