The Door in the Dragon's Throat

Title: The Door in the Dragon's Throat

Author: Frank Peretti

Publisher: Crossway books
Number of pages: 111

Where I found the book: Christian Heritage Library



Summary  

In this book the main characters are Jay, Lila, Gozan, and their father Dr. Cooper. This book takes place in Nepur this town is filled with danger and is very mysterious. The time of this book was not mention. Dr. Cooper and his crew are sent on a expedition to the Dragons Throat which holds treasure. the problem was that everyone try to go to the Dragon's Throat and they all failed. The theme of this book is mysterious because you never know what going to happen


When Dr. Cooper and his crew arrive at Nepur there was no one there. Nepur is filled with danger and is nothing but sand. Dr. Cooper and his crew found a big door and at the bottom of the Dragons Throat. When
Dr. Cooper and his crew tried to open it, an old man kidnaps Cooper daughter Lila. The man who kidnapped Lila He is under a curse, and believes that Coopers God is powerful enough to free him. Then they pray for him and he accepts God in his heart.


Meanwhile Gozan steals the key and give it to the president. Dr. Cooper finds out that the only thing in the Dragon throat are demons. Coopers family hurries up and finds that the president has opened the door. Afraid he hurries away and falls off a ledge and drops the key. Cooper takes the key locks the door.



Christian Perspective  


This book was written in Christian perspective. Coopers family belief was really strong. There was never a moment the the questioned God. They never lost faith and always trusted God. when things didn't go there way they prayed and and never lost their faith,  and always stayed true to him.



My Thoughts 

This is definitely one of the best fantasy books I've ever read. I found this book very interesting to read. The reason  I chose this book because my E.L.A teacher recommended it to me. What I liked about this book is that a Christian author wrote it, and I was excited to see how the author would write a Christian fantasy book. What is disliked was that the action took forever to start and felt that the book like a year for me to read. I would recommend this book to people who like fantasy.

Title: Cracker, The Best Dog in Vietnam
Author: Cynthia Kadohata
Publisher: Aladdin Paperbacks
Place and Date of Publication: New York, 2007
Number of Pages: 300
Where this book was found: Borrowed from a friend

~Story Review~

Rick Hanski was going to whip the world. The miliatry was in need of dog handlers and they were in demand. So Rick figured he was going to whip the world, except with a dog by his side. He also wants to prove the Sarge that he would make a great soldier for the army. Cracker is a beautiful German Shepherd, taken away from her owner and is trained to sniff out bombs and traps by the 67th Infantry Platoon and make good use of that doggy nose. When Rick and Cracker are paired together as a team, they both know it wont be easy for both of them. But later on they realize they need to work together to make it back home safely and alive. During the war, Cracker and Rick start to have a really close bond, maybe even closer then Cracker's previous owner. The themes for this book are war, animals, friendship, and war.

~Christian Perspective~

This book is not written in a Christian Perspective. But this book does deal with the themes that Christians don't support like war or some of the character's personalties. But this book does have some things that would Christian people would like. But i do think it's okey for Christians and other people to read this, soem of the characters do show some Christ-like attitudes.

~ My Thoughts~

This book was really inspiring. Once I was reading the last parts of it, I literally couldn't put it down. It made me feel emotional because it was touching. I would definately recommend people to read this. I don't like animal books at all. But this one was my favourite. I suggest people who don't animal stories to read it, because this totally changes your perspective

Iwan's book review

Title: Spud

Author: John van de Ruit

Publisher: Penguin books

Place & year of publication: South Africa 2005

Number of pages: 389

Where I found the book: It’s my book

Plot

Johnny Milton aka spud is a normal fourteen-year-old boy who has been selected for a scholarship at a very expensive private school in South Africa. Where he meets his roommates/best buddies (Rambo, Mad dog, Henry, Simon Boggo, and Vern) for the rest of his school life. Together these seven teen-age boys form the crazy seven.

So together the Crazy seven endure life’s hardships in school and the party when they are over. Together they all survive the first year of high school but their high school career has only just begun.

