In Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler, Anna has lived next door to Frankie and Matt her entire life. They are best friends who do almost everything together. Everything is perfect, especially on her fifteenth birthday when Anna and Matt share a kiss. Suddenly they are sneaking time away from Frankie to be together. Matt feels that he should tell his sister about their relationship and he swears Anna to secrecy. But then the unthinkable happens; Matt dies in a horrible accident before he can tell Frankie and now Anna struggles with what to tell her best friend.
One year later, Frankie’s family invites Anna to go with them to California for a three week vacation on the beach. This is the vacation that Matt, Frankie and their parents take every year. Although Anna has never been to California, she has heard so many stories from Matt that she feels like she knows all about it. Frankie sees the vacation as a chance for a summer romance. In fact, she invents the challenge of the Twenty Boy Summer. She says that she and Anna are going to meet twenty boys while they are in California. Anna says that she will go along but really the only boy she wants is Matt back.
This is a heartbreaking novel about a family trying to deal with a tragic loss while Anna struggles with her right to feel the same grief.
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