Readers Books

When Purple House Press reprinted this book, I recalled it as one of the memorable reads of my childhood, but for the life of me I could not remember why. I remembered the basic outlines of the story, but they didn't seem to add up to something that would have stuck in my memory so. (Since I never owned it, I had never reread it.) However, trusting that there must have been SOME good reason, I went ahead and purchased it. Now at long last I finally know why it stuck in the back of my mind for all those years:

The Phoenix.

David is a nice enough boy, easy to identify with, but in the Phoenix Mr. Ormondroyd has given us one of the most memorable characters in all of children's literature. Wise and all-knowing, but not quite as wise and all-knowing as he thinks he is, he exudes an exquisite sense of pomp and dignity... right before he trips over a windowsill and pratfalls into the bushes below or traps himself in his own snare or nearly electrocutes himself demonstrating his (less than complete) knowledge of electricity. A true rock of courage, unless something frightens him, he can be counted on to fully concentrate on the problem at hand, unless he is distracted by something...

like cookies.

I would love to know the people in Mr. Ormondroyd's life who inspired this character!

A surprisingly evil Scientist rounds out the major characters in this story of a boy receiving an unconventional education that will remind the reader a bit of Harry Potter's early education and an unforgettable ending.

Not to be missed. I am now greatly looking forward to reading his Time at the Top.

I read this book as a child and wanted to share it with my grandchildren.

I loved this book when I was a junior high teen, and at 57 I find I love it still. I have chortled for 40+ years over the mental image of the Irish Wail (tied up in a cardboard box, sealed with a bit of wax)voraciously devouring cabbages and growing in size, volume, and, of course, degrees of harmony.

THIS BOOK IS AN A++++ WINNER. Buy it for your kids, and if you can pry it away from them, read it for your own pleasure. Your life will change--for the better--after you meet David and the Phoenix.

Hallelujah!!! This book was in desperate need of a reprint. I just bought it, again, and let my children read it. With the original artwork included, this is a must have. People say if you like Harry Potter, but that doesn't do the book justice. This is the Holy Grail here. You will laugh and cry and fear for the characters and fall in love with them too. And sadly, you won't want the book to end, but it will. When will we see David and the Phoenix again?

I was thrilled to see this wonderful classic reissued. It is the result of a master writer with a fertile imagination. the intrigue that results as David tries to save the Phoenix from the scientist makes it hard for one to put the book down. Love the ending. I would also recommend "Moonspins and Widdershins" for those who love fastasy.

The Great Brain is one of the best all time books for boys ever written. In my humble opinion of course. The prose is engaging capturing the attention. The stories are exciting and compelling. The chapters are just the right length. And it has all the elements that young boys love from Cowboys and Indians to cops and robbers. What more could you ask for?

But of course, looking back on my childhood as I place this book on the shelf for my own little boy, I realize that the moral lessons this book taught so covertly were lessons that stayed with me: tolerance for other cultures and religions, compassion for those less fortunate, love of family. These are foundational values and the Great Brain teaches them. And the thing is, as a young person, you don't realize you're getting a lesson, you just know you like the story.

This book is a wonderful protrait of 19th century rural America, but people should be aware that it was written at a time when there was much more freedom of speech than we have today. Topics in the book include suicide, religious intolerance and fear of immigrants. There is a scene where the boys go skinny dipping and also one story concerns John mating his dog, so this book probably should not be brought to a public elementary school for fear it might offend someone. Also there are no African-Americans in the book, and while the book does portray Jews, Moromons, Protestants and Catholics coexisting, there are no Muslims in this book, so it is not very politically correct. Also the "I" word is used casually and no mention is made of the plight of native Americans, except to say that they are the only non-immigrants in America. Women are displayed in subservient roles, always cooking, cleaning and taking care of the sick, although all the boys are portrayed as having chores. [...]

In the book The Great Brain written by John D. Fitzgerld was awesome! The book takes place in Adenville, Utah. There are some main characters this book, Tom (T.D) who is known as the great brain, Swyen (S, D) who is the eldest and acts mature, John (J, D) who is the youngest and is always up to something, Abie who is a store owner, and Mr. Standish who is the new school house teacher who everyone hates. Tom, John, and Swyen's father ordered a water closet, which is a bathroom, and they let people see it if they paid one cent. They made forty cents total. When Swyen got the measles, John was jells because he had never gotten sick first and then got to rub it in his brothers face. So one day John decided he wanted to get sick. John went over to his friend Howard who has had the mumps. So he decided to sneak into his house and started breathing in Howard's sick breath, and what do you know, John got sick. Abie had fainted once, twice, Abie died from malnutrition. They had a funeral for him that very day. Mr. Standish was the new school house teacher. Mr. Standish had paddled Tom for not being a tattletale, and Tom swore he would get back to Mr. Standish. So anways Swyen had gone to a Cathloic school in Salt Lake City so Swyen was gone and it was now just Tom and John. Andy their friend had stepped on a rusty nail and had not been able to return back to school. He ended up getting a prosthetic leg.

