This comparison between the marginalized peoples of Scotland and Appalachia deserves a wider reading than it's likely going to receive. Its theme transcends the treatment of these two groups by "mainstream cultures" and shows how marginalized people in general use their creative skills to rise above discrimination and shame. Blaustein is both a part of the Appalachian culture, having lived in East Tennessee since 1970, and yet removed from it as well, having grown up in Brooklyn. His years in Brooklyn helped him understand the Appalachian mindset, because, as he writes, "the Borough of Brooklyn is to the City of New York what Appalachia is to the United States--marginal, subordinate, and popularly portrayed as uncouth." This book describes the rise of the Appalachian studies movement in the region's colleges and universities and chronicles the growth of Scottish heritage celebrations in the United States, through excerpts from a personal interview with Waynesville, North Carolina, ballad singer and activisit Flora MacDonald Gammon, a driving force behind the annual Highland Games, held on Grandfather Mountain in Western North Carolina. A particularly powerful chapter recounts instances of "colonialism" among public school teachers who derided pupils for usages such as "hit" instead of "it." Blaustein strongly reinforces the notion that dialect is unrelated to intelligence. With the deplorable proposal by CBS to create a hillbilly reality series, this book is especially timely for those who seek to understand, rather than mock, the Appalachian mountain people and their rich and complex culture.

I got to look at this book when I was a student in Dr. Blaustein's class. He is excellent and he is really passionate about his information.

I bought the book merely just looking at the pictures, they are so beautiful. The story itself, even better: based around a circle of friends of Percy the park keeper on a cold winter night. You can see and feel the warmth of Percy's house that he shares with all his friends. Easy to read and mix with soundeffects that children love and easy to follow for as yound as one year olds. Our book is falling apart from overuse but we just cannot put it down. The book is a part of four seasons on the Park. Same friends later appear in other stories that we love; the other books represent spring, summer and autumn.

This is a classic fable. My father used to tell it to me when I was young, and I was delighted to see it in book form. In this version, there is a fairly standard fairy-tale baddie - the wolf. In the version I knew as a child, it was a tramp, tricking a cook in a kitchen to prepare him a nourishing meal. I am sure there are other versions out there!

This one is nicely illustrated with bright, lively pictures. Although not a "favourite" book, it has found its place in the bedtime story repertoire.

This book was a delightful read! Poems for everybody to come to love! It was also the inspiration behind the musical Cats, and everybody can certainly see why!

Between some of the cheerful and bubbly poems you'll find, a discussion/interpretation of the social issues surrounding Eliot at that time, giving the reader an insight into the inspiration behind his poetry and into his psychology.

Garnished with lovely illustrations to feed and humor your imagination, Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats has everything to become something for all of the family, and all generations to behold. I couldn't put it down, and it always beckons a re-read!

If you've read The Wastland or any of the other, more substantial poems by T.S Eliot, you may be shocked at Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats. But don't be fooled, even in the simple subject matter there is genius in Eliot's writing.

This is the only poem book of Eliot's that I own and it's a great deal of fun to read. My favorite cat is Macavity. If you've seen the musical Cats (which I haven't), here's the inspiration. This is also a great first book to get younger people interested in poetry. The language Eliot uses is flowery and catchy, and the subject matter is centered on those cute furballs. Enjoy.

If are a lover of cats, or have enjoyed the musical "Cats", or appreciate masterful poetry, or even a student of modernism, you will fall for "Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats" by T.S Eliot ("The Wasteland" "The Lovesong of J.Alfred Prufrock").

However, I especially recommend this book to parents who read to their children. Imagine an older and more conservative grand-master poet focusing his skills in rhythm, rhyme and content into a book of lyrics suitable for 5-year-olds. What you get is a book that not only has the sonority and imagination, combined with an appealing subject matter ( a diverse group of antropomorphized cats), for the children, but also is dense enough to be enjoyable repeated reading for the parent (Who of you still gets turned on by "Green Eggs and Ham"?), and challenging stimulation for the child.

If you have a son or daughter who loves cats,this book is a must buy!

"Winnie the Pooh" and "House on Pooh Corner" were two of my favorite books growing up. When I came across this 75th boxed anniversary edition, I just had the get it. Keep in mind, this is just the same great stories in new packages. "Winnie the Pooh" has gold trimmed pages and "House on Pooh Corner" is trimmed with silver. I recommend this to anyone who hopes to pass on the love of the original Winnie the Pooh characters to any young ones in their lives. I know I definitely will.

I think this book suitable for everyone not only for child but adult also can read it. My friend and I love this book and try to collect the whole of Pooh's series. But I think .. The house at the Pooh corner also lovely while The Tao of Pooh was very difficult to understand for child. However, I love it!!

Yesterday I planned on reading "The Great Gatsby," but instead I read A.A. Milne's "Winnie the Pooh."

What! you say.

Well, I bought it a while back, and I never sat down to read it. So yesterday I just grabbed it, and started reading---and despite the fact that it's meant for children, the insight it offers is unparalleled. Maybe some of you have read "The Tao of Pooh" (which I read in high school). That book explains how Winnie the Pooh behaves in a Taoist fashion. But instead of reading the "Tao" book, I think people could have done just as well, if not better, reading the original work.

I have great respect for an author who can write a work that appeals to both children and adults. Such is "The Phantom Tollbooth" or "The Wizard of Oz." Such is "Winnie The Pooh." The joy of reading Winnie is the absurd logic it follows. Or the way it satirizes adults, which it does quite well through the characters of Eeyore and Owl. For example, how can you NOT enjoy this passage from Chapter Four:

"The old grey donkey, Eeyore, stood by himself in a thirsty corner of the forest, his front feet well apart, his head on one side, and thought about things. Sometimes he thought sadly to himself, 'Why?' and sometimes he thought, 'Wherefore?' and sometimes he thought, 'Inasmuch as which?'---and sometimes he didn't quite know what he was thinking about."

Now the only decision that remains is do I read the other Pooh book I bought, "The House at Pooh Corner" or do I read F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby." Hmm.

Anyone with a young-enough heart and an open-enough mind will enjoy "The Wind in the Willows", no matter what his or her age is; but older readers so unencumbered by sophistication are hard to find. The safest bet is the youngest age group of children there is: those who still have the innocence and wonder required to identify with animals and believe in imaginary worlds.

For instance, how many readers can really sympathize with a mole's "paroxysm of grief" because he is homesick? How many will not roll their eyes at a toad being jailed in the "remotest dungeon of the best-guarded keep of the stoutest castle in all the length and breadth of Merry England"? How many will _not_ find corny a tableau of two school-aged hedgehogs frying ham for a mole and a water rat, in a badger's kitchen?

Moreover, Kenneth Grahame's narration reminded me of the kind of things an elderly English gentleman would say while showing his well-behaved grandchildren in Eton collars and boaters around the family's countryside estate. To some readers, this will be hopelessly boring; to others, it will be wonderful and charming. The former group will find it hard to understand the glory of being up at dawn and floating quietly down a river, past loosestrife, willowherb, bulrushes and meadowsweet, having never experienced it. The latter group ought to have more experience in letting dreams fill in what memory cannot. To be fair, though, picnics, boat rides and such really are exciting to only a tiny segment of readers.

Substantial conflict appears in this episodic novel only when the exasperating Mr. Toad does; and Mr. Toad's "frivolous antics" take up only half of the book. I found myself wishing that it had taken Badger, Mole, Rat and Toad much longer to reclaim Toad Hall from the weasels and stoats who had "invaded" it. In my almost-grown-up opinion, "The Wind in the Willows" ends too soon and too suddenly after it starts to get interesting.

This book says 4-8 for age range, but really the writing far more complex than Dick-and-Jane. This is a book to READ to kids until they are old enough to read it again for themselves.

