Book Description

Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls is a favorite middle grade novel. This companion gives background on the author, questions to guide reading, clues to themes, plot, characters, and setting of the book, a glossary, writing and other activities, and more. If you loved Where the Red Fern Grows, you need this reading companion. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

neat guide
This scholastic bookfiles reading guide to Where the Red Fern Grows is great for homeschoolers and teachers. They can use the book for a complete unit study based on the book. It includes ideas on how to discuss plot, setting, and themes. The book has questions on each chapter. Also listed are vocabulary words and activities.

I enjoyed using this book as the base in my unit with my 9 year old son while studying the book Where the Red Fern Grows. The book helped us to work though the book and have fun with it. Lots of great ideas are in this BookFiles guide. It reminds me of CliffNotes for young readers.

I would recommed this book for teachers, parents, and teachers. This is a great way to enhance the reading of a great book. ... Read more

Book Description

Song of Solomon explores the quest for cultural identity through an African American folktale about enslaved Africans who escape slavery by fleeing back to Africa. The novel tells the story of Macon "Milkman" Dead, a young man alienated from himself and estranged from his family, his community, and his historical and cultural roots. Author Toni Morrison, long renowned for her detailed imagery, visual language, and "righting" of black history, guides the protagonist along a 30-year journey that enables him to reconnect with his past and realize his self-worth. ... Read more

Reviews (187)

Classic! A masterpiece!
"Song of Solomon" is the third book I've read of Toni Morrison. The prose is beautiful, subtle and unique. She is the winner of both the Pulitzer and the Nobel Prize. Read this novel, and you will understand why!

From the fantastic opening scene - when Robert Smith, the insurance collector, is about to "fly" from the top of a building, some forty, fifty people gathered on the ground to watch. One of them, a woman is standing there, singing, and another woman entering labor - to the ending, this book held my full attention. I just could not put this book down!

In telling this beautiful story, Morrison cleverly mix together elements of magic, myth, and folklore. The style of the book reminds me of the book "One hundred years of Solitude" by Gabriel García Márquez. Both novels share many similarities, and they are books which you have to "think" while reading them.

The characters in "Song of Solomon" are each very well developed. It is almost as if you know them all personally and one cannot help but to care deeply for them all. This is the only book I have read by Toni Morrison that features a male lead. I wouldn't know, but based on the opinion of other reviewers on Amazon.com Morrison masters the task of "being male" perfectly well.

"Song of Solomon" is considered to be Toni Morrison's masterpiece, and the novel is one of my all-time favorites. If you read only one novel by Toni Morrison, it should be this one!

Tears, ebony tears, that turn to type and illuminate....
I've read SOS going on four or five times now, floored, awestruck, enraptured each time, every twist and turn a new surprise arrives. Milkman is a wonderful archetype for a Black man searching for what he can claim as his own. His mind, his body, his sex, money? What is his and not tainted by the past, by racism, by internal family feuding? This is what I call a "Patience Book", you have to sit with it the way you would sit with a child on a Sunday afternoon. Patience. You have to breathe in rhythm with this book. Morrison is one of those few writers that it's silly to ask all of your questions of even after you finish the book. Pick it right back up and breathe, savor each page, have patience. It is not an easy read for it is literature and you are reading, truly reading. Not surfing through pulp fiction knwoing that the hero lives, the heroine is saved and everybody sleeps well on the last page. Uh uh. Patience. What else but patience could you use to understand Magdalene, Pilate, Corinthians? My all time, all time, all time favorite literary scene that chills me, tears me up, knocks me around hard and then uplifts me: Pilate at the funeral. "That was my baby, That's my baby, AND SHE WAS LOVED!"

Honey, welcome to real African American literature, impossible to translate to film for this is patience reading. Patience, free at last, free at last!

A Morrison Classic With Fewer Tears
Song of Solomon fits well into the classic Toni Morrison genre of heart-wrenchingly poetic and painfully beautiful stories, but it is a bit different from her other works at the same time. The main character of this novel is a male, but the deeper thematic undercurrents channel strongly towards feminism (or in this case womanism, black women's feminism). It's a story of finding yourself and your roots, your true name. The story follows a North to South journey for a young black man. Filled with symbolism and mythology, the novel is rich and engrossing. The motif is based on old stories of African American slaves who shed their bonds and flew back to Africa. Your interpretation of this novel will lead you in one of two directions: did they fly or did they perish? The novel poses this question to you in an eloquent and beautiful way. In the end, your interpretation of this novel may tell you something about yourself and what you believe in.

Beautifully written and with a message
Even though it is beautifully written, this book is not for everyone, because some might find searching for the meaning tedius. However, I highly recommend this book if you like searching for a meaning. On the top, the story told is wonderful. Under the surface, the message of love and finding your family roots is outstanding. This is a great book for someone who is struggling to find who they are. I was reminded of McCrae's "The Bark of the Dogwood--A Tour of Southern Homes and Gardens," or perhaps "The Color Purple" in that the characters have to really go through a lot before they find themselves. Such is the case with "I Know." Morrison generally writes in this style of an underlying message, and it keeps her readers intrigued until the end of the book. Milkman's search is much like what every teen in the world wants. He says "I just want to be on my own. Get a job, live on my own" However, through Milkman, Morrison shows her readers that they must first take care of their responsibility to their family and culture. However, when love and respect for culture is discovered, the following lesson can be learned, "Without leaving the ground, she could fly. Therefore, this is an important book to read for thos wanting freedom, so they can learn from the mistakes of Milkman. Frankly, I don't know how anyone could not like this book, if not for the wonderful story, then at least for the wonderful writing.

