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Combine common axes
These books are ranked using the premise + setting labels extracted for Farewell Summer. Books rank higher when they are close on every selected axis.
Premise labels used: coming of age, youth vs age, time and aging, small-town conflict, war metaphor, resistance to change, last days of summer
Setting labels used: small town, Midwest, Illinois, fictional town, summer-to-fall transition, October, late summer, school town
This does not mean the books share the same plot, setting, quality, or difficulty. It means their premise + setting embeddings are close.
Two boys and a weary father face a sinister carnival that preys on longing, fear, and the wish to change time.
Why this is here
Premise labels: traveling carnival · evil arrives · coming of age · good vs evil · friendship · father-son bond · temptation · age reversal
Setting labels: small town · Midwestern town · Illinois · Halloween season · autumn · fictional town · library
Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting
Distance: 0.1923
A boy’s summer in a small Illinois town becomes a vivid meditation on childhood, time, and mortality.
Why this is here
Premise labels: summer childhood · small-town life · coming of age · memory · nostalgia · mortality · magic in the ordinary · childhood wonder
Setting labels: small town · Green Town · Illinois · Midwestern town · 1928 · summer vacation · front porches · small-town America · rural-suburban childhood
Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting
Distance: 0.1929
Lucas Sinclair’s own voice fills the gap between seasons, tracing high school, racism, friendship strain, and change.
Why this is here
Premise labels: character study · identity crisis · high school transition · race and belonging · friend group drift · basketball team · peer mentor
Setting labels: 1980s · small town · Midwest · high school · fictional town · rural town · white majority town · school setting
Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting
Distance: 0.2211
An eleven-year-old’s life changes when her scientist grandfather reverses aging and lands in middle school with her.
Why this is here
Premise labels: reverse aging · fountain of youth · scientist grandfather · middle school adjustment · family change · science curiosity
Setting labels: middle school · home life · scientific lab · present day · urban/suburban
Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting
Distance: 0.2360
A seasonal, four-voice retelling of Clark Kent’s early path toward becoming Superman, rooted in Smallville and family.
Why this is here
Premise labels: origin story · coming of age · identity struggle · dual life · early hero
Setting labels: Smallville · Metropolis · Kansas town · rural America · American heartland · small-town to city transition · fictional reality
Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting
Distance: 0.2468
A teen girl with hidden superpowers must confront grief, secrets, and her alien past to choose where she belongs.
Why this is here
Premise labels: origin story · coming of age · secret identity · hidden powers · alien identity · dual belonging · small-town life · teen life · family secret · mystery past · loss and grief · powers in flux · choose a world
Setting labels: small-town America · Midwestern town · farm setting · high school · present day · Earth · Krypton · alternate continuity · noncanonical story · Elseworlds · modern setting
Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting
Distance: 0.2491
After a hypnotic encounter, a teen notices tiny changes in everyone around him and starts questioning reality and his future.
Why this is here
Premise labels: hypnosis · altered reality · teen existential crisis · coming of age · identity crisis · search for self · college decision
Setting labels: suburban · high school · senior year · Illinois · contemporary · present-day · home life · school social circle
Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting
Distance: 0.2510
An 11-year-old’s wish to stay young traps him in repeating fifth grade while everyone else keeps growing up.
Why this is here
Premise labels: time loop · stuck in time · birthday wish · wish backfires · age suspension · repeating school year · growing up fear · bully avoidance · world ages without protagonist · selfish wish consequences
Setting labels: middle school · fifth grade · elementary school · school year · birthday setting · contemporary setting · time loop reality · age-progressing world
Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting
Distance: 0.2524
A murdered man wakes up in his childhood body and races through new lives to find the wife he lost.
Why this is here
Premise labels: time loop · second chance · lost love · childhood reset · memory retention · quest narrative
Setting labels: fictional town · small town · military school · school setting · afterlife · parallel worlds · dimension shifts · multiple timelines · childhood setting · adult life revisited
Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting
Distance: 0.2550
When human time stops but nature keeps moving, six lives are forced to confront birth, death, love, and meaning.
Why this is here
Premise labels: time stoppage · human stasis · thought experiment · endless time · end of aging · no birth · no death · body vs time · life and death
Setting labels: contemporary · summer setting · June setting · worldwide · realist world
Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting
Distance: 0.2584
Four best friends hex the moon during their last summer together, and the moon comes down demanding a sacrifice.
Why this is here
Premise labels: friend group · hexing ritual · moon personified · coming of age · last summer · friendship crisis · sacrifice quest · end-of-world stakes · teen rebellion · identity crisis
Setting labels: island setting · small town · summer after graduation · pre-college summer · teen sleepover · 2020s · hot August · ordinary world with magic · contemporary setting · liminal adulthood
Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting
Distance: 0.2589
A shy new kid at school discovers only she can see mysterious creatures tied to fear, friendship, and danger.
Why this is here
Premise labels: new kid · new school · bullying · hidden creature · supernatural ally · fear and anxiety · identity · belonging
Setting labels: new town · new school · school setting · home setting · woods · modern world · contemporary setting
Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting
Distance: 0.2598
