Title: Lena, the Sea, and Me
Author: Maria Parr
Series: sequel to Adventures with Waffles
Major Themes: Friendship, Norway, Childhood
Synopsis: Trille and Lena, best friends, are up to their old escapades—and a few new ones, since there have been some changes in Mathildewick Cove.
My family read and enjoyed Adventures with Waffles several years ago, so when I recently discovered Lena, the Sea, and Me, I excitedly asked for a review copy. This was such a fun story! Probably not quite as good as the first book in the duology, but I still thoroughly enjoyed it.
Publisher’s description:
In a charming sequel to Adventures with Waffles, Trille and Lena navigate the rough waters of friendship when a new soccer coach and a new girl in school disrupt their seaside escapades.
Trille and Lena may be getting older, but they still find everyday adventure—and trouble—in their coastal village, including sinking every raft they build, getting little sisters stuck up flag poles, and attending those dreaded music lessons. But that’s not all. The arrival of a less-than-encouraging new soccer coach is putting twelve-year-old Lena’s goalkeeping career in doubt. And Trille is wondering how to impress the girl who has just joined his class. As the best friends battle the elements and their own emotions, one thing is for sure: they’re not giving up, not if Lena has anything to do with it!
In Maria Parr’s follow-up to Adventures with Waffles, the acclaimed author returns to Mathildewick Cove with a rib-tickling story of growing up.
My thoughts:
One of my favorite things about these stories is the strong friendship aspect. Trille and Lena have been best friends forever, and there’s no hint of anything romantic about their friendship. As best friends, they do things together, leading normal lives and occasionally getting into scrapes.
I also loved the family element of the story. Trille has three siblings, and while they don’t always get along perfectly well, they seem to have healthy relationships with each other and their parents (and Grandpa, of course). I love books that depict ordinary family life, without feeling the need to make it politically correct or make a point!
If you’ve read Adventures with Waffles, you can expect about the same number of escapades in this story. There were only two main differences I noticed between the two books. Firstly, Adventures with Waffles occasionally mentions the family’s faith. The children go to Sunday school, Dad talks about Trille’s confirmation at one stage, and I think there are one or two other instances as well. I don’t remember seeing anything about the family’s faith in Lena, the Sea, and Me. And secondly, there is a teenage love interest/romantic element in this book, which wasn’t in the first story. In this case, Trille really likes the looks of the new girl in the area, and he spends as much time with her as possible. There’s some discussion occasionally about how being near this girl made him feel, and at one stage, Lena talks about how he’s fallen in love with the girl. I appreciated how that thread ended up, but it was frequently mentioned throughout the book.
I ended up really enjoying Lena, the Sea, and Me, and now that I’m reading it aloud to the family, my siblings are loving it, too—they wouldn’t let me stop reading until all the work was done one evening! I think we ended up reading 6 or 7 chapters that night. In many ways, this story took me back to my childhood, spent roaming free over our land, occasionally getting into scrapes, and enjoying time with friends and family. If you’ve enjoyed other stories by Maria Parr, Astrid Lindgren, or other authors with strong family-based stories, I think you’d probably enjoy this book, too.
I was given a complimentary copy of this book, and this is my honest opinion of it.
WARNING: Chapter 1: Oh, fish cakes, smoking haddocks. Chapter 3: Holy mackerel. Chapter 4: Blasted. Chapter 5: Jiminy monkfish. Chapter 6: I swear (twice). Chapter 7: Thank goodness, holy halibut, son of a sea bass. Chapter 8: Goodness knows (twice). Chapter 9: “Then she smiled, and my head went all fuzzy.” Chapter 10: Brief discussion of what happens when a woman goes into menopause. Chapter 13: Smoking haddocks. Chapter 14: What in heaven’s name. Chapter 15: Good grief, mention of “The Change” (referring to menopause). Chapter 16: Blooming, good grief, soggy shepherds, blasted. Chapter 19: Floundering flatfish. Chapter 22: Goodness knows, disobedience. Chapter 23: Blinking barnacles, lying. Chapter 27: A school fight, blasted. Chapter 28: Smells of flipping fish. Chapter 29: Smoking haddocks. Chapter 30: Smoking haddocks. Chapter 31: An accident (some blood). Chapter 33: Blasted. Chapter 34: Railing rams. Chapter 36: Shrieking sharks, single flipping soccer game. Chapter 37: Smoking haddocks, “The thing is, Trille, it must be possible to fall in love without turning into a blinking idiot while you’re at it.” For cod’s sake. Chapter 39: What in heaven’s name. Chapter 40: Holy mackerel.
Age levels:
Listening Level—Ages 8 – 12, 10 – 12, Family Friendly
Reading Independently—Ages 8 – 12, 10 – 12
Links to buy this book:
Amazon: Paperback | Kindle | Hardcover | Audible Audiobook (unabridged)
AbeBooks: View Choices on AbeBooks.com
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