Webster Bible Church and Webster Christian School Library Blog

Life in Kate’s Hungarian family never seems to stop changing. They move into Kate’s father’s brother’s house, where Kate learns to live with her cousin, Jansci. They take in a spoiled girl named Lily. Kate’s father, Sandor Nagy, and Jansci’s father, Marton Nagy, leave to fight in World War I. The family takes in people suffering from the war such as their grandparents, a young woman named Mari, six Russian prisoners, and six German children.

As a young teenager, Kate is confused by the differences and language barriers at first, but she learns to accept them. She realizes that all people, no matter what nationality, are “all same,” as the Russian prisoner Grigori told her. The German child, Hans, accepts the Russians and begins to like them despite the bad but untrue things he had heard about Russians in his hometown.

When Marton Nagy returned from the war, he told his family a true story that happened while he was in the army: He and the other soldiers were tired and weary. There were no animals or other living things in sight, and they thought they would never see any again. They noticed one lone apple tree covered with singing birds. This tree, which they called the “singing tree,” gave them new hope.

This book shows the horrors of war and the power of compassion. There is suspense in finding out which characters survived the war and which did not. A kind storekeeper named Uncle Moses was a Jew who helped people to disbelieve the lies about Jews that were being spread at that time.

I really enjoyed reading The Singing Tree, sequel toThe Good Master. Kate Seredy gives the reader a clear picture of life during World War I, and this book shows how people feel when someone they love is in the military. It also shows how in a war, an individual who to some people is just another soldier or even an enemy, to someone else could be a friend or relative. I recommend The Singing Tree to anyone who is interested in war-time historical fiction or stories so realistic it feels like you are really there.

Webster Christian School student, Grade 8

What would you do if you found a cricket all alone in the middle of the city? Would you care for it, or just leave it?

Well, George Seldon creates an amazing adventurous story about a boy and his very talented cricket. Mario finds this talented cricket in Times Square. He knows crickets bring good luck, but with all the things that are happening, it is not what you call luck. It is the opposite.

When the cricket is threatened to get kicked out he devises a plan, a plan to get all the money he accidentally wasted. This is when the adventure begins.

This book keeps you guessing what will happen with the poor family and the cricket. It makes you want to read the book more.

You can tell Seldon has experience with writing . This book definitely deserves the Newbery Award.

Webster Christian School student, Grade 8

The story takes place in October around fifty years ago. Sounder and his family live in Green Hill in the country. They are not that wealthy and don’t have that much money.

Sounder is the best dog in the world with a mixture of redbone hound and bulldog. When Sounder barks everyone in the whole countryside can hear him bark. Early in the story Sounder was shot and ran away. After a couple weeks Sounder returns.

The boy’s dad was injured while he was in jail. So one day while mom and the boy were on the porch talking, the boy’s dad came home. They were finally able to see him and live with him again.

I think that the message was to never give up. Throughout the book the boy always wanted to read. In the end he was able to learn to read. The boy kept on looking for the dog and believing that he would see Sounder again.

My favorite part was when his dad got to get out of jail.

Sounder won the Newbery Medal. The author does a great job of describing the setting and all that is going on. I would recommend this book to anyone that likes sad books.

Webster Christian School student, 8th grade

“A series of congenial letters from Screwtape, an elderly devil, advising his nephew Wormwood, an apprentice devil, how to corrupt his earthly ‘patient’.”(Follett Titlewave)

I read this short book as a student at Washington Bible College, and it left a strong impression upon me.

As part of the 9th-grade Bible class at Webster Christian School, the students are required to read and report on one book per quarter.  I applaud our Bible teacher for stretching the students by requiring them to read thought-provoking books.

Alex and Brett Harris, authors of Do Hard Things (another book the 9th graders are required to read), are challenging teens to read hard things.  In a recent blog post entitled “John Piper:  Reading as Thinking,” the brothers share their thoughts about John Piper’s book Think:  The Life of the Mind and the Love of Christ. 

The students just completed The Screwtape Letters. 

We’ve asked the Bible teacher, Jon Kelly (also the youth pastor at Webster Bible Church), to add his comments and to encourage the students to comment, too.