Non-fiction Books

Book is outstanding for working with elementary students.
It arrived in perfect condition and in a timely manner.

This is a cool book that all teachers should read to their classe. You can learn about the Chatter-Box, The Playground Bully, The Homework gnome, and my favorite Ti-2 the Pencil-Grinder. He finds; he grinds and sells the pencil shaving to the great chefs of Pennsylvania. Funny!

These are good stories about the classroom at the end of the hall. I enjoyed the characters like the Homework Gnome and Dilly-Dally, the Doodles. It's easy to read and not preachy at all.

Hurrah for another Douglas Evans book about the Classroom at the End of the Hall! These stories are even better than the first. this was the best book I've read this year. My favorite story was The Homework Gnome because I hate homework like Hari. I also thought the Chatterbox was very funny.

Our teacher read us Classroom at the End of the Hall by Douglas Evans which is the prequel to this book. I thought it was very funny, but Math Rashes is even funnier. The students in this book sound like students in my fifth-grade class. I like the Chatterbox, The Pencil Grinder and the Homework Gnome. All teachers should definately read this book their class!

Megan's Island is a book about a girl named Megan that has to keep running away from things that she is not sure of. She runs into obstacles and has to figure out how to solve them with her brother, Sandy, and her friend, Ben that she met on the island. The plot starts when Megan and Sandy have to run away, so their mother took them to their Grandpa's cottage. They find an island and a friend named Ben while they're there. Megan and Sandy's mother goes away to find a job and a place to stay. After the intruders and a detective come to the island, Megan and Sandy's mother comes back and tells the truth about them. As soon as the mother goes away for the second time, the intruders find and question Grandpa. Megan, Sandy, Ben, and Grandpa escape from the intruders. Awhile later, the cops come and arrest the intruders. Everything is now back to normal on the island. The setting of this book takes place at Megan and Sandy's grandpa's house. And on an island that they had discovered. The conflict of "Megan's Island" is that Megan and Sandy have to run away and their dad's father (her other grandpa) has been trying to take custody of them. Later, the intruders find and question Grandpa about where Megan and Sandy are hiding. Finally the resolution tells how they find the truth about who they really are when their mother comes back. The intruders get caught and go to jail.

This is a very interesting book. It is about a girl named Megan, her mom, and her brother sandy. One night out of the blue Megan's mom packs them up and heads hundreds of miles away to their grandfather's cottage. Megan and Sandy stay with their grandpa for several weeks and they meet this boy named Ben. Then their past starts to unravel. They find out that their other grandfather has hired a detective to come find them. When their mom comes back, she explains. She tells them that their dad was son of a very wealthy man, their other grandfather didn't want their mom to marry their dad, but they did anyway. Then their dad got caught stealing money from his work and he got fired. He counldn't find another job, so he held up a bank and was sentenced to jail.

MEGAN'S ISLAND is about a girl named Megan who moves frequently with her Mom and brother and doesn't even know why. It's a story of a normal girl who finds herself in strange circumstances and comes to know of her even stranger past.
One summer she travels to a place called Lakewood in the dead of night with her family, not knowing where she is going. There she finds an island and a friend.
She always wondered why she moved so much. Were they running away from somebody?
It's a fun mystery book that is also a little scary, but it was so exciting that I couldn't put it down.

by CVM Dallas Texas age 8.
The book takes place around a lake cottage and on an island. The main characters are a brother and sister. Megan and Sandy are trying to solve a family mystery. There is alot of adventure as they find clues that fit the puzzle. They try to find the biggest clue of all, what is there mother doing. They try to find the clue with special friends Ben and Wolf. The book was exciting and I just wanted to read more and more of it. It is a book for boys and girls or reading it as a family.

Megan's Island was a great book with lots of suspense.
There was one week of school left until summer vacation and Megan was really excited. Then one night Mom told them they had to pack up because they were moving. Megan was used to moving but this was strange. To make it even more stranger, her mom was acting kind of wierd lately and now she almost seemed scared of something.
At there grandfather's house where they were living everything was going okay until she wrote a letter to her best friend, Annie which her mom told her NOT to do. Then strange people started to come to their house.
This story had a GREAT, shocking ending.
I LOVED THIS BOOK!

