Rating: 
Summary: Is the whole story "Israel v. the Arabs," or is there more?
Review: A poignant novel about the life and times of an Israeli teen, Broken Bridge by Lynn Reid Banks embodies the characteristics of adolescent trials and tribulations. It is the tale of a young girl, Nili Shelby, and her life up until and after the murder of her Canadian cousin, Glen. She resides in Israel, which is where the majority of the plot is set. The story line revolves mostly around the kibbutz, or Jewish community, and doesn't provide a great deal of information about the neighboring Arab community. Though there are a few examples of "good" Arabs, the general bias is set against the Palestinians because Glen's murder was carried out by a man and accomplice of Palestinian descent.
As well as having the normal characteristics of a teen fiction piece (i.e. romance, family problems, etc.), the setting gives a little bit of background information on the Arab-Israeli conflict as well. This book is a nice "fluff" piece because of its active and interesting plot. However, the book should not be used as a historical teaching device because it doesn't provide adequate information to be able to do so. It introduces enough information to set the stage for the story line, however, doesn't provide much beyond that. The purpose of this piece is definitely for pleasure, as opposed to education because, like stated above, of the depth of the plot and minimalism of the information.
This book is definitely a good choice as an independent read but may not be up to such a high standard in the classroom. The riveting story pulls the reader into the book; however, reading this in class when it would be an even better book when read separately defeats the purpose. I would recommend this book to 7-9th graders as a free-read.
Rating: 
Summary: Mediocre Murder in the Middle East
Review: Arab murderers kill a foreign boy! That is the main plot of Broken Bridge, a book by Lynne Reid Banks. It is a moving but mediocre tale about an Israeli girl, Nili, whose Canadian cousin, Glen, has been murdered by an Arab. She is trying to deal with his death, helped by the members of the kibbutz where she lives but is at the same time trying to figure out why she was saved by one of the Arabs muderers. Her cousin's parents, one of them whom abandoned the kibbutz earlier, comes to see what happened and the story is set into motion. The many characters that live in the kibbutz all have their different stories, all told by the end of the book.
The plot in this book isn't very strong; it follows the "mile wide and an inch deep" style because it covers so many characters but only goes a little bit into each of their own personal stories. But, this book is a sequel so it might be easier to understand the characters if you read the first book. The characters sometimes act believable, but most of the time they are hard to imagine as real people. This book has one main theme, the only good part of it. It is that not everyone on the other side is evil. This shows at the beginning when an Arab kills Glen, but Nili is left alive. Then in a lineup of suspects, Nili sees the Arab who saved her, but she doesn't pick him out because her mom had seen him before, given him chocolate, and helped him with his donkey. So, she didn't think that he was evil. This theme moved the plot along somewhat and helped the book move at a faster pace. The author used mainly Hebrew translated into English, but with some transliterated words thrown in. This confused me a lot because I had to repeatedly check in the glossary to find out what they meant. Also, the author was definitely biased towards the Israelis. She portrays them as the good side and the Arabs as the bad side. She tries to portray the Arabs as somewhat good, but it just ends up making the Arabs look worse. Because when the man who saved Nili tries to explain why he saved her, he says that they were only supposed to kill one.
I really didn't like this book. One reason might have been that this is a sequel and I didn't read the first one. Maybe if I had, I would have been able to understand the characters and the general plot better. Also, the plot branches out to many times to really be able to keep straight who is who and what was going on the last time that you saw them also, since the book goes off into so many people's stories, it is hard to keep track of background history. Another criticism is that the book is outdated, being written in 1992 and some of the ideas and events are a little outdated too. They discuss the 1990 American-Iraq war, which is really out dated, happening 14 years ago. I would recommend this book to adults whom like a complex story with a lot of characters, but who are also able to keep everyone straight. To everyone else, this book is too complex and you should stay away from it at all costs!
Rating: 
Summary: tedious and slow
Review: Best for grades 6-8 Lynne Reid Banks, the author of Broken Bridge, does a very accurate job of explaining what life is like growing up in Israel as a teenager. Nili is 14 years old and has to deal with many issues on a day-to-day basis. As Nili is walking down the streets of Israel with her cousin one day he is suddenly killed right before her very eyes and Nili now is faced with the problem of her cousin's death. Nili sees everything happen including two men killing her cousin. When one of the men goes to kill Nili, the other man stops him. Nili not only doesn't understand why the men killed her cousin, she doesn't understand why the men decided to save her. She also doesn't know what she is supposed to do about her cousin's death. When she is questioned about the death of her cousin, Nili is puzzled and doesn't know what she should say to the police. She feels that it is her obligation to save the man from going to jail because he saved her life. When put into the circumstance where Nili has informed everyone that she knows about the killer and the man who killed her cousin Nili doesn't know what to do.
