Kinuko Y. Craft's stunning illustrations bring to life this classic story of the mythical horse Pegasus. No children's book collection should be without this beautifully designed effort.

My children and I checked this book out from the public library more than 8 years ago just before moving to a new town. We haven't been able to find it since. It's a wonderful book. The friends of the prince most impressed me. It was easy for me to reinforce the notion with my children not to judge people by their appearance, as well as true friendship and how important it is. Perserverance was also demonstrated as the prince kept trying. What a valuable lesson taught so beautifully. I can't wait to read it again, not to mention, seeing the looks on my now teenaged children's faces when they learn that I've found it. They count it as they're favorite book we ever read together. What a treat.

Opening with the traditional version of the beloved poem "A Visit From St. Nicholas" renowned children's book author Marianna Mayer seques into the life of St. Nicholas, the saint whose legendary generosity was the genesis for Santa Claus.

St. Nicholas, who lived during the fourth century in the area that is now known as Turkey, was the child of practicing Christians who died when Nicholas was but a boy. Fortunately, they were people of wealth so the child was left with a handsome inheritance which it is said he used to help others.

According to stories that have grown up around the saint when he was still a boy he overheard villagers in the marketplace discussing a family that was destitute, so impoverished that three daughters were to be sold into slavery.

That night young Nicholas stealthily approached the family's home and threw a bag of gold in through an open window. So astounded was the man to find this amazing gift that he sat by the window each night hoping to see his benefactor.

When he did catch Nicholas leaving another bag of gold the man wanted to know how he could repay him. The boy only asked that the man never tell who had helped him.

Later, as an adult, Nicholas was elected Bishop of Myra and continued his selfless generosity which won him legions of followers.

Illustrating her story with reproductions of paintings by some of the world's greatest artists, including Tintoretto and Fra Angelico, Ms. Mayer has created a keepsake Christmas book that families will enjoy season after season.

- Gail Cooke

I read this book when I was a very little girl and was enchanted by it's simple grace. I ruined my first copy and searched everywhere until I found another, even though at that time I was much to old for a simple a,b,c book. It's just much more than that. I still believe in unicorns somewhere deep in my soul and everybody should, because if you lose that child's belief you are truly dead. This book in it's glorious simplicity is the kind of book that makes you want to just stare at the pictures forever. Definetly a must for small children.

This is a fantastically diverse collection of stories reaching from the Far East to the New World and stretching back to the most ancient of times. Mayer gives historical background where appropriate and includes a full bibliography for further study. I learned about an entirely new civilization in this book (and I was an archaeology major in college!) as well as enriched my knowledge of others more well known.

Not all of the women in this collection are known for deeds worth emulating, but good or bad, each one fights with passion for what they believe in. The fervor of their actions surrounds them with a mystical quality that allows them to accomplish what would otherwise seem impossible.

These stories inspire me to think what amazing things I could accomplish if only I fight for my beliefs with passion. I highly recommend this book.

I loved this collection of stories about brave women. What a change from the usual stuff. Well researched sellection of fascinating women throughout the centuries...some surprising entries not found elsewhere....includes a beautiful detailed map, and a splendid annoted index. Fabulous read!

Fewer myths and goddesses and more real people would have better suited the needs of this school. However, the book is wonderful. Stories are well told with brief introductions that place the story in a correct time frame. Contains excellent illustrations in this folklore book. Recommended for students from the 6th grade up, as well as the teachers and parents.

Thumbelina is not normal girl she is about the size of your thumb, but don't let her height mistake you she can do alot of things other people can't do. Like she can fit into small spaces that you can't. So if you like books that are about people doing extremely different things that you don't think that can do then this is the book right for you to read. This book will amaze your eyes with the colorful pictures inside, and with the amazing things Thumbelina can do.

Hans Christian Andersen's story of Thumbeline is so endearing that it's no wonder that so many authors have written their own versions of it and so many illustrators have had a go at making tiny Thumbeline come to life. This version, translated by Anthea Bell and illustrated by Lisbeth Zwerger is brimming with charm, rustic folk sensibilities, kindness and compassion spiked with just the right amount of perilous adventure to make it interesting, and a lovely magical feel. The story is well told in satisfyingly descriptive language. The illustrations are superb! Zwerger does a wonderful job with all of the animal characters that Thumbeline encounters and manages to infuse them with emotion and intelligence as well as country charm. Little red-haired Thumbeline is delicate and sweet in several lovely costumes with a peasant feel to them. You know the tale...a woman tells a witch that she wants a "tiny child" and the magic gives her exactly what she wishes for, a tiny child no bigger than her thumb. Thumbeline is born from the heart of a tulip. She's so beautiful and sweet that every small suitor in the neighborhood wants her hand in marriage, including a toad, a mole and a June beetle. They are not interested in the fact that she does not want to marry them! She gets help from other wee folk in the woodland community and makes a good friend when she saves the life of a swallow. The story ends happily for Thumbeline. It may be desirable to point out to your young ones that not every unattached female needs to find a husband, especially very young ones like Thumbeline, and that kidnapping and force are not true ways to get a girl to marry you! Children are smart enough to know that but it's still a good idea to talk over the odd concepts that a child may be thinking about after you read this story. I love this old-fashioned story and this re-telling adds beautifully to its charm and therefore justifies its conception.

