Since he wrote these stories during the several years he spent in Brattleboro, VT, we of the North Country have a particular affinity for Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Books. The most familiar are the Mowgli tales, basis for the very good Disney movie. Mowgli is an Indian infant who is lost in the jungle after Shere Khan (the tiger) kills his family. Bagheera (the black panther) places him with a wolf family that has a newborn litter. Mowgli's new "parents" and Bagheera and Baloo (the brown bear) sponsor him for membership in the Wolf Pack and, much to Shere Khan's chagrin, he is admitted. Mowgli is raised according to Jungle Law, but all the while Shere Khan is plotting his revenge and ingratiating himself with the younger wolves. Eventually, he leads a rebellion against Akela, the pack's aging leader and attacks Mowgli, who beats him away with a burning firebrand. In these and the several other Mowgli stories--there are some prequels--Kipling strikes a nice balance between anthropomorphizing the animals and understanding Mowgli's natural superiority.

Also appearing in this collection is a story I've loved since I first saw the Classic Cartoon version--Rikki Tikki Tavi. It tells the story of an intrepid young mongoose and his life or death battle to protect an Indian villa from a couple of particularly unpleasant cobras. Rikki Tikki Tavi has always seemed to me to be one of the great heroes in all of literature.

These are great stories for young and old. For folks who worry about Kipling's potentially imperialist, racist or racialist overtones (see review), rest assured, these tales are free of such themes. They offer an excellent opportunity to introduce kids to the work of a true master storyteller.

GRADE: A

This was probably one of my most favorite books as a young child if not my favorite. The way Kipling shows the struggle of this young boy in the jungle is amazing. He fails to leave out any detail and throughout the whole story your totally caught up in it without one point of boredom. I recommend this to any parent looking for a good book to read to their children or to have their kids read. Kipling is a great author and after doing a report on him and reading some of his other works I recommend those as well, especially A White Man's Burden. If your looking for books by a author who mixes fiction with truth, action and adventure with tales that bring in more serious aspects Kipling is the author for you.

The story of Mowgli, a boy raised by wolves in the jungles of 19th century India, charmed me when I was young no less than it does today. Kipling wrote this to celebrate his love of India and it's wild animals as well as to show again some of his frequent themes of honor, loyalty, and perserverance. While his writing may seem 'dated' to some, to others the truths he includes rise above politics and 'current correctness'. Baloo the Bear, Shere Khan the Tiger, Bagheera the Panther, Kaa the Python were all childhood friends of mine, and reading these Jungle Book stories to your own children today will result in their exposure to such old fashioned concepts as sticking by your friends in adversity, helping your family, relying on yourself. Good lessons then, good lessons now. Mowgli learns the value of 'good manners' early on, learns that 'all play and no work' leads to unexpected troubles, learns that thoughtless actions can have devasting consequences. By showing Mowgli in an often dangerous 'all animal' world, we see reflections of modern human problems presented in a more subtle light. Kipling leads children down the jungle path into adventures beyond their day to day imagining and along the way, he weaves subtle points in and out of the stories, he shows the value of 'doing for yourself', of 'learning who to trust'. All of this in a tale of childhood adventure that's never been equaled. The book is over 100 years old now, and there are terms & concepts from the age of Empire that aren't 'correct' today. Parents can edit as needed as they read bedtime stories, but I've found that children learn early on that the world changes, and that some ideas that were popular long ago did not prove to be correct. Explaining this, too, is a part of parenting. Some of our current popular ideas may not stand the test of time, but I suspect that 100 years from now parents will still read the Jungle Book to their children. And the children will still be charmed, thrilled and instructed in valuable life-lessons.

After taking a year of chemistry honors, I bought this book in order to prepare for the SAT II Chem. Since I haven't taken Chem AP, I had to cover some areas by myself that we didn't cover at school. I like the way how this book is organized. However, the explanations gave me a hard time understanding the material. Sometimes the book was unclear and contained too much stuff that was unnecessary. So, I wouldn't really recommend this book for its content. But one thing that's helpful about this book were its four practice tests. Actually those practice tests were little more difficult than the actual test. This allowed me to study the material thoroughly. I achieved a score higher than what I've expected and I think the practice tests contributed the most. (750 wasn't that bad after all!) This book can be helpful to you or it can be just a waste of money. So it's your decision!!!

