Titles Books

This is one of those rare perfect books that transports you completely into its pages and guides you along a twisting, enchanted path overgrown with wonders and delights until you emerge at the end, calmly satisfied from your travels. Jane Yolen's story-telling is as lovely as ever and has little rhyming spells sprinkled throughout that make the tale seem as though you are there at its unfolding. The illustrations are truly marvelous and curl up around the text which is printed on a softly glowing golden wash. Flowering vines climb up around the borders of many of the pages. The tale has a little orphaned girl set against a wicked witch who comes looking for an enchanted treasure. Before her mother dies she gives the little girl a beautiful golden comb as a keepsake. The witch puts a spell on the child to try to force her into revealing the location of the enchanted treasure that she knows has to be somewhere nearby. The animals of the forest befriend the little girl and in the end a wonderful justice occurs. The story is so precious and has a thoughtful message to suggest. This has a lot of the ingredients that you've seen in countless other fairy tales but here they seem so freshly tender and heart-touching. Treat yourself and any little ones you know to a splendid story.

The teaming of Jane Yolen and Jane Dyer is something I truly appreciate. Yolen, the talented author of many books for children, youth, and adults, is a master story teller. Dyer has demonstrated her ability to excel in many artistic styles. As in another teaming, Child of Faerie, Child of Earth (go find this!), the work of the two seamlessly plays off each other to create a beautiful fairy tale with equally beautiful pictures. The imagery and wording in the story itself is enough to make this a story worth reading, but the illustrations add so much more. I strongly recommend this book to parents and teachers to read to and along with a child. However, be sure to give them enough time to peruse each page, as the illustrations are rich and deserve observation.

This is an unusual fairytale story with beautiful illustrations. It will take the reader and the listener to a different time and place. The descriptions are so vivid that you will imagine you can see the story unfolding.

This is the story of Curry, the orphaned daughter of a woodsman. She is protected from beasts and a sorceress by the animals she has befriended.

Jane Dyer's gold-washed watercolor illurtrations add greatly to the appeal of this lived-happily-ever-after tale.

Even though the story is rather long (it takes me about 30 minutes to read it aloud cover to cover), it keeps our children fully engaged, and the illustrations are absolutely fantastic. This is one of those books we will always keep and pass on from one generation to the next.

Originally penned by the irrepressible James Thurber in 1944, "The Great Quillow" comes to life once more through the skillfully quixotic paintings of Stephen Kellogg.

Don't miss this superb recreation of the story of the little toymaker who becomes a hero when he saves his village from menacing giants.

Marvelous illustrations. Great story about how brains can win out over braun. The Great Quillow is a character to be admired. Told with humor and feeling. I purchased my own copy to keep. One of the best.

As a fifth grader,I was enthralled by this book, partially because of the illustrations in the orginal edition. I have thought of it often during the past 55 years (I am now almost 64) and was overjoyed when I found that it was avaiable, and in print. I ordered it, and waited for it to arrive with eager anticipation. Imagine my horror when it arrived with illustrations totally out of keeping with the spirit of the Great Quillow, and certainly a far cry fro the originals. The great Quillow was a peaceful person, did not require force of arms or strength to overcome the Giant. The ugly and distorted illustrations in the new editions are a travesty. Is there any way to find a copy of the original edition?

Cute story about the Chinese Zodiac and why the cat is not in the calendar. Fun illustations. My daughter who is 5, enjoys this book.

I bought this so my daughters could better understand the Chinese zodiac and all the animals. it has a great story that is very understandable to them (ages 2 and 4) and the pictures are great too. highly recommended.

I purchased this boook for use in a Third grade unit on China. I ended up using it with my Kindergarten and First grade social studies classes as well. It's a little wordy in parts for the very young children but can be easily abridged without losing the context of the story.

The Great Race: The Story of the Chinese Zodiac is a picturebook retelling of an ancient Chinese legend of how their annual calendar came to be. The Jade Emperor decreed a grand race between the animals to determine the order of the years. Thirteen animals raced, but the rat, eager to be first, tricked the unfortunate cat into missing the finish line completely - as a result, the rat and the cat remain worst enemies to this very day! Playful color illustrations by Anne Wilson add an enthusiastic touch to this adventurous narrative, rounded out with fun facts about the Chinese calendar and Chinese astrology.

