Bean Books

Great relaxation---death essentially occured "off stage" I have already passed it on to two friends who are enjoying it.

Although not as good as "A Stiff Risotto." This is much better than the other's in the series.

Heaven Lee, 45ish, once widowed, 4 times divorced, disbarred lawyer, ex-stripper and current restaurant owner, has gone to New Orleans to visit her friend Mary Whitten and to cook up some dishes for the Sisters Of The Holy Trinity annual benefit dinner.

Things aren't going well for the sisters. Someone has stolen their prized crucifix, which the original sisters had brought with them from France hundreds of years before, put thousands of termites on their antique wooden staircase and are generally trying to mess up their celebration.

Things can't get worse when at the celebration dinner, Mary's husband Truely is murdered, stabbed with one of Heaven's knives.

Is this just one more thing to ruin the sister's celebration or is there something else? Do the nasty letters, Heaven had received at her restaurant have anything to do with it? Whatever it is, Heaven is determined to find out who killed her friends husband.

What I liked about this book is that there are not the dozens of characters that she has in many of her books. That sometimes made it difficult to follow the storyline. This one only had a few additional characters and made for a very easy read.

The mystery was good, although I did figure out the killer, but it was close to the end of the book so it didn't matter.

Heaven is very funny in this book. The image of her walking into the police station with a dead bird to have them do a match on the bullet that killed it really had me laughing.

The only downside to this story is that she doesn't use her reoccuring characters enough. Except for Murray - who takes over running her restaurant when she's gone, and Hank, her twenty years younger boyfriend, the other characters are hardly heard from at all.

And you don't get a clear description of any of the characters. I'm still not really clear on what Heaven looks like.

The amount of profanity in the book has decreased. I still wouldn't consider this a cozy mystery.

There are three or four places in this book where it is plainly hard to follow the author's intended action sequence. Other than that this is a very good light read and well worth the price of admission. Even if you check it out of the local library as opposed to buying a copy (either in hardback or paperback) the book will keep you entertained.

Mondays were open mike nights at Cafe Heaven. The writing is good and the recipes are too. Heaven Lee is a former lawyer. She runs a cafe in Kansas City. Heaven visits New Orleans for the purpose of planning a benefit banquet in honor of the oldest convent in America. She learns that someone has sent anonymous notes that the waiters in her cafe are diseased. She collects the notes from the Kansas City Star and city hall on the advice of a hate crimes expert. Later Heaven feels better when she learns all of the chefs involved in the banquet received such notes. A friend's husband, Truely, is found stabbed at the benefit event with a stolen cross placed on his body. Heaven assigns herself the task of sorting it all out to find Truely's murderer. The scenes are lively and the plotting is clever.

Heaven Lee is invited to New Orleans to be a guest chef at a swank fund raising dinner for the Sisters of the Holy Trinity. Before she can even get packed, Heaven receives a vicious crank letter that could ruin the reputation of her Kansas City restaurant if it gets into the wrong hands. But going to New Orleans could be great publicity for her restaurant, so it's off the Big Easy. Almost as soon as she hits town, problems crop up. The planning meeting is disrupted by a loud mouthed local celebrity with a grudge. Mysterious and menacing people are lurking around her friends, Mary (an old law school chum of Heaven's) and Truely Whitten (successful owner of the largest coffee importing company in Louisiana). And to top it off, the Sister's lovely Convent building is vandalized and a priceless crucifix is stolen!

Heaven smells disaster for the future success of the fundraiser and reluctantly steps in to try and make sense of these seemingly unrelated incidents before it's too late.

She meets and befriends a former Madame, Nancy Blair, who knows a lot about the hidden skeletons of the society elite in town. She is squired to all the best night spots by handsome, smooth talking, Southern gentleman T. Wilson Tibbetts, who is Truely's best friend.

But murder, conspiracy and plain old greed complicate Heaven's life even further. On the way to solving the mysteries, the reader is treated to some of the most mouthwatering descriptions of delicious sounding Southern food. Many of the actual recipes are included, a trademark of author Lou Jane Temple's scrumptious series featuring Heaven Lee. By all means, read this book. It's a fun, fast paced book and a great addition to the series.

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Although the editorial selection clearly slants to the left, and is bubbling with postmodernism, many of the essays here are quite enjoyable, especially the humorous prose of James Thurber and Mark Twain, and George Orwell's "Politics and the English Lanuage" is delightfully informative. The best expositionary anthology I've yet seen.

