Summary:
Garmann’s Summer is a contemporary realism book about a young boy who is worried about summer ending and starting school. He fears the unknown and so do his old aunts. He spends his last day of Summer vacation with his family in their garden. They have almond tart and enjoy the afternoon together. Garmann learns that he is not the only one that is afraid of things and that older people are afraid of things too. It is time for his aunts to go back home, the waves them goodbye and goes home to gather his school things in his backpack. He stares out his window and watches a leaf fall from the apple tree and realises school starts in 13 hours.

Reaction:
I enjoyed this book even though it was strange. The illustrations, combined with photographs, really brought it to life! It's unusual illustrations are creepy yet intriguing and create the feeling of magical realism. The wacky drawings emphasis the mind of a 6 year old boy and his imagination running wild. The author uses great similes and metaphors that enhance the text. It contains dry humor and also has a sad tone to it. Garmann finds a dead sparrows and buries him. This symbolises the death of his free childhood because tomorrow he is going to start school. The book made me realise that my Summer will be ending soon too and gave me a sad gutted feeling.

Classroom extensions:
1. Ask the children what they were scared of before their first day of school and ask them to reflect on it and how scary or not scary it was.
2. Have the children draw pictures of their family and paste photographs of their faces on their heads.
3. Discuss the importance of family and to always be kind to your elders. ( )

This uniquely illustrated book tells the common story of a young 5 year old boy who is worried as the end of summer nears and he is soon starting school. He is shown on the pages with a serious face as he thinks about what is going on his life. Soft comforting illustrations of blues and greens with beautiful aspects of nature depicting the summer setting are in the background. The boy's face continuously shows he is worried as he considers new beginnings and endings as well as fear and courage. His aunts who have come for a summer visit look like grandmas and have comforting and peaceful expressions on their faces that provide the reader with the comfort that aunts and grandmas emit ensuring that the boy will be okay in spite of his all the things this 5 year old boy is nervous about.

This story is sweet, as it deals with anxiety and fear of the unknown. The little boy, Garmann, is anxious about his first day of school, as many children are, I'm sure. This would be a great way to start off a new year. The only thing to be careful of, however, is that the characters deal with some of their anxiety in a religious manner, so it would be something that needs to be addressed before or after reading to students. Perhaps it would be inappropriate in some classrooms.

Review: This book is about a boy named Garmann who is 6 years old. It is the end of summer and his three aunts come to visit him. Garmann has quite a few fears, but his biggest fear is starting kindergarten. Throughout the book Garmann learns that he is not the only person in the World who is scared of things. He learns that his three aunts have fears, and that his mom and dad have fears, and that his neighbors probably even have fears.

Genre: Realistic Fiction
Genre Critique: This story is one that could take place in real life. The events and characters in the story are not made up. In the story Garmann's aunts come to visit him. Children can relate to this aspect because the summer time is a common time that families travel to visit other family members. The theme of this story deals with fear and Garmann being afraid to start kindergarten. In real life there are a lot of children who are scared to start school.

Character Critique: The character Garmann is a dynamic character. Throughout this book Garmann is learning about fears. At the end of the book the author does not tell you if Garmann overcomes his fear because his fear is going to school and this book takes place before school started. The reason I believe Garmann is a dynamic character is because Garmann learns from others that most people have something that they are afraid of. Because of the authors craft my guess would be that once Garmann has his first day of school he would realize that it is not as scary as he thought and that he was not the only one afraid to go to school. ( )

This is a story about a boy and his family and how they deal with their fears. ( )