Write Before Your Eyes

by Lisa Williams Kline

Book Overview

TWELVE-YEAR-OLD GRACIE IS always flying under the radar of her overworked parents and outspoken siblings. But when she buys an old journal at a yard sale, Gracie is stunned to realize that everything... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0385735685
• ISBN13: 9780385735681
• Release Date: October 2008
• Publisher: Delacorte Press
• Length: 178 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.5" x 8.5"
• Age Range: 9 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 4 to 7

Customer Reviews

Encourage ALL kids to write every day

Gracie is freaked out after she buys an old journal at a garage sale. In it is the inscription, "Remember what the dormouse said." She figured it was a karmic message just for her, since she was named after Grace Slick and Jefferson Airplane and "Go Ask Alice" and all. The bad news is that everything Gracie writes in this journal comes true. So she begins writing very carefully, very intentionally, to make the world a better place. But she is horrified at the results. She writes that her brother makes an A on a test. But then he gets busted for cheating. Gracie wants her dad to have the job he always wanted...but the bad news is it's in another city. She wants to deal with global warming and stop world hunger, but is having enough difficulty with local issues that she hesitates, not knowing what unforeseen consequences might result. Factor in a mysterious disappearing Cheshire cat with big square teeth who demands the diary back, and factor in Gracie being stuck not knowing how to get out of this situation, having nobody to turn to, and you've got a good hunk of a story. It would be a great prologue read-aloud for a journaling unit or a creative writing class, and you could invent all sorts of prompts (well-meaning of course, like Gracie's) and their unintended outcomes (the "what if" game that Stephen King talks about to writers in his memoir, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft.) The ending is satisfying and sensible, and it's an altogether delightful little novel.

Great Story!

This was a really great story with characters that seemed real. I could really identify with the main character Gracie, a smart, bookish middle child who seems to be overlooked by the world. When she acquires a magic journal that makes everything she writes come true, suddenly she has power that she's not used to. Of course, problems inevitably arise as they do in all good stories, and Gracie and her friend Dylan must try to undo some of the problems they've created. The story was fast paced and funny and I was rooting for Gracie all the way. All in all, an entertaining read. I'm ready for the sequel if it's coming!