Ellis NelsonCritiques

This was a delightful book that created a fictional backstory to the books Alice in Wonderland and Alice Through the Looking Glass. The 2 protagonists are modern day American boys who accidentally travel back in time and meet Rev. Charles L. Dodgson in Victorian Oxford. They then all travel to Wonderland to find Alice (who was not supposed to travel there) and adventures occur including meeting several of the characters from the original books. All the characters were well developed and the story moved along at a brisk pace. The world of Wonderland was recreated so that it felt "real" and matched the original descriptions. The several story lines were skillfully interwoven and while the story is targeted for younger folks there is enough depth and richness to satisfy adults (assuming you enjoy this type of story). Something that I particularly liked was that the main characters were young boys who were dealing with some personal traits that some would label as skills or gifts and others oddities (if not worse) and it was those differences that helped them at various points in the story. Possibly a book that would appeal to boys who are reluctant readers. Definitely would recommend.

This was a cute story that followed two time-travelling boys and their adventures in Wonderland. It's very kid friendly and there's a focus on the sibling relationship and how it grows through their adventure. I did feel many parts felt a little flat; as a reader, parts of the plot did not flow naturally to me and felt rather forced and overexplained. It's open to a sequel, and I'm curious what will happen next!

WOW! This is the first time I have read a novel by Ellis Nelson and it wont be my last.

I loved this book and I truly feel like it is very appropriate for children. First the atmosphere made me feel like I was alongside the brothers at Oxford then I must mention the amazing sibling dynamic between Ben and Kyle which very much resembles real life siblings relationships. Especially when Ben felt that his parents didn't pay enough attention to him because of Kyle's Synesthesia which is incredible to see realistic and valid emotions of children portrayed in children's fiction. Additionally, my favorite part was being transported to Victorian England and meeting Mr. Dodgson and then being transported to Wonderland to help rescue Alice. I loved the unexpected twists and turns that was explored in Wonderland and the new adventure that the characters were on.

Delightful read and highly recommend.

I was very excited at the prospect of reading a YA that discusses Buddhism, since I'm raising a teen who is Buddhist. I found that I did enjoy the Buddhist principles that were taught throughout the book, but even that wasn't a strong enough influence to overcome the distractions that exist in this novel. As the wife of a therapist that often works with clients who have addictions, I can't imagine any REASONABLE parent shipping their child off to the base camp of Mt. Everest. I literally said, REALLY, several times upon reading that. If a child is already struggling with the acceptance of his parents' divorce, and being uprooted, it would be ridiculous to create more upheaval in his or her life.
While I can easily understand Blake's anger, I think his level of rudeness and disrespectfulness is above and beyond the level of acceptable. However, to some degree it is reasonable for Blake to be so ill-behaved; afterall his father doesn't even go with him on his journey down the mountain. Again, what reasonable and responsible parent would essential tell the child: You're on your own,hope your still alive in a few months when we will meet up.½

Ellis Nelson’s novel, Into the Land of Snows, though filled with interesting glimpses into Buddhist philosophy, was simply too preposterous a tale to swallow. I do not say this because of the mention of aliens, yeti, and supernatural monks, which by far were the most interesting tidbits in the book; no, the hardest story to swallow was that the clichéd protagonist, Blake, a rebellious 16-year-old boy struggling with his parents’ divorce, was sent to the Base Camp of Mount Everest, in the middle of the school year, to spend time with his father, after causing trouble for his mother back home in the States!
If it was necessary to get a 16-year-old boy to the Himalayas in order to advance the plot of this novel, I would have hoped Ms. Nelson would have thought of a more realistic scenario for Blake’s adventure. With all this said, this book is mostly a rudimentary glimpse into Buddhist beliefs, as Blake’s guide introduces him to this ancient religion on their way down the mountain toward Katmandu. I found this part of the novel interesting enough to keep me reading; however, the boy’s disrespectful, cavalier attitudes at times made even this rather tiresome. The idea of incorporating real-life religious teachings into a work of fiction in order to teach young adults about values is not a bad idea; however, I found Ms. Nelson’s execution toward this endeavor rather lacking in real substance.

