Welcome to Litsy!

Honourable Mentions to "The Open House" and "Appleby's Answer", both by Michael Innes

7th grader Simon O'Keeffe and his family move to Grin And Bear It, Nebraska, which is part of the National Quiet Zone where radio and hence wifi devices are banned to help the work of radio astronomers.

An enjoyable black comedy about finding friends and incidentally recovering from traumatic episodes in the past. Some truly lol moments.

😡 😡 😡

10% of the way in I thought my partner would like this story so I looked up whether it had been made into a film or TV series and one of the top ghits has a massive spoiler in the snippet it shows.

😡 😡 😡

#coffeeandabook

Hilarious and heartbreaking. Erin Bow keeps the suspense going — a late reveal of the traumatic thing that‘s happened to 12-year-old Simon, which necessitated a move to a town without internet — and she keeps the laughs rolling too: a church blessing of the animals gone awry, a murderous peacock, a death metal squirrel cult, etc. This middle grade novel has garnered numerous awards & accolades; now I‘m adding mine. It‘s fantastic. #CanadianAuthor

Today it‘s definitely feeling like spring. I can smell the ‘gentler, more organic pace of life‘ being spread on the surrounding fields.

Oh man, I read this book tonight in one sitting and I have a feeling I'll be thinking about it for quite a while! This book is truly a masterpiece! Such a beautiful, and heartfelt story, but also funny as hell! 💕📚

Using the most boring, fictional, town in Nebraska, the Author‘s quirky characters and audacious plots keep the novel moving right along. With compassion and understanding in some cases, and overreaching ambition in others, Simon tries to continue to survive a school shooting. A wonderful tale.

This book is amazing! I expected it to be heavy, given Simon‘s past, but it isn‘t. It is so funny and heartwarming and smart, and, yes, sometimes devastating, but balanced with new friendships, puppies, and small-town-life shenanigans. I think this will be my favorite middle grade book of the year! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Simon O‘Keefe has a tragic secret that exhibits itself with anxiety and trauma; which is the reason his family moved to a new town…MG story

#Pantone2023 @Clwojick
#JoysOfJuneReadathon Day 8 @Andrew65