Bailey Books

What's up with the hair? That's Melody's question when she first meets Miss Kidwell. Miss Kidwell has come to Bailey School and is causing total chaos. First the lights, then the school bell. What next, the FATS building? After Miss Kidwell has caused Eddie's plane to attack, Melody's watch to stop working and the school bus horn to play the tune Rain, Rain, Go Away , the four friends must stop Miss Kidwell from distroying the town of Bailey. But how? Their fearless nerve keeps the friends from giving up on eliminating the Gremlin. Dadey and Thornton team up to once again provide us with another zainy title in their collection of Bailey School Kids books. The series helps to motivate some chlidren to pick up a book by captivating them with the idea that maybe the folks in the school office, the janitor, the teachers or even the school nurse are not who they seem to be. The text and organization of the chapters flow well. Chapter titles help us gain foresight into what is to come. Students in the suggested age range should find it a good read.

I am a children's reading specialist and author (Teaching Kids To Read for Dummies). I use these short chapter books with kids who have mastered three or four sentences per page type books and are ready for more. When your child reads one book in the Bailey School Kids series you can be pretty sure she'll want to read the rest.

There are some weird grownups in Bailey City. But could the substitute school secretary really be a gremlin messing up the electricity. the Bailey School Kids Are Going To Find Out!

Gremlins were first discussed during World War II when British planes mysteriously stopped working. It was said that a little magical creature with a taste for messing up mechanical and electrical things was tinkering about and causing mischief in the plane. If that's the case, a gremlin wouldn't bother with Bailey Elementary School, and she CERTAINLY wouldn't chew bubble gum... WOULD SHE??

Welcome to "lucky" number 13 in the Bailey School Kids series. If you've been following their strange and sometimes creepy adventures, you'll know that the 3rd grade teacher may be a vampire, a genie once moved in next door to the school, a werewolf may have been the camp counselor, and even Santa Claus himself may have been the school custodian! That is, if you happen to believe in that sort of thing...

This time, Ms. Kidwell has come to substitute for the school secretary. Once there, odd things seem to happen whenever she chews her bubble gum. The lights go out, the fire bell goes haywire, the clocks stop working. What's REALLY odd-and kind of creepy-is that every time something electrical goes on the fritz, a new charm appears on Ms. Kidwell's charm bracelet!! Is it possible she's a gremlin come to play around with the school's electrical systems?

The Bailey School Kids series is a fast-paced one where strange, odd and sometimes creepy things are always happening. Children who are even reluctant readers are enjoying them because of their subject matter (weird, often supernatural creatures who seem to appear in everyday settings-gremlins chewing gum, cupid flipping hamburgers, witches doing backflips, etc etc etc)-and because of the quick, snappy comebacks that are always flying back and forth between the characters. As an adult, I can finish one of these in about 15-20 minutes and have found myself reading as many as I can lay my hands on. While they may not be pillars of Western Literature, if they inspire your child to read, then read on!!

My daughter has read almost all of the Bailey Schoolseries. She says that this is not her favorite Bailey School Kidsbook, but she liked it. The Bailey School Kids series is a great way for parents to get reluctant readers to enjoy reading. You may find your child begging you to buy another one, as I did.

This is one of the best thrillers I have ever read. This is better than Koontz novels, Patterson or any other spinechilling master authors. This is one of those books where you hope that nothing good is on television after you have started it because you do not want to put it down until the final page. Full of twists and surprises you will not be disappointed, get this book.

This is a superb literacy masterpiece about a group of friends who in their high school days(1972) were the closest of friends. They did not fit into the normal American stereotype groups so bonded to each other. The two best looking girls in the school were amongst them as were the guys no one wanted to mess with. Teachers hated them, they loved and were always there for each other.

It is no longer 1972 however, 20 years has almost passed and they have all moved on with their lives, some are famous or successful, others not so much. They made a drunken pact on Beacon Hill while watching the rest of their grade graduate, that they would meet again twenty years later no matter what. Now some have kids almost the same age they were back then, no one has kept in contact. Willa is a famous author now and one of her classmates approaches her at a book signing. They both remember the pact but will the others? Willa decides, along with Patrick that they should contact the others to remind them and to their surprise everyone remembers the pact and was wondering if the others do as well. Everyone that is except for Caleb and Angel who cannot be found. Willa approaches her private eye friend to find them and organises the reunion for her house. There are reasons though why some people can not be found. Sometimes they don't want to, sometimes they had no choice. One of the group knows all the answers but does not want the rest to know their evil secret. They will turn up to the reunion, after all, they do have a few days to kill!

When friends from high school reunite after 20 years, it gives new meaning to the phrase "You can't go home again." A masterful work of suspense, full of red herrings and plot twists to keep you guessing until the very end. Unlike many novels of the suspense genre, Rogan fully develops Willa's character and her relationship with her daughter, Chloe. Can't wait to read her next one.

