Schools Books

We bought this book to accompany the Butterfly Pavilion from amazon.com. This book was a little above her level of understanding, she is only 2 after all. She did get the gist of it. Great illustrations and concise.

Excellent book- my 3 & 5 yr. olds loved it, and it was easy enough for them to understand, yet descriptive enough that they were intrigued. We bought it in preparation for buying a butterfly habitat to watch the process ourselves. Great learning experience.

I am very much impressed with this series of books, as I have ordered 4 of them. Your service is great and I continue to enjoy doing business with you.

I bought this book with the butterfly graden and we gave it as a birthday present. By the time the caterpillars came in the mail she was so excited and she new everything that was going to happen. This was propbably the best birthday gift I could have given an animal loving child. I will give this gift over and over again.

I bought this book for my friend's three-year old, who has been facinated recently with butterflies. I can see that he'll be interested now - and he'll be able to grow into the more detailed information later.

Really, there isn't a better way to describe this series (especially this volume). The characters are cute, the situations (minus the dramatic parts) are cute, and their reactions... CUTE! While that may not be enough for some readers, it's enough for many of us. And to be honest... the ones who aren't into cute really would never get into this series in the first place.

In this volume we meet a rather persistent admirer of Kyo & get a little more of his background before Tohru. It's great development & is sure to please fans of the series.

I own this series in Japanese, and it is a wonderful read! It has all the important elements of a good shoujo manga: it is romantic, twisted, with a shoujo (in the traditional meaning of the word) involved in finding a new family and love triangles galore. It is just a very fun read, no matter the language!

Yes, the "Best Manga Ever According to Me" award goes to.. FRUITS BASKET!! It's absolutely WONDERFUL!!!! I loved it so much, I've read it 5 times already!
I must admit, sometimes I love Kyo so much it scares me, and this book didn't help.. now I feel bad for him too! This book has lots of character development for Kyo. It was good timing on the writer's behalf. I find myself drawn to the pages where Tohru encounters Kyo in the forest, it's such a perfect scene for him and Tohru.... oh, it makes me want to swoon.....

Alright, now i've been reading manga for about 2 years now and i haven't been hooked on one as much as Fruits Basket! It's amazing, it combines romance with comedy, it's a definate page turner! This one may in fact be my favorite one out of the series so far...it's absolutely amazing! You get to see a side of Kyo you haven't seen yet and this particular manga has alot of character developement in it. It's a definate buy for anyone that wants a good romance/comedy! Not only do you get to see an emotional side of Kyo you haven't seen before, but you also get to see his "true form." Overall, the 6th volume of Fruits Basket is a must read! Kyo is personally my favorite character and you really get to see a side of him you don't normally see and you get to see the relationship between Kyo and Tohru deepen and become alot stronger! Definatly a 10/10!
~alexis~

I'm continuing with Fruits Basket since I have been enjoying the character interaction. Now that I've gotten to volume 6 it's getting easier to recognize the characters, but there's still a lot of cross-cultural stuff that eludes me. The most irritating part to me is...I don't even know how to explain this, but here goes:

Someone (usually a Sohma) is thinking about something. So the words are on the page, not inside thought bubbles or anything, just words on the page. But the pictures are of other people (usually Tohru, or Tohru plus other Sohmas). The thinking person is not always present at the scene being shown. For example, the book has Hatori and Shigure in a conversation. Then we have a few pages of this "someone's thinking" with pictures of Tohru et al. having a fun time. Then at the end of these 5-6 pages, we find that it was Hatori doing the thinking. So I have to go back and reread from the point where he and Shigure were talking, so that I understand what is intended. These books really are a lot of mental work to process at times.

I have picked up the first volume of Ouran High School Host Club to see if it's a problem with me, or a problem with manga in general, or a problem with Fruits Basket. I'll report back after a few more volumes of Fruits Basket!

I love fairy tales, and this story is a most excellent example of the genre. It follows two children on their journeys through Fairyland and their interactions with various fantastic people and creatures. I loved the pure innocence of the story and found it very captivating. The narration was also very excellent and energetic, making this story a very good listen.

While The Golden Key may not be my all-time favorite book, it certainly has a strong connection to the book that I treasure most of all (well, second to the Bible). You see, George MacDonald, author of The Golden Key, was in fact the mentor of Lewis Carroll, who wrote my favorite non-Biblical book, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. That's a very powerful and indeed shocking connection if you ask me. But you can kind of see it if you look closely. I mean, the kids in the Golden Key grow both old and young. Alice in Wonderland grows big and small. Kinda similar there.

Yet, I did not know about the relationship between the two books until AFTER I had finished The Golden Key and decided to do some research on its origin. I simply read The Golden Key like I would any other book, and developed some commentary on the work as a whole that I would now like to communicate:

First, the book is very short. I finished it in two days. And because its so short, events move incredibly fast to make room for heavy amounts of whimsical feeling and fantastical description.

