Book Review: The Size of the Truth by Andrew Smith

Posted on March 16, 2021 at 10:13 am by Gene Ambaum

The Size of the Truth by Andrew Smith. Simon & Schuster, 2020. 9781534419568. 288pp.

On Thanksgiving, when he was four, Sam fell into an abandoned well in Blue Creek, TX. He couldn’t really remember what happened when he fell, but now he can. It involves a talking armadillo, and it’s pretty weird.

Now Sam is eleven and starting the eighth grade. (He should be in sixth but he skipped a few grades.) James Jenkins, the eight grader who kinda caused Sam to fall into the well, looks like a murderer. Sam has scary dreams about him. He’s destined to be a high school football star, and he’s in Sam’s homeroom.

This is a book about survival camping, mini-golf, defying parental expectations, and an unlikely friendship involving cooking. It’s a strange and wonderful story with a heartwarming ending involving both mac and cheese and ballet. It’s one of my favorite tween novels ever.