The Magic Summer — Abigail Hamblen

All her life Diane had felt drab and awkward compared to her older sister. Now she saw the same kind of frustration in little Ernestine Ellis, but could she help her to accept what she had never been able to accept herself...

The Sisters...

Seven-year-old Ernestine Ellis was a brat--and Diane's heart went out to her the moment they met. She understood the child's problem: her blonde, blue-eyed, picture-book pretty sister, Kathy, who got all the compliments, all the attention. Diane knew from painful experience how hard it was to grow up in the shadow of a prettier, more popular sister. And she knew it wasn't going to be easy to convince Ernie that there were lots of people around who liked little girls with brown eyes like hers. But Diane got some unexpected assistance from sympathetic young Roger Maynard, who had a secret heartache of his own to overcome, and who proved to her before that unforgettable summer in Maine was over what she was trying so hard to prove to Ernestine: that the ugliest of ducklings are beautiful to those who love and understand them...

Hero: Roger Maynard
Heroine: Diane May