The literary world is indebted to Galeano for his
poetical honesty in articulately conveying the voice of suffering in the masses, in the few. In Century of the Wind, he speaks with fascinating brevity as he dances and intertwines the triumphs and failures of a resilient, albeit it haunted, century. Galeano's words become newspaper articles that come Alive, his charachters become colorful fragments of peace and war and love and politics, refusing to be silenced. He urges the reader to pay attention to the paradox of romancing a people whom have had chaos and horror thrust upon them. Cetury of the Wind is a pathway in which we can collectively examine the troublesome past of America and ask the next great question with some degree of vigor -- And where are we heading?

Eduardo Galeano is a thrilling writer! (And very quickly one must add that his translator Cedric Belfrage is also gifted!) CENTURY OF THE WIND is a kaleidoscopic history, very much appropriately influenced by the sociopolitical beliefs of the author, of the Americas - South and North, and in that order - from the turn of the century 1900 to the last entry in this book in 1986. Reading it is an experience in history, in the fantastical events that have sprouted everywhere in every venue in a century more filled with inventions and collisions and bright lights and devastations than any preceding it.

Galeano's style is journalistic (he began his rigorous and controversial career as a journalist and editor before turning to books), and in a most readable fashion he takes us through specific events in each of the years of the 1900s and reports and comments on such divers topics as Thomas Edison, Fidel Castro, the Panama Canal, vaccinations in Brazil, Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin, agrarian reform, wars, revolutions, Frida Kahlo, religion, Evita, Ernest Hemingway, dictators, the Beatles, fellow authors of South America - the list is endless.

Galeano can say more in a paragraph or two than most commentators or historians can in an entire book. This is tasty writing unearthing many concepts that have passed unknown to many of us. Reading this fascinating book raises more questions than a multitude of reading groups or college courses and it is a must for the libraries of those who love to be challenged while being entertained! Highly recommended. Grady Harp, May 06

"Each day of life is an unrepeatable chord of a music that laughs at death." So Eduardo Galeano tells us in this, the final book of his "Memory of Fire" trilogy. The culmination of his experiment in history writing, this volume tells the history of the Western Hemisphere's 20th century in a series of vignettes that range from beautifully poetic to brain-burningly horrifying, from the torture chambers of Latin America's right-wing dictators (too often brought to you courtesy of the USA) to a little town in Central America called Yoro where, from time to time, it rains fish. You will end this book weeping with rage and joy. (And I mean that literally. This book is quite a ride.)

Eduardo Galeano's "Century of the Wind" (1988) stands on its own merits as one of the finest cultural histories ever written. From Pinochet to Presley, the author chronicles the dark undercurrents of South and North America in a compelling, cross-cutting narrative. An indispensible book that belongs in every library.

This book was completely mesmerizing and beautiful in its portrait of human nature and the history of two continents. Galeano unfolds the story of the Americas in the 20th century with his magnificent story telling which makes the book difficult to put down or to forget. Each snipet tells of the experiences of various Americans from poor Indigeneous folk to the heads of state. I would recommend this book to anyone, but especially to people in the U.S. who should develop a better understanding of their sister countries to the south. Galeano is neither pessimist, nor optimist but rather chooses to reveal the naked reality of human experience and conduct from the most avaricious calousness to the most magnanimous heroism.

In this huge, turbulent book we roll and tumble through the consciousness of Peter Mickelsson, a down-at-the-heels philosophy professor whose pursuit of the Good and the True is undermined by lechery, madness, witchcraft and the Internal Revenue Service.

As Mickelsson careens through a season of discontent, we follow willingly along in his wake. The book is an overstuffed toy box of ideas and events. Neitzsche and Wittgenstein cast major shadows across Mickelsson's thought processes. He wrestles with the phantasms of his boyhood, the pain of his recent divorce, the "actual" ghosts who inhabit the dilapidated farmhouse he's fixing up in rural Pennsylvania, the higher and lower angels of his sex life, and his blunderings through the complicated, intermittently treacherous worlds of academia and small town America.

