All Summer Long
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3.7 • 10 Ratings
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
*A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of 2018!*
All Summer Long, a coming-of-age middle-grade graphic novel about summer and friendships, written and illustrated by the Eisner Award–winning and New York Times–bestselling Hope Larson.
Thirteen-year-old Bina has a long summer ahead of her. She and her best friend, Austin, usually do everything together, but he's off to soccer camp for a month, and he's been acting kind of weird lately anyway. So it's up to Bina to see how much fun she can have on her own. At first it's a lot of guitar playing, boredom, and bad TV, but things look up when she finds an unlikely companion in Austin's older sister, who enjoys music just as much as Bina. But then Austin comes home from camp, and he's acting even weirder than when he left. How Bina and Austin rise above their growing pains and reestablish their friendship and respect for their differences makes for a touching and funny coming-of-age story.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
About-to-be-eighth-graders Bina and Austin have been friends ever since they can remember, but now Austin is at soccer camp, posting bro pics on social media and ignoring Bina's texts. Austin's intimidating, sardonic older sister, Charlie, is stuck at home with a broken arm and seems willing to hang out unless the boy she likes shows up. When Charlie shows a nasty side and Austin continues to cold-shoulder Bina even after he gets back, Bina struggles, though warm words and sweet gestures from friends and family help her through. Most crucial is the portrait that Larson (Mercury) draws of Bina as a guitarist and songwriter, a musician whose deepest fulfillment comes from within herself. "Lots of people spend forever looking for something they care about. Sometimes they never find it," Bina's older brother Davey tells her, "but you already have." Larson's graphic novel zeroes in on conversational encounters, with dialogue that's fresh and funny ("You're a stone-cold psycho and I kinda admire that," Charlie tells Bina when they begin to hang out), and her close-up drawings of expressive faces add intimacy to the interchanges she captures. Ages 10 12.
