Title: One Summer

Author: Mariko Tamaki, Jillian Tamaki

Star Rating: 5/5

Synopsis: A young girl visits a lake house with her mom and dad. She meets up with a friend she only sees during this annual vacation and they go to the corner shop for candy and movies. The main character’s parents are having some problems, and it becomes clear early on that her mother is depressed. The graphics emote and capture what it means to be a teenage girl trying to make sense of older people, and become an adult herself. 

Memorable Quote: “I remember once, when I was eight, and we were going to come here in the winter for this thing. I can’t remember what it was. And I was all mad because I didn’t want to see Awango with snow. So I pretended to have a stomachache so I wouldn’t have to go. I wanted to have this perfect picture of Awango in my head. Which I guess is a picture of Awago in the summer. Kind of just like this.” 

*Spoilers below!*

My Take: I loved this book. I want to find a twelve year old girl to gift it to right away. Never have I read something that so perfectly captured the innocence and angst of being a young girl who hates and loves everything all at once. No family is perfect or simple, but the perspective of this story captures how beautiful it can be to learn about our imperfect parents, and forgive our imperfect friends who are just as genuine and confused about adulthood as we are. 

I loved how the bodies of young girls feel real in this story. I also like how the author captured the emotional fallout of her mother’s miscarriage, and took a less-is more approach when it came to handling planned and unplanned pregnancies. The water in this story is beautiful, complex, mysterious, and daunting, just like women, and adulthood. One of my favorite scenes in the book is when the girls just dance around and get hyped up on sugar. And a moment when the friends fight seemingly over everything and nothing was hard to read, but beautiful too. I’d recommend this book to all young girls at heart.