HOW TO RUIN A SUMMER VACATION by Simone Elkeles
    Category:  Contemporary
    Age Recommendation:  Grades 9+
    Release Date:  10/1/06
    Publisher:  Flux
    Reviewed by:  Randstostipher "tallnlankyrn" Nguyen
    Rating:  5 Stars


    All Amy Nelson wanted was to have a regular summer. To spend time with her best friend, Jessica, and her new
    boyfriend. But that won’t happen for Amy by a long shot. It seems that her estranged father wants her to go back to
    Israel with him to visit her grandmother. Sure, going to Israel may seem exciting to most people, but not for Amy. Not
    when there are wars going on and the fact that she has to go with a man that she hardly knows. The one good thing
    that may come from this is the coolest fashions that her best friend is always telling her about.

    Before she knows it, Amy’s mother makes her go and she’s on the next plane to Israel. Things couldn’t get any worse
    for Amy at this point; well, actually they can. When she arrives, Amy sees something totally different then what she
    would see at home in Chicago. There seems to be soldiers and guards at every corner. Not only that, but Amy just
    discovered that she
    isn’t sleeping in a fancy hotel, but more like an old house, with one bathroom and seven other people that she's never
    met. Then there’s her cousin Snotty, I mean Osnat, who seems to hate Amy the moment she sees her, and the no-shirt
    cute-jerk, Avi, who Amy happens to see everywhere she turns. If only she could just get him out of her mind. There’s
    also her aba, or grandmother, that for someone she hardly knows, Amy discovers there's a deep connection between
    the two of them.

    With an entirely new family and obnoxious people in a totally different country, it seems like this might be the craziest
    summer yet for Amy.

    HOW TO RUIN A SUMMER VACATION, no doubt, was the greatest book I’ve read in a long time. Not only
    does the basis of the book pull you in, but the cast of characters all charm their way into your heart. Even though Amy
    may be a little bratty at times, every obstacle she goes through and every awkward situation for her makes reading the
    book worthwhile. Simone Elkeles eliminates all the myths we had about Israel and introduces a completely new culture
    that I, for one, hardly knew anything about. Not only will you begin to appreciate Amy’s new culture, but you'll also
    think about your own culture and how unique it is. The sequel to this book, HOW TO RUIN MY TEENAGE LIFE,
    will release on June 1, 2007.
How to Ruin a Summer Vacation
by Simone Elkeles