Young Adult Books

I purchased this item for my 12 year old daughter for Christmas. She received other flashy and expensive gifts but this was one of her top favorite gifts!! It is a great outlet source for writing thoughts and feelings while reading others as well.

It is great to have a place to write down all that you are feeling, and it gives you little clues so that you can write down things that you are not even necessarily thinking of at that moment in time.

This book did absolutly nothing for me. Just a boring thing to write in, which I haven't.

Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul: Journal, was one of the most moving books I have read. It's directed towards adolescents, and deals with issues every adolescent girl faces. It's a blend of stories, quotes, poems, and spaces to write your thoughts. This book has many different sections such as: family, love and kindness, learning lessons, and though stuff. My favorite section, however, is "loving yourself". This book gave me a chance to deal with issues and see that I'm not the only girl whom faces such issues. Chicken Soup is a book that I am able to pick up at any time if I need some inspiration on a situation, or some reassurance. Other issues helpful to me were on drinking, self-esteem, eating disorders, and how to deal with my past. The best part about this book is that a lot of it is compiled with texts written by teenage authors. There are spaces for friends to write about you, and spaces for you to express how you feel about certain things. Chicken Soup allowed me to realize I was not the only girl who had experienced some of the feelings that I did. After reading this book I knew I wasn't alone! I do highly reccomend this book to any teenage girl. Adolescence is a hard time to get through, and many girls need inspiration. You do not have to read the book cover to cover; you can pick it up any time and read whatever section you desire.

Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul: Journal, was one of the most moving books I have read. It is directed towards adolescents, and deals with issues every adolescent girl faces. It's a blend of stories, quotes, poems, and spaces to write your thoughts. This book has many different sections such as: family, learning lessons, love and kindness, and tough stuff. My favorite section, however, is "loving yourself". This book gave me a chance to deal with issues and see that I am not the only girl whom faces such issues. Chicken Soup is a book that I am able to pick up and at any time if I need some inspiration, help, or reassurance. Other issues helpful to me were on drinking, self-esteem, eating disorders, and how to deal with my past. Another good part about this book is that a lot of it is compiled with texts written by teenage authors. There are spaces for friends to write about you, and spaces for you to express how you feel on certain issues. Chicken Soup allowed me to realize I was not the only girl who had experienced some of the feelings I did. After reading this book I knew I wasn't alone! I do highly recommend this book to any teenage girl. Adolescence is a hard time to get through, and many girls need inspiration. You do not have to read the book cover to cover; you can pick it up any time and read whatever section you desire.

Keep this book in your backpack, duffel bag, or purse, and bring it with you on your filmmaking adventures! Filmmaking For Teens is an essential manual for people just starting their film career or seasoned professionals. Let this book save you from the headaches of production so you can focus on producing your film!

Leah Warshawski, Executive Producer, "Film Festival: Rwanda", [...]

The book really help me as I started an after school group with students making their own films. I gives easy instructions for things that seemed so difficult. It is a must read, for teen or adults that want to make their own videos.

I bought this for my 13-year-old step son and he loves it! I read through it and discovered that it is very inspiring to young filmmakers. There are some great references in the back.
I bought him a small digital all-in-one video camera and he has done some very clever things with it after reading through the book. His best one was a little stop motion video about two rocks that had a fight with each other. One winner. One loser. Pretty funny.
I appreciate authors like Troy Lanier who can hold a teenage attention span for a couple hundred pages.

Young filmmakers will relish the opportunity to turn their dreams into reality - the reality of a finished short film - using the tips and insights of FILMMAKING FOR TEENS: PULLING OFF YOUR SHORTS. Chapter packed with insights on everything from brainstorming a solid, workable plot and setting to producing a first film, scheduling, shooting, and then marketing the finished results. Teens - and many a post-teen - will find all the passion of the new filmmaker translated into a series of practical chapters covering all aspects of one's first film endeavor - and should make this book a 'bible' of introductory steps to turning such a dream into reality.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

This would have been a great book entitled something like "Moving Beyond Home Video", but under its current title I found it oddly unbalanced. It opens with some good advice directed toward someone who has never written a screenplay, but then goes on to discuss assembling a crew including not only cast, but also an assistant producer and assitant director; the necessity of filming using manual focus; and mics with XLR connectors. If you have never tried to write a screenplay or finished a short film, you are not going to make your first foray into film with a large crew and a 3 chip camera, learning manual focus and lighting over your (recommended) 3 day shoot. On the other hand, if you are comfortable with trying out this kind of equipment, you have most likely tried your hand at screenplay writing before.

