The Prince and the Pauper (Puffin Classics)

Book Description

Twain's historical tale about Edward VI and a pauper who exchange places by accident just days before Henry VIII's death.

Customer Reviews:

Inspirational classic.......2007-03-18

One of the most persistent themes in American pop and literary culture is the switched identity plot. Movies like Garfield 2, Face-Off, Big Business and Double Dragon have been based on this trick. Where did it all start? Probably with this children's classic by Mark Twain. Set in Renaissance England, it tells the story of two boys who look exactly alike, except one is a prince and the other is a poor boy. The two meet each other, exchange places, and have loads of fun. All ends well as they each regain their proper places with more wisdom and friends than before.

The text of the book is readable by most elementary school kids, though the length is quite long for a children's work. The dialogue is English, and might make hard reading the first time around, and the comedy might be dry for those not used to it. But the book is enjoyable and totally appropriate. I highly recommend it.

Fun, simple tale with a moral and some humor .......2007-02-19

The Prince and the Pauper is a classic tale of switched and mistaken identities when two young boys who are similar looking in appearance happen to meet each other and decide to change appearances. Despite the fact that the two look similar, the two boys have led quite different lives--one boy living a poor, destitute life with an abusive father, and the other, living a life of luxury. Once the two boys decide to switch to see how each other looks, they seemingly do not know that it will be hard to switch back. Mark Twain's ability to establish a children's story with a sense of royalty and fantasy intermixed is clearly attributed to his forte as a great versatile writer, both of satire and comedy, as well as fantasy. While the story has a simple idea and basis for its course--the idea that two boys must learn how to live in the "others" shoes for awhile--the greater strength and stability is to depict a strong moral in the story, which is that we often do not know or appreciate how hard things can be for someone else in life.

Another fun aspect of this work is simply the trademark satire from Twain. He has a way of making fun of the idea of royalty in a dignified and subtle way, and has fun once the two boys are in the "others" world. Not only this, but he has fun "overdoing" some of the scenes for both boys. Tom Canty is distressed at the process of how much trouble it is to do anything without the "Royal Court" helping him with an everyday task, from taxing to simple. The king is ashamed at the ill treatment he receives from mean citizens of the town, and despite his protests of being a king, no one listens.

Each child gets himself in unwittingly bad circumstances that he wishes himself out of, and each must find ways at adapting to their new life. For instance, Tom Canty cannot believe the power that his words has in the court of law, and he is both shocked, and impressed, by his ability to literally change the course of those condemned to death. Although frightened at first, he learns to manage his new station in life. Meanwhile, the poor king has to life an unaccustomed life of poverty, and must deal with all the malevolent allies of poor Tom's father, despicable individuals who rob, cuss, steal, and are vulgar. Generally, he struggles, but is aided by a generous man named Miles Hendon, who helps him through all the difficulties.

Perhaps another moral evoked from Twain's tale is that of not thinking yourself better than another person, despite your or their station in life. The boys seem to have to deal with this by the book's end, and learn their ways, having a greater and deeper appreciation of the opposite point of view.

There is plenty of adventure, imagination, and humor to keep you entertained in this book. At times, several scenes do get a little confusing, but overall it is a rather quick and simple read. The Bantam Classic edition also has footnotes to explain terms in the index, and fairly big print easy for reading.

Gripping & narrative.......2006-10-21

Mark Twain classic "The Prince and the Pauper" has ever been so excitedly ever told tale of two look-alike boys; a tale of the rich and the poor. No wonder, this has ever been the best educational pick in the classroom as kids would love to dive into imagination and get the moral of the story. Two different worlds and Tom Canty and Edward Tudor shared the same birth date and same features. Fate brings them and they decide to change clothes for few minutes. This leads to the adventures beyond wildest dreams. He pokes fun at the old upper class in England and showed how wrong it was to judge people by outward appearances. Born in November, the author's other famous Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer were my fav too. A good Pick for all ages.

- ilaxi

Prince and the Pauper.......2006-07-17

Wow! What a story this was. Twain was a great story-teller in his own right with the ability to inject his own feelings into the book. This book is very much a satire attacking the life under a tyrant. And although the book was written in a good-humored state, one can see the sourness behind it all.

