For Jason Lambert’s students at Gorham Middle School (GMS), his novel Sophomore Summer set in 1987 is historical fiction, but Lambert knows that teenage boys still spend summer vacation hanging out with friends, listening to music, bussing tables, and trying to understand girls.
Lambert, an English language arts teacher who grew up in Portland, said he drew on his own experiences to write fiction “everyone could enjoy and that I could share with students.”
In only 124 pages, Lambert tells a story of “adolescents trying to understand the adult world and their place in it.” Adult readers will recognize Portland in the 1980s, the music and the frustrating Red Sox. Lambert’s Deering High School classmates even recognize some of the main character’s experiences as reminiscent of their own.
As a middle-school teacher, Lambert has an ear for how teenagers talk to each other. He believes his students will identify with Sam and his friends who don’t have cell phones or social media. Like those boys in 1987, they seek out new music, explore new places and new emotions, confide in their friends, and learn from caring adults.
In addition to fourteen years teaching at GMS, Lambert has written short stories and articles for a neighborhood newspaper. He has a B.A. from the University of Maine at Orono and a M.A. from the University of Southern Maine.
“Music has been a huge part of my life,” he said. There are references to music throughout Sophomore Summer. Like Sam, Lambert is “always looking for new songs and artists to discover.” He writes songs and has self-released albums of guitar and synthesizer-based music.
Sophomore Summer is a self-published novel. It is available locally and from the author.