Umbrella Summer

by Lisa Graff

After her brother Jared dies, ten-year-old Annie Richards worries about the hidden dangers of everything, from bug bites to bicycle riding, until she is befriended by a new neighbor who is grieving her own loss.

Genres: Realistic Fiction, Middle Grade, Fiction, Childrens, Grief, Young Adult, Contemporary

240 pages, Library Binding

First published June 2, 2000

About the author

Lisa Graff is the critically acclaimed and award-winning author of the National Book Award nominee A Tangle of Knots, as well as Lost in the Sun, Absolutely Almost, Double Dog Dare, Umbrella Summer, The Life and Crimes of Bernetta Wallflower, The Thing About Georgie and Sophie Simon Solves Them All. Originally from California, she lived for many years in New York City and now makes her home just outside of Philadelphia.

Reviews

[Cara · Rating 4 out of 5]

You know how you get tired of reading the same thing over and over again? I was in that kind of rut. It's not any of the books were really bad, but I wanted something different. I wanted to feel like what it was to be a kid again. You know how you think you won't ever forget? Well inevitably you do forget some things. Thank goodness we have authors who can remember enough so young readers will want to read. If it weren't for authors who wrote for kids I know I probably wouldn't have become a reader. Anyways that's off track; here the author captures what it would be like to be a young girl dealing with a huge loss.

Using the word careful to describe Annie Richards would be an understatement. Just to take a trip down to the local store she wears a helmet, knee elbow and ankle pads, and doesn't even actually ride her bicycle there anymore. Annie's mentality is if it could be dangerous, why take the risk? She didn't used to be like this. Ever since her brother Jared died she has to be careful. He died from something unexpected, and she can't let that happen to her too. Other than being uber careful she still leads a normal life (or so she thinks). She still hangs out with her best friend, and talks to her brother's best friend, but even she can tell that things are off. Her parents seem to be different people now, and nobody seems to understand her. One day a new neighbor moves in and will change Annie's view and help her and the people who love her to be able to start closing that figurative umbrella that she's been using to protect herself. What it was doing was holding her back.

Annie is weird and quirky and has thoughts a regular young girl would have. What spoke to me so much was the fact she didn't act the way you would think after someone had died. But she is a kid and her way of coping would be different. She feels sad, but tries to push it away with being obsessive. Her friend has a hard time understanding her, and her parents thinking is clouded because they are grieving their son.

I love this one line in the book where Annie's mom says, "Your father and I. We're really trying." And Annie whispers, "Try harder." I think that line speaks volumes of people dealing with grief, especially parents who still have to be parents for their other kids. The story is sweet, and shows no matter how young or old you can learn how to live.

[Jeni Bell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Recently, during a 3 1/2-hour flight to Phoenix, I read Lisa Graff's UMBRELLA SUMMER, and I tell you, I cannot count the number of times I cried while reading this book. It's the story of Annie, a 10-year-old girl whose brother, Jared, died of a undiagnosed heart condition after being hit by a hockey puck five months earlier. Now, Annie is obsessed with protecting herself from harm: She wears a bike helmet during car rides, covers her mosquito bites with Band-aids (and wonders if they might be chicken pox), and steals a medical dictionary so she can study every possible disease (and self-diagnose herself to avoid the same fate as her brother, whose condition wasn't discovered by doctors until after he died).

So why did Annie's story bring me to tears? It wasn't just that her situation is heartbreaking, or that the way in which she deals with her sorrow -- by putting all her focus on ways to keep herself safe, so much that there's little time left to think about Jared and confront her grief -- makes the reader's heart ache for her right from the start. It was the idea that Jared wouldn't see his 12th birthday -- that he would always remain 11 -- that really tore at my heart.

My son, Sam, is 13-on-the-verge-of-14. Yesterday, before my flight, I watched his travel baseball team play two games. Some of the boys still look 12 -- young, with just a touch of baby face, still. But some of them -- like my son, who is pushing six feet tall -- are caught in that stage between boys and men. They're tall, as tall as men, and lanky, and they shave, a little. But they tease each other like boys ("Go, Rojo Grande [Big Red}," they'd yell to my red-headed son as he pitched or went up to bat), and they still hug their mothers and tell them "I love you," quietly, after games. And as I read about Jared, who would always be almost-12, I couldn't help but think about these boys, who have so much potential, and so much room to grow. And it broke my heart a little to think of Annie and her parents dealing with the grief of having lost their brother and son much too young, and not knowing how to emerge from their grief.

