Coyote Summer

By Author / Illustrator

Mimi Thebo

Genre

Adventure

Age range(s)

11+

Publisher

Oxford University Press

ISBN

9780192759436

Format

Paperback / softback

Published

01-06-2017

Synopsis

Sometimes I get that feeling like everyone can see right through me. Like all my secrets and thoughts and things I don't want anyone to see are hanging all over me.My mum has exiled me; sent me halfway across the world to live with her sister in Kansas. Have you ever been to Kansas? The emptiness is overwhelming.Everyone thinks I'm a failure. But then he sees me. The coyote, eyes golden and wild. And I guess it's because someone's watching me, but I start to dance.With hauntingly-beautiful writing from Mimi Thebo, author of Dreaming the Bear, Coyote Summer will stay with you long after you put the book down.

Reviews

Jules' life has been spiralling out of control ever since she failed a ballet audition. When she is expelled from school, for her part in an accident in which someone nearly died, her mother - hugely successful and largely absent -sends her to live with her aunt and uncle on a farm in Kansas which couldn't be more different from her privileged life in London. Cut off from her mother and friends, deprived of all the luxuries she's used to and faced with having to work harder than she's ever had to work before, Jules realises that in order to survive she is going to have to comply with her aunt's rules. In this new situation she begins to face her demons and acknowledge some of the hurts which have led to her sense of failure. She reconnects with her feelings and rediscovers her love of dance with the help of a silent spectator - a wild coyote which fascinates her. Gradually Jules adjusts, establishes self-worth and learns to value those around her. Coyote Summer is beautifully written; a heart-warming story which stayed with me long after I had finished the book. 276 pages / Ages 12+ / Reviewed by Jane Welby, school librarian