When my son was given this for his second birthday neither of us had any interest in it, and I put it away. Now some months later we are both hooked. We have been drawn into the world of Alfie, and love Shirley Hughes' stories. Alfie is the big brother my son doesn't have. To him the things that Alfie does: setting up a store in the garden, going to the sea; camping; and visiting granny are the 'adventures' he would like to have. The illustrations complement the story, and there are lots of thing to point out and look at. Alfie has become a firm favorite in this house.

This is a delightful book, with stories that could happen to any child... a mom and grandmum pretending to buy store items from the kids store; a dad and son preparing for a night in a tent in the pasture at grandmother's house (and the "scene" before they go out... with a tired grandmother, a casual dad leaning on the counter...SO real!); the walk with grandmother past the sheep -- and the escaped sheep that follows; and the trip to the beach with a search for a favorite rock that's been lost! A treasure that belongs in every child's library, and most adults (with or without children). Will delight adults, too, who take the time to study expressions and postures.

This is a very worthwhile book -- the illustrations are delightful and kid-friendly, and the words help young children understand both the concept of giving to people, and the concept of being the recipient of gifts. I'm going to buy more of Shirley Hughes' books.

This is a story which my son continually asks me to read. It explores several concepts of giving, and we have thoroughly enjoyed it. He loves the story, and the illustrations are a treat for Mom! It's definitely a favorite in our house!

Shirley Hughes has charmingly illustrated her book of a preschooler who goes to his first birthday party.Unfortunately,the story is too long for the audience for which it was intended.Older readers may read it with memories of their first social function,but your four year old may squirm in their seat awaiting the conclusion.

Shirley Hughes created such a lovable character when she created Alfie! My children are in their late teens and early twenties and we still talk about these Alfie books! I am so sad to see that "Alfie Gives a Hand" seems to be out of print. If you can get a copy used here on Amazon, DO IT!

The illustrations are priceless - they depict REAL children and REAL life. One of the reviewers here said that she felt it was too long a story for a 2 year old and I probably agree. I think 3 to 6 year olds would understand the point more.

After all these years, I remember the story so well. Alfie is invited to his first birthday party. His mom gets him washed up and in clean clothes and off they go, with Annie Rose in her stroller. Alfie is a little scared of this new experience (and don't you have little ones in your house who can identify?!) and he takes his blanket with him for comfort.

The birthday boy turns out to be rather ill-mannered (that happens sometimes too!) and one present gets thrown all over, and he blows bubbles into his jello (my kids got a big kick out of that!). Then it comes time to play a game in a circle. There is a little girl who is even more scared than Alfie and she doesn't want to play. Alfie makes the courageous choice to put his precious blanket down hold this little girl's hand. It works - she happily plays the game because of Alfie's kindness. And Alfie discovers that it pays to help others, even if it means putting down your blanket for a time!

I highly recommend ALL the Alfie books!

...Alfie Gives a Hand is my two-year old's favorite Alfie story. We have read it over and over and over again and he delights in pointing out things in the illustrations. My daughter also loved these stories when she was two and three.

The very short 1981 edition currently before me features black and white illustrations by Philip Gough, and was translated by Naomi Lewis.

There's been a trend lately for fantasy authors to take traditional fairy tales and retell them, either as novels (as in Mercedes Lackey's case, or Peggy Kerr's _The Wild Swans_) or short stories (Tanith Lee did this even before Terri Windling came along). Hans Christian Andersen's little gems *aren't* traditional folk tales - he did the work - but quite often serve to fuel such fires anyway.

The translator, Naomi Lewis, has included a brief introduction discussing Andersen's life and career, and a few pages of notes at the end of the book discussing the original publication and origins of each story herein.

"The Princess and the Pea", "Thumbelina", "The Emperor's New Clothes"

"The Little Mermaid" - If you're only familiar with the Disney version, I warn you that they discarded much of what makes this story truly great. When evaluating a translation of this story, a quick test is to check the last scene between the mermaid and her prince to see how well the translator captures the actions and feelings of the characters.

The youngest of the seven mer-princesses has always been more fascinated by her grandmother's tales of the world above than any of her sisters, but she has the longest to wait for her first trip to the surface on her fifteenth birthday. Since mer-folk turn into seafoam at the end of their 300 years of life and have no immortal souls, she is especially curious about her grandmother's tales of how humans, when they die, can rise into a higher world just as the merfolk rise to the ocean surface, but one the merfolk can never reach, save through a human's love. (Oscar Wilde once turned this upside-down in "The Fisherman and the Soul", a very good story in which a fisherman fell in love with a mermaid and magically cut himself free of his soul to join her in the sea.)

As each of the sisters in turn makes her first journey, we see the world through their eyes, and since each has a different temperament and their birthdays fall at different times of the year, each sees and seeks out different sights. But when the youngest princess' turn finally comes (her name is never given), she has experiences that even the 3rd sister (the most adventurous of the lot) never had: a prince's birthday celebration at sea is struck by a great storm, foundering his ship before her eyes.

"The Steadfast Tin Soldier" - A toy story.

"The Nightingale" - Try Lackey's _The Eagle and the Nightingales_.

"The Ugly Duckling"

"The Snow Queen" - Check out Joan D. Vinge's novel of the same name.

"The Shepherdess and the Chimney Sweep" - They're porcelain figures who have fallen in love, but when her grandfather arranges a marriage for her with a mahogany carving instead, they decide to run away together.

"The Happy Family" - One of Andersen's lesser-known stories, of a little family of snails who know that they're the most important people in the world. :)

"The Goblin at the Grocer's" - The poet rescued an old book of poetry from the grocer who was using it as scrap paper, and the household goblin took offense at what was said. But when he entered the poet's room to play him a spiteful trick, he got more than he bargained for.