Banks does a tolerable job of showing the characters and their importance to the story; however, the story line is very slow and it takes a great amount of time to warm up to the characters.
Lynne Reid Banks does a respectable job of describing the life of Nili Shelby a teenager growing up in Israel during the 21rst century. She does this by putting the reader in situations where they feel connected with Nili and Nili is put in uncomfortable situations. Banks does not do a great job of telling about important history and not everything is covered so if one is not yet informed about the current status in Israel, then this may be a hard book to read. Banks still does a decent job of putting the reader in Nili's shoes and showing the hardships of being a teenager growing up in Israel where all you are never exposed to broad minded people and everybody thinks the same about everyone and everything.
This book would be best for people interested in history, and if you do not have an interest in things such as political issues and current events, then this is not a good book to read. This book is also not good for people who need books with a fast plot, for this book has a slow developing plot. This book is also not very compelling and sometimes it tends to lose your interest but for a book that is meant to teach some history, it is decent. All in all I do not recommend this book for people who like interesting books because Broken Bridge will not hold your attention most of the time.
-Rachel Alexander, Chagrin Falls, Ohio
Rating:
Summary: Forgetting the past to help the future
Review: Broken Bridge is a murder mystery. It brings a personal feeling to the conflict in the Middle East that is killing its people and bringing sadness, hatred, and the want for revenge to its nations. This tale of a brutal murder being witnessed by the victim's cousin creates mixed emotions for its readers. Nili Shelby, who witnessed her cousin Glen's, murder, is confused whether or not she gave the right answers to the police after they mauled her with unneeded questions for a long time after the murder. Keeping your interest high, the author creates a novel of twisted feelings that you will never want to put down.
The plot of Broken Bridge is strong but the points of what Banks is trying to say are basic. Within all its confusion, the telling is the simple point of how the suicide bombings are bad and the violence needs to be stop if the nations ever plan to overcome their endless religious, economical and political differences that is causing terrorism within their borders. Characters in this book are believable and although you can't relate to them, it is easy to feel for them because the plot of their lifestyles and loss of a loved one that causes them to fall into an abyss of confusion and shaky choices they had made in the past. Nili's choice to unveil the identity of the man who accompanied killing Glen but saved her and then not admitting that he was in the lineup showed that she was strong and still had hope that the prejudice between the Palestinians and Israelis could be forgotten and eventually put in the past. Although you can feel for the characters, it is difficult to try and remember certain aspects or actions that they did because there are so many characters in the book. This causes your knowledge and need of some characters to be non-existent to make the book just as good if not better.
Broken Bridge is a deep book that, although might be better if it had fewer characters, still gives a personal view to the endless controversy and conflict in the Middle East. Being a longer read, it takes a while to understand and enjoy this book has too much confusion an intertwined issues to be liked or even understood by a young adult who doesn't have extensive knowledge on the Arab/Israeli Conflict. For whatever reason, I recommend this book to high school or adult readers who have an interest in the Middle East and would like a personal view of what its like to live there.
Rating: 
Summary: Banks Banks on a Good Book
Review: Broken Bridge is a spellbinding mystery that is filled with both inner conflict and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It is about an Israeli family who is struck with tragedy. Throughout the book, the family deals with the sorrow, and trying to catch the murderer. The theme of the book is guilt and the struggle of living in Israel at this point in time. Lynne Reid Banks writes a great plot. The book starts quickly, but is actually quite predictable. As the story continues, there are more twists and the story becomes more interesting. The characters in the book are quite believable. The inner struggle between Noah, the father of the killed boy, is something that is understandable. The story is told through many points of views, but mainly through the eyes of the children. The only character that seems too "perfect" is the Russian boy, Lev. Lev is a model child in every way, and as the book continues he gets very predictable. Other than Lev, the characters are well rounded and could be real people. Their emotions and feelings through each situation are accurate. The pacing in the book was o.k. There are times in the story when nothing is happening, and the story is boring. Then at other parts in the book, the lives of the children are action-packed, and there is almost too much going on. The author tries to tie in every child character and tell his or her story, but the plot becomes too complex. When the author forces information into the pages, the book got very confusing. Overall, the pacing of the book could have been better with the information spread out over more pages rather than bursts of action. The vocabulary in the book was good. Most of the words were not challenging, but some were obscure. The use of Yiddish and Hebrew helps to create a more believable family. This book was charged with emotion. Lynne Reid Banks writes the book from the Israeli point of view. Still, I feel that the book was more pro-Arab. Many of the adults in the book are Israeli, but do not like the treatment the Palestinians receive. Banks shows that not all Israelis are against the Palestinians, and some want to co-exist in peace with them. When the book is written from the Arab point of view, it shows that for them the Arabs that is the way of life, and the killing was done as a rite of passage.
