Lost Cities Books

This book helped open my eyes to what children go through in Foster Care. It helped me to relize that you can't judge a book by its cover. That the struggle for acceptance,love acknowledgement or to be recognized can consume & overwhelm a child...to even the point of doing something you know in you heart is wrong. This book makes me want to work hard, so I can buy a big house, Just so I can provide enough love and support and room for not only my three children, but for those children in need of a place to call home & to know that they have someone who care about them.

This is a story about a young boy who gets abused and treated unfairly. He doesn't have any clothes besides the ones he caries in a brown paper bag. He runs away from the world he hates. He has no home to go to, then he finds hope. To find out more information about this book find it and venture into it.

In my opinion this book was excellent and amazing.Why? Because it made me cry on the first page, some parts I felt like going in the book, because the suspense never ends. I would recommend it to those who love to read soppy, exciting books that are true.

This book, along with another came in on time and for a great price. I Love this book.. I am now waiting to read the two books left that tells the rest of Dave's Story. There are 4 all together!

This book will open your eyes to child abuse. You will forever remember and reflect on what you have read. We all have a need to be loved.

this is a good book! i love it when dave sees that kid and the kid says what you call my sister? then dave says a horror? then the kid punches dave, makes his nose bleed, and says don't you ever, ever, call my sister a whore again! read it if you liek dave pelzer as much as me!

I won't be able to put an in-depth review since I read the book a while back and am on book 7 right now so my head is swimming with information from all the books.

The second book in the Pendragon series throws the reader back into the territories of Halla. As we last read, Bobby had gotten back to Second Earth to realize that his life there was over. When Loor and Press come to drive him away back to another territory, he once again leaves behind Courtney Chetwynde and Mark Dimond, the two who he had been sending the journals to.

This book has an even more enthralling storyline as you meet yet another traveler, Spader, a young guy from a territory completely underwater. You grow to like him and his "people-person" attitude.

This book continues to show Saint Dane's power, and just what happens in the beginning (I don't want to spoil anything, but it has to do with two floating cities) has a very eerie feeling to it.

This is a must have, as it connects the characters further along in the book and helps make way for book three.

I love this book for multiple reasons.
The first, I think, is because of one of the side characters, Spader. He's so dreamy!!! I love him soooo much!
The second is because the plot is just so fascinating. The idea that a world could exist that is completely on water is just so cool.
The third is because of Saint Dane, the evil dude trying to take over Halla(all existence, all times, all places, and all creatures, great or small). He's such an evil person I just could hit him. ARRGGG!
The fourth reason is because of Bobby. I think he's one of the funniest characters I've ever read about(yes, I'm saying he even tops Ron Weasley in Harry Potter!).
I love this second installment so much!
You should definitely surrender to your craving!! Way to go DJ!

I loved this book, it is fun and creative. I didn't want to put it down. This series is fun for all ages.

Before I begin, let me say that I'm an adult (to give this review some context).

I read "The Merchant of Death" (Pendragon #1) a couple of weeks before ordering this book. I enjoyed "Merchant". I thought it was inventive and unusual, and it certainly addresses issues that young adults face. I'm sure kids enjoy reading books where their peers are heroes.

This book is even better. I say that for two reasons. The setting of the first book is quite grim. That was appropriate for the story it told, but it was kind of a downer, reading about those people being exploited. This book's setting is incredible - a world covered entirely by water where humans live on floating, barge-like habitats. I love water, and if I could somehow visit that world, I would do so in a heartbeat.

The other reason I like this book better is that the new Traveler we meet is incredibly endearing. I like Loor. She's a great person to have at your side. However, the Traveler we meet in this story is very funny, and that makes this book a lighter read (in tone) than the first one. He's also flawed, though, which makes things interesting. I relate to him better than I relate to Loor. (Does she have a flaw? I don't think I've spotted it yet.)

Overall, I recommend this book with a big smile on my face. It's a good ride, the characters are endearing, the setting incredible, the themes well developed, and it leaves you wanting more.

