The Truth As Told By Mason Buttle by Leslie Connor

From Goodreads,

"From the critically acclaimed author of Waiting for Normal and All Rise for the Honorable Perry T. Cook, Leslie Connor, comes a deeply poignant and beautifully crafted story about self-reliance, redemption, and hope.

Mason Buttle is the biggest, sweatiest kid in his grade, and everyone knows he can barely read or write. Mason’s learning disabilities are compounded by grief. Fifteen months ago, Mason’s best friend, Benny Kilmartin, turned up dead in the Buttle family’s orchard. An investigation drags on, and Mason, honest as the day is long, can’t understand why Lieutenant Baird won’t believe the story Mason has told about that day.

Both Mason and his new friend, tiny Calvin Chumsky, are relentlessly bullied by the other boys in their neighborhood, so they create an underground club space for themselves. When Calvin goes missing, Mason finds himself in trouble again. He’s desperate to figure out what happened to Calvin, and eventually, Benny.

But will anyone believe him?"

Goodreads - The Truth As Told By Mason Buttle

Over 13 years ago my family purchased some land and decided to put a house on it.  It was an exciting change happening in my life and I was the first one that had my entire room packed up and moved.  At the time there was a small pond in front of our house with two big oak trees nestled in beside it.  I begged my dad for weeks to build a treehouse for me.  He ended up getting deployed and I never got my treehouse.  Still to this day I feel that I missed some magical part of childhood because I didn't have a treehouse to call my own.  The cover of this book absolutely pulled me in with the treehouse in the big tree and a sunset sky behind it.  Not to mention the boy and his dog that was featured on the cover.  I was so excited to jump into this book and hopefully get to experience the joys of a treehouse through the main character Mason Buttle.

Mason Buttle is not your average kid.  Mason is big, he sweats a lot, and he struggles to read because of his dyslexia.  Unfortunately Mason is caught in a pickle.  His best friend Benny died at the treehouse he built.  A police officer keeps coming around trying to pry information out of him even though he has said everything he knows.  Mason finally makes a new friend named Calvin.  Mason and Calvin are great friends, until Calvin goes missing.  Mason must try to find Calvin and figure out the truth about what happened to Benny before the police officer decides that Mason is guilty of everything.

This entire book was centered around friendship in the midst of chaos.  Mason was placed in an unfortunate spot more than once in this book, but he was always loyal.  He was loyal to Benny until the very end and he was loyal to Calvin.  I think it is great for students to read about good, healthy friendships.  I also think it is beneficial that there were bullies in this book because it is clear what can happen when someone takes "teasing" too far.  I plan on putting this in my classroom library with a huge part being because there is such a strong example set by Mason on what it means to be a friend.

One of the things I didn't like about this book was that Mason was so "extra".  I felt like Leslie Connor gave him too much going on with his life.  Mason has a condition where he sweats too much, he's dyslexic, he can see colors when there's a feeling, his Mom is dead, his Dad is gone, and his best friend is died in a freak accident.  I mean how much more can this kid have going on in life!?  I felt like the colors condition was a little far and the sweating was an unnecessary addition.  I feel like Connor was trying to relate to as many students as possible, whereas making Mason a regular kid who is big and bullied would have presented a more relatable front.

Overall I did enjoy this book.  However, there was a climactic point in the book where Calvin was missing and it ended rather quickly and disappointingly.  I would have liked for that to be extended a little longer to build more suspense.  When the book ended I was begging for a second book that told me what happened after it was discovered who was behind Benny dying.  I wanted to know how Calvin was and how Mason was doing.  I would love to see a second book that followed the same characters going through a trial with an upset town.  I give this book 4 stars out of 5.