This translation of Platero and I is the only "complete" translation into English of the Spanish Classic. It is also the most Spanish! This refers to the paperback edition.

This is a beautiful little book by a Nobel Prize Winner of Literature that is too often neglected, Juan Ramon Jimenez.

Only Jimenez could make the blood of a leach in a stream of water into beautiful imagery. Children read this book as part of their curriculum in Argentina, however, this book can be equally enjoyed and appreciated by adults.

The story is a simple one: it is a first person (semi-autobiographical) account of a poet and his donkey in the mountains of Spain, appreciating, almost Zen-like, the simple beauties of life. The elements, children playing, leaches bleeding in a pool, everything seems beautiful in this book, and the descriptions are exquisite.

This is probably the best introduction to Jimenez, a book not to be missed!

Platero y yo es un libro tierno y sencillo que cuenta la relacion de un borrico y su amo. Yo lo recomiendo a todo aquel que quiera aprender espanol con esta pequena historia llena de poesia.

As I said, I haven't read the book. However, I saw the movie and knew nothing of what the book version had to say. It never ocurred to me that she,Yentl, had any identity crisis of any kind. She was a woman ahead of her time who just wanted to study the bible with the same freedom that Men had and still have. I am not Jewish, but Christian, and I could well identify with her thirst for knowledge. I don't KNOW what IBS had in mind but I think we all pretty much have to draw our own conclusions.

There is a review on this site, dreamed up by some idiot who saw this movie and book, as being about a transsexual. Said something about mistakes that God made, etc. That person should be shot ! The story is about how women were oppressed, not allowed to study, only to read "picture books". It told of a courageous who knew his daughter had a thirst for knowledge and taught her in secret. When he passed away, she had no choice, she had to get an education....she was a beautiful, intelligent woman, not content to JUST cook and clean house. She wanted, needed to learn. She is to be applauded, not called a transsexual. She was always a woman...never was that in doubt. Meeting her learning partner, falling in love with him, afraid to tell him the truth, that she was a woman, made for an incredible and moving story. YENTL is my second favourite movie of all time. I have seen it 132 times, and know the lyrics to all the songs...and all the dialogue. (I give it more than 5 stars)

Anybody who sees the Barbara Streisand movie should also read this, the original I.B. Singer story. On page one it is made clear that Yentl has "the soul of a man in a woman's body" because "even Heaven makes mistakes." So I think the story is about a female-to-male transexual, not a lesbian or a feminist. I even read somewhere that this originally came out in the same year that Chrisitne Jorgensen had a sex change. (But the other way -- Jorgensen was a man who became a woman.) So I would guess that Singer was trying to explore gender identity with this story.

The focus of the story is not on homoerotic love between two women, but on a person who is born female but feels herself to be male inside, and decides to act out that feeling by dressing and living as a man. An important difference between this story and the Streisand movie is that in the story, Yentl keeps living as a man in the end, saying that "I must remain as I am."

I thought the story was very good in how it dealt with the subject in a very open way. That was surprising for something that was written over 30 years ago.

I love this book, and I love owls. There's a wide variety of poems in here, from the silly to the haunting.

Any AgeI think this is a great book! Owls are a great subject for poetry! Like owls, the poems are so beautiful! Let me tell you, I love poetry, and I know great poetry when I see it!

In this retelling of an ancient Jewish legend, Singer demonstrates all his skill.

In ancient times, in a distant land, there was a large city where many rich men lived. It had magnificent palaces, broad avenues, parks and gardens. In their midst wound a tiny street of broken down houses with narrow windows and doorways and roofs that leaked. In the simplest of these lived a holy man named Tobias with his wife Peninah and their three sons and two daughters. Tobias, a scribe, copied Torah scrolls to make his meager living. Tobias suddenly took ill and lost the use of his right hand. He could earn nothing. The family were hungry. His children had no shoes and could not attend school. But Tobias refused the help of others.

"Even while waiting for miracles, it is good to do something," his wife told him, and after borrowing a coat, sent him out to seek some luck. Tobias came upon a stranger, and mysteriously regained use of his hand to grasp the man's hand in greeting. The man introduced himself as Elijah and ordered Tobias to take him to the market and sell him as a slave. Tobias refused, calling himself Elijah's slave, but as Elijah was a messenger from God, Tobias had no choice but to heed him.

What do you suppose happened next? I cannot tell you. But the story honors Elijah's good name. Alyssa A. Lappen