Big Books

Our boys, ages 6 & 8, love this book. The older boy sometimes takes it to bed with him as his bed-time reading. The younger boy told me there are a few things in there that he realized he does wrong. They think the book is funny, but they are also learning from it. Even our 3 year old daughter is interested in it. The book has also been good for bring up little discussions on why certain behaviours are rude or mean. The drawings are simple yet engaging for the kids and only a few of them require adult explainations.

A terrific family book! An easy way for parents and grandparents to show kids the differences between right and wrong. I've never seen a book done entirely in concepts before. There are no words. It has cartoons that show kids being bad on one page, and shows the appropriate good action on the next. The cartoons are very well done and easy to understand. This was a great book to share with my grandson! We laughed over the antics of the cartoon characters. He decided he wants to play with the game board shown in the book to win rewards for being good! What more could a grannie ask! This book is terrific! If you're a parent or a grandparent, DON'T MISS IT!

This is a well-drawn book illustrating both the right and the wrong way do do countless things. It presents the concepts in a clear, humorous and easily understood manner that should hold the interest of even very young children (in this case, 4 years old). As a teaching tool, it is fantastic!

As a mother of 6 children, I am always looking for better ways to do things.

My kids have always been pretty good kids. They are naturally helpful and happy, but this book has helped me to reinforce positive behaviors in my children even more.

It comes with a gameboard that sticks to the fridge, and little magnetic pieces. We had to get some extra pieces, since we had 5 kids playing the game and only 2 pieces that came with it. We just got some little magnets from Radio Shack, which work great.

Here's how it works: each left-hand page shows a negative behavior (such as a kid throwing his dirty clothes on the floor) and on the opposite side is the positive behavior (the kid putting the clothes in the hamper). No words -- just the pictures.

This may seem boring, but my kids have spent HOURS perusing this book, ON THEIR OWN, and discussing the actions with one another.

We use the game by moving each child's piece forward one square everytime they do something helpful and positive. We don't "punish" for negative behaviors, just reward the positive ones. When they get to the end of the game they get a prize -- I keep a box of books, candy, little toys, etc., that they can choose from.

This is a WONDERFUL system and a WONDERFUL book. Anyone with a houseful of children could use this one! (I imagine it works just as well with one or two kids, too.)

I loved A. Whitney Brown during his time on Saturday Night Live, and "The Big Picture" delivers the same wit, insight, comedic timing and irrascableness that only Brown can dish out. If you like smart commentary on important political issues, this is the book to have - you'll laugh AND you'll think.

I don't think people take satire seriously enough. In Europe, satire used to be something reserved for the truly luminary authors/minds. Because it dwells in the less dignified realm of comedy, I think it's poorly understood by the average person just how much intelligence is required to do satire well. A Whitney Brown has to be one of the most brilliant minds in modern times. Not only does he parody politics (which maybe some people wouldn't relate to), but modern mores and values as well. Sadly, I often find that I AM the very person he is poking fun at. However, then I realize that it's really all of us, or the human condition in general, and the pathetic, contemporary ways that we respond to age-old problems, that he is ridiculing. I really wish we would hear more from him, especially in times like these! I believe he is or was on AirAmerica. I wish he would find his way into mainstream media again. This country can't afford to keep its great minds in obscurity. Write another book! America needs you!

If you think A. Whitney Brown is funny on the Daily Show, you're in for a treat in this volume from his SNL days. Wry, insightful commentary from Brown's funnier years.

Good stuff. Buy it or I'll shank you! (Though I may be a bit biased, being family and all...Oh well.)

The Big Punch is a stunning debut novel. It's not for the faint of heart, but if you like dark, surreal fiction and that you won't soon forget then you must read "The Big Punch". Louis Maistros is an author whom I think we'll all be hearing much more about in the future.

... well, it's Raymond Chandler meets William Burroughs. Sort of. Not your usual Stevie King clone, but a really twisted, gory (yet hilarious) surreal caper. If you dig the likes of Caitlin Kiernan and Poppy Brite (or the above mentioned authors), buy it now.

