Kites Books

i read this to 4 and 5 yr.old boys and they both loved it! anything that can keep these two still for more than 3 minutes has to be either real good or real bad-in this case it was GOOD!

I love all the curious George books. Who Doesn't?

author of "Hobo Finds A Home"

There is a very curious monkey called Curious George. He lives with a man with a yellow hat. One day the man with the yellow hat has to so some stuff, so he tells George to be a good monkey while he isn't there. So George stays alone and plays with his ball. he looks out of the window and sees a realy small house. He finds out its a bunny house so he plays with one and he puts it back. Then from behind the wall he sees a large pole with a string. he folowed the fisher and saw him fish.then he made his own fishing pole but never caught a fish. Then he falls in the lake and Bill passes by. Then George gets out and Bill shows him his kite fly. George then holds it while Bill gets his bike so George lifts up the kite and lifts him up. Luckly then man with a yellow hat got home,got a helicopter and saved George and Bill gave him a baby bunny.

Unlike many other Curious George books, this one is meant for kids to read for themselves. The Accelerated Reading designation is given as 2.7 which means the text is suitable for children reading at an advanced Second Grade level. [2.7 translates as a book that some average and mythical child should be able to read when in the 7th month of 2nd Grade. It can be enjoyed by people of any age, of course.]

My own observations about this book as a primer, is that it is sort of long, and at nearly 80 pages, although there isn't a ton of text on each page, I doubt most youngsters will be able to get through it in one sitting. But on the plus side, at our house we found it engaging and funny and it kept my son motivated to keep plugging away until it was done.

Conclusion ::: Although written as a primer for fairly advanced youngsters - at the almost 3rd Grade level - the actual plot may be too babyish for more precocious children. It was perfect though for my son who is now 6. He was laughing and chuckling throughout the book and was very motivated to keep going.

Pam T~

George the Monkey lives in the house of the man with the yellow hat. Monkey's are curious, George is very curious, so they call him Curious George. One day the man with the yellow hat had to go out. He told Curious George to stay in and play with the ball. Of course, George found a reason to go out and have a little adventure. He played with a baby bunny, almost got in trouble when he lost him, but he came up scheme to get him back. He saw a fat man go fishing, tried it too and fell in the lake. He helped a boy get a kite out of a tree, then tried to fly the kite himself. The wind came up and all of a sudden Curious George was carried aloft, holding onto the kite string for dear life. Fortunately the yellow hat man came home, got a helicopter and was able to save Curious George so that he could live happily ever after with his new baby bunny pet.

The lesson here is, of course, "Curiosity Killed the Cat," or in this case almost killed the monkey. You can also make a case for your toddler that if George had minded the Yellow Hat Man, he wouldn't have gotten himself in such trouble. This book is just a bit old for my almost three-year-old son, but he loves it nevertheless. Devon knows his letters already, knows they make words and he knows what words are. This, among many other books for early readers, will have him literate before Kindergarten. What a fun way to teach a child to read.

Jack Priest, Dad in Training

The basic plot was okay, if a bit far fetched, and reasonably fast moving. BUT. I'm sorry I simply couldn't get by the many spelling errors. Just a small sampling: page 17--large "some" of money. (sum) page 74--sure "ill" get M1 (I'll becomes ill). page 82---he was only "aloud" to get off the plane (allowed). I don't think this is in any way nitpicking. These types of errors abound thru the book. It's simply not professional. It's a shame more care was not taken with this project.

Our friends son wrote this book. It was fast service and excellent condition. I would buy from this seller again.

This is a great accomplishment for a first time writer and I was very impressed. The story line kept my interest the entire time. It moved fast and had good imagination. I could easily visualize the charters and the situations. I know the writer kept the narative short to maintain effect, but at times a little more detail could have helped. It helps to read the book in one or two sittings. The story line jumps a bit and if you put it down you may need to read back to pick it back up. A great subject and very timely as well. I am looking forward to his next book by this up and coming author.

IF YOU ARE TIRED OF READING THE SAME OLD BOOKS OVER AND OVER AGAIN, READ THIS ONE, I HAVEN'T EVEN FINISHED IT YET AND I WOULD RECOMEND IT TO EVERYONE. IT'S A REALLY GOOD BOOK. AND, THE AUTHER IS A GREAT GUY! SO GO AHEAD AND GET IT RIGHT NOW! YOU WONT BE DISAPOINTED!

Having picked this up due to a couple of recommendation, I suffered through the grossly high price. The story line is modern, and acceptable. Actually, it and the fact the author is a fellow "Airman" became the only reason why I finished reading the book.

That was the positive spin. Here is the cold honest truth...

The book at times became almost unbearable due to numerous spelling and grammatical errors. For example, "I'll" was "ill" throughout 95% of the book. There were a couple of moments when the act of trying to translate the book didn't seem worth it. For example, page 14 (5th page of actual text) was just the beginning... "The men are slapping hand cuffs and shackles on their hands and shackles on there ankles."

For the record, that is exactly what came out of page 14. How about someone to proof read your writing??? So you can just imagine how the other 171 pages were...

