Town Books

SECRETS OF MY HOLLYWOOD LIFE: FAMILY AFFAIRS
JEN CALONITA
Contemporary Young Adult

Rating: 4.5 Enchantments

Kaitlin Burke's life is finally back to normal--or so it seems. Filming of her movie Pretty Young Assassins is finally over and she's back on set of Family Affair, but things are about to get shaken up when a fresh new face joins the show. At first, Kaitlin thinks the tabloid stories about her are once again being leaked by her arch rival and co-star Skye McKenzie, but when Skye begins to be targeted as well, all fingers point to the hot new co-star Alexis. Can Kaitlin keep her cool while the hot new diva does her best to oust her from the show or will things finally reach a boiling point?

SECRETS OF MY HOLLYWOOD LIFE: FAMILY AFFAIRS is definitely one of my favorite books of the `Secrets Of My Hollywood Life' series. I really liked how Kaitlin and Skye were forced to become `frenemies' in order to survive against the hot newcomer turned diva Alexis. The scene with Kaitlin and Skye leaving the set near the end of the book marks my favorite scene of the series. Truly had me laughing at loud at where the two of them actually ended up. I look forward to seeing how Ms. Calonita continues their `frenemy' relationship in the next book.

[...]

Kaitlin is back! She's just finished her big movie with her career and her boyfriend still intact! Now she's off to what she does best. Staring in the nighttime soap, Family Affair. Everything is going great! That is until newcomer Alexis starts stealing some of Kaitlin's limelight. Is Kaitlin simply jealous or are there more forces at work?

Like its two predecessors, Secrets of My Hollywood Life: Family Affairs, was a fun and fast read. These books are impeccably clean, so I wouldn't be cautious about sharing them with younger readers. And even an older reader like me can enjoy them. I think I find these books so entertaining is because I know, when I see a People magazine on the shelf while I'm waiting in line at the local wal-mart, I can't help but pick it up for its celeb gossip! Who wouldn't want to be rich and famous (besides the already rich and famous). These books are an "insiders" look into the Hollywood scene! Even though Katlin isn't a real celeb, I'm still able to get my People fix when I read these books. I also really liked the fact that Kaitlin is dealing with real like issues like getting her drivers license, studying for the SATs and worrying about her friends going off to college.

Kaitlin Burke is back to spill more secrets about her life as one of Hollywood's hottest young stars. Filming for "Pretty Young Assassins" has wrapped up and Kaitlin's back on the set of "Family Affair". But this time, there's an even bigger problem than co-star Sky Mackenzie. There's a new girl on set, Alexis Holden. Everyone seems to love the new star, all except Sky and Kaitlin, who are convinced Alexis is out to destroy their careers.

I enjoyed the first two books in this series, but this is by far my favorite and I couldn't stop reading it. Kaitlin is such a great character. She's likable and realistic. She's not spoiled and despite being a celebrity, she's facing normal problems, like driver's education and deciding what she wants her future to be, something all teens can relate to. Kaitlin's just another teenager, despite starring in a popular TV show, and she wants the world to know she's more than just a popular actress.

I also really liked seeing Sky in a position other than Kaitlin's nemesis. In the first two books, this rather two-dimensional portrayal of Sky annoyed me, but in this book, we see another side to the girl and if she's not exactly likable, she's understandable. The other characters are entertaining as well, though not especially nuanced. I enjoyed the writing in this book; Kaitlin's voice is strong and friendly, and the references to designers and other celebrities are nicely worked in. I also loved the script excerpts and tabloid articles that were interspersed within the narrative.

Basically, I loved this book. It was just what I needed after two AP tests. It's fun and cute and CLEAN. Hallelujah that there's a young adult series with a moral standard. This entire series is definitely worth reading.

This is the third in a series of books about a fictional teen tv and movie star and what it's like to be an "it girl." I am an adult who is reading these books along with her 14-year-old sister. I enjoy the books. After she read this one, my sister said she thinks it's the best of the three. I can agree with that. One thing I like is that, as opposed to adult-oriented "hollywood insider" novels, this one shows the perks and strains of being famous and what it's like to be on the inside of the Hollywood machine without throwing in the coarse sex details and the jaded pessimism that comes of living in an image-obsessed, self-oriented society.
So, I can recommend it. I give it five stars for being a success in its genre. It's a fun, non-challenging read that will make you appreciate being boring to the tabloids while making you wish you could get the spa visits and free gifts the celebrities get. It's fun.

