"The Magician's Nephew" is about more than just the creation of Narnia. It is an exciting adventure story in its own right, though it does begin deceptively, dragging its feet.

Digory Kirke is the nephew; Andrew Ketterley is the magician; and Polly Plummer is the girl who lives a few doors down. The two children have been warned to keep away from eccentric Uncle Andrew, which they do gladly. One day, however, they accidentally enter his private study and get tangled in his mad experiment involving magical worlds.

Here the adventure begins in earnest. Digory and Polly visit a "deplorable world" called Charn and awaken the Queen Jadis. When they try to return to Earth, Jadis follows them, intending to conquer and rule their world, as she had conquered and ruled Charn. In their desperate attempts to take Jadis back to her own world, the children accidentally bring her--_and_ Uncle Andrew--into Narnia, on the day of its birth.

What follows is the longest bit of Narnian history since the story of the Telmarines in "Prince Caspian" (unless you count "The Horse and His Boy", which _also_ preceded "The Magician's Nephew" in the original ordering). There is the creation of Narnia, the selection of the talking beasts, the story of Latern Waste, the coronation of the first king and queen, and the entry of evil . . .

It is THIS history which makes "The Magician's Nephew" so wonderful. The history breathes new life into the Narnia that readers (ought to) already know and love. Learning about the creation of this magical world and about the past of the already-intriguing Professor Kirke of "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" is most fun when one has already been to Narnia and met Professor Kirke, so to speak.

There are other great things about this book, of course, such as the description of Charn (especially the room of figures), the conversation of the animals, the subplot involving Digory's mother, and many other elements. Discover them for yourself and experience the magic.

What I like most about "The Magician's Nephew", however, is how a paradox of good and evil is twisted into the plot. We all know that Digory and Polly weren't supposed to have awoken Jadis, much less brought her anywhere near Narnia. Yet it is precisely because they did it that Narnia became so special. The paradox is that it took a sin--or rather, the forgiveness of a repented sin--to truly bless Narnia.

The Magician's Nephew is a fun and exciting tale. It depicts the adventures of two ordinary schoolchildren who are unwillingly thrown into an extraordinary situation. The story is a prequel to The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, and explains a number of things found in the other Narnia tales. The two protagonists are Polly, a nice and sensible girl, and Digory, an impulsive and adventuresome boy. I can't be certain but I have the feeling that Digory was patterned after Douglas Gresham, Lewis' step-son. Digory's mother is extremely ill and dying, just as Gresham's mother was. However, the parallel breaks down as the book nears the end. Every great story has a villain; this one has two. The first is Digory's Uncle Andrew, a self-styled magician. He symbolizes all that's wrong with our world; he's self-centered and very materialistic. It's his greed that initiates the whole adventure and, unwittingly, the chronicles of Narnia. The other villain is Queen Jadis, the ruler of a dying world. Her own rapacity for power thrusts her into the new and perfect land of Narnia with the intent of dominating it. There are moments of hilarity, mostly involving Uncle Andrew's encounter with a group of newly created animals. There are also moments of awe and wonder. Lewis renders a literary recapitulation of the creation event in the founding of Narnia that is both subtle and sublime. There is also a wonderful exchange between Digory and the witch expounding right and wrong, truth and falsehood. I highly recommend this book and encourage all parents to buy it and read it together with their children.

The novel The Magician's Nephew by C.S Lewis tells the journey of two young children that have magical rings to transport them to unknown and mysterious worlds. Digory and Polly are neighbors and best friends. One day they accidentally entered Digory's uncle's private room. Uncle Andrew showed the children his magical rings that can transport people to other worlds. The children try it out. They soon found themselves in a forest with pools that are entrances to different worlds. They find an evil witch that wants to go to earth and take over. After an awful seen back on earth they travel to another world. This is a newly developing world. Everying was growing out of the ground very rapidly. The children soon discover a lion that was the creator of this world. The lion then gave Digory a apple to cure his dieing mother. In this novel, C.S. Lewis includes numerous allusions of Christianity, which makes it a great book for anyone to learn about the creation of earth. I would definitely recommend this book to any age group. If you ever wonder about life outside of earth, this is a great book to explore your curiosity. If you are skeptical about science fiction books, I believe this novel will broaden your interest.

