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Media Books sorted by Average customer review: high to low .

Media
The Violet Keystone (Seventh Tower)
Published in Turtleback by Turtleback Books Distributed by Demco Media (2002-02)
Author: Garth Nix
List price: $14.53

Average review score:

The end of it all!!!!!
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2004-07-17
I was kinda suprised, I loved the ending but there are some things I was anticipating that never happened. I was waiting for Tal and Milla to start a romance, if you really read you'll notice that they really like each other and through the series go from hating each other to loving each other in a quiet unspoken way, they just never come out and admit it. The one thing that irritated me about this book was the freeing of the Spiritshadows, I thought that was a great twist and Andras and Odris were becoming good friends to Tal and Milla and then it is over for them. But this is still a great book and altogether a great series, I own all the books!

The Seventh Tower Series' The Violet Keystone (Book 6)
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2004-06-14
Tal and Milla have gone their separate ways. Milla is leading a battle inside the Castle. And Tal is trapped in the Hall of Nightmares by his nemesis, the shadowmaster who has declared himself to be the Most Violet, Sushin. Fashnek has trapped Adras, Tal's Spiritshadow, in a shadow bottle, and now Tal must face his fears in the Hall of Nightmares. He attempts what only a few have accomplished, controlling the Sunstones in the globe to make them open. He sighs, and Fashnek begins the nightmare machine. Meanwhile, Milla continues the Icecarl invasion of the Castle with a young Crone, Malen, Tal's witty Uncle Ebbit, an Icecarl Wilder, Jarek, and a few more, including Crow and the Freelies. Together they will embark on a quest that none of them will ever, ever forget.

I liked the part where Malen, Crow, Adras, Odris, and, of course, Tal, fight Sharrakor in Aenir, inside Old Khamsoul. The ending was a little sad, but the reader feels Tal's triumph. This entire series had its ups and downs, but I'd recommend the Seventh Tower Series to about anyone who would listen. It started out a little weaker than I had expected, but it finished better than many other stories that I have read. I hope you enjoy the series (or did enjoy it)!

Good,, but rather short
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2005-08-30
THis will end up being a hodgepodge review of the entire series becuase each book blends into the other. The characters were strong and well portatryed, and the cultures were fairly believeable.

Thiss book is also perfectly fine without any 'romanctic' element. it doesn't need one. It's expected, but unnecesary, and probably would have mucked up the plot a bit.

I also enjoyed the many sides to the war. With the Icecarl, rebels and steadfast Chosens, Garth Nix pulls it off well, whereas other authors just might have made it confusing.

But i have one question? shoun't the seventh tower hae seven books? i searched for weeks at my local library before realizing, no there is no seventh book.

Every cloud has a silver lining, but how am i supposed to reach the silver? It's so high...
-qoute taken from a book of qoutes i recently found

just a side note
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2005-02-23
I don't think it's a spoiler to say that Tal and Milla do not form a romance at any point in this series. In fact, I think the story is stronger for it.

It is often too easy to become distracted by the element of romance, to the point where whoever the main character is interested in becomes merely important as a love element. It is of course possible to have a story where there is romance that is very strengthening to the story and to the characterizations of both parties. That is often very important. But this tale breaks from the love-interest assumption, just as it breaks from many other genre assumptions.

Instead, both Tal and Milla experience a different kind of melding of souls. There is of course the joining of their shadows to the Storm Shepards Andras and Odris, and through this they feel a strange spiritual connection. But deeper than this is the sharing of societies that occurs between Tal and Milla. They each become an avatar of their society, yet also an outcast, while also absorbing qualities of each other's societies. They were then separated and pushed through more change, so that when they meet again, they are even more able to recognize the change in each other.

This kind sharing and learning is long overdue in the Dark World, and it is an experience that transcends gender; a romance in this situation would actually weaken the story, since then it would be more about the personal sharing that this boy and girl experience. Rather, the strength, indeed the whole point of this sharing, is that His People and Her People are being shared. The sharing has nothing to do with being a boy or girl, but with being a Person.

