Benton Books

I hope this is the right book, I just love the story, and the music, and the movie too!

The book is fantastic! Great pictures! I would highly recommend this book for any fan of the movie or a Titanic fan in general! The making of the epic movie is something to see and you can definitely see it in this book.

This is a MUST have for any Titanic collector. I waited for about 9 or so years for this book and I am so extatic that I finally have it!!

Great book for the titanic enthusiasts!!!!! If you loved the movie, you will enjoy this book.

The scope of this majestic book truly befits the epic effort by James Cameron with his cinematic masterpiece "Titanic". Much great information here for the movie buff who likes to see how it is done. Incredible sets including the dining salon, complete even to dishes and decor. I was amazed to see how this particular set was pulled underwater by hydraulics to provide a very realistic feeling of sinking. Page after page of photographs and stories about the magnificent sets that brought this film to life. Lots of info about the stars and other cast members as well the production crew. This book is a perfect companion to the movie as well as a testament to the filmmaking genius of James Cameron.

The book itself was a winner - a gift for my husband. He "devoured" it. The only disappointment was how cheaply and poorly-bound the paperback was. Even with extreme care, it fell apart within the first 70 pages. The replacement nearly made it to the end, but not quite. Buy and read this book, but go for a better-bound version unless you like handling it in pieces.

Author David McCullough gives us an in-depth look into the life of President Truman. He shows how he evolved from a simple farmer to become the President of the United States. McCullough pulls no punches in his biography, and yet, Mr. Truman comes through as a simple man who rose to the challenge of becoming a true statesman and world leader. A Very compelling read.

This is one of those rare biographies which pulls you in from the beginning and never lets go. It is an excellent look at one of the truly under-appreciated presidents. Truman was an amazing man and an incredible public servant. The sense of history that this biography brings makes it a must-read for anyone interested in American history and/or American politics.

An absolutely fantastic biography. McCullough not only gives us an incredibly in-depth account of Truman's role in such momentous events as the decision to drop the Atomic Bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Potsdam Conference (Truman's only face-to-face meeting with Stalin or Uncle Joe as he called him), the Truman Doctrine, The Marshall Plan, the Berlin Airlift, the Korean War, the firing of General MacArthur and so on, but he also succeeds wonderfully in injecting joviality into this rather thick tome through his unsurpassed ability to recount the human side of Truman, the quirkiness, the common trials and errors of a human being and the like.

I am not an American, but I always tell my friends that if I were Truman would be my favorite president. This book only serves to reinforce my view. Overall, one of the best biographies I've read. If I ever became famous one day, I'd really love someone of McCullough's caliber to write my biography. Highly recommended.

I have read most of McCullough's books, and so I knew that after reading this I would understand Harry S. Truman more deeply than I ever had. What I didn't know what was that I would learn so much about 20th century American history. McCullough is a great story-teller. His use of historical details to recreate the man and the times is magnificent. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

This Is My Beloved
This exquisite work can be humorous and elegant, although laden with syrup.
Regardless of your age, if you're "young and in love" or have an insatiable "love jones" this book is for you and your loved one.

This is My Beloved - A story of love found, love lost, and love remembered. This is the only book of love poetry (with the possible exception of Hafiz) I will need for the next 100 years. When Walter fell in love with Lillian he tapped into something amazing. I've had this book for about 10 years and it has never stopped blowing me away. With every reading I discover a new favorite passage. Gentlemen, sit down with a beautiful woman and read her this book...but only if you want to blow her mind. A passage of this book was recited in the movie "Cooley High." About 20 years after this was first published in 1968 the baritone jazz singer Arthur Prysock did an album where he recited select passages of this book. He did a great job, if you like the book check out the Prysock version.

I have just purchased my fourth copy in 30 years of this erotic collection of poems. My first book was given to me in my early twenties by a lover, wrapped in a garland of flowers, along with a book by Rod McKuen. In all these years, I have bought this book for special friends I felt would appreciate and understand the beauty and pain, the joy and dispair in the description of his journey of love and disappointment. My favored lines are those that read, "Your words are born, not spoken. Dimensional, soft-vowelled words, palpable to the eye or to the fingertip..." With imagination and honest desire, Walter Benton writes of his lover, transporting the reader to that place where all those who have loved have been. Buy this one for a lover or a friend...how fortunate you are if they are both the same soul.

