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.

My Name's Not Susie

Title: My Names Not Susie
Author: Sharon Jean Hamilton
Publisher: Boynton/Cook Publishers and Heinemann
Date of Publication: September. 18th, 1995
Number of Pages: 151
Where I found the book: Brandon Library

Story Review:
The significant the title has to the book ("My Names's Not Susie"), is when Karen's biolocal parents dropped her off at the orphanage. The caregivers had no idea what to name her. So they decided Susie. When Karen would get adopted, the families would call her Susie because that's what they thought her name was. And also, when Karen wanted to go out and look for her biolocal parents, the caregivers would stop her make Karen call them "mommy".


This story is about a girl named Karen. She has been in eighteen different orphanges. She got put in so many because she got rejected by her parents. A lot of families had conifirmed to keep her, but they realized she wasn't the right one. Karen's disobedience has led her the wrong path in life. Being uneducated was the worst for someone that wanted to go to school like the other kids and make friends. Instead of going to school, she got abused at strangers houses. They made her do stuff that made her feel uncomfortable and frightend her. Every Sunday she went to church with the orphanage. But once she hit 18, she stopped. She got a job and moved out with her boyfriend. He was a horrible influence towards her. He was the one that stopped her from going to church. He also got her in the habit of stealing; little as a chocolate, to alcohol. He also made her lie to the caregivers where she was, and what she was doing. Even though she was out of the orphanage, they still had to keep in touch with Karen. For the days Karen had gone ot church, she remembered the 10 Commandments and had just realized, she had been doing most of them. Karen moved to England and went to university to get a PhD in nursing. "My life couldn't get better" Karen Jean Hamiliton said.


Christian Perspective:
In my thoughts, this was a Christian book. Growing up, Karen did go to church and learn about God. But once she hit 18 things started changing. It said she regretted all the things she did when she turned away from God. When she diid turn away from God, it never ment she couldn't pray about the dicisions she was making. Karen Jean Hamiliton (author and main character)  is a Christian. In some of her other books, she talks about God a lot more.

My Thoughts:
I really liked this book because of all the details and how the it was written. It also put a date and year on the top of each paragraph to help the readers understand what she went through day by day. The book also had an amazing quote in each chapter of what Karen said after she went through that. I think Karen was a very strong girl by taking the risks and decisions she had made. I recommend this book to someone who loves reading biographies. I picked this book because i haven't done a biography yet and it's something I don't usually pick up and read everyday.

Denika's Book Review.

Title: Hoot

Author: Carl Hiaasen

Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf - Random House Children's Books inc.

Place/Year of Publication: New York, 2002

Number of Pages: 292

Where I Found the Book: CHS Library

Genre: Animal Fiction

Theme: Owl's and their enviroment

Story Review:

This is the second book I have read from Carl Hiaasen. This book is about a boy named Roy who moved to a small community in Florida. Being the new kid obviously wasn't easy - especially for him. He had no friends, got made fun of, got bullied and pushed around by people. He never told anybody about the bullying. Anyways, Roy got his face smushed into the bus window a lot, and if he never got his face smushed he would have never seen the east side of town and would have never found out about the owls trying to survive behind a construction site. So Roy really had to thank Dana (main bully) for smushing his face into the window for a chance to help the poor owls in the need of his help.

Christian Perspective:

I'm positive that Carl Hiaasen is a christian, but this book is not. Atleast how he had written it. I think how Roy could have went and prayed to God about the bullying and how it could stop or atleast make it somewhat better. Even though it was a small town, there might've not been a church there but if he tried, he could have made friends and started their own "youth group" or little devotional time together.

My Thoughts:

This book was NOTHING like the movie in my opinion. I still liked it but it wouldn't be my favourite. I think this book was a lot about discovering about owls and sometimes it mentioned about nature. Which I like reading about. I like reading Carl Hiaasen's books because most of them are about animals and their fun learning about. My favourite part was probably when he realized that whiles he was getting smushed against the window that there is a reason to live and to help this enviroment. I recommend this book to people who love animals and love learning about nature and the enviroment and how you can help it.

Survivng Paragraph!

Survivng alone is hard enough, but is possible with strength? Finding a reliable source of food or healthy water may have a few bumps in the road. But if you believe you have a lot of strength, you can pull it through another day. Making a fire or building a shelter take skills, but what make those skills are strength. Surviving alone is almost as painful as having no strength at all. No strength equals giving up. If you were going to commit suicide, you would need the strength to say no, and say also say ''There is a reason to live''. In the movie Castaway, Chuck had strength through the loud, windy, rainy, cold and thundering night - alone. On those extremely hot days, I would have no idea what to do.On the other hand, Brian from the book Hatchet, also had a lot of strength. Brian never gave up by making a fire or going into the water to go and get the emergancy kit and the hatchet which fell. Chuck and Brian remind me of Mario and Luigi. Everytime the ''bros'' died whiles trying to defeat Bowser, they had strength to keep going and to never give up. You as the controller, may yell and scream when you die. But in real life you need strength to stay alive. There are a lot of components of surviving alone, but strength is definitely the most important one because that's all you need.