For the cost of the book, Rowe should have used one of his friends (totting it on this site) to proof read. He could have even asked one of his supervisors or SNCOs to give it a once over, that alone would could have caught and corrected at least 100 errors.

All in all, there is potential in this story but not at this price. I would recommend dropping the publisher when possible, editing and posting it as an E-Book to get a follower ship. Then the next five books he has on the back burner might catch on. Until that happens I wouldn't buy it for the $20 price tag, its just not worth it...

This deceptively simple novel seems to be cut from the cloth of Jack London stories and Eskimo folklore. A meditation on desire, courtship, human aspirations and man's relationship to the natural world, this story has similarities to the Jane Campion film, "The Piano"--which also centers around a mute female and a big, obvious symbol. In "The Seal Wife", the looming symbol is the scientist Bigelow's huge weather kite, which almost seems like it has (Wilhelm) Reichian overtones.

Main character Bigelow is a dreamer adrift in a wilderness town populated with coarse frontiersmen, and a few women. He loses himself in his work, and in his pursuit of a mysterious, silent Aleut woman who seems as out of place in the 1915 Anchorage settlement as Bigelow himself. The story takes on mythic overtones when the woman disappears for a long period, as enchantresses often do in fairy tales. There are hints that the Aleut may represent an animal spirit which has taken on human form. On another level, she seems to represent the need of Bigelow, a weather scientist who has his 'head in the clouds', to connect and become 'grounded' by an elemental, earthy and sensual woman.

A novel like this lives or dies by the grace of its descriptive language, and Harrison is masterful with details. There are many beautiful, impressionistic passages. The story itself is purposefully gauzy, and some readers who like less style and more plot may find themselves wondering, "where's the beef?"

I found this book more satisfying than "Gould's Book of Fish"--which also attempted to mix science and psychological symbolism. I found it drier and less original than something like Rachel Ingalls' "Mrs. Caliban". (For a much wilder take on gender and shapeshifting, try Peter Beagle's extended short story, "Lila the Werewolf"...)

I look for Kathryn Harrison to do even better than "The Seal Wife" in the future.

Passionate and beautifully written, but when the book veered from the relationship between the protagonist Bigelow and the Aleut woman it was not quite as compelling for me. I found all the characters fascinating - how could you not with Harrison's rich earthy descriptive storytelling, but I couldn't sustain interest in his work - and that takes up a good deal of the book.

Bigelow Greene, a twenty six year-old meteorologist from the Midwest, is hired by the Weather Bureau in 1915 and sent to the frontier boomtown of Anchorage, Alaska, to set up an observation station. Unfortunately, due to the department's new budget, the young man barely earns a living wage. He must find additional work to survive life in the harsh Arctic climate, where below freezing temperatures and 20 hour-long winter nights present a major challenge to one's sanity. "The Alaskan sun remains unknowable, every day a new prank, pulling along its bows and parhelia and other odd, errant optical paraphernalia, too lazy and distracted to achieve altitude, rolling along the tops of mountains, infusing the icy fog with a strange and sullen greeny glow." In his solitude, Bigelow sees all matter of surreal phenomena from his observatory windows which he would have never before called weather. He questions whether he can survive here. He doesn't think he has mastered the "required optimism" to do so. Descriptions of the physical world, like the one above, provoke one to wonder whether the landscape is depicted from a real life perspective or from an emotional one, a reflection of Bigelow's inner world?

There is a woman, called the Aleut, who lives in a frame house on the mud flats outside of Anchorage. Bigelow becomes obsessed with her. He finds her beautiful. He visits her. They drink tea, share meals, have sex. She bathes. He watches. They never talk. He knows nothing about the woman, about her life, her history, not even her name. Although he speaks to her, he never knows whether she understands him. However, she allows him to watch her "as intently, as much and as long, as he wants and the reason for this comes to him one night. She is self-possessed. She possesses herself." This makes him want her all the more. She becomes necessary to him. Then, one morning, she is gone. And he is shattered.

Bigelow, begins to drink and look for sexual pleasure with other women, mostly local prostitutes, to ease his pain. He is devastated by the Aleut's disappearance. He temporarily becomes involved with a shopkeeper's daughter, who sings, but is unable to speak. She stammers so violently that she communicates only through written notes. However, his fixation with the missing Inuit woman continues and follows him into his dreams. An introverted, sensitive man, Bigelow does not fit in with the coarser men from town and so he is left virtually alone.

The young scientist originally accepted his low paying job because it would give him the opportunity to prove a meteorological theory he had long been obsessed with. He hypothesizes that a great current of air sweeps in a circular fashion from the poles to the equator and back again, causing the air high over the poles to be warm, and the air over the equator cold. His dual obsessions with the meteorological project and with the Aleut woman continually vie for first place in his mind and with his energy. He designs and constructs an enormous kite to take temperature readings thousands of feet above the earth, which will enable him to prove his theory. The kite and his documentation also serve to distract him from his emotional pain and loneliness. The narrative focuses as much on Bigelow's inner obsession with the Aleut woman, as on his professional passion for charting the weather, with "recording a narrative that unfolds invisibly to most people." Unbeknownst to Bigelow, his newfound success with the kite has made a name for him in Anchorage as a scientific innovator. No matter how successful his work is, however, he finds no peace of mind.

"The Seal Wife," is a finely detailed, well-researched historical fiction that concerns the development of scientific technology before WWI, turn-of-the-century Alaska, and the growth of one man's character. Kathryn Harrison's language is richly metaphorical, especially when she describes the Alaskan landscape as seen through Bigelow's eyes. Her characters, especially the women, are of mythological proportion, more archetypical than three dimensional, and extremely mysterious - although I find Bigelow to be quite realistic. I am a big fan of Ms. Harrison's and while this is an excellent novel, I do prefer her more contemporary work.
JANA

Kathryn Harrison's The Seal Wife is quite an intense read. It is the story of Bigelow Greene, a young man who moves to Alaska in 1915 to establish a weather station. He becomes obsessed with a silent Aleut woman he becomes sexually involved with and when she mysteriously disappears, his world, and perhaps his sanity begin to crumble. He becomes involved with another silent woman and his simple life grows more and more complex. The brutal Alaskan landscape serves as an excellent backdrop for this novel and its language. The Seal Wife is certainly not for the faint of heart--Bigelow is obsessed with sex and Harrison is not afraid to delve deeply into that obsession. If you can take that, try this intense read. It's hard to put down.

Extremities define - they map out the boundaries of continents and nations, of worlds, and of our bodies. There are several extremities at work in Kathryn Harrison's novel - and the unforgiving Alaskan weather is one of them. The central character, a meteorologist named Bigelow, is sent to Anchorage in 1915 in order to begin recording weather data for the US government. He is at first excited by the prospect - both by its frontier location and by his potentially pioneering work - but he soon falls prey to forces beyond his control, both in his heart and in his physical environment.

Bigelow finds himself both physically and emotionally hammered by the isolation enforced upon him by his surroundings. He thinks he is prepared for the time-toppling 20-hour winter nights and the seemingly endless days of the summer months - he soon finds that he is sinking deeper and deeper into loneliness. He finds a bit of solace in the company of a native woman - known simply as the Aleut woman, her name never being revealed to either the reader or Bigelow - and he becomes more and more obsessed with her silence. She never speaks a word to him - the only noises he ever hears from her are her quiet moans during sex. Rather than being driven away by this, he is drawn more and more to her because of it. When she suddenly disappears - without an explanation of where she's going or when or if she'll return - his life is thrown into chaos.

He soon finds another woman with whom he becomes infatuated - she sings, accompanying the silent films that are shown periodically in a tent, projected onto a sheet. She is as mysterious as the Aleut woman - it takes quite a bit of detective work on Bigelow's part for him to discover her name and where she lives. When he does manage to meet her, he is struck by a strange parallel to the Aleut woman - this girl is also silent, except for her songs. She communicates with him by way of a pencil and paper, and lets him know that she can't speak - she can sing, but only the words written by others. She cannot even use song to communicate her own thoughts.

... I think that Harrison has endowed both of them with a lot of character and, in their own ways, a lot of things to say. This is particularly true of the Aleut woman - for a character that never utters a word (none of her thoughts are ever presented, either), this reader came away with a deep sense of her personality. She is a uniquely strong character - she lives her life as she chooses, and no one (especially Bigelow) is going to dictate what she should or shouldn't do. The method he finally finds of communicating with her, of touching her on a deeper level, is a memorable one - I'll leave it for the potential reader to discover what that is.

Bigelow himself is a less-than-admirable character, albeit a sympathetic one - meaning that I didn't necessarily like him as a person, or approve of his methods of dealing with those around him, but that I could understand how extenuating circumstances (as well as what was revealed of his upbringing) had formed him into the person depicted here on these pages.

Overall, I found the book to be compelling and entertaining - and I thought the style with which Harrison composed the novel was perfect for the story and setting. The author has a great gift for images: `God exhaling clouds of geese' (p.224); and `Like a key, the thought of her eluding him turns in his flesh' (p. 29). This is great writing.

A Room on Lorelei Street by Mary E. Pearson was over all a worth while novel. It is based on the life of a teenage girl struggling to cope with a highly dysfunctional family. It finally comes to her moving into a rental room to escape the emotional abuse of her mother and grandmother. Barely making it by, some of her methods are a little less than honorable. The author does an amazing job with making the reader feel as if she or he is truly in the mind of a struggling teenage girl. The figurative language is captivating and voice is realistic. Characterization is well developed but some of their actions are very dishonorable and then never reconciled when the reader is led to believe that they will be. In the end the majority of the conflicts from the beginning are left hanging along with some new ones. This left me feeling like I wanted to keep flipping pages that weren't there. Other than the abrupt ending, A Room on Lorelei Street was a great source of entertainment.

