Customer Reviews

The Window

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

After barely surviving a terrible car accident that killed her mother, Mandy, 15, is left without sight. She is sent to her relatives in Texas, and she has to adjust to a new place, being blind and without her mother. When she is in Texas, Mandy meets two people, Hannah and Ted, who become her very best friends. They don't show her any special treatment, and they completely ignore her diability, just like she wants them to. Aside from her school, Mandy is drawn into the story of her family's past through her bedroom window. She hears the secret stories of what happened to the generations before her. Through the stories, Mandy puts the mysterious pieces of her family's past together. Mandy's personality traits bring out the best in her. She is extremely brave, independent, and a one-of-a kind. She is also not afraid of challanges. Jeanette Ingold, the author of the story, describes her qualities so that you could actually feel like you were in the story. I would definatly recommend this story to others, especially to young girls. The story has strong messages about the value of life and about friendship. It was the kind of story that many could relate to. It never dragged on like most books to, and I couldn't put it down. I truly enjoyed the story and I think many others would too.

Have you ever seen pictures in your mind that show what has happened in the past years? In this story you will get a picture in your mind for everything because it is so realistic! I got to see what the world was like for teenager Mandy.
A long time ago in the 90's, a young girl named Mandy was in a deadly car crash in Texas which killed her mother in a seconds time, and also caused her blindness. Now all that Mandy has left are her great uncles and great aunt Emma who she has never even met before. Mandy struggles to face the new world with a whole new picture in her mind. One day Mandy was wondering around the house trying to feel for new things, when she found a closed window, and she wondered why Aunt Emma would have it closed on such a nice day like that. When she slowly opened it, all that she heard was someone yelling, "Gwen! Gwen where are you? Gwen!" She was curious at first as to whom Gwen was, but she researches to find out that it was her grandmother, and her daughter was calling out her name, which was Mandy's mother. Although Aunt Emma is curious as to where Mandy is hearing this, she doesn't know that Mandy is the only human being who can hear this. As Mandy learns more about her past, she faces a public school except a school for the blind where her aunt and uncles wanted her to go. No one worries about her though because they all trust Mandy's best friend Hannah who helps her around. In the end everything comes together and she realizes that she is who she is and she cannot change that fact. She realizes that everything is in gods plan and it is meant to happen.
This is now one of my personal favorite books I would recommend them for anyone ages 8-21. This book gives you the understanding of a blind person's life. If you ever get a chance to read this book I would highly recommend it.

The Window by Jeanette Ingold is a book that lets you see what it's like to be blind and to be going through some of the toughest years of life at the same time. Throughout the book Mandy's opinion changes very dramatically on how she feels about her disability. At first she didn't want to have to depend on anyone for anything. She tried to do everything for herself. But as time went on she learned that asking for help is important because it lets people that are close to her feel needed. And sometimes she really does need their help, and in the book she learned to accept the fact that once you are blind you won't always be able to depend on just yourself. When rating this book I decided to give it 4 stars because yes it was a very good book, but I think that it could have been longer and that the author didn't really do a good job in making the window and what Mandy saw in it relevant to everything else going on in the book. Personally I think that the part about the window was good but it just didn't seem to make sense in the context of the book. I think that it would have been better if the window was some sort of mystery that she had to solve and that it would reveal some secret other than who her grandmother was. But other than that I would recommend this book to all of the girls in the world who are in the same stage of life as Mandy so that they can "see" life through the eyes of someone else who just so happens is not able to really see anything at all.

In The Window, Mandy has survived a tragic car accident which killed her mother, but she's left blind and living with relatives she doesn't really know. Her heightened sense of hearing introduces her to a world of her past relatives, where she slowly comes to understand her sometimes-puzzling present uncles and aunt. The time slip theme combined with the theme of a contemporary girl struggling with blindness and new friendships makes for a satisfying balance of subplots.

Mandy, a girl of merely sixteen, is blinded in a car accident that kills the only relative whom she knows, her morther. When she is taken in by Family Services they hand her over to the only relatives that they can find. Now Mandy has to live her life in a blackened world with people she has never met. When she arrives at her reletive's house she is guided to her room, an attic with one small window covered by lace curtains. Mandy is then faced with a hard desicion. Would she attend of special school for the blind or a nearby public school. She takes on the challenge and decides to attend a public school. There she meets a ncie girl named Hannah and a hearing impaired boy named Ted whom she takes interest in. One day Mandy opens up her window and leans out. Mysteriously she hears voices and images come into her mind of relatives from the past. She becomes very disturbed by what she hears and sees and can not comprehend what has happened. Now Mandy has to put her life back on track and overcome the one thing she can not change, her past. Although this book has many great concepts and ideas I would, however, not recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a well-written novel. This book is very slow moving and has no climax. The characters are poorly developed and the actual plot of the story is poorly conveyed through the words. In my opinion there in no connection betweed what happenes in the story and the messege that the author seems to be trying to get across. This book is very easy reading and would be a great choice for younger readers but should not be classified in the young adult's section.

