Danielle Williams (Children's Literature)
The most amazing thing about Edward is his eyes. From the moment he is placed in Jake’s arms and looks up at him, Jake is entranced by his younger brother Edward. While all of the children are devoted to each another, there is a special bond between Edward and Jake which makes them seem more like best friends than brothers. When Edward is accidentally killed one summer day, their parents make the difficult decision to donate Edward’s organs to others, including his eyes. Jake is torn when he learns that Edward’s eyes have been donated, but several months after Edward’s death, he finds the person who received Edward’s corneas. Fittingly enough, the recipient is a young baseball player. While Edward’s life was cut short, his impact on the lives of his family members and his organ recipients was tremendous. MacLachlan has written a gut-wrenching story of family, life and loss that will stir the emotions of anyone who reads it. 2007, Atheneum Books for Young Readers/Simon & Schuster, $15.99. Ages 8 to 12.

Kirkus (Kirkus Reviews, July 15, 2007 (Vol. 75, No. 14))
In Jake's large family, the kids raise each other, and he's taught his younger brother Edward how to speak French, use the toilet and understand baseball. In fact, the whole family plays ball pretty much every day, and it's there that Edward's already unusual talents truly take form, as he is both a flawless hitter and self-taught knuckleball pitcher. But the reader knows, from the very start, that somewhere in this story Edward dies, and that his eyes (corneas) are transplanted. The story, then, is told in flashback through a lens of nostalgia that occasionally makes Jake's young voice ring false, in an otherwise engaging story of an unusual family, in which each character is quickly and fully realized, and vivid dialogue helps set each scene. As a story of overcoming grief, it works beautifully, and the quality and brevity of the narrative will appeal to those who read it despite its actual subject. 2007, Atheneum, 128p, $15.99. Category: Fiction. Ages 9 to 14. Starred Review. © 2007 Kirkus Reviews/VNU eMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.

Carol Gearhart (Kutztown Book Review, Spring 2008)
I chose this book because I have always enjoyed Patricia MacLachlan’s writing. Jake is part of an extraordinary family. His life is filled with art, music, and long summer nights on the Cape. He spends lots of time playing baseball. Jake has an older sister, Sola, and an older brother, Will. But best of all, Jake has Edward, his younger brother. When they bring Edward home from the hospital, Maeve, his mother, puts him in Jake’s arms. Jake at the time is three. Jake thinks the best thing about Edward is his eyes which are dark mud-blue. From the moment Edward was born, Jake was sure he was destined to be something. Edward could make anyone laugh and everyone think. Edward also loved baseball and one summer learned to throw a knuckleball that no one could hit. But also that summer, something dreadful happens to Edward. This is a story about family love, a family having to make a difficult decision, and a family recovering from tragedy. This is a bittersweet story. This is perhaps a good read aloud for 5th or 6th grades. It is a haunting tale that sticks with you. There is a fifth child born into the family named Sabine. Just as Maeve put Edward into Jake’s arms, the father, Jack, puts Sabine into Edward’s arms right after she is born and he falls in love with her vowing to teach her everything he knows including, “Oh, Canada.” One day Edward jumps on his bike to go to town to buy something special for Sabine. Jake tried to stop him telling him that the wheels on the bike are not safe. Edward didn’t listen. After he made his purchase, he started home. Then he turned on his bike to wave at someone he knew and ran into a tree. He died in the early afternoon. The little baseball cap he had bought for Sabine is taken home and given to her. The family decides to make a donation of his lungs, heart, and cornea. The corneas go to a young baseball player that the family eventually meets. Category: Realistic Fiction. 2007, Atheneum Books for Young Readers. Ages 10 to 13.

Charlotte Decker (Library Media Connection, January 2008)
From the time he was a baby, everyone commented on Edward's eyes: their color, their intelligence, and their sense of wonder. Although he is three years older, narrator Jake is amazed at his brother's maturity and self-possession. For example, when their mother announces she is pregnant, Edward correctly predicts that it will be a girl. But a tragic accident brings all of Edward's plans to an end. Jake is upset when his parents donate Edward's organs; but when they receive a thank-you note from an aspiring baseball player who received Edward's eyes, Jake takes comfort that others are carrying a little bit of Edward with them. While the story is about the death of a child, it is also a celebration of life. Edward is a well-developed character who bursts from the pages. Jake, his family, and his friends are believable as they go about their lives before and after the accident. MacLachlan has a way with words. Although there is sadness at Edward's death, the book is not maudlin. The book celebrates positive thinking; and following Edward's death, Jake finds the courage to see the world through Edward's eyes. Recommended. 2007, Atheneum (Simon & Schuster), 128pp., $15.99 hc. Ages 8 to 12.

Deborah Stevenson (The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, November 2007 (Vol. 61, No. 3))
Our narrator, Jake, is initially miffed when his parents bring home another baby, but he looks in Edward’s eyes and falls under his infant brother’s spell. As Edward grows, he’s the marvel of the family and its good friends, approaching life with a blend of fearlessness, faith, and quaint formality. It’s therefore a terrible grief to the family when Edward is killed in a bicycle accident, but Jake eventually finds his healing in tracing Edward’s final legacy: the gift of new sight to a minor-league player of Edward’s beloved game, baseball. MacLachlan’s style is polished and effective, and the death of a child is always a moving concept. Ultimately, though, this seems more like an elegant contrivance than a story of real messy people undergoing real messy life and bereavement. The family’s idyllic particulars, including the unexplained constant inclusion of that hackneyed figure, a kindly black elder, are implausible; Edward himself is presented as a tender, prodigious angel (“Don’t ask me how he knows. He just knows,” breathes an adult reverently), and some of his ostensibly charming characteristics are actually annoying Fauntleroyesque affectations. Ultimately, this will likely follow Sarah, Plain and Tall into Hallmark TV territory and be at its best there, while readers looking for fresh literary explorations of the topic of sibling loss will fare much better with Yeomans’ Rubber Houses (BCCB 2/07) Review Code: M -- Marginal book that is so slight in content or has so many weaknesses in style or format that it should be given careful consideration before purchase. (c) Copyright 2006, The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. 2007, Atheneum, 128p.; Reviewed from galleys, $15.99. Grades 4-6.