Cold Hands, Warm Heart

This book could have oozed sentimentality, or it could have been clinical and as cold as Dani's hands before she gets the gift of a heart. But Jill Wolfson has accomplished something quite amazing: a book that is factual, real, witty, and deeply touching all at once. What makes Dani such an interesting character is that she has adolescent reactions to those around her while, at the same time, asking some of the most adult questions there are: What makes her who she is? Does she have to do something special with her life, knowing that someone else had to die before she could live? And Dani is only one of the characters, all depicted in unusual depth. I don't know what age I'd recommend it for. I do know that, as an adult, I couldn't put it down.

Cold Hands, Warm Heart takes you on a gripping journey through the whole donor and transplant process, from the family who loses a daughter to the girl who gains a heart, even to the man who drives the organs around in his van! You feel the emotional weight of every character's share of the action, thanks to Wolfson's skillful and absorbing writing. This is a very satisfying novel--and heartwarming.

Jill Wolfson's new book is incredible. I savored every word and was sorry when it ended. It is touching, deep, funny, sad - - - and most of all, beautifully written with characters I felt I knew. I can't wait for the next one! On a scale of 1 to 5, "Cold Hands, Warm Heart" is a 10. Marilyn Kochman Princeton, New Jersey

COLD HANDS, WARM HEART features two teenage girls living just miles apart, who will never meet, but who will share a heart. The donor: "And then. "Afterward, after it was all over, one of Amanda's teammates swore that this was when she heard a gasp. "'Like someone seeing a ghost,' she said. "But the head judge, who was well trained to pick up on anything out of the ordinary -- a toe not pointed, a back with a few degrees too much arch -- testified she had noticed only the very slightest overrotation. 'It was a beautiful routine. Until she...the girl...Amanda...until she just lost it... "Her body hurled forward, then dropped. No one could agree on what hit where first, only that there was a clink of bone hitting metal, then a sickening thud when Amanda landed face down on the floor. The head judge jumped from her chair, hand pressed over mouth. People in the stands stopped chewing their nachos." The recipient: "And then without any ceremony, as if it were the most common thing in the world, she placed my own heart in the palms of my own hands. "There. "I was holding it. "It wasn't slimy, more the texture of a rubber ball. "I waited for something. For what? "I expected to feel something, a sensation related to electricity. A shock, a twitch, a vibration. But there was just this weight in my hands, with no more connection to me than baby teeth after they had fallen out." Amanda, the uber-competitive, fourteen-year-old gymnast. That is as much as most of her schoolmates likely know about her before -- or after -- her accident and untimely death. Even her big brother Tyler -- who was so close to her when they were both little kids -- really does not know who she has been as a teenager. "Every time I see you lookin' my way Baby, baby, can't you hear my heartbeat?" -- Herman's Hermits Fifteen-year-old Dani the sick girl is moved to the top of the list for recipients when there is nothing else that can be done with the swollen, inefficient heart that has been repeatedly worked on since her birth. There comes a point when the worst-case scenario is that she has two weeks to live. Does a fifteen-year-old girl with possibly two weeks to live think about the meaning of life and the possibilities of an afterlife? Not if her hormones have anything to say about it! The guy in the next room awaiting a liver may have yellow skin to go with his green hair, but there is something about him... Milo, that green-haired teen awaiting a liver, already has had one liver transplant. Is it reasonable or a waste of a precious, life-saving gift to want to behave (or misbehave) like a normal teenager? "Remember to let her into your heart" -- Lennon/McCartney I really like how COLD HANDS, WARM HEART gets beyond the medical drama. It probes the feelings of Amanda's estranged parents who -- in the midst of the most horrible thing that has ever happened to them -- must come together to decide whether to permit the donation of their brain-dead

Set against the amazing backdrop of the entire organ donation process, Cold Hands, Warm Heart is a fabulous story about some young people who are learning--in extreme circumstances--what's most important in life: love, work, a sense of purpose and community. Wolfson gives y-a readers all that they can love in a book--romance, humor, brisk chapters and quiet suspense--without underestimating them. This is a book that treats young readers as if they have brains, as well as hearts, libidos, and, in the case of gymnast Amanda, nerves of steel.