The Bells of Christmas had some parts that were interesting. I would have liked to learn more about the father's handicap. However, it seemed like most of the book passed with Jason sitting by the National Road. Learning about the Road seemed to evoke the most interest from my fifth-grade class. One year of that was enough.

I thought the was very interesting and heart-warming.My favorite part was when Jason and his father went and waited for thier cousins to celebrate Christmas along the National Road.It shows how much love the family shows for each other. By Cynthia Santagata

While I enjoy Virginia Hamilton's work I was disappointed by the way in which she presented this interracial character. Ultimately, the protagonist, Buhlaire Sims, lacks the vocabulary to discuss race because the people around her do not talk about it. She is aware of their discomfort. Hamilton's writing style does not offer the reader more substantial ways of discussing race. It instead reinforces stereotypes of the poor, lost mulatto who carries the burden of racelessness. Literature directed toward young audiences ought to be used as a tool in creating language to talk about the realities of mixed-race identity, not the myths. Hamilton somewhat shirks out of that responsibility. Feeling out of place in her world, Buhlaire spends a lot of time wandering about Plain City by herself, along the river and through the snow. She skips school whenever she feels like it and spends that time by herself because she is without friends. Buhlaire receives little guidance about how to deal with the complicated issues she faces. As she makes her way through the whiteness of a winter blizzard, the color white literally blinds her. A lot the misgivings and uncertainties that she experiences, she herself attributes to her own racial ambiguity, she is neither white nor black. I would like to see authors address the issue of mixed-race identity for young adults less hap-hazardly than this, as I am sure great authors such as Hamilton are capable of doing.

It's a book about a girl going through the akwardness of adolesences. This reminds me of my life. Teens and children alike should read this book to understand that they are not alone in this metamorphisis on life. It gets confusing at first but then you won't want to put it down.

The Frist Unit - Justice, her twin brothers, Levi and Thomas, and their friend Dorian - reunite to form a powerful foursome of time-travelers. Threatened with the danger of being trapped in the Crossover between times, an eternal prison-like state between the present and future, the unit must focus its energy in order to retun to the oppressive land of the futur, Dustland.

I recall choosing this book to write a book review on when I was a young teenager. I found it to be heavy-going. On nearly every level it failed to keep my interest. I don't remember the plot that well, except for the first few pages, which I read over and over trying to get a grip on the style (so to speak) but I do remember it seemed to jump around a lot, and not in a *good* way. I didn't "connect" with the characters at all, and thus I didn't care how the plot eventuated.

I like the book M.C. Higgins the Great, because it was kind of interesting.I say it's interesting, because of M.C.being scared of the spoil heap and you know you be wanting to know whats going to happend next.Also what interest me was when M.C. and the girl were like wrestling in the woods.I liked the story a whole lot, because it was different and full of guessing what's going to happened next.

I have read MCHiggins the Great so many times my copy is falling apart. I've read a lot of Newbery books too, and this is one of the best. In some ways it is the best. Each time I read it, I see more. First the scene is one that will stay with you long after you close the book--the hills of Eastern Kentucky that MC walks, his house, his mountain, the pole he sits on, looking out over all these hills. Then the people are unforgettable. MC's best friend, Ben, has the most unique family you will ever meet in fiction, very strange but very loving with magical connections to nature. They are vegetarians, who live on an Appalachian family commune. The mother is a healer. MC's own family includes a mother who could be a famous folksinger if she wanted to leave home, a father who is tied to the hills because his own mother, a ghostly presence in the book, owned the mountain where they lived. She was an ex-slave, and her courage has seeped into MC. He must save his f! amily from a heap of soil that is threatening to bury his home and family, because of stripmining interests in the area, and he does at last find the way to do this. But not before he has a lot of fun chasing a girl who isn't going to be caught, hunting rabbits, swimming, listening to a city "dude" who wants to make his mother a star and imagining what this would be like, visiting his best friend's family, taking care of his spunky and sassy little sister, and sitting on his pole watching the world and trying to find his place in it. This book was written 25 years ago, but it is timeless. It's about teen feelings and finding your identity. It's about father and son conflicts and teen romance. It's about nature and the environment. Most of all, it's about family heritage, and taking a stand for what you believe in. Newbery books are for everyone--people of all ages, colors, regions, genders, cultures. And this is a classic Newbery --it's a rainbow of ideas an! d experiences, with a pot of gold waiting on the last page.