The summer solstice will take place on June 21, 2026, which technically marks the beginning of summer. However, I am sure that most of the students in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS) think that the real beginning of summer will arrive on the afternoon of June 10, 2026, which is the last day of the 2025-2026 school year. The sense of liberation that students feel on the last day of school is captured in Alice Cooper’s famous hit, “School’s Out,” or as it is sometimes called, “School’s Out for Summer.” In this song, Alice Copper sings about “no more books,” and I am sure that is how many students feel, but for some students, summer is a time to read books for pleasure. I was such a student when I was growing up. Today’s Storied Charlotte blog post is for readers of all ages who read for pleasure and who are interested in classic children’s and YA that take place during the summer.
One such classic is Maureen Daly’s coming-of-age novel Seventeenth Summer. Published in 1942, this novel is often cited as one of the key books that shaped the nature of contemporary YA literature. It’s written in first person, and it captures the emotions of a teenage girl who falls in love for the first time. Daly wrote the book while she was still in college, so she could still easily relate to the way teenagers often think about relationships. Angie Morrow, the central character, is a bright but very naïve teenager who has lived a sheltered life. I recently taught this book in my course on classic American children’s literature. My students liked Angie and were pleased with her determination to go to college, but they were surprised at how clueless Angie often is when interacting with Jack, her first boyfriend. In some ways, Seventeenth Summer seems a bit tame by today’s standards, but in the opinion of my students, Angie’s emotional responses still ring true.
Another classic book set during the summer is Virginia Hamilton’s debut novel, Zeely, which came out in 1967. Following the publication of this middle-grade novel, Hamilton went on to become a famous African American children’s author. In Zeely, a girl named Elizabeth and her brother John spend the summer on their uncle’s farm. There they meet Zeely Tayber, a tall Black woman living on a neighboring farm. Elizabeth has a very active imagination, and she imagines that Zeely is Watutsi queen living in exile. For Elizabeth, her fantasies about her neighbor are put in a new light when she gets to know Zeely as a real person. The novel focuses on the characters’ interactions, and it wonderfully captures the workings a child’s imagination.
My last recommendation is Bette Greene’s 1973 historical novel titled Summer of My German Soldier. Set in a small town in Arkansas during World War II, this novel focuses on a 12-year-old Jewish-American girl named Anne Bergen. She befriends Fredrick “Anton” Reiker, a young German POW who escapes from a nearby prison camp. Anton was drafted to serve in the German military even though he opposes Hitler and the Nazi Party. Their friendship ends up shattering her relationship with her family and puts her at odds with the town. I taught this course in a graduate seminar on Southern children’s literature, and my students were very impressed with how Greene deftly deals with the complexities of prejudice and wartime fervor. Summer of My German Soldier is far from an entertaining summer escape novel, but it is a memorable story.
I could recommend many other children’s and YA books that take place during the summer, but these three books stand out for me because they show how much story can be packed into three fleeting months. With summer vacation just around the corner, I hope that everyone in Storied Charlotte, whether they are school-aged or grownups, can spend part of their summer reading just for the pleasure of engaging with a well-told story.