Point of View

A Summer to Die by Lois Lowry is written in the first person narrative and told by the story's thirteen-year-old protagonist, Meg Chalmers. The story is about the loss of Meg's fifteen-year-old sister, Molly, to a terminal disease. Meg tells the story of having to move from her family home in a small New England town to a new life on a farm. The move was necessitated by Meg's father need for privacy and solitude in order to finish the book he's writing. The move is just temporary, but it is still traumatic for young teens to have to give up their school and friends.

When Molly becomes ill, the story of her illness is told from the thirteen-year-old's perspective, who doesn't understand how serious her sister's condition is. It is obvious that her parents are keeping the truth from her and Meg deals with the...