I learned that you should not lie for any purpose. Like when Tom found a way to get rid of Mr. Standish and when Tom's father asked if he had known anything to know about it and Tom never spoke a word intill his mamma made him tell. I also learned in this book that helping people is good. Like when Tom helped Basil get out of a fight, or when Tom helped Andy play baseball.

I recommend this book to someone who likes smart kids and funny stories. Like the time John wanted to get sick and he got the mumps. Why I think that the book is funny because it is all about fun and making life worth living.

The is a wonderfully, great, terrific book! They need to re-release the Great Brain movie from 1978 starring little Jimmy Osmond! Also, if I may suggest, try reading the Adventures With Boys book series-- Just as good!!!;)

I poured through these books continuously in my youth. I would beg for a trip to the library so I could find just one more I hadn't read.

I had all but forgotten about them until my oldest showed a keenness for reading. Now I'm ordering them for her for Christmas. I hope she gleans as much joy as I did from them! I used to love to pretend that Papa was handing out his sage advice directly to me.

This is such a wonderfully written series for young readers. You really can't go wrong with them, and hopefully my daughter will review this for you some time after Christmas!

Wise Child, a spoiled girl orphaned by the death of her grandmother and abandoned by her gorgeous and powerful witch mother, is taken in by the village witch and healer, Juniper. Wise Child quickly overcomes her fears and--despite the hard work--becomes Juniper's protégé. Wise Child is stuck between the pull of the easy life with her powerful mother and the love and satisfaction of life with Juniper. This simple and magical tale is powerful because of the beautiful prose and the well-drawn and fascinating characters. Wise Child's voice is clear and powerful. Grade: A-

Wise Child was one of my favorite books growing up. It is a simple, but powerful story that is really enjoyable for young adults and regular old adults. The characters are very unique and compelling. Monica Furlong has a great writing style that is enjoyable in itself.

Furlong's novel, set in medieval Scotland, is a hidden jewel, well-written and extremely descriptive. Wise Child's narration, though perhaps a little mature for her age, is believable and poignant, and the novel proceeds well from one event to the next. The author's portrayal of magic is unique and genuine, and historical details add credibility to the novel. I would definitely recommend this likable novel for all ages; 10/10.

There aren't any good books anymore; that's what I thought before Wise Child. This is my favorite book, it is so detailed that I could see the village and the white house in my mind.
The book starts off excellent; explaining what is going on.
It gets a tad slow at the very end, but I don't mind.
The cover is so beautiful as well; because you can see Junipers kindness right there.
Wise Child is great and I reccomend it for anyone!!!!!

One of my favorite books from my childhood and still a joy to reread, Wise Child is the story of one magical child's coming of age. Spoiled but abandoned at a young age, Wise Child is taken in my a woman named Juniper. Juniper lives apart from the small, poor Christian village that Wise Child comes from, and she is a fair but tough mentor, making Wise Child work hard and learn much. In her house on a hill, Juniper teaches Wise Child languages, math, and astronomy, how to grow, harvest, and use herbs, and how to heal the sick in the village below. Slowly, Juniper begins to initiate Wise Child into the way of a doran, a class of magical women who live in the rhythm of nature and use their magic to help those around them. Wise Child's powers blossom, but dark shadows hang over her peaceful life with Juniper: her beautiful, powerful, dangerous mother calls to her from afar, and the close-minded town threatens their safety up on the hill. The book is a magical story of the hard work of coming of age and the love and power than can result from it. Wise Child must find confidence in herself, faith in her future and her powers, and love for her others in order to grow, creating a life-affirming, strong, true message. Furlong's writing style is smooth, her characters are easy to identity with and to love, and the magic in her story is both realistic and exciting. I highly recommend this book to readers of all age groups, and I love coming back to it myself.

The best thing that a coming of age story can do is show us not only the trails and tribulations of adolescence but also the good things about it and the wonders that we reap from it. This book does exactly that. In Juniper's house, Wise Child works hard, learns to do things she doesn't necessarily want to do, and is tested, but her abilities and successes are also celebrated. Juniper is perhaps the idea parent-figure: she coaches, supports, loves, but also forces Wise Child to be strong and stand on her own two feet. As such, Wise Child's story is easy to identify with but also uplifting and promising--the reader comes away knowing that they are not alone in their difficulties, but also that there is something to be gained from it all. The balance between sacrifice and gain is perfect, making this a wonderful read for adolescents and the still-maturing of all age.

Not only is the basis of the story a strong one, the actual aspects of it, including characterization, writing style, and details such as the role of magic are all incredibly well done. Juniper is a mysterious, open-hearted, independent woman, a real role model and inspiring character. Wise Child is realistically selfish and doubtful, but also shows realistic growth and strength that the reader can imitate. Wise Child's POV is in character without being limited, aggravating, or immature, and the overall writing style is smooth, clean, and incredibly fluid and easy to read. The role of magic in the story is well thought out: Furlong makes it quite clear, through Juniper, that there are different realms of what it means to be "real," and her conception of magic manages to make sense in the visible world while still containing enough fantasy and originality to sweep the reader away. Truly this is a skillful book, perhaps the most skillful that Furlong as written. In holds up well when reread and works well for any audience.

