Insightful read and powerful, simple illustrations accompany the text. The second half of the books gets too slow for elementary readers as the authors delves into the making of his documentary

James has issues with his eyes, in that they never figured out how to be stereoscopic. He has made it work for him, but it took a long time in grade school and beyond to figure out how to make it work for him. I found the first part with his childhood fascinating having never experienced something like this, and trying to figure out how he was describing things. I liked the introduction of the artwork and the mild "House of Leaves" style of the book in places. I got disappointed in the second half. Not because he was figuring out how to share this or make people aware, but it felt that he moved away from the tone of the first part. There was a lot of "you can do it!" vibe in the second half, and I'm glad people are adapting and becoming nicer to those with differences. It just felt that in a book for middle graders it went from understanding and adjusting from a disability to now I'm famous because I had an article in NYT. I think if you have a child struggling with a difference this could be intriguing.

Whale eyes is part biography, part documentary into disability. Through the use of strong visuals, and brief notes to starers, James brings to life his eye condition and this makes him see things differently and engages readers to understand whale eyes.