See you at Grolo's! Last one there buys the Sniggers!

Pendragon by D.J mathhale is a great book that I would recommend to kids of all ages. It starts with a 10 year old kid playing with his mom in their back yard and the kid misses the ball and he runs after it and he comes back and his mom is GONE. Then he finds out that his mom is the world`s best DRAGON RIDER!! He hears a very loud roar and it was his mom's old pet dragon and it was his now and he takes a better look at it and it was the biggest red dragon the world has ever seen. So the very tall lizard tells him that his mom has been kidnapped by a very powerful human bean and they set of to TRY and save his mom. How I can describe Jack he is a very smart tech genius he just finds out he is the ONE. Well what he thinks the one means that he can Dodge bullets like a movie he saw. He finds that the dragons name is Alroce and the dragon is the last well only one of the red dragons left. And so Jack can fight this very powerful wizard so he starts training with his pet dragon.I would this book to anyone that likes dragons action and very intence sword fighting Pendragon is a great book that I would recamend to kids of all ages.

As a fan of John Hemming's The Conquest of Incas I was dubious that Kim MacQuarrie's work could begin to approach the level of Hemming's classic. Notwithstanding, I opened The Last Days of the Incas hoping I might glean an interesting insight or two. MacQuarrie's work quickly sent me shooting the rapids of Inca history. It is a breathtaking ride into the rich fabric of past events that make Peru such an enchanting venue today. Read this book and experience the sights, sounds and colors of Incas and Spaniards colliding on the stage that is Peru. Take the trip and you may be as pleasantly surprised as I was. I suspect that even John Hemming would enjoy the show.

I love this book!! could not put it down,it went everywhere i go,well written(i kept my dictionary close by)love the language,the playing with words,how the author made the characters come alive and made u feel like you were a part of the struggle,i went through different emotions reading this book and had to remind myself that this is modern time and what in the past is in the past.Now i am in the research phase buying products from amazon,and investigation how i can visit.
I raise my hat to you Kim,well done.
Montgomery Croker

MacQuarrie is a great story teller, and he pulls you right in.

He makes these historical events read like a novel. Part of the appeal is his presentation of Manco Inca and the Pizarro brothers. The author helps you understand the characters and once you do, you become absorbed in their times and troubles. Even the battle scenes, from which I normally cringe, are compellingly written. The contrasts in technology, religion, customs and values of the Spanish and Inca culture are marvelously described.

The "Last Days" parts stand in contrast to the beginning and the ending which are about the exploration of the areas and the re-discovery of the sites. While these are interesting tales, they pale before the story, which MacQuarrie tells so well, of the last days of the Incas.

I do not have much to add to what previous reviewers have said. I loved this book for its colloquial style and flowing narrative. The author did a great job detailing the life and deeds of Manco Inca, though, somewhat anti-climatically, he cut short the account of Gonzalo Pizzarro's (a major arch-villain) defeat and death. I personally recommend reading this book AFTER reading Prescott's account, in that it elucidates and magnifies the interwoven sories that make up this tragedy.
P.S. I STILL do not understand how could the Spanish have survived if 50,000 warriors would have just rushed them (rushing like a crowd in a burning movie theater) or thrown SIMULTANEOUSLY stones and javelins at them. I just don't get it.......

12 years ago, motivated by a pictorial in National Geographic, I traveled to distant Peru. It was a fascinating journey, but after reading this book, I wished that I had it before I went (impossible, of course). I took it as a reverse travelogue, making sense of the places I had gone to and where they figured into the historical and exploratory narrative.

This book reads like a novel. In fact, I'd be surprised if it isn't ultimately converted into an HBO mini-series or the like. Interesting characters, from the puppet-turned-rebel Manco Inca, to the brash and vindicative Hernando Pizzaro, fill these pages and make them come to life. Revealed is an extra-ordinary account of the amazing conquest of a large and prosperous Empire by a small band of greedy Spanish outcasts.

Written in lucid prose, with numerous quotes, from Incas, Spaniards, and even outside philosophers, Kim MacQuarries does an excellent job of reaching out to the reader and creating a fascinating historical account. Well organized, the book even concludes with a complete description of the archeological work of the modern period associated with the recounted events and makes those almost as fascinating as the events themselves.

I couldn't recommend this book more highly.

We thing Spike In The City is a very good book for kids because all kids like adventures and this book is one big one. Ms. Bogan put a lot of detail in to this book and she put a lot of time into her pictures. Spike In The City is written so well that it makes you want to read on and on. So, check out your local library and read this and the rest of the series.

I love the pictures because they are so beautiful and I like the writings because they are easy for me to read. It is so much fun to
read.

Spike in The City is just plain fun to look at and fun to read. This story is perfect for its intended audience, children. The illustrations are as vibrant and fun as in all the Spike books. The little goofy dog gone to the big city is a perfect fit in the Spike series.

Spike is at it again! My kids love this book from Paulette Bogan. At the turn of every page, they are delighted with the colorful illustrations and laugh at the expressions from their favorite dog, Spike! We hope he keeps on going on new adventures to entertain us!

Spike In The City is a blast both for the adult and the little one listening (or reading) with you. We take it off the book shelf often and laugh and laugh about how life in the city must be or we reminisce about our own experiences in the big city. How many times have you been splashed by someone who doesn't even notice or step in disgusting gum left there by someone who didn't even care? Then, you discover that the city is actually a pretty neat place, a great place to meet new friends and do some of the same things you might just do at home.

My sons get a kick out of the hilarious illustrations and my little one learned to read with it. How much fun is to make a huge growling sound when you are 5 years old? Nothing beats that.

This has been one of the most engaging works of fiction I've read recently. Beginning with a made-up country and a fictitious civil war, in simple language Alarcon takes us through what feel like real dilemmas of people involved in a time of crumbling government and rural flight. But beyond this, the story is intriguing - a radio host, a hidden history, a mysterious boy. Enough to drive the story. Unlike many other books read recenly this doesn't just start well - it keeps the momentum going through the end of the book.

I was astonished by this novel. I thought it started off a bit slow, I thought the main characters Norma and Rey a bit dull at first, and some of the main plot twists were foreseeable. But even if the main characters didn't enthrall at first, many of the secondary ones did. Adela, Trini, Rey`s father and even the ambiguous Zahir and Manau are touchingly rendered. For me, the book really started to pick up during the first full chapter in "1797" - the jungle village were key events involving Adela and and her son Victor happen. But towards the final chapters the tension builds and even Norma and Rey grow in humanity: the last chapter in particular is devastating. The at times semi journalistic style with which the wartime events are described is also very effective.

All in all, this was a fantastic book. I look forward to more by Alarcon. Readers who enjoyed this book are encouraged to try Nathan Englander's "The Ministry of Special Cases" - an equally engaging, impecabbly written and emotionally gripping novel set in somewhat similar context of Latin American political instability.

Daniel Alarcon's debut novel chronicles the lives of three people -- Rey, Norma and Victor -- in an unnamed country, probably Peru, where Alarcon was born, during the monstrous 10-year civil war in the 1980s. Norma works at a radio station where she hosts the program "Lost City Radio," which lists the names of people lost in the brutal conflict. Rey is her husband who goes missing when the police nab him for not carrying ID. Victor is a street urchin who gives a list of the missing to Norma. Alarcon's prose is very well written, terse and visionary. The chronology of the novel is nonlinear, which makes it difficult, at times, to follow what happens and when. And since the name of the country and time period are not given, the historical context of the story cannot be provided. Of course, if this novel is meant to be applicable to all such conflicts throughout the world, who needs a context? However, I wanted one, though this is not necessarily a failing in the novel. Altogether, it was refreshing reading an American novel(Alarcon was raised in Alabama and graduated from Columbia University) with little or no figures of speech, slang or cliches. The best praise I can give the novel is that it could be considered "literature." Look for more material from this very talented young man!

This is a very good book, is easy to read and catches your interest as soon as you start reading so that you cannot stop! I had to read it in a couple of days cause I needed to know what came next in the plot...
When you have lived in Peru during those years, you get the feeling of this story, it has also used an actual radio program as a model but the mastership of the author is to join all those stories and create a new one that have a little bit of multiple stories but is in itself different but very nice. I highly recommend it.

Set in an unspecified South American country, "a nation at the edge of the world, a make-believe country outside history", people are still reeling after ten years of war between the government and guerillas, their spirits broken by incessant violence, legions of the disappeared unaccounted for. In one small place of hope, the Indians in the mountains and the poor of the barrio listen with rapt attention to Lost City Radio. The voice of consolation to her devastated listeners, Norma reads lists, the endless names of the missing, hopeful that some may be reunited with their families. But in the last year of the long absence of her husband, Rey, one of the missing, Norma's advancing grief and impending hopelessness has grown burdensome, the expectations of the audience weighing on her every waking moment.

Hugely popular, Lost City Radio flourishes in spite of a repressive government, spies everywhere, questions rebuffed by officials who allow no independence of thought. The prisons are filled with the captured insurrectionists, their leaders all but buried in the smothering confines of underground cells. Norma hopes to find Rey in one of these prisons, but it is impossible to discern him in a sea of gaunt, determined faces. Other than his profession as an ethnobiologist, Norma has no idea of Rey's other interests, his life carefully compartmentalized. They met under romantic, mysterious conditions, Rey hinting at a more obscure identity. By the time they are married, Norma accepts her husband's eccentricities; but when he fails to return from the jungle village 1797 (names have been replaced by numbers), Norma has no way to track his activities or learn of his fate.

Then one day, ten years after the end of the war, his teacher delivers a young boy to the radio station, eleven-year-old Vincent from village 1787, perhaps a key to Rey's location. Certainly, as time and events unfold, Norma is confronted with the unthinkable: "She had a husband, he was dead or gone... the war had ended, or perhaps it had never begun." Norma's memories are fresh, alive with the spirits of the lost, some of the names still too dangerous to mention on the air. Wracked by loss, clinging to the child, Norma blindly navigates the present, the forbidden names whispered into the dark night. The emotional journey of a grieving wife and an innocent orphan permeate the novel, their stories shadowed by Rey's duplicitous past and devotion to his wife. This otherworldly tale of strength in the face of a confusing war speaks to the vital issues of out time. Such a scenario no longer seems the stuff of fantasy, given the human faces of these poignant characters, Alarcon's novel a grim reminder: "People disappear, they vanish. And with them the history, so that new myths replace the old." Luan Gaines/2007.

Adoption Parenting: Creating a Toolbox, Building Connections

Pushing Up the Sky



I was buying some books on Amazon.com with an article I had to write at the back of my mind, and a parent Guide I was editing for EMK Press (www.emkpress.com) by Terra Trevor (author of Pushing Up the Sky) at the forefront. I was ordering on automatic pilot, while thinking about the articles I was editing... suddenly my choice of books had an Amazon.com suggestion staring up at me.

It was of course Karin Finell's searing, sensitive book Good-bye to the Mermaids. It documents `a childhood lost in Hitler's Berlin'. My brain clicked into gear as I read the brief blurb. Serendipity! I was writing an article for adoptive parents of kids adopted internationally. The remit? How we adoptive parents help our adopted kids feel pride in birth cultures prejudiced by e.g. civil war, lack of human rights, family planning practices that seem draconian, societies where the ethos of `family' is lost to poverty and the baggage of substance abuse which that brings.

I bought Good-bye to the Mermaids, and devoured it in three late night sittings. And I realised as I read that this book is a must read for anyone who has survived... or helped another survive.. the onslaught of horror and terror which was imposed not sought, where the survivor has been helped to find another safe haven, an anchorage in which to grow.

But the book shows that no-one who survives can leave behind the memories. Even if they move to another country where things are meant to be better...

What a message for adopted children and their parents! EMK Press (where I am Senior Editor) publishes books and offers free Parent Guides for adoptive kids and their families. Adoption Parenting: Creating a Toolbox, Building Connections, our publication for adoptive parents, has a wonderful section JOURNEY which deals with where adoptees travel as adults in making sense of adoption. To add to this chapter in our groundbreaking book, I would recommend that adoptive parents and folk now adult who were adopted internationally read Karin Finell's book on how to survive knowing you were part but NOT part of a culture that made family life impossible.

After reading this remarkable book I concluded it was not only informative as to historical content but also a masterpiece of writing. It is an important addition to a series of books by a variety of people, who lived through the horrors at the end of WWII in Berlin - I have read most of them, including the one by Anonymous. Their stories reflect all of the terror and awful conditions of those months and years as does Karin Finell's book. The framework Finell uses, the very detailed personal memories enriched by her reconstruction of actual verbal exchanges is unique, as is the perspective of a child growing up and experiencing the change from a privileged early childhood to the frightening reality of what followed - and then the slow and gradual recovery. And also, the special relationship with her Oma, which I thought is a centerpiece of Finell's book. Apart from the very human side, the American raised Oma also brought the U.S. close to Karin Finell as a child and prepared her for her immigration. The book is a tribute to the women who had to cope and did cope so valiantly with the conditions thrust upon them by a war which many supported, and a few loathed from the beginning, as they loathed and continued loathing the Nazi government. Finell's book also made me aware again how little we citizen can do when politicians go amok as did Hitler and all of the Nazis.

If you read all these reviews of Karin's book, you will still have many surprises as you read Goodbye to the Mermaids. The strength of Karin's narration is that she recounts the precise moments when her attitudes toward war change--and those moments shock because war mutilates reality. None of the events in this book conform to normalcy. To buy bread, for example, meant dodging bullets and bombs in occupied Berlin. Putting on a dress meant risking your life.

Karin recounts the contrasts between her family's needs and desires with the realities of war, and she does this in a subtle, detailed way. Karin wasn't just a child in the war, she was a maturing young woman whose sensibilities grow within the context of her story. She makes her reader feel the deprivation and humiliation of war. This book is one of the best I've read in a long time. It's an extraordinary work by a woman who sacrificed much of her life to war and the repercussions of it. She deserves our respect, and I feel honored to know her.

"Karin Finell's memoir affected me tremendously. It widened and deepened my understanding of a young child's character growing up under extraordinary (and many times extraordinarily difficult) circumstances. Finell, in her narrative, recreated so vividly the world of her youth, the places she lived in and the people she lived with, as well as her own thoughts, feelings, insights, and observations. It was as if I could hear the voice of the child Karin telling each story. Using the device of a series of "stories," by the way, seems exactly the right way to develop such ar narrative.
This is a first-rate book, beautifully written and beautifully produced by the Missouri Press. Anyone interested in the WW 2 period will be the richer for having read it, as am I. "

A heart-wrenching story lovingly told by Karin Finell. She relates what was for her a normal part of growing up while participating in activities of the Hitler youth, watching friends disappear, and daring to question.



Good-bye to the Mermaids is beautifully written, with gorgeously remembered details, providing a deep, rich look into life in wartime Germany that we have not seen before.

There is not a dull line in this book - I just got it after reading the author's Ark of the Covenant. It is one of the most remarkable journeys across Africa and the Middle East written in the sort of prose that is fast disappearing. The subject matter you feel is real. the charcaters are real. It's a journey with a point. It's a real mission. And a wonderful read.

This has been one of the most fascinating books I have ever read. Parfitt traces the origin of the Lemba, a self-described Jewish tribe in South Africa. Although its oral tradition is vague some elements recur persistently: "Our forefathers came from Sena... They came from the North... they built Great Zimbabwe...". Tracing backwards the journey that the Lemba took over the course of many generations, Parfitt travels North from South Africa to Zimbabwe, Malawi and, ultimately all the way to Yemen. Along the way, he encounters proof of the Lemba's passage and demonstrates that their oral tradition is, indeed, correct and they originated in Yemen.

Subsequent genetic testing brought further support to Parfitt's conclusion. This is detective work at its best, without the crime.

It should probably be no surprise that the two most peripatetic peoples in the ancient world, Jews and Africans, should sooner or later have encountered one another.

Tudor Parfitt, a British academic, traces the origins of a Southern African tribe known as the Lemba, whose history both recorded and unrecorded embraces a claim to Jewish ancestry and identity.

Relying on scant written data and on the Lemba's own oral traditions and reports by contemporaries, the author traces backward the journey that the Lemba took over the course of many generations. Parfitt travels North from South Africa to Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique and, ultimately to Yemen.

Along the way, he confronts evidence of the Lemba's passage and demonstrates that their oral tradition is, indeed, correct that they originated in Yemen where they embraced Judaism. Subsequent genetic testing brought further support to the Lemba's claims indicating not only a high proportion of Jewish genetic markers but specifically those markers associated with the Cohanim, the Levitical priestly caste of ancient Israel.

Starting off from Lemba villages in Vendaland, South Africa where he encounters Lemba customs such a circumcision, food taboos and a devotional life that to all appearances seem Jewish, the author retraces the quasi-legendary path of the Lemba's forbears through Southern, central and Eastern Africa and the Arabian peninsula, along the way embracing the lore and romance of King Solomon's mines and the building of the walled city of Great Zimbabwe.

This is a delightful story, delightfully told. The author's writing style is lively, mixing the styles of the travel essayist, the novelist and the scholar and gives rise to a rarely-encountered kind of work that is so compelling that once begun it simply cannot be put down.

I think that this book is very important because it preserves the legacy of the Lemba on paper, a legacy that for centuries, has relied mainly on oral traditions. The Lemba tribe, who presently reside in various parts of Southern Africa, have kept a tradition for hundreds of years that they are Jews, and Parfitt takes the journey to explore these claims.

The author, Tudor Parfitt, starts off in the northern parts of South Africa in Vendaland, where many Lemba reside today. From here he goes to the Zimbabwe ruins, then to Malawi, briefly to war-torn Mozambique, up to the east coast, and off to Yemen in search of "Sena," where the Lemba attest that they came from. In all these areas he finds interesting facts through his research about the Lemba and their history.

There is no doubt that the Lemba contributed to the building and livelihood of the Great Zimbabwe civilization that flourished in the 14th century, but the big question here is just how big was their role? With the history of the Lemba becoming more popular, I think this debate is going to resurface once again as to who built the ruins.

This book relies on earlier descriptions of the Lemba by mostly European and Arab explores. Parfitt really makes good use of these. The book also highlights the indelible influence that colonialism has had not just on the Lemba, but on all African societies. It also underscores the prevailing attitudes that many "white Africans" today have on black Africans.

The genetic evidence presented in the afterword makes for a good ending to strengthen the core theme in the book. I highly recommend Journey to The Vanished City and I think it's an excellent, scholarly work.

The author's quest for the origins of the Lemba, a Southern Africa tribe with certain Semitic customs and a folk memory of Jewish origins, took him from Johannesburg via the Limpopo province of South Africa, through Zimbabwe and Malawi to Tanzania and ultimately to the Hadramaut in South Arabia.

In Johannesburg's Soweto township he encounters his first Lemba people and researches the tribe in Wits University library. Then he takes the train to Pietersburg where he visits Lemba scholar Professor Mathiva at the University of the North and makes excursions into the surrounding areas of the Venda and Lobedu tribes where he encounters Mojaji, the famous Rain Queen. The known history of the area, including the colorful figure of Joao Albasini, spices up the narrative.

