R Books

This is a beautifully photographed book with a very cute story. Great for children and adults alike. Though I have no children, I loved the photographs and the story so much that I just had to have the book. I enjoy paging through this when I can't be out hiking or enjoying the outside or when I've had a rough day and need to enjoy the simple moments in life.

Love all of the beautiful books by Carl Sams and Jean Stoick.They should be kept for generations to come.

First Snow in the Woods: A Photographic Fantasy
A gorgeous photographic wonder, for adults as well as for children. A very well done story, and the photography is out of this world! I can't wait to order another of the series.

The Mom's Choice Awards® honors excellence in family-friendly media, products and services. An esteemed panel of judges includes education, media and other experts as well as parents, children, librarians, performing artists, producers, medical and business professionals, authors, scientists and others. A sampling of the panel members includes: Dr. Twila C. Liggett, Ten-time Emmy-winner, professor and founder of Reading Rainbow; Julie Aigner-Clark, Creator of Baby Einstein and The Safe Side Project; Jodee Blanco, New York Times Best-Selling Author; LeAnn Thieman, Motivational speaker and coauthor of seven Chicken Soup For The Soul books; Tara Paterson, Certified Parent Coach, and founder of The Just For Mom Foundation(tm) and the Mom's Choice Awards®. Parents and educators look for the Mom's Choice Awards® seal in selecting quality materials and products for children and families. This book has been honored by this distinguished award.

We have all these books from this author. The pictures in these books are wonderful. Our three kids love these books, my husband is a hunter and an outdoorsman so the pictures are great. And also the pictures are from Michigan where were from. I would recommend this book along with the other books in this series. Also the DVD's that go along with these books are good too. Great for people who love animals and the outdoors.

The human fleets have signed an peace throaty with the cats but has the war really ended? As Jason "Bear" Bodevsy and Ian "Iceman" Hunter face against time to discover the earth's time may have just run out.

Wonderful book I liked the imagery and to find a book that does not strictly go by the plot that the game set out.

What is it about this book that makes you read it over and over. Well the action,humour, a little romance, and the emotion combined with a desperate battle for survival make this book a worth while read. If they only made them like this.

The best of the Wing Commander books. Emotional and exciting, two qualities that i find are missing from books based on previeously created series, like Star Trek or Star Wars. Hunter's death moved me to the point of tears. It didn't take me there entirely but when Admiral Tolwyn cried when they found his nephew, that part drives me over the edge every time I read it. The decriptions of the Battle of Earth are absolutely perfect. Especially when Mike Powolski rams the Kilrathi super carrier with his destroyer. When I read that to my girlfriend, she started sobbing. I recomend this book to anyone who likes a good read. The next Wing Commander movie should be based on this book.

An excellent book providing the reading with non-stop action. This book will keep you on the edge of you seat with surprises around every turn. You will not be sorry that you bought it.

When I read Fleet Action a few months ago I was relatively new to Wing Commander, having only been familiar with WCIII and WCIV and Colonel Christopher Blair. I wasn't too sure I'd like this Jason Bondarevsky guy since I was used to Blair. But I found this book to be one of the best in the series, sticking close to real military facts yet maintaining that brand of science-fiction. And there were some familiar characters from the game like Thrakhath, Tolwyn, and Paladin, so I wasn't totally lost within all these new guys. But in conclusion Fleet Action had all of the action, suspense, drama, etc. I'd expect with the Wing Commander series.

I ordered the book for a class I'm taking. I find the book to be very interesting and it keeps my interest. Key points that I need to know are included in the text. Excellently written.

The book's content is precise, to the point and not repetitive in hard to understand grammer. The context was really reliable for the course I am currently taking. The chapters are not long and drawn out yet the examples the author uses are up-to-date, on point and target. I truly liked this book because it is a great read outside of higher education.

Kim Klein is a nationally known expert in the area of fundraising, and demonstrates comprehensive knowledge of all aspects of fundraising in the book. She presents the information in an easy to understand format, and shares her expertise in a motivational manner. I highly recommend this book, even if you have been in fundraising for a number of years.

This is a must read for any staff member of a small not for profit organization. It's a bit freeky how she knows so much about my group, and then cuts to the chase on how to address the problems identified.

I love this book. It's been around for a while in one form or another. Currently it is in its 5th revision. And with each revision the author has refined it. As a result, it is very well written and outlined. It is also really good because the author is a fundraising practitioner and teaches what she does. She really knows her stuff when it comes to fundraising. At least that's the impression I get from reading her book.

