Readers Books

Adorable pictures and rhymes, and the 2-year old I read it to, loves piping in with the "achoos".

My son is now 3-1/2, and this has been one of his favorite books for nearly 2 years. He can recite the whole book along with me. I like it too, for the colorful pictures and clever rhymes. Where else are you going to see "gift" rhymed with "sniffed"? A very cute book!

My 3 year old loves this book. It's my favorite too. It's so easy for my son to remember the words because of the rhyme plus the illustration shows him what happens when Elmo says "Achoo!". My son loves saying the "Achoo!" part everytime we read it and we giggle everytime. It's a fun book to read. I highly recommend it.

My 19 month old daughter LOVES this book. It's been her favorite for several weeks and I'm not tired of reading it either! I chose it because I heard them read it to her daycare class and all the kids loved it!!

This is my Baby Daughter's absolute favorite book. I bought it when she was five months old, because she had the Chicken Elmo toy that she really liked. She just loves this book. She's eight months old and it's really the only book that captures her full attention. (The Hungry Caterpillar comes in second.) We've tried buying other Elmo books, but she's just not as interested in them.

This is one of those books you think initially think would intimidate and overwhelm you; but from the first word it actually reads like a novel you can't put down. We are all fortunate that the Ravitch team writes so accessibly and engagingly. This book has already become part of my nightly bedtime routine; I look forward to reading a selection every night. "The English Reader" should be in everyone's library -- or at everyone's bedside. It's a lively treasure.

No one's better than educational historian Diane Ravitch at pointing out what's missing from today's schooling and doing something about it. This new anthology brings together poems, stories, songs and other literature that used to be part of the common experience of all educated men and women and have been replaced by second-rate material designed to be easy to read, raising scores without raising knowledge. Nothing in one of today's textbook readers will be remembered for long, while the pages of this book contain phrases, lines, whole paragraphs that touch us, stay in our memories, and connect us with each other through our common knowledge of these classics of our common culture. An excellent gift for any child, parent, teacher, or friend; these selections are sure to resonate and provide lasting pleasures.

A very nicely done anthology containing important cultural slices of English prose and poetry. The short but helpful introductions given to the author of each chosen writing are just right.

Perfect reading for those of us whose earlier education did not cover a wide swath of the written word as produced in the mother country. Even an experienced reader will enjoy stumbling across thoughts known to him but hitherto not tied in his mind to the specific work of a British author.

The English Reader wakes one up to remember all the past days when one read these wonderful pieces and a life of business took one away from their enjoyment. It's like stopping to smell the roses. Thank you

"Life imitates art," declares Oscar Wilde in The Decay of Lying, one of the many wonderful pieces of writing collected in The English Reader. Yet most of us are woefully ignorant of the art or at least the literature that our lives imitate. This indispensable anthology proves how instrumental the literary arts have been in creating the culture we know. It also proves something else--that great literature is fun to read. Thank you to Michael and Diane Ravitch for this educational and engaging book.

How would you like to find out a deep secret about your grandmother? Well Jessica finds out a deep secret about her grandmother.
The book is called the Charm Bracelet by Emily Rodda. Jessica, Queen Jessica, Valda, Patrice, Maybelle, and Giff are the main characters in the book. Blue Moon is where the grandmother lives and Fairy Realm and it is Fantasy.
I feel about this book that the Charm Bracelet is a very good book and it is very descriptive throughout the book. There is a very bad problem; grandmother's bracelet has disappeared. Also Valda tries to take over Fairy Realm. Solution is that Jessica goes to Fairy realm to find the bracelet and tricks Valda.
Jessica goes to Blue moon to visit her grandmother. Jessica notices that her grandmother's bracelet is missing. She looks for the bracelet for a long time, and then she ends up in Fairy Realm. She finds out that Valda has replaced Queen Jessica. Then Jessica plans to trick Valda. That's all I can tell you. My connection to this book is that Jessica Was scare when she found herself in the realm and so would I.
[...]

Anyone who loves to imagine will get pulled into this book. The first book in the Fairy Realm series, The Charm Bracelet by Emily Rodda, is set in both Blue Moon And Fairy Realm. The problem begins when Granny loses her charm bracelet.

