The Blossoming Summer by Anna Rose Johnson

It is 1940 and the Germans have invaded France and the Low Countries (Belgium, Holland, and Luxembourg - neutral countries). Thirteen-year-old Rosemary Rivers lives with her mother's older brother, Uncle John and his wife, Aunt Katie Alexandra in London, England. On this night Rosemary can hear them talking through the floorboards of her upstairs bedroom. She learns that her father and mother are planning to come get Rosemary and take her and her two brothers back to America. This is happening just when her father has found steady work in a munitions plant and her mother is also working in Manchester.

Rosemary's parents, Leslie and Louise came to England several years ago. Her father lost his job and was unable to find work in Eastbourne. In London he had one temporary job after another, so Rosemary's mother left to find work. This meant that Rosemary and her brothers, Kenneth and Patrick had to be separated. Uncle John and Aunt Katie Alexandra took in Rosemary but were unable to take in her brothers as well. So Patrick went to stay with a minister friend of the family in Birmingham, while Kenneth was sent to live on the coast near Liverpool with Uncle Stephen. Listening to her aunt and uncle Rosemary learns that her father plans to live with his mother, Charlotte Rivers, whom he doesn't get along with. Rosemary has never met Grandmother Charlotte but she's hoping that she can help keep the peace between her father and her grandmother.

Rosemary is told the next day by her aunt and uncle about this plan and that her parents will be arriving in a fortnight. They will be travelling by ship, the cost of the tickets being paid by Grandmother Charlotte and they will be living on her farm in Wisconsin. Her aunt and uncle caution Rosemary not to get her hopes up as her father doesn't get along with his mother. Rosemary is determined to be the peacemaker between her father and Grandmother Charlotte. Rosemary lets her best friend Beryl know about her leaving for America and promises to write. 

Rosemary's parents and her brothers, Patrick now eleven years old and Kenneth now eight years old, arrive at Uncle John's home. Rosemary is shocked at the difference in her brothers, who she hasn't seen in three years but she is thrilled to see her parents. They leave the next day taking the triain to the port, then travel by boat across the Atlantic. They arrive in Canada, sail past Quebec City and Montreal, across Lake Ontario to Rochester, New York where they disembark. They then travel by train to Chicago, Green Bay and then on to Rhineland in Wisconsin. There Rosemary's father manages to buy an old car and they drive to Hazen and to his mother's home.

Rosemary and her family are shocked when they see Grandmother Charlotte's home. The home is "...the most majestic house she'd ever seen." It has three stories, with large pillars and is surrounded by a field of wildflowers. It was like the house Rosemary had imagined in her secret world she'd named "Paradise". In "Paradise", Rosemary had imagined "...a grand white house..." and "...a glorious place of colorful flowers growing in happy profusion, and of orchards dotted with blossoming trees."  Rosemary's father tells them that it was a resort until recently and that is overlooks North Hackley Lake, with ten or fifteen cottages that his father had built.

After meeting Grandmother Charlotte, they are introduced to Aunt Ann who was married to Rosemary's father's late brother James, and her daughter Corinne. Corinne is not friendly and warns Rosemary they won't be friends. The next morning Rosemary makes an astonishing discovery - a beautiful garden of flowers behind the house. Worried that grandmother might be upset at her presence in the garden, Rosemary races back to the gate only to find it won't open. That is until a boy helps her. She learns that the boy is Jacob Parker, the son of the Grandmother Charlotte's maid. He works tending the garden and the grounds. Jacob refers to Rosemary's grandmother as Mrs. Riviere, leading Rosemary to confront her parents and grandmother about her heritage. Her father tells his mother that he used the name Rivers because of the prejudice he has experienced. It is Grandmother Charlotte who reveals to Rosemary that she is Indian and French.

Her father explains that he was also afraid of the prejudice they might experience in England, especially with what is going on in Europe with Nazi Germany. However, Rosemary doesn't accept her father's explanation that they never talk about her mother's family because in fact she knows that her mother is English and Irish and knows other information as well.

On a surprise shopping trip to buy new clothes for Rosemary, Grandmother Charlotte asks her to help her with the garden so that she can win all the blue ribbons at the upcoming fall fair in August. Grandmother also reveals to Rosemary more about her Indian heritage: Charlotte's mother was a full-blooded Ojibwe, while her father was a Scotsman who was also French-Indian. Charlotte explains that she is Ojibwe Anishinaabe, descended from people who lived on the land in Wisconsin and Michigan and who understood the animals and the plants. She also explains that her husband (Rosemary's grandfather) was wealthy from the fur trade but when that money ran out, he opened the Indian resort. While Grandmother Charlotte and her son James were interested in carrying on their cultural traditions, Leslie, Rosemary's father was not because of the prejudice he experienced. 

 However her father's ongoing struggle to find work causes Rosemary to worry that once again her family will be forced to move and be separated.  Grandmother Charlotte however has her own plan, one that will make Rosemary's dream of Paradise come true.

