''Amy's Eyes'' is a children's fantasy novel by Richard Kennedy, published by

Harper & Row Harper is an American publishing house, the flagship imprint of global publisher HarperCollins based in New York City. History J. & J. Harper (1817–1833) James Harper and his brother John, printers by training, started their book publishin ...

in 1985, and illustrated by

Richard Egielski Richard Egielski (born July 16, 1952 in New York City) is an American illustrator and writer who has worked on more than fifty children's picture books, eight of which he authored. He received his education at Parson's School of Design. Career E ...

Plot summary

The narrative begins in an orphanage where Amy inadvertently brings her sailor doll to life. It continues on a ship where he has become captain and she has transformed into a doll herself. The book is a principally a coming-of-age tale and a nautical adventure involving pirates and the search for lost treasure. The story contains whimsical elements such as a sailing ship crewed by

Mother Goose The figure of Mother Goose is the imaginary author of a collection of French fairy tales and later of English nursery rhymes. As a character, she appeared in a song, the first stanza of which often functions now as a nursery rhyme. This, howeve ...

animals, but also has darker themes including the obsession with Biblical prophecy and

numerology Numerology (also known as arithmancy) is the belief in an occult, divine or mystical relationship between a number and one or more coinciding events. It is also the study of the numerical value, via an alphanumeric system, of the letters in ...

Reception

The book won the Parents' Choice Picture Book Award in 1985, and was the subject of a major review in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''. The

Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' (or ''Kirkus Media'') is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus (1893–1980). The magazine is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fic ...

described it as "a treasure hunt of true and false clues and intriguing puzzles, and reads like a breeze".

References

External links

Book review: ''Amy's Eyes'' by Richard Kennedy
– ''Scattered Pages'' essay on rereading the book as an adult {{Portal , Children's literature 1985 American novels 1985 children's books 1985 fantasy novels American fantasy novels Children's fantasy novels American children's novels Novels about orphans Novels set on ships Sentient toys in fiction Books illustrated by Richard Egielski Harper & Row books Children's books set on ships