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The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
by Mark Twain

ISBN 0582420504 (0-582-42050-4)
Softcover, Prentice Hall

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Book summary:
Wild child Huck has to get away. His violent drunk of a father is back in town again, raising Cain. He won't rest until he has Huck's money. So the enterprising boy fakes his own death and sets out in search of adventure and freedom. Teaming up with Jim, an escaped slave with a price on his head, the two fugitives go on the run, travelling down the wide Mississippi River. But Huck finds himself wrestling with his conscience. Should he save Jim, or turn his friend over to a terrible fate? [via]
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The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
by Gary Paulsen, Mark Twain

ISBN 0689831390 (0-689-83139-0)
Softcover, Simon & Schuster

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Book summary:
A seminal work of American Literature that still commands deep praise and still elicits controversy, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is essential to the understanding of the American soul. The recent discovery of the first half of Twain's manuscript, long thought lost, made front-page news. And this unprecedented edition, which contains for the first time omitted episodes and other variations present in the first half of the handwritten manuscript, as well as facsimile reproductions of thirty manuscript pages, is indispensable to a full understanding of the novel. The changes, deletions, and additions made in the first half of the manuscript indicate that Mark Twain frequently checked his impulse to write an even darker, more confrontational book than the one he finally published. [via]
More editions of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn:
- The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: ISBN 0689831390 (0-689-83139-0)
  Softcover, Simon & Schuster
All over Creation
by Ruth L. Ozeki

ISBN 0670030910 (0-670-03091-0)
Hardcover, Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated

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More editions of All over Creation:
- All over Creation: ISBN 0670030910 (0-670-03091-0)
  Hardcover, Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated
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Beach Music
by Pat Conroy

ISBN 0553574574 (0-553-57457-4)
Softcover, Bantam Books

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Book summary:
Pat Conroy is without doubt America's favorite storyteller, a writer who portrays the anguished truth of the human heart and the painful secrets of
families in richly lyrical prose and unforgettable narratives. Now, in Beach Music, he tells of the dark memories that haunt generations, in a story
that spans South Carolina and Rome and reaches back into the unutterable terrors of the Holocaust.

Beach Music is about Jack McCall, an American living in Rome with his young daughter, trying to find peace after the recent trauma of his wife's
suicide. But his solitude is disturbed by the appearance of his sister-in-law, who begs him to return home, and of two school friends asking for his help in
tracking down another classmate who went underground as a Vietnam protester and never resurfaced. These requests launch Jack on a journey that encompasses the past and the present in both Europe and the American South, and that leads him to shocking--and ultimately liberating--truths.

Told with deep feeling and trademark Conroy humor, Beach Music is powerful and compulsively readable. It is another masterpiece in the legendary
list of classics that his body of work has already become.

PAT CONROY is the author of five previous books: The Boo, The Water Is Wide, The Great Santini, The Lords of Discipline, and
The Prince of Tides, the last four of which were made into feature films. [via]
More editions of Beach Music:
- Beach Music: ISBN 0553574574 (0-553-57457-4)
  Softcover, Bantam Books
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Between Parent and Child: The Bestselling Classic That Revolutionized Parent-Child Communication
by Haim G. Ginott, H. Wallace Goddard, Alice Ginott

ISBN 0609809881 (0-609-80988-1)
Softcover, Random House Inc

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Book summary:
Over the past thirty-five years, Between Parent and Child has helped millions of parents around the world strengthen their relationships with their children. Written by renowned psychologist Dr. Haim Ginott, this revolutionary book offered a straightforward prescription for empathetic yet disciplined child rearing and introduced new communication techniques that would change the way parents spoke with, and listened to, their children. Dr. Ginotts innovative approach to parenting has influenced an entire generation of experts in the field, and now his methods can work for you, too.

In this revised edition, Dr. Alice Ginott, clinical psychologist and wife of the late Haim Ginott, and family relationship specialist Dr. H. Wallace Goddard usher this bestselling classic into the new century while retaining the books positive message and Haim Ginotts warm, accessible voice. Based on the theory that parenting is a skill that can be learned, this indispensable handbook will show you how to:
" Discipline without threats, bribes, sarcasm, and punishment
" Criticize without demeaning, praise without judging, and express anger without hurting
" Acknowledge rather than argue with childrens feelings, perceptions, and opinions
" Respond so that children will learn to trust and develop self-confidence [via]
More editions of Between Parent and Child: The Bestselling Classic That Revolutionized Parent-Child Communication:
- Between Parent and Child: The Bestselling Classic That Revolutionized Parent-Child Communication: ISBN 0609809881 (0-609-80988-1)
  Softcover, Random House Inc
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The Blessing
by Gary Smalley

ISBN 0671737430 (0-671-73743-0)
Softcover, Pocket Books

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Book summary:
gary smalley [via]
More editions of The Blessing:
- The Blessing: ISBN 0671737430 (0-671-73743-0)
  Softcover, Pocket Books
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Brideshead Revisited
by Evelyn Waugh, Frank Kermode

ISBN 0679423001 (0-679-42300-1)
Hardcover, Random House Inc

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Book summary:
(Book Jacket Status: Jacketed)

Evelyn Waughs most celebrated novel is a memory drama about the intense entanglement of the narrator, Charles Ryder, with a great Anglo-Catholic family. Written during World War II, the novel mourns the passing of the aristocratic world Waugh knew in his youth and vividly recalls the sensuous pleasures denied him by wartime austerities; in so doing it also provides a profound study of the conflict between the demands of religion and the desires of the flesh. At once romantic, sensuous, comic, and somber, Brideshead Revisited transcends Waughs familiar satiric exploration of his cast of lords and ladies, Catholics and eccentrics, artists and misfits, revealing him to be an elegiac, lyrical novelist of the utmost feeling and lucidity.

