Customer Reviews

Heaven Shop

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

 

 

This book is about a girl Binti, living in Malawi in Africa. Her mother died from a disease called Aids. She comes a poor family. She has a brother Kwasi, sister Junnie and her father in her family Every Saturday she goes to her radio studio and earns some money for the family. Her father runs a coffin shop, which is called "The Heaven Shop."

When her father dies of Aids she has only enough money to pay for his funeral. But when her grandmother Gogo says that her father died of Aids she is treated badly by all her relatives. Her whole family is split apart and Binti vows that she will find her brother who as been sent away to their Aunt. But from now on Binti is sent to live with her Aunt and Uncle who are incredibly rude and obnoxious and will not go near her just in case she might have Aids. Their children play horrible tricks on her. She gets hit with a fly swatter almost every day. "No!" she said that was enough so Binti and her sister decide to run away. But her sister has to find work and Binti has to go on her own to Grandmother Gogo's house.

Binti has to find her way to safety but without her sister or her brother. It's very hard for her and she has to face many challenges. When she gets to grandmother Gogo's house she meets a girl who has Aids. She didn't get treated differently because of her positive attitude and she wouldn't let herself feel different to anyone else. So I think the moral of the story is no matter how different the person may look or if they have a disease or anything that makes them different you should always treat them the same

"Treat others the way you would like to be treated."

My favorite quote in this book was from grandmother Gogo it is

"In the old days, when there were still lions around, if a lion came into our village and carry away our young, we did not keep silent! If we were silent it would keep eating our children we had to make noise. We banged pots and yelled, there is a lion in the village! Then we could get rid of the lion and save our children. There is a lion in our village now. It's called AIDS. It carries away our children and our adults."

This is a very gripping book and it is very intense you will never want to put it down. It carries you away to another world. Here we are thinking that a holiday is fun and there they are thinking that getting some food is amazing! When you compare your life to theirs it makes you think how lucky you are and it makes you appreciate your life and the world around you.

How would you feel if you had AIDS and you were treated differently to others? I can tell you that. I would feel awful. I would feel as though I've been thrown into a ditch and left there. But like Binti and Memory I would pick myself up and carry on and not let myself or anyone make me feel different or be treated differently.

By: Rima (New Zealand)

This book is about a girl named Binti. Her father owns a shop called the Heaven Shop. Her mother died of a disease called Aids. Binti works for a radio show called Gogo's family. then her father dies of Aids. Her sister and her brother loose everything. Her sister and Binti go to their Uncle's,where they work in the bar that they own. Their brother on the other hand got to their Aunts where he gets caught stealing and gets sent to jail.He only stole the food because they were starving him, he was better feed in the jail.Everyhting goes to their releatives, they manage to save alot of money and then of course they find it. Binti and her sister escape and got in search for their grandmother, Gogo. Her sister takes of elsewhere. Later she comes back HIV positive. Binti meets a girl her age Miracle that has AIDS and is still strong. She even has a baby with AIDS. in the end they all get united. t didn't matter that her sister was HIV positive and that their parents both die of AIDS. When you read this book it will take you on an adventure that discovers that it doesn't matter if you have AIDS or your HIV positive, just live your life to the fullest because you never know when it might end. Your still the same person inside whether you have a disease or not.Trust me you will not want to put this book down i know i didn't.Go ahead take a chance read it it will truly change the way you think about something.

In this book you actually feel like you know the main character, Binti. In some of Deborah Ellis's other books the characters are wooden, without faults, without qualities. However Binti was so much like me that I really connected with the things she did.

This story is about Binti, a young girl in Africa. She lives a wonderful life. She is one of the stars of a radio show, she has lots of friends, she loves her father and two siblings, everything is perfect. Untill her father dies of AIDS. Binti's world disintegrates around her. Her part in the radio show is taken away, her cruel relatives grab all of her family's possesions and worst of all, she and her sister Junie are separated from their brother, Kwasi. The relatives they have to live with are hideously mean and make them work for their keep and tell their children not to touch them because there was AIDS in their family. Binti runs away and goes to live with her Grandmother but life is hard there too. She has to look after starving children and cope with hearing a new girl play her part on the radio show.

I like this book because it really expresses the foolish discrimination of people against those with AIDS and the hardships of having your family taken from you. I think Deborah Ellis is a wonderful writer and a wonderful person because she gives all of her royalties to UNICEF. I think everyone should read this book. It will show you how lucky you really are.

This book, like the Parvana series, was very good. It was deep and emotional and brought to light one of the most deadly epidemics of our time. The AIDS plot used was very effective to show the good and the bad of the world that we live in today. We tend to get wrapped up in our own little worlds, and neglect to recognise the issues that are hapening not so very far away. 'The Heaven Shop' brings to light some very serious issues in a way so that the reader can relate to the characters and the things that are going on in their life.

