K Books

Absolutely fantastic book. Mrs Rogers is a wonderful writer who captures your imagination and compassion.

I read this book over thirty years ago and still love it. It is one of the best novels ever written. Gayle Rogers is a master storyteller. Although the romance between the two main characters is not as intense for me as when I first read it (keep in mind I am alot older now), the book is as fresh and appealing as ever. A tender, haunting, and beautifully written love story.

I, too, read Nakoa's Woman in the early seventies and could never get it out of my mind. I rate is as my all-time favorite and had wondered for many years why there were no other books, I feared she would never write another. I even wrote Dell to inquire about the release date on the proposed movie but they sent me a form letter instead, stating they were glutted with manuscripts. As an author myself, it only strengthened my belief they never really look at manuscripts before throwing letters into slush piles. In December 2004, I learned she had more books out and have since corresponded with her and now own all five of her books. She is a very sweet lady and we've emailed back and forth. Her new publisher is Sojourner Publishers Inc.

From the first time I read Nakoa's Woman at age 15 it has not ceased to live in my heart. The story is hauntingly beautiful, the characters are endearing and come alive to the reader. My whole family have read this book and have loved it as much as I have. I recommend it to anyone who loves to read, men and women alike. I look forward to reading the authors other books, of which I just became aware.

This is a book that is hard to put down once you pick it up. I enjoyed the historical aspect that reflected on the
comparison of the indian way and the white man's way, and how the lives and priorities reflect in very different ways.
The indian people took Maria in and taught her about the circle of life and how we all grow through this circle. As you walk with Maria and Nakoa through this journey you will become engrossed in their lives and will be able to feel their emotions.
I would highly recommend this book to anyone who likes to read love stories, historical books, novels for entertainment, or a book that keeps interested.

Luana Kennedy
Marysville WA

I have read books on the Vietnam Era but they have all been from the academic/political point of view. This is the first book that I have read that brought me down to ground level and allowed me to see the war through the eyes of those fighting it. Whether the war was right or wrong is irrelevent; these men answered their country's call, draft or not, and fought in what is quite arguably one of the worst conflicts America has ever gotten herself involved in. In this book you see the daily struggles of survival and the horrors and realities of war through a soldiers eyes. I cannot thank Mr. Stesiak enough for his service to our country. I especially feel blessed that he has shared his personal experiences in this book. I trust that it will have the same impact on you that it has had on me!

Raptor's Prey is a must for anyone who is the least bit interested in Vietnam and what they (medic's and grunts) actually went through. The author is able to bring you into the story like you are out there fighting with him. This book is one you will not want to put down and if you have to you can't wait to get back to it!
Bravo!!!!

Great book,based on one airborne medic's time in Vietnam. I think Medic's are the bravest people I've ever met. And this book just confirms my feelings. If you want to know what the war in Vietnam was like,this book can give you a great "feel" for what those brave men and women suffered through. God Bless them all. Thanks for your time and attention.

Very good book. I had a hard time puttiing it down.
Author and I both served in the 173rd Airborne in 1966. Just different Battalions. The life of an Infantryman was captured very well. Brought back lots of memories. The hours of humping the boonies and the fatigue, massive fatigue that seemed would never end recaptured.
Recommended to all Vietnam Vets, but especially to those who served with the 173rd Airborne.

In a terse, unadorned style reminiscent of Ernest Hemingway, Stesiak provides an insight into what makes a soldier tick. I came away understanding why these men call one another 'brother'.

I purchased one book and my boys (three at the time) loved it. I purchased another in the series and then finally the last two. We've got a lot of bible story books my kids had no or little interest in. These are so engaging--the writing, the pictures, the selection of stories. These stories inspire them to pretend and re-tell the stories themselves. They are also easy to use as a lesson--the story, acting it out, doing a craft. I only wish there were more in the series!

I bought the first two books of the series over a dozen years ago when my youngest son was little. I was a preschool teacher of four year olds for many years and used these stories. I have also have used them with two-year-olds in Sunday School and the children like them.They get to the essence of the story with simple words and explanations. I love the simple and clear artwork with watercolor drawings. I think the simple story and artwork allows the feeling of the story to come through. I had looked for these books in stores over the years with no luck. Now with a grandson, I was delighted to find them to complete my collection. I can't wait to read the stories to him.

