In Summer Light

Kate, the daughter of a famous artist, struggles with mixed feelings about her father. It is summer and Kate is forced to spend the summer with her parents while recovering from mononucleosis. With her father's constant presence, she is left to deal with emotions of anger and resentment over his fame and fortune. The picture changes when a graduate student arrives to work with her father. Ian Jackson is attractive and attentive towards Kate. She falls head over heels in love. Through Ian, she tries to better understand her father. Ian helps to present her with a different picture of her father. Slowly, Kate's perception and attitude change. Kate, through Ian, realizes that she has her father's talent for painting and begins to do some beautiful landscapes. She also has an assignment to do on a famous play called, The Tempest. This play holds many similarities to her own relationship with her father and helps her improve it. In the end, things are much different than when they started. Kate's relationship is improving along with her talent for painting. She feels beautiful inside and out. I enjoyed this book very much since it showed the changes that a father-daughter relationship can make for the better. Anyone who wishes to improve their relationship with their dad should enjoy this book.

Known as a writer of children's literature, Zibby Oneal's trilogy of "young adult" books, beginning with "The Language of Goldfish", continuing through "A Formal Feeling" and culminating with "In Summer Light", presents a gentle, compassionate and totally enjoyable view of young teens feeling the first pangs of adulthood; trying to cope with all the confusion and heartache associated with "growing up". "In Summer Light" takes the plight of a young teenaged girl, spending her summer vacation at her parent's summer island home, sick with mononucleosis, trying to understand her often distant, artist father. Complicating matters, is the budding romantic feelings she has for the college student intern who has arrived to assist her father in cataloging his painting collection. Zibby Oneal tells the story in concise form, using the briefest of pharsing and style to convey the hazy, shimmering imagary of a New England island during a hot, summer season. Beautifully told, this is an execellent book I know young, teenaged readers will thoroughly enjoy. Adults, too, will especially appreciate the clear imagery and literary form that has become a hallmark of Zibby Oneal's style. Not to be missed!