A Summer to Die

The book, “A Summer to Die” was really great. This is a beautiful story about the two sisters who have to face the new challenges and the changes happened to their lives when they moved to their new small house. Lois Lowry did an amazing job in writing this book. I recommend this book to people of any age – the message and the values can be appreciated by adults and children alike. I am sure that everybody will like it.

Meg, a thirteen-year-old tells the story of her fifteen-year-old sister Molly. It is hard for Meg not to be jealous of her sister who is blonde, pretty and a popular. Molly was giggly and full of smiles. Molly had long eyelashes while Meg had eyeglasses. Molly had sorted out her own goals because she was sure about her future while Meg was not sure at the same time. She was always angry over nothing and often miserable about everything. But now that the family has moved to a small house in the country, Meg has a lot to get used to.

Molly got sick. She was grouchy and constantly worrying about her looks. Everyone waited with the test results given to her by the hospital. Meg did not know what to make of the changes in Molly until she realized that Molly was never going to come back home from the hospital. Molly was going to die because of the leukemia.

After the sad happening, with the help from those who love Meg like her parents, Will Banks who was the owner of the house they rented, Ben Brady and Maria Abbott, she found that the jealousy she felt for Molly has changed into pure love, and she accepted the bad things happened to their lives.

Lois Lowry has written an emotional and a sensitive novel which explores the complex emotions a young girl faces in dealing with the death of a sister just at the time when she started to ease her jealousy and impatience into love. Lowry makes the reader imagines every sentences of this book. She constructed an intimate and effective piece of first person, which helps to realize how the character felt and thought. Her vivid writing attracts the reader from the beginning up to the end. Her novel was well written. She expressed well the bond between the sisters which is the main reason this story touches readers so deeply.

“A Summer to Die” is an excellent, a heartwarming, a heartbreaking and an ultimately inspiring novel. A meaningful depiction of a young girl’s faith to her family, the strong friendship she experienced, and lastly, her strength to face the death of her sister.

This book is very inspiring. It made me feel sad but it made me want to do something special for those who are very special to me. It made a big impact on my life and has made me look at some people in a very different way. It made me treat others with respect, especially to my family who is always there. Now, I realized that we should be thankful to the people who give happiness, the people who complete my life and most of all, the people who make me feel their love.