Summerlost

Rating: 4/5

I absolutely love this cover!

Author: Ally Condie

Pages: 249

Genre: Children’s Fiction

May I point out that this book earned higher than a 3.5? See, I can be more generous when I want to be!

Synopsis:

It’s been a year since the tragic accident that killed Cedar’s father and brother. Now with just her mother and other brother, Miles, they are doing their best to pick up the pieces and cope with their loss. They are spending the summer in their mother’s hometown, fixing up a small home they intend use as a summer getaway while renting it out to college kids during the rest of the year. It is here that Cedar first sees Leo, riding his bike past their home wearing what appears to be some medieval costume.

Intrigued, and more than willing to take her mind off things, Cedar decides to follow him not knowing how it will dramatically affect the rest of her summer.

My Reaction:

This was a very sweet book and one that I feel is great for addressing some of the harder issues that some children have to face, like death. It addresses bullying to some degree, children with special needs, and there’s even a moment where an assumption is made based on someone’s racial background that hurts a character’s feelings. I really appreciated the way that Ally Condie brought these issues into her story, but at the same time, none of the instances were preachy, in-your-face, you’re-a-terrible-human-being sort of way. And the whole story isn’t based on those issues necessarily. It’s more about dealing with loss.

Cedar’s brother who died had special needs, so part of Cedar’s healing process is thinking about how hard it was sometimes and how in the moment she didn’t always want to deal with her brother, but ultimately she loved him very much. And I would say that she had a special bond with her brother because she had learned how to understand him where others couldn’t because of his situation.

Overall, I think this book is fantastic, and I have tender feelings towards it. It illustrates how mourning isn’t a onetime event. Sometimes, even years and years later, we can look back at certain moments in our lives and still feel a portion of that grief. However, we learn through the help of multiple characters that with the pain there also come love and joy in the remembrance of good memories. Sometimes life is just hard, and it can take time to get through those tough stages of our lives.

I think this book could be a good tool to help children become aware or introduced to difficult topics as well as show support to them if they’ve had to deal with similar things. Plus there are great themes of friendship and going for your dreams and the importance of family. I would recommend this book and not just to children.

In my notes to myself as I read this book, I wrote, "A sweet book with heart." It's worth a read. Plus, I forgot to mention, a lot of the plot is surrounded by this town's annual Shakespeare festival which just appeals to my English nerd.

Reader Guidance:

Just be aware that a huge topic of this book is death and coping with the death of a family member at a young age. As mentioned above, there’s a few instances of bullying—more specifically, there’s a scene in a lunchroom where kids are throwing little things or food at a special needs student; there’s a group of kids who like to pick on Leo by shouting at him as they ride by on bike or knock his hat off; and one of the bullies that picks on Leo later tattles on him and Cedar, getting them into trouble.

Similar Books:

A few different books crossed my mind as I read Summerlost, each of them for different reasons.

The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall -- This came to mind because it's another summer tale about family, friendship, and a little bit of loss (although it's not as heavily focused on the loss bit in comparison with Summerlost, if I remember correctly). There are actually a few books in The Penderwicks series.

Surviving the Applewhites by Stephanie C. Tolan -- It's been a while since I've read this one. This one is a little more on the comedic side in that the Applewhites are quite an eccentric group of characters. They are a very creative, artistic family that run a sort of home school. I thought of it mostly because the whole family ends up trying to put on their own production of The Sound of Music. This is almost more a self-discovery book as on of the Applewhite children struggles to see how she fits into her family while at the same time dealing with a new home school student named Jake, who up until this point has been on the fast track to becoming a juevenile delinquent.

Up from Jericho Tel by E. L. Konigsburg -- I thought of this book because of the similarities in dealing with the history and death of a famous actress. This book has a bit of a supernatural element to it in that the two kids who are our main characters come face to face with the spirit of a dead actress. It's not in a creepy, haunted sort of way. More like it's just like they came to a person house for a spot of tea and some biscuits!  

Next Book:

The next book up was recommended to me by one of my neighbors who I went on a walk with one 

day some weeks back. This is the first of two books, and it looks like it fits into the realm of dystopian novels. Let's jump right in with Starters by Lissa Price!