Reader’s Review: The Summer I Saved the World in 65 Days

Nina finds herself at one of the many crossroads of life: that weird time between middle and high school, where we all begin to experiment with who we are, and what we want to be.  The thing is though; Nina doesn’t feel as though she is really changing.  She is the quiet observer to the chaos around her.

What began as a way to honor her grandmother’s memory becomes Nina’s summer project.   She decides that she will do something nice for someone – one thing for each of the 65 days of summer.  In better observing her neighbors, in order to discover what she might do for them, she learns some of their secret truths… those little things that we live with, that we never talk about, or maybe even admit to… What Nina does not anticipate is the larger change that her little good deeds create.

I have no idea how this would read to a thirteen-year-old, but as an adult, I have to say that this is a super cute, feel-good book.  Michelle Weber Hurwitz’s story resonates so sweetly because we have all been there; feeling as though we don’t quite belong, as well as discovering the little hurts adults quietly carry with them.

• Posted by: Karin Mendez