I would not recommend this book for a teen or anyone else trying to make their first attempt at filming a story of their own writing. It is, however, a fine book for those who have made a few home films with a sub $500 consumer camera and are looking to take the next step into a more sophisticated shoot with prosumer level equipment. In that light, it has very good overview material of the possiblities of equipment and accessories and has good advice on rehersals and crew.

I would welcome a recommendation from anyone who knows of a good book that is really aimed toward teens who really have never written or filmed anything and who are looking to try to put something together with a few friends with consumer level home equipment.

We bought this book for our three girls, along with a telescope. The book is well written. Great for the whole family. Can't say enough good things about it!

My husband has a love for the constellations so I decided to purchase this book for him for Father's day; he just loves it and so do the girls. We went camping over the summer and this was a great book to use when we were star gazing; the illustrations are just wonderful. This is a great book for anyone that wants to learn about the constellations.

I bought this book a few weeks ago to use for school. I wanted the kids to learn what some of the constellations looked like and how they looked in different parts of the world. I got so much more! I learned about how the stars "moved" relative to the earth and seasons, I learned how to pick our constellations relative to others I already new, and I learned how these stars got their names. I would definitely recommend this for anyone from 5 - 55. Very simple, but very informative!

An excellent book for children and adults. Interactive. Fun. This books makes star-gazing understandable and easier.

I am a librarian and this is a popular title in our lending library. Easy to read and easy to use

This was a wonderfully written fantasy novel. I immediately fell in love with the main character and her world. I would highly recommend it to kids *and* adults!

Interesting read. Certainly a different writing style. Difficult to hold my interest until late in the book. It shows great imagination. It is not a casual read.

In the old Zork video games were these nasty critters called grues. If you went into the caverns without a candle you'd likely be eaten by one, but you never encountered them in the light and had no idea what they looked like. Somehow, it was a lot spookier that way.

I'm not saying that Billingsley based her Folk off the Zorkian grues, but both were likely inspired by the same old legends about ravenous teeth lurking in the unknowable darkness.

Instead of avoiding the Folk, like a video game adventurer would, fifteen-year-old Corrina Stonewall seeks them out. Armed only with her courage and a collection of dubious charms, Corrina spends long hours in the cellar "tending" the Folk--that is to say, keeping a journal of what the ravenous creatures eat and providing a bit of herself on the occasions that they're still hungry.

Corrina has to pass at being a boy in order to keep this plum of a work assignment, but at least it's better than scrubbing floors.

As we get to know Corrina through her Folk journal, we discover that this Folk Keeper's gender is not her only secret. She also has strange abilities and a secret past that she herself does not even guess at. The writing is powerful and poetic, and the ending is sure to please.

If you read this book, make sure you have a nightlight handy in your bedroom. Or else, you might be eaten by a grue.

I know there are a lot of books about girls pretending to be boys ( like the books by Tamora Pierce), but this one blows them all away, until only The Folk Keeper stands in all its glory on a podium made of gold.
Now, I did not think I would ever read a perfect fantasy book. Either the character is not fully developed or the writing style is boring/cheesy or it is bogged down with romance. After reading The Folk Keeper, I knew I had found the perfect book. Corinna is immediately a lovable character, a character you stand up for, that you know like the back of your hand. The plot is formed out of seemingly magical hands, spinning a tight web about you that you just can't break till the end. The end, I must tell you, is perfect, it is glorious, it gives you shivers on the back of your neck. And it's all because of the author's extraordinary writing style. Each word is perfectly placed, each scene completely vivid in your mind, until Corinna's world seems to be surrounding you on all sides -- until it is part of you, until you are part of it. I will say again: Do not stop with Tamora Pierce, thinking that no one could possibly write another good book about a girl disguised as a boy. Read The Folk Keeper(it is a million times better!!!). Enjoy!

