Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
Memories of Summer
by
Ruth White
By the author of the Newbery Honor book Belle Prater's Boy
It is the mid-1950s, and Lyrics familys dream is finally coming true -- they are moving from the backwoods of southwest Virginia to Flint, Michigan, where her father hopes to get an assembly-line job for a car manufacturer. Thirteen-year-old Lyric has always been close to and admired her older sister, Summer, who is...more
It is the mid-1950s, and Lyrics familys dream is finally coming true -- they are moving from the backwoods of southwest Virginia to Flint, Michigan, where her father hopes to get an assembly-line job for a car manufacturer. Thirteen-year-old Lyric has always been close to and admired her older sister, Summer, who is...more
Hardcover, 144 pages
Published
August 29th 2000
by Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
(first published January 1st 1901)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
This book is not yet featured on Listopia.
Add this book to your favorite list »
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
533)
I gave this book 5 stars because it was simply.....amazing! Did I like it? Can you like something that rips your heart out? That makes you cry so much you have to take your contacts out? This author really speaks to me. Her writing grips me. Her words stay with me. I am a better person for having read this. I don't think I will ever look at mental illness the same way again. Now I will think of the families in the background, struggling to hold on to that person they love, even though it's not t...more
My classification of this one might be stretching things a little. The multicultural element is a family from the rural Virginia with a schizophrenic daughter, and the urban location is Flint, MI in 1955. But I think that multiculturalism should include more than just ethnicities; reading this book, A Corner of the Universe, and (george) indicated to me that the mentally ill do occupy their own culture, as do the people who interact with them on a daily basis. Those who are not members of this c...more
Ho preso questo libro in biblioteca perche' ricordavo di averlo gia' letto molti anni fa e che mi era piaciuto. Il libro e' rivolto principalmente ad un target di giovani e giovanissimi, difatti e' lungo solamente 105 pagine ( e cio' di per se' non permette un grandissimo approfondimento dei personaggi ) ed il linguaggio e' molto, molto semplice.
Ad ogni modo, il tema trattato nel libro non e' dei piu' semplici per questo ne consiglio la lettura anche agli adulti: la storia verte intorno a due so...more
Ad ogni modo, il tema trattato nel libro non e' dei piu' semplici per questo ne consiglio la lettura anche agli adulti: la storia verte intorno a due so...more
This book reminded me of no other book as much as "A Corner of the Universe," and for a very good reason: there is most likely not another book for middle grade audiences that shows how utterly heartbreaking mental illness can be to a family, especially to a young girl caught in the middle of all of it. I doubt that many kids would WANT to read a book as sad as this (or that), but children with the same issues or those who are curious should be given these books. Anyway, as a lover of fiction ab...more
Memories of Summer is the bittersweet story of family relationships and how they are affected by a family member whose whole personality is changed through psychiatric challenges. It is told through the voice of Summers' younger sister. Her emotions and perspective are poignant and help the reader to empathize with what "losing" a loved one to mental illness can feel like to the family. I especially enjoyed this book because I have a mother who was diagnosed with mental illness in her early 40's...more
This book is set in the Depression and gives a good picture of mountain people forced to move to the city to eke out a bare living. However, the main theme/conflict revolves around the 13 year old protagonist’s sister, Summer, who is gradually manifesting severe schizophrenia. The protagonist must deal with the horrifying changes in her beloved and idealized sister and at the same time try to contribute to the family and make a life for herself as a “normal” teenager. Positive. Moves a little sl...more
I picked up this book this afternoon because it was in my library downstairs and the book I am reading is upstairs. The kids were playing outside and this was short, so I figured I would read a few pages while they ran amok. I don't know where or when I purchased this but I was surprised how much I liked this book. It is extremely short and the writing very simple, yet somehow I totally connected with the characters. It's fairly heavy (thirteen year old dealing with her sister's mental illness)...more
Very quick and short read. I was surprised at the abruptness of the ending, I had expected it to go a bit further into their lives, or possible have some big event that changed everything. It just crept along and then ended. After I finished the book I did a little research on the author and it turns out this is a very personal story. She has an older sister who was diagnosed with schizophrenia when she was a teenager. I thought her treatment of the subject was very honest, but overall I just wa...more
My daughter just finished reading this book and she thought I would like it. I originally thought the book was about a girl's memories of summer time, however, it is really about this girls memories of her sister, Summer, who has schizophrenia. I thought that the author did a good job writing about mental illness. We had some good discussion afterward.
