1st Quarter outside Reading Book Review

A Song for Summer by Eva Ibbotson. Penguin Group, 1997. Genre: Historical Fiction


This book is about a girl named Ellen who goes and becomes a matron at a school for kids at Hallendorf. She discovers that all the teachers and kids are free-spirited. She befriends the kids and also is friends with the groundskeeper of the school, Marek. Marek is undercover at the school and goes on mission to save his colleague Meierwitz to help him escape a concentration camp. Ellen helps him out and ends up falling in love with him. Although Marek feels the same way, the conflicts of the war make him push her away because he doesn’t want her to get hurt. In the end they overcome these problems and right before Marek leaves for Canada, Ellen leaves her husband to go with him.


“Ibbotson, who grew up in Austria and fled the Nazis herself, provides rich details of prewar life in Vienna and the alpine countryside. A lively read.”

-Library Journal

The author writes about life in Austria before the war. It is written in the third person omniscient because you can see and hear the thoughts from each of the character’s point of view. It describes what life is like in the time of war. It is different from the book “Briar Rose” that I read previously this year. They were both about the Nazis and times during World War Two but in “A Song for Summer” the story is about the present tense whereas in “Briar Rose”, Becca is trying to unfold her Grandmother’s past.
Ibbotson’s writing style is unique because she leaps forward into the book and then explains after to the reader how the characters got there.


“Built by Habsburg count for his mistress, its towers housed bedrooms and boudoirs, not emplacements for guns; pale blue shutters lay folded against pink walls roses climbed toward the fir-floor windows,” (17)

I’m sorry to say that this book was not one of my favorites. I didn’t enjoy it because I felt that the author didn’t describe the character’s appearance or setting as thoroughly as could. I felt so confused in the middle of the book because the points of views were changed so much. I also felt like there was so much happening in the book that it was rushed and didn’t flow as nicely as I would’ve liked. Although this isn’t one of my favorite books I do give the author pros for writing basically about the experiences during the war over in Austria and putting it out there for the world to see and get the war from a perspective of a matron.

Simplistic Nature or Bold Technology?

What is important in life? Is it the high-priced items found nationwide with a designer label or a high-tech system of electronics? Or is it those everyday moments that we take for granted? The moments that make you laugh until you have a stomach ache or a relaxing day at the beach with your family. Today many people are too worried about pricey items that they forget to cherish the time right now before it’s too late.

The temperature is at its freezing point. I grab my hoodie and sweat pants to conceal my body heat. I step into my fleece socks. The warmth is penetrating my skin resuming heat to my feet little by little. A fluffy pillow is propped up under my head. My feet are stretched out across the comfy couch. I can hear the low humming of the weather on channel five. “There is a chance of snow for tonight’s forecast.” I glance out the translucent, perfect glass windows hoping to see the white flurries marching onto the battlefield. I’m in luck; they fall gracefully swinging down to the ground finally settling onto the grass.

Suddenly an inaudible whistling sound is heard. Then with every second, increases its audibility. My mom’s making hot chocolate. I dance to my feet so I’m the first in line to recieve my hot chocolate. I stroll into the kitchen to meet my soothing drink. I can see the cloud of steam hovering over my mug. My mom adds cool crème to the scalding hot chocolate. It’s topped off with a light and fluffy whipped topping, a mouthwatering sight. I take the cup by the handle back to my comfortable abode on the couch. I ressume the same position on the couch to absorb the maximum level of relaxation on the perfect winter night.

I wake up that morning. Everything is right with the world. Today is my birthday and I know my family is well aware of it. I've been counting down the days until April 19th. I've told my parents and syblings, all that I wanted this time was a new, sharp looking ipod classic. I made it very clear how anxious I was to recieve it for my birthday. I made my way down stairs and kept my eyes open for any colored birthday bags. Nothing. I couldn't find any bags anywhere.

I waited for dinner time. I was surely to recieve my long, awaited birthday gift now. I Finally saw my mom bring in the small colorful bag with curly strings dangling off to the side. I grabbed the bag faster than the speed of light. I threw out the tissue paper and took out a rectangular hard box. It was the best present in the world. I held my new ipod classic in the palm of my hand. I was thrilled to finally have the best ipod.

My sleek, black glazed ipod is now never off. My ipod classic is bigger, better, and mine. The latest in technology ipod has improved holding a whopping 30,000 songs, 150 hours of video and 25,000 pictures. This ipod can store about 120 gigabytes of material. I take it everywhere. I can control my music at my fingertips. I roll my fingers around in the circle choosing the right song for my mood. Finally I scroll down to shuffle and let it do all the work.

My perfect winter night and ipod are both valuable to me. They are similar because they both affect my mood in a relaxing comfortable way. When I’m at home on the couch drinking my hot chocolate on a snowy night I have no worry in the world just to sit and try not to burn my tongue on the hot liquid. My ipod helps me to mellow out too. Depending on what type of mood I’m in, I can always change it with the touch of a button.

Although they are similar they are also very different. My relaxing moment is quiet and soothing and allows me some time to myself where I can just relax forget all the tension in the world and watch the snow fall. My ipod, on the other hand, allows me to match my mood with my music. When I’m in an upbeat mood I usually put on a fast song by my favorite pop artist. Or if I’m in an angst type of mood I listen to alternative music. This way I can just get all my energy out by singing to the songs I love to listen to.

As you can see, the value of things in life are hard to rate. Something is not always valuable because it is highly priced. Sometimes the best things in life are everyday activities, in this case the first snow of the winter. In my opinion, I would pick relaxing on the couch with my hot chocolate moment instead of electronics any day.