This is a great book. It's not Tamora Pierce or anything, but that's too much to ask for anyway. At times the main character seems a little too knowledgeable about her own hard-heartedness, the romance a little too clumsy, and the plot a little too thought out, but, all in all, The Folk Keeper is a really intelligent and suspenseful story.

Corinna Stonewall has disguised herself as a boy-Corin-to become a folk keeper. Folk keepers protect the surrounding lands from the fierce folk, who destroy crops, livestock, and food if unpleased. Suddenly, a lady comes to take her away from her cellar. There is a dying man who wants to see her, one who not only knows that she is a girl, but many of her other secrets as well. He makes her swear to leave her town to come to his mansion, where she will be a folk keeper. She agrees, knowing the folk there are fiercer than anything she has ever encountered. While trying to keep these horrific beasts at bay, she discovers many old family grudges in the mansion, as well as secrets about herself she had never imagined. In the end, she will have to choose between the place she loves best and the place she has always been kept from...

Despite the slight stylistic problems, I myself have read this book ten or so times. It is definitely a worthy addition to any fantasy-lover's collection, and is all-around a wonderful book.

Ok....let me just say this book was great!!! I really enjoyed it. But, did anyone else notice a slight change, I love Sweet Valley and if you want to know what I'm talking about read Sweet Valley Kids "Lila's Christmas Angel" and see...

I love this book. My friend recommended it and i was hesitant at first because i'm not a huge fan of sweet valley high but i love historical fiction book. After reading this book I'd have to say it is my favourite book, all the stories of each generation are remarkable!!

I checked this book out from my local library not really thinking that I would have the time to read it. But as soon as I finished reading the first chapter I was hooked. I mean who would have known that Lila Fowler's ancestors' stories could be SO touching. Everything was so descriptive that I could imagine myself being the characters in the wonderful story about friendship, romance, tragedies and just plain fun. If you are interested in ANY of the Sweet Valley series you will definately enjoy this book.
When I was reading this book I was really hooked on the Sweet Valley Twins Series. This book made me broaden my horizon's and got my interested in Sweet Valley Jr. High books, Sweet Valley High books and many other great Sweet Valley miniseries.
Recently, I read the book, The Wakefields of Sweet Valley. This book was even better than The Fowler's of Sweet Valley if that is humanly possible.
The only thing that I didn't like about this book and The Wakefield's of Sweet Valley is that they are SO sad. I have never cried so much in a series. The only time I could put the book down was to get a tissue.
These books in the Sweet Valley Saga series teach you a lot. I hope that you will condsider reading them.(Tip is you read any of the Sweet Valley Saga books: Get lots of tissues.)
I hated how in this book Lili never got together with her true love. It was SO sad.

When I picked up this book I honestly thought that I was going to end up reading about snobs just like Lila-but I was wrong. The story starts with Lili de Beautemps, who narrowly misses the guillotine during the French Revolution, and ends up poor. From there, it eventually goes to George Fowler, Lila's father, and goes into what happened between Lila's parents. A nice read, even though I am not one for sappy romance novels normally. I think I'll pick up a copy of "The Patmans of Sweet Valley" as well.

I was really attracted to the Fowlers of Sweet Valley because I was always curious about Lila Fowler, such as where was her mother and why did she leave her and this book really helped me get an intimate look at Lila's identity. I could see Lila's personality in the characters-for example,her selfishness in Emily De Bocage, her strong willed independence in Rose de Bocage, her stubborn pride in Charles Doret, her inner strength in Lili de Beautemps, and her gentle spirit in Celeste Chardin.
I found each story suspensful and heartwrenching. I really liked Celeste's story because she was kind and gentle and really loved Marc and everything worked out well for her in the end. I didn't really like the story about Rose and Pierre. It was kind of boring and dragged a little with no suspenseful plot, really, just a girl playing a game of hard to get until she finally lost. I do think Rose was kind of a fool to deny Pierre her love when she knew how she felt for him and it's her loss in the end. But the story about the Charles-Isabelle-Jacque/Jack love triangle was the most heartwrenching. But what are the odds of failing to track someone down in France, moving to America, and winding up in the very same town with that person? My very favorite is the Grace Doret/George Fowler love story because I always wanted to know how the met and how it ended and why Grace left her daughter. The book ties in very well with the SVH series, especially Don't Go Home With John, which tells more about Lila being reunited with her mother after being assaulted. Did anyone notice in Isabelle's story the name Evelyn Pearce? She is described as a red-haired gossip. And in Grace's story they mention a girl named Lydia with the same last name, whose one of Grace's friends. Perhaps they are the ancestors of SVH gossip Carolyn Pearce? Lila has such a small part in the saga, but you really see her vulnerable side as a little girl saying goodbye to her mom it's so sad. I was also hoping to get a glimpse of the Wakefield twins in the book, or one of their ancestors, since the series revolves around them and Lila is more of a secondary character but they are not mentioned. This is a really great read and definitely one of the best books in the series. They should come out with more SVH sagas about other characters such as Todd Wilkins, Enid Rollins and even Winston Eggbert would be interesting!

Beverly Cleary, an esteemed librarian and author of numerous children's books, shares her story about growing up in Yamhill, Oregon in the roaring twenties and depression thirties. She was born in 1916 and resides in California today. I quickly ordered the sequel, 'My Own Two Feet".

The book is a revealing glimpse at a sensitive and curious young girl, an only child, coping with early childhood and her school years in Oregon. The Williamette Valley and Portland, Oregon, are beautifully described as the area was in the early 20th. century.

Beverly shares family pictures, provides pioneer ancestor background, describes her schools and teachers, social life and interests in a delightfully easy to read manner. Her mother taught Beverly book appreciation, as well as music and reminded her always to "use her imagination"!

I love this woman for her keen insights and independence, and recommend her memoir (and all her children's books as well.) It is surprisingly different from other memoirs and holds your interest all the way thru, leaving you wanting to know more about her as she connects with the reader in a personal way.

Beverly Cleary
A girl from Yamhill
Author: Beverly Cleary

Mostly all children love and grow up reading Beverly Cleary's books. But some wonder, "What was her childhood like?" In this autobiography, Beverly Cleary tells the story of her life. It starts out from when she's a little girl living on a big farm in Yamhill, Oregon and goes all the way until she's in her senior year in Portland. Beverly lived in Portland near Klickitat Street which inspired her for the Ramona series, which are one of the most favored today.
Once, Beverly's elementary teacher assigned her class a creative writing project. When Beverly turned in hers, her teacher was so pleased with her writing that she read Beverly's paper out loud to the class and told her she had a gift for writing. Beverly wasn't a really good speller in elementary school. Her class held a spelling bee and she was given the word "beautiful" to spell. She started out with "beau..." but someone gasped which made Beverly think she'd spelled it wrong. Beverly ended up spelling the word "beau..." and was disqualified. When she was younger she wouldn't read any books. Her mother didn't understand. All of Beverly's relatives loved reading. Eventually, one time she was sick, she finally found her love for reading.
I really enjoyed this book and would rate it a 4 and a half because I myself love Beverly's books and it was really interesting to read about her life. I usually don't like biographies/ autobiographies, but this one really got me interested.
I think Beverly's a little like me because we both refused to read when we were little. I didn't hate reading, but all of the books I wanted to read weren't the kinds of book my mom wanted me to read. I wanted to read books about teen life and very up-to-date. My mother wanted me to read historical fiction and/or nonfiction. I love all books now except for nonfiction.
Beverly's style of writing is creative, descriptive and very fun to read. Most of her books are for younger children but she has written a couple for teens.

