Big Books

A superbly designed book of puzzles. You will find all types of "brain games" with different degrees of difficulty clearly marked. An index at the end of the book allows you to choose a "brain game" according to its type and degree of difficulty. Solutions to all brain games are at the end of the book.
Very colourful and inviting for all ages. Just leave it on your coffee table and all the family will stop to browse it and try their hands (or brains rather) at any of these attractively presented puzzles.

This book is SO much fun, and there are many challenging puzzles to figure out. It's addictive!

I bought this as a Christmas present for my 3 kids, who I homeschool. They have all been enjoying the puzzles, which are very challenging for both kids and adults! The graphics are very colorful and appealing to kids. This is a great book to leave out on the coffee table - I highly recommend it!

This book is great! Very fun...the only parts we don't enjoy are the parts you are supposed to cut. We don't want to cut up our book so we most likely won't do those activities. Our favorites are the activities that don't require anything but our mind or that we can read to each other. Very fun to do with another person to pass the time.

This was purchased for two kids, 9 and 13, to take on a trip for use in the car or the expected rainy afternoons. Fun to do and a challenge for their grandparents, too.

I'm just starting this new project of making my own cards. The card stores want an arm and leg for each card and after my initial investment of getting my supplies, I'll not only have fun doing these projects but eventually I think I will same $$ too.

I was still planning to do card making when stumbled into this book. Now I feel like I am an expert already (NOT! :). This book even tells you what basic things to buy IN DETAILS with pictures, including the places where you can get them. For a beginner, especially living overseas and only trust online shopping, it is not easy to get stuff without seeing it live, so this book really helps. The step-by-step instructions are very clear, simple, personal and the pictures are wonderful to follow. Its just an awesome book!

Every year, I make valentines for everyone in my family. Wanting to expand my range of techniques, it delighted me to find Bolton's Big Book of Handmade Cards and Gift Wrap. It demonstrates more than 50 projects with a full page photo of each followed by a page of step-by-step instructions. The projects show off different techniques like using beads on wire, using flower punches, using rub-off transfers, folding paper, making pop-up cards and many more methods to make exciting cards.
It's great that it shows how to make gift pouches, gift bags, and unique wrapping paper too, but the cards fill most of the book. She also shows how to line an envelope with designs to match the card.

Not only does it tell you how to make each card step by step, but it gives you coordinating items to match with the card or to make alone. It also gives you templates to trace or copy. Very nice!!!!

I am new to cardmaking and was looking for something that "held my hand" through a few projects and had lots of ideas. This book delivered on all accounts. Each of the 50+ projects are shown on a spread (2 facing pages) with the finished card and variations on the left and detailed how-to instructions, color photos, materials list, and variations on the right. Up front there is a friendly discussion of the materials used and how to make gift bags & pouches, and to decorate envelopes to coordinate with the finished card.
I loved everything about this book--from the friendly British (?) tone and descriptions to the use of relatively simple materials (she uses 3-D paint instead of brads; that has to be a purse-stretcher!) and the "galleries" in the back that show many work-ups of one particular theme (e.g. 6 cards w/ rosebuds, with a peacock feather stamp). I pored over each page and really savored it--beginners need look no further for a 101 how-to guide, and more experienced card crafters could still find some ideas, I'm sure. Thank you, Vivienne!

Hi I received my book in good condition. I was very pleased with your company. I will shop with you again. I know my dad will be happy with his Christmas gift. Do you sell glass lamp globes. I have a pink lamp with only the bottom half. I am looking for the top. It is pink with roses and a small covered wagon with a couple of stands of wheat around it. It is raised design that you have to look close to see.

Thanks
Joan

This book was purchased as a present for a relative that owns many John Deere tractors, old and new. He has told us thank you for this gift more than any other gift we have ever given him...so, with that being said, it must be a good book!!

I purchased this for my dad for Christmas and he loved it!

then this is the book for you. I bought it as a gift for a knowledgable friend and he was in raptures. I now know more about John Deere tractors than I ever dreamed it was possible to know! This book covers every John Deere tractor ever made and covers them in great detail. The photos and vintage posters add to the appeal of this tractor encyclopedia.

