No wonder this book won an award! The writing is amazing, it's like nothing I've ever read before! (And I have read a LOT!) This is the kind of writing where EVERY WORD truly means something. There is no skimming a paragraph allowed. You have to drink in every sentence and sometimes stop to chew it up before you can swallow another one. And yet the voice is that of a child, and the words are simple and clear.

There's this beautifully delicate touch in the writing, although it deals with some heavy issues, such as fear, death, spite, belonging, kindness, etc... It's incredible to see the way the characters change and grow and develop, both from the way they interact with one another, and things they learn from Sophie, and also through the circumstances they are thrown into.

Gorgeous all around!