N Books

The biography of Babe and Wild Bill fills in the picture of the heroes shown in the "Band of Brothers".
Having read Malarkey's, Compton's, and Winter's, I find it fascinating how each remembers the popular events differently.
Their life stories just add to the whole picture. They help to fill in the picture from the enlisted man's view.
The more you read about these ordinary men doing extraordinary tasks, you can not help come away with a sense of gratitude for their sacrifice.

Easy Company from Band of Brothers revisited. Two of the men who became lifelong friends relate their stories. Easy to read and gives you a sense of war from men who were there. They were indeed a Band of Brothers.

Like many veterans of WW2 these two men say they are not heros, that title they insist , belongs to the boys who didn't come home.

Then what are they? They are two enlisted men who fought in some of the most savage fighting in western Europe during World War Two. The charm of this book is that these men are not officers. They were enlisted men. They were not involved in any big meetings or planning sessions. They took their orders and did their job and their shared memoire is that of the foot soldier on the battlefield. From training, through D-Day to VE and beyond.

Strangley some of the parts I found most moving were their lives after the war. When 'Wild Bill' became one of the driving forces behind the reunions that held the Band of Brothers together. Particularly touching the attmepts to welcome back Herbert Sobel. Hated during the war, he was still a mamber of the company. through the wonderful writing you feel you are there as Bill and Babe and the others are confronted by Sobel's sister, after his death. She was insensed over how her brother was depicted by Ambrose. It fell to "Wild Bill" once the chief hell raiser, to explain some hard facts to her, long after he clearly had forgiven Sobel.

These are not plaster saints but tell their stories, warts and all, gamlbing, drinking and girls rank along side battles and jumping and all the rest. Playing jokes on each other, dodging uptight officers and mourning those whom they would call heros.

So why is this getting so much attention? Well it's very well written. Also, well known from the Ambros book "Band of Brothers" and the HBO series these two men, and the other members of Easy Company, 506 PIR have come to represent all those GI's who went to war. We can hear about 10,000 men going into Arnhem or 90,000 going to Stalingrad, but the numbers are too big. We can't wrap our minds around them. But with Easy Company we can. We can see a few men and names and follow their fates through the war and so, by expansion all the others who served in the war. We can't think of 10,000 men. But we can think of Bill and Babe and their buddies and then a few more companies like them and that we can get.

They were members of an elite unit, but other than that they were pretty common. They are two examples of the millions of americans who put aside their lives and comfort and safety and went out to do nothing less than save the world. You know, that seems pretty darn heroic to me.

After watching Band of Brothers, I couldn't wait to read this book by "Wild Bill" Guarnere and "Babe" Heffron. It really gives you an insight into what went through their minds during the hell of WWII, but the most poignant thing is the enduring love and friendship all of these guys still have for each other. It's a lesson we all should learn.

In "Brothers in Battle, Best of Friends", Bill Guarnere and Babe Heffron not only tell us more in-depth stories of their Easy Company exploits but give us a true insight into the bonds formed in battle that most of the rest of us never experience let alone understand. Heffron and Guarnere grew up literally just blocks from each other on the tough streets of Depression era Philadelphia with the same strengths that would see them through the toughest of times during the Battle of the Bulge and the siege of Bastogne during the bitter Winter of 1944-45. We learn of the toughness ingrained into their generation and the street-wise attitudes that lent them the drive to be among the Army's best, the Parachute Infantry. That same savvy enabled them to continue to survive some of the toughest actions and conditions of WWII in the European Theater of Operations.

Bill was a tough sergeant, the prototypical inspirational leader of his men. Leading always by example, he not only lead them in combat but also looked after them like a doting father, especially when meeting Babe as Heffron joined Easy Company as a replacement at Aldbourne, the 506th Regt's. English home following Easy's Normandy exploits.

Robyn Post has done a marvelous job of compiling her interviews of these men not only humanizing each of their personalities but without adding her own to the mix.

If you are interested in first-person information on Easy's exploits in battle with the warmth and humor that only these two B of B can tell them, then please buy this book. Following a more than 60 year friendship forged in the toughest of times is educational, humorous and above all, inspirational.

My oldest son loved this book. It was his favorite when he was little. It builds on vocabulary; you can count the cars, name the colors, and look at different scenarios. I learned a lot about trains by reading this book to them. I am raising my children bilingual and when I found it in English and Spanish I knew I had to get it for them. It also helped me remember the words in Spanish, which I had forgotten. I must have for any child that likes trains. Donald Crews again has delighted us with a masterpiece.

