Reviews for Julia Gillian (and the Art of Knowing)

The average rating for Julia Gillian (and the Art of Knowing) based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2009-04-08 00:00:00 Jacob Harris Nine-year-old Julia Gillian's summer has its routine. She spends the days with her dog, visits her hip young neighbor Enzo, and twice a week tries to win the meerkat from the claw machine at the local hardware store. She's also gifted with the art of knowing what will happen and keeps a list of skills she has mastered. Yet she cannot know what will happen to the dog in her green book that she banishes to the fire escape, and she thinks living in fear might just be better than reading that the old dog dies. A dying dog in a story might just mean that her own faithful dog's days are numbered. To make things worse, her parents are spending summer vacation earning master's degrees and fretting over world news headlines. Couldn't they just take her to the park and to the Chinese restaurant for some strawberry bubble tea? Will things ever feel right in Julia Gillian's world again? Of course they will, and an almost-kindergartener who can't tie her shoelaces, a young chef who likes to juggle, and some paper mache masks help Julia Gillian face her fears and enjoy her summer. Beautifully written. Although I have to say the character is not going to appeal to every child. She is more introspective than playful. This is a thinker's book, or a reader's story.

Review # 2 was written on 2010-11-08 00:00:00 Brian Mcoy Julia Gillian is an only child in love with her huge dog. In fact she loves him so much that when she starts a book about a dog like hers, she's afraid to finish it in case something bad happens to the dog. This and many other adventures happen to Julia Gillian over the course of one summer as she perfects her skill of knowing things. I adore this book. Like I said before, it's a quiet, understated kind of book. Big things don't happen to Julia Gillian, and the world is not in danger. But in most of our lives, big things don't happen on a daily basis, and it's the little things that make our lives what they are. As Julia Gillian expands her art of knowing by learning things about herself, we readers learn a little something to. I would recommend this book to everyone, everywhere. Well, all right, specifically, I would recommend this as a bedtime read-to to children 5-8, and as a read alone for precocious readers 7 & up, and for regular readers aged 8 & up. It's truly a magical, magic-less book.