By Spencer Miller
Three years after Anne of Green Gables, Lucy Maud Montgomery published The Story Girl, a novel about a group of young cousins and their friends enjoying a long summer on a farm in Prince Edward Island. In the novel, 14-year-old Sara Stanley, the titular “Story Girl,” entertains the group with fascinating tales including comical anecdotes, family legends, and imaginative adventures. The novel has been described as “wistful,” “enlightening,” and promising to “bring a glow to the reader's hearts.” In her journal, Montgomery described The Story Girl as “the best piece of work I have yet done.”
Tuesday, Nov. 29, 1910
Cavendish, P.E.I.
I had finished my book “The Story Girl.” I was sorry to finish it. Never, not even when I finished with Anne, had I laid down my pen and taken farewell of my characters with more regret. I consider “The Story Girl” the best piece of work I have yet done. It may not be as popular as Anne — somehow I don’t fancy it will. But from a literary point of view it is far ahead of it. It is an idyl of childhood on an old P.E. Island farm during one summer. I have written it from sheer love of it and revised it painstakingly—up there by the window of my dear white room. It may be the last book I shall ever write there.
In her book Magic Island: The Fictions of L.M. Montgomery, Dr. Elizabeth Waterston details how Montgomery wrote The Story Girl in the summer of 1909 while overcome with nostalgia for her teenage years. Protagonist Sara Stanley (named for Montgomery’s birthplace, Stanley Bridge) is “an idealized self-portrait of the author as a young girl” argues Waterston. Montgomery even drew inspiration from diary entries recorded in her youth. Through the novel, she hoped to capture the wonders of childhood, storytelling, and Prince Edward Island. At the time of writing, Montgomery was engaged and suspected that when she married, she would likely leave Prince Edward Island for Ontario. Hidden beneath the charm and sheen of The Story Girl are all the bittersweet feelings of growing up and leaving a piece of yourself behind.
When Montgomery wrote The Story Girl, the concepts of “middle-grade fiction” and “young adult fiction” didn’t yet exist (these categories would emerge later in the 1940s and 1950s). Still, Montgomery knew something that would prove true in the decades to come: summertime is the perfect setting for a story about a young person growing up in the world.
More than a century later, Canadian writers continue to draw inspiration from summer as a setting for telling coming-of-age stories. Some of the most influential Canadian children’s and young adult books of the century take place during the summertime. Let’s take a closer look at some stand-out summer stories in Canadian children’s literature.
As Long as the Rivers Flow
written by Larry Loyie with Constance Brissenden
illustrated by Heather D. Holmlund
Groundwood Books, 2003
As the last residential schools in Canada were closing in the late 1990s, children’s books sharing the stories of residential school Survivors began to be published. Among these impactful titles, this collection of short vignettes from Larry Loyie recreates the last summer he spent with his family before the Canadian government forced him to attend residential school in the fall of 1944. Loyie deftly describes travelling with his family to pick berries, caring for a baby owl, and a terrifying encounter with a giant grizzly. The memories, supported by Holmlund’s watercolours, paint an idyllic portrait of Cree childhood that leaves readers with a haunting feeling. The heart-wrenching memoir received recognition for its honest and meaningful storytelling, winning the Norma Fleck Award for Canadian Children’s Non-Fiction in 2003.
Boy O’Boy
written by Brian Doyle
Groundwood Books, 2003
Receiving continuous concern over its challenging content, this striking novel has now remained in conversations for over two decades. The story follows youngster Martin O'Boy during the summer of 1945 in Lowerton, Ottawa. While older boys from the neighbourhood are off fighting in the Second World War, Martin is dealing with his own struggles at home. A reviewer for Quill & Quire called the book “a sublime achievement” and praised Doyle’s ability to write the “fine line between tragedy and comedy, almost seamlessly melding them.” Cementing its place in Canadian children's books history, the novel won the Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young People, the Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children’s Book Award, and was named Book of the Year for Children by the Canadian Library Association in 2004.
Swimming in the Monsoon Sea
written by Shyam Selvadurai
Tundra Books, 2005
Selvadurai’s daring and defiant young adult novel challenges young Canadian readers to think more globally and critically. The story takes place in Sri Lanka during the stormy monsoon season of 1980. Fourteen-year-old Amrith de Alwis feels like an outsider living in his aunt and uncle’s house after the loss of his parents. His plans for a quiet summer learning to type and preparing to participate in a school production of Othello are interrupted by the arrival of his cousin Niresh from Canada. Selvadurai received praise for his evocative writing and for diving into topics of grief and sexuality. The novel was recognized with a Lambda Literary Award, was shortlisted for a Governor General’s Literary Award, and was awarded the Canadian Library Association Young Adult Book Award in 2006. In 2022, the book was re-released with a striking new cover.