The Barron's SAT II Chemistry book is extremely long and detailed and has tests that exaggerate difficulty. Each chapter does a good job of covering the core material but it also adds alot of extra information that will probably not be seen on the test. In fact, in the nuclear chemistry section, the book goes into sub atomic particles known as quarks, which havent been seen on the test in ages. The practice tests at first are very pessimistic and are quite difficult.
Yet, if you do study this book completely, take the practice test and correct your answers, there is no reason you shouldnt get an 800 on the SAT II. I found the exaggerated difficulty annoying at sometimes, but, its a tough way of forcing you to do good. In short, if you have plenty of time to prepare for the SAT II, buy this book, and do it cover to cover. Your results should be wonderful.

This is more of a review book than anything else. My chemistry class had covered all the information in the book except for ionic equations, and the book did not do a good job of explaining them. The book; however, does make an excellent review source, and therefore should be bought by those who are taking it. Annoying part of the practice tests are that there is no scale, so you cannot get a SAT like score, just number correct, therefore there is no way to tell how well you'll do. My recommendation is that you get the College Board's SAT II book, which has practice SAT II's for all the subject tests to see how the real test is like.

It was the first time I read a play by Shakesperare. It was quite interesting to read it in this version, because you could compare the old English with the modern English. I have to say that the old English version was very difficult to understand and I was glad to have the modern English version beside.
The book was sometimes funny to read, because the servants of the house do so many foolish pranks. The clown Feste made me laugh.
The main plot is about Count Orsino's unreplied love to the rich lady Olivia. Viola, who thinks she has lost her twin brother on a ship, is disguised as a man and serves the count. She has to convince Viola of Orsino's love. But what else could happen than a mess? Viola falls in love with Orsino, and Olivia falls in love with Viola... After some funny troubles, Viola's brother comes back and Viola can show her love to Orsino, and Olivia comes together with Sebastian.
I think it's a good story about love.

Some time ago we started reading Shakespeare's 'Twelfth Night'. Unfortunately we were rather in a hurry and so I had to read the play once again when I had time off to really understand the jokes and enjoy the play. I often heard people saying that Shakespeare liked intrigues and used to write funny and sometimes even a bit obscene and rough plays. I found that rumour confirmed while reading 'Twelfth Night'. Nevertheless I liked the play and as our teacher procured a 'side-by-side with modern English' version of the play the initially unfamiliar Elizabethan English wasn't a reason to despair. As for me, I can recommend the play to everybody who likes comedies which are not to superficial. Sir Toby and Malvolio were surely my favourite characters. They are just killingly funny.

When I read Romeo and Juliet a year ago, it was very interesting to see how Shakespeare writes. I read the original edition but for me it was too hard to understand. This time, when I read 12th Night, it was totally different. Our teacher gave us the edition "Shakespeare Made Easy", and I really had fun to read it. But I am sure that it isn't only the easy language which I liked more, it is also the play 12th Night itself, which makes it more attractive than Romeo and Juliet. I didn't know that Shakespeare had so a great sense of humour. It seems that all the actors are fools, and because of that, you like them all, even Malvolio, the villain of the play. For me it's the best English book I've ever red. I always had to laugh while I was reading it. I really recommend this book "Shakespeare Made Easy" because also those people who have some problems with the writing style of Shakespeare will learn to love his plays.

It is interesting that reviewers appear to be so critical of the translation, ignoring what Goethe himself did to the Faust legend. From the annoying homunculus to the exorbitant Walpurgis Night to the self-indulgent Gretchen 'Travesty,' this is a story that never should have been written, with parts that would have been useless to try to stage. Faust and Mephistopheles were used as tools in a story that Goethe wanted to tell, rather than him telling their story. It is an overwrought nightmare.
The only reason I give it one star is that the site does not permit zero.
Read Christopher Marlowe's version instead.

While the translator deserves praise in his efforts of tackling a difficult work, the result is average at best. The excision of text, as has already been noted by other reviewers, is the biggest reason to avoid this translation, but I will admit that it is perhaps the most accessible and easily read translation available. For those with a serious interest in Goethe and Faust, I would recommend the Walter Arndt/Cyrus Hamlin critical edition from Norton. I believe that to be a much more accurate rendering of Goethe's exemplary work.

I want to open up by saying that this particular translation is above all others. The penguin version is awful. Secondly, I will say that "Faust" is beautifully written, putting Goethe on par with Shakespeare. Goethe captures the phenomena of boredom and low capacity of freedom. The Doctor, Faust, has studied philosophy, science, literautre, and so on, but still feels empty and disatisfed. What would you do? Would you, as he does, take company with the Devil?

