Colon's beautiful scratchboard illustrations, in his textured, glowingly colored, rhythmic style, capture the warmth and the dreams that the boy finds in the world of books. A 1999-2000 Texas Bluebonnet Award Master List Book.

    so it's no surprise when she grows up to become a librarian herself. She even manages to turn the people of Chesterville—who are couch potatoes—into readers. But then Bust-'em-up Bill roars into town with his motorcycle gang. Just mention reading to him and you're toast. Has Lil finally met her match? This original tall tale by a real-life librarian, combined with Steven Kellogg's trademark humor, is better than any TV show!"A librarian's favorite fantasy... The silliness of both story and pictures are perfectly matched... A winner for storytimes anywhere." —School Library Journal, starred review"This love story about books is enough to make anyone wish for a permanent TV blackout!" —Children's Literature

    Besides discussions of Austen's novels and letters, there are essays on religion, politics, class consciousness, publishing practices, domestic economy, style in the novels and the significance of her juvenile works. A chronology provides biographical information, and assessments of the history of Austen criticism highlight the most interesting recent studies in a vast field of critical diversity.

    Over the next three years they haunted every used and rare bookshop between New York and Boston that they could find, from dingy, dust-filled barns to elegant Park Avenue galleries. Starting small on cheap, out-of-print used books, their addiction soon graduated to first editions and, finally, to three-quarter morocco, custom-bound antiquarian classics that they could not afford. Along the way, they gained an education in books—and in people—that we can all savor. This warm and witty story is filled with eccentric characters, from a punk book dealer peddling fifty-thousand-dollar modern firsts to a golf-obsessed Shakespearean scholar with books on demonic possession in his basement. Part travel story, part love story, and part memoir, Used and Rare is an absorbing and delightful journey and a love letter to book lovers everywhere.

    It traces the development of the stories from prehistoric India and Pharaonic Egypt to modern times. It explores the history of the translation, and explains the ways in which its contents have been added to, plagiarized and imitated. Above all, the book uses the stories as a guide to the social history and the counterculture of the medieval Near East and the world of the storyteller, the snake charmer, the burglar, the sorcerer, the drug addict, the treasure hunter and the adulterer.

    Offers powerful insight into the portrayal of romantic love by Jean Rhys, Clover Adams, Christina Stead, Willa Cather, Grace Paley, Raymond Carver, Andre Dubus, and others.

    Venia's anguished, intoxicated journey on the Moscow suburban train takes us deep into the cultural milieu of Brezhnev's Soviet Union and into the labyrinth of the soul. This volume includes critical essays by eight scholars, an introduction to Erofeev's life and work, and a comprehensive bibliography. The collection also offers a broad range of insights into this curious, brilliant, and unique work.

    Essays examine classics of children's literature that have been forgotten or neglected over time.

    Including 100 examples of hand-coloured medieval and Renaissance illumination from around Europe, this work presents translations of key texts and explanations of the cultural significance of Books of Hours.

    An authoritative reviewer in her own right, Kathleen Horning provides practical guidelines for reading critically, evaluating an initial response, answering questions raised during the first reading, putting a response into words, balancing description with criticism, and writing reviews for a particular audience.

    In this exciting 13-week study of 1 and 2 Samuel and 1 Chronicles, you'll discover how to pray more effectively, the total sufficiency of God's grace and forgiveness, and ways to please, honor, and worship God,""

    Conducted over a five-year period, these interviews provide a window into the personal and literary lives of a company of writers whose work continues to defy categorization. These writers talk candidly about their careers, their audiences, their approaches to writing, and their attitudes toward issues of faith. Taken together, the interviews provide a perceptive analysis of contemporary literature and a challenge to the practice of labeling books as "Christian" or "secular." The volume also includes photographs, a brief introduction to each of the writers, and a chronological listing of their work. In addition to serving those who are fans of one or more of these writers, this book is also an excellent resource for those interested in finding quality fiction for personal reading.

    Aimed at pupils who are studying Much Ado About Nothing for the first time, this literature guide provides a straightforward explanation of the text that carefully leads students through the play to reach a better understanding and appreciation of it.  York Notes, the ultimate best-selling literature guides, are a useful background for both quick-reference and insightful interpretations.

    Sherlock Holmes, Huck Finn, Pinocchio, Anna Karenina, Genji, and Superman, to name a few, may not have walked the Earth (or flown, in Superman's case), but they certainly stride through our lives. They influence us personally: as childhood friends, catalysts to our dreams, or even fantasy lovers. Peruvian author and presidential candidate Mario Vargas Llosa, for one, confessed to a lifelong passion for Flaubert's Madame Bovary. Characters can change the world. Witness the impact of Solzhenitsyn's Ivan Denisovich, in exposing the conditions of the Soviet Gulag, or Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom, in arousing anti-slavery feeling in America. Words such as quixotic, oedipal, and herculean show how fictional characters permeate our language. This list of the Fictional 100 ranks the most influential fictional persons in world literature and legend, from all time periods and from all over the world, ranging from Shakespeare's Hamlet [1] to Toni Morrison's Beloved [100]. By tracing characters' varied incarnations in literature, art, music, and film, we gain a sense of their shape-shifting potential in the culture at large. Although not of flesh and blood, fictional characters have a life and history of their own. Meet these diverse and fascinating people. From the brash Hercules to the troubled Holden Caulfield, from the menacing plots of Medea to the misguided schemes of Don Quixote, The Fictional 100 runs the gamut of heroes and villains, young and old, saints and sinners. Ponder them, fall in love with them, learn from their stories the varieties of human experience--let them live in you.

    Previously unpublished photos of Margaret Wise Brown and Clement Hurd, as well as pages from the original dummy and full-color studies of the artwork, tell a personal story of friendship, respect and collaborative genius. Full color.

