The Talking Earth

Rating:
Summary: The Talking Earth - Spouts Mud and Vomit!
Review: Having read this book, I have made the conclusion that Ms. George likes to see just how far she can go, see if she really can kill with only words.

The book looks mildly harmless. Some transvestite on the cover with what looks like a rat. But, open it, and you shall come to find out that that little transvestite (called Billie Wind) is much more harmful than other fictional characters (see: Hannibal Lecter, Randall Flagg, Barney).

The writing style is awful. The whole book seems like an exercise in crapulence.

After reading this bundle-of-glued-pages, I am scared to death of Seminole Indian! I hope I never, ever see one!

In short: Ms. George, this is one of those Michael Moore moments that comes up all-too-rarely. In his words, Ms. George: shame on you!

Rating:
Summary: For 3rd-graders and up only!
Review: Here is yet another splendid story from Jean Craighead George, a Newbery Award-winning author of many spectacular nature stories for young readers. As she did in her classic JULIE OF THE WOLVES, Ms. George again combines details on Native American culture, animal behavior, and a unique environment to produce a dramatic and engaging story. THE TALKING EARTH is the story of Billie Wind, a young Seminole girl who lives with her tribe in the Florida Everglades. When she is accused of being a doubter, for not believing in her tribe's legends and myths, which often sound rather preposterous to her, she is sent off to live on her own in the River of Grass, to fend for herself and to listen to "the talking Earth" and learn what its speech means to her. While on her quest she learns to hunt and to build, to eat wild foods and make shelters and transportation out of the things she can find in the wilderness (sound familiar? Ms. George also wrote the favorite MY SIDE OF THE MOUNTAIN trilogy, which concerns a boy who runs off to the Catskill Mountains to live on his own and fend for himself.) Billie Wind meets three animals that change her life forever--a giant panther cub, a playful otter, and a stoic turtle--and their adventures make the book all the more enjoyable. A fire, a hurricane, and other natural disasters threaten, but Billie Wind, a fine heroine, comes out all right in the end, with a better understanding of the world around her. I thought that more could be done to stress how important our environment is and what kids can do to protect it, but all in all THE TALKING EARTH becomes one of Ms. George's most well-researched, wise, and engaging books. Other fascinating stories concerning the threatened Everglades are a picture book, EVERGLADES, a breathtaking story that is wonderfully illustrated by Wendell Minor, and an Ecological Mystery for older readers, THE MISSING 'GATOR OF GUMBO LIMBO, which has even more about the wildlife in the Everglades, and is also a good mystery. But whichever of Jean Craighead George's 80+ nature stories one chooses, one always comes away with a more excited appreciation of our miraculous environment.

Rating:
Summary: The Talking Earth - Spouts Mud and Vomit!
Review: I thought the book was very good. It had a lot of details and it was easy to picture what was happening in the book. Anyone who critisizes Jean Craighead George's "The Talking Earth," needs to get a taste in good books. I chose it to read in school as an Accelerated Reader Book and it was great. My teacher didn't choose it for me I chose to read it and if I had a chance to read it, I did. If you like reading about indians and stuff like that, than I suggest that you read this book. If you don't like it, than read one that you do like. Thankyou for reading my review.

Rating:
Summary: Talking Earth Review
Review: Talking Earth is a very exciting book to read. The main character, Billie Wind, is a doubter of her tribe's beliefs and has to be punished. For her punishment, she chose to go to the Everglades to learn about her tribe's beliefs. There, Billie makes friends like Petang, the otter, Coootchobee, a panther, and Burden, a turtle. How will Billie Wind survive in the dangerous Everglades? Will she survive? Read the book to find out.

Billie Wind developed from the beginning of the book to the end. In the beginning of the book Billie Wind didn't care about her tribe's traditions. As time went by, though, she started to use the traditions to survive. At the end of the book, Billie tried to make Oats Tiger (now known as Hurricane Tiger) believe in the traditions. Billie Wind has learned much from her punishment and is using it to teach others.

Kerra S.
Grade 5
Mr. Sizemore's class
Pleasant Plains Elementary

Rating:
Summary: Talking Earth (ZZZZzzzzz)
Review: The Talking Earth is a story about a young Seminole girl, Billie Wind, who is in disbelief of her tribe's beliefs on talking animals and spirits. Although she wants to believe in the culture, she does not think this makes any sense. In school she is learning the scientific reasons for things, such as pollution, and her ancestor's reasons for nature just don't match up. She goes to live in the Everglades until she hears the animals talk and sees the spirits. She does not believe it will ever happen. Throughout the story Billie grows and changes. She learns how to survive in the wilderness, and befriends animals, such as an otter, that help her. Through this experience she begins to understand her tribes beliefs, and gains a stronger bond with nature. The only problem is: is this bond strong enough to survive the challenges she meets?

The author, Jean Craighead George, does a great job at painting a picture of the Everglades through her imagery and detail. This story is also easy to relate to, as everyone has doubts about beliefs of other people sometime in his/her life. However, this detail often made the book difficult to understand. This book would be a good choice for multicultural studies in the classroom; however, the teacher would need to be reading and discussing with the students. If I had trouble with it children definitely would. Personally, I don't think I will ever read this book again, but after reading the review by a third grader, I see that it is possible to enjoy it. I believe the key to a child enjoying the book is the help of his/her teacher. So, from a future teacher's viewpoint, if you liked the book, read it to others, otherwise, stay away from it; and, if you haven't read it yet, I wouldn't recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: Good Imagery Makes It Confusing
Review: The Talking Earth is a story about a young Seminole girl, Billie Wind, who is in disbelief of her tribe's beliefs on talking animals and spirits. Although she wants to believe in the culture, she does not think this makes any sense. In school she is learning the scientific reasons for things, such as pollution, and her ancestor's reasons for nature just don't match up. She goes to live in the Everglades until she hears the animals talk and sees the spirits. She does not believe it will ever happen. Throughout the story Billie grows and changes. She learns how to survive in the wilderness, and befriends animals, such as an otter, that help her. Through this experience she begins to understand her tribes beliefs, and gains a stronger bond with nature. The only problem is: is this bond strong enough to survive the challenges she meets?

