Fitzgerald Books

I'm "ghost-writing" this review for my 9 year old daughter:
"I LOVED this book and I think its really funny when Geronimo misses four good vacations (the beach, the mountains, an adventure, and Egypt) and when he got stuck in a half a cheese slice hotel! I read all the Geronimo Stilton books in my school and local library I can find and I have to say I can't choose a favorite because they are all so good!!"

My daughter is 9 going on 10 and is tearing through all the Stiltons, including this one. We love them.

This was a Christmas gift for my niece. I read another book in this series and enjoyed it.

The big G Geronimo has done it again with a great adventure story, Attack of the Bandit Cats. The illustrator of Attack of the Bandit Cats is Matt Wolf. Can't imagine it? Well believe it the writer of a book with a mouse had a guy with wolf in his name illustrate. Also captured by cats was probably Geronimo, Thea, Trap, and Benjamin's the five main mice worst nightmare.

Thea, Benjamin, and Trap convince Geronimo Stilton to go with them to Silver Island,but instead they get captured by cat bandits. The bandit cats want to cook Geronimo and his friends so they can eat them for dinner. They manage to set a fire and scare the cats so bad that they forget that the ship was made of metal and they still jump off their ship. Geronimo, Thea, Benjamin, and Trap discover the treasure room were they find the first quarter to mouse kind. Then they become famous, but they don't keep all the money.

This book is great and I can't believe this book wasn't out already when I was born. It has great illustration with fancy words. Incredible gold or even platinum sentence fluency.[She sounded as if her tail was stuck in slobbertooths high speed blender!]This book is out of this world and can't be beat,five star not three or four five!

It all started when Trap invited Geronimo to solve a mystery on Pirate Island. So they used this hot air balloon. Before long, they realize that they are being shot by...CATS!

This book is another great addition to the Little Bear series (see my other reviews). Father Bear goes on a fishing trip and his Little Bear wonders what he may catch...an octopus, a whale, maybe a mermaid.

Perfect for young readers and a great bedtime book (with four interwoven stories inside, so you can stop if your audience gets sleepy).

My sons can relate to Little Bear and his imagination. The stories are easier to follow yet entertaining enough to support multiple readings.

My Son read this book to me. This is an easy one for him but we are working on reading out loud. He needs to practice reading with the breaks in the right place. It is a cute story about Little bear and his father. It is an I Can Read book that I would recommend for K-2nd grade.

WE HAVE HAD THE LITTLE BEAR BOOK FATHER BEAR COMES HOME FOR AT LEAST TWENTY YEARS,AND WE STILL LOVE IT! I JUST BOUGHT ANOTHER LITTLE BEAR BOOK FOR MY NEICE, AND AM WAITING FOR IT TO COME. IF YOUR LOOKING FOR A GREAT BOOK YOU CAN'T GO WRONG WITH THESE!

WE HAVE HAD THE LITTLE BEAR BOOK FATHER BEAR COMES HOME FOR AT LEAST TWENTY YEARS,AND WE STILL LOVE IT! I JUST BOUGHT ANOTHER LITTLE BEAR BOOK FOR MY NEICE, AND AM WAITING FOR IT TO COME. IF YOUR LOOKING FOR A GREAT BOOK YOU CAN'T GO WRONG WITH THESE!

There are 4 different stories in this book. My favorite was Little Bear's Mermaid. I liked when Little Bear saw the mermaid when his mom and dad were sleeping. I also liked when Little Bear went fishing. Other kids will like this book because it has many stories in it.

This book was so great, I couldn't put it down. I finished it all in one day! It's about a teacher who leaves Abby in charge of a gift box project. But they have a mean substitute who won't let Abby make the announcement about bringing gifts in for the gift boxes. Abby's friend named Hannah helps her out. Read the story. You'll love it.

Anne Mazer NEVER dissapoints me.This book is amazing,and I love it! Mrs. Kantor's class is giving gift filled shoe boxes to needy children,but Mrs. Kantor goes away,leaving horrible Ms. Lee with them. She's awful,and she makes school unbearable. What will the class do about her? Find out in this exciting book!

