“Blue to the Sky is a fabulous book that fills a niche of families and children living with severe allergies. … Highly Recommended.” — Canadian Review of Materials
The journey to conquering your fears starts with 1,776 steps.
Starting sixth grade after years of homeschooling, Ella is tired of being known as Allergic-to-Everything Girl. She just wants to eat pizza without breaking into hives, convince her mom to adopt a Whoodle dog, and get over her stage fright so she can perform her poem to her class.
When her best friend signs up for a CN Tower climb for charity, Ella knows she has to join. If she can climb to the top and summon the courage to recite her poem over the city, she’s convinced she’ll finally be cured of her fears.
“I've been waiting SUCH a long time for a book like this! As a mom of a child with a milk allergy, I've been so disappointed in the lack of food allergy representation in middle-grade books. This book does an excellent job of looking at the wide range of emotions that a child with allergies might feel and educates readers while also entertaining them. I HIGHLY recommend adding this book to middle-grade collections.”
“Sylvia’s writing made it seamless to fall into Ella’s world and gain a better understanding of how these allergies can limit a person’s ability to easily exist in a world built for able bodies. We really don’t have a lot of quality reads that feature disability in the children’s lit space and it is wonderful to now have another story for readers to feel seen and heard.”
“Blue to the Sky is a fabulous book that fills a niche of families and children living with severe allergies. It gives readers a glimpse of living life with severe allergies. As McNicoll mentions in the ‘Acknowledgments,’ the book is a work of love. She has watched her own children and grandchildren navigate the world of living with allergies, and she shares this beautiful story with readers.”
“Sylvia McNicoll brings Ella’s voice to life through this lovely story of resilience. The synopsis hardly does justice to the layers that McNicoll brings to Blue to the Sky, a reference to the poem that kids are taught about EpiPens. … This novel is a wonderful way for kids like Ella to feel seen and for others to build empathy for the lived experiences of those around them.”