A return visit to Thrush Green and the return of two of our favorite retired school teachers. The usual unusual characters abound and help enliven a lovely, gentle story about small village life. I love Miss Read.

In this continuing story of Thrush Green we follow the day to day life of the old friends we have met before in Miss Read's books. After the retirement of Agnes Fogerty and Dorothy Watson the new headmaster Alan Lester and his family move into the school house. But in small villages it's hard to keep secrets and it is soon apparent that Mrs. Lester has a drinking problem. Nellie Piggot is now a partner at the Fushia Bush and must face the responsibility of dealing with the strange ways of Bertha Lovelock as she approches her 80th birthday. Percy Hodge is the subject of much speculation about his love life. This book is a wonderful escape of the stress of modern life as we enjoy old friends Charles and Dimity Henstock, Harold and Isabel Shoosmith, Dotty Harmer and many others in Thrush Green.

A charming wordless book with intricate, detailed illustrations. I checked these books out of the public library and my children enjoyed them immensely. I have been periodically checking Amazon.com for the past two years and I see that some of the books have been reprinted. Naughty Nancy kept my children entertained at age two. They loved to turn the pages to see what was behing the half page. Because there are no words, you can make up the story as long or as short as you wish. I think that young children can easily relate to the antics of Naughty Nancy. Nancy is allowed to be in her sister's wedding, but she gets into mischief constantly right up to the end when her sister leaves on her honeymoon!

As a child I loved this amusing tale of a mouse who gets to be a flower girl. Each scene changes with the flip of a half page which I found intriguing. As an adult, I once tried to find the book and it was out of print. I'm thrilled to see that it's back! Every child with a mischevious heart will enjoy this book. Nancy is naughty!

My sister and I both fell in love with all of John Goodall's little books as children. This, as well as most of his others, feature beautiful Victorian illusrations (though not at all fussy) of animals getting into mischief and interesting situations. The best part of these is that every other page is cut in half, so when you flip it over it forms a new illustration (hard to describe, but the effect is wonderful). Also these books are wordless, so my three-year old as well as his eight-year old cousin both enjoy these. This book tends to be a bit more feminine, as is Naughty Nancy. For boys and girls both I highly recommend the Creepy Castle, or any of the Paddy books (all by this author).

I had this book as a child and it was my absolute favorite. The illustrations are beautiful, and because there are no words, the parent can make up a story. Later, the child can start making up his own version. I think it's great for building a child's imagination

Why is this adorable book out of print? It is a masterpiece , no words just witty, beautifully rendered inter-active drawings tell the story, recreating pre-Industrial England-- Jane Austen for piglets and pork- lovers of all ages

It wouldn't be Christmas without looking through this beautiful book. The pictures evoke a wonderful time in history, and reading it is my favourite holiday tradition

"A picture is worth..." As a buff of Titanic readings, Goodall's watercolors elaborate that extravagant colorful time. So realistic that I could visualize myself as that little girl taking it all in. To offset that opulence, I could also visualize myself as doing all those dishes.

The out-of-print books of John S. Goodall deserve to be brought back into circulation! It would help to bridge the generations.

This book has wonderful pictures sorted by year from 1969 to 1993. There are pictures that a very hard to find anyware else. Almost every page is filled with cool pictures and captions with helpful facts. It comes in handy when you need to find good facts on Elton. This A great book for any Elton John fan, I highly recommend it.

As a person who grew up in a small town with a local school, I recognize most of these characters and the life of a village -- and the "rules" of small town living still remain in the rural areas and are as funny today as they are in this book. I can't wait to read the rest of the Miss Read books! The most meaningful part of this book to me is that Miss Read is so comfortable with herself as a single professional woman. She doesn't need someone else make her "complete", and that is refreshing as a role model for single women. Some people might be put off by some stereotypes of the era in which this book was written, but the larger message for women cannot be ignored.

Lavinia's Cottage is one of our daughter's favorite books. It was a gift from a teacher/friend who loved to collect good children's books. Because it has no words, the story is done entirely in pictures. It's about a little girl who lives in a country cottage. There are little doors that open up to show little secrets and the finale is a miniature cottage that pops up in 3-d!! We cherish this book for its beautiful waterolor illustration and creativity. If you look close, Lavinia, who is about 4yrs. old is home in this little cottage with chicken pox and her face has little red dots... but you have to look close to see!! We hope you enjoy it as much as we do. It has a special place on our bookshelf.

Just as a Persian rug maker uses yarn of many different colors and designs to weave a rug of exquisite beauty; so does Miss Read use many colorful characters and events to create a colorful masterpiece of fiction.