Brown Books

The misadventures of the most lovable high school student turned journalist are not only an essential read but a "must" own for your library!

Dear Lovey Hart, I am desperate is a WONDERFUL book. WONDERFUL. WONDERFUL. WONDERFUL. Waaayyy cool.

This book is funny and realistic. It's about a girl, Carrie who works for the newspaper. A cute older guy, Chip, asks her to do a secret column, "Dear Lovey Hart", where she answers questions that the readers write in. It starts out fun, she gets tons of letters, helps epople out with serious issues, and gets closer to Chip. Only Carrie's best friend, Claudia also has thing for Chip. Carrie's other best friend, Terry has a thing for a teacher, which leaves her in depression after embarassment and rejection. Marty, Carrie's older guy friend, who's Chip's age, has a crush on Carrie. He wrties to Lovey Hart, asking for information, but when Carrie gives him info, everything goes wrong. Jen, Carrie's little sister soon finds out that Carrie is Lovey Hart. The book countineus and is really exciting and interesting. I strongly reccomend it!

Such a wonderful book and so funny regarding how a fairly unsuspecting high school sophomore finds herself in the middle of quite the mess, just trying to do the right thing. Very engaging, wonderfully written. It's too bad that it's out of print. The sequel is great as well.

Dear Lovey Hart, I am Desperate is basically about a high school newspaper decided to start an advice column. The person who will be dispensing advice would write under the name Lovey Hart. Guess who got chosen? Our intrepid heroine of the story. Sure it is fun to give out advice to others, but it seems that it is even more fun to hang around with Chip, the blond hunky editor of the school paper.

Our heroine started out pretty well....even getting a thank you letter from one person who followed her advice and changed her life. But as time went on, Lovey Hart went from savior to scapegoat, as people who followed her advice blindly and ended up worse than where they started. Well, it got to the point where our heroine can't even tell anybody she's Lovey Hart or she would be laughed out of town.

Well the ending is quite interesting. Also a very funny book.

Harlan Coben's short story "Entrapped" is about a woman whose husband goes missing. When she arrives home from the police station, she finds an imposter husband waiting for her and the charade begins.

All of the stories are filled with common elements that make for a great mystery; secrets, deceit, love, lust, drama and of course the most important ingredient, murder. Readers will find at least one of their favorite writer's works and be able to sample several new writers as well.

R. L. Stine tells a tale of a murdering best friend who's left with his victim's "talking" dog. The dog witnessed the whole murder. That, combined with paranoia and guilt, makes for a well written and very imaginative story.

A few of the writers that readers will look forward to include Lee Childs, Ridley Pearson, R.L Stine, Laura Lippman and P.J Parrish.

To sum the book up in one word that would be it, Fantastic!! This is such a wonderful collections of stories. Each story different from the other but all keeping the same themes. My favorites were Safe Enough, Home Front, Till Death Do Us Part and Entrapped. However all were fantastic. I recommend that you get this book, you will not be disappointed.

Anthologies of short stories by different authors are usually a collection of a few gems, a few all right stories and a few fillers. Death Do Us Part is a collection where all but two are great reads, they are not all masterpieces granted, but there are more than the usual number of those as well. I was interested in this book just to read Coben's story Entrapped as I had not read it before when it was first published in 1997, and its pretty hard to come across Mary Higgins Clark's Mystery Magazine let alone that edition to read it anyway. Coben is not the only great author here, so many others have written great tales and the other authors are all freshly published as well. Like all great short story collections, Death Do Us Part gives the reader a chance to sample authors they've heard of but never read before as well as introduces to them lesser known authors to add to their lists of future reads to track down. There's also a brief and very helpful summary of each author at the end of the collection, so those looking know where to begin.

In reviewing what the stories within are about I'll start first with my favourite ones (undoubtedly your list would start differently). My list starts with the editor and Coben's story Entrapped. A wife reports her husband missing to police only to discover he is at home. Only the person at home does not look or sound like her husband but he is the same guy the police show her that is in the photograph she gave them. Is she going insane? Could he really be her husband after all?

