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HEAVEN EYES
by David Almond
List Price: $5.50
Pages: 256
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 0440229103
Publisher: Laurel Leaf
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Erin Law and her friends are Damaged Children. At least that is the label given to them by Maureen, the woman who runs the orphanage that they live in. Damaged, Beyond Repair because they have no parents to take care of them. But Erin knows that if they care for each other they can put up with the psychologists, the social workers, the therapists -- at least most of the time. Sometimes there is nothing left but to run away, to run for freedom. And that is what Erin and two friends do, run away one night downriver on a raft. What they find on their journey is stranger than you can imagine, maybe, and you might not think it's true. But Erin will tell you it is all true. And the proof is a girl named Heaven Eyes, who sees through all the darkness in the world to the joy that lies beneath.
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1. Though each of the children in HEAVEN EYES is an orphan, Almond develops a strong sense of family throughout the book. What role does family play in the novel? According to the book, what does it take to become a family?
2. Names and the ability to be renamed are very important to the characters in the story. Discuss the significance of each character's name to their role in the book. What does it mean when someone is renamed? How does it change their character? What happens when HEAVEN EYES discovers her true name?
3. HEAVEN EYES constantly reveals her sleep thoughts to Erin and explains that they are separate from her waking thoughts. Is this true? How do the sleep thoughts of Heaven Eyes and the other characters relate to their waking lives? What happens when the two realms collide?
4. Discuss the role of death in the novel. How does death impact each of the characters? How does the children's perception of death change from the beginning of the novel to the end? What influence do HEAVEN EYES and Grampa have on that perception?
5. Erin and January set out in search of freedom and decide to bring Mouse along when they find him scavenging the earth for "real treasure." (p. 35) Do you think January and Erin are looking only for freedom? How does their search change when they reach the Black Middens? What treasures do they find when they meet Heaven Eyes and Grampa? What do those treasures come to mean to them?
6. Contrast the reactions of Erin and January when they first meet Heaven Eyes. Why do you think they react so differently to her?
7. How are light and dark important in the book? Who is associated with the light and who with the dark? Why do you think this is so?
8. The two living adult characters in the book have different ways of relating to the past. Grampa chooses to shroud the past in secrecy, while Maureen continually asks the children in her care to reveal their memories. How do the children respond to the adults' ways of dealing with the past? What effect do the secrets and revelations have on the children? How do the children choose to deal with the past on their own? How does it affect their self-knowledge?
9. As they set out to return to Whitegates, Erin notes, "The most marvelous of things could be found a few yards away, a river's-width away. The most extraordinary things existed in our ordinary world and just waited for us to find them." (p.194) How is this statement reflected throughout the book? How does this view of the world vary from one that Erin and January might have expressed at the beginning of the novel?
10. At the end of the novel Erin explains to Maureen that "We run for freedom. . . . Just for freedom." (p. 197) Do you think Erin, January, and Mouse found what they set out to find? Are there ways in which HEAVEN EYES might represent freedom to them?
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"Almond's fans will willingly follow him on yet another journey into a surreal, murkey world that may be dream or reality."
—Kirkus Reviews
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Courtesy of
Laurel Leaf
ReadingGroupGuides.com -- AuthorsOnTheWeb.com -- AuthorYellowPages.com
Teenreads.com -- Kidsreads.com
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