The Knopf guide really does not go into this, and I guess it really can not, but watch for the following and frankly, I dont mind paying, believe me, but I balked at a lot of the following:

1) Paying for every church you go into. Paying within the church to stand on the balcony, and then pay again to go into the crypt. Paying to light up every painting in the church you might be interested in looking at.
2) Paying every time you check your coat, and then charging you extra to hang an umbrella. The Venice casino was a JOKE for doing this.
3) Any gondolier by himself looking to give rides is double, if not triple charging.
4) Hotels will claim to be air conditioned, then charge you per night. If you dont buy the a/c they will fill your room with skeeters by leaving the windows wide open through dusk when you are outside eating.
5) The Jumping off point into the City from the mainland has 500 scams. Do not let your rental agent hire you a water taxi cause you will be charged way over. Any boat, car hire, porter, that is away from the main action is scamming.

I have always found that going into a small out of the way place with locals is part of the fun of being away, but Venetians do not want to socialize with you, the tourist, for the most part, while you are on the main islands. You can go out to the Lido for the day, or stay in a beach hotel there, and everyone is their good old normal self again. But do stay in Venice for a few nights, because despite all this, Venice is unique in the world, and you will feel like Othello when you walk around at night, or early in the morning you see a cat sleeping in an old well.

To avoid a lot of this, stick to Rick Steves. I think Rick is great in general, but his Italy books are indispensible. I wish to God I had it in Venice. But I have no regrets, because I felt something unique there. For a fleeting glance, like taking a gondola at night with a full moon, when, in the back of some palaces you see the old water entrance and egress, you see in the light, or how the shadows look, and you hear no cars, you see something identicle to the way it was 800 years ago. In most of Europe you cant do that. In Venice you can!

A visit to Venice is a jarring experience; Venice being like no other place on earth. The real 18th century (and older) architecture seems almost fake, you have to pinch yourself to be reminded that it's not a new Disney ride: "Pirates of the Adriatic." The Knopf guide prepares you for all this if you have the foresight to read it in advance, before taking your trip. There is too much to take in during the typical brief tourist visit. There's great advice about what to try to see with itineraries for a 1-day, 3-day and weeklong visit. A great piece of advice is to get a feel for Venice by staking out a seat in the rear open area of a waterbus. If you buy an inexpensive multi-day pass, this gives you a cheap but comprehensive tour of the city and let's you get off and on repeatedly wherever you like.

Venice hotel rooms are small and expensive. You will pay more for a small walk-in-closet-sized room than for a comfortable room with sitting area in Room or Milan. Despite this, I think it is necessary to stay overnight rather than make daytrips from outlying suburban hotels in order to get the true flavor of the city. Walking through Venice at night makes you feel like a character in Othello; you won't get that if you have to leave at the end of the day. The Knopf guide does include some hotel recommendations but it's very limited. A better bet for choosing a hotel would be the Michelin Red Guide Italy. The Red Guide just gives listings with abbreviations describing the accommodations. The Knopf guide can give you an idea about the neighborhood your hotel is in before making a specific choice from the Michelin Red Guide.

The Knopf will take you to places that the regular tourists don't know about. Once you get there, if you've read the book, you'll know much more about these places than even some of the natives! My favorite things: The historical photos in the front, the drawings and photos of art (I especially enjoy these after I come home and am feeling nostalgic), and the hotel and restaurant listings in the back.

The tellings themselves are very fine. The language used is both delightful and sophisticated, making this a fine volume to entertain good readers amongst older children, and to expand their language skills. Of course, less able readers and younger children might like the stories just as well if they were read to them. There is no information in the book or on the publishers website regarding the origins of these particular tellings.

A sample paragraph, from "Thumbelina":

"Then they came to the warm lands. The sun was shining much more brightly, the sky was twice as high, and the most wonderful green and black grapes were growing by the roadside and on fences. Lemons and oranges hung in the forests, and there was a scent of myrtle and curled mint, and pretty children were running by the roadside playing with big colorful butterflies. But the swallow flew still further, and everything became even more beautiful. There, beneath magnificent green trees by a blue lake, stood a shining white palace, with vines climbing up it's lofty pillars. At the top were lots of swallows' nests, and the swallow carrying Thumbelina lived in one of them."

This collection contains the following stories:

The Emperor's New Clothes The Little Mermaid The Little Match Girl The Nightingale The Princess and the Pea The Steadfast Tin Soldier Thumbelina The Tinderbox The Ugly Duckling

The compilers, Russell Ash and Bernard Higton, must be very proud of the beautiful object they have produced. The publisher, Cronicle Books, deserves praise and support.

This book is a must, either for the child's library or the collectors shelf.

Whenever I watch cricket, or indeed read news of cricket matches, I am often struck by the significance of the history of cricket.

For cricket fans, especially younger fans, this history and in particular the personalities of the game can seem remote and overwhelming. A great deal of discussion in cricket circles relates to comparing modern players with players of the past, and especially so in relation to the Ashes series. This is something that can be done relatively easily in cricket, because many areas of the game have remained unaffected by technology . Here "test eleven" fulfils a useful purpose, in giving a flavour of the era, illuminating many characters of the past, but also by placing them in a typical match context. All too often cricket books of a historical nature end up examining each "great" player individually, and can appear stuffy, but also remote in the way they separate the player from the game and opposition.

One of the great aspects of "test eleven" is that Ashes test matches from a spread of different eras are presented in modern day style. It presents many interesting comparisons with present day players, such as between two of the great Australian wrist spinners of the past, O'Reilly and Fleetwood-Smith, with Shane Warne, Australia's present day match winning spin bowler.

Of course, conditions in the game have changed, but when you read about the historic test matches and some of the duels between individuals, it is fascinating to discover how little has changed about this great contest. Even the legendary England batting collapse !

Why 4 stars?:
While I do feel this is a good book to read to children and to show the illustrations to. It will be too difficult for them to read on their own.