Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with this book in exchange for a review!

The Invincible Summer of Juniper Jones is a story aboit hope, dreams and friendship. But it is also a story of hatred and bitterness. Daven wrote a wonderful story in which the reader can lose themselve and find solace.

The narrators voice invitesbthe reader to follow along and to get an insight into his life and how he grew up. It is fluent and open and as if it was ones friend. Therefore it is easy to get lost in this book and dream of a summer as invincible as the one Juniper plans.

Triggers:
Racism
Death
Murder of a POC
Bullying

Tragic and excellent, exactly what I remember middle grade historical novels from my own school days being. The conclusion of the novel is obvious from the start, but that somehow improves it there by adding an unrelenting sense of devastating inevitability -- like watching a train plow into an accident, knowing it is too heavy (in this case with history) to stop or deviate from the obvious tragic conclusion. I imagine this novel will be on the short lists of many, many award committees.

Thank you Netgalley and Wattpad for an Arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Summer of 1955 and Ethan Harper is dropped of at his Aunt and Uncle's home. A small town in Alabama Ethan faces a lot of racial situations because he is biracial. Then he meets Juniper Jones and it turns out to be a summer he will never forget.

I LOVED this book. It had everything I love reading about in a book. The characters where so fun. I loved the history part of it. It brought all kinds of emotions out. Happy, mad and even sad. A fantastic read for everyone.

Ethan Harper, a 15-year-old biracial kid, is forced to move with her uncle and aunt to a small-town Alabama in 1955. But he doesn’t fit with people in this new place, who discriminate against him because of his skin color. When he starts working on his uncle’s melt shop, he meets Juniper Jones, a kind and open-mind white girl, and Ethan realizes not everyone is willing to judge him for his look.

"The Invincible Summer of Juniper Jones" is a story that portraits the injustice of a town of white people in 1955, but more than that, it's a story about self-acceptance and finding that place where we belong. Daven's well-drawn characters teach us a lesson of kindness, true friendship, and identity. An unforgettable and poignant story everyone should read.

A heartfelt book I just could not put down. The cover I have to admit drew me in firstly to the book but after reading just a few pages I was hooked, it’s a book for a dark day. Even though a tough subject matter was at play it leftest me up and showed me that anyone can do anything no matter how high the stakes are, we must just believe. The context of the book had be in awe of the beautiful descriptions littered throughout. A must read !

** spoiler alert ** This whole review is a major spoiler.



THEY KILL JUNIPER. I LOVED HER AND THEY KILLED HER AND I KNOW THAT WAS THE POINT.

I loved it. I hated it. I was passionately crying and yelling. And that's the point. This book was beautifully written. Wonderfully written. Gorgeously chaotic. I'm in love.

I was a bit disappointed in their views on justifiable anger and hate--like, if someone commits a hate crime, *please don't not forgive them*. That's hate, too, in my mind. But, I can overlook that for the beauty of the characters, the multifaceted reality that was presented to me. I loved it. I hated it.

And that's the point.

This book is amazing.... The author did a good job of making the story very relatable. At times I cried and others I laughed. The topic is such a complex one The author wrote and described it in the best way possible. Great read!

Have you ever been forced to spend a whole Summer with your relatives in some faraway small town?
That’s something that happened to Ethan Charlie Harper as a punishment for his misbehavior. Ethan was living in Arcadia, Washington and perspective of spending his whole Summer down in Ellison, Alabama sounded extremely boring for him. He would’ve been right if not the fact that Ethan was a black kid and it was the year 1955.

It’s a beautiful and touching story about friendship, race, searching for your own inner circle and a place where you belong. It’s impossible to finish <i>The invincible Summer..</i> without feeling wrath and resentment towards all the unlawful actions that have happened before and happens today against people of color.

This story affected me in so many ways. It made me cry and laugh and - most importantly- made me think about all the privileges I was born with. <i>The Invincible Summer of Juniper Jones</i> is almost a love story with a heavy background of racial issues and for me, as a white person, it was s a way to look at the world with less privileged eyes.

