Rating: 
Summary: Five Star Book - Read All About It!
Review: This is one of the most entertaining and original science fiction books I have ever read, not to mention one of the best children's books I have ever read. Taking place in a futuristic Zimbabwe in the year 2194, this tale of detectives, genetically engineered blue monkeys, and terrorists is a true edge-of-your-seat delight that will entertain both teenagers and adults. Tendai, Rita, and Kuda, the General Matsika's three children, are tired of their technologically controlled home and their overprotective parents. They want an adventure and sneak out of the house one morning for a day of exploring only to be kidnapped! Now it's up three very special detectives: The Ear, The Eye, and The Arm, to find them. But will they succeed?
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Summary: I LOVE THIS BOOK! IT'S MY FAVORITE (tied with Juniper)
Review: I would love to recommend this lovely book called The Ear, the Eye and the Arm. It's charming characters captivate you in the dangerous tales of Tendai, Rita and Kuda. They live in a beautiful mansion in Zimbabwe with their parents. It's is set in the future about a hundred years from now. Instead of maids and butler people they have robots! now let me introduce you to the characters. First, there is General Matsika a feared and powerful man of Zimbabwe. And the strict father of the children. Then there's Mrs. Matsika she is a soft, quiet lady in the story, playing the simple role of the distraught mother. Then there is The Mellower, a small comforting praise singer who starts this adventure. Then last but not least Tendai (13), Rita (11) and Kuda (4), these three get caught up in a twine of adventures. Now the story begins... The children are Scouts and they want to earn their Exploring Badges, only one thing is wrong. Their father is, well, strict, and since their house surrounding by a huge wall they have to get their father's permission before they go out. So the Mellower Praisesings and charms General Matsika and his wife into giving the children pass keys to get out the gate. The children's parents wake up from the Praise Snger's enchantment and remember nothing of giving their permission, and they go about their business of going to meetings with people with important titles. Then the children are alone. Except for the Mellower, then they pack a few things and go out into the bright city they have never in their lives been into. Then Rita encounters a little rude rat (who bites her even after she fed it!). Then they eat delicious little chili-bites at the chili-bite stand. They meet a rude (needless to say) genetically engineered blue monkey and his (sort of) master. They kidnap the children! Meanwhile General Matsika soon discovers that his children are gone, and have been for a couple of hours in the dangerous city! So he and his wife hire the detectives Ear, Eye and Arm. They have strange yet special abilities (because their mother's drank contaminated water when they were pregnant.) Ear can hear a whisper in another room, Eye can see a raindrop in a storm cloud and Arm can feel peoples feelings, has hunches and rarely but something can read minds. They go through numerous exciting adventures trying to find the children. This book is witty, exciting and has a touching bit, too. hope you enjoy this book as much as I do. Read this if you want to live :-) Phoebe
Rating:
Summary: The Best Book of the Future
Review: This book has everything in it; bad guys, spirits, the cool detectives, the places the main character goes, everything! Tendai Matsika (13 years) tries to prove himself to his father but ends up taking the adventure of his life, shifting around from place to place, completing certain tasks while three detectives with super-cool powers try to save him. I used this book for a book project, and everyone loved it... LOVED it and wanted to borrow it!
Rating:
Summary: Future Troble
Review: The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm is one of the most exciting books I've read. It's sad, exciting, full of adventures, and weird. I loved reading this book. Everytime I'd tell myself to stop at the next chapter, I had to continue reading to find out what happens next. I was always reading more than my teacher-Mrs. Guggisberg-assigned me. I'm sure you will like it too, and I recommend this book to everyone. It is the year 2194 and General Matsika's-a very imprtant military general-kids run away from the house to get a scout badge. As they stop to look at a blue monkey-a gentically engineered animal with genes from a monkey, pit bull, and human-the monkey attacks. Two men take the children and kidnap them. They are tken to an area called Dead Man's Vlei, where they are put to work-although they are fed well. Meanwhile, their parents hire detectives, the Ear, the Eye, and the Arm. Will the detedtives find the children? Will the children find thier way home? Read and find out in this breath-taking novel by Nancy Farmer.
Rating:
Summary: The Ear,the Eye,the Arm
Review: Imagine you lived in a house that your parents wouldn't let you out of--not even for school. If you think that's bad,try having the General as your father,robots doing every thing in your house,and having a teacher that you hate. Well,twelve year old Tendai Matsika has to live like this,as does his eleven year old sister,Rita,and four year old brother,Kuda. Tendai,Rita,and Kuda arethreemain characters in Nancy Farmer's The Ear, the Eye,and the Arm. They live in year 2194 in Zimbabwe. The three siblings are miserable living under their parents rules,so Tendai wishes for an adventure on his 13th birthday. His wish comes true,however,he finds out the saying,"Becareful what you wish for" is all true.
