Half Moon Summer

by Elaine Vickers

Overview

Two seventh graders discover it takes more than grit and a good pair of shoes to run 13.1 miles. You’ve got to have a partner who refuses to let you quit.

Drew was never much of a runner. Until his dad’s unexpected diagnosis. Mia has nothing better to do. Until she realizes entering Half Moon Bay’s half-marathon could solve her family’s housing problems.

And just like that they decide to spend their entire summer training to run 13.1 miles. Drew and Mia have very different reasons for running, but these two twelve year olds have one crucial thing in common (besides sharing a birthday): Hope. For the future. For their families. And for each other.

A South Carolina Book Award Nominee
A Bank Street Best Children's Book of the Year

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781682635391
Publisher:	Candlewick Press
Publication date:	06/06/2023
Pages:	288
Sales rank:	1,311,366
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.30(h) x 1.00(d)
Lexile:	740L (what's this?)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Elaine Vickers is an award-winning author of picture books and middle grade and young adult novels. She grew up reading, running, and exploring in a small town in Utah. Several years and one PhD later, she found her way back to her hometown, where she spends her time writing, teaching college chemistry, and exploring with her family. Visit her at elainevickers.com.

Editorial Reviews

★ 04/24/2023

Though they became instant pals as infants born on the same day in Half Moon Bay, Calif., 12-year-olds Drew and Mia haven’t seen each other since Mia moved to Sacramento. But now, 12 years later, she’s spending the summer with her Gram in Half Moon Bay while her father tends to a sick relative in Alaska. Since Drew’s best friend recently moved away, and Mia doesn’t know any other kids in town, the pair quickly fall into a routine of running each morning with Drew’s father. As the summer unfurls, the duo bond over familial conflicts: Drew has been struggling to accept his father’s amyotrophic lateral sclerosis diagnosis, while Mia worries about her family’s financial and housing-related troubles. Together, they begin preparing for the town’s half-marathon, and while it initially feels as if they’re “running away from what scares us,” they find that their training helps them make the most of every day in the face of uncertain futures. Via distinct dual perspectives that alternate between Drew’s POV, told in compassionate prose, and Mia’s, conveyed in rhythmic verse, Vickers (Like Magic) vividly captures one emotionally turbulent summer filled with a friendship’s mutual trust and support. Characters cue as white. Ages 8–12. Agent: Ammi-Joan Paquette, Erin Murphy Literary. (June)

Publishers Weekly

★ "Drew’s prose is direct and descriptive; Mia uses free verse to capture concise moments and feelings. . . . Uplifting."—Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review

★ "Via distinct dual perspectives that alternate between Drew’s POV, told in compassionate prose, and Mia’s, conveyed in rhythmic verse, Vickers (Like Magic) vividly captures one emotionally turbulent summer filled with a friendship’s mutual trust and support."—Publishers Weekly, Starred Review
 
★ "A sensitive, heartfelt story of friendship and growing up. Highly recommended."—School Library Journal, Starred Review

"Vickers does an excellent job of blending her two narrators’ voices, with Drew’s chapters written in prose and Mia’s in verse. The book deals authentically with tween feelings, especially their complex reactions to death and loss, while also maintaining a solid pace through  the dynamic plot, making it a great choice for upper-middle-grade readers looking for an emotionally intense story without a hint of romance."—The Horn Book

"Vickers deftly distinguishes between the alternating perspectives by composing Drew’s point of view in prose and Mia’s chapters in verse. . . . their perceptiveness and the parallels between their concerns about family finances and relationships greatly enhance the emotional appeal of this story."—The Bulletin for the Center of Children’s Books

From the Publisher

★ 01/26/2024

Gr 5–8—Mia and Drew were born on the same day in the same California hospital, but don't meet up again until the summer before eighth grade when they discover that they have even more in common. Drew is feeling in-between—old enough to babysit his toddler sister, but not old enough to work in his father's woodshop. His best friend Isaac has moved away and he's worried about some upsetting news his parents are keeping from him. Mia is also in-between. She and her family moved out of their apartment and are staying with her grandmother for the summer while her dad is in Alaska, taking care of his ailing mother. Mia wants her grandma to get better so that her dad can come home and finish work on the house that he is building for them. The pair initially bonds over music and messy younger siblings, but, over the course of the summer, they encourage and challenge each other to take the next step—literally, in training for a half-marathon and also in how to be a good friend, how to say the right thing, and how to keep going even when it's hard or lonely. Drew's first-person narration is direct with a self-aware and humorous tone. Mia tells her story in compact lines of free verse, filling the pages of a notebook that her father gave her to record everything that happens while he's away. Vickers presents issues of loss, financial instability, and serious illness with a realistic but gentle touch. VERDICT A sensitive, heartfelt story of friendship and growing up. Highly recommended.—Jennifer Costa

School Library Journal

★ 2023-03-14
A bond formed in infancy is reestablished during a pivotal summer when two tweens each need a staunch friend by their side.

Drew and Mia have an unusual origin story: They were born on the same day and in the same hospital in Half Moon Bay, California. One baby’s presence comforted the other inconsolable one in their shared bassinet. While this story is familiar to each, they don’t see each other again until life brings them together 12 years later when Mia returns to Half Moon Bay from Sacramento to visit her grandmother. The two young people feel a connection that blossoms into friendship, one that sustains each of them through some of the worst of life’s difficulties. For Drew, it’s his father’s diagnosis with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. For Mia, it’s financial stress and the impending loss of her family’s home. They take turns telling their individual stories: Drew’s prose is direct and descriptive; Mia uses free verse to capture concise moments and feelings. They begin to go running together, and the way they start to open up is sensitively portrayed and rings true. Just as Drew and Mia fall into step during their runs as they train to enter a half-marathon, their stories begin to align as well, and they encourage and support each other through their challenges. It doesn’t alter the road ahead, but it does influence how they handle what comes next. The cast is cued White.

Uplifting. (Fiction. 10-13)

Kirkus Reviews