My 2 year old son is obsessed with trains - he loves this book. It is very short and the pictures are well drawn. This books shows the difference between a hopper car and a box car, etc so now when we see a real train he can tell me what kind of cars they are.

A must-read to share with kids! Freight Train uses simple text and clear illustrations. The book can be very interactive for little ones: count the cars, identify colors, make "whoosh" sounds when the train is in motion and find the smoke from the steam engine. Perfect for toddlers!

We also own the board book version with the slide-out pages that reveal the contents of each freight car, so my two-year-old was a little confused at first when we read this one because he wanted to pull out the pages. He caught on quickly enough, though, and ended up really liking this book as well. In this one he enjoys pointing out all the colors of the cars. Beautiful artwork, clearly a classic. I would definitely consider this as a gift for any toddler that loves trains.

I use the book to introduce colors to special education prekindergarten students. It is the beginning of reading comprehension and other great stuff for children.

I grew up on Homer Price (along with Danny Dunn and Henry Huggins). I don't even own a copy of the book and haven't read it in 45 years but I can still recite from memory: "Forty two pounds of Edible Fungus, in the wilderness a-growin, saved the settlers from starvation helped the founding of our nation!"

Make sure your kids read this book. And "Centerburg Tales" too!

The author of Homer Price, Robert McCloskey, has written six tales for readers to enjoy:

THE CASE OF THE SENSATIONAL SCENT: Homer catches a group of robbers with the help of his pet skunk, Aroma.
THE CASE OF THE COSMIC COMIC: Homer's friend, Freddy, learns what Homer already knows about comic book characters.
THE DOUGHNUTS: Homer can't stop his Uncle Ulysses doughnut machine! Now there are way too many doughnuts, and a lost bracelet cooked inside one of them. Let the eating begin!
MYSTERY YARN: Homer's Uncle Telly and the sheriff both save string. Whoever becomes the World's Champion String Saver is supposed to win the hand of Miss Terwilliger in marriage. But what does Miss Terwilliger think of this little agreement?
NOTHING NEW UNDER THE SUN: There's a stranger in town. Is he a nice man, or a fugitive in disguise? Homer is on the case.
WHEELS OF PROGRESS: A new part of town is built in Centerburg.

I loved this book ever since grade school, and The Doughnuts is the tale I enjoyed most. I remember that my teacher read this book in a way that made the characters come to life for me; especially the sheriff, who gets his words a bit twisted every now and then. And the illustrations done by the author are some of the best I have ever seen! Parents everywhere should add this book to their child's collection.

For the first selection to receive a retro review, you best believe it had to be a winner. Homer Price does not disappoint. Puffin recently released this book with updated cover art under the moniker "Modern Classic", and indeed it is. The book is separated into six chapters, with each acting as it's own short story. There are a few things you should know about Homer:

* He enjoys a good doughnut (hence the cover art).
* He lives just outside the small Midwestern town of Centerburg where everyone is in each others business.
* He apparently is more intelligent that most (ok, all) of the adults in town.

McCloskey keeps the action moving along - from catching criminals to stopping an out of control doughnut making machine, each story contains a large dollop of interest-piquing situations and characters. How could you not love a story about two men taking part in a contest to see who has the largest collection of string, with the winner getting the opportunity to propose to the woman they're both in love with? Or how about a story with a mysterious Rip Van Winkle type character who has devised a ingenious way to rid Centerburg of mice - without harming a single one?

Reading Homer Price reminded me of listening to an album where the first few songs are so good that you're nervous about the rest of the tracks living up the high standard. In this book, there really isn't a letdown. As you might expect with a book that was written in the days of yore (c. 1943) there is some dated content, but that is minor and unlikely to make much of an impression to young readers who will be too engrossed in the story to notice much. A classic for modern times.

Homer Price
A collection of heartwarming tales from a small town in the USA, as told by one of its younger residents. Shades of Bill Bryson, except that Homer Price predates him by a generation or more.
Wonderful, quirky illustrations by the author himself, who has a an eye for detail similar to that of Norman Rockwell.

You'll roll on the floor holding your splitting sides when you read about Homer Price and the crazy doughnut machine. This is great midwestern 40s stuff, still suitable today for both early teens and self-actualized adults alike.

