Martha
Covers every chapter of Isaiah in summary, with application & thoughts to ponder. Not as good at teaching tools to apply generally.
Reality strikes! Hitting your head hurts, death can be ugly, dirt is messy, and injuries take time to heal. ... What a breath of fresh air!
Okay, so this isn't TECHNICALLY a homeschool book (in fact, the word was only mentioned about once), but I extrapolated some NICE answers to things people tell me when they're being obnoxious about family's educational choices....
I won this book on Goodreads, but was not reimbursed in any way for this review, except for getting to keep the book.
I liked the concept of this book (boy who can't recognize faces is eyewitness to his friend's murder), but I have to admit to being a bit nervous about whether or not it would be written in a believable way, particularly since most eyewitnesses in mysteries tend to rely on a lot of visual clues. I've read a fair number of mysteries, but I think this is the first one where the detective already knows he can never trust his own eyes.
Despite my doubts, I really enjoyed the story, right from the start. It was well-written (although the quotation marks were occasionally poorly edited) and entertaining. The clues came at a good pace & were generally both understandable & believable. Most of the characters were authentic enough to forget they were in a book. I sympathized with David even when I thought he was being stupid (standard omniscient-reader-recognized stupidity).
On the minus side, it has more adolescent angst & bad language/situations than I enjoy, but I guess that's normal in many places. I'm also not sure that a few of the characters would act quite that way (cop was too single-minded then suddenly reversed, murderer was too easy-going, certain girl had no brains at all). The action scene at the end dragged on too long. As faults go, however, they are easy to forgive.
Don't take the three stars to be a slight–it really does mean I liked the book. Enjoy!
Some content may not be appropriate for all readers (including me).
Spoilers!
Zombies, chewing off one's own hand, murderous relatives, treachery, slavers, and wiping out much of the cast of characters in order to introduce new icky ones does not make a book I like. I will not be reading the sequel.
I was given this book through a Goodreads give-away, but the review is all my opinion, for which I have not been compensated.
I wanted to like this book. The writing is good (although simple). The story is easy to follow. The concept is interesting. The main characters are understandable & likeable. Alas, I didn't make it much past page 100, because I couldn't tolerate the violence and ick-factor. I was hoping the story would have concentrated more on recovery, and perhaps it did later on, but one-third through the book, the story was getting more gross, not less. I did skip to the end (not something I normally do), and it seemed at least a bit better then. It did end kind of abruptly (perhaps it wouldn't have seemed so if I had read the entire book).
So, if you have a weak stomach, I suggest you not bother with this book. If you like reality-type horror and very gritty survival stories, though, you might give it a try.