This book was a Caldecott Medal winner as the best illustrated children's book in 1987. You will never see a finer set of modern simulations of a Middle Ages illuminated manuscript. The full range of the rainbow is vividly and brilliantly worked into almost every illustration. On text pages, the illuminations surround the words while on illustrated pages, they fill across the whole page -- border and all.

Unlike most children's stories, this one captures the full richness of the original tale as told by Spenser in the Faerie Queen. Without all the background of that story, some references here are not clear, so you'll want to explain them to your child.

The book features a ferocious three day battle between St. George and the dragon. For sensitive children, that battle in this book could encourage nightmares. I suggest that you either not share the book with children who might be frightened, or read it to them early in the day.

When a dragon terrorizes her father's kingdom, Princess Una escapes from the family castle to seek help. After an arduous journey, she finds the Red Cross Knight and calls upon him for assistance. He follows her back toward the castle. Along the way, he glimpses aspects of his future life.

Upon the plain surrounding the castle, a terrible and aggressive dragon waits to attack. The knight bravely attacks, but his weapon is no match for the dragon. He is gravely wounded and falls to the earth. It looks like the battle is over. Miraculously, the knight is restored to full strength the next day. The battle recommences, and the knight is again devastated by the dragon. But the knight has injured the dragon a little. Once again, the knight revives and the third day provides the titanic battle in which the knight slays the dragon.

The king and queen come out to welcome the knight, and offer him many riches. The knight modestly declines and pleads that the riches be given to the poor, instead. The king offers Princess Una's hand in marriage and his kingdom. The knight protests that he must serve the Fairy Queen for 6 more years. The king says that is all right, and the two are married. The knight comes and goes to serve his duty.

In time, he becomes known as St. George, the patron saint of England.

The story contains many worthwhile moral lessons such as being steadfast in one's duty, overcoming adversity through persistance and courage, and preferring to help others rather than seeking rewards for oneself. As such, the book is much more inspiring and heroic than most modern children's literature, and will become a favorite of those who like to take the challenges of the hard path.

After you and your child finish reading this story, on some occasions you should talk about what challenges face modern people. How can we serve others? How can we be modest in our pursuit? How can our lives provide lessons for others?

Pursue to the limits of potential and imagination!

Hyman won a Caldecott Medal for this book and there is no questioning why. The wonderful drawings tell the story with splendid detail. Bordering the text are more drawings that help to establish the setting and mood of the story. The text is even more exciting than the illustrations. A brave knight is summoned by a beautiful princess to slay the dragon that has been tormenting the land of the fairy queen. After several battles and assistance from magical entities, the knight defeats his foe and is granted the princess as a prize. There can be quite a lot of text on a single page causing it to be overwhelming in its lack of white space. The narrative is fast-paced enough that the reader will stay interested though. This book should be on an independent level for high second graders. Younger children will enjoy hearing it and seeing the pictures though.

Why 5 stars?:
I simply love the mythical magic of dragons. The illustrations included in this version are gorgeous. The story can be understood and enjoyed by children of all ages. Second graders should be able to read this book with just some slight assistance.

I absolutely loved this book. The story was wonderful. At first I thought it might be too graphic for younger children, but when I read it to my 6 year old son I found out differently. He really enjoyed the story and was delighted with the pictures. We had to look at themm over and over. He even began making up his own stories using the pictures. This is a great book for children of all ages.

THE LATE GEORGE APLEY is a departure from my habitual choice of biographical reading, which is usually limited to real-life individuals who've stood astride human history. And George Apley of (merely) Boston is fictional.

Author John Marquand has invented a make-believe chronicler named Mr. Willing to tell the story of the latter's life long friend, George Apley (1866-1933). The biographer's source material is comprised primarily of his own recollections and numerous letters exchanged between Apley and friends and family over the decades. Willing begins with a brief account of George's ancestry, then proceeds through his subject's birth, boyhood, and years at Harvard and law school forward to his marriage, the birth of his children, then his sojourns in middle and old age.

The trouble with this novel is that it seems Marquand didn't have a clear vision of the point he was trying to make. On one hand, Willing's biography is sympathetic. He obviously admires Apley for being a loyal friend, loving husband and father, fair and considerate employer, principled gentleman, and patriotic American. Willing doesn't condemn his friend's gradual alienation from his children and a changing society as he ages. (What a surprise!) And his generally favorable bias doesn't prevent him from mentioning Apley's low opinion of the Irish, Catholics, and Jews, but he doesn't dwell upon these flaws - perhaps because he was of like mind. Taken at this face value, the book is a simple tribute to a good and upstanding life however unprepossessing it may have been.

On the other hand, without any obvious malice, Marquand (through Willing again) manages to convey the fact that Apley takes himself, his family name, his privileged class, and Boston way too seriously. Anything beyond the Boston city limits is held in a frank disregard verging on contempt. He fails to heed the words of an uncle who found it necessary to counsel: "Most people in the world don't know who the Apleys are and they don't give a damn." Also, Marquand attributes to his fictional subject no great achievements on the national or world stage. Rather, George spends a lifetime attending the board meetings of charities, participating in "intelligent discussion" groups and clubs, dabbling in the minutiae of local politics, and dispensing unheeded advice to his offspring. Because of all this, I've decided that THE LATE GEORGE APLEY is, in the balance, more of a gentle satire than anything else. The thing is, it's too subtle for this 21st century reader. (Perhaps it was more appreciated in the year first published - 1936.) It's as if Marquand didn't love or hate the type of man or social class his subject represents with sufficient enough fervor to be truly effective at either.

At the very best, THE LATE GEORGE APLEY is an interesting description of the evolution of a gentleman and society of that time and place. I liked it to that extent, but was left with the nagging regret that my time would've been better spent reading a contemporary account of a real individual whose life had made ripples in a pond bigger than that of the city he or she lived in. Hmm, now where's my unread biography of Captain Kangaroo?

J.P. Marquand was well known in his day, both as a serious writer(The Late George Apley won a Pulitzer Prize) and for the Mr. Moto detective series (made into movies starring Peter Lorre as the title character). This novel makes skillful use of the device of the unreliable narrator; it is told from the point of view of a writer putting together a life of Apley who, like his subject, is thoroughly conventional, and thus does not realize that his portrait of Apley reveals the sterility of the latter's life. The novel is also a skillful depiction of a particular class in a particular place and time. I agree with the other reviewers that it is a shame that it is out of print.

John P. Marquand probably was one of the most successful authors of his day and this book, for which he won a Pulitzer prize was the start of his brilliant career. Unfortunately, with Marquand's death in 1960, he fell from favor with the academy who was itself enamoured with tales of life in a university and stories addressing issues of gender and sex. Marquand's stories about middle aged WASPs in Boston coping with trying to come to grips with their lives were no longer in fashion and sadly have not returned to the center place that they previously occupied.

This is a novel about manners and invokes the particular time and place of the WASP ascendency in America, just before the second World War. Marquand's hero is a representative of what used to be known as a "Boston Brahmin." Marquand handles Apley with a mixture of bemusement and foundness. He has clearly met George Apley's in his life and knows the type well. What would have been in less capable hands a mere characture, becomes a full portrait of what was at the time, a dying breed. Marquand sensed this and this provides the point of departure for the book.

"The Late George Apley is a bit of a pastische of privately printed books designed to memorialize a dearly departed loved one. This allows Marquand to use his frequently used flashback technique to describe the particulars of Apley's life. At times this provides Marquand with the opportunity to indulge in both high comedy and low drama, as is the case when Apley falls in love with a girl who is both Irish and Catholic. Although this enables some satire on the subject of the way Boston's elite viewed the Irish, it is also a source of regret that Apley, like so many characters in Marquand's books, did not make a different choice in life. Sentiments that as Jonathan Yardley has observed "are not just limited to the denizens of Backbay or Harvard Square."

This Curious George book is a nice alternative to other Halloween books, because it explores Halloween traditions other than trick-or-treating.

Curious George and the man with the yellow hat go to a friends house for a Halloween party, and it is a costume party. George and his friend have to borrow costumes from the hostess, and of course George's curiosity gets him in trouble. The guests play games like bobbing for apples.

This book is funny, like most curious george books. Children aged three and four who are just becoming familiar with Halloween will appreciate George's antics, and learn about halloween and costume parties at the same time.

There is nothing in this book that scared my son, aged 3. I don't think there is anything in here that would scare the average child of 3 or 4 years old. It's wholesome Halloween fun.

ken32

At first I was a little suspicious about this book, "illustrated in the style of H.A.Rey by Martha Weston." I didn't want anybody messing with my dearly loved friend, Curious George! I am glad to say that I was pleasantly surprised. This book tells the Halloween adventures of our curious little pal, as he and the man with the yellow hat go to a costume party. At first, George finds it a bit scary because he doesn't understand about make-believe dress-up, but then he gets into the fun of it. They need to borrow costumes from the hostess of the party and George has lots and lots of choices. Due to George's typical curiosity, the party becomes much more lively than the hostess intended! The story and the illustrations are true to the style we know and love from the original Curious George books by Margret and H.A. Rey. The pictures are brimming with action and excitement and colorful fun. This story has the added benefit of introducing some Halloween characters that little ones may be frightened of and showing that they are really just pretend and taking the scariness out of them. It also shows fun Halloween customs like jack-o-lanterns, bobbing for apples and other party activities. This is a real treat for Curious George fans and for fans of Halloween. Don't miss it.

A Wish & Kiss is worth spending a few hours on. Itfeatures an archeologist heroine who uncovers a nifty little lamp thatturns out to contain a very sexy genie named Alex. He announces his presence to our stunned heroine with this line "I have come to do your bidding mistress". How can one not read on? What follows is a fun, sexy romance where the couple spend a lot of time together and get to know each other well before committing. The book begins to drag towards the end as the focus shifts from their relationship to a mad chase around the country as they try to salvage Chelsey's career. Despite that little slow down, the book is most definitely worth searching for if you like magical stories filled with laughter, sensuality and strong characterization.

This is by far one of the best books I've ever read! Not only does it have a less-than-perfect heroine (which is refreshing after being bombarded with flawless females in so many romances!) but the hero will melt your heart. This book brings to life every woman's fantasy -- a gorgeous man willing to grant your wishes. You'll have the sudden urge to rub every lamp you see in hopes that your own genie will appear. Chelsey is comical in her skepticism and Alex is extremely funny in his joy of the world around him. I cried and laughed and sighed. This book reaffirms your faith in the human spirit and shows you that a love worth having is worth risking everything for -- be it fame, fortune or healing. This book is absolutely beautiful. Mere words can't express how amazing it really was. I could have turned right around and read this book a second time and I will be keeping it for many, *many* repeated readings in the future.

I absolutely loved Curious George when I was a child. It is so thrilling to watch that same excitement in my 3 y.o. daughter. She practically begs me to read her a story from the book every night. During the day, she loves to flip through the book looking for her favorite pictures. It's not often that children enjoy the same things that delighted their parents as children. I am so happy to able to share these stories with her!

The Curious George series was my absolute favorite when I was a child, and I was born much after they first came out.

The Curious George books are perfect for any child. Curious George plays out every child's dreams; some stories, such as Curious George Goes To The Hospital, make unfamiliar and scary experiences friendly and familiar. The man in the yellow hat helps George, but doesn't dominate his adventures. The writing style succeeds in capturing George's mind frame and will make you laugh. Most of all, there is always a richly developed plot that leads to a powerful, happy conclusion, but not before George learns a lesson. Nobody ever discourages George's curiousity, except jokingly. The watercolors are warm and familiar. Indeed, I've forgotten about most of my children's books except the Curious Georges.

In an age where children's books are mostly condescending, hyper-PC, no-suspense junk, Curious George seems almost perfect. Buy this for all the children in your family.

This is a review of _The Complete Adventures of Curious George_.

I know that I read (or had read to me) at least some of the Curious George books when I was in grade school. And I remember that I liked them. But that's almost all I remember. So, when we were given this book as a present for our two children, I didn't know what to expect.

I am now in awe of what a wonderful series of stories this is. There are seven stories, published over a series of twenty-five years. By modern publishing standards, that's not a lot of books for a successful series. There's a reason for that: Margaret and H.A. Rey took their time to craft fine stories.

These are stories that are written in a simple, comprehensible way, so my kids have been enjoying them since they were three years old. However, the stories are not "dumbed down" for children. The plots are interesting, with twists and turns. In "Curious George Gets a Medal," George goes from thinking about writing letters, to trying to clean up some spilled ink, to trying to find a pump to clean up some water, to trying to find an animal to drag a pump, to a museum, where he meets the person who had written the letter that started him on his quest (!), to a rocket ride. This description cannot do justice to the natural flow the incidents have in the context of the story.

The illustrations are in a bright, charming, and in what is (now) an immediately recognizable style. Unlike so many children's books, it is obvious that great care has been put into the illustrations. In one picture, George is shown floating over the city, carried aloft by some balloons he had taken. He is the focus, of course, but if we look carefully, we see on the ground the balloon-man, from whom George had taken the balloons (running after George below), the brother and sister who were buying a balloon from him when George took the other balloons, the man with the yellow hat (driving in the same blue car with a tire on the back that will reappear on the next page), and a couple of men who have obviously walked into each other and fallen down because they were looking up in the air at George. Priceless!

The only entry in this collection that is not up to the general high standard is "Curious George Learns the Alphabet." This is really not a story at all, but an introduction to the letters, showing how each resembles something that starts with that letter. It's fine for what it is, but it pales in comparison with the rich stories around it.

You can really appreciate how outstanding these stories are when you compare them to contemporary efforts to continue the series, like "Curious George and the Dumptruck" (published, thank goodness, separately). This story has none of the sparkle of the authentic, original Curious George.

In this era of political correctness, some parents, librarians and teachers may be concerned about certain aspects of some stories. George smokes a pipe before bed in one; in another he opens a bottle of ether, sniffs it, and goes into a woozy state before passing out. George also lives in a world in which there seem to be almost no people of color.

So supplement your children's reading of Curious George with other books that reflect the diversity of the world, and add your own little glosses to parts of the book that show behavior that concerns you ("Oh, George shouldn't open a medicine bottle should he? You wouldn't do that, would you?"). But do read to your children, and encourage them to read, Curious George.

I must say I was astonished to see how remarkably well Vipah was able to reproduce the artwork of the late H. A. Rey. Too bad they couldn't quite come up to par with the stories all the time. Case in point, My three year old was confused as to why the chocolates started going faster, since the text doesn't point out that george steps on a lever to make it go faster, you have to see it in the picture. Three year olds don't know anything about levers marked EXTRA FAST.

One great thing about these new series of books is they are mercifully short. The classic george books check in at 48-64 pages which gets really tiresome after 30 or 40 readings!!

I personally think the pancakes book is better. But Chris loves George so it doesn't matter much what I think. :-)

Illustrated and written in the style of original authors, Margaret and H.A. Rey, this 1998 release finds George and the infamous man in the yellow hat visiting a chocolate factory. When the yellow-hatted man tells George "wait here while I buy these, and please stay out of trouble," you KNOW that George will do exactly the opposite. After all, George is CURIOUS, and his inquiring personality and sweet tooth lead him deeper and deeper into the inner workings of the factory, where he gets into more trouble. His quick hands and mouth save the factory from his own curiosity-inspired havoc, and George goes home happy and full.

While not as clever as some of the earlier books in the series, the chocolate factory setting is inspired. Page 10, for example, depicts seven different mouth-watering chocolates. Little ones will understand George's interest in the making of chocolates, and his accidental, temporary wrecking of the assembly line. Again, I don't think it's quite up to the high standards of some of the other "Curious George" books. Twenty-two pages, with understated watercolor and pencil illustrations on each page.

My three-year-old absolutely loves this book. The story is very cute and the illustrations are wonderful! My son likes to pretend he's eating the chocolates off the page that shows which swirls indicate which fillings. And the drawings of the factory itself, where the machines look like friendly robots complete with smiling faces, are priceless! A very enjoyable book that will be read again and again!