This was such a moving book about a younger sister losing her older sister to mental illness (can't spell that one where people hear voices talking to them). A friend of mine just lost her mother-in-law to Alzheimers so this book really touched me.
It's a good read for the disease of the week crowd.
It's a good read for the disease of the week crowd.
Excellent. There are not many fiction books out there that address schizophrenia in such a sensitive, thought-provoking, discussion-provoking manner. Good bibliotherapy material for families and teens. Well written and woven fiction for anyone. It got awards. I would have given it more.
I liked reading this book. It demonstrates the strenghth of a younger to get it together and care for her older sister who has mental illness issues. They move as a family minus the mother from Virginia to Michigan so their father can find work. Good for teens and up.
This was an interesting story of a girl and her realization of her sister's mental illness (schizophrenia) and set in the 50s. It was interesting to find out that this was a somewhat true story of the author and her memories of her sister who also suffered with this illness.
Don't pick this up if you're in for a light and uplifting read. This was a very dark book, but very good. It discusses the struggles a family faces when the oldest daughter is bipolar. This is hard in any age, but this book takes place in the 1950s.
Lyric & Summer teenage sisters move w/their father from the hills of VA to Flint, MI in 1950's. Dad gets a job at a car plant, living conditions slowly improve for them, but Summer the older sister spirals into the life of a schzophrenia/paranoia-Good Read
I really enjoyed reading this book over summer because it's so realistic and it talks about things that you wont always see in other books. I personally, connected with the characters and I got to feel the same way they felt.
Aug 01, 2009
Krista the Krazy Kataloguer
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
read-childrens-books
I felt bad for Lyric's helplessness in the face of her sister's steady decline into schizophrenia. I can't imagine being in such a situation, especially with no mother to help. I highly recommend this for middle school on up.
Takes place in 50s, Flint, Michigan. Girl has to deal with her older sister’s mental deterioration. Very good. The library copy has a very plain, outdated cover so it's not necessarily one you'd go to!
lyric is a normal 14 year old struggling to help her sister,summer,whom some might say is loony.its sad to hear about how summer lives her life and how she realizes shes fading away,but it is a great read.
Absolutely stunning read. The story is captivating and has many facets which are interesting. This text is great as it also shows the power of culture.
this was a slow book not very intereasting but still deep and it has a nice stroy line to it. it does not have a happy ending and its pretty sad but ok
This was pleasant and interesting - another period piece. An up-close and personal look at a family member developing full-blown schizophrenia.
Very quick read about a young teenager who moves with her father and sister from a holler in Appalachia to Flint, Mich., in the 1950s, and her sister's quick descent into schizophrenia. Sad, but sweet.
Another book I read quite a long time ago, but I remember that I loved it when I read it, though it is quite sad.
I was really traumatized by this book when I read it as a kid. Read it if you want, but don't say you weren't warned.
Sep 29, 2011
Hebert-Birkenbach.Sierra Hebert-birkenbach
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
I think that this book was very enlightening and opened my eyes to a subject that I rarely think about.
This is a great novel for children! There is much excitement throughout the book between two sisters.
This books is so good but so sad at the end. I highly recommend this book.
I won't be keeping this one in my classroom. I felt it was very depressing.
Super Sad,but really good! It's a must read.
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
I was born in the Appalachian hills of Virginia, which is the setting for Belle Prater's Boy and The Search for Belle Prater. I lived there until I graduated from high school and went away to college. Though I left the hills, they never left me. My memories of those years are quite vivid. I have always referred to that time as both traumatic and wonderful. I get most of my ideas for my stories fro...more
More about Ruth White...
Share This Book
1 trivia question
1 quiz
More quizzes & trivia...
1 quiz