Louis Maistros' THE BIG PUNCH is stunning-a frenetic, darkly comic voyage through mindscapes of characters who, from page one, we instantly care about. It delivers train-driven wallops to the gut in atmosphere, pacing, mood, and style. The voice is original, fresh, unhurried-all marks of seasoned veterans. As a first novel, it stands head and shoulders above the crowd. But it doesn't just stand, it taunts. The sheer weight inherent in Maistros' noir fiction coupled with his deft cutting hand when using more horrific elements make for a smooth, technically flawless treatment of what dark fiction should be all about.

The writing is crisp, clean, and relentless; the characters deep and fully realized.

THE BIG PUNCH is a novel you will not soon forget.

Loved it! A page turner. Truly chilling, like taking a stroll through hell on earth. Loved the orange haired rat, Ida Mae and Becky, the blind man, Janice, of course the Black Delia, and naturally Jack. Great cast of characters, too many to actually mention all of them. And the voice was incredible, very distinct, humorous but not overly done that it took away from the horror yet enough that it didn't pull me too down into these awful happenings. Wonderful balance. Very unique story, an original I'd say. I've never read anything quite like this. The Horsemen was something I was not familiar with. The Big Punch itself, or theater, I had some inkling of a memory but was surprising pleased to have discovered that these underground theater shows was also called the Big Punch. And the main character Jack--what can I say about Jack--he's my hero, even if he is slightly flawed.

Loved it!!The book was brought for me as a present, unfortunatly I chose to read it on the train home from work and managed to disturb the whole carriage by laughing out loud all the way home!! The poems are great, and I could really relate to them, my favourite being 'The Hormone Patch'. Every woman needs a copy of this book, but they should read it in a private place to avoid embarrassment!!

This book is fantastically written with excellent pictures to perfectly suit the poems. It touches on different subjects such as love, children and family and even a girls best friend - chocolate. It had me in stiches with its witty one liners and I also shed a tear with the beautifully written poem "In a hundred years time" This book is well worth the money and I have told all my friends to get a copy! I just hope there will be more books to come!

I laughed so much at the poems in this book i gave myself the hiccups, one of the poems THE HORMONE PATCH i could imagine the hubby going to work with the patch on his bottom! The SPAMMOGRAM was so real life i cried with laughter at the bit were SHE ROLLED HER[SELF] UP LIKE 2 COCKTAIL SAUSAGES!!!! I really loved THE DANCING DENTURES , where the poor woman got her teeth flicked down the mans trousers!!!! it was so funny , my mom loves it and every woman i have let read it, all the poems i can relate to, and i read over and over again

A beautiful, witty book. I laughed so hard I cried. Amazing detail and insight into the every day life of women. It is the best book I have picked up in many years. These gals are incredible! Absolutely wonderful illustrations!

My husband brought this book home for our two-year-old. We all love to read it! Our daughter likes to guess who is coming in the door based upon the description, as well as reciting the "refrain" with us. At dinner the other night, someone mention splashing, and she said, "Stan and Stella in the big red tub. I splash, you splash..." Great find!

My 6 and [...] girls LOVE this book! It's funny and has great illustrations. We recently read this in my 6 year olds class and everyone there loved it. My sister, a librarian, also finds this to be a big hit at storytimes.

What a great book.
My children (age 2 and 3) absolutely love it and can't listen to it enough.
Literally, it is wonderful. It rhymes, it has repetitive words that my children join in to "read", and it's funny (when the hippo joins in). If you look closely at the last page, you can figure out how Stan and Stella's imagination thought up all those animals in their tub! My children enjoy finding all the animals in the story (on the last page).
I want to get another copy just as a keepsake for when they have children someday.

The pictures are bright and large and vibrant. The story rhymes and it is just a great story for little kids. My daughter is one years old and she sat and listened and loved the pictures. It is also neat because it is using the kids imagination. You will have to read it to find out. I am a librarian and I am buying MY own copy.

