It is summer and Sophia and her grandmother share adventures, break the rules, and befriend one another; one on a path of discovery and the other contemplating and sharing all the things she has gleaned over a lifetime. Sophia’s mother has recently died, and Sophia's struggle with this loss surfaces throughout the book, sometimes in her dreams and sometimes in her reactions to incidents and objects that suggest threat or mortality.

Part of Penguin's beautiful hardback Clothbound Classics series, designed by the award-winning Coralie Bickford-Smith, these delectable and collectible editions are bound in high-quality colourful, tactile cloth with foil stamped into the design.When people talked about him or thought about him, it seemed natural to lift their heads and gaze out over the sea […. She’s lost her mother before this story begins, so death is not new, yet it still remains a mystery. Tove Jansson, the world-renowned creator of the Moomintroll characters, succinctly harnesses the power and glory of a seaside summer season in the twenty-two elegant vignettes contained within The Summer Book.

I feel I have been overusing the word wonderful lately but The Summer Book is just such a reading experience. A richly illustrated look at some of the British Library’s most beautiful books from around the world. So, this girl Sophia and her grandmother, and by the way, her dad is there too but in Sophia's world he's just a background force, like the weather, and not a character. This brief novel tells the story of Sophia, a six-year-old girl awakening to existences, and Sophia’s grandmother, nearing the end of hers.She really puts life in perspective and the needed encouragement that you can do this, you can dream and be who you want to be. An island* — *summers* — “are often described as being impossible to categorize or describe, as if to suggest that they defy not only human powers of speech but also, obstinately, comprehension”.

Both Anderson and Grandmother live at times on an island where they are tolerant, though very wary, of outsiders. Passing on the baton to our children seems like an obvious idea, but Jansson’s depiction of the magic bond that can be developed between the elderly and children is nothing short of a miracle, a gem to be treasured, nurtured and understood as one of those important things that give meaning and purpose to life. Little did Derek know how much walking into that conference room that day to meet “Mac” was going to change his life. Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group/Ballantine/Dell for sharing this amazing book's digital reviewer copy with me in exchange for my honest feedback.In the first chapter, Tove has written a book on the advice of her grandmother about Angleworms that have come apart. The tension and history between Nora and Derek made for a gripping start to the book, and reading it all fall into place pushed me to power through the book in a single sitting. It was perfect, actually, as this is a story about wildness, both the wildness of living on a small island in the Gulf of Finland and the wildness of living with fewer social conventions and conveniences.