Goodreads asked Amy Mason Doan:

Where did you get the idea for your most recent book?

Amy Mason Doan THE SUMMER LIST is about two girlhood best friends who reunite for a grown-up scavenger hunt after 17 years apart.

I was camping with my family by the Oregon coast five years ago when a pack of kids ran up with a scavenger hunt list their parents had written to keep them entertained. I gave them a graham cracker...I don't remember what else was on the list. I do remember that they looked ecstatic, rushing up to strangers, strategizing, caught up in the thrill of the game.

In THE SUMMER LIST the scavenger hunt has its funny, light moments, but it takes on a deeper meaning as the novel progresses. The items and Polaroids Laura and Casey gather tell a bittersweet story about their friendship. They force them to revisit the terrain of the past. I loved that idea of being forced to reconnect, and how objects hold layers of meaning.

I also LOVED that dopey Scavenger Hunt movie from the 1970s. It used to run on Cinemax a lot; as a kid I watched it obsessively.

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