Christian perspective

This book is not written from a christian perspective. But definitely contains some christian values and believes for example, the school they go to is a christian school and on campus there is a chapel which they attend every sunday and wednesday. But that does not mean they do everything in a Christ like way. They are fourteen-year-old boys and they get into a lot of mischief.

My thoughts

The book was a very good. It was full of action and humor and I would definitely recommend it to boys that like humor and adventure in a book.

Escape from the Island of Aquarius

Title: Escape from the Island of Aquarius

Author: Frank Peretti

Publisher: Crossway books

Place of publication: United States of America

Year of publication: 1986

Number of pages: 160

Where I found the book: Christian heritage school library

Summary

In this book the main characters are Jay, Lila, Dr. Cooper, Adam Mackenzie, and kelno. This book takes place in the island Aquarius but the time of when this took place is not specified. This all starts when Adam Mackenzie (a missionary that is part of the international missionary alliance) has not been heard of for a while until there is a dead body found on a raft carrying a note written by Mackenzie. So the missionary alliance sends Dr.Cooper along with his kid’s Jay and Lila to look for Adam Mackenzie. This book takes place in the Island Aquarius but the time of when this happened is not specified. The theme of this book is always kept fighting for what you believe in and it ok to share your opinion even if it’s different.

When the coopers reach the Island of Aquarius they find a very civilized village, led by Adam Mackenzie, with nice houses and electricity.  All of the villagers  used to live in big countries with normal jobs and all share the same dream which is to start their own new world. Dr. Cooper then starts to realize that Adam Mackenzie is no longer a man of God because he doesn’t have church, teaches that  Jesus came to save us from ignorance, and believes in evils forces, spirit’s, and curses. As the Coopers were leaving the island Mackenzie finds them on sacred ground and thinks they were cursed. The Coopers were now put in a hut which was used as a jail. As the Coopers escape they are found again by Mackenzie and Mackenzie decides to send Lila to be used as a sacrifice to the island and puts Jay and Dr. Cooper in a whirlpool of water.

 The whirlpool of water led Jay and Dr. Cooper to cave underground with the real Adam Mackenzie. The real Adam Mackenzie explains to Jay and Dr. Cooper that the guy they thought was the Mackenzie was actually named kelno. Adam was kicked out of the village by kelno and lived in the cave for a year. In that year spent in the cave Adam was building boats to prepare for the day the Island would sink. Dr. Cooper and jay realized the island was sinking so they had to act fast to save Lila. But what they didn’t know was that Lila was already saved by a big Polynesian guy named Candle. Jay, Adam, and Dr. Cooper try to go and save all the village people and bring them to the two boats left on the Island before it sinks. But the villagers make it to the boats only to find out that the water is too high to leave the cave. Lila gets an idea to set off bombs in the cave to lower the water level which does work. While Lila was doing that, Adam talked to each single person on the Boat about Jesus just in case they all died. Lila then became the hero because she saved all the people on the boat and everyone makes it out of the Island  safe except Kelno.

Christian Perspective

This book is definitely written from a Christian perspective. The cooper’s Christian belief was really strong and there wasn’t any moments were they doubted God. They never lost faith in Him and always remembered that they are children of God. When they were jailed by Kelno all they did was pray. Dr. Cooper talks to kelno about how God’s power is amazing and stronger than Satan’s power which was what kelno believed in. If I was in Dr. Cooper’s shoes I would be a bit doubtful and scared. When Dr. Cooper believed that Kelno killed his daughter he was planning on revenge but he backs off and realizes that he belongs to God and ended up not harming Kelno. If I was in Dr. Cooper shoes I would not have the strength to control myself the way he did. Also it talks about how Adam Mackenzie would pray every day for the village people and how he forgives people who have wronged him.

My Thoughts

The reason I chose this Book was because our E.L.A teacher recommend it to me. I am the type of person who judges books by its cover and I thought this book was going to be boring but it wasn’t too bad. The language the author used was tough to understand at times. I felt as if the book forever to read but maybe that’s because the book start to get interesting around pages 95 and over. I like this book because it was my first time reading a fiction book by a Christian author so I liked to see how the author would bring a Christian perspective into this book. What I dislike about this book had nothing to do with the story itself I just didn’t like how the author wrote it. I found the book boring in the beginning which made me want to put down the book and stop but in the end it got really interesting. I would recommend this book too people interested adventurous books with lots of action and bit of drama because it gives you an equal dose of both.    

