Beginners Books

A must-have for a baby's library, this book is one of the best on our bookshelf! Like another reviewer, I too have it memorized! I bought this book for my daughter when she was 2 months old (it was one that she'd actually sit through when she became mobile!). We have read it on a regular basis since and love it! She is now 2 yrs old and still loves it as much now as she did then. The text is a fun rhyme, allowing interaction w/ counting and hand motions without being "teachy". It's just plain fun~ I wonder who likes this book better, my daughter or I!

My 12-month-old daughter is obsessed with this book. We have to hide it between reading times because otherwise she constantly brings it to us to read it to her. The words have a catchy rhythm that gets both my younger and my 3-year-old daughters dancing when I read it to them. They just can't sit still! The illustrations are bright and appealing, and even though I've read it a million times so far (I think I know it by heart at this point), it's always fun to read it again.

and so do my toddlers. It has a snappy text, bright colors, and best of all, I don't have to "MOO"! Even if you don't think you're a good story reader, this one reads itself: "Crinkle it, wrinkle it, wear it for a crown. Listen to the paper snap, flap it up and down!" (Sorry, I have it memorized...)

Every adult who I have shown this book to, has laughed out loud. Every parent or grandparent who has watched a toddler "fling" the gift on the floor to obtain the light, colorful, deliciously crinkly tissue paper, will enjoy this romp.

My 2-year-old loves the illustrations and rhymes. Great toddler book! Highly recommended.

If I were any happier I'd die from the happiness and the happy feelings you get from the happy feelings of feeling happy. I would be even happier if everything on Amazon were free. HAPPY HAPPY

I am enjoying this book thus far. Obviously, it's not a book on how to become immortal in the supernatural sense. It's a book about people who have become immortal by doing things that they will be remembered for. At least, that's what I've gotten out of it so far, but I'm only a couple of chapters in.

Amazing books, mind bending Pickover does a great job of placing many interesting facts, and sciences in short easy to read pages of abosolute goodness. Matrix, fractal realities, virutal worlds and universes, Truman Copote, insanity vs Genius are just a few of the vast mind goodies that await the reader of A Begginers Guide to Immortality.

In "Sex, Drugs, Einstein & Elves" Cliff Pickover revealed a side of his personality that was well-camouflaged in his first thirty some-odd books on mathematics, time travel, fractals, aliens, patterns, puzzles, God, etc. Indeed, writing so many books in such a short time may be the root cause of his now irrepressible eclecticism. This latest effort, "A Beginner's Guide to Immortality: Extraordinary People, Aliens Brains, and Quantum Resurrection," has many similarities to SDE&E. Not only is it written with an exuberance that complements the author's multi-dimensional perspective, the prose remains clear and accessible even as Pickover explores the complex reaches of transcendental reality.

One of the highlights of "A Beginner's Guide to Immortality" is Chapter 3, "Gilgamesh, God, and the Language of Angels." Pickover confesses that the "Epic of Gilgamesh" is one of his deepest obsessions. And we get a feel for his zeal as he recounts the ancient Mesopotamian king's search for immortality. But there is also a lot of extraneous material in this chapter. It's a virtual Mind Salad of eclecticism. Pickover's brain is fizzing with ideas and impressions, perhaps as a result of his relentless work ethic and voracious reading habits, and they seem to inundate his consciousness as he writes. I find this stimulating. Others may differ, wishing instead for a simpler, more direct narrative line.

At his best, Pickover's mind is encyclopedic -- correction: it's Wikipedic! It's Google-alien! Who else would focus on "The Brain from Planet Arous" in a chapter about Truman Capote? But Pickover does, and it can be fascinating because you get a completely different mental picture once you exit Truman Capote's peculiar oeuvre and enter the zany universe of Fifties science-fiction flicks, of which Pickover is a connoisseur. He loves the movies themselves, but also their filmmakers and the whole idea that some P.T. Barnum showman could make some outrageous, low-budget, horror-show hokum with B-list actors and still turn a tidy profit.

But Pickover can also be deadly serious, and I find this quote from "The Call of Cthulhu" by H.P. Lovecraft, (which also appears in Chapter 3) to be quite haunting:

"The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We lie on the placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far. The sciences, each straining in its own direction have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of disassociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the deadly light into the peace and safety of a new dark age."


After reading "A Beginner's Guide to Immortality" you may suspect that Cliff Pickover actually wants "the human mind to correlate all its contents." Which could be precisely what happens to the most intelligent human beings in the 21st Century anyway. If so, what he has to offer in this book should be of interest to the armchair existentialists. We all want to live forever. But then again, maybe not.