Fundraising at a nonprofit, whether large or small, is basically a profit center. It's a business! This book treats it as a business and has the feel of a startup guide for that business. As a SCORE volunteer believe me when I say this book has the feel of a startup guide; I've read my fair share of startup guides for for-profits and counseled enough wanta-be entrepreneurs on how to start a business. This book is a startup guide.

So how is this book a startup guide? Well, it advocates preparing a written fundraising plan BEFORE you put together your fundraising office and start raising funds. It describes a "fundraising framework" that you must understand before you can prepare a sound and successful plan. Then it tells you about time-tested strategies for acquiring and keeping donors - the strategies that will enable your nonprofit to build a foundation or base of donors from which all successful fundraising will emanate. And next it tells you about the time-tested strategies for upgrading donors so they will (or can be expected to) give larger gifts as time moves forward. There are also sections that explain how to setup and manage a fundraising office, and how to prepare a budget and write a fundraising plan.

The book could have stopped there. That's all that a startup really needs to know and do to be successful at raising sufficient funds to provide its services and distribute its products. However, the author tells us more. She talks about feasibility studies and capital campaigns. And she talks about actually being a professional fundraiser, and about special or unique circumstances where traditional fundraising methods don't always work well.

I really have only one problem with this book. I would like it so much better if the author would change its title to something like - A Fundraising Startup Guide: The Nuts and Bolts to Building a Successful Fundraising Profit Center. I realize the author's background is in helping cash-strapped nonprofits that advocate social change, and that this book was initially created to help her help those organizations (and herself). But the book is not merely about nonprofits that advocate social change. And I wish the title would properly reflect what the book covers. 5 stars!

This is a great "how to" book loaded with examples of how to implement genetic algorithms. The two main points this book makes is that many seemingly different problems can be reformulated as problems of program induction and that the genetic programming paradigm described in this book provides a way to do that program induction. No prior knowledge of conventional genetic algorithms is assumed. Thus the first three chapters are introductory material. In particular, chapter three describes the conventional genetic algorithm and introduces certain terms common to the conventional genetic algorithm and genetic programming. If you are already familiar with genetic algorithms you can skip ahead.

Chapter 4 discusses the representation problem for the conventional genetic algorithm operating on fixed-length character strings and variations of the conventional genetic algorithm dealing with structures more complex and flexible than fixed-length character strings. Since this book assumes no prior knowledge of the LISP programming language, section 4.2 describes LISP and section 4.3 outlines the reasons behind the choice of LISP for the implementation of solutions in this book. Chapter 5 provides an informal overview of the genetic programming paradigm and chapter 6 provides a detailed description of the techniques of genetic programming. Some readers may prefer to rely on chapter 5 and hold off on reading the detailed discussion in chapter 6 until they have read chapter 7 and the later chapters that contain examples.

Chapter 7 provides a detailed description of how to apply genetic programming to four introductory examples thus laying the groundwork for all of the problems to be described later in the book. Chapter 8 discusses the amount of computer processing required by the genetic programming paradigm to solve certain problems. Chapter 9 shows that the results obtained from genetic programming are not the fruits of a random search. Chapters 10 through 21 illustrate how to use genetic programming to solve a wide variety of problems from varying disciplines and are defined by the table of contents. The examples in these 12 chapters make up the heart of the book.

The final eight chapters discuss aspects of genetic algorithms common to all implementations. Chapter 22 discusses the implementation of genetic programming on parallel computer architectures. Chapter 23 discusses the ruggedness of genetic programming with respect to noise, sampling, change, and damage. Chapter 24 discusses the role of extraneous variables and functions, and chapter 25 presents the results of some experiments relating to operational issues in genetic programming. Chapter 26 summarizes the five major steps in preparing to use genetic programming while chapter 27 compares genetic programming to other machine learning paradigms. Chapter 28 is an interesting one in which the spontaneous emergence of self-replicating and self-improving computer programs is discussed. Chapter 29 attempts to wrap up the book with a conclusion.

This book is best used for its examples and practical viewpoint. There are certain matters, such as how to program in LISP, for which you will need dedicated books since the amount of detail in this book is not enough. I do highly recommend this book as a uniquely practical one on how to implement genetic algorithms via computer programs. I haven't found another with so much practical information.

If you are someone who plans to study Genetic Programming, or are already doing so and feel kind of lost about it, then you must read this book. It starts from the very top and brings you through all the steps of Genetic Programmin with tons of very useful examples.

This book is great!