This is a spectacular tale woven at will hopefully be the beginning of a fantastic career. Of course, it doesn't hurt that the inspiration for Penelope is one of my best friends, but it's still wonderful.

Shadowslayers is a great book with an interesting world and lots of epic situations. The characters are original and unusual -- where else do you get a reformed criminal/demon as the hero? If you like fantasy literature, and even if you don't, you'll like Shadowslayers.

In an age where every epic fantasy seems to consist of 1,000 page novels that are the first in a trilogy, Shadowslayers is a breath of fresh air. It's a fast-paced, action oriented fantasy novel that tells a complete and compelling story. Hopefully there will be a sequel, but Charlie Martin's tale still stands on its own as a complete story.

Shadowslayers begins in the midst of a war. The dragon Derrezen has already destroyed the northern nations of man, and now seeks to finish off humanity by launching a strike against the mighty empire of Blackwood. Kajeel Shadowslayer tries to stand against him and is summarily killed in battle. Her husband Garyl, himself known as a demon mage, must figure out a way to defeat Derrezen and avenge the loss of his loved one. While Kajeel looks on from the afterlife, Garyl fights the dragon over land, sea, and air in a series of epic battles. Fast paced but with a telling bit of human drama underneath the action Shadowslayers is probably the best fantasy novel that I've read in the past five years.

I don't read much fantasy, but I'm really glad that I picked up my friend's copy of this novel and read it. It's short for a fantasy novel, which seems to make it an ideal novel for fantasy reader who want a quick read or for those who have been leary of jumping into a fantasy novel because of the size of most novels.

Shadowslayers is fast paced and has very intriguing characters and a fantastic plotline. The characters seem to be the driving force behind this novel and it makes for a refreshing change from authors who focus so much on the world that they have created that they let the character development slide. In Shadowslayers, Martin decides to make his hero an unlikely dark elf who must fight to avenge the love of his life.

I have already ordered my own copy of this novel and I'm looking forward to receiving it so that I can read it again.

I've read all the Cheetah Girls books and Shop in The Name of Love is by far the best. When Chanel gets hold of her mother's credit card she maxes it out and acts like she's large n in charge. She also steals and lies to her freinds and mother.
It teaches an important letter to young Divettes in Traing.
Also read Book 1- Wishing On A Star.

Shop in the name of love is a very good book. It teaches you some of the lessons of life, what kinds of people to watch out for in life, how to deal with siblings,how to be a good friend, how to deal with obsessions, and how to be a better person.This is also a very interesting book. After reading it, You will make it your favorite book just like iI did , you will want to read it over, and over again, and you'll want to get all the Cheetah Girls books.

i liked this book becuase it is definitely cheetah-licious!i like the fact that they have no profanities and teaches you a lesson. it makes you feel good and like a divette-in-trianing.i also liked this book because i can read it anytime and not get in trouble or feel disgusted. i'm not used to reading non-sci-fi books so this is a surprise for me.i hope whom ever reads this feels the same way i felt.

I love that each of the cheetah girls book are in a different characters voice and that each of the five characters are so different. I'm latina, so I love the character Chanel who is dominican like me! Shop in the Name of Love is in chanel's voice and she is like a lot of chicas in my neighborhood--``adobo down'' as she says. i hope a lot of other chicas like me read the cheetah girls books. they are coolio!

Honk! Honk! This is another great book by award winning author David Macaulay.

Ever thought what would have happened if...? This is one of those stories - only better - because David goes into overdrive telling his hilarious story about how one action by one person changes the days and lives of many others. As is David's trademark, they story is of course very funny. It starts oh so innocently! Albert and his horse June are going to the market. On the way Albert cuts a line that is obstructing his way on the road. Well, that's when suddenly all mayhem let's loose and the day will take an unexpected and turbulent turn for various people and pets from then on. David takes us places where usually only kids can take you with their fantastic imagination - and it is a fantastic joyride all the way to the end. Surprise and laughter brought to life by brilliant illustrations of funny characters and animals.

If you like this one, be sure to check out his other great kid stories like "Angelo" and "Black and White".

The book Shortcut provides an exciting, humourous read for both children and adults. Seemingly unrelated events contained within nine short chapters are shown to affect each others outcomes. Even after 3 readings of Shortcut with my 5 year old son, we continue to joyfully discover the connections between events. Shortcut is a fun book for an inquisitive child and the reader.

