Jacquelyn Mitchard Books

It can't get any cuter than Baby Bat's Lullaby! A wonderful book with brilliant illustrations and a story to match. This is a great book that introduces children to these curious and intelligent creatures that are so very important to our ecosystem. You will want to buy more than one so you can share it with adults and children alike. I did!

Baby Bat doesn't want to nest down for the day, so Mother Bat must convince him that it's a good idea. To wear him out, she takes him on an exploratory flight, encountering many beautiful and curious sights.

With gorgeous illustrations and sweet verse, Baby Bat's Lullaby will capture young children's imaginations. The soft details open youngsters' eyes to the simple beauty of a misunderstood creature, while the rhythm soothes the day's anxieties away.

Truly a classic-to-be, I recommend this title to all parents with young children.

Reviewed by Christina Wantz Fixemer, whose daughter adores this book.
6/17/2006

I am a fan of Jacquelyn Mitchard and am surprised and DELIGHTED she is now writing childrens books! In her wonderful wordsmithing way, she takes us on a journey of mother and child...it was sweet, endearing, and coupled with the beautiful illustrations will become a classic, I'm sure.

Baby Bat shines with Jacquelyn Mitchard's lyrical descriptions and Julia Noonan's excellent illustrations. I love Mitchard's writing, but I never expected her to tackle bats! But this paean to Mother Love, with its lovely rhymes and luminous pictures of soaring bats, is going to win over both kids--and their parents.

Outstanding...sweet, lovable, soft and cuddly. Mitchard does it again with her rich mosaic of work and Noonan's illustrations. A MUST for every "trick or treater" this year...and what a treat it is. Keep 'em comin' Jacquelyn!

I am reading "The Rest of Us" now and can relate to so many of Ms. Mitchard's essays. She has a gift for immortalizing the precious little moments of motherhood that we tend to forget in the busyiness of our daily lives. She is the "Every Mother" of the '90's and I wish our newspaper carried her column. Some days I could really use her clear vision and wry humor.

I've never read Jacquelyn Mitchard's columns in newspapers, what I did read was her brilliant first novel "The Deep End of the Ocean". Then I opened this book, read "Better Scared Than Scarred" & I couldn't put it down. Jacqelyn Mitchard is a kindred spirit, someone with an ineffably wry, dry, poignant sense of humor. Who sees an outrage & decides to humor it; who has life catch at her throat & writes like her life depended on it, which it does. A must read for anyone who thinks their own life is drab! For my full review please go to: ( )

I found "The Rest of Us" interesting and very easy to get through; even though this book is in fact a compilation of her Sunday columns (for which this book is named) rather than a novel, reading it was not a laborious essay-after-essay task. Mitchard's essays often hold quite a bit of truth, humor, and wisdom in them, as well as emotional power. She also did manage to convince me that she's just an ordinary woman like "the rest of us" despite the fact that she, extraordinarly, was a widow and active journalist--with five children, no less!--when she wrote many of these pieces. The only problem I encountered while reading was that her sentences sometimes seemed a bit convoluted and difficult to follow; her overall points were usually clear, however. I plan to buy this book for my mom, as I have found that Mitchard is, above all, a mother--her maternal side shines through in many of her pieces and could prove to be helpful for any mother.

I love the title of this book, a collection of Jacqueline Mitchard's newspaper columns, which are published every Sunday in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

She has had quite a life: adopted a child, then was able to have three children of her own. Her husband died, quite young and very quickly, of cancer. She then adopted another child, the story of which was very moving. She then re-married and adopted yet again. In addition to writing a weekly column, she has also written several best-selling novels.

I think her columns are very well done and usually strike a note that is familiar to my life or the life of someone I know. I actually like them more than her fiction. The columns are alternately nostalgic, funny, wry, sad, bittersweet. She is a very clever observer of family life and the things in our world which affect families.

