Cold in Summer

Cold in Summer #1

by Tracy Barrett

The new girl in town meets a mysterious old-fashioned girl who can't seem to find her way home.

The girl didn't say anything. Her face held no expression.
Ariadne shivered. It was cool in the shade, and her hair was still wet.
"Hello," Ariadne said. No answer. "Um--I was just taking a walk. Is this your property?" Still nothing. She took a step toward the girl and stumbled on a fallen branch. She caught her balance and looked back at the tree, but no one was there.
The girl had vanished.

It's bad enough that Ariadne's family just moved to a tiny boring town in the middle of nowhere. But worst of all is that she's so far away from her best friend. The kids in Dobbin seem nice enough, but none of them really understands how lost and unhappy Ariadne feels.

None, that is, but May Butler. She's an odd, quiet person who wears the strangest old-fashioned clothes and has a spooky habit of appearing and disappearing in the blink of an eye. Despite their differences, there is a bond between the two girls. May, too, knows what it's like to feel lost.

Cold in Summer is a 2004 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year.

Genres: Mystery, Middle Grade, Ghosts, Childrens, Paranormal

203 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 2003

About the author

Tracy Barrett has written more than twenty books for children and young adults. She’s much too interested in too many things to stick to one genre, and has published nonfiction as well as historical fiction, mysteries, fantasy, time travel, myth and fairy-tale retellings, and contemporary realistic novels. She knows more about ancient Greece and Rome and the European Middle Ages than anyone really needs to know, can read lots of dead languages, and used to jump out of airplanes.
  Tracy grew up near New York City, and went to college in New England and graduate school in California. She majored in Classics and earned a Ph.D. in Medieval Italian. She was awarded a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to study medieval women writers and won the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators Work-in-Progress Grant in 2005. She taught Italian and other subjects at Vanderbilt University for almost thirty years. She lives in Tennessee with her 6’7” husband, a rescue cat, and two Cavalier King Charles Spaniels.

Reviews

[Cici · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a ghost story. The ghost is a girl named May Butler who one day, about a hundred years ago, got lost in the woods. Her family could never find her. May's mother had died leaving May in charge of Her younger siblings. Her mother told her to watch over them and take care of them always. So May took very good care of them while her father tried to keep his farm going. When May got lost and then died, her ghost stayed to take care of her younger siblings. Once her sister got lost, and May's ghost helped her back home. Even after her family all died, May stayed to take care of people. Later, The valley that May had lived in was flooded by a dam and May as a ghost felt lost. So she gets Ariadne to help her, and find May's body. Ariadne finds the body in a cave, where it's "Cold in Summer and warm in Winter". She drops May's bones off the side of the boat into the lake covering the valley. Finally, May Butler is returned home.

[Bren fall in love with the sea. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I recently read it for the first time. I found this book through Goodreads..thanks Goodreads users!

I liked it. It kind of reminded me of a John Saul book that I read (much darker then this) called "Comes the Blind Fury".

I liked the way the time period was depicted and I liked the story very much.

It was quite short and I loaned this to a friend who also enjoyed it.

3.5 stars.

[K.C. Lannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book for the first time when I was a kid. It pretty much defined my summer reading experience, and it carries a lot of nostalgia for me. I think this is a wonderful introduction to ghost stories for young readers; while it isn't a scary read, it does have a chilling realization. This is the book that got me hooked on ghost stories!

[Kat]

This book changed me as a young reader

[Hannah Parker]

Ariadne is a young girl going into seventh grade. She has just moved from her hometown in Florida to a small town in the middle of Tennessee. She is used to clear waters and lots of friends and now she has muddy lakes and no friends. One day while taking a shortcut through the woods she meets a girl named May Butler. She was wearing strange clothes and seemed very confused. She said she lived in a place that was “cold in summer but warm in winter”. When Ariadne asked around about this strange new girl, no one seemed to know who she was or have even heard of her. There were only two people that seemed to know her, Jade and Mrs.Harrison. There was a place called the bear that Ariadne knew had clues as to what happened to May, so she stole her rowboat and went out on the lake to investigate by herself. When she was investigating she fell into a cave. This cave happened to contain the bones of May Butler. Ariadne found the remains of May and finally was the one to bring her peace. Jade and Ariadne knew that May needed help, and that's what they gave her.

I think that young adults and children would be interested in this book. This book has a good plot and a good storyline. The book manages to be eerie without getting too scary or creepy. If you like scary books, but not too scary, this is a great choice for you. Also this book has a lot of family themes in it. If you like feel good books this is also a good pick for you. Ariadne throughout the story meets new friends and develops closer relationships with her family. Along the way there are ups and downs and plenty of twists. If you like exciting books, this is for you.


My overall satisfaction of the book was good. I think that the book was well paced. It didn’t get too boring at any point. I think that the book makes you think more about your own life and it makes you count your blessings. I think that the book does a good job of staying interesting and intriguing all throughout the whole book. One thing that stuck out about this book to me was that it was very easy to read and I lost track of how long i had been reading. This book uses great imagery and is like a movie playing in your head that never fails to entertain.

