So B. It

So B. It by Sarah Weeks isn't a new book. It was published in 2004. For whatever reason, it was one of those books that I never got around to reading. When I finally started it last Thursday, I could not stop!

Heidi is 12 and lives with her developmentally disabled mom, So B. It. Unusual name? Yes, but mom only has 23 words in her vocabulary. Consequently, Heidi doesn't know anything about her family history, including who her father is. The next-door neighbor, Bernie, has agoraphobia, she never goes outside. This is the environment that surrounds Heidi.

One day, while cleaning closets, Heidi finds an old camera. She has the film developed and finds pictures of her mother as a teenager. Finally, a clue to her past! Heidi must travel across country - from Nevada to New York - on a bus, alone, to Hilltop Home for the Disabled. Will she find the link to the past that she is desperately looking for? Will she find the meaning of the one word, soof, that her mother repeats? Read the book and find out.

If you like magic, read The Swan Maiden!

Doucette has two older sisters who are both swan maidens. They have magical powers that come from their swan skins, one black and one white. When they put their swan skins on, they change into swans. Doucette never understood why she didn’t get to be a sorceress like her sisters. One day, she was helping the maid change the sheets on her parents’ bed, and a grey tipped swan skin fell out from under the mattress. Her parents had been hiding it from her; her swan skin, her birthright!

Her parents wanted Doucette to marry someone rich and worthy of a good wife. Doucette wanted to marry for love, and having the swan skin could let her do that. She fell in love with a Shepard, and he asked for her hand in marriage. Her parents would only let her marry him if he could complete three impossible tasks. The problem is that he needs to complete the tasks on his own, without the help of her magic. Will Doucette be able to marry her Shepard, or will she be stuck with someone her parents set her up with? Follow this magical fairy tale into a world of transformations and deception to find out.

Another Review by Miss Weaver!

This book is a wonderful story about an eighth grade girl named Patrice, who is growing up in the inner city in Chicago. She does not live with her parents, because she never knew her dad, and her mom is in jail. She lives with her aunt, cousins, and older sister.

The main story is that of Patrice trying to overcome many obstacles when applying to get into a better school. She needs her mother’s signature on a paper, but that means traveling over an hour by bus to get to the jail.

The underlying story is about a boy in her grade, Monty. He is the only person who stands up for her when other people tease her. Their friendship seems to bloom into something more when Patrice starts tutoring his little brother. Even though Patrice has it tough, she does very well in school and wants something more for herself. This is an inspiring story about Patrice and how she tries to overcome the odds and have a better life.