Wifey a story by normally child and young adult author R. L. Stine proves to the world that he can write sensational stories for any market. Wifey is the nickname Jake a neighbour of Frank the owner has given Frank's dog Ruby since they behave like a married couple and are never apart. Jake hates dogs, but is ecstatic that his neighbour entrusted him to inherit the beast as it showed to the world what Frank thought of their friendship. Ruby though makes Lassie look like Forrest Gump and will stop at nothing to avenge her master's murder.

Till Death Do Us Part, Tim Maleeny. The title story of this collection is the great tale about the sixtieth anniversary of a feud between an old couple who do not believe in divorce. They are both extremely intelligent and every year play the "fair play", dinner game of trying to poison the other through each others dishes.

Lee Child's Safe Enough has a guy from the city taking up work on houses in the country where notices a beautiful women. He stalks her and discovers she has a violent husband When the husband disappears he is the only one who can prove the wife was not around the murder scene when it happened but obviously he can't supply this news to the police to prove her innocence as they will want to know why he was stalking her.

The Home Front by Charles Ardai is set in America while World War II rages on in Europe. Too old to go to war Ray Harper is a government agent who catches petrol retailers selling rationed fuel on the black market. One such arrest is Rick Kelly who is killed in Harper's car as Harper was giving Kelly a lecture about how his actions are helping Hitler and why isn't he over there anyway etc instead of watching the road. Sacked by the government and with injuries Harper is down on his luck and one the streets. Luckily he comes across a kind woman who offers him food and board if he helps her run her garage.

The Last Flight by Bredan DuBois has a man booking a joy flight in the type of plane he flew in the war over the ocean to scatter his wife's ashes and obtain closure.

A Few Small Repairs by Jeff Abbott has a hospital ridden father who is dying a slow painful death asking a son he had disowned to help him end his life.

Blarney by Steve Hockensmith is the tale of a few drinks at the pub by a group of writers after a conference where they run into one of the only non boring speakers. This old Irishman offers to teach them what it is to be a writer if they buy him a pint.

The Masseuse by Tim Wohlforth is the story of a man whose dream comes true when his masseuse offers to cook and pleasure him in exchange for food and board and a bit of spending money while she studies for a new career.

Homecoming by the mother and son team pseudonym Charles Todd, has a wife of a guy fighting in Europe during World War I discovering an intruder in her house, however even though she knows he's there can never seem to find him so wonders if stress is making her go insane.

Part Light, Part Memory is an African slave girl's story of her thirst for vengeance when her father was hung for looking at the American master's wife.

Queeny by Ridley Pearson is the tale of a guy whose wife attracts the attention of a man while running in the park which she tells him about. The wife soon disappears.

One True Love by Laura Lippman is the story of a high class prostitute who is recognised and blackmailed by a parent her son runs into while playing sport.

The Cold, Hard Truth by Rick McMahon is the tale of a rural police office recounting the story of how he first met death row prisoner Jesse Brashear and the cold hard truth that good people can do bad things.

Cyberdatedotcom (note Amazon ridiculously keeps replacing the actual title with [...] so that's as close as I can put) by Tom Savage is the chat room transcript from a dating website where two under aged kids take a liking to each other.

Pushed or Was Fell by Jay Brandon has Walt a loner, meeting a girl, quickly marrying and setting out on cruise ship honeymoon then realising he doesn't love with devastating consequences.

One Shot by P.J. Parrish has Stuart returning to visit his old home which is now for sale and reliving the traumatic changing event of his life.

Heat Lightning, William Krueger although readable is one of the lesser quality contributions to this collection. A story of a guy who is having an affair while his wife lies in a coma in the bedroom upstairs.

Chellini's Solution was the only story I don't really think is worth reading, it's about an Italian guy whose enemies gloat as they tell him his wife is cheating on him and of course the actions he takes afterwards.

This is a great collection of short stories and one you'll want to keep forever. Not as good as this but still a good recent collection of similar stories to these I've read is Dangerous Women, edited by Otto Penzler.