I have been reading this book aloud to small groups of children for about three years. And every time I pull it out, I discover yet another clue, hiding in plain sight in the illustrations. The story starts deceptively simple: Arnold and his horse June take their melons to market. But soon, more characters enter, and my young audience (and older listeners) is challenged to keep them all straight. Because the actions of one, always have consequences for someone else. (Is this life, or what?) But you have to look closely at the pictures, because most of the real story is there. (And seeing June, with her horse shoes off, her feet up, and her mane in curlers, is priceless) ENJOY.

Following up his success with the eclectic and Caldecott award winning, "Black and White", from 1990, author David Macaulay decided to write another multiple narrative infused picture book. If you've read "Black and White", you may remember how this kind of story works. Characters from different tales affect one another's lives and the reader has the joy of seeing how an action on the part of one person creates chaos or delight on the parts of others. The result is a meticulously crafted series of delicate vignettes, perfectly suited for the child reader. This is basically the equivalent of picture book jazz. And it works.

There are eight major players in this tale (two of whom are non-human) and Macaulay has presented a helpful chart of each and every one at the beginning of the book. When it begins, an older gentleman named Albert is going with his horse June to the town for market day. On the way there, and unbeknownst to him, he inadvertently affects every other character's life. Because of Albert, Professor Tweet loses control of his hot air balloon and unwittingly saves Clarinda's escaped cockatoo. Because of June, Patty must search for her pet pig Pearl. Then there are the stories of the Sybil (a dead ringer for the little old lady from Pasadena) and Bob, the unwitting deep sea diver.

Even as I looked through the pictures a third and fourth time, I still was able to locate clever little thoughts and details that I hadn't noticed before. The narrative in this story jumps between each character rapidly, sometimes double backing to clarify a situation or storyline. Probably this book will do best with those kids that are endowed with a little bit of patience. I can see this story striking some as being incredibly frustrating. After all, if you don't realize that each story is affected by every other story, a first read through is going to strike the child reader as disjointed and awkward. If they manage to grab ahold of the tale and get into it, however, they'll be enjoying a whole new kind of picture book. This is the kind of book that will prepare its younger readers for future books with eclectic narratives. For the kid that's still reading picture books but has a mind that likes clever details and stories, this might just be the perfect choice.

This is the first to examine the works of Ammann, one of the finest modern bridge designers of modern times. This uses over 200 archival photos to present displays of his New York bridges, their construction, and the development of his ideas. The in-depth details on bridge designs of the times and Ammann's place in the world of bridge designers makes for excellent coverage.

Diane C. Donovan Reviewer

This book is as special to New Yorkers as it is to Engineering Enthusiasts. As New Yorker in Exile, I now live a life where if I traverse one major bridge a year, it's an event. When I lived in New York City (Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and Stane Island at various times), the crossing of these major Bridges was a daily event. Not a day went by when I didn't listen to the Traffic reports and have to quickly calculate my Commute strategy in order to choose the most efficient Span to cross. When going Upstate to visit the parents, I often crossed The Whitestone, Throgsneck or Tri-borough if traffic was too congested in Manhattan. Sometimes, I'd cross the Verrazano, The Brooklyn and the George Washington. This book honours the creation of the modern bridges, their design, construction, completion and functionality as well as describing the political and economic climate in which they were conceived and completed. It answers many of the passing questions that came to my Driving Mind as I stalled in traffic at the Tolls of these Bridges and it brings back memories of my life in the City of Islands. As I mentioned in the title of this review, while kinda technical and history-laden, this is a love song to the Bridges of New York City. Buy it, read it and you'll learn to be grateful for living in a time when these bridges ease travel and not curse them as I used to do occaisonally during Jams. Before reading this book, I never bothered to imagine New York before them and now I appreciate them all the much more.

"Six Bridges - The Legacy of Othmar H. Ammann by Darl Rastorfer is a very well written book about a great 20th Century engineer and his engineering feats in long span suspension bridges. This is a must read for everyone for it reveals the trials and tribulations of a man who made history by using scientific principles to design world record breaking bridges.

With his European education Ammann sought out a dream to come to America and seek opportunities in the new country. Within two weeks he started his first position. The early years of Othmar Ammann's career are clearly outlined showing how he gained his knowledge with diligence in various career positions. His thoroughness and dedication to hard work is demonstrated by the trust, faith and confidence of the people who hired him. His reputation was building.

