Clubs Books

Great book. Great story. Great pictures. My son loves all of Syd Hoff's books.

This is my favorite childhood book. I am now 26 and was discussing favorite childhood books with my husband when he said he had never heard of Chester. I ordered the book, we read it together, and he's now a Chester fan too. Can't wait to share this with our future children!

In this book, I learned not to belive in what other people say. Chester was a wild horse, he lived with other horses out in the west. Chester wanted for someone to take care of him but the other horses said that it was better to be a wild horse. Then people with ropes came and Chester asked them if they could take him but they did not take him they took the other horses. So it is better to do what you want, not what other people say.

In this book, I learned not to belive in what other people say. Chester was a wild horse, he lived with other horses out in the west. Chester wanted for someone to take care of him but the other horses said that it was better to be a wild horse. Then people with ropes came and Chester asked them if they could take him but they did not take him they took the other horses. So it is better to do what you want, not what other people say.

In this book, I learned not to belive in what other people say. Chester was a wild horse, he lived with other horses out in the west. Chester wanted for someone to take care of him but the other horses said that it was better to be a wild horse. Then people with ropes came and Chester asked them if they could take him but they did not take him they took the other horses. So it is better to do what you want, not what other people say.

Our young daughter asks us to read this book on a daily basis. So, although this book has been around for decades, it seems to transcend time.

There is something so warm and comforting about the illustrations and the gentle, fun dialog. Somehow the pictures give a sense of stability and safety. It is a brilliant marriage of text and illustration.

The understanding and humor that passes between the three generations speaks to the intricacy of relationships and the intelligence that young children possess. The author knew how to communicate her story without being condescending to children or adults.

I highly recommend this book. It is especially effective as a bedtime book because it has such a calming effect.

Another fun, sweet story about little bear and his family. My son (almost 3 years old) and I have been reading this book every night since I gave it to him.

There are four separate but related stories in this "I CAN READ Book" and they are all delightful. They flow from one to the other so that first story has Little Bear visiting his grandparents, while the second and third stories are tales that Little Bear's grandmother and then grandfather tell him. And the final story has Little Bear's parents coming to take him home after a wonderful, but tiring day of fun.

To parents and other caregivers this structure means is that we can read/or be read to big chunks or small.

Contents:

Grandmother and Grandfather Bear
Mother Bear's Robin
Goblin Story
Not Tired

Now my children like all these stories but there favorite is the one about the goblin who jumps out of his shoes. It never fails to get a howls of laughter from them.

Five Stars. Great artwork by Maurice Sendak. The stories are heart touching and humorous. The book is a Great Read-aloud and a more challenging reader for young children.

The reading level on this book is higher than some of the other Little Bear books and it is listed as 2.3 or suitable for a child reading at the second grade level. There is more vocabulary, more dialog, and more text per page.

~a review by Pam T.~

My kids have been captivated by this book from the time they were barely old enough to look at the pictures. My oldest is almost five, and she still asks me to read this book, even though she has it memorized! It is a charming tale of Little Bear's visit to his grandparents' house. The love in this bear family is so heartwarming, and the sense of fun so nicely realized that adults will love it too. Maurice Sendak's illustrations, which have a 19th Century feel, are the perfect complement to this story. My only complaint is I can't find this book in hardback, and our paperback version is worn out! Two other books in this series - Little Bear and Little Bear's Friend are also great for kids from age 2 to around 7.

Our 3-year-old granddaughter just spent almost two weeks with us. Reading to her has been both a daily (several times a day!) ritual since she was a baby...as well as a source of delight for both her and us. Her favorite story is still the "Goblin Story," which appears in this book. You can easily read it to your young one so that he or she is excited, giggling, and having a wonderful experience with you!

Your book review was really great! I think that this book would be a really interesting book to read! You don't look the type of person that would be an author, but it turns out that you make a very good author! Good luck on your next book! Hope it goes as good as this one is!!!! GOOD LUCK!

