When I was summer

First Title Value for Searching:

When I was summer

Personal Author:

Howard, J. B.

Physical Description:

296 pages ; 22 cm.

Summary:

Sixteen-year-old Nora Wakelin has always felt like an outsider in her own family. Her parents and older sister love her, but they don't understand anything about her: not her passion for music, not her all-encompassing crush on her bandmate Daniel (who is very much unavailable), not her recklessness and impulsiveness. Nora has always imagined that her biological mother might somehow provide the answer as to why she feels like such an outsider. Through internet stalking and leaps of logic, Nora identifies three women living elsewhere in California who seem like they could be her mother. So she sets out to track them each down, one by one, under the pretense of a statewide tour with her rock band, Blue Miles. Three cities, three gigs, three possible birth mothers--it sounds so easy. Once they're on the road, of course, it's anything but easy. Nora wants to be with Daniel, she wants to find her birth mother, she wants to keep her parents happy, she wants the band to stay together, and she wants to know why she is the way she is. But she won't be the first musician to find out that, while you can't always get what you want, sometimes you get what you need.

Subject Term:

Families -- Fiction.

Birthmothers -- Fiction.

Musicians -- Fiction.

Adoption -- Fiction.

Automobile travel -- Fiction.

Interpersonal relations -- Fiction.

Publication Info:

New York : Viking, 2019.

Subject:

Families -- Fiction.

Birthmothers -- Fiction.

Musicians -- Fiction.

Adoption -- Fiction.

Automobile travel -- Fiction.

Interpersonal relations -- Fiction.

Family

Families -- Social aspects

Families -- Social conditions

Family life

Family relationships

Family structure

Relationships, Family

Structure, Family

Birth mothers

Child placing

Automobile touring

Automobile traveling

Automobiles -- Touring

Automobiles -- Traveling

Automobiling

Touring, Automobile

Traveling by car

Human relations

Interpersonal relationships

Personal relations

Relations, Interpersonal

Relationships, Interpersonal

Social behavior

SAILS ISBN:

9780451480200

Available:

Library	Shelf Number	Shelf Location	Status
Searching... Seekonk Public Library	YA HOWARD	YOUNG ADULT FICTION	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Somerset Public Library	YA HOWARD J.B.	YOUNG ADULT FICTION	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

A relatable novel about unrequited love, rock 'n' roll, and what you find when you go searching for yourself.

Sixteen-year-old Nora Wakelin has always felt like an outsider in her own family. Her parents and older sister love her, but they don't understand anything about her: not her passion for music, not her all-encompassing crush on her bandmate Daniel (who is very much unavailable), not her recklessness and impulsiveness. Nora has always imagined that her biological mother might somehow provide the answer as to why she feels like such an outsider.

Through internet stalking and leaps of logic, Nora identifies three women living elsewhere in California who seem like they could be her biological mother. So she sets out to track them each down, one by one, under the pretense of a statewide tour with her rock band, Blue Miles. Three cities, three gigs, three possible birth mothers--it sounds so easy.

But once they're on the road, of course, it's anything but easy. Nora wants to be with Daniel, she wants to find her birth mother, she wants to keep her parents happy, she wants the band to stay together, and she wants to know why she is the way she is. But she won't be the first musician to find out that, while you can't always get what you want, sometimes you get what you need.

Reviews (2)

Kirkus Review

Nora and her fellow band members are heading in their van to perform at an elite club in San Francisco, but Nora also has secret, hopeful, ulterior motives.High school junior Nora is already an accomplished bass player and the only girl in a four-member band called Blue Miles. Her opportunity to join her band mates playing the Magwitch has come at a price; she has reluctantly promised her adoptive parentshigh-end professionalsthat in return she will do an internship in Washington, D.C., over the summer. Abandoned by her birthparents as a toddler named Summer, the olive-skinned, black-haired teenagerwho is curious about her ethnic originshas imagined that she is the child of now-famous musicians who had to give her up when they were just starting out. Nora cleverly, secretly plans the band's van trip from Huntington Beach to San Francisco so it coincides with towns offering possible leads for her birthparent-seeking detective work. Skillful storytelling interweaves the protagonist's passion for music, her unrequited love for a fellow band mate, and such issues as teen alcohol abuse, socio-economic differences, career choices, toxic relationships, andof coursethe nature versus nurture debate. Characters and dialogue are believable and inclusive of various ethnicities and sexual orientations. Nora's combination of grit, humor, and vulnerability compels readers to join her on her journey of self-discovery. This bass player's coming-of-age story keeps a strong and steady beat. (Fiction. 12-16) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Booklist Review

Nora Wakelin, a high-school junior, has a pretty good life. She has loving parents and a big sister who adores her, and she is an up-and-coming bassist in her own band. But Nora also feels different from the rest of her family: she's adopted. Nothing has ever indicated that she is treated differently, but her interests don't seem to fit. Her parents, an attorney and a state senator, want her to take a summer internship, and, if she does, she has their permission to go to San Francisco with her band to open for a popular group. After learning that her birth name was Summer, she does some searching and finds three possibilities for her birth parents along the way. Nora's journey is a lot more complicated than she counted on, but, in the end, she sees that not everything is cast in stone and change is not only inevitable but also something to embrace. Nora's spirited, heartfelt first-person narration is imbued with a sense of immediacy, and, through it, Howard explores a familiar subject in a fresh way.--Donna Scanlon Copyright 2019 Booklist