I enjoyed the stories which tell of his character building during hard times also. After his plans for a bridge challenged his future with an employer, he was able to move on and demonstrate his convictions with successful accomplishments. Interesting political considerations are also profiled in the important decisions of costly construction and pressures from public opinion. Ammann's skill to work with people results in many obstacles being overcome.

When the trials and tribulations of office competition evoled, Ammann had the fortitude to break away and start anew. He was a man of visions and had dreams to fulfill. He was a man of principles and nothing could sway him. He was confident his engineering background and skills could lay a path of successful bridge design and construction.

No other bridge engineer has influenced one city more than O.H. Ammann. The history of the planning stages of the designing and construction of these six bridges is well written and interesting for all readers. These six bridges: Georg Washington, Bayonne, Triborough, Bronx-Whitestone, Throngs Neck, and Verrazano-Narrows all are beautifully photographed. A chapter for each bridge outlines their construction with great description and many breathtaking photographs. If you have never been to New York Ctiy this author will certainly take you there with beautiful photos and interesting, informative narrative. Another book including O.H. Ammann's life is: Henry Petrosky's - "Engineers of Dreams: Great Bridge Builders"

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During the first half of this century, American bridges became the largest and most beautiful structures ever built; Othmar Ammann, a Swiss engineer who came to New York in 1904, was the quiet genius who built six of the very best.

George Washington, Bayonne, Triborough, Bronx-Whitestone, Throgs Neck and Verrazano-Narrows are his monuments; like the skyscrapers, literally "invented" in New York, the builders of suspension bridges perfected their art in the US. It shows what can be accomplished with new wealth, pride and vision. One of the finest is the Verrazano-Narrows bridge; the towers for the cables are as high as a seventy story building. To put this in perspective, that's twice as high as the tallest "skyscraper" in Phoenix.

Each tower was assembled with 10,000 steel cells, fastened with six million rivets and two million bolts. The Empire State Building has 365,000 tons of steel, the bridge has 1,265,000 tons. Like the Parthenon, where the pillars were sculpted to present the most pleasing appearance, the bridge towers are tapered from top to bottom. The two towers are plumb, but the curvature of the earth means the tops are one and five-eighth inches further apart than the base. Since metal expands in hot weather, the roadway at the center of the span rises or falls by 12 feet during a temperature change of 100 degrees.

Bigger bridges will be built. Some will be more beautiful. But these six are the ones that set the standard. Everything from now will be an adaptation of them. It's like the Golden Age of radio, or television, or movies, or the Internet; experimentation and innovation is always greatest when technology is new.

A suspension bridge is truly an artistic sculpture, because it is based on natural curve of a cord strung between two points. Look at a spider's web, the curve of a bird's wing, or wheat bending in the wind; there is a contrast between nature and the massive stone blocks of earlier bridges. The book is admirably illustrated with more than 200 photos; they show the artistry, and the incredible labor that went into the construction of each.

In today's society, when lowest cost seems to be the only consideration, some wisdom from Ammann in 1958 stands out, "In fact, an engineer designing a bridge is justified in making a more expensive design for beauty's sake. After all, many people will have to look at the bridge for the rest of their lives. Few of us appreciate eyesores, even if we should save a little money by building them."

It shows good design is possible, and adds a great deal to a community. Like Will Bruder's design of the new Phoenix library, skillfully described in the book "Phoenix Central Library" by Oscar Riera Ojeda, et al, this book is a must for anyone interested in better communities.

I am sure this book is about Worcester, Massachusetts. It is about what happens under the pavement of an old industrial town in New England, about the secrets of previous lives, about the separation of the rich and the poor, the established and the Bohemian in American society, mixed with faint memories of the German experience in the great War of generations past and about the persecution of Jews and artists now and then.

I love Jack O'Connell. Love his characters, setting (especially), and the strange way he tells a story. Read one and you will read them all. I know you will...if you like a quirky set of characters, a David Lynch way of presenting a story, you will love this. Take me to the Combat Zone where midgets, lesbians, and just about anyone you can imagine RULE!

O'Connell is the intelligent reader's Elmore Leonard. A writer with an eclectic vision that dangerously intersects with contemporary reality.This writer deserves a huge following. I have no doubt that it will come eventually.

I am a big-time O'Connell fan. I had to special order Box 9 because it was out of print. I can't wait until the next O'Connell book comes out. He has a wonderful way of telling a quirky story. It includes dwarfs, porno houses, strange photos, lesbian groups, unusual mail carriers, and God knows what. If you are a fan of Tom Robbins or William Kotzwinkle, you will love Jack O'Connell.

