The Last Days of Summer
The end of summer is in sight and here at Quirk Books we’re in deep deep denial about it. To celebrate these last warm days, here are some of our favorite young adult books with summer in the title. So grab a beach towel and your favorite sunglasses because these books need to be soaked up in the sun.
The Summer of Chasing Mermaids by Sarah Ockler
In this loose adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid, talented Trinidad native Elyse d’Abreau loses her voice in a boating accident. Forget singing – the most talented singer in Tobago can’t even speak. So when a friend invites her to spend the summer in a quiet Oregon seaside town, she accepts. And it’s everything that her home in the Caribbean isn’t. The ocean is too cold to swim in, the parties are too tame to sing at, and then there’s Christian Kane. Insolent, arrogant Christian Kane. We can predict how that’s going to turn out. But the journey set out by Sarah Ockler’s prose is the real reason to read this book.
Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson
After her father receives devastating news, Taylor’s parents decide that the family will spend one last summer together at their Pocono Mountains lake house. The family has never been close. Everyone’s either a little busy or a little distant, but they get along fine. Swell, even. But close quarters can be a real game changer and the Edwards family is starting to discover that they don’t know each other as well as they thought they did. A slightly darker take on the summer paperback, Second Chance Summer will make you look a little harder at the family you’re born with and the family you choose.
The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han
In Belly’s mind, everything good happens between June and August. She measures her life in summers, counting down to the next one as Fall, Winter, and Spring pass too slowly for her liking. It’s a countdown to the beach house and time with Jeremiah and Conrad. They’re her protectors and her first crushes, but they’ve always treated her like a sister. But this summer is going to be different. Belly is sure of it.
This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki
This dreamy two-color graphic novel is the embodiment of summer. For Rose and Windy, summer and Awago Beach are synonymous. Much like the girls’ friendship, you can’t have one without the other. But when Rose’s parents won’t stop fighting, the girls set out to distract themselves with exploration, adding a whole new level of secrets and sorrow to their secluded summer vacation. This One Summer is tough and feminist with characters wise beyond their years. What more could you ask for?
Open Road Summer by Emery Lord
Nursing twin broken hearts, Reagan O’Neill and her country superstar best friend Lilah Montgomery set off on a 24-city tour filled with break-up ballads and general badassery. But a girls-only road trip quickly loses its direction when Matt Finch joins the tour as Lilah’s opening act, just when Reagan pledged to live a drama-free life. Navigating highways is one thing, navigating how fame factors into your friendship is another thing altogether. This book is for everyone who didn’t get to take that road trip this year.
