Media Books

Beautiful illustrations, and a sweet heart warming story about the power of music. Love this book. A must for any aspiring musicians, musicians grown up, or kids of. Glad I stumbled upon this book!

A wonderful book that can be read to children of different ages and levels. My 22 month old grandson is captivated by the drawings.

This story has a delightful message about the power we have to influence others, even if that influence is out of our awareness. Always a joy to read...

I'm 43 and checked this book out of the library to read to my kids. I was so moved by it that I plan to buy several copies as gifts for both adults and kids. I'd like to have the artwork on the walls of my music studio to remind me . . .it's all about the energy we put out into the world. A timeless and most important lesson! Thank you David McPhail!

This book is a simply wonderful book to share with chilren. It is beautifully written and illustrated, and has a great message to share as well. I am an elementary music teacher, and read it to my classes every year. It has become a mainstay in the few short years I've owned it, and my students love it as much as I do.

This is one of my all time favorite picture books for all ages. Peter Spiers beautiful illustrations need no words to tell this story. The possibilities for interacting with a child are endless as you wander through the familiar and find the surprising! My granddaughter is 2 years old and loves animals. What could be a better birthday gift?

The happy and humorous tone of this book will make it appealing to any child, whatever the family's religion.

The only text is at the beginning and it is a charming translation of a poem that summarizes the story of Noah. The poem is delightful in and of itself- Spier did a great job of translating.

The illustrations are then left without text, which is very refreshing, since there are so few picture books nowadays. I enjoy leisurely paging through this book with my young daughter, talking about the pictures in and of themselves, as pieces of art and as pictures that tell a story. I feel that the pressure is off in terms of trying to finish a sentence or a story when there is no text there.

In addition, this book is appropriate for Muslim families as well, since the illustrations (and beginning poem) are sufficiently vague as to accommodate for the small differences in the telling of the story in the Qu'ran and the Bible.

My first Peter Spier book. Not saccharine, wonderful details (including Noah mucking out the ark). Great to have a child read to YOU.

This is an excellent picture book - my three year old really loves it. My only "complaint" is that it takes a long time to go through all the pictures and talk about each one making it less than ideal right before bed unless you want to spend 20 minutes on just one book! Seriously though - the book is just wonderful and allows parents to go into whatever level of detail regarding the Noah story as they feel is appropriate for the age of their child. It is a softcover and the pages and cover are not of the highest quality - it would be lovely to have in hardcover with larger pages.

This book really does not need any words. It is so well illustrated that you can understand every part of the story. His detailing is stunning. Every time we read this book, we find new details. This is the best book of Noah's ark story!

It covers everything you need to know if you don't have time to read the book.

One Hundred Years of Solitude is one of those few novels that is magical, beautiful and can capture the very kernel of mind to wake you up from the reality of Latin American world. The writer questions the propriety of the superstructure of the governance of mankind and the whole lot of theories and principles which are supposed to deliver the mankind from the drudgeries and miseries but which do not.To read this novel is to experience darkness and the failure of mankind.

To read Gabriel Garcia Marquez's masterwork is to confront one's demons and one's devices in a monumentally singular reading experience. What does that mean? I have no idea, but I thought it sounded good when I wrote it.
Seriously though, you could do worse than to read this book. Although, it is overrated, and at times, you will think it is pretentiously boring. Still, there were enough good stretches of narrative beauty to overtake the sometimes tiresome ponderousness of the story.

This was really the best book I ever read. The non-standard use of time and space concepts is amazing. I read it in two languages (both translated) and I started to study Spanish just to read this book in original. Everytime I read this book it gives me a completely different view.

In 10,000 years, when most of the world's literature is lost and forgotten, this book will still be read. Like "A Tale of Two Cities" and "Les Miserables", I will read it again and again until my eyesite fails. Then my childen will read it aloud to me. Then I can die.

At the beginning Kathleen the main character is working in the library when she hears a sound that surprises her. It was the book drop-off. She goes to get the books and sees the titles there all about death and torture. In one of the books all of the pictures are cut out. She also finds a book mark that reads "Horrors Awaite You, Beware". After that all the people close to her start falling fatal to tragic accidents. Who or what is doing this? Kathleen can count on only one thing, the killer will strike again. Her death is overdue...
I liked this book because it was very scary and kept me thinking. All the characters were very believable.

