Summerlings by Lisa Howorth, Paperback | Indigo Chapters

It’s the summer of 1959 in the seemingly tranquil suburbs of Washington, D. C. But our young narrator, John, and his best friends, Ivan and Max, know the truth: every door on their street could be hiding a possible spy or Nazi sympathizer. The area is being plagued by an inexplicable spider infestation—surely evidence of “insect warfare" by the Russians! So when a rare vinegaroon—a whip scorpion—is discovered and sequestered for museum study, the boys, along with their tomboy accomplice, Beatriz, hatch a risky midnight plan to steal the poisonous creature for their own devious purposes. Yet when the friends discover some very real instances of anti-Semitism and prejudice in their neighborhood, it’s the shocking events stemming from their well-intentioned community-building potluck party that changes their lives forever. A vibrantly voiced, memorable, and charming Cold War coming-of-age story, Summerlings captures the crystal-clear moments that mark the bittersweet reckoning of childhood’s end. | Summerlings by Lisa Howorth, Paperback | Indigo Chapters