Annie Richards knows there are a million things to look out for--bicycle accidents, food poisoning, chicken pox, smallpox, typhoid fever, runawa... read full description
reviews
Jan 29, 2012
Cara
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You know how you get tired of reading the same thing over and over again? I was in that kind of rut. It's not any of the books were really bad, but I wanted something different. I wanted to feel like what it was to be a kid again. You know how you think you won't ever forget? Well inevitably you do forget some things. Thank goodness we have authors who can remember enough so young readers will want to read. If it weren't for authors who wrote for kids I know I probably wouldn't have become a rea
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Nov 30, 2010
Ashley
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I love this book. I really forgot I read it but I was amazing. I read this last year and my heart sank. A young girl's brother,Jared, passes on and her life will never be the same. When a neighbor she never exspects tures into her friend she is made a new. Her best friend and her get in a fight that really takes a toll on what has happened. She will have to look down deep and over come an exspect that Jared has passed on. It was a great book that shows the true meaning of friendship and a young
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Jan 03, 2012
Amanda (Born Bookish)
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I love reading middle grade books because the characters are always so quirky and lovable. In this book the main character Annie is afraid of everything ever since her brother Jared dies unexpectedly. Annie’s parents haven’t been the same since her brother’s death, but they refuse to talk about it, leaving Annie to deal with things in her own way. She wears a helmet when walking down the street, goes through more boxes of band-aids than a family of 12, and knows more about diseases than any 1
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Dec 02, 2011
Bonnie
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After Jared died Annie's whole prospective of life changed. Everyday things like riding in the car or walking down the street, she looked at as dangerous or fatal. Her brother Jared's birthday was coming up soon after he had died a few months earlier, her family was pretty quiet about it though. As a ten year old you might think that her summer would be easy going and fun for her. But no, she rode her bike to the store to buy band aids with elbow pads, knee pads, and a helmet everyday. Until one
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Sep 18, 2011
Jackie
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Annie Richards can't be too careful, you see, she just might catch some dreaded disease, or break an arm, or get poison ivy. Annie Richards didn't always used to be so worried...it wasn't until her brother, Jared died a few months ago from a defective heart condition that no one knew he had, that she became a hypochondriac.
Bicycle helmets (even riding in a car), bandages, and medical books are Annie's best line of defense. When her best friend, Rebecca is fed up with her nuerosis an More...
Bicycle helmets (even riding in a car), bandages, and medical books are Annie's best line of defense. When her best friend, Rebecca is fed up with her nuerosis an More...
May 19, 2011
UMBRELLA SUMMERS
Umbrella Summers by Lisa Graff is a really good book for you if you like some sadness in a good book. This is a book for both the girls and the boys. It is from a girl’s point of view but still for all people. I like this book a lot but it was not the best book that I have ever read. I do recommend it to all of you.
In this book there is a girl named Annie and she is worried to mush about all the diseases that there is in the world. She is worried about al More...
Umbrella Summers by Lisa Graff is a really good book for you if you like some sadness in a good book. This is a book for both the girls and the boys. It is from a girl’s point of view but still for all people. I like this book a lot but it was not the best book that I have ever read. I do recommend it to all of you.
In this book there is a girl named Annie and she is worried to mush about all the diseases that there is in the world. She is worried about al More...
Mar 08, 2011
Mollie
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I really enjoyed reading Umbrella Summer by Lisa Graff. This story was about losing someone you love and learning to cope with the grief that follows. The book reminded me of losing my great grandmother this past summer. Annie, the main character in this story, became very fearful about life and was extremely cautious about everything in her life. I was totally able to relate to Annie's feelings. When you lose someone you love, it changes the way you view life. I also understood why Annie wa
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Dec 09, 2010
Annie Richards knows there are a million things to look out for—bicycle accidents, food poisoning, chicken pox, smallpox, typhoid fever, runaway zoo animals, and poison oak. That's why being careful is so important, even if it does mean giving up some of her favorite things, like bike races with her best friend, Rebecca, and hot dogs on the Fourth of July. Everyone keeps telling Annie not to worry so much, that she's just fine. But they thought her brother, Jared, was just fine too, and Jared di
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Apr 23, 2010
Jeni
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Recently, during a 3 1/2-hour flight to Phoenix, I read Lisa Graff's UMBRELLA SUMMER, and I tell you, I cannot count the number of times I cried while reading this book. It's the story of Annie, a 10-year-old girl whose brother, Jared, died of a undiagnosed heart condition after being hit by a hockey puck five months earlier. Now, Annie is obsessed with protecting herself from harm: She wears a bike helmet during car rides, covers her mosquito bites with Band-aids (and wonders if they might be c
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Jul 01, 2009
babyhippoface
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Racing downhill and feeling the wind in her hair is a thing of the past for 10-year-old Annie. Now she walks her bicycle down the hill, even though it takes 5 times as long, because it's much safer. Elbow and knee pads, ankle wraps, and boxes of Band-Aids have become symbols of her life since her older brother Jared died. Mom and Dad say she's safe, that they'll always protect her, but that didn't help Jared, who died as a result of a rare heart condition aggravated by a hockey accident.