Pickover knows just what to say to kickstart the parts of your brain you haven't even used yet. Reading this book is like taking a walking tour through the magical zone where your life and reality and history and b-movies intersect. Educational, hilarious, mind-blowing, engaging and full of zest and zing, Pickover punctuates his prose with trenchant quotes aplenty. The thing you learn quick when traveling in the Pickover realm is that your brain is always growing and learning, and there is no limit to how far we can go. This guy's also got a generous heart and spirit, you can feel it in the words he writes, and that sort of hawk-eyed optimism for a transcendental, trans-dimensional future is damned contagious. I read this book and I feel like whatever happens, the collective mass of DNA we call the world/self is gonna be not only fine but blazin'! Plus it's light (nice soft pages) and has cool purple cover, with a skull!

This is a wonderful rhyming book that falls back time and time again on the refrain, "...I can do anything, anything at all!" and is much more than a beginning reading book. It is thrilling to a child (and to an adult for that matter) that with something as simple as string they can do so many different things, even while sick in bed (part of the theme of the story). My next-to-youngest child of four children begged me to read this book aloud over and over long after his beginning reading days were over. I think it struck a chord with him in regard to his natural mechanical abilities, and he started around then taking things apart and fixing them. Now at 25 he can fix just about anything. Our copy is falling apart, but I plan to keep on gluing it, taping it, or whatever is required to be able to keep on reading it, including to my grandchildren who are now under my homeschool tutelage and my great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren, should I be blessed with so many years.

The book is in rhyme and tells the story of a little boy finding out many ways of using his "big ball of string." The illustrations are terrific and what captivated me as a child.

I am now 21 years old and I still remember this book being read to me as a child. My parents' copy is torn, colored in, and warped from humidity. If you are lucky enough to have this book for your kids, you can be secure in the fact that this is one that we (kids) remember fondly.

A wonderful rhyming story of Imagination and CAN-DO ability of a 6-9 year old child. The story begins with things to do with string out of bed. It ends with how many things can be done from bed. My decrepit copy begins at page 19, however is still enjoyed by, and hopefully inspires, first graders to step away from the TV. A MAGAZINE company advertises String a ma Thing a toy that had to have been inspired by this inventive boy. My copy is an orange-red hardcover, written and illustrated by Marion Holland and precious.

This was my favorite book growing up. I love the drawings and the ideas the boy came up to do with his string. I decided to go online to look for a copy I could read to my own kids. Now that I see how rare it is, I think I'm going to beg my parents for my old book back. Its a well worn book and has had its spine taped since it was read so much. But that's ok -- I still love it. (Besides, its all ready personalized for me -by me- in big red crayon "Kerry")

I purchased the set of books for my grandchildren 3 of them turned 5 this year and will start school in September. They all love them and fell so proud of themselves because they can read a whole book.

must buy for the beginner reader!
My son is 5 and NOW can read all of the Bob books. He really loves them and we don't have to "make" him read them. I highly recommend the entire Bob Book collection.

The Bob Books series have been great for my homeschooled five year old. He has gone from just knowing his basic letter sounds to reading or attempting to read most everything he can get his hands on in about four months. These books were great for practice and building his confidence. I highly recommend the series.

I love the BOB books and so do my kids. It gives them great confidence. I now have all 5 sets and can use them over and over again with each child.

My son is learning to read- these books are a great way for him to gain the confidence to keep learning. The words and pictures are simple and easy to recognize.

I thought that this was one of the best books i've read and belive me i've read a lot of books. I read a book in about a day if i enjoy it and i read this one in even less, I liked it so much. I am a very picky reader as i am most things and this one caught my eye very well. It has the PERFECT ending. Smith is an exellent writer and this is one of her best yet. The characters were so detailed and well defined i felt as if they were people that I've known my whole life and in past lives. The plot was also superb. i felt as if i was someone right there and on set ready to get into action. I've even thought of getting permission from the publishers and Sinclair Smith to turn it into an independent film!

This Book was great... It made want to keep flipping pages. Im pretty sure my high school English teacher has seen me reading my book even after ssr is over. When Randy is left alone in her desserted home, on a strange night a boy Creeps up, he is Julian Dex. Julian Dex is The Boy Next Door. He teaches Randy how to play practical jokes on some of her class mates and almost causes an accident on the freeway while Randy is driving her camaro. What will Julian make Randy do next? Murder ? or is it just a simple joke?.

