Mal PeetReseñas

Absolutely beautiful. Almost transcendent. A fine story to enjoy and the star of the show is Juan Wijngaard’s illustrations.

An old-fashioned tale that would make a great classroom or bedtime read-aloud for kids as young as six or seven. It's about an old man who guides travelers through the desert. It gives off a folktale vibe, though the story is original. I won't spoil the plot, but I will tell you it took me less than an hour to read and the illustrations are great.

I thought this was a great book. It was engaging, funny, sad; and I loved the history of the Cuban missile crisis woven in.

Good story about a youth in Brazil whose father works at cutting wood in the jungle. It has a some supernatural parts as he learns to become a great soccer goalkeeper. Worthwhile.

The theme is enduring abuse and many hardships,set in 1907, during a depression. Beck is a book that covers the life of an orphaned black boy named Beck from Liverpool who endures the loss of his parents, the sexual abuse by the Catholic Brothers, and slave treatment of those that were to protect him. Beck's father and mother died when he was very young so he grew up raising himself and his brothers. Beck was sent to Canada to live with the Catholic Brothers to start a new life, but then things changed. One of the priests decided that he would make Beck his, and lured him in, so that he could sexually abuse him. Beck fought back, and because of this ended up getting beaten and raped. The priests shipped him off. At the age of fifteen he got sent to work on a farm, where he was told would be a good life for him, but yet again he was enslaved and abused. He eventually escaped. He starts to make his way back to the border to America. As he is making his way, he hides in a truck that turns out to belong to a bootlegging business. They hire him on as a bootlegger, but at the same time take care of him. Giving him his own room and teaching him how to be a proper man. The woman who runs the operation Irma really takes a liking to Beck. Soon Beck is too far deep into the bootlegging business and things turn bad between the people he works for and another bootlegger business. Beck is caught up in a fight and possibly the killing of another man. Irma takes Beck, giving him money and transportation to the train station. She tells him that she wants him to get away, be safe and make a new life for himself. Beck finally knew what it was like to actually care for someone, and now it was over. Eventually Beck meets Grace. Grace was an Indian girl who had been living with her grandmother on a ranch. Even though she was in her 30’s he felt a longing for her. He took on a job on the ranch. Eventually he and Grace shared a relationship but they both knew it could not continue because he was black and she was an Indian. He learned to love for the first time in his life. Beck leaves but after several months he knew he belonged with Grace. That was home to him, but would she have him back? He makes his way back, and Grace is waiting. They begin a life together.

My favorite part is when they tell the readers how Beck's mother and father died because it was more about how and why they were dead. I also enjoy the suspense of the book. You kept wondering what would happen to Beck next. I really didn’t like some of the graphic scenes about what happened to Beck with the priests, but understand that it was part of his story.

I think this book would be really good as a movie because it has what everyone is looking for in a movie. Suspense, love, and crime. I found it easy to read, and a little sad at times about all this boy had to go through to make it. I recommend this book to people who like thrillers and suspense, and also people who like romance. I do think everyone will enjoy reading this book. This book is good to read in your spare time or when you get bored in class at school. This book is a very good story with a lot of suspense in some parts of the book. A lot of people have left very good reviews on this book and I'm another one saying that there should be more people to buy this book and enjoy it.

As a child Sandie is plagued by nightmare where she is chased by an evil black dog until her Mum gets her a real dog to lie under her bed and "chase" the nightmares away. Sandie grows up to be a police woman and after her dog dies, the nightmares return. One night, chasing a shooter to the roof of a building, the black dog appears again ......for real. A story about depression and the power of mental illness. The book says :Not for younger readers" but Year 7s and 8s would be fine with the subject matter, even the descriptions of the shooter's victims and the shooter's descent into madness as he is overcome by his depression/the black dog. Printed on sepia paper with dyslexic friendly font. Illustrated with quite dark images.½

Monkeys come to the rescue of a struggling family in this traditional tale from a Carnegie Medal winner. Tashi lives in a tiny village below the tea plantations where her mother earns a living. One day her mother falls ill, and Tashi must pick tea to earn the money for a doctor. But she is too small to reach the tender shoots and the cruel Overseer sends her away empty-handed. Tashi needs a miracle. Then, on the mountains high above the plantation where only monkeys live, something extraordinary happens that will change her life for ever...This title is based on a centuries-old tale of tea-picking monkeys, a richly-told story full of characters.