In the beginning Granny loses her charm bracelet that helps her remember to go back to Fairy Realm, where she is a queen and renew the magic of the hedge that keeps all goblins and ogers out. Next, Jessie Granny`s grandaughter gets pulled into fairy Realm and tries to figure out who stole Granny`s bracelet. To find out who stole Granny`s bracelet and if the magic of the hedge gets renewed in time, grab a copy of The Charm Bracelet now.

The message the author wants me to learn is to always be brave, care for each other and always try to reach out and help. This book reminds me of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Girls ages 8-10 in 3rd and 4th grade will love this book. If you enjoy the Charm Bracelet try the rest of the Fairy Realm series and more by Emily Rodda.

N.M. in Annapolis

We borrowed this book yesterday, and started reading it to our 6 year old daughter at about 5:30pm. She was so engrossed, she wouldn't let us stop, so dinner was late. She loved working out the mystery of the missing bracelet, the grey kitten, the brave cat Flynn, and exactly what was happening in the Fairy Realm. We stopped every chapter or two to examine the clues, and figure out why something was happening.

Unlike so many children's books, where the protagonist is either a passive participant or an adult in child's clothing, Jessie is a real girl with real feelings and a real child's perspective. She worries about her grandmother, acts as a child would act, and perceives things as a child would perceive them. Not that my daughter noticed this, but I watched her experience the story just the way Jessie did. This level of engagement is rare, and reminds me of how I felt when first reading "The Lord of the Rings" or "Ender's Game".

All in all, a magnificent introduction to fantasy literature for kids.

I read this seperately to my 5 and 7-year old girls and they both loved it. The story is simple enough for young kids to follow, with descriptive passages that are enough to create a realistic feeling to the story, but not so long to tax kids' attention spans.

The imaginative fairy-tale type elements and situations of the story are perfect for firing young kids' imaginations, but the author avoids violence, and overly suspensefull/stressful situations. It should be noted that in this first "Fairy Realm" book, unlike the others, there is actually a "bad guy" (or girl, rather). The other books involve overcoming hardships, troubles, difficult situations rather than an opposing person.

Overall, a wonderful, easy-to-read story that kids from preschool age to young-elementary school age will love (proably girls more so than boys). If I had to guess I'd say it's written at a 3rd or 4th grade reading level.

Young Jessie is absolutely ecstatic when her Mother takes her to the beautiful Blue Moon to visit her beloved Grandmother. However, while there, Jessie discovers a wonderful secret, and enters a Realm located in the Secret Garden. There, Jessie finds a beautiful land filled with magical creatures of all shapes and sizes. Fairies, miniature horses, elves, and other magical beings live among the Realm. And while the creatures are able to enjoy nature and run free, there is a noble Queen who lives in a gorgeous golden castle, and rules over them all. Now Jessie has found out that the Realm is in grave danger, and it is up to her, and her sick Grandmother to save it from an evil enemy before it's destroyed forever as we know it.

In this first installment in the FAIRY REALM series, readers are able to enter an exciting world where magical beings run free, and where humans are scarce. Jessie is a wonderful character, who is sweet, while at the same time extremely adventurous, and the descriptions throughout the book are vivid, and enchanting, and will capture the reader from page one. Filled with various black and white drawings throughout, this book is sure to become a treasure to any family. Especially those who truly believe.

Erika Sorocco
Book Review Columnist for The Community Bugle Newspaper

This book lets you teach 49 vowel-spellings with 257 vocabulary words.

We have the three-pack set of Voyage to the Bunny Planet. First Tomato is my 3 year old daughter's favorite story. We read it last night, and she had to have tomato soup for lunch today. But after she had looked at the bowl for a minute she said, "But mom, you forgot to say you love me so!" So I had to say, "I've made you first tomato soup because I love you so." That made it perfect. Every parent and child will love the cozy, comforting stories that rescue the characters from their realistic, very ordinary bad days. They are a joy.

I have a friend who actually reads "First Tomato," the first visit to the Bunny Planet written and illustrated by Rosemary Wells, to her bunnies. A friend gave her the book as something of a joke present, since my friend has bunnies but no children, but she really likes this book. Like all great children's literature it has that special something that immediately grabs you. Claire does not have a good day at school and needs a visit to the Bunny Planet: "Far beyond the moon and stars, Twenty light-years south of Mars, Spins the gentle Bunny Planet, And the Bunny Queen is Janet." Just the idea of the Bunny Planet is enough to make a child smile and you know that it is a marvelous place where fun things happen. But who would expect that what awaits our heroine is a ruby red tomato? There is nothing like the simple logic of a child's mind and Rosemary Wells story speaks to it perfectly. As for how it speaks to the mind of a bunny, I leave that to your imagination.