But again I have to go back to the Alice thing. I noticed how SO many sentences in the story turned the reader upside down and made him say, "huh?" It was as if the Fairy World did everything it could to stay all out of whack. Whether it was to make speech that could be heard without ears, or to make the oldest people in the world look like little kids, the topsy-turvy nature of everything couldn't help but instill an amazing sense of awe. Truly, The Golden Key opens eyes to such incredible abstract possibilities of the imagination, and perhaps even life itself.

The out of whack sense of awe, while wonderful in this book, developed into full maturity in the Alice books. While The Golden Key merely mentions things that make no sense, the Alice books actually attempt to explain the senselessness of senseless things.

I hope I will always have a special place in my heart for MacDonald's prototype of Alice in Wonderland. Oh, if we only knew how much the imagination behind The Golden Key has really changed the world. I think we would all be very surprised.

I purchased this book as a Christmas gift for my 20-year-old daughter. It was one of her favorite books as a child and she frequently checked it out of our local library until it disappeared from the shelf there, never to be seen again. She was very excited when she saw that she had her own copy and she took the book back to college with her after Christmas break. Although I haven't actually read the book myself, I can tell you that my daughter thinks it is great!

This book is like a drink of the freshest, clearest water on the brightest, bluest spring day you can imagine. It was lovely every step of the way, somehow beautifully sad and wonderful at the same time. With the aid of the creatures of fairyland, mistreated Tangle and adventuresome Mossy go on an enchanting journey which takes them straight through to a wisdom and sense of wonderment that is somehow greater than that found in adulthood (or childhood). George MacDonald truly had an eye for the worlds of fairy, and an unsurpassed talent for expressing beauty in all things. The stories are not always meant to be understood, but deep in that inner place in one's heart, they make sense.

An earlier reviewer mentioned the difficulty of understanding the imagery of the story and another suggested (perhaps rightly) that the golden key represents Christ. C.S. Lewis believed it represented "the talent for loving", and having read the book numerous times, especially to nephews and nieces, I agree. Without giving away too much, notice the differences between Mossy's and Tangle's journey after their separation (physical death), especially how they saw the Old Man of the Sea. One might need to have read more of MacDonald's works (especially Unspoken Sermons) to get at his view of how love affects our ability to "see". His "At the Back of the North Wind" contains another wonderful example when North Wind explains to Diamond why she had to appear as a dreadful wolf to an old woman.

the second book in the fingerprints series starts with ray finding out someone wants to kill her. it goes from there to ms. A announcing that jesse ran away. when anthony says "thats impossible" the two go investigating. they look everywhere and check everyones fingerprints. Rae even makes Yana join she and Anthony to New Orleans to find jesse's father. after being teased and abused about looking young and going to prep school rae takes her friends back home.
they ask people around jesse's normal hang out. all of which have their own very convincing thoughts on where jesse is. they are all telling the truth rae finds out, according to their fingerprints. Rae and Anthony find someone deathly afraid that if he says something, he'll be in trouble. by touching his fingerprints they are lead to a house, where they find the man they are looking for has been gone. For a really long time. When they go back to the car they find a knife waiting in the seat. Jesse's knife. Rae finds thoughts leading them to an abandoned warehouse. but they dont know WHICH abandonded warehouse. they search for any unusual activity, and in all theyre hard work find a meth lab. So basically, all of their work was to no avail. one day, sick of waiting for someone to arrive anthony enters...making a lot of noise and breaking a window. worried about him, rae enters as well, using her little "power" to get in. the 2 find eachother, and, with out managing to kill eachother they find the warehouse is empty. but wait, whats that noise? the follow the noise and find jesse. they ask him for info, then, being as he doesnt remember, rae checks out his fingerprints. and gets a whole lot of nothing. oh, and did i mention that someone is trying to kill rae?

Melinda Metz takes Haunted to a new level with its suspense thriller. It's about a girl that gets framed and is sent to the nuthouse and later is released to go back to a prep school. She has a gift to read minds with a touch of her fingertips. The book gives good detail and drama. It tells a story about a girl trying to become normal again. I liked the book because it gives details, suspense, and you cant put it down till you finish it.

Rae Voight is just barely starting to come to terms with her new powers - the powers that let her "hear" other people's thoughts when she touches her fingerprints to theirs. Rae is still a little weirded out over the whole thing and hasn't even told Yana, the only girlfriend she has left whom she met in Fair Haven, while she was recovering from her mental breakdown the previous summer. Of course, Anthony knows because he was the one who figured it out, but Rae knows that most people will think she is a freak. She tries to forget that there is someone out there who wants her dead, but it never seems to be far from her mind.

Anthony comes to Rae for help when he finds out that Jesse, one of the kids he met in group who is like a brother to him, is missing. Anthony knows that he wouldn't have run away, but he has no idea where to look for him. Rae agrees to try and "read" the fingerprints at Jesse's house and before she knows it, Anthony, Rae and Yana are off on a madcap adventure to New Orleans to try and find Jesse's dad. Too bad that the whole trip was a bust because Jesse's dad hasn't seen him for years and years. Whats even worse is that Rae discovers that Jesse was only kidnapped to hurt her. Someone is playing games with her and the prize is Jesse's life...

