About the book: 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: This was a cute story about friendship and grief. I really liked it.
Cedar is a cute character, I liked that you saw everything through her eyes. Although doing so makes it so that you don't quite understand what's going on with the other characters, you just kind of know what Cedar thinks is going on. I liked the way she was tenacious enough to follow the boy that was dressed up and try to figure out just what he was doing. And the way that she knew that having a job for the summer would help her get through her first summer missing her dad and brother. I think she felt a bit of guilt over not missing every bit of her brother, he had some mental challenges and made things a bit more difficult for everyone in the family. I loved the way that small gifts that reminded her of her brother started appearing and how she was quick to come up with an idea of just who was leaving them for her.
This has a cute plot and since it's a middle grade book, it's a clean quick read that you won't want to put down!
I borrowed this book from my local library.Labels: Ally Condie, middle grade book