The big book of john deere tractors has a bunch of different types of tractors in all kinds of different styles. John deere tractors are very interesting.
I really like reading about tractors they are very interesting to learn about. It seems like every time I read about a tractor I learn a new fact. One fact that I really like that it tells the exact year that they were made. As you go along you find new ways to work on older John deere tractors.

I really liked this book because I like learning new things about tractors. I like looking and reading these books because you can find tractors that you may own yourself. It was very interesting to know all those facts.

Nothing was very confusing about this book I really enjoyed this book. There was only one confusing thing it was the diagrams. Other tan that there was nothing confusing about this book.

If you like Sudoku but the puzzles seem to be getting dull, try the variants in this book. Different sizes and arrangements make new puzzles out of an old game.

I have gotten other so called hard Sudoku books and found them too easy. This one will keep you going for a long time. It has lots of different types of puzzles with the ultimate being the 16x16 grid. I would give 4 1/2 stars because I wish it were on better paper. I make copies of the hardest puzzles on better paper that can take LOTS of erasing!

Wonderful. No fluff in this book. It begins with some tricky ones that actually require several minutes to finish and gets downright hard after that. Some take hours, and often I just quit one puzzle and come back to it another day.

The various shapes/styles are a great break from the 9x9 norm. The 6x6 puzzles are absolutely vicious. Nothing like kids 6x6 sudokus that take an advanced puzzler seconds to complete. And I love the jigsaw shapes. Watch out for the 9x9 jigsaws!

There should be more advanced sudoku books like this. As recommended by others, this should not be your first foray into sudoku. But once you are hooked on the light stuff, this is a nice challenge.

First of all, I would definitely say that if you are just beginning to learn how to solve Sudoku puzzles, I strongly suggest that you do not buy this book. Instead, I would suggest a book which focuses almost entirely on the standard 9x9 Sudoku puzzles, and which starts with easy puzzles before progressing to more difficult ones. The Big Book of SuDoku 3 starts right out with difficult puzzles, and the puzzles only continue to get harder and harder as you continue.

If you are an experienced SuDoku solver who is able to solve all but the hardest 9x9 SuDoku puzzles without too much difficulty, or if you have grown a bit tired with the standard 9x9 SuDoku puzzle, this is a great book. For me, the most appealing feature of this book is that half of the 200 puzzles in this book are different from the familiar 9x9 Sudoku. While the Maxi (12x12) and Super (16x16) puzzles are just larger versions of the 9x9 puzzles, the Jigsaw, Duplex, and Triplex puzzles actually require the solver to use different solving techniques than are used for the regular puzzles.

Overall, I give this book 5 stars as long as you're up for the challenge. While this book may not contain quite the volume of puzzles as some others, the harder puzzles can take well upwards of an hour to complete, so this book will keep you occupied for a long time.

I started doing these puzzles over a year ago and I became hooked. This book is for people who have been doing them a long time, or who know they will become addicted. If you are a true beginner I would suggest the second book in this series (has a bit easier puzzles to start with up to the mega challenging. You can spend hours on some of the hardest ones, but if you are a true puzzler, that is what you want.

This really is a great cookbook. Easy to follow recipes (although some ingredients are hard to find in a small town in the middle of nowhere, where we live), and everything tastes good. I'd highly recommend it to anyone wanting to expand their cooking.

I received this book as a present, and I am very pleasantly surprised by this book. This book contains modern and creative twists on traditional American dishes as well as other food of ethnic origin making its way into mainstream. All the dishes I've made from it have turned out to be very delicious, the steps are simple to follow, and most of the ingredients are available at well-stocked supermakets. I was surprised how many things I used to have to buy can be made so easy with so little time or effort. This was what I had hoped my Moosewood cookbook would be, but this book actually succeeds because of it is more focused, placing emphasis on beauty through simplicity rather than purely just inventiveness.
Another part I really like about this book is that it actually contain a decent breakfast section. From now on I no longer have to rely on omlettes or toast for breakfast, but instead I can have banana french toast, different muffins, etc.
The recipes here are very straightforward, so they are suitable for most levels of cooks. The only possible drawback is that there are no pictures (though you won't need them), and there are no directions on preparation techniques, so I would suggest this book for those with at least some rudimentary kitchen skills.

