Bats Books

Eunice and Joy are best friends. They do everything together and you can never find one without the other. Joy and Eunice decide to start a catering buisness for the summer. It's called Have Your Cake. Everything was going great, they were recieving orders left and right. One day Eunice and Joy go to the pool. Eunice notices that a boy has been watching Joy dive. When she informs Joy of this Joy says she doesnt care. However, the next day Eunice realizes Joy has bought a new swimming suit. Joy starts staying at practice late and leaving all work hours to Eunice. Joy starts spending time with Robert and leaving Eunice by herself.

Most parents probably think long and hard about when and how to raise their children. Part of that process is to look at the latest research on the conditions under which children thrive. Having been a parent for almost 30 years, I am struck by how much the research results have shifted during that time. It reminds me of the latest research on which diets work best, and how to avoid disease. The latest research always seems to contradict what has been "learned" before.

While I usually feel pretty skeptical about research concerning child rearing, my instinct tells me that Dr. Greenspan is probably onto something important in this book. He identifies six types of needs that children have to develop fully in an emotional and intellectual sense, that are imparted mostly during "rug time" with the same adult. Skip those attention-focusing experiences, peek-a-boo games and long discussions of cause-and-effect and some learning will be missed. As I read this book, I was reminded of what Dr. Jane Goodall had to say about what she learned about parenting champanzees in the wild, and how she applied those lessons to being very close to her own son during his first five years.

Back in the Middle Ages (or before 1965), Mom usually stayed home while the children were little, and enjoyed playing with her children. Since then, the new ideal is for parents to both have great educations, demanding careers, and a nice family. The research in 1965 said that with "quality time" and love that all of this was possible. Now, Dr. Greenspan argues that until age five children need to have a lot of dedicated time from the same caregiver, ideally a parent, and not too much time in loosely supervised day care. The research in this book suggests that almost all day care is not "quality time" and such day care must be held to a minimum.

The basic concept of how to deal with this is to first have the parents rethink their lives so that the children get the attention they need while under five, and use the best quality day care you can access the rest of the time. While the book's title suggests that each parent works two-thirds time and parents one-third time, in practice most families will adopt some other solution that creates at least two-thirds of one parent's time to be with the youngest children in the family. The book contains six examples of how this is accomplished (including one divorced couple splitting days and visiting briefly each day, one stay-at-home Dad, one "tag-team" couple who works adjacent shifts and covers for the family when off duty, one "working out of the home" Dad, a traditional family where Mom does the heavy parenting and Dad helps out when not working, and one couple who does the two-thirds, two-thirds part-time jobs solution suggested by the book's title).

The book also provides ideas for how to select day care, how improve day care, and ways that government and employers can help.

The book, as well intentioned as it is, has several weaknesses. First, it is very repetitive. You will keep wondering why the same points are covered again . . . and again. The author seems to think that readers have short memories. Second, although the conclusions feel right to me, I have to wonder what has not been tested that could undermine this research in the future. That point was not well addressed. Third, there's not enough advice on how to work out more flexible arrangements with employers, customers, and spouses. Fourth, although the book is very clear that putting these responsibilities on both parents is good for children and hard on marriages, there isn't much help with how to avoid undermining your marriage in the process. Creating a divorce or a separation will normally not be very good for the children, either. Fifth, the book acts as though the job of parenting is mostly over at five. I don't think so. Remember those teenage years? How should those be handled? Sixth, if this book is right, a lot of families would do well to wait quite a while before having children. That point is not addressed. What is hard to juggle at 24 can be easier and pleasant to deal with at 34. Seventh, although there's a lot of sympathy for single parents and those families on welfare who are affected by welfare reform, the suggested solutions here are hardly going to make any major changes for young children in these families in the near term. My guess is that it is these children who are most at risk for the issues described in this book.

Explore all of the pleasures of parenthood, and enjoy the responsibilities as well!

The West, alarmed by reports of the MiG-25's technological prowess, scheme to nab a copy of the super-plane for themselves. The Foxbat is a big and ugly airplane, one that Western intel (both those in real life as well as in this book) h already dismissed as less-than wonderful. (Previous reports of the jet's technological formidability were shot down when the west got a close look at a MiG-25 flown by a defecting pilot to Japan.)

In "Foxbat" the novel, the west changes its mind again due to reports of a new variant. With better electronics, and more high-powered engines, this Foxbat is primed to become the Soviets' primary platform for anti-satellite weaponry. "Foxbat" tells of the efforts to recruit, then blackmail an elite fighter pilot into defecting with his wonder fighter. The novel is an interesting piece of 1970's cold-war frisson - there are no good guys or causes. (It's cynicism for its own sake, and it hurts the book also - are compelling stories an ideal that we've grown past demanding?) The "hero" of the story is the feckless and luckless Foxbat pilot who's dragooned into defecting, and then must survive when the Yankees get cold feet and decide that they want the plan quashed. The characters are pretty thin, and the writing style won't stick on you like Craig Thomas does. Unfortunately, "Foxbat" invites comparisons with the superior "Firefox". The story doesn't focus enough on the Russian pilot's efforts to get out of Russia with his plane, nor on the rough merits of the plane itself.

This was an interesting idea for a novel - one that wasn't necessarily made obsolete by the premise of "Firefox", just that book's superior execution. Still it's worth a read for that alone. Just don't expect something as memorable.

"The Gold Bat" is not a series of distinct stories but actually a short novel centering around sports. It might best be compared to today's teen high school novels; save of course in Wodehouse's fictional boys school of Wrykyn, derived directly from Dulwich, his own public (private) college (school), there are no teen pregnancies, so 'de riguer' in today's overheated publishing world. Nor drug overdoses, mass-shootings, nor sad tragic coming of age deaths in automobile accidents - cars not having been invented when he began attending Dulwich in 1894.

Wodehouse offers his readers, instead of today's overt teen realism (and moralizing), an evil and dark 'League', right out of the Conan Doyle serials then appearing for the first time in the young Wodehouse's favorite reading material, "The Strand Magazine". This once banished League, broken up and its memebers expelled after locking a boy overnight in freezing bathwater with the result the child nearly died of pneumonia, suddenly re-emerges in sinister fashion, with several rooms being trashed and calling cards claiming the 'League' responsible. This sort of crypto-terrorism challenges the tenacity of Team Captain Trevor in a serious of ups and downs culminating in Wodehouse's variation on a French duel: a secret AM boxing bout between the ringleader of the newly revised League and star pugilist O'Hara, Trevor's friend and the novel's token wild young Irishman, who, among many 'shenanigans', tars and feathers the statue of a local virulently anti-Irish politican.

Written as a serial for "The Captain", a magazine catering to public school boys, the book is well summed up in Robert McCrum's must-own Wodehouse biographyWodehouse: A Life;

"The plot turns on a crime - the theft of a gold replica bat. However, the pleasure for modern readers comes not so much from the story, which is effiecently handled, but in the light authentic picture of public school life and the hints of the prose to come."

Wodehouse was barely twenty, yet his chapters already are breaking down into unique moments of singular comic mold, with such things as furtive ferret-raising, exploding chimnies, and a college prank erupting into an Irish rights riot in the city park.

And there ARE moments of the authentic Wodehouse touch peeping through breaks in the prosaic clouds.

"In one corner of the room stood a gigantic globe. The problem - how did it get into the room? - was one that had exercised the minds of many generations of Wrykinians. It was much too big to have come through the door. Some thought that the block had been built round it, others that it had been placed in the room in infancy, and had since grown. To refer the question to Mr. Morgan would, in six cases out of ten, mean instant departure from the room. But to make the event certain, it was necessary to grasp the globe firmly and spin it round on its axis. That always proved successful. Mr. Morgan would dash down from his dais, address the offender in spirited terms, and give him his marching orders at once and without further trouble."

Readers curious about the essence of life at such an institution, and we're talking the 1890's here, will find the book's details and color a gold mine. Wodehouse does know of what he writes; no slouch as an athelete, he made his Rugby fifteen AND the Cricket eleven, the English public school counterparts to starting on the American High School football AND baseball varsities! Wodehouse does a fine job as a sportswriter, and includes many of the elements of the most hackneyed 'big game'; the star play who pulls up with a twisted ankle just days before the match, a lsst minute score against the traditonal rival - it's all there.

