Imagine this: you’re a teenager who spent last summer in bed recovering from surgery, but this year, this summer, you’re healed up, and have lots of big things you want to accomplish, including falling out of love with your best friend. That’s the premise of Lockport author Keah Brown’s new young adult novel,The Secret Summer Promise.
“I just wanted to create a rom-com of sorts that really took place during the summer and really allowed for a cast of characters that felt real to me and the people that I love," Brown said. "And the story that I wanted to tell was one where she gets the girl, where she gets to survive to the end of it, she gets a happy ending.”
Like Brown, Andrea, the main character, has cerebral palsy. Brown says besides that, Andrea is really her own person. Brown also had a major surgery as a teenager, but in the book, she tries to keep the description of Andrea’s vague, so people focus on understanding or connecting to Andrea’s experience.
“I think it's really just me trying to normalize that because there are so many kids out in the world, disabled or not, who experience surgery, and nobody really talks about it, and nobody wants to talk about it. They're just like, 'No, let's focus on you getting better.' It's like, 'no, she had a surgery. And now, she's in a place where she's healed enough to try to have the best summer of her life. And she has friends ready and willing to support her in that journey'," Brown said.
While her book is meant to be a fun summer read, it also tackles misconceptions people may have. Andrea has a close-knit, diverse group of friends, who understand each other.
“A lot of times people think, 'Oh, you're disabled, you must be lonely, or not have that many friends, or you know, none of your friends must be non-disabled.' But the reality for me is the opposite," said Brown. "And I wanted to showcase that that was possible: that you can be loved and cared for and heard and understood by people who do not share your same experience.”
Brown shares that it was important to have diversity in the book - not to check boxes, but so kids can feel seen.
According to the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC), main characters like Andrea, who is a Black disabled LGBTQ+ teenager, are rare. Out of 3,716 surveyed books, CCBC found that only 11.9 percent had a main character who is Black or African-American, only 3.4 percent had a main character with a disability, and only 3.1 percent had an LGBTQ+ main character.
“I think that people give representation sort of like an eye roll, and a bad rap. But I think when you spend so much of your time not being seen, you know, when you're the last of the last, to get any proper representation, you hunger for that sort of thing. Like I said, as a child of Sarah Dessen and Susane Colasanti, and all these people, and writers that I loved growing up, I had to find pieces of myself in white characters, right? I've been doing that all my life — finding pieces of myself in characters that don't look like me. So for me, it was really important to create a character that looks like me and the people that I know and love.”
Brown said that she thinks growing up would have been different if she had been able to read more books like this one, that she could see herself in, and that she hopes teens and adults alike will enjoy it.
“I would have loved myself a lot sooner, I would have understood myself a lot sooner, I would have wanted to live a full beautiful life a lot sooner, for sure. I definitely would have come out much, much earlier than I did. Like, I didn't come out until I was out of college. I think I was 28. I would have come out in high school. And I think I would have understood that I deserved love, and happiness, and adventure, and rest, and joy that much sooner. “
The Secret Summer Promiseis out now, to learn more click here.
