Read it! Dance For The Land is the greatest book I ever read. It takes place in Honolulu,Hawaii and Kate is the main character. She has to leave her dog,Boggs at California with her best friend,Sarah. Her housekeeper is working for some other family. When Kate goes to school a girl in her class performs hula dancing. Kate gets hurt from this boy named Chad. Chad hates Kate. One thing I leaned is that "haiku" means pregnant. Her aunt gets pregnant. I like this book because the setting is a great place and the main character is shy. I think this genre is realistic fiction. I love anything that has to do with Hawaii. I just hope you read it. Thank yo

"Dance For The Land," another of Clemence McLaren's wonderful novels, is one that really stands out from the others, in a way that it shares with the world Hawaii's cultures and language. About a "hapa-haole," ("half-white" in Hawaiian), Kate, who comes to the land of Hawaii unwillingly, reaches back to her past and half of her culture. Kate finds the traditional Hawaiian dance, the "Hula," as a way of making peace with her "aina," her home land. Skillfully weaving a novel together, including part of the Hawaiian language and cultures, Clemence McLaren once again creates a breath-taking page-turner that is hard to put down for an imaginative reader!

When Kate's lawyer father decides the Kahele Family should move to Hawai'i, all Kate can think about is the life she is leaving behind in California. As her father studies for the state bar exam and her dark skinned brother happily hits the beaches, she has to handle the torments of her classmates and people on the street for being half-white. When she discovers hula dancing, she begins to feel the rhythms of the land and to understand the political and social history of her place in life. This book moves beyond fears and stereotypes and talks about racial and cultural issues both within the family and the larger society. The author has lived for many years in Hawai'i. She teaches in a school for Hawaiian children, most of whom are mixed race. I found Kate's personal growth my own as well. I learned not only about Hawai'i, hula, and biracial situations, but also the pain of immigration.

This book is awesome! I was reluctant to start it at first, but I loved it!! My favorite stories are Psyche's and Andromeada [not to sure if thats the right spelling]. Atalanta's was good though. I recommend this book if you love rOmance !

This was the best book! I especially love Atlanta's story. I didn't like Phyche's story that much at first, but it got better as it went on and now I love that one too. I also loved Andromeda's story. They were all great and I read it again and again.

Greek myths are fun to read, but they're even cooler when written in first person. I loved the perspective of the women in this book and found each story to be extremely romantic and engaging. After I read it, I went out and bought two other books by the same author!

"Inside the Walls of Troy" is the most wonderful action- filled, heart-touching book about the Greek times I have ever read .It is told by two very different Greek Princesses. The first part of the book is told by Helen of Sparta,who later becames Helen of Troy. Helen's story starts when she is declared the most beautiful, mortal women in all the world. At twelve she is kidnapped by pirates. When she is finally returned to her father, many men want her hand in marrige. Her father chooses a nobleman named Menelaus,who she is forced to marry. Soon after, Helen fell deeply in love with Menelaus'good friend named Paris and runs away to Troy with him. The second part of the book is told by Cassandra, Paris' sister. She tells about the war between Sparta and Troy .This war was fought because Paris would not give Helen back to her husband, Menelaus.If there was one thing I could change it would be to make the book longer. I loved it and recommend it highly.

Inside the Walls of Troy is a fascinating novel for young readers who love historical fiction. I bought this book out of a Scholastic magazine and fell in love with it! When I need a great book to read, I always turn to Inside the Walls of Troy. It is a wonderful story because it gives you two differant perspectives: one of the 12 year old princess, Helen of Sparta, the most beautiful woman in the world. The other is from a 19 year old girl named Cassandra, who foresees the future. If you love romances, war stories, and mysteries, you will love Inside the Walls of Troy!!!

My sixth grade class at Laurel School read Inside the Walls of Troy. Before that, we had just finished reading a book about Troy and the Trojan War. Our class did have an idea of who the characters where, but we didn't know too much about the women. Inside the Walls of Troy gave us a great picture of how the women lived and felt during this awful war. There was Cassandra, a seer, who was supposedly given the gift of "sight" by the god of music, Apollo. There was also Helen, the most beautiful women in the world who was married off to Menelaus, an ugly, hairy armed, loving man. These are the two main women in this book and there are actually two parts about them. You start off with Helen being the main character. In this part, you start off with Helen living in Sparta with her sister Penelope and her maid Hessia. Theseus comes and kidnaps Helen and tries to show her how to be a proper lady. Helen is thirteen at the time and her brothers come and save her. When she goes home, suitors await her all wanting her hand in marriage. Everyone is in awe over Helen's beauty and have to make the vow of the horse not to hurt or kill her husband or any of his family. Helen marries Menelaus and they become rulers of Sparta. After a while, they have their first child, Hermione who Menelaus adores. Menelaus invites a Trojan to maybe make a truce over brewing trade problems. Paris came and ends up running away with Helen. They flee to Troy where they plan to live happily ever after. In the second part, which is more about Cassandra, Cassandra is having one of her daily visions and sees Paris returning with Helen. She sees disaster ahead for Troy. She goes to tell her brother, Helenus, who also has the gift of sight. When Helen does come, Cassandra is afraid, but as the story goes on, it tells about their friendship and troubles. Inside the Walls of Troy now is one of my favorite books to read and I strongly encourage other people to read it. I'm sure you too will love this wonderful book with great vocabulary and will want other people to read it. Clemence McLaren has done a great job of writing Inside the Walls of Troy with facts and a twist of some things she made up. You'll find yourself feeling like you too are part of the book and experiencing the Trojan War.

Waiting For Odysseus was a fun book to read. It filled me in on the women's point of view of Odysseus' journey home. However, it was a lot like The Odyssey. I would recommend this book to anybody who enjoys reading The Odyssey or about Greek Mythology.

I would like to personally thank Mrs. McLaren for writing this wonderful book as well as 'Inside the Walls of Troy'. I found both of these spectacular books absolutely fascinating and I strongly contradict those illiterate people out there who don't appreciate good literature. I already knew the stories of the Iliad and the Odyssey when I read these books, but they gave me a whole, new and different point of view on the subject. The first time I read the book, I couldn't put it down. I believe this book will now rank among my favorites, which I read over and over again. Some of those books are the 'Golden Compass', and 'Wild Magic'. This book defienetly is destined to be ranked among the best. I would also like to thank Mrs. McLaren for visiting our classroom, and I encourage her to keep on writing, for those who truly appreciate good literature.

As soon as I was asked to read this book, I was ecstatic. I had just finished reading Inside The Walls of Troy, another fantastic book by Mrs. McLaren, and I was lusting after another book by her. I really love her unique way of portraying her way of looking at the story, and telling it through the women in the story. Through her books, I looked at the women in ways I had never thought of looking at them. I had never imagined Penelope the way Mrs. McLaren showed her, and thinking of her that way truly opened my eyes. I am always on the lookout for new books, and my favorite genres are Historical Fiction, Fantasy Fiction, and Science Fiction. Of all of the Historical Fiction books that I've read, Clemence McLaren is definetely my favorite author. In other books I've read, it's always from the same viewpoint, but she really gets into the characters heads, and shows you their personality in a new light. Books like Waiting for Odysseus and Inside the Walls of Troy are inspirations to all aspiring writers. Anyone who is interested in Greek Mythology has to read them. They are true gems in the group of retold Greek Myths.