At the beginning of the first summer since the devastating accident that killed her father and younger brother, Cedar and her surviving family members settle into a different home, where a new friendship and job introduce her to a local mystery involving the death of a young Hollywood actress. By the best-selling author of the Matched series. Simultaneous eBook. - (Baker & Taylor)

After the sudden deaths of her father and autistic younger brother, Cedar Lee spends the summer working at a Shakespearean theater festival, making a new friend, and coming to terms with her grief. - (Baker & Taylor)

"Following the sudden deaths of her father and autistic younger brother, Cedar Lee spends the summer working at a Shakespearean theater festival, making a new friend, and coming to terms with her grief"-- - (Baker & Taylor)

A tender and compelling contemporary novel for young readers about facing loss and finding friendship, from Ally Condie, international bestselling author of the Matched series.

Nominated by the Mystery Writers of America for the 2017 Edgar Award
 
“Kids are awesome. And they are diverse. There are children with different abilities and backgrounds and experiences, and every one of them deserves to find themselves in children's literature and to know that they matter.” –Ally Condie, on Summerlost

Sometimes it takes a new friend to bring you home. It's the first real summer since the accident that killed Cedar's father and younger brother, Ben. Cedar and what’s left of her family are returning to the town of Iron Creek for the summer. They’re just settling into their new house when a boy named Leo, dressed in costume, rides by on his bike. Intrigued, Cedar follows him to the renowned Summerlost theatre festival. Soon, she not only has a new friend in Leo and a job working concessions at the festival, she finds herself surrounded by mystery. The mystery of the tragic, too-short life of the Hollywood actress who haunts the halls of Summerlost. And the mystery of the strange gifts that keep appearing for Cedar. 
 
Infused with emotion and rich with understanding, Summerlost is the touching new novel from Ally Condie, the international bestselling author of the Matched series that highlights the strength of family and personal resilience in the face of tragedy.

"Generous and bittersweet, Summerlost has the emotional acuity of Ms. Condie’s writing for older teenagers, but it’s pitched just right for readers ages 10-14." –Wall Street Journal
 
"Funny, sad, sweet, and heartwarming." –Parents.com, Special Needs Now blog

' "Condie is at her best . . . grabbing readers’ interest from the first page." —Publishers Weekly, starred review 

' "Thoughtful, poetic chapter endings guide readers new to psychological depth toward meaningful connections between plot events and thematic reflections." —BCCB, starred review

"A nuanced portrait of grief deeply grounded in the middle-school mind-set." —Booklist

"Honest, lovely, and sad." —Kirkus Reviews - (Penguin Putnam)

Ally Condie is the author of the #1 New York Times bestselling Matched trilogy and co-author of the Darkdeep middle grade series. She is also the author of the novel Summerlost, an Edgar Award Finalist. A former English teacher, Ally lives with her family outside of Salt Lake City, Utah. Ally has an MFA from the Vermont College of Fine Arts, and is the founder and director of the nonprofit WriteOut Foundation.

allycondie.com
Twitter: @allycondie - (Penguin Putnam)

Booklist Reviews

Condie makes her middle-grade debut with a tender novel about a family coming to terms with a personal tragedy. The summer after Cedar loses her father and brother Ben in a car accident, her mother moves their family, now just three of them, to Iron Creek, Utah, home to the Summerlost Shakespeare Festival. Cedar finds an unexpected friend in Leo, a theater nerd obsessed with Lisette Chamberlain, a famous actress who made her start at Summerlost before dying young. In their time off work at Summerlost, Leo and Cedar run unauthorized Lisette Chamberlain tours while trying to piece together what really happened to her. The mystery of Lisette plays second fiddle to the novel's centerpiece: the special friendship between Cedar and Leo, which helps Cedar deal with her grief. An aching sense of loss pervades the story, focusing more on Ben than on Cedar's dad. Though it is never named in the story, readers will put together that Ben was on the autism spectrum. A nuanced portrait of grief deeply grounded in the middle-school mind-set. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Banking on the popularity of Condie's Matched series, her publishers are welcoming her middle-grade debut with some hefty promotion, including an author tour. Copyright 2014 Booklist Reviews.