This is one of my favorite cookbooks. I have been vegetarian for many years and I am an avid cook, and this book has provided nothing but perfect food, without meat, every time I have used it. The salads are great, the breakfast foods are great, the entrees are great. You name it, in this book, it's all good.
The recipes are well-tested and well-written recipes. A must have.

Great cookbook, has trendy new way to look at origional ingredients.
Made Tomato Bisque today.... Yumm..

This is an excellent cookbook, lots of variety, well-written, visually pleasing...definitely a good choice for anyone who appreciates easy-to-prepare, delicious recipes.

This was the first SVT book I ever read it was good. I took a disliking to Janet striaght away. In this book Elizabeth and Jessica's brother Steven is in love with Jill Hale the twins decide it would be fun to set Steve up with his best friend Cathy. Janet things they can't do it so she makes a bet with them if they can get Cathy and Steve together within so many days they get Janet's tickets to appear on a tv show, if they fail Janet gets Elizabeth's new camera. Will Jess and Liz suceed in setting up Cathy and Steven?

When Steven[The Twins's brother] loves Jill Hale,but she isn't interested in him,so he gets a job at Mc? so does Cathy and They start falling in love.The Unicorns,especially Janet[I hate that Witch,with a B] wants Elizabeth's camera,comes up with a solution to get that camera,and Janet has 2 tickets to be on tv.Guess who wins.Elizabeth and Jessica.

I consider this book as one of the best!It was fun to read about the twins's brilliant plan at how they got Cathy and Steven together. I especially like all the confidence that Jessica has and I dislike the way that Jessica betted Lizzie's camera.My cousin Mubina also can't wait to read this book.

Steven goes to huge lengths to get Jill Hale(Bimbo of the universe)to love him.And it seems that he is also trying to keep away from Cathy who maybe he is secretly in love with but he doesnt know that yet himself....(phew)

I thought this book was very interesting .I especially liked the part about the food fight just before they kissed.

Having been a long time marketer for over 30 years and a self-described "student" of the business, it's easy to feel as though I've seen it all. Ms. McMurtry's book changed that for me. For once, it's apparent that someone in the marketing field "gets it". The strong emphasis on emotional marketing, a key component to why people buy; the emphasis on lifetime value of the customer; the real life examples of the wide range of topics she covers, should be required reading for anyone in a marketing function. It tells us point blank that if you are not in business to create emotional ties and experiential relationships in the marketing you do, you're not likely to grow your business--and that's why we are in business, isn't it? Thank you Ms. McMurtry for covering so much valuable ground in an easily readable volume.

While most books tell you what needs to be done, this one gives specific detail on *HOW* to do it. Within 10 minutes of cracking open this book I found several tools that will help my company determine the value of various customer segments - something we've managed on gut feel rather than actual customer data. The author also provides multiple checklists to help with taking a company's key management through processes to identify where marketing programs need improvement. Like many companies, we're undergoing a significant change in our business strategy due to geopolitical change and her tools will undoubtedly help us manage the change more wisely.

While most books tell you what needs to be done, this one gives specific detail on *HOW* to do it. Within 10 minutes of cracking open this book I found several tools that will help my company determine the value of various customer segments - something we've never on gut feel rather than actual customer data. The author also provides multiple checklists to help with taking a company's key management through processes to identify where marketing programs need improvement. Like many companies, we're undergoing a significant change in our business strategy due to geopolitical change and her tools will undoubtedly help us manage the change more wisely.

This book offers both the beginning and experienced marketing professional with a good overview of basic and advanced marketing concepts. Good examples and case studies. McMurtry's passion for lifetime marketing is contagious and should excite and inspire business owners. Highly recommended.