Small Town Affairs is a warming romantic novel with the element of suspense that keeps the reader wondering what will happen next to Olivia McDougle. The characters are very believable and the plot has twists that make for an interesting story. From the beginning, it grabbed my interest as I enjoy small town lifestyles. It's intriguing and very well written. I highly recommend this book.

Joyce Brennan has crafted a balanced, well-constructed story of intrigue, killing and small-town gossip. The characters are convincing, believable and well-drawn, Olivia McDougle, after discovering her faithless fiancé in a compromising position, leaves a high-paying job in New York City, and returns to the comfort and security of the small town she was raised in and her elderly aunt. But her life is neither comfortable nor secure. It is subject to gossip, rumors and speculation, all of which, lead to dire events. A very satisfying book, highly recommended.

Olivia McDougle abruptly left a promising career with an adverting agency in New York City to return to her hometown in Rexford, Ohio. Engaged to be married Olivia was traumatized when she discovered her fiancé was unfaithful in their relationship.

She returned to the home of her Aunt Etta, who had raised her when her parents were killed in tragic deaths. In Rexford Olivia became the editor of the local newspaper. Shortly after taking the assignment, she was confronted with a disastrous conflict with the local, influential, and powerful Judge Gillette, his supercilious daughter, and his subservient wife.

Joyce Brennan has a flair for blending a romantic novel with suspense, greed and misdirected political power. In a plot that includes blackmail, retaliation, attempted murder, and integrity in news reporting, Joyce includes plot twists, sub plots, and dialog that kept the story moving to a climatic surprise ending.

Joyce brilliantly created a cast of characters that insure her readers of more to come. The development of Olivia McDougle, Dr. Mitch James, a trio of Olivia's friends, and the townspeople of Rexford all play an important part in the development of the plot. The flow of the narrative and the appeal of the locale add to the genuine feeling of reality that I experienced throughout my reading.

I found "Small Town Affairs" entertaining, suspenseful reading. Filled with believable characters, a creative plot, and a natural flow of dialog, the story lends itself to a follow up sequel. I want to hear more of the surprising events in the lives of Olivia McDougle and Mitch James, and am looking forward to Joyce Brennan's next book.


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Small Town Affairs is one of those books that you can curl up by the fire and just keep reading. That is exactly what I did with this book! I needed to escape working for awhile and this book with its twists and turns did exactly that! The chapters are intriguing and you wanted to know what was going to happen to Olivia next. As I continued on with my reading, I never good guess which way the story was going to go. I look forward to reading more of Joyce Brennan's books in the future.

Where else can you find a picture of a 20 foot mosquito? As long as Minnesotans can fry up a limit of bluegills as the sun sets late on a hot summer day, we should feel secure in our abilty to defeat the Saracens.

Small Town Minnesota A To Z by Minnesota native Tony Andersen is an engaging and nostalgic look at a wide variety of small-town communities in Minnesota from Argyle to Zumbro Falls. Most of these distinctive Minnesota communities have fewer than 1,000 people. Full-color photographs and an engaging text written with wry humor and replete with candid, anecdotal stories of conversations and adventures with small-town folk make Small Town Minnesota A To Z an engaging and refreshing tribute to an outstanding Midwestern state, as well as a less crowded, less hyper, and less pressure-intense way of life.

The photos and stories are amazing. I wish I could write somthing that would do this book justice, but I guess that's why Bill Holm wrote the forward. His words describe perfectly the beauty of this book.

What a unique book! At times the writing flows just like poetry, ...."A forest thick with pine and poplar was interrupted only by the ribbon of road and clearings of shimmering lakes..." and other times it feels like a talking about fish stories with a friend in a local cafe..."My trusty rod and reel were packed in the trunk, just in case." If you've never been to Minnesota, or don't have a concept of what 'Small Town Minnesota Nice' really is, then pick up this book. And if you've ever visited a small town in Minnesota, or anywhere, read this book to feel welcomed back again! I truly couldn't put it down from Argyle to Zumbro Falls!

I love true stories that detail a personal, spiritual journey and this book was a terrific example of that.

Post 9/11 and post two children in 20 months, Herzog questions what kind of world we really live in. So, over the course of a summer, he travels nearly all of the 50 states and ties the world together without ever leaving the U.S.

