Author: Julie Edwards
Rating: 
Reading Level: 3rd - 5th
is a re-read. I loved this book upon first reading -- more than 10 years ago. This second reading surprised me. I don't remember ANY of the details, and I am usually really good at recalling details. Every scene and character was brand new to me -- and not in a good way at all. I detest the didactic tone and the transparent "messages" of all the benefits of the imagination! (I don't detest imagination, of course, just the way its worth is being handled in the book -- and hey, whose idea is it that adults lose their imagination? I have a lot more imagination than some of the youngsters I know!)
Over all, I couldn't believe that I once LOVED this book, as an adult, although I can see why so many children still love it -- for its vivid descriptions of the very rich and imaginative details and the adventures the children embark on.
This book, quite popular with many students of mine (mainly girls) is such a disappointment. The writing is so elementary that it reads as if an elementary student could have written it -- on the sentence structure and formation level. The limited view on life after death (although, it is supposed to give an alternative idea on the land of the dead) assaults my sensitivity and insults my intelligence. It "pretends" to be profound but it is so shallow. I also could not care enough about the characters to be emotionally touched. Although, I have to say that I wanted to find out how everything turns out in the end. *shrug* It will be popular for a while and then it will join its characters and flow to the Elsewhere of books.. oblivion.
A slim volume with a tremendous vision. Or, maybe I should say with tremendous Visions -- since 9-year-old Thomas, the protagonist, seems to be seeing many of them, and most prominently, the Lord Jesus.
Thoroughly engrossing -- full of gorey war and killing details... but the characters are so well drawn that it rings completely true. The twists and turns of the plotline, especially toward the end of this 800+-page book, kept me so emotionally involved and pumped that I am quite ready to go on to the next book -- almost 1,000 pages long. It is soap-opera-esque, but with all the right forumulae for a successful one! I guess I truly crossed a threshold here with the reading of this book -- officially I am now a genuine fantasy reader who is not daunted by the length of the book, only annoyed if the book is poorly presented!
I need a good book! What a streak of non-too-impressive reading experiences!!! This infamous book that is no. 8 on the most challenged books list deserves no more but mild distain from me, mostly because its lack of subtlety. It's like reading a really dry "how to" book on teens' first sexual encounters. At least the ending is NOT too pat. 
This National Book Award Winner failed to intrigue me, either. It is nostalgic -- faint echoes from old favorites such as Little Women and the E. Nesbit books. Some of the humor seems forced to me and the general complaint from other adult readers that the grown-ups in the story have almost no depth at all is a valid one. And to an extend, the children are stock characters themselves, each embodies a set of characteristics without surprises or changes. Their predicaments also don't concern me much as a reader. Maybe I am too cynical and maybe this is a book for much younger children?
This title is mildly amusing but never did get me completely hooked.