I stumbled upon Walter Benton's books years ago, and have read through them many times since (this one, along with his other 'masterpiece' ~ "Never A Greater Need"). What I find so disarming about both of them is the fact that they were written in the 1940's! To think that a man could be so articulately erotic on love and sensuality from that 'era' is astounding to me!

One thing you come away knowing for sure (after reading these books) is that he truly loved his lady, and that she was probably the 'luckiest woman' around in those days! What a lover he must have been, and I feel sure that she was very 'grateful' to have known such love, and to be involved with such an aficionado on the subject! He makes the reader "feel" his deep, sensual love and need for her ~ so, if we [the readers] feel these 'feelings,' we can only imagine how she was able to receive his love and adoration for her!

What beautiful words and descriptions in these pages! So much better than anything around these days! O, that it were 1943 and if I had read these books, I would go searching the world over for Walter Benton myself! I want to 'know' a man like this! Every woman wants to! If you haven't read these aforementioned books, make sure that you include them in your library -- especially if you're a 'romanticist"! They are not to be missed, and you will never forget them!

One more romantic favor you might do for yourself, purchase Herbie Mann's CD called "The Family Of Mann: First Light" it contains the complete words from "This Is My Beloved" read by the late English actor, Laurence Harvey. He puts a beautifully poetic/erotic touch to this masterpiece, and I love reading the words along, as he speaks them!

We have nothing that even compares to these books today, and if you don't own them, you should buy them and place them on a permanent spot on your nightstand, to read and reread many many times over!

Critics were divided over whether THIS IS MY BELOVED, by Walter Benton, was [...] or literary art when it first came out. That question really should have been answered by these lines from the very first poem in the book: "Because hate is legislated...written into/ the primer and the testament,/ shot into our blood and brain like vaccine or vitamins...I need love more than ever now..."

There's no doubt that Benton, who was born in Austria and lived later in the United States, was writing as an individual. However, considering that World War II was approaching its bloodiest worse when the book was first published in 1943, it's quite likely he was also speaking metaphorically on behalf of all humanity. Has anyone yet discovered a better antidote for the disease of international war than universal love?

Similarly, the great jazz and pop singer Arthur Prysock recorded what is now a classic spoken word version of the book (please see related CD review:This Is My Beloved ) in December 1968 when the Vietnam War had the world in tears. Small wonder, then, that a new generation marked indelibly by the Iraq War in 2007 is claiming both the book and CD version of "This Is My Beloved" for its own. In times like these, everything it has to say is exactly what we need to hear.

By Author-Poet Aberjhani
Author of I Made My Boy Out of Poetry
And Founder of Creative Thinkers International

Got it for our 12-yr. old daughter's birthday. She loves it! She's a big fan of Calvin & Hobbes. This was her 5th book!

Is it possible that just 20 years ago that Calvin and Hobbes - - one of the finest comics strips ever created - - was fresh and poignant every day in the paper?

"Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us," says Calvin, looking at the chain-sawn stump of a tree, in 'Weirdos from Another Planet' by Bill Watterson. The demise of Calvin and Hobbes is reason enough not to contact Earthlings.

Doonesbury by Gary Trudeau is sometimes still incisive, with the same brilliance in political observations as when it was new and Richard Nixon was newly president. But brilliance is boring after 40 years of repetition. Doonesbury is dated. Nixon is long disgraced, dead and gone.

Calvin remains relevant, because like Chaucer's 'Canterbury Tales' he dealt with the universal human condition - - - as it applies to small boys and to the grown men they become without ever losing their small-boy outlook on olife.

"Do you believe our destinies are shaped by the stars?" Calvin asks Hobbes.

Ever the logical one, Hobbes replies, "Nah."

Calvin counters with words as relevant today as in 1988, because, "Life's a lot more fun when you're not responsible for your actions."

