Soof (Scholastic Gold)

by Sarah Weeks

Overview

In this stand-alone follow-up to Sarah Weeks's beloved So B. It, a girl who the world might see as weird finds her footing and stands her ground.

All her life, Aurora has heard stories about Heidi and all the good luck she brought Aurora's family. Aurora, though, doesn't feel very lucky. The kids at school think she's weird. And she's starting to think her mom thinks she's weird, too. Especially compared to Heidi.On the eve of a visit from Heidi, more bad luck hits Aurora's family. There's a fire in their attic, destroying a good part of their house. And, even worse, Aurora's beloved dog goes missing. Aurora and her family have always believed in soof — Heidi's mom's word for love. But sometimes even when soof is right there in front of you, you still need to find it — and that's exactly what Aurora is going to do.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780545846660
Publisher:	Scholastic, Inc.
Publication date:	05/05/2020
Pages:	208
Sales rank:	176,034
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 7.50(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Sarah Weeks was born and raised in the United States. She is the author of numerous award-winning novels, including Save Me a Seat with Gita Varadarajan, Honey, Pie, So B. It, Oggie Cooder, and Oggie Cooder: Party Animal. She lives in New York and teaches in the MFA program at the New School in New York City. She can be found on the web at sarahweeks.com.

Editorial Reviews

09/01/2018
Gr 4–6—Rory has distinctive traits, with particular habits and behaviors, like tapping three times before sitting and speaking in "beepish." She is more comfortable with her dog, Duck, than with classmates and most people. More than one psychologist has declared Rory to be "quirky, but not on the spectrum." None of this bothers Rory, but she is very concerned about an impending visit from Heidi. Heidi once lived with Rory's parents, bringing them good fortune, which, according to Rory's mom, resulted in Rory's birth. Heidi is now a married woman expecting her first child, and she wants to visit for a special reason: it has to do with soof, a word from Heidi's childhood that means "love." Could Rory's mom have more soof for Heidi than for Rory? A house fire and the disappearance of Duck adds to the drama. Rory's place in the family and the pain of a lost dog are resolved in the fast-paced conclusion. The search for the meaning of soof was Heidi's quest in Weeks's So B. It and becomes Rory's in this return to the town of Liberty. Happily, both find it in this standalone novel. VERDICT A poignant and well-crafted tale for fans of Weeks's previous novels and readers who enjoy character-driven family narratives set in small towns.—Maria B. Salvadore, formerly at District of Columbia Public Library

School Library Journal

2018-07-16
Fans of Weeks' So B. It (2004) will recognize this companion book's title as Heidi It's intellectually disabled mother's word for love.Twelve-year-old narrator-protagonist Aurora Franklin, the biological daughter of the couple who fostered Heidi before Aurora was born, has grown up hearing about Heidi and her good luck. Her parents—Mom especially—credit this good luck with giving them Aurora. Sadly, Mom's love for Heidi has instilled feelings of inadequacy in Aurora, who believes her mother wishes she were more like Heidi. Aurora has always been different. She speaks a made-up language called Beepish, prefers the company of adults to that of children, and wears her T-shirts inside out because of the bothersome tags. Mom was 48 when Aurora was born, resulting in anxiety for her daughter's well-being. She sought desperately for a diagnosis, but doctors ruled out autism spectrum disorder, concluding that "quirky" Aurora simply marches to her own beat. A now-grown and pregnant Heidi's impending visit triggers tension between Aurora and her mother, and Aurora is determined not to be nice to Heidi. Will she learn there's "soof" enough for them both? Aurora is complex, simultaneously eliciting sympathy and exasperation. She's blunt, bordering on rude, but her heartache at losing her dog, her only friend, is palpable. Knowledge of the previous book isn't a prerequisite. The book adheres to the white default.A sweet story that shows all you need is soof. (Fiction. 8-13)

Kirkus Reviews