S Books

Where this one shines: compact and to the point, definitely our style. It covers all of the island and the hikes they list inside Haleakala Crater and near Hana were terrific. Bring your binoculars for the whale and windsurfer action. We had several guides with us, but the most consistent useful information came from this one.

Friends asked us how we saw and experienced so much in just a week and we attribute it to doing our homework first - mapping it all out with the Trailblazer.

Beaches are the reason we went to Maui and this was the guide we used to find them. There were several dozen to higrade. When we arrived we noticed many of the street signs were missing or twisted the wrong way so we navigated using the maps and mile markers in the Trailblazer guide. Even our rental car map didn't have the detailed streets this book had.

We have three kids and they spent hours and hours boogieboarding and their UV protected rashguards that we also bought on Amazon paid off plenty. The bike tours were closed so we hiked in Haleakala State Park. Trail distances we needed and trail distances we got. We felt like we were on another planet. They suggested we bring warm clothes and water, thank goodness we did.

Organized, detailed, dangerous places to avoid, the advice was priceless. This was our first time on Maui and this book really did blaze the trail.

All the fun stuff. My teenage boys loved it and wanted to try everything they listed. Our hikes were group affairs, waterfall destinations being first choice, Haleakala took second. This book is organized by region with all the activities linked to the highway mile markers and cross referenced on the interior maps. This saved us time and we also spent less on gas.

In six days we really covered ground. We drove the entire beautiful coast stopping here and there to snorkel where they indicated it was best for beginners. Excels when it comes to easily finding the snorkeling and hiking zones and wild beaches. We are big Trailblazer fans now.

We decided to visit two islands because we had heard how different they were: Maui and the Big Island. We chose the trailblazer books to guide us since they were both crammed with incredibly helpful information. For hikers and snorkelers and sightseers they are a gold mine. They are written in clear language and the outings are well arranged with accompanying maps.

The tips for getting out to Hana were treasure trove status and put us out in front of the chain of cars we saw heading out at 2pm. Leaving at 7:30 am before the tour buses made all the difference. We could have used another few days on Maui and regret taking only one hike down into the crater. We plan another visit in 2009 and our first order of business will be watching the sunrise on Haleakala and taking a helicopter tour.

Thanks Trailblazers for sharing and demystifying wowie Maui.

Maui was new to us. This guide ranked quite highly for navigating and made driving the circle tour so interesting. We frequently used the large index. The guide is laid out with all the activities logically numbered, like a reference catalog (spiked with humor and tips). Also, they streamlined their list of hotels and only include the ones they would stay in, mostly affordable - same with restaurants. We prereserved an oceanside hotel room in Kihei and would stay there again. It had a nice beach access for winding down at sunset.

Full page maps are in each section and since this island is so small they accentuate the stops that rank highly and coincide with the beach and trails they describe. It made sense in every way and the only time we joined the tourist mill was on the Hana Coast - we should have left at dawn like they said. Another thing we liked is the all space they've given to landscape photographs which helped greatly with our everyday destination decisions.

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.

I loved this book. It really touched my heart and evoked so many emotions in me, and brought me to tears more than once. Mostly, I wanted to reach right through the pages and hug Barbara and all her siblings. And her mother too. What strength and character each of them has shown. I am in awe and admiration of all of them. I loved how they really looked out for each other and protected one another: from the father, in school, in their neighborhood.

It is so sad that any children had to live like this, but I know many do. Blessings to Barbara and her siblings and I hope they have all healed from the trauma of their childhood and are enjoying much deserved happiness.

Oh, and it was wonderful to see Alice's review!!!!!

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

I loved this book I read it cover to cover in less than 3 days I found it very informative and the highlighted pages would be very usefull in the labor and delivery room. I look forward to being able to use it during the actual delivery

This is our first pregnancy, and my husband is honestly more nervous than me! Letting him know what to expect is great for him.