This is the second book in the Fingerprints series and it starts almost right after the first one ends. It was interesting to see Rae start to see her powers as a gift instead of a curse and to see how she would choose to use them. We also got to see more of Anthony and what a great guy he is, even if he is a slow learner and is always beating up on himself. All of the characters in this series are great and the reader will feel like they know them when they are done reading. I highly recommend reading the first book in the series, Fingerprints: Gifted Touch, first though. Also, this book has another cliffhanger ending with the reader still being clueless as to who wants Rae dead and why so I would have the next book in the series handy...

Although the series is for readers aged 9 to 12, it's an interesting enough concept to keep older readers entertained.

The second book in Metz's series explores how Rae's gift can be used to her advantage (to aid others) and some methods in which she can control when to use her gift. Rae puts her gift to the test when she must use it to find Jesse (a boy from group therapy who "ran away"). Jesse's disappearance coincides with Rae being stalked. In this book, the reader gets to know Anthony, Rae, Yana, and Marcus a little better. For those of you who read the first book, a romantic relationship between Rae and Anthony doesn't develop until later in the series, much to my dismay ^_~ After finishing this book, be prepared to read the next and the next! It's addicting!

If you haven't read the first book, I would definetly suggest doing so if you want to understand this book a little better.

Happy Reading!

You will not believe how good this book is. Once you start to read it, you might stay up all night until you are done. I don't want to give away too much about the book, so I'll just say this: The author really has a way with words that make you fell like you experience what the character experiences. It is amazing. I'm surprised these wonderful books aren't more well known, and I am sure you won't regret making your purchase. If you are the type of person that likes a book that keeps you waiting for the next big event in the plot to unfold and gradually reveals (the book, not you) the answers to the questions you have had and continues to do so as the series goes on, I completely reccomend that you check this book out.

The young Hal and his instructor in the art of living the good life , Falstaff cavort through the first half of Henry IV as if life were going to be one long , irresponsible entertainment. The dramatic transformation of all of this , and Hal's casting off of Falstaff, and moving to kingly responsibility will come in the Henry IV Part II.
What is present here throughout is the tremendous richness of Shakespeare's imagination in his creation of character, and inventiveness in language , in his ability to create so many different moods and feelings.
'Falstaff' is one of Shakespeare's most beloved characters, and one of the great figures in the Comedy of world literature.
Enjoy.

This is the play where the Percy rebellion begins and centers around the Achilles-like Hotspur. Eventually, Hotspur (Henry Percy) and Prince Hal (Henry Monmouth - later Henry V) battle in single combat.

We also get to see the contrast between these young men in temperament and character. King Henry wishes his son were more like Hotspur. Prince Hal realizes his own weaknesses and seems to try to assure himself (and us) that when the time comes he will change and all his youthful foolishness will be forgotten. Wouldn't that be a luxury we wish we could all have afforded when we were young?

Of course, Prince Hal's guide through the world of the cutpurse and highwayman is the Lord of Misrule, the incomparable Falstaff. His wit and gut are featured in full. When Prince Hal and Poins double-cross Falstaff & company, the follow on scenes are funny, but full of consequence even into the next play.

But, you certainly don't need me to tell you anything about Shakespeare. Like millions of other folks, I am in love with the writing. However, as all of us who read Shakespeare know, it isn't a simple issue. Most of us need help in understanding the text. There are many plays on words, many words no longer current in English and, besides, Shakespeare's vocabulary is richer than almost everyone else's who ever lived. There is also the issue of historical context, and the variations of text since the plays were never published in their author's lifetime.

For those of us who need that help and want to dig a bit deeper, the Arden editions of Shakespeare are just wonderful.

-Before the text of the play we get very readable and helpful essays discussing the sources and themes and other important issues about the play.

-In the text of the play we get as authoritative a text as exists with helpful notes about textual variations in other sources. We also get many many footnotes explaining unusual words or word plays or thematic points that would likely not be known by us reading in the 21st century.

-After the text we get excerpts from likely source materials used by Shakespeare and more background material to help us enrich our understanding and enjoyment of the play.

However, these extras are only available in the individual editions. If you buy the "Complete Plays" you get text and notes, but not the before and after material which add so much! Plus, the individual editions are easier to read from and handier to carry around.

I am actually reviewing both Parts One and Two with this since they should be read together.The reason why I enjoyed these plays so much is because we see Falstaff in both of them. He is my favourite Shakespearean character - big, bawdy, rough, a liar and a cheat, but again we know what he is right from the beginning, and Shakespeare keeps him so true to character. These plays are a bit different from some of the other histories. There are more comedic parts in them for one thing. The plays are certainly used as a medium for introducing young Hal (who will become King Henry V). We see him as a young man, and watch him grow and see the influences that his society and the people in it have on his development. He doesn't appear to be growing up well according to his father because he is so irresponsible. King Henry IV was not England's strongest ruler. He was haunted by his guilt over the death of his predecessor, King Richard II. In Part Two, comedy still plays a big role, and we still see Falstaff's influence on young Hal until the shocking moment of Falstaff's death. The best part about Part Two though is the deathbed scene between old King Henry IV and his son Prince Henry. The play leads us to "King Henry V". Prince Hal does finally grow up and he becomes a very strong leader. Actually King Henry Iv, Parts one and two should be read before King Henry V. It is the correct sequence and we see Prince Hal grow and mature.

Henry IV remains one of my favorite Shakespeare plays, even though the tragedies and comedies get far more attention and seeming appreciation than do the histories. As an English major, I examined Henry's (Hal's) character, and I focused on his development from a somewhat foolhardy young man into a self-assured, even manipulative prince. It is hard to say which of these Hal truly is, or if he is a little bit of both.

At the beginning of the play, Hal spends his free time cavorting around with his friend Falstaff (who provides all of the laughs in the play and is cited as one of the best comic characters in all literature). In the first act we already see hints in Hal's sololiquy that he may not be as carefree as we are led to believe, and that he might betray friends like Falstaff to be the prince that he is expected to be. Read on in "Henry V" to see just how much of a polished politician Hal becomes--his battle cries and his "once more unto the breech, dear friends" is masterful in its persuasiveness and ability to induce his countrymen to fight.

Hotspur serves as a nice counterpoint to Hal in "Henry IV." Hotspur is the hothead and Hal makes his decisions calmly and rationally. This almost inhuman rationality comes into play again in "Henry V" and makes you long for the seemingly carefree Hal.

All in all, "Henry IV" is a great read and quite an interesting character study--I highly recommend it!

In Part One of Shakespeare's "Henry IV," the titular king tries to defend his throne from a rebel army led by the hotheaded Hotspur, who has a long list of grievances about the king's treatment of his family, the Percys. Hotspur has allied himself with several principal figures including his uncle the Earl of Worcester, his brother-in-law Mortimer the Earl of March, Lord Douglas the Scot, and Owen Glendower, a Welsh chieftain with a vivid mystical imagination -- he is so egotistical that he insists an earthquake that occurred the day of his birth was a divine proclamation of his importance -- and a desire to usurp all of Wales from the king.

While he is preparing for war against the rebels, Henry IV laments that his own son Henry (Hal), the Prince of Wales, is a shameful libertine living the high life in London and consorting with a gang of scurrilous miscreants. Indeed, Prince Hal's idea of fun is robbing people, and his best friend and accomplice in this activity is Sir John Falstaff, who turns out to be not Hal's peer but a middle-aged man. In a character transformation of an abruptness that can only be described as magical, Hal becomes a serious young man determined loyally to defend his father's kingship from Hotspur's assault after he receives an earnest lecture from his father about the dangers of acting irresponsibly as a public figure.

Not enough can be said about Falstaff, who is undoubtedly one of the most richly realized characters in literature. He is fat, lazy, cowardly, yet boastful, but not in the same way Owen Glendower is -- Owen really believes what he says; Falstaff is just trying to make himself look better than he actually is, but fools nobody because he prevaricates and embellishes without bothering to remember his previous lies for the sake of consistency. You probably know somebody like this in real life -- especially if you're ten years old. Falstaff's piquancy, in fact, so outweighs the stature of the other characters that his absence is sorely felt in the scenes in which he does not appear.

Most of all, Part One of "Henry IV" is a play of contrasts personified by Prince Hal and Hotspur, who incidentally is also named Henry. In their confrontation on the battlefield, it seems unlikely that Hal, who wasted many of his best days living as a rake, could conquer a seasoned warrior like Hotspur in a swordfight. But there wouldn't be much of a tale to tell if not to show Hal triumphing after his resolution to change his weak habits, and the play ends with the conviction that, despite his past mistakes, he would make a noble king himself.

This is the perfect type of story! it is filled with secerts,romance, hate, love, and mystery. I read it in two days and couldnt wait to finish each chapter to solve a piece of the mystery. This book kept me guessing up until the last chapter about who Gabe was. I am looking forward to reading more books by this author and also watching the movie that was made for this story.

I have read all the reviews and while I found this book to be interesting, it took awhile for me to get into the story. I did like how the author went from one characters story to the next. It took a long time to find out the main character Eliza's secret and then the book seemed to rush to the finish. Historically I am sure the book is accurate, but it did not seem like the depression years really affected the family. I also think there needed to be more of a romance between Gabe and Eliza. It was well written and worth reading, but it is a little slow at times and not Ms. Austin's best work.

The title first caught my attention as a TV Movie, that seemed like a nice, romantic story, along with plenty of struggles for characters of its historical time, and included Christian inspiration. In my search for the book - which I knew had to be better than the movie - I was happy to find out that Lynn Austin is an author of so many historical, Christian novels. I am close to the end of Hidden Places, and don't want to put it down. I can't decide who my favorite character is: Aunt Batty, Walter, Gabe, or Eliza. This book is full of struggles and hope. It shows how the characters keep their Faith in those difficulties of life.

I recently bought another one of Lynn Austin's titles. I love her style of historical, Christian fiction. I am hooked on Lynn Austin! Keep on writing! We're waiting for more!

This book was made into a Hallmark movie. The movie does not do this book justice. The book is much better and tells you things that are left out of the movie. The book is more in depth on the character relationships than the movie and gives you character background information. Excellent Read!

. . . and things not being what they seem. Lynn Austin weaves the consequences of bitterness, deceit into a satisfying tale of redemption and fresh starts. Lots of heart, some humor and a whole lot of trying to figure out why people do what they do.

Strange, supernatural game playing beings are at the heart of this book. They like to play games on a very large scale, as in planet to planet, and are not particularly nice.

A young boy gets involved, and is made into one of the participants. He meets others, and they decide to do something about it, as well as running into the Flying Dutchman, the Wandering Jew and Prometheus.

I discovered this book a few years ago after my mom took me to a book store, and told me to get some books. It follows a twelve year old boy as he travels through other worlds in hopes of someday making it back home. The characters are great, and the plot is even better. I love how Diana Wynne Jones describes the other worlds/dimensions. It is a thought provoking book. the only problem i have with it is that at some points it's hard to follow, and it starts out a bit slow. Other than that, this book is fantastic and has become one of my favorites.

This is probably my favorite of Diana Wynne Jones' books, since her humor in the others can grate on me. The main character seems (to me)to be a fairly normal kid one or two centuries ago. (Of course, I'm an expert on neither normal kids nor that time period, so maybe I'm wrong.) That never gets too jarring; he adapts pretty well to almsot everything.

Concept

They (the villains of the book are refered to as Them, always in italics and capitals) are ancient and thouroghly weird demons playing continual games with entire worlds for their boards. People are their playing peices. However, if one of the "pieces" sees Them (not everyone can)They banish that person to another world. HTe person must switch worlds every time the Them playing that world make a move, so that they cannot make any changes to "play". If they get Home, to their own world, they can stop, but no one ever gets Home. Besides, time flows differently for Homward Bounders (world travlers)than for their worlds. A year passes for Jamie, but a century passes for his world. I was strongly reminded of Rip Van Winkle, and I wondered if Jones was thinking of that story, too.

The main characters (Jamie, Helen, and Joris, mostly Jamie) are all new Homeward Bounders. They haven't been away from Home long, and are still both fiercely angry at Them and hopeful to get home. Older Homeward Bounders have given up.
Jamie is fairly ordinary for his time period in England, but Helen and Joris are both really weird. Other Homeward Bounders are taken from mythology: Ahasuarus (the Wandering Jew) and the Flying Dutchman.

Other Characters:

Helen (proper name: Haras-uquara) is wacky. She comes from a world which is really nasty. Everyone there steals from everyone else, except the House of Uquar, where she grows up. (Uquar is their name for Prometheus, who taught them about Them before he was chained.) She has an odd ability to change one of her arms into anything she can think of- an elephant's trunk, or a Living Blade to fight Them with. (The living blade was the idea of Konstam, who will be mentioned with Joris. It is a weapon against demons.) Helen loves creepy things, like bones and rats and bugs. WHich is fun and wacky, espessially in a girl. She isn't the sort of nice and pretty girl in most stories- in fact she never shows her face unless to look at a rat or bug, prefering for some reason to keep it covered with her hair. She isn't a quantifiable character. I like her.

Joris is also significantly weird, but nto as fun. He is a slave and an apprentice demon hunter (until his eighteenth birthday, when his master will free him but he will stay a demon hunter). He is obsesssed with said master, Konstam Khan, one of a huge family of demon hunters led by a woman named Elsa Khan, who don't hold with slavery adn were somewhat ticked off at Konstam for having a slave. It can get to be a bit annoying (to Jamie and Helen more than to the reader) the way Joris keeps talking about Konstam, but it's not too big a thing. And both Joris and Konstam turn out to be useful in getting rid of THem.

Okay. The story is darker than most of Diana Jones' books; the characters are pretty ambivilent and flawed. The ending isn't really happily ever after for Jamie, because (in order to keep Them, once expelled from teh worlds, from coming back) Jamie must travel between worlds forever. He'll be able to visit his friends, but each time he'll be the same age, and they'll be older. He comes up with it himself, but it's not an easy ending. It's necessery, but I wish there was another way. Endings like that are good; they are realer somehow.

But it doesn't end badly. Prometheus is freed and can go home; the other Homeward Bounders can go home, if only to die. Which, for soem of them, would probably be a relief. Helen goes back to fix her world, which was so nasty in part because of Their games. It'll be hard work for her, but you get the impression she'll have fun. She claims she will, anyway.

I like this book a lot, and i appologize if my review was scattery.