Of the three Bunny Planet books, this one is definitely the hands-down favorite for both me and my daughter, who is not yet 2-1/2. I love the way the text changes from normal speech to lilting rhythms after Queen Janet shows Claire "the day that should have been." The phrase "because I love you so" quickly became a part of my toddler's speech as well as my own.

I'd like to add that the 4-8 age range suggestion is too restrictive--this is a picture book that toddlers AND their parents will thoroughly appreciate. Let's face it, we ALL deserve a visit to the Bunny Planet!!

In our family, First Tomato is a favorite. For my daughter, who is named Claire, the book was a thrill as a 3-year-old. She was sure it was written about her! For my son, the book captured the frustrations of a kid in school who has everything go bad. For my husband and myself, "bunny planet" is our secret phrase for where we want to go when life with the business gets tough. Wells is a wonderful and magical author. You must read everyone of her books!

Across the board, I recommend all of the Fischer Price Lift The Flap books. My son really enjoys these.

I just love Fisher Price. They have so many fun things to pick from. One of my favorite things is the 'lift the flap' books. My grandchildren and I have so much fun reading them. We put the Christmas Time book with all of my other special Christmas books and I think it was used more than any of the others. We have put them away now and will get it back out next Christmas and once again it will be a favorite to be shared by all.

I bought this book for my daughter who is almost 3. She has all of the other Fisher Price flap books and adores them all, so when I spotted this one I knew we had to get it. She loves this one also. I recommend all of the "Little People" flap books for boys and girls alike.

I bought this for my two year old granddaughter after she enjoyed other books with flaps to peek beneath. She loved this one too and wanted to read it at least 2 or 3 times a visit. Not much of a plot but she loved looking at and talking about the pictures.

I highly recommend this book for babies who are just beginning to hold and play with books on their own. My daughter was 7 months old when I bought her this book and she absolutely loves to pull up all the tabs. This book is one of her favorites and she'll specifically seek it out and sit and turn the pages and play with all the tabs. Unlike a lot of other books with flaps or moving parts, these can't be easily torn off and have been sturdy enough to hold up repeated lifting and occasional chewing and drooling. The pictures are well-drawn and the quality of the book is good.

Just FYI, this book avoids the religious aspects of Christmas and focuses on things like decorating, Santa, and activities such as sledding and caroling. That may be a plus for some people and a minus for others!

A fascinating look at a part of our history. It provides an in depth look at the American psyche and the how and why the US was so well served by the young people of that era. A glimpse of the real brutality of the Japanese and why Hiroshima and Nagasaki were the ONLY options for defeating a fanatical army command that espoused no surrender.

"I saw some guys struggling with a pole and I just jumped in to lend them a hand. It's as simple as that." John H. "Jack" Bradley, also known as "Doc" states this in a quote on page 102 in Flags of our Fathers. This passage explains to me that the flag raising atop Mount Surabachi during the battle for Iwo Jima in February and March 1945 was quick and did not seem like a big deal to the flag raiser John Bradley.

James Bradley never imagined the things his dad-Navy Corpsman John H. "Jack" Bradley had endured during the battle of Iwo Jima-a Sulphur Island in the Pacific ocean only 600 miles from Japan-during the closing of World War II in 1945. All James new of his father's war service was that he was in the famous flag-raising photo atop Mount Surabachi. No copy of the famous photo was hung in their house and James' dad never spoke of the other flag raisers. It wasn't until after John Bradley died in 1994 when James was looking at the Joe Rosenthal famous flag raising photo that he began to wonder what the other flag raisers were like. What were there names? What kind of lives did they live? Did they have similar experiences on that sulphur island like Jack Bradley had, troubling and unforgettable?