This also occurs, to a much lesser degree, with Tal and Crow, and with Milla and Malen. These secondary sharings, though, are more about Tal and Milla recognizing and dealing with other aspects of their own societies, demonstrated by the presence Crow and Malen; through these associations, both Tal and Milla must acknowledge and come to terms with a previously-assumed superiority that is not entirely appropriate, and with shame of personal failure (by the rules of their own societies), though it was a failure that has opened the door to growth, and so was vital to the health of the entire society.

The Seventh Tower Series' The Violet Keystone (Book 6)
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2004-06-15
Tal and Milla have gone their separate ways. Milla is leading a battle inside the Castle. And Tal is trapped in the Hall of Nightmares by his nemesis, the shadowmaster who has declared himself to be the Most Violet, Sushin. Fashnek has trapped Adras, Tal's Spiritshadow, in a shadow bottle, and now Tal must face his fears in the Hall of Nightmares. He attempts what only a few have accomplished, controlling the Sunstones in the globe to make them open. He sighs, and Fashnek begins the nightmare machine. Meanwhile, Milla continues the Icecarl invasion of the Castle with a young Crone, Malen, Tal's witty Uncle Ebbit, an Icecarl Wilder, Jarek, and a few more, including Crow and the Freelies. Together they will embark on a quest that none of them will ever, ever forget.

I liked the part where Malen, Crow, Adras, Odris, and, of course, Tal, fight Sharrakor in Aenir, inside Old Khamsoul. The ending was a little sad, but the reader feels Tal's triumph. This entire series had its ups and downs, but I'd recommend the Seventh Tower Series to about anyone who would listen. It started out a little weaker than I had expected, but it finished better than many other stories that I have read. I hope you enjoy the series (or did enjoy it)!

Media
Weirdos from Another Planet
Published in Turtleback by Demco Media (1990-03)
Author: Bill Watterson
List price:

Average review score:

Daughter just LOVES Calvin & Hobbes!
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-05-15
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!

Still relevant, and still a gem
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-03-07





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.


Life on this Weird Planet
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-07-13
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.

Laugh after Laugh
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2007-01-05
I am a Calvin and Hobbes fan. And this book did not dissapoint me.

One of my favorites
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2006-10-19
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."

Media
Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge
Published in Turtleback by Demco Media (1989-09)
Author: Mem Fox
List price:

Average review score:

Absolutely wonderful!
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-11-28
This book was a favorite of mine when I was young and now I love reading it to my girls. It is so sweet and wonderfully illustrated. My absolute favorite from the spectacular body of work of Mem Fox.

Got Grandparents?
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-10-27
This is a beautiful story. It's perfect for reading to children who have grandparents with major memory loss. The illustrations by Julie Vivas are equally beautiful.

my all time favorite
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-09-21
All I can say is I have had this book for many years and it is one of my FAVORITE children's books. Cutely written and the message is wonderful.

Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge is a GOOD book
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2007-05-23
In Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge by Mem Fox was absoultly adorable. Wilfrid lives next door to an old folks home. Wilfrid knows all the people there and excpecially likes Nancy Alison Delacourt Cooper, because she has four names just like him. He had a very special relationship with her.
One day Wilfrid over heard his parents talking about Miss. Nancy. They said, ''The poor old thing has lost her memory.'' Since Wilfrid didnt know what a memory was, he asked everyone at the old folks home and each one said something different. Wilfrid went home and found lots of things that makes him remember special moments.
Wilfrid brought all these things to Miss. Nancy and something remarkable happened. Miss. Nancy's memory came back.
This is a truly heart warming book and is also for all ages. I enjoyed it a lot and I am sure you would too if you read it.

