Best friends Julia and Eliza are spending the summer together. Twelve-year-old Julia worries a great deal about her mom who is serving in the war in Iraq. The girls distract themselves by hanging out at the local resort where Eliza's dad works. They spend the summer reading books and playing pretend. When Julia develops a crush on a boy, Eliza just doesn't understand and this strains their friendship. Now Julia is left alone to wonder if her feelings are normal, and if she'll ever see her mother alive again.

This is the perfect book for those tween girls with one foot still in childhood while everyone around them is growing up, whether they like it or not. Engaging and relatable, The Summer Before Boys is a speed read with surprising depth. The backstory of Julia's mother in Iraq, told through a series of flashbacks and facts about women who have served in U.S. wars, is both informative and poignant. Julia fears that her mother will be different when she comes home, like her friend's father. She also worries that her mom won't make it home at all. In the midst of all this worrying, Julia develops a crush on a local boy. This puts a big strain on her friendship with Eliza. When Julia receives her first kiss, Eliza goes missing, and although all is well in the end, an important lesson is learned about letting a boy come between friends.

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