Homer Price is a kid who's oblivious to difficult challenges. His antics causes each of us to mentally return to the days when frutrations were few and obstructions to new dillemmas just simply did not exist. Homer just takes on each situation as it arises and, somehow, things always turn out okay.

Originally published in 1943, this is one of my two favorite books for young people, (the other being "The Trolley Car Family," by Eleanor Clymer, 1947). The six short stories in this Homer Price volume include:

1. The Case of the Sensational Scent

2. The Case of the Cosmic Comic

3. The Doughnuts

4. Mystery Yarn

5. Nothing New Under the Sun (Hardly)

6. Wheels of Progress

This book is also available in softcover, which is the one I own. You COULD get this book for your kids, especially for boys, but the heck with that idea -- get it for yourself and you won't regret it! My highest recommendation.

I read this book on the recommendation of a friend. I say that I read it, but really this is more like a book you do. What do you do? You solve the mystery of the poetic story by searching the detailed illustrations for clues. Some clues are more obvious than others, but most clues take real sleuthing to discover. I had so much fun with it, and after about two days of study, I came up with the answer, but there was still so much that I had overlooked. Thankfully, the author reveals all to you in a sealed section at the back of the book. I encourage you to resist seeking the answers until you've tried your hardest to find as many clues as you can. Even if you can't figure out the who dunnit, you will be exited with every clue you find, and will likely hear yourself exclaim, "Ah-ha!". This book is marketed to children but it takes a sharp mind to solve the mystery and discover the clues, so it is really better suited for teens and adults, but even small children will enjoy the story and the amazing pictures. I would give this book as a gift to anyone who enjoys a good brain teaser. So get out your magnifying glass, a notepad and pencil, and have fun!

The story is about Horace the elephant who has decided to celebrate his eleventh birthday, with 10 of his friends in the eleventh month (November) on the eleventh day. After all have arrived the eleven characters participate in eleven games in anticipation of a birthday feast at the eleventh hour of the day. Thus the title of the book - The Eleventh Hour. The day is filled with musical activities, indoor/outdoor games, board games, cards, party games and more. The eleventh hour arrives disappointing the guests with the unexpected disappearance of their birthday feast. Apparently a theft perpetrated by one of the invited guests. Horace saves the day by serving healthy whole wheat sandwiches to all and the birthday cake remains because it had been stored away from the feast. With everyone enjoying the birthday cake, the story closes with a happy ending.

However, this is where one story ends and other mysteries begin. On each page of the book there are puzzles to be solved and clues to lead a more intrepid reader along the trail to the thief of the birthday feast.

I'm a freshman in college and I still love this book. My third grade class room had a set but we were NOT allowed to open the pages in the back! The entire class spent lots of time pouring over the sumptuous pictures and trying to spot each and every hidden...well, I won't give it away. I came across the book in a bookstore recently and bought it immediately because I had such fond memories. Do yourself or your kid a huge favor and buy it!

-- And it's a "kids book"!!!

I'm 26 now, but I remember the astonishment and awe I first felt borrowing this book from my 5th grade class's "library" when I was 10 years old. Back then, I gave up after 4 hours of not being able to figure anything at all out and had to look in the Sooper Sikret Section, but this time around, I got a few more of the clues on my own before having to look up the Section :P

A great book to sate the inquisitive mind of a bright child, honestly. Highly recommended!

Horace the elephant is inviting his animal friends over for his
eleventh birthday. Horace has prepared a magnificent feast for he and his friends to enjoy. But while they are romping outside, Horace's food has mysteriously disappeared. Which animal stole the food? Base's lush artwork contains cleverly hidden clues to help the reader solve this mystery. An excellent choice for all ages.

this was a nice book on diversity. i think one of the things people get the most worked up over is spirituality. it's one of those things that can touch a person more deep than anything else, and everyone's perspective will differ, even if only minutely. wars have been started over the issue, and all because we're too pig headed and focused on our own validity. this book starts off with animals and rocks and trees each saying that what they think god is is indeed the true god, and that god seems to resemble the speaker. then the old turtle stops them and tell them of the coming of a new group, humans, and how they are supposed to be a message from god the the earth and a prayer from the earth to god. then people come and after while start to do not so nice things and nature says to stop. then the beings that said god was like themselves at the beginning of the book said they saw god in that which was opposite themselves. i guess the moral being have an open mind about that which is different from yourself, because it really isn't so alien to what you believe.