How do we greet strangers? Calvin went to Mars and, after mugging for the Viking Lander "to blow some circuits at NASA" he met a live Martian. Hobbes thought the Martian must be as scared of them as they are of the Martian. Like many of us when meeting a foreign culture, Calvin explains, "We're just ordinary Earthlings, not weirdos from another plsanet, like HE is."

Doonesbury was similarly brilliant in portraying Nixon as a weirdo; but, Nixon nostalgia remains firmly Nixon. "Weirdos from another planet" is sadly reminiscent of the usual reaction to the current resident of the White House, and most likely The-President-to-Be.

Calvin's Dad isn't all that slow either, as when he sets him up in the first three panels of one daily strip by asking, "Hey, Calvin! Guess what time it is!"

"Why? What time is it?

"It's a very special time!

"Oh boy, oh boy! What time is it?

"Do you really want to know?

"Yes, Yes! Tell me! Tell me! Quick! Please! Yes!

"IT'S YOUR BATHTIME! OH BOY!!

Gettting Calin into a bath is about the same agony as pilling a cat. In the final panel, a dejected Calvin is up to his nose in sudsy water and commenting, "You know how old people always write to Dear Abby, complaining that their kids never write,call or visit? Those letters really crack me up."

Calvin had his own four-panel approach to homework, "When I grow up, I want to be an inventor. First I will invent a time machine. Then I'll come back to yesterday, and take myself to tomorrow, and skip this dumb assignment."

Personally, for me, it was lima beans. Any time lima beans appeared, it was lima beans or no desert. Calvin and his Mom had more imagination; Calvin looked at his bowl of soup and horrified, "Hey! What's this stuff in my soup? Yeccch! Is this rice? It had better NOT be!"

His Mom was very worried, "Rice? Let me see!"

Calvin was insistent, "Look! These little white things! See, there's rice in my soup. I hate rice!"

His Mom looked closely and explained, "I didn't put any rice in. These are maggots."

Calvin was delighted, explaining, "Gosh, wait till I tell everyone at school what WE had for dinner.".

His Dad lamented, "Another lovely meal at home with my family. I wish my job required more travel."

Evolution? As Calvin explains, "Just think, Earth was a cloud of dust 4.5 billion years ago . . . 3 billion years ago, the first bacteria appeared, then came sea life, dinosaurs, birds, mammals, and finally, a million uears ago, man. Now, in 1988, there's me. The acme of evolutuion."

Hobbes, rolling his eyes, responds, "Oh, PLEASE."

Even Richard Feynman can't come up with better answers. Trudeau is always wordy, as Watterson was at times. But the genius of Watterson was the ability to draw a 14-panel Sunday strip showing Calvin filling a water balloon and sneaking up on Hobbes . . . . panel after panel. Only one dialoguie panel was needed, when Hobbes drily explains, just before he was otherwise to be doused, "As if life isn't short enough."

It ends with a thoroughly frustrated Calvin resting beside Hobbes.

This is the Master.

Calvin and Hobbes has always been a great read. This was the first one in book form that I read and thoroughly enjoyed.

The book has many good strips and quite a lot of Sunday strips as well. The aliens show up towards the end and there is a good many strips on that series where he explores the Martian surface and rightly is told by Hobbes that if one is not potty trained would you invite them to your home? So of course after damaging Earth, men need not expect a welcome from the Martians or anyone else.

There is a lot of wisdom and good humour in the book. The opening splash page itself is attractive about why intelligent life hasn't contacted us - with a picture of deforestation.

Other favourites are of course being a tiger, or the tiger's welcome to the kid coming home from school, Dad's approval ratings in the election, the family outing, room service for the ill kid, etc.

The parents are delightfully tolerant of the crazy nutty Calvin. The family outing to the woods is a riot. Calvin wonders what kind of vacation is it if he has to be with his parents, LOLz. Even Calvin's vulnerability is explored when he panics after breaking Dad's binoculars.

This book is cute as hell - and especially a great gift to pretty young girls who thank me endless for making their day. You won't ever be disappointed, probably not with any Calvin & Hobbes collection - they are a gem, a treasure, a laugh riot, a piece of modern art and culture.

Beware of Captain Spiff, the T-Rex, the paleontologist, the incredible comic strip from the best graphic art has to offer.