I highly recommend Wise Child. To the adolescent, it is a story they can identify with and be inspired by; to those chronically out of adolescence, it is a way to look back and reassess our own journeys, and also a reminder than learning, maturity, and increasing strength is a never ending, never easy, entirely worthwhile journey. The book is a quick read, engrossing, and enjoyable. I'm happy to own it and return to reread it every year or two.

My son was able to read an entire book on his first try. These are great. I know it is helpful for teaching reading and that it is helping my four-year olds learn how to read. I would highly recomment this series.

My 5 yr old son starts kindegarden this fall and my goal is to get him to read before school starts. While going through flash cards to get him to know the sounds of every letter in the alphabet, it got boring and he started to get frustrated. To make this experience more exciting for both of us, I brought the the Sesame street "Alphabet Jungle game" and Bob books. He watched the Alphabet Jungle game on Sunday, which reinforced all the sounds of the alphabet to him. On Monday we went through the first 3 BOB books and I couldn't belive it...my son can read the first few book now...only after one sitting.

Wow these books are amazing. Crafty and to the point. My son started these about 1 year ago and began reading 1 and 2 syllable words within the 1st two times of reading through the series. The boos can be colored by children since the drawings are just outlined pictures. I loved them, they beat hooked on phonics for me!

The series has been renumbered yet again. The new ISBN for the first set is 0439845009.

Bob Books come in 5 sets on 3 levels, and they cover the fundamentals of reading through about half of the Kindergarten level, which is lower than either of the other programs. Each set contains 8-12 books for the child to read, with a line or two of text per page.

Unlike many programs, there is little to no direction for the parent. However, they are carefully crafted to introduce the sounds in a systematic and maximally rewarding way, as well as carefully choosing sight words. The very first book requires that the child know the sounds of only four letters (M, A, S, T) and one sight word (on). The rest of the first set of 12 books (12 pages each) introduces the rest of the alphabet and short-vowel sounds, carefully reviewing everything learned, as well as a handful of high-untility sight words. The second set of 12 books (12 pages each) reinforces what was learned in the first set with more text per page, more plurals, ore sight words, and a few blends. The second level begins with the third set, which has 10 books (16 pages each) and introduces more text, more blends, and some compound words, while the fourth set (4 with 16 pages and 4 with 24 pages) has more blends, more sight words, and long compound words. The final set, in the third level (4 with 16 pages and 4 with 24 pages), has longer stories and introduces long vowels.

The thing my son likes most is that I'm not telling him what to do most of the time, and he doesn't have to repeat books!
Some parents find that the level of progression slows after the first set, but we're going to do them all. It helps my son acquire speed and fluency painlessly.

The only bad points: The words are handwritten, which means that despite the excellent handwriting, there is some inconsistency in spacing and letter shapes that will give some readers problems. Also, if your child likes to gaze for a l-o-n-g time at every picture, painless swifty becomes agaonizing. For that case, I recommend McGuffey's Eclectic Readers
This isn't sufficient to bring a child to the end of the Kindergarten level, but it gets them reading basic books very fast! Many people like the later part of Nora Gaydos' series to follow up. I will use an out-of-print series that I got from my aunt for free :-) called Scholastic Phonics Ready Readers (ISBN 0439325099 and others) starting with books 37. Afterwards, there are many classic early reader books that he can read, like Little Bear and Frog and Toad.

Generally I thought these books were good. After months of struggling, my son suddenly "broke the code", and these were the first books he read. Because of their simplicity, he could immediately read them straight through, with very few errors, which felt like a much-deserved and much-appreciated reward after all that hard work. The two of us were both laughing with relief and delight.

However, one thing that bothered us was the occurrence of "words" that aren't really words. What are those for? Examples:

"The vet ran zip zap."
"ZAM!"

When my son read those words, he thought he was reading incorrectly, since the "words" didn't make any sense to him. I was annoyed because the books made him feel uncertain at those points, though he was reading perfectly.

There were a couple of sentences that were unnatural, too. For example, "Dot did nap." Normally we say, "Dot napped," do we not? Of course, "napped" is a more advanced word and would have been unsuitable for the first series. But my son scratched his head over some of these sentences because the wording was not natural.

I thought the downside should be stated, even though the high praise the books have received here is well deserved.

