Great summer reads

Last year about this time, I read MONTANA 1948 by Larry Watson and thought it was probably the perfect summer read. It's the story of one summer in a small Montana town told from the perspective of David Hayden, a 12-year-old-boy whose father is the town sheriff who has to arrest his brother, David's uncle, for rape. It's a fascinating story of how David tries to figure out what's happening to his family, questions of right and wrong, and how to navigate some of life's more thorny issues. The novel is told in lean, direct prose which makes it deceptively simple; the moral questions raised are extremely complex, especially for a book with less than 200 pages. Best of all, the library has five copies so there should be no hold list.

JUSTICE, by the same author, is a prequel exploring the family dynamics of David's father, uncle and grandfather.