This ARC was provided for review, but in no way affects the following impartial and unbiased review:
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4*
Pros: Beautiful and touching portrait of life as a person of color in the southern states of USA during the 1950s. Depicts the segregation laws, racism, prejudice, harmful society and mentality that is often still found nowadays. Features a powerful and complex biracial male lead. Talks about the complacency, ignorance and overall disregard of white people, even those self-proclaimed "allies". Showcases the strength and love in friendship. Overall, both a heartbreaking and heartwarming story, that will make you cry, and give you strength to fight the next day.
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Cons: Altough extremely important, this whole book was focused in educating white people and correcting their behaviours, which is not the job nor role of a person of color. It also included the dreadful "white savior" trope.
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Trigger warning: KKK violence. Graphic racist attacks.

I'm not crying, you're crying.
TW: racism, bullying, violence, prejudice, segregation, death

4.5
"When it comes to that word, people always know what they're saying."

Life in 1955 is a hard time to be anything but white. Life or death. Ethan feels the brunt of it when he goes to Alabama for the summer. Until he meets Juniper Jones, who breathes life into him.
This is a tale of sadness, racism, and what "despite the odds" really means.
This book was beautiful, the prose, the atmosphere, and the chemistry between Juniper and Ethan. It talks about the uncomfortable truths and conversations between racism and allyship.
I cried, so much. It was something that will stay with me for a while.

The Invincible Summer of Juniper Jones

All the stars


Beautiful. Heartbreaking. I don’t even know what to say. I think this should be mandatory reading. It’s a reminder of how far we have come and how far we still our from getting it right. This is a story of family, of race, relationships and friendships. I don’t want to say to much because you just need to read it but it’s set in Alabama in 1955. Ethan is a biracial teenager who has been living in the north. His white father is sending him to his tiny hometown in Alabama to teach him a lesson about getting into
Fights. Hw learns really quickly that things in this small southern town are not like things in the north. He meats Juniper Jones. She is full of life and is very different from the rest of the town. They quickly become friends and help each other get thru the summer. I’m not going to lie, this is a hard read but it’s so worth it.

Just finished up The Invincible Summer of Juniper Jones thanks to @netgalley. It was a beautiful story with so much heart, full of difficult but necessary lessons about what it was like to be a Black boy in rural Alabama in the 1950s, and what it was like to be an imperfect but dedicated white ally. Ethan’s inner turmoil was wonderfully conveyed, and I found myself angry at the injustices that he suffered; Juniper was larger-than-life, with a personality that jumped right off the page, and their relationship was so honest and genuine. There were a few events that seemed a bit to coincidental to be realistic—just a little too “neat”—but overall it was a thoroughly enjoyable & moving story. Did I cry? Definitely. (More than once.)

Juniper Jones is a breath of fresh air. Her character is loving life no matter how people in the small town treat her. She has a good heart and just wants a friend to accept her for who she is. That is the bond between Juniper and Ethan. Great lessons to be lessened by all who read this enjoyable story. Will definitely be recommending to my students!

This book was so good. I loved the characters and loved the story. I was bawling by the end. This story is YA- but I enjoyed it just as much as an adult. It’s a story everyone needs to read.

This book ripped my heart out and tore it into little tiny pieces. It was so beautiful and heartbreaking at the same time. Ethan, a mixed boy from Washington, is sent to a white town in Alabama after he got into some trouble at home. His parents are separated and his father sends him to spend the summer with his white aunt and uncle to teach him a lesson. Ethan meets Juniper Jones, the town's outcast girl who tells him they are going to have a great summer doing all sorts of fun, interesting things. She tries helping him deal with the immense amount of racism he is subjected to by members of the town, including Noah who is really the worst. Juniper and Ethan's friendship is incredibly beautiful and everyone deserves to have a friend like Juniper in their lives. Each character grows tremendously throughout the book and I'm so in love with the way Daven McQueen develops each character. I loved it so much, I'm at a loss for words. Just read it, you won't regret it.

Thank you SO much for this e-arc. I will be posting on my bookstagram as well as Amazon and Goodreads!

**Thanks to Netgalley & the publisher for the eARC. All thoughts are my own.**

I just finished reading The Invincible Summer of Juniper Jones and I am a mess of emotions right now! 💔❤️ Aah, such an amazing book, I cannot get over it. It was equally beautiful and heartbreaking.

I absolutely adored Ethan and Juniper, they are the sweetest! 😭 Their story takes place in 1955 when Ethan is forced to spend the summer with his aunt and uncle, but thankfully he meets Juniper in his first days and they immediately become friends.

While reading The Invincible Summer of Juniper Jones I felt frustrated, angry, sad and so many emotions in between. It talks about racism, ignorance and prejudice and it's just so scary how so many of these issues are still part of every day life. However, this story also talks about love and friendship as well and how people can change if only they put their minds to it.