Yeaarly across the world, people attend reunions. Some are for large and extended families, others may be for a group of people who served in the armed forces or simply a group of fiends who haven't seen each other in some time. Probably the most popular reunion is for a high school or university class years after the attendees graduated. With this subject in mind, Barbara Rogan has written a good suspense book, Hindsight.

In 1972, during their graduation ceremony, several friends and graduates sit on a hill and watch the proceedings. From very different backgrounds and with very different plans for their futures, these students have boycotted the ceremonies when one of their friends wasn't allowed to attend the festivities. Before they part company that day, they make a vow to return to the hill in 20 years precisely June, 1992.

The years fly by and almost none of the gang have had anything to do with one another. Willa, is now a famous author and widow with a teen age daughter. During the winter of 1992, she is at a book signing in Manhattan when she runs into Patrick, a professor at New York University and one of the old high school gang. He has followed her writing career and expesses his sorrow at the loss of her prestigious husband. Then the talk turns to thier reunion pact and Patrick is very enthusiastic to find each memebr of the gang and spend the day in June together. Will hires a privare detective and one by one the members are found except for bad girl, Angel Busky. Attmept are made by Willa and Patrtick to find out what happened to Angel when she disappeared the night of gradutaion but even trying to contact her father and others who knew her proves futile. It seem as though Angel just vanished into thin air.

Then as Willa and Patrick contact their former friends, it seems as though time and distance has not been as kind to all of them. While some have achieved their goals, some habe met with frustration and disappointment and wonder if they even want ot see the old gang ever again. And then they will need to address what happened to Angel as if they can solve this 20 year old mystery.

As the friends do gather at Willa's house in June, not far from their meeting place, one can sense that all is not right with the group. There are already hostitlies, recriminations and a sense of evil pervading the surroundings. And then when one of the friends turns up dead, the others wonder if this has happened before or again. And at the very worst, is there a killer amongst them?

This was a good read although I felt as though the characters were caricatures of high school friends with rich, smart kids mixed in with bad, wrong side of the track students. By the end I thought it was rather obvious what happened to Angel all those years before. The book, which was a fast and easy read, did leave left me wondering how anybody could get away with crimes like these unless its that it makes for suspenseful reading. And finally I wondered why most peopel feel compelled to attend a reunion years later when they have had no desire to contact any of these old friends.

Tom Wolfe said it best with the title of his book, You Can't Go Home Again, and maybe it's best to live in the present with memories tucked away. Most people think twice about attending a reunion at best and after reading Hindsight you may think more than twice remembering that reunions can be deadly in more ways than one.

Ok, though I really did enjoy this book, something about it is holding me back from saying it's a four star read, however three stars doesn't seem deserving enough. I picked this book up because the premise sounded really different and interesting, which it was...and curiosity kept me reading, but I think it was how quickly the ending was wrapped up that turned me off a bit.

Nine friends stand on Beacon Hill in June of 1972, graduation day, and make a drunken promise to meet back there in 20 years for a reunion, no matter what. Well, skip now to 1992, Willa Durrell, while promoting her new book, runs into Patrick, one of the guys from the old gang, and the pair team up to get ahold of everyone to remind them about the upcoming reunion. As the two of them slowly start finding the rest of the group (who are all as different as night and day) one person cannot be found, Angel Busky. What happened in the days after graduation that no one seems to want to talk about? Did Angel really run away like everyone's though for the last 20 years, or did something awful happen to her?

As the night of the reunion draws nearer, tensions run high. They've all grown up and most have made something of themselves. Willa refuses to stop until she finds out what happened to her friend. Then one of them dies under suspicious circumstances at the reunion party. Willa finds she's now in a dangerous position as one of their own is trying to keep the past quiet. Though this book was suspenseful enough, the ending disappointed me only in how quickly everything was wrapped up. Other than that...a really good book. I was completely surprised with who the culprit turned out to be, I thought I had it figured out halfway through the book, but not at all! If you enjoy mysteries, then overall I recommend this read. Not at all a bad way to past the time.

On the night of their graduation in June of 1972, a group of students, nine in all, watch the proceedings from their hangout in Beacon hill. The tenth member of their group is the valedictorian. After the ceremonies the group vows to have a reunion twenty years from that date.

In January of 1992, Willa is in Manhattan doing a book signing when she sees Patrick for the first time in twenty years. He's a professor at NYU and wants to help her find the old gang for the promised reunion. They search out and find seven members of the group but nobody has seen or heard from Angel since the decade they graduated. Will hires a detective to track her down but it's as if she disappeared off the face of the earth. At the reunion, there's an undercurrent of tension in when one of the guests winds of dead. The police think it is linked to Angela's disappearance two decades ago.

HINDSIGHT is a masterful work of suspense filled with characters that are very different than the way Willa remembered them. Far different from THE BIG CHILL, the protagonist's growing fears clue the audience that one of the old gang is a killer. Barbara Rogan is a talented storyteller who keeps the tension at a high level and leaves the audience wondering what is really going on.