This was one of the best purchases we made in terms of labor and delivery for our first child. Well worth reading for the mom-to-be and anyone else who is going to be involved in the labor and delivery.

The Birth Partner was a great book for anyone that wants to learn more about being a partner in the birthing/delivery process. I was a complete novice and found it so helpful to prepare me for my role in being a birthing coach for my friends home birth.

This book was extremely helpful in learning how to support the laboring mom. There were so many helpful resources to use. I will be taking this book to births with me for quick reference.

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 quite literally puts his life time between the paper's line[just to quote Mobb Deep] exposing us to the world of Harlem circa the early 1950's. The story definately has universal appeal to all children that have been spawned from the depths of ghetto despair. What Claude reveals to the general reader is that even a ghetto child destined to either a prison block or pine box can rise above and accomplish what they will.

The book functions as a autobigraphical novel,socilogical story,and psychological observation. All the following can be gleaned from Claude's Manchild in the Promised Land. Every other view we get of the ghetto comes from exagerated gangsta rap lyrics or second hand suburban reserchers. Clude provides us with a realistic depiction from single parent households down to street hustlers that flood the block with heroin.


The Harlem of the 50's-60's definately sounds alot like the inner city realities of today even at 2007. While Claude was able to escape the trap, you have to wonder how many ghetto youth today are just simply a victim of their own enviroment. How many Claude Browns are there in every inner city that don't live to tell their story or do so behind iron bars? The sadness is that such conditions have only became worse since Manchild in the Promised Land was published in the 60's.


Before Brown's death he planned a sequel to his previous work detailing experiances of the 80's generation and how crack cocaine devistated Harlem much like heroin did in the 50's-70's.

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!

This book made such an impact on me when I read it the first time. I was in high school in New Jersey in the early '70's and had friends in Harlem so I visited often. To read such a vivid portrait of a young life at that time in New York City felt real for me. Claude Brown's writing influenced me at an early age. This work is a masterpiece and will stand the test of time.

Brown leaves no stone unturned when it comes to his life in New York. The Howard University graduate covers the story of the first generation of Southerners (his parents) that left to New York-the "promised land" where they expected to enjoy equality and prosperity. Instead, they were forced to deal with overcrowded living spaces and violent ghettos. He paints a picture of his rugged coming of age with vivid recollections of how he gained his rep as a brawler, the friendships gained and lost due to drugs and violence, as well as his fight to escape the seemingly hopeless condition that Harlem was trapped in at the time. After surviving run-ins with the law, brutal fights and the ravages of drug abuse, one can only hope to have half the mental toughness that Brown had to rise above his circumstances.

This is a very good description of Luftwaffe Operations on the Eastern Front. It has good background information speciffically about the economic side of it. Decisions made based on oil supply's rather than military objectives. Very interesting material.
The only bad thing about this book is that the editing comes across as very sloppy. German names are often misspelled or incorrect. It is not Manstein, but von Manstein, not Bock, but von Bock, not Kluge, but von Kluge.
Also it is not Count von Sponneck but Graf von Sponneck. If you overlook those issues, it is a very good book

Very thoroughly researched book. Could have explained infantry operations in a little more detail after all most of the movements of the Luftwaffe happened in direct support of infantry movement. Could have given a little bit more weightage to characteristic traits of leaders involved in action. But all in all a very lucidly written book a definite buy for anyone interested in eastern theater of WWII

This book is a treasure. Saying it deals with just the Luftwaffe effort does not really address the scope of the book. In addition to the author's fabulous treatment of air operations, it has some great stuff on naval operations in the Crimea. This book is an absolute MUST for your WWII library. This guy is a lecturer at some college in New Zealand. Get him to some University in the USA!!

