Kasey & Ivy by Alison Hughes
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Wow, what a delightful book. The cover drew me in, and then the bright, funny, real voice of Kasey pulled me in the rest of the way.
The longest I have had to spend in a hospital was about a week, when my daughter was born. I hated it. Kasey has to stay a month, with old people, as the children’s ward is having renovations. At first Kasey doesn’t like to be around people. She thinks they are strange. Then she warms to them, as the story progresses. As she likes to say, being in the hospital is like being in a little village, with all the different characters you would meet.
And we get to meet all the characters through her letters that she writes home to her best friend. Missy Wong, the old woman who wants to go “upstairs” all the time. Louise, the candy stripper, (or whatever they are known as in Canada), who brings by snacks, and Night Owl, one of the night nurses.
The friendship between Missy Wong and Kasey is so strong, it was wonderful to read that she based it on someone the author met in the hospital when had to stay there, she was nine years old
The funny thing is, as I was reading this book, as an American, I thought, wow, this must be in Canada because the cost of her stay is never brought up, and isn’t part of the plot, the way it would be in the US. What does that say about how different this book would have been.
Highly recommend this book for all, even if you don’t like middle school books. It’ll make you laugh, it’ll make you cry. It’ll make you stay up late to finish it, even when you have to get up the next day.
Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.