A truly wonderful book. I was given this book by my next door neighbour who was a childrens' book reviewer, and I have loved it ever since. I now read it with my six year old son.

The illustrations by Maurice Sendak, which are much finer, more detailed and more intricate than his illustrations in 'Where the Wild Things Are' and 'The Night kitchen', are beautiful and complement the text wonderfully.

Frank Stockton's prose is lovely to read, easily understood by even younger readers but still provides a salient message about tolerance, acceptance of others and sacrifice for our friends and the community.

I cannot recommend it highly enough. It should be on all school reading lists.

Frank Stockton's "The Griffin and the Minor Canon" is much like the creature in the title. In mythology, griffins can be savage yet kind, untamed but dignified, noble and scheming, all at the same time.

On the surface, the story is a quiet read-aloud tale about the last griffin wishing to see a stone likeness of himself over the doors of an old church. Like the protagonist in Kenneth Grahame's "The Reluctant Dragon," the Griffin is judged solely by his fearsome appearance and humanity's ignorance of a griffin's true nature. The cowardly citizens of the town where the church is located send their young Minor Canon to face the Griffin and find out what he wants. When the Minor Canon assures the populace that the Griffin wishes to see the stone griffin, they turn on him. Even after he leaves the town in an effort to lure the Griffin away, the Griffin's own acts of kindness as a school teacher and a doctor aren't enough to convince the citizens that they have nothing to fear from him.

For older readers, "The Griffin and the Minor Canon" is a brilliant, timeless commentary on society and its faults. Prickly barbs and tart Yankee satire keep poking through what appears to be an old European tale. Mob rule and prejudice displace reason and truth. The Minor Canon can't please the townsfolk, no matter how hard he tries and the Griffin is never appreciated for his efforts.

Maurice Sendak's illustrations are closer in spirit to illuminations found in old manuscripts. They are never intrusive, nor do they demand more attention than the text. The pictures keep pace with the tempo of the story, from gentle and lilting to devastatingly witty. Stockton and Sendak are a duet, perfectly matched though separated in years by the better part of a century.

Children who hear "The Griffin and the Minor Canon" now will cherish it all the more when they're old enough to savor the tangy treat Stockton has hidden inside. Don't let your children miss it.

loved this book as a child - and as an adult - the pictures (black & white sketches) are marvelous and remained with me for years.

Beautifully written tale of the last griffin who visits a town where his image-a statue- has been part of the old church for hundreds of years. The only person with enough courage to speak with the terrifying Griffin is the Minor Canon. The townsfolk are sure that the Griffin will eat their children. Their selfishness and small-mindedness leads them to a life they couldn't have imagined. A great fantasy in a very realistic world!

This is the best book I've ever read.It is great for children as well as for grown ups,who shouldn't forget that they were children once too.

I am a big fan of Oscar Wilde, and this just proves even more how wonderful a writer he is. These stories are for the young and the old. You will laugh and cry. Wilde writes them in such simplicity that they are absolutely wonderful. I personally cried at the end of the story "The Happy Prince" and came very close to doing so for a good number of the other ones. Don't just think that these are sappy kiddy stories though because there is also a great deal of Wilde wit and sarcasm in them. You can't help but smile and laugh. This is really one of those books to share with your friends.

I like this book because there are a few little interesting short stories in it. The fairy tales want to tell us something about social problems. If you read this book it opens your eyes so that you can see that there are these problems in our society too. But the book is also good for little children, because the fairy tales are written in a nice language. They are very pretty,
My favourite story in the book is „The Selfish Giant". Because first the Giant is very selfish and doesn't want the children to play in his garden but afterwards he sees the happiness of the children when they play in his garden and this gives him happiness too. Also the relationship between the little boy and the Giant is great.

I am no expert on Oscar Wilde, but I've been reading fairytales long enough to be able to tell the difference between an enchanting story and a bunch of pap. The nine magically airy yarns in this small collection are definitely in the first category.