Running a private music studio can be challenging, especially when it comes to the business end of things. Even though I have no employees, I found Ms. McMurtry's book immensely helpful. I especially appreciated the tips on identifying and connecting with my best customer. Learning how to write a marketing plan to support what I wanted from my business enabled me to keep my focus. The book helped me attract the type of students that best fit my needs while running my studio as an efficient, profit generating entity. I highly recommend it to sole practitioners, like myself.

I have read this book to my two grandsons (Brooks nearly 4 and Pierce nearly 3 yrs old) and their interest and response to this book has been fun and surprising. The story interests them and the art illustrates the story very well. They enjoy finding the characters from the story in the associated pictures. Phineas Dobbs' grumbling has become an inside family joke. The boys go around the house often repeating his comment, "I told you, it can't be done!" while placing their arms across their chest.

The book has provoked them to ask many questions which has proved to be a good teaching opportunity as well.

They read everytime before naptime and bedtime and they have insisted that this book be included each time for about three weeks now. I highly recommend this book for reading to children 3 years old and up.

Historical fact: On January 1, 1801, Elder John Leland, a Baptist minister, delivered a 1,235-pound wheel of Cheshire cheese to Thomas Jefferson as a gift of gratitude for Jefferson 's support of religious freedom.

Candace Fleming has taken this little-known detail and turned it into a deliciously delightful little "Tale of a Tremendous Cheddar."

In Fleming's story the villagers of Cheshire (makers of mouthwatering cheese) heard news "that threatened to sour their curds forever." President Thomas Jefferson was serving cheese made in Norton, Connecticut ! Not to be outdone, Elder John Leland convinced the residents of Cheshire to put their curds together, along with one day's milking from each of their cows and create a "whopping big cheddar."

Easier said than done the villagers soon realized. They had to resort of using a huge apple press to squeeze the whey from the curds. Then, the local blacksmith had to make a huge, custom-forged hoop to hold the cheese. Their efforts paid off however. Once finished, they had on their hands a 1,235 pound, four-foot tall round of cheddar.

After letting the cheese ripen, Elder John and the ever-doubting Phineas Dobbs set off to deliver the mammoth cheese to Jefferson. Sledding and sailing their way to Washington, the duo finally arrive at the nation's capital amid trumpets, banners, and gaggles of gawkers.

Jefferson, after cutting into cheddar and tasting it, declared it to be "The best you can serve at your table."

Fleming serves up a terrific treat. The tale is charmingly told and fun to read. Schindler's pen-and-ink and watercolor drawings are filled with period details and humorous touches.

Reviewed by the Education Oasis Staff

In this true tale of a tremendous cheddar, Candace Fleming asks: "What weighs 1,234 pounds, stands four feet high, and is made from the milk of nine hundred and thirty-four cows?"

"Why, a giant cheese of course!"

When President Thomas Jefferson was serving Norton cheese at the White House, Elder John Leland suggested that everyone could help make a whopping big cheddar, a cheese so large that President Jefferson would be serving Cheshire cheese at the White House for years and years!

After gathering all the milk and making the cheese curds, they had to press the curds in an apple press. Finally they haul the cheese in a wagon to ripen in Elder John's barn. To get the cheese to President Jefferson's New Year's Day party, they have to put it on a sleigh and take it to Hudson, New York. Finally it sails down the Hudson River and is then carted on a sleigh to Washington.

Apparently, the cheese was served for years and someone said it lasted until 1805.

Just by the way, cheddar curds can't be beat. Give me the curds
instead of the pressed cheese any day!

Cute story for young cheese lovers.

If you love cheese, look for Paula Lambert's Cheese Lover's Cookbook & Guide. She explains how cheese is made and even includes recipes.

~The Rebecca Review

After reading this book aloud to my second grade class, I served up different kinds of cheese! The kids loved it (since their mouths were watering for cheese after listening and seeing Schindler's tasty looking illustrations!).An outstanding slice of obscure history! Editor Melanie Kroupa is an expert at delivering great, obscure stories from history (see STEAMBOAT by Judith Heide Gilliland).Outstanding storytelling!

