Shepard Books

Great introduction to converging data and voice functionalities. Really helped me work out my voice over IP integrations with my existing telephone systems.

Nice coverage of topics- local loop, ISDN, T1 etc etc. As an earlier reader pointed out, there are some irritating typos, and some illustrations do not match up with the writing. But I enjoyed reading the book so much (great price, too) that I was willing to overlook these minor irritants.

This book provided a good overview of telecom technology, but you have to work though lots of poor editing. For example, it reads "DWDM (discussed earlier) is a...". Unfortunately, DWDM has not been discussed earlier (as confirmed by the index in the back) and is not explained after that. DWDM is a pretty important topic and I'm sure they did plan to have it explained in some detail. The editor just seems to have left it out. It also has typos like saying "Technology A is superior to tech B, so tech B has been much more widely accepted in the marketplace." Huh? You're left wondering if the mistake is at the start of the sentence or the end.

I know this sounds like 2 minor examples, but there a lots of them in here and it makes this reading tougher than it should be. When you are trying to learn new material, having your source reference contain small mistakes is pretty frustrating.

Shepard's primary goal is to help readers understand how the convergence of native telecommunication technologies and the companies that create them provides the fundamental underpinnings of customer service.

He addresses three major aspects of telecommunications convergence:

Technology Convergence - Current telecommunication technologies and how they are evolving and affecting our lives. The book provides excellent and brief descriptions of the myriad of today's telecommunication technologies; IP, Fiber Optics, ATM, SONET, Frame Relay etc., etc., etc...

Company Convergence - How Telecommunication technology is rewriting the business plans of the companies that manufacture telecommunication equipment, as well as those that provide and receive telecommunication services.

Services Convergence - The new technology and its rapid evolution requires changes in the way services are delivered and a rigorous anticipation of customer needs. Service providers must look beyond the needs of their customers to the needs of their customer's customer.

The book includes a comprehensive glossary of industry acronyms and an extensive bibliography of books, articles, and online resources.

I purchased this book for my college class. Although it introduced me a broad concept of convergence, its poor organization gave me headaches whenever I needed quick references on certain topics.

I believe anyone who sees its contents would have a hard time figuring out if there is "any" relationship between subtitles. Some subtitles had no reasons to be typed bold, while others should've been typed that way. Worse yet, the author summarized only certain issues, while he ignored many others with no clear explanations.

Nonetheless, if you can endure such a disorganization, this book will be a gentle introduction to the field. Especially, Company Convergence Resources at the end of this book were quite useful for me.

If you like dogs and you have a brain and a soul then you will enjoy this collection of poetry. Some poems are a little cheesy but most evoke the true nature of dogs in a human world and our attempts to be kindred spirits. If you can read the 'Memento Mori' section with dry eyes then you're already dead.
dave

Poets do. Some of them (Andrew Hudgins, Mark Doty) seem to have used their powers of observation to try to understand their dog's psyches a little bit. Others (Rick Bass, Honor Moore) have no clue; they're too busy writing Poetry.

As a collection this one is typically uneven, representing the variety of human reaction rather than the steadfastness of Dog.

Now, a book of cat poetry. That would be something, no?

Right, empty pages....

"Unleashed" works if you've ever wished for more poems (not verse) about dogs. From prose poems to free verse to sonnets to some more sophisticated forms of poetry(that is, I don't know what to call them!), this book fills that void. And the dogs' voices are authentic, whether they're talking about barfing, spaying, dying, retrieving, or eating.
Many thanks to Amy Hempel and Jim Shepard for editing this collection. I'm going to see if some of these writers are as good as their mutts.

I had a poetry teacher once who said some poets were better than others. I argued that "better" was subjective. Now I know I was wrong. There are poets that are better than others. They're dogs!

I fell in love with this book from the moment I read the first dog, er ... poet. I have raved about this collection ever since. What can I say? Even cat-people love it. It's true! I'm not lying! Really! A young school-teacher friend of mine has decided to use these poems to inspire her students to write poems from their own pets' point of view ... just so the kids will feel safer about writing poems. If the pet writes the poem, then it doesn't matter if people laugh at the poem; the pet won't mind. And that way, the pet can just go ahead and write all the poems (s)he wants to ... no matter what. Thank the Big Dog for bringing this back into print!

