My Prate Is Full

Oh my gosh!!!!! What have I been missing?

I have always been a little pragmatic about television sets. I never really felt the need for Hi-Definition TV viewing.  As long as the picture was decent I was fine with it. But with the digital conversion coming soon, I figured now was as good a time as any to make the leap to  HDTV.

I looked at a lot of Hi-Definition TV sets at Best Buy. I thought the pictures looked pretty good, but if it weren’t for the digital conversion, I would have had no real interest in upgrading. Then I saw the Hitachi L32A403 on HSN. The picture looked really beautiful. I was mesmerized by it. And HSN always does a good job of selling, so it did not take me long to get sold. They make it easy. 30day money back guarantee with no re-stocking fee, free shipping, and a flexpay option. They also ship out really fast. The TV was at my doorstep before I could act on buyer’s remorse. Once there, I had to see what it was like.

There’s no way I’m returning it now. Boy is it gorgeous. Granted, I’m new to High Definition, and it’s a really big leap in technology from analog TV, but I swear to God, the picture on the Hitachi L32A403 looks as good as a blue-ray display I saw at Blockbuster. I was standing in line, and noticed the blue-ray display showing The Pirates of the Caribbean, At World’s End. I had just tested that very movie on my new TV, and I remember thinking, “Oh my gosh, the picture on my TV looks just as good as that!” It is so crisp and clean and so very clear. I literally feel I can reach out and touch everything on the screen. The color is beautiful and the sound is excellent.

The Hitachi L32A403 is part of Hitachi’s Alpha series, and part of a luxury line of affordable TV’s. I really feel like I got a good quality unit for a very reasonable price. I can’t believe how much my television viewing pleasure has increased just from making this upgrade. Why did I wait so long?

Supernatural - Lucifer Rising

Summer without my boys…….Thank God So You Think You Can Dance starts next week!

In every Supernatural season finale, I love how Eric Kripke answers a lot of questions in a way that leaves you utterly satisfied and ready and waiting for the next go-round. This finale is no exception. But do I dare say it? This episode did not leave me on edge as much. I’m not praying as hard for summer to pass as quickly as possible. The Season 3 finale of Supernatural had me wiped out emotionally for days, anguished over Dean being in hell screaming out for Sam, and poor Sam left alone in the aftermath. It was gut wrenching.

This finale I felt more…..well,  relieved than anything else. Relieved that Bobby didn’t die. Relieved that the rift between Sam and Dean was not irreparable. Relieved that Ruby finally bit it. Relieved that Sam wasn’t a meat suit for Lucifer, at least not in this season - hopefully never. The apocalypse is still happening, that’s pretty huge, but on the whole, the things that are important to me are still intact.

And I’m torn about that. On one hand, thank God I don’t have to pine for Season 5 over the summer! On the other hand, wow, I’m not pining for Supernatural over the summer. I’m definitely looking forward to the next season. It is still one of my top 2 favorite TV shows ever, but boy, I’m torn!

For one second, at the end, I thought maybe it would have been a stronger ending if Lucifer had taken over Sam, as speculated by fans of the show. That’s a cliffhanger for you! Then, when I thought about it, if you have Lucifer take over Sam, you lose Sam. Then the next season is about Dean going against Lucifer and trying to rescue Sam. What kind of active role can Sam have in the series if he’s relegated to the background of his own body? He becomes the heroine who needs rescuing. It’s cliche. Part of the strength of the series has been the internal struggles. Sam and Dean’s angst regarding themselves, each other, and the life they lead, fighting all the terrible evils of the world. That’s why it was genius to have Dean come out of the pit at the beginning of Season 4. Genius, I tell you!

I don’t doubt Eric Kripke and team for a minute. Their ability to wrap the story lines around the internal struggles of Sam and Dean has never failed to be anything less than utterly compelling. But I read somewhere that one of the writers said Season 4 has been a setup for Season 5. Season 4 has been a standout in every way. I would rank it as the best season of Supernatural so far. I guess that’s why I feel a little let down that the season finale felt a little more like the aforementioned setup for Season 5 as opposed to a standout episode in a standout season.

Some random thoughts about Lucifer Rising:

You can never run out of good things to say about Bobby. Telling Dean he is a better man than his father ever was brought a tear to my eye. He gets Dean. He really does.

Sam stuffing the nurse in the trunk of the car after she begged and pleaded for her life was really disturbing. Especially with all the screaming and pounding she did afterwards.

