The Mind's Eye

By Paul Fleischman

Book Overview

Eighty-eight-year old Elva and Courtney, an attractive sixteen-year-old with a severed spinal chord, lie in adjacent beds in a grim Bismarck, North Dakota convalescent home. Ignored by the world, the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0805063145
• ISBN13: 9780805063141
• Release Date: September 1999
• Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
• Length: 112 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.5" x 0.6" x 5.3"
• Age Range: 12 to 17 years
• Grade Range: Grades 7 to 12

Customer Reviews

Mind's Eye

Written as a play and taking place in a convalescent home, Mind?s Eye is a touching story of the bond formed between Courtney a 16-year old who recently became a paraplegic and Elva, her elderly roommate who is bedridden and almost blind. A former English teacher, Elva is an educated and spirited woman. Kept company by the likes of John Greenleaf Whittier, William Blake and Robert Frost, she colors her conversations with quotes from the greats of the literary world. Depressed over her circumstances, Elva is nothing more than an irritant to Courtney. But when Elva tells Courtney a sentimental story about her late husband, Emmett, Courtney reluctantly listens. Elva explains that Emmett had always wanted to go to Europe, but passed away before his dream was realized. Elva tells Courtney that she had made a promise to Emmett that she herself would make the journey, but she became bedridden before that was possible. She encourages Courtney to join her and her husband on an imaginary pleasure trip through Italy using her 1910 Baedeker?s Italy as their guide. With detailed accounts, Fleischman creates a lavish trip through Italy?s landmarks and countryside. For Elva, the trip becomes a time filled with fond memories of her late husband. At first, Courtney uses the trip as an opportunity to exude her anger about the new condition in which she finds herself. With little enthusiasm, Courtney reads from the travel guide and butchers the language. She unpacks her bags and ventures through Italy, and at one point takes a bold move and steers the trip in her own direction. Granting herself Medusa like powers, she pretends to ruin some of the world?s most prized pieces of art. But, as she begins to heal spiritually and emotionally, she gives herself an imaginary boyfriend. Fleischman craftily uses the trip to display Courtney?s remarkable journey to emotional and spiritual recovery. He fills the reader with hope for Courtney and all others in similar situations as she continues her journey with another roommate after Elva?s death. Fleischman?s choice to leave out Courtney?s emotional reaction to Elva?s death is an interesting one, which leaves something special for the reader?s own imagination. While the story could be easily understood by very young adults, the references to literary works and the spirit of this story would best be appreciated by sensitive readers. The surreal cover is a perfect complement to this imaginative flight.

"Very Touching and Intriguing!'

The Mind's Eye is a great story by Paul Fleischman. In this book, a young girl by the name of Courtney got into a terrible accident and damaged her legs. Because her mother had passed away when she was younger, she lived with her stepfather. Not getting along with him, she was stuck at Home Care while he found a new life with another woman. Although she was lonely at first, she made new friends with Evla, and old woman. Together, they pass their time by imagining about places and things.This book was introduced to me by Faith, my best friend. After reading it, she described it to me as a very touching story that I would fall in love with. The cover also seemed to look interesting and fun so I went ahead and read it. Even the cover seemed to tell me that this would be a book that I enjoy. One of my favorite parts were when Elva and Courtney traveled to Italy through their imaginations. As Courtney looked through the map of Italy, they pretended to travel through its museums and wonderful sites. This gave me a feeling of wonder and adventure and I felt as though I was traveling through it, too. I never been to Italy either so I got to experience it through their imagination. It was very exciting and interesting. This is a book that should be read by everyone!

Mind's Eyes (Fiction Book)

The Mind's Eyes is written by Pual Fleischman. Mind's Eyes is a book that talks about this girl. She was caught in an accident, and got her legs useless. Her mom died before she got in an accident and she was stuck with her step-father. She and her step-father wasn't really going along. Instead, her step-father married someone else and made the girl stay at a Home Care. From there she got new friends and a good room-mate. They would always think there were traveling somewhere like in Italy and make imaginary friends. I love this book because you always want to know whats going to happen next when you have to stop reading. This book taught me something that I know and that I don't. One, is that always get to know the person you met first before you ignore them or leave them. The girl in the book got a friend (her room-mate) who is very old and likes to talk a lot. When the girl first knew the woman she wasn't didn't really like her from her talking and talking. But in the middle of the story they got along very well by using their imaginary people and things...

Paul Fleischman succeeds again

In Paul Fleischman's Mind's Eye, Courtney is a sixteen-year-old girl whose father left her and her mother when she was two. Countney did not get along with her stepfather so when her mother died, it made the situation worse. Courtney had a horse accident which has made her paralyzed. Her stepfather put her in a nursing home. She meets Elva who is eighty-eight years old and almost blind. Courtney and Elva take an imaginary trip to Italy using a 1910 travel guide. Even though the trip is only in the mind's eye, Courtney's need for love makes the journey real. Mind's Eye is a contemporary fiction book written in script.