4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"Is your life the message you want it to be?", June 7, 2007
This review is from: Claude and Medea: The Hellburn Dogs (Paperback)
CLAUDE AND MEDEA: THE HELLBURN DOGS is the inspiring story of two children who, with the help of a quirky substitute teacher, find the strength and courage to become heroes.
Claude and Medea, the protagonists of the tale (tail?), hail from very different backgrounds, though both attend the same prestigious private school. Their young lives take a new, unexpected turn when Ms. Flora Rattlebee fills in for their homeroom teacher for one brief yet eventful week. Without revealing too much of the plot, let's just say that Ms. Rattlebee's consciousness-raising couldn't come at a better time, fatefully coinciding with a rash of Manhattan dog-nappings.
Author Zoe Weil has created an enjoyable, progressive, truly family-friendly children's book. She covers quite a bit of ground, including in her story lessons about speciesism, racism, classism, sizeism, sexism, nepotism, environmentalism, poverty and privilege, bullying, slavery, child labor, littering, endangered species, and civil disobedience. And it's no wonder: Ms. Weil serves as president of the Institute for Humane Education, a non-profit organization that is "dedicated to creating a humane world through humane education," for example, by developing training programs for future Ms. (and Mr.!) Rattlebees.
While this is Zoe Weil's first work of fiction, the subtitle hints at a possible CLAUDE AND MEDEA series. I feel a bit silly saying as much (at 29 years of age and all), but THE HELLBURN DOGS left me with quite a few unanswered questions. Will Claude and Medea again cross paths with Ms. Rattlebee? Will their covert friendship ever see the light of Worthington? What's the deal with the myopic (as in both near-sighted and narrow-minded) Mr. Frool? And, most importantly, will our heroes continue their adventures in direct action? I must know!
During her final class with the students of Worthington, Ms. Rattlebee asked the children to write an essay in response the following question:
"Is your life the message you want it to be?"
She then instructed the students to fold up their essays and place them in self-addressed envelopes:
"Some time, when you least expect it, you'll receive it in the mail. When you do, open it up and read what you wrote, and notice what you think about it, and how you feel. Pay attention to whether you have made your life more the message you want it to be."
I can't help but wonder what Austin, Penelope, Bill, Brent, Meena, Samantha, and the rest of Ms. Rattlebee's seventh-grade homeroom class will be up to when they unwittingly receive the long-forgotten missives from their past selves.
Would that all our lives be touched by a Ms. Rattlebee. Methinks the world would be a much kinder, gentler, more livable place.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Dogs, courage, and compassion, April 17, 2007
This review is from: Claude and Medea: The Hellburn Dogs (Paperback)
Zoe Weil is among the most influential humane educators in the world and her books are always incredibly educational and inspiriing. I just love Claude and Medea - it's a wonderful story, a true page-turner and riveting. It provides a perfect role model for kids, what they need most in an often complicated and frustrating world. I will surely share this book with members of Jane Goodall's Roots & Shoots groups throughout the world. I only wish it were available when I was a kid! It is that good.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Masterfully Engaging, with a message, April 6, 2007
This review is from: Claude and Medea: The Hellburn Dogs (Paperback)
Claude and Medea is a delightfully adventurous tale of spunky kids from a variety of socio-economic backgrounds, who come together to solve a mystery. They are inspired to think about themselves--and the world--in new ways by an eccentric substitute teacher, and from there the fun begins! Readers are drawn into the story, just as the characters are, by the teacher's questioning of common assumptions about the choices people make for themselves and the planet, and as the characters begin to assert themselves and grow, the reader is caught up in the excitement and discovery.
The characters and plot display all the imaginative development of a Harry Potter novel, while still feeling very real world and relevant. New York City provides a colorful backdrop for these intrepid sleuths, whose worlds become larger and more interconnected as they work together to solve a crime. A real page-turner, and hopefully first in a series, this book would make a perfect gift, library book, classroom book, and movie!
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