This novel threatens to fly off in a dozen directions. What holds it together is Gardner's marvelous prose. The book is best read in small sips rather than great gulps, the better to savor Gardner's well-made paragraphs and the sweep of his ideas. The other unifying force is Mickelsson's perverse faith that goodness and order do exist (perhaps beyond reach) above the squalor and chaos of the life he's fallen into. Drowning in randomness and unreason, Mickelsson fights on, and despite his many sins and missteps, his stubbornness comes to seem admirable, heroic even.

This is one of the best American novels you'll read. Its power, sweep, ambition and humanity put it right up there with Moby Dick, only the white whale here is the search for life's meaning among the mind games of modern philosophy and the mysteries and dangers that lurk out at the edges of the American experience.

I have read most of Gardner's novels and was briefly a student of his in the 1970s. He was a larger than life character, and I have enjoyed many, though not all, of the Gardner novels I have read. Without question, this is my favorite. I put it off for many years but was inspired to pick it up after reading the Silesky biography. This book is a gem. The main character is a troubled philosophy professor who is sometimes difficult to like, but the book itself is one to love. It is philosophical work, but it is also part ghost story, part mystery, and part romance. The pages just keep turning, and the ending does not disappoint. I am hoping New Directions will choose to reissue this novel, along with the other Gardner books they are bringing back into print. To overlook it would be a big mistake.

So many readers minds are in concert regarding the reviews for this book and yet I found an original New York Times review from 1982 that was most unfavorable. It's instructive to keep in mind that there was a notable amount of unfair criticism targeted toward Mr. Gardner at the time this book came out, mainly because of `On Moral Fiction'. Bad mistake for Mr. Gardner. I can only imagine that he was looking forward to a spirited fight for the cause of higher art. Instead he found himself surrounded by resentful contemporaries with stinging tentacles. And so perhaps a critic or two approached this work with filtered glasses. Mickelsson's Ghosts is not only a `loose and baggy monster' like any good novel should be but is also a very visceral one that transcends the categorizations or genres it comes closest to. I don't think Gardner was working toward a mystery or a sci-fi or gothic necessarily and any solutions found here are not presented in a standard Mystery plot-driven format. etc. Most anyone that has approached this novel with a open mind (look at the customer's comments) knows its in a class of it's own. It succeeds at the highest level, pulling you in deep and leaving you in awe.

You know you're reading a good book when you find yourself purposefully delaying the conclusion to savour the experience longer. That's the kind of book this is: immensely detailed, intimate, fascinating. John Gardner was truly a master craftsman, and this is a masterpiece. The characters, minor and major, are fascinating, from the kooky old man next door who claims to be a witch, to Mickelsson himself, a philosopher with a brilliant mind, gradually coming undone as life delivers blow after blow against him.

The final scene is one I doubt I will ever forget, though I won't spoil it for you here ... do yourself a favour, get hold of this book. It's one to remember.

I can think of no book read over my 40 years of adult reading as deeply moving and thought-provoking as this book. The way I gauge the effect a book is having on me is the speed at which I am reading it - the slower I read it the more I am being affected, and the duration and frequency of times the book is remembered. I have never read a book as slowly as this one, and many years after reading the book I still think of it. I will admit that Mickelsson and his philosophic musings may not be for everyone. I would recommend him only to those who are unafraid of intense self-examination. Mickelsson's quest brings to mind the ancient dictum "Know thyself". The only books that have affected me nearly this deeply include the deeply brooding Moby Dick and the elegiac To the Lighthouse.

Definitely buy this novel, or any by Mary Stewart, if you have grown bored of the modern authors.

Stewart knew how to tell a tale of romance and intrigue and here you are plunged into the crisp, dark waters of suspense. The rocky hills and ancient marvels of Greece are the backdrop for this fast-paced story of a young woman who sets out to see Delphi. She discovers far more than she bargained for in the form of the very likeable and mysterious Simon, whose brother Michael was murdered during the hostilities of WWII more than a decade before.

She joins him in his search for justice and together they solve the murder and find great wonders. If I compared this story to a painting, it would be one of the colorful baroque canvases about 12 feet tall.