Being a Christian who recently chose to be a member of the Catholic Church, I found this book to be most helpful. This book contains scriptures to support the faith and worship of the Church. The Catholic Church is a valid Christian and Biblical church. Consider the following verses from the Bible:"...make disciples of all nations...teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you"(Matthew 28:19,20) "the Holy Spirit will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you.(John 14:26), "...the Spirit of truth will guide you to all truth.(John 16:13), "There are also many other things that Jesus did, but if these were to be described individually, I do not think the whole world would contain the books that would be written."(John 21:25) "stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught, either by an oral statement or a letter of ours."(2nd Thessalonians 2:15) From what the Bible says it is clear that in addition to the written Scriptures of the Bible the Church has an oral tradition that has continually been passed on from Jesus and the early Christians and bishops to the Church today. This Catechism gives testimony to those truths stated in the Scriptures. This is an excellent book.

Fulton Sheen once wrote that there are only a handful of Americans who hate the Catholic Church, though there are millions who hate what they think the Church is. This book is a must read for anyone who wants to speak intelligently about the Catholic Church and the faith it proclaims.

Never polemical or overly didactic, the Catechism of the Catholic Church succinctly explains the Christian faith with clarity and charity.

Even Protestants and non-Christians will find the Catechism well-documented, with copious notes and citations to Sacred Scripture, the writings of the early Christian Fathers, and other sources of impeccable authority.

Perhaps the most useful aspect of this book is its accessibility. The Catechism was written with the laity in mind. Students, laymen, and the average reader alike will find it easy to read and understand. At the same time, those interested in serious scholarship will discover a treasure trove of theology, history, and doctrine. Without the Catechism of the Catholic Church, no Christian library is complete. Whether you are a cradle Catholic, a convert, or simply have questions about the Church, you owe it to yourself to read this book.

There are many nice things about this book. First of all, the hardcover is well bound, and lays flat when open to a particular page, without the pages flipping around to other places within the book (except perhaps at the very beginning and end of the book). This makes it very easy to open the book and keep it open when taking notes or studying. The material in this edition is the authentic teaching of the Catholic Church, but take note of the Glossary at the end (page 864 hardcover); the end of the Glossary's prefatory note states that the Glossary is faithful to the language, but the Glossary itself does not participate in the approval of the text of the Catechism given in the Apostolic Constitution Fidei depositum of Pope John Paul II. That is, the Glossary is given in addition to the Catechism, not as an integral part of it. This may be an important point for persons studying fine theological points and using the Glossary to enhance their understanding of particular points of dogma and doctrine.

While many Protestants object to a "Catechism" at all, they may overlook the fact that there are many Protestant catechisms which really are publications of dogma and doctrine of their particular churches. Also, many, if not most, of these Protestants carry "Study Bibles", which sometimes contain more explanatory notes than Scripture, peruse the NIV study Bible for example to see what I mean. These explanatory notes function for them in much the same way that catechisms work for Protestant Churches that use them, and the Catechism of the Catholic Church for Catholics. They are particular explanations and interpretations of the Christian Faith. For anyone wanting to truly understand what Catholics believe, and for Catholics who need a refresher in understanding their own faith, the Catechism of the Catholic Church is an indispensable part of the study needed (along with, not in place of, the Bible) to gain a true understanding of the Church that Jesus Christ established, on the apostles (Matthew 16:17-19; 18:10-21; 28:19-20; Luke 10:16; 24:44-45; John 13:20; 16:12-13; 20:21-23; Acts 1:15-26; Psalm 109:8; Ephesians 4:13-14; 1 Timothy 3:15; Philemon 1:14; 2 Peter 1:20; 3:16).

I was new to MySQL when I purchased this book, and using only this book I was able to setup a *large* PHP/MySQL website with complex features in only a few short weeks. Paul DuBois very clearly explains everything, and I cannot say a bad thing about this book. This book is excellent for beginners, and as an somewhat experienced MySQL administrator and PHP programmer, I still use this book as a reference...many books say "for novice and advanced alike" but this is truly one of the books which can uphold that statement. I have a hard time with some technical manuals, but I'm not sure that I would classify this as a technical manual, its like the DuBois is giving me personal instructions. It never grows old, and is truly indispensible.

First I got started with the mysql through the online documentation avilable at mysql's website, which is written and being maintained by Paul Dubois.

After that I decided to buy the book, and I was very satisfied with my decision. Below I am listing several evaluative criterias that indeed make the book ( and the author, as well) the best choice available thus far:

1) Great for beginners: To understand how to keep a grade book, you don't need huge brains(I hope so). That's exactly what Paul starts his book with, and makes his way through to some RDBMS terminologies that you won't even notice.