Story Review of the book Wilfred Gordon McDonald Patridge
Helpful Votes: 3 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2007-05-26
Have you ever read the story, Wilfred Gordon McDonald Patridge? If you haven't read it, it's a cute little story about a little boy and an elderly woman. The story takes place in a town where a little boy and his parents live in one house and some elderly people live in the house next door. The little boy loves to go over to see these people and talk and laugh and to do different, specific things with each person. But there is one person the boy loves the most, a woman he calls Miss Nancy. He loves to talk with her and to share what they both have in common. But one day, the little boy's parents told him that Miss Nancy had lost her memory. The boy wasn't sure, so he decided to find out. Has Miss Nancy lost her memory? To find out for yourself, you'll have to read Wilfred Gordon McDonald Patridge.

Media
A Wish for Wings That Work: An Opus Christmas Story
Published in Turtleback by Demco Media (1995-10)
Author: Berke Breathed
List price:

Average review score:

A wish comes true
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-04-26
This is the most lovely x-mas story I ever read! It's about not giving up on your wishes, be bold and don't have the attention on you.
If you like this story, look for a book of Ariel and Shya Kane, they have found a way of living, that is beyond all I could immagine - all it takes, like in this book, is courage.

christmas
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-12-17
Get the movie. Get the book. Enjoy them together. Fun and quirky.

Wonderful for children and adults alike
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-12-10
This is my favorite of the Breathed series of children's tales. I have a six year old son and this will be my fourth year of being sure this is a part of his Christmas season. As well as, throwing this title in several times throughout the year. A very touching experience to share this story with my son.

One of my favorite children's books
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-07-18
Our family absolutely LOVES all the Berkeley Breathed children's books. There's just one problem. If you're trying to read it to your children, it's difficult not to be laughing so hard you cry. Story and illustrations are just hilarious!!! My daughter now reads to children in after-school programs and it's a definite winner with them. Very entertaining.

The Best of The Opus Books
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2007-04-23
If you purchase this book for the illustrations alone you would still have an incomparable treasure but wait there is more, because this is a story that is a treasure in itself.

Opus wants a pair of wings that work. But in his mind wings only work if you can fly. It's not until Santa's sleigh is sinking in the ocean that Opus gets to use his flippers and fly through the water and save Santa and his sleigh. It's then that he realizes he has something useful.

This is a story that's about recognizing the value of what you have in mind, body, and spirit. The courage and spirit to use what you have to go where help is needed and whenever possible, help save the day.

I blame the book industry's insatiable deluge of new and not very inspiring books thrust onto an already overburdened market place for burying classics like, "An Opus Christmas Story."

This is a book that every child would love immensely, one they would treasure and one the parents would not have to dig so hard to find the life lessons to discuss with their children after the read.

Media
Wonder Woman: The Complete History
Published in Hardcover by Chronicle Books (2000-10-01)
Author: Les Daniels
List price: $29.95
New price: $46.83
Used price: $5.60

Average review score:

Excellent and enlightening
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2003-09-04
Wonder Woman: The Complete History is a delightful book for fans of the character, even if you only know her from the old TV show. The background of her creation by a clinical psychologist was very enlightening.

The illustrations throughout are excellent and all in all, it's terrific book, exceptionally well written by Les Daniels.

Les Daniels is no fan of Wonder Woman
Helpful Votes: 13 out of 15 total.
Review Date: 2005-11-21
I have always enjoyed Les Daniels and his carefully researched books of comics history, but everyone has a blind spot. Wonder Woman is obviously his. This book, beautifully designed as it is, fails to capture what has made Wonder Woman such an enduring character and icon. It's clear on almost every page, Daniels is unimpressed by her. It's fine if he doesn't like her -- no one character can be everyone's favorite -- but it does make for a frustrating read at times when one wishes to celebrate Wonder Woman's unique place in comics history. His fascination with her creator is evident to the point that it seems clear Daniels would much rather write about Marston than Diana. His heavy emphasis on the bondage subtext of the Golden Age incarnation undercuts the more postive surface elements of those stories. Indeed, he sneers at Gloria Steinem's endorsement of those early years, casting great disbelief that there could be anything of substance taken from them.

