Everett Fox has solved these problems with a translation that is nothing short of masterful. The language is lucid, the prose poetic, and the story intact. Moreover, Fox is an honest translator, detailing his decisions and pointing out where multiple meaning exist. I have read literally dozens of translations of the bible. In my opinion, this is far and away the best.

Fox's contribution to the text will surely be remember and appreciated both now and for decades to come.

...the illustrations are wonderful. The moral is good telling of unconditional love between Large (Mom Fox...but please don't call the real world mother that after shipping the boy off to bed and returning to your own bed...it won't be a happy household on the whole if you know what I mean) and Small (Toddler Fox). The language is fairly good sticking to simple rhymes but on the whole the love of words doesn't thoroughly seep through the pages. The story line is perhaps a little too "everything is rosy, put your index finger in your smiling dimple and wiggle it around" Polyanna. Not that optimistic feel good storybooks aren't the mark for childhood reading... But back to the illustrations...

...they are wonderful watercolors that drip and dip with creative colors and a wonderful sense of domestic haloed lights. It gives off a Florentine home Goddess warmth with an enchanted play between color light and shadow. My favorite as will probably be your child's as well, is the "squishy bug" that still gets loved and hugged. He eats holes in his gardening book and wraps his tentacles around Large's Fox ears. Wonderful enchanting stuff.

If you already have all the baby/toddler/childhood standards and classics by all means go get this one. ...

At first when I started reading I Capture the Castle, I must admit, I was a little bored. I put off reading it for more than a year! Now I could read it over and over and over again, and it would still be great! The book starts off slow, really, but after sitting down in a nice, quiet room, and taking in every word I began to like it. I found as I began reading that the book grew more and more interesting. (Once you getting a feeling of the book) The storyline flows and it's so well put that you feel like you're sitting in Cassandra's kitchen, that you're right beside her while she writes in the kitchen sink. Cassandra and her family live in an old castle, which Cassandra absolutely adores. The book is about Cassandra Mortmain, and her daily life in that castle, set in the 1930's; her hardships with her family, her battles with love and the every day comedy's of life.

Dodie Smith really makes Cassandra and the other Mortmains come to life. Cassandra is one of the most likeable characters I have ever "read about", she is stubborn, funny and dislikes anything involving romance,[ in the sense of romance between to people.] Quirky and perceptive, Cassandra will always keep you smiling. Then there's beautiful Stephen who's in love with her, who she thinks of as a brother, her sister Rose, who attracts boys where ever she goes, Topaz, Cassandra's step-mother who's a part-time nude model and her eccentric father, who's been having writing block...for twelve years. Cassandra's younger brother Thomas plays a lesser role in the book, but he does help with some of Cassandra's schemes. I do have some qualms with the ending though, it was a strange ending- but at the same time, I loved the ending! I capture the castle is a delightful book....go out and buy it!! If you're Canadian it's pretty expensive for a paperback, but get it anyways, it's truly worth it.

There's her eccentric father, James, an hermit-like ex-writer who has a huge case of writer's block. There is Cassandra's sister Rose, a vain beauty who longs for riches and something more in her life. Then there is her stepmother, Topaz, a towheaded artist's model who likes to play her lute and commune with nature (walk around outdoors naked with the elements). Lastly, there is the god-like beauty Stephen (but Cassandra says his expression is "a bit daft"), who helps around the house and is totally in love with Cassandra.

Our heroine records events with wit, honesty, and cozy warmth. The Mortmain family meets the sons of the late Mr. Cotton, the rich landlord, Simon and Neil Cotton. Soon Cassandra's life and the lives of those around her begin to change. Rose becomes engaged to Simon Cotton. But does she actually love him? Rose had once told her sister that she would do anything to help her family out of the poverty they are in.

Cassandra is a wonderful girl coming into her own, witty and likeable up to the very last word. I really identified with her, as a teenaged girl. This book may not deliver your standard happy ending (we never know who Cassandra really ends up with relationship-wise), but will certainly deliver a wonderful reading experience. It is a good book to simply curl up with.

On my top-40 list, certainly, if not my top-10. I can't recommend this one highly enough.

Even though it elicits the occasional groan of agony from the adult doing the reading, Fox in Socks is THE favorite book in our house!
That silly, socks-wearing fox and poor, beleaguered Mr. Knox have brought many a giggle to our bed-time reading adventures, not to mention the childish howls of laughter heard during the pathetic, tongue-tripping rendition presented by the victim...ahem...parent chosen to do the reading. From the start of the game to the beetle-battle atop the noodle-eating poodle at the end of the story, Fox in Socks is a frolicking romp for kids of all ages.

Every house with or without children should have this book-it's a classic no library should be without!

As an educational tool, children will learn to recognize the illustrated animals: mouse, goose, cat, calf, foal, fish, sheep, bird, bee, snake, pup, and deer. My son received the hardcover edition of "Time For Bed" as a baby gift, and I was so captivated by the artwork that the board book version was purchased as a supplement. One-year and up.

This book has none of those features. This is a book written by a man who has gone (and continues to go) through a series of wildly implausible adventures. From his early, almost accidental, startdom, through his marriage which has somehow defied all the odds for a Hollywood marriage, through his diagnosis with early-onset Parkinson's disease, nothing in this man's life could have been predicted.

Michael J Fox has dived deep into his own psyche and come back to tell us what he found there. With compassion for himself and for the other people he has known in his life, he describes what it was like to be so successful, to experience fame as a drug (almost) that distanced him from some levels of reality, and then to have it all taken away. And he did it himself. This book was not ghostwritten, and the beauty of some passages makes it hard to believe that the author is not a professional writer. The fact that the prose was not mediated by a ghost-writer also makes the book more immediate and accessible.