2) From the simplest to more advanced... Such books make the learning for beginniners piece of cake, and for experienced ones a lof of fun. The book's focus is on couple of tables that you build in the first chapter, and keep manipulating throughout the book. Paul never forgets about those tables. Even in the Second section of the book (Using MySQL Programming Interfaces), he teaches you to write applications using C, Perl and PHP to manipulate them. Since you build them all together with Paul, you have more understanding of what you're doing. Of course, by the end of the book it gets advanced, which makes it the right choise for advanced programmers as well.

3) Great references Oh yes. Awesome appendixes. Listings of all the functions, keywords, syntaxes are available (in alphabetical order). Also seperate appendixes for Perl DBI API, C API and PHP API makes it even more useful

4) Easy language. This is deginitely important. Even though the books are in english, not all of them gurantee you comprehension. Sometimes you might find the lingo of the book of too high a level, or even vice versa. None of those are the cases with the MySQL book. Paul uses plain english and switches to RDBMS lingo whenever he thinks it is appropriate.

5) The book is definitely from an expert. You better don't doubt it! Since Paul is the one in charge of the official documentation, who else could tell you more about the subject?

6) Still got the gap? Let him fill it... Another thing that pleased was the fact, unlike other aUtHoRs, it is not hard to get hold of Paul in mysql mailing list. He is kind enough to answer the questions, and/or contribute to the discussions about the subject.

If you are interested with learning MySql, I want you to buy the book, because there're no other books better than this one so far. Also, support for such authors is important.

I bought this book some time ago as a php and mysql developer, to learn MySQL better. It is a very good book because the writer is also the programmer (lead programmer - he wrote the most of it) of MySQL. It contains what you'd expect it to contain: Both the theory and the solid code you'll need in many situations. It also explains uses of MySQL with other languages besides PHP and explains the API's pretty well.

It also has a section on managing MySQL on a webserver, how to backup properly, and MySQL security - not only for the programmer but for the system admin managing users and backups. It also contains a function reference appendix which, when properly used, is quite useful.

It is suitable as an intro level book as well, it DOES explain the basics and IS aimed for the beginner with zero knowledge. It will teach you MySQL but you might have to check some spesific tutorials online for spesific code you might want to use in projects - this book is not a cookbook, I don't think they intended it to be either. All in all, this book deserves its 5 stars - and keep handy Kevin Yank's hands-on applied tutorial to apply it to your projects.

Have you ever wanted to do something so badly you would go through the harshest weather to do it? Then you must read the most exciting book there is, The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Graham. Mr. Mole wants to see Mr. Toad, who is the richest animal in town. So Mr. Rat takes Mr. Mole to see him. Mr. Toad and Mr. Mole became friends. Now Mole wants to see Mr. Badger. Rat doesn't want to take him, but Mole leaves over the night to go see Badger.
Then it started to snow, so he found a hole in a tree and he slept there for the night. Rat went after him and succeeded. Soon they found Badger's house. Suddenly Otter came and told Rat and Mole that everyone was looking for them. First, Otter, Badger, Rat, and Mole sat down and had dinner. Then Badger led them through a tunnel that took them almost to Rat's house. Rat protected everyone with his handguns. Everyone was safe and happy that day.
When they got to the surface they saw that it had stopped snowing while they were walking home. They soon thanked Badger for letting them visit at his house and for giving them shelter when they were there. They thanked him dearly for showing them the way home. Soon Badger left and went back home to eat dinner. Everyone had a fun day and at the end of the day they all went home for bed. To find out more about what happens you must read the book titled, The Wind in the Willows.

Kenneth Grahame wrote this for his son and published this in book form in 1908. He has simply created a masterpiece, not just in children's literature, believe me many adults read this one with pleasure. The chapters follow the doings and adventures of Mole, Rat, Badger, and of course Toad. The prose is lyrical at times, the stories hilarious, and charm and wisdom flow from Grahame's pen. There has been many illustrators for different editions of this over the years. I like Rackham and Shepard and recommend the editions that have one or the others illustrations, or get two copies of "The Wind in the Willows" and you can have both of these fine illustrators work to enjoy. I read this book when a child and I come back to it again and again.

I doubted if a children's book could command my interest at this advanced stage of my life, but I have to say that "The Wind in the Willows" completely enthralled me. It is the story of four personified animals, the eponymously named Mole, Water Rat, Badger, and Toad, who live on or near a river that runs through an idyllic countryside obviously modeled on Edwardian England. In their world, physical size with regard to objects and other animals doesn't follow any kind of common logic or consistency; the animals seem to be simultaneously as big as humans and small enough to live in their own natural habitats.