Would also recommend: "Bark of the Dogwood"

History Is Identity?
In Song of Solomon, Toni Morrison takes the view - a common one - that we have to know our history to know ourselves. I don't really agree but in this case it makes a great story. The characters in her novel don't make calculations or follow strategies: they do what they have to do. The history that motivates their actions is an emotional, personal one. Morrison's preoccupation with this personal history is reflected in her use of unusual names: names that are given "from yearnings, gestures, flaws, events, mistakes, weaknesses . . . Macon Dead, Sing Byrd, Crowell Byrd, Pilate, Reba, Hagar, Magdalene, First Corinthians, Milkman, Guitar . . . ." Her characters are powerful, larger-than-life people, and clashes between them quickly escalate to life-and-death struggles. At the same time, they have a great capacity for empathy and self-sacrifice. Highly recommended. ... Read more

Book Description

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle is a favorite middle-grade novel. This companion gives background on the author, questions to guide reading, clues to the themes, plot, characters, and setting of the book, a glossary, writing and other activities, and more. If you loved A Wrinkle in Time, you need this reading companion. ... Read more

Book Description

Book Description

Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor is a favorite middle-grade novel. This companion gives background on the author, including an interview, questions to guide reading, clues to the themes, plot, characters, and setting of the book, a glossary, writing and other activities, and more. If you loved Shiloh, you need this reading companion. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Fantastic Guide
A wonderful extension for a wonderful book. This book meets all the present-day standards for education and is cross-curricular in nature. This is not the typical "book report" format found in so many other companion workbooks. Activities range from paper-pencil, to roleplaying, to technology, to current and past newspaper events and on and on. I've examined many such workbooks and this is one of the best I've ever seen. Amy Griffin has done a thorough job here. ... Read more

Book Description

Book Description

One of Shakespeare's romantic comedies, this play is set in the seaport town of Messina, in Sicily. The drama concerns "the battle of the sexes" and focuses on the barbed wits and intrigues that two sets of lovers and their friends and family create. Brimming with wit and antagonism, the play has amused and provoked audiences for centuries. ... Read more

Reviews (129)

funny and just plain enjoyable! by a 14 year old
This movie is so, as I said, enjoyable! It's hilarious - it has both physical and oral comedy. The scenes with Benedick and Beatrice are great.

Shakespeare's play is about two romances. One with a young, innocent, beautiful Hero and a naiive guy (I forget his name). The other is with Beatrice and Benedick, a couple who love to hate each other and don't realize their true feelings without a little help from some friends. Unfortunately, all is not completely happy. Someone is trying to put a damper on everyone's fun with lies and false accusations. But don't worry! Much Ado About Nothing isn't a tragedy.

The music and scenery is beautiful and the who feel is the movie is sprightly and energetic. I think everyone did a good job. Branagh and Thompson obviously were wonderful. Everybody says Michael Keaten (spelling?) and Keanu Reeves were terrible, but I strongly disagree. Perhaps they were a little prejudiced by former viewings of the actors. Keaten was so funny - I am sure Shakespeare was not always refined - and Reeves was evil. They both were fine!

I recommend this movie to Shakespeare lovers (though it may not be COMPLETELY true to the original text) and to anyone who wants a good laugh.

Scrumptiously Devious
If your mind is longing for a Shakespeare production, this is an excellent adaptation of the highest order. Not only is this one of the best romantic comedies ever written, it is set in the Tuscan sun and reaches its full comic potential in all the lustiness and witty dialogue only Shakespeare could create.

At a sensuous picnic, Beatrice reads:

Sign no more, ladies, sign no more,
Men were deceivers ever,
One foot in sea, and one on shore,
To one thing constant never.
Then sigh not so, but let them go,
And be you blithe and bonny,
Converting all your sounds of woe
Into hey (nonny nonny). (brief translation: what the heck).

Act 2, scene 3, 62-69

In Messina, the governor Leonato, his daughter Hero, and her cousin Beatrice (Antonio's daughter) learn from a messenger that Don Pedro has won victory in a battle and is returning home.

Denzel Washington as the Prince Don Pedro really adds sex appeal to this movie! When he arrives with his soldiers from war there is a moment of excitement when everyone lets their inner child escape and there is a feeling of giddy anticipation and the movie takes on a vigorous life of its own.

This is pure escapism for sure. The Italian villa with lush landscapes, fountains and plenty of shrubs to hide behind for eavesdropping on crucial conversations is just enchanting. It is the perfect place for the story to unfold. Here the prince and his warriors decide to vacation for a month.

The main plot involves two love stories. Hero (Kate Beckinsale) and Claudio (Robert Sean Leonard) are in love and hardly need to be pressured into matrimony.