I usually avoid Harlequin Romances and other series books, like the plague. I was in the mood for a vampire story and noticed that Love Bites by Margaret St. George (a.k.a. Maggie Osborne) was highly rated by a popular romance magazine. I will say it's the best vampire story I've ever read. However, I found the ending realistic and not very satisfying; and the story is told in typical Harlequin 'quickie' fashion. It was ok but nothing to really brag about.

I bought this book used after reading a recommendation about it in someone's Listmania list, and I'm glad I did. When I found out that it was a Harlequin book, I figured that the whole vampire aspect was going to be pretty generic, but to my surprise it wasn't. Ms. St. George provided a very plausible explantion for vampirism, and also gave the secondary vampire characters some real emotional depth, rather than just making them stereotypes.

Trevor d'Laine is a late-night radio talk show DJ. He markets himself as a vampire DJ (never appearing at daytime events, not allowing himself to be photographed, etc.), which of course his listeners don't really believe. For him, though this is a case of hiding in plain sight. His mortal assistant recently died and he has to hire a replacement to handle his daytime affairs - a person know as a "Renfield" in the vampire community, a term lifted with derision by them from Bram Stoker's book. In fact, all of the mortal assistants are referred to as Renfields by their vampire employers, and they refer to themselves that way too. Kay Erickson happens to be the only person who was willing to show up for a 2am interview with him for the job, and he hires her. Both of the characters have surprising depth: he positively exudes joie de vivre, and is in the process of organinzing the vampire community to make it more acceptable to the human community, while she is engaged to a man who may or may not be right for her and who is still trying to overcome a childhood that was suffocated by her mother's fears. Needless to say, she has a hard time accepting the truth about Trevor's nature, and she actually responds in a realistic fashion to the truths revealed to her, rather than than just accepting them matter-of-factly.

The book is fast paced, with some thoughtful insights into vampirism and personal choice. The mystery, while not very mysterious, was a nice little additon. The growing attraction between Trevor and Kay was done well - romantic and sexy, yet with realistic consideration to physical and philosophical differences. This book is out-of-print but is available used. If you enjoy the vampire/romance genre, this is one book worth adding to your collection.

I'm not too into Vampires and such, but this book, I just could NOT put down! It was so compelling and exciting! I wish I could read more stories about these characters, that's how much it intrigued me! I loved this story from cover to cover. It's one of the best books I've read in a long long time!

Always Coming Home, by Ursula LeGuin, is a striking and highly readable Utopian novel with feminist themes. LeGuin wrote this work in 1985, and became so wrapped up in the World she created that she published the book with tapes of songs and ceremonies from its supposed inhabitants. This did not help sales, and the book, although very well reviewed at the time and much beloved by its fans, is no longer in print. In the distant future California is inhabited by a people with a culture similar to American Indians, current U.S. culture having polluted itself to death and fallen into the sea just as everyone predicted. These Napa Valley people have profited from Silicon Valley and combine modern computer skills with a simplicity of life close to nature. There is, however, a troublesome, warmaking, male-dominated, city-building culture to the north where Oregon and Washington are now, and this is where the culture clashes come from that allow feminist issues to be developed. The gentle Californians have e-mail, and a group safely far away from the community that is suffering raids and town burnings from the Arab-like northern people keep writing our community that fighting back is wrong, and that they should sit down with these people and discuss things and settle it all by peaceful talking; in a memorable line, someone in the embattled community flames back, "You come here and do that!" Our protagonist, North Owl, is captured by the Arab-like culture as a teenage girl. When she finds her way back after much oppression and many adventures, she takes the second of three names women take to mark major life themes, Woman Coming Home.

This book is a marvelous collection of "an anthropology of the future." LeGuin excavates stories, songs, beliefs, myths, traditions, and more of the people who "will be might have been" someday living in what is now Northern California. At once Utopian and Dystopian, the culture that LeGuin shares with us is beautiful and complex.

