Lena, the Sea, and Me

May 1, 2021
Grades 3-5 Narrated by 10-year-old Trille, this inviting book traces another eventful year in Mathildewick Cove. Readers of Adventures with Waffles (2015) may remember that Lena is known for leaping headlong into dangerous situations and her next-door neighbor Trille for following close behind her. In this sequel, new elements come into play. After an unbearable new soccer coach leads both kids to quit the local team, Lena joins a girls' team in town, while Trille secretly hopes to spend more time with Birgit, his first crush, who has survived a homemade-raft disaster with Lena and Trille. While he ventures into unfamiliar emotional terrain, Lena excels as a fierce soccer goalie and a devoted friend to those she loves, including Trille and his grandfather. Published in Norway in 2017, the novel is driven by the vividly portrayed characters who make up the small community. Trille and Lena are growing and changing all along the way as this episodic and sometimes amusing story unfolds. The concluding chapters are among the most surprising, poignant, and memorable in this engaging series.

COPYRIGHT(2021) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Starred review from August 1, 2021

Gr 3-6-Fans of Parr's Adventures with Waffles will be thrilled to revisit best friends (and neighbors) Lena and Trille as they navigate another year in the small Norwegian town of Mathildewick Cove. Lena is still a firecracker and Trille is still quiet and kind, and they are definitely still getting into trouble! Hoisting Trille's little sister up a flagpole, venturing into the fjord on a flimsy homemade raft, and caroling during a hurricane are just some of the funny adventures the pair attempt this year. They are also starting to grow up. Trille is navigating his interest (and Lena's resentment) toward Brigid, the new girl in town, as well as the fear that comes with watching his grandfather getting older. Lena is dealing with the disappointment and insecurity that comes with being overlooked by her new soccer coach and struggling with music lessons. Scandinavian details like picking bilberries, drinking red currant squash, and fishing for enormous halibut provide delightful insight into living elsewhere on the globe. The story has a lovely cyclical quality as it moves through the seasons. Fishing with Trille's grandpa is a highlight early in the story, but near the conclusion the same outing is so much more poignant as Trille, having lost some of his naivete and gained some maturity over the year, recognizes what a gift is to be found in those experiences. Parr shows enormous respect for the way children navigate so many of life's changes-births and aging, first crushes, the responsibility that comes with loving a family and nurturing friendships-and paints the emotions of the children as complex and dignified. VERDICT A captivating celebration of all the sweet (and bittersweet) feelings that come with growing up.-Alyssa Annico, Youngstown State Univ., OH

Copyright 2021 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2021
Parr (Adventures with Waffles, rev. 5/15) returns to the seaside Norwegian community of Mathildewick Cove, where we once again follow the adventures of narrator Trille and his best friend -- the blunt, fearless, and often outrageous Lena. Two years have passed, and the friends are growing up, as well as growing (a little) apart. Trille spends more and more time with newcomer Birgit, a kind Dutch girl who to the smitten Trille looks "almost like sunshine" and who makes his head go "all fuzzy." Meanwhile, Lena has been relegated to the bench after the soccer team gets a new coach, and she is consumed with regaining her place as starting goalkeeper. Parr does a wonderful job of tracing Trille's nascent coming of age and the changing dynamics of the children's friendship while simultaneously filling the book with drama and incident, season by season. Trille and Lena are caught outside in a dangerous hurricane on the same night his mother gives birth to a new baby; Trille accidentally stows away on his grandfather's fishing boat -- fortunately, since an accident occurs and he's there to save Grandpa's life. Characters are vividly drawn, with both humor and pathos, and dialogue zings. As for Trille's crush, it ends bittersweetly, with Birgit heading back to Holland but proposing they study abroad together someday (but also mentioning that, if she had to choose someone romantically, she'd choose a girl she met when she lived in Kenya). At book's close, Trille has achieved a happy equilibrium, content in the company of Grandpa and Lena but with eyes opened to possibilities that await him in the wider world. Martha V. Parravano

(Copyright 2021 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

July 1, 2021
Parr (Adventures with Waffles, rev. 5/15) returns to the seaside Norwegian community of Mathildewick Cove, where we once again follow the adventures of narrator Trille and his best friend -- the blunt, fearless, and often outrageous Lena. Two years have passed, and the friends are growing up, as well as growing (a little) apart. Trille spends more and more time with newcomer Birgit, a kind Dutch girl who to the smitten Trille looks "almost like sunshine" and who makes his head go "all fuzzy." Meanwhile, Lena has been relegated to the bench after the soccer team gets a new coach, and she is consumed with regaining her place as starting goalkeeper. Parr does a wonderful job of tracing Trille's nascent coming of age and the changing dynamics of the children's friendship while simultaneously filling the book with drama and incident, season by season. Trille and Lena are caught outside in a dangerous hurricane on the same night his mother gives birth to a new baby; Trille accidentally stows away on his grandfather's fishing boat -- fortunately, since an accident occurs and he's there to save Grandpa's life. Characters are vividly drawn, with both humor and pathos, and dialogue zings. As for Trille's crush, it ends bittersweetly, with Birgit heading back to Holland but proposing they study abroad together someday (but also mentioning that, if she had to choose someone romantically, she'd choose a girl she met when she lived in Kenya). At book's close, Trille has achieved a happy equilibrium, content in the company of Grandpa and Lena but with eyes opened to possibilities that await him in the wider world.

(Copyright 2021 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)