Here are the titles of some of her columns/articles in this book:

*Loneliness of the Long-Distance Talker
*Dare to say "Underwear" - about ordering from Victoria's Secret catalog when a male order-taker answers the phone
*My Son the Warrior
*When You're Out with the In Crowd
*The Mother of My Child
*Tragedy in a Bottle
*My Best Buds, the Brontes
*The Citadel:Disgrace Under Pressure
*Home Cooking in the Drive-thru Lane
*Tupperware is Life
*The Great Green Garage Sale

I think almost anyone would enjoy reading these columns and highly recommend it.

My second grade daughter loves this book and I like it too. It is well written and funny. Recommended!

As the grandmother of 3 adoptees, I was eager to get this
book an was sorely disappointed. It did not give me any
insights...........a lot of it I just could not relate to.
I made myself read it through to the end, hoping that
I would find some thoughts that would connect me to the
poems, etc. Fortunately, my precious adoptees are all
aware of their beginnings, know that God makes all children and
is the glue that holds all families together.

Susan Ito and Tina Cervin have skillfully compiled a beautiful meditation that challenges our most insidious assumptions of what it means to be a True Family. Required reading for anyone with a beating heart.

You don't need to be an adopted child or adoptive parent to love this collection. You need only to have been a child or a parent. This collection is about the strings that link us to the most important people in our lives. From the stories by Chitra Divakurni and Isabel Allende to the poetry by editors Susan Ito and Tina Cervin - what gems! This is a book that -"after the long drought and the barren silence" (from a poem by Edward Hirsch included in the collection) - embraces families of all ethnicities and walks of life to shine a literary light on what it means to be a parent, to be a child. I feel so lucky to have found it. Highly recommended.

"A Ghost at Heart's Edge" is a rich tapestry of truth, beauty and pain, woven with heartfelt honesty. It offers rarely seen glimpses into all facets of adoption, not just the standard "joyous" reunions that are always more complex in real life than in TV drama. It should be required reading for anyone considering adoption. For those already adopted or who have adopted a child, it will ring with boldly familiar truth. I am pleased to be included in this groundbreaking work.

As as adoptive mom & as a writer, I find it hard to locate books that satisfy my yearning for both literary fulfillment AND insight into the "triad" that is Adotpion. "Ghost at Heart's Edge" is that rare book; It's elevating intellectually, an imaginative opening (lots of them) while giving deep thought to what adoption, at its "heart" entails.

This is not a "reunion" book, good though those are, nor is it a psychological tome, good though theory can be for understanding. Rather, this compendium is literature of a high order and insight with unusual depth. I've carried my copy, literally, from East coast to West, from Canada to Hawaii, hoping to meet one of the editors and get it signed. Along the way, I dip in and out of these poems and stories, and am never anything but fully immersed. Highly recommended, and not just for those who are in Adoptive world, but for us with a hole in our hearts or, better said by the editors, with a Ghost at the Heart's Edge, which includes virtually all of us. Yes? Yes!

Bridget Flannery and Maureen O'Malley are neighbors, and have been BFFs since they were tiny. They're also nearly identical, with small frames, blonde hair and big almond-shaped green eyes. Both girls take great pride in being cheerleaders (and hate that cheerleaders seem to get no respect). But charismatic Bridget is really the leader of the two, with Maureen happily following along. The two don't keep secrets from each other --- except for a huge one about Danny, Bridget's boyfriend, that Maureen could never tell anyone, regarding an incident between them that was surely a fluke.

On a December drive, everything changes when Bridget and Maureen's car collides with a truck. The girls are hurt so badly that they are unrecognizable. The emergency medical personnel are able to maintain Bridget long enough to get her to the hospital. They don't hold out much hope for poor, broken Maureen, who is in even worse shape than her friend. However, surgeons work on both patients, with Bridget surviving the surgery in a coma after multiple resuscitations. Sadly, Maureen doesn't live.

Meanwhile, the girl in the coma is trying to form thoughts. She can't think clearly. She believes she's dead, but is puzzled. Isn't heaven supposed to be a beautiful, wonderful place? She hurts everywhere, with pain so bad that she has no words to describe the agony. Bridget's family visits her every day in the Pediatric Care Unit. Her boyfriend, Danny, comes regularly, too. As he sits by her bed, Danny remembers the funeral service for Maureen and is overwhelmed with sorrow. He loves Bridget, but he and Maureen shared a special bond of friendship. And of course there was the one evening they shared --- the one they don't discuss with anyone, ever.

