Spanish Books Books

I once took a Shanley scene study class in NYC at Circle Rep. Patrick Shanley came into the very last class and talked to us and critiqued our scenes. A very down to earth and inspiring man. He talked to us of how he sees no seperation of dreams and real-life when he writes. His early plays contained in this collection inspire some of his better known quirky characters(Savage, Murk, Danny, Roberta, Aldo) and stories(Savage in Limbo, Danny and the Deep Blue Sea, Big Funk, Italian/American Reconciliation) but all his work no matter how dreamy are always real as are his characters. There's a journey for all his characters in each play and a world of magic, if you believe in it, the characters and play will come alive. For actors, Shanley has to be filled with the right stuff, not pumped up.

I found the plays in "13 by Shanley" to be as outrageous, quirky, beautiful, and redeeming as his screenwork. Shanley has the uncanny ability to make you read him twice, because one reading doesn't quite settle with you. I found myself reading a play in this collection, all the while thinking, "that's odd. I'm not too sure I care for that one. Oh, well." Then, I'd wake up the next morning, with lines from the play nagging at me. I'd go back to it and, sure enough... "it's brilliant. How did I miss that before?"

Shanley isn't everyone's cup of tea. However, if you have any kind of appreciative bone in your body for passionately quirky romances like "Moonstruck" or moodily misunderstood fairlytales like "Joe Versus The Volcano" (my personal all-time favorite)... then I STRONGLY urge you to pick up "13 by Shanley" for 13 cultured tales of love, beauty, and self-discovery.

Shanley's a genius. He's in a class by himself.

If you've ever been involved in a relationship that gets deep, personal and reveals a you you never knew existed...Shanley's already been there and brilliantly written about it. His ability to peer into the dark, dank depths of the human psyche and then actually write something funny about it is unparalleled. I've seen many of his plays and always left with a sore stomach from laughing so hard. I wanted to read them, too, so I could take the time to savor the deeper understandings. I'm constantly lending my copy to friends to read after they come to me in the throws of personal or relationship crisis. I'm grateful for this collection and can't wait for the next one.

The author has compiled a nicely compact, bilingual, practical guide for international travelers and business people, students, teachers, and anybody with an interest in the common expressions that are such a part of spoken language. Travelers will be glad to know that this valuable book is quite thin and fits easily into a fanny pack or large-size pocket. The author might have included more than 1500 expressions, but does nicely with the ones here. I also wrote the prior review and somehow got it on the wrong account. At any rate, this is a very useful and practical guide.

This is a remarkably useful and bilingual guide for teachers, students, travelers, and others with an interest in those everyday expressions so common to spoken English and/or Spanish. As a teacher of high school English, I have used lessons drawn from these pages, and the result has been engaged learning by my students (who are native-Spanish speakers). Additionally, this concise and easily portable guide is made for many international travelers with serious interest in language. Perhaps the author should have included more than 1,500 expressions - but he provides a valuable selection.

This is a compact- easy to use very compehensive collection of
commonly used expressions. Teachers can derive many lesson plans offering a GREAT adjunct to a language text book. Students will find this a practical reference book.Travelers-have a compact traveling companion! Lots here for people communicating in Spanish OR English.

Fontanarrosa es una maestro absoluto en el arte de concatenar ideas, muchas veces disímiles o incluso absurdas a través de las palabras y juegos de palabras, de tal manera que finalmente se transforma en una lógica propia de Inodoro, El Renegau, y su perro Mendieta.
En las primeras tiras, las historias contadas son más largas, y de entidad propia; en la tiras más recientes, de una página, cada cuadro típicamente contiene un juego de palabras, y la concatenación de los mismos casi va guiando el desarrollo de la historia. De esta manera pareciera que cada episodio se va moldeando a partir de la conexión de los cuadros.

Inodoro es domador de caballos, holgazán, y un agudo observador de su entorno. Gusta del diálogo, la siesta, y de las mujeres, aunque su concubina, Eulogia, no le permite desarrollar esta afición; por ello también es un machista frustrado...

Acá van dos "perlas" del Inodoro Machista que lo ilustran en alguna medida:
"Después de tantos años, si tengo que elegir otra vez, la elijo a la Eulogia con ojos cerrados. Porque si los abro, elijo a otra"

"¡Malaya (maldición) con las mujeres! Andaríamos todos más tranquilos si Tata Dios con esa costilla que le sacó al Adán se hubiera hecho un buen asado de tira"

Inodoro Pereyra is a very funny and innocent character living in the Argentine Pampas with his dog "Mendieta" and his wife "Eulogia". In this book, you can read all the comic strips that were published for 20 years in Argentina, as well as other foreign countries. The author, Roberto Fontanarrosa also known as "el negro" was born in Rosario, Argentina, and has delighted his public for a quarter of a century with his play on words and the innocent character of Inodoro Pereyra.

