Finished a Book Before its Publication

Yes, you read that right. Tonight I finished reading a book whose publication date is tomorrow. Magical! How is that possible?



The book is The Story of Beautiful Girl by Rachel Simon. I got an Advanced Reader Copy from my sister, the bookstore owner. It's really fun having that "in" to the world of books. My mother does this regularly and gives feedback to my sister about the books that she thinks are the best. She reads several of them a week!

Anyway, The Story of Beautiful Girl is a good book about people with disabilities being raised in institutions, which, as you know, is part of our nation's history. The book covers the years 1968-2011, during which the public becomes more aware of what is going on in institutions and demands some changes.

The main characters are a couple of people who spent some years in a "school." One of the characters is Deaf, so I had a special interest in reading this book. It was a page-turner that held my interest. I was even more interested to read the author's note in the back. I love to hear how authors make decisions to write books and where their story lines come from.

Look for this book to do well. It's coming out in hard cover tomorrow (May 4). By the way, the author, Rachel Simon, also wrote Riding the Bus With My Sister which I own but have not read yet. That book is written about her in-real-life sister, Beth.