Benedick (Kenneth Branagh) and Beatrice (Emma Thompson) have a hilarious adversarial type courtship in neither can decide what they really want.

"Thou and I are too wise to woo peaceably."

They have both declared they will never marry. In fact, one assumes it was their desire of their wild hearts all along, but was only revealed in a tortured path of wit and intrigue.

Claudio: [to Hero] Lady, as you are mine, I am yours; I give away myself for you and dote upon the exchange.
Beatrice: Speak, cousin, or (if you cannot) stop his mouth with a kiss, and let not him speak neither.

Don John ("yummy" Keanu Reaves) is of course the evil villan in this story and sets out to destroy the relationship between the beautiful Hero and the handsome Claudio. Like a devil, he manages to create mayhem and then leaves the tortured souls to figure out the details of their salvation. With the sweet Hero slandered and presumed dead, one assumes as sure as there is a thought or a soul, there is no turning back.

There are so many great lines in this play that were included with such flair. This is now my favorite Shakespeare adaptation.

You will laugh with absolute delight
at the antics these characters get up to!

Universal appeal!

Best Movie Ever!! by melmcc13
This movie is one of my favorite movies of all time!! I am a huge fan of of Keneth Branagh and Emma Thompson and think they are both wonderful! I absolutely loved this movie and thought that all the actors did a very good job. There were absolutely no confusing parts, and everything from drama to comedy in this film was perfectly displayed. The directing was excellent, and Kneth Branagh makes the movie seem very real. This movie does an excellent job at making Shakespeare fun and exciting!!

yuck!
I'm no fan of the original play and this film version is even worse. The film adds pointless scenes (nudity, along with others) not in Shakespeare's work and twists others; all aimed at an audience that doesn't care about solid acting--of which this film has none (spoiling the few interesting bits of the play)--to begin with and many of the actors simply shouldn't have even been considered-both Reeves (who can't act at all), and Keaton could never work out in a drama movie.
It should be said that nearly every big-screen Shakespeare translation (apart from Zeffirelli's version of Hamlet and Branagh's Henry V) have stunk. Parker's Othello is just as bad as this piece of trash to say nothing of Luhrmann's Romeo and Juliet or Hoffman's A Midsummer Night's Dream. It's my suggestion, that if you really want to see Shakespeare off the stage, then look for BBC material.

A little ado about not much
I believe that the reading of this book/play shouls be encouraged for students across the country, because it shows a comical yet realistic view of love, and the effects it has on people.
When Shakespeare wrote this play, I believe that his purpose was to show the two differing sides of love. He uses two examples, the first being Hero and Claudio, who embody the spirit of romantic, superficial love. The two of them never seem to talk, and as far as the reader knows, they don't have a whole lot in common. Claudio puts so much stock in his "love" for Hero that he overreacts too easily. For example, at a party where Don Pedro agrees to woo Hero for Claudio, Don Pedro's bastard brother Don John tricks Claudio into believing Pedro wants Hero for his own. WIth this fresh in his mind, Claudio stomps off in a huff, without even checking the facts. This kind of love is based on gazing wistfully at the one's partner across the room, and sunshine, lollipops and rainbows.
The other kind of love that Shakespeare chooses to display in this play is the realistic kind of love that is displayed more often in society around us. This is shown in the couple of Benedick and Beatrice. These two quick wits are constantly bickering and at each other's throats, until they are tricked by their friends into each believing the otehr loves them. At this, all of their criticisms of love and claims to remain unmarried until death go right out the window. Suddenly, they are seized by a desire to be with each other, and their true feelings come out. It shows how love actually works in real lifeI would reccommend this play to anyone who enjoys a good comedy with just a twinge of love intrest in it. ... Read more

Book Description

This literary companion carries you into the lives and poetic lines of 41 of America's most admired poets from the last century. From popular favorites such as Robert Frost and Carl Sandburg to the more esoteric T. S. Eliot and Ezra Pound, this handbook also introduces you to living poets, such as Rita Dove, who are still inscribing their places in literary history. The book opens with an approach to analyzing poetry, and each author-specific chapter includes sections devoted to Chief Works, Discussion and Research Topics, and a Selected Bibliography.

Complete list of authors covered in this comprehensive guide: Edgar Lee Masters, Edward Arlington Robinson, Robert Frost, Amy Lowell, Carl Sandburg, Wallace Stevens, William Carlos Williams, Ezra Pound, Hilda Doolittle (H. D.), Robinson Jeffers, Marianne Moore, T. S. Eliot, John Crowe Ransom, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Jean Toomer, Louise Bogan, Hart Crane, Allen Tare, Sterling Brown, Langston Hughes, Countée Cullen, Elizabeth Bishop, John Berryman, Randall Jarrell, Gwendolyn Brooks, Robert Lowell, Richard Wilbur, James Dickey, Denise Levertov, A.R. Ammons, Allen Ginsberg, W. S. Merwin, James Wright, Anne Sexton, Adrienne Rich, Sylvia Plath, Amiri Baraka, Wendy Rose, Joy Harjo, Rita Dove, Cathy Song ... Read more

