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Eagle Eyes
In this charming story, Kofi, an 11-year-old boy from Ghana, lives for one thing only: soccer. He dreams of winning the Under-17 trophy for his country, so he begins to neglect school work, ignore his chores at home, and disregard other responsibilities except to his team. His only goal is to be a professional player and earn a lot of money, but he never acknowledges he might need an education. One day Kofi goes with his mother to visit his grandfather, who has been blind for a long time. Kofi’s uncle, an ophthalmologist, along with an American co-worker, performs cataract surgery on his grandfather. The operation is a starting point—the grandfather can now see his grandson for the first time and Kofi realizes that his uncle’s talent, which requires an education, just might be more important than soccer.
128 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2009
32 people want to read
About the author
Jacquelyn Mitchard
82 books1,247 followersJacquelyn Mitchard’s first novel, The Deep End of the Ocean, was named by USA Today as one of the ten most influential books of the past 25 years – second only to the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling (but second by a long shot, it must be said.)
The Deep End of the Ocean was chosen as the first novel in the book club made famous by the TV host Oprah Winfrey, and transformed into a feature film produced by and starring Michelle Pfeiffer.
Most of Mitchard’s novels have been greater or lesser bestsellers – and include The Most Wanted, A Theory of Relativity, Twelve Times Blessed, The Breakdown Lane, The Good Son, and Cage of Stars. Critics have praised them for their authentic humanity and command of story. Readers identify because they see reflected, in her characters – however extreme their circumstances – emotions they already understand.
Mitchard also has written four novels for young adults.
The first, Now You See Her, from HarperTeen, is the story of a pampered, driven young actress who fakes her own abduction.
All We Know of Heaven told the story of lifetime best friends Bridget and Maureen, who are just sixteen when a fatal crash on an icy road and a poignant case of mistaken identity divide their small Minnesota town forever.
The Midnight Twins was the first in a trilogy of teen mysteries about identical twin sisters born on New Year’s Eve – one a minute before and a minute after midnight – Meredith and Mallory Brynn learn on the night they turn thirteen that their psychic abilities will force them to intervene in dire events, although one twin can see only the future and one can see only the past. The Midnight Twins is in development as a TV series by Kaleidoscope Entertainment.
Mitchard's newest novel for adult, A Very Inconvenient Scandal, out in November 2023 from Mira/HarperCollins, is the story of an acclaimed young underwater photographer whose famed marine biologist father shatters their family by marrying her best friend., a woman 35 years his junior.
At the local coffee shop, Mitchard is best-known as the mother of Rob, Dan, Marty, Francie, Mia, Will and Atticus , as the grandma of Hank and Diana and the wife of handsome Chris Brent.
Her favorite color is periwinkle blue; her favorite holiday is Halloween; her favorite flower is freesia; her favorite word is "smite," and her second favorite is "Massachusetts"; her lucky number is 119 (anyone who can guess where that comes from wins free first editions of her novels for life). She lives in her favorite place on earth, Cape Cod, summering in a villa on the Amalfi Coast. (Guess which part of that sentence is fiction.)
Her essays have appeared in publications including the New York Times, Chicago Tribune Magazine and Reader's Digest, and are widely anthologized and used in school curricula. She has taught in MFA programs in Vermont, Ohio, and Massachusetts, and is part of the faculty at the Summer Writers Institute at Yale University. She is a member of the Tall Poppies Writers and has been a fellow at the MacDowell Colony, Yaddo, and the Ragdale Foundation.
Her pet peeves are known authors and editors who cannot and will not learn the difference between “lie” and “lay” and family signs pluralized with apostrophes.
She would love to appear on just ONE episode of any incarnation of ‘Law and Order,’ as has everyone else in America. She still is willing to play the role of a murder victim – except one found by earth-moving equipment in a landfill – though she would do that in a pinch.
Mitchard would like to have a swimming pool, because, although she lives near the ocean, she is afraid of the dark water and hates sand. She would love to have a clawfoot tub, or any tub.
She believes that stories are the ways that human beings make sense of life and that our stories will save us.
The Deep End of the Ocean was chosen as the first novel in the book club made famous by the TV host Oprah Winfrey, and transformed into a feature film produced by and starring Michelle Pfeiffer.
Most of Mitchard’s novels have been greater or lesser bestsellers – and include The Most Wanted, A Theory of Relativity, Twelve Times Blessed, The Breakdown Lane, The Good Son, and Cage of Stars. Critics have praised them for their authentic humanity and command of story. Readers identify because they see reflected, in her characters – however extreme their circumstances – emotions they already understand.
Mitchard also has written four novels for young adults.
The first, Now You See Her, from HarperTeen, is the story of a pampered, driven young actress who fakes her own abduction.
All We Know of Heaven told the story of lifetime best friends Bridget and Maureen, who are just sixteen when a fatal crash on an icy road and a poignant case of mistaken identity divide their small Minnesota town forever.
The Midnight Twins was the first in a trilogy of teen mysteries about identical twin sisters born on New Year’s Eve – one a minute before and a minute after midnight – Meredith and Mallory Brynn learn on the night they turn thirteen that their psychic abilities will force them to intervene in dire events, although one twin can see only the future and one can see only the past. The Midnight Twins is in development as a TV series by Kaleidoscope Entertainment.
Mitchard's newest novel for adult, A Very Inconvenient Scandal, out in November 2023 from Mira/HarperCollins, is the story of an acclaimed young underwater photographer whose famed marine biologist father shatters their family by marrying her best friend., a woman 35 years his junior.
At the local coffee shop, Mitchard is best-known as the mother of Rob, Dan, Marty, Francie, Mia, Will and Atticus , as the grandma of Hank and Diana and the wife of handsome Chris Brent.
