WITNESS
Karen Hesse, . . Scholastic Signature, $5.99 (176pp) ISBN 978-0-439-27200-1
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Reviewed on: 02/10/2003
Genre: Children's
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- WITNESSKaren HesseThe author of Out of the Dust again turns language into music in her second quietly moving novel written entirely in verse. Here, 11 narrative voices chronicle Continue reading »
- WITNESSKaren HesseHesse's (Out of the Dust) powerful, history-inspired novel about the Ku Klux Klan's encroachment on a small town in 1924 Vermont becomes a riveting Continue reading »
- STOWAWAYKaren HesseInspired by a real boy who stowed away aboard Captain James Cook's ship Endeavor on its 1768 voyage, this historical novel "sparkles with humor, Continue reading »
- ALEUTIAN SPARROWKaren HesseHesse once again uses free verse to explore a historical period, but while the poetry of her Out of the Dust and Witness built Continue reading »
- THE STONE LAMP: Eight Stories of Hanukkah Through HistoryKaren HesseHighlighting eight moments of crisis for the Jewish people in almost as many different centuries, this soul-searching, handsomely produced book is clearly important. It is not, however, festive. Continue reading »
- THE CATS IN KRASINSKI SQUAREKaren HesseIn her spare yet lyrical narrative, Newbery medalist Hesse (Out of the Dust ) relays a haunting story based on an actual incident involving Poland's Warsaw Continue reading »
- Aleutian SparrowKaren HesseThe narrator, who lives and works on the Aleutian Islands, describes the aftermath of the Japanese bombing there in the summer of 1942. According to PW , Continue reading »
- The Young Hans Christian AndersenKaren HesseThis unconventional biography offers an impressionistic series of vignettes roughly based on seminal events from Andersen's childhood through to the point at which he leaves home at 14. But Continue reading »
- SpudsKaren HesseNot since Five Little Peppers or, perhaps, The Waltons has poverty been quite so romantic as Hesse and Watson (previously Continue reading »
- Brooklyn BridgeKaren HesseInspired by facts surrounding the inventors of the teddy bear, Newbery Medalist Hesse (Out of the Dust ) applies her gift for narrative voice to this memorable Continue reading »
- Letters from RifkaKaren HesseTwelve-year-old Rifka's journey from a Jewish community in the Ukraine to Ellis Island is anything but smooth sailing. Modeled on the author's great-aunt, Rifka surmounts one obstacle after another Continue reading »
- Phoenix RisingKaren HesseAfter a catastrophic accident at a nuclear power plant not far from their small New England sheep farm, 13-year-old Nyle Sumner and her grandmother slowly discover they have been spared from direct Continue reading »
- Out of the DustKaren HesseThis intimate novel, written in stanza form, poetically conveys the heat, dust and wind of Oklahoma along with the discontent of narrator Billy Jo, a talented pianist growing up during the Continue reading »
- The Music of DolphinsKaren Hesse""As moving as a sonnet, as eloquently structured as a bell curve,"" said PW in a starred review of this first-person novel by the Newbery Medalist about a girl who is raised by dolphins and studied Continue reading »
- Come On, RainKaren Hesse, Jon J. Muth""Up and down the block,/ cats pant,/ heat wavers off tar patches in the broiling alleyway./ Miz Grace and Miz Vera bend, tending beds of drooping lupines,"" as a whole neighborhood waits for rain. Continue reading »
- Out of the DustKaren HesseIn a starred review of the 1998 Newbery Medal winner, set during the Depression, PW said, ""This intimate novel, written in stanza form, poetically conveys the heat, dust and wind of Oklahoma. With Continue reading »
- StowawayKaren HesseSparkling with humor, poignancy and adventure, Newbery Medal-winner Hesse's (Out of the Dust) historical novel, told in diary form, was inspired by a real boy who stowed away aboard Captain James Continue reading »
- Lester's DogKaren HesseThis atmospheric picture book memorably evokes the long summer evenings of a bygone era, then broadens in scope to convey a boy's sudden courage and the warmth of friendship. The young narrator Continue reading »
- SableKaren HesseHesse ( Letters from Rifka ) turns out an exemplary chapter book with this superbly structured work about a girl and her dog. Tate's greatest wish is to keep the mutt that has strayed into her Continue reading »
- Just JuiceKaren HesseLike her Newbery Award-winning Out of the Dust, Hesse once again celebrates a child's ability to extract beauty, pleasure and even signs of hope from her harsh surroundings. The opening image of Ma Continue reading »
- StowawayKaren HesseListeners set sail with 11-year-old Nicholas Young, a stowaway aboard Captain Cook's ship Endeavour, in this solid audiobook version of Hesse's period adventure. In a pleasant English accent, Cale Continue reading »
- Wish on a UnicornKaren HesseMags lives in a trailer with her overworked mother, her perpetually hungry little brother Mooch and her retarded sister Hannie. As the oldest, Mags is the responsible one, but when Hannie finds a Continue reading »
- Phoenix RisingKaren Hesse, KrazcewiczIn a starred review, PW noted that ``the author's understated approach heightens the emotional impact'' of this tale about a girl forced to confront loss after a nuclear accident. Ages 11-13. Continue reading »
- The Music of DolphinsKaren HesseAs moving as a sonnet, as eloquently structured as a bell curve, this book poignantly explores the most profound of themes--what it means to be human. The narrator, Mila, is discovered by the Coast Continue reading »
- What You Wish For: A Book for DarfurJane Yolen (et al.)Short stories that revolve around wishes form this volume created to raise money for Book Wish Foundation, a nonprofit organization working to build libraries for Darfur refugees living in Chad. Continue reading »
- SafekeepingKaren Hesse, Hermann HesseHesse (Brooklyn Bridge) beautifully captures the changing landscape of a journey, the wonder of discovery, and a fight to survive in a near-future novel set in the aftermath of a presidential Continue reading »
- SafekeepingKaren HesseSeventeen-year-old Radley is out of the country when the American People’s Party rises and the United States explodes into chaos with government crackdowns, riots, and vigilante posses. She Continue reading »
- My ThumbKaren HesseHesse’s redheaded narrator begins and ends this book as an unrepentant thumb sucker, but it’s her very intransigence that makes this tribute to the First Digit so refreshing. Even if there are hints Continue reading »
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