Customer Reviews

The Green Book (Sunburst Book)

5 star:		(32)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I first read The Green Book in fourth grade and finally managed to buy a copy about eight years later. It is a simple but beautiful story that manages to convey the power of family and hope alongside of scientific technology and discovery that anyone can understand. Kids and adults will identify with the excitement and heartbreak of having to leave one's homeland with only a few possessions. The theme of having to leave one's homeland in the first place is full of eagerness, but also sorrow.

The descriptions of the planet Shine are perfectly drawn, enough for us to picture it but not overkill. The discovery of the rock people is excellent, reminding the reader of all the strange and wonderful beings that could be out there. And the twist - the gimmick of "the green book" - is perfectly executed, much the way Roald Dahl ends his beloved book The BFG.

I think The Green Book is a great book for kids to read. This book tells about people who have to go to another planet to survive because the earth is dying. This book is great. One reason why it is great is because whenever the planet Shine is in danger, the kids come to the rescue! The kids find food, animals, and a way to survive. I think every kid should read this book. Alexa B.

Jill Patton Walsh has successfully written a book about a book! In this story she traces the journey of a small band of people as they journey to a new planet from a dying planet Earth. However, the most noteworthy piece of this story is how children who read this book learn the importance of journal writing and recording history. The subtlety Walsh uses to weave the almost thoughtless way the travelers selected the books that would be taken on the journey to the surprise revelation of the existence of Pattie's journal as a recorded history of the beginning of their new life on the planet is nothing short of masterful.

This is a beautifully written story about a group of people who have to leave Earth, forever. Their spaceship takes 4 years to get to a planet named shine. The party faces many hardships, for example, all of the vegetation is crystalline! The story line is unique, as it is written from a childs point of veiw. If you're wondering aout this book, trust me, read it!

The Green Book is a great story. It is filled with adventure, excitement, and it's fun to read. It would be fun to live on a planet like Shine. It would also be scary becuase you wouldn't have much food and everything would be different. It takes you to another world that is not like our planet earth. I would recommend it for all ages.

I read this book for the first time more than ten years ago in a second or third-grade gifted and talented class. It's stayed with me all that time and is without a doubt one of the most formative and definative works of literature I've ever read. I can recommend this without any hesitation at all for any reader of any age.

When I read this for my LEAP class, I rushed through it. It seemed so childish, so short, so quick. I felt that there was nothing to it. A bunch of people leave Earth for the planet Shine. However, it never occured to me what the underlying theme was until we discussed it. The Green Book screams at you, "Books are important. Books can preserve and sustain time and life. Do not go anywhere without one." It is an excellent book, but is made better when you realize how important books are.

This is an extraordinary book. It is written for children, but it appeals as well to adults. Its plot may seem simplistic and childish, but it deftly illustrates the beauty of family and life, prevailing in a survival situation. The setting is imaginative, and while the end leaves you wanting more, the story seems metaphoric for an utopian society. I read this book for the first time in fifth grade, and have been reading this book at least once every other year; it is an enchanting children's story, but every time I read it I gather something more.

It saddens me to think that some people could read this book and think that it somehow advocates suicide. It saddens me to know that someone could go through public schooling in the United States and still be such an unsophisticated reader. I don't really know what to say to an adult who cannot understand a book written for nine year olds, who cannot understand art because he or she is blinded by a simpleminded moral agenda...but I'll try. The whole point of the book is that the children risk their lives because they DON'T want to commit suicide. They are willing to take the most drastic measures to avoid committing suicide. They are already exiles from Earth. They don't want to lose anything else (i.e. their lives). If anything, the book says that life is the most important thing in the world--in the universe. Yes, you could say that the pills represent despair, but the important thing is that nobody takes them, nobody wants to die by their own hand. So, shame on you! You shouldn't be allowed to read books. You can't handle the responsibility of reading, the responsibility of interpreting the story based on WHAT IS IN THE TEXT. Go back to your television.

This is an excellent book! You'll love to read it! It is such an original book. It is a book about a book! It never tells you what is happening to Earth. You never know what is going to happen next. Everytime the adults think that the people are going to die, the kids save the day! The kids are the heroes of the story. The author should write a sequel.