I love Edward Lear's story and James Marshall's illustrations are magical. I don't like the version with Jan Brett's illustrations. I've never liked Jan Brett's illustrations. I've spent hundreds of hours looking at children's books and I always pass over Jan Brett's books. Her illustrations just don't appeal to me. Her illustrations are distinctive and I can always recognize her work but I don't like them. There is just something missing--they don't have any life to them or something. I can't explain it. I have always loved James Marshall. His genius transcends understanding. His illustrations complement Ed Lear's beautiful tale perfectly.

A very good illustrated version of the classic poem- the pictures are beautiful with a distinctly exotic flavour, great for all ages!

This book is just so cool. Longing for a trip to the tropics? Read this version of the book to your little one and you can at least feel like you are there. The illustrations are really sweet. They have a lot of details so that kids kind find new things with each reading. My two-year old loves this book. It is a great twist on an old tale

So cute! I want to order the entire series of his adventures!

I am past 50 years old now, and have read thousands of books, but one of my very favorites is Eve Titus's "Anatole".
I even still have the actual book that I read all those years ago.It's in great shape and the illustrations by Paul Galdone are perfect and very "French".
You should buy a couple of good cheeses and introduce them to your child after you read Anatole to them, or if they read it themselves. and they will remember that with loving fondness for the rest of their lives.

Whoever reads this magical book will soon be starving for cheese!
After all those years, I can still see the little French mouse and his comrades in my mind, bicycling into Paris late at night for their cheese run.
Everything about this book is positive and upbeat and a wonderful influnce on children of all ages.

I still love Anatole and read it often. I highly recommend it.

Excellent book for kids!!...I had never heard of this author or title prior to today. The main character of the book is a Parisian mouse named Anatole. He is a bicycle riding mouse who is always in search of food for his very large family. After he discoveres that humans don't like it when mice dig through their trash, he develops a plan to make his talents helpful for people. His efforts pay off and he becomes a hero to his family of mice and to the humans who benefit from his efforts.

Even the youngest of children will understand the themes of this book. Children who may see themselves as insignificant in a busy household will learn great lessons from Anatole. Anatole is a Caldecott Honor Book. Even though this book is currently out of print, it should be searched for at your local library. Nevertheless I will look for other books from Eve Tutus. Vive Anatole!!

I read this out loud to my 4-year-old son, who loves anything involving King Arthur, and he was captivated. His only disappointment was that there is no book to follow with more tales of the young Shan and his adventures. I highly recommend this as well as other historical fiction by Bulla. I have also read "Pocahontas and the Strangers" to my son, and he loved that as well.

Once your child has moved beyond easy phonetic readers, you'll want to find interesting books with large print that aren't too difficult or overwhelming for the new reader. Bulla's "The Sword in the Tree" fits this description perfectly.

Try reading the first chapter to your young reader to spark his interest. Then read the next chapter or two aloud together so he/she becomes familiar with the words and flow. Then sit back and listen as your child finishes reading this exciting book about greed, courage, and chivalry.

This book is an excellent source for "medieval" units. I have used it with weak 5th grade English as a Second language readers and they are very successful with it. It teaches grade level content at a lower reading level. They do not feel they are reading an easy book. It is a wonderful starter book for reluctant readers.

A little boy had a set of tin soldiers that were made from a melted spoon. One soldier was missing a leg because there was not enough metal left over from the melted spoon.

Tossed aside by the boy, the one-legged soldier sees a paper cut out figure of a ballerina. She is poised on one leg and he feels an instant bond. He has found another one-legged toy and believes this to be love.

The steadfast tin soldier has a series of mishaps. He falls off the window sill into a stream. From there, he is transported to a rat infested sewer. He is swallowed by a fish and through an unlikely stroke of luck, winds up back in the boy's playroom with the other toys and the ballerina.

The ending is what gets to me every single time. A gust of wind lifts the paper ballerina up and she flutters into the fire place, winding up a charred heap of ashes. Devastated, the tin soldier joins her. The remaining metal that was once the tin soldier is a charred piece of heart shaped metal.

I still think this is a very sad story. The photographs really emphasize the feeling this story evokes.

I taught 1st grade for 4 years and all of the teachers in my grade passed this book around at Christmas to read to our class. I cried everytime I read it. It has a wonderful message and my kids in my classroom always loved it! I have now (finally) purchased my own copy of this book to read to my little girl. It is a classic and I know she will love it as much as I do. Every home should have this book to read at Christmastime.

This is a really good book. It has all the characteristic's that made the original a cherished and remembered fairy tale. It is a great gift for any young child, and can be enjoyed by adults too. It maintains the feel of the original tale, but is more like a poem. The art work on each page is beautiful, and the pictures are totally devine. I would recomend buying this for a different and fully enjoyable version of the original.

This is about as close as you'd want to come to seeing Sherlock Holmes investigating the theft of the Mona Lisa (because Basil is a bit more fun, and the history of the Mousa Lisa is more interesting).

This book is worth picking up, just for the sake of the story of how the Mousa Lisa came to be painted (I won't spoil it for you by trying to summarize it here, but it's touching). Someone has managed to substitute a forgery for the real Mousa Lisa, and the substitution was detected only due to the zeal of a visiting art expert. Basil and Dawson have been called in to track down and recover the painting, but of course things are more complicated than they seem...

