Summer at Meadow Wood by Amy Rebecca Tan

Hello, Amy Rebecca Tan! Welcome back to Watch. Connect. Read. Thank you for stopping by to share Jane Newland's wonderful cover illustration and Cat San Juan's brilliant cover design for Summer at Meadow Wood.

Amy Rebecca Tan: Hi Mr. Schu! It’s so wonderful to be back here. Thank you for revealing the cover of my second middle grade novel. I am in love with the cover of Summer at Meadow Wood. The art and design are so perfect for Vic Brown’s story. Seeing Vic on her rock with the light breaking through the trees warms me up every time I look at it.

What planted the seed for Summer at Meadow Wood?

Amy Rebecca Tan: The seed for Summer at Meadow Wood was planted in my first book, A Kind of Paradise. The main characters in each book, Vic and Jamie, are best friends, but are forced to spend their summer between 7^th and 8^th grade apart. With these two books, I explore the different ways people handle crisis – what they share, what they hide, how they face each day, how they find their way through. Jamie’s crisis is peer-related while Vic’s is all family-based. They both lead to the girls evolving in their own unique way.

The last time you visited I asked you to share some titles you’ve been booktalking. I would love to know which books you’ve been excited about since the last time you stopped by.

Amy Rebecca Tan: I recently read an advance copy of Almost American Girl by Robin Ha. I couldn’t bear to put the book down and leave Chuna/Robin until I felt certain she would be okay. I can’t remember the last time I rooted so hard for a character. This is a must read. Gary D Schmidt never disappoints. I loved Pay Attention, Carter Jones and am always happy to put this book in readers’ hands. I just discovered the picture book Pokko and the Drum by Matthew Forsythe. It’s hilarious and fun and smart and layered - a true delight! And The Undefeated by Kwame Alexander and Kadir Nelson is just completely wow. I can’t read it without getting the chills. It’s stunning and powerful and just… wow.

Please finish the following sentence starters:

New Hampshire is home to most of my childhood summer memories. I attended sleepaway camp in NH for eight weeks every summer in the 1980s. I believe all my time spent there in the outdoors is why I’m very much a lake-trees-mountains person to this day. (I’ve yet to experience a New Hampshire winter.)

I hope Summer at Meadow Wood shows readers that support and solutions can be found in the most unexpected places. I hope as readers watch Vic awaken to the power of her own agency, they will recognize and embrace that power in themselves.

A Kind of Paradise continues to be a library! Now stick that library in the woods by a lake and you’ve got everything you need.

Mr. Schu, you should have asked me if reading Summer at Meadow Wood will make you fiercely hungry for doughnuts.

It will.

Look for Summer at Meadow Wood on May 19, 2020. 

HarperCollins' Description: 

Vic Brown did not want to go to camp this summer.

Even though it’s nice being back with her friends at Meadow Wood, Vic still can’t forget about the secret reason her mom wanted her and her brother out of the house—or how much her family is going to change. When her home life is blowing up, it can be hard to focus on campfires and canoeing.

But there is something about summer and surprises that go together like blueberry pancakes and maple syrup. And soon, Vic starts to feel like—just maybe—a summer at Meadow Wood was exactly what she needed.