Sure Signs of Crazy

Locations
Call Number: Y Fiction / Harrington, Karen, Kids Book / Fiction / Diaries & Letters / Harrington, Karen
On Shelf At: Downtown Library, Malletts Creek Branch

Location & Checkout Length	Call Number	Checkout Length	Item Status
Downtown Kids Books 4-week checkout	Y Fiction / Harrington, Karen	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Malletts Kids Books 4-week checkout	Kids Book / Fiction / Diaries & Letters / Harrington, Karen	4-week checkout	On Shelf

Twelve-year-old Sarah writes letters to her hero, To Kill a Mockingbird's Atticus Finch, for help understanding her mentally ill mother, her first real crush, and life in her small Texas town, all in the course of one momentous summer.

REVIEWS & SUMMARIES

Summary / Annotation
Author Notes

COMMUNITY REVIEWS

Especially for Girls Who Read a LOT submitted by sdunav on June 16, 2014, 1:42pm This is an awesome, compulsively readable story about a 12 y.o. in west Texas in difficult straits - her mother is institutionalized (and the story behind that is shocking and thought-provoking), her father is drinking too much, and she is about to be sent to her grandparents for another incredibly booooring summer. The narrator is a girl that any bookish tween girl will identify with - she loves words, she reads and re-reads "To Kill a Mockingbird", she writes letters to Atticus Finch (whom she wishes was her father), and she spies on her neighbors.

It's sweet without being cloying, thoughtful without being heavy-handed, and deals with a lot of important issues so smoothly you don't even notice. Give it to your 12 y.o. daughter (mine loved it as much as I did).

Also - although some horrific issues are mentioned, it is done so very skillfully that this can be read by kids 10+, I think. Read it yourself to be sure if you're going to give it to a younger kid; you'll be glad you read it.

a middle grade book about mental illness and alcoholism submitted by TeacherN on July 27, 2019, 11:59am The story of this book was not like my own, but it was just enough like my own that it was difficult for me to read it. Part of me wished I had a book like this when I was 12, to let me know I wasn't the only person in the world with a mentally-ill mother and an alcoholic father, and for that, I am very thankful it exists for the sake of those children with similar struggles. Part of me was disappointed in this book because it didn't truly capture the feelings of guilt, shame, and utter loneliness I felt as a child, but I also realize it is a middle grade book and 11-13 year-old kids don't need to be exposed to that kind of darkness. The ending bothered me because it implied that one visit to see her mother and her father's trip to a rehab made everything better, when I know this thing with her mother will affect her for the rest of her life and her father will probably end up drinking again, or back in rehab. But all in all I liked it, and I would definitely recommend it.

courage for begnning submitted by toning on July 22, 2021, 4:12pm my name is amanda and i dont always have couage i am very shy this book help me get over it now i dont feel scared asking a person for help. so i was hoping i could find sure signs of crazy