Mary Stewart's knack of taking an ordinary person and placing her in extraordinary circumstances works extremely well in this story of Camilla Haven's vacation to the Greek mainland. Camilla's desire to see the oracle city of Delphi is suddenly facilitated by the appearance of an already-paid-for rental car delivered to her complete with keys as she sits contemplating her boring existence in a cafe on Onomia Square in the heart of Athens. Even though she is not "Simon's girl" --- the person the car is intended for ---- she inpulsively takes the keys and rides off to the fabled city of her daydreams fully intending to meet up with Simon and deliver the car with her apologies. Instead she is drawn into the very personal pilgrimage of a man visiting his brother Michael's grave in a rough and foreign land. Here, on the wild and craggy foothills surrounding Mount Parnassus, the thorny history of Greece meets the present as a mystery surrounding Michael's death is brought to the surface through an earthquake of events in which Camilla finds herself fully entrenched.
As with all of Mary Stewart's novels, setting is a character in itself. The descriptions of the wild countryside, lush with wildflowers, yet harsh with both the climate and history transports the reader to the world of the narrator in a fully empathic manner where one actually experiences the book with all five senses.
This is a perfect story from start to finish--highly recommended.

As a fan of Barbara Michaels/Elizabeth Peters work, this book at first moved slower than I am used to. However, the book delivered on many of the elements that makes me most interested in picking up a mystery novel - historical/archeological/mythological themes, exotic settings well described, a strong female heroine, adventure, and maybe just a touch of romance (not too much). What I found most interesting/facinating was Mary Stewart's ability to paint with words a richly detailed/atmospheric landscape (in this case the rugged mountains of Greece and historically significant center of Delphi) was enough to leave a lasting impression, like snapshots in your mind of time spent in a place that just by being there spiritually uplifted you in some way. Armchair travelers with an interest in experiencing through osmosis impressions left on people upon visiting historical/mythological places will like this book.

Other recommended authors: Sharyn McCrumb, Nevada Barr, Jessica Speart, Beverly Connor, Lyn Hamilton, Susanna Kearsley, and Kathleen Skye Moody.

I'm so glad to see some of Mary Stewart's romantic fiction reissued. As a young girl I envisioned Greece while reading My Brother Michael, as a young adult I went there and it was sublime. We read and, then, we experience. If you read to see the world, start at home with Mary Stewart and let your imaginations take you to Europe; her books will grow with you. With Madam Will you Talk in mind, (her best I think) I danced on the entrance to the Pont d'Avignon, I stood on Hadrian's Wall and thought of the Ivy Tree; Corfu did indeed boast men named Spiro, but sadly, no magic dolphin. I wish there were more of her books.

I remember before I discovered Ruth Rendell, Elizabeth George, Minette Walters, and P.D. James, my favorite writer was Mary Stewart. I may never read her "Merlin" series again, but I still think of it fondly as a great step along the way to good reading. So when I came across a few of her books recently that I may or may not have read 20 years ago, I snatched a couple of them up, anxious to see if they held up over time. I probably should have resisted. "My Brother Michael" is an interesting story, and Mary Stewart's writing is good, but she just isn't in the same league as the Big Four. This was an OK read, and the setting was beautifully described, but the story sort of lurched along for me. I may go ahead and read another of the Stewart books I picked up at the same time as this in hopes of redemption, but then again, I may not. The good news: this is a very fast read. : )

In La Niebla by Miguel Unamuno. Is a story of love, tragedy, and existentialism. Augusto (the main character) falls in love with Eugenia that is in love with another guy. At the beginning, Augusto didn't know she was in love, but later on he knew that Eugenia was in love with other, however he don't care about it, because he is rich and he can be more helpful than his boyfriend. To start it Augusto pays the loans that Eugenia had to pay for her house that her father leaves her without pay it before he died.

In some way Eugenia felt like she must corresponds him by marring him, because she knew that that was what Augusto wants. One night before the wedding she escape with her boyfriend and leave a letter to Augusto, giving thanks for pay the house but she couldn't married him. Augusto felt terrible and died in his bed. And the theme that I like is existentialism, in which the man is victim of his own circumstances. In which Augusto knew that Eugenia was a pretty and that she never was going to fall in love with him. Also when tries to play a Hero when he pays the loans to the bank, so Eugenia can see what her best choice is.
Practically it was about a man that is trying to be happy, but didn't know how to choose the correct way.

