It's an unhappy summer in the town of Sycamore Lake, where the lake itself, which the town depends on for tourism, has been drained to prevent the dam from collapsing. Lolo, having failed a state test, is stuck in summer school with "mean" Mrs. Cryer. She's also worrying about her mother's precarious pregnancy and, along with the rest of her family and especially her grandmother, grieving the recent loss of her grandfather. There's one problem Lolo believes she can solve: Hank, her grandfather's foster dog, is now in a new placement across the lake for reasons she thinks are her fault, so she sets out to retrieve him. The resulting adventure -- told mostly in Lolo's affecting first-person narration, with interspersed journal entries from the classmate who is Hank's new owner -- involves a fair amount of humor (a skunk plays a significant role). But the emotional core of the novel lies in the acknowledgment that life isn't perfect, and the reassurance that Lolo doesn't have to be, either. Bittersweet and heartwarming. Shoshana Flax

During a hot summer in which the local lake has been drained for dam repair, keeping needed tourists away, nearly 12-year-old Lolo Weaver is stuck in summer school after failing a state test. Not only does it not feel like summer vacation, Lolo quickly gets on the wrong side of stickler teacher Mrs. Cryer. But much worse is Lolo’s profound sadness following the recent death of her beloved grandfather and the subsequent rehoming of Hank, a foster dog with whom Lolo identifies (they’re “mostly normal, except when we weren’t, and when we weren’t it was a big problem,” Lolo says). When her pregnant mother is hospitalized with preeclampsia and Lolo is sent to stay with her grieving grandmother, the tween becomes convinced that returning Hank would offer emotional support to Gram. Discovering that Hank is now being fostered by Noah Pham, a summer school classmate whose journal entries are part of the story, Lolo persuades Noah to give up Hank. As the pair work to get the dog across the drained lake and back to Lolo’s grandmother, a series of events transform Lolo’s assumptions—about herself, Hank, and her grandma—and help her begin to heal. Quick-resolving plot threads make the ending feel slightly rushed, but an aptly rendered ghost-town vibe from Farquhar (Itch), coupled with Lolo’s frustrations, contribute to a feeling of summer languor, and Lolo’s realizations are organic and moving. Lolo presents as white; context cues suggest racial diversity in the community. Ages 8–12. Agent: Alyssa Eisner Henkin, Birch Path Literary. (Apr.)