Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Collection
Publication
Bloomsbury USA Childrens (2012), 208 pages
Description
After being hit by lightning, twelve-year-old Lilah, who has a crush on classmate Andrew Finkel, discovers that she can communicate with dead people, including her grandmother who wants Lilah to find a new wife for Lilah's divorced father.
Library's review
Lilah Bloom, a 6th grader, is at her mother's wedding (she lives with her father) outside. During the party, which is outside, Lilah runs back to the car to get her bouquet, which she wants to keep. A sudden storm occurs, with wind, lighting and rain. Lilah holds on to the frame of the tent to
Lilah is okay but a strange thing happens to her - she can hear voices. The voices she hears are those of her dead "Bubba." Bubba & her friends find a hilarious way to interfere in Lilah's normal teen years - with all the trials & tribulations of growing up, boys, & girl-to-girl interactions. As Bubbas do, advice is prevalent. No one else can hear the voices, which at times makes for very funny situations! - Cookie M.
"Small Medium at Large" is a book about a Jewish teen who is going through many changes. For instance, when she is at her mother's second wedding, she gets hit by lightning. Though she survives, she gains powers. Powers to hear ghosts and spirits talk to her. Now that her dad is single, she tries to help him find another wife, with the help of her grandmother, the ghost. She has many experiences with her own crush, Andy Finkel. Her band teacher becomes famous, she kisses Andy, so many good and bad things happen. It was recommended to me, and I have to say, I really enjoyed it. - Grace, age 10.
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protect herself from the rain, and she gets hit by lightning. The next thing she remembers is waking up in the hospital.Lilah is okay but a strange thing happens to her - she can hear voices. The voices she hears are those of her dead "Bubba." Bubba & her friends find a hilarious way to interfere in Lilah's normal teen years - with all the trials & tribulations of growing up, boys, & girl-to-girl interactions. As Bubbas do, advice is prevalent. No one else can hear the voices, which at times makes for very funny situations! - Cookie M.
"Small Medium at Large" is a book about a Jewish teen who is going through many changes. For instance, when she is at her mother's second wedding, she gets hit by lightning. Though she survives, she gains powers. Powers to hear ghosts and spirits talk to her. Now that her dad is single, she tries to help him find another wife, with the help of her grandmother, the ghost. She has many experiences with her own crush, Andy Finkel. Her band teacher becomes famous, she kisses Andy, so many good and bad things happen. It was recommended to me, and I have to say, I really enjoyed it. - Grace, age 10.
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Awards
Sydney Taylor Book Award (Mass Import -- Pending Differentiation)
Red Maple Award (Nominee — Fiction — 2014)
Manitoba Young Reader’s Choice Award (Honor Book — 2014)
Language
User reviews
LibraryThing member ethel55
Seventh grader Lilah Bloom is struck by lightning on the day her mother gets remarried. After the strike, Lilah notices something strange, she can hear and interact with dead people. First in line is her Bubby, anxious to see Lilah's dad (Bubby's son) as happily settled down as her mom is. Lilah's
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best friend Alex accepts the news with complete belief and even thinks they could use it as a way to raise money for their band. The book may be a couple years off for my own nieces, but Lilah and her friends definitely ring true for the target audience, without Disney-fying their world too much. Show Less
LibraryThing member STBA
At her mother’s wedding reception, Lilah is struck by lightning, which enables her to communicate with the dead. With the help of her grandmother and various other spirits, Lilah is able to overcome her shyness and help others
LibraryThing member matamgirl
This was really just a cute middle-grade book which is what I look for in my fun reading. Lilah is hit by lightening and can now hear ghosts which proves to be problematic. Wackiness ensues but there are some poignant moments too.
LibraryThing member A_Reader_of_Fictions
GUYS, Small Medium at Large is every bit as frickin' adorable as the puntastic title implies, and I am so happy to be able to say that. I had extremely high hopes for Joanne Levy's debut, since we've bonded over Twitter, but experience has shown that just because I love an author, I won't
From the very beginning, I knew I would love this, because Lilah has such a great, optimistic voice, perfect for a middle grade narrator. As the book begins, Lilah's the bridesmaid as her mother marries her new step-father, Stan. In most books, this would be where we hear about the evil step-parent or sadness over the divorce, but Lilah is nothing but supportive of her parents finding happiness. Even better, both of her parents are involved and loving.
While standing outside the reception hall, Lilah leans against a metal pole while trying to scrape some crud off her shoe and gets struck by lightning. She wakes up in the hospital with all three concerned parental units (mom and step-father having delayed their honeymoon), apparently no worse for the wear. Well, except that now she can hear her Bubby (her dead grandmother) talking to her.
