This book is a wonderful little work of art that you should not miss. Written in 1931, this story of a plucky and curious young Scottish terrier named Angus is a short, simple tale about a small dog's big curiosity almost getting the best of him. Angus, who is very curious about where the milk man comes from and where the wide road goes, and what kind of animals cars are, and MANY other things, finds his chance to explore when the gate to his yard is left ajar one day. He has some amazing adventures for such a little guy and they are sure to hold the attention of young listeners. The artwork in this book is truly lovely with the backgrounds being similar to silhouettes. Many of the pictures are simple black and white and others have colored washes to add interest. The drawings show the automobiles, homes, furnishings, and a bit of the clothing of the bygone day in which this book was written and greatly add to the charm of this book. Little Angus is a heart-melter and I predict you will not be able to resist him. Two other books about his adventures, Angus and the Ducks and Angus and the Cat are wonderful, too.

this book is a joy to read. any child (and the adult reading) would appreciate the little scottie's adventures! the drawings are very expressive and cute and their simplicity are endearing. the text is short and to the point and can be entertaining and didactic when read to a youngster. anyone owning a scottie would see their pet's character traits in angus immediately. this is a great book to read to a child and to expose them to the joys of reading with the fun of experiencing the antics of a small and curious dog.

I didn't think my class of wiggly 3 year-olds would sit still for this, but they were just enthralled. Maybe the idea of being lost and finding your way back; encountering strange creatures. I love the language in this: simple yet flowing.

This book is from an era where even books for young children featured long, complex sentences. So it surprised me that this was one of the first favorites of my then 9-month old daughter. Maybe hissing ducks constitute slapstick humor at that age. I like it because the illustrations are charming and the text is well written. Here's my favorite page: "Angus lapped the cool clear water. Birds sang in the mulberry tree. The sun made patterns through the leaves ............." Doesn't that just lower your blood pressure?

This is one of my favorite childhood stories. I'm 27 now and have my own real life Scottish Terrier(named Angus of course). Anyone who loves terriers will absolutely adore this book. Marjorie Flack really captures the curious, naughty nature of Scotties. The illustrations are beautiful too. I highly recommend this book and the other two Angus books for any child who loves dogs.

Marjorie Flack has been one of my favorite authors, illustrators for YEARS. I still have the ASK MR BEAR book my mother and grandmother read to me 35+ years ago. And today, I discover her best book! The story, the illustrations, track a robin's travels from Georgia peach tree blossoms to an apple orchard in New Hampshire. And that's not all! Birds' songs are described, and notes given that could be played on the piano. Oh, if only this book were back in print! My daughter (age 6) was captivated, so was I !

This book has great illustrations like The Country Bunny. It made me so happy. I read it 2 times in one day.It was some good stuff to read. You should really read this book.I like the name scamper. It makes me so jolly.

As a young kindergarten teacher, I looked forward to our lessons each year on the life cycle of frogs. Reading Tim Tadpole and the Great Bullfrog to my students was always a fun experience, as the children identified so closely with the growth and change that Tim was experiencing. The triumph of the ending, when Tim emerges from the water using his strong new legs, was thrilling for the children. The copy I used from our school library in the early 80's was already quite old. I've scoured used book sales and thrift shops in vain, hoping to find a copy for my self. Maybe one day this book could be reprinted, perhaps with colorful new illustrations to appeal to today's 4-6 year olds. I would be first in line to buy it!

Walter is a lazy mouse. He is so lazy that he never gets up for school. He doesn't get up until everyone else has left. Finally his family forgets about him and move out, leaving him behind. Walter sets off to find them. He winds up on his own island and makes friends with some frogs. He tries to teach them math and reading, but since he never got up in time for school, he gets most of it wrong. He decides to go back to school and finds his family again. Walter finally learns to be independent and responsible. I liked this book as a child and it is one of the first ones my oldest daughter read on her own. A lot of fun.

This is the most powerful book I have ever read.

The boastful jackrabbits, the aristocratic snobby rabbits, and the male rabbits who laugh when little country bunny tells them that she will grow up to become to be one of the revered Easter Bunnies - are all proven wrong.

Little country bunny grows up, has children, and through the pure goodness of her heart and common sense catches the eye of the Wise Old Grandfather bunny.

Ta-da! He asks her to be an Easter Bunny! After trials and tribulations, her determination, caring, and perseverence carry her through, and she is exalted beyond her dreams by Grandfather Bunny. She is wise, and nice, and very humble.

I love this story because is beautifully written and teaches that those with good and kind hearts, who work hard and persevere, will triumph. Being rich, big, high-born, young, male, does not matter where it really counts - all that matters is what is in your heart.

I first read this as a child growing up in rural Canada - where being Asian, female, poor, and ambitious were all drawbacks - and now I am a successful lawyer in Toronto. This book made a difference for me.

DuBose Heyward's 1939 classic, "The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes," is surprisingly modernist given the time period in which it was written. When so much of the world was (and is) focused on heroes and men in general, what a gentle and lovely surprise to come across a book which celebrates the rabbit--a lady rabbit!--who becomes the Easter bunny.

With elements of Aesop peeping in and out of the text (not the least of which includes the fable of the tortoise and the hare), Heyward manages to make a rabbit with 21 little children sound not only sane, but brilliant. The Country Bunny (or Little Cottontail Mother, as she is called throughout) gives her children each small chores to keep them busy, contribute to the overall quality of their shared family life, and make them feel like valued members of the group. They grow up to be sweet, cheerful, polite, and industrious bunnies, and the Country Bunny uses their fine breeding to great effect to achieve an audition for the role of Easter Bunny.

Heyward's text is inimitably enriched by the sweet pictures of artist Marjorie Flack. The bunnies are plush and adorable, the scenery idyllic, and the colors bright as Technicolor. This is a trip down Memory Lane, even for those who didn't grow up with the book, and a future memory-maker for any child who loves Easter and Easter bunnies.

This book is enchanting both in its story and its illustrations. I first read it as a child, then read it to my children and am now reading it to my grandchildren. We all love it. The story is timeless with it lessons of love, kindness, perseverance and wisdom. The illustrations are beautifully done and dateless providing another reason for it being a book who's popularity continues from generation to generation. It is the ultimate in singleparent success stories (without being too didactic)! Definitely a book to read and keep for yourself in addition to gifting it to others.

Danny's mother's birthday is approaching and he has no idea what to get her. He wants to give her something special, but just can't think of the right present. Not coming up with any ideas, he asks a hen. Not finding help there he goes to a cow. The cow tells him to ask the bear. It is here that the bear offers the gift Danny has been searching for.

"Ask Mr. Bear" has been a classic children's story for a long time, and will surely delight future generations of children. The only thing bothering me, now that I am an adult, and can look upon the story in a different light is - what would have happened if Danny had asked his father first?

This is a childrens classic as far as I am concerned. The pictures are a bit dated, however that only adds to the charm of this book. Danny travels from animal to animal looking for the best present for his mother and everything that is offered by the animals his mother already has. Finally it is suggested he goes and asks Mr. Bear. What a wonderful present Mr. Bear suggests. Wonderful.

My mom loved this book as a child. I loved this book, too. I was so excited to see that this book was still available that I am buying it for my 5 month old son and a new copy for his grandma. The illustrations haven't been changed I couldn't be more pleased.

PING! The magic duck!

Using deft allegory, the authors have provided an insightful and intuitive explanation of one of Unix's most venerable networking utilities. Even more stunning is that they were clearly working with a very early beta of the program, as their book first appeared in 1933, years (decades!) before the operating system and network infrastructure were finalized.

The book describes networking in terms even a child could understand, choosing to anthropomorphize the underlying packet structure. The ping packet is described as a duck, who, with other packets (more ducks), spends a certain period of time on the host machine (the wise-eyed boat). At the same time each day (I suspect this is scheduled under cron), the little packets (ducks) exit the host (boat) by way of a bridge (a bridge). From the bridge, the packets travel onto the internet (here embodied by the Yangtze River).