We used this book for our children from the time they were born until they were three years old. They loved it! The illustrations are fantastic and beautiful. Any time I give a baby gift I always include this book. Highly recommended!

When my son was in preschool, this was hands down one of his favorite books, along with Vol. 1. The stories are simply written yet remain true to the spirit of the Word. We highly recommend these books!

PERFECT FOR TODDLERS! This book offers short bible stories in language that is perfect for preschoolers!

An accolade to Ms. Penman in taking the sequel form to a greater and more meaningful level in the Medieval Welsh Trilogy, of which the second account is titled "The Reckoning." This trilogy of Welsh history is for the reader devoted to historical novels. These lengthy editions give equal writing to both English and Welsh happenings (by date), which are infinitely researched and sincere to lavish detail of the times.

For those who have stayed the course through formal education of medieval-period British history, Penman's "There Be Dragons", and two sequels continuing the intricate histories and relationships of the initial and earlier characters, are a banquet to be enjoyed, not suffered.

For the reader who has enjoyed Seton ("Katherine"), Chadwick ("The Greatest Knight" and "The Red Lion") and Wainwright ("Within the Fetterlock"), Penman's "There Be Dragons", "Falls the Shadow" and "The Reckoning" are a must to appreciate all the drama and history of the Welsh during the same period of time. Even the author's explanation of how she titled the first book of the trilogy will bring a smile to the reader.

To tie the package together, watching the Academy Award winning "The Lion in Winter" and acclaimed A&E two disc series "Lancelot" will give a stark and revealingly accurate vision of the times--you will even recognize the historical characters and settings!

After finishing McCullough's Masters of Rome series, I yearned for another historical fiction series to fill in the void. I assumed it was a tough act to follow, until I picked up the first book in this trilogy "Here Be Dragons". The narrative sucked me in, mesmerized me, and put in me in complete amazement of the cast of characters that surrounded me. Reading Penman makes you not only a virtual eyewitness to the momentous events of Medieval Wales, but grafts you into the families involved--so much so you mourn and grieve with the deaths as if you've lost a loved one. It's rare for books, for author's to be able to do that. Then you realize these characters were real persons that shaped history, your sense of loss and awe magnifies exponentially. She continues the trend skillfully, without letting up, in "Falls the Shadow". This final installment left me with my jaw on the floor. It's not a happy ending, but Penman's skill is in how she takes tragic events of history, vividly paints them by fleshing out the players involved so that you feel the blood that runs through their veins...you even feel like you bleed when they do. If there were a way to make tragedies beautiful, like a sad symphony, Penman has discovered it. The proof is this trilogy. Everyone I've recommended these books to has become a fellow believer.

Completing the trilogy that began with Here Be Dragons and continued with Falls The Shadow, this novel,almost impeccably historically accurate, depicts the struggle by Welsh national hero Llywelyn ap Gruffydd to maintain sovereignty for Wales against the machinations of the ruthless and unscrupulous Edward I of England.
After Simon De Montfort is defeated and killed, his charter of freedoms is destroyed and King Edward reigns supreme as England's king.
After his bride Ellen , the daughter of the late Simon De Montfort, is captured by pirates hired by Edward and imprisoned by the English king, Llywelyn takes the field against England and is defeated and forced to submit to Edward's humiliating terms.
Meanwhile Llywelyn is hindered by the three-time treachery of his mercurial brother Davydd.
These events lead to eventual tragedy for Wales and for Llywelyn and his family.
Dafydd Ap Gruffyd's execution at the hands of the English was very similar to that of Scottish patriot William Wallace 12 years later, also on command of Edward I.
Edward I was a tyrant who crushed Welsh national self-determination, tried to subjugate Scotland, and expelled the Jews from England.

