Caterpillar Summer

by Gillian McDunn (Author)

Reading Level: 4th − 5th Grade

This beautifully written, emotional debut perfect for fans of Lynda Mullaly Hunt or Ali Benjamin tells the story a girl, her special needs brother, and the summer they will never forget.

"An engaging, honest book." --Kimberly Brubaker Bradley, Newbery Honor-winning author of The War That Saved My Life

"A beautiful story of family, forgiveness, life on an island, and growing up."--Kate Messner, author of Breakout and The Seventh Wish

Cat and her brother Chicken have always had a very special bond--Cat is one of the few people who can keep Chicken happy. When he has a "meltdown" she's the one who scratches his back and reads his favorite story. She's the one who knows what Chicken needs. Since their mom has had to work double-hard to keep their family afloat after their father passed away, Cat has been the glue holding her family together.

But even the strongest glue sometimes struggles to hold. When a summer trip doesn't go according to plan, Cat and Chicken end up spending three weeks with grandparents they never knew. For the first time in years, Cat has the opportunity to be a kid again, and the journey she takes shows that even the most broken or strained relationships can be healed if people take the time to walk in one another's shoes.

An Indies Introduce Pick

A Parents Best Book of the Year

A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year

An Amazon Best Book of the Year

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School Library Journal

Gr 3-6--Rising sixth-grader Caterpillar has a lot on her mind. She has a younger brother on the autism spectrum, her father died recently, and her mother's artistic temperament is leaving Cat with a lot of responsibility at a young age. Cat is excited to go to Atlanta for the summer so that she can spend time with her best friend and just enjoy being a kid. All this changes when her best friend has a family emergency that takes him to India. Cat finds herself on a small island in North Carolina with grandparents she's never met and she doesn't know the real reason her mom has kept her away from her grandparents. Over the course of the summer, Cat learns to love her mothers's parents. She also learns to let go of some of her feelings of always needing to be there for her brother by allowing others to help. While Caterpillar and her brother are both biracial, this is not a critical component of the plot. Readers may question whether race was a factor in the degeneration of Cat's mother's relationship with her own parents, but this turns out not to be the case. There are minor references to Caterpillar's struggle with her hair and her white mother's inability to style it effectively. The representation in this case is important from the standpoint of biracial visibility. Though this is not an uncommon family structure, it is seen infrequently in middle grade fiction. VERDICT A sweet summer story that middle grade readers will appreciate.--Kristin Lee Anderson, Jackson County Library Services, OR

Copyright 2019 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Publishers Weekly

Starred Review

Intensely responsible Cat, 11, looks after her seven-year old brother, Chicken, whose unique stressors and focused intensity require patience and attention, particularly since the death of their father. When the family's summer plans unexpectedly fall through, the biracial siblings are sent to stay with their estranged maternal grandparents, Macon and Lily, on an island off the North Carolina coast, while their mother--who writes children's books loosely based on her children's lives--works in Georgia. Cat's curiosity about the troubled history between her mother and Macon brings her insecurities about her often overwhelming role as Chicken's caretaker to the fore, leading to a summer of difficult conversations and necessary change in family dynamics. Cat's developing relationship with her grandparents, shifting role in Chicken's life, and growth toward a more honest relationship with her mother are deeply moving in their realism, as are Cat's burgeoning self-awareness and self-advocacy. Set against a cushioning backdrop of fishing, beach trips, and ice cream, McDunn's poignant, gratifying debut about friendship and family encourages both empathy and hope. Ages 8-12. Agent: Marietta B. Zacker, Gallt and Zacker Literary Agency. (Apr.)

Copyright 2019 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.

Review quotes

"An engaging, honest book—I love Cat, and you will, too!" - Kimberly Brubaker Bradley, Newbery Honor-winning author of THE WAR THAT SAVED MY LIFE

"I could almost smell the ocean air as I read Gillian McDunn's Caterpillar Summer. What a beautiful story of family, forgiveness, life on an island, and growing up." - Kate Messner, author of BREAKOUT and THE SEVENTH WISH

"An engrossing, heartwarming, beautifully written debut about building and rebuilding family ties." - Kirkus Reviews, starred review

"McDunn's poignant, gratifying debut about friendship and family encourages both empathy and hope." - Publishers Weekly, starred review

"This absorbing, heartfelt novel seamlessly blends the challenges of life with a neurodivergent child into a story of one tween's burgeoning self-awareness as she figures out how to reclaim her childhood." - New York Times Book Review

"A sweet summer story that middle grade readers will appreciate." - School Library Journal

"Fans of the books Rules by Cynthia Lord and Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine will enjoy this well-written book about the struggles of a fractured family." - School Library Connection

"Readers will find Cat to be an admirable and fully credible heroine . . . and the idyllic island setting makes for a wistful summer escape." - BCCB

Gillian McDunn

Gillian McDunn is the award-winning author of Caterpillar Summer, The Queen Bee and Me, These Unlucky Stars, Honestly Elliott, the Schneider Family Book Award Honor winner, and When Sea Becomes Sky. Her books have been Parents magazine best book of the year, Kirkus Reviews best book of the year, and Junior Library Guild, IndieNext, and Bank Street College of Education Best Books selections. When she isn't reading or writing, she is probably trying a new recipe, playing a board game, or learning something new. She lives near Raleigh, North Carolina, with her husband, children, and a very silly dog named Friday.
www.gillianmcdunn.com
@gillianmcdunn

Classification
Fiction
ISBN-13
9781681197432
Lexile Measure
540
Guided Reading Level
-
Publisher
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Publication date
April 20, 2019
Series
-
BISAC categories
JUV013030 - Juvenile Fiction | Family | Multigenerational
JUV039150 - Juvenile Fiction | Social Themes | Special Needs
JUV013070 - Juvenile Fiction | Family | Siblings
Library of Congress categories
Brothers and sisters
Family life
Grandparents
Dysfunctional families
Family problems
Islands
North Carolina
Single-parent families
Responsibility
Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year
Parents Best Book of the Year

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