Allison Books

Along with Jim Trelease's Read-Aloud Handbook, this is a book no parent should be without. It contains short, to the point versions of every story you half-remember hearing when you were a kid (sure, the ugly duckling turns out to be a swan at the end, but do you remember what happens in between?), nursery rhymes and the lyrics to children's songs, and Aesop's fables � all essential for parents to share with children. When it comes time to tell a bedtime story, I'd be lost without this book.

A must have book for any parent. It inspires me to be a storyteller and fun mom. Great reference for songs and rhymes you just can't remember.

Like the author, I've always loved singing to my kids, but there were many songs to which I didn't know all of the words. I happened upon this book when I used to work in a bookstore and now send copies to anyone I know who is expecting. It covers it all, songs, fables, lullabies, etc. Very worth the inexpensive price!

this books is such a stand out. Janelle Baliko has written this in such a strong, easy to follow perspective that made my wife and I think "wow, why aren't all family books written like this"

We really enjoyed it. Our girls will love this book for years. We bought 4. 1 for us, 2 for friends/family and 1 for our little girls teacher who has girls of her own. Get this book, you will love it.

I absolutely love this book! I couldn't just buy one; I brought several and gave them to my nieces and the daughters of some of my friends and colleagues. This book is about girl power! It offers a positive, uplifting message for little girls showing them that they can do anything that they want to in life and that they have no limitations!! The other thing I really enjoy about this book is that it's beautifully illustrated and shows little girls of various ethnicities. Kudos to the author!!

What a glorious little gem of a book! Written in a just-so style, this one is bound to be popular with little women. We have purchased several copies for various nieces and other friends. The text is lovely, written to comfort and inspire, and the illustrations are extremely well done indeed.

I can highly recommend this title. It has brought a smile to the face of every little lady who has read it (and had it read to her).

This one is a keeper.

Excellent book with beautiful photographs of a most outstanding holy man. Very inspiring and very well done with many photos I had not seen before. It was a perfect gift for both my mother and mother-in-law for Mother's Day.

Finally, a book about His Holiness that is full of pictures, but also full of Papal info. If you're a Roman Catholic or a fan of the Supreme Pontiff, this is a must buy.

I loved this book about John Paul II (the Pope of Hope)!!! The authors gave us a little of everything, not an easy task for a man with so much history behind him. This is the first book where I have gone over pages more than once, twice. I wanted to absorb every word, every picture. The side stories were also a special treat. I respect and admire the pope even more. I now feel well prepared to read George Weigel's recently published autobiography on JPII, Witness to Hope. Thank you Monsignor Virgilio Levi and Christine Allison for giving us something so inspiring.

The Emerald Bottle was an enchanting page-turner. It was such a well-written gem-of-a-journey and Tara truly had the luck of the Irish. Tara, a hopeful, courageous girl, must travel across the Atlantic Ocean to reunite with her family. We have been a mother-daughter book club for five years and we rarely all enjoy the same book, but this book we unanimously recommend. T'was a great adventure and we look forward to the next one.

This little gem of a book fell into my hands through the recommedation of a friend who is an elementary school teacher, as am I. I have taught for many years and feel I know good literature for young readers. This book has it all. It is full of vivid detail, historical information, positive values and is a wonderful and compelling adventure story to boot! The book is set in potato famine Ireland, but I understand the next books in the series to come will cover other time frames such as the underground railroad, the Westward expansion and other historically signifcant periods. I think both parents and teachers should be interested in this book for their students/children. It's the best, and comes with an adorable little collectible bottle to boot. Sue Slaughter, Las Vegas, Nev.

I purchased this book because my mother was a good friend of the author's mother. I figured I would read it and pass it along to my mother and that would be it. I am going to have to purchase another copy to send to my mother because I want to keep my copy of The Journey of the Emerald Bottle.

What a wonderful story that Linda Shields Allison has written about a girl and her journey. It is a story that can be read to children but it is a story that grabbed me and caused me to stay up late reading to find out what was going to happen to Tara. Linda gives us some historical information about Irish Immigration. She has wonderful characters both heros and villians. She offers in story the idea that those who help other people along lifes journey are the good guys and that in the end that is rewarded. She has a twist at the end of the story that is surprising and will hopefully lead to a sequel to this wonderful book. It reminds me of the style of Kate Seredy who wrote "The Good Master" and "The Singing Tree". Just like author Seredy, Linda takes a historical situation and puts in in human context and brings it a life. It was about midnight on St. Patrick's Day that I finished "The Journey of the Emerald Bottle." I am sure Linda's Irish mother is proud.

Talk about waking from a coma. The Jugger begins confusingly - good confusingly, that is - with Parker in a hotel room in a small town in Nebraska. There's a dead guy in the obituary column, an annoying guy hanging around Parker, a cop outside. Everyone knows more than the reader at this stage, but nobody really knows anything. Turns out after a few chapters that the dead guy is the titular Jugger - a locks man who knew too much about Parker. The annoying guy and the cop think the dead guy knew something else - like where his life's earnings are hidden. Parker needs to make sure no one else knows what the dead guy really knew.
The story unfolds piece by piece, and Parker responds in the only way imaginable for one of fiction's most amoral characters.
Tough, very tight.

I read that Stark thought "The Jugger" was his worst book. I disagree. I think I see where he's coming from, though. This story and book are out of character for Parker. He actually has to explain himself a couple of times and his enemies are outside of his world. So, it's a bit different from the previous books. I think, however, that this is the best plotted since the first book. I really enjoyed the novel and it could easily stand alone outside of the series. I hope "The Seventh" comes back in print soon.

Joe Sheer, a fine old man, retired safecracker (jugger), has been Parker's contact man for years. Parker receives a disquieting letter from Joe and wonders if he is getting a little old for the job. Parker decides to pay him a visit, not to present a gold watch, but perhaps to help Joe along to his eternal rest. The usually overly careful Parker flies to Sagamore, Nebraska to have a hands-on visit with Joe using his clean-as-a whistle alias, Charles Willis.

Picture Smalltown U.S.A. Friendly folks, picket fences, nicely clipped lawns, tree shaded lots, porch swings, and you have Sagamore. Now picture deadly purposeful Parker strolling down the sidewalks. Neither one of them are quite ready for the other. Alas for Parker, there is no heist this time, Joe is already dead, and the local and state police are taking far too much interest in Charles Willis. Parker has to put his superb planning abilities in high gear to settle the natives, and solve the mystery of Joe's alleged buried fortune. Parker's sole interest in this is to get Charles Willis back to Miami unknown and uninvestigated.

This is a fine Parker outing where Parker is the only one in Sagamore with good sense, and with much exasperation has to lead the law to the truth. To get the job done, a few homicides happen, and a left over lady with "the eyes of a pickpocket and the mouth of a whore" helps him out. "The Jugger" is best read after you have read a couple other Parker novels for background. For all other Parker aficionados, this is choice.

This is Bayley at the peak of his powers, barkingly brilliant. The thought experiments he weaves into a mosaic of energetic stories works its way to you like Borges on speed, a strange hybrid of Rudy Rucker, Italo Calvino and A. E. van Vogt - yet the core of it remains inescapably Bayley's own brand of strange sf. It's more like speculative cosmology, except Freeman Dyson would never have come up with ideas like Bayley's:

Like; what if the universe was completely filled with rock? And each of us is living in a little bubble in the rock. In other words, the basic premise of the story is impossible because the universe is not full of rock. But he's like, "what if it was?" And he goes on to describe attempts at space travel in this universe, the problems that arise, and ends the whole shebang with an orgasmic zen buzz to your frontal lobes. Wow. And then there more, each story going off on wild tangents into space and time and the lack thereof. If you think you're up for the ride, go for it. But be warned - this is NOT extrapolative hard sf, this is utterly original speculative stuff that will mess with your notions of reality and boggle the mind.

It's easy to underestimate Barrington Bayley at first glance. His prose is a straightforward pulp style, without literary pretensions or stylistic experiments. No SF writer, however, is better at launching you into a weird universe within a few sentences and weaving a torrent of madcap ideas into full-throttle, action-packed plots. If you like the writing of Philip K. Dick, Alfred Bester, or Robert Sheckley, you're almost certain to be a Bayley fan, and this collection of superb stories is a good place to start. Bayley's work combines the social concerns of Dick, Bester, Sheckley, and Frederik Pohl with some of the more philosophical issues of "hard" SF writers such as Heinlein and Poul Anderson. Pure entertainment brimming with thought-provoking ideas --- what more can you ask from a book of science fiction stories?

This is Bayley at the peak of his powers, barkingly brilliant. The thought experiments he weaves into a mosaic of energetic stories works its way to you like Borges on speed, a strange hybrid of Rudy Rucker, Italo Calvino and A. E. van Vogt - yet the core of it remains inescapably Bayley's own brand of strange sf. It's more like speculative cosmology, except Freeman Dyson would never have come up with ideas like Bayley's:

Like; what if the universe was completely filled with rock? And each of us is living in a little bubble in the rock. In other words, the basic premise of the story is impossible because the universe is not full of rock. But he's like, "what if it was?" And he goes on to describe attempts at space travel in this universe, the problems that arise, and ends the whole shebang with an orgasmic zen buzz to your frontal lobes. Wow. And then there more, each story going off on wild tangents into space and time and the lack thereof. If you think you're up for the ride, go for it. But be warned - this is NOT extrapolative hard sf, this is utterly original speculative stuff that will mess with your notions of reality and boggle the mind.

This is a great read and it makes the reader REALLY think about terrorism, 'shutting the stable door ....' as John Macmillan head of Sci-Med says. This is another in the Steven Dunbar series and I was unable to put it down. I am always amazed by Ken McClures foresight only weeks after this was published we had the incident at Pirbright. The prologue is enough to make your hair stand on end.!

Another cracking read from Ken McClure, the master of the medical genre. I read Robin Cook's "Critical" recently and was left disappointed, but "The Lazarus Strain" is the usual fast read that's typical with McClure. I read that Ken McClure is to the medical world what John Grisham is to the law. Ha! ... well there were no lawyers here but plenty of doctors.
In the prologue, McClure sets out the terrifying possibilities of a repeat of the flu pandemic of 1918 that swept the world and killed 40 million. Move that on to now, with avian flu (so called bird flu) and a "breakout" from a secure lab facility. Mix in a plan to use the virus as a weapon and you have the cocktail of another medical action thriller with Dr Steven Dunbar!
If you like medical thrillers, I'd definitely recommend this bird flu thriller.

Ken McClure was brought to my attention and am I glad - It will not be my last read of his - McClure's Prologue to The Lazarus Strain sets us on edge by reminding us the last flu pandemic in 1918 had more victims than 'in the Great War itself and more than died of bubonic plague'...
millions and millions of victims.
The scary part of this book is the reality of the threat of another pandemic - another wave of influenza we will have little power to fight.
While some deny the possibility, there are persistent news articles stating the countries are bracing for an onslaught...
A top research institute, the Crick, has been broken into and a top scientist killed - Even worse, monkeys who have been used for experimentation have escaped...and they are attacking...
Enter the dashing Dr. Steven Dunbar, who works for the Sci-Med Inspectorate - it is an elite organization that investigates medical emergencies - the James Bond of doctors...
Dr. Dunbar soon realizes this was not a random event, the target is to unleash a pandemic the likes civilization hadn't seen in 90 years. It is a race against time to unlock the mystery and save this chemical terrorism from happening.
It is a scary premise, and unfortunately, with the threat of terrorism always near, a frightening possibility.
It is an excellent book, and I look forward to reading more Ken McClure -

Nineteenth-Century America had its Henry Clay. His European counterpart was Georges-Eugene Haussmann. Emperor Napoleon hired Haussmann to make method out of the madness of post-Medieval Paris. Haussmann is principally responsible for the City of Light as we know it. "Today," the Baron's recent biographer stresses, "his hand is everywhere." Part of Haussmann's effort consisted of bringing pure water to Parisians. In the process he wiped out the cholera that was endemic to the City. Throughout life he modernized the ailing French infrastructure. Wherever he was posted, he brought in roads, canals, and rail lines. How odd it was that in a country so obsessed with pagentry and glory, Haussmann's funeral went by in a small church, virtually unnoticed.

This illustrated biography of Georges-Eugene Haussmann is a highly recommended pick for any who relish accounts of early Paris: The Man Who Made Paris Paris examines the life of an administrator who rebuilt Paris as a capitol "worthy of an empire". Vintage black and white photos of early Paris accompany a biographical coverage of the man who transformed the city in only seventeen years.

This book helped me understand how really Paris was before Haussman did his work. I recommend this book to any person who is interested in Paris and it's history

I am extremely generous with this rating because Mark was bold enough to get himself in print at all. He mailed to me what I believe was a prototype version of the book back in early 1997. By what I mean by prototype is a light-brown 8X11 paperback with black-and-white pictures. Also, Mark had a nice write-up about the book in General Nutrition Center's magazine, "Let's Live", also in 1997, referring to this very same book. (This was around the same time Demi Moore's film "G.I. Jane" was released, about a fictional female SEAL.)

Marks book has changed my life. I read his book in August of 2002 and was very impressed with what he said. I soon started the workout for myself and have seen some major changes in the shape of my body. His workout is hard and isnt for the wimpy but I would recommend it to everyone. I teach this workout to ladies at my church who range in age from 18-55. They have seen great results also. They keep coming back everyday so I know they love it too. If you want to get in shape try it, it works!

Wow! These are not your ordinary exercises. They have a whole bunch of uncommon exercises from the most extreme you can image to really easy. Exercises that work your explosive muscle fibers as well as leaving in pain and out of breath. That is of course if you wish to push yourself. Their are dozens of un heard of stretches that stretch parts of your body you have never stretched even through running books and basket. I know because i am a cross-country runner. This book is full of great exercises that work all your individual muscles to the max. Its so easy to do the exercises because they dont require any equipment just yourself. If you think you are so tough and nothing can compare to your strength, just try some of these exercises and see for yourself.

Britain's only significant post-modern writer. A national treasure, scandalously neglected in her own country.

Britain's only significant post-modern writer. A national treasure, scandalously neglected in her own country.

Ivy Compton-Burnett's first novel, Dolores, was a sprawling and sentimental romance. She was deeply ashamed of it. In Pastors and Masters we see her own distinctive style first launched, laconic, ironic and understated. The story is set in a private school and contains the usual mixture of upper middle class misfits. It is a style that demands close reading. But it makes you laugh out loud on trains and planes.