A review by lnocita
To Night Owl from Dogfish by Holly Goldberg Sloan, Meg Wolitzer

3.0

This is the modern day equivalent of The Parent Trap, as many other reviewers have duly noted. The twist is that, at least initially, it's the parents who want their daughters to unite. The girls discover their dads have met at a conference and have begun a long distance relationship that seems to be hurtling along at breakneck speed. Bett sends Avery an email about her discovery and thus begins the exchange of information over the span of two years. The dads plot to have their daughters meet at summer camp while they spend time adventuring together in China. The two girls discover fairly quickly that despite having little in common, they genuinely like each other. Maybe the idea of joining families is not so preposterous. But things fall apart as quickly as they came together, leaving Bett and Avery floundering, plotting, and scheming to find a way back to one another. It's a sweet story about friendship, family, unexpected opportunities, and calamities.

I felt like the characters were a bit indistinct, if I'm being honest. I had to resort to a sticky note with some pertinent details to keep them 100% fixed in my mind. Also, a silly criticism perhaps, I just don't think teens/tweens would really use email to communicate these days. The middle schoolers I know absolutely do not. It was, admittedly, a valid way for Bett to discover Avery, but then I think the medium for communicating would have shifted to text messages or some other social media app. The dialogue felt stilted or should I say felt spoken by adults presenting as tweens? It is a sweet story. It is. I just don't know if it managed to have an authentic voice. It will appeal to us middle-aged adult readers for sure, but middle schoolers? I'm eager to hear what my middle school readers think!