In Zimbabwe his journeys take him to Bulawayo, the Matopo Hills, Mberengwe and Dumghe Mountains, Masvingo and the ruins of Great Zimbabwe. On the way he takes part in a Lemba tribal assembly. The next stage takes him to Malawi and a short way into Mozambique where he sees the town of Sena from afar. In Tanzania he visits Dar es Salaam, Bagamoyo and Tumbatu, concluding the African leg of his journey.

His research finally leads him to Yemen where he visits Sanaa, Aden and the Hadramaut towns of Habban, Terim, and ultimately, the town of Sena on the Wadi Masila, where he discovers that the Lemba clan names are familiar to the area.

Along the way he has funny ecounters with a wide variety of interesting people. The travelogue is interspersed with relevant quotes from an impressive array of explorers, missionaries, scholars and ethnographers, including Joao de Barros, Livingstone, Junod, Mauch, Schlomann, Schapera, Van Warmelo, Jacques, Von Sicard and Roger Summers. Their observations - including the legend of Monomotapa - are engagingly woven into his always arresting travelogue.

The Afterword contains the results of genetic research conducted in 1996/97 that shows a significant similarity in DNA between Jewish groups, the Lemba and the Hadrami of Terim and Sena. For more detailed and up-to-date information, please consult DNA and Tradition by Rabbi Yaakov Kleiman. The Buba clan of the Lemba has a high frequency of the Y-Chromosome type called the "Cohen Modal Haplotype" which is known to be characteristic of the paternally inherited Jewish priesthood.

For a very thorough ethnographic study of the Lemba, I recommend The Lemba: A Lost Tribe of Israel in Southern Africa by Magdel le Roux. It is a selective comparison between the social and religious practices of early Israel and the Lemba of today.

Journey To The Vanished City contains plates with black & white photographs, maps of Africa and Yemen, 18 pages of notes arranged by chapter and an index. The book is a most engaging read on account of the author's humour, wit and flowing narrative style. There is not one boring moment in this fascinating account of a journey in search of lost origins.

This is a ok book its kinda for younger kids.Its about a shipwreck and alot of kids get stranded on a island Andrew Lian Ned they look to see if anyone else was on the island they were on. But when they were looking they encountered dinosaurs and they get scared and hide. So now they must over come that great fear. Also during the middle of the book they see them starting to fight and they try to kill the dinosaurs and it has a really suprising ending.

Even though this book is short, it is filled with action for a person of any age to read. In the story it also gives the story of the sea monster, the Kraken. I like the creativity of Scott Ciencin's books on Dinotopia, as well as the Dinoverse series. At first you thik that the Unrivaled are going to invade, but later you find out that they are the most peaceful race on Dinotopia. Congatulations, Ciencin, you've done it again.

Even though this book is short, it is filled with action for a person of any age to read. In the story it also gives the story of the sea monster, the Kraken. I like the creativity of Scott Ciencin's books on Dinotopia, as well as the Dinoverse series. At first you thik that the Unrivaled are going to invade, but later you find out that they are the most peaceful race on Dinotopia. Congatulations, Ciencin, you've done it again.

I own this book and a few other Dinotopia titles and I really recommend this to any Dinotopia fan or just about anybody who likes to read really good books. Once I started reading it I could'nt put it down, it is one of the best books Ive read in a very long time. I also recommend the Dinotopia book Windchaser for another good read

or anyone else, for that matter! I own this book and have reread it a few times. Three friends journey into the Lost City of Halycon, and what they find is not what they expect. They meet new friends and face new challenges. But will it be enough to stop the power-hungry Lord Lucius? You'll have to read it to find out! This book has adventure and excitement, and some humor mixed in also. Over all, an excellent book.

