Literary Classics

Great Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe

Submitted by smaner on 5:31 pm, Tuesday, October 6

Edgar Allan

Poe

Review:

From the spine-tingling horror of The Tell-Tale Heart and The Masque of the Red Death to the haunting echo of The Raven, this classic compilation includes all your favorite tales and poems by Edgar Allan Poe. Be sure to read The Gold Bug, a story of buried treasure set on Sullivan's Island, SC.

The brief introduction provides a concise overview of the author's tragic life and mysterious death, which is almost as intriguing as the tales themselves. Poe is celebrated as a literary innovator, and his influence can be seen in the works of today's horror and mystery authors. If you enjoy either of these genres, then sample
these writings by a master in both fields.

During the month of October, RCPL is going "Stark Raven Mad" reading Great Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe. Pick up a free copy of this book at your local Richland County Public Library and participate in national reading initiative The Big Read. Post your comments and join the discussion on our Online Book Group:

/forums/-big-read-online-book-club

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

Submitted by Danny on 9:33 pm, Thursday, August 6

Author First Name:

C.S.

Author Last Name:

Lewis

Review:

The Chronicles of Narnia written by C.S. Lewis (during the years 1949-1954) is a child-friendly series of seven books for ages 8-18. The second book is called The Lion the Witch, and the Wardrobe. It starts out during World War II with Lucy Pevensie, the youngest of 2 brothers and a sister, becoming despondent when she finds out they have to leave for the countryside to stay out of harm's way from the air-raids taking place in London. Once they arrive and look around, there was nothing to do so they decided to explore. Lucy went to a room where there was a wardrobe and stepped inside it. She walked to the back of it, tripped and fell over into snow. She got up totally confused and looked around. She was in the woods! She was shocked; she had gone into a wardrobe and come out into a forest!

She decided to explore and was looking around when she bumped into a man. Now, this man wasn’t a man because he had the top of a man and the bottom of a goat. They introduced themselves and he asked her to join him for tea. So they made their way back to the faun’s (Mr. Tumnus) house. There Lucy had delicious cakes, sardines, and sweet tea. Then Mr. Tumnus offered to play the flute. She accepted his offer and listened, but she also felt like she wanted dance, sleep, and laugh at the same time. She started drifting into a nice deep sleep. A few hours later, she woke up. Mr. Tumnus was sitting down, weeping in a corner. She asked what was wrong and, in response, she got a history lesson.

According to Mr. Tumnus, someone named the White Witch had enchanted Narnia to always be winter, never feeling a ray of warm, golden, soothing sunlight. The witch had also given orders, if a faun ever encountered a human, to play them music to go to sleep and call her to get the child. Lucy asked if he was going to call the Witch, and he answered negatively. So he took her to the lamppost where they first met, and she made her way back to the wardrobe.

One day Mrs. Macready,the housekeeper, had visitors over and told the children to stay out of the way. As they explored the place, they heard the guests coming up the stairs. They ran into the first room available, the one with the wardrobe. They ran into the wardrobe and find themselves in Narnia where they have many exciting and breath-taking adventures together.

The best part of the book is C.S. Lewis’s writing style, which is short and to the point. He is great about getting the reader to imagine exactly what is happening in the book. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe has a really good plot and the action seems to all connect. The author has a great imagination with all the character details such as: talking animals, people turning to stone, and the triumphant battle of good over evil at the end. The only fault with the book was its length – I wished it was longer. I totally recommend this book as a good one for all ages. Anyone will enjoy it.

Reviewer's Name:

Danny

Reviewer's School:

Hand Middle School

Reviewer's Grade:

Rising 6th

Frankenstein

Submitted by -kermetgirl- on 2:06 pm, Monday, July 27

Author First Name:

Mary

Author Last Name:

Shelley

Review:

Victor Frankenstein, also known as Dr. Frankenstein, was away at college when his experiments went wrong and he created a monster. The monster ran away and wasn't seen again.

Soon Victor received a letter in the mail from his dad saying that his little brother William was murdered. Victor went back to his home town of Geneva, Switzerland. One night he went to the spot of the murder. He saw William's murderer, the monster.

He spoke to the monster and the monster told his story of the last few months. He told his story from the empty cottage behind a poor family's house. He wishes for a female monster for a companion. Frankenstein started making it but he stopped.

It is a very good book and you should read it.

Reviewer's Name:

Erin

Reviewer's School:

Hand Middle School

Reviewer's Grade:

Book Buzz

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Literary Classics

Great Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

Frankenstein

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