This anthology of 19 truly great mystery stories is presented by the Mystery Writers of America (a fine association of not only authors, but readers too!) is edited by Harlan Coben. It is as perfect as an anthology can be.

Each of the nineteen stories is from an established writer. Most have won or been repeatedly nominated for various awards. No warmed-over, previously published material here: all nineteen stories are original. Nor are there excerpts of the writer's novels: this stuff is fresh and new. Coben wisely doesn't present the author bios until after all the stories and much to credit of editor and authors alike, the bios aren't pure puffery and hyperbole.

I can't tell you what my favorite was, because all nineteen stories are terrific. Jeff Abbott, author of "Panic" and "Fear", two fine thrillers, sets up a tense father-son-wife story. R. L. Stine provides something of a "shaggy dog" story that involves love in a strange way. Harlen Coben presents a story of a very crafty wife. Tim Wohlforth contributes a gem about a man's ideal relationship that leads to an unfortunate bit of snooping. All nineteen stories are simply great reads.

Oh - and if you didn't guess already, all nineteen stories are true to the cover blurb: they involve love, lust and murder.

Good stuff. Not to be missed.

Jerry

Reviewed by Cherie Fisher for Reader Views (09/06)

"Mystery Writers of America Presents Death Do Us Part: New Stories about Love, Lust and Murder" is a must read for anyone who loves stories about mystery, misery and murder. Harlan Coben, the editor, brought together some of today's best mystery writers to create this book of 19 short stories, including one of his own "Entrapped". As Coben tells us in the introduction, most of these stories are going to end badly for at least one person, maybe more. The commonalities of the stories end there.

"Queeny", written by Ridley Pearson, is a story about a famous mystery writer whose wife is brutally murdered and he is mistakenly forced to stand trial for it. After what has happened, no matter what the outcome, and I won't tell you what it is, no one can win. Then there is the City electrician in "Safe Enough" by Lee Child, who moves to the country to be with a woman who is suspected of killing her husband, but did she really?
A few war stories come into play, the most poignant one being "Home Coming" by Charles Todd, a story about an English woman who becomes frightened of her home because it feels like someone has invaded it while her husband is away fighting in the war. AND, the most chilling story of all is Cyberdate.com by Tom Savage, which is about two teenage kids (are they really who they say they are?) who meet on the internet and the boy finally convinces the girl to meet in person. How many of us live with that worry about our children doing exactly the same thing? Revenge is even thrown into the mix with stories like "The Last Flight" by Brendan DuBois.

My two personal favorite stories were "Till Death Do Us Part" by Tim Maleeny and "Wifey" by R.L. Shine. "Till Death Do Us Part" is a about a chemist and botanist celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary by each preparing a meal for the other. What is on the menu turns out to be the surprise. "Wifey" is a dog who witnesses the brutal murder of her master and is forced to live with the murderer afterwards. Wifey does not take this lying down.

Other contributors to this collection of great stories are Charles Ardai, Bonnie Hearn Hill, Steve Hockensmith, William Kent Krueger, Rick McMahan, P.J. Parrish, Tim Wohlforth, Jeff Abbott, Jim Fusilli, Laura Lippman and Jay Brandon. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and recommend it highly. The short stories make it great for reading before bed, taking to the beach, or if you have small children and frequent small slots of time to read.

Accounts of the US Air Force and US Navy air engaments.
A good book on the subject, though it can be a bit "dry" to a reader with little knowledge about air warfare.

I was not sure how good of a read this book would be, and figured it would be something I'd shove under the coffee table after a bit and only look at it from time to time. I was wrong. I haven't been able to put it down. There's no better way to hear these stories than to get them directly from the pilots, and that's exactly the idea the author had.

Thanks for a great read, Quizmo.

In this invaluable 2007 volume, ex-USAF fighter pilot Craig Brown presents blow-by-blow accounts of all 56 successful air combats fought by U.S. air units between 1981 and 1999. In terms of accuracy and excitement, Brown's book can't be beat since, in almost all cases, the accounts were supplied by the aircrew involved in the engagement. Air combat enthusiasts will want to add this exciting, well-illustrated book from Schiffer Publishing to their collection post-haste.