The novel starts with Blake being forced to visit his father at base camp at Mount Everest. It was nice that the story started out with a bit of action, but it was almost too abrupt. Blake’s issues with his father are at the forefront at the beginning of the book. It’s obvious he blames him for everything that went wrong, but even I found it too much of an overreaction to ship him off to Mount Everest for smoking a little pot. He’s a sixteen year old boy for crying out loud! There are probably better ways to handle that. To uproot him in the middle of the school year (after uprooting him once already after a divorce) seems like it would be doing more harm than good. It also seemed pointless for him to go all the way to Mount Everest just to be asked to leave.

Obviously, it was a necessary plot device to start his trip with Ang and to reach “enlightenment”. On the trip with Ang, Blake and Ang debate philosophy and discuss Buddhist teachings. It’s an interesting subject to learn about, but all of the conversations seemed forced and weren’t written very organically. I did enjoy learning about some of the teachings though since I wasn’t aware of Buddhist principles before.

The end of the novel is a little anticlimactic and Blake’s transformation seemed quite rushed. Perhaps the novel is good to introduce Buddhism to younger readers, but there are probably better books out there for that. Overall, it’s a mediocre book with a couple of interesting principles thrown in.

I enjoyed reading this book about a teenager who is forced to visit his absent father who is working as a doctor at Base Camp on Mt. Everest. Blake is sent against his wishes and has a poor relationship with his father. When an avalanche forces Blake's dad to send him away from base camp to safer places, Blake's anger for his father intensifies.
The journey with a Sherpa man away from base camp is a life altering one for Blake. He learns much about Buddhism and different ways of life in Nepal. He is transformed by Buddhist philosophy and his experiences there. I would have liked to have read more about his relationship with his dad at the end. I felt like the journey was leading the reader to a place where we would get to know more about how that relationship is strengthened.

After enduring his parents' painful divorce and having some disciplinary problems at school 16 year old Blake is sent to spend some time living with his father, a physician working at Everest Base Camp, in Nepal. Just after his arrival at Everest Base Camp a deadly avalanche occurs and Blake's father is forced to send him to safety. With a Sherpa as his guide, and carrying a set of photos that may hold the key to one of Everest's greatest mysteries, Blake undertakes a spiritual journey that will alter his perceptions and change his life.

I've spent several months traveling in Nepal, and I really enjoy reading about Buddhism, so when I was given the opportunity to review Into the Land of Snows I was pretty excited. I REALLY wanted to like this book. Unfortunately, quite a few aspects of it fell short for me.

My biggest problem with the book was the main character, Blake. I know that he is a high school boy, and high schoolers tend to be pretty wrapped up in themselves (I remember! I was in high school once!), but throughout the book Blake was rude, uncaring, and disrespectful to an almost comical and completely unbelievable degree! He was impossible for me to like. I spent most of the story wanting to slap him! Throughout his entire "spiritual journey" he seemed completely unconvinced by everything he was taught; and his "transformation" at the end of the book seemed less like a gradual transition that was a result of everything that he learned throughout the book and more like the author realizing that she needed to end the story and so Blake better hurry up change his views. It literally happened within the span of a few pages. That, to me, was completely unbelievable.

Another issue I had with the book was the poor editing. This book was not self published, and I checked out the author's blog and in several entries she talks about working with her editor, so I was shocked that there were so many glaring spelling and grammatical errors. I definitely don't nitpick , I understand that things happen and the occasional error slips through the cracks (it happens to me all the time!), but there were so many in this book that I found it distracting. When a book is edited by a professional and not self published my expectations for this sort of thing are justifiably higher.

There were some things that I did like. I think that the book does a nice job teaching the reader about some of the basic tenants of Buddhism. It also offers some beautiful descriptions of Nepal's magical countryside. In those moments I could really feel the author's love of her subject matter, and that was enjoyable. However, I had many other issues with the book in general that I really couldn't overlook them for the moments that I did like.

In it's current state I have a hard time recommending this book to anyone. Maybe teenagers who would like to learn more about Buddhism, but would prefer to read fiction books (as opposed to religious texts) would get something out of it? I'm not sure. I think with some editing it would be a much more enjoyable story, but in it's current state it's just not a pleasant read.

I was fortunate to be given the opportunity to read this book. I was drawn in to the story of our protagonist, Blake, and cared much where his journey would take him. I didn't like him very much at the beginning, and it wasn't until close to the end that I had some hope for personal growth within him. I liked how author Ellis Nelson took me through a foreign country and showed me some of it's heart through the eyes of a seventeen-year-old boy, and I can't see anyone not enjoying this adventure without learning something as well.