Wizard Books

The extra large size and interesting illustrations in this coloring book have made this my children's favorite for many months.This is not your typical throw away coloring book.My kids actually enjoy coming back to an already started drawing and adding to it. The extra large size also gives us a chance as a family to draw together on one page.As a mom of two pre-schoolers I highly recommend it.

June Bear Adventures: The Missing Pies


The Wizard of Swamp Alley In the Land of Sha Bebe
By Mary Lynn Plaisance

The third book in the series of Mary Lynn Plaisance folklore novels In the Land of Sha Bebe.
The adorable citizens of the Land of Sha Bebe, the cloth dolls, are entering a new adventure, meet new friends and foes, while learning new values during their preparations for their favorite Holiday, Halloween.
"Where am I?" Poulette was floating in mid-air. "How did I get right here?"
She looked around and saw nothing but the gray sky and a hole in the back of the armoire, and she was in the back of it. "But how can I be in the back of the armoire, when the armoire is against the wall?"
One of the magic quilts came floating out of the hole, and Poulette grabbed it to sit on, while she tried to figure out where she was. "Did I die?" she said to herself. She was surrounded by the drab, outdoor gray sky of this unknown place.
When she turned to her left, she saw a huge sign on a tree that said GRAVEYARD.
"Oh sha, I must be dead for sure."
All of a sudden she heard voices.
Still floating on the quilt in mid-air, she looked down and noticed she was in another land of dolls. It seemed as though she was in another dimension that was an exact replica in structure, but not at all like their land in appearance. Unlike their own land, this one was filled with dolls that had clothes that were shabby and soiled and hair that was a tangled mess of gray and white...
Dedicated to the spirit of Louisiana and based on the folklore of the land, this last book of the In the Land of Sha Bebe trilogy, this novel is as original as the Sha Bebe dolls, also created by Mary Lynn Plaisance and greatly entertaining for all ages. Although it's the third of the Sha Bebe books, it can be read as a single novel without causing confusion for the reader. However, once you've read one of them, you might really want to read the others: Do you Believe In the Land of Sha Bebe and Cajun Fairies In the Land of Sha Bebe.
A very enjoyable, magical adventure, entertaining and compelling, written with the loving dedication to Louisiana.

R&B Pratcher, 2008

This is one of the best available books on mestizo curanderism of the Northern Coast of Peru. Douglas Sharon is an anthropologist who, supported by grants from UCLA, spent a couple of seasons witnessing and helping the well-known curandero Eduardo Calderon with his sessions. The book provides a close-up personal portrait of this remarkable man, an unparalleled description of curanderist practices, as well as a comparative history and analysis of Peruvian/Bolivian and Amazon shamanism.

Calderon was an educated person, trained in Trujillo's Catholic seminary and School of Fine Arts in Lima. he also was an innovating fisherman and a restaurateur of archeological artefacts of Moche and Chimu cultures. Sharon notes that Eduardo read extensively in theology and philosophy as well as in psychology, archeology, art, medicine and the occult. Hence, we are not talking about an uneducated backwoods guy but rather a sophisticated, urban man with a zest for life and a desire to help his fellow men. Sharon writes:

"There was a lusty, earthy quality to Eduardo's system that reflected a direct contact with nature and a realistic perception of joys and sorrows of the human situation. There was nothing of the lotus-eater in this wordly man of action. At all times he emphasized to me the need for perseverance and constant practice in learning to become a curanero. He said I could learn only by doing. The mesa he set up at night and the rituals he conducted were direct applications of his philosophy....[...] As I watched his daily interaction [with the incessant stream of old fishing companions, students, athletes, artists, teachers, university professors, shopkeepers, farmers, truck drives, old people, youngsters) I realized that Eduardo's greatest masterpiece was his own life. He molded it with the same deliberation and dexterity that shaped his ceramics."