The familiar Hans Christian Andersen story of Thumbelina has received the royal treatment from Susan Jeffers. Her large, lovely pictures make this seem like you are stepping into the story for the first time. Thumbelina is so dainty and sweet that it's no wonder the toad wishes to marry her but poor Thumbelina has a harrowing time escaping from her warty suitor. Share a trumpet vine blossom with Thumbelina, a pair of hummingbirds and a fat bumble bee or take a ride with her on the back of a gallant swallow. This whole story is enchanting from start to finish and the pictures are a delight!

This book caught my eye due to the cover illustration. I flipped through only 3 pages before I headed to the check-out counter. (bought in a book store today - online looking for more of Winslow Pels illustration/work). The story is fine, but the illustrations are worth framing - I've never seen such beautiful, sophisticated and graceful illustration in a "child's" book - Please say Winslow sells her artwork elsewhere!

this book caught my eye first due to its gorgeous illustrations. winslow pels depictions of the beautiful yet cruel turnadot and the brave prince are lovely. of course, there is also the dramatic and moving story, which while in a version easy for children to grasp, still communicates the emotions and feelings of the characters. i bought a copy for myself and am now buying one for a friend's baby.

This book teaches a lot abou morals. Just becuase someone is alittle different from everyone else, doesn't mean they should be treated badly. Everyone is different in their own seperate way. Some people just show and others hide their feelings. People have differences, and no one is the same. Some of us just have to learn to accept it. And some have to realize we all are the same in some ways to.

The ugly duckling is a duck who is the same as everyone else, yet is also different. He just wants to be accepted. He doesn't know how to make people like him. People were not accepting him becuase he was not good enough. Everyone seems to be 'not good enough' at one time or another. Yet other people do not realize this.

I like this book because it explains how life goes. Some people aren't accepted because of their looks, other epople jsut need to learn to accept people for who they are. Not what they are not. You need to learn to look past the "bad" qualities and see the good qualities.

Our class liked it when the ugly duckling turned into a swan. Everyone learned that it doesn't matter if you don't look like everyone else. You should like who you are. We learned about the differences between swans and ducks. Our class learned that when you are young you have to learn about a lot of different things. We think that kids could learn about different things from reading this story such as animals, other stories to read, and feelings.

Like most parents, you want your child's home library to include standard fairy tales. Jerry Pinkney's "The Ugly Duckling" combines incredibly detailed ilustrations with a nice balance of both strong and muted colors AND a wonderful re-telling of the generations-old standard tale. In this verson, however, people are woven into the story in a way that I haven't seen before, and I like that very much. It's easy to see why this book was selected as a 1999 Caldecott Honor Book. Pinkney's a very gifted illustrator, and he really has to be given credit for his well-constructed text as well as the gorgeous pictures. Authors who write and then illustrate their own stories are somewhat rare, and as an adult, I appreciate the incredible mix of talent and hard work this represents. My children, of course, just love the pictures; they'll grow to appreciate good writing as they get older.

unicorns, animals all get along together until serpent comes. Unicorn saves the day along with beautiful story line and great art. A good way for conversation to follow about good and bad of the world and how we can work together. Am giving my grandchildren the book along with a beanie baby unicorn for Christmas.

The Prince and the Pauper , first published in 1882, by Mark Twain is a literature classic and has been read by many generations. This book is hard to criticize because it is written by one of the greatest authors, has around for so long, and it is considered a classic. The story is about one prince (Edward Tudor) and one pauper (Tom Canty) who meet each other and end up trading places. At the time they don't realize the resemblance between them, so once they switch places and go off, no one will believe their true identity. This book shows the adventures of these two boys with the roles they end up in, one it the gutters and one in the palace. The main message and theme behind this book is about the natural human fault of judging people merely based on their outward appearance. My overall opinion was that this was a good book and it was fun to read. Yet there were some aspects that I think needed more improvement

One of the aspects that I think needed more developing was the characters At first I was a bit disappointed because, unlike all of the other Mark Twain books I have read, this one had very little character description. There is not much that you know about the two characters and you don't feel connected to them. There was nothing that you could relate to with Canty and Tudor and while reading the book the only image that you had of them was a very vague image. This was why it is pretty hard to get caught up in this book. I believed Mark Twain left a lot about the characters so that he could focus and develop more on the plot and adventure of the story than who they characters actually were.