In this book, Merlin must return the dark hills to normal and restore all the land in Fincayra with the flowering harp. He is aided by his friend Rhia and Bumblewy, a pathetic jester. His longing for his mother soon takes priority over restoring the land. With the help of the wisest shell he is able to bring his mother from Earth to Fincayra. But she quickly catches the death curse and the only way to cure it is by traveling to the otherworld to retrieve the Elixir of Dagda. In order to do this he must find the souls of the seven songs of magic, travel through the otherworld well, fight a Cyclops named Balor, retrieve the Elixir and return it to his mother. With the help of his two companions, he will have to do this in one month before his mother dies.
This second book of the Merlin series was good. It was well written and interesting. The only thing I didn't like was how easily everything fit together, and how something always happened to break Merlin's way when he was looking for the souls of the songs. I think T.A. Barron did a great job of expressing the emotion of the characters. This book is filled with magic. I would recommend this for people of all ages.

The Seven Songs of Merlin is the second book in the Merlin series written by T.A. Barron. This is a story about a young boy who is discovering himself and what's within him. It is an adventure including mystical creatures, distant lands, and eccentric characters. This series of five books tells the adventures of a well- known wizard before he was famous. It is prologue to the stories King Arthur. The Merlin series is a great series and I do recommend it.
For you to understand some things I will explain about the Seven Songs book, you must know a little about the previous book. The first book starts out with Merlin waking up on a shoreline not knowing who or where he is. A woman takes him in and claims to be his mother, but he is not sure that she is. Merlin discovers he is not an ordinary boy and goes to the mystical land called Fincayra. On this island he finds out that the woman is his mother and discovers his fate. He has powers and is destined to become a greater wizard than his grandfather Tuatha. He goes on an exciting adventure and finds a new friend Rhia. When the first book ended it left me hanging and wanting more, and that is what led me to read this book, The Seven Songs of Merlin.
The book starts out with Merlin missing his mother and wanting her to be with him on Fincayra, so he finds a way to bring her to him. This way is to find the talking shell and tell it what he wants most. When he does this his mother arrives on the beach. When she arrives she is enticed by a cursed flower and the second she touches it she becomes extremely ill and weak. Merlin is filled with guilt and rage. Then he is told that the spirit Dagda has an elixir to cure the disease, but the only problem is Dagda is in the otherworld which is where all spirits live and Merlin is in Fincayra, the middle world. Fincayra is neither mortal or spirit; it is called the in- between place. Merlin is told he must follow the seven songs of wisdom left for him by his grandfather. He must get through all seven songs in time to save his mother. This journey will prepare him to face the giant vile ogre Balor guarding the entrance to the otherworld. Merlin finds these songs on the inside of an ancient tree and sets off on his quest. These tasks are not easy and they take him all over the land. He learns many things about magic as well as things about himself.
Will he make it to the otherworld in time, will the ogre, whose smallest glance can kill, be Merlin's end, or will he prevail and accomplish the task he set out for? Read this fantastic book to find out. I really enjoyed this book. It never had a dull moment and I just couldn't put it down. I recommend this book to anyone who likes a good adventure or fantasy. The character development was great and it had an intriguing plot. Free time is not something to be wasted, so have a good experience by reading this book. Plus, when you're done reading this one, there are three more books left that are just as good, if not better, that you can read which also tell the story of an interesting adventure.
There are only a few drawbacks that I was able to come up with. The first one that came to my mind is that you have to read the first book to read the second one so you will understand the plot. So, if you want to read the third one you must read the first and second. Its not a drawback if you like to read, but if you're looking for a book that you can just sit and read without wondering what happened in the previous book or what is going to happen in the next book, then this is not the book for you. Another drawback is this book isn't very short and takes a while to read. It is around 300 pages. I think the benefits outweigh the drawbacks, and have personally read 4 of the 5 books and consider them all to be well written and excellent books. Once more I would like to say I personally recommend this book and series to anyone, but mostly fantasy fans.


John F.

This is a wonderful sequel to the already great 1st book, the lost years of merlin.


After merlin topples stangmar, his father, he needs to "revive" the land with the flowering harp. however, he decides that he wants to bring his mother to Fincayra 1st. Using the wisest shell from the shore of speaking shells, he summons his mother to the island. when merlin's mother tries to smell a flower, a death shadow slides out and forces her to swallow it. A death shadow is Rhita Gawr's most painful way of killing someone.It gives the victim a month to live in which the victim will begin to suffer more and more pain. at the end of the month, he or she will die while enduring almost unbearable pain. Merlin finds out that to stop his mother from dying he must retrieve the elixer of Dagda. that means that he must journey to the otherworld to get it. However, the only way of getting to the Otherworld(apart from dying)and returning to the real world alive is to master the seven songs that Tuatha himself carved into Arbassa, Rhia home, a tree. After mastering all of the songs he must defeat/slay Rhita gawr's most fearsome servant, Balor, the one-eyed ogre. While merlin is quickly trying to get the elixer of Dagda, he discovers some thing abouut Rhia that leaves him in a great shock but only makes him triple his efforts to finds the elixer.

This is truly the best book that i have ever read and i think it deserves seven stars out of five. I hope you enjoy it as much as i do.
COMPLIMENTS TO YOU MR. BARRON!!!!!!

