MR

My 6 year old and I enjoy reading these books together and looking at the pictures of all the personalities which are on the back cover. We've been reading and collecting the series for a couple of years. Mr. Daydream is just like one of them members of our family so the kids get a real kick out of the book. The pictures are colorful and funny. My older kids enjoy reading this to the youngest, because it's short and gets a good laugh. We recommend the books in this series as great little gifts!

This is a very amusing book and very funny. Like the other Mr. Majeika books it is very adventurous. He is a retired wizard although he still does magic and he is now a teacher at St Barty's where his students Joddy, Thomas and Pete help him out of a difficult scrape.

Mr. Nosey is so nosey that he is always putting his nose into other peoples business. This book tells the story of how this can be very annoying to people, and what some people did to teach Mr. Nosey a lesson. Mr. Nosey learned a good lesson and is not so Nosey any more.

Mr. Nosey does not encounter any of the other Mr. Men from the Mr. Men series in this book. He does meet several people from the local town.

Of the Mr. Men books that I have read, I would recommend this one, it it not the best work by Roger Hargreaves, but it is near the top of the list. I would recommend Mr. Tall in addition to this one. If you do buy a Mr. Men book, then you should get a couple because they are very small.

My 5-year-old son was lucky enough to be given a collection of Mr. Twiddle stories by a friend returning from England. They have become his treasured favorites, read morning and night, always with delighted laughter. Poor Mr. Twiddle is dreadfully absent-minded and is continually doing things like putting his boots in the pantry and his pie in the boot cupboard. Mrs. Twiddle is continually bossing him around and chewing him out, sometimes in language blunter than parents might like {the phrase "You stupid, silly man" has been known to pass Mrs. Twiddle's lips, requiring some parental commentary). The books are set in England in the '40s (Mr. Twiddle has to queue up for a meat pie) and their dated language is one of their charms. But beware -- your child may start addressing the cat as "tiresome puss." One drawback to this book: It contains only nine stories (96 small pages), compared to the 300-plus pages in "The Mr. Twiddle Stories," the gift that started Twiddle-mania in our house.

Casey Lawson had been to dozens of weddings, but she'd never
expected to "speak." Then again, she'd never expected being
stranded in the jungle for three years and declared dead... or
coming back to find her husband had gone from tweedy professor
"Johnathon" to sexy consultant "Jack." And apparently that
wasn't all that had changed...
Jack couldn't believe Casey was back -- and more gorgeous than
ever. He wanted to kiss her senseless and make up for lost
time... but he had one small problem. He had just said "I do"
to another woman!

I picked up this book after enjoying some of Wilkinson's numerous "New Yorker" pieces. This collection is truly eclectic, covering subjects/people as diverse as Asperger's Syndrome, John Wayne Gacey, the Rolling Stones, an NHL goalie and survivors of Cambodia's Khmer Rouge regime. It was a bit difficult to get a concrete sense of Wilkinson's voice, but his breadth of coverage and respect for his topics/themes definitely showed in the essays. I especially liked how elegantly he managed to describe his feelings toward these topics. Worth reading.

It's good to know that Mr. Buffy can be reincarnated as a still witty but surprisingly wholesome commentator on foreign climes.

Mr. Calder and Mr. Behrens (and Mr. Calder's dog Rasselas) made their debut in "Game without Rules." These stories show why, in late middle age, this team is still working for MI-6 [Not that MI-6 exists, of course]. Older than James Bond, they still display all of the ruthlessness associated with British Intelligence. The second story in the book for instance shows how Rasselas became part of the team. And is there anything more chilling than Mr. Calder counting backwards in "One to Ten?"

The first story is different from all the others and gives the reader more background on Mr. Behrens. The last story, written in the late 1960s, is taking place in the mid-1980s. The rest are contemporary with their writing. Calder, Behrens, and their chief, Mr. Fortescue, are all quite conservative. But none of them is a stick in the mud nor are they reactionary. Morally, they follow their own lights and do not always obey the strictures placed on them by Queen and country.

This book is well worth the search to find it.

While Agatha Christie gave us Hercule Poirot, and Dorothy L Sayers produced Lord Peter Wimsey, Margery Allingham created Albert Campion.

The Campion books are my favourites from this era, partly because Albert is such an attractive character, with a deceptively foolish expression and a genuine sense of humour.

This book is a collection of short stories,from the 1930s, and I give it four stars instead of five because the limitations of the short story format reduce the amount of plot development and the sense of place. Also Albert's sidekick and future wife Amanda is completely absent.

However the stories are still worth reading. My favourite's are "The Question Mark", in which a suspected blackmailer turns out to be a much nicer sort of person entirely, and "The Longer View", in which Albert blunders into a kidnapping case:

"Campion did not echo the impulsive promise. Long experience of criminals had made him cautious. But there was a rare spark of anger in the shadows behind his eyes"

Find a copy, sit down and enjoy.

Lydia Carmichael is irate because she believes her beloved Aunt Tempera was wronged by L.J. Reynolds's Mr. Complete Escort Service. Her aunt's escort took advantage of a lonely female who fell in love with the gigolo. Lydia filed a complaint with the police and decides she must personally take action by going undercover as a client to expose this firm as a "sex for hire" male prostitution company.

NYPD Detective Parker informs Mr. Complete Escort Service owner Luke Reynolds that another complaint was filed against his company involving a charge of illicit sex. Luke tells the cop that he fired the escort for that reason as he runs a clean operation. Luke knows his foster brother and business rival Rhew Burgess, owner of At Your Service, has caused his recent woes. However, he overhears Lydia's tirade and plan when she speaks in a public place to a friend. He decides to go along with her ploy as her escort, but finds himself incredibly attracted to Lydia, but if she fails to reciprocate any move he makes it will affirm her belief that he is running a criminal operation.

Though the use of coincidence in which the two protagonists have meetings at the same time in Danny's Bar and Grill, fans will enjoy this gender battle between two wonderful lead characters. The story line is at its best when Luke is not sure whether to trust Lydia with his feelings for her because she proclaimed to her friend she planned to shut down his business and put him behind bars. Yet he cannot walk away as he finds his attraction for her overwhelming. Humorous and hunk heaven, Sheridon Smythe spins a delightful tale.

Harriet Klausner