I am a Calvin and Hobbes fan. And this book did not dissapoint me.

I love all Calvin and Hobbes books, but this collection has a few of my favorites that never cease to make me laugh out loud, including:

"The Disembodied Hand That Strangled People" (I snicker just writing it)

The trip to Mars ("We're going in the wagon?" "Of course! What did YOU want to do? Flap your arms?" "I guess I hadn't thought about that part."
"Obviously."

I really liked this book. It was short and extremely funny. I personally loved the hilarious quizzes.

I love the Happy Bunny. It was purchased as a gift so hopefully the recipient will like it as much as I did.

If you are looking for a laugh, this book will provide it! Jim Benton's humor may be offensive to some but as Happy Bunny says, "I know how you feel. I just don't care." This book makes a great gift for pre-teens on up. I love Happy Bunny!

It's soooooo funny. Happy Bunny makes me extra happy and my friends too. Happy Bunny is soooooo funny. Boys are stupid. Boys in my class.... when you see them that's all the proof you need.

This might have been the funniest thing I have ever read...I literally could not stop laughing. Terrific quick read that will leave you relating, comtemplating and pontificating all the while with a smile on your face.....

These books are a favorite with my 9-year old boy. His only complaint...there aren't enough books in the series!

My son loves the Magic Tree House series and Caption Underpants series---and now this one too. I especially like that these books star a girl, yet appeal to boys. In terms of reading level, this series is easier and less "serious" then the Magic Tree House series---it's closer to Caption Underpants (lots of scribbles and drawings, goofy antics, and not too much text on each page).

My 2 older boys (ages 6 and 8) have been enjoying these books. They seem to have a good mix of kid-like silliness as well as a reading challenge and a good message.

Franny is a bit of a loner who marches to the beat of her own drum. In one of the books, she tries to change herself to fit in, ultimately realizing she is happier as herself. This theme follows throughout the series - she is different than her classmates, but likes herself and learns to make friends as the mad scientist she is.

Each book involves Franny "saving the day", using her scientific capabilities. Sometimes it's her experiments that create the problem in the first place, but none of her peers seem to hold that against her.

The reading level is a bit simple for my 8 year old, but he has enjoyed them anyway. He's able to read them through in one sitting, so these books are an alternative for him to the long chapter books that take a couple of weeks for him to read.

My 6 year old and I read them together, trading off chapters. The chapters are usually only a few pages, and simple illustrations help keep him interested as well. He and I usually require 3 sittings to complete a book (15-20 minutes per sitting, trading off chapters).

This package includes the first 4 books in the series. Two subsequent books exist as well, however I couldn't find a box set with more than these 4 original books.

One of the beautiful things about Franny K. Stein books, is what they inspire in my 6 yr. old little girl. I can't wait to see what invention my daughter will draw after reading a Franny book. After reading "The Invisible Fran", for instance, my daughter drew her very own robot that had new and different things than in the Franny book! After reading "The Fran that Time Forgot" we went around laughing about Fran's middle name for weeks!
Franny, that adorable little scientist, is PASSIONATE about science! She cannot understand why her schoolmates are not as passionate as she is! She gives our little ones permission to be passionate about the subjects that they like best!
Franny is wholesome, hilarious, and educational. (and I have not read the captain underpants series) I think that Franny can stand alone as a championess for science! Franny's zeal for science and discovery is contagious and I'm glad, I want my daughter to be encouraged and inspired by books.
I'd like to shake Mr. Benton's hand for creating such a lovable little "mad" scientist like Franny. Franny K. Stein is a fun and funny read, perfect for kids who love science and even those who don't love it so much.

My boys are 4 and 6 and they loves these. My 6 yr old can read them with no problem but they like for me to read to them both and we got The Fran with Four Brains just yesterday and they had me read the entire book to them last night. They are excited about the fact that i have ordered them this boxed set, and when it comes I am sure we will be reading them till we have read them all. I hope the author starts more in this series of books so they can continue to have a Great series that they enjoy that pulls u right in.

This was a great book. My daughter loved it and all her friends have since read it. Very funny. This author has found a new fan in my daughter and her friends.

