Picking up your life and moving across the country would be a challenge for anyone. But what if you had to do it while your dad worked all the time, your brother was sulking, and your mom couldn’t find the energy to get out of bed everyday? Oh, and on top of that, you are blind. That is exactly the predicament that Alice finds herself in. Leaving everything familiar behind, can she make this new town a home on her own?
Blind Guide to A Stinkville by Beth Vrabel, is a heart-warming tale of a girl who chooses to push forward despite all the challenges life bring. Alice is a charming heroine, determined to prove that just because she is legally blind doesn’t mean she can’t see a way to make the best of a less than ideal situation. At first determined not to like her new town of Sinkville and forced to, in a way, fend for herself for the first time in her short life, Alice soon finds a kind of magic in the ordinary lives of the town people.
Vrabel surrounds Alice with a beautiful contingent of characters, all flawed in their own special way, and some, like Alice, trying to overcome their own difficulties. Vrabel masterfully weaves in several disabilities and deals with them in a real and respectful way, while avoiding becoming too heavy and possibly going over the heads of some younger readers. A Blind Guide to Stinkville leaves the reader feeling fully uplifted and curious as to what kind of stories are hiding in their own backyards.
Review of an Advance Reader Copy
This book was sent to Compass Book Ratings for review by Sky Pony Press
Content Analysis:
Profanity/Language: Reference to an adolescent flipping off another adolescent.
Violence/Gore: Adolescent trips; adolescent hits another adolescent; adult playfully swats an adolescent with a tie; sunlight causes pain to an adolescents eyes; 2 references to adults cutting their hands; reference to an elderly man falling; adolescent gets a severe sunburn; animal accidentally scratches character; character is bitten by an animal; reference to an animal being hit by a car; elderly man breaks ankle and cuts hand; animal gets a tumor.
Sex/Nudity: None
Mature Subject Matter:
Depression, dyslexia, disability, moving, starting over, change, terminal illness (in a pet).
Alcohol / Drug Use:
None