Funniest fantasy I've read in a long time, a lot darker then Sir Terry but the best parts weren't the fantasy in the fantasy but the author stuff. I saw a lot of this coming in adavance but knowing what was to happen didn't detract from the novel.

A dry beauty is drawn out of the desert. And it is done well.

A lyrical tale set in the Sahara weaves together the story of intrepid traders in camel caravans, the guides who help them find their way, and a family’s experience of loss and love. Beautifully illustrated.

Teen fiction (for people who don't read teen fiction). A curious amalgam of war novel and historic romance, this is a slower-paced book (the lovers don't actually meet until p. 137) but thoroughly enjoyable. The narrator's voice is intelligent with occasional malaprops: "as cunning as a lavatory rat" (p. 235) and "brain choked on an anagram" (p. 364). I would suspect these were deliberate choices by the author, but the effect is imbalanced rather than humorous--the book would have been better without.

I thought this book was perfect. I was gripped the entire way through and I really, really didn't want it to end! It kept throwing surprises at me and I never knew what was happening next.

I identified with the characters, and I think they are really good portrayals of teenagers. They just seemed right, you know? I think the dialogue was spot on as well.

I loved the style of writing. I desperately want to read another of Peet's books, to get my fix of his writing because it is amazing!

And the ending! Oh the ending! I won't spoil anything, but oh my god the ending!

I love books about overcoming the influence of Catholics. It's also a very enjoyable and heartwarming read.

bonkers, a slow burn but super intense and awesome. however, coming of age stories aren't necessarily young adult stories, DANG.

This is a cute ghost story about sports, or a cute sports story that has ghosts. A boy from a logging town on the edge of the Brazilian rainforest finds a supernatural clearing where a mysterious goalkeeper takes him under his wing and shows him how to be the best keeper he can be. His talent and work are rewarded, he finds his way out of the working classes, he excels, he wins the world cup, but always with an edge of the supernatural to him.

I loved the technical side of this; you genuinely learn about what it feels like to be a goalie, all the considerations that have to be internalized and instinctive to make you one of the best. The book is set in a world where talent is recognized, hard work is rewarded, and enlightened self-interest leads to the best outcomes for the right people; you can argue about whether that world is this world, but the interest of the book is specifically in how you react to a gift from heaven, not so much in other kinds of struggle. As such it's single minded and satisfying, with a nice twist at the end. Recommended if you like soccer stories, or ghost stories, or if you have a goalie in your life.

The South American goalkeeper who has just led his team in winning the World Cup tells his life story to the most famous South American sports writer in an exclusive interview, but Paul (the writer) gets so much more than he bargained for in El Gato's story, and the keeper has his own motives for telling all of his secrets.

I honestly didn't think I'd like this book, because I couldn't imagine enjoying any book about any kind of sport. But this one is about so much more than soccer. It combines a deep-set love of the game with a coming-of-age story wrapped in magical realism and with a healthy dose of environmental consciousness. In short, it's a winner.½

RGG: Fantastical story about the making of a World Cup soccer goalie. Part is set in a rain forest being destroyed by logging.

RGG: Fantastical story about the making of a World Cup soccer goalie. Part is set in a rain forest being destroyed by logging.

not as good as The storyteller / Turk, Evan.

Times were tough in 1907 England and Beck’s mother did what she needed to survive. One encounter with a passing sailor resulted in Beck’s birth. He never knew his father. One month before his eleventh birthday, “…his grandparents and his mother and his daft kindly uncle all died in the flu epidemic. Anne [his mother] was the last to go.” Beck was taken to the Catholic orphanage, “…run by the methodically cruel Sisters of Mercy.” Being of mixed race, Beck was victimized both by the Sisters as well as other orphans. One March morning in 1922 he was transferred to the Christian Brotherhood Home for Boys. However, his tenure was short lived when he spurned the advances of one of the priests. He was unceremoniously put on a vessel bound for Canada to work on a farm, an activity totally foreign to him. His sponsors were cruel and bigoted and at the first opportunity, Beck escaped to wander through Canada trying to survive.

