Cold Hands, Warm Heart

Dani was born with her heart on the wrong side of her body. In her fifteen years of life, she's had more doctor's appointments, X-rays, and tests, and eaten more green hospital Jell-O than she cares to think about. Fourteen-year-old Amanda is a competitive gymnast, her body a small package of sleek muscles, in perfect health. The two girls don't know each other, don't go to the same school, don't have any friends in common. But their lives are about to collide.

Acclaimed author Jill Wolfson tackles this fascinating story with her trademark honesty and wit.

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Grade 8-10 - Fifteen-year-old Dani has a congenital heart defect and is waiting for a transplant. Fellow patients in the hospital include Wendy, a pesky 8-year-old awaiting a kidney, and 17-year-old Milo, the bad-boy love interest who abused his first transplanted liver and is determined to do better if given a second chance. Dani and Wendy become "transplant sisters" when they receive organs from the same donor, a 14-year-old competitive gymnast named Amanda. Readers come to know and appreciate Amanda through the remembrances of her older brother, Tyler, who discovers her true, caring nature when he searches through her computer files. Some of the characters are truly extraneous and the writing is sometimes clichéd, but readers will still feel the wrenching agony of the donor's family. The physical and emotional anguish that transplant recipients endure appears to be realistically portrayed, as is the strong language to express their anger and frustration. It is unfortunate that the book begins with a dreadfully erroneous description of a gymnastics meet, including gymnasts who vault over a pommel horse and swing from metal uneven parallel bars. It is difficult to trust the author's medical information after such a shaky introduction to the story. Nonetheless adolescent readers may be drawn to the drama surrounding organ transplants, the teen love affair, and the dynamics of Tyler and Amanda's sibling relationship. - Patricia N. McClune, Conestoga Valley High School, Lancaster, PA
Copyright Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. FROM BOOKLIST
The social and psychological ramifications of organ transplantation on the lives of recipients and the family members of the recently deceased fuel the plot of this well-written novel. The lives of two teenage girls become literally connected after 14-year-old Amanda unexpectedly dies during a gymnastics meet, and Dani receives Amanda's heart. Wolfson intersperses Dani's account of how transplant technology influences her life with a third-person narrative that focuses on Amanda's teenage brother, and adds a dollop of letters from the recipients of Amanda's other organs (kidney, cornea, etc.) . These three strands are compelling and give a full view of sibling loss, hospital friendship (and budding romance) , and how donated organs can - and can't - address recipients' spectrum of needs. Dani; Amanda's brother, Tyler; and Milo, a teen awaiting a second liver transplant after abusing the first in typically adolescent ways, all ring true. Showing teens confronting unexpected emotions in both themselves and others, this novel is sure to please fans of realistic but gentle teen romance or medical stories. Grades 8-10. --Francisca Goldsmith REVIEW
Praise for COLD HANDS, WARM HEART:

"Organ transplants tell a Janus-faced story: Someone lives; someone dies. If you're already saying, "Who wants a book about that?" Wolfson's book will get you over that and into an intense, likable reading experience ... Many readers will pick this book up tentatively and stay on, transfixed." - Chicago Tribune

"Detailed, accurate descriptions of medical procedures are leavened with humor and sincerity, providing a powerful, multifaceted exploration of ethics, love and the celebration of life." - Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review

"The social and psychological ramifications of organ transplantation on the lives of recipients and the family members of the recently deceased fuel the plot of this well-written novel...Showing teens confronting unexpected emotions in both themselves and others, this novel is sure to please fans of realistic but gentle teen romance or medical stories." - Booklist

"The subject is immediately gripping, and the book is genuinely thoughtful ... the emotional subject will likely grab readers looking for a melodramatic good time." - BCCB

"Told from multiple viewpoints, the book is effective at showing the complexities of emotions that surround organ donation and transplantation processes." - VOYA

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
JILL WOLFSON is the author of the highly acclaimed novels What I Call Life and Home, and Other Big, Fat Lies. She lives in Santa Cruz, California.
jillwolfson.com.

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