Also, as another reviewer points out, Daniels gives short shrift to George Perez's post-Crisis revamp. Widely acknowledged by fans as the high point of her modern career, it's strange to see Daniels blandly note the support Perez got from female collegues in overhauling Wonder Woman's character and deride it by calling the later issues akin to ADVENTURES OF MENOPAUSAL MOM (I'm paraphrasing but only slightly). Daniels here suffers from the same fanboy syndrome that infuses the industry these days -- the idea that if HE doesn't appreciate it, it must be terrible. Meanwhile, Mike Deodato's art is viewed favorably, despite that being universely considered a lower point in the post-Crisis stories.

At the end of the book, it really seems as if Daniels only reluctantly churned it out because of a contractual obligation. His Superman and Batman books are excellent and filled with total respect for the characters and their appeal. If only he could've retained enough objectivity for the Wonder Woman assignment. Despite it all, it is a beautiful book and the history is thorough and still fascinating if somewhat subjective. Good for historical nuts, not so good for WW fans.

Book AND Figurine!!! Heaven!
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2003-06-25
Not only do you get hte nostalgic book with the history of this heroine, you get the figurine that you can display and become the envy of all your friends! The statue is of classic Wonder Woman, the one from the 50's. She's still wearing the skirt.

This is truly rare. It's fantastic for all collectors and a MUST-HAVE for all die-hard fans!

Fun book but a couple mistakes...
Helpful Votes: 3 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2004-05-07
First off, loved the book. It was nice to read the comments from Lynda Carter and see the multitude of changes that WW has gone through. But I did notice two things, the actress that played Wonder Woman's mother in that tiny demo in the 60's was named Maudie Pricket and the photo of Ms. Carter's costume says it is from the first season and it's not, it's from the CBS years as are the bracelets and tiara on the following page. I know Ms. Carter preferred the CBS years updated costume but the original on worn while fighting Nazis in the more humorous years will always be my absolute favorite! Thanx...

Mostly Wonderful
Helpful Votes: 6 out of 6 total.
Review Date: 2005-11-17
Les Daniels' Wonder Woman: The Complete History is the third book in a 3-volume series (the first two addressed Superman and Batman). While not without its flaws, it's overall a well-researched and enjoyable treatment of the character.

Wonder Woman first appeared in 1941, the brainchild of Dr. William Moulton Marston (writing under the pen name Charles Moulton), by any standard a bit of a weirdo who's remembered today for two things: (1) he invented the polygraph, (2) Wonder Woman, of course.

I could pick a few nits with Daniels' text. In places he does reveal an ignorance on certain topics. For instance, when speaking of Marston's World War I U.S. Army service, he states Marston "rose to the rank of second lieutenant." False. No officer (and I can't imagine someone of Marston's high educational level ever being an enlisted man) "rises" to Second Lieutenant because that's the absolute lowest officer rank.

Daniels is extremely opinionated. How much space is allocated to any of Wonder Woman's creative teams over the decades is very much controlled by how much Daniels likes their work. Obviously the Marston stories, with artwork by Harry G. Peters, are his favorites thus receive the most attention, though he devotes surprising time and positive comment to the generally despised stories written by Robert Kanigher. This is fine. Half the fun of a book like this is getting the writer's likes and dislikes on the character and her creators. Where I part company with Daniels is his low opinion of the George Perez stories of the mid-1980s thru early '90s. Daniels devotes an entire chapter to Kanigher's creation of such fascinating (hah!) characters as Glop (a "shapeless mass of grinning goo from outer space [which] absorbed everything in its path including 100 rock 'n' roll records"), Wonder Tot ("Mommy be proud to see me now!"), and Egg Fu (a Chinese Communist agent inexplicably shaped like an egg the size of a house, who used his mustaches as weapons and had a Charlie Chan speech pattern). After that, it was more than a little disappointing to have the Perez stories, considered by many Wonder Woman fans including myself the character's finest hour (especially the stories on which Perez did the artwork in addition to scripting) dealt with in a mere seven text pages, much of that explaining how they weren't really all that hot.