I bought this book for a college class and the next semester they changed the book. I read some things on my own and found some good but I don't think it was worth the money. I still have it though because when I read it, it makes me feel smart. Plus they come out with new ones all the time...dont buy it new. Just get a used one. All they change is the cover and a couple inserts so the pages are different and you think its different than the old one. Dont be fooled.

The editors of this edition are to be commended. The essays they have collected are a broad cross spectrum of mostly American writings. The subject matter, approach and style of the essays assures that anyone who reads them will find more than a little to capture the imagination and stimulate thinking. Instructors who are used to a follow-the-arrows type of reading/writing text may not enjoy this work. There is very little intrusion on the part of the editors. They do not give step-by-step instructions for the use of the essays. Each work is followed by a few questions that may be used in a classroom setting and only one suggestion for writing based on the essay read. However, for instructors who have built their own courses in reading-based composition, this edition offers an embarrassment of riches to choose from. The text does not "guide" the reader into thinking about an essay according to a preconceived plan. Because the student approaches the essays without coaching (except for what a classroom instructor might give), the ensuing class discussion and the writing that is generated is far more "genuine" than with many other texts. Actually, calling this a textbook may be a mistake. I have lent my copy to many people who are not in college, and they have enjoyed the selections sufficiently to buy their own copies.

College English text yes, but contains a huge variety of stories from notable writers. Short stories yes, but great for those who don't want to delve into full-length novels. Also contains questions to think about after many of the essays and mini biographies of the authors.

We've used this in my english class a lot. Someone is selected to analyze an essay, write about its style, content, and other features, and then the student writes down a couple discussion questions and then leads a discussion each friday about the essay. I have found each of the essays informative and educational. Some are rather dry, some are sarcastic, some are flat out funny. There are essays of length (10+ pages) and then some that cover only a few pages. The essays cover such subtopics as patriotism, nature, education, politics, and forms of writing. Combining all of these essays together into one book leads to a great read that, finding a way to suit anyone's interests.

I really like the characters in this series, but felt that this book was not as good as some of the others in the series. Some parts went along great, and some lagged. Claire seemed very restless in this one, and started to verge on "hysterical female" at one point. I really hate that in a strong female character, and I have always felt that Claire was a great example of the strong female without the flights into "hysterical female" that plague other good, strong female characters.

I thought this one dragged a bit, but I still like Mary Logue's writing and the characters.

I know this area very well and was very excited to see a novel set here. The book doesn't disappoint. Logue is a polished writer. The story was suspenseful. What intrigued me most was the Prologue--a glimpse at true evil. A great read!

Good solid mystery. I loved the rural setting along the Mississippi River.

POISON HEART features Deputy Sheriff Claire Watkins set in a Wisconsin farm community. Rich in local color and flavor, POISON HEART, is novel that emphasizes the character and setting over the suspense of a traditional mystery. There is no doubt who does what, and what their motives are. Instead this novel is about character interaction. If you are looking for fast-paced action or intricate plotting, this book is not for you. If you like reading about the simplicity of small-town life and undercurrents, then this novel will not disappointment because Mary Logue is a wonderful storyteller.

Some gaffes in this book, I don't think the author has any real understanding. He even messes up the definition of expectation, and it doesn't get more elementary than that. There are many better probability books out there, don't choose this one.

I appreciate that many people will be buying this because it has been endorsed by the Society of Actuaries. My review is for those who aren't being compelled to use the book in exam prep. I find "The Science of Uncertainty" to be the most consistently useful of the statistics texts in my office. The examples are clear, it has the right equations, and it's well organized.

Some people here are complaining of inaccuracies but they provide no examples and, frankly, I've never noticed a problem.

I like that authors provided an appendix explaining how to manipulate the distributions they discuss in the book using Mathematica. This was not new to me, but I can imagine it would save others some headaches.

I used this textbook as my main study material for the SOA/CAS P/1 exam. I found it to be well-written and understandable. I have some background in calculus and probability (long-forgotten college courses). I'm hanging on to it for future reference. It's actually possible to learn the material from the book all on your own. All in all, one of the better textbooks out there.

As a statistics graduate, I found it hard to understand this book. There are not many friendly examples to help the readers to understand the concepts, even with the help of solution manual. There are some mistakes too.

I used this book to study for SOA exam P and loved it! If you already have some background in statistics and probability, this is the book to go. It will fill in the blanks left by your average school textbook and give you the nesessary coverage of the exam material.

We borrowed this book from the library at first. We tried many of the recipes and loved almost all of them and so ended up buying it. We have tried about 8 recipes so far and the only one we haven't enjoyed thoroughly was the long beans with dried shrimp (the dried shrimp was not to our taste-buds liking!).

This book just serves as an intro to the veggies used in asian cooking, giving a brief description for each one. It offers only one or two recipes per veggie. And don't be deceived, this is not a vegetarian book! Most of the recipes have meat! (The braised short ribs with hearts of bok choy was great!)

Very delicious!

This is a good guide to the produce you'll find in an Asian market, and it gives you a decent idea of what you can do with that bitter melon or mustard cabbage after you've brought it home. It's a good book -- but I can't work up my enthusiasm for it.

For one thing: even though the photography is attractive, it's not terribly useful. Presumably to both save money and to give a sense of size-and-scale, most of the vegetable photos have several items in the same picture (Chinese broccoli next to choy sum next to mustard cabbage), with little circles (TOO-little circles) indicating the item highlighted in the text. The veggie photos are also smaller than the recipe photos; personally, I'd rather a good hard look at a healthy bunch of greens than a full-page picture of Asian gumbo with mustard cabbage and chinese sausage (however appealing that recipe might be).

The information given is also... well, not quite minimal, but far from exhaustive. While the entry for Lotus root in Vegetables from Amaranth to Zucchini is two or three pages (plus recipes), there's really only 3 paragraphs devoted to it here. It's good information, mind you, just not that much of it.

But note that I do give the book 4 stars. If you're completely new to Asian cooking, then this inexpensive book may be helpful (and a fatter book would be overwhelming).

This book would've ordinarily been a very good book, however, with a few of the same kinds of books available at the same time, I believe that you should shop around before purchasing this one. I have looked at several with the same theme and have found that "Asian Greens" is more concise and lists 3x more vegetables than this book and offers 30 more recipes than this book. Yes the pictures are very beautiful but so are the ones in "Asian Greens". For an informative guide, I would have to go with "Asian Greens" -- unfortunately, I picked up this one first and have since bought "Asian Greens" to help me pick Asian vegetables at the markets.

Next time I go to my local farmer's market I will take this book with me to share with the other shoppers who stand puzzled in front of the Asian vegetable vendor's table. In addition to a complete guide to Asian vegetables with great pictures, this book is full of recipes that are clearly explained and good to eat. The author's style, something one doesn't always notice in a cookbook, is personal and fun to read.

`Asian Vegetables' by first time author, Sara Deseran is a lightweight entry into the world of books about Asian cooking. While there may not be as many heavyweight classics as there are in English for Italian, French, or Mediterranean cuisines, there are important classics against which one's efforts must be measured. The heavyweight in the area of guides to Asian ingredients is `Bruce Cost's Asian Ingredients', updated in 2000.

For starters, for roughly the same list price in paperback, Cost's classic has twice as many pages, covers all ingredients, not just vegetables, and presents vegetables and all other products in a greater depth than Ms. Deseran's book. For starters, Deseran does not include the Latin scientific names for her vegetables, which is doubly annoying as she herself says, most of the vegetables have different names, even in different parts of China, let alone different names in Japan and Thailand. So, the only way to be sure we are talking about the same thing is to give the one name that is guaranteed to be the same across all books.

Ms. Deseran has one opportunity to gain a march on Cost's book by providing color photographs of almost all of the plants she discusses, but this feature is, to my mind, done poorly. In an attempt to compare and contrast the appearance of related vegetables, the photographs are all `family pictures'. Thus, for example, one picture of four oriental members of the cabbage family is so small that I am very hard pressed to see the differences between the four vegetables in the photograph, and I am hard pressed to see the difference between choy sum (Chinese flowering cabbage) and the Mediterranean veggie, broccoli Rabe (rapini). This brings up another weakness with the book.

One of the main features of the book is the recipes presented for each featured ingredient. One problem with these recipes is that relatively few of these ingredients are available outside of an Oriental market in a large city such as New York or San Francisco. My local very well stocked megamart probably carries less than a third of the ingredients in this book. One of the virtues of Bruce Cost's book is that since it covers all types of Asian products, including meat, fish, noodles, sauces, and grains, the average coverage is probably better than half, as grains, noodles, and fish are much more common than many vegetables. So, even though Ms. Deseran says that most oriental leafy greens are almost entirely interchangeable with one another, this doesn't help if you can't find any. It would have made the recipes much more useful if the author had provided substitutions, especially for the leafy green vegetables and the squashes.

Even on the subjects on which both Deseran and Cost have articles, Cost's information is deeper and generally more useful. While Deseran has articles on `Ginger' and `Galangal and Turmeric', Cost has several pages on the `Ginger family', including individual articles on `Ginger', `Galangal', `Turmeric', `Mioga Ginger', and `Lesser Galangal'. For the ginger family, both books provide two soup recipes featuring ginger and Galangal. Deseran gives the usual short paragraph to ginger, while Cost gives two pages to ginger, including a discussion of `baby ginger' and ginger shoots. Cost also covers dried and powdered preparations made from ginger and turmeric, which are beyond the scope of Deseran's book. Deseran does cover a fairly sizable number of non-vegetable topics in her `pantry glossary', but most entries offer little substantial information. For example, there is a paragraph on chicken broth, which gives no recipe for same, and makes no mention, like Cost, that the Asian chicken broth is an entirely different preparation than it's French or Italian cousins. She simply suggests you use a commercial western style organic chicken broth. This point alone makes me question the depth to which Ms. Deseran has seriously researched her subject.

Oddly, Ms. Deseran's bibliography is very respectable and includes `Bruce Cost's Asian Ingredients'. It almost seems she knows of this important work, but has never read it. Ms. Deseran's patron and inspiration for this book is noted Chinese cookbook author, Barbara Tropp, whose `The Modern Art of Chinese Cooking' has all the cachet and quality of a Chinese `Mastering the Art of French Cooking' by Julia Child. And, Ms. Tropp agrees with Mr. Cost in clearly distinguishing Chinese from French broth by leaving out the vegetables and adding ginger. So much for packaged supermarket stocks!

One attraction found in Ms. Deseran's book is the anecdotes by noted chefs on Oriental ingredients. I found these contributed virtually nothing to the value of the book.

Virtually the only situation in which it seems Ms. Deseran's book may have an edge over Bruce Cost's work is if you happen to live near a first class Asian market which stocks a good variety of fresh ingredients and the color pictures can serve as an aid in identifying the products. But then, Cost's book becomes more valuable, as it offers an excellent guide to how to make the best of Asian markets, something Ms. Deseran does not cover, except to note how to care for the vegetables once you have them.

This is really an average book, so my three stars simply reflects that this book offers virtually nothing when compared to the standard works on the subject.

This is a great book for kids: boys and girls alike.
Very creatively illustrated and a nice story to read, Lauren Child does an amazing job with this children's book.
In this volume, you'll get to know who is Clarice Bean and her family (which is presented in a most imaginative way). I still have to read the other Clarice Bean books, but this one I don't regret I bought it.

...if you knew who wrote this book, you'll never want to read it. Lauren Child is the creator of Charlie & Lola. Although Lauren Child's artwork is really good, she made a bad choice to waste it on Charlie & Lola. Other than that, the book looks like a good book about a girl kids can relate to. But the fact that this person's the same person who created Charlie & Lola takes away 3 stars. If you'd like to read a good book, try out the W.I.T.C.H series or Tokyo Mew Mew.

This is a great book, fun for children and adults, Clarice Bean introduces us to her family - her brother Minal Cricket (where do these names come from) her older sister Marcie and older brother Kurt - (who is going through the dark tunnel of adolescence.....)

Mother loves lying in the bath and learning languages, Father swivels in his chair saying important things into the phone and eating tutti frutti ice cream. It is all from the point of view of Clarice Bean, so it is off-centre, fun and witty.

Bright illustrations mean that my 18month old as well as my three year old enjoy it. It is a picture book with both collage and painting, bright, large illustrations which appeal to both adult and child as well. There is a story running through it - Clarice Bean is looking for peace and quiet and can't get it at all. Highly recommended along with Lauren Child's other books

Clarice Bean, That's Me is such a funny book. In it Lauren Child depicts Clarice and her wacky, oversize family. Everyone can recognize the teenager in "the dark tunnel of adolescence" or grandad whose eyesight is on the blink and who therefore is an easy target in card games . . . My kids really loved it and they're now making up their own books about our family (the results could be frightening!). This is a great "alternative" new baby gift-tells it like it really is! Lauren Child's art is wonderful, too, so expressive and quirky.