The animals have vivid human personalities. Mole is timorous and meek, Rat is adventurous and poetic, Badger is unpredictable but protective and mean when he needs to be. Toad, however, is the most salient figure; he is wealthy, greedy, conceited, and clumsy, and he lives in a stately manor called Toad Hall. Mole and Rat's interests are simple; they enjoy boating down the river and socializing with other animals, including otters, field mice, and a seafaring Rat who regales the Water Rat with eloquent tales of his voyages around the world. They even encounter the god Pan, in a strangely ecclesiastical moment.

Toad's picaresque adventures throughout the book provide a counterpoint to Mole and Rat's more pastoral activities. Toad is so captivated with the idea of faster and faster transportation that when a motor-car overtakes and wrecks his horse-drawn cart in the road, he can only watch the departing vehicle in avaricious rapture. So then he buys car after expensive car, wrecking each one with his incompetent driving. Despite his friends' attempts to cure him of his obsession, he steals a car in a frenzy and is consequently thrown in jail. However, he escapes by means of a ridiculous ruse and, after many more adventures, finally returns to his native river-bank only to find that Toad Hall has been taken over by gun-toting stoats, weasels, and ferrets. (Note the parallels to Homer's Odyssey here.) Fortunately, his friends rise to the occasion to help him reclaim his home, after which he resolves to learn some modesty.

A great thing about the book is that Grahame uses many words that may be new or unfamiliar to young readers, but they're used in such a way that kids may be able to figure out their meanings by context. Also, while there are lessons to be learned through the animals' (especially Toad's) examples, there is no heavy-handed moralism to dilute the book's enjoyability. Clearly this is a work of the utmost creativity and imagination and demands the adult reader expand his or her mind to the realms of childlike wonder.

Vurt, by Jeff Noon, is one of the greatest cyberpunk novels I have read. We are set on a journey to find Scribble's long lost sister Desdemona through a world of colorful drug feathers. These feathers are stuck in the back of the throat in order to induce a sort of hallucination or virtual reality, or "Vurt." Blue feathers induce the feelings and emotions of nice sweet dreams, black feathers show the person both love and pain, and yellows are something practically no one can find. The yellow feather is the most dangerous and deadly drug feather, a person may not come out of it alive. First the reader is led into a world of Vurt-You-Want stores and a dark, drug-addicted society. Society has been addicted to the feathers for some time now in the novel, while some characters are trying to get the same feelings they got from the feathers from things more herbal, like some of the drugs we have around today. We are surrounded by serious characters with goofy names like Beetle, Twinkle, and The Thing-from-Outer-Space. While the characters may have unusual names, they bring Vurt to life with each of their own unique personalities. Beetle is the group leader and has a strong, and rather mean personality, which makes it easy for him to keep the Stash Riders in order. Twinkle started off as the youngest Stash Rider and has shown her dedication to the group. The Thing-from-Outer Space is an actual alien that was from a yellow Vurt feather. The Stash Riders are like the groups of kids in the short story "Cyberpunk" by Bruce Bethke, because they all are rebelling in one-way or another. The characters in both short story and novel don't want to conform to society. As I read I kept wanting more, and Noon gave more. The novel kept me so intrigued that I had a hard time putting it down. My mind was on a constant imagination trip while reading this wonderful book.

Vurt is a wild ride across the dreamscape of the mind. An excellent first novel, that promises the reader both excitement for this work and for future works by Mr. Noon. The characters are fairly well developed, and the landscape both visual and surreal. The storyline involves a futuristic drug, a thing from outer space, a "gang" and a lost love. The drug causes the usual societal problems, crime, sex, violence, and lack of respect for police. But it also leads the protaganist on a journey of learning, longing and metaphysical discovery. Not bad for a brightly colored feather and a bunch of Dog People, Robots, humans and various combinations of those. While I wouldn't want to call it, like the book jacket does, the "Clockwork Orange of the '90's," it is a futuristic, rampaging youth, thriller that performs well. I look forward to reading more from Mr. Noon.

Vurt, by Jeff Noon is one of the most creative books that I have read in the sf&f world. It seems almost like a combo of A Clockwork Orange (the way Jeff Noon invents words, deriving them from words already in existance; also the all night Vurt-You-Want is analagous to the Korova Milkbar), Neuromancer (the general style of writing, cyberpunk theme), and Alice's Adventure's in Wonderland (the sort of mysticism that surrounds the plot, how a child is chasing down something that seems trivial to others, how he encounters a strage and almost magical world, paralelling to reality), and finally of Tekwar (the theme deals with the solicitation of drugs that don't exist in the non fiction world, and the battling that goes along with them). The plotline is very simple when you strip it of detail, which is part of why it becomes such an intriguinging, such a simple plotline bears such a complex plot. I think that Jeff Noon did a commendable job on his first book, and look ! forward to reading more books by him.

