Wink, a somewhat autobiographical novel by Rob Harrell, is one that takes the tough subject of childhood cancer and faces it head on, but it also adds so much wit and humor that the reader never feels weighed down or in despair. Ross has been dealt a low blow by getting a rare cancer around his eye. The novel starts out just as he’s starting treatments and ends with the final treatment and boy is a roller coaster of emotions.

In Wink the author doesn’t seem to hold anything back. He relates the side effects, the emotions, and the feelings in a raw and real way. Ross really does have it tough. There is the goopy, painful eye, the loss of hair and vision, but Ross is dealing with even more. Abbey, his best and seemingly only friend, is moving out of state. He has become the target of a very cold-hearted social media bully who is circulating memes about him dying. He also has the weight of knowing that his mom died of cancer when he was five. But through it all, Ross learns to cope and rely on others. He draws as an outlet and “his” sketches, doodles, and cartoons are included in the book. He takes up guitar. He befriends an elderly man receiving treatment at the same place. He also learns to look at things with humor (this is where the cartoons come in). And more importantly he learns that sometimes it’s okay not to always have things together.

Wink looks at childhood cancer in a raw and real way, which makes this an emotional book, but the reader comes away with the example of Ross and how to come through difficult times for the better.

 Review of an Advance Reading Copy

This book was sent to Compass Book Ratings for review by Dial Books for Young Readers

Content Analysis:

Profanity/Language:  7 religious exclamations. 

Violence/Gore:  Character is said to have given another character a “nipple twist” that really hurt;  2 characters get in a fight which involves one throwing a book a the other, one smacking the other in the back of the head, on slapping the other’s cheek, one kicking the other person and one punching the other person; character threatens to beat up another person; character swats someone on the back of the head; character throws a drum stick at another person. 

Sex/Nudity:  Cartoon drawing of a naked bottom.

Mature Subject Matter:

Cancer; death; bullying.

Alcohol / Drug Use:

Underage character is jokingly offered a beer; 2 adults ask for a beer; reference to kids smoking behind the school; reference made to someone having had a problem with depression in the past and drinking too much.