A young adult/middle grades novel by Eric Elkins
I’m not sure how things got so crazy, but I think it all started with me trying to find my yellow flip-flop with the green stripe. We had a week left before middle school started, and I was hoping to accomplish a few things before I became a seventh grader:
- Spread peanut butter on my little sister’s face and call the dog to lick it off.
- Beat Sam at Madden at least once.
- Manage to say more than “hey” to Florence.
- Read every single Captain Underpants book.
- Catch one good wave at Steamer Lane without wiping out.
The funny thing about summer is that you make all these plans in May. You look out the window of your classroom, smell freedom on the breeze that’s blowing your teacher’s papers off her desk, and promise yourself you won’t waste it this time pulling weeds and watching YouTube. Then it’s August, you know the lines to every video, and you realize you’ve let another season of fun get away from you. Well, at least that’s what seems to happen to me.
Sure, it’s not a very ambitious list, but if you live in the beautiful and weird surf town of Santa Cruz, California, well, your parents’ custody schedule, your dog who eats everything, your two best friends, a mysterious gold Corvette, and even a ghost or two can really get in the way.
School starts in a week. I am so not ready.
"Ray, reflected is the hippest ghost story I've ever read, and Ray's accidental life lessons are funny and worthwhile. Also, now I know what a Herbert is." —Jessy Randall, The Wandora Unit, and A Day in Boyland.