No wonder this young adult novel by Mary Pearson was honored with SCBWI's prestigious Golden Kite. You're drawn to Zoe from her first inappropriate outburst in English class, then amazed by her resilience as you're swept deeper and deeper into her story. The characters could be people you know--their quirks, their messy personalities, their coping mechanisms. You want to reach into the pages and give this gritty girl some gasoline money. With an eye for detail, Pearson pulls many threads through this teen survival story--keep an eye on the bulldog! Clever, whole, moving. Makes any reader yearn for a room on Lorelei with a landlady like Opal.

Mary E. Pearson's A Room on Lorelei Street is gripping and well-written, a bleak story with streaks of hope. A Room on Lorelei Street is the story of Zoe, a 17-year-old girl burdened by a difficult family. Her father is dead, under somewhat mysterious circumstances, and her mother pretty much lives inside the bottle. Her beloved younger brother has been sent away to live with a more stable aunt and uncle, who have no room for Zoe, while Zoe is left to care for her irresponsible and needy mother.

One day Zoe sees a sign advertising a room for rent in a gracious home on Lorelei Street. She is unable to resist the lure of getting away from her mother, and of being in a place that's all her own, clean and quiet and safe. She rents the room (more of a studio apartment) from the quirky but kind Opal, and finds it everything she has dreamed of. However the ties of family and guilt are not so easy to break, and Zoe struggles with continuing demands from her family. She also struggles financially, not really able to afford living on her own while working part time while attending high school. But she's not willing to go back, either.

This book made me think about all of the things that I took for granted growing up: clean clothes, abundant food, parents to attend any plays or recitals that I was in, siblings who lived in the same house. Zoe is painfully in need of someone to care about her, to put her needs first, to be what family is supposed to be. When Opal attends one of her tennis matches and cheers for her, it brings tears to Zoe's eyes. She considers it the nicest thing that anyone has ever done for her. How sad is that? How many kids are there who have no one to care about them?

The ways in which Zoe acts out are not surprising, given her background, and are treated matter-of-factly by the author. The looming menace of what she will or won't do to earn money to afford her Lorelei Street haven is more disturbing. Toward the end of the book, things get increasingly difficult for Zoe, and the fragile ties tethering her to the community snap one by one. What keeps Zoe going are a few precious memories of her father's belief in her potential, and her own unquenchable sense of possibility.

Zoe is a strong character, a teenage girl facing situations far beyond her years. Her landlady, Opal, is delightful, glowing with enthusiasm, despite the hardships in her life. The small, depressed town of Ruby, Texas is almost a character in the book, too. Ruby is beaten down and insular, without much economic potential, but the stars still shine overhead. And there are still beautiful rooms on Lorelei Street.

This is a book that will make you think. About the connections between people. About what kids need from their parents. About what makes some people keep going, while others give up. About where responsibilities to family end, and responsibility to self beings. Mary Pearson's writing is spare and elegant, with just enough detail to make the scenes pictured painfully clear. I think that it will particularly resonate with teenagers, male or female, struggling to find their place in the world.

A Room on Lorelei Street won the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators Golden Kite Award for fiction published in 2005. This is the only major children's book award given by the writer's peers.

This book review was originally published on my blog, Jen Robinson's Book Page, on July 18th, 2006.

This is a gripping novel about a high school girl who leaves her alcoholic mother and rents her own room. I loved everything about it.

The main character, Zoe, is so well drawn she seems almost real. She has flaws, but she has a big heart and a lot of drive. I really wanted her to make it on her own, and found it difficult to put down the book until I got to the end and discovered her fate.

The language is gorgeous, but it's not one of those beautiful books where nothing happens. A lot happens, with page-turning suspense througout the novel.

I also liked reading about the vivid supporting characters-- the mean yet realistic grandmother, people at Zoe's school, the creepy guy who Zoe sees at work.

This is my favorite teen novel of 2005.

Zoe is determined not to be like her mother. So she sets out on her own and rents a room in an attempt to get away from the things that drag her down...then she becomes that which she despises.

This happens so often in families. Kids are always saying "I'm not going to be anything like my parents." Yet, that's what they know, so that's what they become. And most don't even know it.

The real beauty of this story is that Zoe sees what she's become, acknowledges it, then takes steps to change. She's heading into the unknown, and has no idea whether she'll be okay. But she takes comfort in knowing that this is the right direction.

Such a stunning and courageous message to send to kids. Well done, Ms. Pearson.

I gave Second Hand Magic a 5 star rating, because it's an adventure ride all the way. Your heart will be beating when Paul and Caroline take a sky high ride on a kite named Bird. This kite has magic powers that leads Paul and Caroline to take a ride in the park. Ruth Chew leaves you hanging on the edge of your seat. What will happen next?

Wow! What a great book! It was very creative. I liked the characters Paul, Caroline,and Clement Ellsworth. The author and illustrator, Ruth Chew, did a very nice job with the pictures and telling the story. Her imagination was very nice. The kite was the best part, because it wasn't like any other kite.If you read this book you will enjoy it.