The book has a glittering cast of characters, and traces the lives of Simon's widow Nell, and her family, as well as Llywelyn's family, including his vibrant niece Caitlin.
It is filled with action and emotion, as the author gets into the heads of the characters involved, making for a truly human drama.
This is historical fiction at it's most alive.
The book mends with a prophecy of the restoration of Welsh sovereignty by the Day of Judgement, that on the Direst Day of Judgement no race but the Welsh would give answer to the Allmighty for this corner of the earth.

It has been five years since Simon de Montfort and his followers died at Evesham in their ill-fated rebellion against the English King Henry. Henry's charismatic son rules England in all but name. Simon's family is slowly rebuilding their lives. His wife, Henry's sister, Nell, is seeking a marriage for her beautiful daughter, Ellen. Although betrothed at 12 to Llewelyn, ruler of Wales, her engagement was ended by Simon's rebellion and death. Simon's youngest son Bran still struggles to cope with his guilt over failing to reach his father before Edward's army butchered Simon and Bran's older brother, Harry. In Italy, Bran's clever older brother, Guy, has married the ruler of an Italian province and is gaining fame as a soldier. On the surface, the de Montforts appear to be getting on with life; but the hatred and guilt created by Evesham will prove too strong to save all the de Montforts. In Wales, Llewelyn has reluctantly named his faithless younger brother, Davydd, as Llewelyn's heir. But Davydd's ambitions and his reckless disregard of the dangers of plotting with Edward set in motion events which will destroy Wales. Penman has written a sad, magnificent tale of courage, boldness that illuminates the inevitable clash between two cultures: the proud, independent Welsh and the determined England. She is most adept at creating the minor characters who are swept up in events not of their making: Hugh, the loyal squire to the doomed Bran de Montfort; Caitlin, Davydd's illegitimate daughter torn between her father and Llewelyn, the generous uncle who raised her. Through Hugh and Caitlin, the reader experiences the tragedy of the battle between Edward and Llewelyn. It is the human face of history that endures for the reader; the people who die; the places that are destroyed.

This final novel in Sharon Kay Penman's Welsh trilogy chronicles the last throws of the Welsh resistance to English takeover. The beloved Prince of Wales, Llewellyn ap Gruffudd leads the charge in a final but futile attempt to unite the quarrelsome Welsh to the common cause of defeating the English invasion. He faces down Edward I, the brutal English King who will stop at nothing to make England a complete island nation. Meanwhile, Llewellyn's double-dealing silver tongued brother, Davydd, is the wild card in this equation and changes loyalties whenever the wind blows.

Sharon Kay Penman has created a fast paced, emotional roller coaster. The characters are complex and multifaceted. She brilliantly gets inside their heads to portray how each is convinced of the justness of their cause. There is war, killing, and horrible brutality, yet none of the characters are portrayed as either saints or devils. They are simply human.

The Welsh trilogy begins with Here Be Dragons, follows with Falls The Shadow, and ends with The Reckoning. Individually these are some of the best novel's I've ever read but in order to appreciate them to the full and understand the complexities and depth of the characters, you must read them as a trilogy.

This is a great learn how to sew book for first time sewers, very easy to understand.

This is a classic beginner sewing book. I think people will learn to sew from this book generations to come. The patterns are very simple with easy to follow instructions. The illustrations are clear and helpful. I bought the new "Sew On" book to learn additional sewing skills with more advanced patterns.

I ordered the "Sew On" book and was really impressed with the written instructions and included patterns. My daughter wants to learn to sew and I ordered her this book. When she gets a little comfortable, I'll pass along the Sew On book. This Sew Fast Sew Easy book has simple, easy to use patterns and projects that will get true beginners sewing. I highly recommend this book for true beginners. If your looking for a more intermediate book, find the "Sew On" book.

The book is probably best for true novices. I was never much of a sewer and it has been 30 years since I've sewn anything more than a button or hem. I thought I'd need to review the basics, but this book was too basic for me. i was hoping that it would refresh the basics, but lead me a few steps beyond. I can see where it would be helpful for those who are just starting out, so I can't find much fault with the book itself. It was just not what I need.