Meredith’s Book Review

Title: Vanished

Author: Kristi Hall

Publisher: Zonderkidz

Place and Year of Publication: United States of America, 2011

Number of Pages: 127

Where you found the book: CHS School library

Story Review:

Jeri McKane, a sixth grader at the Landmark Boarding school for girls, didn't think her life could get any worse after her mom informed her that she wouldn't be able to come to parent's weekend.  Jeri had been counting down the days on her calendar until she could she her mom again, only to have all her excitement vanish in an instant.  Jeri felt sorry for herself all the way to dinner, but then noticed that her roommate Rosa didn't show up.  She was supposed to be back hours ago from her art fieldtrip . . . so where could she be?

As Jeri was starting to worry, the Headmaster stood up to make an announcement.  As Jeri found out that the van carrying the students was missing, she could scarcely breathe.  Possibilities flooded into her mind about what could have happened to them.  As the Headmistress continued, Jeri and her friends found out that the van had been seen entering a two - mile stretch, but never came out.  That meant two possibilities for Jeri - either they drove up the mountain, or into the lake.  A search party was formed to start looking and a few students, including Jeri, went along.  They brought warm beverages and food to those looking as the temperatures started to drop. Jeri couldn't imagine how cold Rosa would be!  Jeri was certain that what they needed was an investigator and reporter, so she called up Jake, someone who had visited their school a while back.  But Jake found out just about as much information as everyone else.

Jeri was determined to do something, so she started investigating herself.  Nothing seemed to line up for Jeri, and nothing was making any sense. Jeri started to feel hopeless, but kept persevering and working hard.  Will Jeri uncover any clues? Will they find the bodies in the lake?  Will the mystery ever be solved?  This book is titled Vanished because the school van and all the students inside suddenly vanish and no one knows where they went.  The book has a theme of suspense and intrigue, and really keeps you on your toes!

Christian Perspective:

This book was written from a Christian Perspective because Jeri goes to a Christian Boarding School and often prays throughout the book.  Jeri really dealt well with the problems that faced her and never got angry with God for anything.  This book really taught me that I have to keep trusting in God even if all hope seems lost.  It also taught me that God doesn’t forget about us and that he’s always keeping us safe and watching over us.  The story was really encouraging at times and I thought it had a lot of Christian value in it.  I think that the author really used her writing to get the meaning through to the readers that God will never forsake us.

   

My Thoughts:

I chose this book because it looked interesting and because it wasn’t too long.  I thought that this book was well written and really enjoyed it because it had a clever plot and never made me bored.  I would recommend this book to grade six or seven girls because at times I felt like it was written for a younger audience.  I would especially recommend it to girls who need encouragement in their faith and who like mysteries.  Overall it was a really good book! 

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory!

Title: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Author: Roald dahl

Publisher: Penguin Group
Number of pages: 155

Place and year of publiction: 345 Hudson street, New York, NY, USA, 2005

Found in: Christian Heritage School Library

Story Review:

Charlie Bucket lived in a small house at the corner of a big city with his 4 grand parents and 2 parents. There were only two bedrooms in the house. The first bedroom his four grandparents shared a bed and the room. The second bedroom, Mr and Mrs. Bucket and Charlie shared the room and the bed. Mr. Bucket was the only person in the family who had a job. He worked at a toothpaste factory screwing toothpaste caps on, even though the job did not pay enough to feed seven people. They could only afford bread and margarine for breakfast, boiled potatoes and cabbage for lunch, and cabbage soup for supper. Every year when it was Charlie`s birthday, he received a chocolate bar as a gift. Charlie loved chocolate and that was his favourite thing in the world. everyday when charlie walks to school he goes by Willy Wonka`s chocolate factory. Willy Wonka`s factory was the best factory known. Everyone indulges themselves with the hundreds of different types of chocolate bars. Ever since Wonka`s workers tried to steal the recipes of his special chocolate bars, nobody has ever entered the factory.