I bought this box at christmas. One night while waiting for my 5 year old to get ready for bed I picked up this book. I finished the first chapter before he came in then I couldn't wait to finish reading the book. However I couldn't finish it that night because my son wanted me to read him picture books. So the next day, I started the second chapter. As it turned out even though it was a very short story it took me days to read it and as I took my time on reading, I reflected on what the author was writing. I felt that as each day was passing on the character lives, that they became people that I felt close to. When Jenna talked to Mary about time with her father it may my heart ache. Don't we all put off time now and then and forget about how fast our children grow? The book made me laugh, cry and reflect. So much, that now the most important thing in my life is my child. Work can wait my child can not. My child and I now wear angel pin pals so that we will never be apart from each other. A MUST READ BOOK.

I try to keep informed with what's going on in the world and keep up with all that is going on in popular culture. However, often I never do understand or figure out what all the fuss and hub-bub over certain books, movies, television shows, etc. is about. THE CHRISTMAS BOX does not fall into that category.

I had intended to read this story several yeas ago, but never got around to reading it until now. I'm so glad that I did. THE CHRISTMAS BOX is a great story. However, it is more than just a great story. At it's heart, it contains two powerful messages. The one is the story of the Gospels, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish but have ever lasting life." Chirstmas is not about Santa Claus; Christmas is about Jesus Christ and what His birth, death, and resurrection mean in our lives. I was quite surprised to find that the central message of Christmas was also the central message of THE CHRISTMAS BOX.

However, there is another important message contained within the book. Life is precious and every moment should be lived to the full. Most of us have the privilage of being around children in one way or the other; whether we have our own, or we teach them, or someone dear to us has kids. This short story brings to heart how special children are and how important the time spent with them is. These are lessons that we need to hear and be reminded of often.

That is the question answered by this book that can only tug at your heartstrings in a fashion that Evans is known so well for. A quick read, it is the story of an older woman who hires a young couple to see to her immediate needs. Along with the job comes living quarters in the east wing of her Victorian mansion. What follows is a lesson from a woman who has learned the hard way what's most important in life. This book won't be a disappointment; it will certainly leave you with a tear in your eye and make you think about how the busy days you spend away from your family are "like trading jewels for pebbles". Kelsana...3/18/01

What girlhood would be complete without reading this tearjerker classic? As a child, there wasn't much I loved more than books, horses and a good cry -- and this provided all three.

For those of you who don't know the story, Black Beauty is horse in England during the 19th century. He begins life with a loving master, but due to circumstances is sold several times -- to owners both kind and cruel.

Sewell, a Quaker woman, wrote this book (first published in 1877) to enlighten the public. Horses at the time were often beaten, starved and overloaded. Sewell's book, however, became a catalyst for change and ushered in a new way of thinking about the treatment of animals.

Since pictures & illustrations are as much a part of a child's imagination as the written word, then this book beautifully combines both, with the abundant B&W line illustrations by illustrator Lucy Kemp-Welch, in addition to the 12 colour plates included - all in keeping with the time period this novel is set in. A wonderful edition to any child's library. I've been reading horse-topic related books for as long as I can remember; but the very 1st horse story that left an indelible impression on me was ANNA SEWELL's " BLACK BEAUTY ".

It really openend my eyes as to the abuse and cruelty - and majestic fraility - that these wonderful creatures suffer at the hands of their human counterparts.

Ms Sewell opted to write this book from " the horse's point of view " and she was one of the very few authors that was able to pull this off with such great success.

This book also, laid the cornerstone for the ASPCA aims and goals, and brought to light the conditions and treatment of working horses in 20th century London, England ( and elsewhere ).

The story is such a wonderful tale of a horse's life from start to finish; told with a quiet dignity and warmth - and serves as a successful analogy also, as to how humans should interact with one another.

This book also laid the cornerstone for my interest and love of horses, and further spurred my interest in reading about all things Equine.

From there, and I went on to read all of Walter Farley's "The Black Stallion" series ( I used to collect the hardcover editions), and Marguerite Henry's books, and National Velvet(which really wasn't about a horse per se, but more about a little girl who's dreams come true), and anything else I could get my horsey-hungry hands on!

I now keep a copy of Anna Sewell's "Black Beauty" in my library at home, and have given a copy to my daughter to read.