This humorous story, written like a diary, is about Jamie Kelly, a girl not-so-happily attending Mackerel Middle School. In her diary, she writes about stuff like the perfect girl, the number eight cutest boy, her ugly lump of a dog, and disgusting meatloaf. With Isabella, her weird best friend, she tries to win Hudson, a.k.a. the "Eighth Cutest Boy" from Angeline, the perfect girl. Isabella is known to be pretty gullible sometimes, or even makes up some stuff of her own. One day, Jamie makes a comment about the horrifying meatloaf, and Miss Bruntford, the cafeteria lady hears, and tries it. She then has to leave school for a while, and handsome Mr. Prince substitutes for her. Suddenly, love notes are appearing for Jamie, and she spends days thinking of Mr. Prince writing out his affection... but it is really him?

Do you like dumb books? Dear dumb Diary [Am I the princess or the frog?] is for you. In this book Kelly doesn't want to eat her meat loaf but Mrs. Bruntford said she had to. You will have to read the rest to find out. Recommended for 7 year olds thru 13 year olds.
by; Morgan

Am I the Princess or the Frog is a funny book. It is a girl named Jamie Kelly and her diary. In the book she goes through many obstacles. Her mother is a very bad cook, but she doesn't know it. Jamie Kelly also has a friend named Isabella who tends to be a little mean sometimes. They both go to "Mackerel Middle School". Their enemy is Angeline who is pretty and perfect. Jamie Kelly has a crush on Hudson (the seventh cutest guy in school). In the book she gets notes from a secret admirer. Who could it be? You'll have to read the book to find out. This book is for girls ages eight and up. It is a great book.

This book is really funny, because there are a lot a twists. (A lot of things that you would not think would happen) I have never read a series that is so funny! So if you do get ths book you might want to get book # 1,2 first. This is a great book!

I loved this book! When i picked it up i could not put it down! I just keep on reading!!! I would recommend this book for everyone who love comedy books!!

L.O.L.! A hilarious adventure of Jamie Kelly! WHAT? Haven't read it? You're missing out on a lot! This one- the best of the whole series! Read this FUNNY, yes, the letters are capitalized, comedy of the great things Jamie does to live an interesting and funny life. Chao!

My 10-year-old daughter , a picky reader, devoured this whole series. Easy to read, great illustrations, and absolutely hilarious. Book # 5 is just as funny as the first 4. I read them too. Laughed til I cried! Honestly!

As you may or may not have known, jim benton, the happy bunny dude wrote these. there easy to read, and even my mom enjoys the series! I burst out laughing on every sentence. its too funny. all of my friends have borrowed the books, and they cabt let go of em! A must read.

I love this line of books. They are all very entertaining. I couldn't stop laughing.

Frantastic Voyage is book five in this great series of adventures following one of the most interesting and well written child characters to come along in a very long time. For those who have only read this great book and are wondering which of Benton's former books in the series to buy first, I'd recommend Jim Benton's first three Franny K masterpieces Lunch Walks Among Us, Attack of the 50-Ft. Cupid or The Invisible Fran.

I work as a library assistant and when I have asked kids if they enjoyed this and other books in this series the answer is always yes. That's pretty rare for a series of books but this series is that good! I've checked these books out myself to see what all the fuss is about and these books all can be enjoyed by adults as well as kids, a feat not always done by junior fiction writers, even in the really popular kids books. I didn't read these in order either as there's a long wait for some titles so I'll point out they all have individual storylines so if this is the first book you've come across it can easily be read first.

Franny Stein is an interesting character who doesn't follow the stereotype little girl who plays with dolls, has tea parties with stuffed animals and the like, which many authors seem to want to write about. No Franny is a very intelligent girl more interested in bats, snakes, spiders, monsters and her number one passion, being a mad scientist. Interests that gel with many a real life boy or girl these days and lets be honest, always have. The length of these books are fairly short and take my word for it these books are so good, you'll probably want to get a few of them, if not the whole series. They seem to be a lot cheaper buying as a box set (where you get the first four titles, obviously not including this one) which at the time of this review seems to retail for about the same price as just two Franny K. Stein books.