Book Description

Holes by Louis Sachar is a favorite middle-grade novel. This companion gives backgound on the author, including an interview, questions to guide reading, clues to themes, plot, characters, and setting of the book, a glossary, writing and other activities, and more. If you loved holes, you need this reading companion. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Excellent
Holes by Louis Sachar is a marvelous, wonderful book with laugh out loud moments. Use this reading guide to help you introduce the book to your students. ... Read more

Book Description

Jonas, the protagonist in Lois Lowry's novel The Giver, lives in what appears to be a safe, predictable, familiar community. Members of this utopia, which is void of disease, hunger, poverty, war, or lasting pain, have given up all emotions and memories of experience to attain Sameness and the illusion of social order. In the end, Jonas recognizes the hypocrisy on which the community is based and crafts a way to "free" everyone from this Sameness. ... Read more

Reviews (10)

A little on the down side
I have always wondered what this book was about, and I finally found the time to read it for a LA project. The author used a lot of imagination and was very creative when she formed the perfect world that Jonas lived in. This book has some good morals behind it, but I think it is rather dull and could use more suspense. I was very disappointed with the shortness of the book and the ending. Even though I do enjoy making up endings on my own, Lois Lowry has stopped the book right at the climax. I believe that she should have elaborated and given more information that would help bring the story to a wonderful ending. Over all this book is a great book to read for pleasure.

The Ending
My teacher is having the class read "The Giver" for class. I understand that not many people like the ending, but I do. If you think about it, the whole reason, for the barely any information ending was made for you to think of the many possibilites. I mean, I could think that he ends up in a new community, but you could think differently. The point was to imagine the many ways to make the book end, and the end helps open you horizons. The singing helps you think that he has heard-beyond, and not only seen-beyond. For all the people out there who havenn't read this book, you should, it's a very thought out book. Also, If I could I would make everyone read it, because I think this book makes you smarter, by making you think.

AMM 7.3
I like the book it is different, because of the way she uses the different world how they can't make different choices. I thought that she used new words to express the feelings about Jonas and The Giver. I also thought that she used the advantage of them not having choices, because it made them realised that "Elswhere" really exixted.
I didn't like the ending it was making me hang of the edge of my seat. It made me think about the ending and how Jonas got to elsewhere. She needs more of the ending or the sequel to the book. I do agree about the way she described about not having a sequal though.

It makes you think
My teacher read this book to us in English class for a unit. I really liked this book because it makes you think or imagine what could have happened to Jonas and Gabe. I know in my class when we finished the book, my teacher asked us what we thought happened at the end, so we all gave our ideas. Some kids said that he got a job or got married or died. Anything could have happened to them. Thats why I liked this book.

I like the book
Iliked this book except the ending. It left everybody wondering about what would happen to jonas. He might die, but i'm not sure!! ... Read more

Book Description

The Giver by Lois Lowry is a favorite middle grade novel. This companion gives background on the author, including an interview, questions to guide reading, clues to themes, plot, characters, and setting of the book, a glossary, writing and other activities, and more. If you loved The Giver, you need this reading companion. ... Read more

Reviews (2207)

Excellent novel - Worth all the praise & adoration it gets!
After Lois Lowry produced the entrancing 'Number The Stars' it didn't seem possible that she could produce a work, for children, to top it. With 'The Giver' she easily met that goal.

'The Giver' appears to be a rather simple story of a young boy (12 years old to be exact) named Jonas who lives in a seamingly perfect society. He is given the task of becoming the 'Receiver of Knowledge'; an apprentice to the 'Giver of Knowledge'. But that is where the simpleness ends.

The 'knowledge' spoken of in Jonas' job title is all of the memories of pain and suffering that were collected to rid all citizens of uncomfort. The Giver telepathically has to give Jonas all of these memories so he can suffer the pain of famine, war, disease, and death - to spare the community.

The themes in this novel are profound. The thought of a 'utopia' is considered extensively, but it is clearly shown that a perfect world can not exist -- therefore, 'distopia'. The novel also deals with life, death, indivuality, and more; an amazing amount of thought-provoking subjects for a book with a grade 4.5 reading level.

This book, however, may not be suitable for younger readers. Death is a common theme and the murder of an infant is described. There are mild nods to sexuality, but many young readers will dismiss these as benign.

A must read for students as well as adults! Excellent job, Ms. Lowry. You gave America another profound and excellent novel - one that will be on schools' required reading lists for many years to come!

A children's version of 1984, only more entertaining
My own personal grudge against the book comes from the extent of the writing profession, and how it beared so scary and remarkable a resemblence to one of my unpublished ramblings into the SF genre. I had plans of doing a novel where all emotion is stripped away, set in a world much like THE GIVER. Then when I read it, I was somewhat concerned for my own work.

Anyway, this is often comparted to a children's 1984. Yes, while it does bear resemblance to 1984, this book is wonderful on its own terms. The story is the world has been taken down into a utopia, a place with no crime and no feeling, no true feeling. The family establishment is essentially nil with no sexuality at all (this resembles the dominant theme in my own work). Birth Mothers are the source of the population, though it does not give the identity of the fathers. Work and family comes about by selection. Jonas, the hero, has been selected to be the Reciever of Memory. It is here he realises how shockingly sterile and devoid of beauty his world truly is. The ending, somewhat vague, rewards the reader by not giving away to much detail.

