Crabs Books

Whether you want to learn to make Crab Cakes and/or feel confident enough to make them for dinner parties this is the perfect book. The recipes are easy to follow, every one (7 so far) I have tried has been outstanding. I've also found that I will be able to create my own recipes from what I've learned making these. It makes a great gift for cooks of all abilities that love crab cakes!

I Love Crab Cakes was a gift to my husband, he is the cook in our household. This book has a bounty of wonderful crab recipes. I would recommend this book to everyone that has a love of crab cakes done in allot of different ways.

This book has amazing recipes in it for making crab cakes. I am new to cooking seafood and this cookbook makes great variations of crab cakes. I just love it!

I purchased this book as a gift.The receiver is a gourmet cook and it's hard to find a cookbook he doesn't have.He has tried a few of the recipes and found them to be exceptional. I was a recepiant of a crab cake dinner at his home, and it was delish.

This book has lots of information about types of crab meat and the recipes are easy, fun and taste great. I've made a couple of the recipes and they were all the best crab cakes I've ever made.

I picked up this book because we recently got two hermit crabs and I wanted to learn more about taking care of them. While this book was among the more helpful I've come across on the subject, I was hoping it would be more detailed. Everything in it was useful, and it helped me know what to do for the basics, but I want to go a little more advanced.

I found the book to be extremely informative and helpful.
there was a great deal of information that i found very useful. Very pleased with this product.

With there not being out the in pet stores on how to care for your hermies, this book is very helpful for the novice owner or even for a brush up for someone more experienced. I like to try and read as much as I can. It explains the background of the species as well as how to care for them properly. Thru that, it shows that they are NOT just a disposable pet to live in a little plastic container w/ a 1/4 inch of sand :-( hopefully someday that philosophy will change. They are so interesting and can live a very long time if taken care of properly. It is only a lot of work if you do not have the time.

This book has everything that the novice hermit crab owner needs to know to take care of and enjoy their hermit crabs! Information on food, water, environment and behavior can be found easily. This book really helped us learn about our new pets!

I bought this book and WOW, it totally helped me take care of my hermit crab Sidney. It tells you all that you need to know to let your hermit crab live safely and happily ever after!

Victoria Chang's first book of poetry, 'Circle', is unusual for a poetry award-winning book in that it can stand alone, quite apart from its already sung praises. In fact, it demands it.

Her Edward Hopper 'Studies' have a wonderful feeling of osmosis, evoking often charged scenes in Hopper's notoriously solitary paintings.

'An Evening at the Chinese Opera', 'Morning Porridge', 'At Lake Michigan' (which is like a Haiku that breaks its own rules) and 'There is Something about the East Coast' are other poems of particular note.

The unique notion of the 'circle', derived from Emerson and which forms the galvanising path of the book, does pervade the collection yet the collection would in no way suffer if this were missed by the reader. In a non-pejorative sense, this may be a collection where the sum is not necessarily greater than its exquisite individual parts.

Victoria Chang, Circle (Crab Orchard Review, 2005)

Every once in a while, I stumble upon a book like Circle (I say "stumble" because at this point I've no idea where I read about it originally), and all the time I spend reading poetry that ranges from the mediocre to the mind-splittingly awful is worth it. For Circle is one of those books where the poems leap off the page and come at you with a boning knife, gazing hungrily at the innards lying beneath that flap of belly fat you've been trying so hard to work off these past few years. While this is not happy stuff, for the most part, Chang manages to retain a twisted sense of humor about life, the universe, and everything:

After returning from Arkansas, I've never been the same.
Little here, little there, it's always great

to go à la carte-- it gives leverage and leave, it lends option to pull out
that front tooth or start saying y'all.

I begin to acknowledge feet with hair on the big toes, my eyes
get greener and green.

Periodically, there's a 300-point inspection and I'm checked,
re-checked, and checked again,

but what if the checker is the one missing a tooth? What if
I discover this

when I'm more than halfway? Do I turn back or keep going away
from home--

two small dots plucking broken guitars?
("Majority Rules")

Oh, yes, folks. I am unabashed in my love for this book, which will most likely make my top ten reads of the year. You want it. **** ½

What I love about Ms. Chang's work is her directness and her intensity. Though she said in an interview in June of this year that she would like to be more daring, I find her sense of political and social outrage infuses even the simplest of domestic situations, a fully committed kind of daring, as in this description of a rice dish the speaker prepares in "The Dragon Boat Festival" interwoven with a revelation about murdered baby girls: " I snip the string, unwrap the leaves, the rice pulses with steam, black dates ache, the wind smells of wet grass, sugar, fractured flesh." This is a wonderful book by an emerging poet who will become one of our nation's finest.

