The summer before 8th grade Lilla and her best friends are challenged to the ‘summer of brave”. Lilla, a people pleaser, pushes herself out of her comfort zone in order to express how she really feels. Covering sensitive topics with humour and grace, the adolescent characters do not come off as angsty; they are real and complex. Lilla’s relationships with her parents, best friend, boys, and people in general evolve as she grows and becomes more confident. Readers will enjoy cheering for Lilla as she begins to face conflicts head on. Middle grade books are generally geared for children aged 8-12. Some of the content might be a little much for younger readers and parents should proceed with caution for the 10 and under crowd. But for older middle grade readers this is a refreshingly honest and enjoyable book about growing up and current issues many tweens are navigating.
Thank you to the author and publisher for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

4.5 stars

After what felt like a bit of a slow start, this book surprised me in a great way by covering several issues in a really profound manner.

Lilla, the m.c., is twelve and is facing a series of turning points: impending high school, her parents' divorce, her movement from friendship to romantic thoughts in one case, and changing friendships. She is also experiencing changes in her levels of in/dependence and in her understanding of how others perceive her. What is most interesting about Lilla is that she is a people pleaser who is keenly aware of this trait and willing to work toward changing it via the Summer of Brave.

Lilla read weirdly young to me at the start of the novel, but that all changed for the better. I really enjoy the way she navigates her parents' divorce and their general treatment of her, the fluctuations with her friends - old and new -, and especially how she finds her voice and manages her bravest act after a particular incident. The entire conversation around street harassment is handled expertly, and on that premise alone, I'd recommend this book to a wide array of readers. Fortunately, there are so many other reasons to recommend this book even outside of that fine point.

This is a great middle grade read, particularly around sexual/street harassment, boundaries, toxic masculinity, and abundant enablers of that aforementioned state. Recommended -

I had the opportunity to read Summer of Brave with #bookposse. This story was a great story of a young girl that is pushing herself to find her voice. With her parents recent divorce, tryouts for the local elite high school, and an awkward encounter with a college boy, a lot is going on for our young character. I thought this story was relevant and powerful. It is another perspective on how soon young women are experiencing unwanted advances,

This book touched on so many things that I remember having gone through as a child and was not addressed in the books I read. From Lilla getting catcalled for the first time and its aftermath to friendships and boys getting frustrating and scary, this book really holds a special place in my heart.
The characters in this book are incredibly well fleshed out. The only one that we don't get a ton on is Knox, but this book is more about girlhood, and I understand its reasoning. It really touches on how we as women are sometimes our biggest enemies in the grand scheme of promoting one another in an accessible and understandable way to the intended age group.

Lilla’s best friend challenges her to brave this summer and to do things out of her comfort zone. Lilla is tired of trying to please everyone especially her divorced parents but doesn’t dare speak up. Lilla is also afraid to tell her best friend she wants to have other friends. There’s also a boy they’re friends with, and Lilla is unsure of her feelings for him. Then a street harassment incident happens and Lilla knows she has to speak up and do something especially when she realizes she’s not alone with this. She finds she’s brave enough to handle tough situations and that she has the strength to be herself and finally speak out to everyone which in turn gives her the power to voice her opinion about problems at home. She realizes “ I am enough.” Excellent book.

This book was about being yourself and standing up for what you believe in. I really enjoyed the plot line and how the story plays out. There are unexpected twists everywhere, and I completely loved the way the author included a hard topic in a easy way for kids to understand. It's perfect for readers ages 11-14.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Wow. This was a wonderful book about being honest and brave. I love how Lilla related to her friends and how she was finally able to speak the truth to everyone around her. I was also really impressed with how the author handled sexual harassment and how it makes even the youngest of girls feel.

Charming, 3 best friends story, over the summer before 8th grade, in a college town where parental expectations are high. Vivi, bold and science oriented, challenges artsy Knox and quiet Lilla to a summer of honesty. Lilla navigates divorce and new feelings for Knox, trying to figure out where her talents lie and what her school focus should be, while splitting time between her mom and dad. Authentic and believable, with characters you care about. A joy to read.

A year after her parents' divorce, Lydia "Lilla" Baxter-Willoughby splits her time between the upstairs and downstairs parts of the house they divided. But that's not the only thing she wishes her parents didn't have to enforce without asking. Both of them are pressuring her to apply to the exclusive Grover Academy for high school, but her mother is set on the STEM track and her father on the arts one. Her mother also tries to get her way by telling Lilla that she is very lucky to be a girl with this opportunity, and that she shouldn't throw it away. But Lilla doesn't really know what she wants. The only thing she knows for sure is that she doesn't want to go to Grover Academy, even if her best friends, Vivi and Knox, are there.
At the beginning of the summer, Vivi designates it the "Summer of Brave," encouraging Lilla and Knox to speak up for themselves. This is not Lilla's strong suit. When she applies to be a junior counselor at the local museum with Vivi and Knox, she wants to be chosen for the children's section, but she impresses the director, Kate, so much that she is instantly chosen to help with the science camp. Which was the position Vivi wanted, and one Lilla didn't. After the interview, she is informed of the staff dress code policy, which bans leggings, short skirts and tight clothes for girls, but has almost no rules for boys.
Despite these minor setbacks, Lilla tries to make the best of her time with Knox at the museum, and soon realizes she might like him as more than a friend. When she's invited to his house one night, she dresses up and puts on more makeup than usual to make an effort. But on her way, she gets whistled at and catcalled by two local college boys, one of whom works with her at the museum.
Humiliated, Lilla now dreads her summer job and no longer wants Knox to show any interest in her. She knows she can't tell her friends or parents. But when she reports her colleague (Matt) to Kate, she is told that it's just "boys being boys" and completely unavoidable. Matt is even worse: he tells Lilla that she should've taken it as a compliment, and that if she hadn't been so dressed up, he wouldn't have known how young she was (as if it's okay to harass someone your own age.)
Lilla knows she has to stand up for herself. But if she can't say the words out loud, she might need a more creative solution.
This is like my ideal MG story! Like Lilla, I've never had a specific passion to devote my life to, and I'm about to go to college, struggling to decide what I want to major in. Plus, we're both former gymnasts who love drawing.
The focus on girl power was SO important here. Not only Lilla's activism regarding street harassment, but also in her personal life and her friends. This is one of the only MG books I've read (and it's sad that there are so few) that doesn't fall into the "my friends all like girly things and boys and I don't like any of that" trope. Lilla is an A student who loves art and science like many MG protagonists, but she also likes makeup, dressing up and having sleepovers with friends. And it never once shows traditionally feminine things as bad- in fact, it's like it was the book's mission to call that out. Lilla doesn't like how Vivi can be judgmental of her new friend, Prisha, for her "girly" interests, and she and Prisha have another discussion about the unnecessary societal rules that are enforced on girls, like how Prisha's mother doesn't want her to do cheerleading because it's not a "real sport" and Title IX exists for a reason. This book shows girls that they have a choice, and that is what every reader needs to hear.
I wasn't going to do any comparing, but if you liked "How to Be a Girl in The World" or "Rules For Being a Girl," please read this book.

I received an advance copy of, Summer of Brave, by Amy Noelle Parks. Lilla is in 8th grade, her parents arent together so she has to spend time at their houses separately. Lilla is a sensitive child, childhood is hard enough without being sensitive, so she lies. This book was ok, I could not relate as my parents are still together.