The only truly major flaw in this book involves its layout. These days, book publishers are terrified of the Internet. And well they should be. However, instead of focusing their efforts on what books do better that the 'net - provide one, continuous, uninterrupted stream of information - publishers' response has been to make their book pages look as much as possible like web pages. Lots of bright colors, lots of sidebars. I hate sidebars. I don't appreciate having to flip back and forth between pages, sometimes reading blocks of text in four or five different locations, to get all the info. More to the point in this particular book, choice of color on some of the sidebars is extremely poor, so much so it's difficult to read the text. Black lettering against a dark blue or dark red background just doesn't make it.

With those few negatives out of the way, this book is a delight. It's all here: a biography of Marston, on to the creation of Wonder Woman, all the creative teams of note and their storylines up til this book's publication date (2000), the Cathy Lee Crosby made-for-television movie, the Lynda Carter TV show, Wonder Woman merchandise, her appearance on the cover of Ms. magazine's first issue, etc. This book is a must-have for fans of one of the 20th/21st Century's most fascinating fictional creations.

Media
ActionScripting in Flash
Published in Paperback by Sams (2001-04-09)
Author: Phillip Kerman
List price: $39.99
New price: $0.99
Used price: $0.01

Average review score:

This should not come as a surprise
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2005-02-16
I am sure if you glance at the rest of the reviews you will be more than tempted to buy this book. Well, you should! Kerman's way of introducing the LOGIC behind actionScript is phenomenal. This books should help pave the way for you to grasp the logic behind actionScript. Why not 5 stars then? Well, I thought there would be more practical examples than the book included. Definitely worth the money!

To soon
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2002-11-12
I'm sorry I bought this book!
Because it's so good!
And now the MX version is out,
but I already have the Flash 5 one!
Anybody wants to buy it off me,
so I can get the new issue?
;-)

Clone this author! The BEST actionscript book I've read!
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2002-05-30
This is the first book I've read by Phillip Kerman. I will now go hunt for his next one - or all of them, to be honest! This book doesn't learn You any Flash or design, but it gives You everything You need to know about actionscripting. Tastefully presented and easy to read. If You are the perfect object oriented programmer - You could skip some chapters, but if You're just an "almost" perfect programer in object oriented languages - this book will give You the last skills that makes You perfect! Yes it really does not only cover actionscripting - it gives You a visual and very educational lesson in object oriented programing.

Hits the Mark
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2002-04-10
Wow!

This is a GREAT book for the graphic/web designer wanting to learn actionscript. I own or have read many others that don't cover the basics or the thought processes behind writing in a scripting language. Most books on this topic started out over my head with little explaination and were accompanied by buggy and/or old code. With clear and consice writing, Philip uses the first half of the book to fully explain programming concepts as they pertain to scripting in Flash, and then follows up with examples of how to implement these ideas.

I can't say enough about how far this book has taken me into the scripting world. Kudos to Kerman.

WOW - Buy it Buy it Buy it!
Helpful Votes: 5 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 2002-04-24
If you're looking for a book with lots of pictures and fluff this is not the book for you.
But if you're actually interested in learning to program ActionScript this is the first and only book you should buy.

Phillip Kerman explains everything in a clear understandable way and approaches the ideas of good programming as opposed to bad as well as the actual language itself. This alone will save you hours of re-doing what you've already done. Phillip gets you thinking like a programmer (a fairly new concept to a lot of designers trying to make their Flash more interactive.) Learn to design completely independent re-usable interfaces so that not only are you developing advanced interactive web-applications, you're also building a library of sample re-usable building blocks that you can re-use over and over.