I purchased this book based on its recommendations, and I'm not sorry I did. It's been 25+ years since I touched a sewing machine, and this book definitely helped take the fright away. Perfect for new seamstresses of all ages.

Powerful with many incites to getting were we need to be in regards to the right way to live. Learning to live the impossible and liking it.

Jerry Bridges is insightful and penetrating in his writing. He is easy to understand and gets to the heart of the matter. I used this in conjunction with the companion study book. This really helped me put into action the principles he discusses. It's well worth your time.

Should we "let go and let God", trusting Him to bring us victory in the battle for holiness? Jerry Bridges would answer this question with a firm "no." Instead, he would lead us to "grab hold and let God." In other words, Bridges charges us to take hold of the resources Christ offers us to kill sin's power and cultivate the fruit of the Spirit. In Bridges' view, holiness is not a matter of victory or defeat, but of obedience or disobedience. He teaches that victory is the byproduct of obedience, not the aim of the pursuit of holiness. Holiness is still the work of God, but we must actively lay hold of the work of God in our lives to see the fullest possible work of the Holy Spirit in us. As I consider all of the personal commands to action in the Bible regarding holiness, I am convinced that Bridges is right. Commands like, "put off your old self, mortify the deeds of the flesh, put on the new self, pursue righteousness, think about whatever is good and pure, walk in the Spirit" and many more show me that my part in holiness is to throw off everything that hinders and fix my eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of my faith. This excellent book is best in its final half, as Bridges deals with some of the details of this walk of faith and the specifics of how to fight sin and cultivate good in your life. Highly recommended.

When I started reading this book I had the "fear" that true "holiness" was something I could never achieve. Yet scripture calls us to be holy (1 Peter 1:13-25) so it must be possible. As I went through this book and examined my heart, I realized the obstacles that stood in the way of holiness and came away from the book with a whole new understanding and sense of hope and purpose. I now encourage other men to step up and TRULY pursue a life of holiness.

Don't read this book unless you are ready to be convicted and own up to your responsibility as a Christian! I have read this book twice and am reading it again (along with the Study Guide) with my church's women's Bible Study. It is a provocative book to study alone or with a group. It lends itself to wonderful group discussions. Jerry Bridge's book, very practically written, is an aid to Christians in our understanding of God's grace on one hand and our obligation to live a life worthy of His calling on the other.

If you enjoyed Oke's "Love Comes Softly" series, you will surely love this book! This is my favorite of her books and I recommend this one to anyone who wants to read a good romance novel.

A gown of spanish lace is about a young women that is a school teach.
and a young man that has been raised by outlaws and without a mother.

its a wonderfull book about two young agult finding love..
and a young man finding out how he is... and coming to belive....
its a graet book full of mystery and Love and advetures. and a little acshon. graet graet book!
and I think you would enjoy it!
:-)

I loved this book it was wonderful they was they fell in love. Ariana and Laramie are perfect for each other. Ariana lived the life of a schoolteacher who was hungry for god's word. She wanted her students to feels the same. She loved her town and every thing it stood for. Well. She loved being a teacher. She was adopted. Her parents died in a raid on their wagon trail. All she has heft to remember her mother by is a dress, which she planes to wear when she gets married. That wont is for a while. Soon Ariana is kidnapped so that Laramie's father can get Laramie to kill some one. She is kept in a hut near the camp, the people that live in the camp our robbers and are horrible men. They are widely known. None of them know about Ariana being on there camp except for the boss and one of the other members of the camp. Sam, Sam told Laramie about his past, well at least as much as he knew. Gave him a trunk filled with Laramie's stuff. From when he was a baby. While Ariana is a captive her and Laramie fall in love by simple acts of kindness. Soon Laramie helps her escape. He almost kills someone for it. Once they escape there past begins to unravel, in a strange way the to lovers are connected very closely. Soon all is settled but the ending will take you by surprise. You don't see it coming.

This is the best book that Oke has written. I absoulty loved it and couldnt put it down until I finished it. Read it.

