It's Not Summer Without You

Han is a Korean American author known for her young-adult romance novels. Han is the author of the well-known Summer I Turned Pretty trilogy (The Summer I Turned Pretty, It's Not Summer Without You, We'll Always Have Summer) and the To All the Boys I've Loved Before trilogy (To All the Boys I've Loved Before, P.S. I Still Love You, Always and Forever, Lara Jean) which was published in 2014 and made into a Netflix series in 2018. Han’s works have been noteworthy in American culture not only because of the appeal of the romance genre for young-adult readers but because of their commitment to enhancing diversity within the YA genre.

The Summer trilogy universe (published 2009-2011) implies that Belly and the rest of the main characters are white. The novel’s original publication covers, which feature white people, largely contribute to this perception. In June 2022, Amazon Prime released a limited series based on The Summer I Turned Pretty. When it comes to the television series, notable changes enhance the diversity and representation, deviating from assumptions gleaned from the text. Belly and her brother, Steven, are biracial: Their father is white, and their mother (renamed Laurel Park from Laurel Dunne) is Korean American. Additionally, Jeremiah in the TV series is bisexual, while the text implies he is heterosexual. Amazon Prime renewed the series, which speaks to its wide appeal and the positive reception of these changes among critics and audiences.

Coming 10 years after the original publication of the trilogy, the television series introduced the characters to a new generation of readers. The series was met with critical and fan acclaim in part because it enables older millennials, who grew up reading the series in middle and high school, to reenter the story. Aside from the feelings Han’s novels evoke in their readers, Han is a powerful figure in the YA literary world because of her commitment to diversity and representation when it comes to media adaptations of her novels.

In a New York Times opinion piece from 2018, Han explains the importance of representation, specifically Asian American representation, in media:

When I sold my first middle-grade novel in 2005, it wasn’t that common to put an author photo on the back flap, but 24-year-old Korean-American me insisted. I wanted Asian girls to see my face. And more than that, I wanted them to see what is possible (Han, Jenny. “An Asian-American Teen Idol Onscreen, Finally.” The New York Times).

Her piece goes on to explain how vital representation is, specifically for people of color or people whose identities do not align with white and heterosexual culture: “There is power in moving from the sidelines to the center” (“An Asian-American Teen Idol Onscreen, Finally”). In casting an Asian actress as the lead in both The Summer I Turned Pretty and To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, Han’s narratives disrupt dominant culture and make way for a wider range of identities to play the significant role. This challenges stereotypical thinking about what makes someone a “main character,” centers the identities of marginalized groups, and enhances empathy and connection across cultures and identities as the characters go through recognizable and familiar experiences.