Customer Reviews

Sniper

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

 

 

Ben is left in charge of a big cat refuge/preserve in California while his parents are off on safari in Africa. Ben is a teen with usual teen anxieties and now he has to run a preserve that the neighbors resent, supervise a crew of illegal aliens, and handle a few dozen big cats; full grown lions, tigers, panthers and a house cheetah. Since that's not enough stress for a teenager the author throws in a sniper, an unknown killer who is picking off the animals at night.

I read this book to be able to quiz my eleven year old as he read it and to be honest the book is pretty good. The characters are likeable and not saccharine, the boy...Ben...has realistic conflicts, and the animals seem to be realistically depicted. My eleven year old enjoyed the book, my thirteen year old read a few chapters and said he liked it.

My only critism is that the resolution comes out of the blue. The development of the identity of the culprit seems to happen abruptly in the last few chapters. There are no clues early on that foreshadow the ending. Real life may be that way but it does not make for a satisfactory ending in a novel.

That aside I would recommend it for young readers, challenging for an eleven year old, easy for a thirteen year old.

Sniper is a mystery about a teenage kid who grows up with different kinds of large cats. Hardly anyone in Californis(where they moved) liked the idea of Ben Jepson, his family, and the different cats moving in their town. Ben's parents have left the "cat farm" to go to Africa. Ben is there all alone except for two people(and their family)who live there. Now a sniper has come in, and this isn't good news for Ben. I think that Sniper by Theodore Taylor was one of the best books I have ever read. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a great mystery.

"As if jabbed with a long needle Benjamin Jepson is jerked awake to screams of peacocks." Benjamin Jepson is left in charge of his families "California Wild Life Preserve" in the book Sniper by Theodore Taylor.
Ben's father's preserve is attacked by an unknown sniper. Knowing that most of the neighbors the preserve do not like the animals, Ben decides that there are a lot of suspects. Some reasons would be that in some times the animals escaped or properly couldn't be sold.
Benjamin Jepson, a 13 year old boy, is considered mediocre by his grandmother, he is stubborn but determined. This is shown in the book when Ben goes after the sniper that has killed cats in the preserve. Benjamin is also a leader, when a fire was burning the preserve. Ben had managed to move the big cats to another location without injuring them.
This book has many strong points. For example, he used fragments a lot and this puts a strong impact on his ideas. The weakest point to this book was the ending. The author, Theodore Taylor, should have had ended the book once the sniper was caught. On the other, the author who used foreshadowing. For example in the story it said that there was a crack in the other room. Moments later. Rachel a cat in the preserve died.
Working together. That's what this book is all about. Trying to get the big cats safe. He has to work with Hudson the Kenyan who was a former killer, Deputy Metcalf, the friend to the family, Sandy Ben's girlfriend, Louis, and Rafael, his trainers, this is especially true because his parents are missing in Africa without a trace. On top of all this the person who was supposed to help Ben run the preserve is injured in a car accident and is in crucial condition. This heads to why Ben is in charge of the animal preserve.
This book would be great for anybody who like a mixture of survival, mystery and a little bit of adventure. Sniper by Theodore Taylor is an overall great book. But kids, under 9 should get clearance from their parents.

I thought the book Sniper by Theodore Talor was a good book. It was also a good atventure. It is about a boy and his parent who started a wildlife preserve. When they moed in the nabors didn't like them a hole lot. One morning They found two lions shot dead. Find out who did it by reading the book.

I think the book Sniper should be read by people who love animals. It shows how much a kid loves the lions that he is raising. It shows how he takes charge when a Sniper shoots three lions and a cheetah.