I really enjoyed this book.
My mom read it to me when I was three or four and recently
She recomended that I read it myself.
I am really happy that I did. It is about
a sixteen year old girl named Ariana who is a schoolteacher.
one day two men come to the school house and kidnap her during a blizzard.
She is taken far away to an old, small, dirty cabin and locked in. When she gets a new guard, Laramie, at first she is afraid of him, but then she starts to enjoy his company. He does not mistreat her and he buys her food and soap and all she needs. one day he decides to help her escape. It is a dangerous and risk, but Laramie is willing to take it and liberate her out of camp. Will they survive?
see for yourself. I think that you should definatly buy this book It has many twists that I did not mention. 5 STARS!

I probably would have liked this book a little more if I had read it before I read Ravished; it just seemed like a rehash of that book, only in a medieval setting instead of nineteenth century.

Also, the purple prose bordered on the silly side at times, making it hard to read with a straight face.

this book is fun to read. one of the only medeival books written by amanda quick.high in action.

This is definitely my favorite AQ novel. I won't go into a breakdown of the book, but I will say that besides enjoying the story, I learned more about how life was during that time.

A great read for any Medival novel or Amanda Quick fan!

I love these 1-title books from Amanda Quick. I know they are not a series, but each book has some similarities, but she always keeps it fresh!

I cannot believe all of the 5 and 4 star ratings for this book! I couldn't wait for it to end. Very formula and hoaky dialogue. If this is any indication of how Amanda Quick writes her best-selling novels, I think I'll pass up the next opportunity to read another. The purple prose was forced and ridiculous. If this was supposed to be a satire or comedy, it missed the mark and just came across as incredibly stupid.

"He found the valley that divided the luscious hillocks and followed its course to the hot spring that awaited him." (The words of Hugh the Relentless.)--Even though this is a medievil romance--way too hoaky.

"A cold, ghostly wind wafted from the dark corridor. It carried before it the promise of doom." (this is describing Hugh entering a dark cave and Alice, the heroine senses his presence by mental telepathy or something. OH PLEASE!

"Hugh was vengeance incarnate, a dark wind that would sweep all before it."

And these ridiculous passages were easy to find--they're everywhere in this book.

I say don't bother with this one.

This book is one of the best books about the fire service I have ever read. I hung onto each and every word. It was though I was there sometimes.

During the tumultuous period of the 60s when author Dennis Smith wrote Report From Engine Company 82, the book was a cry for help from exhausted, frustrated men. Men who cleaned up in the aftermath of other exhausted and frustrated inhabitants of a society stretched to the breaking point.

As I type this, a younger firefighter in a comfortable, air-conditioned fire station among a population that by-and-large respects my profession, it's easy to forget the sacrifice of our past brothers who unceasingly fought fires, city hall and the population they served, until they had forged the modern fire service.

It's an important book for new firefighters to learn how the iron men of old did the job. And for the general reader it's a testament to both a volatile period in our nation's history, and to the timeless strength and courage by which good men have always worked to keep back the chaos of barbarism and destruction.

I spent 10 years in the fire service in both engine and truck companys. While I have many memories and stories to tell, the author, Dennis Smith, sums up the life of a fire fighter in an urban environment about as well as can be possibly told. Trying to balance the unpleasantries and sadness against the satisfaction of saving a life or helping a family overcome one of life's most agonizing moments is very well portrayed in this book. This is what a fire fighter's life is about folks. There is no other book that I can remember that tells it any better than this. If you're thinking of a career in a big city fire department or for that matter, if you're even thinking of becoming a volunteer fire fighter this book is a must!

I first read this book 20+ years ago, when I was under 20 years of age myself but streetwise from being the "wheels" (with a driver's license and a car) for various escapades all over Chicago in my raucous, hard-partying and utterly politically incorrect youth. Many aspects of "Report From Engine Co. 82" stuck with me through the years, and I've re-read it several times. Now I'm 40 and an ER RN in a Chicago hospital where we see more than our share of the extraordinarily dysfunctional lives of the people who live in poverty in the neighborhoods that surround our hospital -- the type of job and environment Smith portrays so well in "Report From Engine Co. 82."

