That Summer

I stayed away from Sarah Dessen for a long time...on purpose.  I'm about to admit something I'm not proud of at all.  Okay...here it goes...I JUDGED HER BOOKS BY THEIR COVERS!  Whew, I feel so much better now.

Honestly though, during my occasional strolls through the YA section of my local Barnes and Noble I would gaze up at her (many) titles and think, 'I've heard she's good...she's been around for a while...pretty popular with teens...but I just can't get over these covers...a boy and a girl on a bike, a boy and a girl dancing on a beach, a girl doing a cart wheel on a beach...CHEESY...nope, I just can't do it...no Sarah Dessen for this crazy teacher...I want something edgier...more blood and guts!'

Then one day, I picked up the cart wheel book, opened it up, and read a little bit off the first page:

"The day my father got remarried, my mother was up at six A.M. defrosting the refrigerator.  I woke to the sound of her hacking away and the occasional thud as a huge slab of ice crashed.  My mother was an erratic defroster." (1)

Right away, I changed my tune.  This story wasn't going to be fluff n' stuff.  Those few sentences held the promise of humor and the raw emotion and upheaval experienced by families going through divorce.  This book was going to be good!


Here is the publisher's description of That Summer (a.k.a. the cart wheel book):


"For fifteen-year-old Haven, life is changing too quickly. She’s nearly six feet tall, her father is getting remarried, and her sister, the always perfect Ashley, is planning a wedding of her own. Haven wishes things could just go back to the way they were. Then an old boyfriend of Ashley’s reenters the picture, and through him, Haven sees the past for what it really was, and comes to grips with the
future."

I felt like That Summer was really more about character than plot, which is fine by me as long as the character is interesting.  Haven, the protagonist, is easy to relate to.  She's awkward, stuck between childhood and adulthood, hasn't found her voice yet, and doesn't seem to fit anywhere.  We watch her, over the course of the novel, get more comfortable with herself and with her reality.  We also see her learn how to break out of the  rescuer role in her family.  None of these things happen quickly, easily, or perfectly, and That Summer isn't the kind of book that ties up every loose end.  Instead Sarah Dessen does a great job of allowing her readers to make some of their own predictions about Haven and the rest of the characters in the book.  She subtly and and skillfully coveys some important themes: things aren't always what they seem; the importance of letting go of the past and looking ahead; accepting the imperfect love of our families.

Sarah Dessen treats her subject matter and readers with honesty and respect and comes across as very down-to-earth...not fluffy at all.  I'd be proud and more than comfortable to place That Summer in the hands of my students.

And the moral of the story is:  DON'T JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS COVER..