Harriet Klausner

I read the Irish Devil, and this does not compare. I will try another Lynn Bailey book to make sure this just wasn't a fluke. Don't misunderstand, if you don't have anything else, read it. it is just too predictable without any extras to make it worthwhile. I thought Nicholas and Rietta deserved a better story or at least a more adventerous one.

Following Waterloo, Nick Kerwan returns to his home in Greenwood, Ireland to learn that his deceased father left the estate in financial ruin due to gambling and adultery. Nick has to pay off his father's debts while finding a way to care for his beloved mother and his two sisters.

His friend David Mochree asks Nick to woo Rietta Ferris, a termagant daughter of a wealthy merchant so he can marry the younger sister Blanche. Nick previously met the two siblings and found Blanche to be the most beautiful woman he ever met. He hardly noticed Rietta. However, he decides to pursue Rietta to determine if they can be compatible. Instead of compatibility, Nick falls in love with Rietta, who fell in love with him within an hour of their initial meeting. Now he must convince his beloved that he desires her since she believes he wants her sister or her money.

THE IRISH BRIDE is an intriguing Irish Regency romance that hooks the audience due to the depth to the ensemble. Readers will enjoy the relationships between the key cast members especially that of the lead characters. The role of women is clearly defined adding to a tasty character-driven tale that demands a sequel from Lynn Bailey.

Harriet Klausner

THE IRISH BRIDE is my thrid favorite book in the IRISH ROMANCE SERIES (of which I own all the books). It is topped only by THE IRISH DEVIL and THE BLACK SWAN. This book I read about two years ago and I saw it here and couldn't believe how much of an impression it left upon me. I recalled all of the characters and the plot to the point of Lynn Bailey's pencil.

Rietta is a intelligent and beautiful woman, howsever strained beneath the knowledge that no man loves her without getting to her sister fist. Nick plays a man in desparate need for money and Rietta's father i8s in a deparate need to marry of Rietta (not because of fatherly love.) Nick strikes a deal with the father for perposes I cannot explain here, for ruining the plot is terrible in a such a wonderful book. In force, they are married.

And soon, they begin to do the one thing Nick feared and longed for and the one thing Rietta hid from while screamed for.

They fell in love.

THE IRISH BRIDE shall always have a place in my heart. It is still sexy but centers around something that I thought a lot of romance books didn't: LOVE! You see, this book was not about the sex but the romance and love. That is a major part in THE IRISH BRIDE. So please, read this book and see just how magical Ireland can feel. And feel just how many twists and turns love can conquer.

Sir Nicholas Kirwan was happy the war with France was over and was returning home. On the roadside he met the beautiful lady, Miss Blanche Ferris, and her stand offish sister, Rietta. From his childhood friend, David Mochrie, he learned much about the sisters. Blanche could do no wrong while Rietta abused her father and sister. Yet for David to get his dream of marrying Blanche, someone had to agree to wed the shrew, Rietta first since she was the eldest. Nick refused, until he found out how much his mother and sisters needed money. Knowing Rietta to come with a large dowry, he agreed to meet her.

Contrary to all he had been told, he found Blanche to be a spoiled air head. However, Rietta was intelligent, pretty in her own way, and not the least bit a shrew. Agreeing to marry her was not a problem, but getting her to agree to wed him was!

***** Lots going on in this one! Getting past the marriage is the hard part, but much went on after it too! A well written story to make its readers sigh out loud. Terrific reading here!

Sir Nicholas Kirwan was happy the war with France was over and was returning home. On the roadside he met the beautiful lady, Miss Blanche Ferris, and her stand offish sister, Rietta. From his childhood friend, David Mochrie, he learned much about the sisters. Blanche could do no wrong while Rietta abused her father and sister. Yet for David to get his dream of marrying Blanche, someone had to agree to wed the shrew, Rietta first since she was the eldest. Nick refused, until he found out how much his mother and sisters needed money. Knowing Rietta to come with a large dowry, he agreed to meet her.

Contrary to all he had been told, he found Blanche to be a spoiled air head. However, Rietta was intelligent, pretty in her own way, and not the least bit a shrew. Agreeing to marry her was not a problem, but getting her to agree to wed him was!

***** Lots going on in this one! Getting past the marriage is the hard part, but much went on after it too! A well written story to make its readers sigh out loud. Terrific reading here!

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." That seems to be apropos if you are a consumer electronics company. Never has the demand been so high with the margins so small. This is pointed out all too well in the book Irresistible! Markets, Models, and Meta-Value in Consumer Electronics by George Bailey and Hagen Wenzek.