I just finshed reading one of the best books ever by Ruth Chew. Its about a kite. One day two kids found a kite shaped liked a bird. They thought it was different. They took it home to show their dad. It flew high in the air and really fast.

Ijust got done reading a fabulous book called Second-Hand Magic. There are 2 main charactors named Paul and Caroline. Paul and Caroline find a kite up in a tree. The author is Ruth Chew. Ruth thought of a charactor named Clement Ellswerth. Clem likes to be called Clem. Clem always follows Paul and Caroline around. Iwould give this book 5 stars because of good detail and good writing.

What a great book! I can not believe how creative the author was about the book. Paul and Caroline found a kite up in a tree and were wondering if it was magical. I wonder how the author came up with the idea? Maybe she found a kite and thought it was magical. However she got the idea , it was a good one. The author, Ruth Chew did very well. Her writing was detailed. For example the kite had very fine embroidery thread as the kite's string. I also liked how many characters were in the book, not too many and not too few. I really enjoyed this book. I know you will enjoy this book if you read it, and I think you will.

This was a very interesting book indeed. Set in a medieval town called Hameln in 1284, this book is about a boy named Salz who has cystic fibrosis (although they didn't call it that at that time) and has to do all kinds of crazy things just to stay alive. He has to avoid beer, stand on his head, and belong to a coven to name a few. As the story progresses the town becomes infested with rats and a very strange disease. Eventually the whole village is plunged into madness and Salz is accused of witchcraft. This story---which is based on the pied piper legends---would be ideal for the history buff in your family and would make an excellent Christmas gift!

As usual, Donna Jo Napoli lures you into the world within her pages in the most unassuming way. She paints grim scenes of the Medieval Days, and gives you a history lesson as well! You learn how people dressed and ate and worked: what kind of buildings they lived in and how they typically dealt with problems.

The main character in Breath is called Salz: S for the salvation of his soul, A for ability and action, L for loyalty, and Z for zeal (salz also means "salt" in Latin- or some such language). He's sweet and willful, tenacious, clever, brave... but Salz's one great weakness prevails over all of his more useful characteristics. Salz is sick quite often. He has a peculiar disease which makes him "salty" and which the townsfolk and farmers of Hameln regard as symbolic that he's from the devil. Besides that, there is an enemy inside him: the mucus that fills his lungs and stops the air he needs to breathe. Nevertheless, Salz is strong in the face of any opposition. He is zealous in his coven practices (yes- witches!)and faithful to Catholicism. When things start to go awry in Hameln town, Salz will need every ounce of his tenacity just to stay alive.

Breath is a pretty offbeat re-telling of the legendary Pied Piper of Hameln town. Throughout the book, rats infest houses and churches and barns: anywhere where they can sneak to get away from the incessant rain (there's something funny about that rain, TOO MUCH rain... that can't be good). When the whole town starts getting sick, starting with the cattle and the pigs, the people first turn blame upon the rats, those filthy animals known for spreading sicknesses that come from thickly populated Asia. Near the end of the tale, Salz remembers a piper whom he met (in the very first chapter) who could charm animals and who could possibly drive the rats away from Hameln. But are the rats REALLY the problem...
Read Breath to find out!

Napoli has done an excellent job portraying a medieval town. The details of daily life in Hameln during the 13th century are fascinating, if grim. The story is narrated by a boy named Salz, who lives with his older brothers, father, and grandmother on a farm outside town. Grandmother taught him to stand on his hands to help him clear the congestion from his lungs when his frequent bouts of coughing overtake him. This year has the rainiest growing season in memory, and the most rats. First the grazing animals sicken, then the townspeople. As the frightened people try everything to rid themselves of this pestilence, Salz finds himself in danger - why hasn't he shown any of the symptoms? This book was interesting enough to finish, but not a page-turner. Recommended for history buffs and fans of the middle ages.

Breath
Donna Jo Napoli

The main character of the book's name is Salz. He lives in a town called Hameln. This story is set in medieval times and suspicious times. The townsfolk are terrified of a severe rat problem. People are going crazy, coughing, and dying. Salz has breathing problems and to avoid choking, he throws himself into a hand stand. His father and his brothers all ignore him and abuse him. Though they realize that he is unaffected by the plague of the rats, and say he is evil, and infected by the rats disease because he coughs all the time. The author has done a good job on this book and put quite a bit of work on the story board, and the attention to detail is obvious. The story is very realistic and precise with most of the stuff related to the suspicion, wrongful prosecution, and rumors that happened a long time ago, and then added the story of the piper and added a twist. I didn't like this book. I thought it was mostly a prequel of the folk tale of the piper. And I was kind of awed and sickened by the thought of some of the things described. I didn't enjoy the subject of the book, but I think the author did a good job.

