Half a Chance

Half a Chance by Cynthia Lord
2014
Published by Scholastic Press
Ages: 8+
Shelf: Middle Grade

Opening Line: "Lucy, we're going to love this place!"

Favorite Quotes:

"Even half a chance beats none."

"If you can get people to care about the little things, they'll care about the big things, too."

"Last times and first times shouldn't matter more than all the middle times, but somehow, they do."

"People will think what they think! Don't ever choose those people who don't matter over the ones who do."

"Sometimes people are like shooting photos. It takes a bunch of misses before something good happens."

Blurb:
It's the beginning of summer break and Lucy has just moved to an old house by a lake in New Hampshire.  As soon as they arrive, her father, a prominent photographer, heads out to Arizona to work on a photo project.  Left behind with her mother and a temperamental dog, Lucy deals with the nerves of being in a brand new place with no friends and the prospect of a lonely school year.  When she finds out that her father is running a photography contest for kids, Lucy decides to participate anonymously.  She meets Nate, a boy her age who spends every summer in one of the other cottages by the lake. Together they embark on a journey to discover friendship and loss behind the lens of Lucy's camera.  Will her photographs live up to her father's expectations?

Within its pages:
We loved the clever way the chapters are organized in Half a Chance.  The photography contest Lucy and Nate are trying to win is a photo scavenger hunt; where they are given the title of an image and it's up to them to interpret the kind of photo that would match the name.  What would you photograph to represent Journey, Left Behind,  or Wonder?  
As they look for those photos, the author titles each chapter with the name of one of the scavenger hunt challenges, and then perfectly develops the story to match the images being captured. 

Shelf it
Half a Chance feels like the kind of book you want to take with you on a camping trip and read while sitting on a dock, with your toes barely touching the water.  Cynthia Lord paces the book beautifully  and gives us a story about friendship and self-discovery, with a subplot about dealing with a relative suffering from dementia.  Great summer read and a perfect match for bookies who can't stop taking photos (even selfies)!