Kathleen works in a creepy moldy library in a bad part of town.The only company she has is Robin a mute and Miss Finch her
boss.Nobody likes cranky old Miss Finch including kathleen.Miss
Finch has to attend a siminar and leaves Kathleen and Robin in charge of the library.On a rainy long night of working someone
returns 5 grisly books.Then the usual scary things happen.Scary phone calls,Shadows in the night,the feeling of being followed,
people dying.The only reason I gave this book a 3 was because of the ending and who the killer turned out to be.

Okay I really enjoyed this book, I've had it for years and hadn't read it in a long time so when I found it with all the garbage in my garage, I was psyched to read it. I think I was 14 when I first read Overdue, I'm 22 now so I pretty much forgot everything so it was like reading a new book I just bought. Anyway I liked all the characters, I thought they were believable. Unlike R.L. Stine's Fear Street books, though he has written some good ones, Cusick writes much more detailed and gives a lot more story to her characters. I loved Robin, it's so sad what happens to him. My only complaint is that while I liked Kathleen, she was a moron at times. She knows someone is after her but she contuines to walk by herself in the dark on the streets. That just makes no sense to me. If I knew someone was stalking me, I sure as hell wouldn't walk alone. Let alone at night in a deserted neighborhood. I also didn't like how she strung Alexander along, it's obvious he likes her and she makes him believe she does as well but in the end she ditches him for Bran. Other than that, I was suprised at who the stalker was and the ending is good and action packed. A great book overall, not Cusick's best, Someone at the Door has that honor, but it's up there.

A review by Darcy
Kathleen is a senior in high school and works in the city library. She has one real true friend named Robin. The kids in school make fun of Robin because he is slow and mute. She has one life long friend named Bran. Most of the girls in school are jealous of Kathleen because of that. When the head librarian Ms. Finch leaves town for a seminar strange things start to happen. People start disappearing and end up being found dead. Kathleen tries to tell Bran and Robin what's happening and they start to think that she is crazy. It all started when Ms. Finch left and a stranger came in. His name is Alexander and he uses the library to do research for a project for his classes in the college he goes too. Kathleen finds books with torn out pictures and mutilated pages. She finds more books that are actually clues of what happened to the missing people.

The characters are pretty believable. The character that I can mostly relate to is Robin. He seemed to be the most believable of all. Kathleen I thought was a little strange. I wouldn't have jumped to conclusions so quickly but I would be a little freaked out. Bran I didn't really like because he seemed to be flirting all the time and didn't really seem to care or pay attention to Kathleen's warnings or about the books being clues to the missing people. Ms. Finch I thought was a little crazy because if she killed people just to get the one she loves attention then she should be put in a mental institution. I really enjoyed this book and I recommend that everyone read it at least once. I was hanging on the edge of my seat with suspense. If you like horror books then you'll love this one.

Here is the description on the back of the book:
"It was after hours. Kathleen was preparing to close the library when somebody returned five grisly books about death. One was slashed. All were overdue. Then Kathleen found the bookmark with the deadly warning. Now people close to her are falling victim to tragic accidents. Someone is out for blood. Is it Robin, silent, shy, withdrawn? Is it Alexander, the dark, handsome stranger who haunts the library stacks and says he wants to help? Kathleen can count on only one thing: the killer WILL strike again--her death is overdue...."

Kathleen is working at the creepy old library in town during spring break while the librarian, Miss Finch, attends a seminar. Working with Kathleen is her good friend Robin, a shy, mute young man who always listens to what Kathleen has to say. Then one night someone drops off several long overdue books on murders and torture, with pictures cut out of them, and Kathleen begins to feel uneasy when she finds a bookmark in one of them that reads, "Horrors Await You. Beware." Soon Kathleen's friends begin to get fatally injured, and at every accident site, she finds a book that has to do with the way her friends are being hurt. Who is doing this? Is it Alexander, a college guy who has started hanging around the library? Is it Bran, Kathleen's hot lifelong best friend? Or is it Robin, silent and withdrawn?

The ending was really great, and I never guessed who the killer was. I'm so glad I read this; I almost didn't, because I thought the title was pretty stupid, but I was wrong! Definitely worth anyone's money!