A well-crafted book like this has literary merit long before most YA fiction was considered to be of much merit at all. The mythic background of this book is tremendously evocative to me. A former reviewer mentioned the Christ symbolism of one of the characters - this is simply false - the chained up nameless character is Prometheus, the bringer of fire to humanity.

Reflecting in the mood of the multiverse an odd and endearing British Empire view of the universe, the tropes of the "bounds", the conspiratorial THEM, the mythic depths, and the presence of a cosmic game, combined with the sombre mood of the plot - all of these give this book great merit as one of DWJ's strongest works.

You could say it's a collage of myths - that can be a good or a bad thing depending on whether like myself you have fallen in love with the mythic elements. I have read this book countless times since I was very small and still enjoy it, so this is my cheerful recommendation.

Jamie, an average boy living in 19th century London, stumbles upon his destiny at only 12 years old. He discovers a mysterious building known only as the Old Fort, and is punished for trespassing in a way he could not have even guessed. Jamie is captured by Them, robed spirits who 'play' the worlds like gameboards, and is whisked away to wander the thousands of worlds by traveling the Boundaries. He is gives only one hope, that if he finds his way home he may stay there and 'reenter play'. Jamie visits worlds of nomadic peoples, war, jungles, and even cannabilism. He eventually makes friends with Helen and Joris, other lost Homeward Boundaries with a bitter hatred of Them. This trio and other friends make a plan to overthrow Them once and for all to put the worlds back to normal... but will it be enough?
The Homeward Bounders was one of Dianna Wynne Jones' more serious novels, with discussions on hope, reality, friendship, and having a place to call home. I loved the creative multi-universe setting and the way the book grabs your attention and doesn't let go. The ending was anything but happily ever after, but satisfying all the same.

Here is one terrific writer who as a parent I would encourage you and your kids to select from some terrifically written books especially for kids who don't read enough or haven't grasp the value of well written books!

I read with both of your younger kids to keep them honest (i.e no shortcuts) and to insure they have comprehended the story well enough to have something meaningful discussion to talk about.

What I enjoyed most about this book was it brought back old memories of how low wages and pay was as a kid hustling for odd jobs in the 1950's and 60's just to have money in your pocket... not like today as Paulsen reflects how life was life when he was 16 in 1955 and hitchhiked 300 miles to get a job at the Birds Eye fresh-frozen vegetable plant at an astounding wage of one dollar and five cents per hour ($8.40 per day).

Also the other thought that crossed my mind reading this particular book was now I know how the famous celebrity "EVEL KNIEVEL" who was captured attention for performing similar stunts on his motorcycle in the 70's came about...

Mr. Paulsen - Thank you for the wonderful gift and legacy you have given readers of all ages!

Have you ever wanted to set a world record? Have you ever wanted to do something crazy? The characters in Gary Paulsen's How Angel Peterson got his Name do just that. At the age of 13, Paulsen and his friends break the world record on skis, wrestle with a bear, jump through a hoop of fire, and more.
The characters in the book have the same mind as young adult. It is a good choice for boys and some girls ages 11- 15 because they can relate to Gary Paulsen and his friends. This book is action packed and the fun never stops. Gary wants to tell his friends not to do the amazing stunts that they do because they might get hurt but he has the curiosity to keep his mouth shut. He wonders what will happen to Angel while breaking the record, what will happen to Orvis when he wrestles the bear?
Breaking the world record of 74 miles an hour on skis isn't easy, especially when you live where there aren't any hills. Another thing, there wasn't safety gear. The trouble starts when they pass the record at 82 miles an hour. They hit a place with out snow and Angel flies off his skies. Later he told his friends that he heard the Angels sing. They were singing "Your Cheatin' Heart" by Hank Williams."
Orvis Orvison wasn't very popular and was always being beaten up at school. He also couldn't talk to girls. So he got the girls' attention by showing off. Whenever there were girls around he would always be two feet higher or jump five feet farther then his friends. At the carnival he saw a sign that said wrestle with a bear for one minute win $25. Orvis saw some girls and got in the ring with the bear.
A New York Times Best Seller and a 2004 winner for the ALA Best Books for Young Adults, Paulsen's memoir about his childhood is not to be missed by middle school readers who want to read a book that will put a smile on their face. Teen readers will be able to find similarities between themselves and the characters in the book.

Book review of How Angel Peterson Got His Name

How Angel Peterson Got His Name is a book about a group of 12 year old boys doing crazy stunts and hilarious pranks. Each of these kids has a crazy and stupid dream or stunt that they want to accomplish. Even though they could end up dead if not very close to it, they still try. Gary Paulsen does a great gob describing all of these stunts and giving you a great picture of what is going on in the book.
Although this book is chopped up into little stories each with a stupider and crazier stunt than the last, it's still funny and a great book to read. But since there are just a bunch of little stories that fit into one which sort of makes it easier to read because you're not having to keep track of one big story. Rather than just a bunch of little stories so if you don't like one story you can just read the next one and see if you like it. That's why I would recommend this book to struggling readers that don't like to read big books because they are ether hard to understand or that if you miss a part then you may have skipped an important part in knowing the story.
Overall this is a great book with a crazy and outrageous changing plot full of surprising and funny twists along with all of the stupid stunts. In the end almost all the kids have gotten in trouble or hurt.

