The detectives in toga are back! Ever read the first one? You should; this is a rare things: a sequal as good as the original.

This time, it's Caius that's in trouble (read the book to find out just how and why). It all started when the boys decided to buy their teacher a birthday present, and got him (they think) a deaf and dumb slave named Udo. That's just the start of their troubles, because Udo is more than he seems, and they suddenly find themselves in a web of intrigue and murder, when they stumble on a plot to assassinate a famous senator. It could be one of their fathers!

In this novel, we learn more about the boys, as they display their loyalty and courage. Caius, for one, isn't the same brawny wannabe Hercules he was in the last one, but shows his brave side.

It all takes the same wit, hair breath'd escapes, razor-sharp logic and good sense and you have yourself another wonderful novel!

The Mystery of the Roman Ransom was one of the best books I have ever read. One of the reasons it was so good was that it had a huge amount of mystery and suspense. It was also very good because it got you interested in the story right away. I also found the story engaging because the main characters were about my age. The main characters are seven rich Roman boys and their tutor Xanthos. In the beginning of the book, which is set in ancient Rome, the boys give Xanthos a slave for his 50th birthday, but he is very angry, so the boys must keep the slave. Through him they find out that one of their fathers is going to be murdered. Their fathers are very important senators who run the government. The plot of the book is trying to find and prevent the assassin(s) from killing Cacius's father. The boys' very realistic adventure in ships, houses and through alleys of Rome help them gain courage. The boys are very clever because they have to figure out who is going to murder Cacius's father. Their bravery helped them get through every dangerous task set before them. The only downside to this book is that there is hardly any historical information in it. It is a really great book.

I liked it cause it was in depth. They told all about the characters then they told the story.

I thought that Stargirl was such an amazing story. It was so good that at the end, I started to cry. This story is about a girl named Stargirl who is the new, weird and different student at Mica High. She would play her ukulele for other students birthdays, put a table cloth on her desk, and just be plain weird.She was asked to be put on the show called "Hot Seat" ran by two best friends named Leo and Kevin. She was a disaster on the show and everybody got mad at her. Later on in the story, she moves away where nobody knows. Leo and Kevin are sad at the end and start to cry.

My sister is turning 50 this year and I wanted to find her a copy of Star Girl. As children we read and reread this story together, as sisters, wondering at how beautiful the little girl from another planet was and how glorious it must be to be the center of attention like she was! I remember it taking me away when I read it and I hope when she rereads it and shows it to her children, they are pulled into it as we were.

When I was 9 years old, I accompanied my father to work one day. He managed a huge salvage yard, where I was free to crawl into old cars, play with old typewriters and cash registers, imagine that the whole place was my secret paradise, and take home any book that passed my father's approval. It was in this grand place over 30 years ago, that I discovered Henry Winterfeld's "Star Girl." I read it over and over again until one day, by accident, it was damaged beyond repair and rendered illegible. I was heartbroken. From that day on, I searched for another copy and finally located one through an interlibrary loan. I handed it to my children and said, "Read it." For parents wanting to introduce their child to Science Fiction, this story is a real winner. An alien child named "Mo" falls from her father's spaceship and is befriended and hidden by earthling children until the spacecraft's return. "Mo" is lovely, curious, unpredictable and memorable. Her reunion with her father is sweet and reassuring. If you are lucky enough to obtain a personal copy, make sure every child in your life gets an opportunity to read it. "Star Girl" will remain in the reader's heart for many years, and he or she will cherish you for it. Primarily for children 3rd through 6th grade.

A classic adventure story, complete with practical jokes, witty dialogue, heroes, and villains.

Growing up on the coast of Maine, I had the opportunity to meet and know Mr. Winterfeld. My first exposure to him was when he came to my fourth grade class to read "Stargirl" to us. I didn't know how lucky I was at the time, but as I matured and spoke with Mr. Winterfeld more often, I realized just how special this man was. I remember being saddened when he passed away, and when I began purchasing his books for the little people in my life, I remember that he passed away owing me a chess game. "Timpetill" held quite a fantasy for me - an entire population of town's children, left by frustrated parents, to deal with their problems and behaviors by themselves. The town's children dividing into two factions, and how and when the parents decide to return. I had often though as a child what that might have been like, small town Maine and no parents to govern us. I highly recommend this book for the younger person in your life.

