In light of her impending death, thirteen-year-old Beatrice Danzig has changed her name to Christmas. She’s at the center of Christmas in July, a novel in ten stories told by ten residents of suburban Saxon Hills: the bored wife of a senior softball slugger, a socialite with a glitter fixation, a beekeeping hermit, a young runaway who can’t outrun her past. The novel explores each of these people’s lives before and after meeting Christmas—as well as Mr. Ramirez’s mustache, The Wizard of Oz, cults and terrorists, Brown v. Board of Education, a band named Wagawagawaga, and the mystery of Aunt Nikki, Christmas’ guardian, who sleeps in a closet to keep her demons, real and imagined, at bay.
PRAISE FOR CHRISTMAS IN JULY
“Parker’s narrative crackles and swirls, spinning in surprising directions, landing with a totally unexpected impact.” —Lit Hub
“Parker’s background in poetry is on full display in this novel in stories that follows Christmas Danzig, a 13-year-old girl with terminal cancer….Each tight and poignant story within is told from the perspective of one of the many misfit toys that Christmas meets along the way. All of these lovable goons and more make for a warm, fresh telling of a tragically familiar plight.”
—Booklist
“Christmas Danzig, a girl ‘in the middle of growing up,’ charms both resident and reader with her fractured past, her haunting present, and her inevitable future […] Parker delivers a first-rate heartbreaker that glows with regret, wit, and, above all, compassion.”
—Jon Pineda, Let’s No One Get Hurt
“‘In case of ghost, break glass.’ Beautifully touching, funny, and accurate.”
—Terese Svoboda, Anything That Burns You
Here’s an interview with AMP on the nifty site, Identity Theory, run by Matt Borondy.
Here you’ll find AMP’s playlist, in the great series run by David Gutkowski over at Largehearted Boy.
Here’s a fun interview with AMP and Rich Fisher of Studio Tulsa (at Tulsa NPR).
Additional Press for Christmas in July: