I was introduced to them as a kid in Buffalo in the early '70s by my best friend's copy of "The Secret of Terror Castle." The first one I owned was a scholastic book services paperback of "The Mystery of the Green Ghost," and I can actually remember exactly where and when I received my first hardback, "The Mystery of the Talking Skull." Sadly, my set disappeared when my parents moved. The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew are fine in their own way, but they were NEVER a match for Jupe, Pete, and Bob!

Any one of the books in this series is the perfect gift for a child these days -- it will capture their imagination and help infuse them with a lifelong love of reading. The writing and pacing is just right, there are funny and scary parts that any kid can relate to, and the characters are developed in a way that really makes them come to life. I know Alfred Hitchcock is gone from the new versions, but his presence in the original issues as a real person had us convinced that if we could only get to California we could find Rocky Beach and the Jones Salvage Yard! I don't know how many 3x5 cards we went through as we made business cards for our own detective agency!

Thanks, Random House!! I can't wait to give every book in the series to the kids in my life (and I'll have to get copies for myself, too). I'd love to see a re-issue in hardback of the old versions with Hitch in them, but I guess I'll just have to keep searching used book stores for those. It's sure great to see The Three Investigators back!

This is the book I've used for years when reading this story to my own children, passing on Tasha Tudor and other illustrators. Why?

Although we can find the same poem and pay a lot more, with award winning illustrators, the illustrations provided by Douglas Gorsline are surely the best. They are quite colorful, and offer details little children love looking into...cats lie sleepily on the window sill, we see an overview of the town, the presents spilling from the open sack are intriguing and plentiful, and Jolly St. Nick is -- well, quite Jolly (as you can see by looking at the cover!)

The story is an "abridged version" - I'm not sure about other parents, but we read this on Christmas Eve, and we only have so much time and energy. Everything we remember from the classic poem by Clement Clarke Moore is in this version.

(From "'Twas the Night Before Christmas, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse" to "He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle, And away they all flew like the down of a thistle. But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,"HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO ALL, AND TO ALL A GOOD-NIGHT!" In between we have everything, from the names of the eight tiny reindeer, to a belly that shakes like a bowl full of jelly, including dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly, when they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky".

In other words, don't be scared off by 'abridged'!)

Perhaps a hardcover edition might be more appropriate if you're giving a gift (unless you're giving to more than one child), but this book is one of the best offers we've found!

A classic done simply and inexpensively!

The lyrics are the same, from book to book, but the fanciful illustrations in this one are enough to engage adults and children as they read this book together.

The perfect gift for any family whose Christmas tradition includes reading this classic!

'The Princess and the Goblin' features a heroine ' a princess called Irene ' and a hero ' a simple miner's son called Curdie. While working overtime in the mines to earn money to buy his mother a red petty-coat, Curdie chances upon the goblins who live in the mountain, and discovers that they are hatching an evil plot against the king and his palace. Meanwhile the princess makes a discovery of her own ' high in the castle she finds a wonderful old lady who is her great-great-grandmother. The problem is, nobody else knows of her grandmother, and nobody believes her. But the princess does believe, and it is by her faith in her grandmother and the magic thread that she receives from her, that she is able to rescue Curdie. Together they rescue the entire palace from disaster at the hands of the goblins.

In telling the story, MacDonald has an enchanting conversational style, wonderfully suitable for reading aloud to enraptured children ' an ability perfecting in telling stories to his own eleven children. But 'The Princess and the Goblin' is more than just a story. Before pursuing a literary career, MacDonald was a Congregationalist minister, and so integrates important underlying Christian themes. Believing in the great-great-grandmother despite the fact that many cannot see her, is a symbol of believing in God. MacDonald uses this to show how the Christian faith involves believing without seeing, and that not everyone has to 'see' something for it to be true. The grandmother's lamp and magic thread are the guides on which the princess must depend, much like the Word which is a lamp on our path. It may sound tacky, but it works.

Children are not likely to grasp the deeper underlying themes that MacDonald is working with. Nonetheless the story has a clear message for children. The clear conflict between the royal powers of light against the goblin powers of darkness is unmistakable. Moreover, the princess is presented as a model of virtue, and MacDonald frequently asserts the importance of moral virtues such as always telling the truth, keeping your word, and admitting your faults ' moral virtues that are equally important for princes and princesses of God's kingdom. Courage, honesty, grace, dignity and beauty are timeless ideals for children of all times to strive for. If you love Narnia, you're sure to like this one, and you'll find yourself quickly grabbing the sequel, 'The Princess and Curdie.' 'The Princess and the Goblin' was one of J.R.R. Tolkien's childhood favorites, highly regarded by C.S. Lewis, described by W.H. Auden as 'the only English children's book in the same class as the Alice books', and generally considered as a classic example of nineteenth century children's literary fairy tales. So if you haven't yet read this book, it's about time you did. With admirers such as Tolkien, Lewis and Auden, if you become a MacDonald's admirer you'll find yourself in good company!

George MacDonald, a Congregational minister turned novelist, who seems nearly forgotten now, was one of the seminal figures in the development of Fantasy. His influence on other Fantasy authors is obvious, he was a childhood favorite of JRR Tolkein, who especially liked this book, and C.S. Lewis named him one of his favorite authors. His own stories draw on many of the themes and characters of classical European fairy tales. But where they were often merely horrific and meaningless, MacDonald adds a layer of Christian allegory. Thus, Irene and Curdie are eventually saved by a thread so slender that you can't even see it, but which leads them back to safety, teaching Curdie that you sometimes have to believe in things that you can't see.

The book would be interesting simply as a touchstone of modern fiction, but it stands up well on its own and will delight adults and children alike.

GRADE: A

Another comment that I have to make is Doyle's ability to write women characters. A lot of authors nowdays don't write good women -- they're either harpies, bimbos, or doormats. Doyle, this man from Edwardian England, writes people, sympathetic or otherwise, and his female characters are very real and very, very well done. There aren't many authors that cover everything -- sensitive characterization, awareness of people in this world who aren't just like them, an ability to put together a top notch plot, and the ability to write REALLY well. Doyle was one -- snag these stories and devour them as soon as you can!

Whether already a fan for years or a new Holmes reader, this collection is perfect. My copy is one of the most treasured volumes in my library.

If you have ever read Sherlock Holmes in your life and have enjoyed it, please pick up a copy of this book. Reading it again will merely add to your enjoyment. The astounding revelations and brilliant logic of Holmes never lose their novelty.

If you have never read Sherlock Holmes, you have truly missed out on one of the memorable characters in English literature. I urge you to purchase this book immediately. You will not be disappointed.

In summary, THE COMPLETE SHERLOCK HOLMES is a must buy for those who do not already own it. I give it my highest recommendation!

Although I don't believe that Mr. Spalding has made up all these stories, if he has done, I don't care, because I feel the truth of the teaching these books present, within my heart. For me, and I believe for thousands of people whose lives have been changed by this teaching, that is what is important! Please, my friend, lets leave aside the shell, and see the pearl in it. Namaste.

Mention Jules Verne, and books that spring to mind are 20,000 Leagues, Around the World in 80 days, and Journey to the Center of the Earth. The Mysterious Island is one of his lesser known works, which is something of a mystery itself.

The book surpasses one's imagination and never fails to surprise. From the initial pages when Capt. Cyrus Harding and his friends decide to escape from a prison camp, the story seizes the complete attention of the reader, and unfolds at a pace and in a direction excelling Jules Verne's characteristic stories. The spirit and ingenuity of man is demonstrated in almost every page, as Cyrus and Co. find themselves marooned on a deserted island, and armed with only their wits, transform their desperate situation into a wonder world of science and technology. The reader is drawn into the adventure and finds himself trying to find solutions to the problems and obstacles that lie in plenty for the castaways, as Cyrus and his indomitable friends surmount myriad problems in their fight for survival. They are aided in their ventures by an uncanny and eerie source that remains a mystery until the very end.

This book cannot fail to fascinate and inspire awe in the mind of any reader. One begins to grasp the marvels and inventive genius behind the simple daily conveniences and devices that are normally taken for granted. The line between reality and fantasy is incredibly thin, and for sheer reading pleasure and boundless adventure, this book will never cease to please.

PS: The book has been adapted into a movie, which is one of the worst adaptations of any novel that I have ever had the misfortune of viewing. It is criminal to even mention the movie and the original work in the same breath.

He kept coming to mind as I was reading this incredible book, as the characters, stranded on an island with absolutely nothing, accomplished such amazing feats as draining a lake, making a home, building a ship, making an elevator, and a great many other things. There is excitement, suspense (what IS going on on this mysterious island??), and wonderful, likeable characters. Not a real well-known Verne book, but fortunately still in print, and one of his best and most entertaining.

(Incidentally, if you want a children's version of the same story, try to find "A Long Vacation" by Jules Verne, which is extremely similar in plot, but with younger characters and for a younger audience - very charming!)

By the way, please do read 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea first, if you have not already done so. Evidently, Verne assumed that everyone had when he wrote this novel.

Great reading!

Adams writes well, has a fertile and sometimes bizarre imagination, peoples his stories with self-absorbed characters and isn't afraid to make the central hero a pessimistic boor. There has been science fiction comedy before this but Adams has earned the crown for the best Sci-Fi satirist, in my opinion at least.

This five-book trilogy revolves around Arthur Dent, supposedly a typical English loser. Poor Arthur gets thrown into one difficult situation after another, not because he is in any way special, but because his best friend, Ford Prefect, happens to be an alien reporter for the most popular book in the history of the universe, "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy." Ford saves Arthur from Earth's immanent destruction, thus derailing Arthur's equilibrium. He doesn't regain his balance until four books later when he falls in love.

Adams is the modern day Oscar Wilde or P. G. Woodhouse. His dialogue is so witty and surprising, that when I first read these books it was impossible to hold in my laughter. And it's not just the occasional quip, sprinkled into an otherwise standard tale; the whole thing tends to build into a crescendo that is almost too funny to bear. I've read this series so many times I've almost memorised each word. Don't miss out on some of the funniest writing to be seen in the last 50 years.

I want to note that there are several editions of this great work and in deciding which to buy, be aware that each has a different translator. I feel Heffner's translation is slightly stilted but, he did such a wonderful job in editing this abridgement that it, nontheless, deserves 5 stars.

De Tocqueville also saw the insidious damage that the institution of slavery was causing the country and predicted some 30 years before the Civil War that slavery would probable cause the states to fragment from the union. He also the emergence of stronger states rights over the power of the federal government. He held fast to his belief that the greatest danger to democracy was the trend toward the concentration of power by the federal government. He predicted wrongly that the union would probably break up into 2 or 3 countries because of regional interests and differences. This idea is the only one about America that he gets wrong. Despite some of his misgivings, De Tocqueville, saw that democracy is an "inescapable development" of the modern world. The arguments in the "Federalist Papers" were greater than most people realized. He saw a social revolution coming that continues throughout the world today.

De Tocqueville realizes at the very beginning of the "industrial revolution" how industry, centralization and democracy strengthened each other and moved forward together. I am convinced that De Tocqueville is still the preeminent observer of America but is also the father of social science. As a retired Army officer and political philosopher, I found this book to be a must read for anyone interested in American history, political philosophy or the social sciences.