What’s worse than juvenile detention? Joni Byrnes is a loser. She’ll never become the confident woman her private school brochure promises. After she meets Ismael, an army reject, she stops caring about home, school, and swim team, and embraces his hippy lifestyle. It’s not long before she’s selling marijuana — and gets busted. Because she’s fifteen, the judge orders her to spend the summer of 1969 at Camp Hippo teaching inner city black kids to swim. In a culture rocked by war, civil rights, and the race to the moon, Joni’s white reality collides with the truth of black lives. Will bad choices send her to juvie? Or will she open her heart and become Jonika?Young adult and adult fans of historic fiction will love this gripping story about coming-of-age in a year marked by the Vietnam War, civil rights, the first moonwalk, and Woodstock. Immersed in the nostalgia of classic summer camp, BECOMING JONIKA is the coming-of-age story of Joni Byrnes in the trouble-ridden summer of 1969. The inescapable humidity, the cool pool water, and the sweet bug juice feel within reach. Devlin achieves authentic characterization in the development of Joni and those she encounters. Five Stars — Chanticleer Book Reviews
