The Summer of Dragonflies
Relive summer magic this fall in Natasha Deen’s new middle grade book, A Summer of Dragonflies.
Guppie Persaud’s family is off on an adventure. Her dad is chosen for a year-long teaching exchange so the family is headed from Calgary to New York City. When the children learn that instead of flying to New York, they will be spending three-weeks driving across the United States they are not thrilled. Guppie sees this as an opportunity for reinvention. To use the time to become a hero or at least feel like one when she usually feels self conscious, anxious and unsure.
Guppie’s story centers on identity. She is coming of age and experiencing a huge life change and trying to make some pretty big changes to how she sees herself in the wide world. She wants to be a hero, instead of, as she puts it, a zero. Natasha Deen has masterfully captured the desires that many middle grade readers feel at times of transition, a strong desire to rewrite a story that has been told only one way for so long.
I love that Guppie’s story is perfectly messy. She has some major growing pains along the way to hero status and she learns some incredibly valuable lessons in the process. I could very much relate to Guppie in this story. I had many of the same feelings as I was navigating my way through the middle years and I just love how so many readers will feel through this story.
Guppie’s anxieties manifested themselves in her mind as a dragon and dragonflies. Throughout the story, when something difficult for Guppie began, the dragon would appear out of nowhere. Guppie took this as a sign of danger but through perseverance, pushed that dragon away to accomplish many of her heroic goals. I thought it was so wonderful that Guppie came to see the dragon and dragonflies as protectors in the end instead of things to fear. All readers have their own dragons inside them somewhere to either conquer or learn to coexist with and this story shows readers that there can be many ways to accomplish that.
Finally, I loved the push and pull between Guppie and her parents. Guppie’s desire to try new things and break through while her parents still treat her as if she is made of glass. Many readers will be in the same position as Guppie, especially at this age. As a parent, I really appreciated the perspective and realization that children need to be given the space to reinvent themselves in a safe way.
