Sounds Books

Well, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is longer than the first two HP books, but not better. I suppose that we have lost a bit of our wonder at Harry's world, but this book seems to be a slight let down from the high levels we enjoyed in the first two books. Nevertheless, we have a totally different start to this book than we had in the previous books.

Rowling continues to feed our curiosities by supplying new and different experiences and new twists and turns in the HP story. With the introduction to Sirius Black, and of dementors, to the main plot, Rowling takes the HP series towards a more mature tone and loses a bit of the whimsey that the first two books had. I thik Rowling does a very good job at telling a very good story while letting Harry start to grow up.

The finale of this book is long and different from the pattern of the first two books. Among other things, we learn of deeper and more powerful magical practices.

I may seem grumpy about some aspects of this book, but I was entranced by the author's abilities to tell a suspense-filled and adventurous tale, fit for adolescents of all ages.

I recommend this book.

J.K. Rowlings never lets her readers down Harry's quest to be happy stays alive in this book. Also, he gets to meet the only family he has left which makes Harry very Happy at the end of this sequel!!!!

I read this book a few years ago, when the the thrill of Harry was in it's prime. I've seen the movie more times than I can count and I must say the movie is excellent but not as good as the book. I've just reread this book and can't beleive all I had forgotten. It's truly a page turner. From the start when Harry spots the Grim to when Mr Weasley warns Harry of Sirius Black's escape and hunt for Harry the reader is hooked. The Maurader's Map is a great addition to the Invisibility Cloak. The first 2 books were good, but you truly don't get into Harry until this book. Ron and Hermione's relationship is beginning to bud. Hermione is truly the goody goody in this installment. There were times I was mad at her with Ron and Harry. Getting the history of Harry's father's friends helped the story advance with background. This book also helps paint the picture of Snape and his hatered for Harry. The introduction of the Patronus is excellent. It's just as amazing in the book and the movie did a great job of reproducing it. All in all, I loved this book and recommend it to everyone who enjoys magic and fantasy reads.

This series is fun for kids and adults. My son and I are reading it together!

Good, solid storytelling. Ms. Rowling's third installment in the Harry Potter series continues to add interesting characters and create an even more appealing magical world for the reader to escape into. Each book has shown the gradual evolution of Harry from a neglected, abused child and mentored into a honorable young man. But the character-building journey is certainly a bumpy ride for young Potter. Moral messages and the complexities of the human condition abound as each new story has been introduced to the public. One of the underlying messages of the book is that most problems in life are not simply black and white, but more complicated. To convey this point in a fun, exciting manner is the sign of great writing. There's real heart to this series and deserves a wide readership.

I hope this is the right book, I just love the story, and the music, and the movie too!

The book is fantastic! Great pictures! I would highly recommend this book for any fan of the movie or a Titanic fan in general! The making of the epic movie is something to see and you can definitely see it in this book.

This is a MUST have for any Titanic collector. I waited for about 9 or so years for this book and I am so extatic that I finally have it!!

The scope of this majestic book truly befits the epic effort by James Cameron with his cinematic masterpiece "Titanic". Much great information here for the movie buff who likes to see how it is done. Incredible sets including the dining salon, complete even to dishes and decor. I was amazed to see how this particular set was pulled underwater by hydraulics to provide a very realistic feeling of sinking. Page after page of photographs and stories about the magnificent sets that brought this film to life. Lots of info about the stars and other cast members as well the production crew. This book is a perfect companion to the movie as well as a testament to the filmmaking genius of James Cameron.

Great book for the titanic enthusiasts!!!!! If you loved the movie, you will enjoy this book.

Not traditionally a fan of historical fiction, I found this book intriguing and well written, and I wanted to continually turn the pages to the end. It paints the fascinating story of a real woman, her feelings and her life during a difficult time and difficulties that all during that time period had to endure. My book club even called the author, who spoke at our meeting via phone; Ms. Turner gave us more than an hour of her time, providing much background and perspective to the story.