"The Happy Prince" and "The Selfish Giant" are perhaps the most famous of the nine. In the first story, the golden statue of a prince weeps for all the suffering people he sees and begs a swallow to strip him of his riches and distribute them to the masses. In the second tale, a giant builds a wall around his beautiful garden to keep out the noisy children, only to find out that he has also locked out the Spring.

"The Young King" is a variation on the theme of "A Happy Prince". When a young monarch learns of the suffering and misery caused by his requirement for a robe, a crown, and a sceptre, he refuses to handle any of these riches and is given a more fitting raiment by a Divine Power. Keeping with the royal theme is "The Star-Child", about a beautiful but horrible young boy whose physical appearance grows to match his ugly spirit. Another little bird appears in "The Nightingale and the Rose", to help a young man win the heart of the woman he loves.

The stories' themes include beauty, tragedy, agony, compassion, innocence, and (Platonic) love. Some characters give their lives, or sell their souls, in the name of love. There are also the same archetypes that appear in dreams: the Divine Child, the Trickster, the Wise Old Man or Woman, the Number 3, and more. Add all this to Wilde's delicate writing and gilded imagination, and you get some of the most original tales ever written.

Though most of these stories end happily, all end tragically. That is to say, even when the endings are happy, someone always dies. Each story manages to associate everything thrilling and exquisite about beauty with the starkness of death. Accordingly, not all of these tales are suitable for children. For example, one scene in "The Fisherman and His Soul" features witches dancing before the devil and the princess in "The Birthday of the Infanta" is a heartless child whose mockery leads to the death of a little dwarf. Though the stories are moral at the core, and often explicitly Christian, they do not always make sense.

Despite the faults, the keening, poignant loveliness shines through, making me want to read each story again and again and again.

This is a good read, but like most books on Hitler it's all pretty much the same.

This book Focuses on the power structure of the nazi party. It doesn't reveal much about personalities or everyday life, but describes the interrelation between the beauracrats, industrialists, land owners, populace, and nazi party members. It is appropriate for anyone interested in political structures and how they are held together. It gives a fascinating look into the accumulation of power into one charismatic leader and the appointed henchmen/disciples who would literrally do anything to please the whims of their demigod, and thus gain more power for themselves, And how this monopolistic and 'anarchic' power structure ultimately led to such a terribly disfunctional outcome.

Ian Kershaw is the premier historian on Hitler and Nazi Germany and this book from the Profiles in Power series is an excellent study on the roots, success, and ultimate destruction of the "Fuehrercult." Two schools of thought are used by historians to understand the power of Nazism. "Intentionalists" see the Nazi regime as the embodiment of Hitler as the totalitarian leader. "Structuralists," however, believe the policies and, ultimately, the crimes of Nazi Germany were stumbled upon by underlings working under a loose framework rather than a deliberate program. As one would expect, Kershaw takes from both these theories to develop his comprehensive profile.

Kershaw examines Hitler's worldview of racial struggle, anti-Semitism, and living space for the German empire--how these ideas developed (Hitler's background) and how Hitler used them to create his leadership image. This Fuehrercult unified a fractional party, helped repress opposition, and created a mass following. Through Hitler's charismatic leadership the German people would be prepared to fight the Nazi fight (inevitably WWII). Kershaw also looks at the feudal-like power relations inside the Third Reich; a regime of open-ended decrees that left no "smoking gun" pointing at Hitler for the Final Solution. Finally, Kershaw examines the destruction of Hitler's power during which the irrational optimism that "Providence" (i.e. Hitler's will) would prevail was still believed by many (particularly the 'court' of Hitler's bunker). I recommend this book especially to advanced history students who want an in-depth examination of Hitler's power in a compact 230-page book. The book includes footnotes, an index, a chapter on further readings, and a chronology of events.

It is not your typical biography of Hitler. It is a thorough examination and analysis of Hitler's rise to power. It examines how he got power, how he maintained power, how he used power, and, finally, how he lost power. Quite an interesting book. Be sure to check out other books in this "Profiles in Power" series.