Reading Victoria Chang's poetry is like walking through woods in the fog, and every so often a branch smacks you in the head.

Circle is a collection of poetry by published poet and editor of "Asian American Poetry: The Next Generation" Victoria Chang. Poems encompass both the distant past, particularly laws, history, and customs of ancient China, and the muddled modern day. The female perspective, with its share of unique pains and mistreatments past and present, shines through in this interconnected anthology written with frankness and passion. Meditation at Petoskey: An old woman on the beach hands me a stone. / I tell her of the ruining landscape, tortoise backs / of stone, algae colonies, like puzzles on rock, / the lighthouse column with its cracked putty / and rotating eye. But she says, nothing has changed, / we have always been this way - a thousand young larks / mount the sudden breeze.

The Crab Man is a wonderful children's' book about a young Jamaican boy's dilemma and how he resolves it. Neville has been selling hermit crabs to the crab man to earn money for a new dress for his mother. One day he learns what the crab man does with the crabs and about the consequences of people's actions and feelings.
Ms. Van West skillfully weaves many themes into this tale-familial love, the fragile web of life, economic survival, and societal contrasts. The Crab Man is an excellent choice for the bookshelf, a tale that a child can relate to.

This is a wonderful story of how Neville gives up his dream of giving his mother a gift of a new dress to save the life of the helpless crabs that are being exploited to the death by ruthless tourists. The book contains the beautifully drawn illustrations of the wonderful artist Cedric Lucus.

Van West deftly weaves a young boy's struggle to make a difficult decision with vivid descriptions of Jamaican life in this heartwarming tale. The Crab Man is the perfect book for any child who has struggled to do the right thing and helps children understand that all life is precious, no matter how small.

Even though he stands to lose precious income, a young Jamaican boy trusts his feelings of empathy for the helpless crabs who are forced to race at a big resort and takes action. No heavy-handed preaching, just a gentle morality tale where the child is the hero. A lovely book.

If you've every seen the brightly-painted crabs for sale in the pet stores, this heartfelt story will give you a whole new perspective. Neville faces a difficult decision when he learns what becomes of the hermit crabs he has been collecting for the Crab Man. The boy forgoes his goal of buying his mother a new dress with his earnings, and instead decides to rescue his crab friends from inhumane treatment. The story is beautifully told by Van West, who depicts Neville and his island home with rich detail.

TALKING WITH MY MOUTH FULL is a collection of winsome essays with recipes attached by Bonny Wolf, journalist and NPR correspondent. It seems as if today's food journalists come from one of two diametrically different backgrounds: either they were raised by parents who nearly poisoned them (think Ruth Reichl) or they were raised by parents who passed along their delight in food. Wolf belongs to the latter group, having grown up a baby boomer in Minneapolis reveling in particularly middle-class American institutions which she celebrates and has elaborated on as an adult. Just when you think America has gone to the food dogs with the endlessly vacant discussion of green bean casserole at holiday time, along comes Wolf to say, really, we're eating some good stuff here and we should just enjoy it. Much of it is comfort food and none of it is more difficult and elitist than what a family might serve at a dinner party for friends and family.

Her joie de vivre is contagious as she explores everything from the history and revival of Bundt cakes, regional foods, aprons, dinner party disasters, state fair fare, pot luck suppers, DC's (pre-fire) Eastern Market, Baltimore's crab cuisine, etc. Food as she talks about it is inseparable from place, friends, family, memory and living. Before I knew it, I was marking recipes to try and jotting down titles of old cookbooks to seek out. I doubt I'll overcome my aversion to Jell-o and do the retro thing and make a molded salad, and I'm not going to use lard or suet in the pastie pastry, but Wolf otherwise has me hooked.

I loved this book -- I had originally checked it out of the library, but had to buy my own copy. I wanted to write notes in it, mark passages to share with my parents -- it's a book that inspires you to think about families and food, plus it has some wonderful recipes. A must read.

Bonnie Wolf has written an absolutely beautiful meditation on the subject of food and its relationship to people. Throughout the reading of the book, I found myself nodding and thinking "The woman knows of what she speaks", particularly in her fantastic section on comfort foods. In the photograph on the book cover, Bonnie looks like someone I would very much like to know -- her kindness and joie de vivre shine through on every page. And the recipes, the recipes. Alas, too often reliant on processed ingredients which are not (and God willing never will be) available here in Eastern Europe where I live, but the recipes, the recipes! Thank you, Bonnie!

