Hang a Thousand Trees with Ribbons: The Story of Phillis Wheatley

Rating:
Summary: Suprisingly Wonderfully Written
Review: When I first learned that I had to read this book for school and what it was about, I began being pessimistic about how interesting the book would be. I was very wrong, though...very wrong.
This book is a fiction AND non-fiction book about Phillis Wheatley, a girl who was kidnapped at the age of seven by her greedy uncle's people, as the story says. The rest of the book is about the Wheatleys and their kindness, Nathaniel and Phillis's surprising love for him, Phillis's childhood and entry into young womenhood, her relationships with everyone, and how her intelligence made her different from every other Negro. Phillis tries to discover who she is, as she feels white on the inside, Negro on the outside, on the side of the British, and American. She is shameful of her looks, as most teenagers are, but she wishes to be white. Her Negro friends try to tell her, but she never listens. The plot is wonderful!!!!
I am astonished at how wonderful this book was and how well explained it was. I love how Rinaldi makes up her own story at times to fit what she thinks of Phillis. The book is one of the best I have read in a while. I am amazed!!!
Now that I know what a greatr author Rinaldi is, I will now read "The Fifth of March", which is also on my summer book list.

Rating:
Summary: The First Black Poet Comes to Life in This Story!
Review: At the age of 7, Phillis Wheatley was kidnapped from her home country, Senegal, and was abusively shipped over to America along with her mother and friend. Although she drifted apart from her family, Phillis was bought and taken in by the rich Wheatley household. There, her master and lady treated her like family, and she luckily found an education at the household, taught to her by Nathaniel, the master's son. Over the years, her intelligence expanded and she began to write amazing poems by the age of 12, later becoming the first black poet to publish her own book. Even though her name became well known among the wealth, she was still treated differently which caused difficulties for her. Through this story, I have learned as a reader, the complications Phillis experiences and her triumph of becoming the first black poet.
There are truly many wonderfully written parts of this historical fiction book, but among my favorites are the times when Nathaniel and Phillis were together. This starting from the first time she walked through the house, to the moments when he first taught her to read. Being 10 years older than Phillis, Nathaniel acted as a close brother to her, unlike how masters normally interacted with their slaves. There were also times when Nathaniel and Phillis would tease each other, which would leave the reader thinking if Phillis really was a slave. Because of these significant moments, I found the book to be much more interesting.
As a piece of historical fiction, I was able to understand how some masters treated their slaves. For a fact, I know that most didn't treat their slaves with such care as the Wheatleys did to Phillis. So, it was especially interesting to know that Nathaniel had spent his free time teaching Phillis. I was not only able to learn about Phillis, a woman not frequently mentioned in texts, but I was also able to find out about her personality. Rinaldi brought her character to life, and I was truly touched and fascinated at the same time at some specific parts of the story.

Rating:
Summary: AMAZING STORY! it's like you're living Phillis's life too!
Review: Ann Rinaldi did a SPECTACULAR job on this story. I've so far loved every book of hers, and I've read at least fifteen of them. In this book though, it's like you ARE Phillis Wheatley, because her feelings are so detailed and perfectly human. But anyways, this story begins telling us about a little African girl, Keziah. So she, along with her friend and her mother, is kidnapped, and taken on a ship where slaves are sold to America. So, when she gets there, her mother is dead, she is seperated from her friend, and goes to live with the Wheatley family. They re-name her Phillis. There, she is treated as a white, and not the black girl she is. Nathaniel, the son, is very kind to her, and educates her. So he teaches her to read and write and stuff. Well, then she starts to write poetry. It even gets published and stuff cause she is such a great poetess! Then she goes with Nathaniel to England, and thats where I'll stop, cause who ever is reading this review, needs to read the book first! It's way good, and I guarrantee you'll love it!! Yes, LOVE it! ENJOY!

Rating:
Summary: An absolute wonderful piece of historical fiction
Review: Once again talented author Ann Rinaldi has captured adventure and romance in this wonderful novel about the first black poet Phillis Wheatly. I have read a lot of books but this one was by far my favorite. After I read this book I told a lot of my friends what it was about and many asked me if they could borrow it. This book was so well written that I found myself crying on some parts. Once again Ann Rinaldi has managed to capture the realism in her novel. If you like historical fiction or even if you don't I recommend this book for you.