This is absolutely one of my favorite books. I don't typically enjoy historical fiction that much, but I've read These Is My Words twice and loved it both times.
I felt totally connected to Sarah, like I was going through all the good and bad times with her. I laughed, I cried, it was great. I couldn't put this book down, and felt so disappointed when it was over! In the following days, I actually felt like I missed Sarah, like she was a person that I actually knew!
This book is fascinating storytelling and wonderful characterization at its absolute best! I've loaned it to every woman I know, and they've all loved it too.

This is a story that you can't put down. Written from an honest heart, you really feel like you are living the story with the characters.

These is My Words is filled with wild west high adventure. It is fast paced and reminds me of watching an action movie. Sarah grows from not understanding what is love. How it is demonstrated etc... to a profound understanding of a healthy marriage relationship. Filled with woman's issues: child bearing & rearing, pregnancy, marriage, courage, strength, meekness, life and death. A woman's classic.

This book is great. It has everything ----- humor, sadness, romance, and just pure true grit!! Sarah and Jack are exceptional characters. I couldn't put the book down, but wanted more when it was over.

In looking for another whimsical, creative, offbeat baby book like Pat the Bunny (from the book within the book: "How big is bunny? Soooooooo big.") I found that this title was purchased through Amazon by people who bought Pat and so I bought it as well.

I certainly expected Moo Baa to have some more unexpected sounds than just the pigs' "La La La." I also expected it to have some kind of story connecting everything.

Instead the pigs sing -- something not entirely foreign to a baby book -- seven very typical barnyard animals make their actual sounds (along with Rhinoceroses), and finally there's the usual twist where the reader/listener is involved, something that was probably pretty creative the first time it was done.

The cartoons are nicely New-Yorker-esque. But this particular drawing style (not sure if it's always Boynton) has become so popular that it reminds me of a nice font that everyone uses and no one notices any more. At least Eric Carle's style isn't displayed on cartoons taped to office doors and on coffee mugs.

Other than the drawings and the one conceit this is an embarrassingly plain book that I do not anticipate using much. I will update the review if somehow my daughter ends up loving it and it inspires her to get involved in amateur theater. Until then I'll have to try hard to read it with any enthusiasm.

This is an absolute favorite for our 9-month old son. He loves to turn the pages and squeals in delight when he sees "some other dogs go BOW WOW WOW". Highly recommend this short but funny book!

I'm now an adult and have very fond memories of this book (as well as Boynton's other books). My parents read this to me as an infant and I loved it. I will take great pleasure in sharing her books with my own children when I have them.

my 19 month old still loves this book.. at around 13 months he would come to me with the book and tell me 'mom MOOO' ... then we'd read the book together, he loves the animals and the words are so easy to memorise so even though we read it a million times (cuz he loves it that much) i can do other things while still reading him the story by heart as he turns each page.
Also , because it is a nice light read I don't mind reading it over and over again as young children seem to constantly want! :)

I love this book - it's a fun, quick read and I love the author's sense of humor. My daughter is 2 1/2 and is a little luke-warm on the book, but I love it.

I purchased this book simply to replace my original copy, which I loaned out and which was never returned. Reading this book has been a favorite part of my Christmas for many years. While I regret losing my old copy, I am thankful I will now be able to carry on this tradition.

It's a fun story about an untraditional Christmas play. It shows how good can come of seemingly negative changes and find some unexpected, meaningful outcomes.
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

The worst kids in the neighborhood decide to be in the annual Christmas Pageant and turn the weeks leading up to the event into a very funny, read. I've read this book to many classrooms of children over the years and it's guaranteed to make them listen and laugh.

...

I like books and I don't know if this is my favorite book but it is excellent. We read it as a family every year at Christmas. It never fails to touch me. It is fun with a redeeming message.

I have read this book at least once a year for 15yrs and now I'm reading it to my kids. It's a quick read, I can't put it down.

This is one of the best photography books I've read, and hands down the best lighting book! If you're new to lighting, you'll want to read this book more than once, because it has so much information! Dedicated chapters on lighting principles, reflection and the "family of angles," surface appearances, shape and contour, lighting metal, lighting glass, types of lights, portrait lighting, lighting white-on-white and black-on-black all work together to make this an essential text book for any photographer. Be sure to pick this book up at the store!

