I thought this was a wonderful book. I enjoyed Thayers use of poetry to exrpress the emotion in the story. The language used in the text is of very high quality and when read by an adult to a child, the child is able to thourghly understand. The illustrations play an important role with the text. They not only enrich the text, but they tell a story in itself. We can feel the emotion of the players and the crowd through Polacco's work. Overall I thought this was a wonderful book and reccomend it to a child of any age.

Thayer's classic ballad, 'Casey at the Bat,' is greatly enhanced by Patricia Polacco's brilliantly achieved, big-hearted illustrations. Ms. Polacco captures emotion, action, and character through wittily exaggerated, slightly loopy pictures, and through lots of uncrowded background shenanigans. It's very cinematic: She effectively isolates action through extreme close-ups, and extends time through a montage of events occurring within a single picture. Like the auteur she is, she even adds some opening and closing story elements (while leaving the poem intact) that augment the poem's appeal to the younger reader.

This book is simply great fun to read aloud; you'll find yourself wanting to memorize its evocative imagery and epic aspirations:

"Ten thousand eyes were on him as he rubbed his hands with dirt; Five thousand tongue applauded when he wiped them on his shirt. Then while the writhing pitcher ground the ball into his hip, Defiance flashed in Casey's eye, a sneer curled Casey's lip."

You and your youngsters will love the humor and the drama in this a classic rendition of Thayer's beloved poem. Infants and toddlers will enjoy the bright pictures, and all readers will appreciate the perfect teaming of Thayer and Polacco.

Casey at the Bat tells about mighty Casey and his missing 2 strikes - like messing up in life.

The Comanches: Lords of the South Plains, by Ernest Wallace and E. Adamson Hoebel, is a comprehensive ethnological study of the Comanches. It assesses the minutia of their origins, social structure, government as well as a history of their communal existence. An underlying tension regarding this work is the credibility of late day informates as opposed to period records. At issue is the comprehensive interpretation suggested for Comanche government and law as opposed to the meager allowance given to Comanche cosmogony. Regarding government and law, after citing very limited source data from informants, the authors suggest an extensive system of government and law. Focusing on various aspects of the Comanche social experience, they drew parallels with modern day legal code. In the end, it seems, the authors imposed a system with nomenclature upon the Comanche social culture that did not in totality exist. On the other had they are adamant that the Comanches did not maintain extensive philosophical or theological thought. Yet, the evidence they present clearly suggests they did. Comanches commitment to the "guardian spirit complex", and the "Great Spirit" in every aspect of their lives evinced an unequivocal as well as pervading theology. Nineteenth century observers of the Comanches, Dodge, Neighbors, Babb, Burnett and others noted that the Comanches maintained deep theological notions. Nonetheless, Wallace and Hoebel are skeptical and suggest that later Christian writers forced their views upon Comanche theology because descriptions of Comanche cosmology, similar to certain Christian believes, were not supported by the evidence given by informants in the 1933 Santa Fe Laboratory group. It truth, informants said very little about theology or cosmogony. Clearly, data taken from the Santa Fe Laboratory study is given credence over recorded witnesses from the period.
Despite the source issue, overall, this work is a superb study of the Comanches.

This entertaining book is almost forgotten now, but during the first part of the century is was one of the favorite books of every teenage boy in the English-speaking world. They loved to read about Raffles, the upper-class and charming Amateur Cracksman (thief) and his adventures.

Raffles himself is indeed great fun, I love the idea of an upper-class young Englishman who takes to crime rather than get a job, which after all would interfere with his high society life and amateur cricket career. The book is a series of related stories, each slyly witty and subversive, each a clever detective story in reverse.

The reason they were indeed detective stories in reverse is simple: E.W. Hornung was the brother-in-law of Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of the Sherlock Holmes mysteries. Hornung wrote these stories partly as a satire on Holmes (and Watson, his narrator "Bunny" is a rock-stupid, dead-on parody), and partly just to annoy. It worked, Conan Doyle worried about this book's effect on the public morals!

Now, who wouldn't enjoy a book written to annoy a self-righteous in-law? Especially if the book is actually good? (The book was later made into a weak film starring David Niven, and inspired "To Catch a Thief")

A great book that's very well written, The Amateur Cracksman is a must read classic. Though it lacks moral value (A. J. Raffles steals mostly just for kicks) it has what most great classics lack, a good sense of humor. It's about Bunny, a broke journalist on the verge of comitting suicide, who seeks help from from his best friend from school. Before he realises it, he has just become the loyal side-kick of one of England's greatest thieves. As Raffles is one of the best cricket players in England, he gets invited (along with the ever-faithful Bunny) to the houses of the rich and famous of England. At night, he robs them blind. Marvelously written, its set in the Victorian period. It's packed with action and adventure, and a lot of cynnical jokes. A great introduction to classics, it is a more relaxed story than most books of it's era. Though A. J. Raffles and Bunny are not exactly great role-models for young readers, their almost devious acts are ammended by their courageous acts on the battle field. I definitely recommend reading the Amateur Cracksman!

Wallace's study is a basic source for Mackenzie in Texas but is short on his life and personality in other respects. I recommend that the interested reader check out Michael D. Pierce, The Most Promising Young Officer: A Life Of Ranald S. Mackenzie (Univ. of Okla. Press, 1993) for a scholarly study of Mackenzie's life.