Anthony Beevor's wife and publisher (the well-connected Hon. Artemis Cooper, no less) had her publicity machine whip his good book on Stalingrad into a huge international best-seller. That's perfectly okay. I liked Beevor's book very much, and do commend it to readers. But Beevor's isn't the most authoritative and analytical book on Stalingrad, that frightful, turning-point battle. Joel Hayward's book is! I'm pleased that, while it has never sold as many copies, Hayward's uniquely-conceived book has earned fantastic reviews and been quoted and acknowledged as highly-influential (and mandatory reading) by almost every subsequent writer on the eastern front, including Glantz, Erickson etc.

Hayward's book masterfully explains why, strategically, Hitler planned a major campaign in 1942 after not winning in the east during the previous year. It superbly elucidates why, even though the city of Stalingrad was never one of that major campaign's goals, Hitler then became distracted by it, to the point whereby its capture mattered more than the Caucasus oilfields he was originally, and very rationally, committed to seizing and exploiting.

Hayward's book also analyses air power and joint-service matters but always relates these in a seamless way to ground battles and operations. His book is therefore strikingly-different to all previous, army-focused books on Stalingrad (including Beevor's) which barely mentioned air power despite it dominating all successful battles during 1942, in and around Stalingrad itself, and during the air-lift.

Hayward's analysis of that increasingly-futile and tragic air-lift, and its highly skilful defeat by the Red Air force and Red Army, is by far the most original, complete, meticulously-researched (all from unpublished archival sources) and informative ever written.

I cannot recommend this original, insightful book highly enough. Buy Beevor's journalistic book, of course. But you must buy this volume if you want a thorough, analytical, scholarly work that explains why things happened and what it all meant.

This is one of the very best book on the Luftwaffe by serious, academic historian, and possibly the only one to date to give credit and recognition to one of the best tactical minds of he Luftwaffe, GFM von Richtofen.


While justifiably lambasting the Luftwaffe (and Hitler too) on its short sightedness in forgoing the development of a strategic, heavy bomber in favour of tactical, short range fighters and light payload bombers, Hayward does remind us the indispensable role of the Luftwaffe as the Heer's flying artillery and its role in her battlefield successes.

The fact that the Luftwaffe was staffed mainly by transferees from the Heer may be a determining factor in shaping its mission as a tactical, close support airforce, and its reluctance to develop, acqueisce or sustain a naval air arm for the tonnage battle in the Atlantic (same can be said of Raeder's and Dönitz's strategic shortcomings, both concentrating on their respective favourites, battleships and U-boats, while paying little heed to the crucial role of air cover for naval actions) may stem from the tradtional rivalry during the Kaiser's times between the senior service, Army and the Kaiser's favourite, the Kriegsmarine, which in the Great War proved to be a less than war winning tool, and a dtermining factor (with her mutinies) in the dissolution of the Reich.

It is amazing that nobody in the top echelons of the Luftwaffe had articulated a strategic vision for the role of the service in war. Same with the Krigesmarine with its focus and fetish on battleships and U boats.

Bearing in mind that Germany was flanked by her traditional enemies in Europe, and the need for the avoidance of the nightmarish 2 front war like the last war, which stretched Germany to her limits as a middling power battling the superpowers (Britain, Russia and USA), the much vaunted General Staff as well as OKW, OKH. OKM. OKL had not seen the need for a strategic airforce of long range fighters and high altitude heavy bombers (plus aircraft carriers for the inevitable last fight with the US after mastery of Europe) that will serve as a deterrent in any enforced peace with Britain and USSR, or as an indisepnsable deep penetrating tool for crippling her enemies' military-political-industrial complexes, the cross-Channel invasion of Britain, the strangling of trans-Atlantic trade between Britian and her Dminions as well as her banker, the US.

Inter-service rivalry will see the Luftwaffe refusing to build up a naval air arm, or let the Kriegamrine to have one, nor did the latter, with its uni-dimensional focus on the war at sea, see the need for aircover and aircraft carriers ( all because of the myopic expedient that for the same amount of steel, you can build 20 U boats in a shorter time) for her naval units. This led to the loss of aircover over her bases, and drove the U boats underwater (thus limiting her striking power as they fought on the surface!) and her surface units immobilised in hideouts in France and Norway.