"Dance, Dolly, Dance" - Very short story about a poem written for little Amalie and her dolls.

Shirley Hughes is best known for her famous 'Alfie' books in which she takes ordinary urban life, and through her warm prose and beautiful illustrations, changes it into something magical. In 'The Lion and the Unicorn' she goes in a slightly different direction, making a slightly older boy her protagonist, setting it against a backdrop of World War Two, and having her narrative flow along to heighten all of Lenny's experiences of fear and anxiety in the war rather than pinpoint one particular event or circumstance. Although the book is not specific about how much time it emcompasses, one could easily imagine that it takes place over several years.

Lenny is a young boy living in war-time London, where the nights are regularly filled with the sounds of bombs and airplanes. His father is already at the war, sending him letters filled with pictures (one in particular has a pencil-drawn unicorn) and leaving him as the keeper of a medallion with a fighting lion and unicorn upon it. When a home nearby is destroyed, Lenny's mother takes him to the train station to be evacuted, leading to a confused and heartbreaking separation. Lenny is taken to a large old house in the country (and Hughes's illustrations magnifiently capture its grandeur and beauty by day and its gloominess and vastness by night) where he is faced with sleeping by himself in a strange room, being bullied by children at school because of his bedwetting, and his refusal to eat bacon/pork as served by the head maid.

From here things move both up and down. His bed wetting (with help from a kindly young maid) improves, only to get worse when letters from his mother stop coming. The taunts at school intensify, and the other girls at the house are malicious. Only one thing seems to give him any comfit - the discovery of a walled garden (and here Hughes's love of the Secret Garden [she has illustrated an edition], shines through) with the graceful statue of a unicorn inside. There he also meets a strange and quiet one-legged man who speaks to him about the deeper meanings of courage, and how one is able to grasp it.

The two images of the lion and the unicorn are prevailent throughout the book, in a way they symbolise the battle between fear and bravery, but also the two *types* of bravery: the lion as the raging courage soldiers must have as they go into battle, the unicorn as the more passive, quiet courage that Lenny is desparately trying to achieve.

Shirley Hughes once more delievers a beautiful and poignant book (though many may not be used to anything but her Alfie collection) that captures the intensity and real fear that children possess, and the difficult circumstances in which courage was won. Younger children may be a little confused at the winding pace and style of the story (they expect a clear-cut beginning, middle and ending resolution), but Hughes's illustrations successfully bring the life and times of the second World War to today, nostalgically and relevently.

My son is 22 months old now, and we've read this book over and over again. There are images of a little girl and her baby sibling. She is hiding, throwing, sliding, running, and doing other fun things that will appeal to most toddlers.

The text, with lines like "see how I can throw!" and "or do balancing tricks, with one foot in the air!" doesn't follow a predictable, repeating pattern. Nevertheless, when I said one line of the text to my son (with the book nowhere in sight), he ran into his room and retrieved this book!

This is a memorable book that has made an impression on my son. I bet other children of his age will like it as well.

Very good version of the Emperor's New Clothes. Lively, interesting, somewhat "old fashioned" vocabulary. Too difficult for easy-reading for our seven year olds, but they loved to hear the stories aloud.

Little spoiled Mary Lennox is orphaned in India and sent to live with a distant relative. Alone and scared she has to learn the English way of life. Martha her maid teaches her how to dress herself, and gives her a jump rope opening up a whole new world to Mary. The gardens of the 100 room mansion. Here she meets the head gardener and learns of the Secret Garden. Mary also finds that there are many other secrets in this house, her hunchback caretaker that seems so sad, and the crying at night.

The setting of Yorkshire England and the rich cast of characters including the maid Martha, Dicken, Martha's brother, and many others make this a wonderful book for all ages. I have read the secret garden hundreds of times and each time I get something new out of the book. It's a true classic.

This has to be one of my all time favorite Hallmark movies. I have seen other movie versions of "The Secret Garden," all of which seem much darker. I have to say, Hallmark has made the most enjoyable version of "The Secret Garden" to date. the childeren in this movie are wonderful.

Child characters: "Mary Lennox," spoiled, lonley, sad child. Taken from her home to live with a guardian in England after her parents death. "Dickon", Mesterious boy who communes with nature. "Colin," son of Mary's guardian, is hidden from society.

In the movie Mray sets out to find and unlock the secrets to the mesterious garden, making friends along the way.

The scenery in this movie is breath taking at times. One of Hallmarks best! A must have for any Hallmark Hall of Fame fan. Good to have in any movie collection!

Little spoiled Mary Lennox is orphaned in India and sent to live with a distant relative. Alone and scared she has to learn the English way of life. Martha her maid teaches her how to dress herself, and gives her a jump rope opening up a whole new world to Mary. The gardens of the 100 room mansion. Here she meets the head gardener and learns of the Secret Garden. Mary also finds that there are many other secrets in this house, her hunchback caretaker that seems so sad, and the crying at night.

The setting of Yorkshire England and the rich cast of characters including the maid Martha, Dicken, Martha's brother, and many others make this a wonderful book for all ages. I have read the secret garden hundreds of times and each time I get something new out of the book. It's a true classic.

Published by the same press as "Attics" (Creative Homeowner Press) this book has lovely color illustrations, but adds little to the simpler book.

The title sounds trite, but its true. My six year-old daughter was completely enthralled with the stories. Many of them are familiar fairy tales, others are not. All are written with a 6 year old in mind. We bring this book on airplanes, on vacations, to appointments to read while we wait. Other ages enjoy it, but 6 year olds love it.