Rating: 
Summary: Kit's Wilderness
Review: I find that this book can be addictive once you have got past the first few chapters. However, the beginning can be a bit boring and slow. Aside from that, this book is a shining example of the magic some of the most brilliant writers can create, just by using their heads.
Rating: 
Summary: kit's wilderness
Review: kit's wilderness is a great book but not for young ones as it is quite a hard book to get the jist of. But still it will definitly apeal for people looking for a great read and a book which keeps you tence all the way through.
Rating: 
Summary: This Book is worth reading
Review: This book was about a kid who got tangled up in a very crazy
game. The person who ran the game got expled. Read the book.
Rating:
Summary: An Artistic Failure
Review: I am a college English professor and I very recently taught Kit's Wilderness in an Adolescent Literature course. I put the book on my syllabus on the strength of editorial reviews I'd read and the fact that the novel won the Michael Printz Award. I was really looking forward to this novel, but unfortunately, I and nearly all of my twenty-nine students found Kit's Wilderness quite disappointing. In fact, we spent a whole class period critiquing the weaknesses of this novel. So I'll just mention some of what was said.The plot, while engrossing at first, fails to go anywhere. The last section of the novel is totally anticlimactic and the last chapter is far too pat. It felt like Almond didn't know what to do and just wrote a short happy ending.
Character development also fails to go anywhere, in part because the dialogue is unbearably repetitious. Kit's grandfather, for instance, is a highly interesting character early on, but Almond fails to make him central to the novel's resolution--in fact, he's almost completely irrelevant.
The magical realist elements of the story are not well-controlled by the author. The "ghost" children that Kit and Askew see ultimately serve very little purpose in the novel, other than to reinforce the idea that past is connected to present. You don't need ghosts for that. The ghost children don't do ANYTHING in the novel. I kept waiting for Almond to use them in an interesting way, but he never does.
Kit's Wilderness deals with the power of memory and storytelling to shape the present moment, but Almond makes no cohesive point about what he actually wants to say about these ideas. He piles on the symbolism thick and heavy, but it doesn't really add up to anything cogent or especially interesting. Lois Lowry's The Giver is a much more profound book on the importance of cultural memory. Almond just didn't have the artistic control he needed to juggle all of his story elements.
The one thing I really did like about Kit's Wilderness is its powerful evocation of place. The attention to landscape and weather, and the history of English coal mining is excellent.
I realize that the intended audience for this book isn't college juniors and seniors, but that's no reason to condone Almond's artistic shortcomings. I feel Kit's Wilderness is a very weak choice for the Printz award and I wouldn't recommend it to any mature reader.
Rating:
Summary: KIT'S WILDERNESS
Review: When David Almond came to visit my school I was really excited to read his books. When I started Kit's Wilderness, I could not put it down. A thrilling page turner, Kit's Wilderness was entrancing. It was easy to relate to, but very different from life today. There were bad kids and a quiet boy who wanted to fit in. I loved the descriptions of the characters-they seemed to work really well with the story. This book was definitely a good book which I would recommend to anyone looking for a good book.
Rating:
Summary: Not Just a Children's Book
Review: My 12 year old son chose this selection for a book report, and as usual, he was procrastinating with his writing. I decided to read the book while he was in school one day, so I would be able to help him. I couldn't put the book down! I read it in a few hours and thoroughly enjoyed it. I plan to read Skellig next and came to Amazon.com today to check out the newest book by David Almond, so I could buy it as a Christmas gift for my son.
Rating:
Summary: Christopher Watson, aged thirteen
Review: One of the best books I ever read was "Kit's Wilderness". Nothing anyone could have told me about this book would have prepared me for the drama within its pages. From the beginning, I was amazed by the characters and the way they introduce themselves. Kit just moved in and this is a story within itself. John Askew's personality is different inside and out. Allie has a background in Kit's family which adds an element of surprise to the book, and connects many loose ends together. This book takes place in an old mining town and it is a collection of tales from the mining times woven together into one plot line. Most of the families living in Stoneygate have ancestors that died in the terrible mine disaster years earlier. The tragedy and horror was passed down from generation to generation. Kit's grandpa had worked in the mine when he was younger. He told Kit, "It was very deep, Kit. Very dark. And every one of us was scared of it. As a lad I'd wake up trembling, knowing that as a Watson born in Stoneygate I'd soon be following my ancestors into the pit." All of the old mining families' children participate in a game. A game with death as its initiation process. Before Kit's death Askew whispers to him ever so softly, "This is not a game. You will truly die. All you see and all you know will disappear. It is the end. You will be no more." This plot really grips your soul. It gives the book life, and makes the reader become part of this possibly deadly game.
Rating: 
Summary: Where is Kit's Wilderness?
Review: How connected to one's ancestors are today's children? The loss of the extended family, single-parent households, and blended families make this a difficult endeavor. But, for Christopher Watson, a 13 year old boy from the coal mining town of Stoneygate, finding the connection to his past almost breaks his hold on the present. Kit's family moves back to Stoneygate after the death of his grandmother to care for his grandfather. There Kit discovers a Christopher Watson of long, long ago. A boy of thirteen, like himself, whose life was cut short by a harsh life in the coal mines. Does John Askew, the town bad boy, have answers to the questions Kit asks? Does Kit's ailing grandpa's failing memory? Or do the answers lie in the frightening game called "Death" that the children play in the abandoned mines? David Almond's haunting lyrical prose tells a mystical story of self-discovery. The dark side frightens us, the bright side holds us, and together they create a YA novel that is hard to put down and even harder to forget.
Rating:
Summary: Gotta love this book!
Review: I think that this was a great, captivating book. I could hardly put it down. It kept me interested, and it was even a little thought-provoking. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent book
Review: I only listened to this book on tape because I am an avid fan of Charles Keating. I was not disappointed by his reading or the beautiful lyrical prose of writer David Almond. The book may be for young readers, but it has all the intrigue and interest to keep any adult reader longing for more. Since coming across this book, I have read Almond's first novel and can't wait for his latest to arrive in stores.
|
