Schools Books

Just great all around!!! This was one of my favorite childhood books. I will now give this one to my goddaughter to enjoy.

I am currently running a girls book club for 4th grade girls and I decided to use this book because of the positive attitude of the children in the book. I am trying to teach the girls in the book club how to analyze a book, discuss a book and to learn from a book. This book had everything I was looking for. The analysis leads to talking about attitude, taking responsibility and using your creativity!

This book is so good. It is where 12 year-old Mary, and her 10-year old sister, Jean are on a ship, and one day the ship starts to sink, and as quick as they can, the take all the babies that they had babysat while on the ship, and get into a lifeboat, but then, right before the boat sinks, their lifeboat gets accidentally thrown into the water, it is just them and 4 babies, all alone in a lifeboat with only a few odds and ends, like a tarp, jerky, canned milk, a jug of water, and some sfety pins. After 5 days of sailing in their little lifeboat, theese corageous little girls land on an island. They make shelter and look all over for food. There are ALOT more twists in the book............ but I don't want to spoil the surprises for you. you wil just have to buy it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I did a book report on this book as a kid and really enjoyed the story. This will delight young babysitters and little girls with younger siblings! I have a sis five years younger and could relate to the hardships of these two girls who get stranded on an island with four babies. This book has a good balance of good and bad events and a great ending. The characters seem very realistic but parts of the plot are a little far-fetched and seem fictional. Either way, it's a very fun story with nothing too gross or scary. It also has a fair amount of cute, clean humor. I would say this is a good story for younger readers and those who like a lighthearted story.

Great fun!

As a young girl, I read this book over and over. Loved it! Magical. Shipwrecked on an Island with babies in their care - the girls in this story have an adventure. I was so jealous! I loved babies, still do! This book was dreamy fun.

The author, Carol R. Brink, also wrote "The Pink Motel," my other fav in the 5th grade. Have them both, and will treasure them forever. All my daughters read this, and liked it, as every little girl would.

Delightful! Buy it! thanks, Gramma Sally

The history, meaning and importance of our American flag is presented for young readers in rhyme with magnificent illustrations that will be sure to inspire. At the bottom of every page is more historical data, such as the planting of a flag on the moon six times for each Apollo mission, the meaning of our colors, and the myths surrounding the making of our first flag.

How nice to see a patriotic message that entertains and inspires.

This book is a great way to teach children about the Amnerican flag through rhyme and pictures. You can focus primarily on the rhymes for younger children and then focus on the factual information given as a sidebar on each page for older children. Wonderful resource!

The Flag We Love is about the American flag and people willing to die for their country. My favorite picture is when it shows the Viet Nam wall.It is so patriotic. The illustration is so detailed and realistic. I just enjoyed the book very much.

This beautiful book opens with Muñoz's first inspiring verse:

Our flag is our country's symbol
Of ideals that are meant to last
It's a promise for our future
A reminder of our past....

The accompanying illustration by Ralph Masiello shows a freshly whitewashed barn with an American flag gracing one side. A farmer's furrowed field, a vast blue sky and bucolic setting complete the scene. Each page that follows presents another verse, accompanying illustration, and a text box that imparts a piece of our flag's history to the reader. The book is stunning to look at, informative and heartwarming to read. It is a good introduction to youngsters about how our flag came to be, how it's changed over the years, and its meaning to us as citizens.

Carolyn Rowe Hill

I think The Flag We Love by Pam Munoz Ryan is a special book in its own honorable,patriotic,and unique way.It tells about
the flags at the Viet Nam Wall and who died. That's why I think it's Special.

I started reading this book on a monday morning and finished it that night. I couldnt stop reading and Darcy Frey kept me at the edge of my seat. I couldnt wait to see what would happen to the three other players featured in this book besides Stephon Marbury. I recommend this book to ANY basketball fan or anyone intrested in the struggles of lower income neighborhoods.

This book was set in the early 90's in one of New York City's worst neighborhoods. The story is of the struggle that 3 friends (plus one genuine jerk) under go in their individual pursuits of college scholarships. The things that they see and experience are still the same type of challenges that face today's urban learners. I give Darvy Frey credit for bringing us in to their world in a way that very few authors can pull off. If you are considering buying this book do so you will not be dissapointed.