Even if you're new to the language, take some tutorials online to get the basics and then buy this book. Read it and do the tutorials in it and soon you will be programming like a professional in no time. This is the best book on ActionScripting period! and I own 16 books on Flash Development!

Media
Animal Family (Michael Dicapua Books)
Published in Turtleback by Turtleback Books Distributed by Demco Media (1996-12-08)
Author: Randall Jarrell
List price: $17.85
Used price: $14.50

Average review score:

Perfection
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-07-04
This is a beautiful, timeless story, told in gorgeous prose, and charmingly decorated. I'm not the sort of person who gushes over books, but this one is true literary perfection, and not just for children. It's the kind of book that, no matter how old you are when you first read it, will stay with you for the rest of your life.

Beautiful
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2006-08-16
I read this as a child. It got stuck in my mind, but I could never remember the title, thinking of it only as the story of the Hunter and the Mermaid. I searched for it for years.

This is a beautiful story, one of my favorites for children.

Gentle, old-fashioned, and whimsical.
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2006-11-14
This story by Jarrell is gentle, mythical, and stands the test of time. A short story about a solitary hunter on an island, who meets a mermaid, and together form a family with animals they meet. The tone is warm and soft, kind and at times bittersweet.

While perfect for bedtime, cold or rainy days, this book is appealing to me even as i grow older. The subtle lessons about companionship, newness, differences, loneliness, loss, and joy are not forced to the fore. Rather, an old-fashioned sense of creating an environment as a way to tell a story is key here. Inviting wilderness, homely relationships, and just enough magic and mystery to compel the story forward.

One of my most treasured books since i was a young child, the is a timeless and infinitely re-readable story.

A timeless message .. of the times
Helpful Votes: 3 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2008-03-28
Randall Jarrell (1914-65) is better known as a poet, although probably best known today for his poetry criticism. He also wrote a few children's book, most notably The Bat-Poet and The Animal Family, the later published the same year he died and winning the 1966 Newbery Honor. It is wonderfully illustrated by Maurice Sendak - of Where the Wild Things Are fame - in beautiful pen and ink drawings.

The story is a sort of fable along the lines of Hans Christian Andersen or Lewis Carroll, but updated with a 1960s message. It is about a lonely hunter who lives in a cabin by the sea who with time comes to gather around him a "family" of very different creatures, first a mermaid, and then a bear, lynx, and human boy. Each is an orphan whose parents have either died or somehow left the scene. They all are very different animals yet find comfort and eventually identity with one another. It is a story in the spirit of the Age of Aquarius, when songs such as Free to Be You and Me and Free to Be a Family resonated during a cultural revolution in which boundaries of class, race and, in this case, even species were being explored, when everyone was a "brother" and "sister".

My reading of the story in its 1960s context is only one interpretation, this is not a heavy handed preachy book by any measure, it is timeless in its message about toleration of differences, the power of love to overcome anything (including for a mermaid to live on land, in effect brining a happy ending to Hans Andersen's otherwise brutal The Little Mermaid), and in particular for those who seek out love and find it in the most un-expected places. It is a short book, easy to read, and poetically written. Over the past 40 years it has found a place close to the heart of many children and adults, I only wish I had discovered it sooner.

A fairy tale brought to life
Helpful Votes: 4 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2005-02-16
Every once in a while, an author manages to pull off a novel that carries with it the exact tone and magical feeling of a fairy tale. In the genre of The Last Unicorn and The Princess Bride, this beautiful story takes you into a peaceful world where a lonely hunter lives by the sea.
The story follows the hunter's efforts to make a family for himself, and to keep that family safe. I don't want to spoil any of the plot points, but I will say that this gentle fable is going to fill each reader with joy and contentment. The tale is universal, and is just perfect for a shared experience at bedtime.
The decorations by Maurice Sendak are also quite lovely, giving us detailed sketches of the landscapes that the hunter and his family occupy.