In the book, Tudor is constantly being kidnapped by the pauper's father (John Canty) , who believes that Tudor is his son , and in return Tudor is always running away. After a while of this wild goose chase between Canty and Tudor it gets repetitive and tiresome to the reader. In this book Mark Twain focuses more on the situations of Tudor then those of Canty. He also wrote more about Tudor then Canty. I found the situations with Canty in the princes place were much more interesting and humorous then the situation of Tudor. I would have enjoyed this book more I think if there had been more scenarios and stories about Canty

This book is recommended for all ages yet I found parts of it hard and difficult to understand. The language that all the people in the book speak is old English. There are chapters in the book that is just conversation. I found this incredibly hard to understand by reading it through just once. The only reason that I understood the conversations is because I am familiar with the old English writing style (Shakespearean style) and have had past experience reading books in this style. To someone who would read this type of book for the first time, I think that they would hardly understand any of the conversations between people. Yet the author Mark Twain wrote this book in a great way. This is why it appealed to lots of audiences. For example, Mark Twain's description of the palace are not like usual boring ones, his descriptions are fun to read and you can almost exactly picture things that he is describing. Also his wording makes it easy to keep reading and reading as if each sentence flows perfectly to the next.

The book also had many strengths, in contrast to what I thought would happen, this book did not become predictable. Every chapter has a new twist or turn. The story was also very humorous. It was very amusing and hilarious what Canty did in the prince's position. For example at his first dinner he begins drinking the rose water, which is intended for washing his hands. He also says that all the ways of royalty are strange and annoying referring to when the official "food taster", tastes his food before he eats it and the long, grueling task of putting on clothes which involves a long chain of people who pass an article of clothing down one by one.

I would recommend this book mainly to people in high school or older. In my opinion it is too childish for an adult reader, and I think many adults would get bored. The adults that would enjoy this I think would be those who are "young at heart", and enjoy fictional fairytale like stories. The humor, marvel, and intrigue that this book contains is for a younger audience. Also the difficulty of the language in the book is too hard for children to understand (below 7th grade). I believe that if this book were to be rewritten in modern English it would be a perfect story for a child at any age.

The Prince and the Pauper written by Mark Twain is an adventurous, exciting book. The book takes place in London around the 1500's. Two boys were born on the same day, Tom Canty and Edward Tudor. Tom Canty was born unto a poor life, and as a boy growing up, "Tom's reading and dreaming about princely life wrought such a strong effect upon him that he began to act the prince." And just his luck, did he happen to some across the Prince of Wales, after suffering the hard blow of the soldier knocking him into the crowd. The Prince of Wales is Edward Tudor, the other boy born on the same day but born into a rich and wealthy family. As a result from the encounter, the two boys decide to switch places, as the Prince of Wales says to Tom Canty, "Doff thy rags and don these splendors."
The book describes the boys' adventures throughout the experience of living each other's lives. As the Prince of Wales lives as the pauper, he is introduced to and learns about many different people such as the Canty family, Miles Hendon, a troop of Vagabonds, Hugo, the peasants, the hermit, and others. And as Tom Canty acts as the Prince of Wales, he experiences living the higher life of royalty, being treated with respect and given so many opportunities and choices.
Through having the plot be that the characters switch places, the book is more exciting because the reader could act in the character's place and experience the lifestyles and adventures involved with each person's life. Other than being able to understand better each person's lifestyle with the type of writing, using dialogue in Old English adds a stronger effect to bringing everything back in time to understand the setting. Although at times, the Old English could get confusing.
Overall, I thought that this book was interesting because it explains the lifestyles of different people in London around the 1500's in a way that is fun and easy to understand. Although at times, I did feel as if it carried on too much about things that were insignificant. Other than that, the book was good and I would recommend that it be read, if you are interested in adventure.
Other adventure books written by Mark Twain, such as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, were also interesting, but I enjoyed reading The Prince and the Pauper more because it contained more excitement for me.

Mark Twain's, The Prince and the Pauper is a classic look back into sixteenth-century English society. Tom Canty is a young boy who is born into poverty and is forced to beg in the streets of London by his father. Edward Tudor is the Prince of Wales, heir to the throne. Both of these boys were born on the same day but grew up in opposite ways of life. One day Tom is dreaming about being a prince and starts walking towards the royal palace. When he reaches the palace the guards try to stop him but Prince Edward sees Tom's condition and invites him to his quarters to hear what Tom has to say. While they sit there they begin to realize what strong resemblance there is between them and decide to switch clothes to fulfill Tom's dream of looking Princely. All of a sudden Edward storms out of the room to denounce the guards who did harm to Tom, only to be mistaken as the poor pauper and locked out of the royal palace. From here on out the two boys experience what life is like in the other's shoes. Mark Twain does an outstanding job of developing each character and showing how each must learn new ideas to deal with their latest way of life. Unfortunately I did find myself losing my concentration while reading this book. This easily could have been due to the fact that the way Twain wrote The Prince and the Pauper was actually on a very easy reading level, which would lead me to recommend this book to readers of middle school age who enjoy adventurous tales like The Boxcar Children or The Hardy Boys.