The three go on a very unexpected adenture that leads to their kidnapping. Tendai,Rita,and Kuda find a way to trick their parents into letting them out of the house. They hope by tricking their parents they will be able to have a great adventure and a break from their boring lives. Instead their lies get them kidnapped. Once General Matsika discovers his children are missing,he calls Africa's most unusual detectives: the EAr,the Eye, the Arm.
As the detectives are searchig for the missing chilren,they encounter many srange situations. While they are on the case, Tendai,Rita,and Kuda are having adventures of their own.
The kids keep sliping out of the detectives' reach but will they find them? Will the Matsika kids have to find their own way home? WIll all the adventures make it through their trials of saftey?
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Summary: Dont think i wrote this review because i wanted to
Review: Hmmm... Now what can I say about this Nancy Farmer novel "The Ear, The Eye, and The Arm." Well, for starters, its a book. A science Fiction Book. Yep, nice summary there. But youre not here for the summary, you want my opinion. And if you dont, I dont care, just keep scrolling down.
Well, truth be told, reading is not my passion, and to go through a three hundred plus page book isnt my personal idea of fun, but this book wasnt half bad. So you've got your three rich children in the future who dont get out much, so they want to go to the city, alright, why not. But that wasn't why I decided to read it, how many times do you find a book set in the future thats not placed in New York City. I mean c'mon, seriously now you know its true. At least N.Farmer decided to put it in Zimbabwe, Africa in 2194. And how about those detectives, mutants, and not some guy in a trenchcoat. Sounds good already, doesn't it? But sadly, besides those points and a few others, this book follows the line of kids runaway, kids get kidnapped, kids miss mommy, daddy sends for help, hero saves the day. We're living in the future now for goodness sake, couldnt the kids at least have been abducted by aliens or something?
But don't think that it gets so much better after that. This book ran on, and on, and well, on. And I'm not just saying that because im too lazy to read an entire book or something along those lines. Read the book for yourself and youll see what I mean, the kids get so close to home, but darn, something just pops up out of nowhere and messes it up all over. Sure, you call them "super, duper, exciting twists and turns!", but alas, I can only take so much.
I must admit, there are the good details and ideas, a couple funny lines, and a talking monkey. So maybe I was being to Harsh on the General Matsika's little kiddies, but maybe I'm to harsh on everything. I really didn't mind the length all that much, but It did take awhile for the action to get going. But a slow beginning doesn't stop most people from continuing, so don't let it get to you. There will be plenty of mutants, robots, and plastic mines ahead. So be patient Young Grasshopper. Of Course, the settings and characters stand out too. Waste dumps to mansions, this book takes you there. Not to mention those character designs, although I thought if you were born with a huge disfiguring ear it would just get in the way, but no! Use it to solve mysteries! I was referring to The Ear, The Eye, and The Arm obviously, the title and our detectives, my kind of mutants.
So should you read this? The real question is, are you that bored? Just kidding, I'd call this a prime candidate for book report material and good catch for just something to read (if you're in to that sort of thing, that is.) Now sit back, pop open a cold one, and let the reading begin.
Rating: 
Summary: a thrilling adventure
Review: "The Ear the Eye and the Arm" is an exciting book,and I would recommend it to people of all ages and tastes. It's a mixture of adventure and mystery. It takes place in a Zimbabwe of the future (2194 to be exact). It is about 3 siblings named Tendai, Rita, and Kuda who have spent their whole lives stuck in their house, without ever seeing the outside world. General Matsika,their own father has never showed any affection towards them, but only treated them as if they were his soldiers. One day Tendai, Rita, and Kuda run away from home in order to see the "outside world" but end up having an adventure they would never had expected to experience in a thousand years!
They go from living in a place where you don't have to lift a finger, to working in dead man's Vlei to stay alive. Many more frightful experiences follow this. During these adventures, Tendai also learns about the culture and heritage of Zimbabwe While this is all happening, the Ear, the Eye, and the Arm (3 out of work detectives, each with a special gift) are hired to help find the children. Where are the children? Will they find them? If so, how?
I guess you'll have to read the book to find out!
Rating:
Summary: the best book ive read
Review: three kids traped in there house. never seen the world beyond there robot runed manchen, ecscape away from there high in power general dad, to see the world in there own eyes.
I think that this book shows corage, stupidedy, and how it is when you are suddenly in a whole differnt world of people. I would recomend this book to anyone and everyone. Nomader what age you are you will learn something new about life and its strugles in this book. You can read it over and over, and never want to put it down. I would put this book into my favoret book collection and i think that you should too.
