Rating: 
Summary: why this book was terrible
Review: I think this book was quite terrible because Alex was a complete loser. A total geek committed to building little plastic men and painting them up in all the right colours. This is not someone any highschool reader wants to know about. Secondly, all those chinese people could speak english, realistic, maybe. But how could Alex pick up all that chinese? 2 days of school? ya right! this was terribly developed and the author often strayed from diary form and went back. Ineffective.
Rating: 
Summary: I think this book was really good...
Review: I think this book was really good. It was also really sad. Through the fictional diary of a Canadian boy, I learned a lot about Communist China. He comes with his father, who works for CBC, to tape the Forbidden City. But, they are both not prepared for what is to come...
Rating: 
Summary: A So-So Book
Review: Okay, This book matched my expectations, which weren't that high, but the action and molotov cocktails earned a three star rating. Anyway, I had to read this novel for a book report (I wanted to read "To Kill A Mockingbird" but I couldn't), and I found in some parts hard to put down, but others, just plain boring, like the Chinese storytelling part. The main character, Alex, is a total dingdong. I mean, who paints plastic men all day long? What a freak. Three stars.
Rating:
Summary: Forbidden City by William Bell
Review: One of the first books written by William Bell Forbidden City is also one of his best. Recognized for its suspense, drama, and mayhem this novel will become a classic.
Alex Jackson, a seventeen year old boy interested in his one and only hobby, the history of military combat in China, is thrilled when his father is asked to cover a meeting in Beijing, China for the news back home in Toronto, Canada.
After being in China for almost a week, protest begins when a famous man dies. Even worse the protest is right outside his hotel! At first the PLA (Beijing Military/police) try to remove the protesters, but after a while the PLA go back to their station. As each day progresses the violence gets worse and worse, and one thing leads to another. The army comes back and starts shooting at any protesters within range of the gun including a friend of Alex's and Alex himself. Will he live to see his dad again?
A book full of perfectly described scenes and information about the Beijing protest in 1989. This book is meant for adolescents ages 11-16 years old but will also be enjoyed by adults.
Rating:
Summary: Forbidden City by William Bell
Review: One of the first books written by William Bell Forbidden City is also one of his best. Recognized for its suspense, drama, and mayhem this novel will become a classic.
Alex Jackson, a seventeen year old boy interested in his one and only hobby, the history of military combat in China, is thrilled when his father is asked to cover a meeting in Beijing, China for the news back home in Toronto, Canada.
After being in China for almost a week, protest begins when a famous man dies. Even worse the protest is right outside his hotel! At first the PLA (Beijing Military/police) try to remove the protesters, but after a while the PLA go back to their station. As each day progresses the violence gets worse and worse, and one thing leads to another. The army comes back and starts shooting at any protesters within range of the gun including a friend of Alex's and Alex himself. Will he live to see his dad again?
A book full of perfectly described scenes and information about the Beijing protest in 1989. This book is meant for adolescents ages 11-16 years old but will also be enjoyed by adults.
Rating:
Summary: Forbidden City, quick must-read for all highschool students!
Review: Overall, William S. Bell does a good job putting a human face on the tragedies that took place in Tiananmen Square. He is refreshingly accurate with regard to factual information. The diary format is easy to read yet leaves the book open to interpretation and discussion. The story of the fictional characters Alex, Ted, Lao Xu, Eddie and Xin hua was created as a way to explain what happened to all sides involved in this tragic event. Bell combines a mixture of powerful emotions and dynamic characters to create a true must read for all highschool students. If highschoolers get anything out of this book at all, it will be that there are people out there who will stand up for what they believe in and that violence shouldn't be used as the answer to every problem our world faces.
Rating: 
Summary: TOO GOOD FOR WORDS
Review: perhaps this is one of my best books!! i have never come across such a fantastic book and i will never come across a book of this class!! it is top class and absoultely superb!! my(Abbas) hats off to this book.
Rating:
Summary: Here is a GREAT BOOK REVIEW FOR CLASS (it may be boring)
Review: The book, Forbidden City, by author William Bell, takes place in Beijing, China in Tiananmen Square around the time of the Beijing massacre on June 4th 1989 and is about a young boy, Alexander, age 17, who is very interested in ancient war, traveling to Beijing, China with his dad, who works for CBC to cover a news story. But while they are there, a student protest group interferes with Alexander's' vacation and everything goes wrong. Alexander gets lost within the group and finds himself in a strange part of Beijing, not knowing where his hotel is. Because of this protest, Beijing brings out the heavy artillery (armored personnel, army tanks, armored jeeps, etc.). One sight that Alexander saw that was very disturbing to him was when one of the students from the protest stood out in front of an army tank yelling "Stop! Stop!" The driver didn't hear him and drove right over the student, killing him. Later on in the book, Alexander gets back to his hotel safely by using his map of the area that he drew the first day he got to Beijing. After the protest finished, and Alexander's dad finished making the story, Alexander and his dad traveled a little outside of Beijing to a farmers field. Alexander was very interested in ancient war heroes. And in this farmer's field there was thousands of life-size army men that have been carved from stone and buried for thousands of years. Alexander has many war heroes at his house that he has moulded and painted himself. He always wanted to see just where those war heroes lay now. And he found out on this very interesting journey to Beijing, China. This book very well illustrates the theme, The Adolescence Experience, about a boy wandering off in the streets of Beijing and getting lost and having to take care of himself for a few days. Watching what Beijing is like during a protest and him hoping that he would never have to go through something like that. Plus learning a little more about ancient war heroes along the way. This is a great book for teenagers who like to read about action and adventure. For those who are interested in ancient war and history. I would recommend this book to everyone. There is nothing wrong with this book; it is the best I have read so far. I wouldn't change a thing. The author, William Bell, really brings out what it was like in Beijing during this time. While I was reading, it felt just like is was there. He isn't one of those authors who just explains the point and that's it, he adds a little laughter here and there. With comedy mixed in with the history of the Beijing Massacre, he made learning fun. To make the funny parts up, he made Alexander's' father a "comedian". He would make jokes up every no and then and he created a couple others the same way. This is just what life is like growing up. Learning and having fun are the main, key-points of being a teenager. Another way that William Bell expresses the Adolescence Experience is the student protest. This is how far some students will go to make things right for them. Some students just sit back and watch things happen while others, like the student protest on June 4th 1989, fight for what is their-own. There are many other points in the book that illustrates the Adolescence Experience, the above were just a few. The reason this book is a great book about this theme is because it is about a teenage roaming the streets of Beijing instead of an adult or older person. By looking at Beijing through the eye's of a teenager, it seemed less boring than what it would bel like with an adult.
Rating:
Summary: Typical Textbook Novel
Review: This book had lots of promise. It could have been really interesting. Unfortunately, the author saw fit to explain things, such as the Chinese government, through pages of dialogue from a history book. Alex, though 17, has no clue of the opression in China, and I found that unrealistic, even in 1989. I also thought the part about his friends calling him "Shan Dah" was ridiculous. I didn't like this book because I didn't care about Alex.
Rating:
Summary: I will give this book 10 stars if I could!
Review: This book is one of the novels that we have to read in English class and I finished reading it in 3 days! All teenagers, students, people who want to know more (or the truth) of what had happened in Tian Men Square in 1989 MUST READ!!!! I think all schools must give this book to their students. I've learnt alot after reading this book, and what had happened are unforgotable, I cried while reading it.....it's definitely a loss if you don't read it!
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