I do not have words to do justice to the honesty, the compassion, and the courage that I found in this book. All I can say is what I have been saying to people ever since I read it: "I know, I know, it's a celebrity autobiography. Read it anyway."

That is, until I bought all four seasons on DVD and began to watch them episode by episode. (Hey, I'm a completist -- or "obsessive," as some would say!)

I also bought this book by Phil Farrand as a sort of guidebook to help me pay even closer attention to the series as I made my way through each season.

I agree with previous reviewers in that some of these nits are extremely picky, indeed. But some are downright hilarious.

All of them, however, lead me to believe Mr. Farrand has way too much time on his hands.

For the record, the Nitpickers Guide for X-Philes takes a very, very, VERY close look at each episode of The X Files for the first four seasons, pointing out continuity, character, geography or technology problems found therein. They could be as nitpicky as dates not lining up with "reality" -- all the way to noticing how props shift from one hand to the other when the camera angle changes, or windows being on a certain wall in one episode and on another wall in a subsequent episode, etc.

I found this book to be a lot of fun to read after watching an episode. More often than not, it caused me to re-watch the episode to see for myself the "nits" discovered by the author.

If you like The X Files, you'll enjoy this book. If you're not a die-hard X-Phile, this book won't mean much to you.

I hope Mr. Farrand writes a second volume covering the next four seasons!

The one negative review in this list claims the book is terrible because we should seek holiness, not happiness. Clearly 100% surrender to God's will and 100% faith in God are holiness defined - and that expresses the entire thrust of the book. It is very unlikely that reviewer even read the book beyond the title - ignore them. Jesus wants our joy to be full, He tells us steps to take "so that your joy may be full"....but we better not tell this lone reviewer that Jesus recommends we seek joy - they might give HIM a bad review!

Do what this book says to do and find God waiting there to bless you abundantly with Christ-likeness.....with the natural result being great happiness! I agree with what one review said, if I had to choose only 2 books, they would be the Bible and The Christian's Secret of a Happy Life.

Last week, I decided to read Julie. Although Julie of the Wolves is edgier, with its themes of childhood marriage, attempted rape, loss and deprivation, Julie is an excellent follow-up. She overcomes feelings of betrayal toward her father and racist prejudices toward her stepmother. She also gets together with her beloved wolves once again.

The simplistic writing style makes Julie a very quick read. It is also very educational, with its conservationalist theme matter, Innu vocabulary, and examinations of life in the far north. It's a book people of all ages can learn from and enjoy.

Julie goes through many difficult situations in this story, like when she comes face to face with a wild bear. I enjoyed this book very much because, you have the feeling you were part of this book, and also the story. I thought Jean Craighead George made things very descriptive, like the ice on the Tundra, the soft fuzzy fur of the wolf pup, and the scurrying ground squirrels. This book shows the power between a father and his daughter, they love each other so much that they can read each others minds'.

This novel is for people who like a book with happiness, a bit of sadness, and the smallest bit of romance. It is also a book that has a lot of adventure.

The action of the novel begins with a view of the Allworthy family, a landed gentleman, Thomas Allworthy and his sister, Bridget. Into this family is dropped an orphan, a foundling - a child, if you will, of questionable parentage. This child, Tom Jones, is raised alongside Bridget's child, Blifil, as relative equals. Both are tutored by two ideologues, the philosopher Square and the theologian Thwackum. Jones is a precocious, free-spirited youngster, spoiled by Allworthy while Blifil, the heir apparent to the estate, becomes the favourite pupil and spoiled accordingly by his mother. As the two youths age, Tom develops a fondness for the neighbour's daughter, Sophia Western.

Tom's sexual development begins to get him in trouble, as it tends to throughout the novel, and as a result of one such incident, coupled with the goading jealousy of Blifil, Tom is driven out of the Allworthy home, left to seek his fortunes in the world. Meeting his supposed father, Partridge, on the road, the two begin a quixotic ramble across England. Sophia, meanwhile, pressured into marrying Blifil, runs away from home, beginning her own voyage of discovery.

"Tom Jones" begins with the narrator likening literature to a meal, in which the paying customer comes expecting to be entertained and satisfied. All 18 books of "Tom Jones" start out with such authorial intrusions, each cluing us into the writer's craft, his interactions with his public, and various other topics. This voice is actually sustained throughout the novel, providing a supposedly impartial centre of moral value judgments - each of which seems to tend toward enforce Fielding's project of a realistic, and yet, didactic portrayal of a world full of flawed characters.

Some of the issues the novel deals most extensively with are modes of exchange, anxieties over female agency, and the power of rumour and reputation. Exchange and the ways in which value is figured include a wide range of goods - money, bodies, food, and stories - and are integral to the story. The treatment of women is a great concern in "Tom Jones": from Partridge's perpetual fear of witchcraft to the raging arguments between Squire Western and his sister over how Sophia should be treated, to general concerns about sexuality and virtue. A novel that can be in turns hilarious, disturbing, and provoking, "Tom Jones" is never dull. Despite its size, the pace of the novel is extremely fast and lively. So, get thee to a superstore and obtain thyself a copy of this excellent and highly entertaining novel.

Though frequently termed an immoral book, Tom Jones holds up rather well in the early 21st century. Even Fielding's comic characters seem to have a dimension often lacking in 18th and 19th century novels. Fielding is a genius.