The Kaleidoscope Sisters

Gr 7 Up—When Riley was born, Quinn was only eight years old and couldn't even say the word stenosis let alone fully grasp what it would mean to have a sister with this disease. Although the doctors didn't expect Riley to live very long, she beat the odds and lived for seven years, becoming a sister that Quinn loved dearly and a cherished daughter to their mother Jane. During a moment of anguish and despair over Riley's failing health, Quinn stumbles across a portal to a strange and mysterious world. There, she finds Aimee and Meelie, travelers who also discovered the portal by accident. They go on an adventure in this place full of luminescent creatures and two moons to help Quinn find a heart flower that can heal her sister. Before returning home, Quinn discovers that there is a price to pay for taking a heart flower. Mainly told from the perspectives of Riley, Quinn, and their mother, this novel is a heartrending story of the deep love of family and the hardships of terminal disease and loss. In his debut, Stevens has created a touching novel that is Jodi Picoult's My Sister's Keeper mixed with Michael Ende's The Neverending Story or Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland.