Three Summers is the teenage years memoir of Amra Sabic-El0Rayess, a Muslim Bosniak prior to the Bosnian War. After the loss of her older brother to Marfan syndrome Amra is, understandably, depressed. As a last ditch effort her mother calls on her estranged cousin, who happens to have a daughter the same age. When Zara comes to visit she is confident, strong willed, and out-going and she not only pulls Amra out of her funk, but begins to build her up into the woman she eventually becomes. This is the events of those three magical summers that they were able to spend together.

This was a huge dip into the culture of the young in Bosnia in the 80's. You get a taste of the rising tensions and upcoming conflict, but much of the book centers on how it was growing up for them. How there was no difference between the Bosnians and the Serbs other than their religious beliefs, despite the rhetoric that was spread before and during the war. It is a story of family, and traditions, and sisters of the heart.

The nice thing about this book is that it did not read like a typical memoir to me. It seemed like it could have been just a story of kids in Bihac over the course of three summers. The adventures they got into and the emotions that they felt strongly, like only the young can. While there were some facts about religion, it was not the predominant theme of the story, other than the fact that her family was Muslim and were treated differently at different stages in the book because of it. The hardest part of this book, for me, was trying to remember how young Amra was for these three summers. That she was only 11/12 when they are talking about flirting with boys out at the river and 12/13 when they are heading to the discotheque to dance until 11pm.

Overall I liked the book. It was a great look at culture and history in the form of a great story.

Thank you to #NetGalley, the authors, and the publisher of the book for the eARC copy in exchange for an honest review.

A middle grade memoir about cousins who are more like sisters growing up over three different summers during the ethnic tensions in Bosnia.

A great nonfiction book for middle grade readers! It introduces them to a different time and different world. I hope it will show kids what other kids around the world go through or have gone through when they were their age. It will also introduce them to a time period that is not always discussed or taught.

It is difficult and probably rather inappropriate for me to offer a "review" of a memoir, after all who am I to have opinions on someone's lived experience.  And this non fiction book in particular is so desperately needed and important, as OWN voice middle grade literature about Bosnia is fairly non existent. So continue reading my thoughts with a grain of salt, suffice it to say, that I enjoyed the book, and loved the author's YA book The Cat I Never Named, but ultimately I struggle to suggest this for the intended audience of 8-12 year olds.  As a child my family was involved with Bosnian refugees in the 90s, as an adult I understand that Islam, and being Muslim, is not a monolith, as someone who can empathize with loss and heartache, I couldn't put the book down.  Yet, I truly doubt that many fourth graders will feel the emotional climaxes that are not shown, but told.  That they will understand the timeline and what is about to happen if the book were to continue.  That they will feel a connection to the characters who read so much older than them.  If the book was fiction, I would say the characters read YA, with the bikinis and details of body growth, kissing, making out, having boyfriends, and dancing at the discotheque, cigarette smoking, backless dresses, noting which neighbors are having affairs, and trying to become their "truest self," but the book is a memoir, this is the author's life when she was 11, 12, and 13.  In an environment where her maturity is noted as being heightened because of the loss of her brother and her personality, the book shows cultural norms, that will still strike contemporary reader as being much more adult in nature. Islamically, the label of Muslim and Bosniaks, is ever present.  Bosniaks were massacred for being Muslim, period.  The book never shows them praying, or mentions Allah swt or the Quran, covering is something only the older generations did, they do drink alcohol on occasion, but they have a cow slaughtered Islamically and burials are done in accordance with Islamic principles.  There is kissing, having boyfriends is not problematic unless they are Serb, the only imam mentioned does weird black magic type things.  So while the label of "Muslim" may feel to Muslims readers more like a cultural marker at times, it is none-the-less incredibly empowering to see that Amra takes pride in her Bosniak identity and doesn't shy away from it. Other flags/triggers are domestic abuse, bullying, physical violence, attempted drowning, accidental drowning, death of a sibling, kidnapping, imprisonment, threat of war, racism, Islamophobia, music, fortune tellers, lying, threatening.  The backmatter offers a timeline and thus gives some information about the rape, torture, genocide, abuse, and destruction.  

SYNOPSIS:

The book starts with a visiting fortune teller giving Amra and her family hope that her older brother Amar will be pain free soon. Amar suffers from Marfan syndrome, and is frequently weak, teased, and in pain.  But he is also wise and patient, brilliant and gentle, and beloved by so many, and Amra is broken when he passes away.  To help break her from her debilitating grief, her parents reach out to a cousin in Belgrade, who has long been estranged for marrying a Serb, to come visit for the summer.  Zana and her younger sister Vedrana, engulf Amra in warmth and adventure and the summer on the River Una is just what Amra needs.  The next summer Zana and Amra resume their idyllic adventures of swimming, make-up, crushes, and coming of age, with only a hint of fracture based on religious lines creeping in the final days.  The following summer Amra is starting to mature on her own and understand the world around her.  Her father has lost his job, been kidnapped essentially and tortured, and while nights dancing at the discotheque give laughter and light, the girls final summer, is the end of peace, and innocence for all Bosniaks. 