There is humour, wit, eloquence of language, and detail. There has to be some reason why it is so praised by scholars today. Even Oscar Wilde, who wrote "The Picture of Dorian Gray," borrowed from it.

Be aware, though, of how difficult the play is to read.

This book is an alright book to read, if you were acting it out in Drama. If the book was written in regular form, then it would be good for the classrooms. This book was interesting to read but hard to understand. You had to some what jump back and forth between people talking. I feel for the people who had to be put in the concentration camps, and were forced to work against their will just to keep their family members alive. I do not think that people have a right to degrade other humans beings of their own kind or culture.

Arthur Millers, The Crucibal, is a wonderfully written dramatic play. It is intersting and absorbing. The history of the play begins from the communist "witch-hunts", which inspired Miller to write the book. An easy reader, but very thought provoking. Worth reading at any age!

First off, the way the Crucible relates to the post-war era and the 1950 McCarthy trials make it a prime choice of reading material for high school students. As a high school student myself, I found the book very interesting as a psychoanalysis of human nature. Arthur Miller has explored the concepts of guilt and hypocrisy in a very unique fashion.

The theme of how a repressed society reacts to hysteria is perused in this drama. My personal belief is that people who entrust their lives to unproven dogma find themselves trapped in a form of repression. This includes the conservative outlook posted by the former reviewer of this book.

Lies, hypocrisy, and lust are themes that teenagers begin to encounter in high school. To refuse them the liberty to have complete access to literature is to lock down the developing, free and independent thinking mind. Thus, the banning and removal of books deemed "inappropiate" by biased standards results in the formation of a repressed society much like the Puritans in the early 1600's.

Ignorance may be bliss for you, but don't punish others because of your biased, uproven religious dogma. Our society will succeed if the next generation is given a chance to use their BRAINS. Our society will fail if the conservative coalition destroys independent thinking.

Conformism is your enemy.

I bought the 2nd edition of this books. It's very good, but alone it is certainly not enough to prepare you for the test. The first fault is traditionally Barron's -- it won't tell you how to get a scaled score from raw result. The 2nd fault is to do with the fact that it's a book -- a book can't score your essay. I used this book in conjuctions with CB's EssayPrep (3 essay evaluations by real rating people), and it helped a lot -- I'm not a native speaker of English, and I got 740, which I was pleased with. This doesn't mean that the essay section of the book is bad -- it's actually very good -- before doing SAT II Writing, I used it to prepare for the TOEFL essay, and it helped a lot. Also, it's important to actually practice writing the essay on the limited space of paper that you'll be provided during the essay. It's not the same as typing your essay into a computer, and it does hurt your score if you're not prepared. Before spending money on EssayPrep, do however all the practice exercises in this book, as they are good, and useful.
Tiny drawback: the essay form is lined, the real SAT one is not. You may want to try essaying on a non-lined piece of paper.
Otherwise the book is great. It covers very well the questions, and presents difficult questions, as well as easy ones. It teaches you how to solve the questions, and a little smart tactics, not answer-sheet magic. I have found it very well-explained, and logical. I enjoyed the identifying sentence error section a lot -- it seemed to me it provided correct, and detailed explanations.
Sometimes, I felt the more obscure corners of Paragraph Improvement weren't fully covered, but long paragraphs (e.g. TOEFL reading comprehension) were always a little more ambiguous to me. I still think the definitive book on Reading Comprehension, and long paragraph matter hasn't been written yet.

P.S. I just wanted to add -- the essay section is very good. I only realised this after I got the chance to compare it with Barron's TOEFL Essay book (I'll review that soon). The author style on writing is very good, and besides teaching you the right things, is in itself a good example of essay writing (what's the point of having a super-authority on essaying explain you how to write an essay in dry, lame, poorly structured paragraphs?). The essay section is quite short, but is certainly filled with useful info, including the paragraph on "narrowing the topic mercifully" -- this single half-page helped me more than all the other essay material I've read.

I have taken the SAT2 Writing tests for twice. The first time I
did not even prepare for it and thus I got a score that really
disappointed me. This time I took it in the Nov 02 test and I use
this Barron's Writing book. I think it is truly helpful. It
contains every detail in grammar, such as verb tenses, redundancy
and wordiness and some others, which, are really helpful in the
real tests. At the end if this book, there are 5 practice tests!
This is esp the strngth of this book, since there are rarely
writing SAT ref books providing so many practices. I have done
all the practice and got very familiarized with the pattern of
wriring test. If you are not good at grammar or the form of this
test, I recommend you thoroughly read this book and take the
practice tests!! By the way, the essay part is also wonderful!
In this part, I have learned a lot of skills needed in composing
an essay in only 20 mins. It's a great book, hence I rate it
a 5 star!

