Customer Reviews

The Boxes

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"The Boxes" was quite simply an excellent book. The plot is well thought out and the book flows well. It has a fairly good ending which is something that I find rare for Sleator's books. It is worth the time.

The book The Boxes is a non-fiction book. I don't really know the theme of the book cause it doesn't really have a theme. This book is about a girl, Annie, that has a very mysterious uncle, Uncle Marco, that leaves on these mysterious trips and doesn't tell anybody were he's going or when he's getting back. One time when he goes he leaves these two boxes under her control and tells hers not to open them. She becomes extremely curious about what is in the boxes and decides to open them. What is in the boxes are mysterious things that now she has to deal with. At the same time she has to deal with a construction that is trying to tear down her neighborhood to build a mall. Another problem is that the construction company wants what is in the boxes and they try to take it. This book is very interesting, and it is really weird and sometimes confusing. I liked this book because it was creative and the plot of the story was different from most books I have read.

Before Uncle Marco goes on another of his constant trips, he leaves Annie two mysterious boxes. Like Pandora, she must keep them safe and never open them. But curiousity gets the better of her. Soon the unspeakable occurs. Grotesque, crablike creatures come out with the ability to communicate to Annie telepathically. Annie could never fathom the power they have. . .

This was a good book, partly, because I'm a fan of sci-fi/fantasy books. I couldn't put it down. There was a lot of action and cliffhangers near the end. You never knew what was going to happen next. The creatures and their customs were very creative. It's easy to read for all ages from kids to adults. The only problem was that it ended with a cliffhanger even though all of the problems have been solved by the protagonist.

The Boxes is a middle-of-the-road book written by William Sleator, a mastermind of young reader's science fiction books. Some pros and cons...

-Cons

-SLOW CHARACTERS: for the people being in high school, they're kinda short in the intelligence end, as some parts to the story are glaringly obvious, yet they can't figure it out.

-ODD ENDING: the ending calls for a sequel, as its a cliffhanger, but is there one? The plot leaves no remaining probles for the protagonist to solve, yet somehow it still isn't finished...hmmm.....

-Pros

-CREATIVITY: even though this is another one of those books in which the hero has to save the whole world, this is VERY original. The ficticional creatures (duh, its sci-fi) and their customs are very imaginative, yet not over-the-top

-SUSPENSE: even with all of the flaws mentioned above, I raced thowards the climax & ending. (even though it was a let-down...) You should be able to finish this book very short amount of time.

-BOTTOM LINE: This is simply an average book. There's thousands better, and thousands worse. If you're a sci-fi fan, why not add this to your collection?
-crf

I liked THE BOXES because it had a lot of suspense. This book is about Annie's uncle leaving 2 boxes with her while her uncle goes on a mysterious trip. Her uncle told her not to open the boxes but she couldn't stand not knowing what where in the 2 boxes. Annie tells her friend Henry about the boxes. 1 of the boxes where in the basement and the other box was in her closet. In the box that was in her closet there was a weird creature that they called the clock and it could make slowdowns for the creatures in the basement. Annie, Henry, and the creatures are the only ones that don't get caught in the slowdown but every one else gets caught in the slowdown. I liked this book because it had a lot of action and cliffhangers near the end. I recommend this book to people that like science fiction books.

By Justin

THE BOXES

I liked THE BOXES because it had a lot of suspense. This book is about Annie's uncle leaving 2 boxes with her while her uncle goes on a mysterious trip. Her uncle told her not to open the boxes but she couldn't stand not knowing what where in the 2 boxes. Annie tells her friend Henry about the boxes. 1 of the boxes where in the basement and the other box was in her closet. In the box that was in her closet there was a weird creature that they called the clock and it could make slowdowns for the creatures in the basement. Annie, Henry, and the creatures are the only ones that don't get caught in the slowdown but every one else gets caught in the slowdown. I liked this book because it had a lot of action and cliffhangers near the end. I recommend this book to people that like science fiction books.

By JUSTIN

A Review by DJ

This book is mostly about my main character Annie who is left with two boxes from her uncle. Her uncle told her not to open those boxes nor tell any one about those boxes. Well, she broke those rules and opened both of the boxes and something incredible happened. She told her friend about the boxes and what was in it and what was happening with those boxes, something that she wasn't suppose to do, which was a very big mistake on her part.

I like this book because it keeps you glued to it, like you always want to read more and more to see what is going to happen. The book is very easy to read for all ages to a kid to a full grown adult. The book is very smooth; the author leads up to the high point of the book very smooth. But you have to keep in mind what happened in the very beginning of the book, or else you will be lost from the get go. There aren't very many characters and I thought that was plus because usually when I read I get lost in the characters because there are so many.

I would recommend this book to any one that likes twisted books, and leaves you hanging just a tad bit.

The Boxes Review

You will not want to put down this thrilling science fiction book with a cliffhanger ending. This book gets you interested and sets your imagination on a journey that will keep you guessing. You never want to stop reading. We want a sequel to find out what happens to Annie and Henry next!

St. Bartholomew Catholic School Fourth and Fifth Grade Classes.
Columbus, Indiana

This book is an interesting story. If you like science-fiction stories, this is the one for you. This book is mostly about Annie and two boxes her uncle leaves her. He says to keep them apart and don't open them. What do you think she did? After she opened them a crab like creature jumped out and ran to the basement.

This book was great and very exciting because of the suspense,the ending makes you think about what might happen.

I really liked this book. I liked how it is in first person it made it seem more intense. When Annie met henry I new she was going to tell him about her secret. When she started to now henry I new they bolth wanted to tell someone about it. When annie started to do the documents for the houses I new her goal of shuting crutchly down would work and i new Aunt Ruth would like it a lot to. I really liked the ending because it lets your imagination think of what would happen.