⋙ PDF Listening for Lions Gloria Whelan Books

Listening for Lions Gloria Whelan Books

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Listening for Lions Gloria Whelan Books

My twelve year old son Aidan declared this book better than Call it Courage because the main character didn't know she was courageous and had to find courage because of her circumstances and the main character in Call it Courage was trying to prove he was courageous so that doesn't really count. Considering he is a 12 year old boy and Call it Courage is ripe with killing animals, outdoor survival, and other boy stuff, I'd call this a fairly ringing endorsement!


Tags : Amazon.com: Listening for Lions (9780060581763): Gloria Whelan: Books,Gloria Whelan,Listening for Lions,HarperCollins,006058176X,9780060581763,Family - Orphans & Foster Homes,Historical - Africa,Historical - Europe,Africa, East - History - 20th century,Africa, East;History;20th century;Fiction.,Great Britain - History - George V, 1910-1936,Orphans,Orphans;Fiction.,Physicians,Self-realization,Self-realization;Fiction.,Adventure stories (Children's Teenage),Children's BooksAges 9-12 Fiction,Children: Grades 4-6,Fiction,JUVENILE FICTION Family Orphans & Foster Homes,JUVENILE FICTION Historical Africa,JUVENILE FICTION Religious Christian Historical,JUVENILE FICTION Social Themes General (see also headings under Family),Juvenile Fiction,Juvenile Fiction Historical Europe,Juvenile FictionFamily - Orphans & Foster Homes,Juvenile FictionHistorical - Africa,Juvenile Historical Fiction,Social Themes - General

Listening for Lions Gloria Whelan Books Reviews

My daughter recommended the book and I read it in about four hours. I couldn't put it down..It is a work of fiction and I so wanted it to be a true story. I could see mature young readers, but too young or immature wouldn't deal with the harsh storyline. Read it!
This is a book with strong morals. The narrative is told first person past tense, like the main character is telling you a story, which interesting. The story is interesting and gripping. My only complaint is that it is a little light, by that I mean not just short, but missing some introspection and depth that it could have had. But, all around this is a book with a good story and interesting characters, which makes it a good read.
This is a great book and very hard to find on CD. We were glad to find it. It arrived quickly and works great. This is one of our favorite young adult fiction books and according to a friend that grew up in Africa, very much like her childhood. We let her borrow the book and she was moved to tears it brought back so many memories.
This was a sweet story that I enjoyed. I read it in one night and shared it with my 11 year daughter to read. I look forward to comparing our ideas and views of the book when she’s read it,
This book has the basis of a really good story. But, sadly, it felt like I was reading a summary rather than a novel. Too little character and story development.
Listening for Lions is about a young lady, raised in Africa, whose parents die. She is tricked into impersonating the daughter of a very unscrupulous couple.

I very much enjoyed the details in this book, as well as the wide story arc. It ended rather unexpectedly and abruptly though, which was the only reason four the four, rather than five, star review.

I have stayed up too many nights in a row reading excellent books, so apologies for the inelegant review.

It's a great book. I'm glad I bought and read it.
Definitely recommended.
I really, really wanted to like Listening for Lions. The cover is beautiful, the title intriguing, and the plot sounded creative and full of possibility.

Unfortunately, I found the book to be tedious, the characters muddy and one-dimensional, and the actual story fell far short of my expectations.

The villains in this book truly are--greedy, scheming, hateful people who are furious about having been "exiled" to Africa. They're lazy, cruel, and have not a spark of humanity. (I'm trying to avoid spoilers here, but there are several instances when they could have shown glimmers of being real people, but didn't.)

Part of this one-dimensionality is a part of the first person voice (meaning it's hard to write in the first person and illuminate all the characters' motives), but it seems intentional here, and I think its a shortcoming.

The grandfather Rachel goes to live with isn't particular developed, either, nor is his staff, or really, anyone Rachel meets along the way.

The lack of character development might have been okay had Rachel been a more sympathetic character. Instead, she's wracked with guilt over the situation she finds herself in (that she really couldn't have done anything to change), homesick, and generally pretty whiny. I get the impression we're supposed to see her as heroic, a great storyteller with a plucky spirit, but instead, she seems pretty mousy to me, managing to make even a leopard attack seem sort of every day.

What redeems this book is the clarity of setting. The scenes in Africa are beautifully described and it's easy to picture yourself there in a completely different time. The scenes in England are similarly beautiful, and I liked that the author didn't seem to give extra care to writing one or the other. In fact, she did a really lovely job of imbuing Africa with an obvious sense of being Rachel's home without diminishing the English setting.

I'm not sorry I read it, it's a quick read, and of historical interest, but it could have been so much more, and I am disappointed in the end result. For the setting, I think it's worth the 3 stars and the time to read it, but it's definitely not a book I'll be keeping in my collection. This one's getting donated to the library.
My twelve year old son Aidan declared this book better than Call it Courage because the main character didn't know she was courageous and had to find courage because of her circumstances and the main character in Call it Courage was trying to prove he was courageous so that doesn't really count. Considering he is a 12 year old boy and Call it Courage is ripe with killing animals, outdoor survival, and other boy stuff, I'd call this a fairly ringing endorsement!