Three treasured novels in paperback--"Little House in the Big Woods, Little House on the Prairie", and "On the Banks of Plum Creek"--shrink-wrapped together in a beautifully designed package.

    The tragedy of love thwarted by fate has always intrigued writers.  In the sixteenth century, William Shakespeare took this theme and fashioned one of the world's great plays: ROMEO AND JULIET.  In our own time, Shakespeare's drama has been used as a basis for the overwhelmingly successful musical play WEST SIDE STORY.  Though one of these works is set among the nobility of Verona, and the other among immigrant families of New York's West Side, both tell the story of the plight of young star-crossed" lovers.As Norris Houghton writes in his introduction: "What we see is that all four young people strive to consummate the happiness at the threshold on which they stand and which they have tasted so briefly.  All four are deprived of the opportunity to do so, the Renaissance couple by the caprice of fate, today's youngsters by the prejudice and hatred engendered around them."Poets and playwrights will continue to write of youthful lovers whom fate drives into and out of each other's lives.  The spectacle will always trouble and move us, even as the two dramas in this volume do today."

    Henry first lived a checkered life as a cowhand, bank teller, reporter, embezzler, and convict. Then, in a last-minute reversal worthy of one of his own stories, he turned to fiction, and became a celebrated author of ironic miniatures. "The Gift of the Magi" is perhaps his most famous creation. And while this exploration of love and gift-giving doesn't exactly plumb the depths of human behavior, it does leave us with the final picture of Jim (sans watch) and Della (sans hair, or most of it), which has induced even the crankiest readers to shed a tear since it first appeared in 1906. Get out your handkerchiefs!

    They show him as a master of compression and a probing analyst, unmasking the mediocrity, lack of ideals, and spiritual and physical inertia of his generation. In these grim pictures of peasant life, and telling portraits of men and women enmeshed in trivialities, in the finely observed, suffocating atmosphere of provincial towns with their pompous officials, frustrated, self-seeking wives, spineless husbands, Chekhov does not expound any system of morality, but leaves the reader to draw what conclusion he will.

    This edition, which first appeared in 1977, was revised by the author: there are additions, deletions, and a change in sequence in the Dolphin section; the five poems in the title sequence from Near the Ocean are now uncut; and a new poem is added to the "Nineteen Thirties."

    Fifty-two Yiddish short stories describe life in the shetl and other aspects of the Jewish experience, and include works produced by Jewish writers during the last two centuries.

    However, the phenomenon dealt with aren't the unidentified flying objects themselves but the witnesses' reports. Dr Vallee is a professional analyst specializing in mathematics & astronomy. This study isn't to prove but to scientifically define & analyze documented evidence. Starting with a sharp look at historical record which includes poking the spokes of Ezekiel's Wheel, he goes up to the present with an analytical breakdown. Many of the reports are reproduced at length & relate such extraordinary incidents as the UFO that made off with a heifer, four UFO's disconcerting an air-filter plant's employees & a wild night in Kelly-Hopkinsville, KY. The author is the 1st to denounce hoaxes, fraud & glory-seekers. In his notes on documentation & research, he is adamant about thorough investigation. This is most valuable as a manual of analytical processes in this unexplored area. The author writes clearly enough to intrigue laypersons with his breakdowns, categories & classifications. The phenomenon is a compelling curiosity in itself, particularly with the staggering amount of material presented here.--Kirkus (edited)