Lisa Graff's UMBRELLA SUMMER is a treasure of a middle-grade novel, and I highly recommend it. She speaks at the Indiana SCBWI event this May. I'm so looking forward to hearing her speak. In the meantime, I'm reading Libba Bray's GOING BOVINE, which is also a must-read (the pep rally scene toward the beginning of the novel is laugh-so-hard-you'll-snort funny).

[Adela Bezemer-Cleverley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lord. I haven't cried so much since the first time I read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. This book is amazing. It's written so well like it's really from the perspective of a ten-year-old girl who is coping with the aftermaths of her brother's death. It's just so innocent and childish and.. and completely heartbreaking. This is the point where I started crying:

"Don't call me Moonbeam anymore," I told him.
"What?" he said.
"Don't call me that anymore unless you mean it."
Mom came down the last few steps. "Annie, are you okay?" she asked. "What's going on?"
I shook my head at them, at both of them. "You still have to be my parents, you know. Even if Jared's dead. You still have to be my parents." And then I bolted past my mom up the stairs and into my room, slamming my door closed behind me. -- pg. 148

Then I cried even more at this part:

"Mrs. Finch?" I said after a little while staring. "Hamsters are different than brothers, right?"
She took a sip of her tea and then put her teacup back with a quiet clank in the saucer. "I don't think I understand the question, Annie Z."
"It's just... I mean, hamsters are pets, right? And when they die it's sad and maybe you have a funeral and you miss them and everything. And I know that. But when brothers..." I took another long gulp of tea. "When brothers die..." I swirled the last of the tea around the bottom of the cup."
"Annie?"
I looked up at Mrs. Finch then. "Jared died," I told her. "My brother Jared. He died."

And now I MUST HAVE THIS BOOK FOR MY LIBRARY COLLECTION!

[Haniyeh · Rating 4 out of 5]

"آنی، فکر میکنم دیگه وقتشه چترت رو ببندی."

این کتاب در دسته کتابهای نوجوان طبقه‌بندی میشه.
"آنی" کمتر از یک ساله که برادرش "جرد" رو از دست داده. جرد بعد از یه درد ناگهانی در قفسه سینه‌اش پیش دکتر رفت ولی دکتر به مادرش گفت چیز مهمی نیست. با اینحال، جرد مرد.
حالا آنی بعد از اون همیشه نگران زخمها و دردهاست. دائما در حال خرید چسب و جعبه کمکهای اولیه هست و از بازیهای مورد علاقه اش مثل پرش از موانع دست کشیده. پدر و مادرش هم مثل اون نتونستن از رنج از دست دادن جرد عبور کنن و آنی فکر میکنه باید به تنهایی با این رنج کنار بیاد.
همه چیز به همین منوال جلو میره تا وقتی که همسایه جدیدشون خانم فینچِ موسفید به خانه ارواح خیابونشون اسباب‌کشی میکنه.

داستانی کوتاه که برای من تاثیرگذار بود. مخصوصا نام کتاب که با داستان و دید آنی نسبت به زندگیش متناسبه. از نظر من هر سنی باشید این کتاب میتونه براتون جالب باشه. من برای هدیه دادن ازش کمک میگیرم چون بنظرم هدیه ارزشمندی خواهد بود.

لینک کتاب در طاقچه:
https://taaghche.com/book/21700

[Rana Heshmati · Rating 5 out of 5]

«چقدر دلم می‌خواست آن لحظه را توی یک شیشه می‌ریختم، درش را می‌بستم و برای همیشه با خودم نگه می‌داشتم... آن وقت می‌توانستم هروقت که دلم خواست، در شیشه را باز کنم و با تمام وجود دوباره حسش کنم.
وقتی آتش‌بازی تمام شد، چشم‌هایم را باز کردم و به آسمان سیاه پرستاره خیره شدم. هنوز دود آتش‌بازی توی هوا بود. مردم داشتند وسایلشان را جمع و جور می‌کردند. عده‌ای هم به طرف ماشین‌ها راه افتاده بودند.
دلم می‌خواست تا ابد همان‌جا می‌ماندم و همان‌طور در تاریکی روی چمن‌ها دراز می‌کشیدم و نسیم شبانه به صورتم می‌خورد.»