This was a textbook for an online course I took from UCLA on writing fiction. I can highly recommend it. The selection of stories offers great variety, ranging from Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" to O'Brien's Vietnam-era classic "The Things They Carried". Having the stories introduced by authors offers is interesting. I enjoyed comparing my own reaction to each story to that of the author introducing it. Check this one out for a great collection of short stories.

Architects and contractors can usually spot a good house; engineers and mechanics know good cars. So too with stories. Want to read some good ones? Ask the people that create them. This concept makes sense to me and I don't think you'll be disappointed. I did not like all the stories in this collection, but I think 90% are striking. Many are memorable. A few seem so original in conception they form a palpable presence in the mind.

Of the 35 stories, I was familiar with 21 of the authors, though I had previously read only a couple of the stories. Of the selectors/introducers, I had only heard of a dozen.

Dead white males do not seem to dominate this volume. If anything, there are a few too many chick stories that have no action beyond moving lips and go on interminably about feelings and relationships. Thankfully, the polar opposites are not represented here. (Those would be pure action stories peopled by brainless, unreflective stick men.) Happily, there are quite a few tales by the best who can strike a balance. Leo Tolstoy did this better than anybody and he does have an entry.

I will not further bore you with my favorites. Everybody takes up stories in their own way. Interestingly, I remember almost none of the introducers praise or criticism. But, collectively they pulled it off- this is a great anthology.

A collection of short stories that have been selected and are introduced by different writers. It contains a wide range of authors and very diverse stories, varying from what I would regard as quite charming to obscure. Because these stories appealed to professional writers does not mean they will appeal to more pedestrian readers such as myself. Often they seem to be more attracted to the writing style than the substance of the story.

I know, let's go back to when ONLY WHITE MEN wrote and published stories that were ever anthologized, and how about only doing those by WHITE MEN who are AMERICAN and live in DELAWARE? since those are stories that might be good...?

Jerome Wilson's story is simply amazing, by the way, I've taught it for years to give my students hope.

Anthologies are not meant to be read from cover to cover. Fiddling some notion that fictional characters and non-fictional authors have disdain for one another? Anthologies are, perhaps, best read as bathroom bookshelf literature. With that said, the first story I read was "Paper Garden" and guess what, I forgot I was reading on a throne. Mission accomplished... America, replete with variegated archetypes, is an experiment in progress. Well done.
Anthony James

There already is an excellent 9-11 novel, largely ignored

ABSENT FRIENDS

S. J. Rozan author

Heartbreakingly beautiful

I was happy to see Mr. Shepard's contribution here and I hope he keeps reading these comments.

Only Partly Here is a special story for me. I was present one-block from Ground Zero during the attack, at my office in a building just North of the Post Office. I saw people die that day and ran for my life like thousands of others (both, for the first and only time in my life), and felt that I had experienced war. The weeks afterwards were as unreal as any that can be lived. There was a bar across the street from my office that I believe Mr. Shepard must have visited because he captured it perfectly in the 'Blue Lady' -- its called Dakota's Roadhouse and is notable only for cheap drinks and a good jukebox, and it was a hangout for people from my agency for a time, and later for the pit workers. We moved to Maiden Lane while the pit was still burning, but we went back to Dakota's as soon as it reopened. We were steeped in the smell of our City still burning, and we had many occasions to visit the death-stalked "London during the blitz" landscape that was previously a big piece of our lives and our city.

I read Only Partly Here as soon as it was published in Asimov's and I cried. It captures perfectly the mood, the place and the time. It also captures perfectly the peculiar pain a man feels when trying desperately to connect with a woman who, even if living, is not truly present for other people. I never connected with my particular living ghost of Ground Zero, but I connected totally with Mr. Shepard's story. It is the finest piece of 9/11 literature I know, and one of the best short stories I've read, period. Thank you, thank you Mr. Shepard. (I would have been at Readercon to thank you in person, but my wife was having a baby at the time.)

This is a collection that is a bit more of a supernatural focus, I suppose, even if only a light element at times.

