Early Thunder Review
Early Thunder
By Jean Fritz
⭐⭐
With many books, reading them in school makes you notice a lot more faults and bad writing. This is because language arts teachers force you to read them slowly and pick apart every single little detail. This makes books that would normally take you a few days take a few months read in class and by the end of those months you are generally tired of the whole plot line and you never want to read it again. Wonder, Love That Dog, even Hatchet is fine if you read it quickly enough. This is not so with Early Thunder. It is truly in a class by itself. Here's the summary:
It has This Weird Capitalization of Random Words: I hate it when authors do this. They try to make a point by capitalizing the "important" words but all it does is make it sound like a kindergartner wrote that part. Here's an example: " . . .and Salem was Here." Why did Jean Fritz make the H in "Here" a capital letter?!?!? We know that Daniel lives in Salem, alright? Why do we need to be reminded again?
Daniel Is A Bully: He's so selfish and thinks HE'S the only one that matters and that everyone should care about HIS loyalty and should get out of HIS way as HE has HIS moral struggles. Throughout the book, he bullies Peter shamelessly, knowing that Peter is poor and that all Peter wants is for his mother to be happy. Later, when he doesn't get his way, he runs away to go pout alone on an island and has Jeremy take him food so he can survive. Also, when he is in the town hall he looks at the dried up Native American heads on the wall and thinks something along the lines "Those disgusting things" he doesn't think "oh those poor people" he thinks about the Native Americans as if they were inanimate objects!!! I know this is a different time but still!!!!!!!
If you have escaped this monstrosity in school so far consider yourself very, very lucky. That is the type of thing you should say you are thankful for on Thanksgiving. What I'm thankful for: I only had to read it once.
Summary: The American revolution is beginning and Daniel, a fourteen year old living in Salem, Massachusetts has to make the most important decision of his life.
Sounds promising, right? That's what I thought too. After I finished I didn't think that any more. Let's see why:
It's Boring: Nothing ever happens!!!!!!!(And this is coming from someone who read the Lord of the Rings) There is one tiny piece of something in each chapter that adds an infinitesimal bit to the weak plot. At the (highly predictable!) end, Daniel gets into a fight with a redcoat and then announces he is a Whig and everyone's happy, even Peter, who Daniel has bullied too many times to count. ARGHH!!😡😡😡It has This Weird Capitalization of Random Words: I hate it when authors do this. They try to make a point by capitalizing the "important" words but all it does is make it sound like a kindergartner wrote that part. Here's an example: " . . .and Salem was Here." Why did Jean Fritz make the H in "Here" a capital letter?!?!? We know that Daniel lives in Salem, alright? Why do we need to be reminded again?
Daniel Is A Bully: He's so selfish and thinks HE'S the only one that matters and that everyone should care about HIS loyalty and should get out of HIS way as HE has HIS moral struggles. Throughout the book, he bullies Peter shamelessly, knowing that Peter is poor and that all Peter wants is for his mother to be happy. Later, when he doesn't get his way, he runs away to go pout alone on an island and has Jeremy take him food so he can survive. Also, when he is in the town hall he looks at the dried up Native American heads on the wall and thinks something along the lines "Those disgusting things" he doesn't think "oh those poor people" he thinks about the Native Americans as if they were inanimate objects!!! I know this is a different time but still!!!!!!!
If you have escaped this monstrosity in school so far consider yourself very, very lucky. That is the type of thing you should say you are thankful for on Thanksgiving. What I'm thankful for: I only had to read it once.
So true.
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