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Apr 25, 2009
GirlwiththeBraids
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The summer after her brother died from a rare accident, Annie Richards is overprotective and far too careful in everything she does. She wears a helmet when she is walking down the street, uses all of her allowance on Band-Aids, and isn’t herself anymore. What if she got a scratch and it became infected? What if she got gangrene? Anything and everything can bring a sickness, deformity, or future medical problem. When an old lady moves into the house across the street, Annie realizes that maybe,
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Apr 21, 2009
Becky
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Umbrella Summer was a quick and easy read. It didn't capture me at the beginning like I had hoped, but it packed a punch at the end. Annie is quite a character and it was easy to fall in love with her. I found myself wanting to just give her a hug! Especially since her parents, though grieving the loss of their son, were totally uninvolved with her life. It almost seemed that Annie had better relationships with the adult neighbors around her than with her own parents. Through one of those relati
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Jan 06, 2011
10-11 Estrella
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Annie's brother died this past febuary. Her whole family is still sad about it. Annie worries to much about stuff,she worries about getting all sort of sickness. Jared Annie's dead brother he died all of the sudden. They had told his family he was ok but the very next day he died. So thats why Annie is very cafeful. Everyone tells Annie to stop worrying to much. She knows that theres a million of things out there she should worry about food poisoning,chicken pox,small pox and a bunch of other si
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Dec 12, 2009
Jeanette
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After the sudden death of her older brother Annie copes by becoming ultra cautious about injuries and illness. Instead of racing her friends on her bike she decides to make turtle tracks, a competition to see who can ride the slowest and that is really just the tip of the iceberg. Band-aides covering her body, wearing a helmet, knee pads and ace bandages everywhere she goes Annie is taking no chances.
This was a sweet book about loss, sorrow and friendship. Some great characters, especial More...
This was a sweet book about loss, sorrow and friendship. Some great characters, especial More...
Jun 16, 2011
Stacy
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Annie Richards' brother has passed away from a heart related maladay related to getting hit with a hockey puck a few days earlier. Annie keeps her grief at bay by constantly thinking about potential things that could cause her to have an illness: ebola, chicken pox, gangrene, riding her bicycle, high blood pressure, mosquito bites and more. Her parents aren't getting along too well either. They still care for Annie and provide for her and even try to talk to her. But, they aren't quite there f
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Jun 25, 2011
Adela
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Lord. I haven't cried so much since the first time I read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. This book is amazing. It's written so well like it's really from the perspective of a ten-year-old girl who is coping with the aftermaths of her brother's death. It's just so innocent and childish and.. and completely heartbreaking. This is the point where I started crying:
"Don't call me Moonbeam anymore," I told him.
"What?" he said.
"Don't call me More...
"Don't call me Moonbeam anymore," I told him.
"What?" he said.
"Don't call me More...
Dec 07, 2009
Amy Wilder
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Bittersweet story of a girl who abruptly lost her brother to a heart defect, her parents to their own grief and her sense of safety. As serious about protecting herself from the dangers of the world as any good obsessive-compulsive, Annie covers herself in band-aids and knee-pads, hoping to avoid an early death. Meanwhile, her mother locks the door to her brother's room and clams up and her father becomes increasingly absent-minded.
This book has a heroine as endearing as Beverly Cl More...
This book has a heroine as endearing as Beverly Cl More...
Nov 19, 2011
Alyssa
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Annie is constantly worried or cautious as Annie calls it. She has been acting this way since her brother died from heart problems.Everyone gives her the dead brother look as Annie calls it, and Annie is sick of it. She is always wearing band-aids whenever she gets a tiny scrape, and she wears a bike helmet even when walking or riding in the car.
A little old lady moves in across the street, and Annie's friend Jessica is sure that her house is haunted. They need a way to get inside that h More...
A little old lady moves in across the street, and Annie's friend Jessica is sure that her house is haunted. They need a way to get inside that h More...