The engagements covered in DEBRIEF are a real smorgasbord of aircraft types and geographic locations. Not unexpectedly the Air Force and Navy's top-line fighters - the F-14, F-15 and F-16 - were the main players not to mention the occasional odd-duck like the A-10! Likewise their opponents were a mixed bag of MiGs, Mirages, Sukhois, helos, transports, trainers, etc. With few exceptions the kills were made with AAMs, mainly AIM-7 Sparrows, which may surprise some readers considering the Sparrow's dismal record over North Vietnam.

Though I gave DEBRIEF five stars, to be honest I felt 4 1/2 stars a more appropriate rating. Don't get me wrong: DEBRIEF is a great read and stands as THE definitive account of post-Vietnam War engagements. The air combat junkie in me loves this book. The first-person accounts, though heavy with fighter pilot techno-babble, put you right in the cockpit for some very exciting missions. Then too the narratives are illustrated with hundreds of photographs, mostly in color, of aircrew, aircraft, in-flight formations, ships, squadron patches, etc. and ten artworks depicting specific engagements.

The amateur historian in me, though, wishes Brown had done more with his material. Having compiled all this raw data, he could have made the book much more useful by doing some basic analysis of all those engagements. Specifically, what do all those combats MEAN in terms of modern air combat?

Reading through DEBRIEF, several points easily come to mind: what a killer machine the F-15 is, what a dominant role U.S. AWACS platforms play in modern air combat, the outstanding performance of the AIM-7, etc. So why did the F-15 perform so well? How have AWACs aircraft reshaped air combat? How come the Sparrow performed as well as it did and so on?

Then too I wondered if there were unsuccessful engagements during that timeframe and, if so, why did they fail? When I was doing the research for my MIG KILLERS OF YANKEE STATION I felt it was equally as important to discuss the failures as well as the successes to get the complete story. I would have enjoyed reading Brown's take on fighter combat in the 1980-90 timeframe.

In any case, if you like reading about air combat, pick up a copy of DEBRIEF asap. You won't regret it!

This book is a MUST HAVE for anyone interested in modern military aviation - it covers every successful Air to Air engagement by the US military since the Vietnam war through the present day. Full of first hand accounts and personal photographs of the aircrew and aircraft involved, this is the most comprehensive book on this topic to date. The only thing that would have made this book better would be the addition of the unsuccessful engagements during the same time period, like Michael O'connor's 'Mig Killers of Yankee Station' does. I also recommend - MIG Killers of Yankee Station, Aces Against Japan, Aces Against Germany

I found Debrief to be a excellent collection of First hand accounts of US Air to Air Combat Victories covering the period of 1981 to the Present. The text and photos are first rate. A must have book for anyone interested in Military Aviation history. I am a proud and very satisfied owner of the Debrief book.

If you are reading my Ramayana series, then I gently urge and request you to please not buy the UK or US editions, even if they're available at bargain prices. Which they probably are, since the publishers there have more or less put the books out of print, due to a lack of interest by non-Indian readers.

The Indian editions are the definitive editions of my work, containing a lengthy Introduction by me titled 'Retelling the Ramayana', which provides an essential perspective on the work, the final versions of all the books--including some small but significant changes, particularly in some book endings--no glossary, thank God, and are generally the best-edited, designed and published versions, in my opinion at least. In short, they're the Author's Preferred Edition, particularly the new hardcover omnibus editions, which represent the story in the way I had originally intended and are truly sumptuous to hold (and behold). Also, significantly, they aren't packaged as 'Fantasy' or 'SF' like the firang ones, which is a ridiculously transparent attempt at cashing in on the commercial success of the fantasy genre a la LoTR and Harry Potter. Please, people, my Ramayana series is a retelling of an epic, and that's exactly what it should be called, 'Epic'. I'd venture to call it 'Itihasa', but even Mythology, which is the label Penguin uses for the books here in India, is acceptable. But certainly not Fantasy as in one of the ubiquitous Tolkien rip-offs that are churned out in droves by western publishers, or even SF, both genres that can sometimes be wonderful in their own right, but are totally inappropriate in the context of an epic that pre-dates Tolkien by some thousands of years, and the entire tradition of western literature as well!