What makes this book so terrific for me is that I live in thetown adjacent to Cheshire, MA, and I have family that live inCheshire. We've always seen the cheese press in the center of town, but were only vaguely familiar with its history. Now, with this beautiful picture book, I can share the story with the children in my life. I wonder how Ms. Fleming, who lives in Chicago, happened upon this story?

In some ways, Jamie Carcaterra is your average high school senior. She is overwhelmed with deadlines, struggling to study for the ACT, courageously filling out college applications, stressing on how to pay for college, dedicated to practicing for her school's musical, and completely committed to spending hours on the school paper. Somehow, in the midst of all of this madness, Jamie finds time to spend with her two best friends --- Freddie (Frederica) and NoNo (Nora Nostenfast) --- and her football-playing boyfriend, Burke.

In other ways, Jamie is not a typical teen. She is what some health professionals would call "morbidly obese." Jamie, however, simply considers herself to be fat. She doesn't delude herself about her health, nor does she let it slow her down in any way; she has a very busy life filled with friends and activities. Sure, Jamie has tried to lose weight and has dreamt of being supermodel skinny. But she plows ahead with her life as if it doesn't bother her --- even though, deep down inside, it really does.

Jamie decides to enter the National Feature Award scholarship program by writing the best, most outrageous, hilarious, chock-full-of-attitude school newspaper series ever. Not only will winning pay for her college expenses, it would be her chance to convey to the world what it's really like to live as an overweight teen. In her Big Fat Manifesto, she calls herself Fat Girl, debunks myths, shares alarming statistics and even goes undercover with the curvy Freddie and skinny No-No into a fashion mall, proving how horrid overweight people are treated.

Then Burke shocks Jamie with an announcement. He decides to get weight loss bypass surgery, which has huge risks associated with it. Jamie argues with him and tries to talk him out of it, but eventually she accepts that he is going through with the life-changing operation and vows to support him. Jamie adds this unexpected twist into her articles, describing the gory details and heart-draining worry as she and his family brew in the hospital waiting room during the procedure.

Jamie's articles start drawing more and more attention, even reaching beyond the school halls and out into the community. But not all of it is positive. Will these writings be enough to win her the scholarship? Will she lose Burke as a result of the surgery? Jamie experiences some painful discoveries as she searches for the answers.

Award-winning author Susan Vaught brings the world a very different kind of novel, one in which the main character is strong, defiant, ambitious, hilarious, intelligent and overweight. Jamie will remain in the hearts and minds of readers long after the last page is turned. Not only does Vaught weave into her story some very disturbing statistics and trivia about obesity in America, she also invites her audience to share in some of the emotional suffering that people like Jamie endure. BIG FAT MANIFESTO is a winner!

--- Reviewed by Chris Shanley-Dillman, author of FINDING MY LIGHT and THE BLACK POND

If Big Fat Manifesto were only the story of a fat girl struggling for acceptance, it would be worth reading. But it's much more than that. It's really about a teenager's search for herself. As she navigates the world of school, friends, love, college applications, and everything else that an intelligent and talented high-school senior has to juggle, Jamie sees the world through the eyes of Fat Girl, a persona she has created for herself. The reader goes along with her on her journey, admiring this smart and sassy girl for her guts and determination, laughing with her as she skewers her opponents in her school newspaper column, and feeling for her as she is forced to figure out where Fat Girl ends and Jamie begins.

This is a book about an aspiring journalist who's senior in high school and who writes a series about being fat for her school paper and for a journalism scholarship. The book takes place over a couple of months, starting at the beginning of the semester and ending right before Thanksgiving. Jamie juggles her boyfriend, her two best friends, her editor-in-chief, the school play, her newspaper column, the ACT and more, all with a slightly unrealistic splash of drama.

I very much enjoyed the book. It definitely made me rethink fat people. I've never even really thought about the fact that I even have a set of viewpoints on fat people. It just never crossed my mind before. I have family who is overweight. I need to lose ten pounds, probably. I've never hated the people who struggle to gain weight because I've been in that boat. I also know how hard it can be to lose weight. I'm often self-centered, even unwittingly, so I've always thought of weight in terms of my own life, not in the lives of others.