"Report From Engine Co. 82." tells truths about the nearly inescapable poverty and illiteracy of people scraping by in lives that are marginalized in every possible way because they don't -- can't -- really care for themselves appropriately because they don't even know how. Poverty isn't what it used to be -- but it's still as screwed up as it was in Smith's first book. Most of our ER visits aren't really emergencies, just as most of the calls Company 82 responded to weren't emergencies, either. Nowadays, people call 911; when "Report" was written, that 911 system didn't exist yet. But not much has changed since then, in terms of what the firefighters/paramedics respond to and bring to the ER.

Most of the "emergencies" he sees are not emergencies. The non-emergencies, combined with the real emergencies, portray the dangerous and unthinking way poor people live through a combination of lack of resources, lack of experience with the "straight" world, lack of common sense, and minute-by-minute survival thinking. Most of these emergencies and non-emergencies are easily prevented -- if people had common sense, proper parenting, and a normal instinct for self-preservation.

These qualities, however, are surprisingly hard to come by in poverty, and this is what Smith dramatizes. The heroin overdoses. The stupid kids doing stupid things because they are constantly left unattended and to their own devices. Kids who shoot themselves in the thigh or foot -- or worse -- "playing" with guns. Fires that kill children because space heaters provide the heat slumlords refuse to provide in their code-violating buildings. The incipient hatred and distrust poor minority neighborhoods have of the white emergency personnel and firefighters who respond to their calls. The huge cultural gaps that make true communication and understanding so difficult -- even when you're both the same race and both speaking English.

What Smith accurately portrays is the way poverty-stricken people "live in the now" -- people whose entire lives are spent with no real financial or material stability or security. These are people for whom the concept of saving money for the future is impossible, either as a concept or a reality. People for whom making an appointment days or weeks in the future, and actually remembering to get to the appointment, is nearly impossible. Their main mode of thought is: what do I need to do now, what do I want to do now, what do I need or want to do in the next five minutes. This inability to think about and plan for the future is endemic, as is the inability to prioritize that which really matters -- one suspects because most of these people realize on some level they have no future that truly matters to the rest of society, and they're incapable of living as the rest of the "straight" world lives because they never have, didn't grow up with it, and don't know the language of living that life, let alone the mindset.

These are the people and children who have no insurance, no health care, no glasses when their vision is bad, no braces or dental care when their teeth are bad; who never use birth control (to prevent pregnancy OR to prevent disease transmission). People who don't understand why it's inappropriate to come to the ER with an upper respiratory infection and get pissed off when they wait hours for care while higher priority, higher-acuity patients (in respiratory distress, cardiac arrest, heart attacks, asthma attacks, and overdose, etc.) are taken before they are.

Conversely, these are also the people who shun health care until they are so sick they can no longer avoid it, and discover they have cancer... Cancer that could have been prevented or at least treated, often saving their lives, had they ever had regular health care -- but who are now consigned to an inevitable death they will blame on the healthcare providers who couldn't save them because they were at a stage beyond saving or treating in any way other than palliative.

Smith's New York is NOT the New York of Sex And The City. This is the New York of the infants whose welfare mothers don't immunize them, but have the latest, most expensive coats and boots because conspicuous consumption is how they live: you show how much money you have by wearing all that your money has bought you (rather than doing the far less glamorous but sensible things more responsible people, whose children were WANTED rather than accidental, do). The New York of the kids having kids who have kids, all of whom have never known proper parenting, nutrition, or health care. The overdoses. The children who come in with accidental poisonings or burns from household chemicals because no one was watching them. The attempted suicides with anything and everything -- cold medicine, knives, guns, illegal drugs. The kids raised by siblings because the parent is completely incapable, if they're even around, with or without the additional problems of substance use/abuse, addiction, or domestic abuse. The families which are largely single-parent families -- and where the parental figure may be an elder sibling, aunt or cousin who cares more for the children than their biological parent(s) does or is capable of doing.