[Maryam Samiei · Rating 4 out of 5]

اولین کتابی بود که از گراف می‌خوندم. چقدر قشنگ تونسته بود تسکین بده غم تلخ دوری بعد از مرگ عزیزان رو. اما یه چیز بی‌ربط که برام جالب بود نحوه‌ی ارتباط برقرار کردن آدما با هم بود. چقدر صمیمیت و چقدر نزدیکی... باور نکردنی بود این حجم از نزدیکی روح‌ها به همدیگه. شاید من دارم زیاد بزرگ میشم

[Hamideh_R · Rating 4 out of 5]

داستان درباره سوگواریه، دختری که برادرش رو به طور ناگهانی از دست میده و بعد از اون اتفاق حالتهای ترس از بیماری و از دست دادن سلامتیش رو داره تا اینکه با یکی از همسایه های جدید که اون هم همسرش رو از دست داده آشنا میشه و کم کم و با کمک هم سعی میکنن که چترهاشون رو ببندن و با غم از دست دادن کنار بیان.

[Masoome · Rating 4 out of 5]

من این کتاب رو به آدم هایی که سوگوار از دست دادن عزیزی هستند پیشنهاد می کنم...

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sweet, with sad bits, but mostly uplifting & entertaining. And, yes, lol funny sometimes, too. Good for readers who have *not* yet experienced a death in the family. Also for readers who fret, who have anxiety issues. Might make an interesting companion to Mick Harte Was Here for teachers-to-be and other scholars.

I absolutely love the memorial for Jared's birthday, to do the things that he liked to do, in his memory. The kids put up a flyer inviting the whole small town to eat a certain flavor ice-cream, to go mini-golfing, to play the burrito game...).

I will def. read more by Graff.

[Arghavan · Rating 3 out of 5]

خیلی خوشم میاد که لیزا گراف کاراکترهاش رو با خودش از کتابی به کتاب دیگه می‌بره.

[Sara Bakhshiani · Rating 4 out of 5]

همون اول که کتاب رو شروع کردم منو یاد وایب دوتا کتابی انداخت که قبلا خونده بودم
1- شاید عروس دریایی
2- زمین بر پشت لاکپشت ها
دقیقا فضای داستان همونقدر سرد و تاریک بود در ابتدا.
دیگ اینکه واقعا از انتخاب موضوع مرگ توی کتاب های کودک و نوجووان و جوری که موضوع رو حل میکنن خوشم میاد.
از دور چتر تابستان یه کتاب ساده برای سنین نوجوون به نظر میاد
ولی متاسفانه یا حتی خوشبختانه وقتی میخونیش میفهمی که چقدر عمیق به موضوع مرگ نگاه کرده و
چقدر خوب راه حل جلوی شخصیت داستان گذاشته.
در هرصورت به نظرم هممون باید این جور کتاب هارو حتی شده یکبار هم بخونیم
چون زندگی همینه و هرلحظه ممکنه این اتفاق تلخ بیوفته :).

[Elise C · Rating 5 out of 5]

Umbrella Summer is about a girl who is worried about everything. She is so careful about everything that comes her way. Everyone keeps telling Annie not to worry so much, and that it's alright. But then again that's what they said about her brother Jared and he died. Annie is worried about anything whether it's spraining her ankle from walking, or run away zoo animals. All of her anxiety causes her not participate in obstacle courses and not eating her favorite hot dogs on the Fourth of July. Find out what happens next. Does she keep her unmbrella up or does she bring it down? I really liked how they added characters that you leased expected to help her build up confidence and bring down her anxiety. I also liked how it said how her brother died because I do not like books that leave stuff hanging. For example not saying how someone got hurt. I loved all of it and there was not anything I did not like. This book made me different emotions. There were parts that were sad like when she told her new neighbor how her brother died. And there were parts that were funny like when she decided she needed to wear a helmet in the car or ace bandages around her ankles just in case she sprained one. If you like books with different things all packed into one book then this is definitely the book for you. Once I started reading it I could not put it down. This book is like Out Of My Mind because it is packed with different emotions and lots of action. I would recommend this book to sixth through eighth graders because there are parts that some elementary kids would not get. And I recommend this book to people who love a good book and don't want to put it down!

[Mahya Moq · Rating 5 out of 5]

خیلی خوب.
برای منی که همیشه در مورد برادرهام نگرانیهای عجیب غریب داشته‌م (یه بار یکی‌شون بار سنگین بلند کرده بود و یه جایی تو شکمش درد گرفته بود و من رفتم پشت پرده‌ی اتاقم قایم شدم و مدتها گریه کردم)، خیلی ملموس.
خیلی غم‌انگیز و چه خوب به تصویر کشیده بود غم رو. چه قدر ضمنی و عمیق.
و خیلی رمان کودک و نوجوان نه زورچپونِ آدم‌بزرگ.
دلم می‌خواد کتاب‌های دیگه‌ای هم از این نویسنده بخونم.

