Free So B. It Ebooks Online
You couldn′t really tell about Mama′s brain just from looking at her, but it was obvious as soon as she spoke. She had a high voice, like a little girl′s, and she only knew 23 words. I know this for a fact, because we kept a list of the things Mama said tacked to the inside of the kitchen cabinet. Most of the words were common ones, like good and more and hot, but there was one word only my mother said: soof. Although she lives an unconventional lifestyle with her mentally disabled mother and their doting neighbour, Bernadette, Heidi has a lucky streak that has a way of pointing her in the right direction. When a mysterious word in her mother′s vocabulary begins to haunt her, Heidi′s thirst for the truth leads her on a cross-country journey in search of the secrets of her past.
Lexile Measure: 860 (What's this?)
Paperback: 288 pages
Publisher: HarperCollins; Reprint edition (October 4, 2005)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0064410471
ISBN-13: 978-0064410472
Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 0.6 x 7.6 inches
Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (388 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #65,370 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #62 in Books > Children's Books > Growing Up & Facts of Life > Difficult Discussions > Illness #669 in Books > Children's Books > Growing Up & Facts of Life > Friendship, Social Skills & School Life > Emotions & Feelings #2608 in Books > Children's Books > Growing Up & Facts of Life > Family Life
Age Range: 8 - 12 years
Grade Level: 5 and up
As far as I can determine, the most significant thing author Sarah Weeks wrote prior to "So B. It", was an amusing series for middle readers called the "Guy" books. Like many children's authors before her (Louis Sachar, for example), Weeks began her career as an author with light fluffy material. Then, out of nowhere, she creates this remarkable, complex, deeply moving book. "So B. It" may well be the first step towards making Sarah Weeks one of the great writers for kids of this era. She has taken a difficult (some might say impossible) subject, given it warmth and intelligence, and created one of the best books of 2004. If you want to give a kid something to read that's interesting and insightful, but also contains more complexity than your average "Droon" chronicle, I can't recommend this book any more highly.Heidi It has always, so far as she has known, lived with her mother and her neighbor Bernice (Bernie) in their apartments in Reno. Heidi's family is remarkable for a great many reasons. Her mother, So B. It, has, what Heidi matter-of-factly calls a "bum brain". She's mentally handicapped and has only the capacity of saying only 23 words altogether. Bernie is a neighbor who has always cared for Heidi in ways that So B. It could not. Unfortunately, Bernie has agoraphobia and can't exit their apartments for any reason. Heidi, for her part, is what you might call normal were it not for one remarkable fact. She's lucky. Anytime her household needs a little more money to fix the vacuum cleaner or to pay an unexpected bill, Heidi tromps down to the local slot machine, wins a load of cash, and gives it to Bernie to use. And life with these three might have gone on in this fashion had it not been for a couple mysteries that Heidi wanted to solve.