This book begins with the beings of nature having an argument as to who God is, an age old question. The old turtle speaks up and tells everyone to stop! And tells of a new being that will come and be in the likeness of god out of his love, humans. Then the humans start to argue and fight and destroy the earth. Till again the turtle said stop, and the people began to listen and realize the beauty they were destroying, the earth. The story is not specifically religious but more of a lesson of not to destoy what we have been blessed with. The illustrations are chinese watercolors and they are imaculate! Definately a must to add to your collection.

This is a book for children, but really is a lesson for mankind. Beautiful drawings. A good read out loud for children.Simply beautiful!

"Old Turtle" has become a tradition of giving in our family. When we recieve the announcement that a child has been born, we get a copy for the babe. We like to think that this is one of the ways this child will first hear about creation and our place in it. The illustrations are simple and exquisite, the narrative compelling. I'm a "big kid" and I love it.

I am so torn here. I love this book - my mother would love this book. So what's the problem? It's a feel good book that seems like it would better reach a new parent, a teen, or someone going through hard times better than a child.

The story clearly has a moral tale to convey. I tend to like that, and I love the message on diversity. Unfortunately, as far as plot/story, it falls short. It fails to go beyond just a morality lesson. And for this, it failed to captivate either of my children.

If the target audience are children: For lessons on friendship with story intact, try pumpkin soup. For a story about diversity and acceptance, try The Woman Who Outshone the Sun. For general moral tales - Zen Shorts.

All of the Erin Hunter books are great! I just love them and have read them many times over. I am not a reader, I hate to read!!! But give me a Warrior series book and leave me alone for a few days. They are the best. Thanks Erin for opening up a new world for me.

A good book. Really though if you are new to the series get one first! And Into the Wild book one not Midnight. I had a friend that did that and she didn't get it at all! Besides that spioles it!

Pre-teen and early teen girls love the series. It has my 10 year olds attention. She is reading like never before.

like i said before, it's a pretty good book. the only reasons I'm marking it down is because of Cloudpaw and Bluestar. Cloudpaw constantly gets in trouble and that gets very annoying, especially when Fireheart doesn't punish him enough. And Bluestar's frustrating, thinking that everyone is a traitor and not coming out at all. She has also given up belief of StarClan. Overall, a pretty good book

In this book, Fireheart can't help thinking that Tigerclaw will carry out his threat against Fireheart and Thunderclan. A storm is rising that might distroy the Clan and they don't even know about it.

If you're ten pages in to Waiting for Birdy: A Year of Frantic Tedium, Neurotic Angst, and the Wild Magic of Growing a Family and you have not laughed out loud, then just go ahead and put the book away. You probably haven't creased it too much, and you can probably successfully re-gift it. But chances are you will be chuckling, snickering and even snorting in delight all the way through Catherine Newman's hysterically honest-to-the-bone memoir of her pregnancy with her second child.

Newman relates the magical, green-tinged, anxious year before her second child's birth, as she shares her wildly contradictory feelings of motherhood ("a disorienting blur of love and crushing anxiety") and the guilt familiar to most parents that she surely is ruining her firstborn's life by having another baby. Newman's stream of consciousness writing style has a comfortable, easy effect on the reader. It's like talking to your lovingly kooky best-friend-since-childhood over tea and chocolate chip cookies (or, more likely, margaritas and, well, more margaritas). Newman is refreshingly real about the mixed bag of motherhood, warts, runny noses, sleepless nights and all. She writes, "I didn't understand that having a baby would feel like falling in love, but like falling in love on a bad acid trip. With an alarm clock - a pooping alarm clock."

Newman's humor appeals to any parent who has woken with a start in the middle of the night, engaged in an internal struggle over whether it's necessary to check if the baby is breathing, decided she's crazy and should go back to sleep, and then gotten up anyway to just take one quick peek at the baby. But Newman takes checking on the baby to a whole new level as her unbridled paranoia about aneurisms, Coxsackie viruses, and the barfing flu runs rampant in a strangely self-satisfying way that makes one murmur, "At least I'm not that crazy." Yes, Newman is a worrier of the first order. She worries about leaving her son to go to the movies with her husband, she worries about her pregnancy, she worries about lackluster libidos and toxoplasmosis and fleshy arms and deadly pathogens. In other words, she is a completely typical mother.