Frankly, I feel so strongly about this that I'd even go so far as to say, if you can't get the Indian editions, then don't read the books! That's why I'm currently in the process of re-acquiring the rights to the US and UK editions and they will soon be out of print everywhere but India. Which is how it ought to be: this is a quintessentially Indian story, written by a contemporary Indian for other contemporary Indians to read. And the Indian editions are really the only way to go.

Ashok K. Banker
[...]

It's good to see the great epics of Ancient India entering into popular culture through such efforts as this. Thank you Ashok for popularising this superb literature. I too (as Krishna Dharma) have made a similar attempt with both this and Mahabharata. These are the most wonderful books imaginable, not just for their tremendous stories, but especially for their spiritual messages, so uplifting and deeply satisfying. Although it is understandable that Ashok has presented his books as fiction, it must be remembered that Ramayana (and Mahabharata) are actual histories to adherents of Hinduism. Of course, many accretions, interpolations and alterations have crept into the texts over the millenia they have been recounted, but still the basic narratives are held as factual by followers of Vedic culture, with both Rama and Krishna being worshipped as full manifestations of the Supreme Lord.

Anyway, five stars to Ashok for bringing this timeless tale to a whole new audience. I hope they are inspired to find out more about the sublime nature and activities of both Rama and Krishna.

God, Ashok Banker is good! His novels are so amazing, it just too much to describe! Number three sports many important events that originally take place in the myth, like the marriage of Sita and Rama, the encounter between Rama and Parashurama, the exile of Rama, Lakshmana and Sita, and the first meeting with the sly Surphanaka. The characters, every single one of them, is fleshed-out to the extent that you can relate with any of them. The conclusion is just awesome, leaving you ready to devour the next book.

Ashok left us stunned by the end of the Siege of Mithila, with the loss of Raama and Lakshmana's supernatural powers, a vast destruction of the demons and it almost seemed that this book would be an anti-climax.

However, Ashok has not belied our faith in his craft and the master craftsman that he is, conjures such a spellbinding book - that we are transported to the incidents themselves. This book is a turning point in the quest, the epic that is the Raamayana and though there are conclusions to questions raised in the previous 2 books - there are completely new questions that come into play.

We see the taunting lines of fate that take our characters where they need to be. We feel for them, we laugh for them, cry for them, feel terror and rebuke - but most of all love them and live them.

To list out the incidents flashing across different places would be too many, and mar the enjoyment of the readers. All I can say is that this book is packed with action, emotion and drama worthy of the epic.

Each character is given new dimensions and especially the women in this book are quite stupendous - displaying all the traits from jealousy to lust, desperation, strength, love, devotion and power - they define the character of the epic and the times.

There are many scenes in this book that draw choked emotions and make you understand who Rama really is. Again, the book ends on a note of such suspense that you cannot wait to lay your hands on the next one.

I am currently re-re-reading Demons of Chitrakut by Ashok K Banker and wanted to post this review of the same. Well I actually read Ashok’s Ramayana series over and over again, sometimes just a few chapters here and there or some incident or some interesting story of some character…because the books are really good and are so different from other re-tellings of the Ramayana and one would have never read the Ramayana in this style ever before and ofcourse the Ramayana itself is such a timeless and wonderful epic.

Like the previous two books, this one does not fail to hold you captive! Infact for once being held captive is a nice idea. You just don’t want this book to get over!

This 3rd book resumes immediately where Siege of Mithila left us…at the very exciting attack of the demons. The book goes on to describe Rama’s wedding with Sita and the interaction between Rama and Parashurama (one of my favourites).