Pretty much all readers who have read this book say How Angel Peterson Got His Name by Gary Paulsen is a great quick read. It's a great book for reluctant and struggling readers. It's a good book for these people because number one it's a short book but long chapters which is good because it will make the reader read to the end of the chapter, number two it's a very funny book, and number three there's quite a bit of characters so there will be quite a bit of similarity between the reader and the characters.
There isn't really a main character in this story it's all about a group of kids and the things they do for fun or to get girls to like them. Some of the kids will do anything to get girls attention. For example, a memorable scene is when, this one kid tries to wrestle a bear at the carnival, but the first few times he doesn't do it, but then he tries one more time and succeeds by getting tortured by the bear, because the objective is to stay in the rink for 1 minute. And then there was when the kids were really bored they decided to skateboard in the street and hold on to the back of the cars to go really fast.
By the end of the book, readers are hung off with questions like what would happen if our world was just like this book, or what would happen if the people in our world were like the people in the book.

I thought that I could totally relate to this book because I am also his age and I thought it was awsome to compare each other. This book always kept you on the edge of what they would do next.It was a funny book and was a book with morals. If your the type that likes funny and true stories, this is the book for you.

My son loves this series. We got them when he was 2 and he isn't a big dinosaur fan, but he loves to read them every night. He likes Goodnight & Eat Their Food better because he's not in school yet, but he loves them all. I like them too. His other fave is the David books, and I get tired of reading those, but I still enjoy reading these. I love that these books teach him what not to do.

I love all these books. My son loves the pictures and it's a great read. Highly recommend!

I love these books. Everyone of the books in the series have met mine and my child's expectations. Of course being a boy he loves the dinosaurs and as I the mom, I love the values, manners and morals they teach.

My 18 month old son loves this book. I'm not sure why, except that it has school buses in it. It doesn't seem like he would relate to most of it. And it seems that a school-aged kid who is old enough to need or understand the lessons about sitting still in class, not interrupting, not pushing on the playground, etc. isn't going to be fooled by putting that advice into a story.

Also, in contrast to the other books in the series, which are more balanced in what not to do and what you should do instead, this one is 90% negative. I'm not sure I will read it to my little boy as much as the others (if he will let me get away with that), because not only does it keep on with negative after negative, it is talking about SCHOOL in a negative way. It makes it seem as though school is a place where you can't do all sorts of things and there are only limited things you CAN do. I'm not sure why the book turned out this way, if there were too many good ideas for rhyming things you shouldn't do, or not enough of the right words to make more shoulds at the end.

In spite of all this, the illustrations are great and the rhyming is clever, as always. I'm not sure what "chalk talk" in the classroom is, but hopefully that is something the kids will know. Cute book - kids always love books about school. And I think my son probably likes this one because he loves the others in the series so much!

Jane Yolen and mark Teague's HOW DO DINOSAURS GO TO SCHOOL? presents the zany story of what happens when giant dinosaurs decide to attend school. It's an unusual day where dinosaur show-and-tell, story time and more add some very special challenges to the typical school setting.

well worth your time and money.... also make sure you read Planet Law School II by Atticus Falcon (especially before law school)

The book was excellent, and service second to none. I recommend this to friends all the time.

This is the kind of help that you will be desperate for about a month before finals. Ideally, you will have received this book with plenty of time to digest it, work the examples and really get comfortable, but I am positive that even if I had picked up this book the day before my first final, I would have gotten some benefit from it.

While I was lucky enough to have one professor who was full of real advice about taking his exam, the others ranged from vague to totally and purposefully unhelpful. With this book, you have a leg-up.

All of Delaney's books are very useful, but they require you to do your diligent best to work through the examples and questions. If you do, you will benefit greatly.

I just finished my first semester of law school, and this book was invaluable. I read it before the semester started, which I highly recommend, and then reviewed it before finals week. It takes away much of the mystery of the "fact pattern"-based essay exam, and gave me the tools and strategies to write quick, concise analysis. I've only received one grade so far, but it was an A! I felt very confident about my performance on the exams, and it was, in large part, because this book taught me how to practice for the exams, and how to study. I absolutely recommend this book for any first year law student, or law students who didn't do so well in the past.

First, I should begin by saying what has turned out to be true. Law school is tough. It is extremely challenging, the amount of information is overwhelming, and the in-class atmosphere is unnerving. It is, I believe, more different and difficult than most undergrad and grad students realize.


Second, your time constraints will be intense. If you undertake an earnest effort to read your cases, properly brief, use resources such as hornbooks and outline, you will probably not have enough time to develop the skills necessary to write an effective exam-answer during law school.