Rating:
Summary: An incredible piece of work by Ann Rinaldi
Review: This book was great! I really loved it. I was reading it at the time, and in need of a book for English in an outside reading project. I decided to read this since I'd started reading it already. When I had to give my oral presentation, I was nervous, but this was book was easy and enjoyable to talk about. Once I start speaking about Phillis, I felt myself in her world again. As a writer myself, I learned more about the process when I read about Phillis. Phillis's story was one that you just wanted to hear more about. I was completely entranced by the beauty of Rinaldi's language, satisfied by the action(it never got boring, the pace was fast yet not rushed), and even enjoyed my outside reading project. If only I could pick all the books I read for English. My favorite character was Prince, and of course Phillis. One thing sad about the book was her passage to America, it literally horrifed me, especially about her mother(I don't really want to give much away, although it is in the beginning of the book). After I finished this book, I felt happy and like I learned something. Which I did. I definitely recommend this book! (Especially if you have been procastinating on an outside reading project!)

Rating:
Summary: Do Not Read This Book!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Review: I picked up this book because it was by Ann Rinaldi, and I usually like her books alot. However, the problems Phillis faced in this novel weren't exciting, making the story rather dull. The main problems were about Phillis getting her poems published, Phillis's love for Nanthaniel Wheatley, and Phillis missing her friend Obour, Senegal, and her mother.
With all of the other Rinaldi books I've read, I couldn't put them down, but I couldn't wait to put this book down!!! Phillis complained a lot during the story, making me dislike her and the story. There's no main plot either!
I would never reccomend this book!!!!

Rating:
Summary: hang a thousand trees with ribbon
Review: Phillis Wheatley ws the first ever African American to get her poetry published. She was a negro girl taken from Africa along wit her best friend and her mother. She witnessed brutal acts and horrible event and despite that she carried on and fond her way into the hearts of a white family in Boston who took her in as their own except for one thing.... they did not give her her freedom. This pained Phillis, not to be free, so when she learned by her naster to write she began to illustrate all these depp emotions with her pen. This is a fabulous and inspiriring book and i for one am better for reading it and learning a little more of the African Americans struggles. This author is brilliant and can easily bring historic events to life in a way young people can understand i undoutedly give it five stars.....

Rating:
Summary: Who better to tell this story than Ann Rinaldi?
Review: "Hang a Thousand Trees With Ribbons: The Story of Phillis Wheatley" is not one of my favorite books by Ann Rinaldi, but I enjoyed it very much. Having not know anything about Phillis Wheatley, this book told me everything I could possibly ever want to know. The great thing about Rinaldi's books is, that at the end of the story, she tells you what really happened, what didn't happen, who is real, and who is fictional - something many Historical Fiction authors do not do often. The only thing I didn't like was how it seemed Ann Rinaldi did not know if she wanted to make us believe Phillis was a spoiled brat or a young girl who didn't know any better. I still give this book five stars, since this story was told quite well. I recommend.

Rating:
Summary: Rinaldi hits it big again!
Review: Ann Rinaldi has a way of doing things. You only know if you have read any of her books. In "Hang a thousand trees with ribbons" Ann brings to realization the life and time of young black poet Phyllis Wheatley. The Wheatley's are a family in the Boston area and they have two children: one a young, noble boy scholar who works hard. The other a snobby, stuck-up, bratty, no-good girl who wants Phyllis out of the Wheatley's life. But soon The Wheatley's realize that Phyllis is no ordinary slave. Ann Rinaldi delivers again with a novel that shows you some real life situations:love, savery, and learning. It has opened many doors to reading more novels by Rinaldi again real soon

Rating:
Summary: Not enough true facts for me
Review: I thought the book was very well written, but many facts were not true I found out after doing some reasearch. After I finished reading the book, I had to do a book report while trying to find Pictures of Phillis I ran over other interesting facts such as mary and mrs. wheatley taught her not nathanial. That is why i give it two stars. Not enough true facts for me.