Gone-Away Lake

Rating:
Summary: great child's/young adult book
Review: This book was one of my favorite childhood books. It is one of the few (along with the sequel) that I can even remember that was fascinating and exuded a strangely delightful aura of mystery and fascination. I definetely think it is a book well worth buying and well worth keeping. I'm sorry I ever gave it away.

Rating:
Summary: My favorite fantasy book of all time
Review: This is a book that I wish never had an ending. As a child I was swept away with the story and never wanted to return.

Rating:
Summary: Lake of the Happy Nice People
Review: This novel is 256 pages of happy, nice people enjoying each other's company and having fun. While conflict may be unpleasant in real life, it's essential to entertaining storytelling, and this book has no conflict whatsoever, unless one counts a few, almost instantly resolved, minor squabbles. There is also virtually no plot, and the discovery of some mildly interesting new friends and the exploration of a mildly interesting area doesn't substitute for one. While the innocent tone and evocation of days gone by is charming for a while, it's not nearly enough to sustain an entire book. It was difficult to stay awake and focused long enough to finish this snoozer of a book. Not recommended.

Rating:
Summary: One of the all-time best children's books
Review: This summer filled with surprises in Upstate New York is one that you just want to step into, along with young Portia and Julian. I loved this book thirty years ago, and I still do. If only everyone could actually find their own Gone-Away!

Rating:
Summary: Quirky characters make this one a treat!
Review: This was my favorite book when I was in the fifth grade. This year, I bought thirty copies and read it with my fifth grade Reading students. They fell in love with it immediately! It's a book full of fleshed-out characters, some of whom are quite eccentric. I am 39, and I still want to move to Gone-Away!

Rating:
Summary: The adventure I've always hoped to find....
Review: When I read this book when I was about twelve I was so thrilled that someone had already written the adventure I had always dreamed of finding. It was written perfectly and I read the whole book right away because I loved it so much! I have hoped to find the magic that the young characters found when they discovered gone-away-lake ever since I read this book and on my treks through the forest of my backyard I always keep looking for some old victorian houses hidden behind vines and I always pay attention to enscriptions I find in rocks... I haven't find my adventure except in this book, but the adventure here was just how I dreamed it would be. I would buy this book for any girl ages 8-12. I am buying Return to Gone-Away-Lake now that it is back in print for myself because I loved the first one so much!

Rating:
Summary: Great From the First Word
Review: When my mother's friend sent me this book and its sequel for Christmas, I didn't want to read them. I've never quite been a person for adventures, and I was too stubborn to accept that they could be good books.
But then my mom read them, and said they were really good, so one day I relented. Soon I found that I couldn't put it down, and was reading it at anytime possible. As soon as I was done, I grabbed the sequel right away.
This book is a perfect adventure, and anyone with half a mind should like it!
Thanks for reading my review!

Rating:
Summary: Gone Away Lake
Review: When Portia and her cousin, Julian, find an old lake, they also find two very exciting people, the only ones who live at the lake, which has now turned into a swamp. They find out the story of Gone-Away-Lake with many other adventures and exciting experiences, including finding a "philosopher's stone" and starting their own club! This book is a fabulous story. It is very exciting to travel with Portia and Julian through Gone-Away-Lake. I recommend this story for anyone who likes reading about fun adventures.

Rating:
Summary: A great book everyone, kids and grown-ups alike, should read
Review: Wow! There were a lot of neat twists and complicated plot element here. And a great ending. As my English teacher would say, "A great example of powerful writing." Well, make that an excellent example. All ages will enjoy this book!

Rating:
Summary: A Gentle, Funny Delight
Review: Written and set about 20 years later than the author's Melendy series, this book and its sequel prove that Enright hadn't lost her insight into juvenile character. Portia and Foster Blake head for upstate New York to visit their cousin, Julian Jarman, and his parents. Like the Melendys at the Four-Story Mistake, the Jarmans have just shifted quarters, and thereby hangs the tale: exploring the new region, Portia and Julian happen upon a former lake mostly drained by a new dam, and edged still by the crumbling remains of a community of late-Victorian summer houses. Living there are two elderly eccentrics who spent their childhood summers at the resort and inspire a season of wonderful reminiscences and adventures. This is another excellent family read-aloud with splendidly drawn characters (both children and adults). I still reread it regularly though I'm a long way from being age 9-12!