Welcome Back To The Kid Lit Blog Hop #34
Today, I have a very cool book to review for you.
"I Think I Murdered Miss"
by Billy Bob Buttons
Description From Amazon:
My name is Simon Spittle and I think - no, I know, I murdered Miss Belcher. I
don't carry a gun. Or a knife. Or even a toothpick, but yesterday, in French, I
wished for her to be run over by a bus and, later that very day, she was. A big,
red double-decker with yellow wheels and a picture of a clown on the bonnet. A
Billy Smart's Circus bus.Simon is very different to Isabella. He is
all elbowy and clumsy. She, on the other hand, is elegant and cool. He's the
school chess champ and has the IQ of a chemistry professor. She thinks flowers
grow better if you feed them Bic Macs and play them Elvis songs. He has a 1/500
scale model of the Starship Enterprise NCC-1701 in his bedroom. She thinks it's
a frying pan.
Isabella has a secret.
Simon, well, he IS the secret...
Isabella has a secret.
Simon, well, he IS the secret...
My Review:
Simon Spittle is an average kid with above average intelligence, but that doesn't ensure life is great. Far from it actually. Simon has Asperger's syndrome, so he finds making friends pretty difficult.
Enter, Isabella, a larger than life semi new girl at school who befriends him. Simon can't quite figure out why. Isabella is a cool and self confident. Simon hides in his room most of the time obsessively watching star trek videos, so when it comes to social cues, Simon finds them all hard. Isabella is just another enigma in a sea of significantly awkward social moments. She affectionately calls him mop after his shaggy hair and she takes care to abide by Simon's strange social embargoes such as the "no hugging rule."
For Simon, order and routine are key to helping him survive the day, so when his French teacher pushes him past his limits, he retaliates with words he will regret the rest of his life. You see, he wishes for his teacher to be run over by a bus and sadly, she is.
This would normally be considered a truly heinous coincidence for the average teen, but Simon is not your average teen. He just doesn't know it, but Isabella does.
When Simon wishes Anthony, (the class bully) will also get run over too, Isabelle forces Simon on a hilariously misguided mission to prevent it.
Now, I simply cannot elaborate any further as I fear anything I say may provide a spoiler, but I can say, this was a fast paced, hilarious read, that had a couple of twists that I absolutely DID NOT SEE COMING, which brings me to my rating.
I absolutely loved reading this and was gripped from start to finish. Both Simon and Isabella were equally endearing for different reasons, and I was totally invested in both of them. At one point I may have snarled at husband and small child, as the action in the story was so fast paced, that I simply had to see how it ended.
That to me, that is the sign of a truly engaging read. There are themes of death in the book, which some lower middle grade readers may find a bit worrying, but nothing graphic, so I believe this will appeal best to 10+.
Enter, Isabella, a larger than life semi new girl at school who befriends him. Simon can't quite figure out why. Isabella is a cool and self confident. Simon hides in his room most of the time obsessively watching star trek videos, so when it comes to social cues, Simon finds them all hard. Isabella is just another enigma in a sea of significantly awkward social moments. She affectionately calls him mop after his shaggy hair and she takes care to abide by Simon's strange social embargoes such as the "no hugging rule."
For Simon, order and routine are key to helping him survive the day, so when his French teacher pushes him past his limits, he retaliates with words he will regret the rest of his life. You see, he wishes for his teacher to be run over by a bus and sadly, she is.
This would normally be considered a truly heinous coincidence for the average teen, but Simon is not your average teen. He just doesn't know it, but Isabella does.
When Simon wishes Anthony, (the class bully) will also get run over too, Isabelle forces Simon on a hilariously misguided mission to prevent it.
Now, I simply cannot elaborate any further as I fear anything I say may provide a spoiler, but I can say, this was a fast paced, hilarious read, that had a couple of twists that I absolutely DID NOT SEE COMING, which brings me to my rating.
I absolutely loved reading this and was gripped from start to finish. Both Simon and Isabella were equally endearing for different reasons, and I was totally invested in both of them. At one point I may have snarled at husband and small child, as the action in the story was so fast paced, that I simply had to see how it ended.
That to me, that is the sign of a truly engaging read. There are themes of death in the book, which some lower middle grade readers may find a bit worrying, but nothing graphic, so I believe this will appeal best to 10+.
I give it 5 Stars.
Now....
Billy Bob Buttons was going to join us the Blogosphere today for an interview, but unfortunately my email has a very bad habit of eating up replies.....
I should explain quickly how I came to meet Billy Bob, ( real name Edward Trayer)
I entered the Wishing Shelf Independent Book Awards, an award which Edward is chief organiser and general all round awesome guy.
I am delighted to say that I am actually a finalist for both of my books...
http://www.thewsa.co.uk/finalists2013/
I will have an interview with Edward another day I hope, when he returns from his latest book tour.
Until then, you can check out his other books....
Born in the Viking city of York, he and his wife, Therese, a true Swedish girl from the IKEA county of Småland, now live in Stockholm and London. Their twin girls, Rebecca and Beatrix, and little boy, Albert, inspire Billy Bob every day to pick up a pen and work on his books.
When not writing, he enjoys tennis and playing 'MONSTER!' with his three children.
He is the author of the much loved, The Gullfoss Legends, Rubery Award finalist, Felicity Brady and the Wizard's Bookshop, UK People Book Prize runner-up, TOR Assassin Hunter and TOR Wolf Rising.
I Think I Murdered Miss' is his ninth children's novel.
http://amzn.com/B004N62H58
http://amzn.com/B004N6296K
Happy Hopping folks,
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Loved your review of I Think I Murdered....Perfect combination of humor, mystery and adventure. Middle grade students will love it!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for stopping by Barbara. I think Edward is very talented. I would read anything he wrote after this one.
DeleteFive stars...I have to read it.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading your review of "I think I murdered Miss" I'm absolutely curious to find out what happens next in the story - including the twists. I'm going to have to buy it for a niece so that she can let me know! (#kidlitbloghop 20)
ReplyDeleteI think you will enjoy it Sally, thanks so much for stopping by
ReplyDeleteJulie I can TOTALLY see you snarling :)) Thanks for the excellent book review. I would have not picked up this one just because of the word "murder" in the title, but since you reviewed it and have only good things to say it..
ReplyDeleteThanks for hosting the Kidlit Bloghop this week!
-Resh @ Stackingbooks
LOL Reshama, I know the title is not something you normally find in middle grade, but it was such a good book. I usually shy away from Murder in the titles, but funnily, my favourite movie of all time is SO I MARRIED AN AXE MURDERER, which I didn't watch initially as I thought it sounded so bad, but I can assure you this is a funnnnyy movie. Same for the book, this was so cleverly done. Definitely for upper middle grade as there are some dark themes but I loved it.
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed this, Julie. Can't help but wonder what some of my students wished would happen to me at times! Love the humor with the delicate topic. Thanks for co-hosting with us again!
ReplyDeleteStopping by showing love from Kid Lit Blog Hop! I love the sound of this book!
ReplyDeletehttp://saywhatsavannahmaekids.com/
Wow! That sounds pretty amazing - even with the rather gruesome title! lol I love unexpected twists and turns. It's difficult to surprise me in books, so I'm really curious about this one. Thanks for sharing in the Kid Lit Blog Hop.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry to be so very late with Kid Lit Blog Hop - but this book sounds like such a lot of fun! Thank you for sharing it.
ReplyDelete