Traveling To Teens Tour for Twenty Boy Summer

Traveling To Teens Tours are a way for us bloggers to get the word out about fantastic upcoming novels, that may be a great add to what you are currently reading. You can find out more about this all here.

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Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler!!!

Author Bio:

Sarah Ockler wrote and illustrated her first book at age six—an adaptation of Steven Spielberg’s E.T. Still recovering from her own adolescence, she now writes books for young adults. Sarah has a bachelor’s degree in communication from the University of New York at Buffalo and also studied creative writing through Denver’s Lighthouse Writers Workshop.

While nomadic at heart, Sarah and her husband Alex currently live in Upstate New York with an ever-expanding collection of sea glass (hers) and dinosaurs (his).

TWENTY BOY SUMMER is her first novel.


Summary:

“Don’t worry, Anna. I’ll tell her, okay? Just let me think about the best way to do it.”
“Okay.”
“Promise me? Promise you won’t say anything?”
“Don’t worry.” I laughed. “It’s our secret, right?”

For Anna Reiley and Frankie Perino, the ingredients for the Absolute Best Summer Ever are simple: Two girls. Two bikinis. And twenty days in Zanzibar Bay, California. The best part? According to Frankie, if they meet one boy every day, there’s a good chance Anna will find her first summer romance.

Anna lightheartedly agrees to the fun, but there’s something she hasn’t told Frankie… she’s already had her romance, and it was with Frankie’s older brother, Matt, just before his tragic death last year.

TWENTY BOY SUMMER explores what it truly means to love someone, what it means to grieve, and ultimately, how to make the most of every beautiful moment life has to offer.


Review:

Twenty Boy Summer was a fantastic book with a cover of the same quality.

Sarah Ockler perfectly captured what it meant to be left behind by a person who you loved. Since, Anna was a mix of awkwardness and sadness which you expect with a book like Twenty Boy Summer. The whole time all I wanted to do was reach out and give her a hug, telling her it would be all good in the end. Though, with saying that sometimes she got on my nerves with her ever abundant amount of sadness.

The plot was well written and planned out. It constantly had me on the edge of my seat, wondering what would happen next. Also, I loved, as I think you will to, the chatter between Frankie and Anna. Since, it cause for several LOL moments.

Overall, Twenty Boy Summer is another great work by a new amazing voice in YA. I look forward to reading more by Sarah in the future.

Grade: A-

Guest Blog:

I was inspired to write Twenty Boy Summer by my previous work with the National Donor Family Council (www.donorfamily.org), an organization that supports families whose loved ones have died and donated organs or tissues. The cause of donation and transplantation has always been very close to my heart, as my youngest brother Scott (aka "Scotty O") in Twenty Boy Summer - yes, he makes a cameo appearance!) had a lifesaving liver transplant when he was four years old. He's now 25, and he wouldn't be alive if not for the generosity of a donor family who made the decision to donate life in the midst of their worst pain.

So later in my life, when I had the opportunity to work with donor families, it was one of my greatest honors. I met so many wonderful people -- transplant recipients, donor families, living donors, those still waiting for an organ transplant, and people who worked in the field -- all brought together by one cause. Now, several years later, I still think of those families often -- especially of the donor family teens I met who'd suffered the death of a brother, sister, or friend. Their stories and struggles always stayed with me, and when I set out to write Twenty Boy Summer, I knew that I wanted to share a small part of that. I wanted to write about loss and grief and the darkest moments of life, and ultimately, of love and healing and renewed hope. But I also wanted to write about just being a teen, because as Anna and Frankie learn in the story, life doesn't stop after a tragedy. It moves on all around us, whether we want it to or not. So although a devastating loss defines Anna and Frankie for so long and is ever-present in Twenty Boy Summer, there are also elements of summer fun and crushes and best friend fights and parties and swimming and kissing and many of the things teens experience every day.

I'm just so grateful that I had the opportunity to know so many amazing families through the Council, and I truly hope that by writing the story of Twenty Boy Summer, I've honored and remembered them and their loved ones.

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Thanks so much Sarah! Everyone else make sure to check out the other stops on the tours!