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Summary: The Arm Is Awesome
Review: This is an excellent book I read a couple of weeks ago. It takes place in futuristic Zimbabwe. 3 kids of an important politician in the country decide to go on a field trip to explore the outside world and end up disappearing. Now it's up to the Ear, the Eye, and the Arm to track them down. But it won't be as easy as they thought. On their journey they'll encounter a woman the size of an elephant, people who still believe that evil monsters lurk in their forest, and a greedy woman who hosts a lot of tea parties. Not to mention the REAL bad guys... This is an excellent read for HS or MS students. Although older people may like it too. It's very well-written. I especially love Nancy Farmer's bio in the back... She seems like quite a character. I checked this out from the library, but I'll probably buy it, I'd read it again.
Rating: 
Summary: Why This Book Sucks Really Bad (I was forced to read it)
Review: It's written in thrid person omniscient, an irritating style that refuses to pick a main character. The author also has a confusing writing style that consists of only catalouging action; it lacks necessary description so that the reader is left caught up in a confusing swirl of action. Because of the omnisceint style, the passage of time changes with the character view. It is unrealistic: there is an isolated "country" dedicated to the preservation of tribal ways. It is made of concrete with simulated suns (we have to assume because the author certainly isn't going to tell is how the sun penetrates four feet of concrete), wind, water, etc.; people don't become weak from lack of oxygen when they are on top of the mile-high physically impossible hotel, which means 5280 feet plus whatever the natural elevation of the land which is very high because Africa has the highest overall elevation of any continent; I could go on all day about the inconsistencies in the book, but I only have 1000 words. The whole entire book IS SO FREAKING CLICHE IT MAKES ME SICK!!!! Take the "main" charater, a boy who's 13 named Tendai. He is on a constant inner quest for honor and courage through the entire book while he is searching for 'manhood.' Which brings me to another point: the ancestors keep messing around in the book and they will not be consistent and will not stop talking and it's so freaking annoying. I'm not racist against anybody who adheres to the beliefs of tribal africans, but if one of them is reading this, tell the spirits of the dead corpses to please speak with a consistent voice in this horrible book (are they going to be high and mighty and all "There is much courage in your soul. You will be a great warrior." or are they going to be all "...are you stalling for time here?" Please tell them to make up their rotting minds because it's driving me insane. The whole mood of the book is inconsistent as well. The first roughly two-thirds of the book are just a little bit too violent for the average six-year-old, who probably couldn't read this book anyway, but the last roughly third changes very suddenly. There is an English lady who's an alchoholic who also mentions heroin in a conversation which is something children's books just don't do, and terrorist attacks, and the whole book ends up in a spiritual battle where the tribal god-but-not who speaks the lingo of today ends up fighting a veritable demon. It's as if the author wrote most of the book, and got bored with it, then watched a bunch of horror movies and movies like Traffic and then wrote the rest of the book. And the editor who must have been blind so he couldn't read the book, without the sense of touch so he could braille-read the book, and deaf so he couldn't have the book read to him, didn't catch her on that and say something to the effect of "Did two different people write this book?" Because that's sure what it feels like to me. One last point: I already knew what would happen to the characters in the end, not exactly, but in a sense. The wise-beyond-his-thirteen-years kid would get a chance to proove his bravery to his stupid loud-mouth ancestors; the bratty sister would learn to be unselfish and wouldn't shy away from work anymore; the bratty little brother who bythe way was described as being brilliant beyond his six years and yet acted like a three year old, would gain a level of maturity and become unselfish too (this was the only one I wasn't completely right on: he was still mostly a brat at the end of the book); the paranoid, over-protective father would learn something to the effect of kids cannot grow up without freedom and/or you cannot shelter people from the evils of this world and it's better not to try to; the mother who was never there would have some sort of maudlin 'I ignored my children!' sort of thing and be a better mother in the end. There's the ending, which you can figure out within the first two chapters. By the way, mother who's a sophiticated lady who's never had to work a day in her life except for book work, ends up a carrying around the equivalent of a bazooka gun, operating it perfectly, and using brilliant fighting strategy. hmmm..... If this book was cheese, it would be swiss. There are parts of it that are stomachable, but that I don't really like because that's my personal opinion. But on the whole, this book is so full of gaping, unforgiving gaps and inconsistencies and unrealities since it is supposed to be plausible, that it's basically worthless. Don't read this book unless you want to read an example of bad literature. I haven't read Farmer's other stuff, so I won't bash her (whoops. already did) but I will bash this book until it is dissolved into quintillions of little pieces, and then have those pieces burned and then feed the ashes to a roach and kill the roach. By the way, I was forced to read this book in my "Advanced" 9th grade literature class this year. Funny, I thought the Newberry award was somthing given to children's books. Hmmm... Well teacher did mention mostly to herself that this book was on a seventh grade level. I think that's an overestimation. Thank you very much public school system for not giving the already education-deprived students more than their under-developed brains can handle. May I suggest a different author? In my humble opinion, I think Dickens or T.H. White is a much better choice than Nancy Farmer. For anybody who's read this far, why? Go do something more worthwhile than listen to me rant about a stupid book.
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