Media
Awakening (Sweep)
Published in Turtleback by Turtleback Books Distributed by Demco Media (2003-08)
Author: Cate Tiernan
List price: $14.55

Average review score:

WONDERFUL!!!!!
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-07-01
I absolutely loved this series of books and I can read them over and over! While yes it is a little hokey and rather unbelievable when it comes to an actual follower of Wicca, it is still a fun series. As long as you don't take it too seriously and remember to just have fun with it you will get swept away by the characters and their struggles and triumphs.

Sweeping the Floor
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2005-09-04
I love the books in the Wicca series (or Sweep in the US). I've read them all, and I'm trying to read them all again. I remember that Awakening was always one of my favourites, and it was one that really got me in to the series. I love the eventual happy ending in this book and in the entire series.
I liked Hunter and Morgan coming to terms with having feelings for each other. I love the touch with the Morganite at the end- if only people would actually do that!
The series is wonderful, as soon as I read the first, I bought some and got some from my local Library- I got 4 out at a time, and was up until three in the morning attempting to finish them.
I strongly reccomend anyone who liked the other 4 to read this one, and people just generally interested in Witches and Vampires etcetera.

Love these books!!!!
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2004-02-28
I've only recently begun reading these books, now when I think about it, I should have read them earlier!
I can relate to Morgan. She has a best friend who gets alll the attention, has low self esteem, and isnt considered a 'popular' girl. Neither am I. This book is so cool because she is trying to accept her new identity and learn to live without Cal. When she fell in love with him, she was happy. Then he betryed her. Used dark magick against her. Tried to kill her! I mean, you have to agree with me, he was a really nice guy. And in some way, he does love her. And I know she loves him. Anyway, this was a great book and would make an excellant movie.
Thanks for your time,
Elizabeth M. Short

Awakening shows many things.
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2003-11-17
Awakening starts off quickly.
Morgan is seeing more of Hunter and it annoys her a little. Morgan and Hunter are still gun powder touching a flame. But every thing starts to simmer down when weird things are happening to the both of them.
Morgan sees more of friends and learns dark secrets that she does not want to be part of.
I especially love this book more than some becuase soemthing happens that makes you either smile from ear to ear or make your jaw drop. Read it!

Recommended to Parents who canĂ½t get their daughters to read
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2004-06-15
I purchased the Sweep series for my 13 year old daughter in the hopes that maybe she would read. "She hated to read." Well I was amazed, and could not get her to go to sleep, as she would spend the whole night, with a night-light on reading these books. She enjoyed them so much, and could not stop talking first about Cal and then Hunter, that I had to see what all the fuss was about.
Well after two weeks, a book a day, for a girl who hated to read, it sparked my curiosity, so I started reading, and was surprised to find out how enjoyable a Teen book about Teen Witches could be. I am not really into Wicca, but these books are really enjoyable. I am on my fifth book, and my daughter read each twice, and is know on the Circle of Three Series. I have to highly recommend these books to those parents who can not get their daughters to read. These are excellent stories, full of fantasy, horror, and fun.

Media
A Barrel of Laughs: A Vale of Tears
Published in Turtleback by Demco Media (1998-04)
Author: Jules Feiffer
List price:
Used price: $66.88
Collectible price: $39.95

Average review score:

Very good, although a bit confusing...
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2005-11-13
I read this book as an assignment for an extra reading group I'm in. There are definately some funny lines in the book, but I don't think the overall story was that interesting. I suggest it to kids ages 11-14. The reason I suggest it to older kids is because younger kids wouldn't understand it so much. I really did like it, though. Give it a try, you might love it!

Endearing tale
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2005-11-16
This is a fun book, a sort of send up of fairy tales. The writing style is very loose, and the book is filled with illustrations.

I liked it because it moves quickly. It lacks focus, but at least something is always happening, and the story is strange and quirky. The characters are engaging, and the writing is enjoyably casual.