_A Girl From Yamhill_ by Beverly Clearly is a memoir. She writes about her memories of Beverly's early life to where she escapes her home to go to junior college in California.
Beverly tells us when her first baby tooth came out, when she recieved her first love letter from a boy she liked for 3 years. Beverly also tells us about her first date Gerhart she despised.
It is a great book that everyone will love.

i loved the ramona quimby books growing up. i read them until they fell apart. after reading A Girl from Yamhill, i'm considering buying and reading them all over again. Beverly Cleary writes so simply with few descriptions and yet you can see, hear, smell, feel everything she writes about. i am never left wondering or wanting. her love of people and places, especially when she writes about her grandparents and Puddin', shines through without the annoying wordiness i find in other memoirs.

i especially loved the pictures scattered throughout the books. she is adorable and you can see a little bit of ramona in her. :)

I ordered Beverly Cleary's two autobiographies on Amazon, and recieved them last week. The first of the two is called, "A Girl From Yamhill" and the second is, "My Own Two Feet". Both are excellently written. The first is of her childhood until she goes off to college and the second is her college days and a few years beyond. She has a style of writing that makes you feel as though you have known her your whole life and are the dearest of friends. What amazed me the most about these books is how timeless they are. Even though she grew up during the depression and went to college before the advent of computers and the technology boom, it was eye opening to see that the human condition and experiences don't really change all that much. She is an excellent storyteller, and the words on the page lept into my mind's eye and I could see it unfold before as if I were watching it on a movie screen. I was sad to see the first book end, but glad that I had ordered the second book as well. Then when I finished the second book I found myself wishing that she had written another book to tell more of her life's stories. I finished reading them both within a couple of days and found myself doing something I have never done before. I immediately began to read them again ( I am currently half way through the first book). If you grew up loving her children's books as I did, then these are a must have.

This book Goodbye Doesn't Mean Forever; is about a girl named Melissa and her struggle with getting leukemia again. Jory is Melissa's best friend and she throws a party at the beach for Melissa, because she was one of the finalists for a National Merit Scholarship. It is at this party that Jory finds out Melissa's Leukemia is back. The first time Melissa was able to have chemo therapy but this time Melissa has to have a bone marrow transplant and her brother is the bone marrow donor. For a long time Melissa is sick after receiving the bone marrow. To help pay for the medical bills Melissa's best friend Jory has a carnival and calls it Melissa Austin Day, all the money raised and donated on that day goes towards paying the medical bills. Also Jory is able to get her parents (who are rich) to get their friends to donate money to Melissa's family. Later the bone marrow ends up taking and then Melissa gets sick from meningitis.
I liked this book because it is sad and touching how Jory is such a good friend to help Melissa's family by raising money to help pay the medical bills. If I was ever sick I hope my friends would care enough to do the same for my family. It shows me how bad thing happen to good people even when they don't deserve to have this happen to them.
There is not anything that I did not like about this book. I found it a very fast reading book and hard to put down.
The author of this book, Lurlene McDaniel, is one of my favorite authors. I like her books because they are touching and have a lot to do with people with illnesses and real life issues.

What a great book Goodbye Doesn't Mean Forever is! It is the sequel to Too Young To Die. I recommend that you read Too Young To Die first, in order to understand better this one. This book is about two best friends, Jory and Melissa, and about Melissa fighting with leukemia. It is really a very sad story, it almost made my cry! I felt as if I knew Melissa myself and I was watching her suffering leukemia and the bone marrow transplant. I wish I had a friend like that, who would always be with me, no matter what! And I really liked the way Michael (Melissa's brother) and Jory's relationship ended being much better in the end.

Have you ever stopped and thought life is too short so enjoy it? If you have not you need to read the book called Goodbye Doesn't Mean Forever by Lurlene McDaniel. The reason why you should read it is because it proves we get so wrapped up with school and jobs. That we hardly ever stop and give thanks for the time we have now.

A girl named Jory found out life was to short. Jory Delaney's best friend since 5th grade Melissa Austin found out 1year ago when she was 16 that she had leukemia a type of cancer. It changed Melissa's life and Jory's. Melissa started chemo and it caused her to start loosing hair, she had to stay out of the sun and she had to be careful not get way to excited. It also caused her to start loosing weight and caused her to loose her skin color and became really pail. She ended up getting better then it turned and she got worse. She ended up having to go to the hospital again. Do you want to know more? If so, read the book and you'll find out the rest of the story.