Soon James Bradley was reading all kinds of books on the battle as he began his search for the other five Marines in the picture. Even though he discovered they were all gone, he interviewed their surviving family members and soon began interviewing other veterans from Iwo Jima. The six flag raisers-John Bradley, Mike Strank, Franklin Sousley, Harlon Block, Ira Hayes and Rene Gagnon came from different backgrounds and different parts of America. Although they had little in common other than fighting for their country, and they didn't know it at the time (three later died in the battle-Block, Strank and Sousley) they would all become celebrities for their role for 1/400th of a second in the famous photograph. Flags of Our Fathers gives a very detailed account of the battle of Iwo Jima and the lives of the six flag raisers through interviews with veterans of the battle, interviews with the surviving family members of the flag raisers and letters. Flags of our Fathers is a book you cannot put down and cannot miss!

Great book showing how a major world event shaped the lives of a whole generation. I gained a lot of insight from reading this book.

I consider myself knowledgeable about history, especially WW2. After reading just half of "Flags of our Fathers'" I realize how much I 'didn't' know about this part of the war. Most of my research was of the european theatre.
I am so glad I purchased this book. It makes me feel so humble as to my own time spent in uniform for I never had to endure or sacrifice what these young men did.
Anyone thinking of not voting should read this and be sure to vote for these young men gave everything so that we could have that right. Even more they went through hell before they did it.
Do yourself a favor and get this book.
Richard Neal Huffman - Author of Dreams In Blue: The Real Police

Quite a while ago, Nick Olmsted, a graduate of the U. S. Naval Academy, recommended that I read "Flags of Our Fathers." I am glad that I finally got around to taking his advice. This story struck me on many levels at once, and this seems to be an opportune time to share some of my thoughts about this remarkable book, written by James Bradley, the son of one of the six Marines whose iconic picture of the raising of the flag over Iwo Jima riveted a war-weary nation.

The film based on this book is due to be released tomorrow. My friend, Nate Fick, former Marines Corps officer and author of "One Bullet Away," had invited me to attend a special screening of the film tomorrow evening in Boston. There will be many Marines present for this gala event to raise funds for a scholarship program for the families of Marines who have fallen in combat. Here is how Nate described to me the work of the scholarship committee:

The Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation will be showing a benefit premier of "Flags of Our Fathers" at the AMC Theater on Boston Common on Friday 20 October. Military guests of honor will include BGen John Kelly, legislative assistant to CMC, former ACMC's Generals Nyland and Neal, and perhaps others.

For those who don't know, the MCSF is committed to funding higher education for the children of Marines and Navy Corpsmen, especiallythose killed in action. It's a wonderful organization, and one I've been proud to be involved with during the past several years.

So, before I am influenced by the film's portrayal of the events on Iwo Jima and the stories of the six men - Harlon Block, James Bradley, Rene Gagnon, Ira Hayes, Frank Sousley, Mike Strank - whose picture became symbolic of a nation at war, I will share my take on the book. A review of the film will follow in a few days.

James Bradley was motivated to write "Flags of Our Fathers" after the death of his father. As the family sorted through the papers that John Bradley left behind, they found three cardboard boxes full of photos and documents related to Iwo Jima. Finding this secret stash shocked the Bradleys, since James had refused to discuss his role as a famous flagraiser.

"I hungered to know the heroic part of my dad. Try as I might I could never get him to tell me about it.

`The real heroes of Iwo Jima,' he said once, coming as close as he ever would, `are the guys who didn't come back.'" (Page 4)

My siblings and I had a similar experience. My father, who served in India with the U.S. Army Air Corps, hardly ever talked about his years of service that cost him four years of his life and compromised his health until he died at the relatively young age of 65. It was as if he had locked that part of his life away in some inaccessible vault. The closest he came to revealing that chapter of his life was to lead us in singing Army marching songs that seemed to play in his head like a continuous loop. Our frequent family drives in the country were filled with many hours of such songs. We whiled away the hours and the miles by singing "Someone's in the Kitchen with Dinah," "Alice Blue Gown," "Off We Go Into the Wild Blue Yonder," and "I've Been Working on the Railroad." I felt as if Bradley had touched a special rewind button when he wrote these words about the memorial service the family held when they were able to visit Iwo Jima in 1998:

"When I was finished with my talk, I couldn't look up at the faces in front of me. I sensed the strong emotion in the air. Quietly, I suggested that in honor of my dad, we all sing the only two songs John Bradley ever admitted to knowing: `Home on the Range' and `I've Been Working on the Railroad.'" (page 14)

Bradley chose an epigraph for the second chapter of the book that is timeless and haunting:

"All wars are boyish, and are fought by boys." Herman Melville (Page 17)

Bradley lays out in clear terms why he chose to undertake the project of writing the book and sharing the stories of the Iwo Jima flagraisers:

"That was the point, I reminded myself, the point of my quest: to bring these boys back to life, or a kind of life, to let them live again in the country's memory. Starting with my father, and continuing with the other five.