It is hard to recommend this impressive volume to non-Argentinians (perhaps Uruguayans could be an exception). In my honest opinion, this comic strip is the best Argentinian one after immortal Mafalda. Every single aspect of Argentine society is reflected with sarcasm, tenderness, wisdom by this absurd gaucho character. If he wasn't funny enough there is his loyal squire Mendieta, or his "Dulcinea" Eulogia, or the irreverent parrot flocks, or Nabucodonosor, the arrogant champion pig. Since a heavy component of the comic strip is the language used (or abused by Don Inodoro) I feel that many non-native Spanish speakers may get lost. In a personal note, to give this book only five stars is being unreasonably selfish. It deserves 10.

[...]
He is a great author and great speaker. He is very affirming and motivating. I owe much of my success today to the courage he gave me back when I was a teen. This book gives such encouragement as well.

Buy it. Read it. Give it to someone you care about. You won't regret it. :-)

This book brings back values and morals of how we should be raising our children. It will help you (as a parent) to see a different perspective in raising your child. It helps you realize what you should focus on teaching children, the really important lessons in life.It will help your children be more successful as people, but most importantly it will help your children become honest, decent human beings who care about what really matters in life.

A beautifully bright book, each page displaying an original Oaxacan Woodcarving by the Jimenez family in Mexico. The whole family works through the entire process of completing each individual piece and the outcome are incredible, stylized, creatures that kids will not keep their eyes off! Every page consists of a picture of one of these Oaxacan animals, and a different letter of the alphabet. The craftsmanship would not be better, and the book itself is made with extremely high quality. Turning the pages it is so easy to see that every creature is a complete work of art.

Children love the two languages that the animal's names are written in, my children (ages 2 and 4) repeat the English and Spanish animal ABC's right along with me every time. We have had this book for a week and they consistently have chosen it and want to "say" the animals- and tell me their favourites (over and over) again! You cannot go wrong with this book, I would even use it for babies as the pages are so incredibly coloured and bright I think they would love it, but it would be easiest for my kids probably between the ages of 1-5 to be completely taken by it. It almost feels like it is sunny outside, when here in Oregon all it is doing is rain. Looking at the pages, the colours lift you up and carry you to a much brighter imaginary place.

Always on the lookout for excellent children's books for my elementary school's library, I found this one at our public library and was immediately drawn to it by the colors. Each letter of the alphabet has a figurine of a handmade creature that begins with the letter in both English and Spanish (not all animals' names do so). I showed this to our Spanish teacher, who was very excited about the book, too. She commented that it would also give her an opportunity to use the "color" words. The paper is heavier than the usual ABC book, and it looks like it will hold up well for our "industrial use"!
Adios, Amigo!

ABeCedarios is a bilingual English/Spanish ABC book featuring photography of stunningly beautiful carved wooden figures of animals, done in the Oaxacan tradition by sculptors Moises and Armando Jimenez. There is a carved animal for each letter of the alphabet (including the letters unique to the Spanish alphabet, such as n with a tilde), in this colorful and inventive way for teaching a young child their ABCs. Highly recommended; even adults will enjoy lingering over the unique animal artistry.

The illustrations by Paul and Alice Sharp are fantastic. Tracy Harrast's chapters from "How the World Began" to "Your Home in Heaven" winsomely cover the story of the Bible from A to Z. My youngest son loves this book. The "Seek and Find" decoder makes this an especially fun book for young readers. Highly recommended!

I do. My Kindergartner loves school, but is not the biggest fan of reading yet. He reads well - he just doesn't want to do it! I have been searching for the best "First Bible" for him, and knew this one was perfect. The secret treasure words hidden in the scriptures entice him to read. He says "My Bible is so cool!" The concept also serves to remind me that the Bible is full of treasures if I will only take the time to dig them out.

Now my son begs to read his Bible so he can search for code words to read to us. Of course we're glad for the renewed interest in reading, but more importantly we are thrilled by his love for God's word!

The "Guess What? Story Bible" is a unique and fun book of Bible stories for children. What makes it unique are the many words hidden in the text. A child can place the decoder that comes with the book over the hidden word and read it. Now reading and learning about the Bible story can be an adventure. Of course the first concern many parents would have is how easy is it to lose the special decoder? The book has a special place for the decoder so it can be returned there and stored securely. However, if it does become lost then a quick trip to the hardware store to pick up some red cellophane and you have a new decoder; maybe not as fancy as the fish that comes with the book, but totally functional. Brightly colored illustrations add to the appeal of the book and together with the adventure of the secret words it makes this a very highly recommended book.

June 26, 2005

Invaders have landed, although not where you may think! These little creatures camouflaged by shiny suits and robot like legs has setup camp in your backyard!

Alien Invaders/Invasores Extraterrestres is a wonderful teaching tool for children that parents, as well as teachers will enjoy using- not just because it is written in both English and Spanish, but also because it reveals the world of insects in their natural habitats.

Graphics are superb and sure to entertain kids of all ages!

