Summerlost by Ally Condie - Review

Book Synopsis: It's the first real summer since the devastating accident that killed Cedar's father and younger brother, Ben. But now Cedar and what’s left of her family are returning to the town of Iron Creek for the summer. They’re just settling into their new house when a boy named Leo, dressed in costume, rides by on his bike. Intrigued, Cedar follows him to the renowned Summerlost theatre festival. Soon, she not only has a new friend in Leo and a job working concessions at the festival, she finds herself surrounded by mystery. The mystery of the tragic, too-short life of the Hollywood actress who haunts the halls of Summerlost. And the mystery of the strange gifts that keep appearing for Cedar.

Infused with emotion and rich with understanding, Summerlost is the touching middle grade debut from Ally Condie, the international bestselling author of the Matched series, that highlights the strength of family and personal resilience in the face of tragedy.

My Review:

3.75/5 stars. This was a simple and cute story, but it was almost too simple. There were a lot of emotional themes, but it lacked the emotional depth I think the author was going for. You could chalk it up to being middle grade, but I've read some great middle grade novels that are very emotionally rich. I liked the disability representation in this story, though. It wasn't a major plot point, but it was very important to who the main character was.

My favorite part of this book was how personal the narrator's voice was. It really felt like I was hearing a 12-year-old girl talk. The way she described things was simple and funny, yet still carried the weight of someone who's experienced tragic loss at a young age.

As I already mentioned, disability representation is always great. It's not explicitly stated in the story, but the main girl had a younger brother with autism. It's not portrayed as a negative thing, but it also points out that there are a lot of challenges to it sometimes. It was very realistic in that way.

The plot itself was very charming, about two kids becoming friends in a cozy, summer atmosphere. It wasn't an edge-of-your seat adventure, but it wasn't supposed to be. It was supposed to be a fun middle grade story, and that's exactly what it was. A little bit lacking in depth, but still good.

Content:

Language: None

Sexual Content: None

Violence/Gore: The main character's dad and brother died in a car accident, but it isn't described in any detail

Drugs/alcohol: None