Danny also thinks about how Bridget would hate the way she looks, with her face in stitches, her dirty hair pulled into a ponytail, and parts of her scalp covered in bandages because of the surgery on her head. Bridget's cheek has been rebuilt, and she has many broken bones. The doctors warn her parents that brain damage is inevitable; they aren't sure how much long-term disability she will suffer, but at the least they predict she will have to learn again how to walk and talk and feed herself. The experts also caution them that she may very well not recognize her own family members.

One night, as Danny sits watching over Bridget, something amazing happens. She tries to talk. When Danny encourages her, calling her his pet name "Bridge," she says, "Mo-ruh." Danny is so excited, he shouts. And when Bridget's mother comes running, he tells her that Bridget said "Mother." But in actuality, the girl is telling him that she is not Bridget --- she is Maureen! When the truth comes out, it is, of course, wonderful news for many people yet devastating for others...and attracts a huge media circus.

Maureen's story is based on an actual event involving two young women, a terrible accident and a case of mistaken identity. In the hands of brilliant storyteller Jacquelyn Mitchard, it is a riveting tale of despair and joy, which feels remarkably true to life. In particular, the reactions of the girls' mothers and friends seem pitch-perfect. Readers will root for Maureen as she fights to remake her life in the face of almost insurmountable physical, emotional and social hardships.

--- Reviewed by Terry Miller Shannon

I've read all of J. Mitchard's books (even read and loved Deep End of the Ocean BEFORE Oprah!), and what I love about picking up a new book by her is knowing that it's going to be about characters I truly believe in, 100%. All We Know of Heaven didn't disappoint. Started reading in the car on the way home from the bookstore (I wasn't driving!) and didn't stop until I finished last night. There have been a couple of the situations in real life like the ones in the book, but non-fiction and news programs only give me facts, whereas in fiction I can lose myself in the feelings of each character.

The coma details are both heartbreaking and fascinating, and the girl's friendship rang true throughout.

It's classified as a teen book, but I'm 39 and never felt I was reading a young adult book, it was simply a great read, period. Can't wait for her next.

I rated this book on the low side as I had already read "Mistaken Identity", a story written by the families of two girls who actually experienced this.

I finished ALL WE KNOW OF HEAVEN last night and it's been on my mind all day today. What I find intriguing is that it's been packaged as a YA novel when I think it's a wonderful novel for all ages.

Jacquelyn Mitchard has the innate and rare gift of knowing how to tell a story well. With seamless skill, she introduces readers to two young girls who could easily live in your own neighborhood, then she grabs you by the throat and takes you on an up/down roller coaster ride that will leave you flipping the pages well into the night. I can't see how anyone could read this novel and NOT think about the characters and what they went through for days and months to come.

I have read and reviewed many books over the past two years that have impressed me. I have read only a handful, however, that have touched me as deeply as ALL WE KNOW OF HEAVEN. This is a book that's hard to describe in detail, due mainly to the fact that I don't want to give too much of the story away. Suffice it to say, however, that it's a story that will stay with you long after you've turned the last page.

Two girls, Bridget and Maureen, who are so similar and yet so different at the same time. They have nearly identical body shapes, have the same colored hair and eyes, and even share many of the same mannerisms and characteristics. They've been best friends for several years, and yet there's a part of Maureen that understands that Bridget considers her to be her friend out of convenience, and for what she can provide for her.

Then there is an accident, a deadly one, and the lives of two girls and their families are forever changed. One girl dies, one girl lives. One family buries their daughter, one rejoices and yet fears over the fact that their daughter, now forever changed, lies unconscious and unknowing in a hospitable bed. Yet through it all, interspersed throughout the pages of the story, are the tangled thoughts of a young woman, who is unable to grasp even the simplest words and put them to the images she sees, yet who understands the concept that she's not the girl everyone seems to think she is.