Reviewed by Betsie

Written in both English and Spanish, Alien Invaders is a look at the world of insects. If there are aliens on the earth then perhaps they are insects with their bizarre appearance and habits. This is a look through a young child's eyes at how insects could be viewed as aliens. I really like the books of this series that have complete English and Spanish texts so a child can build their vocabulary in another language easily. Alien Invaders is a highly recommended children's book with wonderful illustrations and a real pleasure to read.

Informative book about the bugs that rule/live around us. This bilingual book has basic english sentences that are translated into spanish on the same page. It was fun to try to pronounce some of the words I was trying to learn in spanish. Bonnie Leick, illustrator, is absolutely amazingly talented. Her drawings are all dark but the color she uses brings out the importance of certain items and adds mystery to the alien bugs that live around us every day. There is also a vocabulary list on the last page of singular/plural nouns in english and spanish which makes this entire book educational in a fun and creative way.

This is a very cute book. I love how it has so many different animals and even my daughter's favorite-penguins. She likes this book a lot but she is a few months from being 2 years old and she has ripped off the penguins wings, the baby cubs head and separated the giraffee from the book. I try not to buy pop-ups for this reason but it is still a great book. A great way to say I Love You!

We love this book. We started reading this book to our son when he was a very young infant and he has continued to love it into his toddler years. The illustrations are great and he loves the pop up animals. He is constantly bringing the book to me to read it to him. The stories are simple and easy to understand.

This book has beautiful pop up pictures of animal parents and babies (giraffes, lions, penguins, owls, polar bears) and a lulling rhyming text. Not too many words so little hands can get to the next picture! We started this at 6 mos., & my daughter has loved it since (turning 2 now). My only complaint is that almost all the parents are mothers (except the penguins, appropriately) and all the babies are boys (except the owl whose sex isn't mentioned). I just change the pronouns for my daughter.

La lectura de este libro trajo un cambio radical en mi
vida al comprender todo sobre mis experiencias sin necesidad
de cambiar nada externo. El cambio interno es liberador y
hay paz. Tambien llego' una claridad asombrosa para tomar
decisiones.

The book was in great condition and I received it exactly when it was promised

Después de años de terapias diversas, Amar lo que es y THE WORK (EL TRABAJO) me liberaron definitivamente para vivir una vida en paz y serenidad. Ahora me dedico a ayudar a otras personas a encontrar y usar el maravilloso instrumento de las 4 preguntas, y "Amar lo que es" es el libro de texto que recomiendo. Si estás buscando liberarte y vivir feliz, no te pierdas este camino.

Trás haber leido el libro "Amar Lo Que Es" y después haber hecho "La Escuela" (un seminario intensivo que Byron Katie ofrece basado en "El Trabajo") no me puedo imaginar cómo es posible que he "vivido" antes... De hecho, no había vivido en absoluto, sino más bien AGUANTADO; aguantado el sufrimiento diario, no dándome cuenta que la causa de mi sufrimiento NO eran los demás, o el mundo, o el gobierno, o mi pasado, o mis vecinos, o el hecho de que por "causa" de un accidente me encuentro en una silla de ruedas, ¡SINO LOS PENSAMIENTOS QUE TOMO COMO VERDADES RESPECTO A ESAS SITUACIONES! Una vez investigados dichos pensamientos a través del proceso llamado "El Trabajo", me doy cuenta no sólo que esos pensamientos NO representan la verdad, sino que SIN esos pensamientos, viviendo las mismas circunstancias, hay una paz..., una armonía..., una serenidad..., un "algo" nunca antes reconocidos y , que ese "algo", ¡siempre está aquí! ¡Siempre ha estado aquí! De hecho, ¡ES LO QUE SOY! ¡Es lo que todos somos! - ES -
- ES - Es todo lo que es. Siempre lo ha sido, siempre lo es, y siempre lo será. No posee ni tiempo ni espacio - ES -
Si sufras; léalo. Si eres aventurera/o y lo suficientemente corajosa/o para des-cubrir lo que es verdadero para tí, si tienes lo suficiente valor como para re-conocer tu propia verdad y estar "sola/o" por eso, este libro es para ti. Obviamente: lo que te das cuenta por ti msima/o es que no estás sola/o en absoluto, que nunca lo has estado y que nunca lo serás, sino ... (te vas a dar cuenta...)
No te va cambiar la vida; lo que descubras es, ¡que antes de leer el libro "Amar Lo Que Es" no tuviste vida! - a no ser que sí

Impresionante el trabajo de Barrios, para todas las edades, expresa verdades profundas con la simplicidad de un niño.
Gracias!

This is a great book! It's about "a boy who meets a little alien, come to earth to teach about the fundamental law of the universe, which we ignore -- and the reason we have wars and unhappiness...".

What I loved best in this book is the simple explanation why there are no such things as "alien invaders" or "evil aliens".

A very inspired work!

P.S. I've read a translation in Portuguese, so I don't know how good the English translation is.

AMI who came from universe thougt us how man should reveal his innner self . If man live like he thougt , peace will absorutely prevail on earth . I hope as many persons as possible will read this book . I read in Japanese . Now I'm looking for English version . Thank you for reading my poor English review .