A Small Free Kiss in the Dark

Work was slow last night, so I read this. I really liked Skip, he had incredible attention to detail (just like his artist heroes). This is a quick, thoughtful read. I enjoyed the story and thought the characters were strong.
I had some issues with the foreshadowing...there was a lot of it, and it usually ended up the opposite of what had been predicted. I can't go into it without listing a bunch of spoilers. Two I have a feeling this book has been “fixed” with American idioms that were not present in the original version. I am willing to bet they were playing cricket on the beach, not baseball etc. Not that it mattered. We were not supposed to know where the characters were anyway-it was a nameless war-torn city.
The story is one of hope.
I recommend it to anyone who loves EOTW fiction, because this is a new take on it-Skip and Billy are homeless and barely surviving BEFORE the war and this puts them in a BETTER position than others.
There is a lot to ponder and discuss in this little novel.
I do wonder if we should move it out of juvenile fiction and into YA, simply so that it may find a bigger audience. Also the cover is very Shan looking and may confuse the kiddos who pick it up.