This is the book in which Rama, Sita and Lakshmana are sent into exile thanks to the manipulated Kaikeyi’s demands of the two boons that were promised to her by Dasaratha. Manthara’s evil ways are finally revealed and she is banished from the Kingdom. Rama, Sita and Lakshmana go to Dandaka-van and a broken hearted Maharaja Dasaratha passes away with Rama’s name on his lips. We then read about Rama’s adventures in the forests with Guha, chief of the hunters and his meeting with Sabari, the tribal woman. It is after her that the Ayyappa temple hill is named Sabarimala in Kerala, and incidently after which I am named!

Rama, Sita and Lakshmana finally settle down at the beautiful and calm Chitrakut hill for their long fourteen year exile, but its not all peace and quiet…

Ashok takes the liberty of adding scenes and incidents to his re-telling (for that is what it is - a re-telling and not a translation), and he does so in a way that supports the central story and he manages to add a lot of background details and descriptions that literally let the reader experience the Ramayana, in Ashok’s own special, wonderful way.

It really sets the mood for further books of the series and is one of my favourite books in the series. A very action packed book with lots of interesting incidents and a definite must read and must have book.

Very good book, explains real-worlds issues one faces when developing COM components.
A few first chapters are extremely useful (something I had to learn hard-way. Have I had this book, I would have saved myself many hours restructuring my projects). Basic ATL types are also explained and recommendations given are very good.
Concise but very useful is explanation of BSTR, OLESTR, CComBSTR, _bstr_t types.

This is an excellent book; a little pricey, but worth the money if you are serious about COM+. And I mean serious! This is not a beginners book, for that I would recommend "Inside COM+ Base Services" by the same publisher. This book is a little too biased towards MS development environments. For example they compare VC++, VB, and VJ++ and casually mention there are "other capable environments". Hmm. Then again, this is a Microsoft press book, and COM+ is a Microsoft technology, so its to be expected.

This book picks up where introductory COM books left off. The first chapter is about error handling in your COM+ objects - not a good place to start learning COM :)

Particularly useful to me was the last third of the book, the design patterns. Here, the authors give us a meaty example of a "real world" COM+ enterprise solution. What other book gives you this? Answer: none. Get this book!

This book, is without a dought, the best COM book ever done. In my seven years as a working COM engineer and some say expert, I have read and bought every single book on COM. And when you come right down to it, even Don Box's book, they are all the same: explaining IUnknown over and over again, rehashes of available documentation and books with esoteric and useless ICat and IDog interfaces. None of them deal with the real COM world and the problems we really face every day. This book does. This book assumes you are a working COM developer and focuses on the hard problems: Smart Pointers, Strings, Enumeration Interfaces, Streaming and trying to deal with the world of STL. It offers real solutions and real code that can be used today to bridge to the STL world and to deal with things like enumerations. It offers code to deal with COM enumerations and collections, a topic scarcely covered. This book has become my number one resource.

An excellent book. The early chapters reveal solid solutions to oft-encountered COM problems - error handling, string manipulation, smart pointers, multiple-reader single-writer locks, streaming and marshal-by-value etc. The later chapters concentrate mainly on design techniques for building scalable applications. In my (humble) opinion, chapter 13: The MTS Revolution is worth the price of the book alone. This chapter describes the evolution of technologies for building scalable systems, introduces the single-concurrent-client model and explains how to write scalable systems keeping code maintainable and in the general case, lock-free. All would-be COM+/MTS developers should read this chapter! I've read both this and Tim Ewald's Transactional COM+ - both excellent books and compliment each other very well. In my opinion, Brown's chapter 13 is far superior to Ewald's chapter 1. Both attempt to acheive the same thing, coaxing the regular developer into the COM+ mindset, but Brown's offers logical facts and reasoning as opposed to Ewald's non-real-world convoluted IPerson examples.

This book covers the software design aspect of COM+ with very good detail explanation of the why and what are your options in COM+ system design. The book also covers in depth discussion in using STL, architecture pattern, MBV and concurrency which are very valuable to software designer. If you are going to work on a software development that uses COM+, this book definitely will save you a lot of research and experiment time and resources.

