“The Adventures of Tom Bombadil” is a book of poems of Middle Earth, of which only the first two relate to Tom Bombadil – the enigmatic creature looking like a man but having powers no man possesses.
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“Ozma of Oz” is the second sequel to the famous L. Frank Baum’s book named “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz”. I’ve just read it for the first time, so my impressions are very fresh.
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“The Happy Prince” is one of Oscar Wilde’s most famous fairy tales – short and unusually pious for this author. It talks about a statue of a Happy Prince – a beautiful statue decorated with gold and gems, but not as happy as others think, because the Prince can see all the poverty surrounding him in the town where he is. So, with the help of his new friend – the Swallow – he sacrifices first the ruby that decorates his sword-hilt, then two saphires – his eyes – and finally all the gold. Swallow delivers those gifts to the poor people of the town, and then one day drops dead from cold, because in order to help the Happy Prince he fails to fly away to the south in time.
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This is an old and charming story about a girl called Dorothy whose house was picked up by a cyclone and carried from the gray and dreary Kansas to an unknown land of wonders, magic and unbelievable beauty. The little girl soon finds out that the land is surrounded by an enornous and deadly desert, so her way home won’t be easy.
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This relatively short, but charming, story of an old English Ghost trying hard to scare an American family is full of warm irony, refreshing humour and strong belief that a kind heart can make true miracles.
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“Through the Looking-Glass” is the second book dedicated to Alice and her wonderful adventures in her dreams. This time Alice finds herself inside a weird chess game and meets a lot of funny characters who do and say strange things and recite a lot of poems. At last she becomes a Queen, though it doesn’t make her life in the looking-glass world much easier.

One would think the world on the other side of the looking-glass is an exact reflection of our own world. How boring and unimaginative we adults must be to think so! As Alice soon finds out, it’s as different from our world as could be.
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“Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” is a beautiful and cosy fairy tale that has been making generations of children and adults alike smile and feel happier. Very unusual for the genre, it’s not really a fairy tale, but a child’s dream – too logical and clear for a dream, but way too muddled and crazy for our boring real world.
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This wonderful story was originally written as a fairy tale for children, and served its purpose well – but now it’s mostly known for the fact that the famous “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy grew out of it.
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“The Weirdstone of Brisingamen” was sent to us as a gift to my daughter who is studying English. Well, she is 11 and might indeed like the book, but she needs more lessons before she can deal with it. The hardest part for her would be dealing with Gowther Mossock’s Cheshire accent. I thought of trying to read the book out loud to her, but first decided to get acquainted with it myself.
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