WHY I LIKE IT:

I love the end, that there are real life updates of the people in the book.  It made me cry.  It is also so timely to what is occurring in Gaza and how no matter how clear it is that it is genocide, and it is oppression, and it is racism, some just cannot see it.  The book is joyful, but the reality of the backmatter is heavy, and real, and important.  

I like that the book shows Bosnia and the culture and the traditions, the few books I've read focus on the war, and the rich culture and deep history doesn't get to shine like it does here.

I do wish the book was more showing than telling.  I know it is a memoir, but at times it was just too advanced commentary and insight.  I fully believe the author is brilliant, and at 11 years old was pondering her life, but most readers just aren't at that age, and the tangents keep the readers at arms length.  The book says it is about crushes, so I don't want to keep harping on it, but it really is Amra and Zana and a gaggle of other female cousins quite often worrying about boys, and crushes, and kissing.  It doesn't get obnoxious, but it isn't a line here or there, it is the bulk of the book.

FLAGS:

Domestic abuse, bullying, physical violence, attempted drowning, accidental drowning, death of a sibling, kidnapping, imprisonment, threat of war, racism, Islamophobia, music, fortune tellers, lying, threatening, death, loss, grief, affairs, cheating, racism, bare bodies, crude jokes, crushes, kissing, making out, sneaking out, smoking, drinking, developing bodies, bullying, internalized Islamophobia, kidnapping, imprisonment, dancing, black magic imams.  The backmatter offers a timeline and thus gives some information about the rape, torture, genocide, abuse, starvation, and destruction during the Bosnian genocide. 

TOOLS FOR LEADING THE DISCUSSION:

I think with some context about war, about communism, the Ottoman empire even, this book could be used in a teaching setting to allow the time frame to be seen from those living it, but, for more mature middle school to early high school readers.  It is a lot for MG and that it is non fiction makes me want it to be understood and appreciated and I don't know that for the intended demographic, even with context and guidance it would be achieved. There really isn't a plot, it is a memoir, and the pacing and assumed context knowledge I feel like, just wouldn't be there for the typical western middle grade reader.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the e-ARC of Three Summers.

This was an interesting read, with so much history and heart. I really enjoyed this story, and think it will be an engaging read for my students..

This memoir is broken into three sections, one for each of the summers Amra spends with her cousins. Before that first summer, her family experiences a terrible loss, and Amra sinks into a dark depression. As she gets to know her cousins, she begins to have hope again, confidence in herself, and the courage to form friendships with others.

Her love for her family is so clear in the pages of the book. It celebrates familial bonds, especially those between a child and their parents, and the bonds between siblings and cousins.

This is the first book I’ve ever read about the Bosnian Genocide, though it isn’t the author’s first memoir about that time. After reading this book, I ordered a copy of her YA memoir, THE CAT I NEVER NAMED, so hopefully I’ll be ready to share my review of that book soon, too.

Technically, this book focuses on the years leading up to the genocide, in which the government becomes more and more hostile, one slow step at a time. I’m not gonna lie; it is harrowing to read a story like this and see parallels in some of the dehumanizing rhetoric certain political leaders are using right now.

Those comments make stories like this critically important because we need to remember that genocide doesn’t begin with the targeted deaths of a group of people. It begins with the systematic dehumanization of them.

I’m so glad Sabic-El-Rayess continues to write about her experiences in a way that kids can read about. The scenes in this book stay focused on Amra’s experience as a child, looking through her eyes. This is an important book, especially now. I hope that many people will discover and read it.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions my own.

A beautiful memoir about a young girl finding herself, despite tragedy and challenges surrounding her. Amra is used to taking care of her older brother and defending him from bullies who tease him about his medical condition. When her brother passes away, Amra is left grieving and also trying to figure out who she is. With the help of estranged family, Amra learns that she can still enjoy life, find herself, and become an amazing young woman, despite all she's faced. Great for upper MG readers and beyond!

Three Summers by Amra Sabic-El-Rayess reads a bit like a tween diary kept during three three *mostly* idealic summers before her world was completely torn apart. There is nothing wrong with that, this IS a middle grade memoir. But I really wish the details the author wrote about in her Author's Note were incorporated into the main pages of the memoir because that's where she talks about surviving the genocide against her people and I thought what she had to say was so important. In sharing her life before genocide she's humanizing her story and it puts into perspective how badly things went. But I worry young readers will stop reading at the end of the book, will skip the Author's Note, and will not realize what happened next. With all of that said, I put her book, The Cat I Never Named on my TBR list. It looks like a very important read!

This book is about 5 cousins that become closer than sisters over the course of three summers. They go through loves and heartache, and all the teenage issues. This book is one that encompasses even more than most teens could handle but these cousins had no other choice. This is a book that will take your emotion on a roller coaster ride of their life.

The cover for Three Summers seemed to be a graphic novel, and that is why I originally asked to review this book.
Amra details her close knit family and surrounding community in this middle grade memoir. Even though she discussed more about the actual war at the end of the story, I was hoping that her details would be woven into the memoir itself. Sadly, the readers I serve won't be drawn into this memoir on their own, but may fare better using this one as a whole class read.