I bought this book when I first found out I was pregant and it prepared me for what I should expect in the first stages of the pregnancy and up until my son was 3 years. It also showed me what and how the baby developed at each stage in it's production. It was great I would have been lost without this book.

This is the best book that I used as a resource when I was pregnant and for baby care. I never read the "What to expect ..." books. This book seemed to have the information I needed without going into too much detail. The pictures were fantastic. Most useful, though, is that it tells what symptoms mean "call the doctor". It also got us to get our kids to sleep through the night. Highly recommen!

this should be the one. It is a great book to follow through the stages of pregnancy and then into child care up to the toddler years. The pictures of the childhood rashes and sections indicating when to call the doctor are fabulous.

I am a first time mom, my husband and I were very nervous as we had never been around new born babies before and had no idea what we would need to buy, how to hold a baby ,what we needed to learn even!! This book is a complete book for all novices, it has many illustrious pictures and clear style of writing which is easy to understand. It covers more or else all topics personally I could think of. I have refered to it time and again all throughout my pregnancy and am sure it will be a great help once my baby is here.

This is one book that I would strongly recommend (and do buy for all my friends). It has a picture of every childhood disease that you can imagine from diaper rash to chicken pox to the mumps. It's all in here and the book covers pregnancy to about age 5. They say a picture is worth a thousand words and when dealing with your own kids' sickness, this book is very helpful

One would have to be a dog lover (as I am) to enjoy this book.
I was really pleased to find a copy of it as an elderly friend
is in it in her younger days.

A dear friend had let me borrow her copy. After reading it, I had to get a copy. This book will warm your heart and the images are just wonderful. It's great to know others feel the same way as I when it comes to their dogs. Dogs share such a wonderful unconditional love and these stories are just one example. Get it for the dog lover in your life.

A wonderful book! I bought this book when seeking solace following the death of my first dog companion. It gave me comfort and hope to see that there were many more special dogs out there, (and I have since adopeted another one!).

This is a book that could be read all over the world, and be loved. (In fact, an international version would be a nice idea.) Any of us who have had or known a special dog find ourselves in this book. My dog Dilly writes her own page every day. You must read about these common and uncommon women and their extraordinary dogs!

I was going through some tough times when I found this book...facing the inevitable loss of my dog through cancer. I sat down on a stool in the bookstore and read it - cover to cover - with tears streaming down my face. Then I bought the book and took it home with me. In the following months (and years), I can't imagine the number of times I've read this book...or just sat and looked at the photos.

My dog died a few months after I found the book, but it was an unbelievable comfort to have it sitting on my table...to pick up and read when the mood struck...knowing there were other women out there that loved their dogs as much as I did mine.

That was years ago. It isn't a big book, but the photos and words speak volumes and volumes to those of us that love our animals, whether we are facing their loss, have already lost them, or are living happily with them, day-to-day.

Louise Barbara and Taylor Cohen? If you are listening, I want to thank you for publishing this book! I can honestly say your little book is one of my most cherished possessions.

Just got a few of this series for my 8 year old and he is reading about 1 a day and has asked for more of them. They are admittedly short but my son has been a resistant reader and loves these!! So keep them coming!!

My three sons love to read books filled with humor and this book delivered many laughs.

Grampa and Wiley have a wild adventure when they decide to attend a monster truck show, starring Dracula (a man who resembles a 'red-neck' Elvis) and his amazing 'Mudsucker.' It just so happens that the day of the monster truck show is Halloween and the weather is expected to be fierce- with an F5 tornado fast approaching. Not only will the two have to fear the tornado and the sary creatures at the truck show, but also Gramma's wrath. Which is worse? They soon find out.

This book is filled with many laughs and a great adventure. Just when you think it's gonna get scary, things start to surprise you! Very cute. Can't wait to read #2.