The book is absolutely wonderful. It is funny as well as powerful. Unamuno effectively uses the construct of the book to criticize aspects of Spanish society.

" Ni los recuerdos ni los suenos son tan efimeros como la NIEBLA"

This book deals with human emotions, thoughts and fears in a deep, meaningful and funny way. It has a little bit of everything, private conversations with God, the search for the true meaning of life, the quest to find an everlasting love, the fear of facing death, and the hardships that every single human faces during a lifetime.

I read it in Spanish, and I have to say it is one of the best written books I have read so far. Every single word is where it should be, and the story flows magnificently.
Although it deals with very serious topics, the story is simple, well written, funny, easy to read and with a very unexpected twist at the end...

It simply belongs to a class of its own.

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Niebla... es un libro maravilloso, que toca temas muy profundos y valiosos para cualquier ser humano, de una manera unica, original e incluso graciosa.
Incluye conversaciones privadas con Dios, la busqueda incanzable por encontrar el verdadero significado de la vida, la necesidad de encontrar el amor, el miedo a la muerte.... en fin.... un poco de todo, y sin embargo la historia es simple, facil de seguir, divertida y con un personaje principal con el que cualquiera puede identificarse.

Definitivamente uno de los mejores libros que he leido... Unamuno tiene una manera unica de escribir y de mantener al lector interesado a lo largo de toda la historia.

Este libro nos muestra el genio de Miguel de Unamuno. Su tecnica en crear Augusto Perez y su mundo es brillante. Niebla representa el elite de la prosa Espanola...Cada palabra ocupa su propio lugar y lo que resulta es una obra con pasion, humor, un lirismo hermoso, tragedia , y sabidura universal.

Miguel de Unamuno es sin duda un gran escritor, ennieblado? No lo creemos, mas bin ennivolado. Veremos al Creador y al creado, a Unamuno y a Augusto, al que tiene el poder y al que prescinde de poder. Es el autor un ateo? Si lo fuera no pudiera haber creado al protagonista de la novela, pues al no haber Creador para crear lo creado se convierte en una utopa la existencia, y siguiendo entre Creador y creados, nunca se niega la existencia de la vida, mas bin se aplaude tristemente la negacin de poder desempaar lo enmaraado de ella, pero abunda existencialmente. El existencialismo de Unamuno nos niebla el camino a una salida y nos enfrenta a un Creador al cul aparentemente no entendemos unos, no le creen otros, y le odia el pelotn de los autnticos desafortunados.

"Empez hablndome de mis trabajos literarios y mas o menos filosficos...no dej claro esta! de halagarme, y enseguida empez a contarme su vida y sus desdichas...las vicisitudes de su vida saba yo tanto como l...y los que l crea mas secretos" (XXXI). Aqu empieza el autor a enfrentarnos filosficamente en su existencialismo a nuestro Creador. Creemos conocerlo y no cesamos de halagar y adorarlo para entonces poniendo nuestra esperanza en EL comenzar a confesar nuestras faltas, desdichas, las trampas, las injusticias a las que estamos sometidos, el odio que ronda entre piratas, la mala hierba que abunda en cada jardn, la envidia que roe mas que huesos esqueletos generacionales; pero no importa, por mucho que hablemos, escucha lo que dice la cancin de la realidad: "se lo demostr citndole los mas ntimos pormenores y los que l crea mas secretos", entonces el Dios de Unamuno, a quien l arremete en la novela, es capaz de crear, de saber todo, an lo profundo de nuestros corazones.

Unamuno conoce al diablo, su filosofa entra en el mbito espiritual abofeteando su propio existencialismo: "Tu...con un tono autoritario-tu, abrumado por tus desgracias, has concebido la diablica idea de suicidarte...vienes a consultrmelo." Dios en su trono, es consultado, y en algn lugar dimensional, el diablo empujando a un hombre abrumado al suicidio. Vuelve a caer, s, vuelve a su enclaustro terrenal: "no eres, pobre Augusto, mas que un producto de mi fantasa".