Heidi

Title: Heidi
Author: Johanna Spyri
Publisher: Whitman Publishing Company
Place & Year of Publication: USA, 1880
Number of Pages: 284
Where I Found the Book: My grandmas house


Story Review:
This book is about a girl named Heidi. That is why the book is called ''Heidi''. Anyways, the book takes place on her grandparents Alm, in the Swiss Alps. When heidi first got their (the first few days) she felt unconfortable and didn't feel rihgt. But after a while she started getting more used of it. She also got to call ed the Alm-Uncle, uncle instead of The Uncle, but just uncle. That made her more confortable to. There are a lot of characters but the main ones are probably Heidi, her grandparents and her cousin Klara. There is one guy who is named Herr Sesemann, that pops in an dout of the story. At the beginning of the story, Heidi gets sent to live with her grandparents on their Alm. Oh course, Heidi LOVES everyone! Her grandfather is a grouch, at the start of the movie. But then he starts knowing that Heidi will do whatever it takes to be a kind, willing person. This book doesn't have a a problem, but if it did then it would have to be the fact that the grandfather was no appreciated of Heidi.The solution to that would have to be then, during the middle/end of the book, the grandfather then realised how Heidi is helpful around the farm. Some of the important parts is that, Heidi learns how to work wiht animals, pray to God, go to school, and meet new friends along within' her life time in the Alps. The theme would be an adventurous time on a farm.


Christian Perspective:
This is definitly a Christian book because it talks about them praying to God, learning hymns formt he Bible, and going to Church/Sunday School. On Heidi's adventure, she helps teach others the Word of the Lord, pray for others who need healing, and just is a very thankful girl. I remember one part in the story, Heidi and Klara were drinking goats milk from a bowl and they both got a little bit, and Heidi was just so thankful and she thanked God no matter how much she got. I would be guessing that the author (Johanna Spyri) is a Christian, just because she wrote such a great Christian book. Heidi helped this one boy Peter learn the alphabet and she taught him in a Godly way and it rhymed wiht something to do wiht the bible.


My Thoughts:
I chose this book because my grandma said is was a great book, and so I gave it a try. Turns out, This is such a great book. I liked every chapter of it, and the only thing I disliked is how the grandfather would treat Heidi not so good like the grandmother did because Heidi was so caring for them and protective of them and the grandfather I didn't think realise that. I would recommend this book to people who love to read about how people grow up and learn about God and just live in a small community and where everyone is kind to each other. I think that Heidi would be a great commericial ad for living in the Swiss Alps.

Things Not Seen.

Title: Things Not Seen.

Author: Andrew Clements.

Publisher: Scholastics Inc.

Place/Year of Publication: New York, October 2002.

Number of Pages: 251 Pages.

Where Did I Find The Book: Christian Heritage's Library.

Story Review:

It's a Feburary morning on a Tuesday. He goes to the bathroom to take a shower. After that, he goes to wipe off the mirror. He can't see anything. So he tries again. Still nothing. Of course now he sees something, but it's what he doesn't see. ''I am invisible'' Bobby Phillips said.

This is a story about a boy named Bobby Phillips. Nobody can see him, as if he was invisible. People who see him or walk by him can't see him. That means they can just see a boy that they don't notice. To get to know more about Bobby's parents, they leave him home for a few nights alone, so they never really ''get together'' alot. Since he is home alone a lot and lives in a ''mysterious'' town, he hears noises just are just the neighbours or something outside, just like we do sometimes. In the middle of the story, Bobby meets a girl named Alicia. They got to know each other better by emailing each other all night. Bobby never went to school for a few days which turned into weeks. Who would want to go to school when nobody especially your classmates and teacher can't even notice you. Eventually, some of his school friends got to him and said it be cool to go and spy on everybody. Nobody got his problem. Nobody knew what he was going through.

The signifiance of this book has to the title (Things Not Seen) , Bobby Phillips is not seen. Nobody notices him or virbally sees him. Nobody can notice him - not even his parents or teacher can.

Christian Perspective:

In my personal opinon, this is some what of a Christian book. The author did mention God in some ways. For example, in every 3 chapter there would be a ''Oh my, God!'' or ''Thank God''. It never said anything about Bobby's family having a religion or going to church, but Bobby did pray in some parts. If this was a top Christian book, then the characters would have delt with this different in my thought. Bobby could have paryed daily for his problem to go away. He also could ahve went to youth group and learn more about God instead of staying at home all paranoid. His parents would have been a lot closer to him instead of going out a million times a week. Andrew Clements (the author) is a Christian because in the second book ''Things Hoped For'' be does mention Bible verses.

My Thoughts:

This boo is a really good book! It repeats important words just like in the Hatchet, for you's to understand it more better and that helped me in some parts. This book is interesting and it's like a mystery because you have to find out why he has that problem. I would recommend this book to a person who loes fiction and figuring out mystery.