Summer is just around the corner and Summerlost is a book that I highly recommend for a summer read. Summerlost is a touching middle grade debut from author Ally Condie, that explores the strength of family and how power of friendship can help change someone in the face of tragedy.
About Summerlost
It’s been a year since the devasting car accident that killed Cedar’s father and younger brother, Ben. But now Cedar and what’s left of her family are spending the summer in her mother’s hometown of Iron Creek and trying to mend the broken pieces. Everywhere she looks, things remind Cedar of her brother Ben, including strange gifts that begin to appear at night. The gifts that show up on her window are the types of things her brother Ben would have loved.
As they are moving into their summer home, Cedar sets on the porch steps and watches a boy dressed in a costume pedal by on his bike. At first, she thought he was weird and even had a nickname that she called him in her head – until one day she had the chance to follow the boy (Leo) to see where he was riding his bike too daily while dressed in a costume. As she follows him, they end up at the Summerlost Festival where Leo is working and soon Cedar finds a job there as well. The two become quick friends and eventually start a tour at one of the famous people in their town, that had died many years before.
It’s Leo’s friendship that will help Cedar come to terms with all that she’s lost and everything, and everyone, she still has in her life.
This is a beautiful story that full of emotion.The ending brought tears to my eyes and really makes you think about life in general.
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Exerpt
Praise:
A Spring 2016 Kids’ Indie Next List Top 10 Pick!
Named one of Publishers Weekly’s Most Anticipated Children’s and YA Books of Spring 2016
“Condie (Matched) strikes a deep emotional chord with this coming-of-age story.” – Publishers Weekly, starred review
“Multiple, seemingly random details, including a family of turkey vultures that now roost outside Cedar’s window, an absurd soap opera narrative of a woman buried alive, and Leo’s quest for a trip with his father, coalesce into metaphors that help Cedar make sense of her grief and the life she now has to look forward to. Thoughtful, poetic chapter endings guide readers new to psychological depth toward meaningful connections between plot events and thematic reflections.” – BCCB
“A moving tale of friendship and loss. I loved these characters—I wish we could have been friends when I was a kid.” –Brandon Mull, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Fablehaven and Five Kingdoms series
“Ally Condie’s first middle grade book might also be my favorite out of ALL her books to date. Summerlost is a story packed with nostalgia, heart, and gorgeous prose.” – The Novel Novice
“A nuanced portrait of grief deeply grounded in the middle-school mind-set.” – Booklist
“Honest, lovely, and sad.” – Kirkus Reviews
“A sweet, heartfelt story.” – School Library Journal
“Achingly good.” – Summer Laurie, Books Inc.
Letter from the author:
Dear Readers,
I think most of us have had our hearts broken. Sometimes we can see it coming, and sometimes it comes down with the unexpected force of a sudden gale of wind or a rising of waters that we thought were still and safe. Loss is universal to human experience, but the way we each feel and recover is one of the most personal things we do.
In Summerlost, Cedar is dealing with the loss of her father and younger brother. And my intent was to show how hard their deaths are for her. But this is also a book about the healing power of friendship. Most of us have been broken-hearted; I hope that most of us have also discovered the miracle of friendships that were just what we needed. Cedar and Leo’s friendship is based on someone I met when I was twelve. Like Leo, my friend was fun and liked to enlist me in crazy adventures (although we never gave a secret guided tour of our town the way they do in Summerlost). And, like Leo, he thought I was wonderful and of worth at a time when I needed it most.
SUMMERLOST is my attempt to pay tribute both to the pain we feel and the friendships that save us. Thank you so much for supporting this book, and for your willingness to give Cedar’s story a try. I hope it makes you think of a wonderful friend of your own, whether that is someone you met in the pages of a favorite book or outside, in the world where it is often hard and beautiful to live.
Best wishes and happy reading always,
Ally Condie
Purchase:
Penguin Random House, Amazon, Barnes & Noble ~ IndieBound
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