El existencialismo es un "movimiento filosfico que trata de fundar el conocimiento de toda realidad sobre la experiencia inmediata de la experiencia propia" (Real Academia), pero un producto de la fantasa no puede tener experiencia propia, mas bin se convierte en un instrumento desmesurado para tirar por la borda toda filosofa real que nos permita cuestionar nuestra existencia; es por tanto el autor un ser sincero por su dolor, pero contradictorio porque quiere negar lo que para l es innegable: la existencia del mismo Dios, conviviendo con la existencia humana. Lo que vemos aqu es a un Unamuno atareado con disputar evocando su voz hacia el cielo, pero con el pequeo valor de mantener sus ojos en la tierra, para as exprimir de esa naranja terrenal cuanta lgrima pueda verter, cuanta desesperanza pueda acumular, cuanta tristeza hacer memorar, olvidando an el propio amor que hace cantar, rer, celebrar, soar, y contemplar el nacimiento transformador del nio que el propio Victor (Unamuno tambin) una vez rechaz depresiva y existencialmente, pero que admite llen su corazn de un gozo inexplicable.

"Bueno basta!Cllate!...una criatura ma...Dios, cuando no sabe qu hacer de nosotros, nos mata." Basta Una-mundo que Dios te di la vida y ha dejado que hables, te permiti crear y asi colaborar en Su dominio, te dej procrear y asi experimentar que el manantial existe para ser bebido, y que no hay fuerza ni inteligencia que pueda machucar el amor a la vida y el querer alcanzar la eternidad prometida.

La lucha que Nivola nos entrega en bandeja es afianzarnos a la desesperanza de la existencia. Nos mata el aliento; sin embargo, el autor supo conservar el aliento durante toda su vida, se supo enfrentar a las injusticias, y nunca dej de tener hijos. El es por tanto uno que no se dej vencer por la niebla que encontramos en el camino, y as un hijo prodigo que arremeti contra Su Padre celestial, pero que sinceramente nos anuncia que el camino a transitar esta lleno de falsos brillos, mereciendo pues respeto por ello.

Un poco de admiracin para lo que hemos vivido, y asi no dejar que la Niebla nos impida la F en lo desconocido.

Alejandro Roque.

This is the first book I've read by this author and probably the best compliment I can give him is I am ordering "Jane Doe" today. I just happened to read a blurb on this book given in the back of another book I was reading. It was enough to make me curious. Fortunately it turned out to be a nice surprise. Lots of action, an anti-hero, a heroine who transforms nicely as the book progresses and just enough romance. A great read.

If you're into action, adventure and romance, then this is a book for you. The pace was pretty good too. This was my first time reading this author and now I'm a fan. I like the way he writes. And he keeps it interesting.

After reading all three of R.J. Kaiser's novels, I feel that "Payback" is the least best novel. I enjoyed Stephanie and Jack Kidwell a whole lot. I thought that they were really fun characters. After Stephanie's husband is killed, she discovers that she has inherited millions. Stephanie feels that she did not really know her husband as good as she thought. Stephie decides to go on a vacation to the Caribbean and discovers that she is being followed. Later she finds out that her husband was stealing money from a powerful group of people. Stephie has to run Jack Kidwell, her only new friend on the island, who I feel is kind of a slime. She has to find a way to appease these dangerous people before she is bait for the fishes.

The tropical setting, the action and dialogue all add up to an extremely entertaining read. It's fun and fast paced. I think this book may have missed bigger notoriety because of its title. Too many Payback titles and it's not the Mel Gibson movie. This book would have made a tremendous Mel Gibson vehicle.

While investigating her husband to obtain a divorce, Stephanie is shocked by her discovery. Not only is Jean Claude dealing with crooked investors, but he's also having an affair with her sister. When Stephanie goes to confront the two on their secret rendevous she witnesses their murder. Now she is the one with the password to obtain thirty million dollars and she's on the run.

Jack doesn't care about anything but where he can get his next drink. After his fiance died he feels life isn't worth living. So when Stephanie comes to him for help to get her away from St. Thomas on his boat, he doesn't ask any questions, doesn't even care about the danger. Jack and Stephanie are in for the ride of their lives.

