This is a very emotional book, a vietnamese girl describes her tragical past being raped and watching her parents die in front of her, she goes to canada and gets new parents and has to get used to a new life. The ending is very emotional, i even cried! I would recommend this book for anybody between the ages of 10-18 and likes exciting, emotional books.

good combtion of histrocal fiction and sicne fiction, time travel in one book. the stroy is good to your really feel from and understand tom.

The teen book club at the neighborhood branch of our city library system chose The Grave for the February book -- but I was the only one who showed up for the discussion!

What was the book about? Well, the construction of a new school is no secret, but something the builders find is. Tom and Brian decide to check it out. What they learn is extraordinary: the excavation site is a grave with hundreds of coffins! When a guard discovers the youths and comes running, they begin to flee the gruesome site, but Tom stumbles into the grave. The next thing he knows, he's flying through time back to 1847, back to the Irish Potato Famine.

Well written, suspenseful historical novel that teaches as it entertains.

~ JFS

I found this book to be amzingly well written and the characters were built carefully and slowly. I am 12 and found this book to be one of the best I've read! WONDERFUL BOOK! You'll never be able to put it down so quickly order it now and read the best book of your life!

I thought the story of the book was really quite good but it definitely needed something more. More than likely, some editing. Also, it felt like he was trying to rush everything. I think he could have probably made this a 400 page novel instead of a 200 page kid's book.

Reviewer: Middleschool student
Wish Me Luck by James Heneghan.
Jamie lives in Liverpool during World War 2. During the first year of the war there were no air-raids or nothing, so kids and adults started ignoring the war, until one night when the war struck to close to home. Jamie's parents decided to send him to Canada on a boat along with the new kid, Beeker.
On the boat a Navy escort for protection followed them from the U-boats. When the Navy Escort left, Jamie and Bleeker knew they were in danger. That night the boat was bombed, and Jamie and Bleeker were in for the most horrible night of their lives.
Exciting and suspenseful. James Heneghan's creative writing makes you feel like your there. I recommend this book to eight graders and up because it's a little hard to understand sometimes and has bad language.

This is one of my favorite novels to date. The story is that a 12 year old boy is deppressed that he has to leave his parents and England behind, he makes friends and has to endure the teasing of a bully who is in the same cabin as him. However they do not know that the ship they are on will be sunk by a U-boat and that of the 100 kids abord only 14 will survive. Will they be among them? This is a gripping novel with a facinating look at life on a ship and at home from a kids point of view. This book has everything, suspense,horror,religion,and even some romance. The chapter on the sinking is very gripping and exciting. The only complaint I had was that there was not more coverage of the hospital ship and there were a few inapropriate scenes for anyone under 12. Otherwise its excelent.

The Good: Gripping story, excititing sinking sequences, good look at life during WWII

The bad: little coverage of the hospital ship

And the ugly: some inapropriate moments involving naughty bits.

I read the book "Torn away" and now you will get some information to know if it is necessary to buy the book.
The story is about a young boy,Declan,who is thirteen years old and who is already alone.
His parents and his sister died because of the cruelty in Northern Ireland.
By the authorities he is sent to Canada to his relatives although he wants revenge for his family.
In almost the whole story he is against his new family and he wants to go back but in the end he finds friends and stays in Canada.
At the beginning it is a little bit boring because they explain the whole escape when he has to go to Canada. I have also read a lot about the conflict in Northern Ireland and I thought it would be nothing new but while I read the book I noticed that it is interesting and exciting. In the book there is a lot of tension but it has no open end and I hate books with an open end. It is not very dramatic although you will find said moments. There is one scene where they save a seal and it reminds you of "Free Willy".But all in all it is a book with a lot of information. I think it is not wrong to read this book. After the first pages I liked the book.

"torn away" is a grat book which gives the reader a realistic insight in the Irish Question and its consequences which they certainly have on young kids like Declan. Though the story seemed to be a bit predictable from up to the middle (it was clear that he stays in Canada, otherwise Heneghan would have failed his moral),the autor achieves maintaining the tension until the happy end. Declan is torn between two worlds:on the one hand violence,death,revenge and cruelty in Northern Ireland and on the other hand the peaceful Canadian countryside symbolizing the love of his family.The development that he has to go through impressed me very much: at the beginning he felt so contemptuous, full of hate and revenge and after a while he began to identify with his relatives and their way of living. It`s precious to read it!!!

The novel "Torn Away" written by James Heneghan is focused on the life of a thirteen year old boy who lost his family during a terrorist attack and is deported to his only relative left, his uncle Matthew in Canada.
Being involved in a youngsters terrorist group in Belfast, fighting against the Prods(Protestants,the British and the authorities he is forced to leave Ireland, starting a new live in Canada. After his arrival he acts in a very rude, reserved and aggressive way against all attempts to include him in the family. Although he still insists on his opinion, that he wants to leave Canada as soon as possible to take a revenge his family he starts to notice, that he will miss his new family.

We had to read the book in our English-class and so at the beginnig we were not very pleased. But after reading the first chapter which made a strong impact on us, our interest was caught and we enjoyed the novel more and more.

The book was fun to read, but I found it hard to believe that a dog from an alien planet would look almost the exact same as a sheep dog. But if your looking for a book to read just for the fun og it this book is great.