The last 20 minutes where Sam killed Lillith was as good as it gets on TV. It was terrific.

Jensen Ackles impresses me more and more. I think Jared Padelecki has natural talent and is very likeable. I get the feeling Jensen Ackles really works for his scenes and it pays off big time almost every time. Gotta love that in an actor. The expression on his face when he and Castiel show up at Chuck’s….it’s a brief reveal that could have been a throwaway. But it’s not a throwaway expression. It’s all right there on Jensen’s face, and it’s a living, breathing moment.

Speaking of acting, I think this is the first time I enjoyed Genevieve Cortese’s. Her final scene, after Sam kills Lillith, could have been an opportunity to chew up the scenery, but I think she hits just the right note. Giddy with joy, tender with Sam, and insanely proud of her accomplishments, watching her spill all the horrible home truths to Sam is riveting. Way to go out on a good note.

I don’t know why, but I can’t shake an uneasy feeling I have about Sam’s expression before everything went to white. I don’t know what to make of it. As the bright light signaling Lucifer’s arrival starts to shine, Sam’s expression looks almost excited and eager. What does that mean?

Just to keep the record straight, even though I stated that this episode was a bit of a letdown for me, it still ranks as a really good episode in my book. It’s just that I expected more from a finale, you know?

Sigh! Maybe I will pine a bit for Supernatural this summer…..

I won’t do it. No, I will not do it. I will not go to a Star Trek convention. I will not put on Vulcan ears or dress like a Klingon. I won’t do it, I tell you. I won’t.

But boy am I tempted. Because the new Star Trek movie is just awesome! Now I get it. Now I understand why Trekkers, or Trekkies love the world of Star Trek. For two hours, what a great place to be! The movie has everything you could want. It has great characters, great action, awesome special effects, suspense, romance, humor, heroics, I could go on and on. I liked it better than The Dark Knight and Ironman. Not that those movies weren’t awesome. I loved them too. I just like the tone of this film a lot. It has a lighter touch. Don’t get me wrong, there’s plenty of angst and issues for the characters, but the movie never loses sight of its optimism. I enjoy experiencing the characters learning their lessons and growing as opposed to wallowing with them in their angst. I left the theatre feeling good about myself and life. Isn’t that weird? I think you can exit a summer blockbuster feeling excited and exhilarated about what you’ve seen, but feeling good about yourself and life?? Whoa. I wasn’t a Star Trek fan before I saw this movie, but boy am I impressed. It’s really amazing that a show that aired in the 1960’s could tap into today’s zeitgeist like this.

Its enduring popularity should have been a clue. I saw the movie in Imax, and recession be damned, that theatre was jam-packed. And it wasn’t just young people. There were all sorts of age groups. I saw families, fathers with their sons, groups of couples. Everyone was excited, the fans were elated, and at the end of the film, everyone applauded. That kind of collective enjoyment is a great experience.

I would recommend the film over and over. And when the DVD comes out, I’m buying it!

Oops, I did it again! I did something I shouldn’t have.

I am forever on the lookout for the perfect portable word processor. I like to write, and I really want something that I can carry around easily. I want a keyboard that isn’t hard to type on. I want a screen that is a pleasure to look at since I spend a lot of time looking at it. I want looonng battery life. I don’t need internet capability or any other function, really, except the ability to type and save, and do some basic formatting.

I tried the Alphasmart Neo. Great keyboard, really long battery life. It was fun. However, there was hardly any screen, I had to sync with my pc to transfer data, and it was large. No way to fit it in a pocket or purse.

Then I tried a netbook. I wrote in here before about the Acer Aspire One. I still LOVE that netbook. It has a great screen, great keyboard, and it’s pretty compact. However, it does not have great battery life, and it’s still bigger than I’d like it to be. I carry smaller purses, and it definitely does not fit them.

The next attempt was a Palm TX with a bluetooth keyboard. I’d have to say that one just about hit the spot. The keyboard folded up, and both fit in my purse perfectly. The only drawbacks were the small screen size and the keyboard was a little quirky and hard to get going. However, I still love that combo the best.