It's through this experience and loss that Jory came to realize you should live life to its fullest because you really don't know how long you got to live. Make sure thought that you are safe because you could be the one that causes it to end sooner that it should.

Sometimes the things we see and experience through life teaches us the importance of life. That is why I thank Lurlene McDaniel for teaching me the importance of life in the book Goodbye Doesn't Mean Forever. Not only Jory gets to experience that lesson but its like your right there experiencing it too.

This is a great book for middle school and high school students, also older people, because we all experience a type of loss and wonder what could we have done to make it better for them. We also all need to learn the lesson of life and respect our life before it's all gone because you only get to experience it once.

In Goodbye Doesn't Mean Forever, Lurlene McDaniel tells a heart-felt story of a teenage girl who is struggling with cancer.
Melissa finds out early in the story that her leukemia, which has been in remission for two years has relapsed. Jory, Melissa's best friend promises to help her have the best senior year ever, because of all the stress and pain in Melissa's life. Melissa's older brother, Michael, who is also Jory's life long crush, is asked to donate bone marrow to Melissa, because that is her only hope. Soon after, Melissa becomes well and in a couple of days, the doctors say she will be able to go home. Jory goes to visit her two days later, only to find that Melissa has caught a fever and that her body is rejecting the bone marrow. At school, a boy named Lyle tries to help Jory with all the sorrow of her sick friend. Eventually, Jory falls in love with Lyle, but still has feelings for Michael. Will Jory find true love? Will Melissa overcome cancer? To find out, read Goodbye Doesn't Mean Forever.
I highly recommend this book to any girl ages 12-112 that enjoys romance and drama novels. It is an amazing book and I promise that if you read it, you won't be disappointed.

Goodbye Doesn¡¦t Mean Forever
By: Lurlene McDaniel
Reviewed by: J. Ku
Period: 1

This book is continued from the book Too Young to Die. In this book, Melissa has a relapse and needs to get back into remission. The doctors say, ¡§For a person to get into remission the second is harder.¡¨ The doctors recommended that Melissa try a bone marrow transplant. Since they needed to find a compatible donor, they said that a sibling would be the best donor. So then took some bone marrow from Michael, and sure enough, their bone marrow was compatible. Not long after that, they put Melissa into isolation. They needed to get rid of all her bone marrow and put Michael¡¦s bone marrow in her body. When people came to visit her, they had to be careful and not bring in any germs because her immune system couldn¡¦t fight off germs. Her brother¡¦s marrow was working fine, but then Melissa got a fever. It was either an infection or a sign or rejection for the transplant.

I like this book because it was exciting to learn about medical technology. I learned about things I never would have wanted to learn about. This book teaches friends not to give up on each other. Melissa always trusted Jory. Jory always did what she could to help Melissa. They depended on each other whenever they needed help. ¡§Melissa needs blood will you help me?¡¨ They never gave up on each other, even when Melissa died, Jory always knew that Melissa would still be there to help her, even if she couldn¡¦t help Melissa.

I dislike this book because this book I was very sad and Melissa died. When you read about people suffering makes you feel bad. I wanted to change the whole story and make it have a happy ending. I didn¡¦t like it when the doctors gave Melissa bad news about her leukemia.

My favorite part of the book was when Jory held a carnival and called it Melissa Austin Day. I really liked that part because not only Jory was doing it for a good cause, everyone was having fun. They raised a lot of money, and a lot of people donated blood to Melissa. I think that it is wonderful to have a friend that does these things for you.

My title says it all. I'm not going to write a long, involved review. Suffice to say, I read a lot. A LOT. And this one is definitely in my top 5.

I noticed below under "tag suggestions" that it has "gay fiction" and "gay classic" (I assume because the author is gay), and I want to point out that (from what I remember) there is no homosexuality in this book. (Not that there's anything wrong with homosexuality, yada, yada, yada...)

