The Invincible Summer of Juniper Jones by Daven McQueen

5 out of 5 🌟Wonderful and touching story

Have you ever been forced to spend a whole Summer with your relatives in some faraway small town?

That’s something that happened to Ethan Charlie Harper as a punishment for his misbehavior. Ethan was living in Arcadia, Washington and perspective of spending his whole Summer down in Ellison, Alabama sounded extremely boring for him. He would’ve been right if not the fact that Ethan was a mixed-race kid and it was the year 1955.

It’s a beautiful and touching story about friendship, race, searching for your inner circle and a place where you belong. It’s impossible to finish The invincible Summer.. without feeling wrath and resentment towards all the unlawful actions that have happened before and happens today against people of color.

This story affected me in so many ways. It made me cry and laugh and — most importantly- made me think about all the privileges I was born with. The Invincible Summer of Juniper Jones is almost a love story with a heavy background of racial issues and for me, as a white person, it was s a way to look at the world with less privileged eyes.

The author, Daven McQueen, is contrasting idyllic and peaceful scenes of Summer vacations in a small southern town with wild and heartbreaking racist actions towards innocent people. That sweet and sour mix is served in perfectly measured portions that made me keep reading. It is Daven McQueen’s first published book and I cannot wait for her next works. Our society needs more great books like this one.

Thank you Netgalley and Wattpad books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and feelings are my own

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