Without a strategic airforce, and with the loss of air supremacy at home and above the battelfields, Germany suffred from the vicious cycle of loss of aircover, then devastated industries, then even less aircrafts, arms and munitions to fight off her enemies on all fronts,and so on. In the end, the Luftwaffe was no more than the Heer's last mobile artiller and machine gun battalions (most of the Heer's artillery was horse drawn) and the Kreigsmarine an impotent coast guard.

It would be interesting to see if, like the Generalstab, most of the Heer transferees were artillerists ( the most technical proficient branch and thus uniquely suited to the technically most demanding service), who with their mindset would predisposed them to a tactical, close support vision of the Luftwaffe

It's a shame the publisher decided to put a picture on the cover of Steve McQueen wrapped up in the barbed wire at the end of his big motorcycle escape attempt. Because, you see, that never happened in the TRUE story of the Great Escape contained in this book. The movie (while good) took serious dramatic license, while Brickhill's book presents the facts. And they are quite inspiring and thrilling enough without the addition of fictional elements such as McQueen's stunt riding.
I first read this book while in elementary school, and was hooked to the extent that I've read it many times since over the decades. A truly outstanding story.

If you want to know how to make something out of nothing, this is the book for you. I've been reading and re-reading this book since early childhood and that's how I learned to make a needed item out of just what was at hand. McGyver had NUTHIN' on these guys.

MRS. Dee Schauer
Texas

I love the movie the Great Escape and I loved reading the book it was based on. The movie did an excellant job of following the book but reading the book gave me so much more of an understanding of what these men went through and the courage they had. To truely understand the courage these men had and what they went through, you have to read the book.

Paul Brickhill is a superb author and this is one of his finest works. Far better than the film - if you thought the film was far fetched, well, the truth is even more astonishing. An exhilarating history, and an absolute must-read.

This is the (true) story of the efforts of a multinational group of POWs to escape during WW2, and led to what is one of my favourite films.

I anticipated the book to be a bit of a let down after seeing the movie, but it really wasn't. They emphasize quite different aspects, and some parts of the movie were clearly made up with entertainment value in mind (people jumping motorcycles over fences for instance!). I can't blame the movie makers of course, because the compelling essence of this story is the daily slog of tunnelling set against the backdrop of the mind-numbing drudgery of incarceration. No movie could be long enough to get this point across, but the book allows one to build up a better picture of what captivity was like, particularly because it provides such incredible details. I was really struck by the ingenious ways the prisoners found to fake German uniforms and official passes, improvise tools, and build radios and other vital pieces of equipment. The book provides sufficient descriptions to allow you to get an impression of the main characters and camp layout, though I personally would have enjoyed a few photographs of the people involved (good and bad), though I realise these wouldn't have been easy to obtain.

The author has a relatively dry style typical of a historian rather than a dramatist, and at times relates key events remarkably passionately. The book ratchets up the tension without having to try too hard however, and I could sense the tension that existed whenever the guards entered the barracks to check for tunnels. The depression that accompanies every uncovered tunnel jumps out of the page, as does the resolve to keep trying to escape without ever accepting captivity.

I was also pleased that the author described the events some time after the final escape, so that I could see how thoroughly the Allied authorities pursued the main protagonists, and what was their evetual fate.

This book was a fine testament to the memory of the brave men who didn't wilt despite literally years of incarceration in conditions that can best be desribed as spartan. If they had all died without anyone knowing their story the world would be a poorer place.

According to my 9-year old, this book is the bomb for kids between the ages of about 9 and 13 (maybe older). The author tells a vivid story and sucks children right into the book! It's great, and my 9-year old would buy it again in a heartbeat. Have a great time reading!