The wrong daughter buried, the wrong family rejoicing. Fear, regret, heartbreak, happiness, hope -- and with it all, through it all, tinged by it all, lies guilt. Guilt that one girl survived, and one didn't. Guilt that one mother once hoped her daughter might die, to spare them all the pain of a long recovery. Guilt that one family's prayers seemed to be answered, and another's joy was cut short.

Guilt that one girl is not the other, could never be the other, and yet seems to be stepping into the life that girl left behind.

Jacquelyn Mitchard can write. She writes so well, in fact, that the reader is unable to step outside of the story of Maureen and Bridget once they've begun reading it. You can feel the pain, the happiness, the sorrow. You understand, and you grieve, and you rejoice, right along with the characters of ALL WE KNOW OF HEAVEN. This is a story you won't soon forget -- nor will you want to.

Reviewed by: Jennifer Wardrip, aka "The Genius"

While this has none of the depth of Charlotte's Web or Stuart Little,this is fun. Cutesy at times, but fun. Balletomanes will particularly enjoy this story.
Readers who enjoy this tale should discover the "Miss Bianca" stories of Marjorie Sharp--they were dumbed down by Disney, but the real "Rescuers" is a delight, and I'm sure Miss Bianca would have had season tickets for the Ballet Rodente!

Jacquelyn Mitchard's wit and wordsmith shine through in this charming young adult novel about a precocious mouse named Prima who lives with her extended mouse family in the Ballet Jolie in New York City. She is the granddaughter of a world renown ballerina and yearns to perform on the stage herself. But she also is a rascal and imp and accomplishes the forbidden: she befriends a human, a young girl named Kristen. Mouse and girl share adventures filled with friendship and love, as well as that mixture of joy and sorrow known to all humans and to mice. Starring Prima is a delightful tale that will leave you applauding and just possibly dabbing the corner of your eyes.

Mitchard nails it here: this is a fun, funny, magical trip into a special little world that all of us, way back in the recesses of our imaginations, feel really DOES exist. One sparkling peek into the little world-within-a-world behind the scenes and scenery of a ballet company, and you'll never doubt again. What you knew as a kid (and what your kid knows yet) is true: Mice do talk, and love, and care. And oh, how they dance. Share this delightful, thoughtful book with your kids--and thus allow them to share a bit of their world with you, too. In the exchange, you'll win.

This is a great way to teach children the meaning of friendship, love for the differences in people, cultures and to always believe in your dream. Mitchard spins her word magic again and now for the children. It is a must buy for the prima's in your life.

Jacquelyn Mitchard (The Deep End of the Ocean, The Most Wanted) joins the roster of bestselling authors who have turned their golden pens to children's literature. Ms. Mitchard also reads her first venture into young readers books with charm and wit.

Prima, we learn with her first words is destined for greatness. "I as born to dance," she exults. Now, there aren't too many four legged ballerinas around, but that doesn't daunt this wee mouse. She's bent on becoming the lead dancer with the American Ballet Rodente.

While Prima envisions applause, tutus, and accomplished glissades, Meowsky, an alert kitten, envisions Prima as prime rib. Will this little ball of fur thwart Prima's ambitions? Listen and see.

"Starring Prima!" will be a sure hit with all elementary age girls who share the little mouse's desire to dance.

- Gail Cooke

This book caught my attention with two essential elements of a novel that do not always appear together - plot and eloquency. I have found that many novels with attractively gripping storylines are frequently lacking in the writing style. Mitchard, however, hooked me with her ideas, and her words kept me from being disappointed.

The story centers mostly on the relationship between two twin girls, Meredith and Mallory Brynn. New Years Eve twins in a small town, they grow up accustomed to everyone knowing who they are, but it is not until their thirteenth birthday that they start being known for more sinister reasons. With one twin able to see the past while the other sees the future, they take it upon themselves to stop someone they thought they knew well from doing things they never would have thought possible.

