Theme Songs Books

The book provides weekly theme units for preschool. It covers a wide range of topics and provides useful ideas. It has a blank weekly planner that can be copied and used by the teacher in creating other theme units. It gives some basic recipes and describes how to make some basic childhood "tools" like file folder games. Buy it.

This book offers the early educator a premade, ready to go lesson plan, week by week. A must for teachers just starting out in early education. Theme topics cover songs, books, food experiences, and circle time activities. Many flannel board patterns to copy as well. Themes can be expanded on and modified to fit your classroom. Ideas can be used in toddler classrooms as well as pre-k. Only complaint is that it doesn't continue through the summer months. However, it does have a brief section for suggestions for summer. I definitely recommend!

I thought this book was a very good over-view of different classic TV theme songs...but there were a few problems with it. As with Javna's other books, it seemed to be thrown together, and not carefully checked: for instance, some of the trivia was incorrect. I think it is a handy book to have around just in case you feel like plunking the "Mr. Ed" theme song out on the piano...but definitely not a theme-song bible.

This book contains information on some of the greatest theme songs of all time. Its list ranges from the Beverly Hillbillies to Hawaii Five-O to the original lyrics for I Love Lucy. Each theme song contains detailed information on the TV show, interesting facts, and fun trivia questions. This book gave me something to do for days. This book is great for TV fans of all ages and a must for theme song lovers.

Talking Heads are very much missed - and along with their still-amazing recordings, this late 1980s volume is a must-have for any fan of the group. Approriating the concept behing The Beatles' ILLUSTRATED LYRICS, David Byrne and graphic artist Frank Olinsky (currently best known for his work with the magazine 'Tricycle') invite a broad array of the best contemporary artists (1980s) to interpret various songs by Talking Heads.

The results were assembled with lyrics (published in justified columns, newspaper-style) facing each artwork. Artists involved include Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Sue Coe, Jenny Holzer, Barbara Krueger, Russell Mills (famed for his own similar project with Brian Eno, MORE DARK THAN SHARK) and others. The finished product remains one of the more thoughtful rock 'books' to have ever been assembled.

A must for culture geeks, or Talking Heads fans.

-David Alston

Frank Olinsky, designer of numerous rock album covers in the '80s (and an influence on the look of early MTV), teamed up with David Byrne to coordinate this collection showcasing roughly sixty artists who visually interpret the songs of the Talking Heads. The impressive roster includes Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Barbara Krueger, Nam June Paik, Jenny Holzer, Edward Ruscha, Lynda Barry, and Robert Longo. Of course, Olinsky and Byrne both provide pieces, too. In the tradition of "The Illustrated Beatles Lyrics," this book celebrates the imagination that the songs inspire, and is the perfect compliment to the music of this phenomenal band. The lyrics are displayed in text next to each piece.

After reading this book I had to ask, has the author been there in the last 5 years? This book is very outdated and was an unintelligent read.

I bought the first Rita Aero book in 2000 and loved it I especially loved the website. IT was informative and good reading. SO I got itfor my trip in 2003. Well,they would not give you access to the website even though you purchased the book and they claim it makes the book invaluable right in the book. they make a huge point that this is why I should purchase this book over the others. When you try to log on you get a message that the website refuses you access. ...Well fine but don't advertize in your book the website. I will return this book and write the publisher...

This latest edition is very similar to the previous one. The writing is at points poor, and the material not presented in an engaging manner. The maps I found overly simplistic, and the promised web site access has no updates now and is often impossible to reach.

I recommend: "Passporter Walt Disney World: The Unique Travel Guide, Planner, Organizer, Journal, and Keepsake!" "The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World 2003" "Birnbaum's Walt Disney World"

As with any reference book, you usually have to have more than one to get the full picture. The book was very helpful on my last trip and was a great supplement to my Passporter book. I found the ratings to be helpful and informative. The author seemed to give an informed opinion but always left the final decision to the reader. Will be going to Disney again next year and if a new edition of this book comes out I will definetely buy another one along with my Passporter guide book of course.