Wind in the Willows is a longtime favorite of many people (and I just re-read it as an adult.) The story centers around the animal citizens of an English riverbank. Each animal has a different personality, from easy-going Mole to the wise and wiley Badger, the spoiling-for-a-fight Weasels and of course boastful Toad, the owner of splendid Toad Hall who has too much money and too little sense to know what to do with it. The education of Toad by his well-meaning friends is a good lesson. The battle for Toad Hall near the end of the book is also exciting.

The content is entirely suitable for kids. The prose is a pleasure to read out loud and creates such pictures in one's imagination. And it's funny, too (the scene where Toad is nearly struck down by a car, which he has never seen before, and decides he MUST have one is absolutely hysterical.)

If you are starting a reading-out-loud program at home, this should be at the top of your list. I'd also add Swiss Family Robinson to that list. I have wonderful memories of my teachers and parents reading these books to me. Why not give your kids the same lasting delight in good literature, reading and family fun.

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 have just taken my five years old daughter to bed, but before she could lay down to sleep she had to "walk" with her index finger through the maze in Percy's park, the secret path.

We both love this book. The story is about the gardener Percy and all his animal friends. Percy and his friends are living a happy life in the park, the home of all his friends. They are joking together and playing each other tricks, always with a happy ending.

In this book Percy is cutting the trees in the maze, the secret path, and the animals are hiding in the middle to give him a surprice when he comes. The squirrel is not with the others though, but is busy helping Percy, though both Percy and the squirrel are both in their own thoughts. Persy is not listening when the squirrel talks, though he answers him alright, and the squirrel is not listening when Percy explains something - and they all have to pay for that in the end. Any child will love this, and be remined of all similar episodes on their own life :-) A great way to start a conversation between mother or father and child :-)

The book had wonderful, funny drawings, and the very best is the huge maze in the end, where you can fold out the paper and find your way through the maze.

Read the book with your child, and you will both have a nice storybook time.

Britt Arnhild Lindland

First of all,excuse my english,i'm a french canadian.My for years old daughter and i are big fans about Percy and his friends.The lovely caracters of Percy and the animals plus a soft humor and the details of the draws have like results than it's her favorite book,and she has a lot of books.A good buy for magic moments.

What do kids like, according to Roald Dahl? They love being spooked, he once said. They love suspense. They love action. They love ghosts. They love chocolates and toys and money. They love magic. They love being made to giggle. That's very much true, and this Dahl classic has a little bit of everything that makes a good story. You know that just from reading the first paragraph, which reads:

"In fairy tales witches always wear silly black hats and black cloaks and they ride on broomsticks. But this is not a fairy tale. This is about REAL WITCHES. REAL WITCHES dress in ordinary clothes and look very much like ordinary women. They live in ordinary houses and they work in ordinary jobs. That is why they are so hard to catch."

As with many of Dahl's best books, the main character must stop evil beings from doing something awfel to children! (For example: Matilda must use her powers to stop The Trenchbull from doing horrid things to her pupils in MATILDA, his last work. In THE BFG, Sophie must help The Big Friendly Giant rid the world of evil kid-eating giants.) And here, an English/Norweigen boy and his all-knowlegeable grandmother must stop all the witches in England from turning all the children into mice, even at their own personal expense.

There were only four minor things wrong with this book, and here I will describe them for you:

1. SMOKING--Grandmama smokes cigars regularly, especially when she is telling her grandson about the witches. While it does describe the cigars as discusting, this is not enough. There should not be smoking in a children's book, especially a Roald Dahl.

2. THE END--The end of this book sets up the plot for a sequel. (If you've read it, you know what I mean.) But, strangly enough, there is NO SEQUEL. This may enrage kids (and adults!) who, upon reading the ending, were anticapating finding the other book and reading about Grandmama and her grandson's further dealings with witches (or "vitches", as The Grand High Witch says in this book.)

3. NAMELESSNESS--The main character has no name! He is either refured to as "you", "I", or "grandson". Now that is disturbing!

4. BONDING--Grandmama and Grandson are bonded here like no grandmother and son could ever really bond (I think so, anyway). In this way it's a bit unrealistic. But then again, if you want realisim, you're thinking about the wrong book. Dahl's masterworks are always so zany and weird--that's what you come to expct from him if you're a loyal Dahl fan.