I read this book when it was first published in paperback in the mid-80's. It planted and nurtured in me a seed of hope that humans are capable of someday living in community in different ways than we do now. It opened in my imagination doors that I had never before noticed. Here is an example of a new narrative structure, or anti-structure. Here, too, is an example of a new-old social structure, a post-modern tribalism that has returned to "traditional" values such as living in harmony with oneself and one's environment, and recognizing the strength and beauty in ritual and tradition.

Though others (including she) may disagree, I personally have always considered this work Mrs. LeGuin's crowning achievement. As Tolkien did in his Middle Earth stories, LeGuin in "Always Coming Home" creates a new-old world that is unfamiliar yet recognizable, someplace we want to go back to again and again. We are lucky indeed that this book is now back in print!

Ursula K. LeGuin's novel Always Coming Home, published in 1985, is a story of our own earth in the distant future. Ms. le Guin has set her novel in what is today the small community of Rutherford , in the western Napa Valley of Northern California. Nothing remains of twentieth-century civilization except an occasional piece of rubble and some areas poisoned by residual pesticide. Much of our present-day land is under water, including California's Central Valley and some of the coastal region, and the human population is sparse.

However, the tone of the book is neither cautionary nor obtrusively alien; the topography, plants and animals of Northern California are easily recognizable, and the human culture--the people are the Kesh, or "Valley People"--although different from our own, is not jarringly so.

The book is the story of one woman's life, from childhood to old age. North Owl is born in Sinshan, one of the nine small communities in the Valley of the Na (our Napa River

This is an obviously exceptionally well researched novel. Margaret George does an excellent job of bringing together factual historical events and realstic fiction. This is a well written novel that is exciting, interesting, and entertaining. I would recommend this book to any one who would like to learn more about Mary, Queen of Scotland. The only downfall is the length of this novel. The descriptions are excellent, however after reading this novel for a while it starts to drag. So before indulging in this book, make sure that you have the time to become involved in a very detailed but exceptionally good novel.

I by chance stumbled across Margaret George's "Autobiography of King Henry VIII", and though it took me three summers to read, I found it beautifully written and captivating. I was hugely satisfied when I turned the last page not only for having waded my way through a novel of such girth but for George's ability to adeptly transport you to the time and place in which she is attempting to convey.

So, when George released "Mary Queen of Scots", I hastened to the book store hoping to relive all the pageantry and intrigue that I had discovered in "Henry VIII". I have had "Queen Mary" for as long if not longer than "Henry VIII" and have yet to finish it. This is not to say that this book is lacking in any way. George's mastery of the English language and her eloquent style of writing certainly kept me in awe. "Queen Mary" is an excitable novel but unfortunately not until you get past the first 200-300 pages. I cannot pinpoint the reason why the completion of this novel eludes me. Perhaps it's because it's easy to get bogged down in the details and, as a result, disinterested.

With the release of "Memoirs of Cleopatra", I took a break from "Queen Mary" and began to tackle George's latest attempt at historical fiction. Oddly, I breezed through "Cleopatra" in two months time, absolutely captivated and enthralled with her. Every time I opened the book to read, I was instantly transported to ancient Egypt and Rome. Every time I closed the book to rest, I anxiously anticipated the next opportunity I would have to read. "Cleopatra", by far, is Margaret George's most successful attempt of bringing to life a "larger-than-life" figure. I was so mesmerized by this novel that it gave me renewed hope for "Queen Mary". Sadly, though, returning to the cold, damp shores of Scotland was tougher than I had imagined (especially after having been immersed in the decadence that was "Cleopatra" and having resided along the balmy shores of Alexandria for two months).

I still find myself trying to wade through "Queen Mary" but still give this novel 4 stars for George's excellent writing and storytelling ability. Her choice of subject matter is impeccable. If you enjoy the details, you'll love this novel. One thing is for certain though, Margaret George has made me a devout fan of not only her writing but of historical fiction, as well.

If you love history-based novel, this is a must read book. I was so into the book that I cried while I was reading. Once you start reading it, you will find that it's so hard to put this book down. Thanks Margaret George for bringing back Mary, Queen of Scots to life at least in the heart of the readers.

Excellent starter for young readers. My boys love him. This is very nice because I grew up with George too.