Coney Island the basketball playground of America is the setting for the Last Shot: City Streets and Basketball Dreams. 4 stories of H.S. basketball players who goto Abraham Lincoln H.S. and play for the might basketball team the Railsplitters (What a cool name). I mainly bought this book because Stephon Marbury is featured as one of the four people in it. I myself grew up in Brighton Beach one town away from Coney Island so I know how life is... This book is true and real and I recommend this book to any sports fan or anyone who is looking for a real treat.

A classic piece of sports writing, but for everyone. The author is a writer for the New York Times Magazine. In this book he writes about the lives of some high school basketball players/high school students (in that order).

Like the other posters have noted, it's not just for basketball freaks. It's a well written story about some kids in the 90's who live in the projects in Brooklyn, Coney Island for the most part, and how much basketball means to them. In the book it seems like basketball is their only path to success. But they are up against the recruiters, hustlers and the SATS (which they need to get a 700 on but that's just out of reach for most).

You get to meet the student athletes, Russell, Corey, Tchak, and Stephon, their parents, coaches, recruiters, local prophets, etc, and the author treats them all with a level of respect the New York Times Magazine accords the suit wearing sharks.

If you get this book, you won't have to read long before you're committed to reading the whole thing. It's a very rare book indeed that leaves me wanting more. I would have loved to read a sequel. Alas, we only get an afterward, but the story had to end somewhere and the afterward was, well, quite the shock.

If you like hoops you would love this story. Darcey frey the author who's also a sports writter follows the life of three young men who's dream is to become professional basketball players.Living in the Coney Island section of Brooklyn these three men are faced with durgs violence, and everything you see on the streets of Brooklyn. A very inspirational story, and a indepth look on the career of Stephon Marbury.This is a book you would want to share with a friend.

I've heard of "gentle readers" but this author is a "gentle writer". She has taken a subject that could be horrifying for kids and made it a "spooky adventure". When I was a little girl I had a metal dollhouse with little rubber people and hard plastic furniture. To me it was a mansion with soft contours and real life. As an adult I love the giant dollhouse at the Smithsonian and reading about Tasha Tudor's dollhouse. I used to pretend that when I was watching them they were watching me and how strange that would be. I never imagined a mystery in my play - but this author did and she accomplished it in an entertaining and imaginative way. This is a wonderful book - now on my children's shelf - and recommended to all.

I read this book for the first time when I was in middle school (about 13 years ago) and I was hooked. I read it a million times throughout the next couple of years and enjoyed it each time. I was drawn in to the point that I thought I was living the book. Recently, I wanted to read this book that I loved long ago and searched for it on Amazon. I am so happy to see that many people love this book and feel the same way that I do. I just became a mom to a little baby girl, and I can't wait for her to enjoy this book as much as I did.

This is the most amazing book!!!! I don't even know how many times I've read it! It's my favorite book ever and I've read alot of books!!! Strongly recommend!!!

My book, Time Windows, by Kathryn Reiss was mysterious and full of suspense. It was so great it kept me up for hours after my bed time. The main character, Miranda, moved to an old house in the middle of nowhere from New York City. At first she doesn't like the house. Then she entered the attic and found a dollhouse that can reveal a secret about her house's past. This book made you feel like you were sitting in the attic with Miranda peering into the windows of the doll house. By Nicole

I AM ONLY ON PAGE 100 AND ALREADY I LOVE THIS BOOK. I LOVED IT FROM THE FIRST WORD THE END IS EXCITING! [I ALWAYS SPOIL IT BY READING THE END FIRST BUT I WILL NOT TELL YOU ABOUT IT!] I AM 25 AND THE GIRL IN THE BOOK IS THIRTEEN SO I COULD TELL THIS IS FOR YOUNGER PEOPLE BUT I STILL LIKE IT COME AND READ THIS BOOK... IT TAKES YOU FOR A RIDE AND A RIDE OF MYSTERY AND SUSPENSE IT IS SO IF YOU LIKE MYSTERYS AS WELL AS SUPER NATURAL STUFF LIKE I DO COME READ THIS! I JUST WANTED THE AUTHOR OF THIS BOOK TO KNOW THAT SHE DID AN AWESOME JOB!!

I enjoyed this book. It's about the Animorphs' discovery of a chat-site about Yeerks. I thought that it was an okay book, but they don't seem to mention the people in the chat-site anywhere else in the series (I'd have thought that a whole site full of Yeerk-aware people would be a major thing, but that's just my opinion), so if you are just looking for important books in the series, you can skip this one.

