Wink

Product Description A hilarious and heartwrenching story about surviving middle school--and an unthinkable diagnosis--while embracing life's weirdness. Ross Maloy just wants to be a normal seventh grader. He doesn't want to lose his hair, or wear a weird hat, or deal with the disappearing friends who don't know what to say to "the cancer kid." But with his recent diagnosis of a rare eye cancer, blending in is off the table. Based on Rob Harrell's real life experience, and packed with comic panels and spot art, this incredibly personal and poignant novel is an unforgettable, heartbreaking, hilarious, and uplifting story of survival and finding the music, magic, and laughter in life's weirdness. Review TIME Best Book of the YearNYPL Best Book for KidsNPR's Book Concierge Pick Evanston Public Library Great Books for Kids A Texas Lone Star Reading List Selection2021 ALSC Notable Children’s Books List "Harrell's genius is making all of it feel authentic for a seventh grader, a teenager who, like countless others, just wants to be normal . . . Bodies change, people change, life continues. It's a lesson a lot of us have been learning, and relearning, in recent days." — New York Times Book Review ★ "Filled with the same sardonic humor and celebration of atypical friendships as his Life of Zarf series, Harrell draws from personal experience to track the wild emotional roller coaster a seventh-grader rides after being diagnosed with a rare tear duct cancer.” — Booklist, starred review  ★ "This page-turner is not to be missed." — School Library Connection, starred review ★ "Amusing black-and-white comics trace his unsavory experiences, capture the ironies of his predicament, and underline his creativity and sense of humor . . . This lively novel showcases the author’s understanding of middle school angst amid the protagonist’s experience with a serious illness." — Publishers Weekly, starred review "The author balances this anger element well against the typical middle-grade tropes . . . While some of these elements will feel familiar, the novel's emotional climax remains effectively earned . . . Not your typical kid-with-cancer book."  — Kirkus"The story’s beauty lies in how Ross’s life unfolds and opens . . . This title is delightfully good and different. Highly recommended." — School Library Journal About the Author Rob Harrell created the Life of Zarf series, the graphic novel Monster on the Hill, and also writes and draws the long-running daily comic strip Adam@Home, which appears in more than 140 papers worldwide. He created and drew the internationally syndicated comic strip Big Top until 2007. He lives with his wife in Indiana. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. 1 LET’S GET RADIOACTIVE I’m lying on a steel table, all too aware of the giant ray  gun pointed in my direction. It looks like one of those room-sized five-ton laser things supervillains use in movies. The kind they threaten to destroy the planet with. “What music’re you into, Ross?” I’m pretty sure the radiation tech is just trying to distract me as he bolts me down. A hard-plastic-mesh mask over my neck and head holds me still—they molded it to my face yesterday—and the tech struggles to click it onto the table. He scrunches his nose, pushing. “Oh . . . anything. Whatever,” I mumble through my teeth. The hardened mask doesn’t let my chin move much.  The headpiece locks in, and the tech—Frank—gives my shoulder a bump with his fist. “C’mon, man. If you’re gonna lie here for half an hour, you need some tunes. I’ve got all kinds. Name something you like. There are no wrong answers.” I scan my brain. “You could . . . Can you just . . . KZAQ?”  Frank stops and doubles over at the waist like he’s been gut-punched. He hangs there, talking to the floor.  “Okay . . . No wrong answers but that one.” He straightens up and winces at me. “Seriously? You like that Top Forty garbage?”  “It’s . . . what my parents have on all the time . . .”  S