The heaven Shop, By Deborah Ellis is about a 13- year old girl, Binti Phiri who works at a popular radio show called, "Gogo's Family," to help earn for the family. Binti lives with her brother, Kwasi, her older sister, Junie and her father, who earns money for the family by making coffins at his shop, The Heaven Shop. Binti's mother had died of AIDS when Binti was a child. As a responsible and typical child, Binti is shocked to hear her father has also passed away, because of the same horrible disease: AIDS. Now, Binti is only an AIDS orphan, separated from her Kwasi and forced to live with her Uncle Wysom and Aunt Agnes. Junie's fiancé's, Noel, breaks up their engagement because as said by Noel her family had been "tainted by AIDS." At Binti's new home she and her sister are treated worse than slaves and are forced to give up all their belongings to Aunt Agnes' daughters. Leaving school, Junie runs away from her new home at the urge of finding a new job and leaves a note commanding Binti to go to her Gogo (grandma) who is looking after a group of AIDS orphans and young homeless people (pg. 105). Once again at a new home, Binti meets 13 year old Memory, who already has a child due to Memory's uncle (an HIV positive), who thought raping a virgin will cure AIDS. Binti learns her sister had become a prostitute at one point (pg. 169) and takes help from Jeremiah, an HIV positive man, who helps Binti, find Junie (now HIV Positive) and Kwasi. Kwasi, Junie, Memory and Binti now start a profitable business of coffins to help improve the condition of the AIDS orphanage. They name their business, The Heaven Shop.

The story of Binti a young radio actress. She has no mother and her father dies. Her family is split between relatives, can she get them together again?

A wonderful book. I gives you a childs point of veiw of the aids crisis.

It is well written and apropriate for children and adults alike.

This book is really great! It deals with the huge problem in Africa of HIV/AIDS - 40 000 000 people around the world are living with it.. All royalties are donated to unicef. I really reccomend it!

I had seen this book recommended and decided to get it. I really enjoyed reading it. It helps you to see that there are so many people in this world that truly have nothing. I feel very blessed

Binti is a young star on a Malawi radio show that deals with all sorts of important topics. It turns out that the show is a good way of getting accurate information to their loyal viewers.One story line that receives rapt attention is that of AIDS. While Binti is exceptional in her role, she is blind to the fact that her dear father is living with advanced AIDS. She was too young to realize that her mother had passed away from the disease.

When her father dies, Binti and her siblings are sent to live with unknown relatives. It is only then, that she learns that far too many people in her country don't understand the truth about AIDS; they think they can catch it from her even though she is not infected.

I listened to the audio book version. Red by Jajube Mandela and the RMW Kids. 4 hours 7 minutes.

This story blew me away. I was so touched by Binti's plight and it was even harder when I realized that there are millions of children in Africa that are in her same, and probably even worse situations. Many of these children are being raised by their elderly grandmothers just as Binti came to be. The grandmother did a good job of getting Binti to stop feeling sorry for herself and do something. Do something to improve her lot and that of the other children taken in by her grandmother.

From www.teenlitreview.blogspot.com:
Review: The Heaven Shop was a book I will never forget. The story of Binti is one that I am sure happens everyday to many, many children. The story was the perfect introduction for 6th to 9th grade children into the horror of what is happening with AIDS in some parts of the world. Ellis wrote a book that touches readers, draws them in, teaches them, and in some sense shows you that no one should be too confident that life will always be as they expect it to be. For Binti, it was AIDS, for someone else it may be a car accident, cancer, or murder. Whatever your hardship, this story tells you to be strong, and keep living.

Rating: 4, includes mild sexual detail

Positive: The Heaven Shop tastefully presents the AIDS crisis on a level that is appropriate for 6th to 9th grade readers. Binti is a very good daughter who shows respect for her father and helps him a lot when he is sick. She is dedicated to her family and perseveres to help her brother and sister when they are split up. Binti's life is drastically changed by the death of her father, but she makes choices that in the end, make her a better person then ever.

Spiritual Elements: There are a few references that the coffins Binti and her family makes will take the deceased swiftly to Heaven, but nothing more religious/spiritual.

Violence: Some of the family members are quite mean to Binti and her siblings, I seem to recall they even hit them at one point.

Language: None

Sexual Content: Eventually Binti's sister starts "being nice" to men in exchange for money that they save to escape. The term used is "being nice" and is clearly prostitution, though no further details are given. Of course, with AIDS being a disease transmitted primarily through sex, it is implied that is how people got AIDS. Again, no detail is given.

Other: None

Recommendation: I would highly recommend this book to girls and boys ages 13+. I would go so far to say that I wish it was required reading in the 8th grade! I can name a couple books my 8th grade son has had to read this year that this one could replace. By reading The Heaven Shop I feel that kids will have better understanding of the scope and tragedy of AIDS, as well as a good example of how to keep living when life doesn't turn out as you thought is was going to.