-(page 16 of book)
When Brianna told Mason his story was gross and distgusting, he burped at her. When Natalie told Bethany that her story was to short and that she should have put in more action, like hamster fights, Bethany sulked. Mason told me that my story was too perfect!! How can a story be too perfect???? Is that an insult or a compliment? Only Hannah had something positive to say about everyone's work. She was the only person no one was mad at by the end of the writers group. She didn't get mad at anyone, either. Ms.Bunder says alot of writers are in writer groups. Is this what they're all like? Writers must be crazy.

In this book, Ms. Kantor and Ms. Bunder do a class project. They have to decorate shoeboxes, fill them with toys and send them to the poor for Christmas. But then Ms. Kantor's mother gets sick and takes a leave of absence. Abby's class now has the worst subsitute on earth. Abby tries to figure out two things:

1. How are they going to the Christmas boxes without Ms. Kantor?
2.How is Abby's class going to get rid of their subsitute?

A great read.

This is a good book. And I'll hate to have a substitute like Ms. Lee, I also agree on a word in Abby's journal most " Kids are not your enemies."
I love the part where Hannah's baby sister water the boxes, I try to imagine what it was like, and the whole picture flew into
my mind. Didn't I laugh till tears came out.
Want to know what I'm writing about? READ THE BOOK!

Once again the Great Brain aka TD manages to swindle his friends out of money by being smart enough to bet on a sure thing, but words it in such a way that his friends believe that they will win. For example, TD bets his friends that he can magnetize a wood stick. They fall for it since they know that he can�t possibly magnetize wood. Well, we later find out that he made a boomerang and pretends to use a magnet to bring it back to him. My favorite part of the stories in this book is how TD livens up the swindles and money-making schemes with his story telling. Who wouldn�t want to ride the raft, Explorer, after hearing him narrate during the ride? The author tells the story in such a way that it makes you smile. This book concludes with JD getting fed up with his older brother TD and devising a plan to make him reform. You won�t want to miss it.

Fitzgerald puts out yet another good book in the Great Brain series with the Great Brain Reforms. It details a few more of T.D.'s swindles, and builds up to the point where the rest of the kids in town hate him. When he risks two of the kids' lives for thirty cents, they realize that it has gone too far. They hold a mock court meeting, and convict the Great Brain of swindling everyone in town, and as punishment every kid in town refuses to speak to him for a whole year. The Great Brain promises to reform, so they agree to talk to him as long as he stays reformed. Definitely an interesting and humerous read.

Overall grade: A-

Young Tom Fitzgerald is the "Great Brain" because he is always outsmarting the other kids in town and taking their money--or baseball glove, bat, air rifle...you name it! All the kids hate him: He's a swindler, blackmailer, crook, and an attempted murderer, according to them. In other words, "The Great Brain" is an all-around rotten kid. Yet, Tom doesn't consider himself a bad guy at all--just smart. Though he is a number-one con man, he does do some good things; and all his schemes--good and bad--are clever to read about. Far from a dull book!

[ASIN:1587365219: Submitted by the author of A Non-Workbook, Non-Textbook Approach to Teaching Language Arts: Grades 4 Through 8 and Up]

John D. Fitzgerald, in the tradition of Mark Twain, wrote a semi-fictitious account of his childhood as a Mormon in Utah. The milieu and time for "The Great Brain" series is a Victorian, early 1900's era, making the stories more in the lines of Tom Sawyer and Huck Fynn. But that does not belittle this timeless classic written in the 70's. The Great Brain is in fact an interesting character to follow. The stories are told from the point of view of his younger brother, as he follows him through many schemes (all of which are money scams) and escapades, which somehow wind down to moral lessons. The Great Brain is a humorous, brilliant and witty work of historic fiction that is sure to touch every reader in some way. I first read the series as a young child myself, growing up in much the same way The Great Brain does- a strict religious family that promotes hard work and academic education. These stories are hard to find nowadays, Victorian morales having slipped away somehow in our modern day. I am glad to know that Amazon.com still has these great books and I recommend them to everyone, young and old. For me, reading the novels was a form of escape, as well as an insightful glimpse of a time that was far more innocent than our own- the violent gangs of today and MTV, Britney Spears, Joy of Pepsi, Ossie Osbourne generation compare nothing to the rebelliousnes of the Great Brain. All of the books are enjoyable, and it is not until the last book in the series, "The Great Brain Reforms" (the name says it all) that we discover the startling growth and changes the punky, swindling, intelligent adult-trapped in the body of a child Great Brain undergoes. A Must Read.

