Review Detail

Eleven-year-old Tess Brooks has lived on Bethsaida Island for as long as she can remember. She loves her cute little house looking out at the water, the neighborly feeling she has with everyone, going crabbing with her dad, and basically everything else about her small island off the coast of Maine. But when the state plans to shut down the island school because there arent enough students, Tess family may have to move to the mainland. The plan? Bring in some foster children to increase the school enrollment.


Tess family agrees to adopt a teenaged boy named Aaron. While Tess and her sister hope for the best - a nice brother who likes the same things they like, what meets them instead is a troubled, quiet, judgmental, and awkward thirteen-year-old who has moved around from foster home to foster home. The Brooks family, and the entire island, have to help Aaron accept his new home and learn to trust and love his new family.


If I could write a book, it would be like this one. It is sweet and heartfelt and filled with genuine and real characters. Cynthia Lords Newbery Honor award novel, Rules, is one of my personal favorites, so I was super excited to read Touch Blue. While the characters and storyline are different, the author fills both books with humor, style, relatable characters and great plots. You wont be disappointed.