The book does not have enough adventure for it to be a good book. It should have fighting against the Yeeks. I think that if there was more adventure, and it had more Controllers it would be alot better.

In this book, Jake discovers a web site about Yeerks. He shows it to the others and they see the chat room. They decide to pay a visit to Web Access America (not AOL, A reader from U S A). They go to the airport because WAA is too far to fly in bird morph. There they fight over wether to morph flies on a United or Northwest plane (they choose United). Marco eats some shareholder's first class lunch and Jake (?) wonders if there will be an in-flight movie, and Marco (?) says not a movie, the flight's 1 1/2 hours long, more like an in-flight cartoon! Tobias in fly morph is funny. When there in the WAA building, Jake, in tiger morph, Rachael, in Grizzly morph, Cassie, in wolf morph, and Tobias, in his natraul form (hawk), mop the floor. An employee says there crazy, why are they mopping the carpet? Ax and Marco sneak in to the computers (everyones distracted) and find out who MegMom, Fitey777, and Gump (screen names from the chatroom) really are. It turns out Fitey777 is Joe Bob Fenistre is the CEO of WAA. Jake gets a rhino morph and They go to Joe Bob Fenistre's house. I'll leave it at that

Jake has made an amazing discovery: a web site about the Yeerks. Should the Animorphs investigate? If they do, they might walk right into a trap. And if they don't, they'll never know if they're fighting their enemies alone.

Jake and the gang go on a yeerk web page track down fenstre. the find out the the yeerk in side him is a twin of the yeerk in visser three thats why he ordered his men to shoot a the birds (rachel an Ax in bird morph) because visser three is the only controller that has the morphing abillity

I read this book in high school...late 70's/early 80's. I see it's been rereleased. I loved it then and recently came across it while sorting through memorabilia so read it again and still love it. A truly timeless story that any girl who remembers the social and academinc pressures of high school can relate to. A must read!!!

I have read and re-read this book, along with the subsequent ones in the series (Snowy, Henrietta Snow, and recently The Husband's Bench) and never tire of them. I grew up in the 70's, but the town where I went to high school was very much a "small town", and was the town where my mother had grown up, gone to high school and yes, been a cheerleader in the 50's. Like Snowy, my childhood home now houses a business, our high school hangout was demolished, a new high school was built, and on and on. The characters in these books are so real that I always find myself loathe to finish the book and have to leave them. Snowy, Tom, Bev, Puddles, Charl, Darl, Dudley.... I feel like all of them are my friends. I cannot recommend this book, or the rest of the series highly enough.

My aunt lent me a copy of this book when I was about 15 years old. The Cheerleader came out before I was born and 2 of my aunts loved the story, so they felt sharing it with me was appropriate. I in turn passed it on to my friends and a revival of Snowy, Tom, Puddles and Bev began. Imagine the thrill of seeing a sequel 20 years later..Snowy! And then the books that followed "the gang". I haven't enjoyed this author's other stories (outside of the "Snowy") ones nearly as much as this, but once you read The Cheerleader, be sure to follow up with the rest of them!

Every once in a while a novel comes along that for some reason never seems to become a huge bestseller or make its author famous and renowned, but that is so note-perfect that the few who read it gobble it up like an addictive drug, pass it on to their friends (who never return the copy lent to them) and never forget it. THE CHEERLEADER is just such a novel. It captures right down to the smallest detail the way life was for an ambitious high-school girl growing up in a small town in New Hampshire in the 1950s. By doing so, it becomes a novel with which any woman (American, anyway) of any era can identify. Snowy's world, her parents, her school, her friends, her teachers, her hopes and her dreams are all drawn here with a truth that is almost painful. Once you read it, it stays with you forever...and you want more stories about her, which the author has supplied, thanks to fan demand, in the form thus far of SNOWY, HENRIETTA SNOW and, now, THE HUSBAND BENCH (which focuses on the life of Snowy's friend Bev, and which I have already pre-ordered). The book I can compare this to most is Betty Smith's A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN--another example of a novel that hits a timeless chord with its readers yet, thanks to some strange quirk of fate, has failed to make its author as well known as she should be. If you've read TREE and haven't read THE CHEERLEADER and its sequels, do yourself a favor and start now. If you haven't read any of these books, what are you waiting for? Pull up a chair, a glass of your favorite beverage and lose yourself in the worlds of Francie and Snowy. It'll be some of the best reading time you've ever spent. Warning, though: don't lend out your copy of THE CHEERLEADER to anyone; chances are you won't get it back!