After all too many picture perfect images of mothers - from Mrs. Brady to anyone ever photographed for the magazine "Fit Pregnancy" - Newman's confessions are authentic, honest and reassuring. Throughout the seasons of her pregnancy, Newman holds up the mirror and shows us Everymother...and we just have to laugh.

Quill says: Buy two copies because the person sitting next to you will want to know what's so funny!

Buy this book. I adore Catherine Newman and her writing. She's witty, insightful, and very candid about parenting. I've read her on-line for years now, but only just bought this book for a beach read this summer. She is more than honest, admitting more about parenting and it's highs and lows than most are willing to. She's admittedly neurotic, but in a delightful, funny, relateable way. She deals with some heavy issues in this book, and even though she is a very different parent than me, I can't help thinking she'd be a great friend to have. Her "black humor" reminds me very much of myself. This book had me laughing out loud on several occasions, and shedding a few tears too. I can't sing her praises enough.

This author is a riot. I love her writing- it's fantastic. I'm agast at how much her kids are like mine (or at least the older one)- its a little eerie. Here I thought my kids were unique and there they go and show up in this book! I am going to slip a highlighted version of this in my kids baby book and save myself some writing.

One thing I think she touched on that I rarely see is how your feelings slighly change for your firstborn when the second comes along. Its hard to put your finger on but its so true that loving another child as you used to solely love them changes the dynamic a bit. Lets say youre suddenly diversified in your child love holdings. Plus with that second baby the first do appear suddenly giantic, loud and (sometimes) annoying. Poor kids. She is so right on.

Anyway, love this book, so glad I was on a memoir kick- she rocks.

This book is great for anyone who is pregnant or has young children. Catherine Newman is great. She has this amazing way of taking all those tedious tasks we perform as parents and making them hysterical. She also reminds us what a blessing our little ones really are. I borrowed this book from the library, but I just had to have my own copy. I recommend this book to all my pregnant family members and friends!

I am seriously not even half way through this book but it has made me laugh to the point of almost falling off the exercise machine! I had to give it FIVE stars right away!

Plain and simple it is a great truthful look at parenting one and than two kids. My husband told me I like this book so much because it is my voice written down - my thoughts, worries, parenting guffaws, etc... I love that I can laugh at her (which really means I am laughing at me) and I know that I am not alone in how I feel and do things at times. Personally, I need that and I love when I run across things that help me to feel that sense of there are others out there like me!

I think that if you take this parenting job TOO seriously it will put you in the mad house and the people that wrote not so great reviews are missing the point which is that parenting is funny and tragic and worrisome; scary and soul searching, a growing up of sorts. This is not a HOW TO be a parent to a 2nd child book - they have those out there, buy those not this one for that stuff. This is simply just a look into a world that many of us live but do not write down (or cannot write down in such a humorous, truthful way!)

Thanks for such an awesome book from a mommy due with her 2nd in August!

This memoir is not just Barbara's, but is the story of everyone who has grown up in an alcoholic family. I could empathise with her trials, fears, anger and perceptions, and would often find myself nodding subconsciously as I read along. I felt I knew her well. Thank you so much for courageously sharing your story.

I could not put this book down! I got so caught up in this memoir, I couldn't wait to finish it. Then, when it was done I wished I hadn't read it in 4 days! It is filled with gut wrenching stories, sometimes so incredible it seems they can't be real. The part that takes place at Christmas was especially moving to me.

I can't recommend this book highly enough.

a heart-wrenching true memoir that is almost unbelievable to imagine. how children can cope with the harshest

abuse,emotionally and physically, with a mother standing by silently shows what resilience the human spirit can endure. looking forward to the sequel"fierce"

I didn't know much about about this part of the United States..I have been reading more memoirs set there since I read this book.

Change Me Into Zeus's Daughter is a powerful and poignant story of impoverished life as experienced by Barbara Moss.

Surrounded by poverty, alcoholism, abuse, malnutrition and facial deformities, Moss could easily have allowed herself to be trapped in that negative world. Instead, through determination and the kindness of a few strangers along the way, she rose above adversity and has been able to escape the clutches of childhood demons.

