Summer's End [Paperback]

Audrey Couloumbis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2007

The summer Grace turns thirteen is when everything changes. The Vietnam War is raging, and Grace’s brother, Collin, is drafted. But Collin decides to take a stand and burn his draft card, igniting a war within the family. Grace suddenly finds herself bewildered and angry, thrust into a turbulent political climate. The war is everywhere, and Grace quickly learns that she cannot escape it, no matter how hard she tries.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 6-9–This novel poignantly captures the tensions, uncertainties, and rifts caused by the Vietnam War. When 13-year-old Grace's brother, Collin, burns his draft card, his stepfather throws him out of the house and the teen heads to Canada. Grace's mother, whose first husband died in the Korean War, supports her son's decisions. Grace is confused about who is right and where her allegiance lies. When the arguing gets to be too much for her, she retreats to her grandmother's farm, where she encounters her large extended family, among them her teenage cousins, who have older brothers whose lives have also been impacted by the war. When Uncle Milford dies in an accident, his relatives recognize the fragility of life and the importance of family. In its touching examination of loss, grief, and the power of families to heal, this novel is reminiscent of Getting Near to Baby (Putnam, 1999). The first-person, present-tense narrative conveys powerful emotions with the simplest of words. Grace's jealousy of her brother, her confusion, and her simultaneously missing and being mad at him all ring true. She comes to realize that all choices are hard, and that while people you care about don't always do what you think is right, it is important that families stay together. Couloumbis's spare, strong writing aptly conveys a difficult time in America.–Connie Tyrrell Burns, Mahoney Middle School, South Portland, ME
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Gr. 7-10. The day before her thirteenth birthday, Grace's older brother, Collin, burns his draft card at a local sit-in. At first, Grace is concerned that her brother has upstaged her, once again. But her worries widen when her enraged father, a Korean War veteran, turns Collin out of the house. While Collin stays with sympathetic friends and her parents battle over ideological differences, Grace escapes to her grandmother's farm, where her large, boisterous extended family enfolds her and eventually her parents, helping everyone find new understanding and forgiveness. Grace's colloquial voice, filled with colorful southern phrasing, occasionally sounds too mature. But as in her Newbery Honor Book, Getting Near to Baby (1999), Couloumbis creates a vivid, affecting cast of characters, and sifts through a family's complex sorrow, anger, and love with incisive clarity and honesty: "I purely hated them all," says Grace of her feuding family. In addition, the questions that Grace and her young cousins ask about the Vietnam War may help contemporary readers articulate their own concerns about war, patriotism, and personal morality. Gillian Engberg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Paperback: 184 pages
• Publisher: Speak (March 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0142407836
• ISBN-13: 978-0142407837
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,162,355 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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