Wink by Rob Harrell

Rating: Needs Parent Supervision

Reading Level: Late Elementary, Middle School

A middle school kid simultaneously battles cancer and the terrors of middle school.

Possible Concerns:

• Cancer. The kid has cancer and his mom died of breast cancer years ago.
• Bullying. Some kids make horrible memes about the kid battling cancer.
• Violence. The kid gets in a fight over the memes.
• Coping. The kid struggles to cope, mostly training to heavy metal music and learning to play the guitar.
• Occasional cuss words.
• Blindness. The kids cancer is near the eye.

A must-read for building empathy. If your kid is going through a tough diagnosis, perhaps remind them that their coping may look different; not everyone turns to heavy metal music.