Contents: Irresistible Electronics, Turbulent Times; The New Role of Technology and Services in Next-Generation Businesses; The Consumer's Internet - Thin Clients & Fat Hosts for Everyone; The Smart Home - Coming to Your House Soon, but Not Too Soon; Telehealthcare - The Key to the Living Room; Online Gaming Environments - People, Technology, Money, and Social Networks; The Soul of the Next Generation of Consumer Electronics Products; IBM's Global Technology Outlook and Its Implications to Consumer Electronics; Embedded Linux - For Embedded Systems Today and into the Future; Software Development Strategies for Connected Consumer Electronics; Differentiation Through Product and User Interface Design; Consumer Relationships - A Tale of Channels and Brands; Consumer Electronics in China in Year 2001; Index

As a compilation of various aspects of the subject by different authors, this book fares better than many in that style. Perhaps it was just that I was more interested in the material than some of the other compilations I've read. Regardless, I enjoyed getting a deeper look into what drives this fascinating part of our culture. Time to market has dropped dramatically, as has the ability to have a market to yourself for any length of time. One of the chapters talks about how the iPod, a runaway best seller by any standard, is already seeing pricing pressure and is cutting their margins to maintain volume. It's that way with nearly every significant electronic product out there. Wondered why people can sell "items" from online gaming to others on eBay for large sums of money? It's explained in here, along with ramifications on what that means to the people running the game. It's not something that can be ignored if you want to protect your product. Very interesting slants on things you may just take for granted...

If you're curious as to the future of home electronics and the search for the next "killer gadget", this book will make you think...

I found this book to be filled with great insights on the consumer electronics industry. A must read for those doing business in this space as well as for the general consumer!

IRRESISTIBLE! MARKETS, MODELS, AND META-VALUE IN CONSUMER ELECTRONICS charts some vast changes in the consumer electronics industry, showing how many CE companies must radically change to survive. Two industry consultants here examine the many issues affecting the industry, from online games and sales to telehealthcare and new devices and services, providing in-depth tips on how to make better decisions, change cost structures to support quick growth and changes, how to sell overseas into new markets, and much more. Industry managers receive many insights and specifics which will prove a 'must' for any operating a business in this rapidly changing industry.

The book collects together the contributions of numerous authors, who try to visualise technology trends and how these will affect consumer electronics. Of course, the continuing increasing usage and pervasiveness of the Internet figures prominently in these speculations. We might, and probably will have mass personalisation. And information overload will be a serious problem. Combatted by smart programs customised to each person's interests.

A variety of topics are covered by the text. Unsurprisingly, there is somewhat of a push of IBM products and services in this book. It's one thing when the topic might be, say, WebSphere, which is entirely an IBM product. But when the topic is as given in the book's title, the broader aspect does not naturally call into mind IBM. Especially when you consider that IBM has traditionally had little direct dealings at the consumer electronics level. This may be changing. An entire chapter is devoted to IBM's Cell microprocessor. Which has received rave reviews from independent technical sources.

Don't get me wrong. It's not a strident peddling of IBM's wares that we have here. But you should be cogniscent of it.

The most detailed chapter is about online gaming. A lucid discussion, especially concerning massive multiplayer games, like Everquest or World of Warcraft. The commentary is quite objective, maybe because IBM has no boat in this race. The chapter explores a strange set of parallel universes that have sprung up from the Internet gestalt. With people selling their efforts on eBay!? It may well leave some of you cold. But there is serious money in this field, so it deserves some respect.

This book covers the "hot" technical and business issues for today's Consumer Electronics industry -- from the consumers, to the retailers, to the manufacturers, including trends and outlooks. The book provides key insights that you can get only from experienced experts in the field. And even the technical chapters were easy to understand.

Put this book on your reading list if you want the real scoop on the Consumer Electronics industry.

This book is a must for those who have never seen the Border regions during the cold war. These pictures show the regions as they were then. The photographs in this book show these areas as beautiful, tranquil, quiet and foreboding, with the ever present eye of East German Guards peering at you from the border towers. Those fences and no mans land are gone now, and have since been replaced by reconstruction. These photographs are very rare and exclusive, taken throughout Berlin, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Czeshoslovakia and Italy. It is a haunting reminder what communism was, especially for those who lived between the fences.

With photos taken in the mid 1980s the author takes us on a pictorial trip along the former Iron Curtain from the Baltic sea coast at Travemunde (West-East Germany) to the Adriatic sea coast at Trieste (Italy-Yugolsalvia [today Slovenia]); with a separate chapter on the Berlin Wall. They are superb photos full of (sad) atmosphere, poignancy and historical importance. Like another reader, I just wish there were more of them. The chapters with photos from the period following the collapse of the Soviet empire and thus its lengthy prison wall with the west are relevant too. The author doesn't provide any lengthy description of the physical nature of the fortifications, history of escape attempts, as well as the constrast in the lives of people on each side of the borders but that has been the subject of other books and there is no need to; the brief comments combined with the pictures are all you need to appreciate it.

I haven't seen anyone else put together a book like this, with shots from all along the Iron Curtain in the Cold War. My only disappointment was that there's not more of it - because the work in here is excellent, and I would have loved for it to not end so soon. Highly recommended for anyone who is interested in what the Soviets did to Eastern Europe until the fall of communism.