Book Review of Breath By: Donna Jo Napoli

Set in medieval times, in the town of Hameln, Breath is a fantasy of madness and mystery. The main character, a young boy named Salz, has a disease that causes him to uncontrollably cough, stopping him from breathing. In order to stay alive, Salz has to join a coven, steer clear of beer, and stand on his hands to resume breathing.
One summer, the entire town gets trapped under a blanket of chaos that no one understands. On top of that, rats have infested everything, creeping around townsfolk houses and pestering everyone, except Salz. What's happening in the town of Hameln? How did it get this way... or who brought it here?
I want to congratulate Napoli for writing a magnificent book. It always kept me guessing; I never knew what was about to happen. The descriptions of the town and the lifestyles are so detailed, you feel as if you're living in Hameln.
Compared to other books in the fantasy genre, I thought Breath to be fresh and original. It's not the typical wizards, dwarfs, or heroic prince stories, and because of that, I greatly enjoyed reading this book. Anyone interested in the medieval times or fantasy, will fall in love with this frenzied, unsuspecting story.

This book is, without question, an exemplary work on the fascinating topic of kites. This work explores their history in detail and should certainly be in the library of anyone who is interested in the subject.

Sadly, there are some problems with this book that are certainly unrelated to its content but, due to their ability to interfere with reading it, must be mentioned here. Never, and I mean this literally, have I ever read a book which was published using such incredibly small type and my vision certainly isn't that bad. The type used is so small that it's almost impossible to read much without getting distracted. Furthermore, the type used for captions to the many great photographs and drawings is even smaller. Then, to compound matters, the ink used for text reflects light in such a way that one can only read the book when positioned properly. According to the cover pages, the book was printed in China and, I don't know if they used poor printing techniques or where just trying to save money but this book is, without question, the most poorly published I've ever come across. About my only criticism regarding the content of this book is that it could use a quick edit as there are few items that get annoying very quickly; in particular, the author's (or editor's) decision to use the metric system (nothing wrong with that, per se) but that those measurements are consistently then provided using the imperial system with that number being preceded with the word "say." For example, the kite measured one meter (say 1.09 yards), etc. The strange use of the word "say" (which often appears several times on a page) gets to be really irritating.

Granted, this review is rather different but the poor publishing and editing decisions greatly interfere with what would otherwise be an incredible book.

I bought my first copy of this in 1976 and have worn out three copies in the intervening years. I have many kite books in my collection but still come back to this one for inspiration - time after time. Less is more and this is certainly the case with Pelham's book. If I was going to a desert island and was allowed one book this would be the one!

This is where it all started for me in 1978. Comprehensive descriptions and basic measurements, but all kites built from this book have flown very well. This cannot be said about the many more recent books on kites. Because of the simplicity of the instructions, this book is most suitable for people with some kite building experience.

Wow, this book is really neat. It starts out with a fascinating history of kites and winds up with actual kite plans. The history section includes lots of interesting facts I've never heard before. It begins with the ancient origins but includes the 19th and early 20th century inventors (Cody, Bell, etc.) in enough detail to understand what they were really doing. The history section winds up with the inventors of the hang glider (1948) and parafoil (60's). Lots of rare photos and drawing are used to illustrate their work.

After that there are sections on kite flying, kite construction, materials, plans, etc. The text here is terse and to the point, with sufficient detail and scaling information to build the kites whose plans are included (or so it appears, I didn't try to build one). A wide variety of kite plans are included, from traditional designs to unique ones; with enough airflow theory thrown in here and there to make you think you could design your own.

It's lavishly illustrated, but the small format prevents this from being a "coffee table" book. I can't recommend this book highly enough for adults or inventive teens.

The 1st 110 pages of this 220 page book are about the history of kites. Interesting, and very well illustrated with old photos. If that's what you're interested in, it's probably a five star. If you're interested in flying a kite today, then it's more like a one star. The section on building and flying kites is very poorly illustrated. If you're not already proficient in kite building, and you haven't seen a prototype of the kite you're trying to build in person, I'm guessing this book won't get you off the ground. There is some discussion about kite flying tips, types of line, and reels, though it seems thrown together, and again poorly illustrated.

This looked like a beautiful book but it didn't keep my 4 year old daughter's interest. I could barely stay awake through it. The story is good and I like the illustrations but, unlike with some dramatic tales of adventure, my interest slowly waned with each twist and turn of the plot. I understand Mercer Mayer took a hiatus from writing children's books -- I'm glad he's back and look forward to his next one. But I wouldn't buy this book.

In this tale of ancient Japan the Emperor has made life perfect for the daughter he loves. Sadly, or not, depending on your point of view, she is living in a walled garden. Then one day she climbs a tree and sees over the wall. Now she knows the truth and she wants to do something about it. So she has the Royal Kite Maker build a giant kite that carries her aloft. She refused to come down until her father makes the world outside her garden is as beautiful as her garden.

And, of course, the girl's father will try and make things right, but it will not be so easy. It will, however, be easy for you to order this better than excellent book. Even though my almost three-year-old son is too young to understand it, he loves looking at the pictures as him mom or I read along, making up words as we go, so that he can (we think) understand. He'll be reading soon and this is certainly going to be a book he grows with. It is just simply extraordinary.

