The Amethyst Summer

by Bianca Bradbury

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Genres: Young Adult

200 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1963

About the author

Bianca Bradbury lived in Connecticut, and as a young wife, her writing took the form of verse, articles and short stories, which found their way into such magazines as Family Circle and McCall’s. Once she had two children, she began writing, first picture books, and then longer books. Later, when her two sons had grown up and left home, Mrs. Bradbury’s fiction focused mostly on contemporary issues for young adults. Besides a love for animals, which is most evident in her books for younger readers, her novels reveal her deep interest in honestly dealing with the realities of life. She was never afraid of tackling controversial subjects, desiring to do so with integrity and hope.

Her sons recall the life-long discipline she exhibited in her writing craft and her happy zest for life, both important attributes in writers for the young. She wrote 46 books over a span of 40 years. Mrs. Bradbury died in 1982

Reviews

[Katt Hansen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dated? Certainly! But there's something enjoyable to reading these vintage young adult books, that makes the hint of romance that much sweeter, the character development more meaningful.

Bayley is in charge of the home when her mother is away for the summer. This means keeping food on the table, managing the household of four men, and still having time to be a teenage girl. The way she handles the situations that arise is hopeful and real. She maintains a fairly positive attitude, even in the confusing world of dating, making friends, and figuring out how to be a girl after years of playing the tomboy.

Overall this book is one I'm happy to share with my daughter. I think she'll find a lot to enjoy in Bayley (that is somewhat reminiscent of the Beany Malone books by Webber). I wish I could find more by the author.

[Ms. Yingling · Rating 2 out of 5]

Personal Copy

Bayley's mother has to spend the summer caring for Bayley's great aunt, her namesake, in a town an hour or so away, because the aunt has broken her leg. She still plans on teaching one more year of 4th grade, though-- they won't get her to retire before she's 70! (Which means that she probably started teaching in about 1914, so is almost exactly my grandmother's age!) Bayley is left to take care of the homefront because her father and three brothers couldn't possibly do the laundry or shopping, what with Chip's jazz combo, Benjy working in the grocery store, and Tom working in the paper factory and needing to eat hearty breakfasts, leaving Chip and Bayley with dry cereal instead of eggs. Friend Jean helps out a little, but in the tradition of teen books from this era, is a bit more boy crazy than Bayley, who barely combs her hair and rarely changes out of her dungarees. Bayley does make an attempt to befriend the new neighbors, a family of Polish refugees whose father is a much lauded scientist recently hired by the nearby university. The mother is scared of everyone, having survived the Concentration Camps, but takes to Bayley. Between her brother's and Jean's admonitions, Bayley does manage to clean herself up and try to get some dates, because goodness knows she needs some break from the endless loads of stinky boy laundry. At the end of the summer, though, it's all been worth it-- she gets to put on a yellow silk dress and the boys all take her out to a fancy restaurant and each give her a piece of amethyst jewelry.

What the book doesn't address is how Bayley got older, spent two years in college studying home ec before marrying Bruno the neighbor boy. By 1975, she had four children, and Bruno decided to take up with a young Polish student of his, leaving Bayley alone in the split level with the avocado shag carpet. In order to make ends meet, she takes a job as the secretary at the children's school, and every morning as she puts on her double knit polyester pantsuit and accessorizes it with her amethysts, she looks in the mirror and wishes that she had learned her lesson that summer and had gone to Berkeley like Jean did. Jean's in line for tenure as a professor of the newly developed Women's Studies Program at one of the SUNY branches now, while Bayley is stuck with her brother Chip living in her basement and smoking pot.

Interesting that Kirkus, seemingly at the time of publication, didn't have great things to say about this, either.
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-re...

[Deborah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a childhood/teenage favorite that I love to re-read. Sixteen year old Bayley manages the household, makes new friends, and grows up a bit over her amethyst summer.

[Katie]

Plot summary: Housework, laundry, and cooking meals are thankless tasks.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

My second Bianca Bradbury book- I never read them as a teen.

This book is dated but I love to read books from this era. Bradbury writes books in which the reader comes to know the characters because they are so well described- looks and personalities. In this book Bayley Hughes, age 16, is left to manage her father and three brothers for a summer when her mother goes off to care for a beloved aunt who broke her hip. Frankly, she needed to set down rules because the men just walked all over her and left huge messes for her to clean up. Bayley not only learns to cope with the management of a house and family, but along the way she acquires some guys interested in her and a new family next door that need help: the parents were in a concentration camp and the mother has never recovered. The twins, Bayley's own age, need friended and taught the way of American teens. I loved the description of going to look for semi-precious gems. It's something that I'd love to do.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book fit in exactly to my life because I have 2 brothers at my house that love to make noise.

[Paula Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wasn't a reader is JH or HS, but I remember reading this book. It must have been good to me at the time, but don't remember much about it now :).

[Betsy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this after hearing someone compare the main character to Lenora Mattingly Weber's Beany Malone, and while I don't agree with that assessment at all, it's a charming, lightweight book.