This is a wonderful sequel to the already great 1st book, the lost years of merlin.


After merlin topples stangmar, his father, he needs to "revive" the land with the flowering harp. however, he decides that he wants to bring his mother to Fincayra 1st. Using the wisest shell from the shore of speaking shells, he summons his mother to the island. when merlin's mother tries to smell a flower, a death shadow slides out and forces her to swallow it. A death shadow is Rhita Gawr's most painful way of killing someone.It gives the victim a month to live in which the victim will begin to suffer more and more pain. at the end of the month, he or she will die while enduring almost unbearable pain. Merlin finds out that to stop his mother from dying he must retrieve the elixer of Dagda. that means that he must journey to the otherworld to get it. However, the only way of getting to the Otherworld(apart from dying)and returning to the real world alive is to master the seven songs that Tuatha himself carved into Arbassa, Rhia home, a tree. After mastering all of the songs he must defeat/slay Rhita gawr's most fearsome servant, Balor, the one-eyed ogre. While merlin is quickly trying to get the elixer of Dagda, he discovers some thing abouut Rhia that leaves him in a great shock but only makes him triple his efforts to finds the elixer.

This is truly the best book that i have ever read and i think it deserves seven stars out of five. I hope you enjoy it as much as i do.

The second installment of the Lost Years of Merlin finds him fighting not only for his own life, but also the lives of 2 people close to him. He must solve the mysteries of the seven songs and come to understand their meanings before he can be of any use to those who desperately need him. The perils are many, the rewards are spectacular.

T.A. Barron writes another winner as he continues his saga of Merlin, before Camelot and King Arthur. The characters in this book are full of life and begin to feel like old friends as you read the story. There are appearances from past friends also and Barron makes certain they remain true to their character. These books are intended for a younger audience, but the story is so engaging and wonderful, readers of any age will find them hard to put down.

Join Merlin and company as they journey to exotic lands full of strange creatures, friend and foe. Cheer over their triumphs and feel saddened by their losses.

I highly recommend this series to all ages and interests. This is rich story telling at its best. It's also fun to discover where Merlin came from and how he became such a powerful wizard. The books are short and easy to read.

The storyline is very simple, a good complement to illustrations that are colorful and detailed enough to hold the attention of very young children. We got this when my first son was about 9 mos. old; within the next year he had it memorized and could "read" it to us. My son is now 22 (YEARS old) and my husband and I can still recite the book . . .

this is a great book to teach aobut seasons and bring in new vocabulary and it is a great book because it is for toddlers but it is a board book so it can withstand younger siblings.

This book is delightful for children of 18 months to 3 years. The story is lyrical enough to capture their attention, the illustrations are delightful and Richard Scarry lives up to his excellent reputation as a chldren's author. It makes a great inexpensive gift.

I loved this book as a kid. When my family moved it was never seen again. I have been trying to find it again for years. I just found it! I read it to my daughter now and she gets so excited to turn to the next page. I am having fun sharing these kind of books with her. :)

This book holds the attention of my 18-month-old for quite a while, especially the rain page. It should last forever.

This series is full of easy rhymes. It makes a great early reader, as well as a great read-aloud for a younger preschooler or toddler.

The sheep, in their jeep, have a run of rhyming problems, until they finally realize they're better off without it. Great fun, funny and cute.

I was first introduced to this book when a friend's toddler received it for Christmas. He loved it. That was 5 or 6 years ago. Recently we found it at the library and my boys loved it so much that we bought our own. My 2yo son loves it and even the 4yo still asks to read it. It's a keeper!

Our school district had a paperback version of this book (not cardboard) as a part of the reading curriculum for the kinders and it was so cute I had to buy it in order to keep it at home. The facial expressions of these sheep are too adorable, the sentence structure is kept simple, and it rhymes. Plus, the kids love it :^).

As a Jeep owner, when I saw this book at my library's book fair - I just HAD to get it for my toddler. A year later, we still love reading it. The rhymes are great and so memorable that we find ourselves using some of the lines whenever a mishap occurs in our daily lives. Whether you're a Jeep owner or not - this book is a MUST have!

Sheep in a Jeep is a fun book using rhythmic wording. The pictures are humorous. My disappointment was with the small size of the board book. No where did it say the miniature dimensions of the book. I prefer board books that are in the larger format of 8x11.

DELTORA QUEST are a fantastic book series for juvenile readers, filled with action and magic and adventure. THE FORESTS OF SILENCE is anything but silent. It absolutely SCREAMS fine work and captivates readers on the first page. The Shadow Lord is a non-appearing villain in this book, much like the main villains in LORD OF THE RINGS and ERAGON & ELDEST, but Rodda makes up for it easily with Gorl the evil knight, the sinister Grey Guards and who could forget the absolutely wicked Prandine. This book is a true modern classic and will and should be remembered for years.