My fifth grade class just read this book for our reading group. It was amazing! The suspense and the humor added just the right touch to this woderful book. I won't give too much away because it would ruin yhe suspense. Seven young Romans attend the Xanthos school. Two students, Rufus and Caius, get into a fight over a tablet reading 'Caius is a Dumbell' that Rufus wrote. The next day in red paint, the same thing is written on a temple dedicated to the Emperor, who is Caius' father! But rufus is innocent. I really enjoyed this book, and you will too! Enjoy!

This book is a comical mystery about seven rich boys who live in ancient Rome and go to the Xanthos school for boys. Cauis isn't very bright, Rufus is the class clown, Aucius is a hard worker, Flavius is the slow boy, Antonius is the fast boy, Publius is the poorest one, and Julius is the boy with the best ideas. In the beginning of the book, Cauis and Rufus pick a fight with each other. Rufus, the class clown wrote, "Cauis is a dumbbell" on a writing tablet. The teacher cruelly punishes Rufus and kicks him out of school. The next day, when the teacher didn't show up for school, they went to his house and found him manacled. Everything in his house was demolished. The same day, another crime was committed. Graffiti was found on the temple wall that was dedicated to Cauis' father, Senator Vinivius...I think this was a great book with an unbelievable ending. The ending was so awesome because I never saw it coming.

Roman history, boring? You wouldn't think so, reading "Detectives in Togas." Seven high-spirited Roman boys and their crabby teacher make up the cast of this outstanding head-scratcher, set in the heydey of Rome's domination.

Rufus disrupted Xantippus's class by writing "Caius is a dumbbell" on a tablet, provoking Caius to start yelling. In the blink of an eye, Rufus has been thrown out of the schoolmates, alarming his classmates. What's even more alarming is that the same message is scrawled on a sacred temple's wall the next day -- in Rufus's handwriting. This act of sacrilege will destroy Rufus's life, and for some reason he won't deny it.

The day of the defacing, Xantippus's house is robbed and the wax tablet is taken, but the robber leaves behind a beautiful golden brooch. The boys go to the soothsayer Lukos, but that goes horribly wrong when the soothsayer chases them out, and they leave behind Mucius, who then proceeds to fall into the Baths of Diana -- discovering that Rufus spent the night there before. The boys soon become enmeshed in a deadly game of cat-and-mouse centering on politics, money and revenge.

Henry Winterfield clearly had solid memories of being a teenage boys. His gaggle of young boys are entirely realistic -- they bicker, they make idiots of themselves, they make all the wrong decisions, they all have distinct personalities. With a cast including seven young boys from similar backgrounds, you would think that they would all be the same, but Winterfield manages to make each one unique. Xantippus is the crabby grandfather with a marshmallowy interior. He clearly cares about all the boys, but is impatient about their blunders.

Kids may leave this charming mystery with a wish to learn a little more about Rome (and to read the sequel, of course). And don't be surprised if you hear someone shouting, "Mike asinus est!"

A wonderful children's book. I first read it in 1963 and still love it. Three kids wash up on an uncharted island. To their amazement it is Lilliput and they are the first "giants" to visit since Lemuel Gulliver. Of Course Lilliput has also modernized over the intervening centuries. The children try to find a way to return home, and although the Lilliputians are kind and caring, they wish to preserve the secret of their island home......How will it turn out? Well it's rather a surprize. Read it and find out!

I'm so happy to see this wonderful book back in print. I would have to say that Children's literature is and always has been my favorite genre and I've read thousands upon thousands of children's books. When I say this is one of my favorites of all time, I mean it as high praise indeed. My 4th grade teacher read it to our class back in 1962 and I was captivated by it from the first page. Two brothers and a sister, Ralph, Jim, and Peggy, drift too far out to sea when they are rafting off the coast of Australia. In the darkness of night they do eventually wash up onto a shore...but it is certainly not a familiar shore in any way! It seems the kids have washed aground in Lilliput, the very land where Gulliver's story unfolded long before. There have been no other "giants" in Lilliput since Gulliver's Travels and the Lilliputians are as amazed and unsettled by this event as the children. Lilliput has continued to change and develop in the years since Gulliver's visit and theirs is a modern world not unlike the one the children have left behind, only much, much smaller. The descriptions are really delightful such as when one of the Lilliputians gives poor Peggy a bedspread to wipe her tears. The youngest brother finds ways of getting everyone into trouble and causing some hilarious predicaments. This book has lots of action and is such good food for the imagination that it stuck with me for over 40 years and is still as fresh in my mind as the day my teacher read it. Do the kids ever get home to Australia? Well...wait and see, but don't miss this book, it's the greatest.