Review: The Summer I Learned To Fly by Dana Reinhardt

Book: The Summer I Learned To Fly by Dana Reinhardt
Pages: 224 Pages
Release Date: July 12th, 2011
Publisher: Wendy Lamb Books
Source: Teen Book Scene/Publisher

Synopsis:
Drew's a bit of a loner. She has a pet rat, her dead dad's Book of Lists, an encyclopedic knowledge of cheese from working at her mom's cheese shop, and a crush on Nick, the surf bum who works behind the counter. It's the summer before eighth grade and Drew's days seem like business as usual, until one night after closing time, when she meets a strange boy in the alley named Emmett Crane. Who he is, why he's there, where the cut on his cheek came from, and his bottomless knowledge of rats are all mysteries Drew will untangle as they are drawn closer together, and Drew enters into the first true friendship, and adventure, of her life.

My Thoughts:

Dana Reinhardt is a wonderful author and I was so excited to read another of her books. The Summer I Learned to Fly was a beautiful story about friendship.

Drew was definitely a character I could relate to because like her, I’m not at all very social (funny considering my blog name is Friendly Reader) and I’ve never had any good friends that I could count on.  I think everyone and anyone can relate to Drew in some way.

I found it cute how Drew admired the eighteen year old boy working in her mom’s cheese shop. Drew and he really did seem like brother and sister (even though at first that’s not what she wanted). Her mom’s cheese shop was cute too.  I’ve never read a book that involved cheese, a boy, and rat before so it came on as entertaining to me.

Emmett was a really sweet boy and I could see why Drew wanted to be friends with him. Their adventure was a wild one that I wanted to go on again after I was finished. The Summer I Learned To Fly was a really good summer read.