The edition reprinted here contains Waughs revisions, made in 1959, and his preface to the revised edition.
[via]
More editions of Brideshead Revisited:
- Brideshead Revisited: ISBN 0679423001 (0-679-42300-1)
  Hardcover, Random House Inc
The Cement Garden
by Ian McEwan

ISBN 0679750185 (0-679-75018-5)
Softcover, Vintage Books

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In the relentless summer heat, four abruptly orphaned children retreat into a shadowy, isolated world, and find their own strange and unsettling ways of fending for themselves. [via]
More editions of The Cement Garden:
- The Cement Garden: ISBN 0671242881 (0-671-24288-1)
  Hardcover, Simon and Schuster
- The Cement Garden: ISBN 0679750185 (0-679-75018-5)
  Softcover, Vintage Books
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Coraline
by Neil Gaiman, Dave McKean

ISBN 0613673220 (0-613-67322-0)
Hardcover, Bt Bound

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Book summary:
Coraline lives with her preoccupied parents in part of a huge old house--a house so huge that other people live in it, too... round, old former actresses Miss Spink and Miss Forcible and their aging Highland terriers ("We trod the boards, luvvy") and the mustachioed old man under the roof ("'The reason you cannot see the mouse circus,' said the man upstairs, 'is that the mice are not yet ready and rehearsed.'") Coraline contents herself for weeks with exploring the vast garden and grounds. But with a little rain she becomes bored--so bored that she begins to count everything blue (153), the windows (21), and the doors (14). And it is the 14th door that--sometimes blocked with a wall of bricks--opens up for Coraline into an entirely alternate universe. Now, if you're thinking fondly of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe or Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, you're on the wrong track. Neil Gaiman's Coraline is far darker, far stranger, playing on our deepest fears. And, like Roald Dahl's work, it is delicious.
What's on the other side of the door? A distorted-mirror world, containing presumably everything Coraline has ever dreamed of... people who pronounce her name correctly (not "Caroline"), delicious meals (not like her father's overblown "recipes"), an unusually pink and green bedroom (not like her dull one), and plenty of horrible (very un-boring) marvels, like a man made out of live rats. The creepiest part, however, is her mirrored parents, her "other mother" and her "other father"--people who look just like her own parents, but with big, shiny, black button eyes, paper-white skin... and a keen desire to keep her on their side of the door. To make creepy creepier, Coraline has been illustrated masterfully in scritchy, terrifying ink drawings by British mixed-media artist and Sandman cover illustrator Dave McKean. This delightful, funny, haunting, scary as heck, fairy-tale novel is about as fine as they come. Highly recommended. (Ages 11 and older) --Karin Snelson [via]
More editions of Coraline:
- Coraline: ISBN 0613673220 (0-613-67322-0)
  Hardcover, Bt Bound
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Disgrace
by J. M. Coetzee

ISBN 0670887315 (0-670-88731-5)
Hardcover, Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated

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David Lurie is hardly the hero of his own life, or anyone else's. At 52, the protagonist of Disgrace is at the end of his professional and romantic game, and seems to be deliberately courting disaster. Long a professor of modern languages at Cape Town University College, he has recently been relegated to adjunct professor of communications at the same institution, now pointedly renamed Cape Technical University:
Although he devotes hours of each day to his new discipline, he finds its first premise, as enunciated in the Communications 101 handbook, preposterous: "Human society has created language in order that we may communicate our thoughts, feelings and intentions to each other." His own opinion, which he does not air, is that the origins of speech lie in song, and the origins of song in the need to fill out with sound the overlarge and rather empty human soul.
Twice married and twice divorced, his magnetic looks on the wane, David rather cruelly seduces one of his students, and his conduct unbecoming is soon uncovered. In his eighth novel, J.M. Coetzee might have been content to write a searching academic satire. But in Disgrace he is intent on much more, and his art is as uncompromising as his main character, though infinitely more complex. Refusing to play the public-repentance game, David gets himself fired--a final gesture of contempt. Now, he thinks, he will write something on Byron's last years. Not empty, unread criticism, "prose measured by the yard," but a libretto. To do so, he heads for the Eastern Cape and his daughter's farm. In her mid-20s, Lucy has turned her back on city sophistications: with five hectares, she makes her living by growing flowers and produce and boarding dogs. "Nothing," David thinks, "could be more simple." But nothing, in fact, is more complicated--or, in the new South Africa, more dangerous. Far from being the refuge he has sought, little is safe in Salem. Just as David has settled into his temporary role as farmworker and unenthusiastic animal-shelter volunteer, he and Lucy are attacked by three black men. Unable to protect his daughter, David's disgrace is complete. Hers, however, is far worse.
There is much more to be explored in Coetzee's painful novel, and few consolations. It would be easy to pick up on his title and view Disgrace as a complicated working-out of personal and political shame and responsibility. But the author is concerned with his country's history, brutalities, and betrayals. Coetzee is also intent on what measure of soul and rights we allow animals. After the attack, David takes his role at the shelter more seriously, at last achieving an unlikely home and some measure of love. In Coetzee's recent Princeton lectures, The Lives of Animals, an aging novelist tells her audience that the question that occupies all lab and zoo creatures is, "Where is home, and how do I get there?" David, though still all-powerful compared to those he helps dispose of, is equally trapped, equally lost.
Disgrace is almost willfully plain. Yet it possesses its own lean, heartbreaking lyricism, most of all in its descriptions of unwanted animals. At the start of the novel, David tells his student that poetry either speaks instantly to the reader--"a flash of revelation and a flash of response"--or not at all. Coetzee's book speaks differently, its layers and sadnesses endlessly unfolding. --Kerry Fried [via]
More editions of Disgrace:
- Disgrace: ISBN 0670887315 (0-670-88731-5)
  Hardcover, Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated
Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night
by Eugene O'Neill

