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The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles 30th Anniversary Edition

Julie Andrews Edwards

The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles 30th Anniversary Edition Julie Andrews Edwards Amazon Price: $6.99
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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 262 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

What on earth is a Whangdoodle? A "fanciful creature of undefined nature," it was also once the wisest, kindest, most fun-loving living thing in the world--until people stopped believing in it. When that lack of faith became widespread, the last of the really great Whangdoodles created a special land full of extraordinary creatures: furry Flukes, the sly High-Behind Splintercat, and the wonderful Whiffle Bird. But when an open-minded professor--the one adult who still believes in the Whangdoodle--joins forces with three children with active imaginations, they become an unstoppable team on a fantastic and sometimes terrifying journey to Whangdoodleland.

Readers who have explored Narnia, Oz, or Willy Wonka's chocolate factory will be thrilled at this new destination--a marvelous land that will inspire and stimulate creative and scientific minds. And who better to expose young readers to new ways of seeing, smelling, and hearing than Julie (Andrews) Edwards of Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music fame? Her lively and clever style pulls readers along effortlessly; she, like the professor, is one grownup who can teach children never to close their minds to possibility. (Ages 9 to 12)

Miss Rumphius

Barbara Cooney

Miss Rumphius Barbara Cooney Amazon Price: $7.99
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By: Puffin
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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 61 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Beatiful 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I just left home and school to live on my own as an intern in DC. I've been doing lots of responsible adult type activities, cooking, waking up early, cleaning etc and was feeling a little strange about feeling so old. As I was walking to work this morning, I took a slightly different route that had a house with lupines just covering their yard. They looked so beautiful in the morning. I immediately thought to myself "what was that book with these flowers??" and called up my lovely mother. It felt like a long lost dream. I could remember the symbolism, but not the specifics. When I was young, I think I was enthralled with little Alice being able to paint the clouds and even more so when she becomes a librarian and transforms the landscape by the sea. This is a truly amazing book. I'm going to walk to the library tonight and check it out again. It definitely made me appriciate beauty in the world as a child, and through my memory of it, as an adult.

Editorial Review:

Seeking adventure in faraway places, Miss Rumphius fulfills her dream and then sets out to make the world more beautiful.

The Boxcar Children (The Boxcar Children, No. 1) (Boxcar Children)

Gertrude Chandler Warner

The Boxcar Children (The Boxcar Children, No. 1) (Boxcar Children) Gertrude Chandler Warner Amazon Price: $4.50
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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 126 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

The best of the series 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

3rd grade reader says, "This book is about four children who keep running away from people after losing both parents during the depression. First, they run away from their grandfather because they picture him as old. They think this means he will only bully them and make them do his chores. Second, they run away from a bakery because they don't trust the baker's wife to not call a foster home, which would allow their grandfather to find them. Finally, they create a safe place to live away from everyone - in an old box car with stuff from a dump. Then they build a friendship with a man and his friend, but the friend turns out to be their grandfater in desquise. They go home with him, bringing the box car with them. This book teaches not to judge people by how they look and how we need a safe place before we can trust."

Editorial Review:

One warm night four children stood in front of a bakery. No one knew them. No one knew where they had come from. Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny were orphans--Boxcar Children--looking for a place to live, determined to make it on their own.

The Adventures of Pippi Longstocking

Astrid Lindgren, Michael Chesworth

The Adventures of Pippi Longstocking Astrid Lindgren, Michael Chesworth Amazon Price: $18.71
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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 31 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

I love this book! 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I found this book, when I started looking for the Pippi books I remembered from my childhood. Pippi is still as fun and entertaining as ever. I enjoyed reading the stories as an adult as much as I enjoyed them as a child. The book is beautiful with wonderful drawings. This is one of the rare books, where the illustrations bring to life what I imagined. I will enjoy it for many years to come!

Editorial Review:

Pippi is an irrepressible, irreverent, and irrefutably delightful nine-year-old girl who lives alone (with a monkey) in her wacky house, Villa Villekulla. When she's not dancing with the burglars who were just trying to rob her house, she's attempting to learn the "pluttification" tables at school; fighting Adolf, the strongest man in the world at the circus; or playing tag with police officers. Pippi's high-spirited, good-natured hijinks cause as much trouble as fun, but a more generous child you won't find anywhere. Astrid Lindgren has created a unique and lovable carrot-topped character, inspiring generations of children to want to be Pippi. The first Pippi Longstocking was published in America in 1950, and this fine, newly illustrated collection includes Pippi Goes on Board and Pippi in the South Seas. Pippi makes reading pure pleasure. (Ages 7 to 10)

Ramona the Pest (Ramona Quimby)

Beverly Cleary

Ramona the Pest (Ramona Quimby) Beverly Cleary Amazon Price: $5.99
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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 72 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Pest? Nope, just Excited 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

It's finally happened! Ramona Quimby is old enough to attend kindergarten! She can't wait to do big kid stuff like learn to read and participate in show and tell. Parts of school are confusing, like the song about the dawnzer. But she is making new friends, like Davey, her first crush, and Susan, whose hair is so curly it just cries out to be tugged. But when things go horribly wrong, will Ramona ever return?