[Mummy Cat Claire · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book at the library by chance. It was in the children's section and I thought why not give it a try. I like children's ghost stories because they are not scary but more about solving a mystery.
At 203 pages it is quite short for me, considering some adult books go on for 600+ pages, I felt it was a great story. I liked the way the author developed the story as more of a mystery for kids to figure out the clues.
The main character is named Ariadne. The author sneaked in an excuse for sounding out her name so the reader can pronounce it. Even though there was this helpful attempt at getting me to be able to pronounce the name, I found it more annoying to remember how to pronounce the name that I just changed it in my mind every time it came up.
In addition, the character that the mystery is all about was not predominant in this book. She presents herself only a few times to Ariadne and I wish the author would have developed that character more. For me it would have been more enjoyable to have her come out more often than she did, however at the same time, I can see why the author did not. I feel the reason that May was mentioned more than seen was for Ariadne to solve the mystery herself and have the reader solve the mystery with Ariadne.
The basis of the book is pretty simple. Ariadne and her family moved from Florida to Tennessee and she is not happy about it. May Butler comes to help Ariadne through this transition and through their meeting Ariadne finds out the story behind May Butler and her disappearance in 1890's.
I really enjoyed reading this book. It captured and kept my interest until the end.

[Sophia Maida · Rating 2 out of 5]

I ended up not finishing it. i got bored.

[Christi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ariadne's family has moved to Tennesse from Florida and she really misses her old life and best friend. As the summer ends and she starts exploring the area around her home before school she meets a strange old fashioned girl name May, near the lake.

Later Ariadne decides to learn more about the lake by her house for a school social studies project after finding out it was man-made and that an old town lies at it's bottom. While investigating the lake she hears about a girl named May Butler who disappeared without a trace long, long ago before the lake was created. Could this old time mystery possibly be related to the quite, shy girl who keeps showing up when she needs help?

A gentle ghost story.

[Alyssa · Rating 4 out of 5]

For my December book report, I decided to read Cold in Summer. It is by Tracy Barrett. The genre is fiction. The main characters are Sarah, Aridiane, Henry, May, Lacy, Aridiane and Henry's parents, and Caroline. The book takes place at Aridiane and Henry's home, the woods right across from there home, and there school. In the story, Aridianes parents move from Florida to Tennessee, where Aridiane meets a girl named May. Almost every time Aridiane sees May, she will vanish. Once Aridiane asked Caroline's older sister, Lacy, who she is, she explains something Aridiane could never imagine. I rated this book 4 stars because it is very difficult to understand with so much going on, but it's a great book!

[Talulah Mankiller · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ariadne’s family moves to rural Tennessee and she’s real whiny about it because she had to leave all her friends behind. Eh. Sorry, these plots don’t do much for me, because I was a military brat and SUCK IT UP, YOU BIG BABY. Anyway, because she’s all lonely and sad and shit, she starts seeing a ghost. No, seriously. Aaaaaaaaaand…yeah, once again, in my desire to pick something short, omigod SHORT, I overshot the mark and got something that I’m just too damn old and grumpy to appreciate. The mystery ain’t no mystery, y’all. Skip this.

[Muni · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you enjoy a book to give you a little chill, this is a book for you. Ariadne, having to move from Florida to Tennessee, feels lonely and unhappy in her new town without her best friend. While struggling to make new friends, she meets someone a little peculiar: May Butler. When it turns out that there is more than meets the eye about May, Ariadne looks for answers. When she puts the story together,will she be able to help May in the way she needs it? I enjoyed how it was gentle and fast-paced, and I believe others will as well.

[rr]

I read (and really enjoyed) Barrett's YA novel Anna of Byzantium in the fall, and I was interested to see how she would treat non-historical subject matter, so I ordered a more recent YA novel of hers, Cold in Summer. I enjoyed it very much, as well. Barrett has a fine touch, and I'm not sure how she does it, but she writes novels that are quiet page-turners.

[Linda B · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like paranormal stories with a happy ending and this fits the bill. I felt sympathy for the characters and remember the non-paranormal feelings when your family moves to a new place and you have to start over knowing nothing about the people and making friends and leaving your old friends behind.

[Maggie · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was good but the end was a little boring. Nothing really happened at the end. She found the cave and connected to the ghost. Woo-Hoo.It was pretty interesting throughout the whole book until the end though.

[Mara · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the book that started everything for me. Before this book I HATED reading. Then I read this, and I completely captured me. Since then I haven't been without a book in hand more than two days.

[The CREATURE]

I liked this book because it was really mysterious. What made the book a great book was the riddle: I’m in a place that is cold in summer and warm in winter. I would recomend this book to anyone that likes ghost stories and/or mysteries.
--Kenzie

[Britanny · Rating 3 out of 5]

I will never forget literally spending a whole day trying to figure out the title of this book on just a memory of what the cover looked like. Thank you Google because otherwise, this book would have been a distant memory of a childhood, school library favorite.

[Patricia · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fun ghostly story set in Tennessee!

[Daria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gee, I'm really delving into books I've read AGES ago. Anyways... this one had given me the chills. As I remember. Sad, and poignant at times. (At least, it was.)

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good

[Cheyenne]

must read very chilling and gets your mind racing

[Shelby Martin]

this book was kind of haunting. a story of a city girl who just moved to podunk, nowhere where she is greeted by an eerie mystery of historic proportions. clever, but overall an easy read

[Jami · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is my favorite book so far. all the way through the book you are questioning the possibility's to the end!

[ℂamryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book! It was an very entertaining ghost story, but also a heartwarming story. It made me shiver at the thought of being alone in a cave with a girls bones. And the mystery is so complex.

[Alex!s Slomka]

best book i ever read!!!!!!!(:(: <3

[Kearston Loving · Rating 5 out of 5]

Big twist, I loved it.

[Angela Harris]

What a page turner!! I always read this book to the 4th graders and they LOVE it!!

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a gently creepy/spooky novel - perfect for tweens who want to shiver while they read but sleep well at night.

[Mary Farrell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a terrific middle-grade ghost story. I loved it!

[Breanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

a very touching book about trust and caring