Book Review: James Herriot’s Treasury for Children (Four Stars)

Book Review: James Herriot’s Treasury for Children: Warm and Joyful Tales by the Author of All Creatures Great and Small

(Four Stars)

Beautifully illustrated animal stories. Excellent introduction for children and adults to the Yorkshire veterinary tales of James Herriot (pen name of Alf Wright). These stories are extracted, like a single thread teased from a complex tapestry, for the greater corpus of Herriot’s work. The style and format are suitable for young readers.

The illustrations of Ruth Brown and Peter Barrett are worth the price in themselves. Beautiful and evocative of the Yorkshire Dales.  Almost as good as being there. (I’ve been there; they’re worth the trip.) In their way, superior to the 1978-1990 BBC series.

Good for young readers; good for art lovers; good for lovers of the Yorkshire Dales. Fun for all.

Book Review: Above the Timberline by Gregory Manchess (Three Stars)

Book Review: Above the Timberline by Gregory Manchess

(Three Stars)

“Ancient knowledge is still–more ancient than knowledge.”

Mediocre short story; marvelous illustrations.

“When nothing is easy, everything is possible.”

Steam punk, so presumably a different world. Given the tectonic and polar shifts, everyone should be dead, not just frozen. Yes, the poles may now be at the equator, but the equator–not all of it–cannot be at the poles. Where did Wesley store the fuel for his various machines?

“The quest is worth more than the find.”