I bought this book when my middle child was 16 months old, and by the time he was 2 it was worn out. I had to buy a new one when the next child came along, and it's worn out too. The illustrations are delightful, and my children had endless fun pointing to and naming all the items in the margins of the pages. What a wonderful way to boost a child's vocabulary! Truly a MUST HAVE for kids 16months to 3 years.

The rhyming text, and wonderful pictures make this book a treasure; it was one of my son's favorites. The pictures in the margins of the book made it enjoyable even when he was too young to follow the story, because he could point-to and eventually name all of the items. I love that this baby is home with his father during the day, and mom comes home in the evening. Our family, like so many others today, uses a tag-team patenting system (I work days, my husband works nights), so this is true to life for our children. I highly recommend this for children up to 3 or 3 1/2 years old.

There is no better review than the smile on my one-year old's face when she sees this book. The adorable pictures of familiar items are a wonderful vocabulary builder. I finally found it in Amazon.uk after trying to trace it here for a long time.

Mr. Williams' story is filled with rollicking humor, wit, and wisdom. Vividly written, the reader is drawn into 18th century Charleston, and into the lives of two families, the Dorsets and the Symthes. Each and every character is memorable. You will laugh and cry reading this book. It has a permament place in my personal library. I loved it so much, I rushed out and bought several copies to give to friends and family. Mr. Williams deserves far more credit for his writing genius!

Williams' ambitious novel The True & Authentic History of Jenny Dorset is a refreshing medley of life in Charleston's 18th century, seasoned tastily with charming wit and intriguing characters. A truly enjoyable read, the tale is written with a sincere flare and comes alive to the reader.

More notably is the method in which Williams characterizes each member of the families involved in the story's plot - from the dueling heads, Mr. Dorset and Mr. Smythe, to Old Bob in his amusing stages of senility, and the ostentatious Jenny Dorset herself.

The reader will undoubtedly find the rich story line is highly entertaining, and written in a very lively manner. The tale is penned from the perspective of Henry Hawthorne, the Dorset's discerning and subdued family man servant. Hawthorne patiently abides by the family's somewhat eccentric and unruly lifestyle, and writes about his experiences first-hand, in memoir-like style.

Indeed, this novel is a great story-tellers' delight! The True & Authentic History of Jenny Dorset manifests very engaging humour with every flip of a page - more than once have I been in the throws of violent chuckles over it's whimsical comments and situations. It has quickly grown to be one of my favorites. I highly recommend it.

This book is funny and I loved it.

The central theme of "The Lower Depths" is not only the total aniquilation of human personality by misery,in the harsh struggle for life that,so many times takes Men to degrade themselves but also,a statement that that aniquilation never is complete and that the very "Ex-Men",like in another book Gorki will call them,still have a conscience,the dream to overcome misery itself,a human warmth capable of being shared and ease.

A Must-read!

In a crowded dark room live the dregs of Russian society: a thief, a prostitute, her pimp, and several other criminals and outcasts. The general humdrum drama of their lives goes on as they get into fights, have disagreements, counsel one another over their losses, and so on.

Luka, an idealistic spiritual sort, finds his way into the group, and starts to spread his message of hope and positive thinking. This spurs the plot along a bit, because many in the group are hard-bitten realists who have no truck with faith or hope.

This is a fine play by Maxim Gorky. Gorky doesn't have the number of famous plays that someone like Henrik Ibsen or George Bernard Shaw does. In fact, he might be better known for his memoir of his childhood than for this play.

Nevertheless, The Lower Depths is a great play. The gritty element described in the play makes it seem much more like a modern play than the 1902 publication date would indicate. The realistic dialogue and streetwise characters make it hard to put down.

ken32

College students who are majoring in history, business, sociology, and industrial psychology should read this book. Also, anyone just interested in challenging the status quo will find inspiration within its pages.

Wonderful book. Required reading in my sociology course in 1958. Explains how the culture of "robber barons" continued under a new guise after WWII and developed the ultimate corporate planned community and culture. In some places it worked too well and contributed to many social problems of the 60's and 70's. A wonderful companion to " The Stepford Wives", but done as a sociological treatise.Excellent!

