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Jun 04, 2010

Laura rated it:

If I'd have met Calvin in second grade, we'd still be married. It's really hard to find a good boy with a tiger.

8 comments like (4 people liked it)

Sep 07, 2007

Jeremy rated it:

The comic strip "Calvin and Hobbes" was, and continues to be, like the best gifts, unexpected and undeserved. It touches all the bases, from highbrow, considerably exclusive wit, to pricelessly rendered slapstick, to flat-out potty humor, to laugh-out-loud (loud!) knockout punchlines, and then every now and then for good measure it would either make you cry or question your very existence.

It's impossible not to adore Calvin, a true testament to Watterson's characterizatio More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Aug 14, 2011

Rose rated it:

I love, love, love Calvin & Hobbes. Reading this, seeing the expressions on Calvin's face or the grimaces & scowls on his parents' faces just makes me all kinds of happy. It's going into that world that is Calvin's imagination that takes me back to my own childhood years where everything was possible that makes me happy & glowy. Bill Waterson's a genius. He captured what it's like being a kid with an overactive imagination & expanded on the idea with his own imagination & talent & got this... ge More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 13, 2008

Jacob rated it:

This book is about a six year old boy and his best friend (who is a stuffed tiger) Hobbes. This duo spells trouble. Calvin thinks Hobbes is real but he is a stuffed animal but Calvin pretends to make Hobbes do things and his mom gets mad at Calvin but he blames it on Hobbes!

Calvin isn't good in school because he never does his homework and in the class room he is always fantasizing about "Spaceman Spiff". Calvin is a pretender, He pretends to turn himself into an elephant More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 09, 2012

Paul rated it:

by Bill Watterson, published in 1988.

Every time I sit down and start reading my daughter Calvin and Hobbes, I just can’t help smiling out loud. There is something so true, so funny, so insightful about this comic strip it gets under your skin and tickles you from inside.

My daughter loves it too. This collection, The Authoritative Calvin And Hobbes, includes all the comics from “Yukon Ho!” and “Weirdos From Another Planet!” and is fantastic. But don’t let me tell you, just go More...

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Mar 13, 2010

Julianne rated it:

This is pretty darn good vintage Calvin and Hobbes. My feeling is that most cartoonists aspire to turn out work like this. It's just so solid -- the drawing and the writing. And the humor is consistently funny! Watterson manages to work in way more social and political commentary than you'd think a strip about a misfit rambunctious six-year-old and his special tiger would allow for. Granted, Calvin's having a vocabulary larger than most college graduates is pretty integral to achieving this end More...

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Aug 22, 2009

Sarai rated it:

This is the comic that relates the adventures of Calvin and his toy tiger, Hobbes. Hobbes is seen by Calvin's parents as a plush toy and by Calvin and the reader as a pouncing and amiable "real" tiger — Calvin's slightly-more-sensible better half.

I enjoyed the early years of this comic but then it started to get too something. I don't know what. Too rote, maybe. A little preachy, perhaps. Plus, I started seeing those awful Calvin peeing on a Ford/Chevy symbol bumper sticker More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 16, 2008

Ron rated it:

May not be great literature, but Bill Watterson sees something which most of us don't. My life has been diminished by not having the joy of opening the daily paper to some new insight to ourselves through his eyes.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 24, 2007

Robert rated it:

What else can I say? Part artist, part superhero, part ladies man. Calvin has the style that the ladies are beggin for...and his tiger is pretty fly too.

Imagination is a wonderful thing

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Oct 28, 2010

Madleine rated it:

This book is great. I find this book entertaining and adventurous because Calvin, the main character, is always ready for an adventure. Calvin has a huge imagination because he is always making up a type of machine based on what will help him once his mom tells him something. For example when his mom tells him to take a shower he makes a clone machine so that his clone can take a shower for him. He thinks he can get away with it but his mom always finds out. He tries to make an excuse for when h More...

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Jan 21, 2012

Andrew rated it:

This book is really a collection of choice strips from other books - in fact i recognised several from the earlier books i read and reviewed here. SO that is a done side to this book nothing new. BUT the format is considerably larger so the strips are clearer and easier to read and view some of which are in full colour. So my thoughts on this - I now have a number of Calvin and Hobbes books and sadly I can see the repartition however they are still great fun to read and still have the ability to More...

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May 20, 2011

Valerie added it

The format for this version is a little unsettling. In other collections, the Sunday cartoons are set off in their own little chapters--here they're interfiled with the black and white ones--but not (I think) in sequence. It's somewhat disorienting.

I have some of the collections this edition summarizes, but not all of them. The cartoons I've marked in my copy are some of the classics I refer to frequently--but others are not marked. I was somewhat capricious in my marking.
More...

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Feb 01, 2012

Miriam rated it:

Calvin and Hobbes is a guilty pleasure of mine. I grew up reading tons of the collections, wanting desperately to be friends with Calvin. Now that I'm grown, I still totally want to be friends with Calvin. Bill Watterson's characters were a mainstay in my childhood home, so when I moved into a home of my own, I quite naturally wanted to have some familiar faces on the bookshelf. Taking a break from reading Les Miserables (the next book I will finish/review) to flip through the much lighter fa More...