It's funny and touching. I've read it several times over the years, and it's always stayed with me.

His "Tales of the City" books are great too, but this one just stood out for me as an all-time great.

Armistead Maupin has been one of my favorite writers since way back when his Tales of the City was serialized in the San Francisco Chronicle. I read all of them and then just kept going, reading everything he's ever written. Maybe the Moon is one of his most poignant and one of his best.
For this masterpiece, we have a change of venue from SF to LA, and instead of the broad humor with which Maupin painted the characters in the Tales series, he's delved deeply into the development of his protagonist, Cadence Roth, a dwarf. Although teensy, there's nothing small about her personality, a personality that is thwarted only by the fact that she rose to movie fame wearing a highly-recognizable costume in a famous sci-fi movie - and by contract she's forbidden from revealing her real ID. We follow her from one career disappointment to the next, and her personal life isn't very hopeful, either. In spite of a bit of a shocker ending, Maybe the Moon (great title, very apt) is really a paean of hopefulness for people who are different, and you end up smiling thru your tears.

I did not care for this work about the drarf although I imagine she like so many people who are different had a very difficult time in life the suibject matter was not my cup of tea as to reading material. It's a well written piece of work if you're into dwarfs' life stories.

Received this book out of the blue from a seller on Amazon who bundled this with an order I placed. Tossed it aside for half a year before I sat down to read it last night and did NOT put it down until the last page -- then went back to the beginning once more. Touching, warm, creative, full of personality. At worst, it's entertaining. Do read it.

This is one of the best fiction books I have read. As an average sized person, I found this extraordinarily enlightening as to the difficulties and prejudices that little people go through each and every day. It was one of the most unique love stories ever and it really, truly made me feel the full gamut of emotions. If you buy one fiction book in your life, this is the one.

Count D, the androgynous, keen on the tranvestite clobber owns a very strange, supernatural pet shop, where you want to be careful what you wish for when you ask him for a recommendation. Apart from that, the first part he is on holiday with a detective and his kid brother, and they run across a man who claims to have seen a mermaid 50 years ago, and has been obsessively hunting it ever since.

Thrown in a volcanic eruption, to make it more interesting.

I picked up Pet Shop of Horrors on the strength of it's reputation as both one of the best josei (women's) manga and one of the best horror manga. It's a reputation well earned.

The primary setting is San Francisco's Chinatown, where the mysterious, effeminate Count D (we don't in fact learn his real name, as Count D is actually his globetrotting grandfather, but for the purposes of the story we'll call him D) runs a petshop with a seedy reputation and whose clients have an alarmingly high death statistic. Detective Leon Orcot vows to close the shop and put D behind bars for murder and whatever else he can pin on him. More on that in future volumes - for now we're just getting accustomed to the format of the series.

Each volume generally tells the tale of four pets and their owners and what happens to them after the sale. In the premiere, we meet a gentle, empathetic Bird of Paradise trying to lighten his mistress' depression; a monstrous rabbit who is both her new owners' desperate dream and worst nightmare; a Basilisk who falls in love with her master; and a noble, heroic Doberman determined to protect his blind mistress from the still-at-large murderer of her parents who might be after her next. Of course, this is Pet Shop of Horrors, not Lassie, and when their tales are told, things will only have turned out well for one of the four...

The pet shop scenario allows D and Leon to be a point of reference throughout the series so that new situations don't have to continuously be set up. The banter between them is often amusing, and D himself is fascinatingly ambiguous. In some ways the stories are somewhat predictable (although the ending of one gave me quite a whallop), but that's not always a bad thing, and some have rather deep things to say about treating not only our animal companions but fellow man well. The animals themselves are diverse enough to keep things from getting stale.

It is worth addressing the manner in which the animals are presented here. Throughout the series, they appear to their owners as humans, which anthromorphizes them (think the ballet Swan Lake, the musical Cats, or the anime Wolf's Rain). An interesting aspect is that the animals reflect the human cultures of their indigenous area. The Bird of Paradise, for instance, appears as a beautiful androgynous youth in the traditional dancing garb of Bali to represent his plumage, while the Doberman appears as a handsome young man in a German military uniform.