For those readers who will be travelling on to Orwell after this, go to ANIMAL FARM, my own personal favorite, and then 1984 for when they're older.

Like all good children's literature, this book deserves to be read by both adults and children alike. Bravo Lowry!

Other significant works by Lowry: Number the Stars.

Mike London

A brilliant dystopian novel
This is a complex, beautiful book that offers a look into a futuristic dystopia in which there is no color, no aberation, no hot or cold, and no personal choices. Drugs are taken to repress sexual urges and even out temprament, and careers are chosen for children based on their aptitude. Children are raised in prearranged family units. There is no privacy and no personal choice, but is this really a bad thing if people have no concept of those things? There is no hunger, emotional pain, violence, crime, war, or sadness.

Growing up in this world is Jonas, a bright 12 year old who is about to receive his career assignment. He is given the important but extremely rare job of "Reciever": the keeper of "memories" of what life was like before the creation of his utopian world. Slowly, he begins to see color, to learn what love, hate, death, and heartbreak are like. He begins to understand that some of the "happy" things around him maybe aren't so happy.

The brilliance of this book is that the world unfolds gradually. Lowry does not hit us over the head with an up-front description: in fact, the place starts out sounding fairly normal if a bit Montesori. Slowly, though, the reader realizes quite how foreign this world is. Lowry is a deft writer with an excellent sense of subtlety.

Ultimately, this book is about the importance of cultural memory. The idea of cultural memory is probably a new one for kids, and some of the concepts of death and destruction might be a little disturbing, so I recomend that parents read this book too so that they can discuss it with their children. This in no way means that I think that it is innapropriate for kids: I just think that it is an amazing starting point for discussion about what makes us human. Please read my review of "A Wrinkle in Time" (also made today) for my thoughts on how these two books are related.

This is a moving, thought-provoking book that is a great read for adults as well as kids. Adults might find it interesting that the idea of a drugged-to-make-them-"normal" population where everyone is encouraged to analyze and discuss every aspect of their lives sounds eerily familiar...

A brilliant dystopian novel
This is a really brilliant book, which everyone should read.

The Giver
Kiddoes, I just finished rereading this book for about the eighth time, but I'll try to transport my mind back in time to when I first read it. I think you'll get a better perspective that way.

It's about a society that wants to be 'perfect'. Well, actually, 'perfect' wouldn't be the best word. I suppose that they want everything to be structured and uniform. They call it in the book 'Sameness'.

There are books and movies about futures that stink, but, let me tell you, this is an especially insane one.

The land is climate-controlled, and completely the same. Flat; no hills, no valleys. No colors, even. And it isn't just the outside that's controlled... The people don't love, aren't sad or guilty... basically, they don't feel human emotions. Only the Receiver is allowed to experience those things, and he is the keeper for the entire community... without him, the memories would be unleashed and the community would revert to chaos.

People have their jobs chosen for them, their mates chosen, even their children. You get to old? You're 'released'. (Releasing is killing, if you haven't figured that out.) A twin, and smaller than your brother or sister? You're released. Make a mistake, like flying in the wrong direction? Released. It's scary about what you can't do...

Jonas is chosen as the new Receiver, and (surprise) he's the character that the book centers around. We read about his life before he is selected, during, and afterwards, and I don't know about you, but it was a major shock to me that there wasn't color.

I'm not sure if I can say that I LOVED this book. Loving would imply that I loved the concepts, and also would imply that I wasn't horrified while I was reading it. Happy little kiddoes in America aren't really exposed to this kind of stuff... not even CLOSE to it.

But I really respect it, and totally understand why it's a classic. Lois Lowry got a fan with this book; Number the Stars didn't quite do it for me.

And another thing I think people need to understand about this book is that even though the text is simple and that youngsters can READ it, the concepts are meant for older kids. ... Read more

Book Description

Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell is a favorite middle grade novel.This companion gives background on the author, questions to guide reading, clues to themes, plot, characters, and setting of the book, a glossary, writing and other activities, and more. If you loved Island of the Blue Dolphins, you need this reading companion. ... Read more

Book Description

Chaim Potok's novel The Chosen, an admittedly autobiographical portrait of growing up Jewish in America, focuses on the challenge of living a religious life in a secular society. Through the budding friendship of an ultrareligious Hasidic Jew (Danny Saunders) and a Modern Orthodox Jew (Reuven Malter), readers learn what it takes to be a committed, religiously observant Jew living simultaneously in two cultures, one secular and one religious. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Boring waste of time
This book focused on two Jewish boys, and their tyrant parents. There was not one part that interested me fromt the beginning to the end. This is a colossal waste of time, and unless you are in a hospital bed, I DO NOT reccomend this book. As a student, I have other things to do than read a book that uses Jewish terms that 1% of the population understands. If you HAVE to read this for school, do yourself a favor and buy the Cliff Notes.This book drags on & on, and is WAY too descriptive. ... Read more

Book Description

Ten years ago, Barbara Kingsolver published a first novel that is well on its way to becoming a classic work of American fiction. The Bean Trees is a book readers have taken to their hearts. It is now a standard in college literature classes across the nation and has been translated for a readership stretching from Japan to Romania.

