Hope Irvin MarstonReseñas

Big Rigs would be a great addition to any primary grade classroom. It has a ton of information about Rigs within its pages. Photographs are on every page showing readers what different rigs look like. I would use this book to show students the importance of rigs. And then the importances of machines. It would also be a good book to use in a unit dedicated to automobile production.

Describes the life cycle of the painted turtle including such information as where it lives, what it eats, and how it spends the winter.

This is a good example of an informational book because all the information is true. I like this book because of the great photographs illustrating what is being said in the book. Media is photos

I enjoyed reading this book for many reasons. The first reason I enjoyed reading this text is because of pictures. The author gave many different photographs of fire trucks, firemen, and their daily duty. Because the pictures are actual photographs, the text is more informative and easier for children to make the connections to the trucks and firemen they see. Another reason why I enjoyed this book was because of the writing. The author included factual information in a way that engages young readers to continue reading. An example of this can be found on page thirty-four and it says that "Fire fighters are trained to respond with speed, skill, and courage. Sometimes they form drill teams and have races as practice for fighting a fire." The factual information gives readers the opportunity to learn while enjoying what they are reading. The central message for this book is how important firemen are to us as citizens of the country. Without them, we would be in a lot of trouble and because of that, we should show our gratitude and appreciation.

This was a wonderful book. I love reading historical fiction. The author has done a lot of research into the War of 1812. As a teacher I can tell you we don’t teach a lot about this war. I was surprised at how much I learned. I didn’t know what a powder monkey was. To think that young boys, around the age of 11 served on these war ships and gave their lives at such a young age was surprising. A powder monkey had to be fast and agile. Their main job was to run up and down the ladders from the deck, bringing gunpowder to the cannons. For that reason alone they were often targeted. If the person firing the cannons couldn’t get the powder from below then they couldn’t fire their cannon.

I couldn’t understand why Rankin was so set on joining the battle. He seemed almost fearless. His older brother William signed on and was trained to fire the cannon. One reason they were both signed on was because they could read and write. Most boys of that time, unless their parents were wealthy were unable to read and write. The bibliography and glossary helped a lot. For those people like me who want more information the bibliography was perfect.

Sackets Harbor Powder Monkey by Hope Irvin Marston gives us a glimpse into the war of 1812 from the perspective eleven year old Rankin, who was determined to help fight the British in a naval battle. I really enjoyed this book and learning more of the local war history.

I live near Lake Ontario,have been to Sackets Harbor many times, and have seen the reenactments. This made it easy and fun to envision the scenes of the story. It was very interesting learning about life on the lake in those days, and how even young boys contributed to the naval effort as 'powder monkeys' and more, a very dangerous job. This would be a great story to share with children or to have them read as an integrated literacy-history unit.

This is a perfectly fine children's book about fire trucks. It gave a little more detail about the actual trucks and fire fighters, but wasn't as liked by the little boy I babysat. The images are photographs with bright colors (which should be expected for a book about fire trucks). Still, cute book for flipping through.

What bird is the national symbol of our country? If Ben Franklin had gotten his way, it would be the turkey. No disrespect to turkeys, but most of us are probably glad that the bald eagle was chosen instead. In this volume of the “My Little Book” collection, two bald eagles return to their gigantic nest high above a large lake. They repair the winter damage with small branches and twigs. A few days later, the female lays an egg, and after two more days another egg comes. In about five weeks, the eggs hatch. Within three weeks, the baby birds are a foot tall. At six weeks, the eaglets are nearly as tall as their parents. When will the young birds be ready to make their first big leap from the nest? And how long will it take for them to become adults?
“Real books,” like this Next Generation Winner of the Indie Book Awards, are a wonderful way for young people to learn about various aspects of the natural world around us. Bald eagles are such magnificent creatures. Whenever we have seen them, whether displayed in zoos or flying in the wild, they always take our breath away. Author Hope Irvin Marston reminds us, “Bald eagles are a protected species. There are stiff penalties for anyone caught bothering them. When eagles are found dead—from collisions with cars, being unlawfully shot or trapped, or from natural causes--the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service salvages them. American Indians can legally acquire eagle feathers for use in religious ceremonies.” This is a great “little book” for kids on a very interesting subject.

