Sam Abernathy fell into a well when he was four years old. Now, seven years later, he has his own plans for the future - first to steer clear of the school bully, next to finally tell his parents that he doesn't want to go to MIT, but would rather be a chef.

Andrew Smith is a talented YA author taking his first dive into middle grade and although what I've read of his has been a little on the weird side (and this is no different) he does very well crossing into the middle grade world. I really liked the chapters in the present day when Sam is interacting with kids at school and dealing with family expectations. The flashback chapters of when Sam was in the well were a little too fantastical for me, but ended up working well in the overall plot.

This is a really interesting combination of realistic and fantasy fiction. Sam is 11 and has been skipped ahead two grades, so instead of being in 6th grade, he's in 8th, which has its own set of perils, including James, a kid that terrifies Sam. When Sam was 4, he fell into an abandoned well and it took 3 days before he was rescued. So the story flashes between 4 year old Sam who hallucinates about wisecracking armadillo named Bartleby and 11 year old Sam who is trying to find his own way. I found that I really liked the 11 year old Sam and his voice, but the parts with Bartleby were so silly and so crazy I found my attention waning. I also found it a little surprising that all the dad characters seemed so clueless to what their kids wanted. I hope that modern day dads are way better than ones portrayed in the book. I liked this one but I don't think the kids at my school will pick it up.

Andrew Smith's first novel for middle grades does not disappoint. The Size of the Truth is humorous and thought provoking like most of Smith's novels. I laughed out loud every time Sam refered to James as a murderer. And the (excuse me) language will make readers laugh out loud.

The truth is Andrew Smith has pulled off a weird & funny middle grade novel that sure to pull readers in!

I have to say that Andrew Smith is the man. He is a wise author, experienced teacher, and I have met him, so I'm gonna throw in being a good dude, just a totally good dude. I love that he wrote a middle-level book. I love that he maintained his voice, his smarm, his wit, and his voice whilst changing over from his YA voice to that of ML. Smith was able to capture Sam Abernathy, James Jenkins, and especially Abernathy, with precise clarity and beauty. I love how anyone would be able to recognize this book as an Andrew Smith book. This is so Andrew Smith through and through, even without the swears. This is a must-read for any Smith fan, or Middle School LA teacher (or any teacher for that matter). It truly is brilliant.

Sam is known as the boy who fell in the well. When he was 4 years old he fell into a well and was there for 3 days waiting for rescue. During that time he “interacted” with an armadillo.

Now Sam is starting 8th grade. He was moved forward 2 years so he is with boys two years older than he is which is (excuse me) terrifying. He is also with his nemesis - the boy who caused him to fall into the hole in the first place (according to what he remember) and who he thinks always wants to murder him.

But memories are a tricky thing and people aren’t always what they seem.

Parts of this I liked but overall I had things that annoyed me. The excuse me everytime he was going to swear was funny at first but then got annoying. The way the chapters started was weird and pulled me out of the narrative almost every time.

Andrew Smith does it again. With a perfect balance of so-real-it-hurts and just-right-beyond-the-reach-of-believable, he sucks you into the story. The Size of the Truth is a story about Sam Abernathy, who fell into a well when he was four-years-old but remembers nothing about the event, until he does. That is, except for the boy who caused him to fall in the well in the first place. Throughout this story, Sam beings to learn our expectations of others can craft a reality that other people don't want to live in. He figures out how to create the reality that he wants, and stand up for himself and he realizes that his expectations have made others seem entirely different than they really are. With everything Sam thought was true getting turned on its head, a talking armadillo doesn't seem too crazy after all. This a quirky and fun story about a young boy realizing that no person is just one thing, including himself.

When Sam was four years old, he spent three days trapped in an abandoned well. From that day forward, he promised himself, that he would never worry or disappoint his parents again. As he grew older, he found that promise harder and harder to keep, as his parents' and his idea of his future began to diverge.

I don't think anyone understands how excited I was to see that Sam was getting his own series. I met Sam in Stand-off, and was eager to read more about young Sam's life. As expected, Smith delivered a story that was odd and interesting, as well as heartwarming and thoughtful.

