Customer Reviews

Red Midnight

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Red Midnight by Ben Mikaelsen is about a boy and his little sister who try to sail the ocean from Guatemala to Florida through storms and the burning sun. Santiago, who is twelve, and his little sister Angelina, who is four, sail the ocean by themselves in a small cayuco, or sea kayak, for more than 20 days. The story takes place in 1981 and is fiction but the military killing thousands of people in Central America during the 1980s is true and really happened.

Santiago's mom woke him up at night and she tells him that the soldiers were here and to run away with his youngest sister Angelina. Santiago was the oldest out of 2 brothers and 2 sisters including Angelina. Santiago ran out of the hut with his sister. He sees the soldiers burning the homes and killing people in his village. He gets behind some bushes to hide with Angelina where his uncle Ramos was lying. His uncle tells him to take the cayuco he built to Florida to tell everyone what is happening and to take the compass in his shirt with him. Santiago got up and some soldiers saw him. Santiago takes Angelina's hand and just ran as fast as he could into the forest where he loses the soldiers. He looks back in the direction of where his village is and he sees that the sky looks red from the fire. (Red Midnight) He still had to get to his Uncle Ramos's home which is still far away to get to the cayuco. Santiago and his sister ride a horse they found and ride in the back of the cars until they got to his home. They went inside and fell asleep. A man was standing over them asking who they were when they woke up. Santiago saw that the man's clothes were raggedy so he thought he was an indigeno also and told him that Ramos was his uncle and that he told him to take his cayuco to Florida when the soldiers came to his village. His name was Enrique and told him that he would help him and to wait there until he comes back. Later, Enrique and his wife Silvia brought them food to take with them and Enrique sailed with Santiago until they reached the Gulf and showed him how the sail and gave him tips and told him that the trip could take about 20 days.

I liked this book because it was exciting and I wanted to keep reading because I wanted to know what would happen next. I would recommend this book to everybody because I know for sure that anyone who reads this book will like it.

Red Midnight is about a 12 year old boy named Santiago and his 4 year old sister Angelina navigating their way to Florida via ocean. They spend over 20 days together in a small cayuco with little food, little water and are exposed to scorching sun and a couple bad storms. The reason he is sailing across the ocean is because his village, Dos Vias, was burned down by the military. His uncle tells him to go to his farm and take his cayuco across Lake Izabel and into the ocean. He gives him directions and then makes him leave before getting shot by the military. After making their way across the ocean they land on the Miami beach and are picked up and taken to the hospital. At the hospital they are cleaned up.
I dont want to reveal any scenes but it's a great and surprising book. I would recommend it to all readers.

This is my all time favorite book! It teaches a wonderful lesson especially to kids and is definetly a tear jerker mosty because of angelina and also santiago. I think it is really interesting and I hope that anybody who reads this will love it

In the 1980s in Guatemala, a young boy, Santiago, and his four year-old sister, Angelina, survive the massacre of their village and family by the government soldiers. They escape to the sea in a small boat and brave the journey north to the United States. This book is the incredible survival story of a brave, smart, and clever boy against the forces of the sea. It's engaging and powerful. From the author of Touching Spirit Bear. Grade: B+

I liked the book because it has a lot to do with survival. It keeps you on the edge of your seat. One time they almost got caught by the military boats. If they had gotten caught, then the military would have killed them.

Santiago and Angelina have to take their uncle's cayuco, kayak made from a tree, to another island. Their island has been burned down so their uncle's friend helps them.

I would recommend this book to a survival reader that loves Ben Mikaelsen. However, I think that his other book was better, "Touching Spirit Bear".

The main character in the story Red Midnight is a boy named Santiago. He and his sister, Angelina are the only ones left in there family. He saw all of his family being killed by the soldiers. The two of them are trying to make it to the United States. The setting is in 1981. At the begging of the book, the siblings try to get to their uncle's house. They make it then they get help from an old friend of their uncle. They past by the soldiers and then have many troubles on the ocean.

I liked the book, but thought that it was a bit too slow at first. Then it comes into this adventurous setting.

Some other books by this other are, Touching Spirit Bear, Petey, and Countdown.

Red Midnight is based on a very true story. It is about a boy, and his little sister having to sail to the United States of America because soldiers came to where they lived, and killed all of the rest of their family along with their whole tribe. It's a twenty day adventure of sailing in a tiny little boat. They only have a very little amount of fruit, and also a little amount of tortillas. How will they survive?

I thought this book was a very good book. It was a little sad. But those books are always good books to read, and get into. It had a good moral and a good meaning to it. It also had a lot of very good and down to earth details, and descriptions. Since it was a little sad, and suspending it wasn't the best book, but yet...It makes me really think! About everything that is happening in the world.

23 days in a cuyuco. You're ony thirteen, and you have to care for your 4 year old sister sailing in a cuyuco from guatemala to America.

13 year old Santiago's villiage has been burned by the soldiers. All of his family killed but his little 4 year old sister Angelina. Red Midnight is a realistic fiction adventurous book. Young but brave Santiago has just witnessed the burning of his villiage, and execution of his family. His Uncle Ramos tells him to flee to his villiage and take the sailing cuyuco, and sail from Guatemala to America. On the way santiago faces some hard times. He learns how to understand the ocean. this book was pretty good.

I rate this book a five because if you have a younger sibling than you or your the younger sibling this book teachs sibling that even though you fight you can still love each other. Do anything to save their life and get them away from any danger to me this book mean alot because it shows affection between siblings and Ben Mikaelsen quotes "When I wrote this book it told me that it would show what siblings should be doing and not doing". So to me this book is the best book ever written and so I think you should read and you might agree and I would recommend this book to anyone with siblings.

The book Red Midnight written by Ben Mikaelsen is about a twelve-year-old boy named Santiago and his-four-year sister, Angelina, who's village of Dos Vias, Guatemala is burned down from Guatemalan soldiers. All of Santiago's and Angelina's family is shot, leaving the two children to escape into the burning night to find a way to get to the United States of America. They end up taking a sea kayak with the help of some friends, through the rough and dangerous waters of the ocean. Will they survive? Read the book and find out! I would recommend this book to anyone who likes to read adventure stories. Red Midnight is an easy-to-read fun story.