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Rating: 
Summary: Read this book
Review: I truly enjoyed this book by Karen Hesse. As a future teacher I will add this to my list of historical fiction in teaching social studies and language arts. I had no idea so many people died of the flu in 1918 - nearl two and one half times the number that died during WWI! Karen Hesse does an excellent job of placing ourselves into the life of a young Jewish girl named Hannah. She and her two sisters must live with her two aunts in a crowded Boston apartment because their father is fighting in the war, and their mother is trapped in Russia. She must eventually leave Boston alone because the flu is ravishing the city and her loved ones. She gets lost and is also stricken with the deadly flu. She is nursed back to health by a German farmer and a beautiful friendship develops. She eventually returns to Boston with the help of an angel to find the fate of her family. This is a must read book!
Rating: 
Summary: A view from a future teacher
Review: I truly enjoyed this book by Karen Hesse. As a future teacher I will add this to my list of historical fiction in teaching social studies and language arts. I had no idea so many people died of the flu in 1918 - nearl two and one half times the number that died during WWI! Karen Hesse does an excellent job of placing ourselves into the life of a young Jewish girl named Hannah. She and her two sisters must live with her two aunts in a crowded Boston apartment because their father is fighting in the war, and their mother is trapped in Russia. She must eventually leave Boston alone because the flu is ravishing the city and her loved ones. She gets lost and is also stricken with the deadly flu. She is nursed back to health by a German farmer and a beautiful friendship develops. She eventually returns to Boston with the help of an angel to find the fate of her family. This is a must read book!
Rating:
Summary: Amazing, engaging, imaginative ... must read!
Review: I was frankly shocked to read reviews that found this book boring. I've read all of Karen Hesse's works, and find this to be far and away the best. I am a fifth grade teacher, and can usually count on my 14-year-old daughter to let me take her cast-off books to supply my classroom; this was one that she won't part with, even after several years. "A Time of Angels" is high on my list of books to recommend for my higher-level readers. The story line, taking place during the influenza pandemic of 1917-18, is grippingly realistic -- entire neighborhoods are nearly wiped out by the dreaded disease, and panic-stricken residents don't really know how to deal with the enormous problem. Meanwhile, Hannah and her two younger sisters are left in Boston with an aunt, since her mother is trapped in WWI Russia caring for relatives and her father is off fighting in the war -- and neither have been heard from. When influenza tears Hannah's family apart, circumstances take her far away where she ends up in the care of a gruff old farmer who has been isolated from other townsfolk because of his German heritage. The relationship that forms between the two of them is sweet and tender, and Hesse crafts it beautifully. Truly, Hesse's characterizations and descriptions make this book nearly magical to read. She weaves in bits and pieces of Jewish culture, American history, and wonderful mystical interludes with an angel who saves Hannah's life more than once. Boring? Don't believe it. This is a book you shouldn't miss!
Rating:
Summary: Amazing, engaging, imaginative ... must read!
Review: I was frankly shocked to read reviews that found this book boring. I've read all of Karen Hesse's works, and find this to be far and away the best. I am a fifth grade teacher, and can usually count on my 14-year-old daughter to let me take her cast-off books to supply my classroom; this was one that she won't part with, even after several years. "A Time of Angels" is high on my list of books to recommend for my higher-level readers. The story line, taking place during the influenza pandemic of 1917-18, is grippingly realistic -- entire neighborhoods are nearly wiped out by the dreaded disease, and panic-stricken residents don't really know how to deal with the enormous problem. Meanwhile, Hannah and her two younger sisters are left in Boston with an aunt, since her mother is trapped in WWI Russia caring for relatives and her father is off fighting in the war -- and neither have been heard from. When influenza tears Hannah's family apart, circumstances take her far away where she ends up in the care of a gruff old farmer who has been isolated from other townsfolk because of his German heritage. The relationship that forms between the two of them is sweet and tender, and Hesse crafts it beautifully. Truly, Hesse's characterizations and descriptions make this book nearly magical to read. She weaves in bits and pieces of Jewish culture, American history, and wonderful mystical interludes with an angel who saves Hannah's life more than once. Boring? Don't believe it. This is a book you shouldn't miss!
Rating:
Summary: Amazing
Review: This book, literally, moved me to tears as I read it cover-to-cover. If you don't read it, I don't know what you're missing.
Rating: 
Summary: Bored...
Review: To say that it is boring is quite a lot to know about it alone. Ms. Hesse has shocked me, for her past books are vivd and imaginative; this one just reminds me of sleepy author Anne Rinaldi.
Rating:
Summary: GrEat bOok
Review: With all of the recent events our country has been through I believe this book should be read in classrooms everywhere. Taking place during WW2 you are drawn into the difficult, poor and often painful life of a young girl. As she loses loved ones to the plague, she herself is spared and she believes she may have seen an angel. Circumstances lead this young jewish girl to live with an old German man who the town shuns, but she learns to love. I learned that every war has two sides, and tolerance is the key. The young girl ends up happy in the end through small bits of fate in her favor, but I believe there were many different endings that would have worked for the girl - just like us.
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