How to Ruin a Summer Vacation

Simone Elkeles. Woodbury, MN: Flux. 240 pages. ISBN 1-4177-6302-7

Plot Summary: Amy is summoned by her estranged father to come spend the summer with him in Israel to visit her sick grandmother (who she’s never met). This was not what Amy had planned for her summer and she resents the whole idea. But to Israel she goes and Amy, an only child, finds herself an unexpected guest in the house of her uncle with seven people to share one bathroom on a sheep farm. To everyone’s surprise, Amy does integrate into the family and even manages to find love.

Critical Evaluation: This is a light-hearted read of a typical American girl’s experience of a visit to Israel, a country she doesn’t know. Culture shock occurs on both sides of the fence—with her family in Israel facing a stereotypical American teen. While it seems shallow at first, Amy grows and Elkeles does a good job portraying Amy’s reactions to the new situations she finds herself in.

Reader’s Annotation: Amy is off to visit relatives she didn’t know she had and they are finding out about her for the first time, too.


About the author: Simone Elkeles was raised in the Chicago area. She went to the University of Illinois and received her Bachelor’s of Science there in Psychology in 1992. She continued her education at Loyola University-Chicago where she received her Master’s of Science degree in Industrial Relations while working for a manufacturing company creating diversity programs for their employees. She now has two children and is a hockey and Girl Scout mom, as well as a writer.

Simone Elkeles has written six books for teens and has two in the works—Rules of Attraction and a Leaving Paradise sequel. How to Ruin a Summer Vacation is followed by two sequels, How to Ruin my Teenage Life and How to Ruin Your Boyfriend’s Reputation. Elkeles has been voted the Illinois Author of the Year by the Illinois Association of Teachers of English. You can visit her website at http://www.simoneelkeles.net/

Genre: Realistic fiction

Curriculum Ideas: N/A

Booktalking Ideas: Amy begins the summer with no ties to her Israeli family at all and no desire to be in Israel. With such a big chip on her shoulder, will she be able to find a way to fit in?

Reading Level/Interest Age: Grades 8 – 10

Challenge Issues: N/A. Hints of sexual conduct, but they “just say no.”

Why chossn: I found it on YALSA’s Teen Top Ten list for 2007.