Status
Available
Publication
Katherine Tegen Books (2020), Edition: Reprint, 352 pages
Library's review
"Under a cloud of suspicion after the death of his best friend, a boy with a “trifecta of troubles” continues as best he can.
Lt. Baird is sure seventh-grader Mason Buttle knows more about the death of Benny Kilmartin than the story he’s told over and over. Now he’s writing it, with the help
Connor’s gift for creating complex characters extends to the supporting characters and makes this a compelling read. (Fiction. 9-14)" A Kirkus Starred Review. www.kirkusreviews.com
Lt. Baird is sure seventh-grader Mason Buttle knows more about the death of Benny Kilmartin than the story he’s told over and over. Now he’s writing it, with the help
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of speech-recognition software in the school social worker’s office (a process that is reproduced with unlikely accuracy). In a moving first-person narrative, Connor reveals a remarkably distinct and memorable character. Loyal and good-natured, Mason is large for his age, highly dyslexic, abnormally sweaty, and the regular target of bullying neighbor boys. He feels his emotions as colors—green for stress, shades of pink for happiness. There hasn’t been much pink in Mason’s life in the 16 months since Benny’s accidental death, but now there’s a new friend, tiny Calvin Chumsky, and the bullying neighbor’s dog, Moonie, who prefers Mason. Using Mason’s conversations with the detective and his voice-to-text storytelling, the author weaves the back story into a narrative of redemption chronicling his growing friendships. The climactic revelation reveals the gaps in everyone’s understanding of the event and propels his struggling, white, apple-farming family—grandmother, unemployed uncle, and the stray, shopping-addicted young woman his uncle brought home—to make some needed changes.Connor’s gift for creating complex characters extends to the supporting characters and makes this a compelling read. (Fiction. 9-14)" A Kirkus Starred Review. www.kirkusreviews.com
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Awards
National Book Award (Finalist — Young People's Literature — 2018)
Nebraska Golden Sower Award (Nominee — 2020)
Wyoming Indian Paintbrush Award (Nominee — 2020)
Young Hoosier Book Award (Nominee — Middle Grade — 2021)
Massachusetts Children's Book Award (Honor — 2021)
Rebecca Caudill Young Readers' Book Award (Nominee — 2020)
Georgia Children's Book Award (Finalist — 2020)
Pacific Northwest Library Association Young Reader's Choice Award (Nominee — Intermediate — 2021)
Nutmeg Book Award (Nominee — Middle School — 2021)
Vermont Golden Dome Book Award (Nominee — 2020)
Mark Twain Readers Award (Nominee — 2021)
Garden State Teen Book Award (Nominee — 2021)
Grand Canyon Reader Award (Nominee — 2020)
North Carolina Children's Book Award (Nominee — 2021)
Heartland Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature (Recommendations — 2019)
Black-Eyed Susan Book Award (Nominee — Grades 4-6 — 2020)
Colorado Children's Book Award (Nominee — 2020)
Volunteer State Book Award (Nominee — Middle School — 2021)
Evergreen Teen Book Award (Nominee — Middle School — 2021)
Maud Hart Lovelace Award (Nominee — 2021)
Rhode Island Middle School Book Award (Nominee — 2020)
Schneider Family Book Award (Winner — Middle Grades — 2019)
Notable Children's Book (Middle Readers — 2019)
Nerdy Book Award (Middle Grade Fiction — 2018)
Idaho Battle of the Books (2022)
OYAN Book Rave (2019)
Chicago Public Library Best of the Best: Kids (Fiction for Older Readers — 2018)
Language
Original language
English
ISBN
0062491458 / 9780062491459