Rob Harrell’s Wink: Surviving Middle School With One Eye Open is a contemporary middle-grade novel and coming-of-age story published in 2020. Harrell once had a rare type of eye cancer, and though he was an adult at the time, he knew of children with cancer who had to have treatment, with the accompanying side effects, while attending school. The author—an experienced illustrator and author of middle-grade fiction—identified the need for a story about a pre-adolescent cancer patient enduring unusual problems personally and socially. Harrell therefore wrote and illustrated a fictionalized version of his own medical history narrated by Ross Maloy, a seventh grader receiving radiation treatment for eye cancer. Ross’s trials show young readers that they can achieve happiness if they do what they love and spend time with the people they love.

The version of Wink used in this guide is the original 2020 hardback from Dial Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Penguin Random House.

Plot Summary

Ross Maloy is a seventh-grade boy recently diagnosed with a rare eye cancer. He lives with his father and his stepmother, Linda, in Bloomington, Indiana. Ross’s parents love and support him; he loves them, but he’s restrained around them. Ross is typically more open with his friends, Abby Peterson and Isaac Nalibotsky, but Isaac has avoided speaking with him and Abby ever since Ross shared his cancer diagnosis. Above all, Ross expresses himself through visual art. He draws objects, concepts, and comic strips that feature his superhero, Batpig. Ross keeps his sketchbook in a cover that once belonged to his mother, who died of breast cancer when Ross was four years old. He hides his sketches even from his father and Abby.

Ross’s narrative begins during his first treatment at the radiation center, which is where Ross meets Frank, a radiation tech, and Jerry, an elderly cancer patient. Frank encourages Ross to bring music to listen to during his radiation treatments—specifically, music that speaks to Ross.

Meanwhile, Ross learns he must wear an embarrassing cowboy hat everywhere because the radiation makes his face more sensitive to UV rays. At school, his changed appearance leads to uncomfortable interactions with his crush, the seemingly perfect Sarah Kennedy, and with the uncouth Jimmy Jenkins. Ross becomes the target of an anonymous online bully who makes jokes about his illness in a series of memes. Abby tries to help Ross with these difficulties, but it’s Frank who introduces him to the emotional outlet Ross needs: the frenetic energy of hard rock music. Ross is inspired to learn guitar for a talent show Sarah is organizing, so he enlists Frank to teach him.

More difficulties increase Ross’s stress, such as Abby’s parents’ decision to move to Minnesota when the semester finishes and Frank’s connection with Jimmy, who is the cousin of one of Frank’s bandmates. Ross believes Jimmy made the memes about him, but he learns Jimmy is innocent after he attacks the bigger boy. His anger about the memes cools down while he attends guitar lessons at Frank’s house and spends time with Abby. However, when his hair falls out in front of Sarah, Ross resents how different he’s become. Jerry encourages Ross to embrace being different, but he desperately wishes to be normal. His obsession with his appearance and his own concerns alienates Abby.

Ross unexpectedly finds relief when Jimmy’s cousin, Denny, arranges for Ross and Jimmy to play music together. Ross and Jimmy make good bandmates, yet they need a bass guitarist to be complete. Ross asks Abby, who plays viola, to learn bass guitar and perform with him and Jimmy in the talent show. Abby agrees. When Ross discovers Sarah made the memes, he has the moral support of his bandmates. He also has his father, who exhorts Ross to share his pain instead of bearing the burden by himself. Ross forms a plan to do just that with his band.

On the last day of the semester, Ross finishes proton radiotherapy and the talent show takes place. Ross briefly celebrates the end of his treatments before he and his bandmates prepare for their performance. At the school, Isaac explains to Ross how Ross’s illness made him feel helpless, so he cut himself off from Ross and Abby; he hopes Ross can forgive him, and Ross appears ready to do so. Ross and his band are the final act in Sarah’s talent show. Just when Ross seems to freeze on stage, he hears Jerry cheering him on. That’s when Ross stops caring about what people think: He and his friends express themselves in a noisy punk performance, during which Ross releases all of the negative emotions he’s felt building up since his treatments began. They don’t win the show, but it doesn’t matter because they had the best cathartic experience together.

Three days later, Abby moves to Minnesota. Ross doesn’t know how he feels, so he practices guitar. He and Jimmy plan to practice the next day.