Sharon describes many night rituals involving use of hallucinogenic San Pedro cactus (Trichocereus pachanoi) and/or Datura inoxia that were combined with other herbs, tobacco and alcohol and imbibed through the nostrils; trips to the sacred Las Huaringas lagoons, divination, exorcisms and anti-sorcery as practiced by Calderon and a famous old-style Indian curandero (don Florentino). He provides photographs of Calderon's mesa with a minute description of every item (all 78 of them)and its use. There are remarkable stories of healing involving native and Norte Americano clients, as well as an analysis of tensions between three cultures, Indian, mestizo and Western, that represent a brewing cauldron of envy and witchcraft that curandero has to deal with.

The experiences lead Sharon to conclude: "My observations have convinced me that anthropologists need to reevaluate seriously their concepts regarding traditional therapists and their role in twentieth century societies." An interesting, if perhaps controversial, statement.

The book also describes (pre)Inca cosmology and the historical use of San Pedro on Coastal regions as suggested by unearthed artefacts. While this synthesis today appears a bit outdated, a lot of it is still valid... and descriptions of sessions with Calderon are unsurpassed. Although I heartily recommend this book, the prices charged by private resellers are outrageous at $140. Try to get the book somewhere else, or get "Curanderos and Clients in Northern Peru" co-written by Sharon and Donald Joralemon if you have more of an academic bent.

Imagine that there was a genius who has been systematically ignored, overlooked, and even lied about for a century. Imagine further that this man is responsible for the technological underpinnings of the modern world. Imagine that he created such things as x-ray photography, robotics, microwave transmission, and still holds the original patent that all computer companies must rely on-only he patented the original in the 1890's. Imagine that he actually invented radio but has never been credited for it.

Imagine at the same time that this fellow intimately knew the most powerful and influential people of his age: J.P. Morgan, the Vanderbilts, the Astors, Sarah Bernhardt, George Westinghouse, Thomas Edison, Mark Twain, Stanford White, and a host of others in the prestigious New York 400. Imagine that his inventions alone drastically changed the life of that city, and then the nation, and then the world.

Imagine, too, that his story is actually a very personal one despite the power of his inventions. It is the story of an immigrant who stepped on our shores with just four cents in his pocket. It is the story of his rise in the culture and life of the nation when it was still young. It is the story of his tangled relationship with a woman of spirit who became the fulcrum of all he attempted to achieve.

Finally, imagine that he may have created the most powerful invention of all time at Wardenclyffe, Long Island-a thing that scientists still try to comprehend but to no avail. Understand, lastly, that much of what he created and how he created it was a hundred years before its time and is still largely a mystery to the best scientists and thinkers in the world today.

Imagine all of that and you have Wizard of the Phantom Night, the story of Nikola Tesla, the man who did all this and more-the unsung hero of an age that has forgotten its heroes.

I bought the Wizard of Pigeons on it's first release and didn't get much sleep that night. It was impossible to put this book down, I had to finish reading it. Set in modern day Seattle, it is firmly in the urban fantasy category but bears little relation to other urban fantasies. There are no elves or mysterious creatures, except for MIR the menace coming to Seattle. The magic is not obvious high power special effects but subtle and easily overlooked by the normal population. Wizards are not even passing as normal people, but live among society's dropouts. If all of this sounds like something you would hate, THINK AGAIN! This is the kind of book that you finish and say "what a nice story." I can't recommend it too strongly.

This book captures the magic of radio! I used to be in radio myself, and I could feel exactly what was written. It also captures the heart-rending effects of racism, the feel of dysfunctional family life, and a taste of the heady business of show business. This book is what radio was all about before consultants took over.

I just picked up this book to pass the time as it was on the top of my bundle of books.
All I ever remembered was from grade school that George Washington Carver did great things with peanuts. After reading the book I found that he was a forward looking statesman for his race and mankind too. It is a short and very interesting reading of a gifted individual and also an accurate descripition of the times he grew up in.
I had to give it 5 stars because of the man he was.

WIZARD OF WESTWOOD

"Dwight Chapin and Jeff Prugh are legends, all-time greats," says Bill Walton, managing to sound like he is endorsing a Cadillac dealership.

"He didn't talk to us for a number of years after the book came out," says Prugh.

