Toys Books

I loved this one growing up. Really. Amelia Bedelia always choose the funniest possible interpretation of words, and her name rhymes! What's not to love?

The one thing I'd be concerned about is that a lot of the usages in this book are going to be unfamiliar to your young kid. I don't think many of us say "draw the curtains" anymore, and even if we do, we probably don't often talk about "trimming" steak (with or without lace!) or "dressing" chicken, at least, not around our kids. Maybe we should, but we don't.

So this book might be better saved for read-aloud time than read-alone time.

My first grader love that book. He was cracking up and he had so much fun reading this book! He reads it without any help. It is a cute and funny story and if you child doesn't like to read this is a great book to spike an interest in reading.

I remember reading these books years and years ago! I'm in 10th grade and it's been more 5 years since I was in elementary school and yet when I go work at my old school I go back and read them again!

A fun (and funny) book which will delight kids with Amelia's well-intentioned but mistake-laden chores. Kids feel empowered because they are 'smarter' than the character and are able to cheer her on. In the end, Amelia's good deeds overpower any mistakes she makes.

I recommend this book for any child who is beginning to read on their own!

This is surly a kids favorite since I was a little girl! We join Amelia Bedelia as she starts her first day of work for the Rodgers. They rush off shortly after she arrives, but they've left her a list of things to do. Should be a snap, as all the tasks are simple and clearly stated...but that's what you think...Amelia Bedelia begins completing each chore in quite a literal fashion...drawing the drapes and much, much more! Younger kids (1-4) will like the silliness of it and beginner readers and more savvy grade schoolers (5-8) will like that's it's simple and clever/silly too! I recommend it without reservation! I'm sure Amelia will be with us, teaching fine lessons about the words we use and the many means they can have for generations to come!

I had no idea a book with different babies' facial expressions would be so thrilling to my 13 month old twins. They can be running around like crazy, and when I bring this book out they run to me and sit in my lap calmly and look at the pages intently! This book thrills them to pieces and they squeal when I bring it out! I use it anytime I want to calm everybody down. It's nice and sturdy, too.

I got this when my twins were about 16 months old, and it immediately became one of their favorites. The book is very sturdy.

This is the first book that my daughter (now 12 months) clearly responded to, and has remained her favorite. From 4 or 5 months she would smile and coo at the babies' pictures, and showed clear preferences -- unlike another reviewer's child, mine doesn't kiss the babies, but she does bang her head into the page if she likes the baby! This book is slightly smaller than the standard board book, with a slightly cushioned cover, so it was also the first book that my daughter could easily pick up and turn the pages of by herself. Highly recommended as baby's first book.

My daughter loves looking at the other babies in this book! Her face lights up and her little legs start kicking when I pull this book out. There is no plot, so sometimes we make up stories about the babies in the pictures. She also likes that I let her chew on the cover of this board book.

My 14 month old likes this book just fine. Definitely not her favorite book. She likes to look at babies in general, so probably any of these books would have the same effect. To me, the faces the babies are making kind of don't match up well to the word or feeling underneath. The angry baby doesn't look angry to me, the puzzled baby doesn't at all look puzzled to me. Oh, and the dirty baby isn't dirty enough. You want to see a dirty baby face? I bet most parents have a better picture than that one! The book called "Baby Faces" by Playskool is better. The pictures are cuter, bigger, and there are more examples of each emotion.

I first learned about this CD at the Infant Early Childhood Conference in Tacoma Washington. It is a great product. The songs are fun and I really think it will my students learn some functional communication through sign language that will help get their wants and needs met. I only wish it was in Spanish too!

I am a Special Needs assistant. We use this book on a daily basis and the students love it as well as the teachers. The students have pick up, many signs with this book and staff that don't know sign language, are now learning. We all love this book and I would highly recommend this book to anyone.

I ordered this item in the hopes to teach my speech-delayed son more sign language. I was an elementary school teacher for over ten years and this product was overwhelming! The songs are way too fast! Then you have to refer to the book while listening to the song and then supposedly teaching your child- UGH! It would be beneficial if the book came with a dvd showing the signing along with the songs...