Jack Priest, Dad in Training

Even though I love the Little Critter series, my favorite book of Mercer Mayer's has always been East of the Sun, West of the Moon with it's colorful and detialed illustrations. With this new book, Mercer Mayer worked with a Mac computer and I am AMAZED with the rich textures and warm realistic quality. No cool technical stuff here...this story too is from the heart and magical!

I highly recommend this book to any fan of Mercer Mayer's work or to a fan of Japanese culture. Although Mayer admits in the note in the book that this story is not based on any known Japanese folklore, it reads just like a folktale should and has enough of a Japanese flavor to make it acceptable to at least Western readers. (I wonder what a Japanese reader would think.) However, the real star of the book is the illustrating. Mayer is excellent at capturing moments from the story in a single illustration, incorporating many elements into a composite that is itself a story. I would recommend his rendition of "Beauty and the Beast" as a further example of this. The style is rich with color and texture, and each illustration has balance and dynamic symmetry. He pays as much attention to the background and the borders as he does the foreground and the main action. You can delight in a small detail like the pattern of the emperor's kimono, or how each of the many kites flying at the end of the book is different.

Mayer also dared to do all the illustrations for this book on a computer, using Adobe Illustrator and a variety of other software. I am impressed with the result, although a few minor things bug me about some of the illustrations. For instance, in a few spots, objects in the distance appear to be sharper, more in focus, then objects in the foreground. It seems to me that this should have been addressed before publishing the book as it goes against our normal way of seeing. But that aside, I commend Mayer for trying his illustration skills in a new medium, and admit that Mayer on a bad day is still wonderful to look at.

The minor glitches with the illustrations, and the fact that the story could have been a bit more poetic, keep this book from getting five stars. Still, it is worth buying. It is a beautiful book.

My 8 year old and I read it together and it was a moving experience for both of us. She is reading chapter books now and we both miss the kind of picture book stories that we had enjoyed so much. At any age, it's nice to sit down with a good story. The combination of the gorgeous illustrations and the thoughts about family and devotion in this story was magic.

As a bonus, Mercer Mayer talks about his childhood growing up in Honolulu, Hawaii and how he learned about race and "melting pots" as a child. Congratulations on a wonderful book, Mr. Mayer!

Get the book and read it with a child.

Like every other genius, Guthrie had hard times all his life. But that may be why he wrote so many great songs of people's lives. The world needs not superficial love songs but real love songs.

I have not read other books about Woody, but I don't feel I have to, to get an appreciation of who he was and where he came from. Until I read this book, I really had no idea what a great musician he was. I'm a fan of Arlo, but knew very little about Woody.
Woody's parents didn't have it easy - his father, Charley didn't like to face the reality of what was happening to his wife, he would drink so he didn't have to face it.
Woody explored just about every belief looking for answers, answers to life and how to live his life. He was mostly interested in the Communist Party and their beleifs.
At times Woody was a counselor to those who were lost, sick, hungry, wanting work and he would give them "commonsense answers", the people would go away satisfied with what Woody had to say to them.
Woody would quite frequently sing his songs to down and out families in migrant camps, always identifying with the workers.
Woody began to suspect the same illness that haunted his mother was effecting him also, he knew that Huntington's disease could be passed along generation to generation.
My heart breaks for all the people who loved Woody and for Woody himself. It's a tragic story, but one worth reading.

An always interesting and well presented recap of an astonishing
life. This book has stayed on my nightstand to be picked up again and again at all hours.

I really enjoyed this book.A longtime fan of Woody and have the bulk of his music that has been published.I have other books of Guthrie;namely, Woody,Cisco,&Me by Jim Longhi,Pastures of Heaven by Woody,edited by Marsh and Leventhal,Woody Guthrie-a life by Joe Klein and this is a very good addition.Though it is a quick read, there is a lot of fresh stuff;plus a lot of really good pictures I've not seen before.
If Pete Seeger says "The best book about Woody ever written", it's got to be good. Can you imagine Pete saying something he didn't believe? Get it,it's a keeper and enjoy it.

Elizabeth Partridge set herself up with a monumentally difficult task when she decided to write an authoritative juvenile biography of the great Woody Guthrie. How to write a story about a man that was simultaneously brilliant and woebegotten? Who spoke out for racial equality, strength among the masses, and freedom while also leaving every family who ever loved him? Partridge has done as good a job as could be done, considering her circumstances. The result is a meticulously researched labor of love that is just as much tribute as it is tell-all. As Pete Seeger himself has said about the work, "The best book about Woody ever written".

Woody Guthrie was born in 1912 in Okemah, Oklahoma to a mother with Huntington's Disease and a father who joined lynch mobs and Klu Klux Klans. Talking about this point in Woody's life, Partridge simultaneously displays all the harsh horrible things Woody had to deal with growing up without actually condemning anyone. In fact, the portions of the text that talk about Charley Guthrie (Woody's father) joining in the persecution of African-Americans aren't related with any commentary at all. It's as if Partridge is working on the assumption that the readers will be able to process these facts and come to their own conclusions, rather than have interpretations rammed down their throat. It is also the first moment the author gives the audience the benefit of the doubt. It is not the last.