John Dennis Fitzgerald intended to chronicle his youth in Utah for adults, not children. His publisher thought otherwise and the result are these gems. I don't even call them children's lit gems because I find them just as enjoyable as an adult. Before I go on, you should know that Fitzgerald wrote one book about his youth that is for adults, called "Papa Married a Mormon". It is one of the most amazing books on the American west that I have ever read. Sadly, it is out of print, and you may, like me, have to pay an exorbitant sum to get a copy. Trust me, save up and do it. Now back to this book. Every single Great Brain book in the series is pure gold, and the entire set can be had cheaply, so I say buy them all at once. I "put my money where my mouth is" as Tom the Great Brain would say, and bought the lot.

The Invisible Fran is the 3rd book in the Franny K. Stein series. I got this book because I'm a huge fan of the invisible genre and basically read anything where someone turns invisible but after reading this I will definitely check out the rest of, if this book is anything to go by probably best junior fiction series written in a long time!

Franny is fascinated by science and is in fact a practicing mad scientist herself. She has a lab in her parents' house and is helped by her assistant the reluctant Igor, her pet dog. During a school class the teacher assigns the class to do a talk on their hobbies. Fran listens to the other kids' hobbies such as stamp collecting, baking and Irish folk dancing and is convinced that once she demonstrates her hobby of being a mad scientist that the others will abandon their boring hobbies and emulate her. She brings a two headed robot to class but the class isn't impressed. Enraged and pondering how to convince the class she notices Igor being swallowed by a previous experiment a giant chameleon (which is apparently is a common occurrence). That's it she decides being invisible is the answer to her problem so combines chameleon DNA, cellophane molecules and disappearing ink into a drink which she consumes. Now in real life you'd think she'd die wouldn't you, but in junior fiction it works and she's invisible. Her plan is to become the voice inside the heads of her classmates by whispering in their ears making them think they want to be mad scientists.

A very funny, fast paced entertaining story. The length is fairly short so you'll probably want to get a few of if not the whole series. They seem to be a lot cheaper buying as a box set which seems to retail for about the same price as just two Franny K. Stein books.

If invisible man type fiction is also what you're interested in also check out The Invisible Man's Socks, My Best Friend Is Invisible (Goosebumps) by R. L. Stine, You Are Invisible: CYOA #48 by Susan Saunders, The Invisible Day by Marthe Jocelyn, Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich by Adam Rex and you can even get an illustrated version of H.G. Wells 1897 classic The Invisible Man (Great Illustrated Classics).

If the reader you are buying for can read at an adult level (or if you are an adult and you want a great invisible book yourself) the best of this genre are the masterpieces Memoirs of an Invisible Man by H. F. Saint and Smoke by Donald E Westlake.

My son just laughs and giggles when he reads these. He started in second grade, and it was a great series that kept him reading. He is now in third grade and reading more complex chapter books, but he'll still pick these up for a quick laugh. I plan on handing them down to my daughter next year when she is in first grade. The heroine is quirky and differant. She learns to celebrate her differances. The series should appeal to boys and girls and the main character is a lot of fun.

This book rocks.this book is about Franny in another GREAT adventure.

This is a great and funny book. It's talent day in Franny's school and all of her friends are doing what she think is boring. Franny tells her friends to finish her robot and after that the robot destructs the school. Then, Franny finds the robot in the library ripping books a part. Her friends use their talents to attack the robot.

I love reading this book to kids. Books should be easy to understand for kids, and luckily this one delivers. It's a quality read, too. Children will fall in love with the female character in the book who's just a geeky kid wishing to fit in with other kids. It's a good story that helps children understand that fitting in isn't always the most important thing. I want you to buy this book for a child.

This is a great picture book. I have almost every Kennedy family picture book available. I just happen to come across it in a bookstore near my home. I paid $19.99 for it, pretty good price. You can get here for about $16-17 but remember you have to pay shipping. So it comes out to more but it is soo worth it. When you are going through these pics its like being taken back in time. I'm pretty young my mom was born in 1957 so she was about Caroline's age when these pics were taken.