Payback is past paced and exciting. Not a minute goes by that you're not on the edge of your seat. Set in the beautiful Virgin Islands R.J. Kaiser you feel like you can feel the breeze. Jack and Stephanie begin to care for eachother and romance does blossom, but this isn't a book for romance readers alone! This is an action suspense novel that keep you turning the pages late into the night.

I selected this book only because it took place in Ohio - and mentioned several areas that I was familliar with. Well, imagine my surprise when it turned out to be a beautiful love story of an elderly couple. To sound cliche - I laughed and I cried while reading this - and I think you will too.

Had to lock myself in the bathroom to finish reading the last few pages just so I could savor, enjoy, and mourn the ending of this book. The whole thing was so, so marvelous...

I told my husband about this book tonight. I read this while working in a bookstore as a senior in high school; I graduated in 1976. Awesome book! I agree with the existing comments above; I fell in love with the characters and especially Howard Amberson, who just tried to get through life with his integrity intact, and for the most part suceeded. A truly timeless, unforgettable work.

From a person who always has at least three books going at one time, (book on tape in my car, one in my hand bag, and one on my night stand) I have my all-time top ten favorite books. I first got this book from the Library in the 80's and tried desperatly to find it to buy and I couldn't. So I am embarrassed to say it is the only book I have ever purposely kept and paid for from a Library. It is also one of the few books I have reread many times. It is one of the most REAL books I have ever read. It made me laugh, it made me cry. It gave me a whole different perspective on relationships and all the stages one goes through in a realtionship that lasts a lifetime. ANY one who loves to
read should read this book. It will be one you will never forget.

I've read this book three or four times. I read it again this past year and include it in my list of favorite all time books.

The Mom's Choice Awards® honors excellence in family-friendly media, products and services. An esteemed panel of judges includes education, media and other experts as well as parents, children, librarians, performing artists, producers, medical and business professionals, authors, scientists and others. A sampling of the panel members includes: Dr. Twila C. Liggett, Ten-time Emmy-winner, professor and founder of Reading Rainbow; Julie Aigner-Clark, Creator of Baby Einstein and The Safe Side Project; Jodee Blanco, New York Times Best-Selling Author; LeAnn Thieman, Motivational speaker and coauthor of seven Chicken Soup For The Soul books; Tara Paterson, Certified Parent Coach, and founder of The Just For Mom Foundation(tm) and the Mom's Choice Awards®. Parents and educators look for the Mom's Choice Awards® seal in selecting quality materials and products for children and families. This book has been honored by this distinguished award.

***** Author and Illustrator Fox Carlton Hughes has done a masterful job with this delightful children's book. The eye-catching bold colors on the cover, and throughout every page in the book, are quite simply a visual treat and the lessons taught within the story are timeless. Our hero, Homer, is a little Rhino who has a big tusk - very big! In fact, it was outstandingly big! Because of that, Homer was teased by his playmates and spent a lot of time being sad.

One day, as the story goes on to tell, Homer sees and follows a rainbow to its end (because he loves rainbows), only to find that the rainbow was crying - splattering big, wet, rainbow tears all over Homer! It's colors were brilliant and beautiful, as rainbow colors are supposed to be, so why was the rainbow so sad? Homer went over for a closer look. That's when he saw the hole in the side of the rainbow and watched as those brilliant colors gushed out onto the ground. After thinking a moment or two, Homer knew exactly what to do. He jammed his oversized tusk into the hole with a powerful thud, stopping the leak immediately! The rainbow praised Homer and Homer was suddenly filled with a great self-confidence. He knew, way down inside his heart, that without his huge tusk the rainbow would have lost its colors before the Dew Fairies could have arrived to help him.

In the end, it was the change in Homer's attitude toward himself that gave him some much needed confidence, and self-confidence is all any of us truly needs to be happy.

This is a wonderful story for small children and teaches some amazing lessons. Highly recommended reading. *****

Reviewed by Ruth Wilson of Huntress Reviews.

This book is sooo inspirational and educational!

It is not only appealing to small children but children and adults of all ages!

Anyone can learn, from this book, the belief that it is alright to be different and to love yourself just as you are.

