Three Day Summer

by Sarvenaz Tash

Overview

In this “optimistic, exuberant tale,” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) two teens find unexpected romance and harmony amid the crowd at a legendary music festival.

Michael is unsure about most things. Go to college? Enlist in the military? Break up with his girlfriend? All big question marks. He is living for the moment, and all he wants is to enjoy a few days at the biggest concert of the summer.

Cora lives in the town hosting the music festival. She’s volunteering in the medical tent. She’s like that, always the good girl. But there is something in the air at this concert, and suddenly Cora finds herself wanting to push her own boundaries.

When Michael and Cora meet, sparks fly, hearts race, and all the things love songs are written about come true. And they’ve got three days of the most epic summer ahead of them…

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781481439329
Publisher:	Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers
Publication date:	06/14/2016
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.00(d)
Age Range:	12 - 17 Years

About the Author

Sarvenaz Tash is the author of The Geek’s Guide to Unrequited Love (a YALSA Top Ten Quick Pick for Reluctant YA Readers), Three Day Summer, The Mapmaker and the Ghost, and Virtually Yours. She was born in Tehran, Iran, and grew up on Long Island, New York. She received her BFA in film and television from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, which means she got to spend most of college running around and making movies (it was a lot of fun). She has dabbled in all sorts of writing including screenwriting, Emmy Award–winning copywriting, and professional tweeting for the likes of Bravo and MTV. Sarvenaz currently lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her family.

Read an Excerpt

Three Day Summer

chapter 1

Cora

“You. Are. A. Candy. Cane.”

The boy grips me by the arms, his enormous glassy eyes staring right at my chest through his long bangs.

Under normal circumstances, I would feel terrified and violated. Instead, I roll my eyes.

“He means candy striper,” Anna says as she zips across the tent, bringing paper cups of water to the zoned-out patients slumped against the far side.

“Yeah, I get it,” I say before calmly extracting the boy’s fingers from my arms. “Sir,” I say as firmly as I can. “Have a seat.”

Of course, there are no available chairs to sit on, but the ground is probably a sea of fluffy marshmallows to this guy. At least, based on the way he momentarily forgets he has knees and goes crashing to the floor.

“He’ll feel that in the morning,” Anna says as she zips back.

“He’s not feeling it now,” I mutter as the boy stares at the hem of my dress with a goofy grin plastered on his face. He’s drooling.

“Mmmmm . . . candy.”

It’s only eleven a.m. on Thursday. The concert hasn’t even started yet.

It’s going to be a very long weekend.

Editorial Reviews

"THREE DAY SUMMER will transport you back in time to Woodstock, drown you in incredible music, and introduce you to a couple you'll never forget. It's the perfect summer getaway."

Tamara Ireland Stone

04/06/2015
It’s 1969, and like the rest of Bethel, N.Y., 17-year-old Cora Fletcher, a volunteer candy striper at the Woodstock festival, is preparing for the hundreds of thousands of young people descending on the area for what promises to be one of the greatest music events of all time. Michael is an eager concertgoer who drops acid and ends up in the medical tent, where he meets Cora. In short chapters full of vivid historical detail, Tash (The Mapmaker and the Ghost) takes readers through each of the major acts at Woodstock (the Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, among others), plus all of the drugs, mud, and shed inhibitions. As Cora and Michael meander (and sometimes stumble) through the chaos, they evoke the spirit of the festival in their awe for the music, adding their own dash of romance to the free love around them. The narrative loses its way a bit as Tash throws a wrench into Michael and Cora’s budding romance, but the author’s love for the era and this defining musical moment shines through. Ages 12–up. Agent: Victoria Marini, Gelfman Schneider. (May)

Publishers Weekly

04/01/2015
Gr 10 Up—Sex, drugs, and rock and roll. This unpolished, but extremely charming book is set in Bethel, NY, during the Woodstock festival in August, 1969. Seventeen-year-old local resident Cora volunteers to work at the medic tent at the festival, and one of her first patients of the day is a wild-eyed, scruffy looking (but somewhat attractive) guy who is having a bad acid trip. Alternating chapters in Cora and Michael's voices describe their nearly instant attraction and growing relationship amid the music, mud, and chaos on Yasgur's famous farm. Over the course of three magical days, Cora and Michael come to acknowledge their ultimate paths in life and take the first steps to achieve their goals. Tash shows tremendous promise as an author by weaving historical facts such as weather conditions and the reactions of locals in this sure-to-be-popular, mesmerizing novel. Music-savvy readers will find themselves singing along to mentions of Jimi Hendrix and other top acts. Drug use, sexual activity, and other adult themes are appropriate to the setting. VERDICT A real page-turner for fans of romance, music, and the swinging 1960s.—Susan Riley, Mamaroneck Public Library, NY

School Library Journal

★ 2015-03-03
Two teens find the 1969 Woodstock music festival a life-changing event.Michael, 18, knows what he doesn't want—to go to college or be drafted to fight in Vietnam—it's what he wants that confuses him, and would-be doctor Cora, 17, ponders transgressing cultural expectations for girls. Overcoming their inauspicious meeting in the medical tent, the two are drawn together—along with plenty of baggage. Michael drags his feet on breaking up with his hypercritical girlfriend. Cora longs to get over paternalistic Ned, who's broken up with her. Michael's passionate about music but feels like a slacker. Country girl Cora, unlike her brothers, has a nightly curfew and feels torn between her conservative father—proud veteran of two wars—and her anti-war siblings, one fighting in Vietnam. Not all that goes down is benign, but this is no cautionary fable. Sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll unapologetically prevail amid the muddy chaos, where strangers feed one another, concertgoers stand in line for hours to use the payphone, and iconic musicians play generational anthems. Against a turbulent backdrop of war, divisive social change, and awful weather, half a million people celebrated peace, love, and music together. Woodstock remains a resonant cultural marker, documenting the brief triumph of hope over experience, and Tash takes ample advantage of the moment. A positive portrait of a much-maligned era, this optimistic, exuberant tale is recommended for readers who've wondered why the '60s were so great. (Historical fiction. 12-18)

Kirkus Reviews