That is how we always keep our beloved dead alive, isn't it? By telling stories abut them; true stories. It works that way with our national past as well. Keeping it alive by telling stories." (Page 17)

I have long been a strong believer in the power of narrative to capture our imaginations and our hearts. The job that James Bradley and Ron Powers have done in this book reaffirms my faith in the power of a well-told story. By Bradley bringing back to life the six Iwo Jima flagraisers and their comrades who fell in battle there, I felt as if he were also connecting me to a piece of my father's history and bringing him back to life, as well. As you can imagine, reading this book evoked powerful emotions.

This book does a very effect job of contrasting the sanitized view that civilians have of war with the messy reality experienced by those in the midst of the fighting:

"To the civilian noncombatants, war was `knowable' and `understandable.' Orderly files of men and machines marching off to war, flags waving, patriotic songs playing. War could be clear and logical to those who had not touched its barb.

But battle veterans quickly lost a sense of war's certitude. Images of horror they could scarcely comprehend invaded their thoughts tortured their minds. Bewildered and numbed, they cold not unburden themselves to their civilian counterparts, who could never comprehend through mere words.

Mike, Ira, and Harlon - these three boys back from the Pacific Heart of Darkness - now embraced death. Two were convinced that their next battle would be their last. And one lingered on for ten years before he was consumed by a living nightmare." (Page 90)

"Today, a battle-scarred Ira Hayes would be diagnosed with post-traumatic stress syndrome, and there would be understanding and treatment available to him. But in the late forties and early fifties, Ira had to suffer alone. Suffer daily with images of and misplaced guilt over his 'good buddies who didn't come back.'" (Page 333)

Post traumatic stress disorder - or PTSD - reared its ugly head over Iwo Jima and planted its flag in the hearts of those who fought there - and who have fought in every subsequent battle from Pusan and Pork Chop Hill to Khe Sahn and Hamburger Hill to Tikrit and Falujah. (I will return to the topic of PTSD in a series of articles in the coming weeks.)

Throughout the book, Bradley does justice to the legacy of the Iwo Jima flagraisers by addressing an issue that haunted each of them - the question of what it truly means to be a hero. The flagraisers felt that fate had singled them out for notoriety and the label of "hero," but each man felt in his heart that the real heroes were the ones who did not live to see the flag raised or the parades planned or the War Bond rallies held.

"And finally, I found a full-page newspaper ad from the Seventh Bond Tour, which he had participated in. It screamed: `You've seen the photo, you've heard him on radio, now in person in Milwaukee County Stadium, see Iwo Jima hero John H. Bradley!'

Hero. In that misunderstood and corrupted word, I think lay the final reason for John Bradley's silence.

Today the word `hero' has been diminished, confused with `celebrity.' But in my father's generation the word meant something.

Celebrities seek fame. They take actions to get attention. Most often, the actions they take have no particular moral content. Heroes are heroes because they have risked something to help others. Their actions involve courage. Often, those heroes have been indifferent to the public's attention. But at least, the hero could understand the focus of the emotion. However he valued or devalued his own achievement, it did stand as an accomplishment.

The moment that saddled my father with the label of `hero' contained no action worthy of remembering. When he was shown the photo for the first time, he had no idea what he was looking at. He did not recognize himself or any of the others. The raising of that pole was as forgettable as tying the laces of his boots.

The irony, of course, was that Doc Bradley was indeed a hero on Iwo Jima - many times over. The flagraising, in fact, might be seen as one of the few moments in which he was not acting heroically. In 1998 Dr. James Wittmeier, my father's medical supervisor in Iwo, sat beside me silently contemplating my request for him to explain, or speculate on, why my dad never talked about that time. Finally, after many long minutes, he turned to me and softly said, `You ever hold a broken raw egg in your hands? Well, that's how your father and I help young men's heads.' The heads of real heroes, dying in my father's arms.