Now I have a new toy. I found a refurbished Jornada 728 for sale and decided to give it a try. It was not very expensive, and I figured it would be worth it to give it a go. If you research the Jornada 728, it was a top of the line PDA in the early 2000’s. Back then it priced at almost $1000. Now it is much cheaper. The software, the OS, just about everything is pretty much obsolete, but looking at it, it definitely seemed like a quality gadget. The size is small, but it has a decent keyboard, a screen larger than the Palm TX, and it has pocket Word. I figured, what the heck? I’ll give it a try.

So far, it’s quite enjoyable. The keyboard is definitely tiny. However, I am really surprised at how easy it is to type on. They keys feel really good. Much better than the Asus EEE PC I tried out at Best Buy not too long ago. Those keys drove me mad. They really did. Sure, it is a better system, but again, I’m looking for a portable word processor that makes me go, “Yeah, this is it for me!”

Does the Jornada 728 do it for me? The jury is still out. I haven’t tested the battery time yet. I hear it’s pretty long. 10 hours plus. We’ll have to see. I’m also not sure how this will feel in my purse. I’m worried about it breaking, so I need to find a case for it, which is proving to be a little harder than I thought. There isn’t much out there by way of accessories for this gadget. But the typing alone is very nice. I’m digging it.

Ironically, right after I bought the Jornada 728, I read that Wistron is coming out with a netbook, or pursebook, that looks like a Sony Vaio P. I actually really want a Sony Vaio P, but there is no way I’m going to spend $1000 for it. It’s really too bad that form factor costs so much money, because it is a dream come true for me. But back to the Wistron - it’s possible that it won’t cost as much as the Sony Vaio P. The OS is either Linux or Windows CE so it’s limited compared to other netbooks. Again, though, it’s that form factor. Too bad there doesn’t seem to be as big a market for these handheld PC’s with touch type keyboards at a reasonable price.

For now, I’ll have fun with this Jornada 728.

I haven’t written about Supernatural in a while. To be honest, just about every episode so far in Season 4 has been overwhelming. It’s hard to believe how strong this season has rolled. Just about every episode gives you so much to think about. I find it hard to put it all down in writing. I cannot believe that this series is not as highly ranked as the soap-opera dramas and reality show drivel out there (So You Think You Can Dance excluded, of course!). I would think this show would appeal to both the male and female demographic. Sure, the appeal for women is obvious, what with the CW, the eye candy, and the drama of complicated family dysfunction.

But this show seems like such a guy show too. Stephen King recently wrote an article about Manfiction. He wrote something to the effect that the best guy stories are about lone heroes who travel around the country, attached to nothing, living outside the law, fighting for the good of mankind, often in big gray moral areas. How much more “manfiction” can you get than Supernatural? The boys of Supernatural even travel in a muscle car with all sorts of guns in the trunk. They never have to commit to any one woman. If anything, every week they get to spend time with really hot female guest stars. And then there’s the good old fashioned gross-out gore. Seriously, some of the stuff this show gets away with is pretty amazing.

Combine these themes with terrific and inspired writing that does not insult the intelligence, good production values making the most of a limited budget, fantastic acting from really talented actors, and it is truly hard to understand why this show is not getting credit as one of the best shows on TV today.

I’ve been watching this show religiously every Thursday night. While my friends and family are watching Grey’s Anatomy, I tune in to Supernatural to help its ratings. Well, nah, I’m not that altruistic. I’m just addicted. Now that the Season 4 is coming to a close, I’m starting to feel Supernatural withdrawal. How will I survive the summer? I thank GOD So You Think You Can Dance airs in the summer!

I barely recognize Supernatural from its first season. It started off as a really good show and evolved into an epic, apocalyptic tale with the two brothers and their relationship grounding its core. Each season manages to top the previous one, and the stakes continue to get higher and higher without losing its footing. This show is relentlessly good. How it went from there to here is truly a testament to the vision of its creator, Eric Kripe, and his crew.

Eric Kripke says he does not have a Season 6 on his plate. Good for him, I say. Tell the story you need to tell in the way you want to tell it. It will be stronger that way. I, for one, cannot wait to see how the story unfolds.

I don’t like exercise. No, wait. I HATE exercise. I go out of my way to avoid it. I have, throughout my life, given regular exercise the good college try, and even though I know it is something you need to do to have a healthy, happy life, I inevitably go back to my unhealthy, happy existence on my couch for some channel flipping or web surfing. Exercise just does not do it for me. We are like oil and water.