"John Fitzgerald Kennedy:A Life in Pictures"is a great way to remember President Kennedy.I'm a young,strong admirer of President Kennedy,and not only are there great pictures of Kennedy,there is a biography of Kennedy with speeches he made,including the speech he was going to make on November 22,1963.The best pictures are of Kennedy with Herbert Hoover and a picture of Jack Kennedy with his daughter Caroline and his niece Maria Shriver.I have seen a bunch of great Kennedy photos,and if you ever want the best Kennedy photo,buy Robert Stack's autobiography "Straight Shooting"and see the picture of Stack and Kennedy. "John Fitzgerald Kennedy:A Life In Pictures"is a must read for all Kennedy fans and even all non-Kennedy fans.

It is a great book !
Although I am not a "Kennedy fan", I have to admit these pictures are awsome. Over 300 pages of dream, glamour, fashion, history & photography.
It is not a political testimony, just a tribute to one of the most famous icons ever.
My advice ? THE perfect Xmast gift!!

I highly recommend this book, primarily for the great picutures of JFK. This 40th anniversary volume succeeds in presenting many rare and never-before-seen photos. I especially like the ones depicting Secret Service agent Gerald Blaine on the rear of the limousine in Italy 7/63. Get this!
[...]

This collection of over 300 pages of the usual suspected photographs, as well as many unseen or rare ones, was published to commemorate the passing of 40 years since our 35th President was vicously cut down in his prime.

The layout of the photographs is great. You see JFK throughout his life, from childhood, to Presidencey and every passing moment between. The photos are powerful, moving, show glamour and fun, you see a politician throughout his political career, you see a loving father, son, brother and husband. I have had quite a few photo books on JFk, but this is by far the best and most desirable one I have seen.

This photograph book would make a wonderful and truly appriciated gift for anyone who has any respect, love or interest in JFK. My sister is a huge JFK fan, she had a bust of him on our dresser growing up.

The price on Amazon, is as always, unbeatable. I saw this at a bookstore tonight for the full price.

Our young daughter asks us to read this book on a daily basis. So, although this book has been around for decades, it seems to transcend time.

There is something so warm and comforting about the illustrations and the gentle, fun dialog. Somehow the pictures give a sense of stability and safety. It is a brilliant marriage of text and illustration.

The understanding and humor that passes between the three generations speaks to the intricacy of relationships and the intelligence that young children possess. The author knew how to communicate her story without being condescending to children or adults.

I highly recommend this book. It is especially effective as a bedtime book because it has such a calming effect.

Another fun, sweet story about little bear and his family. My son (almost 3 years old) and I have been reading this book every night since I gave it to him.

There are four separate but related stories in this "I CAN READ Book" and they are all delightful. They flow from one to the other so that first story has Little Bear visiting his grandparents, while the second and third stories are tales that Little Bear's grandmother and then grandfather tell him. And the final story has Little Bear's parents coming to take him home after a wonderful, but tiring day of fun.

To parents and other caregivers this structure means is that we can read/or be read to big chunks or small.

Contents:

Grandmother and Grandfather Bear
Mother Bear's Robin
Goblin Story
Not Tired

Now my children like all these stories but there favorite is the one about the goblin who jumps out of his shoes. It never fails to get a howls of laughter from them.

Five Stars. Great artwork by Maurice Sendak. The stories are heart touching and humorous. The book is a Great Read-aloud and a more challenging reader for young children.

The reading level on this book is higher than some of the other Little Bear books and it is listed as 2.3 or suitable for a child reading at the second grade level. There is more vocabulary, more dialog, and more text per page.

~a review by Pam T.~

My kids have been captivated by this book from the time they were barely old enough to look at the pictures. My oldest is almost five, and she still asks me to read this book, even though she has it memorized! It is a charming tale of Little Bear's visit to his grandparents' house. The love in this bear family is so heartwarming, and the sense of fun so nicely realized that adults will love it too. Maurice Sendak's illustrations, which have a 19th Century feel, are the perfect complement to this story. My only complaint is I can't find this book in hardback, and our paperback version is worn out! Two other books in this series - Little Bear and Little Bear's Friend are also great for kids from age 2 to around 7.