He finds the socioeconomic treasures he is hunting for in towns like Moscow and Siberia, Maine, Bagdad, Arizona and Jerusulem, Oklahoma.

Considering his family life, it was a gutsy journey and his humor is present during all of his stops. He brings the reader to a hopeful and sunny place in what many of us view as a dismal world. It is a reminder that people all really want the same things in life and asks us to remember the simple things that mean the most.

Highly recommended.

Not since Blue Highways have I read an American travel memoir as deftly written and engaging as Brad Herzog's SMALL WORLD. The author is rather unique in the world of travel writing in that he conjures up a clever itinerary taking him through a series of small towns and then manages to find great insight and exotic stories within these tiniest dots on the map.

SMALL WORLD is creative nonfiction at its finest. Herzog has the detailed eye of a journalist, the evocative writing style of a novelist and the soul of a poet. Each chapter of the book is essentially an essay meshing geography, history, conversation and relevant philosophical tangents. Not only does Herzog manage to weave these elements together seamlessly, but the series of essays themselves form a cohesive narrative of his journey from beginning to end.

The best travel narratives take you on a trip, but they also take you on a journey of self-examination. SMALL WORLD does this and more. It offers geography put into historical context. It provides tales of laughter and grief and anger and absurdity. It is a celebraton of the myriad American subcultures -- ranchers and farmers and artists and nudists and hermits and hillbillies -- without bias and with great affection for life's diversity. It is easy to for travel writers to poke fun at the locales they pass through -- and many do -- but it is much more impressive to write profoundly, as Herzog does.

SMALL WORLD is about people surviving in the nation's nooks and crannies -- saving a town, protecting a river, perpetuating a lifestyle, maintaining their heritage, holding onto a dream. It is a fascinating examination of the state of the union, post 9/11. Buy this book, and enjoy the ride!

Eighteen years ago as his high school English teacher, I had the privilege of reading and grading the writing of Brad Herzog. Brad was an accomplished writer in high school and his published writing has lived up to the promise of those "A" papers about the Chicago White Sox. Since then, I have enjoyed his Sports 100, States of Mind, and, most recently, Small World: A Microcosmic Journey. I also have been pleased to come across articles by Brad in airline magazines.

Brad Herzog's travel books, States of Mind and Small World, can stand proudly next to those of Mark Twain or John Steinbeck or even Jules Verne. In fact, Brad named his 21-foot Winnebago Rialta after Phileas Fogg, Verne's circumnavigator of Around the World in Eighty Days. As a twenty-first century traveler, Brad covered the United States in about 40 days in August-September, 2002. He visited small towns with international names like Rome (Oregon), Athens (New York), Paris (Kentucky) and Bagdad (Arizona). In each town (populations from 50 to 8000) Brad found ways to meet residents and learn their histories and prejudices. He introduces the reader to ranchers in southeast Oregon with definite views of the government's draconian environmental policies, to the workings of the famous Claiborne horse farm in Kentucky, to hippies in London, Wisconsin, and to nudists in Athens, New York, where Brad hesitantly went native. Dying mining towns like Congo, Ohio, and Bagdad, Arizona, have their spokesmen and the Hare Krishnas in Calcutta, West Virginia, get an even-handed treatment.

In the introduction, Brad distinguishes between tourists and travelers: "It has been said that tourists leave home to escape the world, while travelers aim to experience it." With Brad's help the reader experiences a little-published side of the United States, things we don't see at Disney World or the Sears tower. When Brad matches his sometimes liberal views against those of residents who are scratching to make a living or have watched helplessly as natural or man-made forces have changed their lives, he doesn't always come out the victor. And he readily acknowledges his growing ambivalence about his previous certainties.

One of Brad's strengths in writing is his ability to summarize the history of an area and make it relevant to the present day. The reader learns about Basque immigrants to Oregon, the running of a grain elevator, Dutch immigrants in Amsterdam, Montana, the devastating effects of racial discrimination in Cairo, Illinois, migrant workers in Mecca, California. Brad even met a modern-day Thoreau in Siberia, Maine--Donna Chase, who lived without electricity or even a phone until recently.

This is a book to be tasted and chewed. Plan on taking time reading it with an atlas nearby to check on the directions in case you want to visit in person. Buy your own copy; you'll want to re-read this book.