ISBN 0671007521 (0-671-00752-1)
Softcover, Monarch Notes

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More editions of Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night:
- Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night: ISBN 0671007521 (0-671-00752-1)
  Softcover, Monarch Notes
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Frances Hodgson Burnett's the Secret Garden
by Frances Hodgson Burnett

ISBN 0582426596 (0-582-42659-6)
Softcover, Addison-Wesley

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Book summary:
Mistress Mary is quite contrary until she helps her garden grow. Along the way, she manages to cure her sickly cousin Colin, who is every bit as imperious as she. These two are sullen little peas in a pod, closed up in a gloomy old manor on the Yorkshire moors of England, until a locked-up garden captures their imaginations and puts the blush of a wild rose in their cheeks; "It was the sweetest, most mysterious-looking place any one could imagine. The high walls which shut it in were covered with the leafless stems of roses which were so thick, that they matted together.... 'No wonder it is still,' Mary whispered. 'I am the first person who has spoken here for ten years.'" As new life sprouts from the earth, Mary and Colin's sour natures begin to sweeten. For anyone who has ever felt afraid to live and love, The Secret Garden's portrayal of reawakening spirits will thrill and rejuvenate. Frances Hodgson Burnett creates characters so strong and distinct, young readers continue to identify with them even 85 years after they were conceived. (Ages 9 to 12) [via]
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Frances Hodgson Burnett's the Secret Garden
by E. L. Konigsburg, Frances Hodgson Burnett

ISBN 0689831412 (0-689-83141-2)
Softcover, Simon & Schuster

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Mistress Mary is quite contrary until she helps her garden grow. Along the way, she manages to cure her sickly cousin Colin, who is every bit as imperious as she. These two are sullen little peas in a pod, closed up in a gloomy old manor on the Yorkshire moors of England, until a locked-up garden captures their imaginations and puts the blush of a wild rose in their cheeks; "It was the sweetest, most mysterious-looking place any one could imagine. The high walls which shut it in were covered with the leafless stems of roses which were so thick, that they matted together.... 'No wonder it is still,' Mary whispered. 'I am the first person who has spoken here for ten years.'" As new life sprouts from the earth, Mary and Colin's sour natures begin to sweeten. For anyone who has ever felt afraid to live and love, The Secret Garden's portrayal of reawakening spirits will thrill and rejuvenate. Frances Hodgson Burnett creates characters so strong and distinct, young readers continue to identify with them even 85 years after they were conceived. (Ages 9 to 12) [via]
More editions of Frances Hodgson Burnett's the Secret Garden:
- Frances Hodgson Burnett's the Secret Garden: ISBN 0689831412 (0-689-83141-2)
  Softcover, Simon & Schuster
Frances Hodgson Burnett's the Secret Garden
by Shirley Hughes, Frances Hodgson Burnett

ISBN 0670825719 (0-670-82571-9)
Hardcover, Kestrel Pr

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More editions of Frances Hodgson Burnett's the Secret Garden:
- Frances Hodgson Burnett's the Secret Garden: ISBN 0670825719 (0-670-82571-9)
  Hardcover, Kestrel Pr
Girl With a Pearl Earring
by Tracy Chevalier

ISBN 0606206736 (0-606-20673-6)
Hardcover, Demco Media

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More editions of Girl With a Pearl Earring:
- Girl With a Pearl Earring: ISBN 0606206736 (0-606-20673-6)
  Hardcover, Demco Media
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Gone with the Wind
by Margaret Mitchell

ISBN 0684826259 (0-684-82625-9)
Hardcover, Simon & Schuster

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Book summary:
An anniversary edition of Margaret Mitchell's timeless classic. [via]
More editions of Gone with the Wind:
- Gone With the Wind: ISBN 068483068X (0-684-83068-X)
  Hardcover, Scribner
- Gone with the Wind: ISBN 0684826259 (0-684-82625-9)
  Hardcover, Simon & Schuster
Hamlet

ISBN 0573691444 (0-573-69144-4)
Softcover, Bakers Plays

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Book summary:
The "Annotated Shakespeare" series allows readers to fully understand and enjoy the rich plays of the world's greatest dramatist. One of the most frequently read and performed of all stage works, Shakespeare's "Hamlet" is unsurpassed in its complexity and richness. This fully annotated version of "Hamlet" makes the play completely accessible to readers in the 21st century. It has been carefully assembled with students, teachers and the general reader in mind. Eminent linguist and translator Burton Raffel offers help with vocabulary and usage of Elizabethan English, pronunciation, prosody and alternative readings of phrases and lines. His on-page annotations provide readers with all the tools they need to comprehend the play and begin to explore its many possible interpretations. In his introduction, Raffel offers important background on the origins and previous versions of the Hamlet story, along with an analysis of the characters of Hamlet and Ophelia. And in a concluding essay, Harold Bloom meditates on the originality of Shakespeare's achievement. [via]
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Hamlet
by Julia Markus, Paul Jordan

ISBN 0582097207 (0-582-09720-7)
Softcover, Addison-Wesley Longman Ltd

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Book summary:
* Includes an informative, detailed and practical introduction to Shakespeare's life, times and language. * Supports the texts with useful notes. * Provides activities for before, during and after study. [via]
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- Hamlet: ISBN 0582097207 (0-582-09720-7)
  Softcover, Addison-Wesley Longman Ltd
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Harry Potter And the Order of the Phoenix
by J. K. Rowling