We love the upbeat original songs and my 2 1/2 year old requests this cd to be played when we're getting bored in the house. I came home one day to find the kids dancing with our nanny. Needless to say, whether for signing or pure enjoyment it is a great product everyone can enjoy together. Parents will find that the songs are easy enough to remember to sing along and practice signs when changing diaper, feeding time, bath time, etc... which are perfect routine activities to introduce signs to your baby and toddler. As an instructor who has seen participants enjoy the activity book and cd I highly recommend the item. www.sign4baby.com

I use this in my sign language classes I teach to babies, toddlers, children, adults, and special needs. It is a BIG hit, everyone loves it, everyone gets involved, and after class my clients want to purchase one. I have received e-mails after classes letting me know that they just love it and find it very helpful in learning the signs. Parents love the detailed information and illustrations in the book it is very easy to understand and shows what signs to use for babies. Well worth your investment.
www.signsforlife.biz

The Far Side series shaped my mind. I'm whatever I am today because of the insight this humour brought into my life when I was a kid. And the PreHistory of the Far Side is a must have!

This is a fantastic book and a must for any Far Side afficianado. Not only does it have the usual great material, but includes stuff never published and commentary by Gary Larson as he takes you through his creative process during various stages of his career.

I first saw this in my school library, and after reading a bit I decided to buy my own copy as it was so good. It is kind of like a short biography of Larson combined with special features like his earliest cartoons that weren't published and others he decided not to publish for various reasons. He includes annotated versions of some of his best cartoons, which make you think "Oh, so THAT'S what he meant..."

It's like a Larson bible. You need it.

Gary Larson has one of the sickest, most demented senses of humor and we are all better for it. In this book, he describes some of the major points in his development as a cartoonist. There is not a great deal of insight into his mentality, although he does include some of his cartoons that were rejected as being in too bad of taste. Those are of course the most interesting ones in the collection.
If you love the slightly macabre touch that Gary Larson expresses in his "The Far Side" comic strip, then this is a book you should read. It all started in a music store and the rest is twisted history.

So you've got the massive two-volume "Complete Far Side" and figure you're all set, Gary Larson-wise. If so, you're a few cows short of a herd, because you need this book to round out your collection. It's not just a collection of his comics. The book has a discussion of how his career as a cartoonist got started and has examples of his previous effort, a one-newspaper comic in the same style as "The Far Side." It goes on to show particular cartoons, with his comments on them, both positive and negative, on how they worked, where ideas came from or even the mechanics of drawing them, amongst other criteria. He also shares some sketchbook drawings, some of which led to final, published comics and some which did not. (One of the latter, about a frontiersman named Jeremiah and rhubarb, would have been a good one.) And he discusses how editing had sometimes unexpectedly changed his cartoons, and he relates the letters from people about specific cartoons, some very negative as you might imagine; for certain ones, he engages in a detailed discussion of what he tried to do, contrasting this with how others saw it upon publication. Larson also shares some UNpublished panels, some of which are hilarious. There's also a giant picture of a louse. He ends with a generous helping of his favorite panels, some in color. All in all, it's a lot of fun, and it gives a lot of insight into how Larson went about creating his famous comic that so many of us miss seeing in our newspapers daily.

Helen Lester's books all combine sweet stories with terrific humor that both children and adults can enjoy. The stories are just the right length and have a nice hidden message as well--you may be different but that can be a plus! The whole Tacky series is wonderful.

The message "it's okay to be different" is a popular one in the world of picture books. Unfortunately, it's usually paired with vivid examples of people harassing the different person - comes a point in Rudolph, for example, where I wonder why the red-nosed reindeer agreed to help any of them!

Tacky manages to avoid that. Tacky is different from the other penguins, and doesn't fit in, but they don't go out of their way to make him feel bad for that. And then, of course, his differences go on to save the day. Well, that and his bad singing.

