Cold Hands, Warm Heart (Hardcover)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: complete honest truth, transplant network, donor family, Nurse Brianna, Children's Hospital, Nurse Joe (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

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
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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

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Product Details

• Reading level: Young Adult
  
• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR); 1 edition (March 31, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805082824
• ISBN-13: 978-0805082821
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #614,865 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What a spellbinding read! , March 31, 2009

By	wisteria (San Jose, CA) - See all my reviews

Set against the amazing backdrop of the entire organ donation process, Cold Hands, Warm Heart is a fabulous story about some young people who are learning--in extreme circumstances--what's most important in life: love, work, a sense of purpose and community. Wolfson gives y-a readers all that they can love in a book--romance, humor, brisk chapters and quiet suspense--without underestimating them. This is a book that treats young readers as if they have brains, as well as hearts, libidos, and, in the case of gymnast Amanda, nerves of steel.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Okay novel..., June 18, 2009

By	Tower of Books "Krista" (Georgia, United States) - See all my reviews

Dani's heart is on the right side of her body, meaning the wrong side. This has caused her life to be filled with many doctor visits. Then, at fifteen, her heart is struggling to keep her alive, so Dani must stay at the hospital. At the hospital, Dani meets Milo, a boy who needs a liver transplant. However, there is one person who can help Dani at the expense of her own life-fourteen year old gymnast Amanda. Amanda's family must cope with the sadness of losing a family member, while knowing another family is experiencing joy.

First of all, Cold Hands, Warm Heart had an unique story line. I have never read a story about organ transplants, and it was very interesting. I can also tell that Wolfson did her reasearch on organ transplants. She combined so many perspectives and emotions in one novel! The problem is, though, that the novel is only about 250 pages. There were about 5 different point-of-views in the story, so there just was not enough space to fully develop each story causing the novel to lack depth. So basically, what was in the novel was good, but there was too much missing that ultimately could have made the novel great.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Cold Hands, May 17, 2009

By	Yan - See all my reviews

Cold Hands, Warm Heart was a tolerable read but straining itself from the "I am about to trash it" side. While the idea is innovative, it lacks the finer details.

There was so much going on. It had about 5 different points of views, 3 side stories, and a romance, a funeral, a revelation, and a whole bunch of other stuff thrown in. There was no definite cohesion and nothing but a thin thread connecting all the stories together. At points the author gets overly descriptive for some of the characters' appearance but then becomes stark and face-the-fact. The ending was lackluster and the opening was bland.

But there are some strong points to this book. The emotional appeal can captivate many and the chameleon-like voices--switching from child like to the mature adult, was compelling to the keen eye.

Overall: Not sure exactly what to say.