Lost in Redskirt Forest

Rating:
Summary: Diversity in a Novel That Should Be Applauded
Review: I am amazed that this author could get so many diverse ethnic cultural characters in this novel without presenting them as stereoptypes. The gender mix is balanced too. By my last count, there were seven boys (American Indian, Jew, Black, Pakistani, Morrocan, Irish, and Chinese) and six girls (Japanese, Italian, Hispanic, and one each from India, Arabia, and Greece). Now the evil characters ARE stereotyped, but you sort of want THEM to be. How else would you describe an Awful Giant, a Wicked Witch, and a Big Bad Wolf? You gotta read this to believe it!

Rating:
Summary: Incredibly magical!
Review: I cannot believe how good this book is. The author is a master of words, using palindromes to signal when events are about to go backwards, inside out, or upside down. Ironically, when this does happen, the reader soon realizes that things are not really what they seem, just like palindromes themselves, which say the same thing forwards as they do backwards. The result is a wild adventure in the form of a fantasy that satirizes the real world as we know it. The author takes aim at the adult world of BIG businessmen, toxic mothers, & toxic fathers. This is a must read!

Rating:
Summary: A book for all ages
Review: I cannot believe how good this book is. The author is a master of words, using palindromes to signal when events are about to go backwards, inside out, or upside down. Ironically, when this does happen, the reader soon realizes that things are not really what they seem, just like palindromes themselves, which say the same thing forwards as they do backwards. The result is a wild adventure in the form of a fantasy that satirizes the real world as we know it. The author takes aim at the adult world of BIG businessmen, toxic mothers, & toxic fathers. This is a must read!

Rating:
Summary: A great book
Review: The best thing about this book is how well it is written. The illustrations enhance your understanding of the story, as do the helpful footnotes, appendices, entertaining exercises, and the compelling board game that is introduced within the context of the plot. Never before have I seen a story that is so readable for all ages--a fantasy and yet it appeals to all ages, males and females, all cultures. Why? Because it alludes to universal folktales, legends, and myths that we are all familiar with. It engages the reader into taking part.

Rating:
Summary: The best book ever
Review: The best thing about this book is that it has politically correct multicultural characters, and there are both male heroes and female heroines. This fantasy adventure alludes to folktales, legends, and myths that almost everybody is familiar with, plus makes veiled references to some of the greatest children's classsics ever written. The ultimate result is one of the best stories written for the young at heart that I have seen in a very long time. It brings back memories of Winnie the Pooh, Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland, and the Wizard of Oz.

Rating:
Summary: Better than Harry Potter
Review: The best thing about this book is that it has politically correct multicultural characters, and there are both male heroes and female heroines. This fantasy adventure alludes to folktales, legends, and myths that almost everybody is familiar with, plus makes veiled references to some of the greatest children's classsics ever written. The ultimate result is one of the best stories written for the young at heart that I have seen in a very long time. It brings back memories of Winnie the Pooh, Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland, and the Wizard of Oz.

Rating:
Summary: The best book ever
Review: This book literally entraps you in a fantasy adventure of a young male teenager who gets lost in a magical forest and finds five magical gifts that eventually help him to escape from evil and horrible creatures. It is about time that a fantasy adventure has a male hero that is as gripping as Peter Pan and the Wizard of Oz and at the same time gives equal weight to both male and female characters and cultures other than the typical ethnocentic American white middle class white bread. Quite a feat!

Rating:
Summary: Unbelievably great book!
Review: What an amazing concept--an interactive novel! The author almost teases you about the board game described briefly at first in the book, and then you find out later that the characters play the game to develop their tactical and intellectual abilities. And the rules of the game and the game board are in the book! When Hermann Hesse did this in his Nobel prize winning masterpiece, there was no actual game. This author provides a real, playable, compelling game along with a very entertaining plot, illustrations, footnotes, appendices.Wow!

Rating:
Summary: Incredibly magical!
Review: What is most impressive in this fantasy classic is the oral folklore. The author is apparently an expert on folklore (according to his bio), not the fake magic stuff invented by the Harry Potter author. This is the real stuff! The Anansi stories are a scream! We get a new insight on Pan, the notorious half goat and half boy. And the author is always "kidding" around with puns that make it even funnier. Never has Coyote, the trickster, been more outrageous! The whole idea of the stories within the stories within the stories is unique and powerful. I am breathless!