From award winning author Carol Weston comes an uplifting, heartfelt tale of bravery and strength in the face of loss and grief, perfect for tweens, teens and adults alike.
I will eagerly place it on my daughter’s bookshelf, so that she, like Sofia, can find her own resilience and voice in our painful, joyful, speeding world. -New York Times Sofia lost her mother eight months ago, and her friends were 100% there for her. Now it’s a new year and they’re ready for Sofia to move on. But being a motherless daughter is hard to get used to, especially when you’re only fourteen. Problem is, Sofia can’t bounce back, can’t recharge like a cellphone. She decides to write Dear Kate, an advice columnist for Fifteen Magazine, and is surprised to receive a fast reply. Soon the two are exchanging emails, and Sofia opens up and spills all, including a few worries that are totally embarrassing. Turns out even advice columnists don’t have all the answers, and one day Sofia learns a secret that flips her world upside down. 2018 Best Fiction for Young Adults - American Library Association A 2018 Best Children’s Book of the Year - Bank Street College of Education 2017 Best Fiction for Older Readers - Chicago Public Library 2019-2020 Young Hoosier Book Award Longlist Four STARRED Reviews Read the first page from Speed of Life: WARNING: This is kind of a sad story.
At least at first. So if you don’t like sad stories, maybe you shouldn’t read this. I mean, I’d understand if you put it down and watched cat videos instead. I like cat videos too. Then again, this book is already in your hands. It starts and ends on January 1, and I was thinking of calling it The Year My Whole Life Changed. Or Life, Death, and Kisses. Or maybe even The Year I Grew Up. For me, being fourteen was hard. Really hard. Childhood was a piece of cake. Being a kid in New York City and spending summers in Spain, that was all pretty perfect, looking back. But being fourteen was like climbing a mountain in the rain. In flip-flops. I hoped I’d wind up in a different place, but I kept tripping and slipping and falling and wishing it weren’t way too late to turn around. This book does have funny parts. And I learned two giant facts:Number one: everything can change in an instant-for worse, sure, but also for better.Number two: sometimes, if you just keep climbing, you get an amazing view. You see what’s behind you and what’s ahead of you and-the big surprise-what’s inside you.