This One Summer
written by Mariko Tamaki
illustrated by Jillian Tamaki
Groundwood Books, 2014
This boundary-breaking graphic novel is summed up by publisher Groundwood Books as “pure summer joy.” The story follows friends Rose and Windy, two Toronto pre-teens, as they spend their summer together at a lake town in Southern Ontario. Amidst typical adolescent activities—swimming at the beach, walking down to the corner store, and renting scary movies—the girls grow increasingly curious about the mysterious lives of the teenagers and adults around them. The book won a Governor General's Literary Award in 2014. Since then, it has appeared on many lists, including the American Library Association’s “Most Frequently Challenged Books” and Kirkus Reviews’ “The Best Books of the 21st Century (so far).” In recognition of the graphic novel’s impact and influence, Canada Post featured Rose and Windy on a stamp in 2024.
Ebb & Flow
written by Heather Smith
Kids Can Press, 2018
This poignant middle-grade novel-in-verse trusts young readers with difficult ideas. After a “rotten bad year,” 11-year-old Jett finds himself spending his summer on the coast with his eccentric grandmother. Through churning conversations with Grandma Jo, he learns to make sense of his mistakes. Smith told CBC Books the story was inspired by a piece of sea glass she found during a visit to Newfoundland. “It was so pretty and I wondered how it was formed, from starting off as a piece of broken glass that someone threw in the ocean.” A master class in storytelling through poetry, the book was honoured with the TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award in 2019.
No Vacancy
written by Tziporah Cohen
Groundwood Books, 2020
Captivating and thought-provoking, this standout summer-in-a-small-town novel for middle readers centres around a Jewish family who moves into a run-down motel in upstate New York. To drum up business and save the Jewel Motor Inn from bankruptcy, 11-year-old Miriam Brockman schemes with her new Catholic friend Kate to devise a plan to attract tourists. When their plan succeeds, Miriam must come to terms with the morality of her actions. A starred review from Quill & Quire describes Cohen’s “effortless mastery” as she “weaves the opposing forces of innocence and corruption, right and wrong, love and hate.” In recognition of the achievement of her debut book, Cohen took home the Jean Little First-Novel Award in 2021.
Elvis, Me, and the Lemonade Stand Summer
written by Leslie Gentile
DCB Young Readers, 2021
This memorable middle-grade novel takes readers to Eagle Shores Trailer Park on the Vancouver Island Coast Salish reserve during the summer of 1978. Here, 11-year-old Truly Bateman makes the most of her challenging situation. With her mother smoking, drinking, and disappearing for days at a time, Truly decides to start selling lemonade to earn some money. When a man who looks exactly like Elvis Presley stops by for a drink, Truly becomes convinced that her cool new neighbour is the one and only King of Rock ‘n’ Roll. Carefully written and full of subtleties, Gentile tells a story that reflects the most difficult and most exciting parts of growing up. The book received local and national award recognition, including being named the winner of the Jean Little First-Novel Award in 2022.
Bernice and the Georgian Bay Gold
written by Jessica Outram
Second Story Press, 2023
Set during the summer of 1914, this heartfelt work of historical fiction introduces readers to eight-year-old Bernice, who lives with her Métis family in a lighthouse on Georgian Bay. Bernice has been spending her summer reading Treasure Island, so when an artist visits her family and leaves behind an odd sketch, Bernice is sure it is a treasure map and sets off with her two huskies to find the gold. The writing is subtle and poetic. Throughout the story, Outram shares pieces of Métis history and culture, including words and phrases in the Michif language. The book was inspired by Outram’s family history: her grandfather grew up in a lighthouse (exactly like the one on the cover of the book) and Bernice is based on her Great Aunt Bernice. In 2024, the novel was honoured with the Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young People.
As exemplified in these books, summer is a time of increased independence which naturally leads to exploration. Away from the rules and routines of the school year, summer vacation is a time to visit new places, make new friends, and have new experiences. Recent Canadian books for young readers have explored quintessential summer experiences like road trips, summer camps, and fleeting romances. Notable recent coming-of-age summer stories include Summer of Rocks by Jenna Greene (Wandering Fox), a middle-grade novel told through the perspectives of three sisters on a road trip through the Canadian Rockies. Carousel Summer by Kathleen Gros (Quill Tree Books) and Boy vs. Shark by Paul Gilligan (Tundra Books) are two graphic novels with protagonists who learn to push back against parental pressures and gendered expectations. For teen readers, Vikki VanSickle’s verse-novel The Lightning Circle (Tundra Books) is an intimate and immersive look at girlhood, female friendships, and the transformative power of summer camp.
It’s impossible to measure the impact of a good book. Lucy Maud Montgomery likely never imagined The Story Girl and her tales of Prince Edward Island would still be read and loved over a hundred years later. It’s exciting to think that some of the other books featured in this article will continue to be read for decades to come. Even more exciting is the thought that this summer, some aspiring young writer is off at camp, or stuck in the back seat on a road trip, or on a plane to visit their faraway cousins, dreaming up another great story.
Spencer Miller is a graduate student, the Editorial Coordinator of Top Grade:
CanLit for the Classroom, and the Digital Media Coordinator for the CCBC. Find him on Instagram @spencerbmiller.