I had read this book before but had forgotten just how wonderful it was until I reread it recently. Author Beverly Cleary expertly captures the emotions and reactions of a 5 year old. Heck, I think at times Ramona is more honest then many adults are today. While some of her behavior isn't acceptable, it is understandable. And absolutely funny. There are so many wonderfully funny moments here that anyone will relate to.

The story itself is more episodic then a true novel. But that doesn't mean it isn't entertaining. I certainly didn't want to put it down.

The book was originally written in the late 60's, so it might be slightly dated, but this really is a minor issue. The heart of the story is Ramona and her new kindergarten world.

Beverly Cleary has a wonderful pen for writing. The book works well for mid to late elementary school students to read to themselves. Or it can be read aloud with absolute ease.

If you haven't discovered the joys of kindergarten with Ramona, pick up this book today. You'll laugh and smile as you are carried away to a world that was simpler.

Editorial Review:

The engaging tale of young Ramona Quimby's first days in kindergarten, Ramona the Pest takes a pint-sized perspective on the trials and delights of beginning school. Ramona can't wait to learn all the important things. But she's disappointed when her teacher can't fill in missing parts of story lines, such as how Mike Mulligan (of Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel) went to the bathroom while digging the basement of the town hall. Nonetheless, Ramona loves her teacher, and loves going to school in spite of the torments--having to wear hand-me-down boots, for example, or having to (sometimes) suppress the urge to pull on another girl's "boing-boing" curls. Ramona's energetic take on life appeals to children who have passed through this stage, or who are dealing with a kindergarten-age sibling who is exhibiting Ramona-ish tendencies. (Ages 7 to 12) --Richard Farr

The Complete Tales of Winnie-the-Pooh

A. A. Milne

The Complete Tales of Winnie-the-Pooh A. A. Milne Amazon Price: $25.20
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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 61 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

When Christopher Robin asks Pooh what he likes doing best in the world, Pooh says, after much thought, "What I like best in the whole world is Me and Piglet going to see You, and You saying 'What about a little something?' and Me saying, 'Well, I shouldn't mind a little something, should you, Piglet,' and it being a hummy sort of day outside, and birds singing."

Happy readers for over 70 years couldn't agree more. Pooh's status as a "Bear of Very Little Brain" belies his profoundly eternal wisdom in the ways of the world. To many, Winnie-the-Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore, and the others are as familiar and important as their own family members. A.A. Milne's classics, Winnie-the-Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner, are brought together in this beautiful edition, complete and unabridged, with recolored illustrations by Milne's creative counterpart, Ernest H. Shepard. Join Pooh and the gang as they meet a Heffalump, help get Pooh unstuck from Rabbit's doorway, (re)build a house for Eeyore, and try to unbounce Tigger. A childhood is simply not complete without full participation in all of Pooh's adventures. (All ages) --Emilie Coulter

Sarah, Plain and Tall

Patricia MacLachlan

Sarah, Plain and Tall Patricia MacLachlan Amazon Price: $5.99
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By: HARPER COLLINS PUBLISHERS - Model: HC-0064402053
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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 170 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Not for fourth graders... 3 out of 5 stars.
1 of 4 people found this review helpful.

I read this in fourth grade and I don't think I was mature enough to read it. As soon as I found out that Sarah was not beautiful for some reason or another I thought that she was not worth paying attention to, so therefore I got zilch from this book. It wasn't even that I was an immature fourth grader, I was already reading adult books that were 400 pages long. So I just thought I'd put my two cents in...

8 year old kids's review of Sarah, Plain and Tall 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

The story of Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLaclan is a pioneer fiction about a family who needs a mother and a wife, and a lady who needs a home. It is sad, funny, happy, scary, exciting, and keeps me guessing.
Jacob Witting needs a helpful, hardworking wife and a mother for his young children Anna and Caleb. He puts an ad for a wife in the newspaper. He receives a response from Sarah Elisabeth Wheaton of Maine. In the early spring, Jacob goes to the train station to bring Sarah home. He dresses up and makes his hair very slick and shiny.
Sarah Wheaton makes herself at home with the Wittings. She helps clean the house. She goes and picks wild flowers with Caleb. They gather paintbrush, clover, prairie violets, roses, and bride's bonnet. She cuts Caleb's and Jacob's hair, then she braids Anna's long hair. She teaches Caleb and Anna how to float in the cow pond and they have fun. At night, all of them go to the barn to slide down the tall hay pile, just like the dunes in Maine.
Caleb and Anna love Sarah and hope she will stay. Caleb is six and really loves Sarah. Caleb cried when Sarah comes back from driving the wagon because he thinks she was leaving them. Anna is ten and helps with most of the housework. She is also worried that Sarah will leave.
Sarah misses Maine but she is happy with the Wittings. She says she will always miss her old home but she will miss the Wittings more if she leaves. She talks about wanting to drive the wagon. The neighbors come to help with the plowing and meet Sarah. Later Sarah and Jacob get married.
The book Sarah, Plain and Tall makes me joyful when Jacob finds a wife to marry. I like when Sarah, Caleb, Anna, and Jacob slide down the hay pile. Do you like fictional story about family life during the Pioneer times? If so, you will like this book.