I love this series. Besides being silly and fun to read, they also point out that it is ok to be different. This is a great message for kids, especially with the terrible shootings that have plagued our country. A message of acceptance is needed for all. Of course, my class just loves Tacky. He is a character everyone must get to know.

Very cute story, very engaging with hilarious illustrations. This is a great book - we travel alot so I tend to purchase a lot of paperback picture books (portable!) and this is one of our favorites.

It's been many, many years since I read this book, the last time being in my childhood. It's been a while, but I still remember Tacky with fondness. In fact, I was just thinking about him earlier today. I loved this book sooo much when I was a child, and highly recommend it for both kids and parents alike.

The village at the end is spectacular and the scratch and sniffs add a cute touch. Not for wee little hands of course, but our three and five year olds loved it.

Much nicer for little guys than the tv show (a little scary with the evil postman)

An absolutely adorable book. Ordered and received in a few days, which was amazing for the Christmas season!

This is such a creative and cute Christmas story. Both my 2 yr old and 3yr old love it.

MY GRANDSON AND I BOTH LOVE THIS BOOK! VERY ENGAGING FOR THE LITTLE PERSON IN ALL OF US!

I have two favorite comics right now: "Garfield" and "Calvin & Hobbes". I go for Garfield for its pure slapstick/ironic humor, and for its visual gags. Meanwhile, I go for Calvin & Hobbes for its wild imagination and diverse philosophies. I admire the six-year old troublemaker and his stuffed tiger as much as the fat orange cat and his nerdy owner (I know, they're completely different comics). Calvin and Hobbes's philosophies and imaginary adventures are what make this comic: most of them are right on the spot and are just downright compelling.

Here in the first book, the drawings are clearly not up to par compared to the later strips, but it's not all that horrible. Here, we're introduced to the kid, his tiger, and his parents. We're also introduced to Susie Derkins, Miss Wormwood, the Principal, Moe, and Rosalyn; they continually play major parts throughout the whole series. Much of the strips here are more for ironic humor and slapstick, and we don't get to see a lot of influential ramblings or any of that sort. We do, however, get to see Calvin as Spaceman Spiff, so space adventures aplenty.

Grade on Book: A-
Grade on Entire Series: A+

I ordered this item and received it within a week. Very good timing.

I love this book!When my friend got a Calvin and Hobbes book, I did'nt really like it because it was not in color. But once I got this book I loved it! I colored in the ilistrations so now I don't have ANY problems with this book! I want to collect all of the Calvin and Hobbes books, but right now I only have 4. I would reccomend this book to anyone who likes funny books. They are so good my dad reads them! Other good Calvin and Hobbes books are Revenge of the Baby-Sat,Scientific Progress Goes Boink, and Attack of the Deranged Muntant Killer Monster Snow Goons. Well, I guess that's it. BUY THIS BOOK!!!!!!!

It will only take the reading of at most 10 pages before you will reach the conclusion that Bill Watterson is a genius. He captures the lament of all children whose imagination overpowers them, leading them to other places when they "should" be concentrating on more mundane things like schoolwork. Calvin is a young boy who is always in trouble, yet his problems are a consequence of his tenuous grip on reality. If he can maintain his imagination into adulthood, he no doubt will be very successful as a writer, but as a child, there are strong forces that will strongly dampen his wandering mind.
I was such a child, often preferring to play off by myself on the playground and pretend that I was doing greater things than simply kicking a ball or swinging in a swing. My teachers often wondered about my being alone, yet those were my favorite times during the school day. Elementary school teachers have a collective abhorrence for any child that is "different."
Some people enjoy C & H for the amusement, yet some of us recognize something deeper, the imaginative nonconformist who struggles to hold that characteristic into adulthood. For it is not till adulthood that it is appreciated.

Forgive me if my review runs a bit on the sappy side, but I grew up with Calvin and Hobbes, and I sometimes think they are among the best friends I've ever had. Bill Watterson's comic is gentle, sincere, and magical. At its core it is an examination of what it means to be human, and the value of friendship. Watterson's philosophy of the comic strip was that it should be based around characters rather than gags; we should feel as though we know the protagonists as real people, rather than as interchangeable vehicles for jokes. That comes through on every page, even from the very beginning. Calvin's world has a cast you can probably count on two hands, but every character (except possibly Moe, the bully) has at least a hint of fully-rounded personality. Watterson's world is one of simple pleasures shared with good company.

As with any comic strip, the first collection is rather crude in pretty much every aspect--the drawings, the humor, the personalities--but as a prototype for what would come later, it is not without its own charms. Even at this stage I would hardly call Calvin and Hobbes a forgettable, generic strip. It still has heart and a sense of profundity, even if Watterson had not yet figured out the most effective way to illustrate these things in his strip. It's interesting to see the origin of Hobbes (even if this version was discarded later), the genesis of Calvin's relationship with Susie (the love-hate romance, which will later be toned down, is at the forefront here), the first appearance of Spaceman Spiff, the introduction of a then-unnamed Rosalyn, and so forth. Also, early Calvin and Hobbes are somehow a bit more adorable here than their later incarnations, but you didn't hear that from me.

In an age of disposable comics, Calvin and Hobbes is one of the few childhood experiences of my life that I can actually appreciate more with age. I would not find it an exaggeration to say that Watterson's perspective of life heavily shaped my own, as I find myself much less concerned with superficiality and the plastic culture of Hollywood than many of my reality-TV-addicted, Nike-sporting, iPod-blasting peers, and more appreciative of the little things in life that we tend to take for granted. All Calvin needs to be content is a good friend and a search for adventure, and even as I grow, kicking and screaming, into adulthood, I find I can still relate.

This book is PACKED with information from a seasoned engineer and composer. I've nearly read this book from cover to cover. I especially appreciated the sections on sound design since I had recently acquired Massive from Native. The section on compression and using compression creatively in mixing was a great resource. He also gets into the nuances between the different styles of dance music, citing relevant sources.

The best thing that I liked about his book is that it felt like it was an edited version of his own personal notes. Things he discovered or documented as his own knowledge grew - like I was sitting along side him as he explained the information. He was explicit and clear in most cases and limited redundancy of information except when necessary to exemplify points. Happy composing and mixing!

I like the systematic approach of the author explaining in a brief manner the different aspects of the electronic music creation. I love this book!

This book is a great source of information wether you are starting out to someone that has been making dance music for a while in they're home or computer. It goes into detail from midi studio setup to different styles of techno not just trance. This book also goes into a little theory, basic music chords, recording, hardware, sampling, editing, mixing, mastering, sound design, publishing, copyrighting and even making your own web page and promoting. It also goes into a little history of the different styles of techno. This book or any other for that matter is never going to be able to tell you the secret formula of creating the perfect lead or beat for that matter but this one will give you ideas and suggestion on how create one and push you in the right direction. Dance music changes so much and goes thru trends that if anyone could make that secret formula it would probably be out dated by the time they were able to document and publish it! This is a must have and I can't wait to see what he is going to have the second volume. If your a know it all and don't want to learn something new don't buy since you already know it all and your selling a million albums a year but those of us that are not this is a great source of knowledge and great advice!!!!!! Buy this one before you buy the remixer's bible cause that is geared for more advanced producers!!!!!!

I've been working on breakbeat & trance for two years now after doing pop and rock for years in my 20s. I thought I knew quite a bit about electronica, but my 'knowledge' has always been like a mist in my head...there was always something wrong in either my tunes or the process.

I've heard so many good things about this book...to the extent that I thought it was all hype. Weeks ago I finally decided to give it a go. And wow...now the loose ends are really coming together. The author really understands and speaks from a producer point of view, in the case of dance music production, the producer needs to take control of the whole picture and therefore his way of integrating all aspects is nothing short of a great revelation.

I was gonna wait for the new edition, but decided to give this one a read first. And I'm glad I did. I wish I had this book years ago!

THere's a reviewer saying that this book is 'basic': well, it certainly isn't for "advanced electronica producers"---because these advanced dudes are most likely working on inspirations that hace to be felt and worked, rather than essential skills this book provides. Really...if you're so advanced, why are you still looking for a 'manual'?

If you do dance music, I whole heartedly recommend that you get a copy of this book.

Excellent book. Easy to read, and extensive to say the least.

Some things that disappointed me though (and they are minor): The examples of drum rhythms, bass lines, and basically constructing a track are brief.

Another thing I was disappointed with was that almost a quarter of the book was devoted to HTML and making an audio website. That was upsetting because I don't care to make websites. I care to make MUSIC!

I was also disappointed that the book picked a few sub-sub-genres to work composition/production examples from. I would have preferred the book focused more on how to make something that gets people onto the floor and DANCE.

I can see though, that without much knowledge at all about dance music production, this is a fantastic starting point and would get a reader up to speed to read the more in depth books on audio production specifics such as synth programming, drum programming, and software/hardware specific manuals.

I thoroughly recommend this book to anyone who is a dance music hobbyist or just starting out with the dream of getting hearing your name backannounced on the radio when you drive home from work.... "Yep, that's my track."

Buy this book and the dream will be a LOT closer.

This is a book for very, very young readers, so I'll spare you the metatextual analysis and just say that my 15 month-old can't get enough of this book. It's short, but apparently quite riveting, as we usually start from the beginning as soon as we finish it. Sometimes, to change things up, I start from the end and work my way backwards, and the book seems to work just as well that way.

The different textures are fun for the little ones to feel, too. It's a durable book, as well, which is a major consideration for this age group.

except for this one. My 8 month old son does not sit still for books (much to my dismay), but everytime I pull this book out, he stops squirming and will look at and touch the textured parts of this book. He even flips through the pages himself.

I am going to purchase more of this series.

My 13 month old son loves this book. We have the set of 4 books and they are by far his favorite. We have been reading these books to him since he was 9 months old and he has always loved them. We can put one of these books in his crib with him and it will distract him for a good 20 minutes.

I bought this book for my 18 mo old grandson and he loves it. The different textures are great for little fingers.

My son loves most of this book. He really likes the "hairy", the "fluffy", the "shaggy" and the "squashy". However, when we get to "bumpy" and "shiny", he flips the pages. He's only 9 months so maybe he doesn't get the subtlety of the feel of those two but he definitely knows he doesn't like them. This book would be a 5 if those two pages weren't included and there were two other textures that were more obvious to little hands. He chooses this book over others but when there are 6 things to touch and he doesn't like two of them, it's only a 4.

When I placed this item on my wish list, I relaly didn't expect anyone to buy it for me for Christmas, which is why I was so happy when a friend and his wife actually ordered it for me. Unfortunatly, this is where the drama began. First, the seller reported that they were backordered. Ok, I can handle that, so I waited. Next, it was being shipped, but then the order was canaceled and now the item is only available for over twice the original price. If I wanted to deal with this sort of issue, I would order through EBAY. I don't intednd to order anything like this agian from this seller or Amazon.

I'm not a player of D&D, but I do collect dragons, as does my husband. When I saw this gorgeous fellow last Christmas, I snatched him up. My husband loves it just as much as I do. If you love dragons, this is a must. Even cooler, the flaming column can be removed. As far as I know, this is the largest D&D piece I've seen though even he is not the largest in our hoard.

This Dragon is very cool. And is 'realist'. For those who play D&D or D&D Miniatures, this is the best aquisition ever! =D

This is a really nice piece to add some visual pop to your D&D minis collection. It is quite a bit bigger than any of the other dragon minis, and the attachable fire breath really ups the intimidation factor. You'll probably never use it in a game, but why not strike a little fear into your players' hearts anyway?

This ain't your normal miniature! Yeah, it's plastic, but the coloring, texture, and detail are really great. This sits on my office shelf, so I can look at it every day. Expensive, but worth the money for me.