The Truth as Told by Mason Buttle audiobook

Mason's voice reads so authentic and naively honest. It's apparent this character was born from a very loving place in author Leslie Connor's mind. You want to teach him so much but at the same time, want to shield and protect him from so much. A warning: This book is surprisingly dark and heartbreaking. Mason is bullied relentlessly and while he doesn't let it shake him, I wanted to climb inside the pages of this story multiple times and show Matty Drinker a thing or two! The relationship between the boys (both predators and prey) is very complex and difficult to read play out because I'm afraid it's SO realistic. I'm not sure the lack of a resolution for a particular plot thread will suffice for readers who wish to see justice fully served. Personally, I would have settled for just a little bit of accountability out of a certain character, but none is shown.Strong work by Connor. A book every kid should read.

You know when you have a book on your TBR pile for a while and you finally get to it, read it, and then think, “Why on earth did I wait so long to read this?” That’s me. Right now. With Mason Buttle. I’m deathly afraid to give away any spoilers, but suffice it to say that this book is a MUST for any personal, classroom, school, or public library. It is a book about kindness, empathy, honesty and, most importantly, looking at “intelligence” and through a new lens. Trust me. Read it. You’ll not be the same when you finish. And you might even have a hard time figuring out what to read next. I can’t recommend this one enough.

My heart is bursting with so many emotions after reading this beautiful book! It deserves every last star because it is absolutely, hands-down, one of the best MG novels I've ever read. I loved Mason! He has the sweetest, kindest heart, and he doesn't allow all the tragedies and bad things in his life as an excuse to be bitter or angry. And did I mention the dog in this story?!? I wished Moonie could jump through the pages so I could give him a good belly-rub! I don't care who you are...you need to read this book!

