Twenty Boy Summer

Sarah Ockler

Little, Brown Young Readers,  June 2009

When someone you love dies, people ask you how you're doing, but they don't really want to know. They seek affirmation that you're okay, that you appreciate their concern, that life goes on and so can they. Secretly they wonder when the statute of limitations on asking expires. (It's three months, by the way. Written or unwritten, that's about all the time it takes for people to forget the one thing that you never will.)

They don't want to know that you'll never again eat birthday cake because you don't want to erase the magical taste of the frosting on his lips. That you wake up every day wondering why you got to live and he didn't. That on the first afternoon of your first real vacation, you sit in front of the ocean, face hot under the giant sun, willing him to give you a sign that he's okay.

hardcover | ISBN: 9780316051590 | Publication Date: June 2009

Reviews:
"Twenty Boy Summer is a tender and heartfelt story of love, loss, and letting go."
--Deb Caletti, author of National Book Award finalist Honey, Baby, Sweetheart

"Ockler brings the salty tang of the ocean waves and the tingling anticipation of a first kiss to delicate life, while simultaneously evoking the mixed-up feelings of the friends, family, and loves left behind."
--Lisa Ann Sandell, author of The Weight of the Sky and Song of the Sparrow

"Reading this book felt like diving underwater and emerging with wise little gems about friendship, grieving, and love."
--Laura Resau, author of Red Glass

"Breaks your heart and puts it back together again."
--Jo Knowles, author of Lessons from a Dead Girl and Jumping Off Swings