In 1996, Moss won the Gold Medal for Personal Essay in the William Faulkner Creative Writing Contest. Her winning essay became the first chapter of Change Me Into Zeus's Daughter. Her life, her determination, and her writing acheivements serve as an inspiration to the aspiring writer in me.

When I first read this book, I was working through the emotional impact of having undergone facial surgery to remove a malignant melanoma and recreate a nose. At the time of that first reading, I was more tuned into the parts of Moss's story which dealt so poignantly with the emotional effects of her deformed face and people's unkind reactions to that deformity. Her drive to find a way to resolve the situation was nothing less than admirable. Now that I am a few years beyond my surgery and have re-read her story, I find her desire to become Zeus's daughter (the goddess of beauty) pales in comparison to the beautiful person who writes this remarkable story.

With grace and insight, Moss takes us back in time to a place where life seemed to surely be waging war against her. In what she calls an effort to heal wounds and reclaim her family, she writes of both the challenges and the triumphs of childhood, adolesence and adulthood. Throughout the story, Moss interjects memories of a humorous nature - proving that even in the most desparate of situations, it is possible to find joy.

In what can only be described as a "wise beyond her years" approach, the ninth grade Moss wrote a list of eight things she wanted to do to improve herself. At the top of the list were "1. Remove moles on face, 2. Get braces on teeth, 3. Fix face." It is incredible that one so young would seize such determination and not let go until she had accomplished these seemingly insurmountable goals. Shortly after writing these goals, she began to act upon them. Her book reveals the ways she accomplished them. With remarkable insight, Moss writes about how each achieved goal created both negative and positive issues for her.

Moss's writing talent is evident in this deeply personal and moving story. Her gift to her readers is the lesson of redemption and grace in the midst of life's biggest hurdles.

by Lee Ambrose
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women

Although this book was written in the 1960s, it is, still, very relevant today. This book was recommended to me back in 1983 or 1984 when I was in the military. I bought it with a number of other books. It took me twenty years to read it. I should have read it alot sooner; but, the rigors of life and the fact that a good many other books I bought kept pushing this one further back on the reading list. I grew up in the streets of NYC and saw his life being played out in a number of guys and gals I hung out with at that time. I didn't get caught up in the drug scene nor in the gangsta scene but, like the author, there was a lot going on outside the walls of the house to keep me outside nearly all day. Yeah this world was much newer for me then rather than now but I had to see what was going on within and without my neighborhood. As a parent looking at my kid, I know this world is new to them, which I can't shelter them from. As my kids look at me as their parent, they are constantly telling me to get out of their way. I want to see what is going out there. This only helps me to keep life real for them with a dose of non-reality here and there. Fortunately for Claude Brown, the street made him wise and through his book some of us can reminesce about those days and explain to others what urban life was like for us and how it made us what we are today. For others who have not experienced this urban lifestyle, take the book for what it is and re-evaluate your own experiences in hopes of passing on a reality check of your own life to your children.

This is an awesome book that I highly recommend to all young men trying to find their "way". It can be a little harsh, but it is about life in the inner city and a young man becoming a man.

I can't believe I didn't write a review for a book I read 10 years ago. This is one of my favorite books. It was this one book that drew me into reading books and becoming a book lover. One of the best books I ever read. Highly Recommended!!

Claude Brown's slightly fictionalized autobiography recounts his childhood and early adulthood throughout the 1940s and 1950s. Manchild in the Promised Land also documents the changing atmosphere of Harlem and the people it affected. Brown tells stories of himself as a hell-raiser, involved in theft and drug dealing, and spending time in juvenile detention centers like Wiltwyck and Warwick. He was able to establish a feared and respected name for himself both among the streetwalkers of Harlem and the inmates of the reform schools. Lacking formal education (resulting from years of playing hooky) and idolizing the criminal elements around him, he seemed to be heading down a short road of vice and danger.

Only after Brown moved to Greenwich Village shortly before turning twenty was he able to begin viewing Harlem with a more objective eye, and see the factors that led him down the downward spiral he had been traveling. One of the main reasons Brown believes he and his friends were wrought with such violence and recklessness is due to the mentality imported by their parents from the South. The thing that mattered most to them was fighting: for one's money, girl/family, and manhood (Brown 260). He feels that that rural mentality had been brought to a crowded city life that was not only incompatible with the setting, but also destructive. He laments, "it seems as though if I had stayed in Harlem all my life, I might have never known that there was anything else to life other than sex, religion, liquor, and violence" (Brown 281).

