Booktalk #1

Lots of kids wear glasses, but can you imagine being in middle school and knowing that you are eventually going to go blind? Flint, or Squint, as his classmates insensitively call him, has to live with this fear. His favorite thing in the world is drawing and making comic books, but with his vision failing, that could soon be only a memory. He feels like he has no friends and is generally feeling down about life. Enter McKell: the new girl in school and part of the “cool crowd.” She has hardships of her own, and when she meets Flint, they form a friendship where they encourage each other to start living life without fear.

Oh, and wait until you meet Danny…

He just might inspire you, too.

(New Hampshire Great Stone Face Award, 2021)

Booktalk #2

Flint LOVES drawing comics, but he is racing against time to finish his comic. He is trying to enter it in a contest and is being pushed by the contest deadline, but he is also feeling the weight of the knowledge that he will eventually lose his vision. His thick glasses make him a target, until he meets McKell. McKell seems to have it together, but he learns that she has her own struggles. Her brother has a terminal diagnosis and copes with his reality making YouTube challenge videos to try and bring people together and encourage kindness. Can Squint finish his comic? Can McKell and Squint complete the YouTube challenges? (Pennsylvania Young Reader’s Choice Award 2020-2021)

Keratoconus -- Fiction.
                        Eye -- Diseases -- Fiction.
                        Artists -- Fiction.
                        Contests -- Fiction.
                        Cartoons and comics -- Fiction.
                        Friendship -- Fiction.
                        Middle schools -- Fiction.
                        Schools -- Fiction.