Kayleigh’s Letter Essay #2: The Summer I Turned Pretty

I just finished reading the book(series number 1), the summer i turned pretty, a 276 page realistic fiction, complementary, and teen romance. A book by Jenny Han, a New York Times Bestseller of multiple series, and including more books she has written. Jenny Han has her Masters degree in creative writing for children. She lives in Brooklyn New York. I chose this book because my favorite genres are romance, realistic fiction, and complementary. I was on amazon and Ebooks searching around for good books that have been recommended to me based on y interest. This series really stood out to me because I love to read series. As soon as I read the summary of the book, I added it to my wish list, not knowing that on my birthday I got the entire series. I put of reading the1st book because I was too busy with other books I was reading and I eventually forgot that these books were on my shelf till i did a book clean out. I wish that I would have picked up these book sooner because I fell in love with the book as soon as I started reading it; I couldn’t put the book down. the summer i turned pretty is about a 16 year old girl named isabella who was nicknamed “belly” a long time ago. Bellys family is from Boston and lives with her mother and brother, Steven. Their parents got divorced recently, so it has been a struggle for them. Every summer for their whole lives they have gone up to Cousins Beach where their mothers best friend Susannah, lives with her to kids Conrad and Jeremiah, who are also the same age as Steven and Belly. The four of them spend the summer tanning, and swimming in the pool. Don’t forget those midnight ocean view along the beach. Belly has had a crush on Conrad ever since she can remember but will see be able to tell him before he disappears into the college life. Belly has always had a sweet spot for Jeremiah’s kindness and how for how nice he is. Can she decide who she wants to be with before summer is over. But do Conrad or Jeremiah feel the same way about her?
I loved the way the author included enough detail to be able to picture and feel what the character was doing or feelings at that time. It made me feel like I was the one in Bellys’ shoes. I felt like I was a part of the story. I noticed how the author has lots of flashbacks to when they were younger and they would play games at the beach or sit by the fire and make s’mores. When a flashback occurred it was usually right after an inside joke was said or a character reflected from present to the past about an event or something memorable in their life. The character development personally was not the strongest part of the book. There were parts when someone would be talking and I just couldn’t picture the character or what they were doing. I don’t even know what the characters look like that much. I only know of a brief explanation of what they look like. I could use more detail in those parts when it comes to describing a character’s facial expressions or their clothing or body language. One passage I would like to share takes place when Conrad and Belly are doing chicken fights in the pool against Steven and Taylor. They are both very competitive people so playing chicken fight smen tthat they wanted to win. The two of them were just becoming close after confessing their feelings about one another. This short passage proves it all, “Nice job”, he said, giving me one of his rare smiles. I felt like I had won the lottery from that one smile. “I play to win,” I told him. I knew he did too.” pg (79). I really like this short passage because when I first read it, I couldn’t stop smiling. I didn’t know why till I realized I was starting to understand how Belly felt in this situation. I understood how she felt and how she has been feeling all along. I would give this book at nine out of ten. I think it’s a great book to read if you like realistic fiction, and teen romance.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

7 thoughts on “Kayleigh’s Letter Essay #2: The Summer I Turned Pretty

  1. I really liked how you explained the book in a lot of detail. I see that in the first sentence you forgot to capitalize I. all in all its a really good letter essay i’m very glad I read it.
    From,
    Birch Kellogg

  2. Dear Kayleigh,
    I really like you used descriptive words. For example words like complimentary. I can see that you put a lot of hard work and effort into it. A suggestion would be to indent the paragraphs, but overall I think you did a really go job.
    Sincerely ,
    Adrianna

  3. Kayleigh,
    I really liked the way that you made a personal connection with the help book. It was a very well written letter essay and I liked it a lot. But, you should add more detail on what you think the meaging of the passage was. Great job.
    Josh

  4. Kayleigh,
    I enjoyed reading your letter essay. I liked how you the question right before you start the second paragraph. The only thing that I would say is to underline the book title whenever you use it in the letter essay.
    Kristen

  5. Kayleigh,
    I really enjoyed reading your letter essay. I have never read this book but now I would like to. You did a really good job. Remember to underline the Book Title whenever you use it.

    Claire

  6. Dear Kayleigh,

    I really enjoyed your letter essay. I can tell that you put a lot of thought and effort into writing it. I really liked the summary, it gave me a very detailed description of this book. I believe that you could have improved the description of why you choose the passage. I think that you could have added more detail to this portion of the project. Overall it was a great letter essay, good job!

    From,
    Isabel Llach

  7. Dear Kayleigh,

    I really enjoyed your letter essay, and because I have read the book before I feel like I can say that you pretty much outlined the important parts of the book. It was very detailed and precise. One thing I would suggest is, when starting a new paragraph indenting the paragraph. Overall, good job!

Leave a Reply to jkellogghkms Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *