Don Books

A fact-filled and riviting tribute to the world's most prolific and popular entertainer, bar none. There are dozens of volumes out there on Disney, many of them lavishly illustrated, which this one isn't. But they are not nearly so well written!

This book about Walt Disney has few pictures and they are not in color, which seems odd for a biography of one of the most coloful movie makers of all time. However, even though I was put off by this when I first thumbed through the book, when I actually began reading it my opinion changed. It is one of the very best summaries I've seen of Disney's life and work, and I've read several. It's very well written and sometimes even moving, and it goes into a lot of the background stories about him and his brother, Roy, who was always worried that the company might go broke becauase Walt tended to spend so much money. As the author points out several times, Walt knew that he had to spend a lot of money to get the level of quality that the Disney name has come to stand for. Everybody interested in Walt Disney should definitely read this book.

By Nicki P.

My book is called The Importance of Walt Disney and the author is Don Nardo. Walt Disney was one of the greatest entertainers ever. He was born into a large family in Chicago, and his parents felt there was so much crime and violence there, that they moved to a farm in Missouri. Even though Walt was very poor he loved being on the farm and watching the animals and all the colors. That's when he first started drawing! He drew on toilet paper because he didn't have enough money for paper! I think the conflict was Walt vs. himself because when he had a new idea for cartoon movies and people said it wouldn't be successful he believed it could and had the courage to try.

When we think of Walt Disney's creations we think of Mickey and Minney Mouse, the princesses, Disneyland, the little mermaid, Tweety, Alice and WonderLand, Little Red Riding Hood, Beauty and the Beast and more. When Walt Disney died, his legacy lived on for many generations and even now. Some books make you courageous, exhilarated, sad, happy and so on. This book makes you feel courageous.

The book was exciting to read because before I read this I didn't realize that one man did all this great work. I grew up watching all the Disney movies and cartoons, so I really felt like I was inside the stories. The main conflict wasn't like in a big adventure or mystery story. It was a story of a man striving and dedicated to succeed his dream. The character of the book was a real life person and the make-believe characters seemed real too. At first when I read the ending I was disappointed that he died at age 65. But then when I read more I realized his life was so successful and his brother, Roy, continued to make more of Walt's dreams come true.

I felt like the author was like a brother to Walt. He really understood everything about this man. He wasn't real technical about how cartoons and movies are made but instead he described how Walt wanted all the characters to appeal to the children with upbeat characters. I thought there were a lot of challenging words like formidable, integral, propaganda. I thought the author was really descriptive. For instance, when he describes the most famous cartoon character Mickey Mouse was born "with a long skinny tail and short pants decorated with large buttons." Don Nardo the author paid a lot of attention to detail and included frequent pictures and actual photos.

My rating system is a 1-10, and I give the book a ten because I loved reading about a man who created all the movies and TV I've been watching all my life. I've been to Disney World, which was a place that Disney made sure all the people were clean cut American, happy friendly people.
I recommend this to anyone that doesn't believe that his or her dreams can come true. If they read this they would see how a poor man could accomplish a dream through courage and hard work.

If I were ever to be inspired by a person, Walt Disney would inspire me. He always believed in himself and tried to put himself out there and follow his heart even if people came down on him. Even when he was poor or when he became rich he always worked so hard to accomplish his goals. He believed in happy endings and his stories didn't have violence like most of today's movies.

I chose this subject because most non-fiction books are boring and this man told you an interesting story about someone's life. Most people wouldn't go as far as Walt Disney to fulfill their dream wouldn't. Even thought his family wanted him to work and not draw, he drew on toilet paper secretly in his free time. He was determined to do what he loved to do, draw.

Before I read this book, I learned about his cartoons in 5th grade and what they represented. Before that I knew many of the movies he made and watched many too.

Ten things I've learned from this book are:
-- Walt Disney died from smoking before Disney World was completed.
-- Walt Disney's brother promised him that he would finish the park.
-- Walt Disney was inspired of drawing by things around the farm like animals.
-- Walt Disney created more than 10 cartoons.
-- Walt Disney was born into a large family.
-- He died at age 65.
-- He created the first colorful movie.
-- They put their cartoons on TV, so people started buying TV's.
-- He created Epcot Center.
-- Walt was really poor when he was little.

This book told his life from when he was born to when he died. There were frequent photos that actually are pictures of him in his life. The book always had a new title and it told you it was a new subject.

I loved the book because things happened in the book that usually wouldn't happen like he created a park years and years ago that is still open now. That is really interesting.

I didn't like that Walt Disney died so early. I think he should have seen the park when it was finished.

I've been trying to think of unique ways to describe this graphic novel without using "visually stunning" and "breathtakingly beautiful," but I can't do it. Every panel is a work of art. The scenes where the lava meets the ocean are perfect. It's just ink on a page, but Wood captures the light, the hiss, and the heat. The graphic novel not only stands up to artistic scrutiny, but also has a gripping story.

It's a mystery, adventure that appeals to a younger audience, but I found myself engrossed. Brothers, Sumo and Duffy, are pulled out of class unexpectedly by their father to be shipped off to an island with a mysterious cousin they've never met. The whole enterprise is shady, and when the boys meet Auntie, it gets even more suspicious. The book twists and turns, so the reader is never quite sure who's good and who's bad. The boys have to do some self-reflection.

Wood's artistic portrayals of the characters captivated me. I was shaken by overweight Auntie with her greenish-pink skin and broken foot. I immediately knew something wasn't quite right with her. You can almost smell her. The boys have a pugish Hawaiian look, which made me not fall for them right away. That's a good thing. Most books aimed at younger audiences try to win the reader over to the protagonist's side with sentimentality too soon. Wood's style and scope gives the book a cinematic depth that I have rarely seen in graphic novels. One panel you're in the boat with the characters, waves pounding; the next you have a bird's eye view. It sets a fast adventure pace that young readers will love.

Overall, I'll be shocked if Into The Volcano doesn't win some awards.

Wow. Don Wood's Into the Volcano is one powerhouse of a graphic novel that you won't want to miss. In fact, as far as missing goes, I almost missed my bus stop so engrossed was I in this totally wild adventure in and under and around an erupting volcano. The word gripping is completely apt for this (here comes another trite but accurate word) roller coaster of a read. Wood grabs you on the first page as brothers Duffy and Sumo are called out of their classroom to meet their father who immediately turns them over to a cousin they have never met before, the burly Come-And-Go. Before any of us can take a breath, the two boys (who appear to be between 8 and 12 years of age) are flying off to their just-learned-about mother's home island of Kocalaha. Once there they and we are thrown into an extraordinary adventure involving questionable people (are they good or bad?), an erupting volcano, secrets (of every sort), life and death circumstances, heart-stopping moments (many of them!), and family ties. A truly brilliant work.

Look, I hate to burst your bubble but not every picture book illustrator born is necessarily cut out to write his or her own graphic novel. It's an entirely different set of muscles, after all. Melding text and image well enough to sustain a story means having a firm grasp of what does and does not work as a comic. So I know you might have gotten all excited when you heard that Don Wood had written a graphic novel, but don't be happy because a great Caldecott-winning illustrator has dipped his toe in a new format. Be happy because the man is good at it. Crazy good. He may have amused you with King Bidgood's in the Bathtub or entertained your children with his The Napping House but sister you ain't seen anything like to compare to his breathtakingly beautiful Into the Volcano. The past ten years have seen incredible strides in graphic novels for children. Into the Volcano appears to be the next logical step in the process. A full-color adventure with double crosses, death-defying escapes, and personal growth, it has no equal.

The Pugg brothers Duffy and Sumno are just sitting in their classroom in the dead of winter one moment and the next they're being whisked off to the island nation of Kocalaha. It seems their Aunt Lulu has been longing for a visit from her nephews and Duffy, for one, is thrilled. Sumo's far more reticent and likely to complain, a quality that doesn't serve a person well in Kocalaha. Soon they meet their cousin Mister Come-and-Go who disappears and reappears without a warning. They meet the beautiful Pulina, her boyfriend Kaleo, and Mango Joe, a fellow in the witness protection program. But not all is right on this beautiful island. Why won't Auntie let the boys talk to their dad on the phone? Why is everyone so gung-ho certain that the boys should go on this "expedition" that they're told is done for all the tourists but seems to mask a sinister plan. Before Duffy and Sumno know it they're dodging lava streams and spelunking in dangerous territory. But in a world where no one is what they seem, people of seeming weakness can find the strength to do what must be done.

I've been saying for a while that at some point an artist is going to create a graphic novel so visually stunning that the American Library Association will either have to start handing Caldecott Medals over to comic books or create an entirely new award for them. We've come close in the past. Mouse Guard was beautiful, but the story didn't hold up its end of the bargain. The Arrival would have been ideal, but the book wasn't originally published in America. Into the Volcano, though... now here's a title with potential. The entire enterprise is so lush you find yourself just poring over the images for long periods of time. Honestly, I could see a real push put to have this considered as the very first graphic novel worthy of a major children's award. Yet in many ways, it may come down to the way in which it was drawn. According to Scholastic's press material, Mr. Wood drew AND colored this entire enterprise on the computer. No fully computer created children's book has ever won a Caldecott, and perhaps none ever will. If there was a candidate, however, this would be it.

At the beginning I found Wood's boy heroes off-putting. With their snub noses and blunt faces, they resemble nothing so much as a pair of kids that could have jumped out of a Maurice Sendak book. Maybe We Are All in the Dumps with Jack and Guy. Wood utilizes the grotesque in a variety of ways. Sumno is a dislikeable character in a lot of ways so the book makes him the more unattractive of the two, both personally and physically. Aunt Lulu's sheer mass, weight, and injured foot will focus on her entirely one moment and then close in on her long grotesque toenails. Yet everything that I initially found off-putting in this book eventually grew on me. My resistance must have fallen apart entirely when I got to Chapter Seven: Lava in the Water. Trust me.

It takes skill to build the kind of excitement and tension Wood conjures up here. I wish I could get a sense of what comics Mr. Wood looked at before writing Into the Volcano. He's said in the past that he's a Carl Barks fan, but that doesn't explain what I see here. How did he learn to draw these action sequences? Who were his other influences? His references? Because when push comes to shove and people are fighting nature (lava, earthquakes, tides, and waves) you can't help but be sucked in. Reading Into the Volcano you have no sense that this is the man's first book of this kind. Clearly there are years and years of work in this pup. The biography in the back says five. It shows.

And take a close look at Wood's style here too. The sheer range of artistic styles and impressions... I mean this man has scope. There's a weight and a breadth to his art that we just haven't seen in graphic novels for young readers before. And just look at his ability to play with light and textures. As one of a million examples, take a close look at the sequences where the small boat is trying to navigate the rapids past streams of hot lava. Wood has managed to draw or illustrate the effect of hot orange light beneath water and steam. Now look at Aunt Lulu in all her full fleshy glory. You can practically feel her sweat and smell her moist possibly perfumed body. I mean this woman has a physical presence that seems to extend beyond the page. And look at how he changes angles in his panels. We're constantly looking at each scene from every possible viewpoint. It's as if Wood had a camera and he's using it to swing around his action, now below in the water, now up above.

I should probably talk about the story too, eh? Certainly Into the Volcano hits on all cylinders in terms of visuals but how does the writing itself stand up? Well, it's complicated. The story concerns the boys Sumo and Duffy and we watch as Duffy accepts and enjoys everything new while Sumo cowers and questions. For much of the first half Duffy is clearly the stronger, braver kid but as time goes on Sumo's suspicions appear to be well founded. Some younger kids may have a hard time figuring out who's a good guy and who's a bad guy from moment to moment. Sometimes you think you're rooting for the heroes and the next minute they appear to be villains. The plot requires a close reading, but it holds up (particularly on subsequent re-readings, which is crucial). In a way, this title is perfectly positioned to appeal to younger kids in terms of its danger and heroes and to older kids who need a complex story to bite into.

I'm the kind of person who wants to label everything. To slot every book into a neat little category, even if I didn't know the category existed before I read the book. For example, name me the greatest children's book out there about volcanoes. They exist. I know they do. But until now I've not seen or read a book that really worked factual information with a breakneck plot as seamlessly as Into the Volcano. And more to the point, I've never seen a graphic novel written with a child audience in mind that was as out-and-out beautiful and gripping as this puppy here. Read it cover to cover and you will find a title like no other that is sure to make a few waves when it hits bookstore and library shelves. A true original.

I strongly recommend this book to you because the advice it gives is at the cutting edge of the "inventing industry" in 2008.

Don is an expert in many areas of the process, especially dealing with patent infringers! He is also a great source in formulating and determining potential product value while you are still in the idea stage, and this skill is absolutely essential if you are going to move from idea to financially successful product quickly and with as little wasted $$ as possible.

I have been inventing for almost 20 years so I assumed that I would skim the chapters quickly, but instead I found myself reading every paragraph for fear of missing one of Don's valuable points slipped inside his stories. If you are serious about inventing for profit, you will benefit greatly from this book!

Simply a lovely book. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. I'm not aware of another book similar to it. If you want to start a small business and you don't want to have to compete directly with others for customers or clients, then invent a hot ticket item that you either license or build a business around. The author did just that and now he tells his story and shares his knowledge about what he did.

There are five chapters in this book:

1. The opportunity of invention
2. Steps to inventing your riches
3. Marketing your product
4. Steering clear of invention scams
5. Golden rules for riches

Interspersed throughout the book are "16 secrets," many of which are not unique to inventing or patenting. Instead they related to starting small businesses in general. The General Rules as I call them were:

1. Invent a perfect product
5. Invent a consumable product
6. Never give up!
8. Focus on selling, not suing
10. The price must be right
11. Control your costs
13. Packaging makes all the difference
14. The perfect name is almost a lie
15. Use the right sales and marketing channels

I really did not have a favorite part of the book. Reading this book will no doubt increase your odds at being a successful inventor. It will help you make a money-making product from an idea. It will tell you how to protect your idea. It will educate you some on intellectual property, lawyers, and more. It will help you decide if licensing is the way to go. Or whether you should start a small business around your new product. 5 stars!

This was an excellent book about the order in which you should go about bringing your invention to market. The ratios are especially important when considering whether your invention can be made economically enough to make $$. Pay particular attention to the section on scam inventor help companies out there. They will take your money. do a google search on them.

Art H.
San Diego

I'm glad to see a book like this available for teens, because it's never too early to teach Americans that they have the power to resist. For most my life I felt powerless, but my feelings changed in 2007 when ordinary folks like myself used letters, e-mails and phone calls to stop the all-powerful federal government from giving amnesty to 12,000,000 illegal aliens. So I recommend all teens read this book and learn how to legally fight the government and protect their rights; because if you won't fight for them, the politicians will cheerfully take them away.

In a world filled with fear and uncertainty, teens need to get involved in stopping the violence, fear and global destruction. This wonderful book allows teens to get involved in saving their world step by step in a good, non-violent way.

"We can change the world,
Rearrange the world,
It's dying--
To get better."
--Graham Nash, "Chicago"

"Every year in America, more than four million companion animals are needlessly put to death in shelters."

"A full-time working woman [in America] earns only seventy-three cents for every dollar earned by a man."

"On average, an American high school student hears twenty-five anti-gay remarks every day."

Don't like something that's going on? Then change it!

I was joyed to help ferry our budding tenth grade activist and a group of her peers out to the rugged ocean coast recently to take part in a Clean Up Day. There is nothing as a parent that I'd like more than to see my kids grow up to be people who are trying to make this place better. Katie is now the same age I was when I participated in a high school clean up project on the first Earth Day.

And I was living back there on the East coast when, on a summer Southampton morning in 1976, I wandered into Neil's house. Arthur was already there, and our favorite radio station, WPKN, was cranked up on the stereo. But when I walked in that morning, Arthur was all teary-eyed as he began blubbering over and over to me, "They just can't do that! They just can't do that!"

It took twenty minutes of listening to 'PKN before they repeated the announcement that had unhinged my friend: The Board of Trustees of the University of Bridgeport had decided to take active control of "our" radio station and turn it into an NPR affiliate.

Because I was (am, and forever shall remain) an activist/troublemaker/pain-in-the-butt, I told Arthur that he needed to immediately write letters in protest. And to this day I still cannot understand the response by Arthur which was to do absolutely nothing but moan and mourn. No matter what I said, I could not get him to write even one simple letter.

But I did.

I wrote to Congressman Otis Pike and told him that WPKN was a unique and vital source of alternative news and commentary for his constituents, and that the source was about to be silenced.

A few days later the announcements of the impending change at the station ceased without fanfare or explanation. I then received a written response from Congressman Pike which included a copy of the letter sent to him by the head of the FCC who, at the Congressman's request, had inquired of the University what was going on with the radio station and was told that, oh no, nothing was going on.

A year later, as an antinuclear activist, I had the opportunity to visit the WPKN studio to speak on the air about solar energy and conservation technologies. I brought along the letters that Congressman Pike had sent me, and was treated like a prince by the station manager when he saw that letter. He told me that he had never learned why the Trustees had abandoned their plans as abruptly as they had adopted them.

And thus I learned that one young person can make all the difference.

"Right now in the United States, twenty-six percent of the population is under eighteen. That's more than seventy million people. Imagine what it would be like if you and everyone around you got to tell the world what you think. Don't wait until you're old enough to vote to take action. Starting today, starting right now, you can make your voice heard on the issues that matter to you."

IT'S YOUR WORLD--IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT, CHANGE IT is both a blueprint for creating massive numbers of teen pains-in-the-butt and a resource manual that provides the information teens need to go out and change the world. The book is compiled in a teen-friendly format with dozens of success stories penned by teen activists set on the outside edge of the right hand pages, side by side with the nuts and bolts (and websites) that provide the necessary tools for kids to instigate their own changes at their homes, in their schools, and out in the real world.

The book is divided into sections on Helping Animals, Fighting Racism, Saving the Environment, Ending War, Fighting the Spread of HIV/AIDS, Stopping School Violence and Bullying, Defending Women's Rights, Protecting Civil Rights and Civil Liberty, and Promoting Tolerance Toward Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning Youth. There are annotated book lists, organization lists, and piles of ideas that can be utilized immediately.

I don't expect that a large percentage of the book's young readers will grow up to be the nutjob that I've long become: A long-haired fanatic who'd happily tell preschoolers why he didn't eat "dead, chopped up animals," who always conned his own kids into choosing subjects like Ruby Bridges, Gandhi, and Rachel Carson when they had to do a report for school, who still stands his ground on drying clothes on a line in the sun and refuses to own a dryer, who has stood with a sign on a hundred street corners actively and vocally supporting peace, Project Billboard, alternative energy, gay marriage, Choice, gun control, affirmative action, school libraries, No Name Calling, a Skateboard Park for our community's kids, and probably has a decades-long FBI file to prove it all. (The book tells you how to obtain a copy of that file through the Freedom of Information Act. Yes, I'll be submitting my request shortly.)

IT'S YOUR WORLD--IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT, CHANGE IT, ACTIVISM FOR TEENAGERS will be music to the ears of teens who are disturbed about the state of affairs that confront them in their lives, and are under the mistaken impression that there is nothing they can do about it. And since "Being a Teen" is more often than not synonymous with "Being Disturbed," this book theoretically has quite a large potential audience.

I liked the book, and enjoyed reading it. It is one of those books that grabs you quickly and you don't want to put it down. You're always wanting to know...and then what happens. And along the way, the author made some really good points. I commend Mr. Hall.

An inspiring story, that looks at God, the Universe, and Everything, from an a-typical perspective. The book is warm, funny, sad and happy at once, and makes me appreciate the wonder of it all!

Don Hall has, in a gentle and humorous manner, has gone to the root of how traditional religious views as well as contemporary "new age" religions have missed the mark in uplifting the human spirit. His take on how we all can address these shortcomings is direct and logical, yet still quite spiritual. Bravo!

You'll treasure this book for the truly outstanding and plentiful full-page photos of Bass and lures. No other Bass book like it in that respect. Makes a special gift for any occasion. Any level of bass fisherman,from beginner to expert, will be glad to receive this book as a gift.

Largemouth Bass by Don Oster is a book that tells it as you'll find it when you go after bass. This book provides information about where to find, what to use, how to use, and when to use. There are dozens of excellent photographs illustrating all the aspects of bass fishing. If you have never fished for bass or you are a veteran angler this book will get you started or validate your fishing knowledge and skill. As a practiced bass angler for three years I found this book contained excellent information that is easy to understand and use.

This book has good information and is very to the point. It is a very fast read with thorough and accurate information. There are no fish stories or anecdotal tales (which I liked). The photographs are spectacular. The photos alone are worth the price of the book.

Extremely well reserached and briskly written, this book provides both young people and general adult readers with an outstanding general overview of ancient Athenian society, culture, arts, religious festivals, athletics, warfare, and plenty more. Also, the author has done a fine job of selecting and editing primary and secondary source quotes that enliven the text while making it that much more authoritative. The large glossary and even larger bibliography are an added bonus in this excellent entry, which I highly recommend.