Yeah, its a big book...weighs a ton. However, only the first few chapters are concerned with the basic mechanisms of GP (should be familiar to anyone with a background in genetic algorithms or evolutionary computation). The rest of the book is chock full of examples on how to apply GP. These examples are essential and very welcome. I've found that I can usually find a solved problem in Koza that is similar to what I'm after, then I adapt it to my needs. This is a great reference, but don't be fooled into thinking this book is a tutorial. Think of it more as an exposition of GP with examples. For a tutorial, look somewhere else.

I became interested in Genetic Programming after hearing one of the professors at our university lecture on it to a small group of students and other professors. I asked what book might be a good starting point and he pointed me here and i'm glad he did.

This first volume in the Genetic Programming series of books by Koza is very well organized and clear in its explanations. I have not tried the techniques presented yet, but I have some good ideas on how to proceed. The author uses LISP as the language of choice in the book, but practically any modern language should be sufficient.

If you have any interest in Genetic Programming, I encourage you to at least pick up this first volume and read through it. This technology is still relatively new and the application of the techniques seems virtually limitless.

The book was very large but enjoyable and made the subject very clear and easy to understand. It explained the genetic programming algorithm very well and showed the results of many experiments to show applicability, limitations, and characteristics of the method.

There was some repetition in places, maybe because the author wanted to emphasize some points and also to remain understandable to persons who may read selected chapters or examples rather than from cover to cover, page by page.

Although the book states that Genetic Programming does not depend on the LISP language or features, it uses LISP as its exclusive language of choice. I would like to implement these generally very computationally intensive Genetic Programming Algorithms in a very fast and efficient way, which for me implies assembly language, and although the author gives good tips about making the algorithm run faster the implementation shown is all LISP and nothing else. I am also interested in using the algorithm to generate efficient, parsimonious, code. The author described the additional problems of parsimony, but gave no information on generation of fast code from S expressions. I will have to refer to some compiler books and my own experiments to go further in this area.

I look forward to experimenting with the subject and reading some of Dr. Koza's other books on the subject.

This well-written book took me back to Shelbyville IN in the 1950s, when every barber shop displayed a picture of the 1947 championship team and every patron knew all their names. No one would question the effect Bill Garrett had on his home town, but few could have predicted the impact he would have on collegiate sports for years to come.

The little town of Milan provided great sports drama for the movie "Hoosiers," but the life of Bill Garrett is more than a sports story. He did for NCAA athletics what Jackie Robinson did for Major League Baseball. Young people of today would be shocked to learn what he endured just a couple of generations ago.

Thanks to Tom and Rachel Graham Cody for this great read. As a Purdue grad, it pains me to praise a book that casts such a positive glow on Indiana University!

This is a good book and a good read. If you're from small-town Indiana (like me) and old enough to understand what single-class "Hoosier Hysteria" really meant, then you'll like this book.

However I respectfully offer that it's not a 5-star book. It may be a 5-star story in search of a 5-star telling.

I just finished the book yesterday, and I find myself wishing the authors had been less dispassionate. Or more passionate? Whatever.

So who was Bill Garrett? The book talks a lot about his life and times, and provides some ancedotes, but always left me wanting more about Bill. Sadly, Bill wasn't available to be interviewed, but his teammates, friends and wife were all sources for the book.

Here are some examples:

We learn a lot about how Bill came to enroll at IU, but we don't learn about the man himself. Bill left Tennessee State after enrolling, and took a bus to IU. No one was available to meet him there! How did he feel about this?

Bill was on the road and separated from his wife for several years while he knocked around the fringes of professional basketball. How was their relationship affected? We don't know.

Finally - the authors talk about the changes in college basketball in the 1950's (pp 169-175), Branch McCracken's sporadic recruitment of black players, yet fail to mention that IU WON the NCAA championship in 1953!

Sorry 5-star raters...it's a good book and a story worth telling, but could be a lot better. Probably a better movie than a book.

Seldom have I been so touched, entertained, and educated by a book as I was by Getting Open, which I read in two days. It is truly a masterpiece and something I will keep on my bookshelf for the rest of my life.

Although born and raised in Indiana, I didn't know much if anything about Bill Garrett before reading this book, but I was just blown away by his story. Not knowing the story, it was almost like reading a well-crafted novel and I hung on every new development the authors revealed. I also didn't know much about the racial intolerance of the times. My neighborhood and high school were all white, so I really had little if any contact with blacks before I went to Indiana University as a freshman in 1963. It hardly seems possible that such racial intolerance existed in the Midwest so recently before then.