Irene Abdou Photography
http://www.photoswithsoul.com

I would highly recommend this book to photographers and artists of different mediums looking for a better understanding of light and it's effects. It's been very helpful.

All I can say is this is a must have reference tool for any aspiring or pro photographer.
I learned more in one reading of this book than I learned in 3 years of trial and error.
This is a book I will read over and keep as a reference guide.
I only wished I had bought this 3 years ago.




Light: Science and Magic: An Introduction to Photographic Lighting

I was just telling a friend about this book and realized that I had never posted a review of it myself. What I told her: I have a bookshelf packed full of books on various aspects of photography and lighting. If I could keep only one, this would be the one I would keep.

As David Hobby of Strobist says in his review, this book does not teach you HOW to light, it teaches you HOW TO THINK about light, which is many times more valuable. If you can learn how to think about light, you can teach yourself *how* to light, and do so much more efficiently and easily.

This book is an essential part of any photographer's library.

Great book. I am still on Chapter 2 of the book, but a great source of information regarding lighting. Essential for people who want to grasp the concept of photographic lighting.

In this charming tale sure to become a favorite among young readers, Bear will sleep through anything, even through the boisterous party going on in his very own lair. The opening scene of Bear Snores On (Simon and Schuster Children's, 2003), written by Karma Wilson and illustrated by Jane Chapman, shows bear deep in slumber, tucked away from the wintry weather outside his cave. When a mouse, seeking shelter, enters Bear's cave, Bear snores on. What then follows is a gradual gathering of animals in Bear's cozy cave, sharing honey-nuts, munching on popcorn, and sipping black tea. All the while, Bear snores on. When the tiniest bit of pepper sends Bear into a sneezing fit, however, the animals' party comes to an abrupt halt, and Bear, while at first appearing quite menacing, is overcome with sadness when he learns that the animals didn't include him in their lively activities. In an attempt to console the bear, the mouse tells him that the party has just started. Chapman's captivating illustrations, which distinguish the coziness enjoyed by the lively animal characters from the blustery outdoors, and Wilson's catchy chorus enhance the story's heartwarming plot as well as punctuate the ironic humor of final scene in which Bear stays up, but his animal friends fall fast asleep.

This book has been purchased as a holiday gift for my granddaughter, who is in first grade and 5 years old.

This is a wonderful book with great rhythm and rhyme. My 3 month old already smiles when I start reading it, and I know as he gets older it will be one of his favorites, as he doesn't react this way to any other book. I also think it is a great story... VERY cute pictures!

What a heartwarming story with such vivid and friendly illustrations. The rhythm is wonderful and the rhymes aren't forced. The story flows and gives the reader ample opportunity to try out different voices for all of bear's friends.

My daughter loves this book (22 months old) and my husband and I enjoy the sing-song rhyme as well. It has a nice rhythm for reading aloud. We don't mind reading it over and over! The illustrations are great also.

DRAGONSINGER shows off sci-fi/fantasy writer Anne McCaffrey at her best and most accessible. Of the three books which make up the Harper Hall trilogy, this one is my favorite and a book to which I've returned a bunchful of times. Only thing is, whenever I dust this off (or, come to think of it, any of the early Pern novels), I tend to go ahead and re-read the whole friggin' series. The Harper Hall trilogy, more so than any of the Dragonriders of Pern novels, is targeted towards a young adult audience, but it'll certainly charm a reader of whatever age. And if one is looking for a capable, extremely engaging role model, then look no further than Menolly of Half-Circle Sea Hold.

DRAGONSINGER picks up almost immediately from where Dragonsong left off, with Menolly arriving at the Harper Craft Hall to begin her harper's apprenticeship. A gifted songwriter/singer/musician and the young accidental mistress of nine gluttonous but ever loyal fire lizards, the shy and vulnerable Menolly finds herself near overwhelmed by her new circumstances. She's very conscious of her horribly scarred hand (which prevents her from playing her music) and her still woefully tender feet (from having outran Thread, deadly silver spores which periodically rain on Pern). At Harper Hall, Menolly meets and is intimidated by an array of stern and skeptical teachers. She faces the scorn of her fellow female students, with whom she must share room and board. Her unconventionality and her rare fire lizards mark her as a target of curiousity and envy. For Menolly, all this is almost too hard to bear. But she loves music and loves her fire lizards. And, it turns out, she has more friends than she thinks...

