Book Description
for Memories of Summer by Ruth White
From Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC)
When fifteen-year-old Lyric moves from rural Virginia to Flint, Michigan, with her father and older sister, Summer, at first it seems that everything is going to go well. Lyric and Summer relish exploring their new neighborhood shops together, and they enjoy getting their new home in order. Best of all, Summer seems to be giving up some of the eccentric habits that made her stand out in her Virginia hometown. But soon Summer again starts showing signs of mental illness, and her condition worsens. She gradually becomes a stranger to Lyric and her father, and a danger to herself. White’s moving novel set in 1955 deals realistically with the challenges a family faces when a loved one suffers from an illness for which there are no easy cures. At best, Lyric and her dad can continue to love and support Summer by remembering her as the person she once was while they try to help the person she has become. (Ages 13-16)
CCBC Choices 2001. © Cooperative Children's Book Center, Univ. of Wisconsin - Madison, 2001. Used with permission.