Simon Sort of Says – Book Review
Simon Sort of Says by Erin Bow
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I haven’t read a middle grade book in a long time, but I started reading this one because of the quirky title and got hooked as soon as I read the title for the first chapter, “In which we are driven out of Omaha by alpacas”. How could I resist reading it after that?
This book is fabulous. The author manages to write about an extremely serious and traumatic event with grace and humor while never allowing the reader to forget about the gravity of the event. The characters, from Simon himself to his parents (a funeral home owner and a Catholic deacon) and Simon’s new friends and their families, are well-developed, quirky, imperfect and lovable.
From a church incident with a rogue squirrel to the evil peacock that guards Simon’s yard everything stacks up to make this story just as funny as it is heartbreaking. It’s a story about survival and the power of friendships and family love.
Read it even if you are an adult way past your teens. It’s an amazingly well-written story.