Horn Book Guide Reviews

After twelve-year-old Cedar's father and brother are killed in an accident, she seeks distraction at a theater festival. There she befriends Leo, who introduces her to legends surrounding a famous local actress's mysterious death. Their investigation is compelling, but the strongest impact comes from the characters' personal struggles and honest interactions, which keep the story feeling authentic right up to the thoughtful conclusion.

Kirkus Reviews

A year after losing two family members, a girl spends the summer in a small town with a Shakespeare festival. Mom buys a summer house for herself, 12-year-old Cedar, and 8-year-old Miles in Iron Creek, where Mom grew up. It's been a year since a drunk driver killed Cedar's father and other little brother, Ben. As Cedar gets a job selling concessions at the Shakespeare festival, makes a friend named Leo, and finds herself and Miles obsessed with a morbid soap-opera arc on TV, Condie touches everything lightly but deftly with the family's grief. Leo and Cedar research—and give unauthorized tours about—a long-dead, famous actress from the town; Cedar's pulled by that research because she knows, now, that things can disappear forever. Ben was disabled (maybe autistic), and their relationship was sometimes difficult. Her relationship with Miles is stolid and understatedly touching. Details are careful and never extraneous; there's a reason it matters, at a certain mome nt, that "the milk was perfectly cold and the bananas not too ripe" in a bowl of cereal. Despite indicating that Cedar bonds with Leo because they're both outsiders—she as a biracial Chinese-American, he for vaguer reasons—an explanation for their friendship isn't necessary. Although Cedar's narration as a character of color is largely convincing, white is still the default for other characters unless otherwise specified. There's no monumental grief breakthrough, nor should there be: this is the realistic going on, day by day, after bereavement. Honest, lovely, and sad. (Fiction. 10-13) Copyright Kirkus 2015 Kirkus/BPI Communications.All rights reserved.

Publishers Weekly Reviews

Connie (Matched) strikes a deep emotional cord with this coming-of-age story about 12-year-old Cedar Lee, who has moved to Iron Creek, Utah, for the summer with her mother and younger brother, Miles, as the family struggles to regroup after an accident claimed the lives of Cedar's father and brother Ben. Cedar quickly meets enterprising, offbeat Leo, who gets her a job at Summerlost, the town's yearly Shakespeare festival. As the new friends team up to give (unofficial) walking tours about the life of legendary actress and hometown hero Lisette Chamberlain, they become captivated by the circumstances surrounding the woman's death. Condie is at her best in this foray into middle grade fiction, grabbing readers' interest from the first page while creating memorable characters struggling through deep emotional pain. The thread of Lisette's mystery is intriguing in itself, but Leo and Cedar's unlikely friendship steals the show. Their adventures, set against the quirky backdrop of a community of personality-rich theater creators, make for a summer with plenty of good to remember along with the bad. Ages 10–up. Agent: Jodi Reamer, Writers House. (Mar.)

School Library Journal Reviews

Gr 5–8—A year after the accident that killed Cedar Lee's father and younger brother, her family still feels freshly broken. Her mother moves the remainder of the family out to her hometown of Iron Creek for the summer. Cedar's mom throws herself into fixing up their new house, leaving Cedar and her younger brother Miles to explore the area on their own. Cedar can't shake her grief, especially when small trinkets that remind her of her brother Ben start appearing on her windowsill. Then Cedar notices that a strangely dressed boy rides by her house on his bike at the same time every day. She follows the boy and winds up with a new friend and a job at the Summerlost theater festival. As she dives into an old town mystery with Leo, she feels her heart slowly start to heal. Condie focuses mainly on Cedar's healing. Miles and her mother are present, and their journey through grief is certainly evident, but more care is given to Cedar and the development of her new relationships through the theater program. Leo is a vibrant secondary character, as are some of the other charming folks Cedar meets throughout her stay in Iron Creek. Have this on hand for readers who enjoy a sweet, heartfelt story. VERDICT A first purchase for middle grade collections, particularly where realistic fiction and coming-of-age stories are in demand.—Carli Worthman, Carmel Middle School, Carmel, IN