However, these past few months, well, years maybe, I have noticed a slight atrophy in my joints. It hasn’t been anything major, but it suddenly doesn’t seem like a good idea to move in “this” direction. Or I will question whether my body will be able to take “that” kind movement. As I get older, I realize there are some things I just cannot do anymore, and I wonder if my state of couch potato-ism is exacerbating the process.

So I find myself with my back against the wall; do the thing I hate most, or give in to an accelerated aging process. Ugh!

Let me say again how much I HATE exercise. Jazzercise, aerobics, treadmills, elliptical machines, running, jogging, heck, even walking - none of these appeal to me. I can tolerate walking, but it’s really easy to blow it off when the weather is too hot, cold, rainy, cloudy, take your pick. I just don’t wanna do it.

Then I remembered tai chi. I took tai chi years and years ago, and I remembered liking it a bit. I had even asked for the video tapes as a birthday gift and still had them sitting around. Maybe this was something I could hang my hat on and give another try. So I pulled myself off the couch and popped in the tape.

Tai chi is very gentle. The movements require control, focus and concentration, but you’re not killing yourself to do them. You don’t hear a lot of groaning, moaning and protesting from anyone doing tai chi. Even if you felt like groaning or moaning or protesting, you wouldn’t admit to it because you would really feel like a first class wimp. It’s just too gentle.

You don’t need a lot of space either. Heck, I was standing right near my couch. It sits there like a source of comfort to me, making me feel that if, at anytime, I want to stop the madness, I can drop the tai chi, walk a couple of steps, and settle into a familiar womb of sofa cushions.

But I haven’t so far. I’ve been doing tai for about a week now, and, surprisingly, it seems to suit my lifestyle in a way that makes it easy for me to do. All I have to do is sigh, turn off my TV, get off the couch, and walk to an open area in my living room, and do some simple movements.

And I’ve been enjoying it……

Maybe it’s because it’s new, I don’t know. But it’s so relaxing. You have to concentrate on where you’re putting your feet, how to move your arms, and you have to be aware of your shifting weight and your breathing. It pushes everything else out of your mind, and time passes quickly.

Even in the short week I’ve been doing tai chi, I feel a difference in the way I move. I don’t feel as insecure. I’ll never be a flexible rubber band, but I don’t feel like brittle bones on the verge of breaking on a bad step.

I’ve also been sleeping a little better. I think that’s due to all that deep breathing. Tai chi actually seems to be a bit of a cardiovascular workout. Not like long-distance running or anything, but it is definitely a challenge to maintain a posture while controlling your breathing. I find myself out of breath on a couple of movements. A sign of my lack of fitness, I’m sure!

Then there’s this awareness with tai chi. I can feel my blood running through my arms and through my fingers. At least I assume it’s my blood circulating. It might be the “chi” they talk about with this exercise. It seems to happen most when I’m not forcing any movement. The more relaxed I am, the more I feel it. It’s a really cool feeling, actually. It’s the feeling that keeps me coming back the most.

But there’s one benefit that surprises and puzzles me. I spend most of my day working on a keyboard. I tend to type a little harder than most, and this has resulted in bouts of carpal tunnel. There are times when I have to wear a wrist brace, and I have moments where my hand shakes. Since I’ve been doing tai chi, the shaking has stopped. I wonder if it’s because blood is circulating to places it had been blocked before. In any case, it’s a welcome benefit.

To be honest, I don’t know how long I’ll stick with tai chi. It is a lifetime exercise, but I have a spotty record when it comes to exercise. I have to admit, though, if there were any exercise I could stick to, it would have to be tai chi. If I can keep this up, it will be interesting to see what other changes my body will go through, if any.

OK, I’m just gonna come right out with it. I love vampire stories! I really do. I know there are a whole lot of people out there who aren’t afraid to proclaim their love for anything vampire, but my friends are not among them. I would never hear the end of it if I gave my ability to go all geek over vampire stories full reign. So I’ve pretty much stayed in the vampire-story-lovin’ closet, putting out favorable comments here and there about stories or movies I’ve liked, only to hear dead, disinterested air in response.

So when I read about Let the Right One In, I pretty much knew I was on my own. Vampire movie - check, foreign film with subtitles - check, poster with a little girl covered in blood - check. I was on my own. I considered waiting for the DVD to watch it, but word of mouth on this film was so good, I decided to bite the bullet and see it. So I trucked on out to the city on my own to buy my ticket to the show.

My friends definitely would not have liked it. They would have thought it was too dark, too foreign, too slow, and just plain too bizarre.