In her fifth adventure Franny invents a doomsday device, just incase her experiments fall in the wrong hands. Unfortunately this device can also destroy half the planet and unfortunately it has also been eaten by her assistant Igor while transfixed to the TV he swallowed handfuls of grapes. Making the situation worse Igor has inadvertently turned the device on while eating it. It is up to Fran to shrink herself down, and go inside Igor to retrieve the doomsday device and disassemble it before it explodes. Igor's eaten a lot of gross stuff though plus Franny hasn't thought everything through. Will she be successful? You'll have to read this great adventure and see!

My 8 year old daughter loves this series. When she read the first one she loved it so much, I ordered her the whole series. She would read them, and not put them down. She would laugh, and come in and ask me to look at the pictures. She is in second grade, and her most recent grade card went from reading at 3rd grade level, to 6 grade level. I am so proud, and I feel these books made her WANT to read. Thanks Jim Benton!!

Thank goodness for these books! My lovable school hating tom boy of a daughter has now become a reading maniac thans to these laugh out loud books! You can hear her upstairs cracking up! Totally entertaining for my 8 year old. Jim Benton is a GOD! LOL

Franny and Igor take us on hilarious adventure in Frantastic Voyage. Igor is constantly getting in Franny's way as she works in the lab. In order to get Igor to leave her alone she puts him in front of the TV. This turns out to be a terrible mistake. Igor gets hooked on watching commercials and doing whatever they tell him to do. While watching TV Igor swallows Franny's doomsday device which is capable of blowing up 1/2 of the Earth.

Franny will have to use all of her wits to solve this problem. With the help of some Root Beer, corn chips and Bubble gum Franny may just save the world!

This book had all of us laughing our heads off and rolling on the ground every day that we read it together. If you enjoy funny adventure stories like Captain Underpants, Garfield, Captain Fact, or Ricci Riccotta's Mighty Robot you will love this book!

...my 8 year old daughter simply devours all his books -- she practically has them memorized...she sits and reads them to her 6 year old sister who also loves them...maybe the writing doesn't quite rank with Charles Dickens but he sure stimulates an appetite for reading.

I actually had the extreme fortune of working with Hollie at the local grocery store in Madison, MS in the early 90's and I found out about her death when I was at home visiting from college in ATL. I was mortified to find out that she was killed and even more so that anybody would do that to her. She was THE most caring, honest and funniest person I've ever known. She was amazing! I can only imagine the pain it is for Mr. Calhoun father to write such an in-depth account on the loss of not only his daughter, but Hollie, as a person. I didn't believe it was about her until I saw her picture on the inside flap cover. This book doesn't even convey how good a person Hollie really was and its even more heartbreaking for me because I really knew her. A phrase that Hollie would say everytime she was right about something, "Thank you for playing!" I still use it today.

I found 400 Hours to be an extremely poignant and gut wrenching story.The authors pain was horrific.I came away feeling that I knew the entire family and had somehow gone through the entire grieving process with them.It's all there.The author made it easy to read by weaving in and out of the various family members and how they each came to grips with the loss of Hollie.I highly recommend this book.

With this book you really feel the pain of Hollies family and the agony they went through during her disapearance and eventual recovery.I really felt like I got to know who Holly really was.

A couraageous writing by a father concerning the life and death of his daughter. He writes of the heart-wrenching path and details of finding out about her kidnap and murder. Through an enlighting look at the process involved in this personal case he gives us all an upclose view of police investigating. The reader acutely experiences the process and shares in the Calhouns nightmare, while also having the privelege of getting to know Hollie.

I lost my brother in an accidental gunshot incident many years ago. That was horrific enough but couple that with murder and abduction and hours of not knowing and you have a true nightmare. This is a rare man who is able to reveal his innermost private feelings about the loss of his daughter. One reels as he describes the numbness, disorientation, and "inappropriate" acting out behaviors which run the gamut of emotions which he experienced. This book inevitably triggers one's own feelings about the out-of-body fog that accompanies the loss of a loved one. He knows correctly that it will never be over, his pain merely gradually muted a little more as each year passes. The sense of disbelief and wondering what might have been will never go away. Rather than being a downer, this book refreshes with its honesty.