CHRISTY, MALLAURIE, YOLANDA

Good work Mrs. Bailey. This is an excellent book. The characters seem so lively and the book is full of suspense. This one will truly keep you on the edge of your seat, and keep you wondering what is to come. I can't wait until your next book..

GOOD WORK!!!!!!

I loved the book "IF I SHOULD DIE" by Sharon Bailey. Once I started reading it I couldn't put it down. I especially enjoyed the clean language. It was full of mystery and keeps you on the edge of you seat. I started the book one evening and tried putting it down and going to bed but couldn't stand it so I got up at 4 a.m. to finish reading it. I gave several copies as Christmas presents. I am looking forward to her next book.

I found this to be a compelling, exciting novel. It contains the rare elements of the character's minds to bind you to their personalities and lives. It will take you from tears to laughter while totally absorbing your attention. It has a story line that keeps you in anticipation page by page. The suspense keeps you both anxious and surprised. I read the novel in one sitting, I simply couldn't put it down. It has the gripping qualities of a Jeffery Deaver novel. This novel shows immorality and bad language are not necessary to create an exciting read that will keep your adrenaline racing to the last page. This is a novel that will satisfy anyone who loves to read. I am anxiously looking forward to the sequel.

The characters in this novel are so realistic, you feel as though you know them personally when you have finished reading. The suspense kept me up until I had read the very last page! I cried off and on all through the book, but it had a fabulous ending! I am anxiously awaiting the sequel. This book is a must read for individuals who enjoy a good mystery romance! I highly recommend the book.

What a terrific guide through the obstacles of life's financial hiways and biways! Written succinctly, intelligently and humorously--this book is a must have for women of all ages who are recognize the importance of understanding how to handle and plan our finances to achieve our life's goals--- while also getting us through the occassional bump in the road or traffic snarls that affect our money issues. Easy read and great maps/questionnaires help to keep us on track while having fun too! A man is not a plan -- and small steps lead to big success are positive themes throughout.

Mystified by money? Using a crystal ball to plan your retirement? Burdened with credit card debt? Lacking health insurance? Budgetless? With humor, charts, user-friendly quizzes, and common sense, this book will prod you into taking the small steps needed to get a grip on money. Your money. Earning it, keeping it, growing it. You'll find the scoop on a broad range of financial topics, sprinkled with quotes from the likes of Confucius, Dear Abby, Mark Twain, and Erma Bombeck. Discover ways to put brains and muscle into your personal money management. I found each chapter to be clear, motivating, specific. A great gift.

Flipped through this book looking for tips on getting out of debt and realized it would help me with all of my money issues. (In fact it made me aware that I had more money issues than I thought I did.) Thanks for a good solid guide that I can understand! These authors should do seminars too.

This book has a wealth of information from getting out of debt to amassing a personal fortune. It's easy to read format helps the reader access topics of personal interest quickly and effortlessly. Get this book if you need to take control of your finances or if you know someone who would benefit from financial help and support. It makes a great gift for the women in your life from mothers and daughters and sisters too.

This is a personal finance book you'll actually ENJOY reading!
It doesn't contain any get-rich-quick schemes, nor does it offer any unrealistic promises or guarantees.

What it does do is help you identify your own "money type" (how you use money in general), and then gives simple lessons on how to best improve what needs improving.

Easy? Not exactly. As I said, there are no quick-fixes offered here. The lessons take time and effort. But if you do them, they're sure to work, because they're based on good sense, and an understanding of how women relate to money issues.

Reviewer: Linda Painchaud

I remember reading this book over and over and over when i was nine or ten. It was such a good book!! Although it wasn't as spooky as Stacey And The Haunted Masquerade(or whatever it was called)...

This is a great book! My mother just bought it for me and I'm really caught up in it. It's sort of like a Babysitters club book(which it is, of course) and a ghost story. I don't usually read ghost stories (ocasionally I read Goosebump books) but the the Babysitter's club and a ghost story goes really well together. The first chapter is a bit boring but all in all it's one of the better Babysitter's Club books.

In Mallory and the Mystery Diary, Stacey and Mallory find a trunk. Stacey wants to throw away the trunk, but Mallory refuses. She takes it home and can't find the key to open the trunk. Finally, her younger brothers undo it. She reaches far in the trunk and finds a diary belonging to Sophie, a girl from 1894. I found this book interesting because I like mysteries and history. It was a fast read and had a good ending.

This book was great! It is about a diary Mallory finds in Stacey's attic. The diary was a girl called Sophie's in the 1800's. She told of how her mother had died at the birth of her baby brother. Her rich grandfather then hated her father and blamed him for stealing a painting he had of his daughter. The diary didn't say anything about who was the culprit, only that Sophie was sure it wasn't her father. Mallory then found the old man's confession about covering up the portrait and then went on to find the atchual painting. An exelent read.

While helping Stacey move back into her house, Mallory finds an old diary about a girl namd Sophie, she used to lived here when it was the year of 1970 i think. So when the BSC goes up to the attic, they found a painting of Sophie!

In this book, Mallory finds that boys and gym are big bad things. The only good boys are her boyfriend and his brothers. But soon Mallory learns the truth about boys. And about gym.

I could relate to hating gym and being ridiculed but it was sooo funny when mal thought the hobarts were angels and learned the hard way that they were brats and her own brothers were the real angels. You have to read it to know what I mean, it's just sooo funny!!!

I hated gym too so much, I was always clumsy myself and volleyball was a nightmare. I was always getting hit in the face just like mallory and it broke my glasses one time. I developed a phobia for big balls flying in my face ever since and I would be depressed after class because I wanted to impress them and do well, but it just wasn't my thing. And mallory's character spoke about myself.

I wish I had read this book when I was in jr high, because I can really identify with Mallory and what she goes through. I dropped out of P.E. in 8th grade because I couldn't take it anymore what was happening to me in our co-ed P.E. class. I wasn't the athletic type and was a klutz, and was harassed by the guys who would call me fat, etc. and it was a totally humiliating experience for me. I especially hated soccer, I just couldn't get it, and the guys took total advantage of this by slamming the ball into me ow!! They thought it was the funniest thing in the world to see me in pain. Like in Mal's situation, the school authorities couldn't understand why I'd refuse to go to P.E. Like Mal, I too was punished due to my failure to participate. By highschool I had a medical waiver so I didn't have to do P.E. at all. I was free! I don't think kids should have to suffer through P.E.; It is a dumb rule to have it as a requirement. What does it matter; it's not doing anything for your education...

Mallory has never been a sports person. In fact, you could say gym is her least favorite subject. Nut now Mal's worst subject has turned into an absolute nightmare. Gym classs has gone co-ed.

Why do they even include the library in a mystery book? I like the souns of that, books being burned in the library.

This was the first and the best BSC book I have ever read. Mary Anne works at the local libary and gets in a mystery of fires in the building. In a brief line, Mary Anne mentions that "The Diary of Anne Frank" (aka: "Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl") was a good book. I like the way the author mentions real books. This is the best BSC book for bookworms who love Mary Anne Spier.

I just love Mary Anne & her endearing sensitivity & her incredible courage! She's such a lovely, sensitive person with a strong character! It was a cute, funny opening scene in the beginning when Mary Anne is feeling depressed & watches a sad movie & cries & cries. Trouble is, she doesn't feel much better & goes to the BSC meeting with red, swollen eyes. Mary Anne gets involved in the readathon & THAT lifts her sadness. But, wow, when the fires in the library were happening, it was scary for her! She even has nightmares! Boy, were Mary Anne & Kristy heroes when they finally caught the firebug! Another cute, touching scene is when the librarians are giving out awards to the kids, Nicky Pike whistles when Mary Anne is recognized for her hard work & Mary Anne blushes a bright red! Then to top it off, Mary Anne ends up blubbering in front of everyone! It's so touching how she cries so easily.