Her favorite color is periwinkle blue; her favorite holiday is Halloween; her favorite flower is freesia; her favorite word is "smite," and her second favorite is "Massachusetts"; her lucky number is 119 (anyone who can guess where that comes from wins free first editions of her novels for life). She lives in her favorite place on earth, Cape Cod, summering in a villa on the Amalfi Coast. (Guess which part of that sentence is fiction.)
Her essays have appeared in publications including the New York Times, Chicago Tribune Magazine and Reader's Digest, and are widely anthologized and used in school curricula. She has taught in MFA programs in Vermont, Ohio, and Massachusetts, and is part of the faculty at the Summer Writers Institute at Yale University. She is a member of the Tall Poppies Writers and has been a fellow at the MacDowell Colony, Yaddo, and the Ragdale Foundation.
Her pet peeves are known authors and editors who cannot and will not learn the difference between “lie” and “lay” and family signs pluralized with apostrophes.
She would love to appear on just ONE episode of any incarnation of ‘Law and Order,’ as has everyone else in America. She still is willing to play the role of a murder victim – except one found by earth-moving equipment in a landfill – though she would do that in a pinch.
Mitchard would like to have a swimming pool, because, although she lives near the ocean, she is afraid of the dark water and hates sand. She would love to have a clawfoot tub, or any tub.
She believes that stories are the ways that human beings make sense of life and that our stories will save us.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
December 11, 2009
Eleven-year-old Kofi was in trouble. Again. Although he loved his parents “like crazy,” they were way too crazy about school. Didn’t they realize that Kofi was an up-and-coming football (soccer) champion, and that after he finished school—in just five years—he’d go professional? “Why did they insist that he learn poetry and history? These things didn’t count to a sports star!” But forgotten backpacks are nothing: Kofi knows that he’s really in trouble when his father slides a failed math exam under his door, along with a letter, not signed "Dad," but Albert Johnston Addo.
To teach a lesson in responsibility (and the good effects of liberal education) Kofi goes with his mother, who is a nurse, to Kofi’s grandfather’s village, where his uncle Charles, who is an ophthalmologist, will be testing peoples’ eyes. When Kofi complains that he wouldn’t be able to work on his math at the village because he can’t see well in kerosene light, his mother snaps back, “Then we shall test your eyes also.”
Even for a native Ghanaian, the differences between city and country life are startling. “Finally, they pulled into the square and dozens of children came running from the huts. Flies were everywhere, even in the eyes of the dogs. Kofi felt sorry for the dogs and used his handkerchief to brush some of the flies away, but they came right back.” Uncle Charles meets them at the bus, wearing his white coat and carrying a football. Kofi adores his uncle because he was a striker on the U-17 team that won the FIFA World Championship in 1991.
Kofi also adores his grandfather, but is glad that his grandfather can’t see him blush when he jokes about Kofi’s math scores. Kofi’s grandfather has cataracts and has been blind since before Kofi was born. But the following week, Grandfather is going on a bus to a hospital with electricity, where Uncle Charles will operate on him and others.
Eagle Eyes is a rich and fascinating book about all sorts of things, like growing up, goals, organization, fear, respect, and teamwork. It’s also a book about people from the same family who both do and don’t live very differently from the average North American. Simple black and white line drawings illustrate some events, plus there’s the real-life photography of Dr. Michael Lewis, who traveled to Ghana with a group in 2007 where they screened 6,000 people and performed cataract surgery on 157 of them. Author Mitchard’s novel, Deep End of the Ocean, was Oprah Winfrey’s first Book Club pick. In this book, middle graders will enjoy reading about universal problems in an exotic setting. A portion of the profits from the sale of each book will be donated to the Himalayan Cataract Project.
Review appeared originally in ForeWord magazine
To teach a lesson in responsibility (and the good effects of liberal education) Kofi goes with his mother, who is a nurse, to Kofi’s grandfather’s village, where his uncle Charles, who is an ophthalmologist, will be testing peoples’ eyes. When Kofi complains that he wouldn’t be able to work on his math at the village because he can’t see well in kerosene light, his mother snaps back, “Then we shall test your eyes also.”
Even for a native Ghanaian, the differences between city and country life are startling. “Finally, they pulled into the square and dozens of children came running from the huts. Flies were everywhere, even in the eyes of the dogs. Kofi felt sorry for the dogs and used his handkerchief to brush some of the flies away, but they came right back.” Uncle Charles meets them at the bus, wearing his white coat and carrying a football. Kofi adores his uncle because he was a striker on the U-17 team that won the FIFA World Championship in 1991.
Kofi also adores his grandfather, but is glad that his grandfather can’t see him blush when he jokes about Kofi’s math scores. Kofi’s grandfather has cataracts and has been blind since before Kofi was born. But the following week, Grandfather is going on a bus to a hospital with electricity, where Uncle Charles will operate on him and others.
Eagle Eyes is a rich and fascinating book about all sorts of things, like growing up, goals, organization, fear, respect, and teamwork. It’s also a book about people from the same family who both do and don’t live very differently from the average North American. Simple black and white line drawings illustrate some events, plus there’s the real-life photography of Dr. Michael Lewis, who traveled to Ghana with a group in 2007 where they screened 6,000 people and performed cataract surgery on 157 of them. Author Mitchard’s novel, Deep End of the Ocean, was Oprah Winfrey’s first Book Club pick. In this book, middle graders will enjoy reading about universal problems in an exotic setting. A portion of the profits from the sale of each book will be donated to the Himalayan Cataract Project.
Review appeared originally in ForeWord magazine
Displaying 1 of 1 review