Kat's Greek Summer

For fans of Jenna Evans Welch and Barbara Dee, a timely and uplifting contemporary YA story of a young girl risking all for self-truth, family, and first love over one sun-drenched Greek summer. Ready--set--look out, world! Kat Baker is about to explode . . . onto the high school scene, that is. All she has to do? Spend July and August training with New Canaan High's cross-country team, become a running goddess and, come fall, claim her place as the team's star freshman runner. When her mom shocks her with the unwelcome news that the family will spend the summer exploring their roots in the rustic Greek village of Paralia, Kat's sure her high school popularity plan is toast. Once in Paralia, punishing heat and cultural clashes force her to launch a risky and covert training strategy to keep her running-star dreams alive. And it is during these hidden sessions that Kat is swept into late-night encounters with Theofilus Zafirakis, a beautiful but off-limits Greek boy. As Kat's lies mount, her secret odyssey spirals out of control, finally putting one of her cousins in danger. In the end, it takes the unexpected meddling of a village full of crazy, wonderful--and not so wonderful--Greeks for her to open up to her Greek side and stand strong, discovering at last that the key to belonging anywhere is belonging first to herself.

Mima Tipper is an award-winning author of children’s fiction. She’s published YA fiction in several literary magazines, and her debut novel Kat’s Greek Summer won the 2025 Vermont Book Award for Children’s Literature, as well as winning silver medals for YA fiction in the 2025 Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards, and for Best New Voice in the 2025 IBPA Book Awards. Her new novel Channeling Marilyn is a YA paranormal, freshly released on June 2, 2026 in time to celebrate Marilyn Monroe’s 100th birthday. Beyond devoting most of her time to writing and being an author, Mima helps at Inklings Children’s Books in Waitsfield, VT, volunteers at her local library, and is committed to promoting literacy and supporting the writing community. Mima lives in Vermont with her family.