Customer Reviews

Rewind

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

There's no denying the suspense of this story. It caught me on the first page. The whole idea of a "second chance" puts you on the edge of your seat right away. It invokes a lot of questions about the inescapability of a person's fate and how the choices you make affect your life. However, one of the most irking things about this book is the boys relationship with his parents. He feels the need to "fix" something within himself even though the parent's belittling treatment of him is bordering on verbal abuse. Sleator uses the excuse of his mother being a "practical farmgirl" to account for her calling his artistic efforts a "waste of time". And then there is his father who thinks less of his son for not doing "manly" things and criticizes everything. I ask you, what kind of a parent constantly makes their child feel that they are on charity? In the end the main character is made to feel that because he tried harder on his storybook and his puppet show, and pleases his parents better, he has changed his life and deserves to live. I find this kind of thinking flawed. It almost condones the parent's right to disparage their son and says that his death is his own fault. The whole future predicting thing is a funny twist for which I applaud the author. His relationship with the bully is quite interesting and adds some texture to the story but I agree that more character could have been given to Eloise, the best friend. Advice to the reader: An interesting read, but will leave you unsatisfied. Save your money. Advice to author: Keep writing, but rethink the message you're sending to your audience.

Rewind was a pretty good book, in most ways. The author is William Sleator. Rewind is mostly about a boy named Peter who is given a chance to relive his life. I liked the way Peter had to do certain things with his parents to keep himself from dying. This story makes you wonder do you only get one life to live? Rewind is a type of scientific story. So if you like scientific stories this one is a pretty good one to read. There were only a few things that I didn't really like about the book. I didn't like how Peter's parents talked to him. To me the story isn't as long as most books I have read. I read the hardcopy and it only had 120 pages. The book's ending also had me hanging. I learned to respect and treat your parents the way you would want to be treated, from this book. This book also shows you not the be so lazy at times. I recommend it if you really like scientific stories or if you just like stories that are about a kid, his life, and his family. The book is good if you read it all!

I used this book as a read aloud with several groups of fifth grade students. From the opening line to the last word, they were excited and interested in the plot. Each chapter leads to discussion and debate amongst students. Sleator did a fantastic job keeping the reader involved with the story line. It was a pleasure to read and discuss with children and colleagues.

Rewind is an awesome book to read. It's about a boy who gets hit by a car and dies. Then he is given 3 chances to go back in time with his memory of what happened to change the outcome. He can't just stop himself form running into the car, he has to go back farther and figure out how to make things right. Along the book he has to deal with things like, finding out he's adopted, his mother is about to have a baby and when he does a project in art, his parents think it's a waste of his time. It maybe be kind of short but worth reading. Enjoy!

Rewind is a great and surprising book. It is by William Sleator. It has lot of twists that will shock you. When Peter (the main character) dies in the story. He dies by getting hit by a car and he gets another chance to live. The first time he died, he was upset and ran across the street. So if he gets upset, he has to run across the street because that is how he died to first time. Each time he dies, he gets to choose what place and time he wants to go back. The first time he dies he chooses to go back to the day before he dies. He still dies and gets another chance. I think he changes by learning to do the right things and choosing and knowing what to do. On the last chance he has to live he chooses to go back 5 months before his first death to try to change almost everything bad that happened. Peter doesn't know that he is adopted and when he finds out he is he is really upset. The other important characters are Peter's parents and his friends/teachers. Sad but true this book has won no awards. The setting of the book is in the 1990's in the USA. This book caught my attention because I couldn't find a book to read so I picked up this one and I thought it might be good after I read the back and the cover caught my eye to. I read it. It was fantastic. The way that the story went, you couldn't put it down. The age of people that should read this is 5th-7th grade because it has all kinds of twists that would satisfy the reader. William Sleator's style is the keep-you-hanging-style. If you read this book you would have to keep reading and reading. The only thing that I didn't like was that the book could have been longer because he should have said what happened after he survived. The mood of this story is sad, happy, and surprising mood. The genre of this story is a mystery.
My bottom line is that this book is great and people should read it.
P.S. tell your friends to read this if you like it.

