A 2015 Printz Honor Book
A 2015 Caldecott Honor Book
Rose goes every summer to Awago Beach with her parents. There she hangs out with Windy, her summer vacation friend who is a little younger than her. This summer is different for Rose - her parents won't stop fighting. Couple that with Rose moving away from childhood and towards adolescence and all that comes with it, and it turns out to be an interesting summer for the two girls, especially when Rose develops a crush on one of the teens boys working at the local convenience store. Soon she and Windy are fascinated by the lives of the local Awago youths, watching from the shadows and listening around corners as drama surrounding a teen pregnancy unfolds. This One Summer isn't a coming of age story, but it is about growing up, and that moment when you realize you aren't quite an adult, but you definitely aren't a little kid anymore. It's about that moment when you realize that your parents aren't infallible and that they lead lives as complicated and full of ups and downs as you do. It's a little bit about that moment when your younger friends can feel considerably younger than you, even if it's just a year and some change between your ages. Some of the reviews I read before reading the book mentioned that the problems between Rose's parents and the teen pregnancy she watches unfold felt like too much for one book, but I disagree. It's true that they don't totally gel together, but when you consider Rose's growing awareness that she too will be like those teenagers someday very soon, plus her growing understanding of relationships (especially her parents'), it becomes this perfect little snapshot of growing up. Jillian Tamaki's choice of using varying shades of deep blue against the creamy color of the pages truly makes it seem like a memory, while Mariko manages to get that cadence of retelling a long story in fits and starts down perfectly. It's a quiet story, despite all that happens in it, but a good one.
(Read as part of YALSA's Hub Reading Challenge.)
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