Rachel Spring and the Proclamation - Marilyn Barry

When 12-year-old Rachel Spring is sent from England to California to live with her cousin, Hetty Slymer, she does not realize just how much her life is going to change. She makes friends with Aaron, Hetty's son from a previous marriage to Spike, an eccentric inventor, who is attempting to solve the world's environmental problems. Her other friends include Pearl, a homeless teenager living on the streets of L.A., and Gideon whose large chaotic family bring warmth and Rachel's first experience of falling in love. Rachel talks to nature spirits and her deceased mother who teach her the true meaning of life. Her inner world both nourishes and bewilders her as her outer world changes and presents her with many challenges, but this is no ordinary coming-of-age story. On a camping trip with her friends to the mysterious mountain behind Spike's ramshackle house, their lives are changed for ever after an extraordinary encounter. A wonderful world of fantasy mixed in with teenage and pubescent realities. Magical but with no sentimental slush, this is the perfect book for younger readers before they reach Twilight and the next stage in their reading lives. William Bloom, author of The Power of Modern Spirituality and The Endorphin Effect