The fiction book I have read is Animorphs The Message. In this book a girl named Cassie and her friends try to save whatever is calling Cassie in her dreams from the bottom of the ocean. At first the others dont believe her but one of their friends Tobias also says he's having the same dreams.The kids morph into dolpins and go into the ocean and try to save what they think is a andilite. They incounter a life threatning battle with sharks and Marcoe gets injured so badly he almost dies. They try to finish what they started before it's to late and Visser Three finds them. I reccomend this book to a 5th or 6th grader. Also for whoever likes suspenseful action filled books. If you do like this book I inspirer you to read the whole series.

I am a sixth grader.The author of the book is K.A.Applegate. The characters names are Cassie,Tobias,Jake,Rachel,Marco,Tom,and Chapman.I liked this book because it has kids who can turn into any kind of animal.It is about friendship.It is also about a mission that they have to go on.My favorite part of the book is when Cassie turns into a dolphin to get to the ocean.What I dislike about the book is that they can not tell us there last name because if they do they will be killed or be made slaves.

I thought this book was really good, the Animorphs took a good underwater adventure. I thought the whole book was fast paced, my favorite part was when they were in dolphin morphs and faught that shark.

This is one of the best books in the Animorphs. It is also a crucial part of the series. I have read this book at least ten times. Cassie is my favorite Animorph, and this is the first book told from her point of view. It's generally about the Animorphs adventuring under the sea to find out whether someone is down there calling to them, but there were lots of smaller bits that I really liked.

"Ship Ablaze" helps fill in gaps of history that for one reason or other our parents, grand-parents, uncles and aunts. I grew up in that neighborhood and attended the LCMS (Trinity) Lutheran Church on 9th St. and Ave. B., yet I had to wait until late in life to learn of this disaster and the long term impact it had on the area. While the congregation I belonged to was not in worship fellowship with St. Mark's, I am certain that one would find a history of humanitarian fellowship at the time. But, these would be in the old records of that congregation written in German script. We need not only researchers, but multilingual researchers, in this incident as although there were those born in America, they lived a German life. My generation was the first not to speak German from birth. When I went to Germany to live for a while, I find myself very much at home despite the fact that this was post WWII Germany. If there are researchers interested out there who are fluent in German, a place they might want to look at is the resources of the NY Public Library and Concordia Historical Institute, St. Louis (records of the original Trinity on microfilm).

An excellent book about the General Slocum disaster, a 1904 steamboat fire that killed more than 1,000 people, mostly women and children on a church outing. Absolutely mesmerizing from start to finish.

I think this is the year as a reader, as a watcher of television and news, that I've finally reached my endpoint as concerns human disasters. I've always been interested to an extent of this type of story...if we weren't newspapers would not fare well. But I started picking up more of these books after the making of the movie, Titanic, and it's about 7 years later, and I am pretty sure I've had it. Nothing about the writer's abilities, just between the constant onslaught of real life disasters with the hurricane season now ending, the tsunami of last year, constant reportage on this ridiculous war in Iraq, and normal everyday life, I cannot take on any more sorrow and of course, the stupidity and greed that goes with these stories. I didn't even finish this one. If you like this genre, and this type of reading doesn't depress you deeply, as it did me, then this book is for you.

This is not the 'ostrich' burying it's head. It's rather I decided to stop rubbernecking in this manner. I don't do it when there are fires or car accidents, so I don't know why this should be anything different. If I am interested in it from an engineering or scientific view of things, as occurred with the 1927 dynamiting of the New Orleans levees, then I'll go for the history. I know this stuff happened, and where it is absolutely necessary to know more for family research or whatever, fine, I can look it up online. This is not the type of reading that I consider as being of benefit for me, nor is it entertaining to read about the needless deaths of so many. There are other things I'd rather do and read than books of this genre, though it is obvious that as with true crime, this is a popular genre which will not be going away soon.

Karen Sadler

This disaster has been hidden from historical references better than anything I've ever come across. Over 1,000 people die horribly, mostly women and children, and the following has occurred:

The 2004 Microsoft Encarta DVD Encyclopedia makes absolutely no reference to this event.