The Lost Border by Brian Rose fulfills an historical need by photographing the Iron Curtain before it was relegated to the dustbin of history. The photos are are in color and fill the need of being historical rather than some modern black and white modern art form which would have defeated the whole purpose of the book. I have walked the Berlin Wall many times in the 60's & 70's to take photos and aggravate the guards and for me to see the rest of the Iron Curtain in this large format book was a pleasure. I compliment Mr Rose on his endeavor. These photos show the stark reality of the evil of communism in clear detail. The Lost Border is an asset to any library; home or otherwise.

I grew up behind that border, lived in this grey cold world. The photographs brought back a lot of supressed memories. Looking through the book, I realized that these memories should be kept alive. Awesome and chilling at the same time. I would recommend this book to anyone....the era has passed but it was real. A lot of lives were lost at that border and many untold stories are buried with it. To me that book is a tribute to all who suffered in the name of freedom, I was just one of many.

I loved this book. I read it in one evening because each page was so inspiring. Simon is empowering, energetic and thought provoking. He is spiritual without being preachy and knows how to push you to dig deep to find what it is that truly makes you happy. I will no longer live each day being passionless, I will find within myself those things that are at my true core of happiness and follow them to find my career and life dreams. This book changed my life in one evening and I know when I go back and read it again and again I will find new inspiration each time.

I've read tons of self help and improvement books. It was so refreshing to pick up Simon's book and read it cover to cover in one setting. This book goes way beyond a self help/improvement book. It actually give you the tools to make significant changes in your life and provides you with how to, step-by-step. I've seen Simon speak in person, and wow what an experience! His book just continues the Simon exprence for me. I've read it three times already and will continue to refer back to it when i need a refresher.

Everyone comes to a point in their life when they ask themselves, is this the life I want to be leading? Even though my career isn't within the corporate world this book helped me identify and address certain aspects and issues that can be improved upon, changed or eliminated from my life. If you have reached this cross-road in your life this book is a must read!

Reading this book is almost like having Simon in the room with you, cheering you along. His personality and energy jumps off the pages. His encouragement is sincere and his passion is infectious. I have seen him speak, and was amazed that so much enthusiasm can come from one person!! If you have not seen him speak... DO! If you can book him to speak for your organization... DO IT! If you have not read this book yet... READ IT!

I recommend reading the book once, but skip the journal exercises. Then go back and spend a whole day going through the book again and doing the exercises. If you can devote one day to working through them, and truly focus on your passion, I think you will find this book to be an invaluable guide to finding what you are looking for in your life. As Simon says, "DREAM BIG!" Who better to learn from than someone who just did it!?

Many people spend most of their lives in unfulfilled professions, working twelve hour days and limited time spent with loved ones, to remain in a position they no longer enjoy. Job security is almost non-existent after September 11 and the American Dream no longer seems obtainable. Motivational Speaker and founder of the Imagination Institute, Simon T. Bailey, offers insight of transforming your dreams and aspirations into reality. Simon Says Dream: Live a Passionate Life is an inspiring and practical guide to reaching your fullest potential whether professional, personal or spiritual.

Simon shares the testimony of Auke Hempenius, co-owner and creative director of a men's fashion boutique in Winter Park, Florida as a prime example of finding your passion regardless of how much money you will make. This story was the most inspiring for this reviewer, in that Simon reminds us when you tap into your spiritual wealth, resources will materialize as needed. Another story worth mentioning is that of Marian Luna Bremsha. After battling breast and cervical cancer, this mother of two strived and questioned the status quo by choosing a career in the male dominated car sales industry. In one year Marian became Salesperson of the year and five years later owned her own dealership with an impressive portfolio. And lastly, Simon shares his personal testimony when early in his hospitality career he declined a favorable offer from Ritz Carlton Hotels. What may have seemed like a foolish move, empowered Simon to negotiate with his then present employer, upward mobility from front desk clerk into management. This same tenaciousness resulted in several employment opportunities and Simon's latest venture as creative financial officer of the Imagination Institute.

At the end of each chapter Simon reviews the vital steps to living more passionately and a journal to record your thoughts. Whether you are a CEO at a major corporation, on the brink of entrepreneurship or have a hobby you'd like to turn into a career, Simon Says Dream will inspire you to unleash your hidden potential. I recommend Simon Says Dream for your personal library and to ask yourself are you living a passionate life?

Reviewed by Nicki Lancaster
APOOO BookClub

I loved it,it's funny and scary and I like the drawing of the cover!!! My favorite character is Melody because she is smart and comes up with a lot of great ideas!!!!.I LOVE IT!!!!
My other favorites are "Hercules Does'nt Pull Teeth" and "Vampires Don't Wear Polka Dots"!!!

Skeletons Don't Play Tubas Debbie Daddy and Marcia Jones

Wouldn't it be scary to have a skeleton sitting behind you that you thought was alive? You will find out that there are a lot of scary items that will make you scream.

