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The Summer Before Boys | LitPick Book Reviews
The Summer Before Boys
The Summer Before Boys
The Summer Before Boys
Nora Raleigh Baskin
“Vivid and moving. I loved it.” —Rebecca Stead, Newbery-winning author of When You Reach MeJulia and Eliza are best friends, so when Julia’s mom is sent to serve in Iraq, it makes perfect sense for her to spend the summer with Eliza and her parents. Any other time, Julia would be thrilled to be there. But on top of worrying about her mom, Julia develops her first real crush. The gap between Julia and Eliza keeps widening—until Eliza does something drastic to win back her best friend. In her follow-up to the award-winning Anything But Typical, Nora Baskin Raleigh has written a powerful, touching story about friendship, first love, and how the people who are farthest away from us are sometimes the ones we need the most.

Book Details

Genre: 

  • Fiction

Age Level: 

  • 12 and up
Profile Picture

Julia and Eliza are best friends and playmates until Julia turns thirteen and decides it's time to grow up. Until then they had spent most of their time playing kid games like making paper dolls, giving one another make overs, dressing up, and playing make believe. Everything changes when Julia gets a crush on the school bully. Suddenly she doesn't want to hang out with Eliza anymore. She also starts to wonder if she is pretty enough and constantly compares herself to every model or beautiful girl she sees.

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