Dreamland Social Club

Dreamland Social Club by Tara Altebrando. Published by Penguin Group, 2011.

Jane and her brother are surprised to inherit a house on Coney Island, but they quickly move there with their father (a currently unemployed amusement ride designer) and plan to live in their new home for the next year. Coney Island is a pretty famous place (especially when Jane’s mother graduated during the 1920’s), so Jane and her family expect to meet some unusual people.

Jane and her mother used to play many pretend games when Jane was little. Jane no longer remembers many of them, but when she begins to explore some of the Coney Island amusement park rides, she realizes that many of the games were based on the rides. Jane misses her mother more and more as a result of her recollections and she can’t understand why things with her mother changed so much. Jane’s father has a proposal for a new ride that will be part of an effort to revive Coney Island. However, there are many adamant opponents to the plans and Jane doesn’t want anyone to know about her father’s role in the proposal.

Jane finds adjusting to the new school challenging and, while she knows she might not fit in (being British and in high school), she is surprised by some of the unusual people at her school. There is a legless man who rides a skateboard, a tattooed boy, and a goth dwarf. Many of these students evidently belong to the Dreamland Social Club, a group started by Jane’s mother prior to her graduation.

Jane wants so much to fit in, help her father and honor her family. At the same time, she wants to see the good things about Coney Island preserved and celebrated. She just isn’t sure how to do both.

This realistic fiction is recommended for grades 9 and up. 

Visit author Tara Altebrando's website