Eternity and Other Stories : Only Partly Here - Lucius Shepard
Eternity and Other Stories : A Walk In the Garden - Lucius Shepard
Eternity and Other Stories : Crocodile Rock - Lucius Shepard
Eternity and Other Stories : Hands up! Who Wants To Die? - Lucius Shepard
Eternity and Other Stories : The Drive-in Puerto Rico - Lucius Shepard
Eternity and Other Stories : Jailwise - Lucius Shepard
Eternity and Other Stories : Eternity and Afterward - Lucius Shepard


Annoyingly vague vaguely ghostly woman.

3.5 out of 5


Squad level hell.

4 out of 5


Yank bloke in Africa meets magic man, dreams of eating people. As a werecrocodile. Perhaps has evidence to be slightly worried about this when awake. As a consequence, decides on the intercontinental manoeuvre.

3.5 out of 5


Hillbilly hooks up, complications ensue when alien abductee FBI woman on the lam, hybrid lovechild and lover take a fancy to his girl and offer loot.

3.5 out of 5


Indigo lizard looms liminal.

3 out of 5


Arty prison transferee surprised by sexual mirror chameleons.

3.5 out of 5


Magic mafiya's dead dude disco.

4 out of 5

Lucius Shepard's vision has transformative powers - both for his characters and for the reader. These masterfully crafted stories create highly individual worlds that are dark, fantastical, deeply human and always believable despite the surreal twists. You'll never see crocodiles and lizzards the same way after this - whether as agents of horror or kindred souls to lost humans, they are always mysterious manifestations of human rapaciousness, madness or loneliness.

You will go to the moral chaos of gangsterist Russia, the jungles of South America, Africa, a rather strange American prision, and the aftermath of 9/11. There is definitely a `fantastical' and dream-like streak in these stories, but not so much for fantasy's sake as in the sense that the boundaries of the real, the possible and the explicable are imaginatively stretched to reveal the horrors or mysteries that lie beyond. Unlike most `fantastical' or SF writing, this is fiction primarily concerned with people, places, and ideas. Lucius Shepard's grasp of foreign cultures and places is second to none in American fiction, and I dare say in English-language fiction. He makes writers far more famous than him seem dull and provincial.

I envy those about to discover this marvellous writer. If you hunger for more after you finish this, his novel A Handbook of American Prayer is likewise wild, brilliant and disturbing. His shorter novel Trujillo is a dark gem, and I'm about to chomp my way through the rest of his work. I'm addicted.

As with so much of his writing, here Shepard once again proves himself a poet who just happens to write in the genres of fantasy and sci-fi. That few of his stories tie up neatly just adds to their sense of a world unraveling, which seems to be a central theme of his work.

Stories like A Walk in the Garden, Crocodile Rock, The Drive-In Puerto Rico, Eternity and Afterward--heck, to tell the truth, all of them--are haunting in their descriptions of their protagonists' struggles against the unknown, entropy, injustice, the dissolution of themselves, or whatever else sparks Shepard's imagination, and it is his ability to make each character real that tinges each story with a kind of sadness that reaches down into the gut and wrenches, much like the best of, say, Russell Banks' or Stewart O'Nan's work.

It is his very power to move, perhaps, that caused the tempest in the teapot in Amazon's reviews about Only Partly Here, which I took as a elegy of what we all lost on that terrible day.

....And for what it's worth, I couldn't care less about the rants of sensitives regarding 9/11; I was in downtown Manhattan that day, and still it seems obvious to me that to insist that writers ignore moments of historical tragedy is to disregard the power and scope of many of history's greatest works--War and Peace, All Quiet on the Western Front, Night, and many others come to mind.

--And absolutely it is to distract us, potential readers, from the great and beautiful jewels of stories collected here.

For my sake, I just wish Mr. Shepard wrote faster, because I love his work and can't wait for his next novel or short story collection. Easily he's one of my favorite sci-fi/fantasy writers. After reading this collection, he may become one of yours as well.

I very much enjoyed this. Shepard captures the sense of the lost world of childhood without any sentimentality. I recommend this novella to anyone who likes good prose and who likes to be moved by good storytelling.

I loaned the book and started reading it at 4 am when I had given up sleeping. I finished it at 8 am and woke up crying. The book is carefully veiled pain, enigmatic suffering, wrapped tightly in blazing insight. The best moments lie in the subtleties of dialogue and expression recorded by Benjamin, the 12 year old character -- and that type of writing is something that will open more of the book up as you re- and re-read it.

