Umbrella Summer by Lisa Graff

I read the book Umbrella Summer, by Lisa Graff. This was a very quick read. It was about a little girl, named Annie. Her brother died, not too long ago. She is now scared to do a lot of the things she use to have tons of fun doing. Throughout the book it tells about how she can’t do things because you never know if you could die from it. The sad part is she thinks you could really die from scrapped knees or if you feel hot. Then a older lady moves in across the street and shows Annie that life isn’t all about avoiding illness and injury, and that sometimes you just need to have some fun. It was a quick book but liked it a lot because it got right into the problem. Which it why I was always wanting to read.

“Umbrella Summer is a radiant book.” says Kirby Larson, Newbery Honor author of Hattie Big Sky. The reading ages are from 9-12 years old. Kirkus Reviews states, “An appealing and moving choice for readers seeking a dose of feel-good reality fiction.” This book has not won any awards, though I think it should. Other books that Lisa wrote are Sophie Simon Solves Them All, The Thing About Georgie, and The Life and Crimes of Bernetta Wallflower.

My favorite quote from this book was "Maybe it only took one person to open an umbrella and stick it up in the air to block out the rain, but it took a whole lot of people to close it. And even though I was pretty sure I still had a few more inches to go, I knew that once my umbrella was all the way closed, I was going to keep it that way for a long time. Because it turns out, I like the sunshine.” This was the last line of the book, but it will be your decision if you think that Annie will ever close her umbrella all the way down, and the only way to find out is to read this fantastic book.

Recommended by Lyvia Clasen