I enjoyed a childhood rich in literature and have attempted to give my boys the same. If I were to rate one book from my earliest childhood as that which I recall most fondly, it would have to be Orlando, A Trip Abroad (1949). When I found this book in my late mother's belongings, I brought it home and it became an immediate favorite of my sons'. My younger son (age 7) and I were delighted to find republications of this exquisitely illustrated series by Kathleen Hale while in London this summer. The art, alone, makes the books worth purchasing and the stories are humorously charming in a manner that captures and holds the attention of even a not so young boy.

This book is fabulous. We have read it over and over and never tire of it. The story is wonderful and the illustrations are fabulous. We first read Orlando when the boys were 3 and 6, and 3 years later they still love it!

We do quite a bit of library and bookstore browsing and I hadn't run into this collection of books previously. As former owners of a much loved and now departed marmalade cat, we were particularly taken with the main character. The artwork is vivid and and story is rambling; about the commonplace events of the cat family -- told in a style similar to the 'Babar' collection. My girls who are aged 4, 4, and 6 loved this book.

I had the great fortune to grow up in Buffalo, NY just across the border from Canada, where my father was able to locate some of the Orlando titles for me; the rest we found in Burmuda. I have loved and reread all of Kathleen Hale's wonderful books for almost 40 years and they are just as dear to me as when I was a child. In this episode Orlando gives in to his three kitten's pleas for a pet. How they go about the selection process will have you in stitches! The matter of what kind of pet is solved for them by the advent of Bill, the poodle, a real take-charge-kind-of-dog. Against his better judgement, Orlando allows Bill a trial period as the cat family's pet. Bill's wild charge through the countryside with Grace, Orlando's wife and the kitten's mother, is not to be missed, when she takes Bill for a "walk". Those who appreciate punning pictures should pay particular attention to the landscape during this part. How Bill learns to overcome his instincts about chasing cats and wins their hearts is the whole point of the book. The premise of a family of cats keeping a dog twenty times their size as a pet is not to be missed. Bill makes only one other brief appearence in the series, in "Orlando and The Frisky Housewife", hopefully to be re-issued soon. If you or your children love cats then this is the series for you to collect, cherish and pass down through the generations.

Absolutely wonderful story and even more fabuluous illustrations by a truly gifted author and illustrator. After reading this story, we went out and bought a french poodle!

This book was given to me by a family friend when I was about three (1948). My father read it to me many times. I loved the story then, and as I grew older I was able to appreciate the subtle jokes that only an older reader would catch. The story of Orlando and his wife Grace and their three kittens as they take over a farm and get it running is charming. The illustrations are wonderful. I still find myself smiling when I return to this now very worn favorite. I wouldn't worry that this book presents an out-of-date manner of farming: children will enjoy the story, and as they get older they will understand that there are changes in agricultural methods. The book is an appropriate gift for young children and will be a favorite with the children and with parents who read aloud. At age 50 I got a marmalade cat, and you can be sure his name is Orlando!

In this charming book Orlando and his family travel to the seaside to escape the sweltering heat. They explore the town, play on the beach and have adventures with kites and bathing suits. While exploring the tidepools for possible mermaids they happen upon a shipwreck and Orlando bravely rescues an African queen and her people. The illustrations are wonderfully old fashioned and quirky little touches abound. Animals are especially well drawn, each having a great deal of personality and physical expression. Perfect books for animal loving young readers.

When father cat takes his three frisky kittens to the circus, there is mischief to be found. But it is not just the kittens that get into "sticky" situations, Orlando himself gives a stellar performance when he gets in the ring! All's well that ends well for Orlando the marmalade cat when he and his kittens return home to tell mother about the adventure they have had. Orlando's Evening Out is a wonderful bedtime story. The timeless illustrations will delight those with a passion for nostalgia (like myself) as well as the child in all of us. This enlivening classic tale of the marmalade cats' excersuion will capture the hearts of all who read it. My daughter could not get enough; we read it three times the first night! Whether you enjoy the Orlando collection or you are just looking for an endearing story for you and your children, you will adore this book!

Kathleen Hale is now a centenarian, and recently interviewed by BBC UK. Charming children's stories about Orlando the Marmalade Cat and his family written in the 40's. Pleased to see they have been re-issued recently but a pity now again unavailable. They should sell well.

Unfortunately, and unusually for this series, this book is complete fiction. We got it for our daughter, and had to throw it away. The geophysics presented in this book is completely imaginary (and I should know, I'm an earth scientist). The basic premise is that the plates of the Earth's crust ride on a layer of magma. That is false. The plates move on top of the aesthenosphere, which is quite solid. The enormous stresses over large distances allow it to flow, so that the plates move a few cm/year. Magma does exist here and there in small pockets. From the erroneous notion of a magma layer, a complete, and entirely fictional geophysics is constructed to explain various things about mountains -- much as the Aristotelian/Ptolemaic systems explained the cosmos from the false premise of geocentrism. There are numerous other errors also, and the volcano book in the series uses the same magma layer fiction.

This book pretty accurately presents a simplified version of the current theory on mountain formation. According to the UC Berkeley department of Geology, the asthenosphere is fluid: "These observations, along with many other studies of our planet, support the theory that underneath the Earth's crust (the lithosphere: a solid array of plates) is a malleable layer of heated rock known as the asthenosphere which is heated by radioactive decay of elements such as Uranium, Thorium, and Potassium. Because the radioactive source of heat is deep within the mantle, the fluid asthenosphere circulates as convection currents underneath the solid lithosphere."

Delightful! "How Mountains Are Made" makes an excellent supplement to any elementary-school earth science unit. Its good-humored, user-friendly pages engage classes' attention and stimulate the students to ask questions. A clear, accurate, and accessible introduction to a complex subject - this will certainly put budding young geologists on firm footing. A wonderful addition to the venerable "Let's Read and Find Out Science" series!

This is the first Elizabeth George book that I found frustrating, irritating and distracting. There were a few too many flashbacks, especially Gideon, and by the end of the book I could not tell whether I was reading in the present or in the past. Maybe this effect was intended by the author, but it spoiled the book for me. I didn't care about the endless sessions between Gideon and his psychiatrist or about his journal entries. I buy Elizabeth George to read about Lynley and Havers, Deborah and St. James, and the suspense of how the latest murder will be unraveled. I've actually written in the past about how well I thought George managed to bring all the different threads of her story together at the end to create closure, but I don't think she succeeded this time

I suspect Ms. George has been reading a lot of Rendell/Vine -- and to good effect. I was greatly disappointed in the two prior books and decided this one might be my last, but I'll stick with Ms. George, at least for the time being.

I have the impression that George has started writing with TV/movies in mind -- hence the cyber-sex (which goes no place) and the lesbian lovers. There are any number of minor story lines which seem to have been badly edited -- they should have been more fully developed or dropped (Pitchley's family, for instance). Perhaps most of these started as red herrings, but they ended up as distracting detours. We all know how well the BBC does minor characters, and I suspect some of these folks were just stuck in for their character-actor potential.

The book could have done with a REALLY good editor -- it shouldn't have been more than 500 pages and Gideon's journal (albeit very interesting) isn't in a consistent style (roaming back and forth between an informal-1st-person style and an omniscient author style). I found this disconcerting.

I'm very bored with the Haver/Lynley/Helen/Simon/Deborah cast of 2-dimensional characters, so I was pleased that they're more in the background. As a "technique" they're fine, but they can't stand on their own.

The story itself is fascinating and and most of the characters are interesting too. I found the ending inspired. I was grateful that George didn't tie everything up in a neat little package -- I took it as a compliment that she trusted me to make inferences and grasp implications.

What a wonderfully perceptive book. George's ability to draw characters that are real is exceptional. She understands psychology so well, and this is such an important part of a well-written book. In fact this was a book I have lived in for over two weeks. It had my attention the whole time, even when I was doing other things, I would be wondering about things I'd read. At the end it all hung together in a complete way. I discovered Elizabeth George's books last year (2000) and read all of them in subsequent months. I have been waiting ever since for her next book. Unlike Ruth Rendall, who writes in the same genre, and whose books never have any hope for something better in them, George balances hers. In Traitor to Memory, hope is held out for several characters. Justice is done in the main, although for one character who is severely penalised unjustly, it is not, but this is a reflection on her character. Keep it up Elizabeth George. For serious readers, who are not shallow and simply looking for thrills, your writing is perceptive, gripping and satisfying.