Snippet- 8/31
Language Arts
So B. It by Sarah Weeks (2004)
2007 William Allen White Children’s Award
Reading Selection:
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 very high voice, like a little girl, and she only knew twenty-three 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.
“What do you think it means when she says it?” I would ask Bernadette.
“Only you mama knows that,” she’d tell me each time I asked.
That word, soof, became like a little burr sticking in my head, pricking me so I couldn’t forget it was there. I found myself thinking about it more and more.
“There must b e some way to find out what it means,” I’d say to Bernie.
“Not necessarily, Heidi.”
“Well, it has to mean something or Mama wouldn’t say it. She knows what it means.”
“Maybe so, but that doesn’t mean that you ever will. Believe me, Heidi, there are some things in life a person just can’t know.”
The thing is, I didn’t believe her, and a lot was going to have to happen before I would.
Why I picked selection:
I chose this book for many different reasons. First I liked that it has a main character that is mentally challenged. I am always looking for books for my classroom library that has physically or mentally challenged persons in them because I know that I will have these students in my inclusive classroom and I want my students to be exposed to literature that mirrors our class. I also liked that the main character, Heidi, is a 12 year old girl who is also the breadwinner in her family, and a courageous girl who sets off on an independent adventure all by herself to solve the mystery of the word soof. I hope that this text will empower girls.
This is a 5th/6th grade level book.