This book exceeded all my expectations and I highly recommend it to anyone, whether you're a basketball fan or not. If you have any ties to the Hoosier State or to Indiana University, you will love it all the more.

At the pinnacle of his high school career - leading Shelbyville High to the Indiana state championship; a team that had three black starters - not one college scout in the arena attended the game to recruit Bill Garrett or his two teammates due to the color of their skin.

At the pinnacle of his collegiate career - leaving the court to a standing ovation that lasted several minutes - Bill Garrett was refused service in a restaurant days later; one that had on its marquee that it welcomed fans of Indiana Unniversity basketball.

And when Bill Garrett was ready to launch his pro career, the team in his home state did not draft him.

But Bill Garrett was stronger than those who attempted to keep those doors closed. And we are better because of him.

For author Tom Graham - with his co-author/daughter Rachel Graham Cody - the book took seven years of reseach, and certainly a lifetime of not denying the facts from the past and understanding the urgency in the present to set the record straight.

Getting Open is more than a biography on Garrett and how he integrated Big Ten basketball by playing and starring for IU. It is a history of institutionalized racial hatred in the State of Indiana - at one point in the 20th Century, the KKK essentially controlled all essential government offices - and the tireless work of person's from different sides of the tracks to fight the good fight.

Graham is a Shelbyville native who was old enough to vividly recall the times, which certainly helped as he meticulously did his research to cut through the fiction that builds from facts as the years tumble on.

It is a book from the heart that will make you realize how we must celebrate those who had the courage then by continuing to challenge those who want to forget - or rewrite - the past.

This book is an incredibly well written and well documented story that should be more widely read. It is an important history that many sports fans, and non-sports fans, will enjoy tremendously. It is an inspiration to us all, and offers many lessons and insights about overcoming racism. Thank you to the father-daughter authors for getting out this story!

Gothica. Cyber or reality? Maybe both. Gothica, a place where dreams were borned.. And some destroyed. A game or the written reality of people? Who knows, but for Vampyra and Timetravellar, two tormented souls, they were once again face to face or should I say, screen to screen?

Gothica. A dark tale about love and hope. Follow Calvin McLeish as he tell a tale that's not his own but a tale he remember living in a distant past. Come meet Vampyra who after centuries of loneliness still seek the only one who have conquered her heart and soul.

Gothica. A different vampire story for those who enjoy a dark tale. A story that is not afraid of words, be warned that the "cyber-sex" is explicit.

Internet vampires toying with life, love, and death. I was captured on the first page and willingly held prisoner the entire novel. Truly an original.

Calvin McLeish's life was spiraling down hill at an alarming rate. His wife had left him, he was jobless, and had only a new computer to keep him company. He soon learned all about chat rooms. His favorite was known as Gothica. Calvin called himself Timetravellar. Whenever he got online with Vampyra he could not seem to control himself. It was not long before Calvin realized that Timetravellar was as real as himself. In fact, Travellar was himself. An alter.

Vampyra was one of the few real vamps still left in the world. She had her own tormenters though, other than the normal cops who constantly searched for the street killer. The Dark Huntress needed her own champion and she hoped it was the one called Timetravellar.

Here, in cyber space, reality and fantasy collide. A final fight between the noble house of MacTavish and a cruel Marquis, will begin...and end!

*** Excellent dark fantasy that will be read and reread often by its readers. Be forewarned of a lot of cyber-sex that goes into detail though. Full of nosy neighbors, lusty online friends, and an interesting new look at the undead! Very good story here! ***

I am not usually a fan of books about vampires. I have seen recent movies with vampires as their subject matter, and was not impressed. This book, however, took me by surprise.

Mr. Cowan has captured the sadness that must exist for the mythical vampire. The loneliness of eternal life, and a life without permanent love. The sadness of taking a life to feed their blood thirst, and the sexual satisfaction of creating a lover.

He also brings to light some brilliant images of fairies and sprites. Those mythical creatures that we would all like to believe in, but few do.

The plot seems predictable at first, but there are several twists that get your attention, and make this book worth reading and re-reading. He also leaves this book open for a sequel. I would be first in line to buy a sequel when and if he writes it.

I would recommend this book for anyone above the age of 12. I have a nine year old son, and I read some passages of the book to him, and he seemed entertained by it. I even recommend this to people who are afraid of, or have nightmares about vampires, because this book does much to show the inner workings of a vampires mind. It is not all death and destruction.