This is a tale that sensitizes the reader to the plight of horses at the hands of their human caregivers, trainers, etc - all told from the horse's mouth ( so to speak )..!

And lest we think that the inhumane treatment of horses has abided since this book was written - one only has to follow the controversy surrounding the use of "Premarin", or abusive training methods of gaited horses, or the Thoroughbred racing industry, or rodeo...etc.

There is still much to be gleaned about the exploitation and abuse of animals from this book - which will always remain a timeless classic.

Kim C. Montreal, 05/2000

"Black Beauty," written by author Anna Sewell, is one of the most famous horse books during the nineteenth century. Part of its achievement consists that the novel is a classic for people with many different characteristics. First published in 1877, "Black Beauty" continues to enjoy people for new generations of American citizens around the world. Anna Sewell's brilliant account of animal treatment became a historic breakthrough because it was the first book that described a horse's experience in England. "An autobiography of a young stallion," this book follows the life of Black Beauty. Throughout the novel, it is told in a creative first person form, as if Beauty was describing and narrating his life. Ms. Sewell chose to write this book from the "horses point of view," and she remarkably was able to succeed with her novel. Since Sewell intended on writing this novel in Beauty's point of view, the reader begins to understand the impact of good and treatment towards the horse and his loyal friends. Starter of the Humane Society, the author truly captivates readers with this autobiography of a beautiful, friendly, loving black stallion. In a letter to her friend, Sewell expresses that she hopes "Black Beauty will induce kindness, sympathy, and understanding treatment towards horses." From Beauty's happy, enjoyable youth to his pleasant retirement, Anna Sewell ingeniously wrote the book to remind the cruel treatment in the 1800's. Most importantly, Sewell wrote the book in a time where horses were not given the same respect today, and "Black Beauty" helped to open the eyes of many to the cruelty horses had to suffer. Although Anna Sewell's classic paints a clear picture of the society in London, England, its message is universal and timeless: animals were serve humans well if they are treated with consideration and kindness.

David Copperfield, Dickens' favorite child, is an experience. Forget what your high school teacher or college professor told you. Forget all the terribly bad film representations of this book. Forget the glib one-liner reviews about Dickens people being caricatures instead of characters. READ this book. This book is one of the few Real Books in this world.

The great storm scene alone will thunder forever in your memories. You will encounter with Copperfield:
• the evil, chilling Uriah Heep,
• the mental and physical destruction of his mother by a Puritanical,untilitarian step-father,
• the always in-debt Mr. Mawcawber who somehow transcends his economic and egocentric needs into something noble,
• the betrayal of Copperfield by his best friend and Copperfield's shattered emotions by this betrayal,
• the ruination of another close friend's reputation, and her step-by-step climb back out of the mire,
• Copperfield's own passionate step into marriage while too young with an irresponsible, yet innocent child-woman, her death,
• Copperfield's own rise from poverty and orphanhood into worldly success but empty life until mature love rescues him.

Dickens has a real gift for creating people that irritate you, yet gradually you come to love them - just like folks in real life. If you never have read Dickens, come meet David Copperfield. You'll find that your impressions of David from the brief snippets by critics, teachers, reviewers, professors and know-it-alls completely different than the Real Thing.

In an age when we have not much time to read one short book from cover to cover, few long books will ever be good enough to read twice; David Copperfield is one of them. It has, perhaps, the most unforgettable cast of characters ever assembled in a work of fiction: Mr. Micawber, Uriah Heep, Aunt Betsey Trotwood, the Murdstones, Mr. Dick, Peggotty, and, of course, David Copperfield himself.

The story is simple enough to start. David's mother marries a man, Murdstone, who makes life hell for her and young David. David has the courage to rebel against the tyrant and is sent off to boarding school and later to a blacking factory. For readers who want to compare childhood rebellion to authority in the movies, Alexander's defiance of the Bishop in Ingmar Bergman's great movie, Fanny and Alexander, is equally dramatic and sad.

David runs away and finds his Aunt Betsey Trotwood, who takes him in and supports him, with a little help from her wise/fool companion Mr. Dick. This is story enough for many novelists, but it is only the beginning for Dickens. David has yet to meet one of the great villains in literature, that "Heap of infamy" Uriah Heep. Uriah's villainy is terrible because it is hidden under a false pretense of humilty and service to others. The final confrontation between Heap and Micawber is one of the great scenes in literature.