One day Willy Wonka randomly put 5 golden tickets in his chocolate bars. He announced that whoever finds those golden tickets will get the chance to get a grand tour of his chocolate factory and get a lifetime supply of chocolate. This announcement got people all over the world go crazy!Everyone was on the hunt, looking for the golden tickets. Who will be the 5 lucky people to win the most amazing historical event of all times? What adventures and mischief will they run into?

Christian Perspective:

We as Christians are supposed to be humble and gracious to others. Charlie, in this book, was really humble. He always thought of people before he did of himself. He always offered to share his chocolate bar with his family when he got one for his birthday. Charlie's parents always tried to feed him a little bit more than everyone else in the family, but Charlie always refused. He was there for his family. Even though he isn't Christian, Charlie showed good character.

My Thoughts:

I chose this book because the title caught my eye. The first word that I saw was chocolate and I decided to read it. It's an engaging book and it keeps you hungry. There were themes of greed, anger, jealousy, joyfulness and of course CHOCOLATE! I recommend this book to people who love chocolate as much as I do! Have a blast reading and make sure you have food nearby!!

Annie's Book Review

 Artemis Fowl

Author: Eoin Colfer
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Place and year of publication: New York, NY 2001
Number of pages: 280
Where I found the book: My home

Story Review

The book I read was Artemis Fowl. This story takes place in Ireland around 2001. A young boy named Artemis Fowl - the youngest of a long line of evil masterminds - and his trained body guard Butler have a keen interest in fairies and their rare gold. They decide to hunt down a fairy and take one hostage. Beneath the earth, fairies are free and have their own rules and technology but an elf named Holly Short had run out of magic and had to take the full moon ritual to regain it. Holly short was an elf working for the LEPrecon underground. But her job had taken over her life and she was filled with stress. Her over-demanding boss named Julius Root had too high of expectations and looked down on her because she was a girl. Holly had also caused life threatening accidents and was not trusted by her commanding officer. She tried all that she could to regain his trust and her good standing at her job.

When Holly went to regain her magic above ground, Artemis Fowl caught her and took her hostage. Holly Short was the unfortunate fairy who slipped into the hands of the evil boy Artemis Fowl. Artemis drugged the poor elf and she was forced to tell the secrets of the fairies and their underworld. They blackmailed her and tried to confuse her, but Holly's fellow LEPrecon soldiers and retrieval group tried all that they could to save Holly. In a battle of technology and fairy weaponry, the outcome that now every fairy dreaded was to be. The final battle takes place between the two world of the fairies and the humans, each fighting for rare fairy gold.

Christian Perspective

This book wasn’t written in a Christian perspective and there were no indications of a different religion used by the characters in the book. I think that since there was so much conflict, they could have turned to God to help them with their issues instead of using conflict to fix it. My personal thoughts on the religious point of view was that it involved magic and the conflict was the heart of the book. Without the conflict, the book would have been extremely boring.

My Thoughts

I chose this book because I am a huge fan of fantasy books. I thought the book was well written and had a lot of detail that made it better. It was interesting when the author described the workings of each of the two worlds. They existed in the same realm but had no knowledge of each other. It was a harmonious existence. Then, when the two worlds became aware of each other, they fell into conflict over the resources that one of the two held. 

This book reminds me that we are one culture in a world of many cultures. We often don't understand or are conscious of the differences between us and them. The message I came away with from Artemis Fowl is that we are a selfish people who are only concerned with our own well-being. When we focus only on ourselves and what we want and feel we need, we ignore the needs of others and can often cause great harm.

Usually the books I read I choose to fit my interests, so I don’t have any dislikes about the book. I liked the amount of detail that the author gave. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes action and enjoys reading fantasy because it provides a great deal of both of those things.

The picture of Dorian Gray

Author: Oscar Wilde

Publisher: Playmore INC and  Waldman publishing corp.