While her father is away for three weeks on business, Randy Bell is acutely aware of being alone. There aren't any neighbors nearby, just an old deserted house next door that's been abandoned for years. That is, she thought it was deserted until she starts seeing lights come on in the house. Then one night she meets her new neighbor (Julian Dax) who jokingly attacks her while she's taking out the garbage. Scaring people is just one of the few things Julian loves do. He also enjoys manipulating people, and since Randy is already head over heels for him, she becomes his newest puppet. Anything he says, Randy does, such as pulling cruel pranks on her history teacher and several of her classmates--from arranging a fake tarantula in her teacher's desk to forging a love letter to staging a skating accident by pouring oil down a hill. Julian insists by doing these things, it will make her feel "alive" and "on the edge".

Soon Randy feels like she has no control over what she does. On one hand, she's reluctant to commit the crimes for fear of being
caught and reprimanded; on the other, she's afraid of what Julian might do if she doesn't follow through. The book started to get very exciting towards the end when Randy couldn't tell if Julian was real or just a figment of her imagination. Even her best friend, Alice, thought Randy was starting to crack. That was probably the best part of the book. The ending was minimally satisfying with the discovery of Julian's hideout (...), but the book as a whole wasn't spectacular. It's still fun to read though if you like young adult thrillers.

This is one of the BEST books I have ever read!!! It's Cool, Fun, Mysrey and horror. I mean this book was great. I read it and I couldn't put it down. I recommend this book to anyone...It's FANTASTIC!!!

Julian Dax is the new guy in Randy's life. One night, while she's taking out the trash, he appears out of the darkness, and from there, she falls in love with him. Randy's always been the sensible one, the one to do the right thing. Her father's away for three weeks, and Julian spices up her life. He gets his kicks out of pranks and scaring people. At first, the stunts are harmless, but they get deadlier. Who is Julian? He's always appearing out of nowhere, right on cue, and soon his jokes will ultimately lead to murder!....

Sinclair Smith is an awesome author! She definitely has a knack for jokes and pranks (such as in "Double Date"), but the idea seems to spawn hits. I felt that "The Boy Next Door" was a very thrilling, suspenseful book. You wondered what Julian was going to think of next, and you didn't know if the main character was starting to go crazy or not. The only flaw was that the ending was a little rushed and a bit hard to follow. Otherwise, it's worth your time!...

We've always been big fans of Arthur and Little Bear but the Bugville stories are much more fun. This book is a must have for all little kids! The drawings are sweet and the story is cute. Even after more than six months, my kids still regularly ask to read this book.

Great educational and fun book! I'm so glad I found the Bugville Critter books, they are the cutest things I've ever seen in children's books and I've purchased dozens if not hundreds of children's books over the years. What I love is how the books play into every child's misadventures and dreams. I was won over with the books with "Visit Dad and Mom at Work" and have since bought several others. The child who reads these books with an adult cannot help but learn about the naturla world around them.

This book combines attractive illustrations with a highly interesting story. The kids love it! Obviously a lot of thought and work whent into this one and we should be grateful to the author. Recommend this one highly.

This is a good book. The kids enjoyed the story, and the lessons that I wanted to convey about school and friends were covered very well. It's great when you have a favorite storyline such as these bug in your home anyway. And, it's even better when they address such issues as this - dealing with school, teachers, friends and other issues children face.

The book starts off with Buster being concerned about going to school and making friends, and follows Buster as he learns to get along with everyone and have fun while learning at school. Great, great book and one that every library should own. Highly recommend!

This book was so good. It had really good concepts and was overall great. The illustrations really helped pull you into the story. Robert Stanek did an awesome job creating the story. He is a really talented author. If you've never read this book, YOU ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO! Your kids will love it.

Buster Bee Visits Mom and Dad at Work became my son's favorite bed time story. We read it so many times and I was delighted to find there are more Buster adventures.

Buster is nervous as he is starting school. His mother tries to tell him everything will be alright. He is thankful he knows some other bugs that'll be starting school too. He tries to be brave when he goes to school. When he goes to school he feels a little better because the teacher is nice.

He feels special when the teacher tells the class all about bees since he's a bee himself. He envies the smart girl in class but learns from his mother that he should try to be more like the smart girl. He goes through a series of escapades that had my son laughing and smiling.

Overall the story is well handled and a delight to read.

This is a great book to begin chess, I bought this for my son few weeks back, he loves this book, it's easy to read, and the problems at the end of each chapters are a great way to challenge his skill. I would recommend this book to everyone.