    Using the most recent work in Gothic and gender studies, the authors enter the current debate on the nature of female Gothic and raise questions about du Maurier's relationship to such a tradition. They demonstrate that using recognizable popular forms, she was able to explore through Gothic writing the anxieties of modernity in the kind of fiction many people find accessible. This, they claim, explains the compulsive quality of her best novels and their enduring popularity.

    Dickens' characters are strikingly portrayed and have become a vital part of our cultural heritage - Scrooge has become a by-word for stinginess, Uriah Heep for unctuousness. From the much loved Oliver Twist to the fact-grubbing Mr Gradgrind, the obstinate Martin Chuzzlewit to the embittered Miss Havisham, this book covers the famous and lesser known characters in Dickens.The book contains a physical and psychological profile of each character, a critical look at his characters by past and present influential commentators and over forty illustrations of major characters drawn by Dickens' contemporaries.

    . if you remember toiling--awestruck--up marble staircases in search of facts for a junior-high geography report; if you've driven past perfect, preserved-in-amber temples in towns too small for a stoplight and a Wal-Mart; if you've ever sat through Story Hour in the Children's Reading Room, perched on a teeny-weeny little chair that transported you to pirate dens and Indian camps and all the castles of Fairydom, you'll treasure this book." -- Karal Ann Marling, University of Minnesota from the Preface "Many people believe that when you've seen one Carnegie library, you've seen them all--and nothing could be further from the truth. Each library was a separate and intentional design effort to construct a landmark. Each played a surprisingly important role in the vast social changes that occurred at the turn of the century, which include women's suffrage, museum development, the movies, the budding labor movements, education, philanthropy, and other vital issues." -- Theodore JonesIn 1893, the same year that Henry Ford built his first car, the doors opened on the first Carnegie library. Not particularly newsworthy at the time--outside of the small town of Fairfield, Iowa, that is--the library event can be seen, in retrospect, as a watershed for democracy in America. Over the next three decades, the Carnegie "free library" program endowed the construction of 1,688 public libraries in 1,419 communities across America--half of all public libraries in the nation. More than just repositories for books, these edifices represented a historic opportunity for everyone, regardless of his or her station in life, to directly benefit from the true wealth of nations--knowledge.In the only comprehensive history of the libraries that Carnegie built, journalist and historian Theodore Jones revisits these national treasures. He helps us rediscover an important part of who we are as a people. An enthralling read for American history buffs and a valuable resource for preservationists and restoration architects, Carnegie Libraries Across America explores all major historical, social, and technical apexes of the subject.Writing in a taut journalistic style, Jones introduces us to Andrew Carnegie, robber baron, philanthropist, veritable Horatio Alger character, and explores his motives in endowing the construction of libraries on such a massive scale. He takes us inside the library fund where we meet the decision-makers and learn the criteria by which they judged who was a fit beneficiary of the Carnegie largess and who was not. And with the help of original documents, including letters of petition by schoolteachers, bankers, and civic leaders from across the United States, he provides valuable insights into life in turn-of-the-century American towns and the values and aspirations of their citizens.And, of course, there are the buildings themselves. Jones tells the stories of many of the most notable Carnegie libraries and the various uses they have been put to over the years. In exploring the impact they had on public architecture in America, he recounts the furious battles waged by factions within the architectural community over the design of the libraries. Using nearly 100 superb reproductions, including many never-before-seen postcards and photographs, he identifies the differing architectural styles represented in various Carnegie libraries, and considers the ideological implications of each. Jones also supplies a complete directory listing the location, date of construction, and current use of each library.Carnegie Libraries Across America is your guide to treasures to be found in hundreds of communities throughout the United States.

    Half a century, and over a thousand books later, the name Folio has become synonymous with affordable fine editions — books chosen for their enduring worth, handsomely designed, illustrated and bound, which reflect not just the traditional skills of the book-maker's art but also the tremendous possibilities opened up by new technology. "Folio 50", compiled by the distinguished bibliographer Paul W. Nash, is the first fully descriptive record of the Society's publications over its fifty years to date. It is sumptuously illustrated and contains a history of the Society, essays on Folio's design and production, and the personal reminiscences of writers, artists and Society members. This is a commemorative volume of outstanding usefulness.

    Owing to its small size, the pocket guide includes 'just the facts' -- author name (last name first), character name, numbered book titles in series order, publication date and major mystery awards. This book includes more: More than 800 series detectives; Over 4400 titles in correct series order; More than 500 new titles from '95 and '96; Award winners and Nominees; Pseudonymous authors (P).

    Usually compiled by women and sold to raise funds for a charitable cause, these collections of recipes may seem to be utilitarian objects that exhibit little if any narrative interest. But this is hardly the case. In Recipes for Reading, scholars from a variety of disciplines examine community cookbooks as complex texts deserving serious study. The contributors contend that such cookbooks have stories to tell about the lives and values of the women who wrote them, stories that are autobiographical in most cases, historical in some, and fictive in others.The volume is divided into three sections. Part One provides a historical overview of community cookbooks, a discussion of their narrative strategies, and insights into the linguistic peculiarities of recipes. Part Two contains essays about particular cookbooks and their relationship to specific cultural groups. Examined here are Methodist, Mormon, and Canadian recipe collections and a recent cookbook from the National Council of Negro Women. Part Three considers a range of community cookbooks in terms of their culinary, historical, ethnic, and literary contexts. Included is a reading of the novel Like Water for Chocolate, an analysis of an early Jewish cookbook, and a look at how Mexican history and culinary changes are paralleled in cookbooks of the nineteenth century.

    "Bravo! They've given adults and young girls a much-needed treasure map of heroines and 'she-roes'...It blazes an important path in the forest of children's literature."—Jim Trelease.