“‘Okay,’ I said.
It didn’t feel totally okay, but I guessed there wasn’t much to be done. And like Jasper said, sometimes you couldn’t make the bad feeling go away. Sometimes you just had to carry it. If Jasper could carry it, I could carry it too.”
My Jasper June, by Laurel Snyder, is a stunning story of loss, grief, isolation, family, friendship, and redemption.
An awful event affects Leah’s friendships and her family, leaving her feeling lost and alone until she meets Jasper. Jasper has her own troubles, yet she doesn’t let it squelch her joy. Leah’s relationship with her parents, her ability to connect with her peers, and her friendship with Jasper are explored in a beautiful tapestry of raw emotion, well chosen lyrical words, and authenticity. I read this book in one day and found myself lingering, wishing it would never end, yet compelled to read the next page. Heartwarming, moving and powerful middle grade!
About the Book
Laurel Snyder, author of Orphan Island, returns with another unforgettable story of the moments in which we find out who we are, and the life-altering friendships that show us what we can be.
The school year is over, and it is summer in Atlanta. The sky is blue, the sun is blazing, and the days brim with possibility. But Leah feels. . . lost. She has been this way since one terrible afternoon a year ago, when everything changed. Since that day, her parents have become distant, her friends have fallen away, and Leah’s been adrift and alone.
Then she meets Jasper, a girl unlike anyone she has ever known. There’s something mysterious about Jasper, almost magical. And Jasper, Leah discovers, is also lost.
Together, the two girls carve out a place for themselves, a hideaway in the overgrown spaces of Atlanta, away from their parents and their hardships, somewhere only they can find.
But as the days of this magical June start to draw to a close, and the darker realities of their lives intrude once more, Leah and Jasper have to decide how real their friendship is, and whether it can be enough to save them both.
R.J. Palacio, author of Wonder, had this to say: “This book is a treasure — a touching story of friendship, loss, and finding beauty in the everyday, with characters who stay with you long after you’ve turned the final page. I absolutely loved it.”
To win a copy of this book, comment on this post. If you share on Facebook or Twitter, you get another entry. Giveaway closes in one week.
Laurel Snyder is the author of picture books and novels for children, including National Book Award nominee Orphan Island and the Theodor Seuss Geisel Award winner Charlie & Mouse. A graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, she currently teaches in Hamline University’s MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults program. She lives in Atlanta with her family and can be found online at www.laurelsnyder.com.
September 4 Open Book Reviews
September 5 Teachers Who Read
September 6 Nerdy Book Club
September 9 Read Wonder
September 10 About to Mock
September 11 Novel Novice
September 12 Create Explore Read
September 13 Book Monsters
September 16 Maria’s Melange
September 17 Writer’s Rumpus
September 18 Bluestocking Thinking
September 19 Storymamas
September 20 Amber Kuehler
WRITERS' RUMPUS 
This sounds like one we ALL need to read! Intend to look for Laurel’s other books as well. Adding them to my TBR list.
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