Book Bites: Stowaway

How it Works: Every Tuesday I’ll be sharing a “bite” of a book I’m currently reading. Just a two or three sentences from a page I’ve already read that I feel gives a little insight to the feel of the book or something I found interesting up to that point along with the page that it comes from and the total number of pages in the book. I’ll also share a quick preview opinion of it as a whole to that point. If you want to join in the fun and share your current reads please leave it in the comments or link to your site.



The Book: Stowaway by Karen Hesse

Book Bite: "SATURDAY 9th [New Continent--Lat. 34°44’S] We have come upon islands that the Captain calls the Cavelles. The natives here  did not come near at first, having heard from other natives of our guns. Tupia was able to calm their fears and spent a good time talking with them." (from pg. 143/300)

My Thoughts So Far: I love that it's based on the true story of a young boy who stowed away on Captain Cook's voyage. I think that the journaling style made it a little hard to get into at first and can be frustrating because she only speaks of places and things as the boy would have known them so it's not always clear where they are or what they're looking at. Still there are so many amazing things that took place on their voyage that make it easy to get caught up in the adventure. I think would be fun to base a unit study around this book and I can easily see my 10yr old loving the story. (currently on pg. 204/300)

Book Bites: Diary of Anne Frank

How it Works: Every Tuesday I’ll be sharing a “bite” of a book I’m currently reading. Just a two or three sentences from a page I’ve already read that I feel gives a little insight to the feel of the book or something I found interesting up to that point along with the page that it comes from and the total number of pages in the book. I’ll also share a quick preview opinion of it as a whole to that point. If you want to join in the fun and share your current reads please leave it in the comments or link to your site.

 

The Book: The Diary of a Young Girl: Anne Frank (The Definitive Edition); edited by Otto Frank and Mirjam Pressler, translated by Susan Massotty

Book Bite: “Every night hundreds of planes pass over Holland on their way to German cities, to sew their bombs on German soil. Every hour hundreds, or maybe even thousands, of people are being killed in Russia and Africa. No one can keep out of the conflict, the entire world is at war, and even though the Allies are doing better, the end is nowhere in sight.” pg 80/338

My Thoughts So Far: I picked this up the other day after realizing that I had somehow never read it before. So far I’m only about nine months into the journal and it’s been interesting to see how going into hiding has affected the chatty 13 year old and her family and hearing her perspective on the Germans and war and life in general during that awful time. It’s hard to conceive of such hatred and sadness and what it would have been like to have to live in those conditions.