This reasonably priced edition of "The Gold Bat" offers no glossary, which really is a necessity for American readers. In the end fans of P.G. Wodehouse may find all this just too much to wade through, but if you do understand rugby and/or are familiar with English public schools I certainly recommend the book.

Not all Wodehouse juvenalia can be skipped with impunity. Don't miss "Love Among the ChickensLove Among the Chickens (Illustrated Edition) (Dodo Press): written just a year after the "Gold Bat" and featuring the incredible Ukridge, Wodehouse's first great comic creation!

In this Grandma Sal and Grandma Nan story, Pip's baseball coach is sick and if the team does not find a new coach, they will not be able to play in the big game on Saturday! Grandma Nan overhears Pip talking on the phone with his best friend, Ski about the big game.
"I can coach!" states Grandma Nan.
"I can too!" says Grandma Sal.
Both grandmas will coach together they decide. At practice, the grandmas are how they usually are. Grandma Nan is too strict, but Grandma Sal is too laid back. The Stings, Pip's team, are all bothered by the grandma's arguments and ways of coaching.
At the big game, the Stings are losing and Pip tells the grandmas that they need to play on their own, without the help of coaches. The Stings continue to lose and Grandma Nan and Grandma Sal agree that they must do something to help the team.
I can't tell you what they do, for that will give away the ending, but it is silly, like always! I love the grandma stories! They are so fun. I would recommend this story to beginners at reading. It is easy to comprehend, but definitely not boring.

I used this with storytimes and the story was too involved for the preschoolers in a group setting. May work better one-on-one or for older children

I wish he had taken some different pictures, or included some varied drawings of the White Bat. My son was very dissapointed as well.

This book is a satisfactory introduction to the "Neo-Tech Discovery" book which is availible separately.

This book is a time capsule for the time it was published, having advice that isn't specifically relevant any more (how to travel with glass bottles, how to teach kids about the cold war, etc) but still contains gems of practical advice.

ROE v. WADE, Bo Schambelan's annotated transcription of the watershed decision by the same name, is of doubtless value to those who, despite having never read a Supreme Court opinion, wish to dive immediately into the deep end of the pool. Intended primarily for a lay audience with a fervid interest in the controversial case, Schambelan's book is comprised mostly of text taken verbatim from the Court's own published opinion. On the upside, most of the book's content comes directly from the horse's mouth. On the downside, the Court's text hardly makes for an easy read for the uninitiated. Essentially a reference work, ROE v. WADE provides readers with abridged transcripts of the Court's decisions in both Roe v. Wade and its companion case, Doe v. Bolton, as well as all concurring and dissenting opinions, including original footnotes and citations.

The remainder of the book is taken up with a variety of supplements which are particularly worthwhile to anyone lacking a pre-law background. The introduction, though not substantive enough to qualify as a case primer, does provide a summary of the Court's opinion which is sufficient to enlighten less familiar readers. Far more useful is the author's preparatory "Notes on the Text" which mercifully explains the arcane style of legal citations for anyone ambitious enough to track them down. Also of interest is the author's "Postscript" which lists the citations and abbreviated holdings of every Supreme Court ruling on abortion legislation from 1973 through the 1992 Casey decision.

Of some incidental value are the biographical sketches of every Justice who has sat on the Court, again, from 1973 through 1992. More serviceable, however, is Schambelan's "Glossary" which should go a long way toward dispelling much of the confusion that any casual reader is likely to encounter. To his credit, Schambelan also provides a reprint of those constitutional amendments on which so much of the Court's analysis of abortion rights turns. To his discredit, however, he neglected to include a list of secondary sources that might have spurred further study.

Keeping in mind that the central tenets of the Roe decision are, for the moment, still controlling in abortion jurisprudence, ROE v. WADE is perhaps of greatest utility to those who wish to understand the Court's stated position on reproductive freedom without having first to immerse themselves in pre-legal academics. For those who decide to pursue the issue, this book establishes a cursory yet solid foundation.