Official Review: Secondhand Summer by Dan L Walker

[Amagine]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Secondhand Summer" by Dan L Walker.]

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4 out of 4 stars

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There is an awkward stage between “Child” and “Adult.” During this awkward stage, your emotions will be harder to control and your body will start to do weird things. Some moments, you’ll want to play tag with your friends. At other times, you’ll want to hurry and be a grown up. Truthfully, you really don’t know what you want to be. This awkward and confusing stage is called, “Teenager.” This is the stage that Secondhand Summer main character, Samuel “Sam” Barger finds himself in.

After losing his father and forced to relocate to a new home with his mother and sister, Sam’s life starts to change. Unable to come to full terms with his father’s death and suddenly becoming the man in the house, he begins to explore his new world; his external and internal one. Along the way, he makes friends with the local boys including the charismatic, Billy Anderson. Samuel and his new friends spend the summer before 9th grade, talking about girls, pulling pranks and creating hideouts. Everything starts to unwind when Sam faces many challenges that will have readers either judging his actions or nostalgic about their own awkward adolescence.

The cover of Dan Walker’s Secondhand Summer, caught my attention immediately. The cover accurately depicted something a young boy like Samuel will create. It also gave me a strong sense about the main character and the plot of the story. The beginning of the story had caught my attention immediately as we experience Samuel’s happier moments when his father was still alive. Most stories have a hard time keeping the momentum going in the middle, but that was no problem for Dan Walker. Every scene in the story serves to develop Sam’s character. Every moment that Sam deemed important to him, was important to the reader. The author held my interest all the way to the end. Samuel Barger played a huge part in that as well.

One of the first things I noticed about Sam Barger’s character was how observant he was about the world around him. That is a trait you wouldn’t expect to find from a young teen. It’s interesting to see him struggle with his identity as either a boy or a young man. When he was with his friends, he’s played tag with them out in the woods and thought, “It felt like we were outlaws hiding in the woods from the world and its grown-up rules.” Throughout the book, there are little doodles he draws that are like the ones on the cover. In these moments, we see Sam trying to hold on to his child-like innocence. In other scenes, you see a maturity develop in him as he takes a stronger role in the household and comforts a friend who suffered a similar tragedy. I loved the development of Sam’s character. The author did an excellent job with him. There is even a moment that Sam found some comfort in his position as a boy and man as he stated, “It was like we found a place behind the sign that said, ‘No Trespassing, Adults Only.”

I rate this book 4 out of 4 stars. The plot was well paced and kept my attention throughout the entire novel. The ending was a perfect conclusion to the story and it tied into the title. This book is suitable to a middle school/teenage audience who may struggle with their identity and role in society. The portrayal of Samuel Barger is so authentic that one might mistake this book for a real journal that the author stole from a high schooler. Samuel Barger is a character who readers will relate to. Oh yeah, Sam is an avid reader who enjoys reading Mickey Spillane detective novels… how can you not love this kid?

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Secondhand Summer
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[kandscreeley]

This sounds like a very interesting coming of age story. Looks like it makes for a good read. I'm glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for the review.

[Amagine]

This sounds like a very interesting coming of age story. Looks like it makes for a good read. I'm glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for the review.

Thanks for reading!

[Gingerbo0ks]

It's good to see a coming of age story for teens that focuses on the point of view of a boy rather than a girl. Not to say that it's not relevant to both of course. Glad you enjoyed this one.

[Amagine]

It's good to see a coming of age story for teens that focuses on the point of view of a boy rather than a girl. Not to say that it's not relevant to both of course. Glad you enjoyed this one.

No, I completely agree with you! There is not enough teen books with male protagonists. That's why there is an extreme difference in the percentage of teen girls that read compared to boys. Another problem is that there is not enough contemporary novels with male protagonists. The only books for boys are always only fantasy, supernatural, thrillers, etc. There is a need for books that depict real teenage boys in real situations. Life isn't always a fantasy.

Thank you for reading!

[bookowlie]

Great review! I agree it's nice to see a realistic book written from a boy's point of view. Usually boy-driven books tend to be in the fantasy genre, such as the Harry Potter series. Glad you enjoyed the book.

[Amagine]

Great review! I agree it's nice to see a realistic book written from a boy's point of view. Usually boy-driven books tend to be in the fantasy genre, such as the Harry Potter series. Glad you enjoyed the book.

I absolutely agree you! There is a need for contemporary middle grade/teen novels that are geared to boys. Fantasy is cool and all but they need to read real stories with real experiences. I enjoyed this story because of its authenticity. It felt like I was reading a journal of a real boy.

Thanks for reading!

[Kehvex]

i greatly enjoyed your review.

i agree with what you have said about there being no "slice of life"- in a sense books with male protagonists. although there is "Always Running by Luis j. Rodriguez" this story tells a true life story of a Mexican gangster living in a L.A. Barrio, his life his struggles. how he used literacy as a way to cope with the violence around him.

although that is more rough street life stuff... It is the atrocity of his life and what he went through, the viewpoint of a Latino male during his time, i think would make for some great characters such as those in the book that you have reviewed

[Amagine]

i greatly enjoyed your review.

i agree with what you have said about there being no "slice of life"- in a sense books with male protagonists. although there is "Always Running by Luis j. Rodriguez" this story tells a true life story of a Mexican gangster living in a L.A. Barrio, his life his struggles. how he used literacy as a way to cope with the violence around him.

although that is more rough street life stuff... It is the atrocity of his life and what he went through, the viewpoint of a Latino male during his time, i think would make for some great characters such as those in the book that you have reviewed

Thank you so much for the recommendation! I'm going to look for the book on Amazon! The fact that it is told from the viewpoint of a Latino male make me want to read it more. Another thing that is needed in the literary world is a diversity of characters. It is way more interesting to read a story about a character from a different background and culture than about the same type of character, over and over again.

Thanks for the recommendation and thank you for reading!