This One Summer by Jillian and Mariko Tamaki
This week I read This One Summer by cousins Jillian and Mariko Tamaki. I was really excited about this week, as I have a firm and slightly biased belief that women are better writers than men are. I'm not saying there aren't good male writers - Terry Pratchett did walk this earth, after all - but in general I find women are shoved to the side for men who are usually not as skilled.
This One Summer is a really simple story about being in that weird time of your life as a kid where you're not a teenager, but also not young enough that your parents completely shield you away from tough topics. It's that weird transitional period where you start to get exposed to difficult aspects of life little by little, something portrayed well in This One Summer via the problems between the main characters parents, and her relationship with her mother.
It's also unfortunately that time in your life where you're kind of a little shit head. This One Summer is unflinching about that, as the two girls are navigating what is and isn't appropriate to say - like when they called a girl a slut and one of their mothers admonished them, saying it's weird to say that when you don't even know the person.
This One Summer is a fleeting glimpse of a persons life during a time that becomes nostalgic when someone is over. It's a wonderful read!
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