Rating: 
Summary: Connecticut Yankee, Jr.
Review: Mark Twain was a true American original and one of the true titanic figures of American literature. He was also, as anyone who bothers to dig beneath the "The-guy-who-wrote-Tom-Sawyer-and-Huck-Finn" surface knows, a man who held distinct and perhaps slightly provocative political opinions. One of the things Mark most detested was monarchy - once calling it "the grotesquest swindle ever invented by man." In his later highly controversial novel, A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur's Court, he took on the concept in a viscious and fearless adult satire. In this, his earlier novel, The Prince and The Pauper, Twain did the same thing while aiming principally at younger readers. The story, while featuring a lot of dialect in Middle English, is written in fairly simple and straight-forward prose, which, thus, opens the book up to readers both young and old. The novel's oft-forgotten original subtitle, A Tale For Young People of All Ages, perfectly sums up the books' merits: while this novel may have been written, primarily, with a young target audience in mind, it can also be enjoyed and appreciated by adults. Though it is novel length, the style in which it is written reflects that of classic fairy tales, and will probably be appealing to any child who likes to read. Adults, on the other hand, will note and appreciate the books' deeper underlying meanings, as well as Twain's ever-present wit. This book is very well-written; Twain, a master writer, was, alas, sometimes prone to clumsy prose in his novels - but not here. The Prince and the Pauper is practically a tour-de-force of character development and suspense in plotting. Reccommended to younger readers looking to broaden their horizons, as well as Twain fans of any age.As a final thing worth mentioning, many reviewers here have commented that, owing to its use of dialect (something which Mark Twain uses in every single one of his writings, which is part of the reason why he was such a great writer - not to mention why he is the true father of real American literature), it is hard to understand. If these assertions have bothered you, however, rest assured: they are mightly over-exaggerated. The dialogue, though prevalent, is minor, and the meanings of the words are usually obvious - even to children; after all, one must remember who Twain wrote this book for. Most children who would read this book would probably already be familar with these elementary colloquial phrases from the many King Arthur stories derived from Malory. And, even if not, Twain foresaw this - and was helpful enough to include a useful appendix.
Rating:
Summary: Enchanting Book, but Lacks the Entertainment Quality
Review: Mark Twain's, The Prince and the Pauper is a classic look back into sixteenth-century English society. Tom Canty is a young boy who is born into poverty and is forced to beg in the streets of London by his father. Edward Tudor is the Prince of Wales, heir to the throne. Both of these boys were born on the same day but grew up in opposite ways of life. One day Tom is dreaming about being a prince and starts walking towards the royal palace. When he reaches the palace the guards try to stop him but Prince Edward sees Tom's condition and invites him to his quarters to hear what Tom has to say. While they sit there they begin to realize what strong resemblance there is between them and decide to switch clothes to fulfill Tom's dream of looking Princely. All of a sudden Edward storms out of the room to denounce the guards who did harm to Tom, only to be mistaken as the poor pauper and locked out of the royal palace. From here on out the two boys experience what life is like in the other's shoes. Mark Twain does an outstanding job of developing each character and showing how each must learn new ideas to deal with their latest way of life. Unfortunately I did find myself losing my concentration while reading this book. This easily could have been due to the fact that the way Twain wrote The Prince and the Pauper was actually on a very easy reading level, which would lead me to recommend this book to readers of middle school age who enjoy adventurous tales like The Boxcar Children or The Hardy Boys.
Rating:
Summary: It may not have happened,but it could've happened-!
Review: My favorite kind of historical fiction is that which is historicaly accurate and tells fiction without contradicting any real history.In this novel,Mark Twain does all that and more!Through the switch,Tom sees the facade of royalty-while Edward sees the truth of the peasant life.Edward runs into many people(including a crazed would-be Pope,a band of outlaws,and a similar detached heir),and learns what it takes to be a merciful, fair,understanding king.Miles Hendon is an excellent aide for the king,even though it takes Miles a while to see that his young companion is what he claims to be.There are also good examples of Mark Twain the humorist at his best.
Rating: 
Summary: Boring, not worth the read
Review: OK, but not worth the read. It was a bit uninteresting. Lots of old English, but it is well written by superb author.
Rating:
Summary: The Paper quality is questionable
Review: One need not comment on the greatness or otherwise of Twain's writing... All I need say, I guess is that the quality of the paper is rather sub standard. But then it's pretty cheap too, so it evens out, I guess.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Book!
Review: One of the best Twain books I have ever read! Touching at times, heartfelt, enjoyable! I recommend it to everyone!
Rating:
Summary: Fun Book
Review: Overral "The Prince and the Pauper" was an interesting, funny book. I enjoyed the Old English style in which Twain wrote it in, but if you are not a fan of that particular style you my not like the book very much.
Rating:
Summary: on the money...if you can handle the detail!
Review: really a moving book, a great concept, a real emotion jerker that holds true 120 years after it was written (quite an achievement!). strongest point: it touched the basic nerve of the two sides within all of us - the weak, little, immature, unrecognized, depressed part (the pauper) and the powerful, confident, brash, grandiose part we'd all like to be, perhaps at times are, or perhaps only aspire to be or daydream about being (the prince). mark twain really shines the light on the differences between these two parts of us by having the two characters switch roles (a brilliant idea!), thereby letting us really EXPERIENCE the feelings associated with the other end of the pole...by juxtaposing these opposites. (you might even say he speaks of the manic-depressive within us all, the bi-polar.) book's weak point in the year 2001: way too much boring detail. i think i'm accustomed to a well-trimmed story that gets quickly to the point and doesn't dawdle in what feels like irrelevant detail. but i suppose i have to remember that when mark twain was writing, there was no TV, not even radio, and his audiences were probably starved for such imaginitive detail. because of the excess detail, i almost gave the book only four stars, but when taking the book's date into considering, i gave it five...
Rating:
Summary: The Prince And The Pauper by Mark Twain is a classic novel.
Review: Since the prince and the pauper know nothing of each other's life works,the book can be quite funny at times with the boys getting into some hilarious situations.9
Rating:
Summary: a literary stinker!
Review: The only reason I gave this book 2 stars is the fact that the book is great in the begining (chapters 1-3 out of 34), but gets more boring each second I read it. I would not recommend this bokk to any one, except the people that like old english literature with word like: doth, whither, goest, thou, thy, and many other confusing words.
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