Keep Gothica - Romance of the Immortals in your mind when you are looking for great entertaining reading.

After the first chapter, I was interested. After the third chapter, I could not put the book down.

Before reading Dr. John Morella's book, "A Guide For Effective Psychotherapy", or even being in his class at SLCC i did not know too much about the study. Just by reading this book which was compressed into only eleven chapters, you can understand the most effective methods for psychotherapy if you or a freind find you might need some attention.
The book starts off with an itroduction introducing the author and the book. The next chapter tells the reader about diffrent mental health providers wich is very importaqnt. Then the book goes on to tslk about issues concerning psychotherapy and where to look to for help. Overall this book was helpful because i had a relative seeking help coping with the death of two sibling in the past few years. They were able to find the help they needed.
This book can deffinatly be useful to anyone who wants to know about psychology and the practive. i would most deffinatly recomend this book in the future.

by : Adam Duplechain

Reading Dr. Morella's book was part of my assignment for his class. I did enjoy reading his book. He gives great examples and creates a better understanding of the different treatments offered. I find myself comparing everyday circumstances to the topics in his book. Thanks

Dr Morella's book is very effective in its purpose. Which is to provide an outline one might go about finding the right mental health profesional for themselves or a loved one. He defines what it is a mental health profesional does. He also defines the different types of mental health profesional. He also provides a clear outline for a parent who is looking to get profesional help for their child. There is a list of references in the book as well on who somebody may contact for a specific problem that is already defined. He mixes in humor with the book to lighten it up a bit. A Guide for Effective Psychotherapy, in conclusion, is a valuable resource for anyone who is looking for proffesional help or seeking it for a loved one.

Dr. Morella has written a concise book on the different types of psychotherapists, forms and format of therapy available for adults, teens, and children. Prior to reading A guide for effective psychotherapy, I had the misconception that all therapy involved "talk therapy" as seen in most movies today. This book provides information a person will need to make an informed decision in choosing the right type of therapist for themselves, a family member or a friend. He goes a step further offering the reader information on understanding their diagnosis to dealing with insurance companies. Dr. Morella also provides his reader a list of agencies and resources where they can find more information further enabling the reader to be informed. This book is an excellent first step for anyone interested in learning more about psychotherapy. Dr. Morella's book would be a compliment to every home's medical reference section. I look forward to reading his next book that he is currently working on.

John Morella has written a very clear, user friendly guide for anyone who is considering any form of therapy for the first time. He is able to explain the process from the beginning to the end in terms that even the most nervous or unknowledgeable person can understand and follow.

The first aspect of this book that draws the reader's attention is the Table of Contents. Instead of just a short listing of chapter titles he also lists all subtitles in bold print and a brief explanation of the purpose and content of each chapter. It states the goal of each section up front. If there is specific information needed it is easy to know where to look and it seems to replace an index.

The chapters begin with an over view of all the various options for mental health providers and types of psychotherapy. The number and variety of choices can be overwhelming to the novice and if in crisis it is especially daunting. Choosing the correct therapist is one of the most crucial selections that must be made. Morella reviews all the types of therapists, qualifications and the various therapy models. He does an excellent job of explaining the various models in terms lay people can understand. It is not easy to explain each one without being trapped by jargon or medical vernacular. His relaxed, simple style is not demeaning but appropriately unpretentious.

Later chapters cover everything from client's rights to children's services and medication. The end is a listing of resources with addresses including web sites and a short description of services. A few scenarios finish the book to prepare future clients as to what to expect from a session.

The format of the book is well laid out. Wider than usual margins on all sides help prevent the sensation of information becoming too formidable for the reader. A combination of paragraphs, bulleted lists and, of course, the occasional joke all form a well thought out, concise look at the therapy process. A Guide for Effective Psychotherapy should be readily available to anyone who is considering therapy for themselves, friend or family member. Libraries, medical offices and crisis services should have a copy of this tome to recommend to those in need.

I used this book frequently in my practice. Easy fast reference that fits perfectly in my back pocket.

Very basic. For a little more weight, you get a lot more with the Mass Gen Handbook.

This is the most comprehensive and OR-practical anesthesia book I own. This book is my anesthesia bible, it covers everything. I use this book almost every day, and it answers about 80-90% of every question i have asked myself, or have been asked by instructors! Awesome book, get it, read it cover to cover, write additional notes you may have, and use it!

I found this book as a very practical tool for my work. It has very good descriptions of techniques of Anesthesiology.
I highly recomended!

