Not Just a Summer Crush

by C.S. Adler

When twelve-year-old Hana discovers her favorite teacher, young Mr. Crane, sitting alone at the beach where her family vacations, she becomes close friends with him, but when her mother misinterprets their relationship, Hana is forced to defend herself while dealing with her own confusing feelings.

128 pages, Hardcover

First published October 19, 1998

About the author

C.S. (Carole) Adler moved to Tucson, Arizona, after spending most of her life in upstate New York. She was an English teacher at Niskayuna Middle School for nearly a decade. She is a passionate tennis player, grandmother, and nature lover, and has been a full-time writer since the publication of her first book,The Magic of the Glits, in 1979. That book won both the William Allen White Award and the Golden Kite Award.

Her bookThe Shell Lady’s Daughter was chosen by the A.L.A. as a best young adult book of l983. With Westie and the Tin Man won the Children’s Book Award of the Child Study Committee in l986, and that committee has commended many of Adler’s books. Split Sisters in l987 and Ghost Brother in 1991 were I.R.A. Children’s Choices selections. One Sister Too Many was on the 1991 Young Adults’ Choices list. Always and Forever Friends and Eddie’s Blue Winged Dragon were on a 1991 I.R.A. 99 Favorite Paperbacks list.

Many of her books have been on state lists and have also been published in Japan, Germany, England, Denmark, Austria, Sweden, and France.

Reviews

[Hollydabchotmail.com · Rating 1 out of 5]

(Depending on the age-this book is not horrible) It is about a young girl having a crush on her young teacher and possibly he having one on her; however, the book never says if he has a crush or not. I would be careful about reccomending this book.

[Stephanie A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't get teachers who encourage you to call them by their first name like five minutes after they've stopped being your teacher, but saying that to a 12-year-old seems especially weird, even if you are only like 23. That being said, I am always a super-fan of bonding between a favorite teacher and a favorite student in any context, and their handful of conversations are sweet and lovely. One of the best things about reading children's books as an adult is reading between the lines where adults are featured, and I empathized a lot with his doubts and uncertainties about his qualifications as a teacher when he has difficulty even maintaining control of the class.

The setting of a Cape Cod house near a small beach is incredibly lovely and well described, and I also loved this girl's family and seeing all the different relationships therein, which include a lot of fighting and arguing, but also a lot of love.

This neat, compact little text does a beautiful job of illustrating a very innocent friendship that other people blow out of proportion, while fairly pointing out that even the teacher understands her family's right to be cautious, and still capturing the sensation of what it feels like to be a preteen girl caught in the awkward transition between genuine admiration and puppy love so thoroughly that you yourself are not even always sure which one it is. And I must say, their goodbye scene is quite lovely.

[Molly Griffin · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was an okay read. Honestly I have had teachers in the past who I would talk to out of school because I genuinely liked them. However in this case it kinda made me feel uncomfortable and was waiting to see if there was a twisted turn. There wasn’t but it was just weird to me.