Christy Series: The Bridge to Cutter Gap

I have been a big fan of Christy since I read the book after seeing the CBS movie in 1994, then videotaped the tv series. When my elementary school had the students eat lunch in their classrooms daily for several years (due to space constraints and heavy use of our gym / cafeteria), I showed the videos of the movie and a few episodes to some of my classes. But other than having the original book and the Young Adult version (adapted by Anna Fishel) in my classroom, I hadn't used the book or tv movie / series in my classroom for the last several years. I DID make sure that we had the AR (computerized) quiz for the original book in our school, and I created a homemade AR quiz for the YA version - the quizzes have not had heavy use, if any. Since AR has never created quizzes for the C. Archer Christy series, I finally decided to create homemade versions on my own - I am working on my second one currently, hoping to eventually create quizzes on all 12 books. Since the reading level on this series is about RL5 (5th grade), I can foresee some of my fourth graders hopefully reading the books once I have them on AR. What a great way to introduce them to Christy. This first book seems to be a basic abridgement from the early chapters of the original book, though the later Archer books look like they stray a bit farther from their source. I really enjoyed reading this book. By the way, regarding the Animorphs series mentioned in an earlier review, I believe the author of that noteworthy series is K.A. Applegate.

C. Archer shows why she became the best-selling author of the Animorphs series. This is a lucid, intelligent adaptation of Catherine Marshall's masterpiece, "Christy." Archer makes the content easier, but she never compromises the beautiful original book. I have read all twelve volumes of Archer's Christy series and each book is terrific. The true essence of Christy, a story of one young woman's faith, courage and romance is captured beautifully here.

Christ is 501 pages long and I finished it it in 4 1/2 days. That is because I could not stop reading it! When Christy starts out for Cutter Gap she is not expecting the horrible poverty, diseases, and language that these mountain men speak. But as time goes on she begins to realize these people need her, and she loves them. This adventure is something you will never get tired of!