The Summer of June

April 15, 2022
Grades 5-8 This summer is going to be one of change for June, when she can finally overcome her anxiety, embrace the lion she knows lives inside her, and become fierce. At the library where her mom works, June meets Homer, a kid who quotes poetry, and Luis, an older gentleman who loves to garden. When June's anxiety starts to feel like too much, she discovers that she doesn't have to handle things on her own and that she has loving support around her. With a sensitive hand, Sumner offers a realistic portrayal of how those around you, therapy, and medication can all work together to help an anxious mind. June isn't "cured" but instead finds a way to accept and manage her anxiety while understanding what real friendship is. The supporting cast of characters is richly developed, and the library setting offers a loving ode to librarians. A needed, hopeful book for middle-grade readers on friendship, mental health, and acceptance.

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April 18, 2022
Tired of “being the nervous mouse girl who is scared all the time,” 11-year-old June—who quiets anxious thoughts by pulling out strands of her hair—shaves her head at the beginning of summer, deciding that she and her single librarian mother will “own our power as fierce, independent females.” Though eliminating this coping mechanism doesn’t curb the “itchy worry,” it does lead to her wearing an electric blue wig. And her new vibe attracts the friendship of poetry-reciting Homer Juarez, whom June meets at the library. Following an incident with her mother’s strict boss, who attempts to destroy Miss Rumphius–inspired seedlings, Homer and June start a secret garden behind the library, where June finds respite in caring for vulnerable plants. Soon, though, the garden and emboldening wig lead to June impulsively stopping her anxiety meds, with disastrous results. In a love letter to libraries told in June’s thoughtful voice, Sumner (Tune It Out) vividly traces one adolescent’s anxiety and its attendant difficulties. June and her mom are white; racial diversity is implied for secondary characters. Ages 10–up. Agent: Keely Boeving, WordServe Literary.

August 1, 2022
Eleven-year-old June Delancey is determined to be more lion than mouse. June and her mom, Corinne, live in tiny Franklin, Tennessee. June's father has never been in the picture, and her mom, who effortlessly attracts male attention, has had some unfortunate boyfriends. The little family barely scrapes by on Corinne's salary as a librarian for teens; talented Corinne never finished culinary school but sometimes sells her delicious creations for extra income. June, who takes medication and is in therapy, struggles with anxiety, and her compulsive hair-pulling has made her a target for bullies. The summer before middle school, she impulsively shaves her head, hoping to silence the "whatifs" constantly swirling in her mind. It doesn't work. However, she meets new friends: Homer Juarez, a friendly, poetry-quoting boy, wants June to teach him chess, and lonely widower Luis Silva, a keen gardener, sparks in June a love for flowers. June makes assumptions about Homer based on his soccer playing and private school attendance, while he--unaware of her outcast social status--perceives June differently than she's used to. When a little garden on library property that Luis helps June create is threatened by the misanthropic head librarian, June must speak up despite her fears. The novel offers a compassionate portrayal of anxiety's toll and a sweetly supportive mother-daughter relationship. Secondary characters are less well developed. June and her mom are assumed White; some of the supporting cast is cued Latine and Black. An encouraging portrait of living with anxiety. (author's note) (Fiction. 9-13)

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