This is absolutely one of the best series. Sure they are short books. There are 15 books in all. The main story is Leif and his friends Barda and Jasmine have to go on a very important mission to save all of Deltora. I'm not going to give any of the plot away though!

I was rather surprised to see so many positive reviews of this book, but I guess I'm not the standard in this case.

When I bought this book I had never heard of Deltora Quest or Emily Rodda before and the only reason I paid money for it was because I wanted to read a marginally written children's fantasy. But this has nothing to do with my taste in books.

As I read it, I became increasingly embarrassed by the writing. The book's pace was unsettlingly quick so by page fifty the characters were already grown up and had families. It's meant as a children's story so the book is given some allotment of cheesiness, but it's taken to another level with the constant barrage of cliched phrases and cookie-cutter characters that are just plain boring. To be honest, it read like an unskilled preteen's idea of fantasy with a plot line thought up during third period math class.

The majority of my problem with this book doesn't lie with the plot because any plot can be made interesting with some crafty writing. This book didn't have crafty writing. The dialogue was weak at best and the occasional attempt at dated language was painful. The zooming plot line mixed with the excruciating descriptions make it hard to read.

I suppose in the end I got what I wanted, thus the two stars, but this book just isn't that good. Yes, it's a children's book and any child would like it, but even children deserve some quality writing and for a seasoned writer, this shouldn't be considered a huge success.

Deltora Quest by Emily Rodda is one of the best fantasy books I have ever read. It is about two boys name Jarred and Endon who have been best friends since they where little. They lived in a castle, Endon was the son of the king of Deltora and Jarred was the son of a butler at the castle. Endon's dad has just died and he is about to take over the thrown. Jarred has done some research on the belt of Deltora and knows that if Endon does not where the belt all of Deltora will fall to the dark lord. One of the kings friends talks Endon into thinking that Jarred is going to betray him, so Endon has called the guards on Jarred but will he escape?
Deltora is vast land suppurated into 7 tribes who each had a magical gem. The story of the land goes that there once was a blacksmith. He wanted to bring the tribes together. So he makes a belt with 7 slots to put the gems in. After he made the belt He went to each of the tribes to ask them to set there gems in the belt. One by one the each put there gem inside the belt, then he put on the belt and all of the tribes where united and he was known as the king of delta but what he doesn't know is that someone is planing to kill him.
I would recommend this book to anybody with a great since of imagination and adventure.

This book was my first fantasy book, and it made me a lifelong fan. Rodda's way of writing is magnificent, and her descriptions are amazing. For those who read "epic", if you want your kids to become like you, this is a great place to start, reminiscent of Robert Jordan.

Storyline:
Young Lief of Del, a boy living in living nightmare to all, is called forth by his father, Jared. The first half is taken in the POV of Jared, the second Lief. Lief and Barda set out to the Forests of Silence, to find the first gem of the belt of Deltora.

Pros:
-Nice unclichéd characters, although one reminds me of a character from the Wheel of Time, slightly.
-Good worldbuilding that stretches over the entire series; one that could almost be real.
-Great sense of danger; the monsters are unique in fashion; like the Oz tales.

Cons:
-Random seperations of characters; anger used in unhelpful situations.

How I missed this classic growing up, I'll never know. But my son has discovered the Ramona books, and they are wonderful and very true to life. Ramona's thought-processes and antics are so real, I now know that my son has been behaving like a normal kid! Cleary is so accurate in rendering the child's perspective and writing about it in a way that young children can identify with, that this book can't fail to appeal to everyone, now and for years to come. It hasn't dated, and the humor holds up well. Don't miss this series--your little reader will be eager to pick up the entire series.

Although it was first published in the 1960s, "Ramona The Pest" still speaks to the lives of children today, as a five-year old Ramona Quimby enters the world of "big kids" and goes off to kindergarten. Funny, heartfelt and honest, this book centers on Ramona's eagerness to please her new teacher, Miss Binney, and the difficulties of a headstrong little girl trying to mind her temper and get along with other kids in a complex social situation. This was the first solo Ramona book (Henry Huggins and Ramona's older sister Beezus make appearances, but they are not central to the story) and was the start of a series of Ramonacentric adventures. It includes some classic Cleary gags, such as Ramona getting the words to the "Star Spangled Banner" wrong ("by the dawnzer lee light...") and Ramona's brief career as a "kindergarten dropout". Great stuff - still holds up today. (ReadThatAgain children's book reviews)

I really loved this book. It was a lot of fun to read! It is great for kids of all ages, as it can remind everyone of their struggles as an elementary student.

Five-year-old Ramona Quimby is tired of being called a pest. It's not her fault she doesn't know as much as her big sister Beezus, or that she's always so eager to get things done, is it?

This year, Ramona is finally starting kindergarten. After what felt like years of waiting, she's excited at the idea of learning to read and write like Beezus.

