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Women's Fiction
The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood

The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood

List Price: $39.99
Your Price: $26.39
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Solid, positive book.
Review: Howard Pyle takes the reader on a very-well and nicely written adventure, his way of storytelling gives the book a Lot of extra spirit, so much better than stiff Robin Hood stories written by other writers. And the old English is cool.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Howard Pyle's Robin Hood is easily the best.
Review: I agree fully with Robert Pearson's on-line review of this fine book. I first read Pyle's Robin Hood at a pretty early age - about ten. It was challenging but absolutely magnetic, the appeal much enhanced by Pyle's own beautiful illustrations. I later read the book aloud to my then sixth-and-seventh grade (respectively) sons, who cried shamelessly at the end.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Book was Great!
Review: I am a young writer but I still know that this book was a wonderful book and should be read by evertone who can get there hands on it. I must admit, I have not read any other books by Pyle, but from this one I think that it will be worth my whil to read them and find out if they were as good as this one was! So, if you are bored on a Saturday or Sunday aftern-noon, go see if your local library has this book and pick it up. You should be pleased with that decision!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: I hope these editions still have the original illustrations
Review: I only add to the many splendidly written reviews because I am surprised none of the reviews have mentioned the illustrations. I hope these editions still contain Pyle's original woodblock styled illustrations. Howard Pyle was first and foremost a great and renowned illustrator. He chose a woodblock print style for this book as well suited to the material, and the illustrations are detailed, well researched and evocative.

The fake "medieval English" is extraordinarily well-done; it adds to the charm and period flavor while using the few archiac terms with such precision that anyone can infer their meanings, yet one would be at a loss how to replace them with modern terms. As to the thematic content of the book, much has been made of the heroic aspect, but I find just as appealing the comedic turn of the book. The epilogue is certainly heart-rending, the first writing ever to have drawn tears from my eyes (I believe I was nine), but there are many more other episodes that are truly and splendidly funny. Last, the key to Robin's success in Pyle's retelling of his exploits, as much as his skill with a bow and his wit, was that his initial reaction to any stranger or strange situation was friendliness and generousity.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: I think it was a bad book that kept repeating itself.
Review: I think that the book was bad. It repeated the same thing over and over. Robin gets hurt... asks stranger to join his band. Don't get this book!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: The Adventures of Robin Hood
Review: I thought this was a great book! It was exciting and made me want to come back for some more. The story was very easy to follow. I would read this book over and over again and still not get tired of it. I thought the plot was especially good. Though there were many different characters in the same spot at times, I thought that the large amount of characters gave this book a twist. This story in particular is very interesting and is sometimes comical. It is about Robin Hood and his group of Merry Men hiding in Sherwood Forest from the Sheriff of Nottingham.Whenever the sheriff sends someone into Sherwood Forest to catch Robin Hood, the man either ends up converted to the group of Merry Men or he ends up running out of the forest with arrows whizzing by his head. I thought this was one of the best written books that I have read. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good book and has a thirst for knowledge.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Beautiful, just beautiful.
Review: It pains me to read the reviews here by people who bought this book looking for the Disney fox. This is a legend, folklore, not fairy tale. It's closer to Beowulf than Beauty and the Beast. The language is fantastic, poetry! I read it first when I was very young, fourth grade maybe, but I enjoyed it then as much as I enjoy it now. The language is an obstacle for the first two pages, maybe three, but, after you acclimatize yourself to it, it creates a unique mood and atmosphere. This book is one of my all time favorites. I laughed, I cried, I wrote a review.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Beautiful, just beautiful.
Review: It pains me to read the reviews here by people who bought this book looking for the Disney fox. This is a legend, folklore, not fairy tale. It's closer to Beowulf than Beauty and the Beast. The language is fantastic, poetry! I read it first when I was very young, fourth grade maybe, but I enjoyed it then as much as I enjoy it now. The language is an obstacle for the first two pages, maybe three, but, after you acclimatize yourself to it, it creates a unique mood and atmosphere. This book is one of my all time favorites. I laughed, I cried, I wrote a review.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A terrific telling of the story, a joy to read and treasure!
Review: My personal favorite Robin Hood tale. Pyle uses the langauge of the times in a most beautiful and authentic way that sends a thrill through any book-lover and sets the scene for the thoroughly merry and enjoyable adventures of Robin Hood and his companions.
This is no sad or tragic tale (for the most part, the epilogue is enough to draw tears)this story tells of the more lightsome side of medieval life. Full of jesters, bakers, butchers and dishonest jewelers most of which will meet with Robin in some way, either to exchange clothes and be handsomely tipped or to be dealt some of Robin's ironic view of justice.
You won't be dissapointed.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Great Illustrated Classics version misses the mark
Review: Note that this review is specifically for the Great Illustrated Classics version, adapted for children by Deborah Kestel. These are books that take classic stories and bring the language and plot lines 'down to earth' for young children. My six-year-old and I were exhilerated by the Great Illustrated Classics version of Robinson Crusoe, and I eagerly bought this book thinking it would be written in the same easy language. However, this is not the case. Young children need direct sentences in order to get carried away by the narrative. Kestel keeps archaic idioms when contemporary words would have served just as well: "lass" for "girl", "stout fellow hale and true" for "his large good friend", etc. It tries to be written for children but this is not how children read. Again, the Robinson Crusoe adaptation is stellar (it's adapted by another writer) -- even though the book is hundreds of years old the language is crisp and easy to follow for young children. I gave this book 3 stars because there are pictures on every page (a Great Illustrated Classics trademark, apparently, and one that keeps children interested.)


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