A delightful new voice in children's books comes from Lauren Child, with her book, "Clarice Bean - That's Me" . The book's narrator, Clarice Bean, is a precocious little girl struggling through the circus of family life. Her mother says Clarice's older brother is "in the dark tunnel of adolescence." It's Clarice's observation, however, that "usually, he's in his room." When she fights with her brother and throws his blanket out the window and it lands on the neighbor's dog, Clarice is in trouble ("Right now," her father tells her, "you are not the flavor of the month, young lady."); she relates: "I am in such BIG TROUBLE that I get sent to my room for 3 whole hours. Alone. I LOVE IT (Finally, some peace and quiet.)." The writing is fresh and true -- the perfect voice for an intelligent young girl -- and the illustrations, also by Child, are a charming mix of ink line drawings, cut-paper collage and photographic background. Typography also plays a role in mimicking the inflections and emphasis of Clarice's pre-adolescent, observant narration.

I read this 145-page booklet in less than one hour. It uses very large print (perhaps nice for readers with poorer eyesight), but it also limits the amount of information that the book contains. It is a self-published book, which clearly would have benefitted from the services of a professional editor. For example page 94 says "Vienna is in the Danube Valley in Italy". While Vienna is indeed on the Danube Valley, the city is the capital of Austria and the Danube river doesn't even come close to Italy! Page 106 says "the basic proportion for Frech press or drip brewing is two heaping teaspoons (sic) of coffee to 6 ounces of water". Every acknowledged coffee expert (T.J. Castle, Corby Kummer, Kenneth Davis) emphasize two TABLESPOONS as the correct proportion. A typo? Maybe. But if the book gets such basic, major issue wrong, what else is wrong? The reader is better off buying any of the books by the above-listed authors at similar prices.

I got the impression that the authors are nice people that decided to self-publish their coffee roasting notes in a folksy engaging style. The book, however, lacks substance. There are five coffee-related, cute and romantic short-stories that belong on a creative writing book and not on a "how to" manual. Finally most of the information is repetitive. How many times do we need to be told "to be careful, the beans are hot when coming out of the roaster"?

The book is not a total loss. Some people may like their step-by-step guides for the true beginner that is looking for a "cheat sheet" The enquiring, serious coffee aficionado looking for guide on roasting coffee at home should look elsewhere

I was surprised at how easy it was to roast your own coffee at home. We tried the cowboy coffee on a camping trip and it was a big hit. A good, easy to use reference.

I read this book, dusted off my popcorn popper, and using their instructions was roasting my own, GOOD coffee rather quickly. I highly recommend this book to people who have not roasted their own coffee before and I highly recommend roasting your own coffee. You can buy green coffee for 1/4 the cost of roasted if you purchase it in bulk and you will be surprised to find out how tasty and fresh your own coffee can be. This book shows 4 (of) 5 different ways to roast your own coffee, I will try the other ones in future. Very pleased to have found this book. I am now hooked on roasting my own coffee!

At $17.95 I figured this book would be useful for both the beginner & advanced roaster. It is barely useful for the beginner. You can easily obtain all info contained in this book plus much more by going online, typing "coffee roasting" in your search engine, & hitting the "go" button. This book might be worth $5.00!

I never expected roasting my own coffee to be so easy. For the cost of green beans and surrendering an air pop popcorn popper to the job, I'm hooked. I'm one of those people who has been grinding beans for brewing coffee for years. Fresh roasted is even better than expensive beans from your favorite vendor...

Coffee Roasting at Home is a great little book with lots of tips. If you are a coffee fanatic, try roasting your own

Los Angeles is known as many things. A city under siege is not one of them. But a madman, an intelligent yet devious madman, holds the city hostage.

John Dantes has already been convicted as a murderous bomber. The threat remains even with Dantes behind bars. Someone else is out there - working with or against him.

Dr. Sylvia Strange is called in as the last hope of penetrating Dantes' outer shell. And while Dantes plays cruel mind games, more bombs rock the city.

Sylvia is quickly thrust into the center of a carefully calculated plan. Trying to get into Dantes' head could cost innocent people their lives, as well as her own.

There's only one way to stop the source. Get into the mind of a killer. And get out before the timer hits zero.

Sarah Lovett has really done her homework. It's easy to see an incredible amount of research went into creating this novel. Lovett's talent for writing vivid action scenes put that research to good use.