I first read this when I was 16, in the 1970s. I don't know how MacDougall got a drug-addled, school-vandalizing little punker to identify with a straight-A, student council member, 1950s cheerleader, but instead of resenting Snowy, I loved her and cared what happened to her. MacDougall does a fantastic job of giving the physical details of a 1950s adolescence: the smell of Noxzema and Cashmere Bouquet, the revolving fads of ice-cream bucket purses and turned-up collars. Maybe that's why I understood, even though my fads involved satin windbreakers, purple concert kits, and patchwork jeans: like Snowy, I simultaneously wanted to fit in with the crowd and to remain my own person. Ironically, by using the tiniest specifics of a mid-twentieth-century high school experience, MacDougall has given us a world and a character that readers from any era will somehow find recognizable.

Calvin is every parent and teacher's nightmare child, with limited attention to everything except what he is interested in. His antics disrupt the classroom, disturb the home and keep his mother, father and neighbors on edge for the next event. Yet, his imagination knows no bounds, he is certainly the type of child that may grow up to be a writer, filmmaker or perhaps a cartoonist.
Watterson has a sense of humor and an outlook on life that he has channeled into one of the funniest and yet most profound comic strips ever inked and colored. Calvin's attitude towards the world at some point reflects that of every child and adult, he is a misfit and tries to cope by imaginative acts. His mouthy, yet intelligent companion Hobbes, a stuffed tiger who comes alive in his fertile imagination, assists him in his coping.
This is a funny and entertaining book of some of the best installments of the "Calvin and Hobbes" strip, it will enliven your world, no matter how conformist that world is forcing you to be.

The days are definitely packed with adventures for this dynamic, but very short duo. From spaceships and interplanetary hideous monster beasties, to creeping around the backyard and generally getting up to suburban kidlet nogoodness, the fun is never in short supply. Neither is the wit, even if delivered under thread of Spaceman Spiff's raygun.

Another great slab paperback filled with the very best of this over active duo. Themed for the holidays, Calvin and Hobbes get up to their usual mischief at the detriment of Mom, Dad, Susie and others. Read it over and over again just to get a little laughter in a boring day. Highly recommended.

Fans of Calvin & Hobbes who used to read the newspaper strip in the 80s and 90s will find great pleasure in reading this collection of C&H comics. These witty comics about the 6-year old Calvin and his stuffed tiger Hobbes, named after the famous philosophers, will amuse people of all ages. The perceptiveness and humor of Watterson deserve the highest of cartoon awards, while his artistic creations exude hilarity. This cartoon is perhaps one of the most piercing yet funny critiques of modern society.

Summer is the time when Calvin and Hobbes can hang out in the treehouse and plot their next attacks on Susie, if they're not busy fighting with each other, that is. This book also contains some of Calvin's best snowman art. Procrastinators will love Calvin's newest invention - the Time Machine, or perhaps not? This is definitely one of the best C&H books around.

Note that there are two series of C&H collections: individual wide-format albums, each covering an entire year of strips (will call it "regular"), and the vertical aspect ratio "treasury series" which covers selected comics from two regular C&H books. Note that C&H ran for a year in newspapers, so there's 10 regular books and 5 treasury books. Though the cartoons are slightly smaller in the treasury collection, each treasury book is far thicker and contains more strips than a regular book, and is furthermore less expensive, so treasury books are a real bargain. "The Days Are Just Packed" belongs to the regular series and was published in 1993.

Our boys love the C&H cartoons. They are expanding their vocabularies without even knowing it! I refrain from telling them this though because they usually shy away from "educational" books.

Fourteen years ago, my mother read this book to me, and it is something I have never quite forgotten. Sure, many of the chapters' images were lost to the background of my mind. But I remembered the book's sense of adventure and the magic behind its words. Hearing my mother read it, its story was completely enthralling and its characters were real to me. Also, many of its images did stick with me and, when I have tried, I could always call them fondly to mind. Now, fourteen years have passed and, having re-read it, I am just as impressed as I was, before. But now, having also read selections from Emerson and Thoreau, I was also amazed by how much transcendental philosophy is packed into this book. Reading it can be a real learning experience, even though it doesn't feel like that at all. It feels like a great, fast read, with wonderful characters and an incredible tale. Why did I choose to re-read it? Two weeks ago, I was considering my life, trying to figure out what path to choose, and I realized that I was picturing this book's character, Eddy, staring into a mirror. (You'll probably know what I'm talking about after you've read this book.) Anyway, this one of the best children's books EVER! You should read this!