Our 3-year-old granddaughter just spent almost two weeks with us. Reading to her has been both a daily (several times a day!) ritual since she was a baby...as well as a source of delight for both her and us. Her favorite story is still the "Goblin Story," which appears in this book. You can easily read it to your young one so that he or she is excited, giggling, and having a wonderful experience with you!

Maeve Sidhe Fitzgerald's "Little Feather's Woman" is a historical romance, set in Seventeenth-Century colonial America, between Shannon, an Irish woman pretending to be a boy, and Little Feather, a Native American man of the Turtle Clan of the Kanien'kehaka (Iroquois) tribe. It's a story of love, family, and relationships, and clearly Fitzgerald is an expert in all of the above. I particularly enjoyed the great detail she put into describing the Kanien'kehaka people and their traditions.

She shows a true understanding of interpersonal relationships and the confusion inherent in falling in love. Of course Shannon's disguise makes the process of falling in love even more confusing! I found that Shannon and Little Feather's love is very well-explored through the course of the book, from a first spark to marriage. I particularly liked how Little Feather refers to Shannon as, "My prickly little wife." It perfectly characterizes her!

While an enjoyable read, the book would have benefited from a thorough editing. The numerous punctuation, capitalization, and spacing errors took away from my enjoyment of the story. I also found the writing style a bit clunky. Fitzgerald tended to use large words where small ones would have sufficed.

This book was one of the best books I've ever had the pleasure of reading ....it hooked you from begining to end. I would highly suggest that anyone who loves a good heart warming romance novel pick this book up .....You won't regret it.

I just finished the book. It was so easy reading, i finished it in no time. I was glued to it from first page to last page. The story line was excellent. So funny, i almost want to read it again.

a well written book, a great read. I agree with Grannysmith. I highly recommend this book.

If you like to laugh out loud, Don't mind a few tears, and like an awesome ending, this is the book to read.

My son has ALL the Mr.Putter and Tabby books (which I highly recommend!), but this one is his favorite. These books are so sweet and funny and the illustrations are just tremendous!!

This was the very first Cynthia Rylant book I purchased for my 7 year old daughter and after reading it together several times, I bought all of the other Mr. Putter and Tabby books. It is easy to read, and very, very funny. The illustrations are great, very entertaining and whimsical. Thoroughly enjoyable!!!

This is another winner from the "Mr. Putter and Tabby" series. Old Mr. Putter and his old cat like to sit and watch the snow, but they must act soon if they want to think of something to give their nice neighbor, Mrs. Teaberry, for Christmas. Knowing her unlikely fondness for fruitcake, the intrepid pair decide to bake her one that wouldn't "break her toe if she dropped it." After much ado, they finally succeed in their effort, and fall asleep on Christmas morning in Mrs. Teaberry's house, having just delivered the cake. In the end, Mr. Putter goes home with "a very nice toaster that sang 'America the Beautiful' when the bread popped up." This gentle, subtle humor runs throughout the book and goes well with the colorful, expressive illustrations. Mr. Putter's persistence in trying to bake a cake is admirable. Furthermore, like many good Christmas books, this one shows the importance of giving. A fine book for kids who are just beginning to read.

The Mr. Putter and Tabby series are the sort of books that I would have loved to have when I was a beginning reader. I know that I would have read them over and over again to no end, even once they began to fall apart from constant use. That's why I am so glad that Mr. Putter and Tabby are around now while my youngest brother is learning to read. The non-repetitious (words are repeated, but not enough to become explicit), non-rhyming storytelling contained within the books makes them a pleasure to read continually, unlike many other easy-reader books. And in my opinion, the Mr. Putter and Tabby books are a step in front of Ms. Rylant's Henry and Mudge collection, due to the fact that, in their own way, they create an appreciation for the elderly as the reader comes to love Mr. Putter, the aging main character whose only companion is his cat, Tabby.