Place and Year of publication: New York, 1888

# of pages: 240

I found it in my brothers room

Story Review

The books name is The picture of Dorian Gray cause when this painter paints a picture of Dorian and then he thought that when he grows old that he will look at this picture and want to feel young again. The time and place is 1976 in London. The main characters in this book are Basil,
Lord Henry, Dorian Gray, Sibyl Vane, and James Vane. The problems in this book are when Basil paints the picture, when Dorian falls in love, Sibyl commits suicide, when Dorian kills Basil, when James is killed and when Dorian changes place with the horrible painting. The theme is hard to find but the theme is how mad some people get.

Christian perspective

This book was not written in a Christian perspective if it was then it would of been like Dorian praying or Basil praying and Dorian would of liked sibyl for her not her talent. Dorian would of loved her and he would've cared that he was growing old cause then when he dies he would go to heaven.

Your thoughts

I chose this book cause it looked interesting. My opinion of the book is that its cool and interesting but I was kind of bored when i read it. I liked the book cause it was just my kind of book but I didn't like it cause it was just a bit confusing. I would recommend it to people who like fiction cause this is a fiction book

Title no talking 
Author Andrew Clements 
Place and year Publication  New York  2007
Number of pages  146 

Where you found the book Christian Heritage  library 

Dave was in the middle of class. He was not talking because he wanted to see if he could not talk like Gandhi.  Gandhi  was the Indian man that drove the British army not by weapons but by words.

Dave had to present a social studies project but he couldn't but he couldn't talk at all so he coughed and his partner Lynsey looked at him weird.

Then the lunch bell range. It was time to eat

They all went for lunch. It was loud and Dave was quit. Still it was lunch time and Lynsey went on and on about her sweatier.He couldn't take it anymore and if you had to shout up for five minutes i bet your whole head would explode.

After that the argued and made a contest of not talking boys against girls. These are the rules they could only say three words.That was only for the teachers.If  they went home they couldn't talk.If they did they would have to tell the opposite team leader.

The principle was getting ready for the kids to come but when she came in it was dead silence.

She was surprised.She couldn't figure out why.In class they were all talking in three letter words. Lindsey and Dave were sending notes in class and the teacher caught them.She figured out what they were doing bu

she didn't tell the other teachers she wanted the other teacher  to find it out for there self.

In science class they talked in only three letter words. She didn't  like it because it longer for class to finish.

After a couple of classes all the teacher knew what was happening some of the teachers liked it others didn't

The principle decide to have a meeting. Then the next day they got all the kids to the Assembly and the principle told them to stop talking  they said okay.After that they went to math class but they still were talking in three letter words the teacher didn't care because they writ ting it on the board and they started to understand it so she didn't care.

After a couple of days the principle got made and she tried to make the children talk at lunch time she was being a big bully.At lunch she told Dave to get up and she shouted get up and talk.Dave got up and shouted this is our lunch  time if we don't want to talk we don't have to.After a little while a little while the principle called Dave to the principles office.WHAT
DO YOU THINK IT WILL HAPPEN?

Christian perspective 

In the end they got along thought this book has lot of categorise between boy and girls. 

I think that they are all even one is not better than  the other.

In the end they thought of each other in a good way and positive way so they don't hate each other they care more and realise there all equal.

My thoughts 

This book is okay. I wouldn't normally read this kind of book i would read drama book but 

this is a good book to.I would recommend this book to someone who likes boring school book and friendship.

Emnet’s Book Review

                               *Information*

Title: umbrella summer  
Author: Lisa Graff
Publisher: scholastic
Place and year of publication: New York, 2009
Number of pages: 235 that’s when she
Where you found the book: Christian Heritage School library

                                      *story review*

Annie Richards used to be a care free girl, but that all changed after her older brother (Jared) died. After her brother died in February, Annie started to change, she doesn’t go anywhere without being ready. She wears her bicycle helmet basically everywhere she went and started to carry Band-Aids around. Annie knows there is lots of dangerous things in the world and it might get to you when you’re lest expecting it. She learned anybody can sick or in the verge of dyeing and not even now it.

Now she is a girl who is afraid of going outside without sunscreen on, and a girl who is afraid of doing the things she loves. All of this was because she was scared of catching some kind of disease that might kill her. Annie even started going as far as looking up the symptoms of diseases in a medical book, so that she can now if she got something that might kill. She wants no surprises. Even though her family and friends keep telling her that she is fine, she doesn’t listen.   