The Diamond in the Window is the story of Eddy and Eleanor Hall, who live in a fantastic house in historic Concord, Massachusetts. I particularly enjoyed these books as a kid because I grew up in Lexington, right next door to Concord, and it was easy for me to picture the Hall's house and neighborhood. Langton's children's books also have just the right touch of magic, mixed in with real-life, to make a real-life kid feel like anything is possible.

Things are tough for Eddy and Eleanor. Their Uncle Freddy is perpetually confused, and their Aunt Lily is overworked, struggling to pay back taxes on their house so that they don't lose it. And then a wonderful thing happens. Eleanor and Eddy discover a hidden staircase that leads to a secret room at the top of their house. The room has toys and books, an elaborate castle built of block, and two small beds. They learn from Aunt Lily that the room belonged to their aunt and uncle, Ned and Nora, who disappeared when they were children. Aunt Lily's fiance, and Uncle Fred's friend, Prince Krishna, also disappeared.

Eddy and Eleanor promptly decide to search for the missing Ned, Nora, and Prince Krishna. They uncover a clue-filled poem, and start having fantastic shared dreams (or are they dreams?), in which they uncover secrets from the poem. These dreams are wonderful experiences, overlaid with menacing fright. But slowly, the determined children work through the clues, and the dreams, trying to find their missing aunt and uncle, and uncover a treasure that will save the family home.

The Diamond in the Window is filled with excellent adventures: kids turning into toys, and mice, and wandering inside of mazes. Some of the adventures hide larger lessons about loyalty and being true to who you are, but the lessons are rarely overt. The story is also filled with historical references about the Revolutionary War, and Walden and Thoreau, and Louisa May Alcott. Again, not so overt - these things are part of the world that Eddy and Eleanor, and especially Uncle Freddy, live in.

I couldn't really say how well this story will hold up for kids who aren't from Lexington and Concord, and who don't fondly remember it from their childhood. But I suspect that that Jane Langton taps into universal themes of mystery, adventure, and fantasy fulfillment that will please anyone. I'm glad that I visited again.

This book review was originally published on my blog, Jen Robinson's Book Page, on June 17th, 2006.

This was such a great book, I read it when I was a kid and recently something jogged my memory so I bought it. I read it again and it was still just as great, perhaps even better than when I was a kid. A classic. I'm going to pass it on to my kids!

I read literally hundreds of books in my youth, most of them long ago forgotten, but never forgot this one! I found this book in my elementary school library around 1979/ 1980, and read it several times in the next couple of years. I looked for it later- in every bookstore/ used bookstore I went into for years- (I could remember the title, but not the authors name) and couldn't find it anywhere. Then, along came the internet, and Voila! I found it, ordered it and re-read it. As an adult, I'm surprised and pleased to find that this absolute GEM of a book has lost none of it's charm and mystery. A wonderful story, intriguing mystery, lovable characters, perfect! Highly recommeneded for any young person- entertaining and educational at once- and truly Unforgettable!

While I was a voracious reader as a child, there are a very few books from my childhood that stand out in my memory like beacons. This is one of those books. I was probably eight or nine when I first read it, and I still remember to this day lessons I learned from this book -- like putting the interests of others before your own, for example. One of the author's gifts is that she was able to teach such important lessons without this reader realizing he was being taught. As far as I was concerned at the time it was a vastly entertaining and enjoyable read. It was also my first introduction to the writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau (albeit at a level a child could comprehend). If this book were required reading for every child, our world would be a better place.

I actually stumbled upon this book in Barnes and Noble, and remembered seeing a friend of mine reading it a couple years ago. She has good taste in books, so picking it up I was immediately attracted by it's beautiful cover-art. Following my mother to a fabric store afterwards, I began to read. And honestly, it was extremely difficult to put down. I found the end to be slightly confusing, but that is hardly worth mentioning. If you're on the fence about buying this book, I definitely recommend purchasing it. You won't regret it! The characters are well defined and I love seeing their unique reactions to the dog. Sirius is a lovable character as is the young girl who keeps him.