Kirk! I finally got some of your books. Don't ask me why it took so long. I have no idea, but my daughter is reading now (not yet this advanced) and it reminded me that you were publishing some. These are fantastic! I will be scrutinizing every detail in search of familiar cameos. Hope you are doing well and I am honored to have learned so much from you so long ago. -Brian

I love the Wiley & Grampa series by Kirk Scroggs. Dracula vs. Grammpa at the Monster Truck Rally is great for the Christmas season. It's the first in the series. So, be sure to check out the rest. These books are a lot of fun for boys who might be picky about what they read. If your child loves the Captain Underpants books, then turn him on to these.

Author of "Hobo Finds A Home" editor "Of A Predatory Heart"

Grade A, prime cut chapter book material for your kid. We LOVE all 4.

This is a wonderful collection. Even though this is a first book, the writer seems like a real craftsman. The title story--Driving the Heart--is an amazing piece of fiction. Brown puts interesting characters in these quirky situations, and the results are fantastic.

I'm a big fan of Jason Brown. There's a great deal of sadness in these stories, but his voice is so strong, the prose so elegant, that it's hard to resist them. "The Dog Lover" and "Thief" are two of my favorites. Brown is one of the most impressive young writers to emerge on the scene in a while. I recommend this collection very highly.

Having been a former student of Mr. Brown, I remember reading some of these stories as he shared them with students. I have been waiting for this collection to come out and it has been well worth the wait. Brown is yet another in a long line of very talented young writers to come out of Cornell and Stanford! Animal Stories is my favorite, but all of the stories in this collection are intense and immensely readable. I now look forward to Brown's next collection!

DARK, DISTURBING & BEAUTIFUL. THIS IS THE BEST BOOK I'VE READ THIS YEAR.

After reading the first three stories I called three friends and told them they had to get this book. Mr. Brown's imagination and diligent investigation of the psyche provide an engaging view of human reality. Not since Denis Johnson have I been so inspired by a collection of stories.

I grew up in the 70's and my parents encouraged my love of drawing by getting me several of Ed Emberly's books. They contain easy step-by-step instructions using basic shapes to create worlds of characters, animals, vehicles, monsters, etc.
Now I'm able to get those same books I cherished as a child for my own 6-year old. He's spent hours drawing and his love of drawing continues to grow.
Mr. Emberley's style helps anyone learn to draw. If your child shows an interest in drawing I would highly recommend this or any other of his books.
We actually purchased several, including his fingerprint and thumbprint books along with some washable stamp pads so you can combine finger painting with drawing.

I have bought several Ed Emberley books for my 4 kids. They are all good. People are always amazed at how well my kids can draw. You can learn to draw, too! Like most activities, drawing is only part natural talent, part practice and part taking lessons. These books provide those lessons.

Way back in the 80's I used to grab this book from our small, quaint library at Steeple Valley Middle School. I renewed the book frequently and would have a mild heart attack when it wasn't available in the library for me to check out.

Edward Emberley, among other artists, put me on the course to my semi-successful cartooning career. In hopes of passing on the cartooning torch, I'm purchasing these books for my two nieces so they can continue to create vast worlds and numerous creatures on a simple notebook.

These books are the greatest. I own all of the Emberly books. They are fun for adults and kids alike. You are never too old or young to learn to draw. This book will make you the most hip doodler in school or at work. Ed makes it really easy!
This book is from a series of 4 books from Emberly are the easiest books on drawing there are, period. Anyone young or old can learn to draw some great critters and vehicles from these books. ANYONE! All of his Big Color books are great, (They are a series, each named after a color). This one is famous for the easy way it shows you how to draw step by step a great big green dragon, but it is simple when you do it his way. This book includes a number of fun ideas including Frankenstein, sailboat and trees. He even shows you how to make yours unique rather than a copy of his drawings. You can be the doodle hero of your classroom or office after using this book. He does it simply using very simple steps, lines, and basic shapes to start you off. My favorite in the series would be the Purple Book, but they are all good.
If you want to move up from here and learn the terminology of what you are doing, and really become an accomplished artist, the next step after these are the terrific books by "Jack Hamm". If you just want to have some fun, get this book!

I spent hours creating entire worlds based on these books. They are a wonderful introduction to basic drawing skills and are FUN!!!