Olivia Snyder

                                                                                                      
Dear Sarah Weeks,

You are probably expecting me to relate to one of the characters or events in your book, So B. It. But I can't because my life is totally different from Heidi's.
I am a happy person, because I have a big house, a healthy and happy big family, and lots of friends. One thing I don't have are problems the rest of the world, it seems like, has to deal with. I would say on a scale from 1 to 10 (one being miserable and 10 being the most joyful, bright happy person on this planet) I would be close to a nine. And I've also never had anything horrifyingly tragic happen to me in my life; at least not anything I can remember.
Then I read your book, So B. It.

It changed the way I think of life in general. Since I never knew what it would be like to have a tragedy occur, I had been ignorant to the fact that there are people with issues out there. Like what Heidi has to deal with: having a mentally disabled mother living with their young neighbor with agoraphobia. I was instantly drawn in, like an invitation to a living a new experience: unknown territory.

The reason your book changed me is because it gave me a new perspective of a hardship. I never had to experience one, until I empathized as Heidi, living life in her shoes. I became her whenever I picked up you book. As new ideas and thoughts came to me through incredible experiences, I would tell my family at the dinner table, in the car, (you name it!) about her crazy adventures. Your book made me realize how lucky I am to have the necessities and resources a child needs to live properly. You gave me the gift not only of a good read, but awareness. My eyes were opened because I now know that others out there need help, and Heidi's situation is not the only scenario. Huger, poverty, homelessness, disease, lack of financial stability, and so many other errors in a person's life are creeping up on people like ivy on a building and attacking their lives. I think:  what can I do to help? The Christmas after my completion of reading the book, my family and I went to a store to buy food, diapers, clothes, and other items needed in the community to donate to a local homeless shelter. We also shopped off a church wish list of their Giving Tree and donate money. The last thing we did was take presents to the children at the Ronald McDonald House when they had none.

So B. It has given me a dose of reality and taught me a lesson: you don't need much to be happy. I also learned that I am a very lucky girl. And I discovered at times, you don't need and accident or tragedy to help you learn or get involved.  Some say that God has a plan for everyone; that everything happens for a reason. I believe that now.

Thank you for your time, and I really enjoyed your book!

Cordially,
Olivia Snyder