Calendar Girls August: Best Book Set in Summer

August 6, 2018August 6, 2018 ~ Never Not Reading

Usually I have to really think about our Calendar Girls themes to come up with my absolute favorite, but this one was an absolute no-brainer for me, even if it does come a little bit out of left-field. In fact, I am going to boldly predict that NO ONE who reads this post will have even HEARD OF this book. Prove me wrong, internet.

But first I want to give an honorable mention to The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series. When I was a teenager I re-read that series every summer! I still need to read Sisterhood Everlasting, but who even knows when I’ll get to that…

So now, without further ado, my personal favorite book set in summer is…

Absolutely Normal Chaos

If you’ve never read Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech, you are missing out on one of the greats of KidLit. Absolutely Normal Chaos is a spin-off about Mary Lou, a minor character whose journal Mr. Birkway disastrously reads to the class. This book is Mary Lou’s summer journal, the one that got read out loud.

So Mary Lou is having the most boring summer vacation of all time. Her best friend is ignoring her because she’s boy crazy, her mom is making her do all these chores, and her BORING cousin is coming to stay for the summer. But as she keeps journaling her summer starts to get a little more interesting. A boy actually starts to like her, and her boring cousin turns out to be not so boring after all.

Bonus, she reads The Odyssey for her summer reading, and includes her chapter-by-chapter thoughts in her journal. I found this wildly entertaining, and this book is a huge part of why I love The Odyssey, and frankly, Greek mythology in general.

My dad bought this book for me at the beginning of summer vacation one year, and I devoured it. Then I devoured it like, three more times that same summer. We didn’t get to the library much… Then I read it again every summer, even after I was probably too old to be doing so. This is a book that has really stuck with me, and I’m not even sure why. It’s silly and light, especially compared to Walk Two Moons, but I just love it to death. I’m feeling so nostalgic right now, and am kind of ready to go give it another re-read for old time’s sake.

Dog Days of Summer
Best Book Set in Summer

Our Picks

Absolutely Normal Chaos – Katie @ Never Not Reading
Lose Me – Adrienne @ Darque Dreamer Reads
Royals – Carolina @ fictionologyst
The Talented Mr. Ripley – Lucinda @ Lucinda is Reading
The Secret Diary of Lizzie Bennet – The Keysmash Blog
The Island – Samantha @ Modern Witch’s Diary
The Wicked Deep – Flavia @ Flavia the Bibliophile
Summer of the Monkeys – Plot Monster
The Unexpected Everything – Dani @ mousaibooks
The Unexpected Everything – Krista and Dawlyn @ Little Blind Book Finds
The Unexpected Everything – Beware of the Reader
13 Little Blue Envelopes – Deanna @ Deanna Writes About

Calendar Girls is a monthly blog event created by Melanie at MNBernard Books, and Flavia at Flavia the Bibliophile, and is now be hosted by me (!), Katie and Adrienne at Darque Dreamer Reads. It is designed to ignite bookish discussions among readers, and was inspired by the 1961 Neil Sedaka song, Calendar Girl.

Just like the song, each month has a different theme. Each blogger picks their favorite book from the theme, and on the first Monday of the month reveals their pick in a Calendar Girls post. Make sure to post back to the hostess’s post, and I will make a master list for the month. The master lists allow everyone to see the other Calendar Girls’ picks and to pop on over to their blogs. Thus, we all get to chat about books and even make some new friends!

Check in next week for our September theme! :*