The book started out with a prince and a poor lad, who really looked alike, switching clothes. They soon found themselves into very uncomfortable positions as the two had to step into the life of the other. The pauper was very much uncomfortable with all the regal etiquettes imposed and followed in the royal court. And the Prince flowed into the streets, still believing and telling everyone that he was the Prince of England. This only made himself look like a clown, soon the Prince found himself in the company with a bunch of thieves, gangs, and pickpockets. He even drew a spanking from the pauper's vogabond father, who believed the Prince was his son Tom Canty. The two's lives would soon come to at a criss-cross at the coronation of the Prince, and many interesting things ensued.

Overall, this book was well-written, well-told, and well-described. I give it a four stars instead of a five because there are small segments in the book that are quite boring, but nothing major that lasts more than 5 pages at a time. This book is definitely a classic that is worth reading.

A classic story of mistaken identities.......2006-06-05

In Mark Twain's classic historical novel, Tom Canty, a poor boy from the London slums, and Edward Tudor, Prince of Wales, unwittingly swap places. Because they bear an uncanny resemblance to each other, no one believes them when they announce who they really are. So their adventures begin ...

I recommend this book to just about anyone, especially historical-fiction fans. I adored it. The novel is humorous, witty, adventurous and has a lot to say about the human folly of judging people by outward appearances. Plus, it's a classic that's actually a quick read!

Secret Formulas of the Wizard of Ads: Turning Paupers into Princes and Lead into Gold

Average customer rating:

Roy H. Williams where are the Secret Formulas to the Wizard of Ads?
A light in the darkness
Broadcast Media isn't always the best advertising medium.
Huh! No Secrets Here
Wonderful words from the Wizard!

Secret Formulas of the Wizard of Ads: Turning Paupers into Princes and Lead into Gold
Roy H. Williams
Manufacturer: Bard Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1885167393

Book Description

People love this straight-talking ad-man from Texas and his powerful stories that shed light on advertising, marketing and success.

Customer Reviews:

Roy H. Williams where are the Secret Formulas to the Wizard of Ads?.......2007-01-29

Hey Roy Williams, where are the "Secret Formulas" to the Wizard of Ads? After reading the first book by Roy H. Williams (The Wizard of Ads) I needed to know more and my mind was asking more questions than ever.

Take me in depth Roy. Show me the behind the scenes things and reveal to me "how Broca works", show me how to "See my customer Real" and help me to explore how "Second-Hand Knowledge" works.

If you're into Sales, Marketing, Advertising or Business you want to know more than the details of how to run a business but more importantly you need to know how to inspire a customer to stay with you. As one great thinker said the only reason why we are in business is to keep or maintain a customer.

So do words have energy? And if they do how do I use them in an ethical way that helps my customers appreciate my sincere disire to take good care of them? Roy H. Williams shows us how to do this through 100 new stories that show you more in-depth SECRETS. The real Formulas for how things work psychologically, physiologically, emotionalogically and spiritualogically. The last two words I created after much meditation on Roys overall methodology.

The Secret Path to miraculous Ads is included in this follow-up where Roy reveals the styles of writing that limit reaching the emotional state of the customer. He breaks it down into three writing styles...Journalism, Creative Writing, and Poetry/lyricism. The last having the most powerful effect by far on your customers most unique way to receive new information.

Whatever you're looking to gain from a benefical stand point is here. This book is a great follow-up book to The Wizard of Ads. I'm still using Secret Formulas...re-reading it and practicing the Secret Formulas.

Is there anything else I can do for you?

Your Servant,

Deremiah, *CPE

A light in the darkness.......2007-01-18

You can tell that Roy Williams has served time in the real life trenches of the ad game. There are nuggets of gold nestled within the stories he shares in this book.

This is not a "step by step" color by numbers kind of book. It's one that shares the lessons learned by the telling of parables. If you have a solid background in marketing and advertising, then this is great read. If you're looking for a marketing primer, then this is not the book for you.

Broadcast Media isn't always the best advertising medium........2006-03-01

A very insightful book on advertising. However, I am surprised that Mr. Williams bothered to put it in print since he apparently believes the only way to advertise is through broadcast or intrusive media (radio and television). Intrusive media is just that. That is why consumers often turn the station on their radio and televisions when the programming they are listening to or watching is interupted by advertising. Print advertising is non-intrusive and therefore looked upon by choice by the consumer. An effective advertising campaign can be accomplished by many different mediums and most often with a mix of more than one.

Huh! No Secrets Here.......2005-09-25

I have read many books relating to ads & advertising and found this one to contain no value, no guidance, no tips and NO SECRETS.
Many old tales and short quotes that offered no insight to modern day marketing and advertising.
There are many good books out there, unfortunately for me and my pocketbook this is not one of them.