I really got a lot out of this little book, even though its written for kids. Stuff about the ancient world fascinates me, and this historian, Don Nardo, really knows how to explain things clearly and simply at the same time includes tons of interesting details. I recommend the book to everybody who like to read about ancient societies.

As a high school history teacher, I appreciate studies of ancient times that manage to cover the subject in appropriate detail and at the same time hold the reader's interest, particularly younger readers, who can be and often are turned off at the idea of studying about anything that happened before they were born. This volume, one of a recent series of studies of ancient Greece and Rome for young people by historian Don Nardo, perfectly blends factual, accurate information about ancient Athenian society with an easy-to-read, often lively writing style. The first chapter presents an excellent summary of the city and its people in the Bronze Age. Subsequent chapters cover Athens' growth over the centuries, the establishment of its political institutions, its homelife and social life, the role and status of women, religious beliefs and customs (with a riveting description of the yearly festival and sacrifices dedicated to the goddess Athena), athletic games, art and sculpture, and warfare. This is non-scholarly historical writing at its best and I recommend it highly to both history teachers and casual readers.

After reading, I IMMEDIATELY replaced our shag carpet (p. 131) and purchased Ellie a more slimming collar (p.126).

Seriously, though, this book is HYSTERICAL! I howled all the way through! A GREAT read -- and stocking stuffer -- for anyone who has ever owned dog... or plans to.

Sit down, relax, and enjoy! You'll be glad you did.

This book is for the dog lover in each of us. I've been a dog owner for most of my 33 years, and I've yet to find a book about animals that has made me laugh as much as this book by Anthony Rubino. I have every book written by this brilliant comic author. The book makes a great gift for the dog lover on your holiday gift list; however, be sure to buy one for your own coffee table. I guarantee that all of your guests will pick it up and chuckle at the various musings on life as a dog!

Anthony Rubino is a unique humor talent. His insight is so keen in this book, that you may think (as I do) that Mr. Rubino has spent some time inside a furry body. This book made me laugh uncontrollably. It is a must have for all dog lovers.

The Story of the Buchan Bakers is much more than about a Seattle industrial basketball team that rose to the top of its game during a time when amateur basketball was king. The authors skillfully tell the story of the Bakers within the context of the time; the integration of African-American players, the Cold War goodwill trip to Eastern Europe, and the emergence of the professional game. This is a good read for any student of the history of basketball. The book captures a glimpse of a piece of sports history that would have otherwise been forgotten, a time that seems markedly innocent compared to the what the business of basketball has become today.

Longshot, a book about Seattle's amateur basketball team in the 1950's that brought home the city's first national championship, comes on like a full court press.

Well written and researched, Longshot, is about a group of athletes who worked for and were sponsored by a local bakery, and who played against teams underwritten by national corporations in a time before professional basketball caught on. In 1956, the Buchan Bakers walloped the local competition went to Denver to play other regional winners and on to beat the highly favored Phillips Petroleum team in a two point squeaker of a back and forth game that wasn't decided until the final buzzer, bringing home the national crown to Seattle.

Every local history buff and all sport's enthusiasts will find Longshot a welcome and enjoyable read.

Incredibly well written and highly entertaining anecdotal history of mid-twentieth century basketball. Proof that David and Goliath stories really happen as a small baking company defeats both the Soviet national team and Phillips Petroleum Oilers to win the national AAU title.

Kept my kids happy reading for hours!!! My husband and I enjoy reading these comics too!!

Lookit is an absolute scream. Founded in the 16th century by monks of the order of HKS, an arcane group based on acronyms. And now, it's a cartoon by Ray Friesen! Available as both a continuing online strip and a continuing book series, RQW focuses on these elements most essential to the human psyche: ACTION. HUMOR. PENGUINS. Raymond Q. Wonderfull, Fidget and Mellville the penguin are always up for adventure. In a world populated by spies, vikings, chicken related gift shops and owls bent on world domination, it's not hard to find. for more info, visit www.donteatanybugs.com

Ray Friesen began publishing a series of humor comics at the age of 13. Now he's 17 and through his own comic book company, Don't Eat Any Bugs Productions, has issued the second volume of Lookit!, populated with characters like Mellville the Penguin, Raymond Q. Wonderful, and Raymond's girl cousin, Fidget. Clearly documenting Ray Friesen as a comic book writer/artist of considerable talent and originality, Lookit! is great and recommended fun from the first page to the last.