I found the information in this guide dated and disappointing, presented in a very bland style. A much better choice, presented in a very easy-to-use format,is: Passporter Walt Disney World Resort 2003: The Unique Travel Guide, Planner, Organizer, Journal, and Keepsake

O.K. so I'm not a photographer. I've no expertise to offer save as one who likes photographs. This having been said, this book is so much fun! I love it! What others may have justly criticized as poor lighting, poor composition, or poor exposure, has, for me, an entirely different effect--I'm left feeling as if I were present, drinking it all in, flowing with the chaotic, glamorous moment, of sometimes beautiful people in their not necessarily beautiful lives. The characteristics which others find a detraction make it, for me, a lived experience--which is not to say that the people become more likeable but they at least become more understandable.

Mario has a way of making you feel like -- GOD I WISH I WAS THERE in this book ... if you like him you'll love this book

Even though he is one of my favorite photographor, I did hesitate to get this one , becasue all the reviews were not CLEARLY cool-but WHO CARES to get a photography book and it was not time to choose a life time guidelines or English dictionary to find out which one contains more words and clear to understand.

Turned out, it was such a good and fun photography book to joy the moment. From this "ANY OBJECTION?", more than Fashion and SEX, he has created as a whole new concept of PHAIDON'S own style. Sex is not a serious on here as he often makes in its own way. However, even tough his art pieces contained homosexuality, full nudity scenes, there are not any shocking sex/gay scene to look at. Things were processed his view way. I enjoyed to have them and to look at. Plus, it is collectable work. :-)

In fashion photographer Mario Testino's first published book of photographs (1999) he shows over and over that he has a wicked sense of humor, a priceless asset for anyone and certainly for a photographer. Who else would shot an aroused elephant ("Jumbo")? Or Naomi Campbell and Kate Moss seated facing each other on toilet seats? (One of these women is buck naked but you'll have to purchase the book to see which one.) There is also a series of four photos that are entitled "Roving Fingers." Check out what I call the mad-hatter carrying a sign that reads "Gays in the Millinery." There is lots of skin here since several of the photographs are of scantily clad folks at the beach in Rio de Janiero. Many of these images are far more erotic than the much posed models currently published in so many photography books. (I would put the photo entitled "Dreamer" in this category.) Many of the people are so real that you can almost smell them. the two-page foldout of a painter in Lima ("Exhibitionist") comes to mind. There is much cleavage, both fore and aft and just as many crotch shots as well.



A word about the layout: there are several pages that fold out with photographs that mirror each other. Although the pages are not numbered, the photographs are reproduced in smaller size in the back of the book, complete with titles and the places where they were shot: Rio de Janiero, Paris, Naples, Moscow, Miami, New York, Moscow, etc.



Almost everyone in this hooty volume appears to be having a good time. You will too if you pick up this book that several books published later imitate but do not surpass.

Pense comentar acerca de Mario en espanol, porque es para nosotros un orgullo hispano...no solo por el talento y creatividad sino por el estilo y la perspectiva que tiene del arte. Sin duda, no tengo ninguna objecion! ,muchos exitos.

I ordered it because I am interested in wildlife paintings, but besides being delighted with Carl Brenders stunning works, I was surprised with the beautiful texts from the past that invite us to think!
Beautiful book!

I already had the book "wildlife, the nature paintings of carl brender" but I am still happy I got that book. It's not only a handfull of paintings, but 15 paintings that appear in that book and that are not in "The Nature Paintings of Carl Brenders". There is a beautiful portrait of a tiger, a polar bear standing on snowy bank, Broken Silence, and a few others of his famous paintings that have sold out as print and that you can't find anywhere.

I think without this book the collection of his work is simply not complete. With the 2 books, one has a much better representation of Carl Brender's work. In the Song of Creation, one can find especialy his earlier paintings.

The printing is a little lacking in vivid colors, but the images are still of good quality to see the detail in the painting.

I had never heard of Carl Benders before and just happened to see this book in a store where I was browsing. The art work is breathtaking, and knowing that lovers of Benders' work are (according to other reviewers)dissapointed with the book only tell me Benders work must truly be stunning.

This book is a very reasonably priced introduction to a wonderful artist. I can't imagine any one not enjoying looking through this book. It's certainly worth the modest price .