This was hands down my daughters favorite book moving from age 4 to 5. It is filled with beautiful illustrations but the character of the Paper Princess is what captivated her. She is brave, strong, unafraid of adventures and willing to accept the help of many around her to get where she wants to go. She is also loyal and loving. The book encouraged many weeks of creative play and paper dollmaking at our house.

I am a huge fan of Elisa Kleven's work, which is always unique, colorful, thought-provoking, and uplifting. Her stories and her illustrations bring wonder and beauty into a child's reading / listening experiences. The pages are full of ideas. When readers / listeners look into the images, they are transported to a magical storybook world that knows no limitations, no boundaries. Though still, the vibrant images convey a real sense of movement, of energy, of life.

The Paper Princess offers all of these things and so much more. Starry socks and watermelon shoes---what's not to love about this quirky little paper character who, like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, wants to find home. :) I like how the Princess begins her journey "unfinished" because that is a very real human aspect. We are often "unfinished" / "incomplete" when we begin our most important (difficult) life journeys, and through those journeys, we are forever changed, marked, sometimes "crumpled," re-arranged, growing into new versions of ourselves. When we return home, our blank page / side has been filled with new messages, thoughts, sketches, hopes, dreams, understandings.

So, with a bald head and a blank back, the Paper Princess is whisked away on an adventure that takes her through many detailed scenes like a meadow, a carnival, a town, a playground, etc. I like how Kleven would show the paper doll's simple blank outline (or portions of it) on some of the most colorful pages; this technique allows children the ability to find her among all the image elements.

Teachers and home-schooling parents can use this book to illustrate values such as acceptance, friendship, courage, compassion, confidence, perseverance, hope, love, sharing, and caring. A good conversation / discussion point would be the scene where a little girl throws the Princess away after she had marked her poorly. [Some people in our disposable society are all too quick and willing to get rid of things that displease them, that contain mistakes and flaws, or that seem "ugly" or tarnished. ]

This is a fantastic book, in my opinion. I feel like I received my money's worth for the joy it has brought into our house.

We also saw this on Reading Rainbow back in 2001 when my older daughter was 3. We bought it for her birthday and it quickly replaced Madeline as her all-time favorite book. We've read it countless times and of course made many many paper dolls (thanks to the other poster who rec'd Soul Mate Dolls--I'm looking at that next!). My girls are 8 and 5 now and they are still in love with this book.

Alas, The Paper Princess was lost in our move from L.A. to Austin last year so I am replacing it and at the same time getting ALL of our favorite Elisa Kleven books from Amazon. She is right up there with Maurice Sendak, Kevin Henkes, and Dr. Seuss as one of the best children's book author/illustrators ever, in my opinion. I am so happy to see that she has made a series of these books. Anyone buying The Paper Princess should get the sequel--The Paper Princess Finds Her Way--which contains what may just be my favorite children's book illustration of all time where the princess is carried aloft by a flock of Monarch butterflies migrating to Mexico. The 3rd book just came out this year--The Paper Princess Flies Again (with her dog). I haven't read it yet but there's no doubt in my mind that it will be a classic as the first two.

Lastly, for anyone wishing to build up their children's book library any of Ms. Kleven's books would be an excellent addition but especially The Puddle Pail, Sun Bread, Abuela (she was the illustrator; the author is Arthur Dorros), or any of the Paper Princess series.

The story of the Paper Princess is very imaginative with excellent illustrations. You can get lost in this book by looking at the illustrations and talking about them with your child. It's a great story.

ooh, did we ever love this book... My daughter wanted it for every nap and bedtime once it hit our door. I had a difficult time even getting to read our other library books for this week. The Paper Princess goes extremely well with another favorite book - Soul Mate Dolls. If you have a daughter who will immediately want to make a paper doll after you've finished reading The Paper Princess, get Soul Mate Dolls as well. This story is so good I feel a strong urge to buy every one of Elisa Kleven's other books, sight unseen (I might, in fact, since we also checked out The Lion and the Little Red Bird in the same week and that one is extraordinary as well). Elisa Kleven is an imaginative, talented, and supremely warm author & illustrator. BUY this one!

How Walter Dean Myers ever dreamed up a picture book of the Vietnam War is beyond me. I immediately wanted to read it and buy it. It turned out to be very good and contains imagery of the scariness of war. It avoids gore but people do die and soldiers do kill. Haunting.

"Patrol" by Walter Myers is a great book. The main charactor doesn't have a name in this book. Anyways, he is in the forsests of Vietnam during the vietnam war. He is slowly walking through the woulds and than he hears gun shots. He dives to the ground and and looks for the opponent. People who would like this book are kids to adults. Adults would like it because they can remember the war that was going on when they were a kid. Kids would enjoy it because a lot of times kids like to play as if they were army men fighting in a war.Thise book is Historical Fiction because the war happend but not this particular scene.

This book has different types of pictures. The pictures are a bunch of picturesf cut out and put on one piece of paper. I think this army book is a great book for kids to understand what it feels like to be in a war.
The writting of this book is also unique because it is a type of poem writting form. This book is easy to read and understand. Kids should read this book if they are interested in war stuff and if they don't like to read long books.

Boom! A granade went off next to my buddy and sent him flying back to his death. Could I be next thought the brave soldier? Patrol is about the Veitnam War and a soldier who is very cautious about his surroundings. This book is very mysterious because you don't know what will happen to the soldier. He is constantly thinking about his family and how his death could come to him.
He is trapped in the middle of the Vietnamise forests and is lost with his buddies. They have a long maze of problems ahead of them including how they get back home. This book is good if you are a follower of this war or if you like stories that always are mysterious and are hard to guess what is going to happen. It is a picture book but that doesn't mean that is isn't good. Patrol is a mix of mystery and heroic. The author, Walter Dean Myers, realy knows how to make a great book for children.
I enjoied reading the book Patrol so I think you will too! Don't get too caught up in the pictures because they are awsome. If you are looking for an awsome picture book to just read then this is for you.

Patrol
Patrol is about a soldier in war looking for the enemy and doing what he is told. War makes the main character relies what he could loose and what he could gain. The captain never let up on the main character and never lets the platoon or him rest. Even when they are fired upon the captain tells them to shoot and keep moving. The main character calls in a bomber and the gun battle is over but that's not the end to the book.

This book was a very good book. There are plenty of times when I got confused, like about who told on Emily. All of my questions were answered later in the book. It was a great suspense novel.

I first read this book as a child in elementary school. I have since then read it at least once a year. BTW I am 30 and still enjoy it. A must have for any child.

It is hard to overstate how much excitement Angela Lansbury brings to the reading of this mystery book for children. Suffice it to say that at age 52 I enjoyed listening to it as much as my daughter, and would have purchased twenty more had they been available. The text by Barbara Brooks Wallace is also very well done, and very accessible for children's vocabulary while remaining exciting enough for an adult to enjoy without becoming bored. I highly recommend both the book and the audiobook for parents of both good readers and readers who need something a little spicier to get them interested and involved in the story. It concerns a young girl who has lost her parents and goes to live with an aunt in San Francisco. The trials and tribulations to which Emily Lucock is subject make up the the plot of the story, but the author is able to build both mystery and suspense into the telling. The audiobook format is especially terrific because of Lansbury's wonderful technique for building drama and suspense.

When I first saw the cover of this book I thought it would be one of those trashy, dull mysteries (Who stole the peppermint candy from the christmas feast?!?) then I saw the sequal, with it's pretty, intresting cover, and began to reconsider buying the first one (if only so I could understand the sequal). I started to read it and was amazed. It has an amazing plot, and is definatly one of the best books I have ever read, and I've read a lot of books. It is completely Dickensian without the slow-moving plot, and hard to understand language that most children find boring and discouraging. It is a wonderful Victorian Melodrama! I LOVE THIS BOOK!

A bowl of lovely red and white peppermints waits on a table in the parlor . . . but the residents of Sugar Hill Hall are not allowed to touch them. That image sticks with me after finishing the final pages of Ms. Wallace's delightful adventure tale of a young orphan and the dire situation she finds herself in. This Victorian story of dramatic suspense is a perfect story for young readers just starting to break into longer fiction and craving something with adventure and intrigue.