The author, Daven McQueen, is contrasting idyllic and peaceful scenes of Summer vacations in a small southern town with wild and heartbreaking racist actions towards innocent people. That sweet and sour mix is served in perfectly measured portions that made me keep reading. It is Daven McQueen's first published book and I cannot wait for her next works. Our society needs more great books like this one.

<i>Thank you Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and feelings are my own</i>

This was an intense book. I laughed, I fumed, and I sobbed. Upon finishing, I had to sit back to compose myself.

"The Invincible Summer of Juniper Jones" is a complicated story on race, friendship, and family told in the simplest way possible. Complicated because being Black in America was and is never easy. Simple because McQueen made the characters relatable and covered just one summer – Ethan's summer of 1955 in Ellison, Alabama. We feel the confusion of a Black teen who was never taught the concept of race experiencing racism. We see the amass of positive energy in the supportive Juniper, and wonder why non-Black people cannot all be like her.

Ethan and Juniper embarked on Project Invincible for a memorable summer. The free and passionate soul introduced Ethan to beautiful places in Ellison as they planned activities to enjoy their time together. Along the way, Ethan's aunt and uncle were also learning and making efforts to stand up for their nephew. I would like to think Ethan's stay at Ellison made many people better individuals.

Whether Ethan and Juniper's relationship was purely platonic or tinted with romance, we cannot know. But one thing is clear: what Ethan and Juniper had in the summer of 1955 was beautiful despite everything else, and the friendship was as rich and pure as can be.

Everyone needs to read this story, regardless of age and race. In "The Invincible Summer of Juniper Jones," we see change and we see hope. But most importantly, we see injustice and unfairness that weren't supposed to be there in the first place. And fight against them.

The Invincible Summer Of Juniper Jones By Daven McQueen

A coming of age story about identity, racism, love, family ties and friendships.

Set in the summer of 1955 in small-town Alabama, where for the people there you are nothing more than your skin tone.
Blackness that inherently signifies for them the darkness of a soul and Whiteness commanding respect and power, and the people remaining blissfully ignorant that they would all bleed red in the end.

Ethan, a biracial fifteen year old from Arcadia, is sent to stay with his aunt in Alabama as a punishment by his white dad for being involved in a fight.

What his father does not realize is that his hometown Alabama has not changed since his childhood and still does not take kindly to colored folk.

Ethan spends mornings working at his Uncle’s Malt shop where he meet Juniper Jones, a fiery, joyous, kind-hearted, white girl, who is also in many ways the village oddball and considered a bit loony by others.

Driven by Juniper’s passion for life, they soon become the best of friends and plan out an endless list of activities to ensure their summer becomes the most invincible ever.

But what they do not take into consideration is that their friendship as pure as it is, will not be acceptable to many.

The writing is powerful and evocative and towards the end it gets even more powerful and gripping.

I felt the plot was initially a bit stretched out but overall it is a touching story.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC.

I loved this book! Such a beautiful expression of friendship in it's purest form. Ethan and Juniper came into each other's lives when they needed a friend the most. Through Ethan and Juniper's friendship we see them navigate the treacherous waters of the rampant discrimination and segregation of the South in the 1950s while trying to have the best invincible summer of their lives. The ugliness and tragedy of the times is tempered by their beautiful friendship and how it had a ripple effect on those around Ethan and Juniper. Definitely recommend this book to everyone!

I will rate The Invincible Summer of Juniper Jones a 3/5 stars and the rating is only because of the subject matter. I usually love these types of books which focus on racism during the 50s and 60s. I have even written two books centered around this area and subject matter, so I was really excited to read this book. Unfortunately, this story just didn't grasp my attention as I hoped it would. It seems to be lacking excitement and solid character development. The author is well written, but I just couldn't find their passion in their writing. The story left me wanting more from it. I will not be able to recommend this read. Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Couldn’t put this book down. It’s a story about a biracial kid named Ethan who is sent to Ellison, AL in the summer of 1955. There he meets Juniper, who is an eccentric white girl who has big ambitions and an even bigger sense of adventure as well as being open, kind, and accepting of Ethan for who he is. The two of them have the summer of a lifetime, all while dealing with the racism of the town. This story shook me to my core and reminded me that this was less than 65 years ago and to this day, we’re still dealing with racism the book covers. I legit cried at the end of the book and absolutely loved it. This book was a joy to read and thoroughly enjoyed Juniper and Ethan’s adventures. Highly, highly recommend this book.