If you're a steadfast fan of Carl Brenders, and already own his previous book "Wildlife," there would be little use in purchasing this book. All but a handful of the paintings that appear in "Songs of Creation" are also found in "Wildlife," where they are printed, for the most part, in a larger size. In "Songs of Creation" the prints are smaller, and some cross the centerfold of the book, making it difficult to see the entire work. Nevertheless, it is still a beautiful book, and may be a decent substitute if you hesitate to purchase the more expensive "Wildlife."

Carl Brenders is an extremely talented artist, and produces some of the most gorgeous realistic animal paintings around. His work is easy to mistake for a photograph at first glance if you haven't seen one of his paintings before. This particular collection contains 36 of Brenders' paintings, depicting a variety of animals: bears, eagles, deer, wolves, foxes, big cats, and more. The layout is fairly nice, with pleasing background colors, though I still prefer the look of "Wildlife." The only major drawback is, as I mentioned before, the fact that several paintings cross the centerfold.

As the title might suggest, each work is accompanied by a verse of poetry or an excerpt from the Bible. The text is all very Christian, but non-Christians could easily ignore it in favor of the artwork, if inclined to do so. In terms of poetry, it isn't that spectacular in the first place. To get to the bottom line, I'd recommend this only if you don't want to spend the money on "Wildlife." It's not a bad collection in and of itself, but "Wildlife" is much better and contains nearly every painting seen here, minus the poetry.

I don't know about these other reviews of this book. This artist is the best of the best! You don't get any more real than this man! His art is breath taking and if you were to put this book out on a table at your house, everyone that would look at it, would say are these really paintings? I can't imagine anyone could produce such realistic art! Take it from me this man is a ledgend!
Buy it, don't listen to the other critics!
Trust me, you'll thank me!

I am a pre-primary teacher and this book is a great resource. It has great hands on activities, songs stories... everything to make learning experiences rich and engaging! I love the appendixes at the back, great pictures and finger puppets and felt pieces to go with popular stories! I strongly recommend this book for any early childhood educator! :)

Weighing in a nearly four pounds, this is one book that truly lives up to its name. I cannot ever recall seeing a resource book that had more ideas between the covers. There are action stories, fables, folktales, rhymes, puppet stories, listening stories, games, craft projects, recipes, dances, activities, and more. There are old favorites, new favorites, and everything in between.
The book is quite easy to navigate, thanks to the handy thematic chart as well as two unbelievably comprehensive indices. There is a general index as well as a theme index. Need an activity for shapes? Just look under the topic and you will find nearly fifty from which to choose. Want to explore outer space with your students by way of a folktale? Photocopy the story patterns found in the appendix, trace them onto interfacing, color, and put them on flannel board. Now you're all set for "The Sun and the Moon," a short pourquoi. Can't remember the words to "This Old Man?" They're in here. Need a recipe for soap crayons? Snow dough? Wheat paste? They're in here too. As I sat with my colleagues viewing the book, I challenged them to think of a every early childhood game they knew of. No one thought of a game that was not included in the book!

Put this book on your shelf and you will never be stumped for ideas again. Additionally, I highly recommend this title for beginning teachers. They will find it a valuable resource to which they will turn again and again. (Indeed, I found it so complete and well-done that I bought a copy for a former intern who is now preparing to teach first grade.)

One of the most valuable resources you can have if you are a teacher, daycare worker, or just like to have a lot of fun with young children, "The Complete Book of Activities, Games, Stories, Props, Recipes, and Dances for Young Children is a delightful read. Within the text Jackie Silberg and Pam Schiller have compiled a wonderful collection of over 600 ways to have fun with young children.

Divided into various sections, the first one consists of activities. In it you will find lots of useful ideas for every day objects from empty soda bottles, to boxes and rubber bands. From pattern matching to tactile activities, imagination activities, tops, folding a paper hat, and a great number of other activities, it's all here and you are sure to find something that suits your needs.

Following this is a section on games. Again, they don't require any special or hard to find props but simple, fun games that young children would enjoy. Cat and Mouse, Drop the Clothespin, Flashlight Tag (one of my favorites as a child), Freeze Tag, Grass Tug of War, Spider Walk, and Walk a Crooked Line are just a few from the large collection.

