Customer Reviews

Heartbeat

5 star:		(35)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Annie loves to run and draw. When her teacher assigns them to draw 100 pictures of the same apple, Annie begins to see things in different ways. Her grandfather's forgetfulness and the baby growing inside her mother are part of a rhythm, a heartbeat, that Annie begins to explore.

Simple writing underscores it's profound themes. Destined to become a classic.

Wow. Amazing narrative poetry of a very self-aware young girl. Annie is a runner and an artist. Her mother is expecting a new baby, her grandfather has Alzheimer's and is slowly slipping away, and she spends a lot of time with her neighbor and competitive friend Max. The novel made charming use of footnotes and grammar. It's a poignant and beautifully told tale, with simplicity and heart. I wept. It was beautiful.

This is an awesome book!! In the book the main character is a twelve year old girl named Annie and she loves to run. Her favorite thing to do is run barefoot through the park with her friend Max, and she does this every season, winter, spring, summer and fall. I agree with her statement in the book, "Thump-thump, thump-thump... knowing I could fly fly fly, but letting my feet... thump-thump, thump-thump... touch the earth." I love to run, just like Annie does, and I feel the same way when I run. I feel as though I can just pick my feet up off the ground and I could fly away from all my troubles.

I also liked the book because it was interesting. It described how Annie was dealing with having the same problems that most teenagers go through. She talked about school, friends, family and teachers that made her upset, confused or angry, just like what we go through. She found a way to deal with her problems..... by running. In the book she says that running makes her feel free and happy.

I also liked that, in the book, Annie had to draw 1 picture of an apple every day until she had 100 pictures. I think that that showed how things change everyday and there no way to control it. She finds that out in the book, that almost nothing ever stays the same.

It is so rare to find a book told from the point of view of a 12 year old that anybody over 12 could bear to read! This book is a great book for reluctant readers- told in a loose poem form, it is highly readable, moves along quickly, and has a wonderful rhythm to it. It is wonderful for children whose life is in flux (which means just about all 10-13 year olds- a tough age for books, as they have outgrown a lot of the children's books but are not necessarily ready for young adult books). Lots of emotional issues flow through the book, but it is still a good choice for children who are uncomfortable with too much intensity in books, as the writing is light and nuanced and the issues are handled with care. However, as another reviewer noted, it is completely different from Walk Two Moons. In our house, that was a good thing, but if you have major WTM fans in your house you might want to look at the preview pages first.

Sharon Creech never fails to wring at at least a bit of emotion out of me and she did it again with the relationship between Annie and her failing grandpa. This is a simple story told in an interesting way and it deals with some pretty deep subject matter. I wasn't as moved by this book as I was by Creech's Love That Dog, which is written in the same prose, but this story is much more complex and less emotion based. It is a very good book. As a teacher I would recommend it to fifth or sixth grade girls.

Heading:Heartbeat

By:Sharon Creech

Reviewed by:J.Jankaew

Period:2

This story is mainly about a girl named Annie and her life. Annie's mother is pregnant. She has one brother already. Most of the time when she goes to school, the track teacher of her brother asks her if she wants to join the track team. She is fast but she says no. Her grandpa lives with her. Annie's brother will have a track meet soon, but he has no shoes to wear for the meet. So Annie earns money by mowing her neighbor's lawn. She uses that money to buy her brother new shoes so he can run. During her brother's track meet, Annie's mother goes to the hospital to give birth, and now Annie has a new baby brother.

The is one quote in this story that I hate. It says "And the next instant the baby is lying there on the blue sheet and the baby is lying there not moving". I dislike that part because they are saying that the baby is not breathing, and the baby might not make it.

There is a quote that I like. It says "Wahh, Wahh and there is the baby squirming and crying and breathing." That means that the baby is now alive, and everyone is happy, and now Annie has a brother. I would be happy too if I had a new born baby brother. Tears of joy from the whole family.

My favorite part of the story is when Annie buys her brother a pair of shoes from the money she made. Annie and her brother fight a lot, but she loves him so much to be able to use the money she earned to by him shoes, so he would be able to run in the track meet. I like that part because it is showing that she would probably do anything for him. Annie wanted to buy something else for herself, but she saw that her brother really wanted new shoes badly, so she bout it for him secretly. That would make me happy if someone did that for me.

Now there is a boy named Max and a girl named Annie they're best friends. They love running bare foot, especially by Mrs. Cobber's red barn. They also love to run in the trees and over the creeks by the red barn. Annie's mom was having a baby pretty soon. They would call it the alien baby because it would always be kicking. One day when Annie had to go to school she had art. Her teacher told them that they had to draw one apple for 100 days. So then when she got home she stared drawing one whole apple. Then the next day her grandpa took one bite from apple she was drawing yesterday it gave her a new idea. So the next 99 days she drew the apple with another bite in it. Then Max one day got asked if he could join the boys running team. He said yes but the coach said you needed running shoes. But for pratice he didn't have to wear shoe's. One day Max came over to my house and grandpa gave him something It was running shoe's. Then the next day it was the big race!

Annie went to watch Max run then at the very end of the race Mrs. Cobber came And said to Annie your mom is having the baby. So she had to leave the race but she saw that Max didn't win. But her mom did have a baby it wasn't a alien, it was a boy! Then everyone was happy. She went back to school on the hundredth day with her hundred apples. The very last one in the folder Was just a stem. Now that you know smoething about this book you can go read it!

Heartbeat

Book Written By: Sharon Creech

Run, run, run. That's what Annie, a kind free-thinking twelve-year-old girl, loves to do. Her friend Max, a competitive and moody thirteen-year-old boy, is now giving her a hard time until the point that she has to hurt him. What will Annie do?

Everything starts to change for young Annie. Her mom is pregnant, her Grandpa is now fragile and forgetful, and of course Max, more rude and even more moody than ever! And Annie, she suddenly starts to realize and understand the rhythms of life and how she fits with them with each step she takes. Heartbeat is a wonderful story that lets you explore the train of Annie's thoughts, emotions, and lifelong questions that she may never figure out.

I recommend this book for anyone-people of all ages-whether you're an adult or a young child. This question will keep you wondering just as it did me, "Why are we here on this earth?"

Sharon Creech demonstrates again her talent in shaping a moving story in verse in "Heartbeat". This is the story of a preadolescent Annie, who is juggling the normal pressures of growing up with family stress caused by both joy and tragedy. Annie's mother is pregnant and her grandfather suffers from progressive dementia. We also see Annie struggle with her friendship with Max, a slightly older boy with whom Annie shares the love of running.

Creech's ability to weave Annie's thoughts and feelings within highly creative verse with loads of rhythm is impressive. The meter of the verse coincides with the action within the story, including Max and Annie's running sessions and the wonderful discovery of her soon to be born sibling's heartbeat.

This book is a must for kids who love poetry and would be a great introductory text for those who aren't sure!

I love Heartbeat. It's one of my favorite books of all time. The only reason it got four stars instead of five was because it wasn't quite as good as Walk Two Moons or Chasing Redbird. A few people who posted reviews said that it's mostly for kids 10-12 years old. Well. I read it when I was ten and didn't like it as much because it is VERY metaphorical. When I read it again at almost 13 I got it more. Or maybe I just thought too deep into it. Again. I do that a lot. Anyway, this book is great for people of all ages. Heck, my 18 year old cousin likes it. Even more heck, my 60 year old teacher LOVES it! A word of warning, though: It made me cry (especially at "Flip Flip Flip")