When it was first published, however, its author was unknown. Word of mouth spread slowly among booksellers, librarians, critics and readers with a passion to share their favorite books. In The Bean Trees they found a spirited protagonist, Taylor Greer, who grew up in poor in rural Kentucky with the goals of avoiding pregnancy and getting away. But when Taylor heads west with high hopes and a barely functional car, she meets the human condition head-on. By the time she arrives in Tucson, she has acquired a completely unexpected child and must somehow come to terms with both motherhood and the necessity for putting down roots. Hers is a story about love and friendship, abandonment and belonging, and the discovery of surprising resources in apparently empty places.

Most readers of The Bean Trees discovered the novel in its paperback edition. On the 10th anniversary of its first publication, HarperFlamingo is proud to offer readers this special hardback edition, redesigned to be easy on the eyes and priced to be accessible to every lover of good fiction. ... Read more

Reviews (319)

The Bean Trees
I read this book as a senior in high school. After reading many novels in my high school career I would have to say that Barbara Kingsolver does an outstanding job in portraying the struggles of a single mother on her own. Taylor the main character of the novel starts off by leaving her home in Kentucky to head west to try and start a new life of her own. On her journey out west she has many lifetime experiences that most people would not like to have. Although she did have these experiences she took them head on and never regreted the decisions that she had to make. The biggest experience for her and will last her the rest of her life was when someone gave her a baby girl because they could not take care of it anymore. Traveling with her and the new acquired passenger Turtle the two go through the good times and the bad times of life together in becoming an inseperable mother daughter combination in the end. This book was extremly touching and would not only appeal to single mothers but to all kinds, with problems they endure in life, as the different problems in life seem to always present themselves through out the novel but are solved with the love of someone or something in the end.

An Exciting Read
Unique in that the narrator and heroine, Taylor/Marietta isn't the typical flawed protagonist who learns self-confidence by getting a makeover or landing her dream man. In this book, Taylor already has a self-confidence that borders on cockiness and is full of spunk. She's a sweet, straight-talking narrator the reader grows to love. Her frankness is something readers will aspire to. Taylor travels to Tucson, takes charge of a young Native American girl, befriends and encourages an insecure new mother named Lou Ann, and meets Estevan and Esperanza, a couple from Guatamala living illegally in the states. The novel has a feminist slant, and is empowering that way. I got a bit bored with the subplot featuring Estevan and Esperanza, but for the most part was captivated. Told in the voice of Taylor, the novel is humorous and uplifting. The conversations are realistic and familiar, very real. Brimming with advice and inspiration.

The Bean Trees: Metaphors and Similies
The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver is a book rich in metaphors and similes. It is a story about a young girl who escapes her small town, where most young people drop out of school, and the girls get pregnant. For Missy, these are not options. She buys herself a car and heads out for maturing experiences. Her first decision is that since she is starting a new life, she needs a new name, so she calls herself "Taylor." As she is driving, she tells herself she will stop and live in the city in which her car breaks down. This doesn't happen because along the way, she picks up a passenger, a little Native American baby. Now she has herself and the baby to worry about. She stops in Arizona and loves it. So, she decides to stay. It is in this town, she discovers friendship, love, responsibility, maturity, and the true meaning of family.

The physical descriptions in the book, while at times, may seem over done, are truely what make the book a vivid, potent journey. Before Taylors journey begins, she is working in a hospital and one of the girls she went to school with, but got pregnant and married, is brought into the hospital covered in blood, and Missy says she was, "...like a butcher holding down a calf on its way to becoming a cut of meat" (10). She also witnesses a tire blowing up and says, "... Newt Hardbine's daddy flying up into the air, in slow motion, like a fish flinging sideways out of the water. And Newt laid out like a hooked bass" (15). Then when she gets to Arizona, she see rocks that were "...stacked on top of one another like piles of copulating potato bugs" (47). These are just a few of the similies that enrich the story. She also uses metaphors in abundance to create a picture.

She compares driving in traffic during a hail storm as ...moving about the speed of a government check" (49). Kingsolver uses metaphors to compare some of the characters' lives. Taylor says "...but I had to give her credit, considering that life had delivered Sandi a truckload of manure with no return address" (89). In comparing a park she loves to visit, Taylor says, "Constellations of gum-wrapper foil twinkled around the trash barrels" (148). The best description comes in the combination of metaphor and simile in the description of the night-blooming cereus: "The petals stood out in starry rays, and in the center of each flower there was a complicated contruction of silvery threads shaped like a pair of cupped hands catching moonlight. A fairy boat, ready to be launched into the darkness" (249). The pictures are that vivid.

If you need a book that is rich in description using similies and metaphors, read The Bean Trees.

Not too good.
This book was not to interesting for me because of the plot.It started out interesting when they found Turtle but after that it got boring. Nothing else interesting happend.

