When fifteen-year-old Jazz Gardner discovers she’s going to spend the summer in India with her family she is not happy about it at all. She has a thriving business in San Francisco with her best friend Steve, and she can’t imagine leaving either one for three months. She’s certain one of the other girls from school will make a move while she’s gone and claim Steve’s heart before she even tells him how much he means to her.

When she arrives in the town where her mother was born and adopted from the orphanage, she’s determined not to get involved in helping out in any way. All she wants to do is pass the time while she counts the days until she goes home. But her encounters with the people, and a little bit of monsoon madness, just may convince her she’s got something to contribute after all.

Monsoon Summer by Mitali Perkins is a great book for mother-daughter book clubs. Jazz is an independent girl whose parents are very much involved in her life. She constantly compares herself to her mother, and often feels she’s lacking. This book can generate great discussions on finding and believing in your own strengths, working to help others, trusting people and having the courage to say what you’re feeling. Perkins has an excellent mother-daughter book club discussion guide at her website, www.mitaliperkins.com. Here’s just one of the questions that may provoke great discussion:

“What’s the most risky thing you’ve tried when it comes to helping someone else? Did it work?” I highly recommend Monsoon Summer for book clubs with girls aged 10 and up.