As a youth, Brown excelled in these very base attributes. It wasn't until the introduction of heroine, or "horse," as it was first introduced in the early 1950s, that he feels Harlem truly became unable to cope with their values. Instead of young men fighting for honor, they were killing and robbing for money to sustain their overwhelming addictions, introducing more guns into the neighborhood with desperate people wielding them. He witnessed his friends begin to fade away into scratching, nodding junkies. However, by this time Brown was able to leave and slowly break away from the crumbling Harlem he once knew, watching from afar many of the individuals he once hustled with fall victim to the crimes they themselves would perpetrate.

Many opted instead to stay in Harlem and live the street life. He attributes this to the attitudes of whites outside Harlem and the racism they encountered. To live a "clean" life usually meant to work for a white man who underpaid, referred to them in a racially derogatory manner, and made them perform the most labor intensive tasks. When it came to these prospects, most understandably chose the life of a self-employed drug dealer in Harlem over the self-effacing menial work elsewhere, despite the danger (Brown 287).

Where some people turned to drugs or religion to deal with these problems, Brown found his calling through more established and secular means. Education and music became outlets for him to express himself, gain a self-pride through non-criminal means, and eventually lead to a promising career as a lawyer and author.

One of the things that make this autobiography interesting is its use of language. Brown writes in a notable street dialect, however, the language itself evolves with the character. For instance, "cat" slowly comes into use around page 67 and is used throughout, though it receives less use towards the end. More notably, on page 109 the young Claude begins idolizing a street pimp named Johnny: "To Johnny, every chick was a b*tch. Even mothers were b*tches." And so on page 114 Brown writes "Jackie was a beautiful black b*tch." From then on women are regularly referred to as "b*tches" until the character matures enough to treat women with more respect, and Johnny's spell seems to have completely worn off by the time Brown falls in love with a fellow student. Likewise, the sentence structures become less erratic and grow in sophistication as the book goes on, using less slang chapter by chapter when he begins to change. This seems to be by design.

Claude Brown's personal accounts are no doubt fictionalized to some degree, for his characters go on exhaustive speeches several times, and he certainly didn't tape record them for every word. However, Brown's intentions are to present Harlem and its difficulties in approachable and creative ways. To allow readers (such as white-suburban-me) an inside look into the ways of urban life it invites an understanding and, hopefully, sympathy for the situations of the junkies, prostitutes, and drug dealers that we pass on the street. He shows them in a way that cannot be easily neglected, in intimate, personal relationships that reveal the influences and regrets that have placed them in those situations. These factors were not unique to the 1940s and 1950s. They existed before and do so today. Brown allows insight into the hardships while telling an encouraging tale of one who made it out. By personal drive and education, through art and self-expression (as this book is), he shows that the situation is not dire, but attitudes must change before the world will follow.

I was able to find this book relatively easy, based on a few keywords. My boyfriend started reading it several years ago and was unable to complete it. The storyline stuck in his memory and I bought it as a surprise for him, because over the years he mentioned it occasionally. Thanks for making the lookup so easy!

You really don't have to say much because Tracy always brings it. I loved Lamin!!! People go get this one. it does not dissapoint. I would give it 100 stars if i could

Tracy is a great story teller and the way she took us into the lives of lamin and made is fall for him weas terrific. Go get this book, if you aint up on it, you late!!! Tracy is one of the best out in the game.

I was so in love with the idea of Lucky and Lamin it's ridiculous! I loved everything about this book. I loved the loving relationship between Lamin and Lucky, between Lamin and Zion, and his relationship with his sister Olivia. The lives of the characters were so descriptive, I felt like I knew them personally. I HATED that Lucky and Lamin didn't end up together but it was for the best. Lucky wanted to try again (despite his betrayal) and he chose another path. I've read Tracy Brown's other works but I think this one by far was her best! LOVED IT!!!

I thought CRIMINAL MINDED was outstanding tracy brown did a great job writting this novel keep them novels coming ms. brown. This book will hold your attention from start to finish this book is so true in life some men think that the grass is greener on the other side but soon they fine out it's not and they never miss a good thing until it's gone. IF you are looking for a good read this is my suggestion.

I am a huge tracy Brown fan and loved all of her books so far and this one was great as well. The characters were well developed and the story line was great! This is another must read!