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Feb 20, 2008

Aria rated it:

its a fun read

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 08, 2009

Craig rated it:

One of the most perceptive, thought-provoking, and truly funny cartoon strips ever created! Watterson not only nails life, he's hilarious. He addresses everything from philosophy to film noir. I was actually saddened when I learned he was quitting the strip! Thank goodness we've got his books to recall. Life, art, literature, philosophy, friendship, imagination, evil -- you name it, Calvin and his toy tiger take it on. Add this book to The Essential Calvin and Hobbes and you'll have most o More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 11, 2011

JabBeRwoCkY rated it:

Imagine coming home from school one day and as soon as you open the door, a stuffed tiger attacks you! That's how life is with Calvin, an eight year old terror who has little motivation but a great imagination (which can turn schoolbuses into alien spaceships and he can transmogrify into anything at all)! With his imagination, his stuffed tiger comes to life and 2 have many misadventures. As for Calvin's parents, a line in a popular Joe Walsh song sums up their predicament- they're lucky to be s More...

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Sep 01, 2009

Calla rated it:

Ever since I started my Garfield phase, everyone kept trying to get me to read Calvin and Hobbes, but the summary they gave me (It's about a boy and his stuffed tiger) wasn't selling it.
Anyway, I finally agreed to give one a try. This happens to be the first one I ever read, and I absolutely love it. Calvin and Hobbes has made me literally laugh out loud, which is rare, and shown me what my first grade mortal enemy, Tommy, was thinking every time he called me a "meanie-pants" and More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 20, 2012

Enrique rated it:

I never read all of the Calvin and Hobbes series to this day, but when I was thirteen, I bought the authoritative edition from the book store. I read it and laughed myself silly, and I read it over and over again. I began to also draw characters that looked like Calvin and Hobbes. I was in love with Calvin's imagination, because I spent a great deal of time with myself and my imagination as well. Great building block for me in terms of developing the reading muscle.

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Apr 21, 2010

Mrs.Fawnda rated it:

I give Calvin and Hobbes credit for developing my vocabulary. When I was younger, if I didn't get a scene, I'd look up the confusing words, then reread the strip multiple times until I finally got every nuance of how the word was used. Although I now rarely use the words "myriad" or "adversary" or "tranquility" in everyday conversation, I'll never forget how smart I felt when I finally understood Calvin's ranting after learning those words.

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Jul 30, 2009

Greg rated it:

This is among the books published by Bill Watterson from the Calvin and Hobbes comic strip that I have enjoyed. My children have literally worn out these collections of C&H comics, and with good reason. C&H is a unique blend of homespun philosophy, side-splitting humor, and insight into the human (child and adult) condition. Watterson's insights into, and sly digs at, various social, familial, and other institutions of modern life are masterful.

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Nov 07, 2011

Jessica rated it:

I absolutely ADORED this book! It's so cute how they interact with each other. I think Hobbes is so adorable, and Calvin is extremely funny. This demonstrates how kids and their stuffed animals play with each other. Adults somethimes think their kids are crazy when they talk to their stuffed animals like they're real people. But, actually it's inspriring because it shows that little kids are using their imaginations.

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Aug 05, 2009

Howie rated it:

Never fully understood, but this is my childhood.
I own a bunch of these, and I truly feel like they serve the purpose of a family photo. They're beautifully insightful works that say so much in so little time.
I can appreciate something that stands the test of time (childhood to adulthood),
and even if there are some things I just don't get, it's part of growing up, and in time, I'm sure I'll understand more and more.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 13, 2011

Lukeb rated it:

I have to agree with Calvin in one of the comic strips where he's listening to the radio when that song about Santa Clause seeing you when you sleeping and knowing when your awake tuns on and Calvin turns it off an says "Santa Clause: Kindly old elf or CIA spook? These comic strips have entertained me for years no matter what mood I was in. I have always loved and continue loving this series.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 03, 2010

Kirby rated it:

I learned that no matter the age, it's still a great book to read. read some of it when i was young, didn't understand it then, because of the wide range of vocab Watterson used, and when i was younger, i thought Hobbes was a real tiger! now as i grow older, he's becoming more of the fake toy tiger now, although he still retains that character. i hate growing up

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 18, 2009

Airi's Timing is Off rated it:

This was the first Calvin and Hobbes collection I read. It was fourth grade and I obtained my own copy last year around Christmas. I've found that as I get older and wiser in some ways, the strip has more resonance and hilarity. Of the comic strip in general, it touches on the deepest roots of human nature, it is uplifting, it is contemplative,it's exquisite.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 14, 2008

Duane rated it:

Bill Watterson captured the world through the eyes of a little boy who loves his pet stuffed tiger. Calvin tries to see the world as his playground and with the help of Hobbes (his stuffed tiger) he helps us see the humor in the unlikeliest places. A joy to read and share with those that see the humor in little things.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 11, 2010

Shaun rated it:

One of my favorite books and topics to discuss with young, bright, creative and slightly rebellious kids is Calvin and Hobbes. It's one of those "kid's books" that really isn't. It's more social commentary, a respectable homage at the altar of childhood, and a celebration of imagination than anything else. Simply brilliant.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 18, 2009

Bunxena rated it:

Calvin is always fun to read, and this book is no exception. Classic strips include the one where Calvin's dad tells Calvin the story about "the hydraulic pump (fig. 1), the wheel shaft flange (fig. 2) and the evil patent infringement", and a couple of years' worth of camping strips (it rained for a week!). Plenty of fun to be had here.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 09, 2012

Damien rated it:

this is my first book and this is the one that got me reading this series and like other series the first book is my favorite. I loved this book becease the fact they had a six year old and a stuffed tiger coming to life in his head is very ....origanal to me at least and if you start reading this book you'll love it

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Feb 05, 2011

Mary Ann rated it:

I love that we read this for Book Club this month. I was reminded just how much I love this comic strip. Oh, Calvin. You admire his imagination at the same time you are thanking the heavens you're not his parent. Good laughs, great fun read. Now I just need to buy the other 10 or so collections. Sigh.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

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