This is also the world of the terrified illegal immigrants who wait so long to call for help because they're afraid of INS (now ICE) and deportation; by the time they do, they're often too sick to save. The penniless old people whose pensions don't cover their living expenses and who don't call for help because they're terrified of being discharged from the hospital to a nursing home and losing what little autonomy and material security they have left. The fractured families (with utterly dysfunctional dynamics) who interfere with the paramedics' jobs -- as well as the tight-knit families who are rich only in love for one another. The people who refuse help they desperately need because they fear and distrust the paramedics and firemen trying to help them, and because their healthcare illiteracy is such that they have no idea what is necessary to save their lives, and so refuse or avoid medical treatment that could stop problems in stages when they're still treatable. The mothers who speak no English, who superstitiously fear that emergency treatment will kill their children, yet who are so desperate to save their babies, they don't know what else to do, because all home remedies have now failed. The endless numbers of people who let their prescriptions run out or try to save money by taking less than the prescribed doses and then have severe health problems that wouldn't happen if they bought and took their meds as prescribed -- but who, for multiple reasons, can't and/or don't. The people who beg not to be brought to the hospital because "people DIE in the hospital" -- people who don't understand that their neighbors and family members who died in the hospital, died because they waited far too long to call for help, and were therefore were beyond saving when they finally got to a hospital.

Anyone who works in public service as a fireman, cop, nurse, social worker, or psych intake worker in a big city -- and in poverty-stricken, crime- and drug-infested suburbs and rural communities -- can relate to Smith's book. For everyone who majored in something else, this book opens a door and exposes the lives of people you don't even know exist, people you don't acknowledge when you're forced to share a bus or train with them during rush hour (or who you intentionally avoid by driving in your own car, despite the expense of gas, insurance, and time spent on the commute): the people who don't work, or the people who work wage-slave jobs like janitor, maid, fast-food worker, security guard, who can barely pay their bills or care for their children with what little they make -- or who blow it all on liquor and/or drugs and/or gambling (or all three) to escape the miserable hopelessness of their lives. The kids who have the latest "stuff" -- whether it's the shiny ten speed bicycles Smith writes about, or today's video games and cell phone/mp3 player/cameras -- but whose parents can't or won't give them what they really need: breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a stable environment from which to emerge every day to deal with the life-endangering risks of walking to and attending public schools that do little more than babysit and warehouse kids whose futures include teen pregnancy (and the late-term, life-threatening miscarriages that go with total lack of prenatal care, with or without drug use), repeated incarceration, and shorter-than-average lifespans due to the daily likelihood of violence in their communities and their lives.

Smith's portrayal of this kind of poverty is not pretty but it is not unsympathetic -- there are glimpses of beauty and hope, mostly in the young women and children who haven't yet been ruined by their surroundings. Smith tempers it all with a matter-of-fact acceptance that although it is his job to care for these people, he may never really understand them because he's now too removed from that life, and he takes on faith that they possess human qualities they often fail to demonstrate. But some do show their humanity, and those are the people he does it for.

Smith does an excellent job of portraying the paradox that the job of these firefighters and paramedics is to help and save these people, which by its nature includes finding them WORTH helping and saving, at the same time as they move and live as far away from these neighborhoods and the associated poverty, crime and drug problems as they possibly can. This is not merely a racial difference. There are plenty of black and Latino paramedics, cops, firefighters, nurses and doctors who straddle the gulf (some might say 'minefield') between their class and the class of the people they help, in circumstances that are at best trying and at worst nearly impossible to help them transcend for any sustained length of time.

Smith portrays the sympathetic detachment required to know that this is what you do, all day, every day you work, with only the hope that one or two out of ten people will actually genuinely and sincerely thank you for what you do or have done for them -- which is that elusive reward you get, one that can make it all seem worth it when it happens -- and to hope that when you show up and give this of yourself on every shift, there might be one kid or teen who sees what you're doing, who still has enough time ahead of them to see this glimpse into another world... A world it is just *barely* possible for them to enter given enough determination, education, mentoring and drive, and sadly also given enough instinct to discard much of what they learn in their families about how they THINK the world works, versus how the world REALLY works for the more educated and better-off people who run it.