When Mary Anne volunteeers to work for the Readathon[ a contest and if you win you get prizes], the library is getting scary. Because at the back door, Someone set a fire and Mrs. Kishi, Claudia's mom was so worried. Who setted that fire and why did he do it. If the Baby Sitters don't find out, Stoneybrook's biggest library may be lost.

Mary Anne volunteers to work at the Readathon (a contest for the little kids to read books for prizes and to get new books for the library) and then fires start being set off! Mary Anne and the rest of the members of the Baby-sitters Club decide to catch the person setting them off! Not only the BSC but Nicky Pike, BSC member Mallory Pike's brother, is helping too because some matches were found in his jacket pocket and he didn't put them there. So who would set fire to some books and why? Is it the protestors who want to ban some of the books? Is it one of the kids that doesn't want to be in the Readathon? Is it actually Nicky? You have to read the book to find out! I rated it 5 stars because it was well written and pretty fun to read. You probably won't guess who's setting off fires...but you will like the ending!

Very sad, but an honest depiction of a part of Guatemala that we were exposed to during our recent visit. The poverty seemed crippling, and children in work roles were very common.

I love this book. Working in a library, I've been happy to be able to show it to so many people. The hero has a hard life and a mother who doesn't love him. But he has a roof over his head at his grandmother's house, and a simple determination to work, to help, and to learn.

There's an indescribable feel to this book, almost a scent, different from any other book. It really is a masterpiece.

I am from Guatemala City and currently living in the US, I read this book with my daughter and she loved it, this book has helped me to explain some of my culture to her. She knows that "anyplace can be the most beautiful place in the world..."

I have read this book aloud to my first and second grade students for years. It is an excellent story, well told, with all the realities of a different culture in a different situation than USA children. However, it is painted with the strokes of deepest, realistic love that a family can have. This is a great story to teach and talk about the struggles of families everywhere, the world and it's differences, and the importance of character "no matter what". It is the book my second graders yearn to read on their own and therefore is a super motivator. It is rich in geography.

The story that I read was really snappy and cool. It's called The Most Beautiful Place in the World By Ann Cameron. There was a boy named Juan and his grandmother. There was also Juan's mom. It takes place in San Pablo, Guatamala. The problem is she leaves him for ever and his mom doesn't let him visit her. He really loves his mom after his dad left them.Some one would want to read this book because its really sad and who ever loves tragedy or not it's a really good book.I recommend this book to people of any age.

this is a perfect book to teach preschoolers about baking -- lots of ways to extend the lesson. beautiful illustrations!

We rented this book at the library and my children loved it. We also followed the recipes on the back for baking cookies and they are delicious.

... "Mr cookie Baker" is a MUST read! the boys love to pretend play as we "roll out the cookie dough" and "add colored sprinkles". They identify the children in mr Cookie Baker's shop with names of their school friends. "Mmmm...what a delicious smell!" is one of their favorite lines. ...
An easy read - but, oh, so much to it!

My nephews loved this book! We read it multiple times each time they came to visit. I often used it in my kindergarten classroom as well. It provides many learning opportunities. The pictures offer a lot of discussion for language development and the book is a great lead in to a cooking activity. Now it is one of my two year old son's favorite books. He talks about it when we cook together, play with play dough, and play in the play kitchen.

Some writer/illustrators can take a good idea and turn it into something a little special. "Pizza at Sally's" might have been a rather formulaic, linear account of pizza making, but Monica Wellington treats us to a superior pizza book. The winning ingredients include a unique artistic style, a clear, engaging story, and a tasty concluding payoff for either the rapacious or the reluctant reader.

