![]() ![]() He's becoming more independent again and less reliant on others to do simple things like help him bathe and write things down. His dad visits him every evening and they read together, which Ari believes is the equivalent of other fathers and sons talking to each other.Īri's father wants to buy Ari a car for his birthday, and Ari requests a beat-up old pick up which he loves. Ari is also surprised when his accident proves to be a bonding experience between him and his remote, quiet father. He tells his mother that he will start talking about his feelings when she starts talking about hers, and that starts with talking about his brother. He also refuses to consider therapy or counselling. When Dante gives him his sketchbook to look at-a large gesture since he never allows anyone to look at it-Ari is furious because he thinks Dante is only being nice to him to assuage his own guilt. Dante begins therapy to help him come to terms with the accident and to try to work through his feelings of guilt.Īri, meanwhile, is becoming an angry young man. Ari's accident does have one surprising and positive side effect, though: the Mendozas and the Quintanas become close as families, and both of the boys' mothers talk regularly about their sons. Dante feels overwhelmed by guilt because he has barely a scratch on him, thanks to Ari. Both of his arms and one of his legs are broken and in casts. Dante is almost hit by a car that comes speeding around the corner, but Ari pushes him out of harm's way, getting hit by the car himself, and becoming very seriously injured. That same day, the boys try to rescue a bird that is lying injured in the middle of the street. Even though he recovers from the flu, Ari continues to have the same kind of dreams, which are all dreams in which he is on his own and abandoned by the people he cares about.ĭante tells Ari that he and his family are moving to Chicago for a little while because his dad has been offered a new job there. In his dream, his brother is standing across from him on the other side of the river and Ari is shouting to him that he wants him to come back home. He also dreams about his brother who is in prison. ![]() In one dream it is pouring down with rain, he is alone and he can't find Dante or his father even though he is searching everywhere for them. Dante's family members are close-knit and openly affectionate towards each other, which astounds Ari because his family is completely the opposite.Īri gets a terrible case of the flu and begins to have some strange and terrifying dreams in his feverish state. Like Ari, Dante is Mexican American and this leaves him in a permanent state of ambivalence because he doesn't know how to embrace his Mexican heritage and his American nationality at the same time. Ari is fascinated by Dante, and a little in awe of him because he swims so well and knows so much about art and literature. They become fast friends, and bond over their classical names. Dante is a talented swimmer and he offers to teach Ari how to swim. Ari is so desperate to get out of the house that he goes to the community swimming pool to hang out, which would be a normal teen boy thing to do, except for the fact that he can't swim.Īt the pool, he meets a boy named Dante Quintana. This is a family that clams up about things they don't want to think about Ari's father is a Vietnam veteran but he won't talk about his experiences in the war either. His older brother is in prison and nobody is allowed to mention his name. He has two older sisters, but they have moved out already. He lives with his family but feels disconnected from them. ![]() It is 1987, and Aristotle "Ari" Mendoza does not know what on earth he is going to do with himself all summer. The book opens with "The Different Rules of Summer," in which we meet both boys for the first time. ![]()
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