Dogsbody by Diana Wynne Jones was an absolute page-turner. I was completely immersed within the first few pages of the book. It's certainly a unique concept: the book begins with the star Sirius on trial for a crime he claims he didn't commit. Found guilty, he is sentenced to life in a single solar system, where he will have the opportunity to put things right. If he succeeds, he will be restored to his astral position; if he doesn't, he will live out his alloted lifespan and die. The fates having a sense of humor, he's born on Earth as a dog. And the story presents a dog's view of life masterfully. The book was written in 1975, but is timeless--the humans characters could as easily move through this century as the last. There's an underdog appeal in the story of Kathleen, the human who champions and cares for Sirius as he grows. The daughter of an IRA terrorist, she is the unwanted/misused ward of her English relatives. Readers will likely care for this girl as much as the protagonist. I've read several of the author's books before, most recently _Howl's Moving Castle_, and find that this book, like that, is appropriate for young adult readers without being dumbed down or prettied up for them. I finished it in a day, and immediately set it into the "to read" pile of my 9-year-old son.

I found this book at my local bookstore way back in the summer of 1979--I read and re-read it until it finally, sadly, fell apart. What a treat it is to see it listed here on Amazon, with so many rave reviews. I agree with a comment made by another reviewer, that Diana Wynne Jones is one of the more underrated authors of children's literature, particularly of fantasy/science fiction. The story shows a complexity not normally found in books aimed at the "tween" set, a delight also in that it can be enjoyed by older children and adults as well. In a personal note, it bears the distinction of being the only book which inspired me to write to the author (back in 1980), to thank her for penning such a wonderful novel.

The dog star Sirius has been a bad dog star. His punishment is that he gets to be an actual real life furry mutt, instead of the stellar variety.

Sent to earth, he ends up in the creek when a young girl rescues him, and raises the puppy as her own.

The dog star has a quest to fulfill and an item to find until he gets to be a star again.

Imagine that the Sun, the Moon, the Earth, and every stellar body in the sky are alive and conscious, possessed by great spirit beings known as "illuminaries." This is the story about one of the greatest of such entities, Sirius - the Dogstar.

Notorious for his fiery temper, Sirius is unjustly found guilty by his celestial peers for the murder of another illuminary. Their sentence upon him is unusual and involves a mission: The murder weapon, the "zoi," has landed on the Earth. Sirius is to locate and retrieve this thing that has the unfathomable power to destroy suns. His judges, however, make sure that it will not be such an easy task. Part of Sirius' sentence is to be born on Earth as one of that sphere's creatures, a dog. Upon his birth he will have the time of a dog's lifespan to locate and retrieve the zoi. Otherwise he will die as a common earth animal and his spirit will cease to exist.

Born into an unwanted litter of white-furred and green-eyed Labrador mixed breeds, he is soon after tossed into the water with the other pups to die. Fortunately he is saved by Kathleen, a lonely Irish Catholic girl who is shunned and mistreated by the English relatives she is forced to stay with while her father does time in prison. Naming him Leo, Kathleen is at the start Sirius' only protector, while he is her only friend. Duffie, her uncle's wife, is a mean-spirited menace for both of them, constantly threatening to have the dog put down and turning Kathleen out into the streets.

Although in the beginning Leo/Sirius is barely aware of his preternatural origins, certain memories and ideas begin to enter and alter his dog mind. After some initial hostility (of course) with Tibbles the housecat and her two sons, the three felines soon befriend the canine and show him ways of getting around --and out of-- the house. In his daily travels away from the house he is soon aided by Sol, the illuminary of our own sun, and the spirits of the Earth and Moon. He also encounters a mysterious pack of sinister dogs looking very much like him. As he remembers more of his former existence and his mission, Sirius becomes conflicted with many complicating factors which stall his goal. He must deal with the biological and instinctual urges of his dog nature. And, most importantly, he is torn by the desire to remain with Kathleen, giving her the love and sense of security she desperately needs.

Immediately after reading C. McCallister's excellent review of DOGSBODY I wanted to get this book. I'm glad to say that I was not disappointed. Diana Wynne Jones has written a charming but bittersweet story that will appeal to both children and adults. Sci-fi, fantasy, even murder mystery fans have reason to read and enjoy this book. The characters --human, animal and celestial-- have a complexity of personality rarely seen in stories such as this.

After reading this book, you will never look at a bright eyed, tongue flapping mutt like you used to do.