Der Klappentext spoilert hier mal wieder leider sehr. Warum man Ereignisse, die erst im letzten Drittel passieren, schon hier erwähnen muss, bleibt mir wohl immer ein Rätsel. Das nimmt zum einen eine gewisse Spannung, zum anderen kann es das, was vorher passiert, langatmig erscheinen lassen, weil man genau darauf wartet. Deshalb lieber von der Geschichte überraschen lassen, so wie ich das gemacht hab :)Der Einstieg war für mich nicht ganz so leicht. Erzählt wird ja aus der Sicht von Mason Buttle, einem 12jährigen, der allerdings beim Denken nicht der schnellste ist und vor allem beim Lesen und Schreiben Schwierigkeiten hat. Dass er nicht so schnell Zusammenhänge kapiert, heißt aber nicht, dass er dumm ist. Im Gegenteil sieht man hier, wie jemand, der auf "einfache" Weise denkt und nicht mit so vielen Vorurteilen befrachtet ist, das Leben und die Menschen um sich herum betrachtet. "Es zeichnet einen Menschen aus, wenn er nicht in eine feste Schublade passt. Es bedeutet, dass du ein offenes, außergewöhnliches Wesen bist, Mason. Und wenn du nicht in Schubladen denkst, heißt das, dass du keine festgefahrenen Meinungen hast." ZitatDiese schöne Weisheit sagt Miss Blinny zu ihm. Die Schulsozialarbeiterin. Eine etwas zerstreute, äußerst liebenswürdige Person mit viel Empathie, die immer für Mason da ist und ihm hilft. Ich mochte sie sehr, weil sie auf ihre spleenige Art ein gutes Gespür dafür hat, wie sie mit all den Außenseitern umgehen soll, die zur ihr geschickt werden. Nämlich ganz normal und mit dem richtigen Gespür.Es geht hier viel um Mobbing - und zwar auf eine ziemlich fiese Art, die Mason aber gut zu handhaben weiß. Vor allem, seit er in Calvin einen neuen Freund gefunden hat. Calvin ist das genaue Gegenteil von ihm: klein, dünn und "schlau". Mit seinem Tablet findet er jedes Mal die interessantesten Dinge heraus und obwohl er ein Stubenhocker ist, lässt er sich von Mason immer wieder auf die weitläufige Plantage seiner Familie führen, auf der sie tollsten Sachen spielen und erleben. Und zwar so, wie ich finde, dass Kinder spielen können sollten: unter freiem Himmel, mit viel Platz und vielen Möglichkeiten, sich auszuprobieren. Das hat beim Lesen wirklich viel Spaß gemacht die beiden zu begleiten!Überhaupt ist die Beziehung der beiden so toll! Jeder von ihnen hat seine Stärken und Schwächen, die sie nicht gegeneinander ausnutzen, sondern gegenseitig aufheben und Verständnis zeigen, auch ohne Worte. Akzeptanz und Vertrauen lässt sie füreinander da sein und sich gegenseitig respektieren.Aber in Masons Leben geht es auch um Verlust. Seine Mutter starb als er noch klein war und im letzten Frühjahr hat er seinen besten Freund Benny verloren. Das war alles nicht einfach für ihn und er muss gegen viele Vorurteile kämpfen, die er gar nicht wirklich versteht. Er nimmt alles in seiner ganz speziellen Wahrnehmung auf, was es ihm oft nicht möglich macht, hinter die Masken zu blicken oder Feinheiten zu erkennen, die ihn betreffen. Er nimmt alles als "wahr" hin, weil er selbst so offenherzig ist. Außerdem steckt er voller liebenswerter Eigenschaften, die er auf seine eigene Art zeigt. In seiner Freundschaft zu Calvin, im Verständnis für seine Familie, oder auch zum Nachbarhund Moonie. Neben Freundschaft geht es aber auch um den Zusammenhalt in der Familie. Nur noch seine Grandma und sein Onkel Drum leben in der "Bruchbude", dem Haus in dem es so viel zu tun gäbe, das aber seit Jahren sozusagen brach liegt. Die Erwachsenen scheinen in einer Phase festzustecken, in der nichts vorwärts geht. In der sie alles irgendwie weiterlaufen lassen, ohne wirklich zu leben. Dafür stehen sie aber immer felsenfest hinter Mason. Zum einen lassen sie ihm seinen Freiraum, zum anderen sind sie immer für ihn da, wenn Lieutenant Baird vor der Tür steht. Seit dem Tod von Benny taucht dieser nämlich immer wieder mit auf, die Mason nicht beantworten kann und auch nicht versteht, welcher Sinn dahinter steckt.Schwere Momente für Mason, den der Verlust von Benny noch immer zutiefst erschüttert. Neben einigen traurigen Momenten ist es ein herzerwämendes Buch. Dem Lesealter angemessen aber dennoch auf gewisse Weise auch anspruchsvoll. Man sollte wissen, dass es das Thema Tod, Verlust, Trauer und Schuldgefühle in sich trägt, um zu überlegen ob es fürs eigene Kind gerade vom Zeitpunkt her passt.Es muss anfangs etwas in Schwung kommen, aber dann berührt es einfach nur noch. Wunderschön, traurig und zu Herzen gehend hat Masons Geschichte einen ganz besonderen Platz bei mir gefunden.

Mason Buttle is a character I won't soon forget. He is bigger than most of the other seventh graders, he sweats a lot, he can't read or write well and he's relentlessly teased for all of the above. After the death of his best friend Benny he's trying to put back the pieces of his life. This is no easy feat as his family and their apple orchard are being pushed out by developers, the town lieutenant won't give up on the story of Benny's death and the mean-spirited neighbor kids will not leave him be. But Mason persists. He keeps writing down his truths with the help of new technology in his school and the dedication of a fabulous social worker who teaches him that all these bad things are just preparation for what's to come. With his new friend Calvin and the neighbor's dog Moonie by his side, Mason starts to believe things must be turning around - until Calvin goes missing and the aftermath of that spirals into more and more truths being uncovered. The ending of this could ultimately be considered sad or tragic, but Mason's outlook surely is not. Mason and his story are courageous, full of love and hope. I'd hand this to kids grades five and up, adults and those who can't get enough of Wonder.

