Countdown

Rating:
Summary: Journey of Two Cultures
Review: Countdown Review

I liked this book because it taught that you may live in two different worlds but people can be the same in different ways. Elliot first found out that he was the first teen in space. But little did Elliot know that it would change his life forever. Vincent a young Maasai herder, That gets involved with white man. When Elliot went in to space that's when Elliot talked to Vincent for the first time ever. When Vincent talked to Elliot for the first time, they started fine. The minute Elliot started to make fun Vincent's god Engai, Then Vincent Started to make fun of Elliot's god. After several days of fighting on the radio, Vincent and Elliot learned their dads were not that different to each other. That's when Vincent's dad grew ill and needed a doctor in the Maasai land, Vincent needed Sembeke's help to cure his father. At the same time, the space shuttle Endeavor started to have problems on board. Therefore, the space shuttle and its crew had to make an emergency landing in Africa. When the authority heard, they flew Vincent to were the space shuttle would be landing. When Elliot herd he wanted to stay in space but he no choice, To meet Vincent. When the space shuttle landed, Vincent and Elliot meet each other in person. They both realized that they weren't so different after all even know they had different beliefs.
The reason people should read this book is it teaches you that you don't have to be brother or sisters to be alike. I recommend this book to anyone who is into social studies and likes different cultures. In addition, for people who just don't want to read, this would be a great book to just pass time. And for someone who doesn't like to read like me I would read it over and over.

Rating:
Summary: I love this book!!!!!!!!!
Review: I got this book after grocery shopping. I was looking in the multicultural section because I desperately needed a book for a project in school. I looked at it and I didn't really think it would be that great but it was so good that an hour later I was asking my mom to get me a new book! The ending wasn't that great but otherwise it was the best book! All of the charactors actions were surprising. I highly recomend this book!

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Summary: My 7th graders love this book, so do I!
Review: I have used this book with my 7th graders for the last two years and I have had good results with my students. I stopped another book we were reading as a class right after September 11, 2001 and had my classes read this book. There are many great lessons in this book. The two boys are from different cultures, have different Gods, and different cultural beliefs. I used these topics to lead many interesting discussions not only about the book, but how our culture and other cultures see each other and have different ways of working out our differences. I HIGHLY recommend this book as a teacher.