In the beginning, cats did not purr, but they did get into mischief. Old Mother Holly has a cat and he was one that was constantly getting into trouble. One day, Mother Holly had to go out and she gave Cat a list of tasks to do while she was gone. At the end of the list, she included a very stern "Or Else!" However, Cat being a cat, decided to do things differently. He started doing one thing and it went wrong and then every attempt to fix a problem created a new one. Feathers, water and popcorn were all flying through the house. In a flurry of great effort, Cat barely managed to get it all cleaned up. The last thing he did was pop some stray popcorn into his mouth.
When Mother Holly arrived, she was pleased to see that all was done and she promised Cat a treat. Unfortunately, the popcorn started making noises in Cat's stomach. The noise was a soft one and even though Cat confessed to all his failures, Mother Holly forgot about that as she listened to the soft sound emanating from Cat. She found the noise pleasurable and asked Cat to do it again. After a short time, both Mother Holly and Cat were sound asleep.
There is something very comforting about the purr of a cat; it is certainly part of the reason why humans, especially children, have an instinctive love of cats. This story, an "explanation" of the purr, is one that will delight children and amuse adults.

As I said before, the title of this book was the attraction for me. I actually found the illustrations a little fearful. I personally would have liked to have seen brighter colors used in the illustrations and utilizing the title for a more whimsical tale. That being said, I still purchased several copies of the book and give it as a gift -- especially when one is focusing on the acquisition of a cat as a pet for the little one in the house.

Cat lovers, rejoice! Here's another paean to our favorite feline pet. Schachner's illustrations are hysterical as cat gets into all the mischief anyone can imagine - from tangling in the thread of his mistress's spinning wheel to climbing into the cupboard and creating chaos among the crockery.

Never one to clean up his own messes, cat considers housework and pushing a broom "weary" work (we agree). Nonetheless, in Mother Holly's absence he spills the soup, and while trying to clean up turns the kitchen into a duck pond. He also releases feathers from a quilt, and makes a myriad of messes.

Nonetheless, Mother Holly dotes on her pet, just as we do on ours. Animal lovers have found a kindred soul.

My Grandson, at age 2 years and 9 months picked this out because of the picture on the cover. I thought he wouldn't understand and enjoy it because of the British expressions. Was I ever wrong! He loves it and I love reading it to him. After two days he was playfully using the expression "I'll be in a pickle for sure" and telling his mother he had swallowed some thunder after eating some corn. Now two months later, I was surprised that he has practically memorized the book (the first six pages completely - and there are a lot of words, many of them quite unusual, on those six pages. He often suggests we "tidy up the cottage". Mother Holly is a great help with learning good behavior and, even after all the excitement, he usually goes to sleep when the cat does.

This is a wonderful African tale of a crocodile family and a hunterman. The story allows for children to really evaluate the way that man treats other beings and it teaches a lesson, of humility, graciousness, love and irony. Alot for a little book, huh? I love it and my son loves it!!!

The author is a superb artist. I have been collecting this African artist's one of kind ceramics for a number of years so I was excited to find that he wrote and illustrated a book. My seven year old son loves this book. His first grade teacher read the book in class when they were studying the folk stories of the world. The drawings in the book are worth the price of the book.

I loved this book! One day an author named Baba Wague Diakite came to our school to talk about his book "The Hunterman and the Crocodile." Each classroom got a copy of the book which I read. Soon I discovered that the story was going to be performed as part of the first school play of the year! Even though my class wasn't in it I got to meet Baba-Wague while working on the set since he lives right down the street from my school! And though I had to see it performed four times( because I was asked to do sound) I never got tired of hearing the same same story. I guess seeing "The Hunterman and the Crocodile" come to life gave the meaning of the story even more meaning. I would reccomend this book to anyone of any age.

This is a wonderful children's book. I love it!! We need more authentic authors and illustrators of folk tales from Africa. Where did these drawings come from? They're FABULOUS!!!