I loved this book. It was so real, reading made me hungry to try the many recipes. Though on some subconscious level I realized the importance of food, cooking, and recipes in my life, to have it written in such a way made it wonderfully apparent how. I too was a bit disappointed with how abruptly the book ended, I wanted a conclusion of sorts. Still a very wonderful book with special meaning to those of us who realize our lives are intertwined with food experiences.

"Talking with my Mouth Full" had me laughing with my mouth full of Bonny Wolf's comfy recipes.

Crab Cake & Pepper is more than a folksy yarn about a boy and his dog. It digs deeply into a ten-year-old boy's psyche and brings us along for the ride of a lifetime, replete with family, a struggling friendship, rousing adventures, and a surplus of belly laughs.

Set in the rural backwoods of Pennsylvania in April, 1951, Crab Cake & Pepper sings with the love of nature and family. Jack "Pepper" Whelan Jr., one of five children, anticipates the opening of trout season with the glee found only in childhood. Along with his best friend, a bright, spirited border collie named Crab Cake, Pepper prepares for the big day by digging for nightcrawlers with the help of his mom's soapy dishwater, and paying off his siblings to do his early morning barn chores. He's ready to rise at dawn to beat the other anglers to his secret fishing hole, where he hopes to land the legendary monster trout known as Ol' Uncle Louie.

Meanwhile, recently escaped convicts, "Crazy Eyes" Zitoulleo and "Tattoo" MacGrew, navigate toward the same fishing hole. Tipped off in prison, the bumbling duo overhears a tale of a metal box filled with stolen loot that rests at the bottom of the cold stream. To make matters worse, Pepper runs into Thursy Patterson, a boy with whom he's shared an uneasy friendship. Thursy is quick to anger and ready to fight with little provocation. When he asks Pepper to join him for the big fishing event, Pepper squirms, unwilling to reveal his choice fishing spot.

A series of unfortunate events propel Pepper, Thursy, and Crab Cake into the midst of a manhunt, particularly after they witness the attempted drowning of a game warden. Their luck deteriorates as the boys are kidnapped by the desperate villains. These experiences draw Pepper and Thursy closer, where true friendship glimmers. Meanwhile, Crab Cake is bitten by a copperhead. The canine's life hangs in the balance for days, threatening in the backdrop during the final thrilling fight between the foul buffoons and the plucky boys.

Mr. Weaver has a knack for creating believable, humorous, and endearing characters. His grasp of the backwoods dialect is adroitly captured. Childhood memories will float to the surface of readers' minds as they follow through the woods and fields while the delightful border collie frolics in the background. The scenes between the boy and his dog are beautifully portrayed and emotive. When Crab Cake nears death, emotions not unlike those felt during Lassie Come Home will clog the throat of the most sophisticated reader.

Crab Cake & Pepper offers universal appeal for the adventure of a lifetime. Children of all ages will enjoy the ride.

To read about so much caring, so much actual concern, is a refreshing joy in the midst of today's cynical society. _Crab Cake & Pepper_ by Frank Weaver, Jr., renews one's hopes that people may once again care about another's well being. As in times past, a neighbor may once again come to the rescue. Even an ordinary dog may make the ultimate sacrifice, and that someone may, with a free heart, return the favor. True character always shows in how someone respects and treats animals, especially pets, and true loyalty in pets always shines through.

Frank Weaver, Jr., definitely lives up to his family name as he weaves this adventurous tale of families, friends, neighbors, pets, and wild animals as they all encounter two hardened criminals, who suddenly appear in the quiet countryside, looking for supposed loot left behind by their jailbird friends. Yes, they are hardened criminals, but they are also inept, bungling almost everything they try. However, with dumb luck on their side, the two create chaos and danger everywhere they go. With lives at stake and no one safe, this book is a page-turner for sure.

Think back to when protecting each other was paramount. Think back to when a neighbor was someone you could always depend on. Think back to those pets you loved so much when you were younger and of the names of each and every one, a wagging tail and a welcoming bark as you came home or a tender meow and a cuddle on a cold winter's day. In whatever way you remember that loyal pet at your side, such memories are precious and will always comfort you.

Thank you, Frank Weaver, Jr., for _Crab Cake & Pepper_. Thank you for taking me to a special place, a special time, where I could once again believe in the goodness and caring and self-sacrifice that still lie somewhere within us all. Thank you.