Discussion

The Blossoming Summer is a sweet middle-grade novel about life in America at the beginning of World War II. 

The story is told by thirteen-year-old Rosemary Riviere who wants nothing more than the reuniting of her parents, her brothers and herself and for them to become a loving family once more. Rosemary is so desperate for this to happen that she had created for herself, an imaginary home which she calls Paradise. Paradise "...was a glorious place of colorful flowers growing in happy profusion, and of orchards dotted with blossoming trees...A grand white house that sheltered its family from the rain and wind and welcomed newcomers on bright summer days. It winked it eyes in the blizzards of December and kept fires burning in its hearths during January; it shone like chine in the June sun, and its lawns turned green as a parakeet's plummage in August...She also liked to imagine the family inside the Paradise house...there was a mother, a father, and three young children, and they were a remarkably special family. They never quarreled, and they always did things together, having a marvelous time..."

Rosemary's ideal family is unrealistic and reflects how desperately she misses her family and longs for a real home. It's not that her Uncle John and Aunt Katie Alexandra do not love her, but they are not her parents. It's clear the separation from her parents and her brothers has deeply hurt her. So when she learns that her parents  are reuniting their family and moving to America, Rosemary is hopeful and determined to make sure they stay together. 

Rosemary quickly recognizes that the reunion of her family may not be what she thought it would be. When her parents and younger brothers arrive at her Uncle John's Rosemary is shocked at how changed her brothers are. At dinner she notes that it is evident her parents have lived apart where one parent would mention something that the other parent did not know about. It was these "one-sided memories" that each parent brought up that was disconcerting. Later that night she reflects: "They were togerher, and yet...And yet, look at them. Perfect strangers in some ways. Still a family, but sundered, somehow, missing something. Kenneth, for example, barely knew her -- and worse still, he didn't even seem to care about her." She also notes considerable change in her parents: "Dad and Mum had changed a great deal since their last visit five months ago. Mum was now slim and lithe, almost too much so, and her eyes were limpid and sad...Dad's dark hair was grayer, and the scar on his cheek stood out more than it used to. He mostly spoke in bursts -- declarations and exclamations -- before growing silent again."

A hint of the revelation to come occurs on the Atlantic crossing when Rosemary is looking through her mother's scrapbook and finds her father's passport. His name is listed as Leslie Joseph Riviere instead of Rivers as is her surname. Rosemary believes the passport is incorrect. However, she learns from her grandmother that in fact, the name is correct and that she is of Ojibwe heritage. 

On a shopping outing, Grandmother Charlotte tells Rosemary that if she wins the blue ribbon prizes at the local fair, she will lease her father land to build a home on. To Rosemary, this feels like a dream come true, since her grandmother's home and land feel so close to the "Paradise" she's been dreaming of. In reality, adult readers will suspect Charlotte's true motives since Leslie Rivier is Charlotte's only surviving adult heir and it's likely her land would pass to him anyways. But as it happens, Charlotte's plan is to help her son recognize the beauty of his Indian heritage and the land he is tied to, and give his family a second chance to restart their lives after so much struggle and separation.She not only achieves this end but in the process helps to rebuild the bonds between Rosemary and her brothers, between the children and their parents and between Leslie and Louise, as well as between Charlotte and her estranged son Leslie. Grandmother Charlotte also begins to pass on her knowledge of the land and her Ojibwe culture and language to her granddaughter, thus reclaiming what her son Leslie rejected. 

When Grandmother Charlotte doesn't win the ribbons she wanted, Rosemary believes she failed. She tells her parents, "I thought I had to be the one...The one to -- manage everything, to make things work. I didn't think anyone else could. I was sure that if I could just make everything perfect -- a kind of Paradise -- then everything would be...fine." Bur her parents tell her, "And it's also very true that you are not responsible for this family.That's for your mother and me to worry about." Her father also tells Rosemary that while they are not the perfect family, they are trying and that the long separation they've endured has made things more difficult. Her father tells her, "I'm truly sorry that you felt you had to be the one to fix things between us, and between the whole family, ....But that's what a family is for, you see? One person doesn't need to have sole responsibility -- and shouldn't." Her mother reiterates that they will not separate Rosemary and her brothers ever again, something that allays Rosemary's biggest fear of losing her family again. 

The Blossoming Summer is a sweet and very touching novel about how difficult times can force families into situations that are trying. It tackles the theme of an older child, often a daughter, who takes on the responsibiliies of keeping things together. This novel, from award-winning author, Anna Rose Johnson offers young readers a refreshing story that has a positive outlook on family life, on the relationship between grandparents and grandchildren, and on forgiveness and redemption. 

The author includes a map and also a glossary of Ojibwe terms. Highly recommended.

Book Details:

The Blossoming Summer by Anna Rose Johnson
New York: Holiday House   2025
276 pp.