The illustrations, "colored copies of photos, labels, and other ephemera" pasted on gouache-prepared paper have a toy-like quality, as if your Lego decals leapt from signs and trains onto the pages.. Coupled the informal font, the look is a relaxed photo realism. The combination is much warmer than most of the computer-generated images I've seen. Photos of Sally's (she's the pizza maker) tomatoes complement shiny drawings of patterned green leaves, and tall background buildings with luminescent colored windowpanes hint at the urban setting. "Sally the pizza maker grows tomatoes in her community garden in the city." This is an exciting setting for non-city kids who have never seen a rooftop garden. Wallington also skillfully mixes farm scenes with their destination: The neighborhood stores where Sally buys her pizza ingredients. There's a beautiful, atmospheric picture of the cheese shop with giant company labels hanging from the wall, and Wallington adds an unexpected lower panel that shows us the cows grazing many miles from the cheese shop interior. It's a bold montage that works extremely well.

At 11:00 AM, Sally--with her ubiquitous cat smiling up at her--begins making pizza! It's homemade of course, "Cut, chop, stir, and simmer. There are good smells in the air. Sally makes her tomato sauce." Yeast, oil, salt, and flour start the pizza dough, and we see a mixture of foods and measuring devices on one 2-page spread. At this point, I began to ponder a very serious question: Does Sally belong to the "through the dough" school of pizza-making, or whether she disdains such dramatics? (These two methods are hotly debated wherever pizza is taken seriously.) Culinary merits aside, I was thrilled to see that Sally twirls the dough--"Whoosh"--up in the air. Finally, "everything is ready to put together." As she layers the ingredients (the cat with its paws on the counter), Wellington uses some artistic license to bend health code regulations), hungry kids wait with great anticipation.

And the verdict? The pizza certainly looks delicious, and you can almost smell it as Sally slides it into the fiery oven. However, Sally's customers are the best judges, and the youngsters grab slices and close their eyes in pizza ecstasy. When the shop closes at 9pm, the chalkboard says "Arrivederci," and Sally and her little feline helper relax and enjoy a slice together. A truly kid-pleasing book might include Sally's pizza recipe as an après-story treat, and, as with the entire book, Ms. Wellington does not disappoint. There's much to savor in this sensational book!

Never written a review before. Really enjoyed this book. It's real page turner with a surprise ending. Buy it!

Ms. Onu craftily weaves a tale of 3 Nigerian friends that is at once witty, engaging and evocative. While the characters are Nigerian, the issues they face are definitely universal. Invite a few friends to join you as you embark on the journey of Titi,Amaka and Mina.Together you'll discover the secrets to finding what every woman yearns for - love and security.

Okay, I bought this book because it was by a Nigerian author and I had read some excerpts. I also read the reviews and felt I owed it to myself to get a copy and boy oh boy was it ever the best decision I made. I am an avid reader but have not read in a while. I got this book and could not put it down. I read it front to cover in one day! What really intrigued me is that the stories of these ladies are not so disimilar from most of us. We have all at one point or the other been or encountered any one of these women. It is real but not condescending, truthful yet humorous, painful yet hopeful. Well I can go on and on, but seeing is believing, so get your own copy and buy a few for your girlfriends. Start a book club and let us discuss. And to the author, Ekene Onu, thank you for such a refereshing book. Please keep it coming, I look forward to reading more from you.

Let me start by saying i read ALOT of books. At least 1 or 2 a week. I won this book in a contest and it is unforgettable. I read it all in one sitting because i couldnt put it down. It was funny, full of drama, keep you at the edge of your seat anticipation. It was very well written and one of the best chick lit books i have ever read. Like the previous reviewer stated you will relate or know someone who reminds you of each of these characters. Naija babe or not you will love this book and if you pay enough attention learn some life lessons from it. Keep em coming !

Who said this book was just for women! The Mrs Club is a page turner that gives you a peek into the minds of three naija babes. I was struck by how much each character reminded me a bit of somepeople I know. As you read the book, you can relate to the various themes: Mother-daughter relationship, inter and intra-cultural nuances and life in the diaspora.
At the end of the book, you come away reminded that there is a little Mina, Amaka and Titi in every woman, and a little Dele, Obinna, and Jeffrey in every guy. Don't play, cos you might get played! Get a Copy!