Great story about a young girl and her relationship with her mentally challenged mother and the neighbor who takes care of both of them.
This is an awesome book - probably my favorite read in 2008. I've recommended it to many of the middle schoolers that I work with. ( )

Reviewed by Taylor Rector for TeensReadToo.com

Heidi is a twelve-year-old girl who is being raised by Bernadette, who is like her guardian. Twelve years ago, Heidi's mom knocked on a stranger's door and said that she had a "bum brain," had nowhere to live, and was holding a baby.

Bernadette takes care of Heidi and her mom, who claims that her name is "So B. It." Heidi now wants to learn more about her mom, so she takes a road trip, by herself, to find out more about her mother's mysterious past. She doesn't really know where she is going, so she just goes wherever the path takes her. But even as little as Heidi knows about her mother, she loves her.

This book reminded me a lot of WALK TWO MOONS, because the storyline is similar. That a good thing in my opinion, because I love that book! At the beginning of SO B. IT, you are kind of like "okay, get on with it," but then the story gets interesting. This is a simple yet complicated book, which makes it very interesting. ( )

Heidi and her mentally handicapped mother, So B. It, are cared for by a warm-hearted neighbor and they form an unusual but loving family.

Heidi's curiosity about where she comes from takes her on a cross-country journey and leads her to the knowledge of who she really is. ( )

Incredible book. Starts a bit slow but really pulls you in as Heidi, 12-year old, lives with her mom who is mentally challenged. Heidi doesn't know where or when she was born, or anything about her past--or her mother's past. When she finds a mysterious role of film and develops it, she begins an adventure into her past that leads to her present...and changes her life forever. ( )

Voice of Youth Advocate 12/1/2004

Heidi, the twelve-year-old narrator of this charming novel, lives in an apartment with a nontraditional family. A neighbor, Bernadette, took in her mother and Heidi when she was only a baby. Mama is pretty, but her looks belie the fact that she has a bum brain, as Heidi describes. The extent of Mama's vocabulary is twenty-three words, including her name, So B. It. Therein lies the mystery. Heidi is of the age when she begins to wonder about her background. How did she and Mama come to be on Bernadette's doorstep? From where did they come? Does she have a father? And what does So B. It stand for? As Heidi ponders these questions, she stumbles on some old photographs stowed away in a cupboard. With only a few clues from the photos, Heidi boards a bus alone in a cross-country quest for answers. Weeks, author of the middle school Guy series, weaves a tale of refreshing, offbeat characters who by their eccentricities add a magical element to the story. Heidi, for example, has an unexplainable gift of luck. In the Memory game, she knows where the matches are. At the back of the Sudsy Duds Laundromat, she has a sweet way with the slot machines when the month's grocery money does not stretch. As the riddle of Heidi's life and Mama's word list, which is used to name each of the twenty-three chapters, slowly unfolds, readers will be genuinely touched and surprised.-Kim Zach.

Horn Book Guide 10/1/2004

Twelve-year-old Heidi It and her severely mentally disabled mother survive through a combination of good luck and their next-door neighbor's loving attention. An undeveloped roll of old film leads Heidi to embark alone on a risky cross-country quest to answer questions about Mama's past. Narrator Heidi's realistic voice lends authenticity to her unusual circumstances. Copyright 2003 of The Horn Book, Inc. ( )