I used to read this to my fifteen year old when she was little,she remembered it still, so I ordered it to read to my three year old.I had forgotten how well it was illustrated, and how kid friendly it was.I defenitely will NOT mind ready this one over and over again,,,,,again!Great book,cute storyline, and wonderful illustrations are sure to make this a favotite of your children too.

Sarah's old boots make a special sound and the fit just right. But then one day they have shrunk and no amount of stretching by filling them with rocks and other means will ever make them fit her again. When they go to the store to buy a new pair of boots the only ones they have are yellow with a fire engine red stripe and Sarah will never like them! They are taken home. She gives her favorite boots to her brother and he loves them because they fit him perfectly. After it's rained again Sarah's family pulls on their boots. And when they play in the puddles Sarah's new boots make a different sound, but she doesn't mind after a while because they are just as much fun as the old ones and now she is enjoying the puddles with her brother.

The Pictures are well done because they cause you to be drawn into the story and feel exactly how Sarah felt thru the detailed expressions on her face and the characters used to compliment her.

Opinion: Most well done childrens books (at least in my experience) become memories when children grow up, thru the illustrator's pictures, if they're done well. And then the story is remembered thru that art not usually the other way around, in ages about 1-8 or so, then as they start to get into books that are more grown up they create their own pictures thru imagination so illustrations aren't as important in older childrens books.

This book is very helpfull in helping children come to grips with having to give there favorite shoes away because they are too small. It helps them to see the advantages to growing older and getting new things.

My son received this book for Christmas, and we both loved it. The story line is really cute, and the pictures in it are great! I'd recommend this book to anyone with small kids.

Patricia Thomas writes a phenomenal book of science, of politics, of a deadly disease, intertwined with business and the age-old struggle of societal good vs. personal/business gain. I was at first daunted by the size of the book alone, but the writing is so clear, so concise, so reader-friendly that it is an easy read. This is a must read for everyone interested in finding solutions to science-society issues such as AIDS. It is a must read for every health care professional and medical researcher, as well. As a science/health writer myself, I also highly recommend it as a teaching tool for how to write science for the lay person.

Sept. 11 has had a galvanizing effect in reminding Americans that planet earth is really a small place where whatever affects one person ultimately affects us all. The emergence of AIDS in the early 1980s might also have united Americans to fight a common enemy. Might have. But the truth, so compellingly told by Ms. Thomas, is that personalities and politics (both personal and national), prejudice and posturing got in the way of mounting a cohesive campaign. As a result, we are still far from stopping AIDS. Sure, treatments are better, but most of the world cannot afford treatment.
What makes "Big Shot" especially timely is that, as America prepares to fight the "new war," more military personnel will likely be exposed to the AIDS virus. When the GIs line up for vaccinations and grimace comically for the camera, as our fathers and grandfathers did for previous wars, protection against the AIDS virus won't be part of the cocktail. Because there is no vaccine against AIDS.

It's a pretty depressing scenario, but Ms. Thomas retains a wonderfully upbeat message with the subtext "that was then, this is now, so let's move forward."
Besides, she tells a helluva entertaining story.

It's been said that politics, like sausage, is best not seen in the making. But those who wonder why we don't yet have a vaccine or a cure for AIDS need to know why. Pat Thomas takes us behind the scenes and lives of the cast of characters deeply involved in the science, politics and business of one of the most hotly sought-after pharmaceutical products of all time.
"Big Shot" gives us reason to despair that science can ever succeed, given the private and public agendas of so many involved in the AIDS epidemic.
But it also gives us hope, as we see the many dedicated to finding a way to stop the spread of an epidemic that has already claimed 22 million lives. This is a masterful job by one of the best science writers working today -- wonderfully written and compelling.