The author, Jean Craighead George, does a great job at painting a picture of the Everglades through her imagery and detail. This story is also easy to relate to, as everyone has doubts about beliefs of other people sometime in his/her life. However, this detail often made the book difficult to understand. This book would be a good choice for multicultural studies in the classroom; however, the teacher would need to be reading and discussing with the students. If I had trouble with it children definitely would. Personally, I don't think I will ever read this book again, but after reading the review by a third grader, I see that it is possible to enjoy it. I believe the key to a child enjoying the book is the help of his/her teacher. So, from a future teacher's viewpoint, if you liked the book, read it to others, otherwise, stay away from it; and, if you haven't read it yet, I wouldn't recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: The Talking Earth: Speaks Out Loud!
Review: The Talking Earth
by Jean Craighead George

The Talking Earth is about a Seminole girl named Billy Wind who is very curious. When her tribal elder spoke of spirits everywhere there is, Billie said she did not believe in that. The religious leaders got very angry and asked what punishment she should give herself. In sarcasm, she said that she should go to the pay-hay-okee (the Everglades)and stay until she heard the spirits of the animals talk, see the magical serpent, and find the little people who lived under the ground. The people agreed while she wondered in shock because it was just a joke. She was still forced to enter the pay-hay-okee and hear the spirits herself. Therefore, she stayed there and lived with an otter, a panther, and a turtle. At the end, she endured a hurricane in a cavern and lived to tell the tale.
The reason I liked this book is because it had a lot to do with the flow of nature. It told about why the Seminoles said there were animal gods and magical things. It also said how nature has its own special type of flow and to disrupt it can result in disaster. It also had a lot of feeling into what happenned around her and why it happenned.
I also liked the book because it was very interesting. I couldn't stop reading it until I had no other choice. It grabbed me in the ears and pulled me into the book with all my senses so that I could feel everything around me. In the tense parts, I was scared for Billy Wind and I was also relieved when that part was over. It was like real life!
My favorite part was when Billy wind had just entered the pa-hay-okee. There was a great fire that burned down the whole forest that she was in. She found a strange pit that seemed to be inhabitted before. She found a baby otter inside a small tunnel and named him Petang. She also noticed there were small artifacts in the walls that were related to the Seminole's. She stayed and tried to reach home and get an archeologist to the site.

Rating:
Summary: The Talking Earth: Speaks Out Loud!
Review: The Talking Earth
by Jean Craighead George

The Talking Earth is about a Seminole girl named Billy Wind who is very curious. When her tribal elder spoke of spirits everywhere there is, Billie said she did not believe in that. The religious leaders got very angry and asked what punishment she should give herself. In sarcasm, she said that she should go to the pay-hay-okee (the Everglades)and stay until she heard the spirits of the animals talk, see the magical serpent, and find the little people who lived under the ground. The people agreed while she wondered in shock because it was just a joke. She was still forced to enter the pay-hay-okee and hear the spirits herself. Therefore, she stayed there and lived with an otter, a panther, and a turtle. At the end, she endured a hurricane in a cavern and lived to tell the tale.
The reason I liked this book is because it had a lot to do with the flow of nature. It told about why the Seminoles said there were animal gods and magical things. It also said how nature has its own special type of flow and to disrupt it can result in disaster. It also had a lot of feeling into what happenned around her and why it happenned.
I also liked the book because it was very interesting. I couldn't stop reading it until I had no other choice. It grabbed me in the ears and pulled me into the book with all my senses so that I could feel everything around me. In the tense parts, I was scared for Billy Wind and I was also relieved when that part was over. It was like real life!
My favorite part was when Billy wind had just entered the pa-hay-okee. There was a great fire that burned down the whole forest that she was in. She found a strange pit that seemed to be inhabitted before. She found a baby otter inside a small tunnel and named him Petang. She also noticed there were small artifacts in the walls that were related to the Seminole's. She stayed and tried to reach home and get an archeologist to the site.

Rating:
Summary: Listen to Your Mother!! Earth, that is!!
Review: What a beautiful journey Billie Wind, the young Seminole girl, takes. Her modern beliefs and views put her at odds with the tribal elders, who ask her to choose her own punishment. She sarcastically suggests that she spend time alone in the Everglades, and is surprised when they agree. Billie's journey takes her to a fire that clears an island and forces her to take refuge in a pit - an ancient dwelling of Calusas. She begins to learn to understand what the animals and plants are telling her, through thier calls and movements. The birds show her where dry land is, the crickets and frogs let her know when a predator is near, the mangroves tell her when she nears the coast. The beautiful descriptions make the Florida environment come alive in this book. And as I listened to this book on tape with my two children, aged 8 and 11, we could also feel this connection that Billie makes with the land. My kids are eager to listen to this story at every chance we can get. I think they yearn for the self-sufficiency that Billie Wind develops in the story. The quietness of this story reflects the peace of nature. At a time when humans are more disconnected from the earth than ever before, this book is a call to turn off the TV, headphones, treadmill, radio, etc. and take a walk or kayak through the wetlands, listen to the birds, watch the grasses move. A book like this can remind us of the forces of nature, both terrible and peaceful. There is great drama and suspense in this story of a young girl finding her way in the natural world. The earth is talking to all of us, read this book, then come outside and try to hear what she is telling you.