Rating: 
Summary: Discworld Returns
Review: Tiffany Aching, wannabe witch, is armed with a large cast iron frying pan. It must be cast iron as it make a very loud GONNGGG when she strikes something with it. She is from the Chalk country of the Discworld...and yes, this is the newest tale of that incredible flat world that is carried on the back of four very large elephants, which are carried through the universe on the back of A'Tuin, star turtle. Fairyland has mounted an attack against Discworld using the Chalk country as its intended beachhead for placing monsters of every horrible and imaginable sort to overwhelm and dispatch the humans of Discworld. Tiffany encounters a real witch, Miss Tick, and receives witchly tutoring from the overage witch. Discovering that her brother has been kidnapped, she allies herself with the Chalk's Nac Mac Feegle aka the Wee Free Men who are blue, six inches tall with red hair and are fiercely funny, funnily fierce or just fierce and funny all at the same time. The final encounter with the leader of Fairyland - the Queen of the Elves - has to be read to be totally enjoyed. What ensues is Pratchett at his best! As in the previous Discworld tales, logic is illogically consistent and continuously funny.
Rating:
Summary: "We'll nae be fooled agin!"
Review: Tiffany Aching, wise beyond her nine years, sets out to find her missing brother, Wentworth. Like all older siblings, she feels displaced by the younger boy. She feels resentment for his presence, his demands, his constantly runny nose. She's already defended Wentworth against a mysterious attacker who rose from the local river to snatch him away. Still, he mysteriously disappears and Tiffany sets off on a self-assigned quest to bring him home. He is, for all his faults, hers. A nine-year-old girl on a quest is vulnerable. Tiffany, however, doesn't lack allies and support. The first is inexplicable, the second is indefinable. Her allies are a horde of small, blue-tattooed warriors - the Pictsies, the Nac Mac Feegle. Their traditions run to brawling, sheep-stealing and taking a "wee nip" when opportunity presents itself. They're expressive - in Pratchett's hands that means hilarious bits of dialogue, reasoning, philosophy and common sense. Above all, is their insistence on freedom. They've known a monarch, and they detest her. They also fear the power of the written word and lawyers. They're not alone in that. Tiffany's support is in the memory of her gran. Granny Aching lived alone on the Chalk. She was quiet, but powerful. As a shepherdess, she knew the ways of sheep and nature. She confronted powerful people, achieving success with minimal effort. No curse can match the potency of a quietly spoken expression: "There'll be a reckoning". Granny's at the edge of much of Tiffany's thinking. She instills in Tiffany a sense of value: "Speak out for those with no voice". Is her memory enough to give Tiffany strength against the Pictsies' arch enemy, the "Quin"? As usual, Pratchett delivers more than he promises. This is sold as a "children's book", but memories of The Who's great song will be running through adults' heads as they read the Nac Mac Feegle's fervent chant. Like any Pratchett book, The Wee, Free Men contains many strata of ideas beckoning your further inquiry. The first time you read this book, it will be for the adventure, the novelty and the fun. The second time will be to delve more deeply into Pictsish. See how deftly Pratchett confronts us with "real world" issues seeking resolution. Pratchett is almost unique in his incorporating science in his stories, and is unmatched in this ability. His depiction of the origins of chalk is a wondrous read. Not limited to physical science, he cogently probes human questions. Buy this for your children, but when they've put it aside for the first time [and they will return to it later], steal away with it to a quiet corner. You'll discover both a place to escape and a rigorous reality confronting you. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]
Rating:
Summary: Better than Harry Potter
Review: We laughed and we cried as we read Wee Free Men out loud as a family. The characters are more quirky and entertaining than Harry Potter. The story shows more character development of Tiffany as she develops her potential and gifts as a witch than Harry Potter, too. This is because Pratchett's world is based on deeper, more metaphorical ideas than Rowlings' world. Rowlings is basically good vs. evil and your proverbial castles/ghouls/creepy corridors. Her settings/places simply don't resonate as deep as the CHALK, the land itself, in Pratchett. While we enjoyed Potter, we have wished someone might make Wee Free Men into a movie. Then again, it is probably just as well that it resides as a place we have been to in our minds. If you're looking for a fantasy book in which a girl protagonist gains strength over time; a coming of age tale, with twinkles of humor in its clearly drawn, highly creative characters; a story with the intensity of A Wrinkle in Time, and other tried and true children's classics, read The Wee Free Men. Better, read it out loud with someone.
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Rating:
Summary: Pratchett ant his best.
Review: Well, Pratchett is on everybody's mouth by now (and if he isn't something's seriously wrong) so I would consider him a must read, at least if you have a sense of humor that is. As a satire, it inspires thought, as a children's story, is filled with, well I don't know, but any kid introduced to Pratchett should become an avid reader (or burn at the stake). Don't read the review, buy the book.
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