I think "Big Shot" is the first important nonfiction work of the 21st century. With a clarity and an exuberance not often found in books about hard science, Patricia Thomas explains how politics, human frailty and corporate greed have prevented us from finding a vaccine for AIDS. Comparisons with previous books about AIDS and public policy don't exactly do justice to "Big Shot." If books must be categorized, Thomas' scrupulous research sometimes places this book with top ranking medical journals; but the wonderful writing -- you can almost dance to Thomas' prose -- places it among the better mysteries. In the hands of a lesser writer, the workings of DNA, retroviruses, surface antigens and hard-working proteins would cause one's eyes to glaze over. Instead, I found myself turning pages with Evelynwoodesque speed to get to the next development and the next, wondering which young researcher would win the race to the vaccine goal. Thomas has raised the bar for future books about medical research.

I have had this book for years and it goes everywhere with me. It's got some great poems in it, some that are humorous and some that are inspiring.

Poets, buddhists and a lively history of how they mixed together. . . this is a great read for anyone who likes the beat poets OR the buddhist view of the world. There are details and connections and insights in this book that you won't find anywhere else

it guided me, moved me, changed me like nothing you can imagin. the beat generation (esp. kerouac) have helped me find my place in world that isnt tailored tword individuals. anyone who liked the work of any of the beat poets should read this.

This anthology makes a statement which has been needed for 50 years: the Beat Movement was at its core a spiritual quest. Beat poets and novelists of the 1950s hungered for something more satisfying than the mainstream Judeo-Christianity of Eisenhower's America. For many writers of the Beat era, this search for enlightenment brought them to Buddhism. Editor Carole Tonkinson has gathered together a terrific complilation of Beat writings on Buddhism, including major figures in the Beat canon such as Jack Kerouac, Gary Snyder, Michael McClure, and Philip Whalen. But more interestingly, she has also included texts by less well known Beats such as Lenore Kandel, Lew Welch, Albert Saijo, and Harold Norse. The introductory essay, by Stephen Prothero, does an excellent job of providing literary and historical background for the Beat movement's embrace of Eastern thought. Several excellent anthologies of Beat writing have been released in the last decade, but this one is the best for readers who want to understand the profoundly spiritual roots of this group of cultural rebels.

Sitton and Hunt recap the Great American Story, told many times in many places in this great nation. Blending a worthy narrative with an amazing array of photographs from Larry Jene Fisher, the authors remind us why and how America became so great and why East Texas is such a magnificent story of its own. Read this book if you want to understand what made America and Texas rich and dynamic. Study this book if you want to recall what we must build on to keep our nation great. There's a reason we are who we are and Big Thicket People captures that story superbly.

This book does a magnificent job of capturing a poorly documented chapter
in our nation's history. Sitton and Hunt's text combined with Fisher's
amazing photography magically transports you to the East Texas of the 1930s and 1940s. In reality, the book transports you to the Old South for these "lost" lifeways were common throughout the South before WWII. If you'd like to know more about the Old South, whether it be fox hunting, tie hacking, turpentining or just the old free range livestock culture, this book is a must.

Again, Sitton and Hunt do a great job of telling/showing the history of the rural South which has not been heavily documented. I highly recommend this book, it is a MUST have.

This book offers wonderful photography of an almost lost era in American history. The history of the rural South has not been heavily documented. Sitton and Hunt combine the outstanding photography of Larry Fisher with their wonderful text to make this era come alive. Many of these photographs provide extremely rare documentation of old Southern lifeways, such as turpentining, marking ears of free-range hogs, stave making, etc. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the history of the South or East Texas. It is a fabulous resource.

Big Thicket People by Thad Sitton and Charles Hunt provides an invaluable pictorial record of a back woods culture that has faded from the scene.
Larry Jean Fisher moved to Saratoga, Texas and the area called the Big Thicket in the mid 1930s when his first career as a silent movie pianist was ended by the "talkies". We are extremely fortunate that he chose to apply his artistic talents to photography for his pictures provide authentic images of a lost culture.
The Big Thicket is a unique ecological area whose major feature is quite well described by its name. For some the "Thicket" provided a hiding place and for others it meant a meager livelihood, but its harsh and also bountiful environs shaped the lives of those who established homes there. Fisher took pictures of the rustic culture that he found in and around Saratoga. The negatives of his pictures were fortunately passed to the custody of the Lamar University Library where they were finally published by Sitton and Hunt.
The natural history of the Big Thicket was significantly altered by timber-cutting and oil exploration, but it is now slowly reverting to its original state under the protection of the National Park Service's 100,000 acre Big Thicket National Preserve. The Preserve, however, can not bring back the way of life so we are left with the Fisher pictures and the descriptions by Sitton and Hunt.
This short volume provides an excellent review of life in the Big Thicket, but it leaves one wanting more than just this taste of what once was.