Young Emily Luccock has recently lost her parents, and she is now going to live with her Aunt and Uncle Twice at Sugar Hill Hall, a fine mansion in San Francisco. Emily remembers her visits to see her Aunt and Uncle fondly and is looking forward to seeing them again. But something has gone terribly wrong. Aunt Twice has become a timid woman forced to be a servant in her own home, and Uncle Twice is nowhere to be found. The entirety of Sugar Hill appears to be under the thumb of the icy and forbidding Mrs. Meeching, and Emily is made a virtual slave, working in the kitchen and cleaning the rooms of the despairing old men and women who reside in the rooms of the house. But young Emily is not about to give up without a fight. She's determined to bring sunshine back to Sugar Hill and to discover what has happened to Uncle Twice. With the help of Kipper, a redheaded boy from town, Emily pits herself against the frightful Mrs. Meeching, and all the secrets hidden in Sugar Hill Hall. Ms. Wallace has provided a rousing adventure story that kicks off from the first page and never slows down until the satisfying ending. The story elements aren't particularly original, but the author uses them to good effect with engaging writing that makes us care about our heroes and hate the villains as the story progresses. Emily, for all her apparent fragility, proves herself to be tough in spirit, and to have a caring heart for the plight of others. She's likeable without being overly sweet or too plucky. Kipper adds to the flavor and fun with his cheerful commentary and use of street slang.

While the story has its dark elements: murder, betrayal, cruelty, Emily and Kipper's adventure doesn't become too frightening either. The story remains just scary and exciting enough for enjoyment of 9-12 year olds, but doesn't become gory or chilling. The book itself is a short read--those who enjoy such books as A Series of Unfortunate Events and want more of the type would probably find this title to their liking. It's also a good recommendation for young readers who want something with action and adventure, but require something without any fantasy or supernatural elements to it. If I have any complaints about the story, its that I felt the secrets unraveled a bit too quickly and all at once towards the end of the story. After wondering for so long what is going on and what happened to Uncle Twice, readers are provided the answers in short order--just in time for the final confrontations. Despite this, I found myself enjoying the entire story--and I particularly liked how the element of peppermints framed the tale. For those who enjoy this stand-alone adventure, Ms. Wallace has written a follow up story with the further adventures of Emily Luccock titled The Perils of the Peppermints. Readers might also want to check out The Half a Moon Inn by Paul Fleischman and the Illyrian Adventure by Lloyd Alexander.

Happy Reading! Shanshad ^_^

Very cute book, lovely illustrations. My kids loved this book when they were younger, so I bought it for my niece's little girl and she loves it too.

This is a superbly lovely book for pre-schoolers and children in the early grades. After seeing it in Australia, I ordered three copies, one for each set of grandkids. My grandgirls, 5 and 7, made me read it to them twice, even though they both can read most of it, and I even caught the 9-year-old eavesdropping. It is one of those books whose illustrations match the charm of the text, and both text and pix are simple, straightforward, yet colorful and delightful and totally enchanting. It's the story of how Hush, a little girl possum, is made invisible by her Grandma Poss's magic and their subsequent search to make her visible again, which they do by cycling around Australia (and sailing to Tasmania in an umbrella) and eating the various specialty foods. Just naming them will make any Ozzie homesick: pavlova, lamington, vegemite, minties, etc. Even a Yank tourist like myself gets a little misty-eyed. The only thing the author left out was Victoria Bitter, but it is a children's book, after all.

A wonderful picture book with a delightful story line and engaging illustrations, Mem Fox provides a culinary tour of the "best of Australia" in her book Possum Magic. Young people will learn about the geography and foods of the Land Down Under as they travel with Little Possum and his grandma searching for the foods that will make him visible again.

This is a classic Australian picturebook which is becoming popular again as those of us from the generation who were kids when it was first published (1983) now are buying it ourselves and reading it to our children or nieces and nephews. Granted there's always the hey I remember this book when I was kid factor that drives up sales but unlike a lot of books which have this factor of when you get home and read them you remember that you never really liked that book back when you were kid because it is infact not that good, Possum Magic is remembered and was popular back in the 80's because it was a good book. Although some of the food (remedies for Hush's invisibility) inside are no longer uniquely Australian (which is a good thing), learnign about them along with the uniquely Australian wildlife inside this book would make an ideal gift or purchase for any Australian now living overseas to read to their kids and teach them a bit about their heritage. For anyone whose not Australian it is a great opportunity to learn something about Australian culture.

