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! 

Meredith's Book Review

Title: Orphan at My Door

Author: Jean Little

Publisher: Scholastic Canada Ltd.

Place and Year of Publication: Markham, ON, Canada, 2001

Number of Pages: 199

Where You Found The Book: CHS library

Story Review:

This is the diary of a young girl named Victoria Cope.  Victoria lives in Guelph, Ontario, with her family and the story takes place during the 1980’s.  Victoria receives a diary on her eleventh birthday from her mom.  She promises that she will write in it until every page is full, and she does just that. 

The Cope Family has a girl named Peggy helping them with the housework, but when she turns in her notice that she’s leaving, the Cope family receives a home girl from France to take her place.  Her name is Mary Anna Wilson and she’s twelve years old.  Her little brother, Jasper, was also taken in by another family to work as a home boy, and Mary Anna is determined to find him.  Will he, as the orphan, show up at their door as the title suggests?

The family by which Jasper is taken in is very cruel to him, and all he wants is to run away and find his sister.  This is a story full of secrets, friendships, hard times, and a sister’s unfailing love for her brother.  Will Mary Anna find Jasper?  And if she does will he be able to stay with her?  Victoria finds herself writing about what seems to be the most exciting year of her life, as a nail biting story unfolds before her eyes.

Christian Perspective:

I believe that this story was written from a Christian perspective because in the story the characters go to church, pray regularly, and are very strict about the “Sunday Rules.”  Victoria’s family often deals with conflict in a godly way, although the people that have custody over Jasper don’t.  This story taught me that God will always help us persevere through our troubles, and that we need to be kind and show love to others.  It also taught me that I shouldn’t judge someone by appearance before I get to know him or her.

My Thoughts:

I thought that this book was really well written and it kept me engaged throughout.  At first I was unsure about reading a historical fiction book because I don’t particularly enjoy history.  This book, however, was very good, and I think I’ll read more books similar to it.  I chose this book because I had to read a historical fiction book and I’ve seen classmates read this series.  I liked it because it felt like I was in the story and the plot was very real.  It gave me a sense of what life was like back then.  I would recommend this book to middle school students who are looking to read something other than fantasy or mystery, because it was really interesting and I really enjoyed it.

The Twenty-One Balloons

Title: The Twenty-One Balloons

Author: William Pene du Bois

Publisher: The Penguin Group

Place & Year of Publication: New York, 1986

Number of Pages: 180

Where You Found the Book: School Library

Story Review:

When Professor William Waterman Sherman gets tired of his teaching job in San Francisco, he plans a yearlong adventure in a hot-air balloon. He wants to spend some time to himself away from everyone, and decides that he will cross the Pacific Ocean. It seems like the perfect getaway, but after just three weeks he is found almost dead in the Atlantic Ocean, along with the remains of twenty hot-air balloons. The world is eager to know how he ended up in the wrong ocean and with so many balloons, only to have him keep it a secret. He wants his fellow explorers back at the Western American Explorers’ Club in San Francisco to be the first to know due to a code of ethics. So the world will just have to wait until he can get back to the club in San Francisco to hear his tale. But I guess I can tell you just a bit of his secret, right?

The Professor had happily been traveling for just under a week when he spotted an island with a huge mountain in the distance. He decided that he needed to gain altitude in order to clear the mountain so he threw his garbage from the past couple of days overboard. The seagulls that were in the sky dove for the food, and one brought some meat onto the top of his balloon. The birds went crazy over it and the professor ended up with a tear in his balloon. As he plummeted towards the water, he desperately tried to throw everything overboard in order to stay in the air long enough until he could reach the island. He finally detached the basket itself and hung onto the strings attached to the balloon with just enough time to reach the island.

Relieved and feeling completely alone, he jumped at the sound of a voice. It just so happened that twenty families live on this island and one person had been waiting there for him since he was spotted in the air. It turned out that the people on the island of Krakatoa were not going to let him leave, because then their secrets would be revealed to the world. During his stay on the island of Krakatoa, the Professor learns of the secrets that they don’t want the world to know about – first of all, that there is life on the island, and second of all, that the island is covered with diamond mines. As he lives on the island with these families, he becomes familiar with their way of life and culture. The title is “The Twenty-One Balloons” because of the one balloon he starts out with and the twenty he ends up with. The themes throughout the book are adventure and a little bit of suspense. How does the Professor end up in the awful situation as mentioned before? I guess you’ll have to read the book and find out!