DRAGONSINGER, first published in 1977, is the second book in the Harper Hall trilogy, and, in my opinion, is the best of the three. It continues Menolly's coming-of-age tale and introduces the readers to a gang of winning characters, such as the quiet journeyman Sebell, the majestic, offbeat Master Shonagar, and the impish and ingratiating Piemur (who would take center stage in Dragondrums). Of course, the awesome and perceptive Masterharper Robinton figures in most of the Pern novels, and he makes his presence vigorously felt here. Who wouldn't want to work for someone like him?

Another neat thing about the Harper Hall trilogy is that it allows the reader to relive events in McCaffrey's other novels. Specifically, the timeline of DRAGONSONG and DRAGONSINGER coincides with that of Dragonquest (Dragonriders of Pern), so that, just as we revisited Jaxom's impressing of Ruth thru Menolly's eyes in DRAGONSONG, here, we get Menolly and Harper Hall's horrified reactions to F'nor's disastrous foray to the inhospitable Red Star. Later, the third Harper Hall entry, DRAGONDRUMS, would touch on events occuring in The White Dragon (Dragonriders of Pern Vol 3).

McCaffrey warmly covers a span of seven eventful days in Menolly's life, chronicling her transitioning from an uncertain, bashful young girl to a confident one with the world opened up before her. Menolly is tall and gangly and unsure, and so appealing. It's a joy reading of her overcoming her challenges, making new friends, and impressing just near everyone with her musical talents. My favorite moments would have to be the ones in which she's engaged in her music or spending time with her fair of fire lizards (and, believe me, both activities take up huge, huge chunks of the book). Scenes to look out for: the first time Menolly feeds her fire lizards at Harper Hall, the impromptu Hall concert during Threadfall, all the moments with Shonagar, and Gather Day. As ever, McCaffrey peppers her book with sightings of benevolent dragons, who constantly guard Pern against Thread, and their miniature and inquisitive cousins, the fire lizards. Actually, in this Harper Hall series, the focus is more on the fire lizards than on the dragons. McCaffrey lends Menolly's fire lizards their own distinct personalities, from the imperious Beauty to the nagging Aunties One and Two, to the beleaguered Uncle, to the aptly named Lazybones.

Compared to the other, more adult-oriented novels about Pern, DRAGONSINGER is a lighter, more intimate read, and not as intricately plotted. The stakes here don't shape the world, just Menolly's personal universe. But, I'll tell you what, you'll get caught up in it. DRAGONSINGER (and a whole mess of McCaffrey's novels, come to think of it) fits cozily on my shelf of comfort books. I normally have two copies of books which I particularly love. With DRAGONSINGER, I have three, two of which are pretty threadbare. Such a good read.

Menolly has achieved her dream of living in Harper Hall, despite the disadvantage of being born female. But she does not know how she will fit in and the fact that she accidentally Impressed nine fire lizards causes disruptions in class and jealousies from the other students. That she comes to realize her full talent as a musician, singer and songwriter and revel in the company of other musicians is the delight of this perfect fantasy novel.

This gem of a story is appropriate for creative girls and women of all ages, all creative endeavors because it says that the barriers the world puts in your way won't stand up to friendship, hard work and talent. I wore out two paperback copies before breaking down and buying it in hardback. Highly recommended.

The harper Hall Trilogy is my favorite set by McCaffrey and interestingly the first books I read by her. I love dragons and there for dragon stories, particularly ones were dragons are not mindless monsters of destruction, so it would be odd for me not to like these books. The story is very original and the characters well written. If your not sure of getting into the Pern books, this is the series to read! Dragonsinger is a really strong book, despite being in the middle of a set. The story keeps going strong and the characters stay true to themselves.