Margaret Wilson was a real Scottish girl who lived from 1667 to 1685, and this book of historical fiction is based upon her life and is one of the “Chosen Daughters” series which includes Wings Like a Dove by Christine Farenhorst and Dr. Oma by Ethel Herr. It is the late seventeenth century in Scotland. King Charles II has turned his back on the Scottish Presbyterians and demands that everyone accept him as the head of the Church of Scotland. Those who refuse to do so are called the Covenanters. These include the Wilson family who live at Glenvernoch in Galloway. Margaret’s parents are Gilbert, a farmer, and Janet. Her older brothers are John and Robert. Her younger brother is Thomas, ten and her younger sister is Agnes, seven. Charles has sent his dragoons under John Gresham, Lord Claverhouse, along with James Scott, Duke of Monmouth, to enforce his demands. There is a division among the Covenanters. Some encourage militant action against the King, while others, like Mr. Wilson, abhor violence and seek a peaceful solution. Though his sympathies definitely lie with the Covenanters, he and his family still attend the local kirk with the King’s minister to protect his family and his property, but his older sons want to fight with the Covenanter army. Margaret is very conflicted about the whole situation.
As the book opens, Finlay Walker, a young neighbor of the Wilsons, has been savagely killed by an English dragoon who mistakenly thought that the boy was on his way to one of the forbidden Coventicle meetings. Finlay’s brother Fergus and Margaret are sweet on each other. Mr. Wilson sends John and Robert to Loudon Hill with letter offering to sell some of his cattle to his brother Samuel. While there, they attend a Conventicle and witness the Covenanter victory at the Battle of Drumclog. However, Samuel is fearful of reprisals, so he and his sons Andrew and Gavin, flee to Ireland. Gilbert orders his sons not to engage in the warfare, but they sneak off with Fergus to join the Covenanter army and suffer a disastrous defeat at the Battle of Bothwell Bridge. Fergus returns alone to tell the Wilsons that following the battle John and Robert escaped and decided to flee to Ireland also. What will happen when Margaret determines that she can no longer in good conscience attend the local kirk with her family? How will she respond to Fergus’s proposal of marriage? And what will happen when she and Agnes are caught and put in jail along with their friend the widow M’Lauchlan?
There are many things for which we Americans can be thankful regarding our nation’s heritage as colonies of England—the Magna Carta, the rights of yeomen, and English common law. However, there were some bad blips and bumps along the way, one of which was the royal absolutism of King Charles II that affected religious freedom. Author Hope Irvin Marston wrote, “The major incidents of the story are true, and all the characters were real people except for the Walkers and Margaret’s Uncle Samuel and his sons. I have fictionalized a few portions of my story to enhance the plot while reflecting life in the seventeenth century.” Against the Tide well portrays the dilemma of the Scottish Covenanters—when to submit to the King and when “we must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29). Firm believers in Christ who refused to compromise their convictions have often been persecuted—by the Romans, by the medieval Catholic Church, by the Nazis, etc. After all, Jesus Himself was put to death. Fortunately, when the “killing times” were over for the Covenanters eventually ended, people came to understand what an injustice had been done, but any system which condemns a harmless elderly lady and a harmless teenage girl to death just for refusing to acknowledge the King as Head of the Church was wrong and needed to be changed. It was just this kind of oppression that led to our Founding Fathers’ notion of religious freedom. And while we may not necessarily agree with all the Scots Presbyterians’ theology, it was out of their insistence on freedom of conscience that men like Thomas and Alexander Campbell and Barton Warren Stone in this country came preaching religious restoration. Some might think that the ending of this book is tragic and sorrowful, but many of us would conclude that in actuality it has a triumphant conclusion. Everyone should be able to appreciate Margaret Wilson’s courage to stand up for what she believed.

Genre: Informational Book

This is informational because none of the facts are made up, they are all real life things about big rigs and trucks. The pictures are also real, and the author of the book had to go through the different companies to make sure that her facts were accurate. There are no characters in the story, and the author is talking from the viewpoint of the narrator. The author includes different sayings from truck drivers as just interesting facts. It is not all about facts of the truck, but it explores the differences between the trucks, the potential life of a truck driver, and the inside of a truck engine. At the very end of the book, it calls out to the reader to explore what they like about trucks because they may be more interested later, and may want to further a career in truck driving themselves.
The media used in this book is photography. There are no illustrations, only real life pictures from each of the companies that the author talks about. The pictures are true to life and really good explanations of what the differences are. There is one graphic illustration of the inside of a truck engine, and I can tell this was done on the computer to show the working parts and the whole part of the big rig.
This book uses onomatopoeia a lot to describe the different sounds of a truck. The air brakes that the truckers use to take a lot of power out of the engine make a “swoosh” noise, and the Mack trucks “bark”, which is a low growling sound from the smokestacks. There are also many forms of imagery throughout the book to describe the different types of trucks. The “flying saucer” image is to describe the Ford emblem on a truck, and the Freightliner trucks have a “hot dog with a hump in the top” emblem.

Fantastic book

Excellent information about painted turtles. Full of details and beautiful illustrations.