I was utterly speechless when this book ended. I just had to sit with it for a few minutes to take it all in. It was a powerful, piercing and bittersweet tale of life, friendship and race.
I can't recommend this book enough to anyone at any age. A few pages in and i knew this would be one of those books that would stick in my mind for a good few years if not forever. The characters were absolutely lovely and vivid, beaming with joy of living while suffering deeply at what the society chose to offer them. The pace was perfect, and also i did not notice any unevenness or a stray paragraph that was unrelated to the whole body of the story, just like a puzzle everything fell into place and made this book unforgettable.
And as good books are meant to be, The Invincible Summer Of Juniper Jones, left me with a giant question mark:
Has our world truly changed into a better place to live (through these many decades of injustice) for people who stand out from the rest?

I wasn't easy to start reading this book - the first pages had drawings on them, and somehow that made my e-reader crash, so I had to read it on my laptop. My arm is broken near the shoulder, and sinse I had to lean in a bit to read on my laptop, it would hurt a bit to read. This book was totally worth that hassle, I would do it all over again.

'The Invincible Summer of Juniper Jones' is bittersweet. It tells, no, shows how much racism hurts, especially the kind of racism that we white people hardly notice, or tend to rugsweep. It also shows true friendship and how important it is to care and to stick up for each other and ourselves.

I also want to say sorry tp POC, for all those times I probably have missed racism right under my nose and/or swept it under a rug. You didn't deserve any of it, ever.

Four stars

The novel begins in the relatively recent past with Ethan, who receives a phone call that reminds him of a traumatic summer from his childhood. For the bulk of the novel, readers are then transported to that summer of 1955. To put it mildly, this summer houses events that are painful for Ethan, for most of the characters in the novel, and for the reader, too.

One character rescues Ethan during this terrible summer: Juniper Jones. She is an incredibly endearing and quirky individual who manages to transcend her environment and possess an organic sense of humanity. I'm going to keep this spoiler-free, but her impact on Ethan - and I suspect on most readers - does not end in that summer (as per the title); it lasts a lifetime.

Though there are parts of this novel that feel a bit lengthier than necessary, its messaging and final scenes are unquestionably compelling and challenging. I love the author's note and find the combination of this addition and the overall construction of the work to be especially meaningful for a teen audience who may be new to historical fiction and who may not have had previous access to the realities of this time.

I'll be recommending this one to students as both a well devised example of YA historical fiction and a challenging but moving depiction of the period it represents.

The invincible summer of Juniper Jones tells the story if Ethan Harper. In the summer of 1955 Ethan has to live with his aunt and uncle. There he meets Juniper Jones, a very excited kind girl who has made it her goal to have the best summer ever.

When I started reading this story it immediately grabbed my attention and didn't let go. This is mostly because of the characters. Ethan is a very nice character to follow. During the story he becomes more and more aware that the world is not fair and that some people are treated poorly only because of the color of his skin. It is easy to connect with him as we see him trying to deal with his situation.

Even more likable is the second main character of this story, Juniper Jones (aka Starfish). Juniper is as likeable as it gets. Everything she does and says is filled with a passion and determination. She is different from all the other people in town. She is filled with love for Ethan and everyone she meets. They both just feel very genuine and like real children.

What really stuck out to me is how this story is very happy and relatable, while at the same time dealing with heavy topics such as racism and bullying. You get to see a lot of summer adventures, where the pair climbs trees, drinks milkshake and makes paintings. But there always is this threat in the background of people who really don't like Ethan being in town. You get to see some big and some smaller signs of how much everyone seems to dislike Ethan for the color of his skin. The fact that the characters are so flashed out makes it easy to understand the horrible topics even better. All I wanted was for these two kids to just be able to have the best summer ever without having to think about any big world problems.

The way this story is written made it very easy for me to picture everything in my head. I loved the descriptions of the town.

This book has made me laugh several times, it has made my cry and it has made me want to scream in frustration.

This was a really great read! I really enjoyed reading this book, would definitely recommend. This is a good book for all ages.