Ratings124
Average rating3.5
a nice book about 2 girls spending summer holidays somewhere on the beach with their families.
It's mainly about the coming of age of two young teenage girls. There is nothing special about the story and no complex plot. it's a nice read but not stimulating and didn't leave much impression on me, it's a nice easy read though.
This book is a wonderful treat–on the surface it's a fairly lighthearted tale, but it also has insights into some of the quite complex goings-on in our minds as we grow up. The conveys all of this beautifully, with “simple” drawings that telegraph all of the complexities involved. It also has one of the best ending lines of any book I've ever read, which I won't spoil for anybody reading this review.
I also love this book as an object–it's got heft, a strong binding and a smooth, cool cover, perfect for summer reading.
Wanted to understand the Caldecott controversy. Illustrations are gorgeous, but I think saying this is for Caldecott age group is a stretch, even allowing for the up to 14 argument. Skim was solidly YA, I see this as the same.
This was a nice read, very low-key and slice-of-life. It felt that the book was building to an emotional climax that never truly came–at least not like I had hoped/expected.
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Two kids share a summer of moments at a lake house in Awago Beach. A yearly pastime that the family shares together. With each passing day, the pair discovers more adventures and become more aware of the fuming adult conflicts around them.
This book is a collection of smooth and quiet moments. For me when reading, not all moments have to jump off the page at you. Life isn't like that, and neither should writing about life be. It is highs and lows, of which the author has written about so well. Also, Tamaki has walked a very delicate line, she has created a book that can easily be viewed from both sides of childhood divider. Kids and teenagers can read this book and relate to the moments that Windy and Rose experience throughout a Summer: Scary movies, talking about boys, walking home at night through the scary dark, and swimming in the lake. All these moments are quintessential parts of a summer childhood experience. However, simmering in the background are very adult-like issues such as pregnancy, inability to conceive, marriage dynamics, peer dynamics, anxiety, and depression. These issues touch Windy and Rose, and they react to them with a burgeoning adult understanding. Adults can read this story and read about these adult moments from a different lens and think back to what it would have been like to be at the age on the cusp of becoming an adult. It is very well written.
Graphically this book is beautiful. The characters are rendered with care and finesse, each panel delivering just enough information to show us a scene without falling into the trap of telling the reader everything.
This is a worthy award winner and should definitely be checked out. Wholeheartedly recommend.
This One Summer is a coming of age novel about two girls who grew up going to the same summer cottage. This summer is a little different though because there is drama happening everywhere. The girls are starting to learn things about the world and their families that they were not allowed to know when they were younger.
The graphic novel follows two young girls, Rose and Windy but it is in Rose's prospective. Rose is back for the summer at the cottage and her neighbor is Windy and her mother. Rose and Windy start learning about new things that are happening around the area. Someone might be pregnant. Scary movies. The word slut. It is a growing experience for them both.
One of the main issues is that Rose's parents are fighting more and more on their trip. Rose knows that her mother has been trying for a baby but wasn't able to conceive so what should be the problem? Is that really why she's so upset?
Since you follow Rose's prospective, who is a young girl, you have a lot of gaps for the stories because she does not know everything. I really enjoyed her prospective because you got to see how she feels about everything that is happening in the family. Her thoughts fill the page and they are quite mature for the most part but she is still a young girl.
Windy is a very spunky and funny young girl. She is Rose's best friend at the cottage and they spend every summer together. This summer they start to experience new things and Windy seems kind of weirded out by them and doesn't care as much but stays interested for Rose. I really liked reading about Windy because she had so much spirt in her. Probably because of her mom.
Overall, this was a very cute graphic novel and it is full of lessons that a young reader would enjoy. It is a coming of age novel so there is a lot of growth in the novel. You see each character grow throughout the novel and they all seem better by the end. I quite enjoyed it and would recommend to anyone that would like a quick lovely story about two best friends.
Again a YA graphic novel, but a better one at that. Some strong female characters and a good plot line.
Would recommend.
really fast read, and such a wholesome read. a really cute coming of age story if i'm being honest but i also wish it ended differently but other than that it was great
2.5 stars.
the artwork is GORGEOUS but I really didn't like much else. Rose was so unlikeable and unbearable, and I didn't really like or connect with any of the other characters either. nothing was really fleshed out enough for me. I see people describing this as a coming of age story and talking about character development but IMO Rose doesn't develop or grow at all.
I absolutely blazed through this in about 30 minutes because I was loving it. First off, the artwork and the use of framing is gorgeous and engrossing. I love the choice to use blue ink throughout rather than the standard black. There is also a great sense of atmosphere and nostalgia: the beach of your childhood, long stretches of afternoon, no responsibilities, the slow-moving beach town with both enough and not enough to hold your attention.
My one complaint is that the story cuts itself short at every turn. Every storyline could have been richer, deeper, more detailed, yet whole scenes end too soon, leaving the reader feeling, for lack of a better word, cheated. I would have read 50 or even 100 more pages of the story had it kept going because the art is so soft and childlike in the best way. I'd still recommend it, though, because the reviews are so widely varied.
A graphic novel about an important summer for a young teen and her friend, as the girls grow and change, sometimes connecting and sometimes irritating each other. A very real look at a small summer in a person's life.
I liked the art style, but none of the characters. Didn't find anything endearing or appealing about any of them to make me care about their problems.
I really loved this. The art is beautiful and the story is poignant. I think it works for adults, definitely, but I also think that many teens will enjoy it–they have the self-awareness to look back and remember what it was like when you and your friends started changing, and what it's like when you learn family secrets. It's not action-packed or anything, but I think it will suit a certain brand of introspective teen just right.There is some strong/sexual language–mostly in the context of the two protagonists being uncomfortable hearing it or trying to understand what it means, but still it is there. I was going to booktalk it to junior high kids and then on second thought decided against it on the grounds of not wanting some parent to flip through it and see kids talking about sluts getting pregnant and such. But I think that the way it's presented is very true to life and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it on a smaller scale.I think it's a good readalike to maybe like Judy Blume and [b:Mermaid in Chelsea Creek 16129217 Mermaid in Chelsea Creek Michelle Tea https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1358992756s/16129217.jpg 21954157]? For just that painful coming of age type thing, centered around friendship and not romance. Cool.
Very pretty tale of a summer at the beach through the eyes of two young girls. Illustrations are sweet and lovely.
I really did enjoy this book. I didn't truly know what to expect and even though i wish it was longer everything really flowed with the characters and you were able to see a little bit of their back stories. The illustrations were great too.
As with others my review seems to be, “Well, that was certainly a book.” I need time to think about how I feel in terms of a rating.
Art was beautiful, though.
Ugh, I mean yes - all of that and beautiful. But way to be a teenage shit narrator-girl.
It was an okay book. It touched on a lot of hard points, such as teen pregnancy, miscarriages and depression, to name a few. While I didn't completely enjoy it because of the way the story kind of dragged on for me, it really made me think how you really can't judge people by the attitudes they put off. You don't know what goes on inside their minds or behind closed doors.
4.5/5 stars
I was going back and forth with this book. I wasn't sure if this was a four or five star for me. I ended up settling for 4.5. Even though I was under the assumption that the parents were going to divorce due to their temporary separation I was wrong. One of my favorite aspects of this book is how the art is tied in with the story. At times I was confused on why they placed so much emphasis on the background until I realized how it connected with the story. I didn't particularly like any of the characters but also didn't end up hating any of them. The reason why I couldn't give this a 5 star review was because I didn't feel like the older teens involvement until the very end.