Customer Reviews

The Ransom of Red Chief

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I had to read this last year for my English class, and thought that it was going to be just another lame story like all the other "classics" the public schools make us read. But when I got into it I was pleasently surprized. I couldn't stop laughing. The story is about two men who kidnap the local millionare's heir. But get more than they bargoned for. Instead of a well behaved rich kid they get a wild, red-haired hellion, that insists on playing Indians, and sacres one of his kidnappers so much that they finnally take him back to his father, thinking that they'll just get rid of him then and there. Well, instead of a reward the kid's father says that if they pay him a hundred or so dollars he'll keep his son back for a while and he won't tell the neighbors that they brought him back until nightfall. What happens next will surprize you and make you laugh. It was so much fun to read, I would suggest it to anyone that wants to read something really funny, it'll just make your day.

Red Chief, the red haired, freckle faced, 7 year old, is really a good kid. So he sets cats on fire and shoots arrows through the postman's hat. So he through Becky in the lake, he just wanted to get her clean. But why does everyone in Summit, Alambama (the flattest little town in the south) run when he comes out to play? And what happens when he is kidnapped by the two slick, charming, and unusually kind con-men Sam and Bill Driscoll? Red Chief (or Johnny Dorset by true name) adores them both, which is more than is to be said about their feelings toward him. Bill gets hit by Hurricane Red Chief the hardest. But what happens when they try to collect the ransom leaves them both on the short side of "The Ransom of Red Chief"!!!!

You probably already have this story on the shelf, in some big collection of short stories.

It is worth it to buy this high quality edition, which has the story and some biographical information about O. Henry. The paper quality and typesetting are a treat for the senses.

Laugh out loud with an old favorite.

I am a 45 yr old mother of five. When I was in the 5th grade my favorite teacher would read to us each day. This is one of the books she chose. Everyone in the class couldn't wait each day for her to read some more! My boys are now 10 and 11 and I can't wait to read it to them!!!

Red Chief, the red haired, freckle faced, 7 year old, is really a good kid. So he sets cats on fire and shoots arrows through the postman's hat. So he through Becky in the lake, he just wanted to get her clean. But why does everyone in Summit, Alambama (the flattest little town in the south)run when he comes out to play? And what happens when he is kidnapped by the two slick, charming, and unusually kind con-men Sam and Bill Driscoll? Red Chief (or Johnny Dorset by true name) adores them both, which is more than is to be said about their feelings toward him. Bill gets hit by Hurricane Red Chief the hardest. But what happens when they try to collect the ransom leaves them both on the short side of
"The Ransom of Red Chief"!!!!

I didn't realize that this was a script for a play and not a book. Maybe I didn't look that closely.