Behold The Eye: Braumaru  is the first book in the triology "Behold The Eye" by author Veronica Tabares. The story starts off with a letter to the librarian indicating she should move this book to the nonfiction section because it is a true story due to the fact it happened to the letter writer. Next we read writing on a crumpled piece of paper about a lost civilization but the writer of this note is unknown at this time. In the beginning we are introduced to a boy name Micah. He is a teenager about 15 years old with the unusual oddity of one brown eye and one blue eye. Micah has vivid dreams at night that they awaken him. When he turns 15 he is suppose to receive his special gift which he wonders is related to the dreams. His parents discover they know nothing about the dream gift so they send Micah away to school to learn about his gift of dream travel. In the meantime we meet a group of four girls at school. Their names are Vickie, Karen, Cathy, and Tricia. They want to be rich and famous so they decide to write a spooky but true book. The girls brainstorm about the different things they can write about and they decide to use their minds to move things as well stuff that come up in their dreams. Pretty soon things start to happen so their book would definitely be mostly true. Another character we meet is a older teenage girl named Shanti. She also has one brown eye and one blue one.  Shanti is breaking into a professor's office to take pictures of the writing from a particular book. She gives this information to a man named Roland who is a dissastified janitor who claims he is not of this world. His ancestors came from a different time where they were considered to be royalty. Roland also has one brown eye and blue eye. He wants to return to that time and place to claim his birthright to be king. The only way for him to travel back is by dreams which he has not the sufficient power to do. This is were his trickery comes in and enlists unsuspecting people who can help him dream travel to accomplish his goals of world domination. Unknowingly, Vicki is brought into Micah and Shanti's world where the three of them are trying to escape from Roland while trying to find a way to send Vickie back home. This is a great first book to the start of a triology that has lots of twists and turns. It's a great read for the young and the young at heart. It makes you wonder what happens in our dreams and if anything like that is possible or we would like it to be possible to travel to different worlds.

Reviewed on 11/23/2010 by ReviewTheBook.com Member Larissa Cochran

Reviewed on 03/20/2010 by ReviewTheBook.com Member Susan Pettrone

 Coming of age in Braumaru was the time that each in the community found their gift, Micah Zomorah was the same.  Not realizing that his dreams may have anything to do with his gift, at first he paid no attention to the dreams.  Vicki and her friends (Karen, Cathy, and Tricia) wanted to make there mark in the world and decided on writing a book.  Preferring it to be fact and not fiction, the girls set out to find ghosts and goblins.  Realizing that maybe they had some special powers of dreaming, Vicki began focusing on that power.  Micah had no idea at first that he was dream traveling and not just dream seeing.  The whole time the girls and Micah are trying to figure out what is happening to them, there is another that is trying to find that very power to dream travel, with the hopes of traveling to a place - a parallel world - where they might have the power of a royal family.  

Reviewed on 03/17/2010 by ReviewTheBook.com Member Debbie Berry

“Behold the Eye: Braumaru”, is the first book in trilogy by author Veronica R. Tabares. In this fantastic first book we are introduced to Micah who live in world opposite of ours. After celebrating his Rite of Passage, Micah waits for birth gift to be unveiled.. From there we switch to our world and the story begins to center around Vickie, who happens to be a normal 6^th grade girl, in search of her grand idea. Seeking out a ghost for her New York Times bestseller, Vickie opens the door to Micah’s world. Although she has to contend with a nefarious janitor who is seeking the ultimate prize, power.

Veronica Tabares, introduces young readers on an adventurous journey to the world beyond our own. Opening up a wealth of creative aspects avenues that readers can stroll down. “Behold the Eye: Braumaru”, is the perfect book that will spark the imagination of young readers. It is also the perfect length for early readers making the transition to chapter books. Also who can resist the charming drawing included.

Reviewed on 02/03/2010 by ReviewTheBook.com Member Angela Simmons

Behold the Eye: Braumaru

Author:
Veronica R. Tabares

Publisher:
Sun Break Publishing

Behold the Eye: Braumaru is the first installment of three that are sure to satisfy the imagination of young readers and even adults. This would be a wonderful addition to any school library. The first half of this unfolding story begins with Micah Zomorah, a young boy of fifteen residing in another realm, reflecting on his anticipated day of becoming a “man”. However, he is not truly considered a ‘full-fledged’ adult until he discovers his birth gift of power.  Micah and his family are unaware however, that is birth gift has already arrived, as Micah is able to ‘dream travel’ on the night of his “Rite of Passage”.

We are introduced immediately to four girls; all of them are the closest of friends even though they have their little squabbles. Vickie is the one that decides to give the girls an adventure as the four are often so bored during lunchtime as they are at the age of being too old to play on the playground equipment and the physical games made them sweaty.
They all agree to Vickie’s idea and it is decided that the story will be based on fact, and it will be a book about a ghost story, as this is what they think will sell.  Each girl seems to have her own unique talent that is explored to help with the story. One of the girls has the talent of seeing a ‘shadow’ that is truly Micah, as he is dreaming of these girls consistently.

An ‘evil’ character comes into play in this story, as another lost ‘dream traveling’ girl is caught in the time with the four friends. He has this girl spy on them and tricks her by promising to help her return home. This man has her gain him pictures of an ancient lost book that contained inscriptions from his ancestor regarding how their home was lost, save only a select few. He uses these clues, as well as some family history to plot his way to get back to his home. By tricking one of the girls and having her fall deep into a coma, he also goes back on his word by locking his helper, the girl in a ‘dream house’. Micah attempts to help the girl of his dream, only to find that ‘Dream Traveling’ can indeed be hazardous!

Being an adult, I enjoyed this story very much as it was vivid and with the changing from Micah’s world and the girls’ world, it was not too hard to keep up with and it was a very interesting idea. The story starts out with a letter from Vickie to her local librarian regarding the book that I found to be fun and with humor well placed. Veronica truly captured the girls’ attitudes and behaviors, meaning I liked the nice ones, and was not too fond of the mean ones, or had jealousy or bad intentions. It is full of suspense, imagination and action; without being overly frightening especially for a younger reader.
I have the second installment in my hand and I am looking forward to it as this book left me hanging!

Reviewed on 01/31/2010 by ReviewTheBook.com Member Ann Hauer