When We Had Summer by Jennifer Castle - ESSENTIAL

When We Had Summer by Jennifer Castle. 324 pages. Hyperion, 2023. $19 

Language: PG (30 swears 0 'f'): Mature Content: PG (death, grief, anxiety, some chaste kissing) Violence: G 

BUYING ADVISORY: MS, HS - ESSENTIAL 

AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE 

Carly, Daniella, Penny, and Lainie have been spending idyllic summers together at the New Jersey shore since they were 6. Each summer they craft a new Summer Sisters bucket list and then spend the summer checking each item off the list. Now that they are 14 and about to start 9th grade everything is different. Carly died suddenly over the winter from a heart condition. Daniella has been accepted to a summer music program in the city, Lainie learns her family is moving out of Ocean Park Heights and Penny is distracted by a job and new boyfriend. Each of the remaining Summer Sisters is dealing with the grief and loss of their friend and the new changes in their lives in different ways. But when they find that Carly had written a summer bucket list before she died, they start trying to work through the list and their grief and find a new way forward together. 

This is a great story about three young women who are trying to navigate grief and change. I think the book is full of some very positive messages. Daniella has been struggling with anxiety since the death of Carly and she uses some positive methods to try and cope. Death and major life changes are hard at any age. These three girls learn through trial and error that relying on good friends, truly seeing others and what they are experiencing, and seeking the good in life is sometimes the best way to get through it. Carly is described as having rusty gold hair, Daniella with light brown skin (Italian/West African heritage), Penny as being pale with sun bleached highlights and Lainie with dark brown skin. 

A. Snow, MLS