"The book" was "The Wizard of Westwood", written by Prugh and Chapin in 1973.

Hall of Fame basketball legend Walton was a college student possessing massive intelligence and radical political views. He also held to the mantra of his era: "Don't trust anyone over 30."

Chapin and Prugh were over 30, albeit just barely.

As a kid growing up in Marin rooting for Cal, the A's and the Raiders, "the book" opened my eyes to the outside world. "The Wizard of Westwood" was not just a sports book, but also a book about American society during the turbulent 1960s and early 1970s. It just happened to be written through the prism of UCLA basketball.

It is ostensibly a biography of legendary UCLA coach John Wooden. It is provocative, where Wooden's autobiography, "They Call Me Coach", is vanilla. I recently had a chance to speak to Chapin and Prugh.

"I was going to write a book with Wooden, and he had agreed to," says Chapin. "I was sitting in his office with him and my book agent, and had actually signed the contract. When he had the pen in his hand, he stopped, and said, `No, I think I want to wait until I'm finished coaching to do this.'

"When we started digging deeper into things, we heard that John got scared of what he heard we were going to say, and decided to write his own book."

"Digging deeper" meant going into the subject of Sam Gilbert, an infamous Bruin booster who arranged abortions and payoffs for players.

Did Wooden know details about Gilbert?

As a former Los Angeles sportswriter, I dug into this subject myself. An impeccable source, very highly placed in the UCLA Athletic Department and in a position to know, told me flat out, "Wooden knew. He had to know."
* * *
"I took Bill Walton to lunch at a steakhouse on Wilshire Boulevard," recalls Chapin. "He was so self-conscious about his height then that he insisted we get a table way in back of the restaurant, where it was very dark and we wouldn't be noticed. We talked for a couple of hours, off the record. A few days later, Vic Kelley, the UCLA sports information director, told me he was not going to do any more interviews."

Obviously, somebody "got to" Walton. His natural distrust of authority did not make it hard to convince him to clam up with the press.

"I think Sam Gilbert told him not to talk to us," opined Chapin. "I never talked to him directly again at any point in his UCLA career. Later, when Walton played for Portland, I was at a UCLA-Oregon State game, when I felt a hand tap me on the shoulder. It was Walton, who said, `How are you doing, Dwight?' I said, `Fine, Bill, but I don't have time to talk to you right now.' Amazing that you can't shut the guy up now."
* * *
"UCLA was not insulated from the outside world," says Prugh. "When you stepped on campus you were exposed to all the socio-political cross-currents of that era. Wooden was a man from rural Indiana, and of an older generation, but he had a social conscience.

"Lew Alcindor discerned that about Wooden," continues Prugh. "Lew said no white American could know what it is like to be black, but Wooden had as close an understanding of the issue as he could.

"Curtis Rowe said Wooden did not see color, just players. The players of that era were the first to express other than one-dimensional views of the world. Therefore, we no longer saw them as just stats, but as humans with frailties. TV forced newspapers to show us the `how and why.'

When Prugh walked the Berkeley campus during road trips, his short hair made him look like an FBI agent to the Cal students.

The draft was going on, but the UCLA players did not talk about it, according to Prugh, although they were "almost all opposed to the war. From 1968-73, there was mounting dissatisfaction with the way institutions were run. Woodstock was big, Nixon went to China, then Watergate happened.

The radical Walton clashed with his coach in those days. Now he is part of The Establishment and calls him "My hero John Wooden." Chapin and Prugh, meanwhile, represent fascinating windows into the most interesting and important period in American history since the Civil War.

I picked this book up at our local library for 25 cents and thought it might be something I would like. From the very first page this book kept me interested. As I proceed into the book I see that this is no simple story, very intriguing. Very different writing than modern days.

I have really liked all of the Droon books. They are my favorite chapter books. Wizard or Witch has been my one of my favorites of the Droon series.

A wizard, whose witch powers were taking over her wizard powers, tries to get control of both kinds of powers. Her journey to control these powers is just like her mom's journey. Eric, Julie and Neal help the wizard complete her journey.