So B. It (Shannon Engelson)

Title: So. B. It
Author: Sarah Weeks
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Pages: 243
I decided to read this book because when I read Tayler Hersom's review from first semester it sounded really good. I also have had this book at home from a while ago when I bought it but never got around to reading it so I thought now was a good time.
This book is about a mentally challenged mother, who can only speak 23 words, but somehow she can get across to her teenage daughter named Heidi and a very loving and caring neighbor whose name is Bernadette. Heidi wants to discover what her mother's past was like and also who her father is. She sets out on an adventure to Hilltop Home, Liberty, NY to find out what she has been looking for. The word soof was in Heidi's mom's vocabulary for while, and she never knew what it meant. Come to find out soof meant love to her mom, and it wasn't her name. In the end her mom dies, but Heidi learns her true identity and the history of why she lived where she did and how she got her name, everything comes together in the end; So B. It.
I would say this book fits all readers aging from young to old because there's nothing too mature for a kid to read, so it could be intended for anyone who knows how to read.
I would say Sarah Weeks writing style is very casual and easy to understand. She's talking about a mentally challenged adult most of the time, so it's hard not to use child-like words when describing her and what she says. “Another thing I found out right around the same time is that not knowing something doesn't mean you're stupid. All it means is that there's still room left to wonder.” (Weeks, pg. 4) She understands in a way which is caring, and un-hurtful towards people's feelings.
“I'm at Hilltop, Bernie. With a sheriff. Thurman Hill is awful, and he won't tell me anything. He thinks I'm somebody else. He thinks I want his money. And Mama's not in the files. I want to come home Bernie, I want to come home.” (Weeks, pg. 178) This is the moment in the book when Heidi starts to lose faith in finding out the truth about her mom, and basically her own life. This only goes on for a short period, then she soon regains her hope and starts finding out answers. She then finds out Elliot says soof a lot also, and comes to the conclusion it means love and Elliot is her father. Instead of giving up and going home as planned, she sticks it out and learns her true identity.
“I stood there holding the phone for a while, not knowing what to think about what had just happened. Why didn't Bernie want to talk to me? Why did she sound so strange? Maybe Mama had kept her up all night or something. I walked through the parlor and out onto the front porch to get some air to clear my head. Everything was still spinning inside. I felt dizzy.” (Weeks, pg. 223) Little does Heidi know, Bernie didn't want to give her bad news over the phone, and indeed it was bad news. Heidi's mom had died in her sleep, but Heidi blamed it on herself. She said there were signs that she should've gone home, and that she was sad she wasn't able to say goodbye, but in reality no one could have known Mama was going to die in her sleep, Bernie just though she was sleeping off a headache. Overall, Heidi accomplished what she had set out to do, and everything came together for her in the end.
I believe the theme of the book is that you can't prevent what's meant to be, it will happen anyways, but you need to go on with life and to not live with regrets. Heidi blamed herself for her mom dying, which there is no way possible that could be true. Heidi thinks she should have gone home when Bernadette said her mom had a headache, and that if she did, her mom would still be alive. That is not true because if Heidi was there her mom would have still gone to bed and died in her sleep and there would have been no way of stopping that; it was just meant to be. At one point Heidi regrets not leaving after discovering that Thurman; her grandfather, was uncooperative in her seeking for answers. In the end though, she finds out all she needs to know, the reasons why she went there in the first place, and who her father was.
I would grade this book at an A-. It's a very cute and touching book, and it also has an ending that no one could guess. I wouldn't say it's very suspenseful, but it's an easy read and a book that anyone would enjoy.