ISBN 0613999169 (0-613-99916-9)
Hardcover, Bt Bound

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Book summary:
As his fifth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry approaches in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, 15-year-old Harry Potter is in full-blown adolescence, complete with regular outbursts of rage, a nearly debilitating crush, and the blooming of a powerful sense of rebellion. It's been yet another infuriating and boring summer with the despicable Dursleys, this time with minimal contact from our hero's non-Muggle friends from school. Harry is feeling especially edgy at the lack of news from the magic world, wondering when the freshly revived evil Lord Voldemort will strike. Returning to Hogwarts will be a relief& or will it?
Book five in JK Rowling's Harry Potter series follows the darkest year yet for our young wizard, who finds himself knocked down a peg or three after the events of last year. Over the summer, gossip (usually traced back to the magic world's newspaper, the Daily Prophet) has turned Harry's tragic and heroic encounter with Voldemort at the Triwizard Tournament into an excuse to ridicule and discount the teenager. Even Professor Dumbledore, headmaster of the school, has come under scrutiny from the Ministry of Magic, which refuses to officially acknowledge the terrifying truth: that Voldemort is back. Enter a particularly loathsome new character: the toad-like and simpering ("hem, hem") Dolores Umbridge, senior undersecretary to the minister of Magic, who takes over the vacant position of defence against dark arts teacher--and in no time manages to become the high inquisitor of Hogwarts. Life isn't getting any easier for Harry Potter. With an overwhelming course load as the fifth years prepare for their examinations, devastating changes in the Gryffindor Quidditch team line-up, vivid dreams about long hallways and closed doors, and increasing pain in his lightning-shaped scar, Harry's resilience is sorely tested.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, more than any of the four previous novels in the series, is a coming-of-age story. Harry faces the thorny transition into adulthood, when adult heroes are revealed to be fallible, and matters that seemed black and white suddenly come out in shades of gray. Gone is the wide-eyed innocent, the whiz kid of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Here we have an adolescent who's sometimes sullen, often confused (especially about girls), and always self-questioning. Confronting death again, as well as a startling prophecy, Harry ends his year at Hogwarts exhausted and pensive. Readers, on the other hand, will be energised as they enter yet again the long waiting period for the next title in the marvellous magical series. --Emilie Coulter [via]
More editions of Harry Potter And the Order of the Phoenix:
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: ISBN 0606305769 (0-606-30576-9)
  Hardcover, Demco Media
- Harry Potter And the Order of the Phoenix: ISBN 0613999169 (0-613-99916-9)
  Hardcover, Bt Bound
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Home at the End of the World
by Michael Cunningham

ISBN 0553550020 (0-553-55002-0)
Hardcover, Bantam Books

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Book summary:
Twentysomething friends Jonathan and Bobby are as close as two friends can be, but when their live-in flatmate, Clare, becomes pregnant, their attempts to live together, both acting as fathers to her child, could jeopardize that friendship. Reprint. 60,000 first printing. [via]
More editions of Home at the End of the World:
- Home at the End of the World: ISBN 0553550020 (0-553-55002-0)
  Hardcover, Bantam Books
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Homecoming
by Cynthia Voigt

ISBN 0689851324 (0-689-85132-4)
Softcover, Simon & Schuster

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Book summary:
Dicey began to panic. The four of them had been waiting in the car for hours now. Why wasn't their mother back? Why had she just walked off like that? What would they do if she never came back? Dicey had known for a while that something was not right with her mother. There wasn't anything she could put her finger on, but when Mamma said goodbye to them that day in the supermarket car park, Dicey knew that she wasn't coming back. And so Dicey, as the eldest, plans to lead the three others halfway across America to their aunt -- on foot. And the story of how they reached their destination and what they found there is one of the most gripping in children's literature; it is the story of one child's courage against impossible odds, and of a determination to find a home that never lets up. Homecoming, the first in a series of seven wonderful novels, is a must for any reader, young or old. [via]
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It Takes a Village : And Other Lessons Children Teach Us
by Hillary Rodham Clinton

ISBN 0684818434 (0-684-81843-4)
Hardcover, Simon & Schuster

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Book summary:
The First Lady, a longtime child advocate, expresses her concerns for the children of today's world and offers her ideas for developing our society into one that values children's unique contributions. [via]
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Jewel
by Bret Lott

ISBN 0671038184 (0-671-03818-4)
Softcover, Pocket Books

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Book summary:
The year is 1943 and life is good for Jewel Hilburn, her husband, Leston, and their five children. Although there's a war on, the Mississippi economy is booming, providing plenty of business for the hardworking family. And even the news that eldest son James has enlisted is mitigated by the fact that Jewel, now pushing 40, is pregnant with one last child. Her joy is slightly clouded, however, when her childhood friend Cathedral arrives at the door with a troubling prophecy: "I say unto you that the baby you be carrying be yo' hardship, be yo' test in this world. This be my prophesying unto you, Miss Jewel."
When the child is finally born, it seems that Cathedral's prediction was empty: the baby appears normal in every way. As the months go by, however, Jewel becomes increasingly afraid that something is wrong with little Brenda Kay--she doesn't cry, she doesn't roll over, she's hardly ever awake. Eventually husband and wife take the baby to the doctor and are informed that she is a "Mongolian Idiot," not expected to live past the age of 2. Jewel angrily rebuffs the doctor's suggestion that they institutionalize Brenda Kay. Instead the Hilburns shoulder the burdens--and discover the unexpected joys--of living with a Down's syndrome child.
Bret Lott has written a novel that spans decades, follows the lives of several characters, and cuts back and forth between Mississippi and California. Given these challenges, a lesser writer might lose focus. Lott, however, has wisely chosen to keep his eye trained on Jewel--a narrator who is smart, perceptive, and above all, honest. He has also bucked the trend toward political correctness by allowing his characters to think, feel, and talk the way white Mississippians of that era would have. ("Mongolian Idiot," "nigger," "cracker," and "buck" are just a few of the epithets sprinkled throughout the text.) The language may be discomforting to some readers. Few will deny, however, that Bret Lott has crafted a clan that is all heart in this bittersweet paean to the enduring strength of familial love. --Margaret Prior [via]
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Just Listen
by Sarah Dessen