Helen Palmer

Brad Herzog takes readers on a descriptive tour of "famous" locations such as Athens, Jerusalem, Moscow, Mecca, Congo, London, Cambridge, Baghdad, Rome, etc without crossing any ocean. One wonders how Mr. Herzog accomplished his feat of visiting these locales yet not transverse by air or sea the Atlantic or the Pacific (except to Hawaii). Simply, he stayed inside the United States where he went from Cairo to New Madrid, Missouri or searched for David in Jerusalem, Arkansas. Mr. Herzog makes a powerful case that the states have plenty of interesting locations so that the vacationer might not ignore feeling that there is as much culture and history to absorb in Moscow, Idaho as in Moscow, Russia. The author makes the case that in deed there is plenty to see when one traces the three mile train from London to Cambridge, Illinois.

Small World: A Microcosmic Journey is a delightful insightful look at the vast treasures waiting for Americans within their own nation for a lot less than going overseas. The book is written in such a way so that the casual reader gets a taste of a unique locale while being able to put the book down and pick up this fine reference tome another day (I read the book over ten days). The audience will picture Kerouac and Kuralt touring together with Herzog as their driver at places like Versailles and Paris.

Harriet Klausner

When I was in fifth grade, I thought this was the funniest and most entertaining book in the world. Twenty years later, despite high school, college and law school, my opinion of it is just as high. This is a wild, wacky, cult-classic that kids, young adults and even parents can read, enjoy and re-read over and over.

The sequel to _The Snarkout Boys & the Avocado of Death_, the book features the return of snarkers Walter, Winston and Rat, as well as Uncle Flipping; Osgood Sigerson and Dr. Sacker; the Mighty Gorilla; and that rascally Napoleon of Crime, Wallace Nussbaum. Just as the young snarkers discover the Dharma Buns Coffee House and a rising Transylvanian poet, the city of Baconburg begins to be terrorized nightly by something dark and fast and ... furry? A werewolf?! Quick, grab your stuffed Indian fruit bat and defend yourself!

Just as in _Avocado_, Pinkwater writes simply and clearly, deftly weaving the different plot-threads into a (literally) blazing finale. Quite simply, this is a great, often gut-busting, blissfully zany ride. (I only wish he'd write another one!) I ordered a copy off the internet, read it twice, and am donating it to my local library so that kids can enjoy it just as much as I did, back 'in the day'. Praise St. Barbara of Blint, five burning stars!

Sequel to The Snarkout Boys and The Avacado of Death, this is another great book by D.M. Pinkwater. While it obviously couldn't compare to the original, simply because the first was SO good, this book is still great. I read the Avacado of Death when I was in middle school (for the first time at least), and didn't discover the sequel until I was in college. So naturally that's a rather long time and my expectations were a little high I'm sure. Still, it was great to see all the characters again, and see Walter and Winston having another adventure. This book is fun to read and I highly reccomend it.

When I read this book in my early nubile childhood , I thought it was just a pretty darn funny piece o' work. Now that I'm a wee bit older and wiser I look back on Snarkout with a sort of awe, respecting it for the sheer genious and underground artistry. Werewolves, crazy speeches, donuts, hotdogs, cult movies, bitter rejects and terrible poets. Every man woman and child should experience belly lauaghter. It deserves to be the first cult classic childrens book.

Snarking: sneaking out when your parents are asleep, esp. to go to the theater and see the latest (or oldest) movie. Master snarkers Winston, Walter, and Rat have the technique down pat and somewhat uneventful until one night when Rat decides she wants to go to the Dharma Buns Coffee House. That night begins an adventure replete with werewolves, poets, borgelnuskies, the Napoleon of crime, and other assorted good guys and bad guys.

The town of Baconburg has never seen such a hodgepodge of people and adventures. At least not since "The Snarkout Boys & the Avocado of Death." But as long as they don't run out of Indian fruit bats, everything and everyone should turn out okay.

First published in 1984, the story doesn't seem out of date for young people born in the past few years. But to adults, parents, even young senior adults, some references bring a sense of nostalgia: Drive in movies, shopping malls. Although this is not the first in the series, the story stands alone quite well -- it actually makes one want to find the rest and read/listen to them, too. The action is swift, the characters interesting, and the plot complicated in a witty, twisted sort of way.

Pinkwater takes the reader from the familiar to the bizarre to the impossible in just a short ride. He's created a weird alternate reality that is fun for readers of all ages. In his narration he rushes headlong from beginning to end, leaving the listener breathless and tickling your fancy.