Editorial Review:

Their mother died the day after Caleb was born. Their house on the prairie is quiet now, and Papa doesn't sing anymore. Then Papa puts an ad in the paper, asking for a wife, and he receives a letter from one Sarah Elisabeth Wheaton, of Maine. Papa, Anna, and Caleb write back. Caleb asks if she sings. Sarah decides to come for a month. She writes Papa: I will come by train. I will wear a yellow bonnet. I am plain and tall, and Tell them I sing. Anna and Caleb wait and wonder. Will Sarah be nice Will she like them Will she stay

Where the Red Fern Grows (A Bantam Starfire Book)

Wilson Rawls

Where the Red Fern Grows (A Bantam Starfire Book) Wilson Rawls Amazon Price: $6.99
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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1209 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

An Ozark Requiem - Where the Red Fern Grows 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Being an avid reader my whole life, I don't know how I skipped over this book as a kid. Recently I decided to brush up on some classic literature, and I grabbed this off my bookshelf...wow. This has to be one of the most AMAZING American tales of all time...and it's definitely in my top five books ever.

Warning: it has a little flavor of Bridge to Terebithia in it because of it's terribly bittersweet ending...but it is well worth it.

The writing style is so easy to read and so engrossing, it's like the author is actually sitting across from you telling you the story.

This is a slice of Americana that all kids should read...it captures the Ozarks and the heart of a little boy who loves his dogs so well! The fact that the main character had to work so hard for what he wanted is such a wonderful message to kids today.

Where the Red Fern Grows is a little piece of the American dream, and it is a must read for everyone. No questions asked.

Editorial Review:

A young boy living in the Ozarks achieves his heart's desire when he becomes the owner of two redbone hounds and teaches them to be champion hunters. Glory and victory were coming to them, but sadness waited too. Paperback.

Hello, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle

Betty Macdonald

Hello, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle Betty Macdonald Amazon Price: $5.99
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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 12 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Charming and eternally wise 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I'm actually sorry to say that I preferred this to the first Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle book. Or maybe I just like the magical cures in some cases. Anywho, this is a delightful addition to the wonders of Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle and is ful of thoroughly entertaining and hilarious stories that gently nudge everyone (not just kids!) into recognizing not-so-good habits. It's sweet, friendly, and never condemns, though it will always bring a smile.

Maggie's meaningful review 3 out of 5 stars.
0 of 6 people found this review helpful.

Hello, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle is a humorous book! Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's husband died and left her a trunk of magic cures for children's horrible habits. Parents in town often phone her about their children's bad habits. A few examples of terrible habits are slow poke, whisperer, and bully. For the bully, there are leadership pills, and for the whisperer, there are whisper sticks. They taste like candy, but you can only whisper after you eat one. For the slow poke you spray on their clothing. Will the cures work? " I recommend this book for young girls, because I think it's best suited for their maturity," I said.

Editorial Review:

The incomparable Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle loves children good or bad and never scolds but has positive cures for Answer-Backers, Never-Want-to-Go-to-Bedders, and other boys and girls with strange habits. `[Now] in paperback . . . for a new generation of children to enjoy.' —San Francisco Examiner Chronicle.

The Secret Garden (HarperClassics)

Frances Hodgson Burnett

The Secret Garden (HarperClassics) Frances Hodgson Burnett Amazon Price: $6.99
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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 269 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

An Absolute Treasure! 5 out of 5 stars.
6 of 6 people found this review helpful.

I can't believe I missed reading this growing up. My daughter and I just read this together. It was wonderful, and we both loved it. She likes to read books over and over, and I think she will appreciate reading this even more when she gets a little older. She loved the idea of secrets, twins, and the transformation of Mary. Having not had similar experiences to the characters in the books, such as losing close family members, she didn't quite understand the concept of a person having to learn to love and cry.

I loved the symbolism of the young girl blossoming with the garden, the relationship she develops with her cousin, the flower imagery, and the many little details like the birds nesting in the chairs in the run-down part of the manor. The mystery of this story is also wonderful and very suspenseful.

I think many adults who missed reading this growing up would enjoy this book. And I think all children, both boys and girls, should read this at least once. It is an absolute treasure.

Editorial Review:

When orphaned Mary Lennox, lonely and sad, comes to liveat her uncle's great house on the Yorkshire moors, she finds it full of secrets. At night, she hears the sound of crying down one of the long corridors. Outside, she meets Dickon, a magical boy who can charm and talk to animals. Then, one day, with the help of a friendly robin, Mary discovers the most mysterious wonder of all--a secret garden, walled and locked, which has been completely forgotten for years and years. Is everything in the graden dead, or can Mary bring it back to life

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