Bowman, Akemi Dawn. Summer Bird Blue. Simon Pulse, 2018.
Rumi and her sister Lea are inseparable, but when Lea dies in a car accident and Rumi's mother sends her to Hawaii to live with an aunt while she grieves, Rumi feels betrayed and abandoned. She is angry at the world and doesn't know what to do with herself, but with the help of her family and her aunt's neighbors, she begins to work through her grief.
I loved the diversity throughout this book. Rumi doesn't self-identify by the end, but is questioning whether she is asexual. Rumi along with all of her new friends in Hawaii are biracial. The setting of Hawaii is appropriately done along with a sprinkling of Pidgin in the book. Rumi's grief feels real in that it doesn't follow a nice, logical sequence and she reacts in ways she doesn't want to. I loved the grumpy grandfather neighbor character.
Recommended for: teens
Red Flags: language
Overall Rating: 4/5 stars
Read-Alikes: We Are Okay, You'll Miss Me When I'm Gone, Unspeakable
I received a complimentary copy of this book through Edelweiss for the purpose of review.
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