The fact that Smith can show all this without denigrating an entire class of people -- does, in fact, portray them with humanity and the grace one occasionally sees in these circumstances -- is because he also recognizes that he is not that far removed from the kind of poverty he sees on the job (he grew up poor, too). He recognizes and accepts that he is that kid who admired firemen as a boy and saw a different world -- he is that kid who made the leap to the next class up, to the working class and blue collar as opposed to poverty-stricken. He understands the dysfunction -- the drinking, the drugs, the abuse -- that occurs in the neighborhoods Co. 82 responds to because it occurred in his neighborhood, his family, his poverty, while he was growing up.

This understanding that few "get out" -- and that he was one of the lucky few -- underscores with sympathy his otherwise stark portrayal of the job of a NYC fireman in the 70s when NYC was not a desirable place to live and people did their best to escape "the city" as soon as their financial circumstances permitted it.

The uncensored version of this book (which is the one I've read multiple times) also shows the bizarre split someone who works as a fireman/paramedic, nurse, or doctor must negotiate within themselves -- the intimate knowledge you have of the bodies of the people you must save, which is merely part of your job but which you can't really talk about to any family member or lover who isn't in one of these fields. I don't mean merely intimacy with people's genitals -- though there is that, such as the way the Smith describes heroin overdoses getting icebags put under their testicles (negative stimulus, designed to bring unresponsive, unconscious people back to responsiveness and consciousness). I mean the intimacy of seeing people stripped of their modesty and dignity, voluntarily (prostitutes) or involuntarily (the terribly sick), whose personal space and body integrity you must necessarily invade, often in less-than-respectful or diplomatic ways because there is no time for those niceties when someone is dying and you're trying to save them. People who don't work in these fields can never really understand how you can be unaffected by the nudity, exposure and/or intimate knowledge you have of these total strangers, and the disinterest or casual attitude with which you greet what would shock most everyone else.

And, of course, you're not unaffected by this knowledge. Sometimes you're disturbed, or someone or something sticks in your mind -- the things you've seen or had to do -- and is recalled in inappropriate moments with your loved ones. You're not unaffected, you're just emotionally calloused or you compartmentalize it, in order to repeatedly perpetrate and endure this violation of the boundaries between strangers and its inherent power imbalance: you, as the emergency personnel, never have to reveal any of these intimacies to your patients... but they must necessarily, willingly or not, reveal them to you. This includes the mentally ill and the hopelessly drug-addled or dopesick (or both, combined) -- sometimes the most disturbing intimacy of all: the insides of their heads and their distorted, sometimes frighteningly unhinged, perceptions of the world around them.

Before anyone decides to dedicate their lives to becoming a firefighter, they would be wise to start their research here. Some 30+ years after it was first published, this book still shows remarkable insight into the lives, struggles, and emotions of a professional firefighter. When I started on the road to becoming a firefighter, being a volunteer and reading Dennis Smith books asserted in my mind that my life would be wasted doing anything else. For others, this may convince you that the job is not for you. It isn't for everyone. Either way, this is a very enjoyable read and worth the time and money for anyone, not just firemen and wannabe's.

Not only do I adore the illustrations and rhythmic text of these too-cute bear books, my 1-year-old daughter has LOVED them since the day I bought them (I got this one when she was about 7-8 months old). She makes me read them each 10 times a day, and she laughs every time when the bear sneezes in Bear Snores On. They are exactly the kind of book I would have loved to come up with myself. Beautiful work! We want them all!

This is a great follow-on to Bear Snores On and doesn't disappoint. The vivid colors and sweet storyline keeps my little one's attention. While Bear Snores On is still our favorite, Bear Wants More is a good addition to our growing book collection.

My kids have taken this out of their school library several times. The story is sweet and the illustrations are charming. I purchased it for them this Christmas-now we have one of our own forever! This author and illustrator have achieved a winning combination for kids with these books.

We love Bear Snores On so this was a must-have as it takes up where we left off, after Bear's hibernation. I love the pictures, the story and most importantly - my 4 year old loved the book as well.

This book as well as "Bear Snores On" are 2 of my daughter's very favorite books. The rhymes and beat are very fun. Now, when we are looking for another book, we always look-up Karma Wilson to see what else she has out.