Me, I liked it. A lot. I don’t know how the director managed to bring the kind of atmosphere he brought to this film. It is dark, lonely, and bleak and not at all contrived. You can feel the isolation in which all the characters in this movie live.

The atmosphere is the perfect frame for the two leads and their circumstance. Oskar is a 12 year old boy, relentlessly bullied in school, benignly neglected by his divorced mother and father, very much alone with no one to understand him. He likes to collect newspaper articles about murder, and carries a knife around with which he imagines brutal revenge scenarios on his tormentors.

One night, while stabbing a telephone pole representing a bully, he meets Eli. She is his new next door neighbor. She is 12 years old “more or less”, does not wear a coat or shoes in the dead of winter, smells funny, and she tells him she cannot be his friend. It’s a load of hooey because you can tell right away they are both in bad need of a friend.

The movie covers their growing friendship. Eli teaches Oskar to stand up to the bullies. He gives her his Rubiks cube and teaches her a code so they can communicate with each other through the walls of their building. Oskar knows there is something strange about Eli, but he doesn’t care. He asks her to go steady even though it is not clear to him what going steady entails. Eli is just as taken with Oskar, drawn strongly to him even though you feel it’s against her better judgement. If it weren’t so bizarre, it would be cute.  But underneath, you can feel how much these two understand each other, and how badly they need each other’s friendship.

Eli’s need is particularly desperate. Her human caretaker, who has been killing people to provide Eli with blood, has become aged and inefficient at his task, leaving Eli to fend for herself. The scenes in which Eli hunts and feeds are very creepy. This film may have been low budget, but it shows that you don’t need a large budget to bring the creepy.

With the murders, the attempted murders, and the attacks growing, the net starts to close on Eli. When she tells Oskar she has to leave, you feel the cavernous hole her departure will bring. For me, it happened without my realizing. This movie slowly builds itself, taking its time, letting you sit back and observe, and then, surprisingly, feel. With most vampire movies, it’s about the gore, and the scare. This movie has all that, but what’s so surprising about it is the depth of genuine feeling. Vampires are not human, and are normally not portrayed well-enough for an audience to relate to. Here, the director succeeds in making Eli relatable in her loneliness, her need for contact, her appreciation for what she has lost, and more importantly, her need to survive. Other movies have tried to bring that, but this one actually nails it, and nails it pretty deep.

There are bits of humor in the story. The dark, isolated atmosphere is so pervasive that the humor takes you by surprise. Again, I don’t know how the director did it, but the final denouement was suspenseful, touching, horrifying and pretty damn funny.

This is a really good film. Nothing flashy, nothing forced, very subtle, but packed with a big emotional punch. I read that an American version of this film is in the works. Hmmm. American remakes are usually flashy, forced, not too subtle and very rarely do they pack the kind of emotional punch this movie does.

Oh well, at least we have this movie. It is by far one of the best vampire films out there.

I found another children’s book that is no longer being published. It’s called The Long White Month by Dean Marshall. If you can find a copy of this book to buy, it’s usually well over $100. There are people on the web begging to have this book published again. I was very curious about it, so I looked it up at my library. Sure enough, no copy. So I did the interlibrary loan thing (I love the library), and managed to get an old and worn copy.

I can see why it’s such a favorite. It’s really a pity that books like this fall to the wayside. Frankly, I’m surprised that this is one of the books that did.

I don’t know how else to describe it except to say that this book fully embodies its world very simply and never veers off course. It’s a story about Priscilla, and orphan living a privileged life with her elderly cousin whom she calls Aunt Millicent. When Aunt Millicent gets sick and has to recuperate in California for a month, Priscilla goes to live with her older cousin Susan, in a small house in the woods in the winter time. The conditions are rustic, but Priscilla thrives.

The book was published in 1942, so it would seem there would not be anything that kids today could relate to. But there are still universal themes that aren’t lost on children, I hope, and I think Dean Marshall still manages to tap into that. Priscilla is an orphan trying to find a place to be happy and secure. She comes to love the birds that need to be fed in the winter. Her thoughts and feelings come across so clearly and with all the wonder one hopes a child can still experience. Marshall describes everything in wonderful detail, really getting into Priscilla’s point of view and through her eyes, especially in her interactions with her birds. Other children’s books I’ve read don’t have this kind of detail anymore - maybe because attention spans move on too quickly now, I don’t know.