"The Window" by Jeanette Ingold is about a young girl named Mandy who loses her sight after being in a car crash. The crash also killed her mother, and now Mandy goes to live with elderly relatives who she never knew existed. How will Mandy deal with her blindness?

Being able to see is always something that I took for granted until I read this book. Jeanette Ingold's descriptions of Mandy trying to do simple things, such as pick out clothing or find a classroom, really suck you in. I'm also glad how the author included scenes where Mandy faced people who acted like she was beneath them. I think this book not only reminds us what we take for granted, but also that people who have such handicaps are just normal people trying to get through the day like the rest of us. I recommend it to all.

This book was one I was not completely proud of. It's entire written style was not one to impress. I say this because half way through the book the mystery was solved and I only continued to read thoroughly because I was looking for that magic ending or surprising twist that the books I like often have. I felt this reading was a complete waste of my time because the information was handed to me and didn't give me any chance to try and think, "What's going to happen next?" The book did not interest me and it's probably because I didn't care about the characters.
When I'm reading a book I like to dive deep into it and escape my reality. I like to enter the characters. At the beginning I didn't feel it was detailed enough to keep me captivated. The personality of Mandy was not only uninteresting, but I felt she was annoying. We understand that she had just lost her mother and sight and that it's understandable to be bitter, but since the beginning wasn't detailed at all, I didn't care for her.
In conclusion, I felt this book was boring and not interesting because of the lack of detail and the characters. It didn't give me any chance to think about the information because it was handed to me immediatley. If I was to put the book down and stop reading half way through, I would have the same knowledge of what happened then if I had kept reading. I don't reccomend this book to anyone who likes to think about what they are reading.

The Window by Jeanette Ingold is a great book for young girls entering the uncertain time in their lives where they are being judged on hair, clothes style and personality. This story which explains the moral of being who you are, and not what others want you to be, is a perfect escape for young girls depressed by being picked on for being "fake." In this story Mandy, a blind girl of 15, goes to live with her Great-Aunt and Uncles in Texas. Left blind from an accident that killed her Mom, Mandy must learn to cope with what is. Lucky for her she easily makes friends with Hannah who will take no nonsense from Mandy and Ted, a hearing impairment friend who may just know what Mandy is going through. As she gets settled in to her Aunt's and Uncles' house, she learns a secret, a secret from her attic window, a secret about her family's past. Here Mandy learns the secret of where she came from, and how she was related to the strange new people she was now living with. With little kind shoves and pushes here and there Mandy is forced into the reality of what she must now live with, that she is blind. Still she has so much more than many other girls her age. She has great friends, she has the ability to see without actually using her eyes, and most of all she has family, people who care about her, love her, and will take care of her for the rest of her life. Out of five stars I would rate this a four, a great book with a little choppy dialog but terrific moral. I know I enjoyed reading this book as I am sure other will too.

Traveling from region to region was a common occurrence for Mandy, an only child, and her single mother. But a terrible car wreck left Mandy blind and traveling alone to a new city this time. Texas is full of challenges, as this teenager learns to adjust to her Great Aunt and Uncle's routine lifestyle. However, she finds a lot of love in her new household, makes friends at her school, and even finds a boyfriend. The fact that Mandy is blinded instantly prompts most people to "help" her. For the most part, Mandy does not need their help, and she certainly does not want it. As a matter of fact, she ends up giving more help than she could ever accept. She helps her Great Uncle reunite with his past, her best friend deal with her parents' divorce, her boyfriend face his deafness, and she even helps orphaned animals on the farm. The author uses the central picture of this young lady standing at the open window to take in the night air, to learn about the people from her past, to help her understand the present, and to guide her decisions in the future. The literary elements of irony, foreshadowing, and flashback beautifully intertwine to make the story flow well and end brilliantly that the themes in the book will stick with any reader forever. This story states the issues that all teenagers deal with, including teenagers with special needs. It recognizes how diversity should be appreciated and how any type of person can make great friends. Everyone needs help at times, and everyone can offer help at other times. Love, hope, and friendships form from being a good listener, believing in people and yourself, and trying. Life is not easy, but no matter what your circumstances are, you cannot run away from the hard times. Seventh grade and above could greatly appreciate the stories inside this book. It opens the door to many other topics including character education, history, geography, art, music, math, science, and of course language arts. This book deserves five stars. It is truly a great book.`

This book is about a 14year old girl named Mandy. She and her mother got in a very tragic actident. Mandy was parolized for life. She's blind. Her mom died. She now has lives with her great Aunt Emma. Her great Uncles gaberial, and Uncle Abe. Mandy has to sleep in the upstairs room.That night she here's a voice comming out her window. she leans out and hear's " Gwen Gwen were are you?Gwen come back". She figures out that Gwen is her grandmother that she never new about. She figures out more about her.I think that Jeanette Ingold was very good at describing the charters. I would recomend it to anybody.It's amazing!