The basic tale of this book revolves around a little girl possum called Hush whose grandma (named Grandma Poss) who was an expert in bush magic turned Hush invisible to prevent her being eaten by snakes (now of course in reality snakes don't use sight like we do to find their prey but see the heat from the body like someone wearing night vision goggles does so being invisible wouldn't have actually helped Hush but anyway this is a fiction book and that's a discussion/lesson probably left for an age group older than this book's target market). Although Hush gets into a few dilemmas as the result of being invisible such as being sat on by a koala she still gets up to lots of fun like riding down the back of kangaroos like a slippery dip. Hush however wants to know what she looks like so asks Grandma Poss to make her visible again which Grandma Poss has of course forgotten, although she remembers it has something to do with human food. This is the tale of finding the cure and travelling across (with a bit of poetic licence by riding a bike and in a floating umbrella the vast distances of) Australia to find it.

Other good children's books about invisibility if that's what you were after include My Best Friend Is Invisible (Goosebumps) by R. L. Stine, You Are Invisible: CYOA #48 by Susan Saunders, The Invisible Day by Marthe Jocelyn, Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich by Adam Rex, you can even get an illustrated version of H.G. Wells 1897 classic The Invisible Man (Great Illustrated Classics).

Delightful book with illustrations that takes kids 3-6 on an imaginative trip to Australia. I could identify with the main character, "Grandma Poss."

This is my favorite book of all five books I have.You see it starts out with a couple skating competition that Ranma and Akane are in. Exept not only are they doing this to prove that Ranma can do any materials arts (even skating!) they also compete for the cute pig side of Ryoga who was captured by this new character (I forgot what her name was) during the time Akane was skating in the ice rink in volume 2.The new girl (who when ever finds something cute picks it up and names it)is also competing for what she calls the cute pig side of Ryoga Charrelote! Akane being mad at the fact gets into the competition. But during the competition there is a black out! I don't want to ruin the surprise and tell you the rest so i geuss you will have to figure out yourself buy it I'm sure you will love it . Oh! and it also has the first apperence of Shampoo! The kick butt chinese chick!

Just when it seems that things are going right for Ranma Saotome, they promptly go wrong again.

That's the way it is with the entrance of one of Rumiko Takahashi's most popular characters, the won't-take-no-for-an-answer Amazon Shampoo. The third volume of "Ranma 1/2" has Ranma and Akane reaching a new level of interest in each other.... only to have Shampoo shatter it.

The day dawns for the martial-arts skating competition, and Ranma is more determined than ever to beat womanizing Mikado Sanzenin (who gave him his first kiss in the previous volume). But Ranma is given a savage beating that almost kills him -- and soon Ryoga/P-chan/Charlotte has entered the rink, determined to beat the figure skaters as well.

No sooner have Ranma and Akane gotten off the rink than a new problem arises: A Chinese girl batters through a wall, announcing "Ranma, I kill!" She's Shampoo, a Chinese Amazon whom Ranma defeated in one-on-one combat in China. Now Shampoo won't be satisfied until (female) Ranma is dead.

But when she encounters Ranma in his male form, and he accidently defeats her, Shampoo falls in love with him. Now Akane is seething with jealousy, and Ranma is trying to evade a new fiancee who wants him as a guy -- and wants him dead as a girl. Even worse, Shampoo's devotion to her new "groom" extends to giving Akane selective amnesia -- she remembers everything except Ranma.

Before this volume of "Ranma 1/2," the romantic problems were pretty straightforward, and the only rival was a guy who is too shy to say how he feels. But with the arrival of Shampoo, the tangled web of love starts to form -- and poor Ranma is stuck right in the middle of it.

There's more romance than martial-arts in this volume, despite the long-awaited skating match. Poor Ranma is being pursued romantically by a womanizing skater and a deranged Amazon, and it's rapidly becoming a lot more than his limited skills can handle. And only Ranma could pull off a little frilly skating dress.

Romantics will get a few thrills in this volume: Ranma threatens Mikado for saying that he'll kiss Akane, and later vows that he will make sure Akane remembers him. And when Akane takes her jealous frustrations about Ranma out on a straw dummy, she remembers his threat, and them gently hugs the dummy.

Romantic problems get more intense in the third volume of "Ranma 1/2," with the arrival of Shampoo, Fiancee No. 2. And things only get more complex later on....