Turns out, the lightning strike scrambled her brain and now she can hear dead people, but not see them, which is probably for the best. It's like The Sixth Sense, only hilarious and adorable instead of creepy. These sassy ghosts do what sassy ghosts do best: impart lots of advice of varying quantities of usefulness, and also ask for help of their own. Lilah, being the sweet, caring girl she is, takes this all relatively in stride and does her best to help everyone that comes her way, with the occasionally bumbling assistance of her best friend, and future band-mate, Alex.
What made this feel so essentially middle grade was Lilah's reaction to all of this. She has so much less skepticism in the face of the phenomenon and much less fear of other people's reactions. Where a teen or adult would keep this information on the down low, Lilah tells person after person, because she's honest and wants to help. An older person might devise a clever way around telling how they know what they do, but that's just not Lilah's style. It was adorable, especially one particular scene where Lilah tries to convince her crush, Andrew Finkle, that his dead father was speaking to her. Oh, also amusing was Lilah's inability to avoid responding to the ghosts, such that she ends up getting caught talking to herself a lot.
Lilah's interactions with others, both ghost and human alike, are where the book really shines. She takes such good care of her father, urging him (at Bubby's request) to start dating again. Her interactions with Andrew are totally accurate to middle school flirting in their sweet awkwardness. Bubby and Ms. Lafontaine stole the show with their sassy advice to Lilah, as well as their occasional shock at twelve-year-olds these days, who want to get kissed at the seventh grade dance (shocking!).
If you love adorable middle grade stories or know some middle graders who do, Small Medium at Large is an excellent choice, sure to delight a younger reader even more than it did me.
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necessarily be impressed by their novels. Thankfully, Joanne's was a little ray of middle grade sunshine that made me say "AWWWW" out loud multiple times.From the very beginning, I knew I would love this, because Lilah has such a great, optimistic voice, perfect for a middle grade narrator. As the book begins, Lilah's the bridesmaid as her mother marries her new step-father, Stan. In most books, this would be where we hear about the evil step-parent or sadness over the divorce, but Lilah is nothing but supportive of her parents finding happiness. Even better, both of her parents are involved and loving.
While standing outside the reception hall, Lilah leans against a metal pole while trying to scrape some crud off her shoe and gets struck by lightning. She wakes up in the hospital with all three concerned parental units (mom and step-father having delayed their honeymoon), apparently no worse for the wear. Well, except that now she can hear her Bubby (her dead grandmother) talking to her.
Turns out, the lightning strike scrambled her brain and now she can hear dead people, but not see them, which is probably for the best. It's like The Sixth Sense, only hilarious and adorable instead of creepy. These sassy ghosts do what sassy ghosts do best: impart lots of advice of varying quantities of usefulness, and also ask for help of their own. Lilah, being the sweet, caring girl she is, takes this all relatively in stride and does her best to help everyone that comes her way, with the occasionally bumbling assistance of her best friend, and future band-mate, Alex.
What made this feel so essentially middle grade was Lilah's reaction to all of this. She has so much less skepticism in the face of the phenomenon and much less fear of other people's reactions. Where a teen or adult would keep this information on the down low, Lilah tells person after person, because she's honest and wants to help. An older person might devise a clever way around telling how they know what they do, but that's just not Lilah's style. It was adorable, especially one particular scene where Lilah tries to convince her crush, Andrew Finkle, that his dead father was speaking to her. Oh, also amusing was Lilah's inability to avoid responding to the ghosts, such that she ends up getting caught talking to herself a lot.
Lilah's interactions with others, both ghost and human alike, are where the book really shines. She takes such good care of her father, urging him (at Bubby's request) to start dating again. Her interactions with Andrew are totally accurate to middle school flirting in their sweet awkwardness. Bubby and Ms. Lafontaine stole the show with their sassy advice to Lilah, as well as their occasional shock at twelve-year-olds these days, who want to get kissed at the seventh grade dance (shocking!).
If you love adorable middle grade stories or know some middle graders who do, Small Medium at Large is an excellent choice, sure to delight a younger reader even more than it did me.
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LibraryThing member slvoight
I received this book as a Goodreads ARC giveaway. This was a great book and I really enjoy it
LibraryThing member KimJD
Frothy fun that middle grade girls will love. Joanne Levy GETS seventh-grade girls, and her writing has a lighthearted energy that makes it hard to put down. Wonderful characters, wonderful storyline... it's the whole package in under 200 pages.
ISBN
1599908360 / 9781599908366