None of what I have said answers the question, Why read this book more than once? The most important answer to this question for the nonacademic reader is "for the fun of it." From cover to cover this novel gives so much pleasure that it begs to be read again. We want to revisit David's childhood and his confrontation with the terrible Mr. Murdstone. Mr. Micawber is one of Dickens's great creations and anytime he is part of the action we can expect to be entertained. When we pair Micawber with Heap we have the explosive combination which results in the confrontation mentioned earlier in this review.

These brief examples only scratch the surface of the early 19th century English world Dickens recreates for the reader. Some other of Dickens' novels like Bleak House may be concerned with more serious subjects, but none lay claim to our interest more than Dickens' personal favorite "of all his children," that is, David Copperfield. Turn off the television, pick a comfortable chair, and be prepared to travel along with David Copperfield as he tells us the story of his life.

Charles Dickens has been one of my favorite authors since I was forced to read him in high school. I had not picked up one of his stories since, but upon reading that David Copperfield was Dicken's personal favorite book he had authored, I decided to try him again. I was not disappointed. Dicken's creates an incredible cast of characters and paints a vivid portrait of 19th-century England. Aside from fulfulling those crucial elements of writing a novel, Dickens tells a terrific story. The initial serialization of the story into 19 monthly parts required Dickens to create many dramatic buildups and twists and turns that kept the audience buying the next installment. When it is all put together the novel is an unexpected roller coaster that has many climbs, dives, loop-the-loops, and sharp curves. In the end everything of course comes together beautifully and the characters all get their just desserts. This is yet another clinic by Dickens in how to write a well organized, though unpredictable, novel that maintains the interest of a reader through approx. 900 pages of writing. It is a wonderful experience that all lovers of good fiction should at least attempt.

A classic story that many children in today's society can really relate to with the rising divorce rate. Leigh speaks on their level, simply looking for some one to reach out to.

Dear Mr. Henshaw is a great book for kids that are having troubles with their life, like everyday children. Reading this book as an adult I associated it with my personal life. Leigh has problems with his parent's divorce, he hates not being able to see his dad. This leads him to a lot of emotional stress. Through this mess one of his teachers makes him write a letter to his favorite author. Leigh writes Mr. Henshaw a letter that asks him all sorts of questions about himself. After this the two of them write back and forth for a couple of years. This relationship gives Leigh confidence in himself when Mr. Henshaw tells Leigh that he should keep a journal. This journal allows Leigh to get his feelings out. Things stop bothering Leigh so much and by the end of the book he starts to enjoy his life more. This book is really good for an upper elementary child, and can even for an adult. Simplistic artwork for the cover, which demonstrates that this story is about an average boy.

The book I read was called Dear Mr. Henshaw, the author is Beverly Cleary. The genre of the book is realistic fiction and the publisher is Scholastic.
Beverly Cleary's style is different. Most of the book is written in letter form. You will find out about Leigh and his life by reading letters from Leigh to Mr.Henshaw, who is a childrens author. Leigh started writing to him about his favorite book (that Mr. Henshaw wrote)Ways to Amuse a Dog. Then, afterwards, they begin to be e-pals. The book changes form to personal narrative and Leigh shares parts of his diary in the book.
The book is about a boy named Leigh Botts whose parents are divorced. He wants them back together but they won't because they do not get along with each other and they always argue. He wants them to get back together because he wants to have a normal family and he wants a dad to help him build things,like a burgalar alarm for his lunch box.
Leigh Botts is a very nice 11 year old boy. He likes his dog, Bandit, but he never sees him because he lives with his dad (and Leigh lives with his mom.). He and his mom live in an apartment building next to the gas station so they can't have a dog. Leigh is sad about his parents being divorced and misses his dad.
My favorite part of the book was when Leigh writes about the book he really likes. He wrote he "licked" instead of "liked" and the whole class laughed and they actually licked the book! Can you imagine a class licking a book? Yuck!
The book made me feel happy and sad at the same time. I was happy when Leigh and his father met again. I can't imagine not having a father, it must be so hard. I became sad when his dad left and his parents didn't get re-married.
My opinion is that it is a great book! I think it is a good book because the author makes the book come alive and I would recommend this to kids between the ages of 8-11. If you like books with letters and diaries, then this is your kind of book!

"Dear Mr. Henshaw" is mostly a collection of letters a young boy, Leigh Botts, sends to his favorite author, Mr. Boyd Henshaw, over a four-year period. By the 6th grade, Leigh is a regular fan. In his letters, Leigh describes his confusion at home over his parent's divorce and being friendless and picked on at his new school. After receiving some tips about writing from Mr. Henshaw, Leigh soon begins his own diary and learns how cathartic writing can be for him. He even wins a writing contest and meets "a real live author" who congratulates him and encourages him to keep writing.

