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Book reviews for "McDermott,_Gerald" sorted by average review score:

Jabut¡ the Tortoise: A Trickster Tale from the Amazon
Published in School & Library Binding by Harcourt (01 September, 2001)
Author: Gerald McDermott
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Marvelous artwork enhances this trickster tale
"Jabuti the Tortoise: A Trickster Tale from the Amazon" is told and illustrated by Gerald McDermott. It opens with the title character playing his flute. Jabuti wants to play his instrument at a festival for the King of Heaven, but another creature's jealousy leads to conflict.

The fun story is brought to life by McDermott's superb artwork. His brightly colored illustrations have a highly stylized, almost surreal quality that I found very engaging. I loved the pictures of Jabuti, as well as those of the birds, trees, flowers, jaguar, and tapir. Dominated by bright pink and shades of green, the pictures really excite the eye. A charming book.


Zomo the Rabbit: A Trickster Tale from West Africa
Published in Paperback by Voyager Books (01 May, 1996)
Author: Gerald McDermott
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McDermott Masterful Again
With Zomo the Rabbit : A Trickster Tale from Africa, Gerald McDermott demonstrates again why he is our favorite when it comes to children's books. The tale is clever. The illustrations are spectacular, as always. McDermott's books are the favorites of my 7-year old, who reads them over and over again. My 2-year old also loves them.


Seeing God: Twelve Reliable Signs of True Spirituality
Published in Paperback by Intervarsity Press (1995)
Author: Gerald R. McDermott
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A Good Read, but...
McDermott's "Seeing God" is a good read, but you would do better to pick up the original John Edwards, or one of Dallas Willard's texts.

McDermott does illuminate spirituality through his "twelve reliable signs;" however, he does not plumb the depth of spirituality in the way Edwards does with his "Affections."

This book would serve best in a high-school Bible class, or as a small group text for new believers. For those needing more meat, see J. Edwards.

McDermott Gives Good Intro for Postmodern Pilgrims
Excellent introduction to a vast 'gold mine' of deep spiritual insights available from Jonathan Edwards [really THE GREATEST thinker America ever produced] and leads you to deepen your spiritual life. Leads you into a largely 'uncharted territory' for mainstream 20th [oops 21st] Century American Christians--that great well of deep Christian theologians and thinkers of the mid 1600s to early 1800s. Preacher/Theologian/Writers like Edwards and Whitefield and Milton and others are great food for hungry postmodern pilgrims. I think McDermott lays good groundwork of which another good 20th Century Christian Preacher/Theologian/Writer has built upon and popularized even more, that is John Piper, who has really brought Jonathan Edwards to the forefront and Piper's writings are highly recommended as well as Dallas Willard. McDermott's book lead you to that place, as Piper calls it, of 'Being Delighted in God' as Dallas Willard puts it in his book 'Divine Conspiracy' "Knowing Jesus as an essential part of the here and now." In other words 'Seeing God' helps us to become people who are God-centered, God-treasuring, God-filled, God-honoring, God-glorifying with wholehearted, whole soul commitment. 'Seeing God' is a refreshing, introspective and challenging read. Get it and you won't be disappointed.

One of my top five books
After reading this book I couldn't help but take time to carefully examine my own spiritual life. In a modern format McDermott write a "Cliff's notes" summary of Jonathan Edwards' work, Religous Affections. In three different categories he summarizes the unreliable signs of false spirituality and then gives us 12 reliable signs of true spirituality. He mixes biblical texts with his own comments as well as gives personal stories of people who illustrate these points. One could easily do a 12 week sermon series of this great book-one sermon per reliable sign. Please read this book!