It’s a pity because it is a wonderful world to experience if you can stick with it. If you happen to get a hold of this book, it’s worth the read.

This book had been sitting on a stack of books for well over a year.  I had read all of the other books in the stack, but for some reason, had never had the inkling to read this one. I had heard it was a memoir of a girl growing up in a small town in Indiana, and I simply did not believe it would be an interesting read.  So there it sat.

Then there came a day when I had read all the books I had borrowed from the library. The next batch I had put on reserve had not arrived yet. I had nothing to read, and very badly needed something to read. So I finally pulled Zippy from the shelf.

What was I thinking? This book was a great pleasure to read! Yes, it is a book about a girl growing up in a small town. I got that part right. What I didn’t get right, was the author.  Haven Kimmel is one hell of an entertaining author. I laughed out loud at several parts of the book. Her point of view, her prose, her way of rendering a story just had me in stitches throughout several passages of her book. Throughout the novel I was riveted by her descriptions of the time, the people, and the town, all through the eyes of this little girl, Zippy, in her little world. Kimmel’s point of view is always sunny, affectionate, optimistic, and of course, very funny.  When all you are writing about is life in a small town - well, a very small town - it would be quite a challenge to make it interesting. Kimmel does more than make it interesting. She makes you come to love her world through Zippy’s eyes.

I was really surprised by how much I enjoyed A Girl Named Zippy. I liked it so much, I borrowed the sequel, She Got Up Off the Couch, from my library. I’ll write up about that one as well when I finish.

I’ve been reading a few children’s/young adults novels lately. Summer of Night, A Boy’s Life, Blind Voices. There’s some good stuff out there written for younger audiences. There’s a different set of challenges for an author when writing for children. Meeting those challenges and still managing to turn out compelling stories is a tribute to any author who can do it well.

Reading these stories reminded me of a book I read in grade school. It was called The Shattered Stone, and it was the book that got me into reading fantasy. After The Shattered Stone, I started reading C.S. Lewis, and then moved on to other fantasy stories. The stories became more sophisticated in the telling, but I always remembered reading that first one.

Funny thing was, I always had a hard time finding that book again. I managed to check it out a few times at the library, but after a certain point, it just disappeared. I couldn’t remember the author’s name, and even the title became fuzzy after a while. I would go back to that same shelf at the library, but could never find it. I kept trying variations on the title - The Shattered Rock, The Sword in the Stone. I tried variations on the author - Richard Stone, Robert Peck. No luck.

Finally, in the age of the internet, Google, and Amazon, I managed to find both the title and the author. Not surprisingly, it’s not in print anymore. My local library doesn’t carry it either. I did manage to do an inter-library loan, and some library I had never heard of sent the book over. I could not believe it. After all these years I had found the book.

As I read the book again, I was suprised at how much I liked it. It’s the story of two teenagers, Ivo and Neva, who live in an enchanted forest. They are raised by a man named Jartan and a woman they call Mistress Sylvia. It seems Ivo and Neva are both orphans and are leading very sheltered lives in the forest. Ivo has been raised by Jartan to be a skilled swordsman. Neva’s education under Mistress Sylvia is a little more mysterious. Neva can sew, tend to the sick, cook, but she is also very intuitive. Ivo is the fighter, Neva the intellectual.

Their sheltered life changes with the arrival of a prince who becomes interested in Ivo and Neva.  The prince gets injured in a battle and must stay in their forest while he heals. During his stay, Ivo and Neva find that their forest is believed to be enchanted by outsiders. They find that no one talks to animals the way they can, and that no one is able to enter their part of the forest at will.  They also find that tensions are brewing between two kingdoms in the outside world, with possible war as the result.  Mistress Sylvia tells them, then, of a tablet or stone which is rumored to hold the key to peace between the kingdoms nations. So Ivo and Neva leave their forest with the prince in search of the stone.

The story is quite lean. The author wastes no words getting his point across. It worked well for me as a young reader. As an adult reader, I would have liked to have seen more development in the various scenes, but then this book is not aimed at an adult audience. Despite his brevity, he still creates a feeling of adventure, friendship, and growing romance between the characters. At the end, my heart actually did soar again the way it did when I first read it. I can easily see why I loved it so much as a young reader and why it got me hooked.

This book did not make it to the ranks of classic, but it sure fired up my imagination. I guess no well-written book goes to waste if it does its part in leading a child to actively pursue reading.