Surfing Summer

Turk and Kenny are best of friends who only meet up in the summer in Seagrove. Their families own second homes at the shore. Just fourteen, they are ready this summer to graduate from riding the ocean waves on their inflatable, rubber rafts to the real thing: surfboard riding! They have also arrived at a certain age when girls sunbathing on the beach have become a slight distraction, but hands down, their passion is surfing. They fashion a deal with an older beach boy, Frank, whose job is setting up umbrellas and beach chairs on Moonlight Beach, where bonfires dot the shoreline at night. Turk and Kenny agree to set up Franks umbrella and beach chair rentals every morning, and take them down in late afternoon, in return for the use of two surfboards as the sun is rising each morning. A sign out in front of Franks tent reads, SURFBOARDS FOR RENT. Negotiations by the two young businessmen proceed, and the deal is struck. A whole exciting, new chapter opens in the boys lives, one they must keep secret from their parents. The prior summer, three surfers have drowned in Seagrove, and the boys parents have forbidden them to surf until they are 16.

This simply-written story about boyhood friendship is for young readers, ages 10-15.