This was a read I very much enjoyed. I am a fan of memoirs and although it is written for a middle grade audience, I thought it was a good read. The emotion packed a punch and the description was done well. I hadn't known a lot about the Bosnian Conflict so learning about it through the memoir was very engaging. I would recommend this to young teens looking to read a new memoir (especially if it's a class assignment).

Thank you NetGalley, Macmillan Children's Publishing Group, and Amra Sabic-El-Rayess for the opportunity to read this e-ARC!

Three Summers was a beautifully written memoir. Amra is living the shadow of the tension brewing in Bosnia in the 1980s, with a strong family and community surrounding her. When her older brother dies unexpectedly and tragically, Amra's whole world turns to grief. The three summers after were the magical awakening with her cousin Zana, who came to visit from Belgrade and helped Amra grow out of grief and into love and young womanhood.

This memoir includes the genocide and war that Amra lived through, but it is not just a book about the horrors of the world, it's a book about hope and love and life.

Amra details growing up in Bosnia, her strong family ties, and life as Muslims before the war in 1992 tears them apart.

DNF at 34%. I need to start my review by explaining that I requested this because I mistakenly thought it was a graphic novel. I decided to give it a go anyway. This is a story of a young girl told over three summers in Bosnia. The writing in this is very simple, and it felt like reading a twelve year old’s diary. I know this is marketed as middle grade, but the storytelling feels very childish. This a case of the book telling rather than showing. I’ve set this aside to read 3 other books in the last 2 months.

I am devastated after reading Three Summers.

Amra is a homely young girl, sheltered from much of what her preteen/teen counterparts have been exposed to-makeup, crushes, fashion. She’s living in late 80s Bosnia at a time when Serbs are increasingly isolating and discriminating against Bosniaks, serving as a backdrop to an already tumultuous time. Amra has survived a personal tragedy and is left feeling like she has no one.

Three Summers changes everything. She’s introduced to cousins that become light, motivation, excitement, and adventure in her life when they gather each summer, growing older and developing their interests.

Sabic-El-Rayess does THE MOST incredible writing and transports the reader directly to those awkward teen years as she perfectly describes butterflies due to a crush, first try makeup fails, figuring out how to love our bodies. Being immersed in those familiar feelings makes the horrors of impending genocide even more shocking.

Friendships, lives, families are all at stake when opposing sides butt heads and not one character can prepare for what politics and religion can do to a homeland, to the people you identify as your own.

I’m thankful this memoir gives us so many happy moments but, man, I was crushed when reading the follow ups.

This memoir is dazzling with memories and hope for each summer. All the same, it’s a tragic open wound. Raw and absolutely going to leave a scar.

In this autobiographical, coming-of-age book, we meet Amra and get a glimpse into her life in Bosnia over the course of three summers leading up to the Bosnian conflict, but the story ends there. There is considerable information regarding the events surrounding the war in the Afterword sections.

Three Summers was a great and timely read. I did not know much about the Bosnian Conflict, so it was an interesting read. I thought the characters were relatable and the author navigated tough topics with grace.

A wonderful memoir about the bonds of families. I enjoyed reading about everyone as they grew over those three summers. I know next to nothing about Bosnia or Bosnian culture so I greatly enjoyed how descriptive the book was.

A beautiful and exciting story! I loved the characters and was rooting for them the whole time. A must read!

A Heartrending Ode to Sisterhood and Resilience

Having read "The Cat I Never Named," I was already primed for the emotional depth and cultural insights Amra Sabic-El-Rayess offers in her writing. But nothing could have prepared me for the sheer brilliance of this novel, a poignant prequel that manages to be both heartbreaking and beautiful in equal measure.

From the very beginning, as Sabic-El-Rayess shares the bittersweet tale of her relationship with her older brother, Amar, and the sorrow of his passing, I was hooked. Her words paint a vibrant tableau of Bosnian culture, steeped in traditions of hospitality, family, and deep-seated bonds of friendship. Woven through the narrative is a delicate thread of young love, a testament to the throes of adolescence and the challenges the five young cousins face.

As they navigate the treacherous waters of an escalating political crisis, what truly stands out is their resilience. The bond these young girls share, tighter than that of sisters, becomes their anchor amidst the storm. And it's this bond that shines a light on the true spirit of humanity, showing us that even in the darkest of times, love and unity prevail.

These kinds of books made me the empathetic person I am today. Authors like Sabic-El-Rayess craft such evocative narratives that shape our understanding of the world and our place in it. Every generation needs stories like these, stories that resonate, uplift, and, ultimately, heal.

"Three Summers" isn't just a book; it's an experience, a journey of the heart that will leave an indelible mark long after the last page is turned. Simply put, it was absolutely breathtaking.

The perspective brought by Amra Sabic-El-Rayess in Three Summers is a much needed insight to a part of history that may not always be covered in middle grade history classes. Middle-grade readers will be swept up in this heartwarming coming-of-age book that is all about friendships, forgiveness, grief, and navigating all the big feelings that are universal for 12-15 year-olds.