We all have something special inside of us to share with others and to make a difference in the world around us.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone!

Rainbow Rhino arrived at my door yesterday and it's already well on its way to becoming a household favorite. I expect that this book will become one of those stories that I read over and over again and it never becomes stale.

The story itself is classic. Homer the Rhino is born just a bit different than all his classmates as his tusk is extra long. My daughter also pointed out that all his classmates are human so he's already got issues of being different anyway. Nonetheless, Homer spends a good deal of his time playing alone and feeling like an outsider. Who hasn't been in that situation? Homer's point of view quickly changes though when he meets and helps a rainbow in trouble.

In addition to a great entertaining story that even makes adults smile, Rainbow Rhino has beautiful colorful illustrations that catch the eye. The expressions on the characters faces are absolutely precious. Rainbow Rhino will quickly become a favorite in any household or library.

I have just finished reading this delightful story, and am thrilled that it is available to children and adults alike. Without giving away the plot, the book tells of Homer, a rhino with a problem. As the story unfolds, Homer uses his `problem' to help someone in distress! Through his selfless and kind act, Homer's own problem is solved! What a satisfying ending, and what a good lesson the story illustrates! And, speaking of "illustrates," the reader will be captivated by the book's brilliant artwork! Mr. Hughes' drawings and use of vivid color are dazzling!

Beyond all of this, I was impressed with Mr. Hughes' use of vivid language. Characters in the story wail, sob, shout, gasp and sputter. They gallop, charge, ram, skid, gush, stumble, and spatter. Not only does this book teach a lesson in compassion and kindness, but also it exposes the reader to exciting and descriptive language. This is the kind of book that I value as an elementary school teacher. By sharing this book with students, I can help them understand the value of being kind to others who are `different,' and of helping someone in distress. Also, I can expose them to new and exciting words that they can try out in their own compositions. I certainly appreciate having multi purpose `tools' like The Rainbow Rhino to use in a classroom, and I am looking forward to sharing it with a group of young students soon.

i have read many books by erica but none touched me quite as much as this. i was unable to put it down and read it in one go. i cried and i laughed with the characters. it was a great read. all i wanna know now is wheres my jack!!

Becky Lynn Lee fled Bend, Mississippi the night that her life was changed forever. She was betrayed by all the people that she loved, and she knew that it would never change as long as she stayed in Bend. So she took off for California. With the bright lights and the even brighter stars. There, Becky Lynn met Jack Gallager who changed the course of her life. For she finally found someone who believed in her talent and who she believed actually thought she was someone. She felt that Jack looked beyond her 'white trash' label. When she was betrayed by him, she went to his enemy in a moment of rage, looking for a way to pay him back. Little did she know that she would also love Jack's brother Carlos.

Jack Gallager has been on a mission since he was eight years old and rejected by his father. He will be better than his father and his brother in the world of fashion photography. From the moment he bought his first camera at sixteen, Jack has worked to prove himself worthy of his father's love and a better photographer than his brother. He didn't know that his crusade would cost him the woman he loved or that he would regret it as much as he did.

Red is a book that is intensely emotional with characters that all have immense emotional baggage and are trying to deal with it. If you want a book that you will get lost in, try Red and you won't be dissapointed.

This book is so awesome! Out of all the books I've read in my life, this is far the best! I re-read this book all the time and it is still a suprise. I had it since I was 14, now I'm 16 and I'm still reading and loving it! If you love to read about love, drugs, and sex, I recommend this book!

This is one of those books that catches you from the very first page and never lets go! It's an easy read and such fun!! I fell in love with "Red" more than any of the other Erica Spindler characters. She is a kind and innocent child who you get to see grow into a beautiful woman and you can't help but root for her. I could'nt put the book down because I had to see her prevail over all her enemies. I have read almost all of Erica Spindler's books but this is my absolute favorite by far! You get so involved in her life that you just can't stop reading. I usually prefer mystery and suspense but this is a swell book. It will keep you interested until the end!

I read this soon after finishing "Shocking Pink"... ES has really caught my attention with the offbeat characters in this story. If you haven't had the pleasure, pick up this "RED HOT" book and dive in! Loved it!