The Eyes of Kid Midas

A book was given to me in elementary school. It was either my fifth or sixth grade class that put on a Secret Santa-esque event in which everyone was assigned a classmate and chose a gift for them. I'm sure there were rules ensuring the gifts given were cheap and whatnot, but heck if I can remember the specifics. I'm unable to recall whatever it was that I gave to one of my classmates, but I still have the item that I received--it was a book titled The Eyes of Kid Midas. When my classmate gave me this book, I remember him telling me that it was a book he really enjoyed and he hoped I would too; something along those lines, anyway. I've held onto that book for a little over a decade; I finally read it a couple of nights ago.

I'm not quite sure what spurred this. Maybe it was that I finished up the Steve Jobs biography several nights before and had to fill the reading void, but I sat down and read The Eyes of Kid Midas cover to cover, only taking a break towards the middle to quickly devour a sandwich. Not that reading this novel cover to cover in a sitting is difficult, as it's aimed toward younger readers, but I surprised myself, as I'm just not the type to do that sort of thing.

I found the story of Kevin, the boy who finds magical glasses, to be surprisingly entertaining and worthwhile. The author, Neal Shusterman, writes in a way that's easy to understand for younger readers, but that is relatively uncompromising in the storytelling. The book can be overly simple and cute here and there, but it also pulled some stunts that I must say were pleasantly surprising in how much they shocked me. Not to spoil anything, but the story goes down some real dark paths before it's over.

I will say that I'm not sure I liked the ending. It throws the tone in reverse and quickly spoils the dark mood that lead up to that point. I can see why one would opt for the "happy ending," but I would have been more interested in a darker conclusion. I suppose what I want is simply for the book to be aimed at an older audience, but alas.

Regardless, as I mentioned earlier, the story's still engaging enough. It's about a boy named Kevin Midas and his best friend, Josh. Kevin finds glasses that can make anything Kevin commands a reality, and you can imagine where it goes from there--shenanigans ensue! The plot as a whole is real easy-breezy, but it's enjoyable.

Anyway, I just wanted to celebrate the fact that I've finally read this book that I've been telling myself I would since grade school. I'm glad I did.

--JJ