The blog tour for THE SUMMER AFTER YOU AND ME is just wrapping up and here is one of my favorite questions from the tour. It’s about my main character, Lucy Giordano.
What are the top 5 apps on Lucy’s phone?
I thought this was such a great question!! It made me want to go back and include this detail in the book. It was fun to consider and here’s what I concluded. Unlike nearly all of her peers, you won’t find any social media apps on Lucy’s phone. It’s not really her thing. (So she won’t see this post when I take to Twitter!) And I know for certain, since I sort of made these people up, that none of Lucy’s friends will have these five apps on their phones.
- Audubon Guides. A Field Guide to North American Birds, Mammals, Wildflowers and Trees. Lucy mostly uses this app to identify and record her sightings of coastal birds and mammals in and around her hometown of Seaside Park. She loves osprey, piping plover, and harbor seals. Though there is an option to share her findings and connect with other nature nerds, she doesn’t. With her job at Breakwater Burrito and her volunteer work with Reclam Our Waters, she doesn’t have much time for socializing.
- SAT Prep. Lucy has an app that includes practice tests and flashcards for SAT vocabulary words. Sometime the school bus gets stuck waiting for the drawbridge that spans Barnegat Bay to open and Lucy doesn’t like to sit around wasting time.
- AP Calculus Practice Test. It’s Lucy’s dream to become a marine mammalogist and her first choice for college is Princeton, where she’d like to major in biology before going to grad school. She’s taking AP calc during her upcoming senior year, and wants to get a leg up on her competition for valedictorian.
- Tank Watch: Good Fish/Bad Fish. Lucy’s salt water fish tank was one of the many casualties when Superstorm Sandy came barreling through the first floor of her family’s home. She hopes to have new tank one day, right after she finishes sorting out all her relationship troubles, and this app helps her identify which fish are best suited for cohabitation. If only they had an app like this for people!
- Surf Report. Lucy and her twin brother Liam have been surfing with their friends since they were eight years old. Like many surfers, she’s obsessed with the weather. This free app gives Lucy the daily surf reports, conditions, and tide charts.