Wonderful words from the Wizard!.......2003-01-08

Roy Williams and his series of books were introduced to me by a radio station that I advertize with. The information contained within these pages have been nothing less that inspirational! I have never been in a better position to assist my dealers in making marketing decisions and develop local ads. I can't wait for the day that I can afford to visit the Wizard Acadamy and learn as much as I can!

Mark Twain : Historical Romances : The Prince and the Pauper / A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court / Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc (Library of America)

Average customer rating:

Good collection by a master of wit
a great collection
A fabulous collection of perhaps Twain's very best works!

Mark Twain : Historical Romances : The Prince and the Pauper / A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court / Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc (Library of America)
Mark Twain , and Samuel Clemens
Manufacturer: Library of America
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0940450828

Customer Reviews:

Good collection by a master of wit.......2002-05-10

Huck Finn, I could take or leave. Conn Yankee is among my favorit e classics. Joan of Arc---better than other interpretations of
warrior women. I recommend this collection and "Damsel in the Rough" by Ann M. Tempesta.

a great collection.......1999-06-23

for fans who wish there were another Huck Finn or Tom Sawyer, you will find Mark Twain's 'joan of arc' just as beautifully written as his more famous 'prince an the pauper' and 'connecticut yankee'. for catholics, 'joan of arc' is even more of a must read, a stunning proof how this great saint has captured the hearts of so many, regardless of their skepticism or creed. Library of America editions are beautifully bound, lightweight, and readable. here they contain the two most famous of his non-mississippi writings with a gem most of us never knew existed. a keepsake for the decades.

A fabulous collection of perhaps Twain's very best works!.......1999-02-20

This collection contains my 2 childhood and all-time Twain favorites - Prince & Pauper, and Connecticut Yankee - and added the magical ingredient of a historical romance I never knew Twain had written - Joan of Arc. Now that I have read this as well, I see that it may be even better than the other two!

The wry sense of humor characteristic of Twain definitely is most in evidence in CT Yankee. All 3 of these works deliver Twain's wide understanding of human nature in different times and sociological conditions, and his admiration of human nobility and greatness of heart in adversity. Joan of Arc unquestionably is the most inspiring of these tales, being the story of the greatest hero (or heroine). The Prince and the Pauper, however, remains a jewel of an adventure story, which any child can identify with, and learn from.

Book Description

A pauper caught up in the pomp of the royal court.

A prince wandering horror-stricken through the lower depths of English society.

Out of the theme of switched identities, Mark Twain fashioned both a scathing attack upon social hypocrisy and injustice, and an irresistible comedy imbued with the sense of high-spirited play that belongs to his happiest creative period.

Customer Reviews:

There's shame of it - not in Heathenesse, but Christian Church.......2006-07-15

This book is a sublime `drama' of errors. The prince and the pauper change clothes and are mistaken by the whole population for one another. The prince lives a life of a vagabond and the pauper a royal one. In other words, all men are equal; one has only to change the garments. And, `So evanescent and unstable are men's works in the world.'
This book gives a fair picture of England in the 16th century, worth a Defoe or a Swift: the immense chasm between the rich and the poor, a heavily biased and corrupt judicial system and extremely cruel punishment. `It was a crime to be hungry in England.'
People were hanged for trifling larcenies and slowly boiled for alleged poisoning. `Witches' were burnt at the stake: `My good old blameless mother strove to earn bread by nursing the sick; one of these died, the doctors knew not how, so my mother was burnt for a witch, whilst my babes looked on and wailed ... drink to the merciful English law that delivered her from the English hell!'
The rich chased their farmers away by foreclosures (changing farms in sheep ranges), making instantly beggars of them. They risked heavily to be sold as slaves.

This book is a bittersweet Breughelian comedy about human injustice, cruelty and ultimately generosity.
Not to be missed.

Extremely difficult.......2006-03-24

This is one of the most difficult books I have ever read. If you can understand it then it's a very good book but also confusing and you may have difficulty following the story line.

