Panther Book Reviews

                                         BUILDING BRIDGES WITH BOOKS

Dear Students:  Are YOUR paw prints included on the bridge spanning the ceiling in the library yet? The bridge will extend from the panther on the wall by the computer lab over to the panther on the opposite wall by our Spanish books.

This bridge will be a visual symbol of the connections our students are making with others as they read about different people within the pages of the great books we have in our library.

Panther Book Reviews - an opportunity to write about new understandings or insights gained for other people or groups of people. Come pick up a form from Mrs Russell, fill it out and let us know about the characters you have been discovering in our tomes. Come help us build bridges with books! Bridges help us all get where we need to go.

Benefits: Your name  will be entered in a monthly drawing for treats. You will have a chance to leave your 'print' or 'prints' on our school. Our books will help you to build bridges to your future.

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Book Review: Stones For My Father              Author: Trilby Kent                  Reviewer: Mrs Russell

This is a remarkable book, a first person narrative, in which main character Corlie Roux, a twelve year old Boer, or Africaaner girl relates her story of living during the Boer War. Her family lived on a farm in the Transvaal, a very beautiful but harsh land in South Africa.

The Anglo-Boer War was fought between the British Empire and the two independent Boer republics: the Transvaal and the Orange Free State. It lasted from October of 1899 to May of 1902.

The Boers were descendants of French, Dutch and German people who, in the 1700's, had fled religious persecution in Europe. Seeking a place where they could enjoy a free life, they settled in Southern Africa. They worked as farmers and worshipped at Dutch Reformed churches. They became known as Africaaners and were the first of two white peoples to settle the land.

The second group was the British. They fought the Africaaners for control of the gold mines. land and Africans. The war that broke out just weeks before Corlie's father died was supposed to get rid of the British for good. It didn't.

About 50 years after the Boer War ended I was born in the Transvaal to a British mother and a father of British heritage. He was a third generation citizen of South Africa. As I read Corlie's tale of the British Army's scorched earth policy and of the internment camps they set up for Boer women and children I felt much regret and shame. War is never a pleasant thing but when I thought about the things the British had perpetrated on this group of people as they pursued their goal of empire expansion I felt indignant. It is a sad thing when those that possess the greater power feel justified in using it to accomplish whatever it is they desire at the expense of those in the way.

Stones For My Father is a touching story of a young girl who demonstrates great courage, loyalty and the ability to love amidst much emotional and physical stress. It is an excellent read.