The Earth Kitchen

Rating:
Summary: Beautifully written
Review: In an age when soooo much children's literature is simply unremarkable, this auspicious first novel seeks to stem the tide of ho-humness with beautifully-wrought, intelligent language that captured this reader's ear from the get-go. I deeply felt the main character's (Gwen's) consternations and fears, and resonated powerfully to the fantasy world with which she indulged herself - thanks to the author's gift for poignant language. I have read much new juvenile fiction this past year, and would describe most of the works as stories. The Earth Kitchen, on the other hand, is more than a story. It's literature.

Rating:
Summary: Great book!
Review: The Earth Kitchen By:Sharon bryant is a great book. It is about a young girl named gwen, who survived an atom bomb attack. She was sent to a ward so she would not be afraid of going to school anymore. Gwen alwase wanted to go home to her aunt but she feared that the day would never come. Little did she know , she found something that would get her in a lot of trouble and a lot of new adventures. Gwen is a nice girl but can get a little testy sometimes. Her best freind was alice, until something happons. After the incident, Gwen's life is as bad as it gets until the thing she finds finally comes in handy. Gwen's other friends are Mary and Janet. Janet is sort of a crybaby but she makes a good target for Alice and Gwen to make fun of behind her back. Mary is kind of a tattle tale but all in all she is vert nice. Alice had an eating disorder before she came to the ward. That was the reason she went to the ward. She would scoop food on her napkin when the day nurses weren't looking. Alice had a very active inagination. She would talk about murdurs and killers on the streets. I liked the book because it has a good plot , it hat a good setting,it has a good theme, and the point of view helpes the reader understand the book. I also liked the book because it has good charectors in it' the book also described the charectors very well. The setting of the book is set in the cold war hysteria of the early 1960's. There is not much i dont like about the book except i think the book cuold of had gwen's aunt talk more. I also think they could of explian what happoned to gwen's parents earlier in the book . The ward is where gwen and her freinds have to stay until safety is promised in the country. The ward is a preaty nice place, if you like a day nurs following you around every where you go, bars on the windows and doors, and alarms on the door if you open them. Good things about the ward is that the day nurses are nice and it suplies bathrooms and food. My favroite part of the book is when Gwen was trying to sleep at night on the ward when she noticed a cherry breasted bird at her window , she looked at it for a little while and then noticed something it its mouth. the bird dropped it in the bush outside. She went to look for it and when she did she was very excited. Little did she know the item would trigger a chain of events that would change her life as she knew it at the ward. In conclution The Earth Kitchen is a great book and i would recommend it to all.