Book Review: 'The Lighthouse Summer'
A review of a fictional teen novel about the friendship between two very different girls, with its strong and weak points.
Tap any word to hear it · dotted words have a definition in the glossary
🎧 Listen
1If you are looking for a book that will make you laugh, worry and finally smile, 'The Lighthouse Summer' by Maya Golan is a good choice. This short for teenagers tells the story of two very different girls who become friends during one unusual summer by the sea.
2Fourteen-year-old Anna is shy and loves drawing. She is spending the summer with her aunt in a small town by the sea, and she expects to be bored and lonely. Then she meets Lia, a loud, girl who knows everyone in town and is never afraid to say what she thinks. At first, Anna finds Lia . Lia, on the other hand, thinks Anna is a because she hardly speaks.
3Their friendship begins almost by , when both of them try to save a hurt seagull on the beach. Slowly, they discover that each of them has something the other one needs. Anna teaches Lia to slow down and notice small things, and Lia helps Anna find the to show her drawings to other people.
4The best part of the is the way it shows that friendship is not always easy. In the middle of the book, Anna shares a secret with Lia, and Lia tells it to another girl. The chapters after this are painful to read, but they feel very real. The author does not offer a quick ; the girls have to work hard to each other again.
5The book is not perfect. The first few chapters are slow, and some of the adult characters are not very interesting. Readers who prefer action and adventure may lose before the story really begins.
6Still, I recommend this book to anyone aged twelve and up. It reminds us that real friends are not people who never hurt us, but people who are willing to what was broken.
📘 Glossary
- novel - a long story in a book
- confident - sure of yourself
- annoying - making you feel a little angry
- snob - a person who thinks they are better than others
- accident - something that happens by chance
- courage - the strength to do something scary
- solution - an answer to a problem
- trust - to believe that someone is honest and good
- patience - the ability to wait calmly
- repair - to fix something that is broken
Questions
Finding details
1. At the beginning of the story, how does Anna expect her summer to be?Finding details
2. Give TWO words or phrases from paragraph 2 that describe Lia.Finding details
3. Why does Lia think at first that Anna is a snob?Finding details
4. How does the girls' friendship begin?Reference words
5. What does the word 'it' in the sentence 'Lia tells it to another girl' (paragraph 4) refer to?Fact, opinion and stance
6. Which sentence expresses the reviewer's OPINION rather than a fact about the plot?Purpose and structure
7. What is the purpose of paragraph 5?Finding details
8. According to the reviewer, which readers may NOT enjoy the book? Why?Word meaning
9. The word 'repair' in paragraph 6 means ____.
✍️ Writing task
Write a short review of a book, film or TV series about friendship that you know. Briefly describe what it is about, and say whether you recommend it and why.
80–100 words
0 words
Answer every question to get a score (0/9)