It's no wonder "Dear Mr. Henshaw" won the Newbery Award in 1984. Although an entire book devoted to fan letters and diary entries might not excite some younger readers, Mrs. Cleary somehow makes this book very appealing and relative to children. There are also several illustrations done by Paul O. Zelinksy for those who enjoy drawings and not just writing. I remember reading "Dear Mr. Henshaw" when I was a kid and would highly recommend it to other children around seven and up.

Paul Fussell's Class is an enlightening, and mercilessly funny, if somewhat dated unmasking of the realities of class in America. Fussell is not a social scientist, but a professor of English with a sharp eye and a pen to match. He spares us the doubtful and boring apparatus of the social sciences, offering instead his own unfettered observations supported by a wide reading. He delineates nine classes: top out-of-sight, upper, upper middle, middle, high proletarian, mid-prole, low-prole, destitute, bottom out-of-sight, and a special category he calls "X people". Fussell then fleshes out this taxonomy in chapters dealing with appearance, housing, buying habits, recreation, drinking, reading, education, and language.

Fussell is so acute and dead-on (with some lapses) that I cannot imagine anyone with the slightest degree of self-knowledge reading this book and not experiencing the dawn of recognition, sometimes painfully. He is especially hard on the middle and prole classes. Here I fault him, not for inaccuracy but for a lack of sympathy that would have taken him to a deeper level of understanding and somewhat softened the blows. Fussell, it seems certain, includes himself in the X category, a group of people outside the normal class system. This explains the coldness with which he regards those still caught on the wheel. That being said, the degree of enlightenment Fussell offers is worth the price of his supercilious gaze. While he is not the final word, reading him will greatly help anyone to understand better the reality of class in America. And he is after all, correct: the middle class is the bastion of "psychic insecurity" and envy, and the prole class are fat, gullible and tastelessly dressed. For lack of vision the people perish.

I first read Paul Fussell's Class in the early 90s and reread it recently. I find it to be an entertaining examination of the class system in America. Fussell works from the premise that the egalitarian ideal of a classless society is a myth. Further, class is not purely conveyed by money and power because status is a function of your upbringing and environment. You can determine status in everyday life from observing a person's appearance, behavior, likes/dislikes, etc. It is here where Fussell's razor sharp wit and eye for detail either offends readers (perhaps cutting too close too home), or has them rolling on the floor laughing like myself.

My main caveat is that you should not treat this book as a sociological treatise on the class system in America. While it is well written, organized, and offers Fussell's curmudgeonly witticism, it fails to address any major sociological issue or question. Fussell is (was?) a Professor of English at the University of Pennsylvania, and thus I am emphasizing the entertainment value of book in my review. If you would like to examine the sociological implications of class more thoroughly (especially the upper classes), I would suggest that you read the works of Fussell's colleague Prof. E. Digby Baltzell.

Overall, I still rate the book 5 stars because it is rare to see a book this well-written.

But Seriously... While the social landscape will probably be much more familiar to a person who lives/has lived in the North East, Fussell's description of 'Class' in America is uncannily accurate. The title being 'shorthand,' really, for the 'cultural castes' in America that do not necessarily correlate to one's income and wealth, Fussell's book is genuinely far more than mere pop-sociology. Rather, in one short book, Fussell delineates with near-perfection every major convention and code of conformity in American life. It is no exaggeration to say: 'this book will set you free,' for if you have the courage to recognize yourself within its pages - and, believe me; rich, poor, middle-class, we're all in there - besides an extremely entertaining read, you will come away with both a genuine distaste for conformity - however it should manifest itself - as well as the instinct to think for yourself.

As for 'X-people'; well, that I believe is simply Fussell coining a new term for bohemians, and here lies the only criticism I would make of the book: in his description of 'X-people' Fussell may well be guilty of laying down a new code of conformity of his own.

We've all taken on an affectation of some sort in our lives, we've all felt insecure, we're all products of our background in many ways: admit it, be at ease with it, then get in the habit of 'living what you like.' To be free both of the 'tyranny' of one's own particular social paradigm, as well as the burdensome care of what unfortunate individuals - still constricted by their own ingrained ideas of what is 'proper' - may think of you, presents you with a world suddenly free of illusory, popularly prescribed limitations. Realize that conformity to any counter-culture is still conformity, avoid the pitfall of self-congratulation - shall we call this an 'ugly-duckling syndrome?' - and the world is at your feet!