Well, there you have it. Except for those three things--great! This book is "a fast-moving, well-paced adventure that children will undoubtably love." (School Library Journal). While foes of magic (and any real witches who must keep their secrets secret) will surely despise this books exsistance, ALL US ROALD DAHL FANS SHOUT HOORAY! (adapted from the last line on page 87).

"The Witches" is an incredible novel that opens up people's imaginations. This book makes you travel into an extremely magical world where witches really exist! It is a brilliant and fascinating novel that grabs your attention from page 1!
The adventure begins when this eight-year-old boy moves to live in with his grandmother in Norway because his parents were killed in a horrifying car accident. The little boy had always had a very close relationship with his grandmother, and now that they were living together they grew even closer to each other. Every night, the eight-year-old boy and his grandmother would sit in front of the fireplace where the boy's grandmother would always narrate incredible stories. One night the boy's grandmother decided to tell the little boy the truth about real witches! Now, real witches don't wear silly black hats and fly on broomsticks. Real witches wear disguises! They do not have any hair, instead they wear wigs. They do not have toes either, but they hide their feet in their shoes. They also have weird looking nostrils. All of these witches are followers of the Grand High Witch, who is supreme authority. This Grand High Witch meets with all of the witches of the world by making meetings with all of the witches in every country once a year. In these meetings, the Grand High Witch gives the witches of the country she visits new ideas in which they can destroy every child in their country! These meetings were usually held in hotels and were disguised as charity projects. Of coarse, the eight-year-old boy was shocked when he heard this. Who wouldn't be?
Well, any ways the real heart stopping adventure begins when the little boy and his grandmother decide to take a vacation to Bournemouth, England and they stayed at Hotel Magnificent. The eight-year-old boy and his grandmother were planning on having a great time in this vacation, but unfortunately this was impossible! Since they were unaware that the annual meeting in which the Grand High Witch visits all the witches in England was going to take place on the same hotel they were staying at, they were bound to have an incredible surprise that would fill them with horror.
You don't want to miss this breath- taking story! It is a real page- turner filled with laughter and delight!

This book reminds me of a movie called Hocus-pocus. That night, after the movie, I was so scared, I wet the bed. That movie is kind of like this book, but the book is funnier. This was a daring story about a boy who lost his parents in a car accident. After that tragedy, he lived with his grandmother in Norway. Every night his grandmother told him real stories about real witches. Like how you can tell a witch from a real woman. Witches, she says, have big nostrils, wears gloves or have blue spit. He believes his grandmother's stories. In the summer, he and his grandma went on a trip to a hotel in England. There in the hotel he finds witches having a meeting. The meeting was about a deadly formula called "Delayed Action Mouse Maker". Together, he and his grandma go through a lot of danger and excitement to steal the formula from the witches to save the world's children. I would recommend this book to anybody who likes action and suspense. Plus, it's amusing to read.

I thought the original Wind in the Willows and the sequel Willows in Winter were better executed than Toad Triumphant. Toad Triumphant is a little disjointed, the characterization a little unbelievable at times (e.g. mole's depression) and the story sags in parts (although things pick up with Horwood's clever ending). On the other hand, Patrick Benson deserves high marks for his excellent illustrations which accompany the text. I suppose Mr. Horwood wanted to try something a little different by delving into the histories of the river bank animals and bringing romantic love into their world, but I don't believe this approach worked as well. I feel the book is better than average, but as I said, I like Kenneth Grahame's orginal and Horwood's first sequel better.

This book is good, but not great. The first two books are excellent after that it gets kind of old. If you are a fan of the series, you can handle it.

The Willows and Beyond is a fine novel. The storyline of it follows the classic characters from "The Wind in the Willows". The river is polluted and the characters go on a journey to save it. It is beautifully written and the story is excellent. It has to many pictures though(although the illustrations are beautiful). I would reccomend this to fans of the original classic "the Wind in the Willows"...

William Horwood truly transports one to the real life of his created animals. I cried a lot and that means it was very, very good.