The Invincible Summer of Juniper Jones

2020 Wattpad Books

""I can't tell you why people are like that," Juniper went on. "I've been trying to figure it out too. The way I see it, you know, people are like the different paint circles on a palette. You've got your reds and blues and greens and yellows, and you need all of them to make a painting. But around here, they don't see it that way." She shrugged. "They never have. And last year, when that black boy came to town and there was the whole - "

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Daven McQueen

McQueen, a non-binary, queer Afro-Filipino who grew up in Los Angeles, is an emerging novelist and they originally wrote The Invincible Summer of Juniper Jones as a high school senior. Six years later, this is their first published novel.  McQueen is the digital Media Coordinator for the national not-for-profit ERS.

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Book Synopsis

In the summer of 1955 Ethan Harper, a biracial teen raised by his white father, spends a summer with his Aunt and Uncle in Ellison, Alabama. Issues of race have not been discussed in Ethan's home, but they become overwhelming in Ellison and he quickly learns he is not wanted in town -- even by his white Aunt and Uncle. Working at his Uncle's malt shop, he meets Juniper Jones and they create a summer of beautiful adventures. Unfortunately, Juniper's accepting friendship with Ethan marks her as an outsider as much as his blackness does for Ethan.

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Young adult, 292 pages. A coming-of-age historical fiction set in 1950s Alabama follows Ethan's life changing summer with Juniper Jones.

Learning Options

Family Read Aloud Time
A compelling family read aloud about best friends in a world where difference makes you an outsider -- or even get you killed. This is not an easy book, but one which will start many family conversations.

Classroom & Learning at Home
While there is not yet a specific teacher's guide, the book could be added to support resources for a Civil Rights unit. The following resources are combined simply because they are superb and appropriate for use in both settings.

• A Time for Justice, Teaching Tolerance
• Civil Rights: Then and Now, PBS Learning Media
• Use Historical Empathy to Help Students Process the World Today, Facing History & Ourselves

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