Calvin is a young boy that is a hero to all people who had wild and vivid imaginations as a child and suffered for it. I possessed a very vivid imagination as a child and that made my years in elementary school difficult. I was constantly daydreaming of doing things like flying, sailing on a boat and inventing wonderful devices. Unfortunately, I regularly did them in class.
My major problem was when we were reading a story in our reading groups. I read the story very fast and then was required to sit there quietly while the others finished. Naturally, that was a problem and I spent some time in punishment. Coincidentally, the principal at my elementary school closely resembles Calvin's teacher.
Calvin is an inspiration to all people who imagine in their youth and then try to maintain that quality into their adulthood. If they can, they become the authors, artists, poets and architects and otherwise free thinkers that our society so badly needs.

No,its not just a bunch of random stuff, its a bunch of random funny stuff!! Its funny for Calvin being a little scared of Hobbes, and all that really funny stuff. Although Calvin's only a 1st grader, he sounds like he's really smart. So, I guess whoever is looking at this I have convinced them to buy it, just because it's so funny!!!!!!!

I am not sure I have ever met anyone who has read some Calvin and Hobbes comic strips and hated them. I suppose there might be a person or two out there allergic to stuffed toy tigers, perhaps, or had a horrible accident involving one. Those would be the only people I could think of that would not find these strips entertaining, no matter what age.

And so it began.

This treasury included the strips from the first two collections of the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes. And if you don't know what you have been missing, you are in for a treat.

The comic strip follows the misadventures of Calvin, a highly imaginative, hyperactive six year old. How imaginative? His only real friend is Hobbes, his stuff tiger. But that isn't a problem because Hobbes is really a real tiger, at least in Calvin's mind.

Since this is the first book, things are still being established. But many of the strips staples are here already. We meet Calvin's parents, teacher Miss Wormwood, neighbor Susie Derkins, and bully Moe. We even get the first couple of run ins with babysitter Rosalyn. While we don't get the hilarious social satire that would show up later, we do get some comments on the environment and Calvin's obsession with polls. (He is constantly trying to get his dad to bend to political pressure by showing his standings with household six year olds and tigers.) And we get plenty of adventures from Spaceman Spiff, Calvin's imagination again as he tries to deal with the various aliens in his life like his parents or teacher.

I tend to read the later books more often, so I had forgotten just how go the early strips are until I picked this up. There are so true classics here, most of the time at Calvin's six year old nature. Not that I'd want my kids getting any ideas from Calvin. He doesn't see anything wrong with pounding nails into coffee tables or popping popcorn without the lid on the pot.

And that does bring up the only possible flaw with the book. These strips originally appeared in 1985-1987, so at times they are a little dated. Calvin makes reference to renting a VCR or wanting to get cable. But that doesn't bother me in the slightest.

This "treasury" collects the strips from the first two books. As a bonus, there is a story told in poem form at the beginning and the Sunday strips are in color. If you have the two books, you probably don't need this one. But if you don't have them, this is the way to go.

The day this strip ended was a sad day indeed. But thanks to books like this one, we can relive it over and over again.

This collection contains earlier C&H cartoons. Being accustomed to seeing a slightly different looking Calvin in the more modern works it takes a little getting used to. His head is HUGE! His mouth...HUGE...and also very much like those Peanuts characters. The way his body and feet are drawn is also like them. Maybe they were Watterson's inspiration? Aside from the bigger head and mouth, Calvin in drawn shorter and wider than we are accustomed to and Hobbes is also bigger than him (when he is a stuffed tiger) which makes Calvin look even smaller. I thought at first that he was four or five but then he refers to himself as a six year old so that hasn't changed. I'm guessing that Watterson refined his craft in the years following...after all, this was originally published in 1988!!!

In this collection we see:
Calvin meets Hobbes
Calvin meets Susie...and does some serious flirting???
Calvin goes to the doctor and lives to tell the tale
His mom lets him try smoking
Shrunken heads for dinner anyone?
Calvin vs Rosalyn...who wins?

Many, many more memorable episodes in this collection that will keep you coming back for more!

CAUTION!!: When the information said "Includes cartoons from Calvin & Hobbes and Something Under the Bed is Drooling" I was under the impression that it contained just a few of those. Not so! It actually COMBINES those 2 books so that ALL of those cartoons are contained herein. I learned this because I ordered this together with Calvin & Hobbes...I am assuming it will be like this for other collections as well.