The book "New York Times Page One" does not show this as one of it's important front page dates.

The book "Chronicles of the 20th Century" (1300+ pages) only makes mention of the ship's owners being found negligent, not the event itself.

The largest loss of life from a single disaster from 1904 until 2001 and they can't mention it! Thankfully, this book does it justice and brings the hidden truth to light.

Edward T. O'Donnell tells a horrific tale in Ship Ablaze. In a matter of minutes a steamboat full of a German-American church group went from enjoying a ride down the East River on a beautiful day towards picnic grounds to fighting for their lives as an inferno consumed the lives of over a thousand people, mainly children and women, through fire or drowning. The very life preservers themselves became instruments for the deaths of many as it dragged them straight to the bottom of the river. The author does a magnificent job of setting the scene for the tragedy but his best work comes in the description of the disaster itself. It is heartbreaking and breathtaking and impossible to pull away from. This book is a wonderful memorial to a time and event that should not ever be forgotten.

I bought this book as reference material on the advice of an architect friend. He told me "If you need help figuring out the style of a house then buy this book" and he showed me his copy. He was right. The book is well organized which helps compare styles quickly and the many black and white pictures of houses that the author uses as examples are great because the b&w contrast helps your eye focus on details. This a great book to have in any architectural office. Its great for novices and experienced alike.

As a writer, you need lots of details to keep the reader interested, and this book has details on houses most people wouldn't know. Of course, if you give no details the story is not interesting, and if you give wrong details, some reader will know it and be disapointed. A book like this can be invaluable.

Great book!!! I'm using for my company to get a true representation of many styles for many of the house I'm designing. A great resource for any firm!!!

great at housing history
great describe for the house component
good picture to show handy book to show at real estate

After some introductory chapters on the history and theory of homebuilding, the McAlesters commence with descriptions of the different styles. Each major style is described with a large stylized diagram with its identifying features labeled, a description of the major subtypes, descriptions of the style's unique elements, a paragraph on the frequency and locations of its occurrence, some historical comments, and then dozens of black and white photographs. The styles are ordered roughly chronologically, from native dwellings and colonial houses in 1600 to the neoeclectric houses of the 1970s and 1980s. (Even my 2006 printing ended with the 1980s.)

I read the field guide cover to cover - something I never before done with a field guide. By the end, it seemed repetitive, but overall I was impressed with almost everything about this book from the introductions to the last diagrams. Every time I travel though a historical neighborhood, I am glad that I read this book.

I first had this book read to me when I was in the first grade, now I am 25 and still remember the book! Recently I bought it to give to a friend as a baby gift. I read it again and loved it all over again. Its so creative I love it and would recommend it to everyone! Great for a gift for your own children or others.

I teach preschool and used this book as an introduction for our post office theme. The reading level is a bit high for my age group, but they really enjoy seeing the different types of mail that pull out of the "envelopes" in the book. Very interactive and fun to read.

I love this book for a couple different reasons. First, I like the idea of reading other people's mail. Second, I like the idea that classic fairy tale characters send each other mail. Third, I like the fact that the letters are not printed within the book, but are in envelopes. This means that you are physically opening each letter.

This book is so much fun. The wicked witch gets junk mail, Cinderella gets a request to publish a book on her life, and Little Bear gets a birthday invite, to name just a few.

This is one of my most favorite children's books ever written. I give it to all my friends. Every page has a little surprise.

The anniversary book is significantly larger than the original and so loses some of the charm. However this shallow dip in nursery fairy tales is fun for both the listener and reader. New shrink wrapped books include stationary and 'postage' to encourage the young to build a habit of writing and mailing notes. The story is from a UK perspective and follows a postman who delivers the mail in a community of fairy tale characters. Some of the humor is dated (good for grandparents). Children will enjoy having the book read to them and opening the many envelopes to extract their contents. This book was a favorite of my children back in the late 1980's.