Julian's Glorious Summer (A Stepping Stone Book) [Paperback]

Ann Cameron (Author), Dora Leder (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 5 and up | Grade Level: K and up

Bicycles–shiny, whizzing, wobbly bicycles–scare Julian more than lions or tigers. But how can he tell that to his best friend, Gloria? She can already ride with no hands. So instead of telling the truth, Julian makes up a little fib. And he almost gets away with it–until his fib backfires and Julian finds himself in the biggest, most confounding fix ever.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 2-4 Children are in for a treat with these two books. In The Chalk Box Kid, Gregory is dealing with several problems. His family has to move after his father has lost his job, and his unliked Uncle Max moves in with them and shares Gregory's room. Bulla has done an excellent job of making this story upbeat and interesting, and of bringing Gregory's hard-working blue-collar family to life. Gregory reacts to his upsets by drawing a fantastic garden out of chalk on the walls of an abandoned building. His imagination and artistic talents help him immediately, and later, when admired by others, help him to gain a better self image and work out his problems. Readers are sure to sympathize with Gregory and the changes in his life. Teachers are portrayed as compassionate and interested in their students' welfare. Outstanding characterization plus a poignant story make this a particularly strong selection. Cameron has captured the same atmosphere in Julian's Glorious Summer as she did in The Stories Julian Tells (Pantheon, 1981). Julian is pleased that summer has arriveduntil his best friend Gloria rides by on a new bicycle. His fear of falling prohibits him from learning to ride, and he doesn't want Gloria to know. Cameron has done an excellent job of portraying children's fears and their desire to hide them. In both stories, the authors have dealt effectively and positively with children in difficult situations, but who have the support of caring adults. Two superb choices for readers going from easy readers to chapter books. Zenata W. Pierre, Portland Public Schools, Oreg.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"Librarians wanting stories with black protagonists will especially welcome this."--Booklist.

"When his best friend, Gloria, gets a new bike, Julian (7) is dismayed: he doesn't want to learn to ride, because he's afraid of falling. In a satisfying conclusion, Julian gets his own bike as a reward for considerable labor, and then learns what fun it can be to ride. This is a perfectly constructed young reader, with neat turns in the plot, a loving family, and engaging dialogue."--(pointer) Kirkus.

“Cameron has done an excellent job of portraying children’s fears and their desire to hide them. . . . [A] superb choice for readers going from easy readers to chapter books.”–School Library Journal

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 5 and up
  
• Paperback: 64 pages
• Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers (September 12, 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0394891171
• ISBN-13: 978-0394891170
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.2 x 7.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #126,653 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Ann Cameron has worked in publishing, as a university teacher and as a camp cook on a Mayan dig in Belize where boa constrictors climbed into the thatch of the roof to hunt mice at night. Ann has written a number of books for children and those for Transworld's Corgi Yearling imprint feature a small boy called Julian: JULIAN, SECRET AGENT, JULIAN, DREAM DOCTOR AND THE JULIAN STORIES.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Scared Julian !!, November 28, 2001

By 

Cheh Carmen (Cheh Carmen,Malaysia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Julian's Glorious Summer (A Stepping Stone Book) (Paperback)

I never thought that boys are afraid of bicycles but it seems that we have one here.And that is Julian!! Bicycles scare him more than tigers and lions! Oh,my gosh!This book is about a boy named Julian.He detests bicycles more than anything.His friend,Gloria owns a bicycle and wants to teach him how to ride.He refuses and makes up a fib.But the fib gets him into more trouble than telling the truth.Like the proverb,"Honesty is the best policy".If you want to find out what happened,read this book.Fibbers will always be fibbers but I hope Julian wouldn't be one after he tells this fib.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Julian's Glorious Summer, September 4, 2008

By 

Anna M. Ligtenberg "AnnaLovesBooks" (Chicago) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Julian's Glorious Summer (A Stepping Stone Book) (Paperback)

ISBN 0394891171 - Any book that wins the Library of Congress Children's Book of the Year gets my attention and Julian's Glorious Summer took that prize in 1988. The lesson of Julian's story is one that all parents can appreciate.

Julian's summer takes a nosedive from the beginning, when his best friend Gloria rides up on her bicycle. She thinks it's great - he thinks it's scary. Not that he's about to say that! Instead, when Gloria invites him over to her house, Julian claims that his father will be forcing him to work day and night for the entire summer. His lie snowballs and, perhaps worse, his father seems to think this is a good idea and puts Julian to work immediately. One day, however, the work runs out - it's payday and Julian is in for yet another surprise this summer.

The back cover says Reading Level 2.8. This book is a nice way for a kid to learn how lying can backfire, but at the same time Julian ends up with quite a payoff for his lies, so the lesson can be a little vague and might merit further discussion. Julian's fear of riding a bike is not uncommon and might help your child face his or her own fear - of bikes or anything else. The illustrations, by Dora Leder, are black and white pencil sketches and the lack of the vibrant colors usually found in books for very young readers is a positive here, because they don't distract from the text but enhance it. Race is most certainly not an issue in this story, but it might be worth knowing for some that the characters are black (it's never said, just in the images). This might make the book even more appealing to black families who have, in my reading experience so far, been under-represented in childrens' books. Julian's summer is glorious, the book is all right and the messages in it are worthwhile.

- AnnaLovesBooks

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Miss McCabe's Class Loves Julian!, September 23, 2003

By 

C. Spector "cmmccabe26" (Madison, WI) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Julian's Glorious Summer (A Stepping Stone Book) (Paperback)

Our class read Julian's Glorious Summe by Ann Cameron. We feel that the book was fabulous! Julian tells many lies in this book to hide the secret that he's scared of bikes. Ms. Cameron wrote the sentences in a fun and interesting way. At the end, Julian got a surprise and he was successful. Julian learned an important lesson. Overall, we think you should read this book too.