I recommend this book to all young adults, especially those interested in the Israel-Palestine conflict. This book helps to break stereotypes that all Israelis are against Palestinians, and that all Palestinian kids are fighting the Israelis. This is a good book overall, and a good book for teachers to use.
Rating:
Summary: Banks Banks on a Good Book
Review: Broken Bridge is a spellbinding mystery that is filled with both inner conflict and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It is about an Israeli family who is struck with tragedy. Throughout the book, the family deals with the sorrow, and trying to catch the murderer. The theme of the book is guilt and the struggle of living in Israel at this point in time. Lynne Reid Banks writes a great plot. The book starts quickly, but is actually quite predictable. As the story continues, there are more twists and the story becomes more interesting. The characters in the book are quite believable. The inner struggle between Noah, the father of the killed boy, is something that is understandable. The story is told through many points of views, but mainly through the eyes of the children. The only character that seems too "perfect" is the Russian boy, Lev. Lev is a model child in every way, and as the book continues he gets very predictable. Other than Lev, the characters are well rounded and could be real people. Their emotions and feelings through each situation are accurate. The pacing in the book was o.k. There are times in the story when nothing is happening, and the story is boring. Then at other parts in the book, the lives of the children are action-packed, and there is almost too much going on. The author tries to tie in every child character and tell his or her story, but the plot becomes too complex. When the author forces information into the pages, the book got very confusing. Overall, the pacing of the book could have been better with the information spread out over more pages rather than bursts of action. The vocabulary in the book was good. Most of the words were not challenging, but some were obscure. The use of Yiddish and Hebrew helps to create a more believable family. This book was charged with emotion. Lynne Reid Banks writes the book from the Israeli point of view. Still, I feel that the book was more pro-Arab. Many of the adults in the book are Israeli, but do not like the treatment the Palestinians receive. Banks shows that not all Israelis are against the Palestinians, and some want to co-exist in peace with them. When the book is written from the Arab point of view, it shows that for them the Arabs that is the way of life, and the killing was done as a rite of passage.
I recommend this book to all young adults, especially those interested in the Israel-Palestine conflict. This book helps to break stereotypes that all Israelis are against Palestinians, and that all Palestinian kids are fighting the Israelis. This is a good book overall, and a good book for teachers to use.
Rating:
Summary: Historical novel for teens.
Review: Broken Bridge is the sequel to One More River and is written some 20 years later.
It focuses on one family, living on a kibbutz in Israel that becomes intimately involved with the intifada when one of them, a 14 year old boy is murdered. I should be noted that this book is primarily from the Israeli viewpoint, the Arab voices here are heard less.
I lived in Israel for several years during the intifada and can say that what makes this book particularly good for young readers is the combination of compelling personal story line, following Nili and her brother as they deal with the tragedy, and the inclusion of many points of view. We hear from Israelis who are very sympathetic to the Arabs and from others who aren't, feeling that revenge is important and that people can only take so much. This is a very important debate and it can help children get a better understanding of the situation and that not nation has only one viewpoint.
I can highly recommend this, both from a literary and a historical perspective.
Rating:
Summary: NO
Review: Broken Bridges by Lynne Reid Banks, is a book that involves a little mix of mystery, the Israeli culture and religion, and a little bit of action and issue. Nili, the main character, is Jew who has just returned to Israel with her Canadian cousin Glen. Nili witnesses her cousin Glen's death in Israel, but the killer's accomplice saved her life. Then she is sent to the court to testify against the killer and his accomplice, but she makes the wrong choice because he saves her life. I really wasn't interested in this book because I like more of adventure, mystery and horror type of books and it just didn't grab my attention. The whole Jewish religion and culture is also something in which I'm not interested. I also didn't like the plot.
