The Summer I Saved the World...in 65 Days by Michele Weber Hurwitz

With a little extra time left in February, I decided to cross the "book recommended by a librarian" prompt off my Popsugar challenge list. For this category, I asked the librarian in my school (who is one of the world's best people) for help. She pointed me towards The Summer I Saved the World in 65 Days without hesitation. She told me that the world could do with a little more kindness these days, and that this novel about a teen girl who performs random acts of kindness around her neighborhood embraces that theme wholeheartedly. Happy to try out a book with such a positive premise, I started on it right away.

The Summer I Saved the World follows 13-your-old Nina Ross. While relaxing in her hammock one afternoon, she notices her elderly neighbor struggling to plant some marigolds in her yard. When her neighbor gives up in frustration, Nina decides to sneak over and plant the flowers herself. She feels so good after finishing this anonymous act of kindness that she decides to keep going. She makes a plan to perform one act of kindness each day for her entire summer break and see what comes from it. She babysits, leaves little gifts in mailboxes, plays with neighborhood kids, compliments others, and helps out with chores.  All of these little kindnesses end up causing a ripple effect in her neighborhood and start to bring previously disconnected people together as a community.

This book is a really charming read. The message about how small actions can create big changes is very appropriate for our current social climate, which feels unbearably rude and cruel at the moment. Nina is such a nice character that I found myself rooting for her to complete her summer quest. Her growth throughout the story was balanced nicely. She becomes much more mature as a young woman, but is still believable as kid. The story is a light and simple one, but its goals are noble. I was engaged from page one and really enjoyed the story.

The only negative note I had while reading was that the story lacked a bit of diversity among its characters. Nina is undoubtedly a child of privilege. She lives in a nice house in a quiet neighborhood. Her parents are attorneys, and aside from them always being at work, she doesn't really face any hardships in her life. She has the time and money to work on her acts of kindnesses, and all of the other neighbors in her cul-de-sac are much the same. While it was nice to read a book where financial and social issues didn't plague the characters, I felt like it might not appeal to other readers for that reason. If Hurwitz's audience is kids, and her goal is to encourage them to make a difference in their neighborhoods by being kind, then she might have made more of an effort to include characters that don't have it so easy all the time. Most kids don't live like Nina.

This is a small criticism though, and didn't really affect my overall feelings about the book. The Summer I Saved the World in 65 Days is a pure feel-good story. It's nice to read those sometimes. It would make a great Disney Channel original movie. I enjoyed it because it was so nice, and showed a world that I wish existed - one where people actively try to care for each other and help each other out. I never would have picked this one up without my librarian's recommendation, so once again, I am glad to be participating in reading challenges this year.


Challenge Tally
Popsugar Challenge: (A book recommended by a librarian) 16/40