Basil of Baker Street is back again! I'm a 12 year old girl who just loves this book. This one leds Basil and Dawson to Mexico to find the stolen Mousa Lisa! And it ends up were Ratigan, Basil's worst enemy, has kidnapped, or should I say mousenapped, Dawson!! Basil has to go threw thick and thin to solve this case

Each year when my family is able to be together, we curl up around the christmas tree and read Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree. It has become a family tradition and one that I cherish, even as an adult.

We were so concerned about this book going out of publication and to know that it is being sold again is wonderful - If you are looking for a story you all can share, year after year, this is the one!

It has seen us through over thirty years and is still going strong!

This story is a really good story. It's where Mr.Willowby gets a tree for a surprise. I really like this story because it's a Christmas story and because it really is cheerful. I recommend it for all ages because it is a really good book.

I am 29 years old and have never forgotten the story of Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree. I cherished the book as a child and have a special place in my heart for it still today. This book is enjoyable to read any time of year not only at Christmas. I enjoy giving hardcover versions of my favorite childhood stories as treasured gifts. This book deserves more than 5 stars. I do not wish to give a summary of this story, but encourage you to please read and ENJOY!!!

The "Space Cat" books are truly timeless adventures of a curious cat who has been stealing hearts for 2 generations. And Ruthven Todd's creativity is sparkling.

The "Space Cat" series is my most favorite reading from my Elementary school years!!! I, too, renewed as often as permitted, read them to my cousins, and whoever else would listen. As an adult, I've read them to my children, and have been searching for a way to have them as part of our family library. This is great!!!

Space Cat, Space Cat Visits Venus, Space Cat Meets Mars, and Space Cat and the Kittens, are all favorites from my childhood, and my adulthood. I rechecked them to read to my children and would like to have the rest to keep my copy of Space Cat company in my private library and to share with my grandchildren.

Ok, I am in 11th grade, and I read this book in like 4th grade. I still have nighmares and flashbacks about it. It really scared me. I will not even touch the book if I ever see it. If you do buy this book for your child, I highly suggest that your child is not a fragile on or one who is even a little scared of "creatures" of the night. Ok, that's it.

I, an elementary school librarian, have been using this for my Halloween read a loud. I like it because - read right - its scary but not so bad as to give them nightmares. No ghosts, no witches, no gore! Even the parents don't mind! :-)

We read this in kindergarden, and some of our friends are still having nightmares about it. We loved this book because it is sooo scary! Even in seventh grade SOME of us are still shrieking at the word TAILYPO. This IS a really good book, but beware of its impact on young people, especially those with, uh, overactive imaginations. The perfect book for reading around a campfire in the middle of the woods with lots of noises and glowing eyes all around...

I must speak a dissenting voice to all the glowing reviews of this book. Mowat is, no doubt, an excellent naturalist, and many of the adventures described in the book are very entertaining. However, I am very disturbed that, although the author is ready to defend HIS pets with his shotgun against other animals, he pretty much gave his own animals not just free rein but also encouragement to kill the pets of others. Mutt the dog is deliberately set on a woman's cats, and the "secret cemetery" of neighborhood cats filled by his pet owl is described with almost pride.

Also disturbing to me is the author's attitude toward women. Any complaining woman is described as "spinsterish." The "Cat Lady" whose cats the author set his dog on to attack and kill was described as harboring "yearning hope" for a male intruder to come and presumably do things to her that I don't want to refer to in a review that children may read -- the implication is pretty strong, with a reference also to the Sabine women.

I may get flamed for this review, but I feel that these are very poor attitudes to be subtly or unsubtly conveying to children. I find it very unfortunate because I endorse the author's work as a naturalist.

i am reading this book with my dad and having a fun time.mutt,comes to this family for only a penny but brings a millon laughs.he did not think he was a dog so he did not ACT like a dog.when he didn't want to do something he pretented not to hear it.he would put on an expression that said,''i'm sorry,were you speaking to MOI? my two favorite parts are when the dad turns mutt blue and when the dad shot his gun and fell into the dich.you will have to read the book to find out the rest.

This is one of the funniest books that I have ever read. Mutt, the dog, comes to the family in a basket filled with ducks. The father in the story wants an expensive pure bred dog for hunting. However, mother circumvents this by plucking out the dog, paying one cent, and saving lots of money. There are plenty of misadventures in the story, from mutt retrieving a stuffed pheasent in the city (after father pointed his shotgun and said bang), to climbing a ladder into the eccentric womans house filled with 50 cats. There was the encounter with the skunk (in the basement of the house) and the time father accidentally used bluing to clean the dog. The part about the owls is funny and interesting as well. Needless to say, Mutt has many adventures, all of them hilarious I have read this book many times.

This book is wonderful and engaging. It is about a little boy, George W. Allen who shares his name and his birthday with George Washington. He knows many facts about George W. but he wants to know more. One day he decides he wants to know what George W. had for breakfast and the learning adventure begins!! I read it to my boys 6 and 4 and they loved it. My sons enjoyed the facts about George W. like: he had two horses named Nelson and Blueskin. There were many "fun facts" such as this in the book. I loved it because in addition to learning about George W., it shows children different ways to search for information. George Allen first goes to the library from there to the card catalog, and then the biographies. Then his family took a trip to Washington D.C., and to George Washington's home in Virginia. It's a great addition to any family library.

You have the wrong illustrator listed. The illustration on the cover is by Tomie dePaola and you have Paul Galdone listed.

George Allen feels related to George Washington because they share a name and a birthday. He knows many facts about the first president but George Allen wants to know what Washington ate for his breakfast. His detemination to succeed makes the book an interesting tour through history. We learn many facts about Washington and also the rewards of perseverance.