The next section contains Action Stories. Each story has a set of actions that goes along with it. From the currently very popular Going on a Bear Hunt and Hey, My Name is Joe, to lesser known ones like A Spring Walk young children are sure to enjoy them all.

Other sections include Stories for Flannel Boards and Magnetic Boards, Listening Stories, Prop Stories, Puppet Stories, Rebus Stories, Arts and Crafts Recipes, Food Recipes, and Dances. The book is easily worth the price just for the craft recipes section that includes such favorites as Salt Paste, Gak, Fingerpaints, Playdough, Scratch and Sniff Paint, and Soap Crayons. And what child hasn't squealed with delight while dancing something like the Bunny Hop, Chicken Dance, Go In and Out the Windows, the Hokey Pokey, the Macarena, The Mulberry Bush, or Skip to My Lou.

The book finishes off with a very large appendix (slightly over half the book). The appendix contains patterns to copy and use for the activities, flannel board stories, props, puppet stories, rebus stories and all the other things mentioned in the book. Finally there are two indexes. One is an alphabetical listing and one is a listing by theme so you can lookup appropriate activities for a particular focus. "The Complete Book of Activities, Games, Stories, Props, Recipes, and Dances for Young Children" is very highly recommended and the ultimate reference for anyone dealing with young children on a regular basis.

The only reason I gave it less than five stars is because I thought it would have some activites for a single child. Almost everything in it is for a group of children. At least the dances, games etc. Some of them *can* be modified for one child though.

Other than that this book is a treasure trove of stuff. It is so jam packed with stuff to do I couldn't imagine any daycare or preschool running out of things to do. Also it list everything in the back of the book in themes. There is a small thematic chart in the front but does not include everything like the back of the book. Also half of the book is full of things to photocopy or trace for feltboard/magnet board stories.

I bought the book to use in homeschooling my toddler and while I won't get as much use out of it as a preschool this massive tomb will still keep us very busy.

This book serves largely as a vehicle to publish the creative works (poetry and songs) of one of the authors. The remainer of the content of this book is trite and generally useless. Fully half of the pages are listed as APPENDIX which consists of pictures to be copied for use in the activities suggested.

Geddes' manages to degrade and isolate her subjects. Her prehistoric "cutsie" images, though appealing to a kitsch market, do not allow for a social comment to transcend the visual confines of her exploitive commercial "photography". In some senses, she could be seen as a radical post-modernist artist, as she abstracts the subject from social normality and removes any dignity from the development of the child, if that was her so calling in contemporary art. Yet it is frightening to be in an age where people will grasp such superficially degrading images. Geddes has made a personal fortune off photographing babies, subjects usually positioned in inhumane circumstances (ie: babies in flowerpots or dipped in custard), which removes human dignity and allows us to question Geddes moral intent.

Anne Geddes is talented at photographing babies in cute and unique ways. You will like this book if you like babies. The book goes through the 12 days of Christmas-each page tells what day and what the true love gave and a picture-for example-on the fifth day the true love gave 5 gold rings--there are babies each laying on a big yellow cloth ring. All of the pictures are darling and some of them have humorous elements to them.

Anne Geddes did a beautiful job of illustrating the song with adorable pictures of children in various costumes. She is truely talented at photographing children and capturing their spirt.

This book is great! It's pictures take an old song and brings it to life! It is a great book for little kids. My niece loves this book! She loves to look at the pictures and she laughs at all the silly babies. I will buy this book for all my future nieces and nephews. It is sure to be a classic.

It has colorful pictures and it is full of cute babies. Anne Geddes always manages to capture the babies in it's best position. I recommend this book because it is, like I said before, beautiful. -Kate

The Song of Songs: A Honeybee in The Garden. A Critical Review.

This version of The Song of Songs is a beautiful coffee-table book that is both illustrated and has commentary. All though there are wonderful and fuller translations of The Songs, most notably by Drs. Ariel and Chana Bloch, but Dr. Band preferred to use the widely available J.P.S. version.

The Book is divided into two sections. Part 1-has pastel designs of several of Middle Eastern décor and abstract montage. Below are the translations the J.P.S. and very slight variations with annotated, Talmudic commentaries.