In Mr. Putter and Tabby Bake the Cake, Christmas is soon approaching, and Mr. Putter must decide what to give Mrs. Teaberry, his fruit-cake-loving next-door neighbor. Mr. Putter does not understand how anyone could enjoy a fruit cake, and so he sets out to make Mrs. Teaberry a "light and airy" cake for Christmas, one that "could not break her toe if she dropped it." Young readers will follow along with Mr. Putter and his good cat Tabby as they try to make Mrs. Teaberry's cake, from start to finish. Mishap prevails, leaving you to wonder if they will ever get through in time. It all adds up to a cheery Christmas story about giving and the saying, "It's the thought that counts!"

Mr. Howard's cartoon-style illustrations greatly enhance this wonderful story, which is written in such a format to be used as either a 3-chapter book for the beginning reader, or a bedtime story that is longer in length. Either way, the Mr. Putter and Tabby books would be a great find for emerging readers' shelves. Like having a kindly old grandpa next door, they only make life richer!

A delightful Christmas story that emphasizes giving of oneself and pokes a little fun at commercialism. Mr. Putter is as "light and airy" (or light and HAIRY as my five-year-old points out in chapter 4) as ever. Mr. Putter teaches us that we are never too old to learn!

My five year old loved this book and has read it several times. The pictures are very cool and make the time soldiers more realistic.

"Rex", the first of the Time Soldier series by Robert Gould is a well written and beautifully photographed kid's adventure story in the time of the dinosaurs. Five boys and a girl travel back into a prehistoric age through a time warp portal in their neighborhood forest. "Rex" is written at an appropriate reading level for elementary age children and contains educational facts on dinosaurs and their environment. The younger children can concentrate on the excellent photography if they are not yet up to the reading level, while the older children can learn new vocabulary from reading the text. The fantastic computer generated images of the dinosaurs are very detailed, down to the wrinkles on the hides and gleam in their eyes. The story line emphasizes the friends helping each to survive the difficulties that they encounter. I highly recommend this book for elementary school age children.

I really love Rex 1 and Rex 2. The books are visually stunning and wonderfully written. These books make kids want to read them and I enjoyed reading them, too. The Books are exiting and good-clean fun. I am keeping a set for my daughter and myself and gave copies as gifts to my friend's son and my nephew. I hope we can look forward to a Rex 3! -Aleta

My mother's testimonial is absolutely true. I am an absolute fossil fan - dedicated to anything dinosaur. I have read my share of good dino and adventure books, and I would rate both Rex and Rex 2 as being among the top best for kids (as well as for everyone else). I am fifteen, with a seven year old cousin, and we both absolutely love the series. Unlike most children's tales, it is not "dumbed down" nor dull in any way. It is creatively exiting, fun, and even a little misterious. The artwork is incredible, using superimposed images of real and artistically drawn creatures. The unusual perspectives and beautiful artwork in Rex 2 alone makes this book worthy of any youngster's library. But, above all, the stories are what give the books their unique charm. The harrowing adventures of the boys in delightful situations such as exploring a Cretaceous forest or having to track down a tyrannosaurus rex in an jungle known as a city have enough activities and goings-on that you get wrapped into the action. In addition, you will not see a T.Rex eating frightened victims or destroying buildings for the fun of it; you will see a prehistoric monarch acting like what it really was ... a magnificant and powerful animal of times long gone. I would undeniably rate these stories as the crem-de-la-crem of children's books. -Inga

As a teacher in the east county of San Diego I have just used this book with my class and it was a huge success. The children and the adults in my class were quite taken with the local connection. They enjoyed realizing that the photos were taken close to home and the story kept their interest. It was fun to read and to listen to. I met the authors and they were very informative and I enjoyed talking with them.
Thanks

I was shown this book by a family member just before my grandchildren came to visit from across the country. My grandson is 6 years old and had not yet entered the first grade. All it took was a look at the cover and he was into it.
He studied each of the pages and turned to me with a desperate voice (while holding my face with his hands and making me look into his eyes)"TEACH ME TO READ GRANDMA! I want to know what they are doing"!
Well, I think that says it all. This is a kid that does not sit still for a minute and here he was asking to learn to read!
The concept of photography of real kids, and the fabulous graphic arts, really drew my little guy into the book. I am hoping there are more to come. Books about "Time Soldiers" and grandchildren! tee hee...