Customer Reviews

Belle Teal

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I read this book with my mother and we both enjoyed the book alot, because it was a touching peice about a girl who lives with her mother and grandmother. Other charcters in the book is a rich mean girl but the reason she is mean is because her mother was dead then there is a black boy named Darel, and Darl and Belle become friends. I liked it alot and i enjoyed it with my mom It is interasting and controdersial.

I liked the book it tells why being prejudice is never a good thing. The story is about a little girl, and her name is Belle Teal. She lives with her Grandma and Mother. She is excited about the first day of school, and her teacher is Ms. Casey. She loves her teacher. On the first day of school the colored children came to the school. The parents were very upset. They all had signs saying how the colored children should not be able to attend there school. When school started there was a colored boy in her class by the name of Darryl. The other children did not like him at all. Then there was a prissy girl by the name of Vanessa Mathers they named her HRH. The both of them were the new students in the class. The other boys Chas, Vernon, and Little Boss were the bullies of the class. Little Boss was never a bully until he started hanging around them. When CHRISTmas was there the class had a pageant to do. Belle Teal was Mary that made HRH mad. She thinks she is Queen B. Darryl got to be the king. Which made the other kids mad. Later on Little Boss was fooling around with his fathers gun and accidentally shot himself. He tried to tell his dad what happened his father blamed it on Darryl.

I enjoyed reading this story of a young girl, Belle Teal, growing up in the 60's when civil rights movements were taking place and schools were becoming integrated. Seeing things from Belle Teal's point of view gave me a different outlook of people during that time. I was especially surprised to feel her embarassment everyday when she had to walk into school with parents picketing because they did not like the fact that black children would now be attending what was once an all white school district. It was nice to see her befriend Darryl, the new African American boy, despite their racial differences. In the end, it was great to see her befriend Vanessa, another person who at first, Belle strongly disliked because of her differences. I also felt that many young readers could relate to Belle Teal and her family. Belle Teal's mother was struggling to keep her job and her grandmother seemed to be suffering a mild case of alzheimers. Belle had a lot of responsibility in her family, which is one issue that many kids with single parents can relate to. Belle Teal also acts as the heroine in the story when one of her closeset friends is the victim of his father's abusive behavior. Overall, Martin does an excellent job of addressing family, friend, and racial issues throughout this book.

I loved Belle Teal! Although it deals with mildly heavy subjects, it really shows them through the eyes of an innocent girl.

Belle Teal Harper is in the fifth grade. She meets a disliked African-American boy who becomes friends with her. However, one of her best friends has troubles with the boy, ending up in a serious fight.

This book kept my eyes glued to the page. This is a refreshing, fast-paced book that recaps how horrible racism is.

I was always a fan of Ann M Martin. I really loved Bummer Summer and her other novels long before the Baby-Sitters Club (but I read about 50 of those=). So I picked this up for sentimental reasons at the book fair at the school where I teach.

I was so impressed by the caliber of writing here. Martin realy captured the voice of a rural southern girl in the 1950s! The cadence rang true and was clear and honest.

I thought the story of rcaial tension in a newly segrated school was handled beautifully and might make children that age (5th grade) really think about prejudice and beliefs.

It was poignant, funny, sad. Just a great story. I wish that it hadn't ended with the school Christmas pageant- I want to know how the rest of the year finished up!

This is well worth reading- for all ages!

In the 1950's and 60's black people in the U.S. were trying to get voting rights and the right to be able to go to public school. The book Belle Teal is a historical fiction by Anne M. Martin.
This story is about a girl named Belle Teal. She is in the 5th grade and she is going to school in the 1960's when blacks were newly allowed into the public schools. Three of her new classmates are black. Some of her white classmates disapprove of the blacks in their school. There is even a protest outside the school. Belle Teal and the black boy become friends and even though she is made fun of she still sticks by her new friend. Many times this gets her in trouble with her fellow classmates.
I felt this book was very good. It was very descriptive so it was easy to visualize. I think this book will definately be considered a classic. When I started to read this book I could not put it down.
This book is very moving and when you read it you feel as if you are standing right next to the characters. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes (or loves) history. I consider this my favorite book.

Author: Ann M. Martin
# of pages: 215
Publisher and Publication date: Scholastic Paperbacks-September 2001
ISBN: 0439098238
Price: $15.95


Imagine being a little girl that doesn't have very many friends, until someone new moves to her town. If you like books that give good detail and you could picture yourself there, then this is the book for you. In this book they teach you something, it gives you a message.

To begin this book has a great message. The message is you can't judge someone by the way someone else judges someone. Second, it makes you actually feel like it's something that's really happening. It describes things good and brings the characters to life. All in all it makes you feel like your really there. It gives really descriptive detail.

This book kind of reminds me of my life, because I don't really have that many friends. The family in this book is modern when it comes to having money, and mine is the same. This book is so good, because you feel like you could just jump into it, and go right along with the story.

People who don't really like a lot of action in a book, should read this book. Girls would mostly like this book. My friend Danielle Bolin had just checked out this book, and I told her that it was a really good book. I said" so how did you like the book?" and she replied "it was very interesting and I really liked it!" The age that would like it best would range from about 9 to 13. Females would like it best rather than males. Boys that are into games, action, and things like that would probably not like this book.

What sticks out to me the most is that Belle Teal doesn't care what people think about her or her friends, and the message. You should read this book. So remember if you like books with good descriptive detail, then this is the book for you.

This was a very moving book about a young girl who is growing up in a time when African Americans were first starting to go to the school that the white children go to in America. The plot tells about Belle Teal who starts school in the Fall and expects everything to be the same as the years before she had attended Cocker Elementry School. When saying this, I mean having the same best friend, taking the same bus everyday, having the same life at home. However, this all changes when she steps onto the school bus and finds Vanessa, a girl who thinks she's better than everyone else, and later when she goes into school and finds a colored boy in her classroom. Also, her grandmother is getting older and is slowly losing her memory. All of these events show Belle Teal about growing up and dealing with conflicts along the way. Belle starts out as a child and finishes as a young adult. This was an excellant and touching read to young to middle readers.

Belle Teal was an awesome book, I really enjoyed it. It is about this girl named Belle Teal, she lives with her grandma and mom. They are poor. Her and her best friend have been waiting to get Miss Casey to be their teacher. Then they finally got her. They love her very much. The more she started going to school the more she started going to school the more she got more and more friends. One night she asked her mom about negros,but then she changed the subject really fast. She asked that because her best friend, Darryl was black and they didn't want Belle Teal coming to their house very much longer at the beginning. This is the best book I read so far of the civil rights movement. This is only some of it. One story element is the setting. The setting mostly takes place in school with all of her friends.

This book was great. I think it was so... good.. that I kept reading it. This book talks about this girl named Belle Teal who lives with her grandma and mother. She is poor and a really nice girl. In this book, it talks about the way she carries herself and how to be nice to people. In the book, she starts 3rd grade, and this is the time of segreation, so many of the white children hate the black children. Anyways, her best friend and herself, learn to like the black boy in the class and be friends with them. There are more exciting surprises that happen in the book so you have to read it first. I think this is about 214 pages.