Christian Perspective:

Although this book isn’t written from a Christian perspective, we can still learn a lot from it. Just like the Professor needed a break from his teaching job to do something he enjoyed, we sometimes need a break from our busy lives to spend time with God. Time with God is very important and we need to make sure that we use that time to deepen our faith. It is also important that we keep our promises to God just as He keeps his promises to us. In the book the Professor kept his oath to his explorer’s club even though it would have been tempting to let the story slip to some news reporter or investigator. God is loyal to us and we need to be loyal to Him, just as the Professor had loyalty. We are committed to God, and he should be the centre of our life. Another lesson I learned from the book is that you have to work together if you want to succeed. The people on the island wouldn’t have been able to survive if they hadn’t cooperated with each other. We need to learn to work with each other in a way that pleases God, and to love and respect one another in all we do and say.

My Thoughts:

I really enjoyed this book and thought it was well thought out by the author. It had a very clever story line with twists and turns along the way. This is a book that I would recommend to anyone who loves a good adventure because it’s all about exploring and traveling. This book left me wondering about what would happen next the whole time, and although it was a little slow at the beginning I still had lots of fun reading it. I chose this book because a classmate recommended it to me and it looked interesting. My overall opinion of the book is that it’s funny, well planned out, and very engaging once you get into it. I really liked this book, and I hope you will too!

Convincing Paragraph

If you were stranded all alone in the middle of nowhere, self determination would drive you to fight for survival. Determination is the most important component of survival because it will always keep you going. If you are determined to find something, you won't stop until you have it. In Hatchet, Brian is determined to get fish, and even after missing numerous times his perseverance pays off and determination wins over. When he is making a fire he tries many different things that don't work. One technique he used was to make a nest of finely cut bark. He cut the bark for two hours, which took great determination, and in the end it results in fire. Survival is about trial and error, and if you stop trying after failing once, you'll never stay alive. Even if you fail over and over again, determination will lead to success and survival,

Meredith's Book Review

Title: Dragon Rider

Author: Cornelia Funke

Publisher: Scholastic Inc.

Place and Year of Publication: United Kingdom, 2004

Number of Pages: 523

Where You Found the Book: On the bookshelf at home

Story Review:

This story begins in a valley occupied by dragons who receive the news that humans are moving in to flood their valley. One of the young dragons named Firedrake decides to go out in search of the Rim of Heaven with his cat-like friend Sorrel for a place to stay in peace, but that is believed by many to be nonexistent. Firedrake, on the other hand, has always dreamed of finding that magical place high in the mountains where dragons are said to be hiding in safety from Nettlebrand the Golden One, and where they are safe from humans. Nettlebrand is a mighty creature that appears as a dragon but really was made by an alchemist with a secret recipe. After being created, Nettlebrand ate his master and hunted silver dragons, such as Firedrake. Even though they have tried, the silver dragons cannot melt Nettlebrand’s golden scales, and they have been hiding from him ever since his last huge hunt. They are said to be hiding in the Rim of Heaven, and Firedrake is determined to find them.

During the journey, Firedrake and Sorrel run into a boy named Ben. Ben decides that he wants to go with Firedrake and Sorrel on their journey, and that’s where the title comes from. Ben is believed to be the rider who will fulfill the legends from long ago and who will bring safety for the dragons. After receiving a map from a rat that they were told to visit, they go on their way. Sorrel thinks that he should be in charge of giving directions, but lands in a place that is shaded yellow on the map, which means danger. They happen to land right near Nettlebrand’s castle, and the Golden One sends his armor cleaner Twigleg to spy on the dragon during his journey so that he can give Nettlebrand directions to the Rim of Heaven and so that Nettlebrand can hunt once again. Ben the “Dragon Rider” is a key character in this book and his adventures are a main part of the storyline.

On their journey, the three companions run into many more problems, and meet many new creatures such as a basilisk, a sea serpent, enchanted ravens that are also Nettlebrand’s spies, and a djinn with a thousand eyes. Will Firedrake find the Rim of Heaven? Will Twigleg stay faithful to Nettlebrand? Will Nettlebrand ever be defeated? Will the existence of dragons disappear forever? You’ll just have to read the book and find out! This story will take you through many adventures as you discover hidden secrets and sense a theme of adventure, suspense and fantasy.

Christian Perspective:

I don’t think this book was written from a Christian perspective because it’s a fantasy about dragons and other mythical creatures with no symbolism in it like Chronicles of Narnia for instance. In this book, there is a place called the “Rim of Heaven.” We believe that after you die you may or may not go to heaven and that there is no physical place that takes up matter and space that is heaven, but rather that it is a realm. In the book it refers to the safe place for dragons as the “Rim of Heaven,” and it doesn’t have anything to do with heaven as we know it. I think the reason the term “Heaven” is used is because we think of heaven as a perfect place to live in peace and that’s exactly what is was for the dragons. Even though this book wasn’t written from a Christian perspective I didn’t find it offensive or disrespectful to Christianity at any point.

