{"id":35932,"date":"2019-02-20T00:42:26","date_gmt":"2019-02-20T04:42:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=35932"},"modified":"2019-02-20T00:44:57","modified_gmt":"2019-02-20T04:44:57","slug":"review-of-the-truth-as-told-by-mason-buttle-by-leslie-connor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=35932","title":{"rendered":"Review of The Truth as Told by Mason Buttle, by Leslie Connor"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The Truth as Told by Mason Buttle<\/em><\/p>\n

by Leslie Connor<\/p>\n

Katherine Tegen Books (HarperCollins), 2018. 326 pages.
\nStarred Review
\nReview written February 4, 2018, from a book sent by the publisher.
\n2018 National Book Award Finalist
\n2019 Schneider Family Award Winner
\n2018 Sonderbooks Stand-out<\/a>:
\n#1 Contemporary Children’s Fiction<\/p>\n

Okay, I love this book, and I love Mason Buttle! I\u2019m writing this at the beginning of my Newbery reading year. I may read many more books I love this year, and I may be the only person on the committee who loves this book \u2013 but I am so encouraged that such a wonderful book exists.<\/p>\n

Mason Buttle is the biggest and tallest kid in seventh grade. And he has a disorder, so he sweats. A lot. And he has dyslexia, so he\u2019s not very good at reading or writing.<\/p>\n

As you may guess, a kid like that with a last name like \u201cButtle,\u201d will get teased a lot, and bullied. But Mason takes it matter-of-factly.<\/p>\n

His family\u2019s gone through a lot lately. Mason\u2019s grandpa died. Then his mother was killed in an accident, so only his grandma, Uncle Drum, and Mason are left. And then Mason\u2019s best friend Benny died.<\/p>\n

Benny died after he fell from their tree fort when the top rung of the ladder broke. The sheriff keeps wanting to talk with Mason about it. But he interrupts Mason, and it\u2019s hard for Mason to get his words out. Mason has told the sheriff everything he knows.<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s a wonderful teacher at school named Mrs. Blinny. (Mrs. Blinny, too, is quirky and wonderfully described.) She\u2019s got a new machine that Mason can talk into \u2013 and it will write down his words for him. Now at last, Mason can write his story.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Mason makes a new friend, Calvin Chumsky. Calvin gets bullied, too. But the two together start a project together and become friends.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s only the bare bones of how the book begins. There\u2019s a lot more going on \u2013 things with Mason\u2019s family, things at school, the bully\u2019s nice mother and the bully\u2019s nice dog that Mason dog-sits, the family orchard that Uncle Drum has been selling off, and of course the mystery of what really happened when Benny died and why do so many people in town give Mason a sad-to-see-you look?<\/p>\n

But Mason isn\u2019t the type to feel sorry for himself. I challenge anyone to read this book and not just love this kid. Here he is in the very first chapter after he misspelled stopped<\/em> as STOOPID<\/em> in a spelling bee and someone put a t-shirt with the word STOOPID in his locker.<\/p>\n

Matt Drinker loves when something like that happens. That\u2019s why I\u2019m guessing he put this STOOPID shirt inside my locker. He must have picked my lock to do it. Funny thing is I knew what the shirt said because of the two Os in the middle. I knew in two blinks.<\/p>\n

Matt doesn\u2019t know it but he did me a big favor. I always take two shirts to school. Unless I forget. I change just before lunch. This is because of how I sweat. It is a lot. Can\u2019t stop it. Can\u2019t hide it. I need to be dry at the lunch table. Otherwise I\u2019m a total gross-out of a kid.<\/p>\n

Well, today was a day that I forgot my extra shirt. So I\u2019m wearing this one that says STOOPID on it. It\u2019s big and it fits me. It\u2019s clean and dry. I\u2019m going to keep moving. Maybe nobody will see what it says.<\/p>\n

And if they do, well, tell you what. Plenty worse has happened.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

leslieconnor.com<\/a>
\nharpercollinschildrens.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Buy from Amazon.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Find this review on Sonderbooks<\/a> at: www.sonderbooks.com\/Childrens_Fiction\/mason_buttle.html<\/a><\/p>\n

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.<\/p>\n

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.<\/p>\n

Tweet<\/a>