Mitchard is a rare breed of writer who can capture the emotions and hearts of both the adult fiction and the teen fiction world (She's the author of the tearjerking Deep End of the Ocean, among many other books) . I agree with the publisher that this book is a 12 and up--it deals with some fairly violent themes as the book goes on--but the story is gripping and suspenseful and easily kept THIS adult's attention--in fact there were points where I couldn't turn the pages fast enough.

This is the story of Mally and Merry, identical twins who, on the eve of their 13th birthday, discover there is more to their minds and talents than just being able to communicate with each other telepathically (not unheard of in twins, especially identicals). These new talents begin to tear their lives apart as they pull away from each other trying to deal with and/or deny them. But they are a part of a generations old tradition of powerful women and what is required of them cannot be avoided or denied--and it's very nearly the death of them.

The story is tight for the vast majority of the book--my only gripe is with the last chapter. Mitchard becomes a bit ham handed trying to tie up too many loose ends and give the reader the back stories of too much. My best guess is she's trying to lay the groundwork for a follow up novel with these characters, but it was done in such a below par way I was severely disappointed--it was tedious and anticlimatic. For that reason alone I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

Meredith and Mallory are identical twins born on either side of midnight, one at 11:59pm and the other at 12:01am.

It's now thirteen years later and the girls are best friends, but they have completely different interests. Also, like many identical twins, they can often read each others minds and feel what the other is feeling. But their twin senses are a lot stronger than most twins. They also have the exact same dreams.

Up until one New Year's Eve when a fire breaks out at the house where they are babysitting their cousins, and the twins almost die. Someone purposely started the fire, and the twins have a pretty good idea of who that someone is.

After the fire, Mallory starts seeing strange images and scenes in her head involving David, the guy that they believe started the fire. These scenes are so strange, but Mallory believes that they are actually going to happen. But Meredith isn't seeing the same things or even having the same dreams anymore. Instead, she is seeing scenes involving David that are less creepy.

Over the next few months, what Mallory keeps seeing starts getting more disturbing, like what seems to be David almost raping a girl. She even starts having blackouts after seeing the frightening images. She tells Meredith that they need to confront David, but her sister isn't too sure about the idea. Will confronting David help the disturbing scenes to finally stop, or will they continue on forever?

This was a good book that I really enjoyed. Mallory and Meredith were great characters and it was fun to read a story about identical twins. The storyline was really great and the ending was a bit surprising to me. Parts in the middle were a bit confusing, but it could have just been me.

THE MIDNIGHT TWINS was overall a pretty good book and I hope that Ms. Mitchard writes a follow-up. I'd love to see what happens to Mallory and Meredith after the ending of this book. I'd recommend this one to anyone who likes reading either about twins or who loves the paranormal and mysteries.

Reviewed by: Breanna F.

"Jack" as she's called by her husband, is a one woman dynamo exposing her soul in the most private and gut-wrenching of times. Through her writing we see the world from the eyes of the bereaved - even though it was just a "fetus" that was lost - as one of her relatives callously put it. Grieving is grieving and Mitchard exposes the follies of both those who suffer, those who live with them and the industry built up around such people, as well as the heart-ache that is liberally spread around. Heart-ache that may be felt, but not necessarily talked about.

A real eye-opener.

This book kept me riveted from the first page to the last. Jacquelyn Mitchard's true story of infertility and adoption are so personal, that at times I felt guilty reading parts of it. She bares her soul and it makes for a fascinating read. Even if you've never had a problem getting pregnant,she writes about so many other facets of her life, marital trouble, step-daughter, relationships with her father and brother etc. I felt like I was reading someone's private journal. A very interesting journal. It was fascinating reading how Ms Mitchard reacted to events she couldn't control. Since this book was published very early in her career, I wondered if she regretted her candor, years after it was published.

After discovering "Dispatches From the Mother Ship" quite by accident (and loving it) I searched out any book by this author. I didn't expect a memoir that was so emotional and compelling. At times so desparate- but it has a hopeful ending.

