Gleam and Glow book review by Isabella

Title of the Book: Gleam and Glow 

Author Name: Eve Bunting 

 Reviewer's Name: Isabella 

 Publisher: Clarion Books

 Date of Publication: 2001 

 Rating: 1-5 Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

This story is about a little boy named Viktor and his family. The story takes place during the Bosnian war in 1990. The perspective of this story is of the little boy Viktor and how he is experiencing the war. He had to travel with his mother and sister to the border in order to reach a safe place, leaving their home behind. My favorite part of the book was the end when Viktor was able to see the tree in front of their old home. This part was also very upsetting because he later looked behind the tree to find his house and said, “Our house was only a skeleton”. I like that the author didn’t let this upset him, highlighting the strength the child had gained. This reflects what the child had been through and that he was just happy to be back in a familiar place, even if it wasn’t the same anymore. 

The point of this book was to teach children about this war and what people had to go through during this period of time. They turned it into a lesson for young children to be able to understand. They did this by using a little boy around the same age as the intended audience so they were able to better understand the message of the story. The lesson they wanted to teach the children was that there were people just like them that had to go through something they had never experienced before. The author wanted the children to feel sympathy for this child and his sister. The overall mood of the book is different then you would expect it to be. The book is discussing a very upsetting topic but is conveyed in a different light. The little boy tries to stay positive during this situation and only expresses sad emotions when times are very tough. So the mood of the book is very uplifting because the boy is trying to get through the tough times and look ahead hoping for a good future.