Rewind by William Sleator, is a thrill a minute book. Peter, an adopted middle school boy, is killed in a car accident, but this isn't any normal car wreck. Peter is extremely mad at his parents because he doesn't think they love him. He gets mad enough to where he runs out into a street. Now, though, he has three chances to go back in time and change his life forever, but many obstcles lie in his path. One of them is a bully and star athlete called Kurt Meyer. Peter does have a best friend called Eloise. Will Peter ever change his life so he can live it?Read this book to find out!

I like the idea of this book. The idea of having the chance to go back to fix something in your life is very appealing and intriguing. That's a hook that can grab both kids and adults. But...

Peter's character is not developed enough for us to believe what we are told about him. The first words we hear his parents say about him are at his funeral, and they are (paraphrasing), "It was his fault. He never did think ahead." This gives us a great clue about what kind of parents they are, and it is obviously meant to tell us something about Peter. But the only real evidence we get to back this up is that Peter, given twelve hours to decide when to go back to in order to prevent his death, makes up his mind in less than fifteen minutes. I don't recall m/any other instances that show this trait. We're also told that he's sulky and temperamental, but we don't SEE it. I don't consider his reaction to his parents' lack of response after his puppetshow to be proof. Who wouldn't be upset by such dismissive comments after spending weeks on the project?

By his third time around, Peter has realized he has to change some things about himself if he wants to improve his home life. Supported or not, it's still an important theme, and well worth exploring. But why don't his parents have to come to that realization, too? It seems to me that Peter developed many of the traits they don't like (sulkiness, for one) because nothing he does ever seems good enough for them or is ever the "right" kind of thing for a boy to do. Shouldn't they realize their role in his attitudes? If they don't, I pity Peter's new brother or sister, because it's another Rewind waiting to happen.

On the plus side, I like the relationship between Peter and the athlete/bully who keeps giving him a hard time. (Too bad Peter's relationship with Eloise isn't given similar development.) I also applaud Sleator's message that artistic talents are as valuable as talent on the athletic fields!

This book is a fair introduction to science fiction for kids who are just beginning to develop an interest in that genre. But it's not one I'd automatically suggest to kids who are already into science fiction or Sleator. It's not the best example of the either.

The actions starts right away. Peter, who's 11, has just been hit by a car and killed. He's taken up to heaven, and the "Bright LIght" tells him he has 12 hours to go back and try to change the events leading up to his death. If he can make significant changes, he'll live. Peter makes one attempt (that only takes up an hour), but he had the same result. He's then told he can make multiple attempts, but he only has the original 12 hours. He makes a 2nd attempt, but no luck. Time is running out, and he has one more chance. I liked the basic plot--I've never seen this story line before. I just didn't care for the way Peter's adoptive parents treat him. I didn't think it was realistic at all. Then again, this is FICTION, and SCIENCE FICTION to boot! If you've read any other Sleator books (The Duplicate, Singularity, The Boy Who Reversed Himself, Interstellar Pig, Others See Us, The Beasties, The Boxes, etc.), I'd give it a try. The book is really short--120 pages--it only took me a couple of hours to read it. If you haven't read any of his books yet, DO IT! They're great! However, I'd start with one of the other ones I mentioned before picking up this one.

Rewind is a very good book. It has very good description (example: "...a very prominent nose. I had to make very emphatic movements..."). It had very good sequencing. I could follow along with the chapters, knowing were Peter was at the ending of the chapter to the following chapter's begining. The book was very realistic in its science-fiction genre. I could understand how Peter got his second chance and how he tried to change his parents beliefs and his own actions.The ending of Rewind was very disappointing in how I could predict what was going to happen next. It didn't tie up the events in a nice "bow". It didn't quite squence smoothly in the ending. In my opinion you would wan't to read this book. It is very descriptive and sequences along pretty well. The ending, though, wasn't written the same as the rest of the book. It steered off of the sequencing just a little by jumping around form one place to another. It was a little hard to follow but is a very good story overall.

I did not like my book . Because it was too far out for me. That is because I don't like science ficton books. It is a mean book. How would you like it if you kept losing your life because your unloving parnrts. Also I think it is offensive to other religions and cultures. The character dying over and over is just boring. I had a couple questions, like does every one get a chance to go back and try to save the life. But on a good note the book had some good points too. Like it was very descriptive like when it told how Peter's (the main character) puppets looked and the set that was made for them. My recommendation would be not to read this book unless you like science fiction books, movies, etc. But it will keep you on the edge of your seat. So good luck and happy reading.