I was having dinner with my boyfriend at his parents house and after dinner i noticed his sister had this book sitting out. As an avid book lover who devotes her entire being into reading a book, i naturaly inquired about it. My boyfriend and his dad gave it rave reviews and his sister was so far very amused and impressed. Such high ratings from non-book lovers! The sarcasm and humor (yes on every page) are a riot! What can i say - I'M HOOKED! :D

Living in Japan comes with numerous perks. First off, I can brush up on my marginally acceptable Japanese-speaking skills, but I also have access to some things that I just couldn't get enough of anywhere else. Well, Ranma 1/2 lurks near the top of that list.

Rumiko Takahashi, arguably one of the best and most creative writers of manga in history, presents us with the longest-running series of her impressive resume - the story of a teenaged martial arts master, Ranma Saotome, and his irresponsible trainer and father, Genma. Genma takes him to Jusenkyo, a collection of hot springs in China. If only Genma had known how to read Chinese, he would have known that the springs afflict those who fall into them with evil and seemingly irreversible curses - as Ranma and Genma unwittingly duel it out atop bamboo poles high over the springs, Ranma kicks his father into "The Spring of Drowned Giant Panda" ... surprise, out jumps a Giant Panda, ready to resume fighting. Bewildered, Ranma is hit by the panda into "The Spring of Drowned Young Girl", and meets the surface with the curse that haunts his life - you see, once Genma and Ranma make contact with cold water, Genma becomes a panda, and Ranma becomes a female version of himself. Not to completely worry though, because hot water will bring them back to normal every time. But that's only the beginning of the story. Genma trained with a man called Soun Tendo, the father of three teenage girls - Genma and Soun agreed to marry Ranma with one of his girls. The money-grabbing Nabiki and the impossibly-kind Kasumi, the elder sisters, elect the unwilling boy-hating Akane to become fiancees with this "hentai otoko", and this is the rocky start to the relationship that the series revolves around.

Having already read the entire Ranma 1/2 series, I can honestly say that the third book (fourth in Japan, somehow) was one of the best. It begins with the continuation of the ice-skating competition, with not only one, but TWO of the cutest scenes you'll ever see, plus a great appearance by Ryoga, who is lovestruck with Akane. It's after the competition ends that we're introduced to the sexy Chinese Amazon warrior girl, Shampoo. Female Ranma defeated Shampoo in a tournament of sorts while he was back in China. That's wonderful and all, but the only problem is that Shampoo gives "The Kiss of Death" to all females who defeat her - it's the vow that she'll hunt them down and kill them, whatever it takes. Well, she's followed Ranma into Japan, and now he's on the run again. Just one thing - she has never seen the male-version Ranma. He ends up defeating her as well. Expecting the worst, the terrified Ranma is pushed into another "Kiss of Death", but, somehow, this one is a bit different: Shampoo kisses him on the lips, and means it. The other half of Shampoo's vows are that if a male defeats her, she vows to marry him. And with that, Shampoo is trying to kill one half of Ranma, while trying desperately to seduce the other half. The irony here is obvious and hilarious, and it's situations like these that Rumiko Takahashi has the ability to work with flawlessly.

As you can imagine, Akane (although she won't admit it) is quite jealous and annoyed by Shampoo's advances towards her fiancee - and although Ranma and Akane would rather die than admit any sort of more-than-platonic feelings for each other, we can start to see the sweet silhouette of some sort of attraction between them when Akane meets her first rival suitor for Ranma. Akane, being the violent tomboy, picks a fight with Shampoo. Ranma realizes that Akane is no match for Shampoo, so he comes to her rescue to find her lying on the ground - she wakes up with part of her memory gone - the part of her memory that has anything to do with Ranma, that is. Of course it's Shampoo's wily tricks that did this to her, and Ranma is determined to find the '911' formula shampoo that will bring her memory back. He ends up successful in bringing Akane's memory back, and all is well for everyone. Well, except for Shampoo. It's then that she discovers the shocking secret that Ranma keeps, and is devastated. She leaves (presumably for China) with tears in her eyes ... but distance makes the heart grow fonder, as they say.