So, he knew real heroism. He could separate the real thing from the image, the fluff. And no matter how many millions of people thought otherwise, he understood that this image of heroism was not the real thing." (Pages 260-261)

"Flags of Our Fathers" is a moving and loving tribute to heroes - real and perceived. I am glad that Nick Olmsted pointed the way to it. I hope that Clint Eastwood and Stephen Spielberg's translation of the story to the screen will honor the spirit of the men who fought on Iwo Jima.

Al

Frantastic Voyage is book five in this great series of adventures following one of the most interesting and well written child characters to come along in a very long time. For those who have only read this great book and are wondering which of Benton's former books in the series to buy first, I'd recommend Jim Benton's first three Franny K masterpieces Lunch Walks Among Us, Attack of the 50-Ft. Cupid or The Invisible Fran.

I work as a library assistant and when I have asked kids if they enjoyed this and other books in this series the answer is always yes. That's pretty rare for a series of books but this series is that good! I've checked these books out myself to see what all the fuss is about and these books all can be enjoyed by adults as well as kids, a feat not always done by junior fiction writers, even in the really popular kids books. I didn't read these in order either as there's a long wait for some titles so I'll point out they all have individual storylines so if this is the first book you've come across it can easily be read first.

Franny Stein is an interesting character who doesn't follow the stereotype little girl who plays with dolls, has tea parties with stuffed animals and the like, which many authors seem to want to write about. No Franny is a very intelligent girl more interested in bats, snakes, spiders, monsters and her number one passion, being a mad scientist. Interests that gel with many a real life boy or girl these days and lets be honest, always have. The length of these books are fairly short and take my word for it these books are so good, you'll probably want to get a few of them, if not the whole series. They seem to be a lot cheaper buying as a box set (where you get the first four titles, obviously not including this one) which at the time of this review seems to retail for about the same price as just two Franny K. Stein books.

In her fifth adventure Franny invents a doomsday device, just incase her experiments fall in the wrong hands. Unfortunately this device can also destroy half the planet and unfortunately it has also been eaten by her assistant Igor while transfixed to the TV he swallowed handfuls of grapes. Making the situation worse Igor has inadvertently turned the device on while eating it. It is up to Fran to shrink herself down, and go inside Igor to retrieve the doomsday device and disassemble it before it explodes. Igor's eaten a lot of gross stuff though plus Franny hasn't thought everything through. Will she be successful? You'll have to read this great adventure and see!

My 8 year old daughter loves this series. When she read the first one she loved it so much, I ordered her the whole series. She would read them, and not put them down. She would laugh, and come in and ask me to look at the pictures. She is in second grade, and her most recent grade card went from reading at 3rd grade level, to 6 grade level. I am so proud, and I feel these books made her WANT to read. Thanks Jim Benton!!

Thank goodness for these books! My lovable school hating tom boy of a daughter has now become a reading maniac thans to these laugh out loud books! You can hear her upstairs cracking up! Totally entertaining for my 8 year old. Jim Benton is a GOD! LOL

Franny and Igor take us on hilarious adventure in Frantastic Voyage. Igor is constantly getting in Franny's way as she works in the lab. In order to get Igor to leave her alone she puts him in front of the TV. This turns out to be a terrible mistake. Igor gets hooked on watching commercials and doing whatever they tell him to do. While watching TV Igor swallows Franny's doomsday device which is capable of blowing up 1/2 of the Earth.

Franny will have to use all of her wits to solve this problem. With the help of some Root Beer, corn chips and Bubble gum Franny may just save the world!

This book had all of us laughing our heads off and rolling on the ground every day that we read it together. If you enjoy funny adventure stories like Captain Underpants, Garfield, Captain Fact, or Ricci Riccotta's Mighty Robot you will love this book!

...my 8 year old daughter simply devours all his books -- she practically has them memorized...she sits and reads them to her 6 year old sister who also loves them...maybe the writing doesn't quite rank with Charles Dickens but he sure stimulates an appetite for reading.

