Review by JGretz-7 -- Strong Heart by Charlie Sheldon
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JGretz-7
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Review by JGretz-7 -- Strong Heart by Charlie Sheldon
[Following is a volunteer review of "Strong Heart" by Charlie Sheldon.]
The story of Strong Heart begins with Tom finding out he has a very headstrong, twelve-year-old granddaughter. Sarah’s dropped off on Tom’s doorstep as William, his best friend, and William’s adult daughter, Myra, are preparing to set off on a hiking and camping trek with Tom into Olympic National Park. The threesome becomes a foursome, and their journey gets off to a rocky start. However, with the sharing of their personal histories and stories, Sarah slowly begins to warm-up to her grandfather and his friends while she also learns about her native ancestry. Trouble is never far-off though. As the group proceeds, they continue to have run-ins with Buckhorn staff. Buckhorn is trying to gain access to mine a mineral in the park, which is dividing the local native residents. Things get dicey when Sarah goes missing and Buckhorn's greed wars with native traditions and cultures.
Myra describes the Olympic National Park as “a place of magic, history and legend”, which is a very accurate description of the book. Sheldon masterfully weaves scientific theories based on data and evidence in with the legends and ‘data’ of Sarah’s dream quest. Much of the book is Sarah’s retelling of her journey and experiences when she was missing. The line between reality and legend becomes blurry as multiple people experience the same vision. They must learn to not only trust each other, but also to trust the voices and images from the past. The past may just hold the key to the future.
I have taught many of the elementary grades and have a language arts background. I love to pull in books that tie to other content areas, particularly social studies. Whenever I read a book like this, my mind immediately goes to all of my previous students that I would recommend it to, which reluctant readers I could engage in the story line, and how I could spark their curiosity with reading certain passages. Reading this book, I could not stop thinking about units I’ve taught about the various regions in the United States and how the people who came before us managed to survive in harsh environments. I wish I had read this book earlier!
I would recommend Strong Heart to people at least ten years of age. The younger end of that spectrum would be best suited if it is used as a read aloud with frequent conversation about the text. While there is violence, blood, and death, the story would lead to great discussions about what drives people and when to recognize when the code of ethics is violated. It’s also just a great read for any individual who likes survival and adventure stories.
Strong Heart by Charlie Sheldon deserves a four out of four star rating. I just couldn’t put it down. It’s full of mystery, adventure, native lore, and just enough scientific theory regarding the age of the human race, who descended from whom, and migration patterns to really get the wheels turning. Sheldon’s second book in this series, Adrift, explores some of the other areas in the North Pacific that were mentioned in Strong Heart. The story line continues with this same cast of characters, but marginal characters take more prominent roles. I wish I had read Strong Heart before I read Adrift as it would have been easier to keep track of all the characters and more thoroughly understand the references and relationships. The only negative was some grammatical errors, however, they were not a significant distraction.
******
Strong Heart
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
The story of Strong Heart begins with Tom finding out he has a very headstrong, twelve-year-old granddaughter. Sarah’s dropped off on Tom’s doorstep as William, his best friend, and William’s adult daughter, Myra, are preparing to set off on a hiking and camping trek with Tom into Olympic National Park. The threesome becomes a foursome, and their journey gets off to a rocky start. However, with the sharing of their personal histories and stories, Sarah slowly begins to warm-up to her grandfather and his friends while she also learns about her native ancestry. Trouble is never far-off though. As the group proceeds, they continue to have run-ins with Buckhorn staff. Buckhorn is trying to gain access to mine a mineral in the park, which is dividing the local native residents. Things get dicey when Sarah goes missing and Buckhorn's greed wars with native traditions and cultures.
Myra describes the Olympic National Park as “a place of magic, history and legend”, which is a very accurate description of the book. Sheldon masterfully weaves scientific theories based on data and evidence in with the legends and ‘data’ of Sarah’s dream quest. Much of the book is Sarah’s retelling of her journey and experiences when she was missing. The line between reality and legend becomes blurry as multiple people experience the same vision. They must learn to not only trust each other, but also to trust the voices and images from the past. The past may just hold the key to the future.
I have taught many of the elementary grades and have a language arts background. I love to pull in books that tie to other content areas, particularly social studies. Whenever I read a book like this, my mind immediately goes to all of my previous students that I would recommend it to, which reluctant readers I could engage in the story line, and how I could spark their curiosity with reading certain passages. Reading this book, I could not stop thinking about units I’ve taught about the various regions in the United States and how the people who came before us managed to survive in harsh environments. I wish I had read this book earlier!
I would recommend Strong Heart to people at least ten years of age. The younger end of that spectrum would be best suited if it is used as a read aloud with frequent conversation about the text. While there is violence, blood, and death, the story would lead to great discussions about what drives people and when to recognize when the code of ethics is violated. It’s also just a great read for any individual who likes survival and adventure stories.
Strong Heart by Charlie Sheldon deserves a four out of four star rating. I just couldn’t put it down. It’s full of mystery, adventure, native lore, and just enough scientific theory regarding the age of the human race, who descended from whom, and migration patterns to really get the wheels turning. Sheldon’s second book in this series, Adrift, explores some of the other areas in the North Pacific that were mentioned in Strong Heart. The story line continues with this same cast of characters, but marginal characters take more prominent roles. I wish I had read Strong Heart before I read Adrift as it would have been easier to keep track of all the characters and more thoroughly understand the references and relationships. The only negative was some grammatical errors, however, they were not a significant distraction.
******
Strong Heart
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