ISBN 0670061050 (0-670-06105-0)
Hardcover, Penguin Group USA

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Book summary:
Last year, Annabel was "the girl who has everything"at least thats the part she played in the television commercial for Kopf s Department Store.This year, shes the girl who has nothing: no best friend because mean-but-exciting Sophie dropped her, no peace at home since her older sister became anorexic, and no one to sit with at lunch. Until she meets Owen Armstrong. Tall, dark, and music-obsessed, Owen is a reformed bad boy with a commitment to truth-telling.With Owens help,maybe Annabel can face what happened the night she and Sophie stopped being friends.

In this multi-layered, impossible-to-put-down book, Sarah Dessen tells the story of a year in the life of a family coming to terms with the imperfections beneath its perfect facade.

[via]
More editions of Just Listen:
- Just Listen: ISBN 0670061050 (0-670-06105-0)
  Hardcover, Penguin Group USA
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The Klingon Hamlet
by William Shakespeare, Nick Nicholas, Andrew Strader, Klingon Language Institute, Will Martin, Mark Shoulson, D'Armond Speers

ISBN 0671035789 (0-671-03578-9)
Softcover, Star Trek

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Book summary:
Prepared by the Klingon Language Institute, The Klingon Hamlet presents full English and Klingon versions of Shakespeare's play side by side. Only experienced Klingon speakers will be able to fully appreciate the nuances of the Klingon-language version, but for anyone who has dabbled in the language, this is an excellent opportunity to acquire large chunks of authentic text to practice on. Most of the vocabulary used can be found in either The Klingon Dictionary or Klingon for the Galactic Traveler.
For non-Klingon speakers, there is Shakespeare's original text, an English-language introduction, and detailed endnotes, very wittily presented. These put forward the case that Shakespeare himself was a Klingon, and underline the essentially Klingon nature of this famous play, with its themes of honor and revenge. In creating the tragic figure of Hamlet, with his very un-Klingon propensity for brooding and procrastination, Shakespeare is believed to have been commenting on a culture becoming alienated from its traditional warlike virtues, and we are told that most Klingons find it a deeply disturbing play.
All in all, this is a very clever, well-presented interpretation of one of the world's most famous plays. The Klingon translation, in all the glory of its iambic pentameter, has been lovingly constructed, and is well worth the effort of reading at least a few favorite passages aloud. --Elizabeth Sourbut, Amazon.co.uk [via]
More editions of The Klingon Hamlet:
- The Klingon Hamlet: ISBN 0671035789 (0-671-03578-9)
  Softcover, Star Trek
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Little Men
by Louisa May Alcott

ISBN 0590412795 (0-590-41279-5)
Softcover, Scholastic Paperbacks

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Book summary:
FOR USE IN SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES ONLY. The classic story about young boys growing up in nineteenth-century New England. [via]
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Little Men : Life at Plumfield with Jo's Boys
by Louisa May Alcott, Frank T. Merrill

ISBN 067944503X (0-679-44503-X)
Hardcover, Knopf Publishing Group

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Book summary:
Follows the adventures of Jo March and her husband Professor Bhaer as they try to make their school for boys a happy, comfortable, and stimulating place. [via]
More editions of Little Men : Life at Plumfield with Jo's Boys:
- Little Men : Life at Plumfield with Jo's Boys: ISBN 067944503X (0-679-44503-X)
  Hardcover, Knopf Publishing Group
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The Long Winter
by Laura Ingalls Wilder

ISBN 0590300946 (0-590-30094-6)
Softcover, Scholastic Paperbacks

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Book summary:
Paperback [via]
More editions of The Long Winter:
- The Long Winter: ISBN 0590300946 (0-590-30094-6)
  Softcover, Scholastic Paperbacks
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The Memory Of Running
by Ron McLarty

ISBN 0670033634 (0-670-03363-4)
Hardcover, Penguin Group USA

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Book summary:
Ron McLarty has joined the ranks of writers of the quirky hero with The Memory of Running. His hero, Smithy Ide, is in the grand tradition of Ignatius J. Reilly of A Confederacy of Dunces and Quoyle of The Shipping News. What these gentlemen have in common is their lumpen-loser looks, their outsider status and their general befuddlement about the way the world works and their place in it. Smithy rises above them because of his self-effacing nature, his great capacity for love, his inability to show it and his endless willingness to forgive.
Smithy is a 279-pound, hard-drinking, chain-smoking, 43-year-old misfit who works in a G.I. Joe factory putting arms and legs on the action heroes. (How did McLarty come up with that?) He is also the most beguiling anti-hero to come into view in a long, long time. McLarty, an award-winning actor and playwright best known for his many appearances on TV in Law & Order, Sex and the City, The Practice, and Judging Amy, has added another star to his creative crown with this novel.
The first sentence of the book is: "My parents' Ford station wagon hit a concrete divider on U.S. 95 outside Biddeford, Maine, in August 1990." This tragic accident eventually claims both their lives. It is on the day of their funeral that Smithy finds a letter to his father about Bethany, his beloved and deeply troubled sister, stating that, "Bethany Ide, 51, died from complications of exposure... and she has since that time been in the Los Angeles Morgue West." Beautiful Bethany, given to taking off her clothes in public places, holding impossible poses for long periods of time, responding to voices that only she can hear, and disappearing for no known reason. This time, she has been gone for many years and now Smithy knows that she died destitute and alone. When he reads the letter, he is drunk, grief-stricken and, despite a house full of people, he is alone. He goes out to the garage to smoke and have another drink and spies his old Raleigh bicycle. He sits on it, flat tires and all, wheels it to the end of the driveway--and--Smithy doesnt know it yet, but he is going to ride a bicycle from Maine to Los Angeles to claim his sister's remains.
On the road he meets the good, the bad, and the really bad. He frequently calls Norma, the Ides' across-the-street neighbor, confined to a wheelchair for years, and always in love with him. He has never acknowledged nor returned her ardor, but he starts to count on her friendship during his travels. Their conversations are sweet and revelatory. McLarty has done a superb job of showing us who Smithy is and who he is becoming. It's a wonderful story told with great poignancy and humor. --Valerie Ryan [via]
More editions of The Memory Of Running:
- The Memory Of Running: ISBN 0670033634 (0-670-03363-4)
  Hardcover, Penguin Group USA
The Pain and the Great One
by Judy Blume, Irene Trivas