It's about a prince who makes everyone happy, a princess so beautiful she turns anyone who looks at her into stone, a clumsy giant, and a hunter who shouldn't even be in the book but stays in it despite the author's protests.

It's a quick read, very fun. Recommended for kids and adults, especially if you're looking for something different.

THE BEST
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2005-06-05
I have got to say this is a Book of great comedy. It has an interesting flow of characters a lively narrator and hilariously funny pictures. All who I have recommended this book to, loved it. the only problem that I have found with it is the ending. He stops making every one laugh. I thought that he was sort of like Peter Pan and would always be funny. But he turned serious. Still it is absolutely awesome, A must read.

Wonderful
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2004-01-15
I remember sitting in class in third grade while the teacher read us this book. I always liked the books she read us but I LOVED this book. I remember after school one day, I couldn't wait to see what happened so I actually went to the library and read the rest of the book. I haven't read it in a while but I would really reccomend it for anyone or their kid. It was a truly enchanting and humerous book.

Die Laughing -- a review by Olivia, age 9
Helpful Votes: 6 out of 6 total.
Review Date: 2004-05-01
In the beginning Roger is a prince, but not a normal prince. Roger has a strange effect on people. If he gets too close to a person, they could die laughing. When J. Wellington Wizard tells Roger to go on a quest, Roger asks, "Isn't a quest where you have to go somewhere or find something?" J. Wellington says that he sees him entering the Forever Forest, and tells him to take a sack of magic powder, and whenever he sees someone, to dust a little on himself, so that Roger can turn into a thing, maybe even a leaf. Then, whoever he is near won't laugh. Roger sets out on his quest, gets stuck in the Forever Forest, and meets a lot of new people, such as little Lucille, Andrew, and Tom. Some are evil and some are nice. Roger hates it in the Forever Forest, but he knows it will get better and he will be the happiest man on earth.

This was a very funny book to read because the author pretended that he doesn't have control over his book, such as when, in chapter 5, Night of the Frogs, he says that he was just trying to fool Tom because chapter 5 is really called Tom. Tom is a character who is supposed to leave on page 9 but he refused. The author always talks about how Tom can walk in and out of the book, and come back at the perfect time. I thought this book was hilarious, engaging, and thoroughly entertaining.

Media
Blood and the Glory
Published in Kindle Edition by Treasures Media Inc (2006-12-07)
Author: Billye Brim
List price: $9.09
New price: $7.27

Average review score:

OUTSTANDING
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-01-07
AMAZING BOOK...MUST READ..AGAIN AND AGAIN AND FOLLOW HER TO A "T" AND IT WORKS...HOWEVER, REMEMBER...YOU MUST USE EVERYTHING TIME AND TIME AGAIN TO KEEP YOU AND YOUR LOVED ONE SAFE !

Ordering a copy of my own
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-11-20
A friend loaned me her copy - after reading it, I had to have a copy for myself.

Great service
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-05-27
Thanks for your prompt service. Book arrived as promised in good time.

This will revolutionize how you pray
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2007-09-11
This teaching has given me a "spiritual backbone" like I have never experienced before and has revolutionized the way I pray, especially for my children and myself. Satan is defeated. Christians have been given the authority over Satan and he is "overcome by the word of God and the blood of Jesus" Rev 12:11 and all we have to do is use it.
This book is the most awesome teaching that I have read in many years. I have had the head knowledge of these truths, but had not accepted the spiritual knowledge into my spirit man and was not using these truths in my life.

A Must Read for Seasoned and New Believer Alike!
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2007-08-21
Ms. Brim has an excellent way of putting very complex ideas in very simplistic terms. This book is absolutely necessary for every believer for the times we are living in today. My eyes have been opened in a new way and I have seen things in a clearer way than I ever thought I could. I highly recommend this book for the new believer as well as for the seasoned Christian.


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