I found this little book to be /Inspirational/Funny/Sad/I wonder is that how God really is. Bob seems to have a much better undestanding of the "spiritual world" than most.That is why I enjoy reading his writtings so much.Thank You again Bob

I liked a lot of things about this book. It's a short read in that it's a series of statements by folks with 'answers' from God in bold below them. Each statement/answer then is a stand-alone thought that can be read and appreciated for itself. I think that God watches Judge Judy on occasion. One person says, "God, I feel like believing in you is a complete waste of my time." God answers, "I know the feeling." Another statement hit home strongly with me. A man tells God that keeping his pickup truck from starting won't stop him from going out & getting drunk that night. God tells him the truck will start after he's gone back inside to say goodbye to his mother who won't be there when he gets back from the tavern. His Mom dies in his arms, in the house, 2 hours later and the man has not had a drink since.

Unfortunately, for me personally, there are several examples of answers from 'God' that perpetuate the 'fire and brimstone,' "You're going to burn in Hell forever" God that turned me off to Him years ago. Fundamentalist Christians will love them but I tend to take that kind of statement with a grain of salt and look for the loving message that I know underlies it if it's really from God. I highly recommend this book as something to have handy for a quick pick-me-up since you can open it almost anywhere and find a useful inspiration of some kind. Even the ones I disagree with make me think and that's not all bad. It was worth the price to me.

I am an avid reader.Having read many books through the years Christian and Non-Christian.I have been helped and blessed by some,entertained by others,but I found this book to be Inspired.I could give this to my teenaged grandsons,best friends,or my mother and all would be able to enjoy and relate to it. It is refreshing and insightful.It will allow you to chuckle,touch your heart and your soul.Give you peace of mind and spirit. Each home would profit by having this book accessible to family members and friends.Its message is profound and I would recommend it as a wonderful gift .

A friend knowing my feelings about God, sent me this book. Be it a real or an imaginary God in this book, it is a God I can believe in. It feels good not hating television evangelist. It was the first time anyone had laid it out so clearly.

There are advantages of being a fulltime pastor for forty-three years. Then there are the disadvantages. I try as best I can not to dwell on the disadvantages. But the one that did bother me the most, was not being able to answer the questions of children. Adults seldom ask really hard to answer questions, like, What is Gods favorite color? or Are their toys in heaven? or Why is everything that is fun to do a sin? I remember this one well, Why did God choose the Jews instead of us? Forty-three years I have been talking about God, only to learn that I knew very little about Him. This book is The Spirit at work. A Minister who has not read this book is unlearned regardless of their education.

I received the book in very good condition and came very well wrapped and quickly. I am very satisfied with it.

Walks Through Lost Paris: A Journey Into the Heart of Historic Paris

This is a wonderful book, except for one thing. It is so small that the maps are almost unreadable, and the print is not so easy to read either. I've been to Paris twice and walked through all four areas in the book before, but the book opened my eyes to a lot of history and details I'm looking forward to seeing first hand. I am taking it to Paris in a couple weeks, and I'm looking forward to the walks, but I'm going to have to blow up the maps so I can read them without a magnifying glass. This book would be far more enjoyable in a larger format.

If you love Paris (and who doesn't?) you'll appreciate this book. It takes us over well-trod streets, past ancient buildings, and brings them alive by examining their past. Atget documented Paris as it was; this book predates that.

Beautifully produced book with superb use of 19th century & current photos to show changes in Paris locations pre & post Haussmann. A great read for anyone who loves & knows Paris, and doubles as an "advanced" and specialized walking guide for those lucky enough to be on site.

Whether one takes the recommended walks or just reads the words, this is a great little book, full of wonderful then and now photos (I especially like the photo of the people in the boat on Rue Jacob during the flood of 1910--see the hats!) and interesting discussions of how Paris came to be what we see today, how sections of the city were saved by those who loved them, and how other sectors were changed and updated. I have a number of walks-around-Paris books, some written for Parisians themselves, and I think this is the best and most interesting. It entertained my husband when he recently spent a week in the hospital. It is not especially touristic, and not a book for those dropping in for a day or two to see the highlights of Paris. This is a book to wallow around in. I found the English version first, but will look for the French, as I'm suspicious of translations.