Summer of Adventures — Ann Alma

For twelve-year-old Anneke, the summer has brought uncertainty and change. Her dream of creating a home with her mother, who has schizophrenia, seems increasingly remote. When Anneke's foster parents offer her the possibility of adoption, she must face some difficult choices. Her struggle to discover where she really belongs takes a new direction after she rescues a Japanese carving, a netsuke, from a rushing river, a direction that leads Anneke and her friend Ken to the Nikkei Internment Memorial Centre and then into the beautiful, unforgiving Kootenay mountains. Lost in the wild, the two friends, accompanied by Anneke's dog, Sheera, must draw on all their strength and courage to survive. In the end, both Anneke and Ken will discover what family really means. Summer of Adventures is the second book in Ann Alma's Summer series. Resource Links recommended that "all elementary school libraries obtain Summer of Changes," the first book in the series, because it is "full of pathos, optimism, and love and] written in a very realistic and appealing style."