When the World tells her who to be she must decide who she is. This review answers ‘Is Izzy’s dilemma a good book for children?’. This book is written by Robert Pais. It will be released on October 31st 2025. I was lucky enough to get a sneak preview – but you can get your copy from Amazon here.
Izzy’s dilemma is a short book aimed at children aged 10-14. The main character Izzy Ashford is 12 years old and the story centres on her search for identity and belonging. She is faced with an impossible decision that she must make for herself. Her answer will affect the rest of her life. She lives on the planet Mirron, which is similar to Earth in many ways. However, on this planet your place in society is based upon the colour of your eyes. Those with Topaz eyes are at the top of society, followed by emerald and sapphire, with pearl at the bottom of the ranking.
Izzy is the daughter of two parents with topaz eyes, hers though, are pearl. She was adopted by Tom and Judy as a newborn and has lived in a topaz town with little issues. Until now. After realising that the rest of the World will judge her based on her eye colour she meets a man called Sam who offers to change her life. She can choose to change her eye colour to that of her parents, but the change will be irreversible. At first it seems like an easy choice, but as the decision date looms closer what decision will Izzy make?
A bit about the author
Robert Pais is a certified accountant and until recently his published books focussed on helping people with their taxes. He has published two books about this. His most recent book couldn’t be further from these though, and is the fiction book Izzy’s dilemma. This is born of Robert’s joy of writing fantasy novels, and a passion for social justice.
It looks really good. The bit with Izzy and the man sounds like a good mystery
Millie aged 13
What did I enjoy about Izzy’s dilemma?
I liked that Mirron is similar to Earth, making it instantly relatable to children. There was talk of everyday items such as iPads, which helps them to feel familiar with situations and apply it to their own life. However, the twist of it being a different planet allows them to look at the book and characters without the pre-judged conceptions of our society.
People in this story are judged on their physical appearance. There is no consideration to their character, merits and achievements. I think using eye colour for this judgement, really simplifies it for children to understand how easy it can be to judge one another using appearance. In a World where we are becoming more aware of social injustice, it can be easy to think you would not base judgement based on appearance.
I enjoyed reading about Izzy’s developing self-awareness. When visiting the beach, she notices the varied eye colours around them, which she hadn’t been aware of the year before. In a way, it shows her losing her innocent view of the World around her. Where she once would have played with no consideration of the eye colour of others around her, she is now appreciative of everyone getting on with no issue.
The main characters in the book are kind and considerate, and I like the way Izzy’s parents encourage her to problem solve and make decisions for herself. Although Billy Winthrop was unkind, there was an explanation provided to why he may have been behaving this way, encouraging children to think with empathy.
What didn’t I enjoy about Izzy’s dilemma?
There wasn’t much I didn’t enjoy about the book. I felt some parts of the book were rushed. An example of this is the chapter set in the diner. The description of the resort the family were going to felt like it was there to flaunt their wealth, as we never read anything about their time there. From the diner scene, there is a sentence about their weekend and then it ends with them returning home. I would imagine this would have been a big period of self reflection for Izzy. After having such lovely experiences at summer camp with children of different eye colours, she may have been feeling like remaining pearl would be the right choice. However, this experience would surely have made her consider changing to topaz. It would have been good to see a bit more of that.
I liked that Tom and Judy were advocates and allies for those lower in society than themselves. However, they still enjoyed living their life of privilege and chose to remain in Covington with a pearl eyed daughter despite the fact it may have been beneficial living in a more mixed community. I do appreciate though that this may have been the best way for them to incite change within their community.
Is Izzy’s dilemma a good book for children?
I think this is a really good book for children. I would say it is suitable for age 8-12 year olds. It is clear a lot of thought has gone into the storyline and writing. There is a lot to take away in relation to self confidence, identity and fitting into the World around us. There is talk around adoption, issues with infertility and the death of Izzy’s birth Mother which may be difficult for some.
It is a positive book, I enjoyed the ending and think Izzy made the right decision. This would be a great story for bedtime reading, and you could easily read a chapter or two each night as a bedtime story. I am interested to see my niece’s opinion on it when she finishes reading it. So I will update this post when she has finished it.
If you would like more information about the book and author you can find it here:
Website: https://robertpaisauthor.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bob.robertpaisauthor/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bob.robertpaisauthor/
Buy the book HERE from the 31st October 2025!
If you would like to read more book reviews then you can find them right here.