This bears repeating: for the younger student who is building his or her skill set you will find precious few resources. This work book (helps to) fill a gaping hole in instructional literature. Mom, Dads, Teaches, Coaches: get this book!

As someone who has run children's chess clubs and taught chess to children, I can confidently say that this workbook is an outstanding way for children to learn the skills they need to be contenders in the fantastic world of scholastic chess. Chess Master Todd Bardwick presents a series of lessons in language that is kid-centric without being condescending. Each lesson culminates in two sets of exercises - one set is for beginners, the other for more advanced students. The diagrams for both sets are large and clear, and the exercises often have an original flair that makes them stand out from the run-of-the-mill repetition of the same old and dry examples you can find in other books. Yet the place where this book really steps up to be head and shoulders above its competitors is in the ANSWERS to the exercises. Master Bardwick has packed a tremendous amount of information into the answer key, often developing and extending the key ideas of each exercise. At times it seems like the answer key could stand alone as a book in and of itself! Buy this book - the fundamentals of chess are presented here with simplicity and clarity.

I am the Gifted Children's Coordinator for Mensa, in Denver, CO. As such, I am always on the look-out for books and resources that might benefit gifted children (especially ones that play chess). I am highly impressed with this chess workbook. It has a clear, logical flow from chapter to chapter; an easy-style prose that renders the main points obvious as opposed to being lost in a clutter of complicated sentences, and has the ability to improve one's chess play almost immediately, via its numerous hands-on exercises. My 8 year old son, an avid chess player and also a Mensan, saw instant improvement in his chess tactics after completion of the exercises in this workbook, which by the way were fun enough for the whole family to practice! If you're looking for a great chess workbook that isn't "stuffy" or over-whelming, then look no further. Get this book!

My 7 year old son and I are learning to play chess. This book is a clear, concise and outstanding resource. Each chapter provides a conquerable amount of information with examples that build upon the stated points, facts and strategies. The problems at the end of each chapter are a unique resource among the available chess books on the market. Each problem clarifies or elucidates a point in the chapter. The explanations give not only the correct answer for each problem; but also, explanations of the most commonly made mistakes (solutions that don't solve the chess challenge). This is very helpful as one often wonders why a different move would not accomplish the same goal. Finally, the word searches at the back of the book are good ice breakers and rewards for the kids. Other members of our family are now reading the book and learning chess. This is the book to get and the best book that I have found for any adult, teenager or child learning the royal game.

Great pictures and information in an easy to carry guide. The author is worth listening too, if you get an opportunity.

This is really a great little book on a specialized but interesting area of insect identification. Although considered primitive insects (since they undergo incomplete metamorphosis) dragonflies are just cool because they're so big and conspicuous and such strong fliers, and can maneuver at lightning speed, almost like hummingbirds. During the Carboniferous period or Coal Age 340 million years ago, there were dragonflies with 3 foot wingspans, according to the fossil evidence.

They also know how to "play the game." I've watched them many times patrolling the edge of ponds since they know that's "where the action is," during their hunts for prey.

This is an excellent book on indentifying these important insects. If I remember right, 30 or 40 species get covered, which is a good number, and the photos and descriptions are excellent. I found it an excellent guide to learn from and to improve my knowledge of this area, my main interest being in botany, and in identifying flowers, trees, and fungi. This is the best book I've seen on this specialized topic.

As a beginner in the study of these fascinating and beautiful creatures, I found this book clear, concise, and easy to understand and use. The text is simple and complete, and the illustrations are excellent. The small size of the volume makes it fit easily into your pocket for quick reference. Anyone interested in dragonflies will find the book an absolute MUST!

This is really nice field guide to have. The photographs are great. Each entry is succint and includes one or two photographs together with a bold line the length of the dragonfly and printed in one of the dominant colors of the dragonfly. There is a checklist in the back so that you can keep track of what you see, and the introductory information in the front of the book is well-written. Though I bought this book for myself, I think that it also would make a great field guide for a child since the book is small, easy to use, and the photos are clear and attractive. It is well worth the price.

Common Dragonflies of California is an uncommon book. Full of sound advice and chock full of excellent color photos, this book will be of great interest to any California nature lover. I am the kind of person who loves to know the name of every tree, shrub, flower, reptile, bird and fish that I see. Now that I have this little jewel, I'm going to learn how to identify the dragonflies too. The more we learn about nature, the more enjoyment we get from it. I highly recommend this fine book! I expect it would make a great present too, for the right person. Tom Ogren, author of Allergy-Free Gardening

Great Conga book. Was recommended to me by others. The only thing that I don't like about this books is that it doesn't use standard notation.