[Fahime · Rating 3 out of 5]

کتاب در مورد یک دختر ده ساله‌ست به نام آنی که برادرش، جرد رو در اثر یک بیماری نادر از دست می‌ده. آنی در نتیجه‌ی این اتفاق، دچار هراس از بیماری و به شدت محتاط می‌شه. اما این تنها مشکل آنی نیست. پدر و مادرش هم که دلتنگ برادرش هستن، نسبت به اون بی توجه می‌شن. دوستانش قادر به درک اون نیستن و نتیجتا آنی هر روز تنها و تنهاتر می‌شه... کتاب خوبیه و ترجمه‌ش روان و بی‌نقصه. پیشنهاد می‌کنم امتحانش کنین.

[CLM · Rating 3 out of 5]

A sad little book about a girl who has lost her older brother and whose parents are so lost in their grief that they cannot help her cope with hers.

[Tamara York · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m still sniffling from the all of the tears over the end of this book. Possibly the best middle grade book I’ve read about death and grieving. It hits the heart like Where the Red Fern Grows, in a good way. The writing feels authentic to childhood experience and leaves the reader with oodles of hope at the end. Highly recommend…just read the last third with tissues handy.

[Pooja Peravali · Rating 4 out of 5]

Annie Richards has lived under an umbrella of fear and anxiety ever since her brother died unexpectedly. With the help of a new neighbor and her friends and family, she learns slowly that it's important to close it.

This was a sweet and short book about a young girl dealing with grief. While the exact mode was exaggerated, I am sure that the feelings described are familiar to many, and the message of closing the umbrella is an important one. I did wish, however, that was the book was a touch longer; the resolution felt fast compared to the set up of the story.

[Zeynab · Rating 4 out of 5]

خیلی خوب، سوگواری رو از زبان یه بچه بیان کرده بود.
اگه کتاب« شاید عروس دریایی» رو دوست داشتید این کتاب رو از دست ندید.

[Amanda (Born Bookish) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love reading middle grade books because the characters are always so quirky and lovable. In this book the main character Annie is afraid of everything ever since her brother Jared dies unexpectedly. Annie’s parents haven’t been the same since her brother’s death, but they refuse to talk about it, leaving Annie to deal with things in her own way. She wears a helmet when walking down the street, goes through more boxes of band-aids than a family of 12, and knows more about diseases than any 10 year old should (thanks to Mrs. Harper’s giant green copy of The Everyday Guide to Preventing Illness.) Friends and family all tell her that she needs to stop worrying so much. Like it’s that easy.

It takes a new neighbor who can relate to Annie to show her that you can’t spend your life afraid of everything that could happen because if you do you’ll loose out on all the good things life has to offer.

I thoroughly enjoyed myself while reading this book. I liked the characters, I liked the storyline, and I liked the message it sent.

[Sara MostaghaC · Rating 4 out of 5]

به خوبی مطلقاً تقریباً نبود ولی دلم هم نیامد کمتر از ۴ ستاره به آن بدهم چون واقعا ازش خوشم آمد.
دوباره مثل آن کتاب درباره ی بچه ای با یک مشکل نسبتا بزرگ بود با پدر و مادری که بلد نبودند چطوری باید رفتار کنند. و آخرش هم در این کتاب خود آنی توانست شرایط را تغییر دهد و حتی حال پدر و مادرش را هم خوب کند.
ولی خوب این ش خیلی شبیه قوانین عالم نبود که یک دفعه یک همسایه ی فیلسوف با مشکلی مشابه پیدا شد و کلی به آنی کمک کرد.
بهترین صحنه ی کتاب هم آن جا بود که آنی دیگر برایش مهم نبود بقیه فکر کنند مریض است یا دیوانه و به هرکس که ناراحتش می کرد آب می پاشید. گاهی آدم به همچین کاری نیاز دارد واقعا:)

گاهی وقت ها ممکنه آدم سرخودشو با نگرانی گرم کنه تا یادش بره که غمگینه.