I love these characters. Mason and Calvin are caring and friendly. Mason seeks the best in everyone. Unfortunately, Matt and his posse are also relatable. It's not as easy a read as its Lexile would suggest. In fact, many middle schoolers will need some help with Mason's diction, and Calvin's vocabulary. Leslie Connor has told another wonderful, rich story with deep roots.

Richie’s Picks: THE TRUTH AS TOLD BY MASON BUTTLE by Leslie Connor, HarperCollins/Katherine Tegen, January 2018, 336p., ISBN: 978-0-06-249143-5“No one I think is in my treeI mean it must be high or low”--Lennon/McCartney (1967)“Some people might think they already know my story. That’s just because they live around here. Some stuff is plain. Some stuff is right where you can see it.If you lived in Merrimack you might know our place. It’s the crumbledown house out on Swaggertown Road. Sits a good bit of acres that used to be a whole lot more. Developers. My Uncle Drum says we can’t live without them. My grandma says we should have tried.You might know our orchard. You might remember it looking alive as a hive late in the summer. PYO. Pick Your Own.If you are like me your eyes about pop out of your head at how quick the developers dozered down the trees. They are still building. New houses. Up the hill and down the hill from our place. You might look at our house sitting in the middle and wonder why it looks like somebody emptied a dustpan over it.I try. I sweep up the porch. Pull weeds in the front. But I am now and then about it. I don’t keep up. Uncle Drum says just leave it. Then another shingle drops off the roof. Lands in the yard.But it is still home. The place I start from every day. If I had a story to tell it might begin there. But tell you what. It would not be long before I got to the parts that could ruin anybody’s lunch.”No, he didn’t ruin my lunch but, as Mason Buttle’s coming-of-age story reached a climax, it did bring me to tears. That’s toward the end. At the beginning of Mason’s tale, we encounter a series of puzzling questions and situations, and wonder how they might be related to one another:The Buttles have owned these apple orchards for generations. Why have the house and orchards now fallen into such an extreme state of disrepair? Why has Uncle Drum been selling off the acreage?What’s wrong with Uncle Drum, who sits around in the diner all day doing nothing. Why has he brought home a young runaway woman he encountered at the diner, who couldn’t pay for her meal? Why did he give her Mason’s bedroom to live in, and often provide her his credit card to indulge her obsession with TV shopping channels? Why does Mason see colors that aren’t there for anyone else? Why does he see words swirl when he tries to read, and why does he sweat so much? How can he be so equanimous about his disabilities and being constantly bullied?Most importantly, what really happened to Mason’s long-time best friend, Benny Kilmartin? Mason was the one to find Benny dead at the base of the treehouse in the middle of the Buttle apple orchards. That was a year-and-a-half ago. Lieutenant Baird from the Merrimack P.D. has spent that year-and-a-half relentlessly pressuring Mason for additional information that he’s sure Mason is withholding about Benny’s death.In addition to Lieutenant Baird, two of Mason’s peers, sadistic lacrosse players Matt Drinker and sidekick Lance Pierson, are making Mason’s life a living hell with their daily verbal and physical attacks. Matt lives in one of those houses built on what had been part of the Buttle apple orchards. Complicating the situation is that Matt’s mother often hires Mason to take care of their dog Moonie. Fortunately, Mason, the largest seventh grader in the school, becomes friends with Calvin Chumsky, a smart, inquisitive kid and one of the smallest kids in the school. Calvin also lives in a new house on former Buttle land. The real heart of Mason’s story is the friendship that develops between the pair. When he’s with Calvin, we can see the stand-up kid Mason Buttle is.Mason does find some refuges. In school, he often hangs out in SWOOF, the office of caring and empathic social worker Ms. Blinny. She sets Mason up with dictation software that enables him to tell his story and try to puzzle out what happened to Benny without needing to put pen to paper. At home, to escape from the bullies, he and Calvin construct an amazing subterranean hideout that includes painted replicas of the artwork in the famous Lascaux caves in France. With Ms. Blinny and Calvin there for him, life is tolerable.But the sudden development of a new mystery brings everything to a head. The innocent and naive Mason comes to realize, for the first time, that townspeople and Lieutenant Baird, and even Benny’s parents, believe he was involved in Benny’s death. This devastates him.There are intriguing aspects to just about every character in the story. I love the character development in Mason as well as the members of the supporting cast: Calvin, Uncle Drum and Grandma, the cop, the young woman living with the Buttles, and the social worker. Hey, even the dog is a character I won’t soon forget.The character I’m still trying to get my head around is Matt Drinker’s mother. There are lots of books for young people that include bully characters, but so few of them give us a look at the parent of a bully the way that this book does.One the one hand, Mrs. Drinker is kind to Mason. On the other hand, she lets her son abuse Mason. Far into the story, there is a scene in which Mason is running from Matt, with the not-so-small dog Moonie in his arms. Seemingly oblivious to his own well being, Mason is desperately trying to reach the Drinker’s house and get Moonie to safety before Matt can hurt the dog. Just as Mason successfully reaches the Drinker house:“I call, ‘Mrs. Drinker! Hey, Mrs. Drinker!’ I see the back door crack open. I say, ‘Brought Moonie ba--’BAM!Matt’s whole body hits my whole body. He leads with that lacrosse stick going sideways. I lose my hold on Moonie. He slips to the ground. I am bashed smack into the side of the Drinker house. A big grunt comes out of me. A pain shoots up my elbow. Good thing is, I see Moonie scoot away. Just fine.”How does Mrs. Drinker respond, having just observed what her son just did to Mason? She does next to nothing! She asks Mason if he’s okay and calmly tells Matt that he has to go in the house and that his friends have to leave. Matt has no shame. First he argues against going in and, when Mrs. Drinker puts her foot down and insists that Matt do so, Matt shoves her aside as he enters the house.What gives with this kid? In this age of #MeToo, seeing how Matt Drinker treats his mother without consequences, I cannot help but anticipate that it will be only a few years before Matt is unashamedly taking whatever he wants from whichever young women are unlucky enough to attract his attention. Has Mrs. Drinker, herself, been a victim of abuse? Is Matt’s behavior the result of indulgent parenting going awry? Kids like Matt don’t develop into adolescent bullies without the parents knowing it. What role has Mrs. Drinker played in this development?There are so many facets to this story. Together, they make for a powerful, captivating, and heartwarming read about a kid who is truthful, loyal, and trusting. The only thing missing are instructions for the yummy apple crisps his grandmother bakes. But don’t worry; I make apple crisps all the time. Feel free to email me and I’ll send you my recipe.Richie Partington, MLISRichie's Picks http://richiespicks.pbworks.comhttps://www.facebook.com/richiespicks/[email protected]

