“Here in the Real World” by Sara Pennypacker

I found this pretty little hardcover book at Half Price Books (where else?) and really liked the artwork on the cover. It looked like it could be a kids’ book but I wasn’t sure and I didn’t really care either way so I didn’t try to figure out if it was. 

When I finally decided to read it, the first thing I noticed was “Ages 8-12” on the front flap. So that answered that question, while simultaneously lowering my expectations a bit. 

This was a perfectly nice and enjoyable book to read, telling the story of eleven-year-old Ware who thinks he'll be spending the summer with his grandmother Big Deal. But when she falls and breaks both hips and faces a lengthy recovery, Ware has to go back home where both his parents are working double shifts all summer long. This means Ware is expected to spend his days at the crowded and noisy community rec center, which is not the favorite place of a daydreamy boy who prefers to spend time alone. But when he realizes the rec center is right next to an abandoned and half-destroyed church, and no one notices if he's at the rec center or not, a summer full of possibilities opens up to him (as well as to a girl named Jolene, who has also noticed the potential of the abandoned churchyard).

I probably would not re-read this book, but it was worth reading once, and I may hang onto it just because it's pretty and someday an eight- to twelve-year-old might want to borrow it from me.