(...)

Frank Weaver Jr. has crafted a young adult tale that will entertain all ages. Even the title is fun. And he sprinkles fun all through this delightful adventure for boy and dog, with enough conflict to keep the reader turning the pages. Excellent!

This book has all the elements I love in a well written story! Captivating from start to finish! Crab Cake and Pepper will beckon you to your childhood; reliving it and throwing in some mystery and adventure too! Family, Friendship, Community, Public Servants, and the sordid few entwine in this easy to read novel by Frank Weaver.

Straight out of the Pennsylvania Dutch countryside, in a quaint location called White OaK Valley, come a Border Collie named Crab Cake and a boy called Pepper. Get ready readers, for they will steal your heart away.

It's been a long time since I've read a book that carried me back to another time and place where family lifestyles and values were foremost, honest and uncomplicated. Whether you're trout fishing for the elusive Ol' Uncle Louie, or playing makeshift baseball, author Frank Weaver, Jr. captures your heart with his endearing characters and colorful dialogue.

Written like a classic, all ages will enjoy this book with its priceless descriptions and lessons about growing up. You will laugh at the comical antics of two numbskull criminals, Crazy Eyes and Tattoo, as they plan and argue with each other often enough to make idiotic mistakes, but dangerous enough to cause some serious trouble to the Whelan family.

Pepper's love for Crab Cake is the quintessential tale of a boy's love for his dog, as he poignantly speaks to his motionless Border Collie after a copperhead snake bites the dog.

This is an extremely well written book and bound to be a family favorite. If you've enjoyed Old Yeller, Tom Sawyer, or the character of Scout, in To Kill A Mockingbird, then you'll surely derive something special from this book to forever hold in your heart.

children's author, Eleanor Aspin
www.eleanoraspinbooks.com
Help Me! Help Me!
Messy Myko and Tidy Tyko

I am a big fan of Bill Peet! I didn't really discover him until I was a mom for a few years, but the first book I read was a great introduction to me, and I quickly checked out all the Bill Peet books in the local library. Our family has been collecting these little by little, and Kermit the Hermit is one of his best works. I have never read a Bill Peet book that was dissapointing. Kermit the Hermit shows genuine love and concern for all.

In addition to his marvelous children's stories, Bill Peet wrote an awesome autobiography--ideal for 8-12 year olds. I cannot imagine a young boy not being drawn into his story.

I found this book remaindered, and picked it up just because it was set in Monterey Bay. I was delighted to find that it was a terrific story, and that my daughter (age 2-1/2) loved it.

My only criticism is that some of the poetry is a bit strained, but it doesn't detract from the overall excellence. Great pictures, good characters, and a fine message.

And, by the way, the pictures very accurately portray Monterey Bay, both above and below the water.

This book feels like it is written by Dr. Suess, with the same cadence in the rhymes. The language is a tad more sophisticated, but both my son and I love the book! It is so much fun to read, I don't know who enjoys it more.

Bill Peet is a wonderful children's book author and Kermit The Hermit is a great example of his work. It is a 1965 story about a Hermit Crab who starts out the story as a selfish shellfish. Through an act of human kindness, he learns the emptiness of a self-centered life. Kermit devotes himself to repaying the favor and finds satisfaction in doing for others.

The book is a long rhyming poem with delightful color illustrations surrounding the text. This is a story that children and those who read to them are sure to enjoy.

I remain fascinated by Gullah and Daufuskie cooking. This book is a welcome addition to my ever-expanding collection. I'm glad I found it.

I have tried to catch Ms. Robinson's t.v. shows when I was able. Having grown up poor and having to make ends meet by stretching the food, you appreciate any attempt to liven up the meals. Ms. Robinson has done this very well. I enjoy her, and I enjoy the book.

I grew up in St. Helena Island (Frogmore). Having and using this book brings back those memories

One of my favorite episodes of Sara Moulton's cooking show featured the author and included a visit to her childhood home. I was THRILLED that Ms. Robinson washed her green leafy vegetables in warm water. What a shame such wisdom (do Americans even know the term "nightsoil" anymore???) has been disregarded in the wake of carnival barkers who demonstrate their cooking ability by ripping open a bag of greens (prewashed, My Aunt Fanny!) and cooking raw meat straight from their styrofoam and plastic packaging. Ewwwww, you know no amount of cooking heat can clean that up. EWWWWWWWWWWWWWW.

Thank you, Ms. Robinson.