I found this book invaluable for learning the basics of conga drumming without a teacher. I used it for several months before hitting my first conga class, and was really glad I had worked with the book. I was able to pick up right away with the rest of the class on several of the rhythms. However, I will warn anyone using the book that this drumming world is steeped with "variations". That is, you'll frequently find that your teacher is using a slightly different variation than the one taught in the book. This is fine, however, since it's usually easy to alter what you're doing slightly.

One of the more impressive aspects of the methods in this book is the holistic approach, for example, teaching how to feel the clave underneath the rhythms you're playing. The book also does about as good a job as any book can at teaching the hand technique, although I highly recommend complementing this with good videos of accomplished conga players. Youtube, for example, is a great resource. Here again, though, you will find different philosophies of technique, and again your teacher may have his own emphasis.

This book is extremely readable and it teaches you terrific grooves right from the get-go. I'm a pianist who has decided to learn some percussion and I am having a blast learning to play the conga. Even my non-musician girlfriend has learned some of this stuff!

Very recommended! I think Alan Dworsky used a very clear graphic way of teaching the Conga playing, without getting into music reading instead, he uses symbols for the diferent strokes, and easy numbers. It is great for begginers but stil a good book for advanced players, because it goes through many aspects of the conga.
If you are into conga playing, get this book for the price of half a conga lesson I am sure you will get some mileage out of it. I have been playing congas for years and I discovered a few things in this book I didn't know. Go for it! (...)

I agree with all the other reviewers... this is a great book for beginners and advanced (as well as folks somewhere in the middle, like me).

One thing I didn't expect to like, since I can read regular music notation, was their concocted music notation. To my surprise, I like theirs better. It's very intuitive, and after a while, you can pretty much sight-read the rhythms. If I hear/see a conga pattern I like in the future, I'll probably write it down using their notation.

This is the second series of "Rainbow Magic" fairy books written by Daisy Meadows, picking up where the seven-part Rainbow Fairies series left off. These books are innocent and engaging, focusing on two young girls, Kirsty and Rachel, who meet while on vacation with their parents, and are drawn into the magical world of the fairies, who are in conflict with the mischievous Jack Frost. The structure of this series is nearly identical to the first: the girls are given a quest in which they must help seven fairies (each with sparkles aplenty and cute, super-girly outfits and princess-y names such as Hayley, Heather, Iris, Amber and Iris... ) who have been bothered by Jack and his goblin helpers. In each book they complete one part of the quest and meet one new fairy.

It is important to know going in that these books are interconnected -- each individual volume ties in with the others, so you will want to start with book #1, then go on to #2, etc. The plots are not very complicated, but they do make reference to each other, and the idea is to read them all together.

The other thing to know is that these books are not very scary or troubling - there is action, but not much real danger (the goblins are easily beaten, and not very frightening) so if you are looking for longer narratives for young kids to read, but don't want anything disturbing, this series is good option. One criticism is that the books are pretty WASP-y, and while a couple of the fairies might be seen as Asian, basically the entire series takes place in an all-white, middle-class world, populated with thin, blonde girls and a few brunettes. Other than that, though, this is a good series for families looking for light, engaging, age-appropriate stories. Not much depth, but they are very readable and engaging. (ReadThatAgain children's book reviews)

My Daughter Loves this book & looks forward to read the rest of the series. Its very easy to read.

My daughter liked Crystal so much she wanted to get the rest of the weather fairies. We have since bought the Rainbow Fairies and Jewel Fairies. She loves reading them! They are captivating and have super illustrations. She also enjoyed Holly The Christmas Fairy as a Christmas surprise!

My seven-year old daughter Clare has read 12 books by Daisy Meadows and we've ordered several more. She especially liked Crystal the Snow Fairy. It has great pictures. Some of her other favorites include: Pearl the Cloud Fairy and Heather the Violet Fairy. What a great series!

I love this book! I would recommend this book for ages 5 and up. In this book Jack Frost's evil goblins stole Doodle's, the rooster who gives the weather faries their weather feathers so they can control the weather in FairyLand, tail feathers which are the weather feathers! Kirsty and Rachel are best friends, who are friends with the fairies so they can help! Their first mission is in this book when they have to find Crystal the snow fairies weather feather. Read this book to find out more!