A Summer of Silk Moths

by Margaret Willey

Book Overview

People can't always tell everything. Sometimes they have to leave things out so that they can recover. Start over. So that people will still be able to love them. Seventeen-year-old Pete Shelton's... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0692098623
• ISBN13: 9780692098622
• Release Date: April 2018
• Publisher: Reclamation Press
• Length: 252 Pages
• Weight: 0.64 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.2" x 8.0"
• Age Range: 12 to 18 years
• Grade Range: Grade 7 to Postsecondary

Customer Reviews

A Summer of Silk Moths

A Summer of Silk Moths places you in the space of real teenagers and real change. Nora is a troubled girl from Indianapolis who comes to live with her estranged Uncle Abe. Pete is a small town boy trying to ignore his past. The two of them change each other in wondrous ways. As a YA, it's a strong analysis of the problems of contemporary teens. As a romance, it is bittersweet, but is appropriate for both tweens and teens. I found myself unable to put the book down, as I really cared about all of the characters and the skillful way Willey bought them to life. Don't miss this book.

An intriguing and finely crafted read

First impressions are not always the best to remember. "A Summer of Silk Moths" tells the story of Pete and Abe, and their encounters with Nora. Trying to build a memorial to Abe's brother, they soon find that Nora may be Abe's niece, daughter of his deceased brother. A unique story of uncovering the past, "A Summer of Silk Moths" is an intriguing and finely crafted read.

WIlley's triumphant return to Y/A Fiction

I'm a big fan of Clever Beatrice, but I'm happy to see that Willey is continuing to write for young adults. As a native of Western Michigan, the setting definitely appealed to me. I loved the moth imagery, and the evocation of the natural world. The characters and their dilemmas were complex, modern and believable. This is a wonderful book that should appeal to many readers!

Read This if You Love Nature Books and/or Limberlost

I loved this book! Possibly because of its lyricism...possibly because of Willey's ability to evoke the natural world like some of the great classic books of my childhood, "The Girl of the Limberlost," and "Where the Lilies Bloom." My sense is that teens will love it today for those reasons and also for how well Willey is able to channel the teen psyche--the confusion, the uncertainty, the way the world seems to turn upside down in an instant. Pete and Nora are both running away from their demons and searching for something they can't define. Willey deftly weaves together their at-first grudging, but later, growing affection with the elusive vanishing wild world. It's magical and real at the same time.

Fabulous book!

This is a wonderful book about a troubled runaway girl who, with a little help, starts to find her place in the world. When Nora arrives at the nature center run by Abe, her dead father's brother, she is just spitting with attitude. Pete, the teenage narrator who works for Abe, resents her intrusion into their well-ordered world. The shifting relationships between Pete, Nora and the other characters are very believable and affecting. The nature preserve is an evocative and powerful presence in the story, a safe place in which to reveal secrets and peel back the layers of deception that the various characters have accreted. I found myself thinking about the people in the book for days after I had finished the story, wondering how they might react in certain situations, and what happens after this narrative ends (how about a sequel?). It is not often that minor characters are as captivating and three-dimensional as the ones in this book, and that adds a welcome richness to the story. Willey has created a real and solid world which is funny, poignant, complex and mysterious.