What I think of The Prince and the Pauper.......2004-11-15

I read the book The Prince and the Pauper, by Mark Twain. It is a book about Edward, the Prince of Wales, and Tom, a poor boy from the streets of London. Tom ventures out to the palace to meet a real prince, which was his lifelong desire. Edward rescues Tom from a crowd that jeered at him because of he was clothed in rags. The two become friends. They switch clothes and realize that they look exactly alike! But then everyone mistakes Edward for being the poor boy and Tom for being the prince. The boys are separated.
Tom is thought to be the Prince by everyone in the palace. When Henry VIII dies, Tom is declared Edward VI, King of England. He denies it and tries to tell them he is a pauper, but they think he is mad and teach him what he needs to know to act like a king. Tom learns to enjoy being king, but wants to return to his home and family.
Edward goes on a quest to find his way back to the kingdom and Tom. During his adventure, he meets Miles Hendon, a kind fellow who was on a journey to his home, for he had finally gotten out of a war he was fighting. Miles rescues him from another crowd that is about to throw him into the Thames River. He decides to take Edward in with him. Together, they travel to Miles' old home and then to the palace to declare Edward's rightful place as the prince.
I enjoyed this book very much. It has got a straightforward theme: Don't judge a book by its cover. I would recommend this book to either teens or adults, since Twain uses some hard-to-understand archaic English words like "hither" and "thither". This book is book is not easy to read, but has interesting adventures.

The Prince and the Pauper (Modern Library Classics)

Average customer rating:

Good Writing, Good Plot, but Average Reading.

The Prince and the Pauper (Modern Library Classics)
Mark Twain
Manufacturer: Modern Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0375761128
Release Date: 2003-07-08

Book Description

Set in sixteenth-century England, Mark Twain’s classic “tale for young people of all ages” features two identical-looking boys—a prince and a pauper—who trade clothes and step into each other’s lives. While the urchin, Tom Canty, discovers luxury and power, Prince Edward, dressed in rags, roams his kingdom and experiences the cruelties inflicted on the poor by the Tudor monarchy. As Christopher Paul Curtis observes in his Introduction, The Prince and the Pauper is “funny, adventurous, and exciting, yet also chock-full of . . . exquisitely reasoned harangues against society’s ills.”

This Modern Library Paperback Classic is set from the Mark Twain Project edition, which is the approved text of the Center for Scholarly Editions of the Modern Language Association.

Customer Reviews:

Good Writing, Good Plot, but Average Reading........2005-01-15

The Prince and the Pauper was written in a very good style, it kept up with the society and language of the time period very well. Also, it displayed the stylish and luxrious lifestyle of the royality, along with the power. It was quite enjoyable in that it provided discriptions of the pomp and simplicity of the plot. However, numerous parts of the book were very tragic and depressing, and showed a little bit too much of the hardships put upon the characters, and could be a little inappropriate at times.

Average customer rating:

The Prince and the Pauper
Mark Twain , and Samuel Clemens
Manufacturer: Aegypan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Book Description

Twain's story has been adapted and, er, borrowed from so often and so freely that you're probably familiar with it even if you've never read of it: a prince of sixteenth-century England meets his double in the slums of London. The two swap clothes -- and lives. Complications ensue. Tom Canty, the urchin, learns how luxury and power can become the death of a man, while his doppleganger roams his kingdom, learning first hand of the cruelty of the Tudor monarchy. . . .

"Twain was . . . enough of a genius to build his morality into his books, with humor and wit and -- in the case of The Prince and the Pauper -- wonderful plotting."

-- E.L. Doctorow

Average customer rating:
The pauper prince; a story of Hans Christian Andersen
Marion Marsh Brown
Manufacturer: Crescent Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

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ASIN: B0006CA3DG

Average customer rating:

Good story told well

Prince and the Pauper
Mark Twain
Manufacturer: Greathall Productions
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio CD

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Customer Reviews:

Good story told well.......2007-02-05

This is our second Weiss recording. I prefer it to the Three Musketeers because (1) his voices are amazing (he acts them out much more in this story than in the other), (2) I like this story better, and (3) Weiss is much smoother in telling this story than he was in the other. I noticed a few places in the other where his wording seemed awkward or where he seemed to hesitate or stumble over the words. This one, on the other hand, was FLUID and beautifully done. Very highly recommended.

The Prince and the Pauper (Illustrated Classics)

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The Prince and the Pauper (Illustrated Classics)
Mark Twain
Manufacturer: Saddleback Educational Publishing, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio CD

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The Complete Novels of Mark Twain ( Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, the Gilded Age, the American Claimant, Pudd'nhead Wilson, the Prince and the Pauper, Those Extra-ordinary Twins) 5 Volume Set

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The Complete Novels of Mark Twain ( Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, the Gilded Age, the American Claimant, Pudd'nhead Wilson, the Prince and the Pauper, Those Extra-ordinary Twins) 5 Volume Set

Manufacturer: Nelson Doubleday
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Board book
ASIN: B000E3LPUM

Product Description

5 Volume set of Mark Twains Novels

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