Freddy is helping his old friend, Mr. Camphor, with a couple of problems. One of them is his aunts; one is too gloomy and another is just plain mean. In addition, Mr. EHA and the rats are planning to take the old hotel. Can Freddy help? This book is great and uses lots of humor. You must read this book!

Freddy is back and going camping! This cute pig always makes every exciting now he is back and flipping flap jacks and solving the crime about the ghosts!!!

This may well be the best of the Freddy books written by Walter R. Brooks (its only competition is Freddy the Magician). Children and adults alike will find this one of the most fun books they've ever read. I can still remember the delicious chills I felt when reading this book at twelve, and still enjoy reading it today. As usual, Freddy gets into trouble trying to help friends -- Mr. Camphor to get rid of his aunts and an innkeeper whose hotel is haunted.

My first encouner with Freddy the pig left me feeling like I had just found Tut's tomb. His stories are loaded with treasures-wit, well-developed characters, and clear evidence that Brooks understood and RESPECTED children's intellect and character. Two foretrotters Up!!

Probably before you were born, the bookmobile would stop off at our school and I looked forward to reading "Freddy" books. I enjoyed all of his adventures and friends (Jinx had a few adventures of his own). Now those books are collector's items and rarely show up in used book stores. As much as I miss the originals he is back and just as ornery as ever. One Day I hope the earlier one will get republished. In the mean time Even thought these books are geared towards young ones, they still can hold the attention of old codgers.

Kurt wise does a good job of illustrating and for those that have never reads Freddy you have a great mystery ahead of you.

The chosen stories are excellent--all of top quality, both from a literary and (often) from a philosophical perspective. It is very easy to use the fine translation side-by-side with the original French.

This is classic literature, a very good book. I'd be interested in a modern works like this as well. Seems like I saw one out there somewhere....

This book includes some great authors - the ones you should at least know about if you are going to learn the French language and appreciate French culture. I have always loved the idea of having the English translation on the opposite page. I think it makes learning structures easier. You see how we would write something in English, and then you see how the structure differs in the French version.

I bought this book for my ailing and flailing French vocabulary. Although I speak fluently, my diminishing vocabulary is directly accredited to my non-use and non-practice of the language. One note - many phrases are translated literally, yet lack the tonality and subtle nuances which are found in true meaning. Otherwise, a very easy read and a useful book for those of us who lack opportunity to speak the language. Would certainly recommend this book for an intermediate level and up.

First the good. These stories are worth reading anyway, even if not trying to improve your French. Can't believe I never read Micromegas before! Can't believe it was written mid 1700s! So the selection of stories is an excellent one and the practice and vocabulary building comes quickly. For that reason, I'd unquestionably buy this again.

The bad. I know enough French to know that the translations are atrocious. Though I am not fluent in French, I believe I could have done a better, truer translation (with help of a French dictionary). Beautiful phrases are translated into mundane English cliches and some unknown French words are, on some occasions, "translated" into the identical (and equally unknown) word on the English side. Did the translater not have access to an English dictionary or did he not know what the French word really meant?

So -- definitely a useful buy for learning and practicing French and (particularly if you can read most of it in French) interesting stories as well. Just try not to refer to the English counterpart more than you must, such as for the periodic word translation.

this book was very informative and nice for teaching kids nature
slonina nature photography
[...]

We purchased this book, along with the follow-on "More Fun with Nature" at the Cabela's in Boise, Idaho.

My daughter always has one of these books nearby - she's sitting on the couch reading this one right now.

A good deal of information is presented in a neat, friendly way. We used this book to identify a luna moth and a douglas squirrel within days of arriving in Washington. Although not as thorough as a field guide, the format makes it very accessible (and therefore more likely to be read) to children.

I highly recommend both books and look forward to purchasing more in the series.

This book has the perfect amount of information for elementary age children; my kids won't put it down. It is the best science resource book that I've found so far- a must have for homeschoolers or kids that are constantly discovering new creatures in the yard. The craft ideas are fun too!

My son is 2 years old and has been looking through this book for months. He likes to see all the animals. The "Turtee" (Turtle) section is his favortie. I can see he is truly going to enjoy this when he is older. It is very informative and fun.

I love this book. I found it when I was at the nature art museum in Jackson Hole. I cannot wait to use this when I become a teacher. I am already using it in my classes for lesson plans. I will definitely use this when I have my own children too.