Dante's Inferno, despite a fairly intricate plot, fails to deliver much suspense or mystery. Most of the developments upon which the story twists and turn were formulaic and predictable. Sylvia's character is one-dimensional, and the adventures in which she participates would never be remotely possible in a real life setting. The other characters simply hover around Sylvia, who calls the shots for police, forensics, FBI,other psychiatrists, and the rest of a large but poorly defined cast of supporters. Even sociopath John Dantes comes across as wooden, as he helplesslessly becomes enamoured of Sylvia while trying to manipulate her. This is a long book not worth the effort it requires to reach the "climax".

The fourth outing for Dr. Sylvia Strange is the best one yet. Although the plot of "Dantes' Inferno" might seem familiar, there is enough that is new to keep the reader interested. John Dantes is a particularly interesting villain, both for his brilliance and his passivity. We're never quite sure what he's up to, if anything. Watching him match wits with Sylvia makes for excellent reading.

Unlike most thrillers, this is an intelligent book, interweaving an above-average plot with an allegorical depiction of Los Angeles as Dante's (note the similarity to Dantes) nine-circled Hell. Throw in the psychological study of "Dantes' Inferno's" twisted bad guys and it's clear that author Lovett is one smart lady. I look forward to returning to this series in the future.

Reviewed by David Montgomery, Mystery Ink

This is a powerful, fast-paced story. I especially enjoyed the literary allusions so thoughtfully and accessibly woven into the novel. Ms. Lovett's use of the Inferno's geography of hell is fascinating and, added to the things we experience with her always-deep characters, makes complex moods and a terrific foreboding that continually draws in the reader. When I finished the book I felt like I knew these people (including the villains) and had been through a lot with them.

When an elementary school class was asked to select between going to Universal Studios and Getty Center in Los Angeles, they chose the latter. That decision led to a lifetime of regrets at least for those who survived the bomb blast that killed their teacher and ten year old Jason Redding. Dr. Sweetheart, a counter terrorist expert and the uncle of Jason believes that anarchist John Dantes is the culprit. Using all his contacts, Sweet launches a manhunt that culminates in the capture of Dantes.

Dantes asks Dr. Sylvia Strange, a forensic psychologist, to fly to California to administer court ordered test. As the pair battle for supremacy, Sylvia becomes convinced John did not commit this crime, but instead is a victim of a cunning predator playing deep-rooted psych games with all of them. Her theory soon converts her and Sweetheart from hunter to hunted, as they struggle to survive a deadly killer.

Serial bombers are a product of the last forty years so that data is limited and subsequently profiling is difficult. DANTE'S INFERNO uses that premise to build a fantastic story line based on one knowledgeable pro Trying to destroy the infrastructure of a city. Sarah Lovett's latest Dr. Sylvia entry is an exhilarating read due to the antihero John gaining grudging respect from an audience who want to see him burning in hell.

Harriet Klausner

Like other kids her age (eleven), Emmaline "Emmy" Augusta Addison "named after two great-aunts" sometimes feels invisible. Her formerly loving, attentive parents seem to have taken a turn for the selfish since inheriting the fortune (and thirty-three room house) of a distant uncle. They can no longer be bothered with tending to their daughter, and are almost constantly absent, embarking on a series of increasingly prevalent and lengthy trips. Upon their return, they seem like their old selves again - briefly - before taking on personality characteristics entirely opposite of their true selves. Emmy, as a result, is primarily parented by an inconsiderate, controlling nanny with a penchant for using odd remedies for curing what (the nanny believes) ails the girl. Her classmates seem almost unaware of her existence. Finally, one day when she is alone in her school classroom, a (p 25) "small, arrogant, impossible creature," gives her what for after witnessing her sometimes-spineless behavior. In spite of his imperiousness, she unlatches his cage and releases him to fend for himself. And so starts their adventure.

Along with both human and rodent friends, Emmy and Rat endeavor to foil an evil plan masterminded by her nanny, Miss Barmy, having lots of fun and fright along the way. Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat, filled with gnawing, nibbling, funny, furry characters (as well as a few humans), is a magical, marvelous story about a good girl and a ridiculous (but lovable) Rat. The novel includes a flipbook along the rhs of Rat falling from a tree. Also good, The Tale of Desperaux by Kate Decamillo and Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins.