I carried Mass Gen around for a year before someone introduced me to this book. Now Mass Gen is collecting dust and I've almost worn the cover off this one over the past 2 years. There is no wasted space or wasted print in this book. It is concise and easy to navigate. There are tables where it is necessary, and comparisons where they should be. It lists virtually all of the basic agents used on an everyday basis. And it gives a quick overview of various surgical procedures. I cannot say enough good things about this book. Everyone associated with anesthesia could benefit from having this with them in the OR.

This book was highly recommended in a APDT article for it's information on how age affects learning in the "Development of Behavior" chapter.

STEVEN LINDSAY WRITES A VERY COMPREHENSIVE TRAINING BOOK THAT CAN BE USED BY BEHAVIORAL SPECIALISTS AS WELL AS A LAYPERSON WANTING TO TRAIN THEIR DOG. THIS BOOK HAS IN DEPTH EXPLANATIONS AS TO WHY SOMETHING OCCURS IN A DOG AND HOW TO COUNTERACT ANY UNWANTED BEHAVIOR. EXCELLENT REFERENCE BOOK.

I did not buy this book for myself. My daughter-in-law has a kennel and needed several books to recertify as a trainer. Sorry

This is book has a wealth of knowledge. It addresses formal behavioral analysis and dog anatomy in a text book fashion. The strength of this book to me was how it covered each topic micro and macroscopically. I have heard many conflicting beliefs with respect to interpretation of dog learning. Each opinion is addressed and supported by scientific study here and not just taken left to the "because I said so" sort of logic I often hear. This is a dense read. It covers many subjects I had no clue that I may even care about but I took a lot from it. I look forward to reading volume 2 & 3.

Mr. Lindsay has compiled a thoroughly researched, well written tome, that is perhaps the best book on canine behavior I have ever read. Readers who enjoy detailed manuals respecting the reader's attention span, intelligence, education, literacy, and quest for knowledge will cherish Applied Dog Behavior and Training. The book is sufficient as a textbook at the graduate university level. For readers interested in learning intricately about the developmental history of domestic dogs, ontogenetics, neurophysiology, sensory physiology, canine psychology, learning theory,and training/conditioning theory this book is nonpareil. Moreover, the book is insightfully organized and formatted so it as easy to read as possible given the depth and breadth of the text and concomitant illustrations.

Nevertheless, unfortunately, Mr. Lindsay's book is not for everyone. In fact, it is probably appropriate for very few pet professionals and even fewer pet owners. The book is written tantamount to the materials utilized within a Master's or PhD program in biology, psychology, zoology or animal behavior. Although I am enthralled with the book, I believe most persons will be fatigued by the amount and complexity of information.

This is a good book for my 4th grade son. It is hard to find books on his reading level that hold his interest. The narator of the story is Hank the cowdog (also self proclaimed head of ranch security). The chapters are only 3 or 4 pages and give my son a sense of accomplishment for being able to read a couple of chapters each night.
Hank also has a few pronuciation problems, allowing the young reader to identify correct pronunciation and grammer. The stories are interesting and funny and have really improved my son's interest in reading as well as his grades in reading and language skills.

I love all the Hank books, and this is a great one for the Christmas season. These books are hilarious and more important to the young reader, fun to read. I'd also check the rest of the series.

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

Hank is a simple story, probably good for 8-12 year olds, but it is quite well done. The author does not glorify Hank. He shows his strengh and weaknesses in a well balanced way so that we see Hank's arrogance, stupidity, good-heartedness, "dog-heartedness," his judgement and misjudgements of the world, all coming together in a nice, sweet story.

I particularly like the humor in the book. A couple of examples:

1. Hank is mindful of his hygiene. He takes baths regularly in the septic tank.

2. When Hank goes exploring and needs a place to spend the night, he says,

"I started looking for a place to hole up. In my travels and research I've discovered that one of the best places to hole up for the night is in a hole, so I started hunting for a hole."

It was a funny book.When Hank goes to his sister's house he gets into a fight with a cat.It was a funny book.

Hank The Cowdog it's a dogs life is a funny book. Drover
tells Hank it's the end of the world
but when Hank gets the calendar he finds
out that it's not the end of the world
it's really the end of the clearance sale
so he was tricked by a cat. I give
Hank the Cowdog five stars

Hank The Cowdog it's a dogs life is a funny book. Drover
tells Hank it's the end of the world
but when Hank gets the calendar he finds
out that it's not the end of the world
it's really the end of the clearance sale
so he was tricked by a cat. I give
Hank the Cowdog five stars