Kasey & Ivy

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 <em>cost</em> 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.

Received an e-arc from Orca Book Publishers, for an honest review, thank you!

This is the first book I read on on 2018 and my new favorite, this is a middle grade oriented book, but I truly enjoyed it! Enjoy the cover as it is artistry and intriguing.

This book is about a 12 year old girl Kasey who gets hospitalized for more than a month because of her bruise on the leg, which turns out to be infected very badly and the situation is serious. She is placed in hospital where every other patient is an elderly and none of the other patients are kids or anyone her age. The book starts with Kasey's first letter to her best friend Nina, the book represents only letters from Kasey's side, although it is well understood Nina writes back to her too. 
Kasey in her letters tells absolutely everything - her fears, her viewpoints to hospital inhabitants and employees, how lonely she feels, even when her parents/family visits them. This book gives an inner view about dementia and what it makes people turn, how hospitals and old people are not so scary. It also touches vaguely a topic that she is not very close to her mum, because being the eldest of 5 children, the youngest she keeps on calling as "baby".  This book involves a very good storytelling, humor episodes, and main character growth.