[Mahda shademan · Rating 3 out of 5]

داستان چتر تابستان من را یاد کتاب «میک هارته اینجا بود» انداخت. البته که به اندازه اون خوب و جذاب نبود.
در هر دو کتاب داستان از زبان دختری روایت می‌شود که برادرش را از دست داده است. در کتاب چتر تابستان دختر دچار ترس از بیماری می‌شود. چون برادرش از یک بیماری نادر قلبی فوت کرد. بیماری که کسی متوجه نشد و دکتر‌ها گفتند مشکلی ندارد ولی او مرد. حالا آنی یک آدم محاظفه کار شده است تا مبادا از مسمویت غذایی، آبله، سردرد آفریقایی، تصادف با دوچرخه و.... بمیرد.
در این داستان دختر یاد میگیرد چتر خود را ببند. ما زیر باران چترهایمان را باز می‌کنیم. اما اگر چتر را نبدیم تابستان می‌شود و از آفتاب هیچ لذتی نمیبریم چون همچنان چترهایمان باز است.

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book. I really forgot I read it but I was amazing. I read this last year and my heart sank. A young girl's brother,Jared, passes on and her life will never be the same. When a neighbor she never exspects tures into her friend she is made a new. Her best friend and her get in a fight that really takes a toll on what has happened. She will have to look down deep and over come an exspect that Jared has passed on. It was a great book that shows the true meaning of friendship and a young girls integrity.

[Tanya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Young Anne is a dear one - her older brother died earlier in the year and the story spans the first part of July, ending on his birthday reminder. Annie is a true worrywart if not on the brink of hypochondria as a result of her brother's rare death condition. Beautifully written and I loved how the book, Charlotte's Web, was included to bring closure for not only Anne.

[Kierra N · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked Umbrella Summer! Its so interesting. Annie is the main character she's so interesting, she's scared about all the things that could happen to her. She just needs to close her umbrella, for everything she's worried about. Like her brother Jared's death, or the dieses she thinks she has.

[Brittany · Rating 5 out of 5]

My heart is overflowing with emotion. My mind is spinning with how I can make this book a part of my classroom and my kids' lives.

Annie is one of the most lovable characters. This book will evoke profound emotional responses from even the most stoic reader.

I'm in love.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

It actually takes a lot for a book to make me cry. This book said, "Challenge accepted." It won, but I did too. It was lovely exploration of grief with humor, various teas, and wonderful characters. Annie has a great voice and I'm glad that I met her.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great story, a tear jerker with good characters and a strong well delivered message.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

i cried so hard while reading this i LOVE my brother ill never let him go I LOVE U CHASE

[Jennifer Gregory]

I just got done reading Umbrella Summer, again this is a book that I would not normally choose, however I really enjoyed it once it got going. This is a story told from a perspective of a young girl who had recently lost her older brother unexpectedly. She is dealing with this grief by being overly carful and constantly thinking that she has an illness. She even went so far as to steal the neighbors book, The Everyday Guide to Preventing Illness, so that she could "check" her symptoms to see if she was dying. This was the only way she knew how to cope. At home her mom completely avoided the subject of Jared, or anything that would remind her of him. And her dad seemed to be completely checked out, not even knowing what was going on around him.
She then met a new neighbor, Mrs. Finch who slowly befriended her and realized that they shared a bond, both of them had lost someone they loved. Together they were able to work through things and eventually help out her parents as well.
I'm not to sure what the author intended the readers to think, but to me it showed that different people cope in different ways. I definitely got choked up a few times and it made me wonder, god forbid, if anything ever happened to one of my kids. I honestly don't think I could go on. I would probably shut myself up in my room and lose track of anything else. The author made a good point though, yes you need to grieve but life does go on. If you are so caught up in all the bad memories, and what you have lost, you lose sight of all the good that's going on around you.
I found out this week that some old friends of ours, the husband/father suddenly passed away. I can see this family going through some of these struggles. I think I will wait a few months, then recommend this book for the kiddoes. Maybe bring some hope that things will go on, and hopefully give some ideas about ways that you can remember instead of staying in the past.

[Harper D. · Rating 4 out of 5]

4th choice book for 3rd quarter

I liked this book. One of the reasons was that the characters are relatable. I think people could understand how Annie dealt with her brother's death. I also think that Lisa wrote from the point of view of a 10 year old well. I also understand how Annie's mom dealt with it too. I think she dealt with it the way most people deal with death. The book had a good plot, but some of it was a little boring. I do like how you don't really understand the title till' the end. I did think Annie took things literally sometimes. I would recommend this book to those who like realistic fiction.