This first-time novelist embarked on a brave, wonderful, and successful journey with this extraordinary book, and what a treat it is for the reader. Instead of smug, writerly prose and New York affectation, this highly educated young writer seeps into the soul of a troubled, brilliant, frustrating, loveable young man, and shows us his true gifts...and how they can prevail despite society's obsessive pressure to make him more "normal." A brilliant novel for parents, siblings, or spouses of those misunderstood few--and for all of us who know we're different, and that we matter.

Rarely do I find a book that touches me the way this one does. It speaks to all of us who have felt like misfits in a world that cares so much about outward appearance and conformity.

Benjamin, a young boy of 12, is a troubled child who escapes from his reality with his toy, a stuffed letter H he calls Elliot. It seems his toy is his only companion, and the only thing Benjamin allows to share in his imaginative but unbalanced life. Through letters from Benjamin's camp counselors, parents and from Benjamin to Elliot, we find how a lonely young boy adapts when his world is stolen from him. Moving and beautifully written.

If you choose one book this new year, H should be the one. Brilliant, heart breaking, sacred and profound, this is the book that will change the way you see the world and the way you see yourself. For anyone who has ever felt different from the rest, who has noticed other people who never quite fit in, who recall the 'odd kids' from early school days and wonder what became of them, read H and meet the genius, tragic, timeless words of Benjamin Sherman, who in his illness and madness and beauty really can make the world a slightly kinder place. Like "Ordinary People," "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," "Girl, Interrupted," and "The Catcher in the Rye," "H" deserves a place on your night table!

Lili`uokalani was the final native monarch of the Kingdom of Hawai'i. The illegal overthrow of her legitimate government by the Doles and other (American) foreigners is detailed in this volume.

I first heard of Lili`uokalani as a child & was very surprised to find this book available from my local library system recently. I thoroughly enjoyed it and will now purchase a copy for my own reference. If you want to know the TRUE history of Hawai'i, I can think of no better place to start than this original source. As Queen of Hawai'i and as co-ruler with her brother before his death, she was in possession of information and written sources which are no longer available except in her own recitation.

I HIGHLY recommend this book.

This is a book that I've wanted for years. Excellent book with tons of information. Gives a lot of insight of life back then. I also use this for a reference book.

Most Americans don't know that Hawaii had it's own sovereign Kingdom along with a constitution and monarchy. Businessmen along with the U.S. military conspired to over throw the legitimate government of Hawaii (where have we heard this before?) Queen Liliuokalani writes in plain detail for all to see what happened during the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom. Hawaii's Story is a very good book in understanding the history of what happened to the Hawaiian people and their government.

The fact that Liliuokalani was able to write this book with such little bitterness and rancor says much about her as a person. The whole Hawaiian affair of 1893 is without a doubt one of the blackest moments in American history. This book is a good introduction to Hawaiian history, PBS did a documentary on Liliuokalani and the History Channel did a outstanding documentary called " Conquest of Hawaii " all of which are available on Amazon. Sadly, the whole issue of Liliuokalani and the 1893 overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdon is used by political demagouges in Hawaii today and by Leftist activists who have other agendas other than the the welfare of Native Hawaiians. Many Hawaiians are of mixed ancestry and are sometimes not looked upon as " real Hawaiians ". I wonder what Liliuokalani would think about that. Read this book and you will learn great insight into the mind of this great lady who was also an acomplished composer who wrote the song "Aloha Oe".

Hawaii's Story is a brief and somewhat long winded tale. This book part autobiography and part memoir, details the life of Queen Lili'uokalani the last monarch of the Hawaiian Islands. The Queen describes the events of her life in some cases in minute detail. A devout Christian and a socialite, the Queen constantly describes dinner parties as well as other social occassions she attended. In some places the Queen does detail the happenings on the Hawaiian Islands, and finally toward the end of the book she details the overthrow of her administration and the attempts by the new provisional government to annex the Islands to the U.S.

The Queen makes some valid points in arguing against annexation by the U.S. The book does contain some interesting chapters detailing the resulting investigation of U.S. authorities into her regimes overthrow and how the Cleveland Administration attempted to end the wrongful overthrow of the Queen. The Queen till the end is a respectful and articulate writer and never seems as though her anger has influenced her words. Hawaii's Story is a sad chapter in U.S. History. This book contains many pieces of interesting information and is a good starting place for those interested in studying the subject. Those looking for a more in-depth analysis or a more direct. factual account on Hawaii's history should look further as they will not find much information on Hawaiis history outside of the late 1800s.

