Peace, Love, and Baby Ducks by Lauren Myracle

Carly just had an amazing summer experience at a wilderness camp and returned home feeling transformed. But she wasn't back in her wealthy Atlanta neighbourhood for very long before things started getting hard. Her younger sister, Anna, is no longer her "little" sister, and everyone at school has noticed Anna's transformation from little girl to super hottie. Carly struggles to understand their new relationship and the privileged world that she lives in, while learning that not everyone shares her views on things.

It was refreshing to read about a sisterly relationship like the one between Carly and Anna. They were each others' biggest defenders as well as the ones who knew exactly which buttons to push. How messed up is it to be jealous of your younger sister? Or to be mad at her for things that she can't control? These scenes were balanced with Carly's new understanding of her world of privilege, and her frustration with people who had different points of view than her own. There's relationship drama, school drama, and family drama - basically, all the difficult parts of growing up and finding you own personality.  True, it might be a bit of a stretch to be including this book in my "25 Days of Christmas" posts, but there is a section where Carly joins up with some classmates to provide Christmas presents to the "less fortunate," and Carly starts to think about the nature of Christmas and selfish/selfless gestures.

Find it at IndieBound. 

Read it with:
Shine by Lauren Myracle
Bliss by Lauren Myracle
Confessions of the Sullivan Sisters by Natalie Standiford
The Extraordinary Secrets of April, May, and June by April Benway