A non-LDS friend recommended this to me, saying it seemed very authentic and realistic in its portrayal of Mormonism. It was completely ridiculous. She got nearly everything about Mormons, and Utah, completely wrong. It was like she asked a few questions, didn't really understand what she was being told, and made up her own drivel to fill in the holes. It was painfully obvious that no LDS member read that novel at ANY stage until after it was already published, or they would have corrected her on nearly everything related to the Church. She blatantly didn't know what she was talking about. There was nothing even remotely accurate in that book.

If foreshadowing was a snake, you'd be dead by Chapter 2. Really dull. Really disappointing.

I started reading this book because our book club is going to review it. I was disappointed from about page one. I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints ( pretty liberal member ), and I was very offended by the fact that the author did not have one single fact straight regarding the Mormon religion, which is central to this story. Some of her facts about our church are aggregiously inaccurate and knowing that people all over the country are reading these gross misrepresentations about our culture and religion is most frustrating. As for the story, I have never had to grieve over something so heinous as this murder, but I have a friend who has, and it seemed the dysfunctionality of this family went on and on and on. The characters were not fleshed out very well and nothing held me to this book. Once I got online and read over more of the reviews, I could easily figure out the ending, so spared myself the waste of time of finishing the last 1/3 of the book. On to better literature. Mary Silver, Farmington, Utah

I hated this book. I rarely won't finish a book--even a bad one--but this one was awful. Not the plot--a young girl seeks revenge for the murder of her two little sisters--but the authors lack of knowledge on the family's religion sent me through the roof. If you are going to write about a group of people--DO SOME RESEARCH! She had so many wrong statements about Mormons it was pathetic. There isn't a temple in Cedar City, Mormons would not call the Salt Lake Temple the "big" temple, girls wear their wedding dresses when they are married, fathers don't give a father's blessing ever night and morning--they have family prayer, jell-o is such a cliché, and a return missionary is called an RM not a MSS. The list of her discrepancies goes on and on. I kept reading hoping that she would get past the religion thing and get on with the story but I gave up after 100 or so pages. I am still very annoyed, displeased, irritated, etc... by the author.

If the rating system was based on tears I cried while reading this novel, I would have to give it a thousand stars....

This is the first book I have read by Ms. Mitchard, and I was captivated from the first paragraph; as one reviewer observed, this book practically begs to be read. It is a story of redemption, vengeance, questioning one's belief system, forgiveness, love, hate, life, death and the choices we make. It is told from the perspective of Ronnie, a teenage Mormon girl who happened to witness the brutal murder of her two beloved younger sisters at the age of twelve. Interestingly, this horific act truly takes a back seat to the stories of the family itself - the lives of the people who were taken and those who survived. While we do learn about the killer and his life, the novel focuses more on the lives of those who are affected by his crimes. This is quite the antithesis of the way the media presents a story; if this happened in real life, the public would know every conceivable detail about the life of the killer, and have little or no information about the family who was so deeply and irrevocably affected by the crime.

This story is deeply moving and emotional (I cried a lot, which was quite embarrassing while reading in public); however it is not a "depressing" story; rather, it is touching and uplifiting. It restores one's faith in humanity, so to speak.

I recommend it highly, think it makes a great discussion piece, and am looking forward to reading more of this author's works.

The best part about these sketches of citizens of the mythical village of Winesburg is the simple but often lovely prose. The best told parts of the story and the parts with the best prose, deal with the Bentley family, the pastor who is unable to repress his sexual voyeuristic tendencies, the young gal who on a whim runs outside naked into the rain hoping it would relieve her mental strain, and some other parts.

The book is full of gloomy individuals dealing with dashed hopes, unfullfilled emotional needs, sexual repression, etc. Some of the characters suffer to some degree from psychological imbalance. Anderson focuses a great deal on the inner psychology of these characters. His presentation is reasonably realistic and effective though he loses his effectiveness somewhat toward the end. It may be difficult for a 21st century reader to recognize behavior and ways of thinking from late 19th century rural Ohio, but I think they are recognizable enough. Jesse Bentley is an interesting character. It is understandable, I think, how a man like him, facing the harsh conditions of rural Ohio in the 19th century, might develop a religious fanatacism that crosses the border into insanity.

