Realistic Fiction - Umbrella Summer by Lisa Graff

Module 7: Umbrella Summer by Lisa Graff

Summary:  In Umbrella Summer, (Graff, L., 2009) Annie Richards is a 10-year-old who is determined to protect herself from pain.  She has become paranoid of contracting every possible disease because her 12-year-old brother, Jared, died earlier that year from an undiagnosed heart condition.  She is depressed and living under a cloud of sadness. Annie’s extreme worrying is her way of coping with her brother’s death.  It keeps her mind from thinking about him.  Things seem to be going downhill until she befriends the new neighbor, Mrs.Finch.  Mrs. Finch tells her, it’s time to stop hiding under her umbrella, take it down, and enjoy the sunshine.  Annie in turn helps Mrs. Finch, and both her parents to take down their umbrellas as well.

My Perspective: This story is about Annie who is struggling with depression after the sudden loss of her brother five months earlier. She is not dealing well with her sadness, and tries to be proactive in preventing herself of contracting all possible diseases. Dr. Young, the father of her best friend, thinks of her as despondent.  Her new neighbor helps Annie comes out of her cloud of depression by using the metaphor of the umbrella that blocks the sunshine.  When people have ‘an umbrella’, they are often avoiding dealing with an issue.  In this story, Annie’s umbrella is her excessive worrying that keeps her from enjoying life.  Mrs. Finch umbrella is refusing to open the box that contains her husband’s photographs reminding her that she is alone.  Annie’s mother’s umbrella is locking up Jared’s room and refusing to enter into it.  Her father’s umbrellas is to remain aloof.  All of the characters begin to deal with the issues that are keeping them from fully enjoying life.  Fortunately, the book ends on a high note. “A welcome and sensitive addition to collections dealing with grief, this is also an appealing and moving choice for readers seeking a dose of feel-good reality fiction. (Fiction. 8 & up)” -- Kirkus Review. 

Library Application:
This book may be good to introduce the idea of ‘umbrellas’ or behaviors that we exhibit to avoid issues.  This may be better in small groups for students to try to identify what they are avoiding.  It can range from dealing with the death of someone close to needing to apologizing to a friend for something you did.  Students can use this book to discuss ways to cope with problems students are facing. 

References:     

Graff, L. (2009). Umbrella Summer.New York:  Laura Geringer/HarperCollins.


Kirkus Review. (2009, June 2). Kirkus. Retrieved from https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/lisa-graff/umbrella-summer/

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