SOLVED. scientist dad, free spirit mom, young son trapped in the middle [s]

[Cassandra]

So it starts with the cold scientist dad working at a university and the warm free spirited mom leaving to go live somewhere in the south. The young son loves his mother more than anything and is crushed when she leaves them. He visits her and has a wonderful time until he begins to grow older. Meanwhile, the dad and son have moved to a more rural small town and the son makes friends with a local kid. While the son visits his mother, he goes off to this island that he uses as his sanctuary. And that is about all I remember, please help me find it!

[Ann aka Iftcan]

When did you read this? What age range is it for--Adults, NA, YA, MG, children's chapter, children's picture?

What genre is it--coming of age, adventure, thriller, mystery?

Where did you find it?

How did you find it (review, recommendation, on the Our Staff Recommends shelf, the cover grabbed your attention)?

What format did you read it in? Book, ebook, etc

Do you remember anything about the cover?

[Cassandra]

I read this in 10th grade, it was my English teachers book, possibly ya but not sure. Sounds like a coming of age, it was a small book and I'm pretty sure it had a crane on the cover. I want to say the title was something like island of the blue crane or some combo of that, though I have tried everything, every combo, even searching for book covers and I still can't find it. I even tried reaching out to my teacher but I couldn't contact her.

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

What year were you in 10th grade?

[Kris]

I think this might be A Solitary Blue by Cynthia Voigt. There's a picture of a crane on the cover.

Btw, I used a Google search and this book appeared on the 3rd page of results.

site:goodreads.com "young adult" boy "coming of age" free-spirited mother leaves

[Arielle]

bumping - Cassandra, was it A Solitary Blue?

[Hillary]

for sure A Solitary Blue
The boy is Jeff, his father finally comes to his senses when Jeff visit's his mom for one magical summer, asks to go back and she takes off with a boyfriend, there he discovers the island and spends most of the summer alone. He comes home and starts ditching school to go to an amusement park. His father and father's friend, a priest, figure it out and they move from the city to the Maine lakeside. Jeff plays the guitar, meets Dicey Tillerman, featured in the same author's Homecoming and series.

[Hillary]

Except dad is an academic, but not a scientist, a historian I think.

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

Two people agree on Solitary Blue. Moving to Solved.