Wonderful story
I was assigned to read this book for my 11th grade English class. I loved it so much that when it took the class two months to completely read it, I took it home and finished it in a couple of days.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a very descriptive book about love, motherhood, and just starting over. Definately a must-read! ... Read more

Book Description

Oscar Wilde's classic tale of narcissism is rife with symbolism and classic themes. Beyond the critical approach, the story can simply be enjoyed on its own as a well-written tale of suspense and surprise. ... Read more

Reviews (181)

One of my all-time favorites
Oscar Wilde's only novel is one of the best books I have ever read. The story is fascinating, and one that most people have heard of--that Dorian Gray, a young, beautiful man, makes a fervent wish that he would never grow old, and that the portrait just painted by his artist friend would age instead. This occurs, leading Dorian down a path of debauchery and cruelty, most of which must have been too horrific for Oscar Wilde to go into detail without violating obscenity laws.

The book is a masterpiece in examining manipulation. The artist introduces Dorian to a friend, Lord Henry, who calls Dorian's attention to his beauty, and Dorian, formerly innocent and sweet, becomes vain. It is amazing to see just how potent the power of suggestion is, and this novel demonstrates it perfectly.

The writing is less than perfect. One chapter goes on and on about artifacts that Dorian has collected around the world, leaving the reader saying, "Okay, and who cares?" Wilde's prose is far from flawless, but the story is so engaging that the reader will be willing to overlook the imperfections and will be intrigued in spite of this.

A sub-Faustian tale of self-love and self-obssession
Though it's rather slow to get going in the initial chapters, Oscar Wilde's "Picture of Dorian Gray" builds up into a splendidly effective piece, written in highly polished prose. Dorian Gray, who is suggestively described as "charming" and "beautiful" ... is painted by his friend and admirer, Basil Hallward. Dorian, a self-centered social luminary whose character is reminiscent of Narcissus, makes a bizarre sub-Faustian wish which tragically comes true: that his beautiful portrait may age, while he retains his youthful looks. The conclusion is disastrous, the culmination of a narrative containing elements of murder, suicide, blackmail, a confrontation in a grimy alley and an episode in an opium den. The characters are very well sketched out, particularly the triad of Dorian, Basil and the intellectual cynic, Lord Henry, Dorian's mentor and the mouthpiece of some of Wilde's most cutting amoral opinions. The style is, typically, marvellous, characterised by brilliant exchanges and aphoristic gaiety. Wilde lacerates English bourgeois culture, the conceptions of sin and virtue and the attitudes towards art of his time with tremendous aplomb. Some of his quips are patently snide, sometimes mysogynistic, as in: "Woman represents the triumph of matter over mind, while man represents the triumph of mind over morals." Oh, isn't that just despicable?! I love it!

Hopelessly Ambiguous or Unambiguously Hopeful?
Who knows? But right-wing orthodox Catholic monarchist readers will be required to steel themselves through the first two chapters which consist of a drawn-out slap fight between Elton John, Graham Norton and Ian McKellan. Now I like a cat-fight as much as the next guy, but a tussle among effete Brit cats with man parts is just icky. So the narcissistic homo-erotic banter opening the book was significantly under-appreciated by this reader. But after you get through those chapters the book gets much, much better.

It is difficult to maintain that the book represents a defense of amoral Aestheticism, since the embodiment of the aesthetic ideal, Dorian Gray, is shown to be a damned man. That is not to say that Wilde embraces Catholicism in the novel, as the narrator often posits confusing opinions on issues of conscience and sin. At times Wilde seems to suggest that only immoderate (quantitatively speaking) behavior is immoral; and yet, at other times, it appears some actions themselves ought to be avoided. Is Wilde acknowledging that there are exceptionless moral norms? And what is the reader to make of rotten Wotton, whose epigrammatic phrases seem so akin to Wilde's? Hallward points out that Wotton's cynicism is a pose. He never says a moral thing, but he never does a wrong thing. So are we to take his Wilde-isms seriously? Are we to take Wilde seriously? Wilde says art is neither moral nor immoral, yet Gray is poisoned by A Rebors, a book by another decadent author who, oddly enough, also converted to Catholicism. And then there's the picture itself, the fruit of Hallward's homosexual obsession, which is clearly cursed, in spite of its initial apparent beauty.

Wilde's protests notwithstanding, it is a book with a moral informing the reader that he cannot escape his conscience, that he cannot reject nature and nature's God, and that the wages of sin are death. But therein lies hope, for if God is to be believed regarding the wages of sin, then why should we doubt Him regarding our Redemption? Unfortunately, this message is made ambiguous by an author who, rather than unintentionally creating a distorted image of an idea that cannot be fully represented, intentionally peppers the novel with paradox for the sake of cuteness. But the Truth is not cute. He's terrifying, and Wilde knows better. Therefore the book is best left to the orthodox or the decadent. The lukewarm will simply be confused.