This book didn't grab my attention because the plot didn't seem interesting to me. I like more adventure books than a story or big problem type of a book. In this book the issue is that Nili, a Jewish girl, and her "ben-dod" "son of her uncle" in Hebrew, visits Israel. Her cousin Glen was stabbed and Nili was the witness of it. After that Nili is sent to the courts to testify to judge whom her cousin Glen's killer and accomplice was. What she does is tells the judge that neither one of them are guilty and lets them get away. Her brother Nimrod realizes what she has done is wrong and tells her that she should've testified against them and had them either killed from the death penalty or put in jail for life. I also like books that grab my attention from the first chapter. In the first chapter in this book it just talks about Nili and the set up of the visit to Israel. I didn't find that interesting.
I also don't feel that I can relate to this book because I'm not Jewish and I can't really understand with some of the customs and traditions besides what I've learned in class. The Jewish religion is a religion to me that I'm not that interested or active in learning about it.
I would recommend this book to anyone who likes books that has a little mix of mystery, a big issue, and books or anything else that has to do with the Jewish religion and culture. I would recommend this to teens or adults because I don't think that this book would be comfortable for younger children to read, basically because of the plot and the storyline. It might seem interesting to them. I wouldn't recommend this book to someone who has the same interest in books that I do, which is more mystery, horror, and adventure in the plot and characters. I wouldn't recommend this book to younger kids under the age of twelve or thirteen because they probably wouldn't understand the plot or the focus on one religion or culture more than any other, and that's the Israelis. They might not really be interested in this book. But overall, I didn't like the book but I know that there are some people who will or might.
Rating:
Summary: Broken Bridge
Review: Dude this book was PIMP!!! Stabbings cool man. I learned a lot in a fun way. Peace out hommie!!Nice writing to ya./
Rating:
Summary: The Book of Changes
Review: Grades 8-9. Broken Bridge is an informative and interesting book written by Lynne Reid Banks. It would be perfect for teens interested in current events, and a story that could be true, but isn't. Broken Bridge is gripping story about a Canadian boy's murder while visiting Israel during the Intifada. The story revolves around his family and how they go on with life. It takes place on a kibbutz. Glen, the Canadian boy and his Israeli cousin were on the way home from the airport. Two men approach and the one stabs Glen, but when he is about to hurt his cousin Nili, the other man stops him. As a favor to the man who saves her life, Nili doesn't testify to who he was. The book has a little mystery to it, but also educational information about the Intifada, and other problems in the Middle East concerning Israelis and Arabs. Although the book does have a small bias, it gives a fair explanation of why Israelis may be wrong, and why Arabs could be wrong. The bias is on the Israeli side because the story is on a Jewish kibbutz and takes place around an Israeli family and a Canadian family. The issues discussed are very important for students to know because they are current events and will probably be going on for a very long time. Although the issues in between Israel and Palestine are ongoing and far away, they indirectly affect most everyone because of religion, family, and personal views on the topic. Another thing discussed is kibbutz life and how it is different from life in a normal society, what makes it better or worse, advantages and disadvantages, schooling, and many more points. We see what the Canadian family goes through losing their son and a brother, how kibbutz life affects Dale, their daughter, and how it affects Noah, Glen's father. Nimrod, Nili's brother, finds out that his hero, his cousin Yoni did something terrible, which makes Nimrod lose some respect for him. The reader sees character development in Nimrod, Nili and Dale. Nili's family, and Glen's family learn about life, love, and how to move on and change. Nili goes through the most, she meets a boy, lies about something that is life threatening, fights with her brother and family, and tries to get over the loss of her cousin. The book is well written with a nice flow, but the author does include too many characters which makes the book a little bit confusing and choppy at times. The pacing on the book goes a little too fast because of the large number of characters. We don't really learn about many, and they get confused with one another. It is hard to see the character development in many of the characters, but on a few they do change a lot in an obvious way. Another weaknesses in the book is the plot. It tells the story of Dale and her Canadian family, it gives family history for Nili's family and how they relate to Glen's, the author discusses the problems in the Middle East with Israel and the Palestinians, she teaches about the kibbutz and its ways. A more advanced reader who wants to learn about the issues in Israel and also read a thrilling mystery would prefer this book the most. Although a reader who is less interested in current events would also like this book, it would be more enjoyable to a reader that already knows somewhat about what is going on in the Middle East. The book is educational, and good for students entering grade 8 through grade 9 because they have an edge over students that don't know about what is going on. They also can better understand biases, and the confusion, they learn about the voices that aren't heard. Students that go deeper than most will benefit from the authors purpose the mostThis book is a great depiction of life in a kibbutz in Israel and the pain that people go through day to day. It gives a nice explanation of each side and what people go through when they do lose a life.
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