But kindergarten is full of its own problems. As much as Ramona loves her teacher, she isn't always sure that Miss Binney loves her back -- or what she's done to make her unhappy. Ramona also quibbles with Howie, a neighborhood boy who alternates between being her friend and being so exasperating he makes her furious; longs to pull the curls of her classmate Susan, and to kiss shy little Davy.

As always, Ramona is a believable character, likeable and just like any other child readers might hope to meet. After becoming introduced to Ramona, young readers will clamor for the other books, eager to find out what happens to the irrepressible girl next.

It's finally happened! Ramona Quimby is old enough to attend kindergarten! She can't wait to do big kid stuff like learn to read and participate in show and tell. Parts of school are confusing, like the song about the dawnzer. But she is making new friends, like Davey, her first crush, and Susan, whose hair is so curly it just cries out to be tugged. But when things go horribly wrong, will Ramona ever return?

I had read this book before but had forgotten just how wonderful it was until I reread it recently. Author Beverly Cleary expertly captures the emotions and reactions of a 5 year old. Heck, I think at times Ramona is more honest then many adults are today. While some of her behavior isn't acceptable, it is understandable. And absolutely funny. There are so many wonderfully funny moments here that anyone will relate to.

The story itself is more episodic then a true novel. But that doesn't mean it isn't entertaining. I certainly didn't want to put it down.

The book was originally written in the late 60's, so it might be slightly dated, but this really is a minor issue. The heart of the story is Ramona and her new kindergarten world.

Beverly Cleary has a wonderful pen for writing. The book works well for mid to late elementary school students to read to themselves. Or it can be read aloud with absolute ease.

If you haven't discovered the joys of kindergarten with Ramona, pick up this book today. You'll laugh and smile as you are carried away to a world that was simpler.

Jorge Luis Borges was one of those rare writers who can take even a bizarre, utterly unbelievable idea, and spin it into an exquisite little gem of prose.

And this classic writer was at the peak of his powers when he collected together "Ficciones," whose plain name belies the subtle power and exquisite beauty of Jorges' short stories. Even among Borges' many short stories, few of them can rival this little labyrinth of strange ancient cities, fictional histories, and the eerie depths of the human mind.

"I owe the discovery of Uqbar to the conjunction of a mirror and an encyclopedia." An odd old saying from the Middle-East leads the narrator to seek out the long-lost heretical histories of a fictional world known as Tlon. Its beliefs, language, and metaphysical eccentricities increasingly fascinate the narrator, until it's almost a surprise to realize that Borges invented all of this.

The stories that follow are no less engrossing -- the recounting of a strange, haunting novel, a man who attempts to LIVE as Don Quixote, a man who tries to dream a new being into existence, a lottery that determines the way the people of Babylon are to live, an examination of a brilliant and underrated author, an exploration of the eternal Library of the universe, and a labyrinthine spy story.

The second round of short stories is a bit less enthralling, merely because it focuses more on "typical" Borges short stories. But they are still pretty enthralling pieces of work -- the remembrance of the brilliantly eccentric Ireneo Funes, the story of a scar, a series of murders linked to "the secret Name," a condemned man's begs God for a year to perfect his art, a forgotten heretic, a conversation leading to revenge, the Cult of the Phoenix, and a man entranced by the "Arabian Nights."

Mirrors and labyrinths fill Borges' work -- real and imagined, in word, metaphor and reality. You see them in an endless library, a guitar melody, a contradiction in religious faith, a complex plot, and in the mind of a man who loses himself to an obsession. The mirrors show you the sides of people that they would never see themselves, and the labyrinth twists the mind into new places where it would never normally go.

"Ficciones" explores places where normal fiction would never go -- such as a Babylonian lottery for different places in society, corrupted by greed -- even as it imbues its eulogies, metaphysical ponderings and explanations with the tinge of reality. The cults, deaths, and art that Borges describes seem so plausible, and are given such depth and detail, that it comes as a mild shock when you realize, "Hey, he made all of this up."

Part of that is due to his unique style, full of elegant wordcraft and gently luminous imagery ("a round yellow moon defined two leaf-clogged fountains in the dreary garden"). Even a stabbing is made brutally beautiful, and often dialogue is unnecessary -- the most beautiful and striking stories in here are the ones where Borges (aka the narrator) eagerly explores some invented facet of the world.

And woven through these stories are many of the things that fascinated Borges through his career -- a tragic hero, ancient heresies, an elusive God, and people whose lives he could somehow explore through his own imagination.

If you could criticize anything at all, it's that few of the characters -- aside from the Borges "narrator" -- are much more than walking symbols of a murky little message. But hey, you could simply see this entire book as an exploration of Borges' own imagination by himself. He happily recounts countries that are nonexistant, books that were never written, geniuses who never were.

"Ficciones" is about the dullest name you can possibly give to a work of genius -- an intricate little web that is all mirrors and mazes. Absolutely stunning.

My knowledge of Borges is small; before purchasing Ficciones I had only read two or three of his short stories. Enough, however, to know that it would be well worth the short time it takes to read each of these stories.