ISBN 0689855079 (0-689-85507-9)
Hardcover, Simon & Schuster

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- The Pain and the Great One: ISBN 0689855079 (0-689-85507-9)
  Hardcover, Simon & Schuster
A Painted House
by John Grisham

ISBN 0613494512 (0-613-49451-2)
Hardcover, Bt Bound

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- A Painted House: ISBN 0613494512 (0-613-49451-2)
  Hardcover, Bt Bound
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Perks of Being a Wallflower
by Stephen Chbosky

ISBN 0671027344 (0-671-02734-4)
Softcover, Pocket Books

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Book summary:
What is most notable about this funny, touching, memorable first novel from Stephen Chbosky is the resounding accuracy with which the author captures the voice of a boy teetering on the brink of adulthood. Charlie is a freshman. And while's he's not the biggest geek in the school, he is by no means popular. He's a wallflower--shy and introspective, and intelligent beyond his years, if not very savvy in the social arts. We learn about Charlie through the letters he writes to someone of undisclosed name, age, and gender, a stylistic technique that adds to the heart-wrenching earnestness saturating this teen's story. Charlie encounters the same struggles that many kids face in high school--how to make friends, the intensity of a crush, family tensions, a first relationship, exploring sexuality, experimenting with drugs--but he must also deal with his best friend's recent suicide. Charlie's letters take on the intimate feel of a journal as he shares his day-to-day thoughts and feelings:

I walk around the school hallways and look at the people. I look at the teachers and wonder why they're here. If they like their jobs. Or us. And I wonder how smart they were when they were fifteen. Not in a mean way. In a curious way. It's like looking at all the students and wondering who's had their heart broken that day, and how they are able to cope with having three quizzes and a book report due on top of that. Or wondering who did the heart breaking. And wondering why.
With the help of a teacher who recognizes his wisdom and intuition, and his two friends, seniors Samantha and Patrick, Charlie mostly manages to avoid the depression he feels creeping up like kudzu. When it all becomes too much, after a shocking realization about his beloved late Aunt Helen, Charlie retreats from reality for awhile. But he makes it back in due time, ready to face his sophomore year and all that it may bring. Charlie, sincerely searching for that feeling of "being infinite," is a kindred spirit to the generation that's been slapped with the label X. --Brangien Davis [via]
More editions of Perks of Being a Wallflower:
- Perks of Being a Wallflower: ISBN 0671027344 (0-671-02734-4)
  Softcover, Pocket Books
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The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio: How My Mother Raised 10 Kids on 25 Words or Less
by Terry Ryan, Suze Orman

ISBN 0743211235 (0-7432-1123-5)
Softcover, Touchstone Books

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The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio introduces Evelyn Ryan, an enterprising woman who kept poverty at bay with wit, poetry, and perfect prose during the "contest era" of the 1950s and 1960s.
Stepping back into a time when fledgling advertising agencies were active partners with consumers, and everyday people saw possibility in every coupon, Terry Ryan tells how her mother kept the family afloat by writing jingles and contest entries. Mom's winning ways defied the Church, her alcoholic husband, and antiquated views of housewives. To her, flouting convention was a small price to pay when it came to securing a happy home for her six sons and four daughters. Evelyn, who would surely be a Madison Avenue executive if she were working today, composed her jingles not in the boardroom, but at the ironing board.
By entering contests wherever she found them -- TV, radio, newspapers, direct-mail ads -- Evelyn Ryan was able to win every appliance her family ever owned, not to mention cars, television sets, bicycles, watches, a jukebox, and even trips to New York, Dallas, and Switzerland. But it wasn't just the winning that was miraculous; it was the timing. If a toaster died, one was sure to arrive in the mail from a forgotten contest. Days after the bank called in the second mortgage on the house, a call came from the Dr Pepper company: Evelyn was the grand-prize winner in its national contest -- and had won enough to pay the bank.
Graced with a rare appreciation for life's inherent hilarity, Evelyn turned every financial challenge into an opportunity for fun and profit. From her frenetic supermarket shopping spree -- worth $3,000 today -- to her clever entries worthy of Erma Bombeck, Dorothy Parker, and Ogden Nash, the story of this irrepressible woman whose talents reached far beyond her formidable verbal skills is told in The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio with an infectious joy that shows how a winning spirit will triumph over the poverty of circumstance. [via]
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Ramona and Her Father
by Beverly Cleary, Alan Tiegreen