This was the perfect gift for my sister who lived on Dafuskie island for several years. She personally knew Sallie Ann and was sad to leave her east coast home and the lovely people she met there. The book brought back memories of a delightful period in her life.

I picked up the entire "Killer Crab" series from my local used book store for a nice price. The books were located in the store's "Pulp" section. I admit, I laughed for a good five minutes when I saw the covers. I love cheesy, funny, horror films... and that is exactly what this book series is like. Many characters continue in each book, just like a series of horror films. I believe all of the books in the series are (with original print dates):
#1 Night of the Crabs (1976)
#2 Killer Crabs (1978)
#3 The Origin of the Crabs (1979)
#4 Crabs on the Rampage (1981)
#5 Crabs' Moon (1984)
#6 Crabs: The Human Sacrifice (1988)

They are all short, and great quick, fun, reads. Not to embarrass myself too much, but I actually read these during my bathroom breaks at work. They are easy to put down and pick up again the next day.

Now I just have to find all of his other books like "Bats out of Hell" and "The Sucking Pit".

I winced even as I read the spine. I grimaced as I dragged all twenty pounds of guilt induced weight from the shelf to the register. I took my little book home, read it, and then something mystifying occurred; I liked it!

There's something ultimately fascinating and altogether satisfying about giant man-eating crabs invading a quiet English shore. It just tugs at your heart-strings and pumps your adrenaline! Each time you're sure the Crabs have been thoroughly dealt with, eradicated and happily eliminated, they reappear!

Get used to the format dear readers; there are seven more novels similarly structured awaiting you! Luckily, they're all deliciously fast reads.

And doesn't that King Crab just send shivers down your spine?

Night of the Crabs is perhaps one of the finest books I have ever read and I have read alot. Everthing you could possibly want is here in under 150 pages. Murder, mutations, crabs and Cornwall is here. The sex scene alone bought me to tears.

You will feel cheaper but happier for reading this book.

Possibly the most important Guy N.Smith book ever written, this was the bestseller which allowed him to give up his job and take up writing full-time.

The story is an absolute gem. The idea of giant crabs coming ashore to devour human beings may not be original but this novel is filled with spine-chilling suspence and thrills, well-thought-out characters, great dialogue and not so much as a paragraph of padding.

One of Guy N.Smith's best even after all this time and certainly one of the best monster-on-the-rampage books ever written.

The Night of the Crabs is an unsurpassed masterpiece written by a worthy preceptor to anyone with a penchant for penning perverse excellence. I last read this novel several years ago and only recently have I recognised its genius; how it has haunted me in the interim. Like 'Moby Dick' and 'Arnie the Darling Starling' we are confronted with an edifying treatise on its respective discipline - crustaceology. There are few better ways to include crabs in your life. Indeed it goes further! Every twenty-fifth rapt page we are taught, by Mr Smith the Amorist, how to indulge in the most deeply sensuous love - no Sade or Sacher-Masoch could ever have anticipated such a usurpation. The conformal structure of the novel will not trouble anyone, it is simply pure and purely simple. Positively sodden with sweat, blood and tears. Riddled with tribulations and triumphs. Gorged on sudden death and heroic sentiments. This is a towering triumph of whimsical reverie. My last utterance can only be one of whole-hearted recommendation.

My six-year old grandson has hermit crabs as pets. He absolutely loved this book. His interest in hermit crabs motivated him to practice his reading skills with this book. He chose it for his first book report in his kindergarten class, and was able to read the whole book to the class (except for stumbling on a couple words), as well as prepare the report.

This was a wonderful little story and one of my all time favorite "read aloud" books. The girls would have me read it over and over and over. Now it's time to dig it out and start reading it to the grandkids. I hope they love it as much as their mom's did!

This was one of my favourite books when I was growing up. It's still one of my favourite books now. I just recently oreder it to give to my cousin for his birthday. My aunt gave it to me when I was younger and now I am giving it to her son. Everytime I read it it gives me a big smile. I highly recommend this book!

My mother bought this book some time ago to read to my son while he was visiting, and he has since fallen in love with it. The book follows Permit Drab the Hermit Crab as he looks for a new home. His shell has gotten too small for him, and his task is to find one that will be comfortable enough for him to live in. This book is written in a way that people of all ages can enjoy it, and it's especially fun to read to your children.

This is a wonderful book for young children and their parents. It tells the story of one little hermit crab who gets too big for his shell. Your kids will have you reading this one over and over again until they know it by heart.