The Summer I Turned Pretty

by Jenny Han

Overview

Some summers are just destined to be pretty

Belly measures her life in summers. Everything good, everything magical happens between the months of June and August. Winters are simply a time to count the weeks until the next summer, a place away from the beach house, away from Susannah, and most importantly, away from Jeremiah and Conrad. They are the boys that Belly has known since her very first summer — they have been her brother figures, her crushes, and everything in between. But one summer, one wonderful and terrible summer, the more everything changes, the more it all ends up just the way it should have been all along.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781416968290
Publisher:	Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers
Publication date:	04/06/2010
Series:	Summer I Turned Pretty Series , #1
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	28
Product dimensions:	8.24(w) x 5.60(h) x 0.82(d)
Lexile:	HL600L (what's this?)
Age Range:	12 - 18 Years

About the Author

Jenny Han is the New York Times bestselling author of The Summer I Turned Pretty series; Shug; the Burn for Burn trilogy, cowritten with Siobhan Vivian; and To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before and P.S. I Still Love You. She is also the author of the chapter book Clara Lee and The Apple Pie Dream. A former children’s bookseller, she earned her MFA in creative writing at the New School. Visit her at DearJennyHan.com.

Editorial Reviews

"This book has what every girl wants in a summer." — Sarah Dessen, author of Just Listen and Lock and Key

"The Summer I Turned Pretty offers a hard-to-resist combination — a beach house, summer love, enduring friendship. A deliciously sweet read." — Deb Caletti, author of Honey, Baby, Sweetheart and Wild Roses

"If I could live inside this amazing book, I would. I would inhale the ocean air and soak up the sun, and I would hang out all day with kind-wonderful-funny-awkward Belly and her two known-'em-forever buds, Jeremiah and Conrad. I'd watch the three of them stop being kids and start being more...and I'd hope hope hope that when Belly falls in love — 'cause you know she will — she'd give her heart to the exact right boy." — Lauren Myracle, author of the ttyl series and Bliss

"This well-written coming-of-age story introduces 15-year-old Isabel, aka Belly, for whom summer has always been the most important time of year. Han (Shug) realistically balances Belly's naïveté with her awareness of the changes the years have brought. Han's novel offers plenty of summertime drama." — Starred review from Publishers Weekly

"Belly's dawning awareness of her sexuality and that of the boys is a strong theme, as is the sense of summer as a separate and reflective time and place. Readers get glimpses of kisses on the beach, her best friend's flirtations during one summer's visit, a first date." — Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

Gr 7–10—Fifteen-year-old Belly has always spent the summer at her family's beach house. It is where she feels defined, loved, and safe. But during the summer she is turning 16, everything begins to change. Belly, her brother Steven, and their best friends Jeremiah and Conrad are all growing up and soon will be moving in different directions. Each teenager begins the summer trying to go on as if nothing is changing, but as time passes, they are all forced to recognize the differences in their relationships with one another and with the world. Steven and Conrad will be in college in the fall, Belly has finally admitted her love for Conrad, Jeremiah has fallen in love with Belly, and the boys' mother has been diagnosed with terminal cancer. Nothing can ever be the same. Jenny Han's hauntingly beautiful novel (S & S, 2009) is brilliantly read by Jessica Almasy who perfectly reflects Belly's teenage angst, emotional growth, and hard-earned revelations. She easily conveys the frustration and pain that causes Conrad to act out all summer, as well as the lackadaisical way that Jeremiah tries to breeze through his summer experience. All of the characters are wonderfully believable and the audiobook's overall tone creates an emotional and evocative listening experience. A must-have for public libraries and recommended for high school libraries, but it should be noted that there is some teenage drinking and mention of sexual situations.—Jessica Miller, New Britain Public Library, CT

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