A mixture of fantasy and horror, this is worth a read for anyone old enough to handle the fact that it is a horror series with some frames which earn it a 16+ rating.

Pet Shop of Horrors has a lot of magic and insight in its stories.
Count D, with his love for nature and animals, webs a mystical tapestry in which mankind is another thread, that constantly menaces to rip the cloth of Life apart.
I recoment this manga for anyone who likes magic and animals, and sweets.

I really enjoyed this series and the artwork is definetly some of the best! ^.^ Also get the DVD version of this. Unfourtunately they only did one dvd of this manga but that was excellent also.

Affectingly humanistic AND gleefully misanthropic all at once, PET SHOP OF HORRORS is a 10-volume series revolving around a Chinatown pet shop, the highly unusual animals it sells, and the (often unpleasant) fates which befall its patrons. Running the shop is "Count D", a young Chinese man with a charming smile. Trying to run him in is Leon Orcot, a grumpy police detective who is convinced D is behind all those nasty, animal-related incidents.

Each volume contains three or four clever, creepy, well-characterized stories focusing on an individual customer. Meanwhile, the series as a whole gradually unveils the story of Count D, and his quasi-adversarial relationship with the dogged-but-dense detective.

A lot of reviewers here explain the "rules" of the series to you. But I really enjoyed reading Book One "cold" and figuring it out for myself. The confusion is half the fun, and the real charm of the series is the way the stories subversively mess with our perceptions.

Some stories are better than others, of course. I was briefly alarmed at a dip in quality at Book 4, but Book 6 bounced the series back. Even so, Books 4 and 5 each contain one first-rate story, and overall work just fine as a brief change of pace. Book 10 concludes the series with four interconnected tales focused on the recurring characters. It is one of the best final books of a manga series that I have yet come across.

The "rating" jumps from T13 to T16 after Book 3. But I think that Book 1 gives you a good idea what you are in for content-wise. The detective does not watch his language, mermaids don't wear tops, many of the stories, uh, don't end well, and there is gore and extreme weirdness. But it is never gratuitous or stupid, and risque content is clever rather than crass. My local library has the full series, but it is STILL at the top of my To-Get List. It is that good.

I was really disappointed that I didn't receive this book from Amazon for my grandson's birthday. I guess it got lost in shipping. Ended up buying it at Barne's and Noble. My daughter said it was the best present her son received except for the sweater I knit him. I would highly recommend this book and hope you have better luck than I did receiving it.

Just as superior as Gomi's other books...even more pages to imagine and create! We have all of Gomi's books and one per kid. Makes a great gift, too!

My kids received Doodles & Scribbles for Christmas. They unwrapped them and quickly moved on to other presents with looks like "a book - who cares". However, after they had checked out all of their presents...what has been used the most? The coloring books. They love the fact that they can just follow the instructions on the page (i.e. add leaves to the trees) or they can embellish and add birds, rainbows, people, etc. and make a different picture than what they started with. Really a great book & worth the money.

I got this for my four year old. It will be a good opportunity for some one-on-one time with her and better than just a regular coloring book. Some of the pages are too advanced for her, but the book is so big that it will still take her a while to get through it. Highly recommended!

I bought this for my 3 year old who loves coloring books, as long as they have dot to dots and "design the cookie" type pages. This is perfect for her. She loves it just as much as i thought she would. What I don't like is that some of the pages are landscape style. I mean, they go across the binding of the book which makes it difficult. I tried ripping the pages out, then glueing them to a bigger piece of construction paper. That can olny be done if you have already done the pages on the back sides (unless you want to waste pages out of a 20.00 book, i don't) it would be nice if the whole book were landscape, and the worst thing about this book is the page that says to "draw a dead person." What in the world? I ripped out that page, and good thing i saw it before she did. It has a box that resembles a coffin that you are supposed to draw the 'dead body' in. I would have considered returning the book for that reason alone had she not used over 1/2 the book already,a nd been in love with it. Seriously everyday since she got it, she has done 10-15 pages.