I thought the book was wonderful. It dealt with suicide in a way that allowed children to read and understand it. It was also interesting to read for a person of my age, and I am a high school senior. I still love the book. I've had it since I was 8 years old. I love it and would recomend it to anyone.

While this is marketed as a book for children, it is a brilliant study in friendship, suicide and art - a book that easily enjoyed by adults as well. The premise is that an eleven year old boy finds his adult friend dead - he hears/has heard from his friends tales of political imprisonment, of a refound first love, and of art. Out of this he tries to sort out the "why" of his "Friend the Artist's" death.

This exploration is carried out with brillant images - images of the emotional content of colors, dream images of three people sharing a continuous costume, and the boy's litany of "why's". This exploration has no missteps - it is an excellent piece of writing.

I read this book when I was 9 years old and I loved it, I was that little girl that would rather be grown-up, a boy and a famous writer.Then I moved to another city and the book stayed in the school library. I've been searching for it since then,it was out of print for a long time, I'm delighted to have found it. This book helped shape me as a child and it still influences me.It is a perfect book, it is a great gift.

This book is the worst book ever!

I love this book. I first read it when I was 11 and was not able to put it down for a while. It's one of those books that make you see the part of life that is hard to understand at that young age. After I was done reading it I could not stop thinking, Like the main character, about the subjects that are dealt with in the book.