Iktomi, The trickster of the Lakota, is up to his old tricks. In his chance meeting with the Prairie Dogs, demonstrates his untrustworthiness by making them up into fine meal. However, Iktomi meets up with Coyote, equally clever and untrustworthy, and finds himself tricked. This is the sixth book of the Itktomi series by Paul Goble. The book is another masterpiece of artwork and storytelling in the grand tradition of Paul's Caldecott award winning work. This book is a must buy for the school library, the storyteller, and parents who wish their children to read and look at a most delightful book. THe Best part of this beautiful artwork and story is that it tells a moral story, set in the old Indian buffalo Days that is as relevant today, as it was back when. Highly recommended for ages 2 through 12, and of course, adults of any age. Dennis West Boca Raton FL.

Iktomi, the trickster of the lakota, is up to his old tricks. In his chance meeting with the prairie dogs, he demonstrates his untrustworthiness by making them up into a fine meal. However, Iktomi meets up with Coyote, equally clever and untrustworthy, and finds himself tricked! This is the sixth book of the Iktomi series by Paul Goble. The book is another masterpiece of artwork and story telling in the grand tradition of Paul Goble's award winning work. This book is a must buy for the school library, the storyteller, and parents who wish their children to read and look at a most delightful book. The best part of this beautiful artwork and story is that it tells a moral story, set in the old Indian Buffalo Days, that is as relevant today as it was back when. Highly recommened for ages 2 through 12, and of course, adults of any age. Dennis West

In a previous misadventure, "Iktomi and the Ducks," the Trickster lost his roast duck dinner to the Coyote who is also clever and untrustworthy. Iktomi is the Trickster's name in Lakota, but in other Native American cultures he is known as Napi, Wihio, Glooscap, Nanabozon, and even Old Man Coyote. Paul Goble tells the story of their rematch in "Iktomi and the Coyote." As Goble points out, in Buffalo Days the stories about Iktomi reflected human nature and the wide range of possibilities from the divine all the way down. However, the stories that are told of Iktomi today represent him primarily in the Trickster role, forgetting that once he was a powerful force for good that helped in creating the land and taught humans how to make fire and gave them other gifts.

Once again Iktomi is about walking along one day on his way to a school to read kids his books, which tell all about his brave deeds and great generosity. But when the prairie dogs start laughing at him, Iktomi decides that nothing would taste better than baked prairie dog. The problem, of course, is to catch them. The fact that the prairie dogs are taking turns being buried up to their necks in the hot ashes of their cooking fire does not dissuade Iktomi from creeping stealthily toward them. As was the case with the ducks the last time around, Iktomi actually seems to succeed in his plan. But then along comes Coyote, looking sick and starved, limping slowly and painfully along on three legs, and you know that things are going to go badly for the Trickster.

Younger children might be upset by the story and some of the illustrations in "Iktomi and the Coyote," because the cute little prairie dogs do not fare well. The sight of the baked prairie dogs in the stomach of the wily Coyote (come on, you knew that particular adjective was coming) might be a bit upsetting, so be forewarned. As with the other stories of Iktomi, Goble provides text in grey italics where readers and listeners can make up their own insults about Iktomi, while the Trickster's thoughts are printed in small type. However, you should ignore those when the story is read aloud and leave it to the young readers to discover when they come back and read this story on their own.

IKtomi and The Coyote, by Paul Goble, new release by Orchard Books. IKTOMI, the trickster of the Lakota, is up to his old tricks. In his chance meeting with the Prairie Dogs, he demonstrates his untrustworthiness by making them up into a fine meal. However, IKTOMI meets up with Coyote, equally clever and untrustworthy, and finds himself tricked! This is the sixth book of the Itktomi series by Paul Goble. The book is another masterpiece of art work and story telling in the grand tradition of Paul Goble's award winning work. This book is a must buy for the school library, the storyteller, and parents who wish their children to read and look at a most delightful book. The best part of this beautiful story and artwork, is that it tells a moral story, set in the old Indian Buffalo days; that is as relevant today as it was back when. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED for ages 2 through 12, and of course, adults of any age. Dennis West redfox@axxsys.net

This textbook is, probably, the best introduction to special relativity in English language.

Professor Rindler presents a skilful introduction to flat spacetime using four-tensors and allowing the neophyte to get leisurely acquainted with the nondefinite metric of Minkowskian spacetime through several worked and insightful examples -- not to mention the most interesting collection of problems, presented at the end of each chapter, that I have encountered in a textbook at this introductory level.

