Name: The Truth As Told by Mason Buttle
ISBN: 9781536461053

Leslie Connor

Mason Buttle is the biggest, sweatiest kid in his grade, and everyone knows he can barely read or write. Mason's learning disabilities are compounded by grief. Fifteen months ago, Mason's best friend, Benny Kilmartin, turned up dead in the Buttle fam

The Truth As Told by Mason Buttle

From the critically acclaimed author of Waiting for Normal and All Rise for the Honorable Perry T. Cook, Leslie Connor, comes a deeply poignant and beautifully crafted story about self-reliance, redemption, and hope. Mason Buttle is the biggest, sweatiest kid in his grade, and everyone knows he can barely read or write. Mason’s learning disabilities are compounded by grief. Fifteen months ago, Mason’s best friend, Benny Kilmartin, turned up dead in the Buttle family’s orchard. An investigation drags on, and Mason, honest as the day is long, can’t understand why Lieutenant Baird won’t believe the story Mason has told about that day. Both Mason and his new friend, tiny Calvin Chumsky, are relentlessly bullied by the other boys in their neighborhood, so they create an underground haven for themselves. When Calvin goes missing, Mason finds himself in trouble again. He’s desperate to figure out what happened to Calvin and, eventually, Benny. But will anyone believe him? National Book Award Finalist * ALA Schneider Family Book Award * 2019 ALSC Notable Children’s Book * Publishers Weekly Best Books of 2018 * 2019-2020 Nebraska Golden Sower Award * Amazon Best Books of 2018 * Kirkus Best of Children's 2018 * New York Public Library Best Books 2018 * Chicago Public Library Best of the Best Books 2018 * 2018 Nerdy Book Club Middle Grade Winner * South Carolina Junior Book Award Nominee * 2020 Colorado Children's Book Award Nominee * Bank Street Best Children's Book of the Year 2019 (9-12) * 2020 Grand Canyon Reader Award Nominee * 2020-2021 Missouri Association of School Librarians Mark Twain Readers Award Preliminary Nominee * 2020-2021 Indiana Young Hoosier Book Award Nominee *

The Truth as Told by Mason Buttle

Cassidy

Nadine 

A compelling read about a young teen coming to grips with "bing bang boom" the way he refers to three significant recent deaths. 
The book is seeped in grief and the difficulty adults have in making the right choices while in the grieving process while merciless bullying continues and kids have this weird honour code of never telling and adults turn a blind eye. 
The learning support teacher is the most wonderful adult in the book and someone you wish every school had with her welcoming acceptance. 
The over riding message for adults is to just pause to listen instead of continually interrupting.

Jeni Enjaian

I enjoyed this book far more than I thought I would.
Connor deftly inhabits Mason's world and really does tell the truth as Mason would. She never identifies the particular learning disability Mason struggles with. After all, Mason would not know or at the least, would not know how to explain it. Any such explanation would feel out of character. 
Each of the characters inhabits a truly real world, creating intense empathy for the characters. When something happens, I reacted with real emotions, invested in the characters. The reveal scene is one of the best works of prose I have ever read in my life. Well done.

I highly recommend this book.

The Truth As Told by Mason Buttle

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