So when a new neighbour (Mrs. Finch) moves in across from Annie’s home. Annie goes and tries to say hi but ends up getting injured. That’s when the new neighbour goes outside and see’s that Annie is injured so she welcomes Annie in to her home so that Mrs. Finch can help her with her wound. So that’s when they get to know each other and find out they have lots in common. So Mrs. Finch tells Annie that it’s not always good to be too careful because then she will miss out on the fun on life.  

                                    *Christian perspective*     

Well this book is not really from a Christian perspective because the character didn't really listen to what her family and friends where telling her. She was way too careful with life and didn’t know how to have fun with life. In the end it took a new neighbour who can relate to her problem to show her that she can’t keep being so afraid of everything because then she will lose out on what life has in store for her.

                                    *My thoughts*
I thought this story was really interesting and fun to read through. The character was really different than most characters in books like this. So it was fun to see what she was going to do next. It thought me a lot in a way because am a person who is not careful at all with what I do, so it thought me to be careful, but not too careful. I would definitely recommend this book to people who would enjoy reading this kind of book and benefit from it like I did and see what new kind of disease are out there to learn.   
                                                                                        Enjoy :)

Luke's Book Review

Title: Titanic: Collision Course

Author: Gordon Korman

Publisher: Scholastics

Place and Year of Publication: 2011 New York

Number of Pages: 163

Where you found the book: CHS library

Story Review

 The reason that this book is called “Titanic: Collision Course” is because this book is about the titanic, and the Titanic accidentally goes on a “collision course”. This book starts on Friday, April 12^th, 1912, 4:50 PM, and ends on Monday, April 15th, 1912, 12:09 AM. The main characters in this book are Paddy Burns, Sophie Bronson, Juliana Glamm, Alfie Huggins, and Jack the Ripper. The main problem in this book is that the Titanic crashes into an iceberg, and that Jack the ripper is trying to kill people. In this book, Paddy Burns is running away from the guards on the boat, because he is an accidental stowaway. Alfie Burns thinks that he has found Jack the Ripper. He thinks that he is a man named Robert Masterson, but everyone else isn’t sure. Is Mr. Masterson Jack the Ripper? Read the book and find out. The theme in this book is that even if you’re a child, you can still do important things. The main good guys in this book are all children, and they help save lots of lives.

Christian Perspective

This book is not written in a Christian perspective. In this book, sometime some of the characters misuse God’s name. There is a bit of violence in this book, and lots of peril. Quite often in this book the children disobey what they are told to do, and Paddy Burns repeatedly breaks the law.

My Thoughts

The reason that I chose this book is because I like the author Gordon Korman, and this book is by him. This book is really good. It has everything: peril, violence, drama, intensity etc. I would recommend this series (there are 3 of these books) to anyone that likes adventure books.

A Gift of Sky

Title: A Gift of  Sky
Author: Linda Ghan
Publisher: Western Producer Prairie Books
Date of Publication: Saskatchewon, Novemeber 1988
Number of Pages: 183
Where I found the book: My room

Story Review:
Imagine... going to a new school and not knowing anybody and getting teased by all the "big" kids. Well this is what a girl named Sara had to go through all of elementry school and some of middle school. Before school started, Sara was learning the valuable lessons in life and her love for God. She lived with her Mama (grandma) and her Pa (grandpa). They lived in the prairies of Saskatchewon, Canada. Every Sunday, Sara and her grandparents would go to church and sing out to the Lord. But then came the day for school. Sara was so excited because she did want to make friends and bring them out to her farm. The school was one building from kindergarden all the way to grade 12. The school was fairly big, but still squishy. On her first day, Sara sat beside a girl named Beth. Beth told Sara things that were not called for and made Sara uncomfortable. Beth also cheated off her, and lied to the teacher what Sara supposally did. As Sara got into middle school, her and Beth became friends. Not close friends, or not enemies. Sara said that Beth had changed a lot since she started taking her to church. Sara always believed in Beth and saw deep down that there was a good person. After high school, Sara packs her bags and heads off to college for a teaching degree. Sara got married and had kids. She always went  to Saskatchewon in the summer and visited her Mama, Pa, and Beth. The significant to the title is just a girl learning about life and has dreams like anybody else.