This book, frankly, is a snooze. I couldn't make it past the middle and ended up reading from the end backwards. The plot elements are recycled from elsewhere -- the talking rat from "Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents," the evil housekeeper from "Rebecca," the absent and controlled parents from "Lionboy," the girl who isn't noticed from scores of teen books, etc. etc. Unlike Eragon, another pastiche, the author gives you no reason to care about any of these characters.

Lynne has created an instant classic; it reminds me of my favorite stories like Stowaway to the Mushroom Planet and Chitty, Chitty, Bang, Bang. Her story has memorable characters that you'll love and enjoy right from the start and a storyline that combines mystery, magic, real life problems and wonderful, droll humor. It's delightful to watch Emmy break out of her "too goodness" to solve the mystery and to save her family. Not to mention saving not just herself but all of her newly made friends. It's gripping, its a bit scary, its funny and comforting. It is a satisfying read from beginning to end that I think kids and adults both would enjoy.

It's easy to become jaded. Read enough children's fiction and it all begins to swim and swirl about in your head. Was that the middle grade novel about a girl who likes a boy with twinkling blue eyes or deep brown ones you just read? Did that historical fiction work involve a plucky boy working in a coalmine or a plucky girl in a mill? And fantasy? Don't get me started. If the villains don't burst onto the scene in the first chapter it's the exception rather than the rule. I gotta say though that when it comes to rodents with magical powers, there are few titles to turn to. Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh was strictly scientific (that is, if you can forget the movie). I, Freddy is more along the lines of The Mouse and the Motorcycle than anything else. No, mice and magic don't intersect all that often. One can't help but think that if they did the result would be wuh-eird. Wuh-eird, as it happens, is not a bad word to describe author Lynne Jonell's startling middle grade debut. At this point in my review's introductory paragraph I usually like to compare the book in my hands to titles you might be familiar with. Something along the lines of, "It's like James and the Giant Peach meets The Perils of Peppermints." But when it comes to "Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat," there's not much you can compare the book to. It's one of a kind, and how kids take that originality will be interesting to note, indeed.

Poor Emmy. Nobody notices her. Not her parents who are constantly jet-setting around to globe. Not her schoolmates or her teacher, who all seem incapable of remembering her name. No, it's just Emmy, her somewhat frightening nanny Miss Barmy, and the school rat. The Rat not only pays attention to Emmy but talks to her sometimes too. Granted it tends to tell Emmy to try being bad once in a while, but the girl knows that it has a good heart beneath its prickly demeanor. Soon, however, Emmy finds that the Rat is not all that it seems to be. Talking is just the least of its abilities, and as the girl discovers more about her nanny and the woman's sinister plot involving Emmy, her parents, and a host of exotic rodents, so too does she establish a core group of friends who will aid her through thick and thin.

At some point Henry Holt and Company got all clever on us and decided to create little packets of first chapters of their upcoming book seasons to hand out at library conferences. As a result, I read the first chapter of "Emmy" some time ago and remembered to give it a glance when a full-length physical copy fell into my lap. I'm glad I did. In spite of its 346-some-page length, I can't help but think that this would make an excellent book to read aloud to a 4th, 5th, or 6th grade class. There is something distinctly Dahl-like hidden in the crevices of this book. Much of the plot relies on old Roald Dahl standbys, like malicious caretakers, controlled magic, and children who are far cleverer than the adults that surround them. And if I'm not too much mistaken, I think that there's even a tip of the hat to Ramona Quimby in this book. Where else, after all, have you ever heard the National Anthem sung with the words, "daaawnzer lee liiight"?

I should note that some small illustrations in this book have been created thanks to the frighteningly prolific pen of Jonathan Bean. The man has contributed to AT LEAST four children's books in 2007 alone. One gets a little queasy wondering how much else he might have up his sleeve. In this particular offering Bean provides only scant pictures. There's the cover, a title page or two, and a very amusing flip-book graphic on the side of the text that shows the Rat falling out of a tree into Emmy's hands. Librarians should be warned that if you find this particular title over-thumbed in your collection, there is a very good reason for it.

I did appreciate that Jonell felt obligated to cover her bases, even when the reader forgets a detail here and there. For example, there is a point in the story when it is discovered that the Rat's bite shrinks people. Yet Emmy's schoolmate Joe points out that he was bitten by the rat before but to no effect. He raises this point several times, actually, so that the reader slowly realizes just how important this fact is (particularly since it leads to a huge climax in the plot later). Still, sometimes the book felt less than entirely consistent. You're never quite sure exactly how small Joe and Emmy become when they're shrunk. Joe is able to wear G.I. Joe clothing sometimes, but at other moments he's supposedly large enough to play soccer with some chipmunks. Then again, we're told that "We're only a few inches high, you know. Four feet, to us, is going to seem like being on top of a six story building." Inconsistencies like this made it hard to visualize the action.