Great little book to help to establish that God's word is truth. Deuteronomy 6:7 Sound biblical doctrine that a young child can grasp. I recomend to all who read to their children.

The Scriptures, part of the Big Thoughts for Little Thinkers series, attempts to explain to young children what the Bible is and why it's important in our everyday lives.

Author and illustrator Joey Allen begins the book by having Gabe, a lively and friendly little boy, introduce himself. "The Bible is the most important book in the whole world!" Gabe says.

Gabe asks readers to consider what life would be like if our parents never spoke to us, or never taught us to tie our shoes or say our ABCs. Then he asks us to consider what it would be like if the one who created us never spoke to us and never told us how best to live. "But God has spoken!" Gabe exclaims. First, he points out that creation can tell us some things about God. Then he says we can learn even more about God by reading the Bible.

Gabe explains that the Holy Spirit directed specific people to write the Bible. He describes the tone of the Old Testament and says the "entire Old Testament points to" a Savior, who would come in the future.


"When Jesus came to earth, He showed us what God is like. Jesus acted like God and talked like God because He is God! When we learn about Jesus in the Bible, we are learning about God."
Gabe explains that "people who believed in Jesus gathered together all the books that come from God" and put them in one book, called the Bible. He tells us about 40 people wrote the books of the Bible, including a fisherman, a doctor, and a farmer. He explains that the Bible wasn't written in English originally, but that God protects the message of the Bible, no matter how many languages it's been copied into.

Gabe explains that God always tells the truth and always keeps his promises. Therefore, "every morning when you wake up, you can be happy because the Bible says God is with you, and one day you will be with Him in heaven." The Bible, Gabe says, teaches us how to live as God wants us to: loving God and other people. The Bible also helps us grow and protects us from sin and other things that can hurt us. If something in the Bible is tough to understand, Gabe urges us to find someone who's been a Christian for a long time, and ask them if they can help us understand it better.


What I Like: This book speaks truth with such clarity; what an ideal introduction to the Bible! All the assertions are backed up by biblical verses, and the cartoonish (but not crude) illustrations are inviting. I also like the child-friendly size of this book (about 6 inches by 6 inches).


What I Dislike: The term "Holy Spirit" is never explained, so parents should be prepared for questions on that. Also, there is paragraph in this 32 page book that offers so weak an argument, it doesn't belong in this otherwise fine volume. Gabe says the Bible is like no other book because "you can tell that it comes from God because it does not sound like something a human would make up."


Overall Rating: Excellent!

Kristina Seleshanko, editor of Christian Children's Book Review ( ccbreview at blogspot dot com )

These books are great! The illustrations are amazing - each character has so much energy they just come to life! The characters will capture your heart while teaching children the truths about God and the Bible. They make a perfect gift for any child or a unique baby shower gift for those who are expecting. Joey has not only presented the truth of God in easy to understand books, but his illustrations just leap off each page. I love them all!

Be sure to read the Forward and A Word to Parents in this book. It is a great message to adults as well!

These books are great! The illustrations are amazing and the characters will capture your heart while teaching children the truths about God. With each page the story just comes to life and the energy of the characters really draw you in.

These books make a perfect gift for any child or a unique baby shower gift for those who are expecting. Joey has not only presented the truth of God in easy to understand books, but his illustrations really come to life. I love them all!

Be sure to read the Forward and A Word to Parents in this book. It is a great message to adults as well!