So, yeah, Big Fat Manifesto gave me something to think about. Oh, and it was funny.

Jamie is sexy, talented, smart, hard-working, and oh yeah, fat. Not a typical insecure size 10 swimming in a sea of zeros, Jamie tops the scale at over three hundred pounds. She is inspirational as she describes the challenges of being morbidly obese in a world that is unwilling to drop the "thin is beautiful" sterotype. Although Jamie dosen't always come out on top she never blames anybody else for her weight and she never lets it slow her down in her quest to live a ordinary (make that extraordinary) life. Big Fat Manifesto is a great read for people of all sizes!

Jamie Carcaterra is outspoken, opinionated, talented, sexy, not afraid to be in the spotlight - and fat. She starts her senior year with her FAT GIRL column to let people know what it really means to be a fat girl.

I just loved Jamie's verve and nerve but even more the humanness she tried to hide. Her friends are also great - loyal but honest. Then when Jamie's boyfriend decides to get his stomach stapled - WOW! First of all, I had no idea about the dangers and sideaffects of that procedure which were awful enough - but the real question is, how will Jamie handle having a 'thin' boyfriend.

This is a great book for teens and adults. You'll never look at a 'fat girl' the same.

This book has some interesting stories about houses that are unique to this area of the country. I especially liked this book because it features a homestead that has been in my family since it was built. This is a good book to read about the development of the concept of the Big House, Little House, Back House, Barn where all the elements are connected.

Very imformative. The images of the older New England homes are very interesting and useful.

If you have ever wandered around Maine, you will have noticed a unique form of farm architecture. But ask most people why 19th century Maine farmers made such a concerted effort to physically connect the structures on their farms and the answer is "they needed a way to get to the barn through the winter snow." Trust me, I have gone around and asked current dwellers of Maine farmsteads. Thomas Hubka carefully points out that if that were so, we'd see similar connected farm architecture in parts of the nation where winters were even more inclimate and snowier. Yet Maine farm architecture remains almost totally enigmatic. Hubka's diligent field work reveals that forces were at work in mid-19th century Maine that conspired against the rural farmer: industrial competition for hand-manufactured goods produced at home for cash suppliment, a labor drain to other more prosperous farming regions, and unyielding land. The brilliance of Hubka's work is that he evokes how, despite all this, Maine farmers strove to adapt by creating resilliant islands of industry with the structure of their homes that defiantly sheltered year-round dooryard work efforts from wind and snow, but also change abroad. This book is also a perfect source of pithy detail and illustration regarding 17th century cape-style house architecture which, it turns out, is still ubiquitous in New England. Highly recommended, a stiking work.

The author gives the "how and why the connected farm emerged in the mid-to-late 19th century and the story these buildings tell about the common New England farm and the people who made them."
Hubka has written extensively about traditional American buildings and architectural design methods and teaches at the School of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
I love the old pictures like the one showing a family and horses in front of a Saco house and barn.
"According to Hubka, the primary reason for connected farms was agrarian reform, which was spurred in the 1840s and '50s by competition from new, larger farms in the Midwest. Connected buildings allowed New Englanders to take on home-based industry, such as candle- and cheese-making, while continuing to farm and still have everything centralized. Fashion also played a part: Connected farms became the latest thing, and keeping up with the neighbors was important even then." (This Old House)
"An important pioneering effort. The book commemorates both an unique indigenous architectural expression and a way of life that has become extinct . . . The style is economic and clear and Hubka's affection for architecture binds the buildings to their people and their times." -- Maine Sunday Times

Lets get this straight, this is NOT a coffee table book - if you want lots of colour pictures of old farms and barns - look elsewhere. What it is though, is a well written, brilliantly researched and documented assessment of a largely by-gone way of life in rural New England. Look - I'm even British and I loved (OK - I do have an interest in New England and architecture)

If you are vaguely interested in old rural life, agriculture, history and social history, or vernacular architecture (or any combination of these) - buy it you won't be disappointed.