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Summary: Teacher, please tell us more!
Review: That is what I wrote to Zenna several years ago, and I was saddened to receive a letter from her sister, saying that Zenna had been "called back to the Presence" a few years earlier. She had the ability to weave magic into her stories, and to make the reader feel and know what was happening. From Perdita and Low, to Lucine, to Valancy and the rest, Zenna made her characters come alive, and gave the feeling that these were not imaginary people, but real ones. These were not made-up events, but she was describing life somewhere in this world that was as it *should* be. Another reviewer said that there would be less suicide if more teens would read these stories, and I agree wholeheartedly. I know they changed my outlook on life. A special thanks to the compilers of "Ingathering" for their work!And please, AMAZON, keep this one in stock forever!
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Summary: Glad the stories are back in print
Review: The People stories are something I read when I need a lift. They can make me teary-eyed, but that's more for wishing the People really were out there somewhere than anything. The basic theme is overcoming differences, and the underlying sameness that unites us all. If you want to teach your children, from about age 8 on up through their twenties, about loyalty, caring, sacrifice, honesty, and the superficiality of "differences," these are the stories that will help you do it. Or read them for yourself, and remember that there really is a Web of Life, and that you are a part of it.
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Summary: No better stories for emotional lift
Review: The People stories are something I read when I need a lift. They can make me teary-eyed, but that's more for wishing the People really were out there somewhere than anything. The basic theme is overcoming differences, and the underlying sameness that unites us all. If you want to teach your children, from about age 8 on up through their twenties, about loyalty, caring, sacrifice, honesty, and the superficiality of "differences," these are the stories that will help you do it. Or read them for yourself, and remember that there really is a Web of Life, and that you are a part of it.
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Summary: Essential Reading
Review: There are only a handful of authors that have moved me to laughter, tears, and wonderment in the same book. Perhaps the fact that Henderson herself was a school teacher, has added so much to her stories. I recently retired but I saw so very many of her 'characters' move through my classes year after year. She has a way of reminding us that there is always hope but she never tries to 'gloss'over the fact that death is still very real and painful.She plays emotions as if they were a harp and all who read her are the better for listening to her music.
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Summary: Glad the stories are back in print
Review: These are great stories--the only quibble I have is that Anything Box and Holding Wonder haven't been reissued (I could use new copies of those too!). I disagree with some of the critics/reviewers--many of the stories in the other two books were "People" stories as well, they are just told differently. I am also glad that there were some new stories that are in this book (that weren't in Pilgrimage and The People). I think this book should be required reading in schools instead of Harry Potter and other such drivel.
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Summary: Rating-Mostly Harmless, MJ 12 official guide
Review: Working in education, I often wondered if the "little monsters" were aliens, so I can see the funny side behind some of these stories. I am not a fantasy fan in general, I prefer hard Si-Fi or Alternative history and I like my science/historical research accurate, but I enjoyed these stories despite this. The characters are all quite good as is the dialogue, the world that the People live in is fleshed out in a 3-D fashion. There is a genuine Alienness to "the people" as a race that emerges through the stories, demonstrating their relations ship to us is only skin deep in some interesting repects. They are also fallible, their space craft accident record is abysmal. These stories are all very optimistic. Generally I like my aliens "fried", but I'd make exception for "the people", they're simply too nice to shoot. I rarely find myself rooting for the ETs in a book, but I did in this one.
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Summary: At last...
Review: Zenna Henderson painted pictures with words, and finally, her masterpieces have been gathered together in one place. The People she has created touch 'everyman', and we end up looking for and appreciating the gifts we have, and looking for gifts in others. Her characters come across so realistically and multidimensional, you come away with the feeling that Ms. Henderson knows something wonderful that we don't... and we genuinely hope she does. And the hope and wonder haunts you for long after you close the book.
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