Christian Perspective:
Obviously this is a Christian because she goes to church and all that. When she did get bullied or teased, she did go to the Lord to make it stop, and eventually it did and she became friends with them. The author (Linda Ghan) is a Christian and writes Christian novels like this one. This book is just such a well written book with lots of faith used un it.

My Thoughts:
I really liked this book because i could somewhat connect to this book (getting bullied part) and see how she reacted to situationslike that. I found it so cute how everytime she made a mistake, she would pray and say "Dear Jesus, please forgive me, i'm only little and i dont quite understand" . I would recommend this book to anybody who wants to achieve in life and never to give up. I chose this book because it has always been on my bookshelf and i've never read it yet.

Darkwing

Darkwing

Author: Kenneth Oppel

Publisher:  Harper Collins

Place and year of publication: 2007 Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Number of pages: 328

Where you found the book: CHS library 

Review

Dusk has always been different. His sails are fur less, his ears are oddly shaped, his legs are skinny and weak, and he can see in the dark.. Chiropters are meant for gliding, but Dusk has wanted to flap his sails ever since he was a newborn. If Dusk flaps, he may be shunned and driven out from the colony. So he must glide and keep his secret desires to himself. But when a carnivorous ground dweller tries to attack him, Dusk flaps. Now that his secret is out he may be out casted forever.

Carnassial is a felid. He is the best saurian hunter in Patrofelis’ colony. He will become the next leader after Patrofelis dies. But when he tastes meat for the first time he can’t get enough. He starts hunting his fellow beasts and he is soon expelled from his colony. But it turns out that Carnassial is not the only one with this taste for flesh. Many other felids join him and he makes a new colony.

Carnassials colony crosses over to the island, where Dusk’s family lives. The sequoia tree Dusk lives in is perfect for the felids. Since it is inhabited by the chiropters, Carnassial must drive them out, and get a good meal while doing it.

Christian Perspective

This book was not written in a Christian perspective. There is lots of killing. They could have settled their differences in a different way. A good thing they did was look out for their family and Carnassial stood up for his beliefs. Dusk could have prayed when his colony couldn't find a home.

My Thoughts

I really enjoyed this book. I read this book because I have read another book in the series and I like fantasy books. It was really suspenseful and exiting. I recomend this book to anyone who likes fantasy or suspenful books

Demiana’s Book Review on "Maia of Thebes"

Maia of Thebes

By: Ann Turner

Published: by Scholastic Inc.

Published in: 557 Broadway, New York, NY, USA, in 2005

Pages: 169

Found in: Christian Heritage School Library

Story Review: 

       Truth, justice, knowledge, and respect were the foods she craved while living with her mischievous and brutal aunt and uncle! However, because of that hunger and her love to her caring brother, her whole life changed and so did her destiny! She shined brighter than the Lighthouse of Alexandria, but in her case, she was the lighthouse of Thebes. She was a hero to some but to others, she was a poisonous snake to their power! Her name was Maia. Thirteen-year-old Maia lived in Thebes, Egypt, 1463 B.C., in the time of Queen Hatshepsut, hence the title, “Maia of Thebes”. Author Ann Turner wrote and painted a picture of Maia living in a time when Ancient Egypt was in all its glory! Themes of mystery, love, courage, and urgency are conveyed throughout Maia’s story. Enjoy!

      Maia wanted what her brother Seti had, knowledge. She begged him to teach her how to read and write Hieroglyphics, which was forbidden for girls to learn! But, she was a girl of courage and was willing to take the risk. She wanted to do something with her life, other than being a servant in her own house and being treated like an animal. Seti agreed, emphasizing to her that no one must know and that this was their secret.

      One night, her new skill did come in handy! While sleeping on the flat roof, she heard a strange sound. She got up and her uncle wasn’t there, but when she saw him come back, she secretly went to the storage room. There, she tried to read with only little light the clay seal of the bags of grain she found. She assumed her uncle just brought the bags because they weren’t there before. The clay seal would tell her where the grain is from, and it said, “ I belong to the temple of Karnak.” Her uncle was a thief! He, one of the priests of the temple, stole the grain from there to gain profit!

