For the young person navigating confusing feelings of a first crush, this poignant story explores the complexities of infatuation and observing adult relationships.
A parent might reach for this book when their child is experiencing the all-consuming, often confusing, emotions of a first crush, especially on someone older. The story follows eleven-year-old Sarah, whose lonely summer is transformed when her older sister brings home a quiet, troubled college friend named Michael. Sarah develops a powerful infatuation, creating a rich fantasy life around him. The book gently explores the difference between idealized love and the complex reality of adult relationships. It's a poignant and realistic story for ages 10 to 14 that validates a young person's intense feelings while offering a safe space to explore themes of identity, loneliness, and the bittersweet process of growing up.
Adult characters and their relationships are complex and not easily defined as good or bad.
Sensitive Topics
The book deals with emotional distress and unspoken trauma. Michael's character is clearly struggling with something significant, which could be interpreted as depression. This is handled indirectly, seen only through Sarah's limited, observant perspective. The resolution is realistic, not a fairytale. It acknowledges that some problems do not have easy fixes and that her crush was a fantasy. The approach is entirely secular.
Ideal Reader
This book is perfect for a sensitive, observant 10 to 13-year-old who is just beginning to experience crushes or is fascinated by the social dynamics of older siblings and adults. It will resonate with a child who tends to live in their head and build up elaborate daydreams about people they admire from afar.
Parent Prep
The book can be read cold. There are no scenes that require a parent to preview for content. However, a parent should be prepared for the book's realistic ending. It does not fulfill the romantic fantasy. This provides a good opportunity to discuss the difference between a crush and a reciprocal relationship, and how we can care about people who are not in a healthy place to care back. A parent notices their child is completely consumed by a crush on someone unattainable (an older neighbor, a celebrity, a character in a movie). The child might be experiencing real emotional highs and lows based on this fantasy, and the parent wants to offer a story that honors those feelings while grounding them in reality.
Age Experience
A 10-year-old will connect deeply with Sarah's feelings of being in love and the excitement of her fantasy. They will experience the story primarily through Sarah's perspective. A 13 or 14-year-old will have more perspective, recognizing the signs of Michael's emotional trouble more clearly and understanding the power imbalance in Sarah's crush. They will appreciate it more as a coming-of-age story about perception versus reality.
What Makes It Special
While many middle-grade books feature peer crushes, this one is unique in its focus on an unrequited, age-gap infatuation. It expertly captures the specific dynamic of a younger sibling observing the mysterious world of young adults. Its primary focus is not the romance itself, but the internal experience of the crush and the protagonist's growth as she learns to separate fantasy from a more complicated reality.
Read plot summary
Sixth-grader Sarah is adrift in a lonely summer until her college-age sister, Meg, brings home a friend, Michael. Sarah is immediately and completely infatuated with the quiet, artistic, and sad young man. The narrative follows Sarah's internal world as she observes Michael, imagines a romantic connection, and tries to understand the complicated, unspoken tensions between him and her sister. The book is a quiet character study of a young girl's first major crush and her dawning awareness of the complexities of adult emotions and relationships.
This overview was generated by AI based on the book's content and reviews, and may not capture every nuance.
Discussion Prompts
1
Sarah creates a very specific idea of who Michael is in her head. How was her version of Michael different from the real person? Why do you think it's easy to create stories about people we have a crush on?
2
At the end of the book, Sarah's feelings about Michael have changed. Does she still have a crush on him? What do you think she learned about love from watching him and Meg over the summer?
3
Meg often gets annoyed with Sarah for being around her and Michael. Do you think Meg's frustration was justified? How do siblings balance wanting to be close with needing their own privacy and space?
4
Sarah feels very grown-up because of her feelings for Michael. In what ways did this crush help her grow up, and in what ways was she still a kid?
