Clarke Books

This is a good little Kindle ebook. It's short, but full of the original book pictures, which is cool. For a buck, this isn't a bad ebook to buy during the holiday season. It's pretty cool to read to you kids the classic Christmas Story on the newest and best ebook reader there is.

Beautifully illustrated with old-fashioned pictures on every other page, featuring some Coca-Cola Santas. There are four lined pages at the end for recording holiday memories. Start a new holiday tradition by reading this book every Christmas eve, along with the Bible story of Jesus' birth.

What a delight it was to read the story and say, "But this was exactly what I wanted when I was a child!" I wanted my little Skipper doll to comb her hair; I wanted my little plastic farm animals to baa and moo on top of the dining table. If I had toy soldiers like in the story, I'd love for them to do little parades and to tell me tales of campaigns in Africa. I wanted my toys to surprise me, speak to me, have ideas of their own!

Children will surely see themselves as Max, playful eight-year old, benevolent protector and guide to the Twelve - wooden soldiers each with their own histories and temperaments. Max, after finding them under a floorboard of their new home in Haworth, quickly became enamored. But their days of playing couldn't last too long. A Bronte scholar from America just offered a huge sum of money to buy twelve toy soldiers that belonged to the family of writers. Now the whole town is bent on finding them. How will Max keep his wards safe forever?

Not only does this book fire up the imagination, like a good story should, but it also encourages further reading especially for those who have not read The History of the Young Men. A wonderful book to be enjoyed up in the attic with your toys.

This is such an amazing book. As I was reading it, I could almost see this on a movie screen, the way the author described every movement, every thought, every color, it was like a kaleidoscope of beautiful words. The thought entered my mind how beautiful it would be on screen, as a short story, but how could special effects do it justice? Maybe an animated story would work.
A lovely story, written with such soul, a very visual book, and a wonderful message about giving.

With "The Weirdstone of Brisingamen", Alan Garner popularised a kind of fantasy novel in which an ancient myth comes alive in modern times. Many writers have subsequently exploited this genre, including Penelope Lively, William Mayne, Penelope Farmer, Susan Cooper, William Rayner, Diana Wynne Jones, and William Corlett. (Of course Garner was not the first to create such a genre, but those who used it before him are not so well known, good though their work often is -- but this is not the place to raise such things).

Pauline Clarke has written many kinds of children's novels -- fantasies, historical novels, family comedies, dolls' stories -- and is best known for her Carnegie Medal winner "Return of the Twelve" (or The Twelve and the Genii"), in which the toy soldiers of the Bronte children are brought to life, again, by a twentieth century boy. (Written in 1962, this is 18 years before Lynne reid banks discovered an Indian in the cupboard!)

Although "Return of the Twelve" resembles aspects of Garner's genre, it is "The Two Faces of Silenus" which takes as its central motif the mythical struggle between the life-forces of Silenus, a nature god, and the death-forces of Medusa, a moon goddess. (Comparisons may be made between Susan Cooper's "Seaward", which provides a Celtic-based version of this conflict, or Patricia Miles "The Gods in Winter" which brings the capture and rape of Persephone into the modern world.)

A modern English family go to a small Italian city. The father is attending a conference of academics. The mother is holidaying, and the two children, in their early teens, are left to enjoy themselves in the sunbaked streets and forested hills. One day they see a strange carved mask-face on a well or water-tank in the street: a huge beaming smile, surrounded by shaggy hair, with two protruding tusks. A local street boy urges them to throw a coin into the gaping mouth, and make a secret wish. Dangerous!

Nearby they also see two huge carved stone lions. Unwittingly their innocent tourist actions bring the carvings to life, and suddenly they find themselves romping with Silenus. (Surely Silenus has not featured in any story, let alone a children's story, since C.S. Lewis's "Prince Caspian", part of the Chronicles of Narnia, where a god-lion also romps, celebrating life and challenging the forces of death and winter.)

Just as unwittingly, they have unleashed the cruel owl-like Medusa, sworn enemy of Silenus. They have also become entangled in the present-day problems of the boy, and his mother and father. The whole landscape becomes involved, as the children are hunted through woods, down narrow streets, around Roman ruins, and an old Roman theatre. Their parents, also, become involved, and each has a significant encounter with Silenus. It would spoil the power of the book to say much more about the narrative events.

Few writers attempt such complex issues -- life versus death, morality versus sensuality, belief and disbelief -- and of those who do, few avoid moralising, at times, or simplifying. Clarke succeeds in shaping a rich story which does not moralise, does not offer simple explanations, and leaves room for readers to work out what seems to be happening, and why.

Why is the book not better known? Perhaps the non-English setting, and the use of Greco-Roman gods lacks the feeling that "this belongs to us" which writers such as Garner and Cooper exploit when they draw on Norse and Celtic mythology and set their adventures in the British countryside. Readers should not be so insular.

Incidentally, the illustrations by Anthony Maitland (perhaps best known for his illustrations of some of Leon Garfield's children's books, and Penelope Lively's "The Ghost of Thomas Kempe") are excellent.

This is a book to savour, especially as the myths it draws on are so well known, yet so poorly understood, except at the level of adventure. Clarke's book shows some of the religious depth of these myths, and deep myth is always worth experiencing!

Arthur C. Clarke, Ray Bradbury, Jorges Luis Borges and Raymond Carver at their best. Four timeless tales from the abstract minds of four of our greatest sci-fi authors. A thrill a minute..!

This book takes you on the rough ride of reaching the hard earned goal of recognition. I have several books to my name and this is one that i will keep near me always. I'd recommend this book to fans of the verve AND OASIS. if you're "MAD FOR IT" this is where to begin. Don't hesitate to venture into The Verve's " virtual world" of music drugs and influence!

This is a fantastic book which does a good analysis from both sides of the war. States clearly the underlying rationale to actions. A close analysis of the key events and decisions will go a long way to help people understand better about the true Vietnam War.

The FLIRT girls are in a state of frenzy. Fashion Week has arrived in New York City, and suddenly, their worlds have been flipped upside down, as they find themselves mingling with celebrities on a daily basis, and encountering some of the top designers in the fashion world in some of the most peculiar places. But Fashion Week isn't all these interns have to worry about. For school has started, and the girls are working overtime to handle their overdue homework, and FLIRT assignments. But things take a turn for the worst, when Alexa upsets a Sister at her all-girls Catholic School, leading to the removal of her beloved camera - along with a disk containing pictures for her boss; and soon Mel's luck follows suit, when she meets a cute guy in her Writing Workshop class, only to discover that he's not as truthful as he appears. Add to that the fact that Kiyoko's juggling guy problems with her music partner / possible boyfriend, Cody; and Liv is trying to cope with the fact that designers keep stealing her jewelry ideas. Now, the FLIRT interns must work as a team, in an attempt to survive school, and Fashion Week. But as a tabloid reporter from London begins closing in on them, along with Kiyoko's ravenous model-sister, Miko, the girls wonder if they'll ever be able to survive Fashion Week, school, and a full semester of this hectic schedule; or if they'll crash and burn like one of the many fad diets circulating throughout Hollywood.

As with Nicole Clarke's other FLIRT efforts, VIPs brings a certain fabulosity to the table that will certainly leave readers - especially those interested in the fashion industry - grinning from ear to ear. Her discussions regarding different materials, and swatches; as well as the dialogue revolving around jewelry, and the intricacies of creating the perfect fashion are absolutely flawless; while the excitement the girls feel regarding Fashion Week is certainly catching. Unlike the previous FLIRT novels, VIPs delves into the world of name-dropping, which takes away some of the originality it displayed in past installments. However, it also adds a slight piece of familiarity for the reader, making them feel as if they're "in the loop." Clarke has done another wicked job creating a tale that follows four likable girls through the exciting - and oft-times upsetting - world of a fashion magazine, and the many ups and downs that accompany it. Like bubbles from champagne, VIPs will tickle your senses.

Erika Sorocco

This is one of the best objective sources for the Virgin Birth narrative. It systematically goes through the different gospels, as well as many other sources to review the authenticity of the myth. I'd be lost without it.