From the authors of Mustaches for Maddie, we have a new middle grade novel addressing the lives of individuals with a medical concern and their families.

The reader follows a boy who is losing his vision, trying to navigate the middle school social scene, living with his grandparents, and trying to finish a comic book he is entering into a contest. There is also a girl who is new to the school, is dealing with personal family struggles, and is trying to decide what kind of a person she wants to be.  These lives are in juxtaposition with the description of the comic Squint/Flint is creating. (Incidentally, most of the violence in this review is attributed to said comic.  See content review below.)

This is the perfect read for the middle grader who is struggling to figure his/her place out in the social department of life. The book does a really good job of helping one to see that everyone’s lives are not as perfect as they may appear on the outside. It also illustrates that the perspective you choose to see people may be just that – your perspective and there may be an alternate perspective to the situation.

The take away point of the book is: “ … a person could be different, look different, have struggles, make mistakes, and still have so much to offer.” (p. 235, ARC)

Review of an Advance Reading Copy

This book was sent to Compass Book Ratings for review by Shadow Mountain

Content Analysis:

Profanity/Language:  None

Violence/Gore:  Comic violence: character dodged a falling boulder; daggers of power create holes metal door; reference to going on a suicide mission; assassin bots with guns and spinning razors; report of kidnapping; bots fired; character jabs with daggers; kicked away a blade; character looked into a barrel of fireball bazooka; light blasted character into another dimension; discussion of a girl character who fights; threat of light daggers and fireball bazooka; characters fighting extended scene includes: dog bites character, fireball misses character, threat of death to dog, weapons of light fight, large stone slammed character, misses boulder hitting him, threat to blow up dog, knocked off feed, slammed and pinned against wall by boulder, pain in right side of face, punched character, fell unconscious; character talking about saving another character before he was killed; targets fire back at character; army could conquer, threat of death; extended fighting scene including: icicles shooting at character, threat of fire bazooka, threat of boulders taking out eye, threat of whip, fired at character – synchronized attach, shot light daggers, avoiding icicles, fire balls, whips, and boulders, caught by a boulder, icicles to left side, fireball hit, boulder to back, whip to side and back, aimed bazooka, pummeled characters with light, shot, whip around neck, punching people with diamond hands,

Real life violence: report of being bullied – throwing of paper wads; imaginary stampeding wildebeests collided; imagining someone tripped, crashed, and burned; slapped on back; minor wished he could blast minor with light daggers into a different dimension; adult verbal threat to tackle minor; imagined zombie ninjas with death guns; a few references to pain in eye – sometimes severe; references to potential pranks – being drenched with buckets of water, dressing up as an animal to scare; imagined eye exploding everywhere; imagined badger bit nose; branches would have hit his face; would rather face destruction of planet; minor pushes minor; wanted to punch a desk; memory of ball almost hitting minor; ran into desk; description of eye surgery and donor being dead; report of sibling death; minor knocked down; adult playfully hits another adult in the arm with the back of hand; If I die statement; minor pulls on minor; memory of taking hard hits in football; imagining insides exploding; hoped fireball bazookas not blast him; playful push.  

Sex/Nudity:  One reference to adults gambling and chasing women; minors holding hands; minors hug.

Mature Subject Matter:

Death; middle school concerns – bullying, crushes, peer pressure, etc.; parent unable to care for child.

Alcohol / Drug Use:

None