Borges had an unusual and amazing way of compressing the most stimulating, fascinating material into a small number of pages. You may read one of his stories in ten-fifteen minutes and contemplate it for a week (or more) and remember it for life. And still, you may well want to reread it many times; it has happened more than once that upon finishing a Borges short I immediately wanted to go back and start from the beginning.

The strange thoughts on infinity and the nature of existence are presented in a way that stimulates thought in a humble yet intruiging way. Ideas that may be well recognized and used in other fiction (in some cases overused) have some other element, some different approach, so that even if the premise is not "new" the experience certainly is. How this can be done, and in so few words no less, is beyond me.

This was certainly one of my very best buys and I know that this book will be well worn by my reading alone, not to mention that of the many people I will lend it to with my best recommendations. These short stories will bring beauty and excitement of the mind to many an otherwise boring, mundane day.

Borges, a half deaf Mephisto indian from Peru, wrote in the later half of the 20th century when half of his inheritance had been squandered in Bordellos charging full price. His forte into "asylum" literature came about as a result of being incarcerated by accident in a Bolivian prison camp which inspired the film, "Papillon". His days were spent by writing and re-reading a book he carried inside his pocket for 22 years which was titled, "Moth Collecting for Youngsters". Most of these stories deal with tidal waves and rocks but some, deal with the memories of his youth like "Hopping on Empty Books".

Transport the Wachowski brothers to the 1930's and ask them to express their philosophy by way of short stories. You might get something in the same ballpark as Ficciones. The diversity and genius of Borges' work is so unique that if you were to know all the languages in the world and had no word limit, it would still be hard to do a review that does justice. Ironically, this is exactly the kind of challenge that Borges would stand up to. I will attempt to review this work by enlisting adjectives that come to mind.

Surreal, mystic, recursive, sophistic, heretical, philosophical, religious, profound, imaginative, ingenious, circular, open-ended, unorthodox, personal, hallucinational, original, universal, self-referential, concise, contextual, complex, ironic.

Here are a few examples of the complexity of Borges' mind at work.

Borges attributes certain imaginary books and volumes of books to some of the authors that he is most influenced by. In reality, these books are projections of Borges' fertile mind and no more. In the process of critiquing imaginary works of art (let's call this meta-art), he creates an instance of the meta-art in the mind of the reader. It's like me talking to you about the eating habits of a third person you haven't met, and actually does not exist! Borges never fails to leave you with a lasting impression of a meta-art that resonates with your senses. On second thoughts, this is obvious because the meta-art is as much a figment of your imagination as it is Borges'. Every meta-art is a reflection of your own creative mind, while Borges is simply holding a mirror. And talking about mirrors, here's a quote from Borges as attributed by him to the meta-art in his first short story "Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius": "The earth we inhabit is an error, an incompetent parody. Mirrors and paternity are abominable because they multiply and affirm it." And with this we come full circle just like you would in most of Borges' stories.

Borges is fascinated with the idea of god and provides several unorthodox notions of god that might be as appealing to scientists as they would to priests. This is done more so by illustration than by elucidation. In fact, subtle self-references and recursions are an integral part of the entire work. The stories embody the concept that Borges sets out to illustrate, and always come full circle at the end such that appreciating the story is equivalent to appreciating the concept. Whether it is the wizard of "The Circular Ruins", the librarian of "The Library of Babel", the spy of "The Garden of Forking Paths", the teenage boy of "Funes the Memorious", or the playwright of "The Secret Miracle"; the self-referential nature of the work is haunting. Each story leaves you wondering how Borges could convey so much with so little words [This also speaks volumes about the quality of English translation]. Then again, the very topic of brevity and excessiveness is discussed in one of the reviews of a fictional book. It is like Borges does not let anything go. Yet again, the very topic of an all-encompassing book is discussed in the context of a fictional book that aspires to BE god.

There was not a single story of the seventeen that was not profound. There is no chance that you would not re-read this book after reading it once.

Borges never fails to please, to challenge, to entertain, and more importantly make one's brain shift into high gear!
If you are looking for an easy read, don't expect to find it in Ficciones.

However, if you are looking for a little cerebral cortex arousal; grab this book and find a cozy spot...you won't be disappointed!

Reading with his head instead of his heart, Borges looks to fill his mind with all the minutia and information he can possibly hold and release it back in his works with finely crafted and fascinatingly playful philosophical stories.

The sparse, objective writing of Ficciones is a far cry from his earlier lyrical style, of which he says: "In those days, I sought dusk, the outskirts, and unhappiness; now, mornings, the center, and serenity."

Thankfully in the newer center, we are treated to 17 extraordinary stories that are teasingly succinct, yet brimming with imaginative and aesthetic prose!

The scarcity of words requires that the reader pay attention to them all or miss much of the wisdom and subtleness that define the delicate and ingenious style that is this fine master of fiction...Jorge Luis Borges!