This is an example of a picture book that is great to use in middle schools and high schools but the subject matter is not at all suitable for those under fifth grade. Like many I first read the poem in my seventh grade literature textbook and remember being thrilled and a little shocked. For anyone not familiar with the story it involves tragic romance, graphic death and ghostly return of spirits. The dark illustrations do an excellent job of reinforcing the melancholy mood. I hope this poem continues to be enjoyed by new readers but not until they reach age eleven.

Noyes' famous poem, first published in 1913, tells the love story of a notorious highway robber and Rose, the beautiful daughter of an innkeeper. The time is before or during the American Revolution. The highwayman promises to come for Rose "by moonlight" after his next big robbery, but neither one knows that the half-witted stable man Tim is eavesdropping. Tim, hopelessly in love with Rose himself, betrays her to the British soldiers-"King George's men"-and they use Rose as bait to catch their quarry. They tie a musket to Rose and stand her at her window, but she works a finger just loose enough to touch the trigger of the gun. As her lover approaches on horseback, she pulls the trigger to warn him off, but sacrifices herself in doing so. When the highwayman hears of Rose's death the following morning, he commits what we would today call "suicide by cop": he charges into town brandishing his rapier and is shot "down like a dog on the highway."

Keeping's monochromatic illustrations are extremely evocative. The waves of Rose's hair are echoed in the ripples of the horse's tail and mane, the highwayman's own dark waves, and the grains of wood framing the casement window where Rose meets her lover. Through subtle shading, Keeping manages to depict "the dawning," noon, and "the tawny sunset" as seen from the window. The faces of the British soldiers are spotted and unpleasant, and the portrait of "Tim the ostler" is a study in madness and hideous jealousy. The most horrific scenes, though, are the ones that feature blood: blood and sweat pouring from Rose's arm as she struggles against her bonds to find the trigger; her death, tied upright to the bedpost, blood staining her white dress; and the death of the highwayman, lying "in his blood on the highway." Keeping's use of spatters and runs is particularly effective, and the illustrations are surprisingly gory in spite of their lack of color. After the lovers die, Keeping repeats early illustrations from the story as photographic negatives, giving the highwayman and Rose a ghostly effect in keeping with the poem. The spectral images are quite eerie indeed.

Please disregard Publisher's Weekly that this is a book for children 4-8 and that the pictures of the suicide/murder at the end are "not graphic". Did the person writing the review take their cue from Roger Ebert who likes anything violent? I love this poem, but as a K-8 teacher I can safely say that this book is NOT for children under the age of 10 at least.

This poem never fails to thrill me - my mother used to read is to us as kids and I did it as the poem in my matric final.

I am now a grandmother and shall read it to my grandchildren and hope that they enjoy it as much as I did, although I doubt that they shall know what a highwayman is !!

It is a classic that will never die .

Cecelia Pestana Johannesburg South Africa

This book is actually a famous poem by the prolific poet Alfred Noyes. This particular poem is about the love between an American soldier and his bride-to-be in the Revolutionary era of the 1770's. It is a graphic and sad tale of the sacrifices that people will make for true love. The central theme of the story is the British soldiers taking hostage the love of the "Highwayman." The soldiers use her as bait to draw him out so that he could be murdered. Instead of submitting herself to this mission, though, she gives up her life by shooting herself with a gun, just in time to warn her love of the danger that he was being drawn to. The rest of the story deals with the decision between protecting the life that his love sacrificed for and honoring the life of the lover that he has lost.

The illustrations utilize dark colors, shadows, and details (and lack thereof) to bring the mood of the poem to life. The words themselves also do a great job of creating the atmosphere of a tragic love affair that is destined for an unhappy ending.

While this book is a "picture" book, the themes of death, suicide, and murder prove too much for a younger audience. This poem is typically one that it is read by High School and College students, not by young readers. The poem is difficult to understand if just read casually, as it must be considered and pondered about in great detail. I would recommend it to readers who are mature enough to handle the themes of this

As others have mentioned, each story is from a different place and different era. And this is good, since it keeps one interested: if you don't like reading about American football protagonists, maybe you'll like to read about a Roman empire soldier.
What is really mind boggling, and it takes some time to realize it - is that each and every story has also a different writing STYLE. It is subtle, but once you get it - you realize what an excellent, gifted author Jim Shepard is.
Well researched, eclectic, and an absolute must read.