I know I wasn't supposed to read this book first, but it was on the free book cart at the library. And I've wanted to read McCaffery for some time now. I'd give this book four a half stars. I'd like to have given it five. But I'll get to that in a minute. Her prose is elegant. Each of her characters is clearly defined. The main, Menolly, is strong and modest, but often bleek and insecure because of her background. Thus her behavior makes sense at times when she is overly passive when she shouldn't be. As well as apologizing for every little thing. However, her giving a shiner to Benis was priceless. I love the tiny info on the Fort Sea Hold, and look I look forward to getting clear description when I read DragonSong. The only problem I had with this book was there was no real action, besides the brawl at the Gather. Though I must say, the book was not boringt any time. But I did have to put it down from time to time because its lack of action.

Can't wait to read more McCaffery. I see why she's one of the leading authors in the SciFi/Fantasy genre.

Menolly is now at the Harper Hall. However, she is a geek/nerd and doesn't fit in with all the girls who like doing the standard chick things. Plus there just happens to be a bunch of fire lizards following her around.

She also has to deal with the problem of choosing or being asked to choose a specialisation and someone to be a mentor.

Well, heck, I did not expect this book to be as cute as it was. I'm thinking " a dog, wow." But amazingly a story about a puppy with barking difficulties can hold its own, especially when Feiffer keeps up the energetic pace to explain George's condition. It's offbeat and hilarious.

This book is so much fun for both children and adults. Both the story and illustrations are great! Also, it is a very easy book for pre-readers to memorize, and they have so much fun with it. My 4 1/2 granddaughter and 3 1/2 year old grandson both loved it!

THIS IS A WONDERFUL BOOK! THE PICTURES ARE HILARIOUS! EVERY CHILD I'VE READ THIS TO LOVES IT, AND I LOVE IT AS AN ADULT TOO!

This book was loved by my three nephews (one is 4 and the twins are 2). I was already their favourite aunt but I think I actually moved up a few notches on the scale with this one.

On my one week stay with my sister, I read this book to my nephews at least once per day. The four year-old liked it so much that we performed a show with puppets for the whole family based on this book.

"Bark, George" is typical Silverstein, innocuous on the surface, somewhat subversive within the depths. The child I read it to loves it, and has it memorized, and the adults find the unexpected ending very amusing. A bit of all right...

I bought this book for my 2 granddaughters (ages 4 and 2) in Georgia. When I moved to Texas I bought a 2nd one to have at my house to read to them over the phone. My 4-year-old granddaughter memorized the whole book and insisted on "reading" it to me. They also like the pocket on the inside back cover in which I put a picture of them.

This book is absolutely adorable. I purchased it for my 6 month old daughter and she is just enthralled with the lights and the music. Granted, my son wouldn't have been interested at her age (he never went in for books or music at her age), but my daughter loves it. You know your child best, so you should have a good idea of whether or not they'll like the lights and sounds.

I do wish there was a volume control so we could turn it down at sleepy time, but even without it, I can highly recommend the book.

I reallly really Love this book !!!!
My daughters (...now 4 and 5) are still
loving this book. I really enjoy the
adorable absolutely cutsie phrases in
the book. a quick easy reading adorable
loving book. Children will know without
a doubt they are loved,, when they are
read this book. A great book for a gift,
also! A winner, in my opinion!

Bought this book today and it's already become my 7 month old daughter's favorite! She loves the illustrations, the SUPER FUN WORDS, and of course the music and lights!

The music is a little loud, however, it turns off after one round of the music so it's not bad at all.

It's one of the most enjoyable books we have! I will have no issues reading this book to her over and over again!!!

Definitely a must-have for any book collection - it's quite unique!

We've been reading to my 5-month old son since he was born and "You're My Little Love Bug" is by far his favorite! He is mesmerized by the beautiful music and reading the words in rhythm with the tune makes it fun to read. I had to buy a second copy since it's such a hit with my mother-in-law...she "stole" our copy and I needed one for our house! :) I highly recommend this book, it's a beautiful keepsake that will be cherished by both child and parent.