Young Quills reviews

1. The characters have a lot of different attitudes.  (From Natalie's boldness to Phillip's timidness).  I like how the story is told in 3 people's views. (Main chapters by Lizzie, Hugo's letters and Natalie's diary entries.) I also like how it's set in a little town which (probably) nobody's heard of (unless it's made up) so you're not restricted with your imagination (eg London, you always think of Big Ben and other famous places).

8/10.

 

2. Paragraph 1: When and where is the book set? Who are the main characters? What happens to them in the story?

This fantastic book was set in 1953 just after World War ll had ended. Wild Natalie, her mysterious brother Philip, and their feisty mother had moved to the peaceful town of Norton. Soon after her arrival at the local school where she was referred to as ‘dangerous', yet although this would make many people attempt to veer away from her, this made the adventure-seeking Lizzie (who lived a good quality of life with her sister, mother and father) more attached to Natalie, wanting to find out more of her past and become like her; fierce, feisty, and feared. During the weeks in Norton when Natalie and Lizzie were ‘friends' Natalie discreetly tested Lizzie for her trust and secrecy. She went on the bewared pier of Norton and walked along it, urged Lizzie to follow her...And Lizzie did! Now Lizzie had proven to be a true friend, Natalie only had to wait a few days to tell her what her plan was. In her colourful room - described as something out of the "Arabian nights" - Natalie told the innocent Lizzie that there were still left over Nazis, since evil could never be rid of. I would not like to spoil most of the book for any willing readers, yet in their ambitious act to rid evil, Natalie, Lizzie, and Philip secretly carried out missions that only this threesome knew about. These included burning down an innocent painters caravan which was later put down as an accident, since the Painter (Hugo) had managed to rescue his paintings, yet was too late to rescue Philip (who could see the future, yet was too young to control his powers) from the licking flames caused by his closest family and friend. However, the evil-seeking had proven too much for Natalie and Lizzie since after the completion of their chaos/missions they became paranoid from evil and had to take pills to stop them breaking out in screams of fear. They had felt guilty of their hunt for the left-over Nazis which had caused hurt to innocent people,  yet the last, gripping sentence of the book is: " ...but to pick up my life again. As me."

Paragraph 2: Did you enjoy the book? Is there a special character or event or place that you particularly liked or thought was effective? Do you think the historical setting and detail in the book was realistic? Did the book make you want to find out more about that period of history? Did the book make you want to read more books by this author? Is there anything else you want to say about this book?

I enjoyed this book very much and was surprised from the historical twist in it. I particularly liked Lizzie, since her personality changed throughout the book and I could empathise with her and I imagined it really well. I also enjoyed reading about the painter in the caravan, since at first I thought it was meaningless to the story yet I later realised it was a major part of the story - I also liked how Diana Hendry linked the story to the painter since it shows she thought deeply about the depth of the story. I strongly think that the historical setting of this story was realistic since there was a fairly long period of time were people were suspicious of left over Nazis that would hurt them at any unexpected moment. This book definitely made me want to research more about this period of history, so I did! Of course, Diana Hendry researched a lot before writing this book since all of the factors were factual.

Paragraph 4: Who would you recommend the book to (age group, gender, people interested in a particular period)?

I would recommend this book to both genders of people between 12 and 15 years of age since The Seeing is a fairly simple-worded book and is quite short, yet requires understanding of World War ll. For this reason I would also recommend it to people who are interested in World War ll and the short period after it.

Reviewed by Noura

 

3. I enjoyed this book because it has an interesting twist at the end. I found the character of Hugo clever. He is an artist and he shows a wild girl called Natalie (whose mother is a prostitute) that life does not revolve around her. The historical part of the book was quite accurate, but I am not sure people (like an 8 year old boy called Philip) can really see the swastikas on people' s hearts. This book made me interested in what kind of things really did happen after the war. I enjoyed the style in which Hendry wrote the book. I would give this book to people aged 13 and above, because it is quite emotional.

Reviewed by Lauren

 

4. I thought it was a very good gripping book full of adventures and views. It was one of the books which you want to continue reading. Even though the book was fantastic, historically, I don't think it had enough facts of the war. It was more taking about Swastikas affecting the view of Philip. The ending of the book was interesting and unexpected as you wouldn't expect for Natalie to kill her own brother therefore that was another reason why I liked that book. If this book had more historic facts and relates it more to the past and war, I would have enjoyed the book more, however overall, it is worth reading.

I give it 7½ out of 10. It lacked history, otherwise excellent book!

Reviewed by By Ria

 

5. I thought the seeing was quite a good book. It started really well but as it neared the climax, the story disintegrated in Natalie's hatred for Hugo and Philip's preference for Hugo over Natalie, which I thought was not very interesting and the story changed for the worse. Then I thought the ending was far too quick and did not answer any of my questions. I did not think that it had any historical relevance at all as all it mentioned was a belief that almost certainly would have not existed. I would give it a 6/10.

Reviewed by Sophie

 

6. Did you enjoy the book?

Yes, it was very descriptive and interesting.

Is there a special character or event or place that you particularly liked or thought was good?

I like the creepy town, Norton, they live in and especially like Natalie's personality.                                                                                                                         

Do you think the history in the book was realistic?

It did seem real with all the names for the characters and places and the author described it so well i felt as if i was there watching it happen.

Did the book make you want to find out more about history?

Yes, it made want to know more about ww1 and ww2 as it seemed very interesting.

Did the book make you want to read more books by this author?

Yes

Is there anything else you want to say about this book?

It is very realistic.

Reviewed by Sophie