"I had to read it for school. and I hated it!" seems to be the common theme, here. As a middle school teacher, I can vouch for the observable fact that many many children 1. hate to read (sad) and 2. hate to read - even more - what they are told to read. Shane, while now somewhat dated, was a classic in it's time, and often imitated. One direct imitation is the Clint Eastwood movie, "Pale Rider", which serves as a wonderful comparison piece. As far as the young reviewers not being able to "understand" the novel "Shane", one can only ask if TV has destroyed their brain cells, or if they can't understand how Shane and Marion resisted their temptation to be with each other at the expense of friend and husband Joe Starret. In today's age, such restraint must surely seem confusing. A fine, easy- to- read book.

This remains my favorite book, and I've read thousands, literally, over the years, including some pretty sophisticated stuff (I have an M.A. in American History from Columbia). I saw the movie when it first came out. I was a New York City area kid then, and I fell in love with the Tetons where it was filmed. I then bought the book and loved it. I was captured very early by the scene involving Shane and Joe Starrett and Ledyard, the phony salesman. When Ledyard asks Starrett how he can take the word of a stranger, Shane, Starrett responds: "I can figure men for myself. I'll take his word on anything he wants to say any day of God's whole year." I still get chills re-reading those words; I still strive to live so others might say that of me. Can there be any higher praise? So... read it, and give it to your kids. If you have brought them up right, Shane will become one of their heroes and perhaps they will "grow strong and straight" as Shane wishes for young Joey Starrett in the book.

Considering that you'll reread this book countless times, it's a great investment which will amortize over the years. "Shane" is a great western, and beyond that, great literature, in the vein of "The Virginian". Schaefer has the truly great writers' gift of painting vivid pictures with simple writing. He tells this story through the eyes of a youth, living in the west during the time that open-range ranchers were contending with homesteaders for grazing land. The enigmatic Shane rides into the boy's life one afternoon and becomes part of the life of his frontier family. He shoots, rides, does anything with effortless perfection, yet he is not at peace with himself. When an ugly land war invades the community, Shane's presence in the valley helps level the playing field. As he becomes personally involved in the disturbances, even those whose interests he sustains are sharply divided over the desirability of his presence in the region. Is he their savior, or a villain with trouble on his coattails? This is a great story that belongs in every home library.

In a far town,in Baja California there was a men whose name was kino.He was married with Juana and they had a little boy named Coyotito.They were very poor.They lived in a brush house,but one day their life changed.Coyotito was stung by scorpion.They didnt have money to pay the doctor to cure coyotito.Fortunately,he found a pearl,"The Pearl of the World".How can a pearl help to change the life of someone.

I give this book 3 stars because it was intresting but i really didnt like the end.If you like to read fiction books i recommend this book to you.The message of this book is "Dont think that money is Everything".

The Pearl By John Steinbeck took place in a small village Baja California, Mexico. The name of village was call La Paz. In the village a man named Kino that lived with his wife Juana, and his sonCoyotito in a small brush house. But one day a scorpion had changed Kino's life. His son got hitten by the scorpion, and he didn't have money to pay the doctor. The next day he went to the Gulf and tried to find the pearl. Fortunately he found the" Pearl of the world", but in this great find it had changed Kino's life again. When the news spread through the village, the people in the village treated him very nicely. But no one knew how powerful is the pearl. In Kino's mind he thought the pearl can bring him a new life, but it was destroying him step by step.
I think this book"The Pearl"is a very good book with four stars. In the book the main character Kino, thought his great find will bring him hope and a new life, but it destroyed him step by step. The book also tells the people never to be greedy, or want things too much.

The Pearl is a novel about the transitions a family goes through when Kino, the father, finds a giant pearl when he is on one of his fishing trips. When he brings the pearl home to his family in Baja California, the poor family gets hope from the pearl thinking it will bring them riches. As the family soon realizes having riches doesn't mean happiness. This book is a great book for anybody who wants a good read in a short amount of pages. Although this book is only about 90 pages in offers the same amount of emotion of a 300 page novel. The best think about this book was the moral at the end of the story. It expains to the reader that being rich or famous doesn't mean happiness, and that the person has to bring his own happiness. I would recommend this book to anybody over the age of 12 because it does deal with some very sad subjects that a 12 year old may not like. Overall this book was excellent and this book was one of Stienceck's best works.

In the beginning of this book the author points out that a culture is reflected in its buildings. Then he goes on to identify the events that caused the various styles--the War of 1812 that stopped our imitation of English architecture, the change to stud framing and the effects of industrialization that mark the Victorian era, the nationalistic spirit of the 1876 Centennial that spawned the revival in Colonial archictecture at the end of the 19th century, etc.--in such a professional style of writing you'd never suspect he was also an architect. A history professor maybe. All of which explains the subject better than the usual bare chronological sequence.

What helps in a book like this are the odd bits of information casually thrown out that show mastery of the subject.
Colonial homes were never white; Greek Revival were never anything but. A particular cornice is usually done incorrectly, compared to the true Classical version.

He also make the sensible point that you can only compare styles within limits, that at some point you're really discussing altogether different building types, as in ranches, bungalows, and certainly octagon houses. And early on he boasts he can design a modern four bedroom house in any style. Then he proceeds to do it, providing a front elevation and a repeating ground floor plan (front: LR, center hall, DR. rear: family room, kitchen, mud room) with added porch, tower, fireplace, chimney, as needed. Not so much to explain the architectural features, I think, but to give the prospective homebuilder something that actually could be built today.

Where most authors stop around WWII, he continues up to the present. His next-to-last chapter shows the recent builder's styles which will be familiar to anyone who's driven through any of those vinyl village developments with the Olde English names: the Townes, Pointes, Glenns, and Harbours. Here he doesn't hesitate to criticize the tastless examples, and continues his tirade into last chapter, where he argues against the Post-Modern assault on tradition in favor of a return to order and careful design.

This is a great way to study the different elevations/styles that can be applied to the same basic floorplan. Also a quick reference for the many Architectural styles of the U.S.

This fascinating book is a quick introduction to the evolution of house styles across the history of the United States. Each chapter has a short introduction to the era in American history, and then launches into a description of the house styles, complete with excellent sketches of a typical house and floor plan of that style. I found this to be a fun and educational read. I enjoyed this book, and highly recommend it.

Pooh has not come a long way since the orignal Milne book! This horrid, commercialized tripe, the latest in the Pooh line, should be the final nail in the coffin of a tired series. Poorly conceived, written, and illustrated.