Thank you to Harper Collins and Edelweiss for an ARC of this forthcoming book.What a wonderful contribution to middle grade literature. This book is a treasure. In a time when many tend to think the worst of their fellow man, along comes Mason Buttle. He has many obstacles in his life yet he treats others with empathy and show wisdom beyond his years. We are given a front row seat in Mason's day-to-day experiences and see every bit from his perspective. Leslie Connor has done a fantastic job in telling this story for Mason while helping us to see his struggles and triumphs in such an authentic way. We can all learn from Mason Buttle. Highly recommended!

** spoiler alert ** Tell you what, there is lots to like about this story: Mason, Mason's voice, his relationship with Calvin, the dog, the school counselor. But there are lots of jangly threads that don't work: the agonizing slow pace, lack of forward momentum, the weirdly executed police investigation, the lack of motivation and remorse of the flat-out evil bullies, and the forced coincidence that got them all in the garage at the same time.

From the author of All Stand for the Honorable Perry T. Cook, this book has an equally sincere young narrator in Mason Buttle. A heartbreaking story about tragedy and misunderstandings with a very satisfying ending. Ages 10 and up.

One of the very best middle grade readers of the year. Should warrant an award in 2019

This book is nominated for the Colorado Children's Book Award. I've been book talking it with my classes, and when I try to explain who Mason Buttle is all I can do it say, poor Mason. He has a tough life. Today I finished the book and I have something else to say. Mason is one of those book characters that makes you feel like you would be lucky to have him for a friend. And, I made apple crisp from scratch tonight! Yummy.