If you're as in love with this series as I am, you must read on, it's definitely worth it. The beginning is all about introducing main characters and building the foundations of their relationship with everyone else, but as we progress through the story, the relationships start to develop and Rumiko Takahashi can leave us all with endearing smiles on our faces at this very sweet, hilarious, and exciting action-packed romantic-comedy.

Just when it seems that things are going right for Ranma Saotome, they promptly go wrong again.

That's the way it is with the entrance of one of Rumiko Takahashi's most popular characters, the won't-take-no-for-an-answer Amazon Shampoo. The third volume of "Ranma 1/2" has Ranma and Akane reaching a new level of interest in each other.... only to have Shampoo shatter it.

The day dawns for the martial-arts skating competition, and Ranma is more determined than ever to beat womanizing Mikado Sanzenin (who gave him his first kiss in the previous volume). But Ranma is given a savage beating that almost kills him -- and soon Ryoga/P-chan/Charlotte has entered the rink, determined to beat the figure skaters as well.

No sooner have Ranma and Akane gotten off the rink than a new problem arises: A Chinese girl batters through a wall, announcing "Ranma, I kill!" She's Shampoo, a Chinese Amazon whom Ranma defeated in one-on-one combat in China. Now Shampoo won't be satisfied until (female) Ranma is dead.

But when she encounters Ranma in his male form, and he accidently defeats her, Shampoo falls in love with him. Now Akane is seething with jealousy, and Ranma is trying to evade a new fiancee who wants him as a guy -- and wants him dead as a girl. Even worse, Shampoo's devotion to her new "groom" extends to giving Akane selective amnesia -- she remembers everything except Ranma.

Before this volume of "Ranma 1/2," the romantic problems were pretty straightforward, and the only rival was a guy who is too shy to say how he feels. But with the arrival of Shampoo, the tangled web of love starts to form -- and poor Ranma is stuck right in the middle of it.

There's more romance than martial-arts in this volume, despite the long-awaited skating match. Poor Ranma is being pursued romantically by a womanizing skater and a deranged Amazon, and it's rapidly becoming a lot more than his limited skills can handle. And only Ranma could pull off a little frilly skating dress.

Romantics will get a few thrills in this volume: Ranma threatens Mikado for saying that he'll kiss Akane, and later vows that he will make sure Akane remembers him. And when Akane takes her jealous frustrations about Ranma out on a straw dummy, she remembers his threat, and them gently hugs the dummy.

Romantic problems get more intense in the third volume of "Ranma 1/2," with the arrival of Shampoo, Fiancee No. 2. And things only get more complex later on....

This book is very good.In this book it talks alot about
Jakes Indian heritage.Jake has to break or gentle a
beautiful paint horse on a Indian reservation.
Sam is right there by his side when he
does.As always Sam has her moment wi-
th the phantom (Zanzibar).




I would recomend this book to anyone.

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I didn't really like this story, but it has a nice plot. Nice finish, but a bit confusing for me.

I really enjoyed this book and have read it about three times! As I write I'm reading it,again. It's about a wild shoshone pony who loves her freedom. Jake attempts to tame her and ride her in the Superbowl Of Horsemanship. But can he tame the fillie's burning desire to remain free? Will he have enough stamina to endure the journey himself? Will a friendship be broken? And will best friends get hurt both physically and emotionally? Find out and read THE PHANTOM STALLION series, book #10 and others and feel a feeling you've never experianced before....SOARING.

Phantom Stallion #10 Red Feather Filly is another great book in a great series. I have enjoyed reading the first 11 books in this interesting and exciting series. I like this series because it has realistic characters and both wild and tame horses. I highly recommend this series for anyone who likes horses.

The best book in the phantom stallion series!!!!!!!! The Superbowl of Horsemanship is coming up and Sam and her friends are really excited. The race is coed and of course her best friend Jen has her race partner staked out, Ryan Slocum. Sam's race partner, Jake, plans to rope and ride a wild filly in the race for a manhood initation. But as the race nears the phantom stallion wants Star and succeeds in getting her. Now Jake is mad at her for letting Star get away. Then Sam goes out alone to find the filly, but Jake finds her first.
It's race day!!!!!!!!!! Sam and Jake are ready as they'll ever be. I won't go any farther. You'll have to find out what happens next.
This is really, really, the BEST book yet!!!!!!!!!!!!