Customer Reviews

Claude and Medea: The Hellburn Dogs

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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.

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.

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!

Zoe Weil's first work of fiction shows a talent for understanding the personalities of children. Her seventh grade protagonists are credited with appropriate intelligence - something not generally done.

Claude and Medea encounter a mentor and call to adventure all wrapped up into one recycled-clothes-wearing substitute teacher. Flora Rattlebee challenges the pair of oddly-matched students to look outside their own worlds.

With newly opened eyes they become friends and act to be the change they want to see in the world - a la Gandhi.

I loved this book! As an educator, I am happy that it makes classroom learning fun and relevant for students. It shows youth taking something they learned in the classroom and acting on it to get involved and help their communities. Big points for that!

The characters are fun and quirky, and the story line is exciting and engaging. The plot is about two school youth trying to help dogs who have been stolen from loving families. Kids love animals, and they are going to love this book.

Great book: five stars!

Wow, loved it! Great and hopeful message for kids and parents who want an exciting and entertaining story.

Of course I love a book that immediately introduces a character who is "wearing a skirt made entirely out of sewn-together neckties." Claude and Medea grabbed me and wouldn't put me down.

The story and the writing took me out of my room and into its world. Zoe Weil conveys her understanding of people, especially children as they interact with others, experience the discomfort of authority figures' disapproval, learn more about the world they live in, and come to know themselves in entirely new ways. Very inspiring.

This adult never noticed that I wasn't the book's target audience. I imagine that children will love it, too, if I ever put it down and let them have it.

I love this book! I am so enjoying reading it to my children.... Zoe Weil is a genius and has boiled down her wisdom into this delightful story for children to enjoy and learn from. "Claude and Medea" is great tool for parents in raising thoughtful, compassionate and socially responsible children!

I just read Claude and Medea and I really loved it. I thought that Zoe really brought the characters to life. You could hear each unique voice. I was very impressed that the book had a very strong message but it didn't beat you over the head. I think this is a lovely book for children. I'm buying it for my nieces!

Claude and Medea has all the elements that make for a terrific children's book. The author, Zoe Weil, manages to get inside the heads of the lead characters, putting herself easily into the shoes of pre-teens. There are aspects of fun: a zany substitute teacher, a mystery to solve, a friendship with a hint of romance; and lessons to learn: that being unique is okay, that kids have the power to make a difference, and that we are responsible for the welfare of animals and the environment. A wonderful book for any child or young teenager who likes animals and/or mysteries. Should also be considered for classroom reading by any teacher interested in discussing animal welfare, personal responsibility, advocacy or the idea that "being different is okay."