When We Had Summer
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants meets 13 Little Blue Envelopes in this new young adult novel about a tight-knit, daring, and eclectic group of friends who dedicate every summer to completing their #SummerSistersBucketList together – that is until one of their own passes away. Best friends Carly, Daniella, Lainie, and Penny – aka the self-proclaimed #SummerSisters – have been coming to the New Jersey shore town of Ocean Park Heights ever since they could remember. And every year, the girls make a bucket list and dedicate their entire summer to completing every item on it, documenting their wacky escapades on FotoSlam for everyone to see. It's their tradition, and as long as the Summer Sisters had each other, the rocky jetty on the shore, and their bucket list, that would never change. Right? But then, tragedy strikes after Carly – the mastermind behind the bucket list– unexpectedly passes away. As the remaining Summer Sisters try to wrap their heads around their best friend's death, life seems determined to throw more curveballs at the girls, threatening to split the Summer Sisters up for good. Daniella is accepted to a prestigious music academy in New York City, Lainie finds out her family is moving to Florida and leaving Ocean Park Heights for good, and Penny struggles to find her footing as she feels ready to leave childhood behind more quickly than either of her friends. What will hold them together with Carly gone and the Summer Sisters seemingly over? Then, Daniella finds Carly's final bucket list. And just like that, the Summer Sisters are back! But of course, things don't always go as planned, and the girls try their hardest to navigate grief, loss, and coming-of-age woes while keeping the Summer Sisters – and Carly's memory – alive.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Every summer, the self-proclaimed Summer Sisters, a group of 14-year-old best friends, meet up at Ocean Park Heights, N.J., and spend the season crossing items off their yearly bucket list ("Silly String fight on the Boardwalk. Trampoline sleepover... Hold hands with a boy"). Carly has always kept track of the list, so when she dies of an undiagnosed heart condition, Lainie, Penny, and Carly's cousin Daniella struggle to imagine summer, and their friendship, without her. Vulnerably rendered chapters alternating between the three teens' perspectives trace their efforts to complete this year's list while they navigate myriad internal and external challenges, such as Daniella's enrollment in an elite N.Y.C. summer music program and her experiences living with Carly's grieving parents; Lainie's attempts to cope with her grandparents selling their beloved shore bakery; and Penny's first job and romance. Castle (What Happens Now) presents an uplifting and grounded telling that follows a tight-knit group exploring the world outside their comfort zones and grappling with intense grief while striving to maintain important relationships. Carly and Penny read as white; Daniella is Black and white; Lainie is of Colombian heritage. Ages 12–up.