Smith touches upon a myriad of issues, but there were two which stood out to me - a child's need for autonomy and being true to themself. You see, Sam loves to cook, and aspires to train with great chefs and create food that makes people happy, but his parents want him to got to MIT and study science or math or BOTH. They push him in academic pursuits, pushing him two grades ahead, though he was not socially or emotionally prepared for it.

I often found myself frustrated with Sam's parents, especially his father, but some of that was Sam's own fault. He kept going along with their plans, while abandoning his own. Slowly, while remembering his time in the hole and developing an unlikely friendship with James, who he had always blamed for his accident, Sam began to assert his own desires and needs, and I was really proud of the way he handled it.

I have to say, Smith really knows how to write a great bromance. I wasn't always on board with the James and Sam friendship, because I wasn't so sure about James, but as Smith revealed more and more about him, I found myself liking him more and more, as well as empathizing with him about the box he was trapped in. Watching Sam realize that he and James are more that same than different was a big moment in the story, and from there, their friendship grew and grew. And you know what? I totally loved James by the end of this book.

The time in the hole was odd, but I expect something strange, when I read an Andrew Smith book. The purpose of flipping between Sam's time in 8th grade and his time in the hole was not obvious, but becomes clearer as the story wears on. I enjoyed those parts, but I loved the last few chapters. I think I wore a smile on my face the from the first chapter during the Blue Creek Days section all the way through the end of the book.

It was quite a treat getting to know Sam better, and I am excited to read more of this series, because it looks like he's heading to Pine Mountain Academy in the next book, and I am so ready to go back there.

I have only read a one or two of Andrew Smith’s YA books, which I found to be kind of dark and quirky. I wasn’t sure how his writing style would work for a middle grade novel, but he manages it quite well. While this certainly is not a light read, it isn’t dark either. There is still some quirky characters and an interestingly weird plot, but I think that it will appeal to many middle grade readers.

Sam Abernathy narrates the story, he is the younger version of a secondary character in Andrew Smith’s Winger books. I have not read those books, but that certainly did not keep me from enjoying this one. I found Sam to be a fun kid to spend time with, although he has his issues. PTSD, claustrophobia, and less than supportive parents. He also has been skipped two grades in middle school, YIKES! Half the time, I just wanted to hug Sam and tell him things would get better. One of the issues of being moved up is that now he has classes with the kid that he blames for his fall into the well. This is the start of a very unlikely friendship of sorts. It is Sam’s perceptions of James that are the most interesting parts of the story, especially as he learns how wrong he was about him. Finally you have to love a kid who enjoys cooking and experimenting with recipes.

James is another wonderful character. He is considered a bully through Sam’s eyes, but as Sam starts to get to know James he begins to see him in a new light. James ends up helping Sam cope with some other kids bullying and even rescues him more than once. James has his own issues as well, and it was nice to see Sam overcome his preconceptions of James to help him out.

I need to mention that Sam’s parents were my least favorite part of the book. They did not understand Sam at all, from not getting that he liked to cook, to planning his whole future without his consent. The interesting thing is that they weren’t hovering over him much, like I would expect them too after his rescue from the well. But they had weird expectations of him. I wasn’t sure what to make of Sam’s dad and his survival camping weekends. He was totally oblivious to how unhappy these made Sam. It was just sort of weird.

The plot alternates between present time and Sam’s time in the well. It is easy to tell which part is which. The chapters of the well time were interesting. Sam didn’t sound much like a four year old, he often sounded older. At times it seemed like Sam was recounting this time as an older child. Older Sam stated a few times that he didn’t remember much about being there. But memories have a funny way of surfacing and subsequently being distorted when they do. During his time in the well, Sam met Bartleby, a talking armadillo. My feelings about Bartleby switched back and forth. There were times that I sort of liked him, but mostly I found him annoying. But there were some interesting parallels between the past and the present that Bartleby helps to make. There is a nice surprise twist at the end too.

A great start for Andrew Smith’s first middle grade book. It makes me want to read the Winger books, just so I can see how Sam turns out later in life.