I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to gain a good score on the SAT II: Writing. Not having a natural flare for writing (especially not in so short a time frame), I rather reluctantly registered to take this test, for I thought it would be necessary for me to display some writing ability to employers, universities, and the like. I managed to gain a score of 760 in this test, which greatly exceeded my expectations. Such a score would not have been possible were it not for the practice which this book gave me, most especially in the essay section. It didn't teach me how to write, but it taught me to use my limited writing skills to gain a great score in this writing test.

I felt that Macbeth was the easiest to understand of all Shakespeare plays. I thought this play was based on betrayal, witchcraft, and murder. Though Macbeth committed many murders, I think his wife influenced him greatly. She poisoned the guards so Macbeth could assassinate Duncan. The witches also had a lot of influence on Macbeth. Every time he visited them they would tell him the future, what murders he would commit, and what thrones he would take. I thought that Macbeth should have prepared for Duncan's sons and friends to come back for revenge. Since he was going insane from hearing the voices and seeing the ghosts he was doomed for death. I was rather disappointed in this play compared to all of the other Shakespeare play that I've read. Although this is an exceptional book compared to "Lord of Flies". Macbeth is much more exciting.

This book has to be my favorite. I love shakespeare and have read close to everything except King Lear. And from all my experience in reading shakespeare MACBETH has to be my most favored except for the Taming of the Shrew. How they show Macbeth as a coward at parts and Lady Macbeth stronger is one Libral thing you will not find in old english. This book is perfect for young readers because they can understand it in the Modern English sides so everyone can enjoy the great tales to know and learn.

Yes I know when you think of Shakesperre you think of either Romeo and Juliet or Hamlet. However, this is my personal favorite of all his plays. Easier to understand then something like Hamlet yet it has all the plot and intrigue and is the first very dark and scary book I think I ever read. The moral questions that MacBeth and Lady MacBeth have towards themselves are real ones and it only gets better as the book goes on. As MacBeth slowly loses his grip on reality, but ends his life as honorably as he could, I could feel for him even though he was obviously changing into a villain. I think this should be one of the first Shakesperrian plays a person should read since it is not only his best, but also one of his easiest to understand. After reading Romeo and Juliet I didn't think I could get into Shakesperre. MacBeth woke me up from that. A must read classic for everyone.

After purchasing most of the major AP Euro reviewers, all i can say is that Barron's is a mediocre choice. As a test-prep, it has chapter-by-chapter review questions and sample essays to keep help self-test yourself during the school year and right before the AP exam. As an actual subject reviewer, however, the text is painfully thin... while the maps and time lines are marginally helpful, i would strongly reccommend Vialt's 'Modern European History' as a suppliment. (It's a solid and comprehensive SUBJECT reviewer)

Well, I would give this book a 5, but I didn't read the summaries. Instead, I only took the practice tests and got a 4 on the AP European History test. I would suggest buying this one over the Princeton Review (I bought both) because its practice tests are very good and a more accurate representation of what the actual test was like.

Also, one thing to note is that I only had instruction from 1500-1900 (my teacher wasn't the greatest planner of his time). So, in effect, I didn't know a bunch of the questions, but I was still able to score a 4, which is partly a reflection of how well the Barron's book prepared me.

Oh, and one more word of advice. When you take the sample tests, DO NOT simply check your score, instead, look at every answer (they give detailed answers in the book) to every question you missed, and even some of those which you answered correctly. This was probably the most important thing that I got from this book (I had to write an essay comparing the rise of Stalin to the rise of the Jacobins, and all that I knew about Stalin was from the Barron's book because my teacher did not prepare us, lol).

So, if you're looking for a book to prepare you for the test, this is the one. But, it does take some time preparing as you should take as many of the sample tests as you can because it will give you an accurate impression of what the test will be like, it will give you extra information for you to use on the real test (in the answers to the sample tests), and it will prepare you for the real test ("practice makes perfect!").

The test preparation tips are helpful. The review goes fairly smoothly, examining major ideas and people adequately. It does fall short in a few areas: Exploration, Second Industrial Revolution,a description of different Ideologies in 19th century, and Social history. The questions are of similar type to those on the AP exam, but they are somewhat easier than real AP questions.

