When My Sister Started Kissing

Frost, Helen. When My Sister Started Kissing. 2017. 193p. ISBN 978-0-374-30303-7. Available at FIC FRO on the library shelves.

When Claire and Abigail’s mother died, the family was heartbroken. Spending every summer at a cabin on the lake, the sisters saw comforting reminders of their mother everywhere. Now that it is summer again, they dread returning to the lake. Their father has remarried, and his new wife is pregnant with their half-brother. Worse, all signs of their mother, from her old easel to her favorite chair to the board games and her books have disappeared from the cabin.

For Claire, however, all of these changes are nothing compared to what is happening with her sister Abigail, who insists on being called Abi. This summer, Abi is boy crazy, and her secrets mean that Claire must cover for her. Unsure of herself, Claire can’t help but wonder why Abi would act this way. As the summer progresses, and as Abi’s affections seem to be divided between two different boys, Claire decides she can’t make excuses for her anymore. But as their family seems to be drifting apart, the lake imparts lessons that just because things are changing doesn’t mean that they will not remain meaningful.

Written in verse, this short book features three points of view, that of Claire, Abi, and of the lake itself observing the sisters. A coming of age novel, readers interested in family relationships will appreciate the dynamics that are at play between two sisters struggling with new feelings and emotions.