Pride and Prejudice by: Jane Austen

In Pride and Prejudice, you will meet the Bennets. A family of five girls, a gossipy mother, and a quiet father. Mrs. Bennet is eager to get her daughters married to handsome, rich men.

Jane is the eldest. She is sweet, very pretty, and thinks badly of no one. She is also very close to Elizabeth and they often confide in one another.

Next in line is Elizabeth, or Lizzy. A witty and independent girl who is every bit as pretty as her sister Jane. As the author, Jane Austen, declared of her heroine in Pride and Prejuduice, "I must confess that I think her as delightful a creature as ever appeared in print."

After Elizabeth comes Mary. Mary is homely and not as pretty as her other sisters, who are known for their beauty. Because of this Mary works very hard to be good at other things to make up for the fact that she is not pretty.

The two younger sisters are Catherine, or Kitty, and Lydia. Together they are always flirting with officers and looking for future husbands.

Elizabeth, the main character, is determined to dislike the handsome, rich Mr. Darcy, who is the most eligible bachelor in the whole of English literature. He is prideful and arrogant. But Mr. Wickham, on the other hand, is friendly and much liked by everyone. He tells Elizabeth many negative traits about Mr. Darcy that are not necessarily true.

It isn't long before Mr. Darcy proposes to Elizabeth, and she refuses. After that she sees Mr. Darcy very little.

Later, while traveling the country side with her aunt and uncle, Elizabeth tours Mr. Darcy's home. By chance, Elizabeth meets Mr. Darcy, finding a caring, generous person who dotes over his sister, in place of the proud and arrogant man she thought he was. Her feelings toward him slowly begin to change. Soon she discovers that she is in love with him. But does he still love her?

I would definitely say that my least favourite characters are Mr. Wickham and Mary. I found Mary to be annoying, as with Mr. Wickham. I was trying to get on with the book and read the good parts but Mary and Mr. Wickham just kept getting in the way.


All the girls in the family are searching for happiness and trying to find what their future might be, so I'd say this book is mainly concerned with happiness and how it might be achieved.

"Pride and Prejudice" is an excellent book. It has a mix of romance and comedy. I think this book is for all ages and hope you enjoy this book as much as I did!

From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs.Basil E. Frankweiler by: E.L.Konigsburg

Claudia knew that she could never pull off the old-fashioned kind of running away... so she decided not to run FROM somewhere, but TO somewhere.

This is a very entertaining book about a girl named Claudia Kincaid and her adventures with her stingy brother Jamie.

Claudia is the oldest in the Kincaid household and feels ignored. The only thing to do is run away. Then the whole family (in about a week or so) would begin to realize that she, Claudia Kincaid, is not to be taken lightly.
Claudia convinced her younger brother Jamie to join her on this excursion. So, with careful planning (done by Claudia), she and Jamie left for New York - Claudia with her violin case full of clothes and Jamie with his trumpet case stuffed with his belongings.

Upon arriving in New York, Claudia decided that she and Jamie were to stay at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This would nicely fulfill full Claudia's requirements for accommodations as it was large, comfortable, and beautiful. Claudia had a strong dislike of being uncomfortable. She even hated picnics. She also had a theory that night guards only look under the stall door in the bathroom so if she and Jamie stand on the toilet seat the night guards won't see their feet. And the big bed on display would be perfect for sleeping in.

It isn't long before Claudia finds a display in the museum that no one knows the maker of. Whenever Claudia sees the display she feels like she needs to find out more about it. She figures that it's up to her to find out who made it since the museum isn't making too much of an effort. So she explores the library, examines the statue, and talks to people. Then she finds out that one person, Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, might hold the key to the entire mystery.

I feel that this book would be enjoyed by ALL age groups.

My favourite character is Claudia. I like the way she carefully plans things through before she carries through with them and how she doesn't let anything discourage her from finding the truth. That is one thing that I learned from this book. Never give up.

9/10 stars