This book is about four kids that try and save their school from an evil skeleton, At least they think it's evil, read this book and find out what happens.

I really like this book because of the action and the musical sounds. My favorite character is Liza. She comes up with a lot of great ideas that Eddie doesn't like.

I think the author wrote this book to teach kids that caring about their school is the right thing to do especialy when there is a toy skeleton involved.

Strange adults and odd happenings are becoming commonplace in and around Bailey Elementary. But could the new band teacher, Mr. Belgrave, REALLY be teaching his skeleton to play the tuba??

The Bailey Kids are back in this 11th installment of their adventures. After first glimpsing a very tall, extremely skinny bald man carrying a long box through the cemetery, the Bailey kids are a bit surprised to find out that he's their new band teacher! More surprised to learn that he's got a skeleton named Claude in his classroom! Is this isn't creepy enough, the low, howling sound of the tuba is heard now and then, but no one-including Mr. Belgrave-knows how to play it! Could it be his skeleton?? Other weird occurances happen as well, Liza is almost certain she saw Claude the skeleton tap his foot in time to the music! Is she seeing things, or is the skeleton ALIVE?

This series goes back and forth between the just plain fun to the downright creepy. While "Leprachauns Don't Play Basketball" was a fun holidayish romp, "Skeletons Don't..." was outright spooky. While it isn't necessary to begin with book #1 and work your way through all of the books, you may find that it's an addictive, fun series and an easy read.

When the four kids meet their band class teacher. They think he is an evil skeleton. The kids must save the school before the evil skeleton attacks. You Know what Mr. Belgrave's skeleton is?. It's name is Claude. They are also surprised to see their band teacher carrying a big box over the cemetery. Liza got scared because Claude almost tapped her foot. Is this for real?

While Book 10[Witches Don't Do Backflips] was their new gym coach. Liza, Melody, Howie and Eddie were glad. But one thinks the new coach is a witch because she says weird languages and like a spell. I Also like Zombies Don't Play Soccer because the new coach is Coach Graves. Suddenly, An old lady appears and she says that if she[Coach Graves] will not go she will turn her into a zombie. But Coach Graves disagreed so she turned her a zombie. Now that the coach is a zombie she cannot help the Team of the four kids. But when the game started something surprising really happened. But you must find out.

I like Skeletons Don't Play Tubas because whenever Liza gets really scared her nose bleeds. The kids think that Mr.Belgrave teaches a skeleton how to play the tuba. My favorite character is Eddie because he always gets in trouble.I recommend this book for grades 1, 2, and 3 because it is a fun book to read and it is very funny.

This book explains how to use insulin intelligently and easily a must for all new insulin users.It answered all the questions i didn't know enough to ask the doc and gave me some to ask him ha ha

This book is difficult to follow, medical training probably would help. I found it intimidating.

This book should be issued with each prescription for insulin that is written/filled in the U.S. It is absolutely the best material available written on a subject that can be complicated and daunting. "Using Insulin" is an essential requirement for anyone who has either just started insulin therapy or who has changed to a basal/bolus approach as the preferred DM treatment. "Using Insulin" will enable the reader to establish correct baseline and bolus dosing, especially with the newer insulins. I have used, and will use, this book to problem-solve various dosing and diet issues. It is an excellent problem solving guide with easy to understand calculations, formulas and strategies. This book is a valuable reference tool for diabetics. My only criticism is entirely subjective and has to deal with how technical information is written.

I'm an adult, and about two years ago, I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes.

On my first-ever trip to an endocrinologist, I
-Practiced three times sticking a syringe into a round sponge
-Was told to take 3 units of insulin 3 times daily
-Was blessed and told "go thou out and be diabetic" (more or less)


This book is largely responsible for the fact that I did not perish after this thorough instruction, but instead have pretty good control (~6 A1C).

What I find most stands out about it is that it puts the responsibility for control where it exists in reality: the mind and body of the person living with diabetes. The tool for control is good data. This approach, and the direct and friendly voice of the author, helps it avoid being judgemental, or feeling as though the author is an omnipotent doctor helping a poor diabetic. This does not make it a useful book however, only a positive read.

What makes it useful, and the best book on using insulin I have encountered is its focus on the practical, on what works, and on results.

Examples:
- Focuses first on controlling lows (immediate safety), then on highs (long-term health)
- Stresses the importance of consistent data gathering, and even periodically testing my body's response to my basal insulin, which I have found to be central to my control from day to day.
- Teaches insulin uptake response and peaks, helping to be watchful for lows and highs and to understand blood glucose cause and effect
- Establishes key relationships between weight, carb response, insulin response and correction dosages that allowed me to control more closely, and correct more accurately when needed.


If I ever meet the authors of this book I will kiss them. And my spouse might, too.

