Annie Richards’ obsession with bandages and protective gear makes sense once you find out about her brother’s sudden death, but—please—don’t give her that “dead brother look.”
Lisa Graff. Umbrella Summer. Laura Geringer Books, 2009. 240 pages. Age 9 to 12. On sale June 2nd.
Summary – No one is coping well with Jared’s death. Mom won’t stop cleaning, Dad’s stuck in his own world, and Annie is obsessively worried about contracting obscure diseases and protecting herself from physical injuries. She has a falling out with her best friend (who can’t distinguish the magnitude of losing a brother from that of losing a hamster) but finds friendship in an elderly neighbor who convinces her to close her metaphorical umbrella, maybe, a little.
Yes – I have almost nothing bad to say about this book. I enjoyed the characters, and the story had just the right amount of conflict, and the right amount of resolution. Its biggest strength is in its small moments and incidental dialogue, which had me smiling a whole lot for a book about grief.
Points -
- +20 for arm-scrape tea
- +20 for pillow races
- +10 for a Junior Sunbirds hosing
- -10 for a last page that I was tempted to tear out
- -15 for an unconvincing “You’re not my best friend anymore!” element. Kids fight and stop talking to each other, sure, but something about it didn’t feel right.
- +5 for Charlotte’s Web
- +50 for big dictionaries and the word wall
Quotable -
“It turned out there were about a million things I might have, the flu or a concussion or Colorado tick fever or even mono. But I was pretty positive that out of all of them, I had Ebola. And wouldn’t you know, there was no cure for that one. It was all rashes and bleeding, and then you just up and died, and no one could save you.” (p. 152)
“I didn’t know what was going to be in that box. Something fragile! that’s all I knew for sure.” (p. 169)
Disclosure: An uncorrected review copy was provided by the publisher. They neither paid nor pressured me to speak well of it.