"In the dead of night, a killer stalks his prey... and never misses." Sniper, by Theodore Taylor, the bestselling author of, The Cay, uses this phrase to describe Ben Jepson's fate. Ben, a 15 year old, is left alone in a wildcat park in southern California, while his parents are in the Serengeti in Africa. He has no way of contacting them. It is the middle of the summer and there is a sniper on the loose. Ben, a "mediocre" teenager, thinks of his past as he tries to recover from the loss of his favorite cats. He has figured out that the sniper is using a nightscope. Only two people he knows has one.
Theodore Taylor uses metaphors, and also uses vivid descriptions. For example, "Jessica is looking out across the undulating field of brown grass, paying no attention to human talk or tone of voice."
Some strong points of the book are the thought-provoking sensory images. The greusome, yet interesting scenes shown, are almost encouraging you to think. Although one would most likely expect to paint pictures, this thriller paints pictures that will leave you ensconced in ideas, thoughts, and feelings all at once. For example, the author talks about a time when a ferocious Siberian tiger scalps Ben's mother. This is a very descriptive scene. Some weak points in the novel are that some of the descriptions are dull and some pictures are hard to paint in your mind.
We recommend this novel to animal lovers, people who love suspense, and love to be on the edge of their seat, ages 10 and up. This sophisticated mystery is about animals. Sniper contains above-grade-level language. This mystery is one of the best you'll ever read.
How will Ben survive? Is he a target too?

"As if he was jabbed with a needle, Ben woke up in a rush to find the sisters dead outside." Sniper, by award winning author Theodore Taylor, is a fantastic book. Ben Jepson lives on a California nature preserve. Everyday Ben wakes up to large cats roaring. Ben is devoted and very caring towards the animals. He is also loving towards a lion named Rocky whom he brought up from a cub.
Ben gets really angry after a sniper kills four of his favorite lions. One night, Ben goes after the Sniper after he attempted to shoot Ben.
Sniper has good language and strong verbs. You won't want to put down the book. This book is gripping. There are only a few weak points. There are a few curses and the story gets boring at some points. Also the characters go off topic, which makes the book hard to follow.
Theodore Taylor used plenty of dialogue. He also uses sensory images, for example, " She was a tall angular woman, with milk- white hair..." Another point of author's style is that he uses simple languagE, for example, " Felling a ticking in his throat, hearing his voice all wound up." The message of this book is that you don't know what you have until you loose it, because Ben always took his problems out on his lions. But then when they got killed he took care of the other one's better.
We would recommend this book to boys and girls in sixth and seventh grade. The girls would probably like the aanimals, and the boys would like the guns. We would recommend this to twelve year olds because of the shooting aspect.

Sniper is about a boy named Ben who is in charge of running his families wildcat farm while his father and mother are away in Africa. During this novel, he is faced with a major problem, there is a sniper and this sniper is killing Bens tigers. This adds more stress to all the other stress filled tasks he has to do. He has to run a preserve for the cats that his neighbors do not like, he has to run a group of illegal immigrants, and handle many cats: lions, a cheetah, and panthers. Once ben finds out that cats have been killed, he immediately adresses this to Deputy Metcalf. Deputy Metcalf helps him to find the sniper who is killing the cats.

Though i did not finish this book, the chapters that i have read were alright and some parts were a little bit confusing. If i had to rate this book on a 1-10 scale, i would rate it a 6. I would recommend this book to people who really like animals, people who like mysteries, and to people who like some adventure. I personally did not like the book so far. So, from my point of view i do not recommend people to read this book.

"Sniper" is a book that keeps you on the edge of your seat the whole time. It is a book for everyone it has drama, suspense, and action. The author, Theodore Taylor, did a great job writing it. I am looking forward to reading "The Cay," and "The Bomb." He was 68 years old when he wrote "Sniper," unfortunately, he passed away the 26th of October 2006. At the time of his death, he was 85 years old and will be loved and missed by this reader.

-Patrick W., 6th Grade

Imagine if you were 15 year-old Ben alone in the wild cat preserve. Because your parents are on the other side of the world. "Suddenly the silence of the night is broken by Peacocks. Someone is out there. Someone with a score to settle. And this is only the beginning. This book is an edge-of-the-chair thrilling suspense filled story. In the book "Sniper" by Theodore Taylor, a boy named Ben struggles to tries to keep innocent animals' safe and harm free from a murderer. This book can happy and funny, but also it can be serious and sophisticated. In this book Ben has to struggle to keep the preserve up and running. For instance, one time there was a fire and Ben had to evacuate all of the animals. Also in the beginning of the book all of the cats were released and two of Ben's favorite twin lioness was shot. If you want to know the end then you must read the book. We can just tell you it ended in a good way in our opinion. "Sniper," was an amazing book.