Sure Signs of Crazy
A poignant and powerful coming of age story perfect for fans of Wonder and The Thing about Jellyfish
You’ve never met anyone exactly like twelve-year-old Sarah Nelson. While most of her friends obsess over Harry Potter, she spends her time writing letters to Atticus Finch. She collects trouble words in her diary. Her best friend is a plant. And she’s never known her mother, who left when Sarah was two.
Since then, Sarah and her dad have moved from one small Texas town to another, and not one has felt like home.
Everything changes when Sarah launches an investigation into her family’s Big Secret. She makes unexpected new friends and has her first real crush, and instead of a “typical boring Sarah Nelson summer,” this one might just turn out to be extraordinary.
You’ve never met anyone exactly like twelve-year-old Sarah Nelson. While most of her friends obsess over Harry Potter, she spends her time writing letters to Atticus Finch. She collects trouble words in her diary. Her best friend is a plant. And she’s never known her mother, who left when Sarah was two.
Since then, Sarah and her dad have moved from one small Texas town to another, and not one has felt like home.
Everything changes when Sarah launches an investigation into her family’s Big Secret. She makes unexpected new friends and has her first real crush, and instead of a “typical boring Sarah Nelson summer,” this one might just turn out to be extraordinary.
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Praise
* "Don't think this will be a hard sell to readers...for Harrington has created a protagonist who is, in her own way, as clear-eyed, tough-minded, and inspiring as any dystopian hero."
—Booklist, starred review
"Sarah Nelson lives between a terrible tragedy in the past and a terrible fear about what might happen in the future. In that uncertainty, Sarah faces her life squarely, with a heroism that makes us cheer for humanity's courage, wit, and guts. She faces a divided friendship, the death of a neighbor, the loss of her first love, the near loss of her father, and, most poignantly, the knowledge that her lost mother will never be found--and yet hers is a compelling journey that takes us into that most fragile place: Hope. You will be glad you journeyed there with her."
—Gary D. Schmidt, Newbery Honor author of The Wednesday Wars and Okay for Now
* "Sarah is an introspective protagonist whose narrative, interspersed with letters and word definitions, keeps readers absorbed...Secondary characters add interest and texture to this compelling novel."
—SLJ, starred review
* "Readers intrigued by the premise of this moving story will sympathize with the plucky protagonist and rejoice in the way her summer works out."
—Kirkus, starred review
"An engaging, warm-hearted story. Beautifully written. Harrington creates a fearless and resilient heroine."
—Jewell Parker Rhodes, Coretta Scott King Honor author of Ninth Ward and Sugar
"Sure Signs of Crazy is knowing, hilarious, and tender. Karen Harrington's character portrait of Sarah Nelson is one for the ages."
—Pat Conroy, bestselling author of The Prince of Tides and My Reading Life
"Extraordinary heart."
—The Horn Book