“I’m lying on the steel table, all too aware of the giant ray gun pointed in my direction.”
This is the voice of Ross Maloy, a kid who is just about to undergo his first radiation treatment. Ross has been diagnosed with a rare eye cancer…one that we learn early on is malignant. The “bad kind.”
Yet somehow, Wink is one of the funniest – and fun! – middle grade books you’ll ever read.
“If you have to be the weird guy – own it.”
Ross is just your average 7th grader. He loves playing a video game called Annhilation: Moon. He wants to spend time with his friends, Abby and Isaac – and to avoid the bully, Jimmy. He can also draw, just like the author upon who’s own bout w/ eye cancer this novel is based.
Ross has a wry, wise-cracking sense of humor, which makes this book read more like Diary of a Wimpy Kid than a book about a kid with cancer.
Ross’ cancer journey is made a bit gentler thanks to a few new (and old) friends:
Abby is his long-time best friend and rock. She’s the only one willing to joke with him about his diagnosis, which allows him to stay connected to a life lived (somewhat) normally.
Another cancer patient, 70-year-old Jerry, becomes an ally during their shared daily radiation treatments. Jerry calls Ross ‘Dime Slot’ (in reference to the new scar between his eyebrows) and provides just the tonic needed when Ross is feeling down or doubtful or depressed: “Why be normal?” asks Jerry. “Be different. Different moves the needle!”
“Ready to have sore fingers, Ross?”
Then there’s Frank, the radiation tech, who saves Ross through music. Frank introduces Ross to the edgy sounds of the Ramones, the Pixies, and his own band, Ripe Sponge.
Even better? He introduces him to the guitar.
Frank gives Ross lessons and Ross discovers the cathartic release of learning and playing music: “The guitar seems to say what I’m feeling best.” He masters the C chord (“it feels like it’s resonating in my bones”) and struggles with the F chord (“the bane of all beginning guitar players”). Eventually, he forms a band!
But through all this community, Ross still has to navigate school. While Abby remains his rock, his other bestie Isaac has gone AWOL, freaked out by Ross’s diagnosis. Ross also has a crush on a girl named Sarah, who makes him feel all woozy, but turns out to play a significant role in some cruel memes that end up circulating in school and prove to Ross that not everyone is who they seem.
Forming the band turns out to be a real boon. In an odd turn, the bully Jimmy turns out to be a terrific drummer – and a great bandmate. When he and Ross finally learn how to jam together, Ross describes the back and forth playing as “feeling like a dance.” When he recruits Abby, who actually plays the viola, to learn the bass, she comes thru: “Oh, I could get used to this.” Playing music, by himself, and in the band, turns out to offer the greatest catharsis: “…I go straight to the basement and slam all the rage and self-pity into my guitar.”
Author Rob Harrell – an accomplished cartoonist who also had eye cancer as a kid – manages to sneak in an occasional one page set of cartoon panels along the way. “Bat Pig” proves an alter ego for Ross, and helps him process his feelings – all the petty annoyances, all his fears. For readers, these comics – and author Harrell’s honest, humorous and heartwarming writing – provide yet more than one way to share the fizz – and laughs – through Ross’ challenging and life-changing 7th grade year.