I ordered 2 GRE books and this is the only one I kept. It is packed with information. The word list and the math review are extremely helpful, and there are about a million practice exercises (including 6 full-length tests) with full explanations. The practice questions were exactly like the questions on the test, so I knew what to expect. I did every practice exercise and only found about 5 errors, so I don't think the proofreading's a huge issue like other reviewers did. I got 800's on both the Verbal and the Quantitative!!! Thanks for the book!

You will not find a better GRE Test prep than this book and CD-ROM. The 3500-word vocabulary list and practice questions are right on target with what you will need to know. The diagnostic test specifically narrows down the math subject areas you need the most help in reviewing. The math tutorial pages are informative and concise, with practice mini-tests after each section. The Analytical practice questions are also very similar in length and complexity to the kinds of questions you will receive on the actual test if you are aiming for a high score.

To top it all off, there are five full-length practice tests at the back of the book, in addition to the CD-ROM exam, which can be taken a number of times, and offers (mostly) different questions each time. The CD-ROM exam thoroughly prepared me for the rigors of the actual test.

Yes, there are a few typos in this book, as in almost any other book of this nature, and no, they are not significant enough to greatly alter your prep experience.

I was satisfied with my test results (V 610, Q 650, A 800), and I relied solely on this book for preparation.

The math review of this book is a tremendous help to revise basic and important math concepts. It has given important formulae in bullet points with very instructive excercises. This is important for the people who are out of touch with this level of math. The vocabulary list is an essential for anyone serious about increasing their verbal score (unless your verbal skills are already phenomenal).

The only drawback is that the full-length tests are not indicative of the actual CAT test questions and expected scores.

Overall a book necessary to go through before you are gruelled by ETS!

I've read the first three books in this series and believe this, the second, is the weakest of the three, though Barron is a fine writer and the setting is interesting. 1804 Lyme, where Jane and her family have come to spend their holiday by the sea, is a hotbed of activity for smugglers as Britain battles intermittently with Napoleonic France, and two murders incite Jane to action. While Austen's wit is not here, Barron does capture the style and elegance of Regency England and we do get to see more of Jane's charming sister-in-law Eliza. What I think weakened this particular story is Jane's level of activity. She is sneaking out at night, following criminals to hidden caves, hitting scoundrels on the head -- it really is a bit preposterous -- more like a Nancy Drew novel. Still, Barron deftly incorporates biographical information as well as historical fact into her narrative, making the read even more enjoyable.

If you enjoy Jane Austen or Regency England, there is a good chance you will appreciate these books, though this is not the best of the series.

I discovered this series quite by accident when browsing through the bookstore, and I'm so glad I did! What a novel (no pun intended!) idea, to take Jane Austen and place her in the role of sleuth, complete with wonderful Regency England settings and history. Footnotes at the bottom of almost every other page educate the reader on items that might be unfamiliar, such as the name of a popular dance or the reason behind a particular social custom, and these little tidbits are almost as enjoyable as the story itself. I was a little wary at first before I read the first installment (Scargrave Manor), but was soon swept away. I didn't find this second book boring in any way, though I noticed some others did. I enjoyed the setting - a seaside town where the Austens are vacationing, the characters - including Jane's sister Cassandra and scandalous sister-in-law Eliza, and Barron's writing is wonderful. She does a fantastic job of echoing Austen's style, as well as the times, while modernizing it enough for the contemporary reader to thoroughly enjoy. Now, I'm just waiting for the series to come out in Audiobook format! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Jane and the Man of the Cloth is the second in the series of Jane Austen mysteries by Stephanie Barron. In this tale Jane and her family visit Lyme for a restful time by the sea. Before they reach the town, however, the Austens are beset by storms and forced to take refuge in the house of the secretive but arresting Mr. Sidmouth. After reaching Lyme, Jane is soon woken to the sight of a gibbet erected on Lyme's Cobb (think of the French Lieutenant's Woman!). Rest Jane does not get, but there are hints of romance, smuggling, and the aftermath of the French Revolution to keep the reader entertained.

I personally found the mystery slightly more engaging than that in Jane and the Unpleasantness at Scargrave Manor, which I found completely predictable. This plot did not surprise, but it did go down some surprising blind alleys on the way to its conclusion.

I would recommend this book to anyone travelling to England on a plane, to someone vacationing by the sea for good recreational reading, and to people fond of Jane Austen. (I just wish the author would stop footnoting her novels! )