GIRL, NEARLY 16

Jess, star of Girl 15, Charming But Insane (2004), has her summer holiday all planned out. The center of her plans is Fred, a boy she succeeded in wooing, but is unsure she can hang onto. When her mother announces a rambling trip down to Cornwall to visit Jess’s father, vivid images of Fred being ripped away during her two-week absence abound. Crammed into a tiny car are Jess, her mother, Granny and the ashes of Jess’s grandfather. No one can imagine that on the other side of two weeks of educational side trips and an aborted attempt at scattering the ashes are a mysterious houseguest, an unexpected arrival and a secret that has been kept for too long. With real adventures that are every bit as complicated as her fantasy life, the smart and endearingly neurotic Jess always rises to the occasion. A wild ride of a story that is populated by colorful characters and grounded in the true angst of first love. (Fiction. 10 -14)