Leon and the Spitting Image

Rating:
Summary: Leon is Great
Review: I liked Leon and the Spitting Image a-lot. Whoever that other reviewer is, who says that this book is boring and that the author is a Rowling Wannabe, clearly needs their head examined. This book has nothing in common with Harry Potter and the story easily stands on its own. The story is funny and exciting and kept me laughing out loud - and I read a-lot of books. I am getting this book for my cousin Leon for his birthday. I think that this story would make a good movie. I recommend that you read this story, I think you will like it. - Jack

Rating:
Summary: Leon is Great
Review: I liked Leon and the Spitting Image a-lot. Whoever that other reviewer is, who says that this book is boring and that the author is a Rowling Wannabe, clearly needs their head examined. This book has nothing in common with Harry Potter and the story easily stands on its own. The story is funny and exciting and kept me laughing out loud - and I read a-lot of books. I am getting this book for my cousin Leon for his birthday. I think that this story would make a good movie. I recommend that you read this story, I think you will like it. - Jack

Rating:
Summary: A good Book to read
Review: It is one of the best book I ever read. The book started in a hotel where Leon's mom works. Leon collects taxi drivers homelands. He meets a taxi driver named Napoleon and they become friends. He always picks Leon up from school and drops him off. His teacher is very weird all they do practically is sew. There is a locked cabinet in the back of the class and Leon takes a peak. They make critters called animles because the teacher does not want them to call them animals because they will get attached to them. This book is very good and I suggest you read it.

Rating:
Summary: The Best Book I Have Ever Read
Review: Leon and The Spitting Image was the best book I have ever read. There is no way I could ever find a better book. I loved the story line. The characters were also very cool. I loved it so much that I am looking for a book with a simlar story line!

Rating:
Summary: This Is A Great Book
Review: My family received Leon and the Spitting Image in audiobook for. My wife and I have three children who were at the time aged 3, 5 and 9 and each one of my children loved the story and couldn't wait to drive to church or to the store so we could listen to part of it.

This is such a great story and I think that most anyone could and would enjoy this book. The book on tape was very well done and I would recommend it.

Get it! Read it!

Rating:
Summary: Needles Ready!
Review: Needing a book to read at the end of the year to my kids, I e-mailed a trustworthy librarian friend of mine, and this book was on the top of her list. That afternoon, the book was in my hand, and the next day, it was finished. Leon and the Spitting Image was an imaginative, drop-dead funny book that I can't wait to read to my class.

Written by Allen Kurzweil, who's better known for writing adult fiction like the wonderful "A Grand Complication", this book is all about Leon, a rather inept, un-dexterous lad who gets the misforunate of being assigned to Mrs. Hagmeyer's class. The Hag, as she is affectionately known, loves sewing above all else, much to the chagrin of Leon. As if in a labor camp, her students are forced to sew "animiles", little animals stuffed with her old panty hose. Leon's cohorts, P.W. and Lily-Matisse, engage in the mystery throughout the book, who is this horrible teacher Hagmeyer, and what can she possibly be doing with the creations?

The book is funny on two levels: children will love it for it's low-base humor (although I must admit to chuckling from time to time as well!), and smarter kids and adult will love it for it's sly, occasional puns, and situational humor (like a group of mimes, staying at the hotel that's Leon's home, complaining that their microphone isn't working). Writing a children's book is challenging because you must cover both arenas for a truly entertaining book, but Kurzweil holds up well. It is hardly reminiscent of Harry Potter, but much more in the vein of Roald Dahl.

By the end of the story, you don't necessarily want it to be over. Hopefully Kurzweil has in himself a few more books, so we can spend more time with Leon, his pals, a maid, an ice machine, and Napoleon!

Rating:
Summary: The Possessed Doll -- a review by Cy, age 10
Review: The main characters are two dimensional cardboard imitations of children. The teacher comes as close as any to having a personality but even that is expressed mainly in a pair of eyes that fasten her cloak.

The most interesting part of the story is that the main character, Leon, keeps pins in a map of the countries his taxi drivers come from.

Boring, not worth reading...

I tried to read it out loud to a fourth grade class and we could n't get past the half way mark and quit...

Rating:
Summary: Don't wait for paperback READ THIS NOW!
Review: This is a must read children's book.

Very smart. Witty. On target. Yes, it is mixed w/fantasy but if I told you what made it fantasy it would ruin the book. Dodge ball is the game played in gym class. There is the ultimate bully. Issues w/the 4th grade teacher. The ice machine. Hotel. Cabbies and so much more. Plus the added perk of three friends sticking together trying to over come ...

I will be buying this for my nieces and nephews this year. Great, cannot put down read.

Rating:
Summary: Somewhat Potteresque, With Notable Differences
Review: Yes, Leon is another down-and-outter, and yes, the other two main characters are his best friends, a brainy girl (like Hermione) and a fun-loving boy (like Ron Weasley), but the plot is still worthy of a good read. In fact, I couldn't put it down, and I am a middle-aged fuddy-duddy!
One could make the point that there is even a Hagrid-like cab driver who is a beneficent helper, but really, there are more differences than similarities. For one thing, Leon's mother is a presence, and a kind, loving, if harried one. Also, unlike Voldemoort the Irredeemably Evil, the antagonist in this story has some...well, if not *likable,* at least tolerable character traits. In other words, Not All Bad, like most people a ten-year-old meets in Real Life.
A most satisfactory ending has Justice Prevailing, Good Triumphing Over Evil, and the requisite Laughs to go along with it all.
Every 9-12 year old, boy or girl, should read LEON AND THE SPITTING IMAGE. It's *that* good.