Island Eyes, Island Skies by Richard Henry Levine
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| Island Eyes, Island SkiesBy: Richard Henry Levine Author’s Website: NA Format of Review Copy: Paperback |
Synopsis (from Amazon):
This is the story of a friendship that develops between Rob, an introspective middle school boy, and D.C., a tall, smart-alecky girl from another town. The two meet and are drawn to each other at D.C.’s cousin’s early summer party, but as soon thereafter tragedy strikes their respective families, they don’t see each other again until the following fall. Although generally lighthearted and humorous in tone, the novel is at times serious, expressing honest, heart-felt emotion as it recounts the growth of the friendship — until tragedy strikes one more time.
My Thoughts:
To be honest, I wasn’t sure what to expect when I started reading this book. The author had sent this to us, for my daughter to read and review. He also included a note for me kind of “warning” me that the book had a very heavy element to it *death of a loved one* and I may want to read it before I gave it to her. A book, sent for review, with a warning. Ok, it got my attention. =)
According to my reading updates over on Goodreads, I really liked this book. As in, connected to the characters enough that I cried, at one point. This story is told from multiple POV, so we get the story mostly from both DC’s pov (the main little girl) and from Rob’s pov (the main little boy). It is about two little kids who become friends after a chance meeting at a birthday party. They then go on to become close friends and help each other through some of the hardest times of their lives.
The writing style is definitely aimed at tweens, it almost reads like those letters you saved in a shoebox from elementary school. The language is dead on for kids, and the writing flows from one chapter to the next. The heaviness of the “life story” is broken up with quirky little bits of sass and fun little fake “news headlines” that I think will keep kids entertained throughout.
In Conclusion:
I enjoyed this book. Even though the book does contain a few sad moments, I would still reccommend it for anyone ages 10ish+.
| Mom Notes:This book contains a couple of “deaths” and younger readers may need a little expansion on the topic. Even though the subject matter is sad and heavy, I think this book could be used as a tool to help introduce younger ones to the concept of “dying” and dealing with the loss of a loved one. |