      It was the big day! It was the day of celebration at the Karnak temple, where the Queen was! Maia was very excited, but one thing kept gnawing at her the whole time there, the truth. She kept hearing the voice of Amun, the god of truth, inside of her about what she discovered the night before. She felt an urgent need to tell the truth. She couldn’t! Why? Because she knew the punishment for a priest stealing from the temple is terrifying, and it wouldn’t just fall on the thief but on his whole family! She thought of her brother. What would happen to him? Truth and love were fighting inside of her but truth won! She wasn’t in control of herself anymore!

       She gave her uncle up! As a reward, Hatshepsut gave her a gift for telling the truth, but that didn’t mean she is safe. The priests were planning the worst of the worst for her because by accusing a priest, she ruined their reputation! She had to escape because one of the priests threatened her! Maia fled with Nefert, a noble woman who she knew well, and Meret, her daughter and Maia’s friend, to their home in an estate south of Thebes. Maia was safe there. On top of that, instead of being treated like a servant, she was treated like a noble. She was taken care of and loved, but there it was again, that feeling of urgency!

          The thought of her brother kept gnawing at her. Not only the fact that he was away from her, but that he was in trouble and in need of her. Then, there was the truth! The trial was still happening in Thebes, and there, they needed a witness whom she wanted to be. She wanted justice and would do anything to get it! She also wanted her brother and would do anything to see him. After days passed by, she couldn’t take it anymore so she had to leave. Since she knew Nefert would never allow that to happen, she escaped early in the morning by boat back to Thebes!

         Hurrying to the temple, she opened the doors to find her terrified aunt, uncle, brother, some guards, and the priests of the temple, who were deciding on what should be done to her family! She was ready to say the truth until she saw his bother. She knew that justice was that her uncle deserved punishment, not her brother, but the priests didn’t know that! If she told the truth, justice wouldn’t be done. She looked into her brother’s eyes and didn’t know what to say. She always valued the truth, and she was always courageous. She learned to write, revealed the thief, fled back to Thebes on her own, and at that moment she had a choice! Will she please Amun, the god of truth, who always protected her, or will she not for her brother whom she loved?

      

Christian Perspective:

               This book clearly was not written from a Christian Perspective because the time was 1463 BC, therefore it was before Christianity. Also, the characters believe in the ancient Egyptian gods, like Amun Raa. However, Maia did have some Christ like values. I find her courageousness is admirable! I love how much she craved truth and justice, and how much she loved her brother to the point that she fled on her own to see him! In Psalms 89:14, it says, “Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; love and faithfulness go before you.” The only thing was that she couldn’t admit the whole truth when the priests were judging her family. As Christians, we could go through a similar trial where we have to choose between defending family, maybe also ourselves, or telling the truth. But we always forget one thing! We search for the truth not to prove we are right but to prove we love God! So really, truth and love don’t go against each other like we sometimes think. All we can do is be honest, ask for mercy, and God will do the rest! This is about trust in him! On the other hand, if the fault is from our family, we should try as much as we can to show them the true way of God before it gets to something worse. In 1 Corinthians 5-6, it says, “…. Is it possible that there is nobody among you wise enough to judge a dispute between believers? ^{6 ” Asking God for guidance is the greatest solution in both cases!}But instead, one brother takes another to court—and this in front of unbelievers!

My thoughts:

                I chose this book because I am from Egypt, and I wanted to see what other people imagine ancient Egypt to look like! I’ve read a book from this series, “The Life And Times”, before about ancient Greece. I like the series at least from what I’ve read in these two books. I love this book because the author painted a picture of ancient Egypt in all its glory, which I enjoyed imagining now that it’s all gone! It brought me back home, and I could actually remember not just imagine the things that the author described! I recommend this book to people interested in history, especially Egyptology, and yes there’s such thing! This will give you a closer look into ancient Egypt, and the historical notes at the end of the book will really help. I recommend this book to everyone in the classroom because we learned about ancient Egypt. We flew through thousands of years, however, this book will take you through an everyday journey in Egypt! Have fun reading!