Last, it is why this book is so important to read and prior to entering law school: difficulty of exams, complexity of material, vast amounts of information and reading, intense time constraints, and most importantly, your grade will be determined by your final exam performance.


SOME COMMENTARY ON LAW EXAMS & SOCRATIC METHOD (*WARNING*)
I would be disingenuous and perhaps remiss if I did not seize a good opportunity to complain about law school to those considering attending law school. Do not fret, I will try to be brief. I think after the first or second semester of law school, you acquire the analytical skills, discipline, and ability to read and understand complex material at a maximum level. I am skeptical that a second year of law school is necessary, let alone a third year. The second-year should consist of skills development, job-training, and some classroom work. The third-year should be eliminated or optional for those that want more education or specialization (such as an LLM). Most (all?) countries do not have law schools in the way the United States does; instead, students study law as undergrads or earn a master's in law.

LAW SCHOOL EXAMS
Your law school grade is, exclusive of everything else (class participation, research papers, group projects, etc.) based on the final exam. You will not obtain credit for research papers, drafting memorandum, participating in class, or for group projects. Your entire grade is based on the final. It is a bizarre if not backward way of measuring a person's ability to think like a lawyer.

It behooves you to develop exam-taking skills now if you are a serious student and hope to succeed in law school.

SOCRATIC METHOD
In some respects, I think my speaking ability has slightly diminished as a result of the socratic method. I find it especially jarring when a law student is called-on to recite a fact-pattern or passage. I think it is completely unnecessary for students to have to read paragraphs and mostly a waste of time. If some of you were like me, you probably participated in class actively as an undegrad or grad students, were always well prepared, and most-likely shined in class discussions. Law school is more challenging to shine in class because the amount of material is considerable and complex, and the professor will ask you questions that will probably tongue-tie you. And this will occur in class, surrounded by nearly 100 of your classmates, depending on your school. You are, however, expected to be well-prepared for class and you will be called upon at random.

I dislike the socratic method because it makes law students unnecessarily neurotic and undermines learning. In business school, for example, students' participation was often (but not always) grounded in real-life experiences that enhanced discussion and added flavor to debate.

Law school classroom discussions are an altogether different atmosphere, and I think a rather deficient method of teaching.

As an aside, I wish law schools would format classroom participation in a similar way such as at the London School of Economics. You attend a lecture by a professor for around an hour or so. You can ask questions during the prof's lecture but it is primarily the prof's perspective on the material. Then in the evening you attend a group discussion with a Ph.D. candidate, where participation is the focus. Everyone has an opportunity to speak, raise questions, engage in debate, and so forth. You attain a deeper, more sophisticated understanding of the subject material and acquire strong communication skills in the process.

The combination of your grade being based solely on the final exam and the socratic method make law school a much more challenging, stressful, and somewhat confusing experience than it has to be. Be prepared.


USEFULNESS OF THE BOOK
You are the individual responsible for your education and grades. I find classroom learning, in law school, to be inadequate. I have found learning from casebooks to be particularly inadequate. Law school is about YOU, the law student, and less about reading cases and fretting about the socratic method. It is about YOU in terms of your skills, abilities, and exam performance. It is a strange if not deficient way to exclusively measure law school performance, but it is the system.

Reading this book and preparing in earnest will provide you with an understanding on how to analyze complex legal material. You need to learn the material and work with it daily. Reading a case and briefing it is not sufficient to do well. Law school is not college; it is a challenging and complex job.

Your ability to issue-spot on law exams should improve, which is a critical exam-taking skill. The author explains how to anticipate issues, identify primary and secondary issues, and how to explain and illustrate the issues you spotted. Spotting issues, though critical, is not sufficient on law exams. You will be expected to supply a lawyerly analysis of each and every issue as it relates to the fact pattern on a law school exam. Serious preparation, a whole lot of practice, and a bit of luck are all necessary.

You will also learn to outline, and I would not rely on others' outlines in law school. The most important part of outlining is the process of studying, creating your own outline. It will be how you learn the material, and you should use a good hornbook in making your outline. Outlining is not sufficient in law school. The best outline in the world will not help you if you do not prepare and practice regularly.

The book will help you with understanding your own learning strategy, which is vital to know prior to entering law school. You need to know how to study, prepare, and practice law school exams prior to entering. The book also provides excellent practice essay exams with answers.


CONCLUSION
I confidently recommend HOW TO DO YOUR BEST ON LAW SCHOOL EXAMS for those interested in preparing for law school. I have read many and varied "law school prep" books and courses. Many are inadequate, some are useless, and others provide bad advice. Success in law school is determined by one and only one measure: the final exam. If you are considering or are about to attend law school, it is wise to pick-up this book to better understand and prepare for law school exams. Law school is an intellectual privilege, although I am somewhat skeptical of its value after the first-year.

You must get-through (survive) law school to practice law. I wish you the best of luck in the endeavor. Never forget to pursue Justice and defend the Constitution.

Goodness... long review!

I hope the above was helpful.