There are also some convenient plot devices that raised an eyebrow but weren't really distracting. Apparently when you shrink, your clothes shrink along with you (as opposed to in The Dark Ground). Also, Jonell requires that you remember some pretty minor characters from the beginning of the book all the way to the end, which I thought was a bit odd. I liked the internal logic going on here, though. I liked the peculiar world Jonell had envisioned and how neatly everything slotted into it. I can guarantee to you that if you've a child who has read the oeuvre of Roald Dahl and wants a little something extra, "Emmy" is a good way to go. Ideal for any child who has felt ignored or looked over at some point in their life. Which is to say, most every child.

A diabolical nanny, a clever thoughtful little girl and a talking rat face off in this deliciously witty and intelligent story. Emmy is an exceedingly well-behaved girl who enjoyed life with her parents and had many friends before an inheritance from a great uncle brings an end to cozy family interactions and Emmy and her parents move to her Great-Uncle's mansion. Now Emmy attends a new school, her parents are always off traveling and Emmy is supervised by Miss Barmy, a very unpleasant and strange nanny who is constantly tearing down her self- esteem and giving her mysterious medicines, one turned her face orange. Her classmates and teacher hardly notice her, "Emma? Emmaline Addison?" Mr. Herbifore gazed out over the heads of his students. Emmy stood up. "No, I don't see her," he said into the phone. "Emmy walked forward and stood by the teacher's desk. What did she have to do, she wondered, bewildered. Throw firecrackers under his chair? Hang from the ceiling and make like a monkey? She tugged at the teacher's sleeve and spoke loudly in his ear. "Here I am, Mr. Herbifore." The teacher stared at her doubtfully. Oh? Are you sure?" One day, the classroom rat tells her that she is too nice, "A little meanness is good for the soul. I highly recommend it." At the end of an entertaining repartee that includes Rat's response to Emmy's surprised comment, "Rodents play soccer?" "Of course they play soccer, he snapped. What do you think they do for fun? Run about, frightening elephants? Scavenge in churches for crumbs? Really, your ignorance is appalling." Rat pleads with Emmy to release him from his cage and when she does this engaging story explodes with adventure, suspense, and humor.

In my opinion, this book, as almost all of this author's books, was exellent.

This final book of this particular family saga is primarily about Iris & Theo and their family. It tells how Paul helped them and how Iris never found out that he was her biological father. I really liked this book because it was about the characters I liked best. Belva Plain is a wonderful author if you are not in a rush. Her books have depth to them and lots of detail that make the characters come to life.

Karen Zemek, author of "My Funny Dad, Harry"

I read this book not knowing that it was the final of a series about a wealthy Jewish family in America.Theo is one of the US's top plastic surgeons when he loses the use of one of his hands in a tragic accident, caused by his wife Iris who is (unknown to her) the daughter of Paul Werner, a handsome, aristocratic millionaire who watches over Iris and his grandchildren from a distance.When Iris's son Steve Stern falls under the influence of Paul's cousin Tim, Steve is drawn into a circle of violent protestors against the Vietnam war and his very life and freedom are threatened. Paul decides to step in to protect his secret family from a chain of events which would threaten the peace and security of all of them.One would have to have read all of the preceding books in this series to fully appreciate this one and, as it flowed well, enough was filled in to understand where the characters were coming from. It was written in 1990 but read more like a 60's style novel.

Wonderful conclusion of the family saga which started with "Evergreen" takes place from the 1960's to the Vietnam War.....Some members of the Werner family and Anna's family become involved with the anti-Vietnam movement while other members are in Vietnam fighting against Communisim take over of the country.......Paul Werner returned, opening old wounds and struggles to help Anna Friedman's family......This sweeping family saga comes to a triumphant conclusion with this wonderfully passionate book........I just love Belva Plain's books and read them all.

This book tells a great story of a great family. It keeps you wondering what will happen up until the end of the book. I would not describe it as a fast paced book, but the pace that the story is told in is just the right pace to entrap your wonder of the family. The book begins with e Jewish family moving to the United States right before the war. The life that the main character, Anna, has in the United States is a great story. Highly recommended!