As a diabetes educator, (nurse) I have read this book and learned new information. It is written to be easily understood by anyone and provides basic insulin information. It goes on to walk one through intensive insulin management, step by step. I recommend this book to all of my patients on insulin or soon to start.

I'm a huge fan of Ruth Rendell no matter what she writes, so I am catching up with some Chief Inspector Wexford books that I have missed. This is an early one in the sereies, but it's a good one. No one does studies in human psychology like Ms. Rendell, and this book delves into the mind of a young and up and coming police officer, and the demons he fights when love interferes with an investigation. A girl has disappeared and Wexford, Burden and Drayton are trying to determine whether or not a murder has been committed even though there's no body. What they do uncover is a household full of some secrets and we know these secrets inexorably will affect young Drayton before the case is solved. Excellent story as well as a mystery.

Ruth Rendell's Chief Inspector Wexford mysteries are important entries to the police procedural genre. This, the second of the series, is probably the book that cemented Rendell's decision to continue. The daughter of local artist Rupert Margolis hasn't been home in a few days, but her father isn't reporting her disappearance. No, instead, he is filling out inquirings for someone to help him manage his household in his daughter's stead! And then Wexford receives a note that says daughter Ann has been murdered, and the suspects name given. With his ever-present second in command Mike Burden, Wexford begins his investigation, characterized by methodical thinking and well-paced moving! The plot becomes ever so convoluted--but don't give up. Rendell is in complete charge (it's one of her longer Wexfords) and by the conclusion her logial thinking, clever plot execution, and expert character development have won the day.

"Wolf to the Slaughter" is also perhaps one of Rendell's most suspense-filled books (of the Wexford series). A local hotel has been letting one of its rooms as a love nest, but when a man with a knife one evening gets through with it, it is a room of blood, violence, and death. But whose? There's no corpse to be found! Wexford and Burden take over and the pages turn automatically after this, as Rendell's heros leave no stone unturned--nor sheet unfurled! Rendell has published many other books that are not in the series (she also writes under the name of Barbara Vine) and, with each, she clearly knows what she's writing about--she's a master here. And the surprise ending is handled masterly, too! (Billyjhobbs@tyler.net)

Anita Margolis, young, beautiful, carefree, has vanished into thin air. She left her home to attend a party one wet evening, but has not been seen since. She is reported missing soon after by her brother, whom she shared a flat with, the acclaimed but eccentric artist Rupert Margolis. Inspector Burden quickly forms an impression of a wanton young girl simply gone off somewhere with a boyfriend having neglected to let anyone know. After all, she was that sort of woman, in Burden's opinion. However, Wexford has his doubts, and those doubts will soon be confirmed, and they will soon find themselves enmeshed in a case that will throw every assumption they make into doubt.

This is an early Wexford book, and it is brilliant. A simple notion, but true. One of the best of the entire series, actually, the fact of its quality equally matches that of the novels she is still producing and marks her out clearly as possibly the most reliable and captivating novelist of her generation, such is her constant unfailing ability. She writes absolutely brilliantly, with an emotional detachedness that makes it so much more powerful when she decides that now is the time to probe in the darkness of a particular characters mind and motivations. And those characters are unendingly fascinating, completely human yet with a shadowy darkness to them, and flawlessly depicted.

But it is not just her characters that mark her books out as special. Setting and story meld in equally with character in the most successful books to create a compelling whole, and Rendell accomplishes this with ease. The fictional Kingsmarkham is almost as tangible and atmospheric as the London she uses as the setting for some of her other non-Wexford novels. The reader feels they could easily be supplanted into the story, onto the streets of this fictional town, and yet already know its environs intimately.

And then, of course, the story too is near-perfect. It is dark, it is clever, it is affecting, it is psychologically acute, it is realistic (despite the false idea that these kind of traditional procedural novels tend not to be), it is engrossing, as well as being a plethora of other laudable adjectives as well. It shifts and moves and surprises and has excellent pace, carrying the reader through on a breathless ride - secured in by the mesmeric hand-at-your-throat grip of the prose - until a tension-filled conclusion, which leaves more than one character irredeemably altered for life.

Wolf to the Slaughter is simply yet another excellent novel from the woman who is, in my mind, the best writer in the world today. And that is all there is to it.

Ruth Rendell is a talented writer, but I often have problems with elements of her plots being a little bit predictable-- this is definitely not the case with _Wolf to the Slaughter_. The book constantly suprises and manages to do so without any deus ex machina tricks that might make it unconvincing.

A mysterious note that claims someone was murdered, a stain on a carpet that may or may not be blood, and a gold lighter with a leading inscription-- these are the only clues that Wexford and his crew have to what might not even be a crime. Mix in a slightly mad painter, three women who gave their hearts unwisely, and a young policeman in love for the first time and you've got a compelling mystery novel which is one of the best Rendells I've read to date.

