A Summer to Treasure
Ministry Thru Mystery
ISBN
ASIN B0F931SSNG
First I want to state this is the thirteenth time I have read a book or published story from the pen of Leslea Wahl, and I have read her contributions to Anthologies at least twice that many times. I always love her characters and the ways she weaves both faith and mysteries into her stories. And this is a wonderful story. Second I am not the target audience for these books, being a man in my mid-50’s. But I have four children, including three teenagers at home. This is a great Young Adult story it is a good clean read, even if there is some serious situations. But I am getting ahead of myself, back to the volume at hand. The description of this story states:
“Teenage siblings Luke, Celia. and Austin are dreading their summer vacation. A month cooped up in an RV, touring around the Southwest, with their parents. grandmother, and each other? Pure torture.
But when Grandma reveals the real reason for the trip, the journey becomes an unexpected adventure. As they travel through breathtaking canyons, the teens develop new friendships, deepen their faith, and join together to solve a decades-old mystery.
And if the siblings can put down their phones long enough to enjoy the incredible journey, they might just discover that their relationships with each other are truly the greatest treasure.”
In another volume from Wahl the author we are informed:
“Leslea Wahl is an award-winning author of Christian Young Adult Novels. She enjoys writing about places she has visited causing some to classify her teen novels as Christian Teen Vacation Fiction. Although, she would be more apt to describe the books as Christian and Catholic Teen Fiction with storylines brimming with Mystery, Adventure and Romance for teens.”
Walh’s stories are written and marketed to teens, but my children have loved them, including tweens and young adults. And I myself in my 50’s enjoy them greatly. The greatest strength of these stories is the characters. Wahl really brings the characters to life, the friendships, the family interactions, and the real struggles. The mystery in this work is a little more layered. A family is taking a summer to recreate a summer vacation the Grandmother and her brother experience 60 years earlier. The parents and the three kids all suspect something is up, but they cannot get their gram to open up. As the trip progresses the three youths slowly change their opinion of the idea of the trip, their time together and to be honest each other.
It is a story about a family making memories. It is about a grandmother revisiting a great summer from her past. It is a time of discovery and each of the 6 learn something more about themselves and each other. This reminds me a lot of Madeleine L’Engle’s Chronos series. This could easily be a family you know, or even remind you of your own family. There is nothing supernatural or paranormal. It is real time real world fiction. And Wahl does an amazing job writing about this family, their faith and their discoveries on this summer road trip.
For the most part the story is written in a series of first person narratives. There are three other chapters and then the breakdown of chapters per narrator is:
Celia 10
Luke 10
Austin 10
Grandma 9
Reading the story written in this way is a style that Gordon Korman uses often. It works so well with this work. Korman is known as a master of the ‘school story’, and I would state Wahl is a master of the ‘vacation story’, and this is an excellent offering in the genre. I hope it is the first in a new series as there are many places this story can go from here, and reading another story with the family would be like a visit with friends not often seen. The story is good clean fiction and good clean fun.
It was wonderful to read this story. We have friends who spent a year in an RV touring the whole US, they made memories to last a lifetime. This story is a shorter trip but it is deeply moving and inspiring. I read it over a few sittings; it was so hard to put down. It is clean Christian fiction. It is great Catholic Literature. A wonderful story, it is another excellent read from Leslea Wahl’s masterful pen!
Note: This book is part of a series of reviews: 2025 Catholic Reading Plan!
Books by Leslea Wahl:
To Serve and Protect
…
Finding Faith Series:
Into the Spotlight
Charting the Course
…
An Unexpected Role – Republished as Into The Spotlight
…
Blind Side Series:
Ultimate Blindside
…
All For One:
Unlikely Witness (Original Edition)
…
Contributed to:
The Gift of the Angel Tree
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