Customer Reviews

The National Review Treasury of Classic Children's Literature

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Compiled and edited by William F. Buckiley, Jr., the Treasury Of Classic Children's Literature is an anthology of enduring stories for young folk, painstakingly selected and compiled by William F. Buckley, Jr. for their lasting appeal across the generations. Works by Jack London, Lewis Carroll, Rudyard Kipling, Mark Twain, Thorton W. Burgess, Palmer Cox, and others, are embellished with black-and-white illustrations in this timeless and memorable anthology which is a welcome and recommended addition to school and community library Children's Literature anthology collections.

Searching for a read-aloud book that you might share with your children, you would score a consensus winner with this compendium of rich, highly captivating tales. The two selections from Jack London, "In Yeddo Bay" and "To Repel Boarders" were springboards for our youngsters beyond this book and on to "The Call of The Wild" and "White Fang." Similarly, short fables from Louisa May Alcott and Lewis Carroll opened our ears to continue with more famous, longer works by those authors. Rudyard Kipling's "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi" and Mowgli's Brothers", "Tommy and the Meadowmice" by Thornton W. Burgess, "Juggerjook" by L. Frank Baum, creater of Oz, and "The Voyage of the Northern Light" by John Townsend Trowbridge each held my kids' attention as we read them aloud at dinner or at bedtime. The inestimable Mark Twain weighs in with a novella "Tom Sawyer Abroad" that is a perfect followup to a summertime reading of "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn." There is plenty of selection here for everyone to be happy. Give your kids the gift of colorful, imaginative literature...then read it aloud with them.

If Mr. Buckley's politics or his pomposity is a bother, worry not about it here...he pens a pithy pre-amble, and among the classics also includes a modern-day computer adventure entitled "The Temptation of Wilfred Malachey." Just plain fun!