The Staircase

Rating:
Summary: The Packaging of Miracles
Review: Lizzy Enders feels abandoned in Santa Fe when her father and the remainder of their wagon train to Colorado leave in the middle of the night. Though not exactly alone in the convent school, Lizzy is certainly an outsider, the only Methodist and labeled as a heretic by Mother Magdalene. Add to that the fact that her own mother has just died on the Trail and left without a proper burial. Consider also the fact that she is outcast by the other girls in the convent, including her nemesis, Elinora who has traveled the Trail with her from Independence. The Staircase is more than a story about one girl's acceptance and perseverance in a life that is less than charmed, though. It is a story of hoping for miracles, but more importantly of realizing miracles, even when they do not come in the packaging one expected to find them. Heart-warming and based on the story of the Chapel of Loretto's fabled staircase from the late 1870's, another exceptional offering by Rinaldi.

Rating:
Summary: The Staricase
Review: The staircase was an excellent book. I was reading this for a children's literature class and I am glad I picked this book. I love the character of Lizzy. She goes through so much in this book and you can't help but be on her side when Elinora tries to get her in trouble. Lizzy does not care how others thing of her she just wants to get out of the all girls' school. This is an excellent book for children to read. The plot was very interesting and exciting. The characters are likeable and true to life, Rinaldi's writing is very descriptive. This story is about friendship, families, and lessons of life. This book would be an excellent read aloud. It introduces friendships and how to learn to be on your own.

Rating:
Summary: The Staricase
Review: The staircase was an excellent book. I was reading this for a children's literature class and I am glad I picked this book. I love the character of Lizzy. She goes through so much in this book and you can't help but be on her side when Elinora tries to get her in trouble. Lizzy does not care how others thing of her she just wants to get out of the all girls' school. This is an excellent book for children to read. The plot was very interesting and exciting. The characters are likeable and true to life, Rinaldi's writing is very descriptive. This story is about friendship, families, and lessons of life. This book would be an excellent read aloud. It introduces friendships and how to learn to be on your own.

Rating:
Summary: Another great book by Ann Rinaldi.
Review: The year is 1878. Thirteen-year-old Lizzy Enders is torn by grief. After her mother's death on the long journey westward from Missouri, her father has abandoned her at a convent school in Sante Fe, New Mexico. He is determined to prospect for gold in Colorado and regain the family wealth lost in the final days of the Civil War, just before Lizzy's birth. As the only non-Catholic girl at the school, she finds herself an unwelcome outcast, teased and tormented by the other students, especially snooty Elinora, who pretends that she wants to be a nun to avoid suspicion while sneaking out at night to see a boy. Lizzy's only friends are a slightly crazy old woman who lost both her husband and only son to the Civil War, and a travelling carpenter hired to build a staircase at the scool. But even with these two friends, Lizzy still longs for the day her father will return for her, and she wonders if that day will ever come. I highly reccomend this novel to fans of Ann Rinaldi's books. It's another excellant book by her, and she's one of my favorite authors.

Rating:
Summary: A Mesmerising Tale
Review: This book is a wonderful tale of the actual mysterious carpenter of the Sisters of Loretto and his masterful staircase. I thought it was wonderful how the staricase was a way to test the users faith in the end, with no railings on either side and built of strong and sturfy mysterious wood and wooden pegs instead of nails. The fact that the actual staricase has withstood all these years is amazing as well. I give this novl 5 stars because it covers everything that is needed and only leaves you hanging in one aspect, whisch is exactly as it should have been. Perfect.

Rating:
Summary: A Mesmerising Tale
Review: This book is a wonderful tale of the actual mysterious carpenter of the Sisters of Loretto and his masterful staircase. I thought it was wonderful how the staricase was a way to test the users faith in the end, with no railings on either side and built of strong and sturfy mysterious wood and wooden pegs instead of nails. The fact that the actual staricase has withstood all these years is amazing as well. I give this novl 5 stars because it covers everything that is needed and only leaves you hanging in one aspect, whisch is exactly as it should have been. Perfect.