I highly recommend this book, it is a must read!!! 📚✨

This book tore through me like a hurricane, swept me off my feet and left me a raw, emotional wreck. I am absolutely blown away by this book. I devoured it in less than 24 hours. I sobbed, gasped and shouted loudly as I read this, witnessing racism and discrimation; but I also smiled and laughed, spell bound by this tale of an unlikely, yet unforgettable friendship.

Ethan was such a fantastic protagonist. Witnessing the way he was treated in such a deeply rooted racist society was just heartbreaking. Yet, so important to read about. Seeing him grapple and wrestle with his identity and the colour of his skin was just heart wrenching. He's such an endearing character and I came to care so much for him and was so glad that I was a part of his summer, along with Juniper.

Juniper Jones. What a whirlwind of a character. A wild, free and caring girl with fiery red hair and a fiery soul to match. Her spirit and zest for life was infectious and seemed to burst off the pages. Her passion and understanding nature really spoke to me. We should all be more like Juniper Jones. Bright, carefree and passionate. Willing to stand up for others whilst also willing to recognise our own failings. A loyal and kind hearted friend. I now want to write a list of activities for an invincible summer of my own.

Their friendship was everything. Both seen as different, misplaced and unwanted in town, they're brought together on a mission to fulfill Juniper's goal of having an invincible summer. Their friendship was wonderful. Invincible, in everything that they experienced and endured, to the very end.

This book dealt with race, racism and discrimination - topics that were relevant back when this book is set and sadly, still relevant as hell in today's world. This should be required reading for everyone - not just young adults - everyone. It's so much more than just a story - it's a lesson, something to learn from, understand (as much as we can) and strive to be better than. We are all people who should be treated equally no matter what.

The Invincible Summer of Juniper Jones is a poignant tale of race, friendship, family and history. I implore you all to pick it up. I know I will reread this again some day. It will stay with me for a long time.

The Invincible Summer of Juniper Jones by Daven McQueen touched me, inside, in my heart, deeply. It brought back memories spent in the southern small town of my childhood. Memories I had forgotten or chose to forget in the way you forget those memories that never really touched you personally. Memories of one friend that I was told I couldn't play with because nice little girls didn't. Memories of living in a town that was split down the middle, each race having their own section. I only wish I was as brave and as special as Juniper Jones with a heart bigger than the whole world and who didn't care that her best friend was not like her. This is a story of a friendship, of best friends and a summer in their lives. The summer they met and rose above the hate and prejudice of a small southern town. I don't believe you can read this and not feel. It just isn't possible!

This is an absolutely wonderful book. The kind that makes you feel every emotion the characters feel and care about their futures. It does not matter what genre you usually read, you need to read this book.

As a young man of mixed race in 1955's Alabama, Ethan confronts blatant racism for the first time. His struggles to understand how so many people justify their treatment of him will set the background for his joy when he meets Juniper Jones. Juniper Jones is one of those characters that everyone loves and remembers. Her joy for life and unselfish inclusion of Ethan into her adventures set an example that so many others should learn by.

This book gave me the same wonder and feelings as THE HELP. A story of life lived in spite of those who would make you feel less. This story is one I will share with everyone I know. You should too.

I LOVE THIS BOOK. As you start reading, you have the impression that it is just another coming of age story. It is so much more.

The character development between the two main characters is excellent. Juniper is a bright ray of sunshine, an adventurer and lover of all things living in a small town in Alabama. Ethan is biracial boy being raised by his white father. When Ethan is sent to Alabama to live with his aunt and uncle, he has to face racial prejudice for the first time.

It is easy to follow the story and get caught up in the lives of Juniper, Ethan and the small town.

The last time I cried this much for a book was with The Hearts Invisible Furies. This story is so beautifully written about a friendship between a biracial boy named Ethan and a free spirited girl named Juniper. Juniper has an idea to have the best summer ever and after meeting Ethan for the first time, decides that he will be her new best friend and they will experience this invincible summer together. Set in Alabama in the 1950’s, Ethan experiences racism in a way he never has never had while living in Washington.

A story about friendship, race and a summer that changes many lives, The Invincible Summer of Juniper Jones is a book that I will recommend for ages to come!!

I really loved this book. I really enjoyed the friendship between the two characters and how they worked through their differences and assumptions about each other, as well as understanding the differences and experiences in each other’s lives during the Jim Crow era. This is a book that can help navigate the unruly waters of racism and how youth can learn acceptance and compassion for all.

I couldn't think of a more perfect time for this release. What a hard thing to read. It is important for young people to have access to stories like these in order to better understand history but to also reflect on race relations in the United States. This book was moving, meaningful, and the characters were rich an well developed. Amazing.