Jan 15, 2010
Cornmaven
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Such a sweet book about a family, including a young girl, going through the first year after her brother's sudden death. It all felt so true to what each person must have been feeling. The grief was just palpable. Everyone's avoiding facing the reality, in his/her own way, and this is the impetus for the umbrella metaphor, which I won't get into because it will spoil the book. Annie, the girl, narrates it, as she goes through her own world of hypochondria and trying to avoid every imaginable
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Jul 14, 2010
Taylor
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Jul 09, 2009
Mary
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Ever since Annie's older brother Jared died, Annie's been obsessed with danger and illness. Except for some of the odd behaviors that result from her obsession, Annie seems fine, enjoying summer activities and being with her best friend Rebecca, but as Jared's birthday (he would have been 12) approaches Annie's life gets a bit out of control. With the help of Mrs. Finch, the old lady who moves into the haunted house across the street, Annie is able to begin to face and put aside some of her grie
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Mar 04, 2010
Megan
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After the death of her older brother from a rare, undiagnosed heart condition, Annie becomes obsessed with living carefully. She always has a helmet and a package of band-aids nearby and refuses to do anything that might seem the least bit dangerous (Hot dogs from a hot dog stand? What if they haven't been cooked at precisely the right temperature?). With the help of a new neighbor, Charlotte's Web,and many friends, Annie learns how to deal with her grief (and her parents' grief)and begin to hea
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Sep 11, 2009
Connie
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I hesitated reading this book as I really was not in a mood for a book dealing with death, dying and grief. However, something about this book called out to me. I'm glad it did because 10 year old Annie's quirky behavior with her hypochondria and fear of day-to-day life after the death of her older brother Jared touched me as she fought her way through the grief her entire family is experiencing. This book is not only an excellent bibliotherapy tool but Annie will endear herself to any reader
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Jul 22, 2009
Chelsea
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This isn't a perfect book, but it's still a lovely easier chapter book for the pre-tween crowd. Annie has just lost her older brother and is coping by being extra careful. She's one of those characters that grows on you and then won't let go after you close the book - realistic, troublesome, funny, and a bit heartwrenching. Her relationship with the new neighbor who helps her through her problems seems a bit pat, and the whole Charlotte's Web thing could have been fleshed out a bit more, but ove
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Jul 25, 2011
Amy
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After Annie's older brother dies of a sudden heart malfunction, she becomes obsessed with diseases and illnesses. She wraps her ankles in Ace bandages, begins to wear her bike helmet when she walks around the neighborhood, and sticks band-aids on mosquito bites. She even steals a book about ailments and their cures so she can read about them in her free time. When a new neighbor moves into the "haunted" house, Annie decides to give her a chance. Their friendship helps them both heal an
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Dec 23, 2010
Heather
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I haven't read too many fictions dealing with the subject of death, but I can relate with the automatic movements that Annie's parents make in the wake of their only son's death. It is hard to change anything that might spoil the memory, but it is hard to even think of the person that has passed without causing pain and sorrow. Annie deals with this in her own way, and Graff gives Annie an understanding of when people are pitying her with the "dead brother look."
A new neighbor More...
A new neighbor More...
Jul 19, 2010
Kristi
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Since losing her older brother Jared in a freak accident, Annie believes that she needs to protect herself from dangerous situations and illness. Jared was hit in the chest by a hockey puck--something that is usually a minor sports injury. But because of his unknown heart defect, Jared was no longer with them. Annie's obsession has her friends and family worried. With the help of a new neighbor and a book called Charlotte's Web, Annie starts to become her old self again.
Umbrella More...
Umbrella More...
May 03, 2009
Sharon
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I really enjoyed Umbrella Summer very much. The story of Annie Richards was touching and inspirational. The loss of a loved on at such a young age is hard, but when that loved one happens to be a sibling this makes it even more difficult. Add the fact that you’re only 10 and that your brother died suddenly at 12 year old and this make it all the more tragic. Annie was a very sympathetic character. I really found her very easy to relate to and I could understand why she became so obsessed with st
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Nov 20, 2011
♥Meagan♥
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I loved this book. It was written for middle grade, late elementary school to early middle school.
The growth of Annie after the death of her brother Jared is amazing. I found the characters and the trials to be truthful. I found the children to act the way they were supposed to. I loved how the parents were affected by their son's death as well and you can tell. It makes the book that much more realistic. I found the book to be a great look at grief and loss for kids without being too More...
The growth of Annie after the death of her brother Jared is amazing. I found the characters and the trials to be truthful. I found the children to act the way they were supposed to. I loved how the parents were affected by their son's death as well and you can tell. It makes the book that much more realistic. I found the book to be a great look at grief and loss for kids without being too More...
May 21, 2010
Upstatemamma
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I read this book as part of my attempt to look at what books schools recommend and require. It was good. It was better than the other one I read. It was sad at times but pretty powerful. It is somewhat odd reading it as an adult and as a parent because I got angry with the parents at times - they were not doing their job well and their poor daughter had to do it for them. I think kids could probably relate to her but not the situation. I still do not know that I will require my kids to read anyt
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