Touch Blue

Beautiful fiction

Great book for middle school readers...touches on important topics...nice Maine setting, too.

Reviewed by Sally Kruger aka "Readingjunky" for TeensReadToo.com

The residents of a small island community off the coast of Maine have been told their island school is in danger of being closed by the state. The news has some of those residents taking action. Here's the plan - a few families have agreed to take foster children into their homes, hoping that the added students are enough to save their school. Tess Brooks has reason to be doubly excited about the arrival of thirteen-year-old Aaron. First of all, her mother is the one and only teacher at their small school, and closing the school would mean her losing her job. If that happens, Tess knows her family would be forced to move from the island to the mainland so her mother could get a new job. All Tess has ever known is island life. Moving would mean leaving the best place on Earth. The other reason Tess has to be excited is that Aaron's arrival means she will have a big brother. He may be only two years older, but Tess is used to being the oldest and she thinks it would be nice to have someone else as a companion besides her usually annoying little sister. What Tess is not expecting is that Aaron might not love the island like she does. He is polite enough, but he's mostly moody and quiet and not even interested in exploring his new home. Aaron spends his time in his attic room playing his trumpet. It takes all of Tess's skill and patience to convince him to join her in enjoying the summer on the island. As Aaron comes out of his shell, Tess discovers his secrets and concerns and vows to help him solve his biggest problem. Cynthia Lord's new book, TOUCH BLUE, is the emotional story of a group of well-meaning people and how they touch the life of one lonesome, confused boy. Readers will enjoy Lord's humor as well as her colorful descriptions of the picturesque little island and its interesting mix of inhabitants. I also enjoyed that each chapter begins with one of the superstitions Tess religiously believes help to guide her through life.

Sweet read about what makes a family

Tess certainly has a lot of worries. Not only has her best friend leaving left her without a companion all summer (and we won't even talk about how Amy's letters to Tess have become less and less frequent), but it could cause her to lose her whole life as she knows it. And Tess cannot have that. She's happy on the island, loves being able to see the ocean all around her. She loves going lobstering with her father all summer long, and she loves going to school in a one-room schoolhouse with every other kid on the island. Losing all of that to move to a landlocked town where all the kids already know each other and don't need a lobster girl for a friend would be devastating.

Tess is all for the plan to save the school and is excited to have a foster kid stay with her family. She has read plenty of books about foster kids (apparently the state cannot afford to keep a one-room schoolhouse on this island, but a well-stocked library is no problem). In her mind, Aaron is the 12 year old boy version of Anne of Green Gables and she cannot wait to have a bosom friend again to run around the island with. As Aaron spends more time on the island, Tess has to admit that he is more Gilly Hopkins than Anne. Then, finally, she realizes that he isn't a character from a book (ha), but a kid who misses the life he left behind just as much as she would miss her island if she had to leave it.

Aaron and the other foster kids try to settle into life on the island, and Tess, her family, and the rest of the island start to accept the foster kids as their own. And somewhere along the way Aaron and Tess become friends. For so much of the book, Tess is grasping at straws with Aaron, afraid to offend him or trying to shield him from other people on the island, and Aaron is so stand-off-ish and hesitant to let Tess or her family in. Then they finally share a secret. He lets his guard down a little and she starts treating him like any other friend. I wanted SO BADLY for things to work out for them, even as I thought that their secret plan to make things right was a horrible idea. Lord has managed to create two compelling characters in a small amount of time, and she does it through, really, a series of tiffs and misunderstandings. The fact that these normal kids are in this bizarre situation where Tess's continued happiness requires that Aaron not attain what he dreams to be his (being reunited with his family and mainland life) makes it all the more interesting and complicated.

Still, in the end Touch Blue ends up being a sweet story about two kids dealing with BIG things like adults that let you down and situations that are beyond anyone's control. But it's also about lobsters, good luck charms, and a five year old sister who always wants to play Monopoly.


Book source: Advanced reader copy picked up at ALA

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