ISBN 0688221149 (0-688-22114-9)
Hardcover, William Morrow & Co

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Second grade is not turning out the way it should for Ramona Quimby. Her dad has lost his job, her mom has found a full-time job, and her big sister Beezus has "reached a difficult age." In her inimitable way, Ramona decides to take charge. She practices TV commercials in hopes of earning a million dollars, but only ends up insulting her teacher and getting into a prickly mess with some burrs. Then she embarks on a campaign to make her father stop smoking. Mr. Quimby manages to hold up under all these strains, but the challenge is on for the whole family to prove their mettle.
Once again, Beverly Cleary proves her own mettle in this touching and hilarious Newbery Honor Book. Beloved author of over two dozen children's books, and recipient of many awards, including another Newbery Honor for Ramona Quimby, Age 8 and a Newbery Medal for Dear Mr. Henshaw, Cleary's instinct for children's jumbled emotions is flawless. Alan Tiegreen's adroit line drawings perfectly complement Cleary's style; it's hard to imagine one without the other. (Ages 8 to 12) --Emilie Coulter [via]
More editions of Ramona and Her Father:
- Ramona and Her Father: ISBN 0688321143 (0-688-32114-3)
  Hardcover, HarperCollins Publishers
- Ramona and Her Father: ISBN 0688221149 (0-688-22114-9)
  Hardcover, William Morrow & Co
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Ramona Quimby
by Beverly Cleary, Alan Tiegreen

ISBN 0688004776 (0-688-00477-6)
Hardcover, William Morrow & Co

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From the first day of third grade, when Ramona Quimby meets her eventual nemesis Yard Ape, life moves on at its usual wild pace--usual for the boisterous Ramona, that is. Soon she is accidentally squashing a raw egg into her hair at the school cafeteria, being forced to play Uncle Rat with her annoying young neighbor, and, worst of all, throwing up in her classroom. The responsibilities of an 8-year-old are sometimes daunting, especially in a family that is trying to squeak by while the father goes back to school. But Ramona is full of too much vim and vigor to ever be down for long.
In her second Newbery Honor Book about Ramona (the first was Ramona and Her Father), Beverly Cleary presents another slice of the Quimby family life. Author of more than two dozen children's books, Cleary has a true knack for understanding the tangle of thoughts and emotions in a child's mind and heart. Empathic, witty, and astute, she has earned many other awards, including the Newbery Medal for Dear Mr. Henshaw. Alan Tiegreen's clever line drawings have charmed countless readers of Cleary's books over the years, and his style is now inextricably tied to hers. (Ages 8 to 12) --Emilie Coulter [via]
More editions of Ramona Quimby:
- Ramona Quimby: ISBN 0688004776 (0-688-00477-6)
  Hardcover, William Morrow & Co
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Ramona Quimby, Age 8
by Beverly Cleary, Alan Tiegreen, Tracy Dockray

ISBN 0688004784 (0-688-00478-4)
Hardcover, HarperCollins Publishers

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Book summary:
From the first day of third grade, when Ramona Quimby meets her eventual nemesis Yard Ape, life moves on at its usual wild pace--usual for the boisterous Ramona, that is. Soon she is accidentally squashing a raw egg into her hair at the school cafeteria, being forced to play Uncle Rat with her annoying young neighbor, and, worst of all, throwing up in her classroom. The responsibilities of an 8-year-old are sometimes daunting, especially in a family that is trying to squeak by while the father goes back to school. But Ramona is full of too much vim and vigor to ever be down for long.
In her second Newbery Honor Book about Ramona (the first was Ramona and Her Father), Beverly Cleary presents another slice of the Quimby family life. Author of more than two dozen children's books, Cleary has a true knack for understanding the tangle of thoughts and emotions in a child's mind and heart. Empathic, witty, and astute, she has earned many other awards, including the Newbery Medal for Dear Mr. Henshaw. Alan Tiegreen's clever line drawings have charmed countless readers of Cleary's books over the years, and his style is now inextricably tied to hers. (Ages 8 to 12) --Emilie Coulter [via]
More editions of Ramona Quimby, Age 8:
- Ramona Quimby, Age 8: ISBN 0688004784 (0-688-00478-4)
  Hardcover, HarperCollins Publishers
Saffy's Angel
by Hilary McKay

ISBN 0689849346 (0-689-84934-6)
Softcover, Simon & Schuster

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Whitbread Book Award-winning author Hilary McKay is no stranger to high praise, but for Saffy's Angel she really deserves the top honours. This heavenly little book tells the story of Cadmium, Saffron, Indigo and Rose--siblings who are each as colourful as their exotic names suggest.
Close-knit and divinely eccentric, the family (under the not-so-stable guidance of their mother Eve and their weary father, Bill) chug along quite nicely until one day Saffron discovers she was adopted by the family following the death of her mother, Eve's twin sister. As Saffron tries to come to terms with the shocking news, her grandfather dies and bequeaths her a stone angel in his will. But where is it? Saffron, her remarkable family and her new found friend, Sarah, embark on a search that sees Saffy heading for Sienna in Italy while her brother and sisters determine to leave no stone unturned in their quest for the cherub they know will make all the difference in the world to their beloved adopted sister.
Saffy's Angel is written with a simple, understated elegance that allows the reader access to the kind of family we would all, secretly, love to belong to. Each character is drawn with an enviable artistry coupled with, one suspects, a tongue-in the cheek that adds a sharp realistic air to a modern household with a heart of pure, old-fashioned gold. And it is these fabulous characters who lead the unfurling of the story, easing the reader through the pages with an irresistible wit and warmth that smartly avoids cosiness but nonetheless leaves a soothing rosy glow.
Marvellous stuff from a marvellous author who has the potential to knock even the queen of children's fiction, Jacqueline Wilson, off her perch, this sometimes funny, sometimes heartbreaking book is a must-read. And don't be put off by the pinkness of the packaging: it might look terribly girly, but at the heart of the matter is a fantastically straightforward, deeply satisfying, superior read for anyone who has a heart and a few hours to spare. Suitable for ages 10 and over. --Susan Harrison [via]
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The Secret Garden
by James Howe, Nancy Carpenter