Having said that, I must add two remarks.

My first remark is that I cannot understand the reason why textbooks in English (as this one) insist in deriving the Lorentz transformation using Einstein's second postulate on the speed of light: as already pointed out by Jean-Marc Levy-Leblond (Am. J. Phys., Vol. 44, pp. 271-277, 1976), this second postulate is not only superfluous but also epistemological misleading -- see, e.g., the French textbook by J. Hladik and M. Chrysos (Introduction a la Relativite Restreinte, Dunod, Paris, 2001) which can be bought at Amazon.fr.

My second remark is that I think Hestenes' geometric algebra -- see, e.g., his article in Am. J. Phys., Vol. 71, pp. 691-714, 2003 -- is the most appropriate mathematical tool to present special relativity, even at the undergraduate level. You can check this out in his book "New Foundations for Classical Mechanics" (2nd ed., Kluwer, 1999), namely in Chapter 9.

The special theory of relativity was proposed in 1905 by Albert Einstein in his article "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies". Some three centuries earlier, Galileo's principle of relativity had stated that all uniform motion was relative, and that there was no absolute and well-defined state of rest; a person on the deck of a ship may be at rest in his opinion, but someone observing from the shore would say that he was moving. Einstein's theory combines Galilean relativity with the postulate that all observers will always measure the speed of light to be the same no matter what their state of uniform linear motion is. This theory has a variety of surprising consequences that seem to violate common sense, but which have been verified experimentally and overthrows Newtonian notions of absolute space and time by stating that distance and time depend on the observer, and that time and space are perceived differently, depending on the observer.

This book assumes no prior knowledge of relativity, and I have found it great as a device for self-teaching this fascinating subject. It elaborates on the underlying logic, dwells on the subtleties and apparent paradoxes, and contains a large number of problems which cover all the basic modes of thinking and calculation in this discipline.

The viewpoint of the first three chapters is three-dimensional. These chapters include simple introductions to topics such as the relativity of simultaneity, length contraction, time dilation, the twin paradox, and the appearance of moving objects. Starting in chapter four on spacetime, the strongest possible use is made of four-dimensional techniques. Pure tensor theory is relegated to the appendix, so that it can serve as chapter 3.5 for readers that are unfamiliar with it. In chapters 5 and 6, on mechanics and electromagnetism, a purely synthetic four-tensor approach is adopted. This is simpler and more transparent than the historical approach, a good example of four-dimensional reasoning, and also brings the reader face-to-face with the man-made aspect of physical laws. In the last chapter on the mechanics of continua, the synthetic approach is somewhat softened by the well-known analogy with electromagnetism. I highly recommend this very readable book on a complex subject. It is especially helpful to those with an engineering background, since it makes heavy use of examples and diagrams to explain concepts. The table of contents is as follows:

1. Foundations of Special Relativity
2. Relativistic Kinematics
3. Relativistic Optics
4. Spacetime
5. Relativistic Particle Mechanics
6. Relativity and Electromagnetism in Vacuum
7. Relativistic Mechanics of Continua
Appendix: Tensors for Special Relativity

This is a short, but well written, text on special relativity written at the level of an advanced undergraduate or beginning graduate student. Most discussions of special relativity are either very basic (little more than a discussion of Lorentz transformations and the postulates of relativity) or advanced presentations that are meant as lead-ins to general relativity. This book nicely fills the gap between these two extremes. The mathematical presentation is complete, but this text also contains detailed discussions of basic ideas to explain results with words, not just equations. There are also many useful problems at the end of each chapter. This book contains chapters on the relativistic mechanics of particles, electromagnetism, and the mechanics of fluids, although the fundamental ideas and mathematics are clearly elaborated in the first several chapters. Rindler also describes (and resolves) the Lorentz paradox and the twin paradox at length. This is an outstanding book, and if you are looking to fill the gap between the basics and GR, this is the text you need.

The author has the knack of always saying just exactly the needed words to connect the math with the physics. After reading every line of this book very carefully I can say that at last I understand special relativity.