Eventually she breaks free of their domination, stands on her own, and makes new bonds with new friends / family who truly care about her, and gains the means to provide for herself with a bright future. At some point, she falls under the control of a villainous character (or duo) who tries to make her believe they are looking out for her best interests (out of pity) while they are actually taking advantage of her and her situation for their own gain while they belittle her and keep her down. Nevertheless, many of the same story elements are here as in Whelan's other recent novels:Ī strong heroine in an international setting loses her loving family and goes on a long, harrowing journey. PETERSBURG #3 / BURYING THE SUN) were starting to sound the same, LISTENING FOR LIONS seemed much fresher in comparison. While some of Whelan's recent books (i.e., CHU JU'S HOUSE and ST. At the end of the book, my students even broke into spontaneous applause! The book was (as many of Whelan's books are) great at illustrating for students the use of symbolism in writing (see also Whelan's HOMELESS BIRD and MIRANDA'S LAST STAND, among others, for examples of symbolism that students can grasp). While I am not usually wild about books without much "action," my students and I were really hooked into this book, due to Whelan's character development and interplay. I read LISTENING FOR LIONS, Gloria Whelan's 38th book, as a read-aloud to my fourth graders from the newly released galley of the book (I wrote this review on April 8, but Amazon wasn't taking reviews for it at that point).
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