Fans of Ruth Rendell who await each new Chief Inspector Wexford mystery from Ruth Rendell may wish to go back to her early works. Wolf to the Slaughter was her second Wexford mystery, written 33 years ago but with no loss of appeal for today's readers. Unworldly artist Rupert Margolis goes to the Kingsmarkham police, not to report that his younger sister Ann is missing, but to seek help finding someone to manage his household since Ann hasn't come home for several days. At the same time, Wexford receives an anonymous note reporting that a young woman named Ann was murdered by a small dark young man named Geoff Smith.

The book has the elements we have come to appreciate in Ruth Rendell mysteries, including the slow steady unraveling of the mystery by Wexford and his chief assistant Mike Burden, methodically tracking down the few leads, when they don't even have the victim's body; and an array of real human characters, such as the aging Ruby Branch, who supports the man she loves, Monkey Matthews, an ex-con well known to the Kingsmarkham police, by renting out a room for the evening no questions asked; Noreen Anstey, abandoned by her second husband, now regretting the wrong she did to her first, living alone and having to sell off her remaining valuables; and Mark Drayton, the young police officer who never lets himself get seriously involved with any young women while he works hard to advance in the police force. It's Wexford's and Burden's keen understanding of human nature that helps put the pieces of this mystery together and leads them to the victim and the killer. The two play off each other well: Burden coming up with an important insight into the identity of the predator in the case, and Wexford pulling the sequence of events all together in a surprise finish.

Although this book is described as being for the 4-8 year-old group, it seemed to me more like a 7-12 year-old book that will only appeal to those who don't have nightmares about poisonous snakes.

I was attracted to the book by realizing that the various animal-related stories that Alexander McCall Smith includes in his No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency books were among my favorite parts of those books. It occurred to me that the Akimbo books might have such stories in them.

Well, not quite . . . but the series is full of Akimbo learning about wild animals, the threats to animals from people, and deals with the problems through Akimbo's brave deeds. Children like to see themselves playing important roles in the world, and Akimbo and the Snakes is very good for appealing to that desire.

Akimbo's uncle runs a snake park. One of the daily tasks is milking venom from poisonous snakes. Akimbo has a chance to help during a long visit to the park. The visit becomes more exciting when Akimbo joins Uncle Peter to capture a green mamba, a very dangerous snake. Without Akimbo, the snake would have gotten away. The book features a terrifying scene involving Akimbo and the green mamba that's not for the easily frightened. The book does a good job of describing about all kinds of snakes and making them seem less dangerous than the most fearful might imagine.

The book is nicely illustrated which adds to the realism of the story.

I enjoy McCall Smiths books, but this is the first I've read for children. I was stunned to see several dubious claims about snakes or downright mistakes... especially since I don't have anything like an encyclopedic knowledge of snakes myself. For example, the book features a King Cobra in one of the early chapters -- a species that is found only in Asia. There is a claim that the most dangerous snake in Africa is the carpet viper. Definitely not a fellow you'd want to meet, but the bane of Africa is the variety of adder called the "Cassava Snake," since it is very aggressive, highly venomous, and (as the name implies) commonly found among one of the continent's most popular sources of food. It is also suggested on the back that the green mamba is the rarest and deadliest of snakes. The green mamba is not rare enough--I've seen three, and had one pass within inches of me-- and the black mamba is considered deadlier since it is about as venomous and more aggressive. This is an enjoyable book, but the carelessness about the facts in a book about snakes by a name author is stunning.

Akimbo feels lucky when his father allows him to visit his uncle's snake park where he lives in Africa - and when his uncle's called upon to investigate the sighting of a green mamba - the deadliest of all - he's ready for adventure. What he isn't ready for is coming upon the snake himself. Black and white drawings enhance an easy-read action tale kids will relish.

In this highly interesting and fact filled story, Smith tells the story of Akimbo's visit to his Uncle Peter's Snake sanctuary. In the "Snake Park" are many varieties of snake and many are poisonous.

Akimbo goes to visit for 4 weeks. During that time, he is taught about feeding the snakes and about milking the venom from the snakes. The venom is `milked' in order to make anti-venom so that people bitten by the snakes can be saved from death. The story becomes more exciting when Akimbo and his Uncle go after a green mamba, one of the most poisonous and predatory snakes in the world. The green mamba lives in trees and will often drop down upon its prey and bite it. The bite would kill a human being in about 4 minutes.

They go after a report of a green mamba citing way in the bush. They are not sure whether the snake really is a green mamba, but in fact they find that it is. It is Akimbo who is able to spot the snake in a tree. His Uncle is able to get the snake and they trap it with a device for the purpose. Then it is put in a canvas bag. During the trip back to the village, the snake escapes from the bag and comes into the passenger cabin of the truck. Akimbo is alone in the truck when that happens. He uses great ingenuity and stays totally still. His Uncle then comes from the other side and traps the snake again. The snake ends up in the Park.

The book is one of the most intense books in the Akimbo series. It is a highly interesting and educational book for children. The illustrations are well done and give the reader a very good feeling for the experience. The book is recommended for all young readers.