For Your Eyes Only! [Hardcover]

Joanne Rocklin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1997 | Age Level: 8 and up

Fifth-grade students Lucy and Andy find their lives changed when their teacher tells the class to keep journals, and while Lucy pours her heart out, Andy draws fighter planes and caricatures of his classmates.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 4-6. Through journals, poetry-loving Lucy bares her soul, while troublemaker Andy sketches war planes. Under their caring teacher's direction, each child embarks on a journey of self-discovery that culminates in unexpected friendship.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Gr. 4^-6. Sixth-grader Lucy Keane is excited about her new substitute teacher, generous Mr. Moffat, who writes a poem on the chalkboard each Monday and gives every student a notebook to start a journal. Through the journal, Mr. Moffat becomes Lucy's confidant and inspiration. Lucy begins writing poetry and becomes more attentive to the world around her, and her feelings about her divorced parents, her best friend, and the bane of her existence--a boy named Andy--come to light and are resolved. Andy's slow emergence as a writer and character contrasts nicely with Lucy's fast, emotive growth, and the journal format, graced by Lucy's perceptive voice, is quite appealing. The poems used throughout are well chosen and manageable for the age group, making the fiction more compelling and the book a good introduction to poetry and writing. Kathleen Squires

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Hardcover: 112 pages
• Publisher: Scholastic; 1st edition (April 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0590674471
• ISBN-13: 978-0590674478
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.7 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,458,050 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

JOANNE ROCKLIN is the critically acclaimed author of several books, including ONE DAY AND ONE AMAZING MORNING ON ORANGE STREET, an Indie Bound book; STRUDEL STORIES, which was a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year and an American Library Association Notable Book, and FOR YOUR EYES ONLY!, which was a School Library Journal Best Book and a Bank Street Best Book. Her early readers THREE SMART PALS and THIS BOOK IS HAUNTED will soon be e-books, the latter also to be released as an App.

Her latest middle grade novel is ONE DAY AND ONE AMAZING MORNING ON ORANGE STREET, also published as an audiobook. "Fully realized characters and setting definitely make this one morning on Orange Street amazing." KIRKUS, starred.

She has a doctorate in psychology and is a former elementary school teacher, presently writing children's books full-time. For several years she taught a popular class in writing children's books at UCLA Extension. She gives presentations in schools, libraries and bookstores and has been a speaker for the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, the California Reading Association, and other organizations.

Originally from Montreal, Canada, Joanne lived in Los Angeles for many decades. She now lives in Oakland, California.

Her website is www.joannerocklin.com and she welcomes comments.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Lot of Learning in a Little Book!, January 22, 2002

By 

D. Denny (Indianapolis, IN United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: For Your Eyes Only! (Hardcover)

Lucy learns some valuable things during the course of this book. She learns that a teacher can be a friend and confidant. She learns that writing about events and her feelings can be a wonderful release. She learns a lot about poetry, because it is her teacher's favorite thing, and he starts each day by writing a poem on the blackboard. The final thing she learns is about being judgemental. Sure, her classmate Andy is obnoxious and irritating. But once she sees why (his abusive stepfather), Lucy learns compassion.

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Book Review Ever For FYEO!, February 14, 2008

A Kid's Review

This review is from: For Your Eyes Only! (Paperback)

Do you have a trouble maker in your class? Well if you do this is a great book for you. The book's name is For Your Eyes Only. The author is Joanne Rocklin and has 138 pages. This book has a trouble maker named Andy. Andy is a 6th grader who loves to collect shoe laces and supposedly has the mayor's shoelace. He is also a kid who experiences abuse in his home. He purposely trips his teacher and puts a snail toward where she is walking and she breaks her ankle. So now they have a substitute named Mr. Moffat who loves poetry. Every week he has a new poem up on the chalkboard. He gives each student a notebook and then asks them if he is allowed to read the students' stories. Each person has to write in the notebook. But his favorite student writer is a girl name Lucy.

Lucy loves to write. She lives in the same building as Andy. But she is concerned that she doesn't have her own privacy. So Mr. Moffat gives her the notebook but Lucy tells him it's FYEO, which that is short for "for your eyes only." Which Lucy pours herself and her heart on the notebook that Mr.Morffat gave her. But she also writes about her father leaving her and her mother. Also writes about how her dad lives in San Francisco and has another family.

Lucy has a best friend named Clarice. Clarice leaves Lucy for a girl named Brissana just because Brissanna knows more about poetry then Lucy. Then Lucy finds a new best friend that understands her life and that loves to read Lucy's poems. Then they make a club named THE INKIE PINKEYS because when they write with pen they get their pinkies all full of ink. Lucy thinks she is in love.

The book For Your Eyes Only is a book for whoever loves to write or who is falling in love. This book was a great inspiration for me because I have really close friends and family members that either told me or I was there when they were being abuse. I think the message of this book is that you should care about everybody even if they don't like you or you don't like them. Sometimes when you don't like someone and you say bad stuff about them most of the times it goes back to you. While I read this book I felt bad for the people who suffer from abusive people or who have no friends. You always need someone to talk to and what if you don't have any friends? Who are you going to talk to?

5.0 out of 5 stars This isn't for your eyes only!By:Kate Dixson, November 16, 2005

A Kid's Review

This review is from: For Your Eyes Only! (Paperback)

If you like laughter and halliarous comedy I have got the book for you.To bad this book isn't just For Your Eyes Only[FYEO].

This book is about a girl named Lucy who loves poety and wants to be in a poetry group,with her friend Beatrice, called the Inkly Pinkies because they write with their left hand, and smear pen in their pinkies. When she and Beatrice have finally planned out making the Inkly Pinkies she makes a friend named Maria who is rich and pulling Beatrice away.

Joanne Roklin pulls life and reality into one book seamlessly. This book is awesome!