This book started out kind of slow. The first couple of paragraphs were just about Thomas and his family while they are on their way to the House of Dies Drear. Later, when they got to the "Haunted House", it starts to get more exciting. It was getting REALLY exciting. At the end of the book, it was a REALLY disappointing end. They mentioned a certain trunk and make it seem all mysterious and then they don't say anything else about it and we didn't have any idea that there was a sequal. So, I think that it could have had a bit more "undisappointing" end. I read this book with my sixth grade class and other than what I've mentioned, it was great!

This is an excellent book for many readers. Personally i dont read a great deal, but when i came across this book for a particular class, i was amazed at how quickly i was getting through this book. This book was exciting and constantly kept me thinking of what would happen next. There was constant suspense with the haunted house and mysterious openings in the walls. The devilish caretaker also added to teh drama in this story. I would encourage others to take teh time and enjoy this interesting book.

The House of Dies Drear is a great mystery book. I liked the author's style of writing mysteries. Reading books with a mystery and not knowing who the good people and bad people in the book are is neat because you never know what may happen next. This book makes you want to keep reading and makes you want to know what's going to happen next. The main characters are Thomas, and Mr. Pluto. Thomas is a nice curious boy and Mt Pluto's a grumpy old man. The plot of the story is Thomas is moving into a house with his family that was a station for the underground railroad and is believed to be haunted. It was a really good book and I think anyone who likes mysteries should read it.It was a very exciting, super, amazing, cool, and awsome book!

I thought the book The Slave Dancer was a very sad book. There are a lot of emotional periods in this book that I didn't like that much. Jessie is living a poor life in New Orleans, when he is captured by two sailors and was put on a slaver to play on his fife and make the slaves dance for exercise. The captain is mean to Jessie and whips many people. Then there is a horrible storm where Jessie and a young black slave named Ras go into the holds for protection. The ship sinks and Ras and Jessie swim to land while holding on to a trusty log. They get to the island and meet an old slave named Daniel. He takes care of them for a couple of days, but then two men that speak the same language as Ras, take him up north to live a happier life. As for Jessie, he is sent to walk home with only a map and food. He gets to his home and family. If I had to rate this book, I would give it two out of five stars.

Our Summary In the book The Slave Dancer by Paula Fox was about a 13-year old boy named Jessie, who had many death-defying adventures. Jessie got captured and then taken away to the slaver where he was to play music on his fife for the slaves. On his journey, he meets many crewmembers such as Purvis Clay and evil Ben Stout. Their mission was to get to Africa on The Moonlight, the slave ship, and get the slaves to trade. There was a terrible storm and The Moonlight was shipwrecked. Ras, a slave that is Jessie's age, saves Jessie and gets him to land where they meet an old man named Daniel. After spending a couple of days with Daniel, Jessie is forced to walk back to New Orleans. In the end, Jessie reunites with his family.

The Slave Dancer by Paula Fox is about a boy and his extraordinary journey on a slave ship. A young boy named Jessie was abducted from his loving family by certain future crewmembers to play his fife, a musical instrument, for the slaves. He had a hard time adjusting to the fact that he would be playing music for the slaves on the ship, The Moonlight. The Moonlight sailed to Africa, upon the capain's strict orders, to pick up slaves so that he was able to make a profit. Jessie disliked the slaves due to the suffering they endured and to make it worse slaves were thrown overboard because of a crew members mistake. Due to a terrible storm, Jessie and his new friend Ras had to swim to land where they were found by an old man. The old man helped Jessie and Ras, but then sent Ras up north with friends and Jessie with directions home. In conclusion, The Slave Dancer was an interesting story that would be very hard to forget.

After reading The Slave Dancer by Paula Fox, I learned that it was very descriptive so that I actually felt I was one of the characters. When the author described a character she used words you were able to picture. The author used imagery that makes you feel like you're in the book. Also, the story line is so interesting that you are racing to get the end of the sentence. That is why I think The Slave Dancer is very wonderful but interesting story that takes you with the journey of a boy on a slaver.

This book was awarded the John Newbery Award in 1974, thisaward is for the most distinguished children's book published theprevious year. I chose the book The Slave Dancer By: Paula Fox. This book wasvery interesting to me. It is about a boy who is leading a normallife, and runs an errand for his mother. While he is gone, some sailors kidnap him. When he discovers where he is, it is too late. They have already taken him into the sea. He lives on a boat, which is used to transport slaves, as a ship boy for months. Jessie, the main character, is a good-hearted boy and has trouble being involved in the slave trade. At one point, he is beaten because of his compassion towards the future African slaves. Eventually most of the slaves die, he actually watches some of them be thrown overboard, both living and dead. In the end, the boat sinks, but Jessie and a little boy that he had bonded with earlier survive. However, this book truly hits home with many thoughts of racism today. The discussion of the slaves in general is very good for a child to hear. It portrays how the slaves were treated and how young innocent white boys were made to help in the torture of the slaves. When Jessie feels compassion towards them and is beaten for it, this explains a lot. The captain and others try to make Jessie feel hatred towards these African slaves. This is the way that many people were brought up. With these negative attitudes people have, many of them are raising their

children the same way. I think that Paula Fox did a wonderful job of portraying this idea. I looked at this book as a "book people" book. The book is telling the truth in every way possible. It uses great detail in describing some of the events. It even gets gory in some parts. Not many children's books do this, and get by with it. It actually has a Grimm brothers sort of approach. Fox tells things the way they were; she does not "soften" them up for the children. The other side, however, would say the book was not fit for children due to the gore of it and even some language. In an article written by Sarah Hinlicky entitled "Don't Write About Race", she discusses the topic of race in writing, including children's literature. Hinlicky gives many good reasons why people don't write about racial issues. Hinlicky says that one of the main reasons is fear. She says that "the wise writer observes the rules and politely declines to write about race." This keeps them from being tortured and ridiculed for writing about racial issues. In the end of the article she proposes a very powerful statement: Black America and white America are different cultures, these cultures still distrust one another. Moving across color lines also means moving across culture lines...Maybe there's an answer I've found, but I think I'd better quit now, since I'm not supposed to be writing about race in the first place. This statement is important in saying how people think they aren't supposed to discuss the topic. I think it is almost challenging for people to look at it in Hinlicky's light. I think I take a book people stand. Children need to know the truth in the history of acts such as this. They cannot keep the truth from the children, or that will lead to children who have racial tension. Many children today are misinformed of this part of history. Both black children and white children are confused with their facts in this matter. (.....)I loved this book because it kept me interestered from beginning to end with all the plots and detials in it. This was truly a great book! END