The strength of this book is in large part for its aesthetic value. If there is a negative side, it would be that she opted to take a safe translation and pretty it up. With The Bloch's wonderful translation (1995), it would have been over-the-top in terms of standing out of the crowd. Such a book would invite discussions on deeper levels of intimacy, youth, external pressures, class struggle-essentially, what does Songs says to and about the existential in contemporary society.

Part 2-is a beautiful reproduction of the poem in Hebrew.

Overall, this book should be in the homes of die-hard romantics.

In The Song Of Songs: The Honeybee In The Garden, author, artist, and Hebrew manuscript expert Debra Band provides a beautifully illustrated exploration and analysis of the true meaning of the 117 verses comprising "The Songs of Songs". Is it a celebration of romantic love that was by some fluke included in a compilation of sacred writings or is it an allegory of divine love and redemption and therefore properly a part of holy scripture. With her fine calligraphy and original artwork, Debra Band presents the gracefully advanced argument that both perceptions of this remarkable Hebraic poem is to be taken literally and allegorically, sensuously and spiritually. Each of the 65 full-page illuminations and beautifully crafted papercut reproductions draws upon classic rabbinic text and modern scholarship, and is accompanied by images along with the Bible text in its original Hebrew. Of special note is the informed and informative foreword written by Raymond P. Scheindlin, a renowned scholar of medieval Hebrew literature at The Jewish Theological Seminary. The Song Of Songs: The Honeybee In The Garden is especially recommended for students of the Torah and as a Memorial Gift acquisition for synagogue and community library Judaic Studies collections.

Dazu is a really great place. It is as stunning as Yungang caves in Shanxi and much more impressive than the famous Mogao caves in the Gansu province. And this makes probably just about every book on the place worthwhile. BUT half of the photographs in this book are so bad it is unbelievable. True, those caves tend to be dark and there is little room for you to step back when taking a picture etc... but one would assume that somebody who wants to publish a book about the place could do better than take average tourist-quality (and sometimes worse) pictures. Unfortunately, this seems to be the only book on the topic out there. So there is really no choice for you if you are interested in Dazu. The accompanying text is very detailed and seems very good but, let's face it, most of us don't get books of this type primarily because of the text - it is the photographs that really matter. In sum, think twice before you get this book.

Although the best-known cave-temples in China are located at Longmen and along the Silk Road (Dunhuang, etc.), the impressive cave reliefs in Sichuan are less visited and have been comparatively neglected. The beauty of the Song-dynasty sculptures at Dazu is matched equally by their interest as a fascinating amalgam of many different strands of Buddhist belief: Esoteric, Pure Land, Chan (Zen), and more.

Angela Falco Howard's book, with its excellent color photographs and thoughtful text, gives us Dazu in all its beauty, together with her own significant contributions to the scholarship about the site. Tourists and casual visitors will appreciate her clear identification and explanation of every major and minor personage and scene on the reliefs; students and scholars will spend many happy hours delving into the bibliography, notes, and intricacies of her interpretations.

The major criticism I have of this book, is that it presupposes that the reader already understands some quite obscure details of medieval Buddhist philosophy and sects (Huayan/Kegon, etc.) It's all very well to inform us that "the Bodhisattva to the right of Vairocana is Samantabhadra," but if you don't know who Samantabhadra is, you'll probably still be left scratching your head. A glossary is not provided, but would certainly have been welcome.

Readers who are not very familiar with Mahayana Buddhist deities may want to read an intro like "Buddhism," by Louis Frederic, before tackling Howard's book. Regardless, "Summit of Treasures" belongs in the backpack of anybody visiting Dazu, and in the library of any enthusiast of Chinese cave-temple art.

Postscript: I think it is appropriate here to add a plug for the publisher, Weatherhill, who with this book has produced, once again, a great book about Asian art. I'm not affiliated with them at all, but over the years I can't help but noticing how many of their volumes are finding their way into my library. Weatherhill seems to combine the best authors with superb editing (it is almost impossible to find a typo in their books) and to-die-for production, with durable books and copious full-color photography. I'm almost to the point where I'll buy anything with the Weatherhill Mark on it, and I can't really say that about any other publisher, except maybe for Yale. This paragraph is my thank-you to them, for the quality of their books and for all the knowledge and enjoyment that they give us - scholars, tourists, and everybody in-between.