The title character -- er, packet, is called Ping. Ping meanders around the river before being received by another host (another boat). He spends a brief time on the other boat, but eventually returns to his original host machine (the wise-eyed boat) somewhat the worse for wear.

If you need a good, high-level overview of the ping utility, this is the book. I can't recommend it for most managers, as the technical aspects may be too overwhelming and the basic concepts too daunting.

Problems With This Book

As good as it is, The Story About Ping is not without its faults. There is no index, and though the ping(8) man pages cover the command line options well enough, some review of them seems to be in order. Likewise, in a book solely about Ping, I would have expected a more detailed overview of the ICMP packet structure.

But even with these problems, The Story About Ping has earned a place on my bookshelf, right between Stevens' Advanced Programming in the Unix Environment, and my dog-eared copy of Dante's seminal work on MS Windows, Inferno. Who can read that passage on the Windows API ("Obscure, profound it was, and nebulous, So that by fixing on its depths my sight -- Nothing whatever I discerned therein."), without shaking their head with deep understanding. But I digress.

Am I the only child in America who was terrified by The Story About Ping? From the Wise Eyed Boat, whose stern and piercing gaze seemed darkly malevolent, to the crowded Yangtze, the illustrations spoke of an incomprehensible and hostile world. Punishment was certain; even if every duck behaved perfectly, someone was certain to get spanked. And the building tension as the sun moved closer and closer to the horizon still has the power to raise a chill. I understand that my reaction to the book is extreme, but if your child is prone to guilt, read The Runaway Bunny instead!

Like many of the reviewers, this is a book I loved as a child and that I've returned to now that I'm a parent. While it has a moral--that many times, simply accepting an umpleasant consequence is better than trying to avoid it--it's not preachy about it. In fact, what's really nice about the storyis that it's not Ping's fault that he will be the last duck to board the boat (and thus get a whack upon his back). His head was below the water at the time, and he couldn't have heard the boat master's call. I think this is what gave me a thrill as a boy. I knew that the world wasn't fair and that sometimes punishments were unjust. This is what made me identify with Ping.

And the book really taps into a young child's fears. I remember being thrilled that Ping ran away instead of accepting his punishment--what small child hasn't fantasized about running away? And I remember thinking how terrifying to wake up and find that you were totally lost in the wide world--what child's greatest fear isn't that sort of separation?

I think that's the greatest thing about this story. It's not a tidy, pat treatment of issues like children's anxieties or the value of accepting the consequences of your actions. Rather, it's a tale that provokes imagination--that taps into those fears and ideas without simplifying them. And there are too few books that do this well.

Incidentally, in terms of age, I've just begun reading this book to my four year old, and I think that's been a good age for him to start appreciating it. But I can imagine a much older child enjoying it as well.

In this second book of the series, Angus is jealous of the cat at first and a little put out that he's not the "only child" any more. But, after learning more about the cat and feeling more secure in his home, Angus finds that the cat can be a good companion after all. This is a great story for children who are soon to have a new brother or sister. I'm so glad these books from the 1930's have been reissued. Many children may find them old fashioned, the illustrations aren't the bright crayon colors so popular today, but the stories still hold after all these years. It's up to parents and grandparents to show the children that, just because the books seems old fashioned, the stories they tell were valid when they were written, valid before they were written, and will be valid for all time. Please, read this and the other two "Angus" books to your children. Talk about them. We need to go back to tolerance, gentleness, and understanding, if just for the time it takes to read these short books. There' too much violence in a lot of the contemporary children's books. I won't review "Angus and the Ducks" and "Angus Lost" separately; I've said it all here.

My 5-year-old daughter and I really like this book. I like the way it was written and she enjoys the way Angus and the Cat get along (or not) and eventually develop a friendship of sorts. The book is cleverly written and is a warm story of curiosity, differences, and frienship.

This book was first published in 1962 and it hasn't aged a bit! It is a lovely story for younger children about a Scottie dog and his relationship with a cat who he at first hates but eventually learns to appreciate as time goes on. The book is filled with both colour and black and white drawings, the artwork is great, and the storyline easy and fun to follow. Both children and adults will enjoy this little book, I know I did when I was a child!