4 out of 4 stars
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It's truly universally acknowledged that parents always wish to provide the best for their kids. However, their proper upbringing impacts the parents and society in more ways than one can imagine. Will of The Hill is a read that contributes to this very cause of proper upbringing. The author, Marshall Cobs, offers an outstanding read that parents would dare refuse. He had composed this 107 pages together to bring forth the learning-with-fun concept.
This read is more appropriate to kids between the age group of 8- to 12-year-old. It's the first book introduced by Marshall Cobs which ends on a cliffhanger. This read consists of 11 chapters in total, is an exceptional read, which I read it all in one sitting. The environmental visualization provided by the author focuses on a countryside community with access to a local school situated on top of a hill.
I wish to know your opinion! What do you think if you provide a book, to your kids, that reflects on true events in life? On this point, I wish to advise the parents to read this book with their kids. There are so many lessons taught, but what describes the best about this read is the beautiful friendship between Will, our protagonist, and Dillon, his best friend, mentioned below:
What interests me the most is the author's reflections about the different circumstances that children encounter, and the unique personalities given to his characters. Marshall Cobs has this unique talent to give life to his characters: from the silent boy, Will, to the bully named Gertrude, Intrude. This read provides an excellent visualization, such as,“Intrude is blackmailing me; she’s got my bag of Edgar comics that I’d stashed under the hedge, and she’s going to give them to Ms. Early unless I get you to go to her birthday party.”
Dillon stared at him like he was an alien on this planet. “You let Intrude mess with you? Intrude?”
“You don’t get it! You never get in trouble. No one’s ever after you. When she tells Ms. Early about the comic book stash, I’ll be scraping gum and boogers for the rest of the year. My mom will take all of my comics away. You won’t be able to come over and…”
“I’ll go to Ms. Early and tell her the comics are mine,” Dillon said, “Ms. Early wouldn’t believe you, but she’ll believe me. You may be smarter than me, but I get away with everything.”
“But Intrude said, "you couldn’t know." She’ll be able to tell, and I never get away with anything.”
Dillon threw his arm around Will’s shoulder. “You let me handle Intrude, and we’ll see who gets away with what.”
"...Ms. Early’s odd appearance. It wasn’t that her head was actually big. In fact, the blossom of bountiful, blonde hair that extended in just about every direction from her head seemed like a deliberate attempt to make up for the fact that her actual head was really quite small. She was like a male lion—all hair with a tiny, frowning face." (P.5).
The author displays the perfect reflection of a mindset of a 10-year-old. He expresses the difficulty of a young mind trying to distinguish the age definition for adulthood. He also remarks on how young boys' view on puberty which was humorous:
The author uses a character like Gertrude to bring out the concerns that parents may have about how self-conscious their children may be, especially about their appearance, at such a tender age. Marshall Cobs display how young kids look up to their parents, and how their influence shapes their kids' thinking."He was in no hurry to go through puberty, which, as far as he could tell just meant he would get hairy and smelly, and begin liking girls. Yech!" (P.16).
He is very expressive in his work: through his characters, the author is very skillful to bring-out meaningful advise. Through Dillon, the importance of having great friends. Through Gertrude, the fate that leads to spoiling your only child, and most importantly, not to raise a bully. Through Will, our protagonist, one needs to learn to be strong to one's self, and most importantly, have faith in friendship.
I did experience intense moments in this read. At times, I felt the pressure that Will faced been subjected to bullying by his classmate. I clearly enjoyed this read to my heart's content. I felt bad when the story ended abruptly. This read reminded me of a book series called Diary of a Wimpy Kid.
I believe graphic illustrations, related to the author's characters, would be an ideal value addition to this read, especially to attract young readers. I noted a lot of punctuation errors, and it was interesting to note this,
I believe another round of proofreading will help, but I don't wish to hold this mistake as a big issue. This read maintains a perfect standard, and for this reason, I wish to rate this read 4 out of 4 stars; it's truly a beautiful read that I don't mind waiting for its next book."to my bride: thank you for helping me to understand that while I don’t care about commas, others might."
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Will of The Hill
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