Overflowing with insights and quotations
Wilde's only novel contains some of the greatest dialogue of any literature written in the english language. There are few books that could be considered more quotable, and even fewer that could be considered more insightful. The novel is enjoyable even upon a cursory reading, but its splendor is revealed only when it is studied. Wilde reveals so much of himself in his art, and through reading of Wilde's biographies, plays, and the literature that inspired him, the reader becomes intimate with Oscar, and is able to understand him more throughly than most authors would allow from a study of their work. This is a piece I have truly enjoyed, and continues to be one of the premier pieces of English literature.

Bonafide classic
Beautiful on the outside, ugly on the inside. That's Dorian Gray and the symbolism couldn't be more relevant today. This is one of the reasons why this has remained and will continue to be a classic. I won't bore you with a summary of the plot. I'll simply ask that you please give this book a read. It's quick, it's short, it's exciting, it's thrilling, it's very well written and it's a good summer read - I promise. ... Read more

Book Description

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor is a favorite middle grade novel. This companion gives background on the author, questions to guide reading, clues to themes, plot, characters, and setting of the book, a glossary, writing and other activities, and more. If you loved Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, you need this reading companion. ... Read more

Book Description

Though reared as a Lenni Lenape Indian, fifteen-year-old True Son, once called John Camera Butler, was ordered back to the white man. It was impossible for True Son to believe that his people were white and not Indian. He had learned to hate the white man. And now he learned to hate his new father, his new house, his new family. He hated the name John Butler. Where did he belong now--and where could he go?
... Read more

Reviews (142)

A Great Read for a History Buff
'The Light in The Forest' is a book about a young White boy from 18th century America who was born as a "frontier child" but was then stolen by Indians when very young and brought up as an Indian for ten years. His Indian name is True Son, and his white name is John Butler. When he is about 15 years old, he is forced to go back and live with his real White family. He is devastated because he was brought up to hate the Whites, and now he is being forced to live with them and to practice their culture. At first True Son refuses to comply at all with the Whites and tries to escape. After a while, and after spending much time with the Whites though, it seems that True Son is beginning to accept and become used to their culture, and is starting to lose his Indian ways. It looks as if all of the Indian in him has been run over and destroyed, when one night, he finds his old Indian friend / cousin and escapes with him from the Whites to a long journey back home to his old Indian town. It seems now that all the Indian he left behind has been renewed to him and most of what the whites forced into his head is gone when, with little warning, True Son must make a life-altering decision that will decide his fate, and that will decide what culture he is to live with.

I really enjoyed this book; it showed the conflict between whites and Indians in 18th century America very well. It was filled with action and adventure, and although short, it still developed the characters and the plot so that you had a broad understanding of what kind of decisions this young man had to make, how it must have been like being bounced from culture to culture (especially in that day), and how hard things must have been in general. This understanding of the character is what keeps you reading and keeps you itching to find out where fate will put John Butler/ True Son. I would recommend this book because of these reasons, and because of the way the author attacked the overlying conflict between Whites and Indians: he spoke of it from both the White's and the Indian's sides. Because of this the reader can understand the conflict from both sides, and can not easily pick a side to support, which made things interesting. Lastly, in my opinion, this book is quite unpredictable, and you can't tell how it will complete itself until the very end, which made the book more fun to read. If you enjoy history, and adventure you will probably enjoy this book.

Book Review of A Light in the Forest for Social Studies
A Light In The Forest centers around a fifteen-year-old boy named True Son, who lived with the Lenni Lenape for eleven years, ever since the Indians had captured him during an attack on a farm. He was adopted by Cuyloga and Quaquenga, a family of the Lenni Lenape, and became one of them.
One day, his village learns that all white prisoners must be returned to their birth families, and his father takes him to the camp of soldiers that will take True Son to Pennsylvania. True Son's experiences in an English town and his desire to return to his village are the storyline of the book. This book is appropriate for eight graders, though the author, Conrad Richter, portrays some scenes almost too vividly. Children who have been in a divorce situation can relate to True Son and his feelings of abandonment. The book does an excellent job of informing readers of how the English and the Indians viewed each other, and gives the reader the unique viewpoint of True Son. For entertainment, the book falls a little short, occasionally losing your attention by attempting to summarize events without going into any detail. Overall, the book is not a bad read, and would be especially enjoyable if you like historic novels from this period.

Good
This is a good book. True Son, originally John Butler, faces many difficult challenges as he is forced out of his beloved Native American lifestyle into the strange world of the whites.

The third-person point-of-view is just perfect, and the awesome conclusion is leaves you something important to think about.

Light in the Forest opens up your eyes, and makes you more aware of the ancient struggle back then between the conflicting Indians and settlers.

great book if you love to hate
I give the book 2 stars for being well written, but that's it. If you want to read something that encourages the sterotype that all white people are awful and the worst of the lot are white Christians than this is your book.

The Light In The Forest
The Light In the Forest is a story writen by the author Conrad Richter. "The Light In The Forest" represents a white boy living amongst the forest with the Indians. His white name is John Butler, but his Indian name is True son. He was left in the forest by accident by his real father and was adopted by the Indians, and he learned how to libe by their ways. That the white men were the enemy's. As he got older around the age of 15, he returned to the white people. This story is about him having to deal with returning to the white people, and how he react to it and in the end, and where he goes. ... Read more