ISBN 0679947515 (0-679-94751-5)
Hardcover, Random House Childrens Books

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- The Secret Garden: ISBN 0679947515 (0-679-94751-5)
  Hardcover, Random House Childrens Books
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The Secret Garden
by Susan Gallagher, Frances Hodgson Burnett

ISBN 0688145825 (0-688-14582-5)
Hardcover, HarperCollins Publishers

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Book summary:
Mistress Mary is quite contrary until she helps her garden grow. Along the way, she manages to cure her sickly cousin Colin, who is every bit as imperious as she. These two are sullen little peas in a pod, closed up in a gloomy old manor on the Yorkshire moors of England, until a locked-up garden captures their imaginations and puts the blush of a wild rose in their cheeks; "It was the sweetest, most mysterious-looking place any one could imagine. The high walls which shut it in were covered with the leafless stems of roses which were so thick, that they matted together.... 'No wonder it is still,' Mary whispered. 'I am the first person who has spoken here for ten years.'" As new life sprouts from the earth, Mary and Colin's sour natures begin to sweeten. For anyone who has ever felt afraid to live and love, The Secret Garden's portrayal of reawakening spirits will thrill and rejuvenate. Frances Hodgson Burnett creates characters so strong and distinct, young readers continue to identify with them even 85 years after they were conceived. (Ages 9 to 12) [via]
More editions of The Secret Garden:
- The Secret Garden: ISBN 0688145825 (0-688-14582-5)
  Hardcover, HarperCollins Publishers
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The Secret Garden : A Young Reader's Edition of the Classic Story
by Frances Hodgson Burnett

ISBN 0590433466 (0-590-43346-6)
Softcover, Scholastic Canada, Limited

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Book summary:
Mistress Mary is quite contrary until she helps her garden grow. Along the way, she manages to cure her sickly cousin Colin, who is every bit as imperious as she. These two are sullen little peas in a pod, closed up in a gloomy old manor on the Yorkshire moors of England, until a locked-up garden captures their imaginations and puts the blush of a wild rose in their cheeks; "It was the sweetest, most mysterious-looking place any one could imagine. The high walls which shut it in were covered with the leafless stems of roses which were so thick, that they matted together.... 'No wonder it is still,' Mary whispered. 'I am the first person who has spoken here for ten years.'" As new life sprouts from the earth, Mary and Colin's sour natures begin to sweeten. For anyone who has ever felt afraid to live and love, The Secret Garden's portrayal of reawakening spirits will thrill and rejuvenate. Frances Hodgson Burnett creates characters so strong and distinct, young readers continue to identify with them even 85 years after they were conceived. (Ages 9 to 12) [via]
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The Shining
by Stephen King

ISBN 0743424425 (0-7434-2442-5)
Softcover, Pocket Books

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"YOU'RE THE CARETAKER, SIR. YOU'VE ALWAYS BEEN THE CARETAKER. I SHOULD KNOW, SIR. I'VE ALWAYS BEEN HERE...."
-- DELBERT GRADY OF THE OVERLOOK HOTEL
THE SHINING
First published in 1977, The Shining quickly became a benchmark in the literary career of Stephen King. This tale of a troubled man hired to care for a remote mountain resort over the winter, his loyal wife, and their uniquely gifted son slowly but steadily unfolds as secrets from the Overlook Hotel's past are revealed, and the hotel itself attempts to laim the very souls of the Torrence family. Adapted into a cinematic masterpiece of horror by legendaryStanley Kubrick -- featuring an unforgettable performance by a demonic Jack Nicholson --The Shining stands as a cultural icon of modern horror, a searing study of a family torn apart, and a nightmarish glimpse into the dark recesses of human weakness and dementia. [via]
More editions of The Shining:
- The Shining: ISBN 0743437497 (0-7434-3749-7)
  Softcover, Pocket Books
- The Shining: ISBN 0743424425 (0-7434-2442-5)
  Softcover, Pocket Books
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Song and Dance Man
by Karen Ackerman

ISBN 0590430092 (0-590-43009-2)
Softcover, Scholastic Paperbacks

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Once a song and dance man, Grandpa reclaims his youth and profession before the delighted eyes of his three grandchildren one afternoon. He simply cannot resist the urge to dress up in clothes left over from his vaudeville days--complete with top hat and gold-headed cane--and to perform tricks, play banjo and tell jokes. He taps, twirls and laughs himself to tears on a thrown-together stage in his attic. Artist Stephen Gammell takes full advantage of lamplight to render Grandpa in shadow and silhouette, trivializing the concept of age and creating a feeling of intense nostalgia. Related from the point of view of the children, the text in Song and Dance Man is soft and understated, and Gammell's artistry is superb. The book won the Caldecott Medal in 1989. [via]
More editions of Song and Dance Man:
- Song and Dance Man: ISBN 0679819959 (0-679-81995-9)
  Softcover, Random House Childrens Books
- Song and Dance Man: ISBN 0590430092 (0-590-43009-2)
  Softcover, Scholastic Paperbacks
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The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark
by William Shakespeare, Paul Werstine, Barbara A. Mowat

ISBN 067172262X (0-671-72262-X)
Softcover, Pocket Classics

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Book summary:
PB [via]
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The World's Great Classics

ISBN 0717200019 (0-7172-0001-9)
Hardcover, Xs Books

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Book summary:
Odyssey, The: The World's Great Classics, by Homer; tr. by S.H. Butcher and Andrew Lang [via]
More editions of The World's Great Classics:
- The World's Great Classics: ISBN 0717200019 (0-7172-0001-9)
  Hardcover, Xs Books