Customer Reviews

Sheila Rae, the Brave

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

 

 

This is a beautifully crafted story about the emotional ups and downs of life, depicted through the eyes of a gutsy girl and her sweet younger sister. Kevin Henkes expertly builds a strong, supportive relationship between the two sisters. The story is clever, the topics are natural -- not forced, and the illustrations are wonderful. This book is available on Interactive CD ROM, too (published by Broderbund Living Books). The CD version also includes a map/treasure hunt game and a library of delightful songs that help convey the story of "Sheila Rae, The Brave." I highly recommend either version for young readers and preschoolers

My child had been convinced that she was shy. I kept telling her she was brave and then we read about Sheila Rae. Now, whenever she's acting a little nervous, I can sing quietly to her, "I am brave. I am fearless." A nice weapon in the battle against shyness.

Sheila Rae, the Brave, written by Kevin Henkes, is a nice story for young children. My five-year-old brother enjoys himself very much with its CD-ROM version, including interesting animation, melodious song and a *treasure hunt* game.

The story teaches us what the word *brave* really means. Sheila Rae thought that walking backwards with her eye closed, riding bicycle no-handed with her eyes closed, etc., were *brave*. Actually I prefer the word *foolish* to *brave*, because she might get hurt. On the contrary, Louise, his sister was called a *scaredy-cat*. However she was the one who save Sheila Rae from getting lost. She was the real *fearless* girl in the story.

After all, I think Sheila Rae, the Brave is very fascinating, which is a great book for kids at the ages of 4-8.

I read a funny book called Sheila Rae, The brave. This book was written by Kevin Henkes. My favorite character is Sheila Rae because she is funny and because she has my name. This book is funny and exciting because Sheila tries to act brave in front of everyone. If I were the older sister I would do the same as what Sheila did, try to find a way out of the woods with her younger sister. They both made it home safe and sound. This is why this book is exciting and funny because you never know what Sheila will do next.

Sheila Rae is brave, she is fearless. There is nothing that Sheila Rae won't do. But, when she gets lost, it is time for someone else to be brave.

This is a very cute story. The illustration work is very good, and goes along with the story excellently. The story of the girl being brave, even when she doesn't necessarily feel it is a nice life lesson. And, the main thing to me is that my little reader enjoyed the book, which is good enough for me. We both recommend this book to you.

I was so relieved when my daughter *loved* this book, and started quoting it at random moments. As you can tell from the title it's about a brave girl- exactly the kind of book I like to read to my daughter (age 2.5), so I was really hoping she would like it. The pictures are great and there are plenty of them to break up the text. There is also plenty of repetition which always goes over well with toddlers. My daughter also loved finding Louise's hidden ponytail in many of the pictures.

I just used this book in my first grade class and they loved it! I haven't kept all 28 of them this involved in the same book in a long time. Thanks Kevin Henkes.

There is something deeply troubling with this book - it seems benign but when you consider it -- it is very violent and dark. Sheila Rae pretends that the cherries are the "eyes of dead bears" and she climbs trees who she imagines are evil creatures and breaks their fingers off. How gruesome is that? I won't even read this book to my children, because I know they'd be very disturbed by the mean, violent imagination that Sheila has towards animals and nature. My children are softies when it comes to animals and creatures, I suppose, but isn't that normal?

Old Bear by Kevin Henkes is one of my children's favorite books, very sweet and poetic...so I'm puzzled that this book is so disturbing.

Sheila Rae, The Brave is one of the many titles in Henkes' series of mouse books. Sheila Rae prides herself in her ferocity. Unlike her younger sister Louise, Sheila seeks out the danger in the mundane and charges after it. One day, her adventure seeking backfires, and our heroine finds herself alone and in need of rescuing by Louise who proves that she too is brave. As always, Henkes' watercolor and ink mice have such expressive facial features and postures that they gently shed light on an individual's frailty without being jarring and encourage the reader to reflect and mature by living vicariously in their world. Consequently, Sheila Rae, The Brave could serve as an easily accessible exemplar of dynamic characterization and the characteristics of the hero cycle explained by Peter R. Stillman in Introduction to Myth.

A little "Girl" (really mouse) learns that even those who are brave sometimes are not, and that those who don't think they are can be when they do things that are hard. I also like that the main characters are girls, showing that the brave ones aren't always brawny men.