Both my toddlers adored this tiny book about 2 kids trying to keep others (animals, vehicles) from making noise and waking the baby. Simple yet attractive rhymes and colorful pictures combined with a theme almost any young child can relate to (infant to pre-school) make this book practically a magnet for small ones. You'll need to hide it if you want to keep from having to read it numerous times daily. Mine wore out after nearly 3 years of use, and I have been unable to replace it. Perhaps someday, it will be in print again, and I will be lucky enough to add it to a small keepsake collection of books my children loved.

I bought this book eight years ago, and to this day as I bring out the Fall/Halloween decorations, it's the first object my children go for! Even at five & seven they want this little treasure read over & over again! A lovely little story about a lovely ,lonely cat on Halloween. My children have named real & stuffed cats after the star character! A true delight for all ages to read/or to be read to/or to read to someone. Why not make it a part of Your Family Fall Tradition?

This book tells what it would be like if you lived in Colonial Williamsburg. Some pages even have little rhymes that go with the topics. This poem is about what women and girls wore:
"Little Polly Flinders
Sat among the cinders
Warming her pretty little toes.
Her mother came and caught her
And whipped her little daughter,
For spoiling her nice new clothes."

I recommend that you read it because it's a really interesting book and it tells about really interesting topics. I really enjoyed it.
Sarah in Nebraska

A cute little story, in a cute little shaped book with a message about teasing or playing too hard. The littlest snowman's hat is blown off by the North wind. His friends, other snowman, try to help him get it back. Then the horses from the barn and the birds from the trees try to help him but the North wind keeps it out of reach. The littlest snowman gets tired and gives up. It is then that the North wind realizes he has gone to far and he apologizes, " I wasn't trying to be mean. I just wanted to play." The littlest snowman and all his helpers play with the North wind all night long. The illustrations portray the North wind as having the upper body of a child, which makes the message hard to miss.

I have three really nice, big hardbound mother goose anthologies, but this is my favorite; contains the most popular of the mother goose nursery rhymes, has brightly colored pictures, but, most importantly, is user-friendly. It's thin and light, and when my son and I sat down for nursery rhymes (over and over and over!) this was the book that kept getting pulled off the shelf. I recommend it very very highly.

In preparing our list of Christmas books to share with others, we had to search far and wide on amazon to find this particular book, a paperback edition of the classic Night Before Christmas.

This is the book I've used for years when reading this story to my own children, passing on Tasha Tudor and other illustrators. Why?

Although we can find the same poem and pay a lot more, with award winning illustrators, the illustrations provided by Douglas Gorsline are surely the best. They are quite colorful, and offer details little children love looking into...cats lie sleepily on the window sill, we see an overview of the town, the presents spilling from the open sack are intriguing and plentiful, and Jolly St. Nick is -- well, quite Jolly (as you can see by looking at the cover!)

The story is an "abridged version" - I'm not sure about other parents, but we read this on Christmas Eve, and we only have so much time and energy. Everything we remember from the classic poem by Clement Clarke Moore is in this version.

(From "'Twas the Night Before Christmas, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse" to "He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle, And away they all flew like the down of a thistle. But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,"HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO ALL, AND TO ALL A GOOD-NIGHT!" In between we have everything, from the names of the eight tiny reindeer, to a belly that shakes like a bowl full of jelly, including dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly, when they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky".

In other words, don't be scared off by 'abridged'!)

Perhaps a hardcover edition might be more appropriate if you're giving a gift (unless you're giving to more than one child), but this book is one of the best offers we've found!

A classic done simply and inexpensively!

I discovered this book 31 years ago, for my daughter and it is still loved by all the family. The illustrations are wonderful, warm, charming and delightful and bring a special meaning to the story. We still read it to all the young children on Christmas Eve and for adults we read the story and pass a grab bag gift every time the word THE is mentioned. It would not be Christmas without this book. It is magical.

We have an inexpensive paperback version (see our reviews) of this classic poem, and we said that's enough for us. That was before we looked through this beautifully illustrated (by Bruce Whatley) edition of The Night Before Christmas.

The lyrics are the same, from book to book, but the fanciful illustrations in this one are enough to engage adults and children as they read this book together.

The perfect gift for any family whose Christmas tradition includes reading this classic!