Sonny's House of Spies

By George Ella Lyon

Book Overview

Sonny is only one of the spies at the Bradshaw house in Mozier, Alabama. But as a child he saw a tray full of dinner come flying across the front hall at his father. His mother's aim was dead on. And Daddy's departure promptly followed.

Loretta, Sonny's older sister, spies by eavesdropping. As she tells him, "How else am I going to survive in a family tight-lipped as tombs?"

But the kids' spying only scratches the surface of what's really going on in this 1950s family in the deep South. While Deaton, the youngest, worries about pirates and vampires, and Uncle Marty, family protector, serves up scripture with every bite at the Circle of Life donut shop, somebody is watching.

Somebody unsuspected by Sonny. But at thirteen he knows something's fishy, and he intends to find out what. That's why one Friday after Uncle Marty pays him for dishwashing at the Circle of Life, he sneaks out of town, first by bike and then by bus. Selma, his mama; Mamby; Nissa; Uncle Sink; Aunt Roo; his sister and brother -- nobody from that all-too-serious but often hilarious crew has a clue where he's gone. And even Sonny can't say exactly what he's after, until those tight-lipped tombs start talking, and life in the house on Rhubarb changes for good.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1416968156
• ISBN13: 9781416968153
• Release Date: November 2007
• Publisher: Simon Pulse
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.87 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.7" x 8.5"
• Age Range: 11 to 14 years
• Grade Range: Grades 6 to 9

Customer Reviews

Especially Excellent for Older YAs and Adults

It's the 1947, in a small town in Alabama and Sonny's dad has just walked out on them. "You don't know my daddy," the book begins, and Sonny tells the reader of the day his life changed. He knows there has to be something more to the split up than he has been told, and it puzzles him. A few years go by, and the reader sees small town Southern life through Sonny's eyes as he tries to handle his own life without a father, as well as every day living with his sometimes funny, sometimes difficult family. Sonny deals with heartbreak, pain, and love, familial and otherwise, and at last finds peace within himself regarding his father. Sadly, this brief synopsis does nothing for the book. Telling a skeleton outline of the plot with no spoilers and none of Lyon's amazing writing is so unjust! This is an amazing book, with prose that sometimes verges on poetry. Lyon had me laughing out loud with Sonny's predicaments on one page, near tears on another, and spellbound from the sheer beauty of her language so often. She captures the feel of the South so well and so subtly that there are bound to be references that will pass by those uninitiated to Southern culture. I couldn't NOT share a few lines that caught me especially: "It was a sleepy kind of morning, the air like bathwater." "Like some reversable cloth, Mama's laughter flipped over into sobs." "We just stood by the shiny gray coffin with its handles like fancy toilet-paper holders and said "Yes" and "No" and "Thank you" and breathed whatever breaths came by: mint, onion, tobacco, whiskey, and bad." "All the windows had been propped open, but it was one of those afternoons when the air lay on top of you like a big cat, and no waving of cardboard Jesus-at-the-door fans could make it get up and move." My main regret is that I fear the intended audience will not be interested in the subject and that some of the emotional dimilemas may really be too mature for grades 5-8. It would be more appropriate, I think, for older YA readers. I would suggest that a parent of younger readers read it first (I give it a full recommendation for all adult readers) and then decide when/if it's appropriate for their child at that age. Another quibble is that the dust jacket blurb is not very appealing; I only chose to read it because it took place in the South. I really can't see a child picking this up and saying, "oh, this sounds just what I've been wanting to read". It will most likely take an adult pushing it on them to get a child to read it. A new, more interesting cover would be advised. But, as far as the book goes. . . It's a five star read for older YAs and adults. Masterful writing all the way through; I will be looking up her other novels right away.

A Novel that is novel -- great for both adults and young readers!

This book is a good read, exclamation point. No matter who you are, you will stay awake at night to finish it, and then be mad at yourself the next night, for being so greedy. It engages huge issues, but they are located in human hearts, in a neighborhood like the ones we all live in, no matter if they be rural or urban, penthouse or tenement. The characters -- both male and female -- are brave and honest and trying their very best to live in a complicated world. In this book, people hurt people and people help people, but there are no "bad guys" -- there are just human beings, painted in words by a master story-teller and poet, George Ella Lyon.

Extra, Extra Read All About It.

Red Alert! All middle school librarians take note. My grandson, who thinks reading chapter books is a bit like eating ground glass, could not put this book down. That is after I bribed him to read the first two chapters! There are people in this book, Loretta, especially, who will make you cry and laugh out loud. Warning, adults and kids both, you will have a hard time putting it down. So you will read it as fast as you can and then, like me, wish you had read it more slowly so you could stretch the enjoyment. It is a winner!