I had a hard time rating this book for the same reason I had a hard time rating Internment by Samira Ahmed, and The Prettiest Star by Carter Sickels. Because on the one hand, McQueen is telling an extremely important story to a target audience that is young but still mature enough to hear it. 1950s Alabama was a cruel, terrible place to be as a black person, and The Invincible Summer of Juniper Jones makes that extremely clear. It teaches important lessons about allyship and how to support and uplift those who face discrimination without making it about yourself. Ethan grows up rather quickly during the summer and it was interesting to watch those changes occur. His relationships with the white people in his life- Juniper, his aunt and uncle, his father- are well done and realistic, and over 60 years later, I know that there are probably black teenagers out there who can sadly still relate to the discrimination and hatred Ethan faces, and will feel empowered by the hints of revolution (referring, of course, to the Civil Rights Movement that was in its infancy during the summer of '55, when this book takes place) that are equally relevant now, given the current climate.

But. Here is where my comparison to Internment and The Prettiest Star comes in: much of my appreciation for the book came from the story that McQueen constructed. It was the execution– the prose, the pacing– that left what to be desired. Juniper felt as flat as such a dynamic character can feel; her entire personality is reduced to quirkiness, with the occasional moment of consideration towards the struggles Ethan faced daily and how she could change her own perspective and then work to change the minds of the people around her. Much of the story felt like it was happening to Ethan and Juniper, and he was reacting to everything with a delay. Juniper tells him to be angry, and he's angry, even though he was sullen about spending a summer in Alabama from page 1. I put down this book and forgot to pick it up again quite a few times, because I was so bored by the meandering language that never seemed to take us anywhere. Until it did, of course, and bluntly told us what to feel without considering that showing, not telling, makes for a more meaningful novel.

I did feel emotional during a couple moments, but the emotions came from the story being told, and were not enhanced in the slightest by McQueen's prose. You would have to be completely heartless not to feel something when the Klan comes to town and you know they're hunting a 15-year-old boy, but that was the only reason I felt that tension. The fact that it was Ethan specifically they were after didn't register, and that lack of feeling for the characters was ultimately why this book disappointed me. Five stars for the plotline McQueen has constructed; two for the execution.

And a final, somewhat tangential point which contains a spoiler: <spoiler>I found the exchange between Ethan and Abrams after Juniper's funeral to be offensive. Ethan is mourning the loss of his best friend, and the first thing Abrams says is about how Juniper was 'one of his best vendors'. There is a dangerous stereotype of Jews being greedy and obsessed with money, and while I assume McQueen meant this as a joke, it's still harmful and unnecessary. I have other grievances against Abrams as a character but I can let them slide.</spoiler>

This book left my heart on the floor broken into a million little pieces. It is beautiful, thoughtful, heartbreaking and hopeful. When Ethan gets sent to Ellison Alabama in 1955 after hitting a boy in school he is prepared for a long boring summer. That is exactly the opposite of what he gets when he meets Juniper Jones who is DETERMINED to make this the best summer of both of their lives. With her infectious zeal for life and her determination to try everything Juniper succeeds, but Ethan is not allowed to ignore his skin color in the all white town. As Ethan deals with bland ant racism for the first time in his life he begins to question why his white father sent him there and how his black mother could let that happen. A story of friendship and the powers of love that will make you want to hug the people you love and live each day to the fullest!

As we spend the summer trying to figure out what it means to be Black, this is not an easy YA book to read. It is historical fiction about being black. Taking place in the mid-1950’s, mixed-race Ethan is sent by his white father to live with his aunt and uncle in Alabama. It is so different than the north. Bigotry is right out in the open. It may be historical, but it rings true for today as well. The past remains with us.

𝑨 𝒃𝒆𝒂𝒖𝒕𝒊𝒇𝒖𝒍 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒉 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈. 𝑰 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒔, 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒖𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒓 𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒉𝒆𝒅 𝒔𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅 𝒃𝒖𝒊𝒍𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈. 𝑰𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚, 𝑰 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒔𝒐 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒚 𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒓𝒆𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒔. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒖𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒓 𝒅𝒊𝒅 𝒂 𝒑𝒉𝒆𝒏𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝒋𝒐𝒃 𝒐𝒇 𝒄𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍 𝒄𝒍𝒊𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒐𝒅𝒔. 𝑰 𝒇𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒚𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇 𝒄𝒓𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒕 𝒅𝒊𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒎𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒅𝒊𝒅 𝒔𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒂 𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕 𝒋𝒐𝒃 𝒐𝒇 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒂 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝒄𝒐𝒍𝒐𝒓 𝒍𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑼𝑺. 𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒕𝒐𝒖𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒅 𝒎𝒆.

When I received this book, I didn’t expect to fall in love with some of the characters as much as I did. The Invincible Summer of Juniper Jones painted an vivid picture of the pre civil rights south and the authenticity of it felt like the perfect backdrop to tell this beautiful story about friendship, racism, loss, and some hope.