beck tamar
Beck, started by Mal Peet and completed by Meg Rosoff after his death, is a marvelous tale of a boy beaten down at every turn, whose self-image is destroyed by his ‘protectors’, trying to find his way in the world. It is an adventure story as well as a love story, although love is a foreign concept to him. Both Mal Peet and Meg Rosoff both are excellent writers as you can see by the quotes I included in this review. Readers will feel Beck’s torture, both physical and emotional. They will experience his physical hardships but will also rejoice when he discovers what true love is. Beck will be enjoyed by fans of Mal Peet, historical fiction and adventure.

Tamar and Life: An Exploded Diagram are the only Mal Peet books I’ve read, both of which I enjoyed. They are vastly different books from each other as well as from Beck. The publisher’s description of Tamar is: “When her grandfather dies, Tamar inherits a box containing a series of clues and coded messages. Out of the past, another Tamar emerges, a man involved in the terrifying world of resistance fighters in Nazi-occupied Holland half a century before. His story is one of passionate love, jealousy, and tragedy set against the daily fear and casual horror of the Second World War — and unraveling it is about to transform Tamar’s life forever”. It, too, is full of adventure, has a romantic component, and is extremely well written. It is one of my favorite books.

My suggestion is: read any Mal Peet books you can get your hands on.

A Dutch resistance fighter trained by a branch of the British Secret Services, after surviving the starving winter of 1944-45 in Holland, moves to England and marries. They raise their son, and watch their granddaughter, Tamar, grow. At 15, Tamar uses her grandfather’s maps for a road trip.

Both this story and the author’s way of writing it were haunting. Perfectly paced, characterizations well nuanced, setting written with a strong sense of place, showing the awfulness of war, yet without too much graphic horror, this is a very well written YA book that mature audiences can sink their teeth into, as well.

Highly recommended.

Tamar by Mal Peet is a vividly told story that jumps back and forth from WW II to the present. In 1944 two soldiers are dropped into Holland to help organize the Resistance while in 1995 a young woman launches her search to reveal family secrets from the strange clues in a shoebox left for her by her grandfather.

This is a story of love, jealousy and betrayal. I found the love triangle a bit of a stretch, but the details about Holland during this last year of World War II was fascinating. I am not usually a fan of books that follow two timelines but I thought this plot device worked well here and I found myself totally drawn into both stories. The “twist” at the end of the book was certainly no surprise but overall I found this book highly readable.

Tamar is classified as a YA book but I would say it’s definitely for 14+ as the author does not steer away from the brutality of the war. Tamar is a well constructed, multi-layered story that I enjoyed.

A sports novel set in South America. A young boy feels disconnected from his peers. In the forest he meets up with a 'being' who trains him to become a world renowned soccer player. A YA read.

Clem is not wealthy. Frankie is. Clem's father works for Frankie's father. Frankie and Clem never should have met, but Frankie was doing penance for acting out at school, and had to do labor on her father's farm. And once Clem and Frankie met, there was no turning back. They must keep their relationship secret, so they sneak around and find places to meet. As their relationship progresses, so does the Cuban Missile Crisis, which creates evens that push Clem and Frankie to do things they may not have otherwise. This book was okay. I had a hard time keeping some of the characters straight, and this time period is not all that interesting to me. I finished reading it because I have read so many dystopian YA books lately, and wanted to branch out. But boy, was it hard to get through. The language was beautiful, and the research seemed well-done, but I just didn't like it overall that much. I don't know many teens who would read it either; the love story was there, but it was a little hard to follow because the story jumped around, and there were chapters with quite a bit of history interspersed with the chapters of the story.

This book ties two time periods together in a thrilling story of generations. With an excess of dramatic irony, I was on the edge of my seat for the whole story. The beginning is a bit jerky because the author throws you into the middle of WWII. As the story unfolds, we are transported forward in time to a teenage girl with her own mystery to solve. As the title says: espionage, passion, and betrayal en-capture the audience until the very end.