A Summer Without Anna
by Kate Jenks Landry; illus. by Risa Hugo
Primary    Kids Can    32 pp.
6/25    9781525310256    $21.99
e-book ed.  9781525313653    $13.99

Junie is sent to Nan and Pop’s house for the summer and can come home as soon as older sister Anna recovers from a serious illness. While Anna’s illness is never specified, we learn she’s in the hospital and is sometimes too weak to talk on the phone. Photography helps Junie cope. Using Anna’s camera, Junie takes pictures of beautiful or interesting things and wishes, for example, to be able to photograph the sound of a loon. Anna offers up a challenge via a note left with the camera: “in case you find Edmund” (whose identity is revealed only near the end of the book). Gouache, colored-pencil, and soft pastel illustrations portray the protagonist’s emotions: a “sad dream” compels the child to crawl to the top bunk where Anna usually sleeps; after making tarts for a homecoming that gets postponed, Junie throws them in the lake, and the character’s angry face is reflected in the water. A poignant reunion between the two siblings closes out the book. The spare story and tender illustrations give readers the space to experience and process difficult emotions alongside the main character, making this a comforting read in moments of grief and uncertainty.

From the July/August 2025 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.