Who Is Carrie?
Published in Hardcover by Delacorte Press (1984)
Authors: James Lincoln Collier, Christopher Collier, Colloer, and Gerald McDermott
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A Must Read Book.....WHO IS CARRIE?
This fabulous book is about a kitchen slave named Carrie, who worked in Sam Fraunce's Tavern for as long as she can remember. After Carrie gets kidnapped and almost sold off to the West Indies, she realizes that she doesn't even know her own last name, or who her true family was.When Carrie's long time friend Dan Arabus comes to town, they talk about how Dan has alomost $300 in "notes" because Dan's father Jack Arabus fought in the Revolutionary War. So basically a "note" is an I OWE YOU from the Government.Jack Arabus died fighting in the Revolution so Dan got all of his fathers notes.
After talking to Dan, Carrie decides that she really has got to find out who she is, and if she is a slave or not.Once I finished reading this beutiful Historical Fiction Novel I then realized the hardships of slavery. I would recommend this book to all ages and bothe males, and females because this book was easy to understand, yet it was somewhat hard to read with the old 1800's accents and dialects of the Northern Colonies. Also elders would would probably remeber a little about slavery because this went on until the 1950's, ofcourse it was not as bad as it was in the 1800's but still slavery was indeed around then, so they could have a great time reading this book about how slavery was in the 1800's compared to the 1950's. I had to rate this book a four and one half stars because it was just a mystery until the very end and this just made me want to read it more and more so I could find out who carrie was and if she was a slave or not. Now you know how good of a book this was, and you should read it, and trust me, you will be more than happy that you read this amazing part of American History.

A great book
I think this book was great .The author did a wonderful job of adding history to his story. my favorite character was carrie because she was brave and snecky. she was so cool.

Who is Carrie
James, and Christopher Collier describe this period in history perfectly. This is not like other boring books that the last twenty-three pages of the book you finally start to get into it. This book captures you from the first sentence and doesn't let you go tell the last word. Then you still want to know what happens to her. Although this book is historical-fiction. Alot of it is true.


Musicians of the Sun
Published in Library Binding by Bt Bound (2001)
Author: Gerald McDermott
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beautiful book
This is a beautiful book. I borrowed it from my local library to use as part of a unit on Aztecs I was making (I'm an education major), and after I read it I immediately wanted my own copy! I especially appreciated the background information the author gave at the end of the book, explaining a bit about the history of the story and how the illustrations were done.

A captivating retelling of an Aztec myth with incredible art
I pulled this book off the shelf at the library when browsing with my four year old. The book is oversized with beautiful artwork on the cover. My son ended up loving it more than I did. He was enthralled with the story and the pictures. He wanted it read over and over again until he could tell the story himself. This book is a treasure and a must-have for our own bookshelves.


The Stonecutter: A Japanese Folk Tale
Published in School & Library Binding by Viking Press (1975)
Author: Gerald McDermott
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Classroom Help
This book has been great to use in my third grade classroom. It has tied in to our Japan unit very well and has been greatly enjoyed by my third graders.


Can Evangelicals Learn from World Religions: Jesus, Revelation & Religious Traditions
Published in Paperback by Intervarsity Press (2000)
Author: Gerald R. McDermott
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Very Evil
McDermott is a sell-out. We should either deny biblical teaching and admit it, or we should uphold the authority and sufficiency of the Scripture and say that we cannot and will not "learn" from other religions. What does darkness have to do with light, and what does Christ have to do with Buddha? We should do as Elijah, who openly confronted other religions as false, and their adherents as worshippers of false gods. There is no other option if we were to remain authentic Christians. Tolerance to other religions is a concept foreign to and condemned by the Bible.

Still unsure of the author's intent
Gerald McDermott would answer in the affirmative to the question posed in the title of his book, "Can Evangelicals Learn From World Religions?". But I still don't know what his main point was in writing this book. I think I could write a similar book and call it "Can Evangelicals Learn From the World of Sports?" and accomplish the same result as Mr. McDermott accomplishes with this book. Christians (and all people) can learn from almost anything.

McDermott seems to be trying to walk both sides of the fence. He boldly claims that Jesus is the only true AND full revelation of God, but he also says that God has revealed aspects of Himself within other religions. So the obvious question becomes, "If these truths can be known within the Christian belief of biblical revelation, then why go to other religions to learn the same things we can learn from Christianity?" He tries to answer this question in a helpful section at the end of the book where he address objections and concerns. His answer focuses on the fact that Jesus used non-Jews to demonstrate true faith (Luke 4:14-30, Matthew 15:21-28, etc) and how some of the pillars within Christianity such as Aquinas (from Aristotle) and Augustine (from Neo-Platonists) had their theology shaped by those outside the Judeo-Christian tradition.