One thing that struck me about the book is the meager insight the reader gets into George Willard's thoughts about the sometimes mentally unstable people who make rambling speeches to him about their philosophies of life, dashed hopes, etc. Perhaps George is too naive and has not seen much of the world in his 18 years of life, all of it spent in a rural village, and so he thinks the people he talks to are merely interesting folks and very ood people. Anderson does provide psychological insight into George's striving to find love and his struggles to reach adulthood, though I don't think this insight is always well presented toward the end of the book.

Anderson clearly shows the dashed hopes of some of the female characters in the book who are looking for real love but have husbands who don't share their particular conception of love.

Winesburg, Ohio is a collection of 20+ short stories about life in the small town of Winesburt, Ohio (a fictional town). The great thing about these stories is that they overlap and many of the characters make more than one appearance. The book covers life at the turn of the century and deals with everything from: envy, lonliness, wanting a sense of adventure, love, being lost, family and just gettin' by.

It's not a fast paced book by any means, it's a thoughtful composition of every day life, which is exactly why it is so enjoyable!

Winesburg, Ohio was written by Sherwood Anderson about a small town in Ohio. Not the town now known as Winesburg, Ohio, but another smalltown called Clyde, Ohio.
I read this book in 9th grade & I could recognize some of the places in the book. They are still there in my hometown.

This is one of those books which juxtaposes stereotypes with realities. This is an amazingly well written book delivered in amazingly clever style.

The book is about the good life in the small town of Winesburg, where the good life is not so good for all of the folks. The warm and fuzzy people in Winesburg can be as cold and abrasive as the city folk. Young lovers in Winesburg can grow to become old people who hate one another. A momentary mistake in judgment can become an everlasting scar on one's integrity among peers in Winesburg. Best intentions by grandparents to grandchildren can be received in a worst manner. Winesburg is the All American City where bad things can happen to good people.

Like his peer, Theodore Dreiser ("Sister Carrie" and "An American Tragedy"), Anderson depicts American ideals in less than appealing colors. True stories, or fictional accounts, include failures as well as successes. Most people are donned as ordinary, and the extraordinary worthy of literature are often the happiest 5% and the saddest 5%. Anderson concentrates on the latter.

But, do not believe this is droll or mundane reading about others' hard luck. This book is indicative of its time. Not belabored by overly aggressive use of the English language, it flows easily in its narrative. Like shipyard yarns, you must hear or read more. The stories snare you. And, you seem to want to read the next when you finish what you thought to be your last.

Before I started, I read that this was a group of short stories which all take place in Winesburg. I think one could also describe the book as a novel about George Willard which is delivered in a short-story format. It discusses young journalist Willard's observations of his town and how he, like Jimmy Stewart's George Bailey of "It's a Wonderful Life", is busting to get out of his small town.

And, this book - written a century ago - amazingly reads well today. Anderson really hit a chord with this reader with this book.

Often credited as an inspiration by the renowned literati of the 20th century, Sherwood Anderson exhibited his subtle fineness and simple genius when he penned `Winesburg, Ohio' in 1919. Told as a collection of short stories, the `grotesque' inhabitants of the secluded town of Winesburg begin to relate to a young reporter, George Willard, and open up from the confinements of their society, revealing their inner hopes that will never be fulfilled, and their true sentiments that will remain repressed.

In each story, the reader is invited to observe the attempts by different townsfolk--of all social glass--attempting to seek recognition, respectability and happiness within the community, while all the time internally seeking to justify their own existence in a society that does not seem to befit the effort. Cynicism abounds, as the characters either accept their failed hopes, or are seen to shrilly grasp onto the last motivation for any seemingly purposeful existence. While each character has the potential to be of some significance, all fail in achieving this, remaining inconsequential to the wider world. The opening up to George can be seen as a desperate to attempt to inject solid meaning onto their lives; unintentionally offering George (and the reader) a glimpse into the likely the future for the majority.

A book which explores the emotions behind failed ambition, despair and social cohesion, `Winesburg, Ohio' is a classic cogitation on the American Dream and the place of the individual in the greater world.