Personal Thoughts:

I have read this book numerous amounts of times, and each time I discover something new. I chose this book at first because it seemed really interesting, and I chose to read it again because I really like the story line and I hadn’t read it in a long time. Even though the amount of pages may seem intimidating to some, it is fairly large print and the pages are small. Trust me, once you get into this book, you can’t stop yourself. I read it in only a few days, and I never got bored of it. I really liked it because it always left you with a cliffhanger and it always kept you thinking. You had to try to figure out what was going to happen next and had to try to put all the pieces together for it to make sense. I could really picture myself in the scene with the characters, and could also feel what they were feeling. I would recommend this book to people who like fantasy books because this book is all fantasized. The author had a really creative imagination and I think that people who don’t usually enjoy fantasy might even like this book!

Meredith's Spelling Word Story

A maestro found it necessary to discipline his symphony members because of their mediocre playing. The musicians were reluctant to practice, and their lack of precision was becoming a nuisance. They were so deficient it made him nauseous. This common occurrence would embarrass him, as their mistakes were very noticeable. The maestro was becoming quite cynical because he thought failure was inevitable if things didn’t change. It was a privilege for them to be performing at the pavilion to inaugurate the new superintendent. He decided it would be beneficial to practice more, which meant they would have to sacrifice some of their free time for extra rehearsals. He hated to monopolize their time, but scheduled extra practices anyway. When the time came for them to perform, he waited anxiously. The band started playing and the crowd was exuberant. The extra time and hard work had paid off!

Meredith’s Book Report, October 24, 2011 - The boy who came back from heaven

Information:

Title: The boy who came back from heaven

Author: Kevin & Alex Malarkey

Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers

Place and year of publication: Carol Stream, Illinois, 2010

Number of pages: 232

Where you found the book: I heard about it from my Oma

Story Review:

Kevin Malarkey and his son, Alex, were involved in a terrible car crash in 2004 on their way home from church. Luckily Kevin wasn’t hurt; but Alex, only six at the time, suffered severely and was paralyzed from the neck down. It seemed completely impossible that he would survive, but God had other plans.

The doctor told Alex’s parents, Beth and Kevin, that in the unlikely case of Alex surviving he would not have normal brain function, would never breathe on his own, would never move on his own below his neck, would never be able to swallow food, and would never be able to talk. That’s a lot of “never’s,” but Beth simply told the doctor, “You are wrong.” She believed that God would show His mercy on Alex and would fully heal him. Even though his head was detached from his spine, she believed that God would perform a supernatural miracle, and that God had a special plan for her son on this earth.

Two months after the accident, Alex came out of his coma and returned to Ohio. He had an unbelievable story to tell because in those two months, Alex had been in heaven and had experienced absolutely incredible things. This book is about the amazing journey of a young boy and the unimaginable encounters with God that he experienced.

This book will show you just how magnificent God is and what amazing things He can do. It will teach you that God hears you when you pray and that it is important to listen to what God is trying to say to you. When you read this book, you can’t help but wonder about things beyond earth, and it will give you new ideas on heaven, angels, and the power of God.

Christian Perspective:

The boy who came back from heaven was written from a Christian perspective, and Christ-like behaviour is reflected. In the book, the authors are going through a huge struggle, and although Kevin Malarkey admits to sometimes losing his temper and getting frustrated, I think that for the most part Alex’s family dealt with the issue in a Godly way. This book often talks about prayer, and how much prayer affected them by strengthening and comforting them. This book affected me as a Christian by showing me that God really does hear me when I talk to Him, and that I can have a personal relationship with Jesus Himself. It inspired me and made me think a lot about some of the ideas that were presented.

Personal Thoughts:

I thought this book was very powerful, and it really got me thinking a little bit more about the spiritual realm. I like how the point of this book isn’t to convince you of anything but rather to share with you an amazing experience exactly how it happened. I also really liked how the authors gave the glory to God and didn’t put the focus on themselves by pointing out that they are just ordinary people like you and me. One thing I would have liked was if there was more to read from Alex and his personal experiences in heaven as I found that the book was a little more focused on the dad’s perspective. I would not only recommend this book to Christians who are seeking a closer relationship with God and who have questions about heavenly things, but also to nonbelievers to get them thinking about spiritual matters and what knowing God can do in their lives. If you haven’t read this book already, I would really encourage you to! It’s a truly amazing story that will show you what faith can do.