Moving on through Woody's life, we see him grow up, loose his parents (one way or another), and join various bands. We also see him beginning to travel all across the country on his own. At last, Woody marries and it becomes clear that he is not exactly prime husband material. Abandoning his wife regularly to travel (sometimes when she's just about to give birth), Woody joins various causes around the country. When Woody and his wife finally break up, her narrative abruptly ends. Patridge has a habit of following the people in Woody's life meticulously right up until the moment Woody breaks off all contact with them. Then, their story ends immediately. We never really learn how Woody's father ended his life. Or what became of Woody's children by his first wife (though an afterword in the back of the text explaining Huntington's Disease explains that all but three of his children died either of the disease or of car accidents). Do we criticize Partridge for her choice or narratives? Or do we accept that she really couldn't continually follow Woody's friends and relatives because of space and narrative issues? I'm inclined towards the latter, though it would have been nice to see a little afterword that explains what became of everyone.

Moving towards Woody's second wife, the war, and his battle with Huntington's, Partridge nicely melds text with social commentary. Woody's acceptance of all people, regardless of color, is especially well done. As he sinks further into Huntington's, and has an affair with a pretty young folk singer, the reader sees how Woody finally loses control. A little more information about the talented Arlo Guthrie (his son) would not be out of place at this point, but this is Woody's story, I suppose. Finally, we read Woody's death. The story ends.

Partridge is to be commended for how interesting this book is. As I read it, my husband continually asked me why this was considered a juvenile book. Apart from being published by a press for young readers, I have to assume it's considered a youth text because its so doggone interesting. The words are a little larger than you'd find in an adult biography. The pictures a little more interesting and consistent. On the whole it's a great read. Most wonderful of all is how well the book has been researched. Partridge includes an Afterword about her own personal connection to the subject, a tribute to the Woody Guthrie Foundation, information on Huntington's Disease, Acknowledgements (in which she mentions her interviews with Arlo Guthrie and Pete Seegar), Source Notes, a Bibliography, an Index, Picture Credits, and Permissions. She is nothing if not extensive.

"This Land Was Made For You and Me" is not the world's most definitive biography written with youth in mind, but it comes pretty darn close. But don't limit it to the kids. Read it yourself. Learn a little more about what made the great man tick. Though it's over-quoted, here's what Woody himself had to say about his music:

"I hate a song that makes you think that you're not any good. I hate a song that makes you think you are just born to lose. I am out to fight those kind of songs to my very last breath of air and my last drop of blood".

Dr. Jeffrey Lee has two daughters who have been granted the benefit of his youthful interest in being, as he puts it, an "all-American boy". Dr. Lee's Chinese born father had no way of knowing how to, say, throw a baseball but in the face of his four sons' interests read up on the subject and gamefully worked his way through. Lee thought he'd have it easier the first time he set out to teach his daughter something and he made her cry. But she eventually learned and they had fun together, but that beginning wasn't terribly auspicious. And so Lee wrote this book, so that we wouldn't repeat his mistakes but rather could have fun from the start.

In this volume that Dr. Lee offers step by step and well-illustrated instructions on how to make and fly a kite, bake bread, catch a fish, build a fire, make a pie, juggle, skip a rock and more. He notes early on that one doesn't need to be an expert to be a good teacher, a comment designed to calm adult fears of not being "good enough". Each chapter includes a briefing on what to know before you start, what equipment/materia is needed, a section on troubleshooting and even some jokes or theme-related funny stories and trivia.

This is a wonderful book for any adult who wants to enjoy the company of a child while relearning and/or teaching these ever so critical "life skills". Your kids already think you know everything, why not have a little fun?

This book is great- filled with 21 things that in the "old days" were just assumed everyone learned and knew. Now, this book is teaching my husband a few things HE didn't even know how to do, and he's showing them all to our daughter.
It's great for those old fashioned parents where XBOX & GameBoy do not rule your household.
Made a great Father's day gift (even though my husband hasn't even opened a book since College!).

I was so excited as I read through the pages of Catch a Fish. My boys and I are going to have so much fun together in the years to come. But it will take a village to teach my boys all the activities in this book! I read the exhaustive instructions on fishing. It was obvious Lee loves it, but I never will. So call all your village people to pony up and promise to teach the kids something! The memories made while learning are worth more than the skills themselves.

I have a 4 year old. My father never spent much time with us doing stuff. Only around holidays. I learned to ride a bike by falling down. This guy actually found out there is a good way to teach kids to ride in one day! And he breaks down how to teach a scared kid how to throw a ball into managable steps. A MUST have for every parent. Most of the activities are suited for 5-8 year olds though, so my daughter is still a bit young. But I keep it near the front door for reference on the outside activity days. I will let you all know how the bike riding training goes.

I rate this a 5 out of 5. Very useful, easy to read, and a good reference that I will pick up again and again.

This is a wonderful little guide, including not only the basics of 21 great things to do with children of various ages, but an important perspective on how to teach those things.