Unfortunately, his answer fails to note that in the case of Jesus, those making a religious response were responding directly to Jesus and not acting within their previous religious system. In the case of Augustine and Aquinas, I think they'd be the last to argue for their own infallibility. But what is our test for truth? Evangelicals have said that when it comes to religious claims, its the Bible that has the final say. I'm not disputing that Christians are unable to learn from other religions, but I think we could learn a lot more by studying our own. Rather than reading Confucius or Muhammad, let's try some Aquinas and Augustine (heck, even C.S. Lewis would be a start).

This book does have some very positive points, otherwise I wouldn't have given it three stars. McDermott will help Christians become more educated about other religions and hopefully this will help us to become more sensitive when dealing with people from those backgrounds. He has also succeeded in showing evangelicals how to properly test all religious claims by a final standard, and that standard is the Bible. Let him be found "not guilty" of abandoning this important doctrine. McDermott acknowledges that this book covers relatively uncharted territory within evangelicalism. I look forward to his further work in this area and more clarification on his views.

Careful & Insightful Biblical Review Makes this a Great Book
McDermott writes a much-needed book that helps those in the evangelical Christian tradition find a way to truly respect other religious traditions without selling out the store. Citing examples of such biblical figures as Melchizedek, Balaam, and others who speak the word of the one true God but are not members of the Children of God, McDermott shows that there is biblical evidence for Christians to rediscover truths that are deeply imbedded in the Bible from those who do not confess Christ.

The author is very diligent and often reminds his readers that the Christian claim of the uniqueness of Christ is one that needs to be lifted up. Furthermore, what we learn from those outside our faith is not new knowledge per se but may be a different but helpful approach to biblical principles.

The unfortunate title regrettably misleads readers who will probably be surprised to find a careful study on the nature of revelation and a theological overview of Christianity's major theologians. The concluding chapters offer a great inroad to some Eastern and Near Eastern faiths. Explicitly stating that the acknowledgment of Christ as Lord is the only saving confession, McDermott continues to show how God has continued the biblical tradition of revealing himself to those outside the Christian faith.


Daniel O'Rourke: An Irish Tale
Published in School & Library Binding by Viking Press (1986)
Author: Gerald McDermott
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It's just okay
Theme
This book has one central theme. That is be good to other people or you will get what you deserve. This is demonstrated several times. ... BR>Plot
The plot of this book is simple and follows a logical pattern of thought. Daniel falls into a stream after having a good time at the party. He gets rescued and then punished for misdeeds until he wakes up. Then he learns from his actions.
Characterization
The characterization is rather lacking in this book because that is secondary to the theme of the book. Daniel seems portrayed in a conflicting manor. He views himself as good and his mother seems to treat him nicely but this stands in marked contrast to the rest of the characters who punish him in some way.
Setting
The setting in the story is not very important. It sets the most of the events in the story. This story could make sense if it was set in another country and Pookas were changes to something else.
Point of View
The point of view this story is told from Daniel O'Rourke's point of view. This adds some confusion to the story as Daniel's view of himself does not match with other people's perception of himself.
Other Assessment
The pictures in this book beautifully done. The artistry is almost worth buying the book alone. The composition is wonderful. The artist knows how to draw the eye fluidly across a page.
This story is labeled as an Irish tale. The names could be changed and this story could be universal to almost any culture. This one of the aspects about this book which is disappointing.
Another aspect which makes this story some what disappointing is the pictures do not always seem to match the text. The book will mention that Daniel fell into the stream but the picture will have what look to be leprechauns laughing at Daniel as he falls in. This happens about three times. Because of the brevity of the book, these three occurrences are very noticeable and annoying.


Aladdin and the Enchanted Lamp
Published in Hardcover by Atheneum (1985)
Authors: Marianna Mayer, Mariaan Mayer, and Gerald McDermott
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Alley Oop!
Published in School & Library Binding by Henry Holt & Company (1985)
Authors: Marianna Mayer and Gerald McDermott
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