He's right, I don't understand. Are these his views on historical events? Are they just made up tales? The stories were entertaining and well written, but I just can't figure out if they are just made up or have some real and true ties to past events. The whole time I'm reading I was trying to figure this out, but I never did. I still don't know. If you know then read it, they are quite unique. Maybe I'm just complicating something that is simple.

The funniest thing happened while reading "Like You'd Understand, Anyway". I didn't like it. I was telling myself how absurd these stories were and I should just put this thing down. I wasn't connecting with the book. The characters were weird and the endings were weirder.

After plodding through the book, I found myself thinking about the stories. The tsunami in Alaska, the weird family in The Zero Meter Diving Team, the soldier with the wacko father. I actually enjoyed reflecting in those stories and characters. It was like Shepard wrote the book that way. It was so far out that it burned onto your psyche.

It makes me think of some of the other books that I didn't finish because I wasn't into them. What did I miss?

Bravo! Bravo for Like You'd Understand, Anyway. It's the finest book I ever hated.

Jim Shepard is an author who has flown above most readers' radar far too long. Simply put, he is one of the five or ten finest fiction writers in America. His novel PROJECT X was far superior to VERNON GOD LITTLE--both books addressed the incendiary subject of school shootings but while DBC Pierre's book went on to win a Booker, Shepard's take on the subject (which was far superior in every aspect) hardly made a ripple. That's a shame.

LIKE YOU'D UNDERSTAND, ANYWAY shows that, if anything, Shepard is even better when it comes to writing short fiction. The stories in LIKE YOU'D UNDERSTAND range far afield, the subject matter encompassing everything from the life of first female cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova to the French Revolution as seen through the eyes of an executioner. There are tales set in Ancient Greece and pre-World War II Tibet.

Shepard's "style" is not intrusive or obvious, he is much too smart and conscientious an artist for that. His is a selfless talent, undemonstrative and restrained. The stories and characters are front and center, the author graciously declining to step from the wings and acknowledge his rightful applause.

This is a wonderful book of short stories, beautifully worded illustrations of the convoluted relationships between men--brothers, fathers and sons, friends, strangers. Each story is told of a different place and time, but the theme runs constant. I don't even like short stories, as a rule. But these were great. Ordered for a gift as soon as I completed my library rental of the book.

...I bought this book in a discount house on a whim. It has turned out to be one of the most worn books in my library. This is NOT an encyclopedia of Oaxacan woodcarvings, or a catalogue of such, which may have been to the disappointment of one of the reviewers. The writer does an OUTSTANDING job at studying this group of people and their craft/artform as an anthropological survey, that is not in the least bit dry. Great stories, and imaginative professional photography of numerous pieces. This is the book, that caused me to travel 2,000 miles and spend thousands of dollars to meet the people that the author writes about....and that is the only caveat I have towards this book; it will introduce you to a culture steeped in poignancy, depth and every bit as 'magical' as its' title suggests. 5 stars. No, 10 stars.

My copy of Oaxacan Woodcarving: The Magic in the Trees arrived just before my husband and I left the U.S. for a 3-month RV tour through several states of Mexico. Much of our 4 weeks in Oaxaca were spent in small villages enjoying the colorful works and the artisans who created them. We saw a wide variety of styles and themes, many of which are represented in this book. What gorgeous colors and what a sense of humor!

This book is very informative for those interested in learning more about the artists behind the woodcarvings. However it only represents a few of the carvers and the photos while excellent quality will be a disappointment to those who may own or have seen many of the other wonderful carvings that these artists create. The photos seem to concentrate mainly on human style figures and although it does contain quite a few photos of animal figures most are those more on the conventional side. The more elaborate and colorful figures are not represented, neither are some of the more exotic animals like dragons, giraffes, and armadillos. There is nothing at all on the small `alien' monsters which are now considered the trademark emblems of this area. For those wanting a book to show friends just what these artists can do it will be a bit of a disappointment, however since it's the only book available at present there is little choice.

This a beautiful and colorful book about Oaxacan Woodcarvings. It illustrates their vivid history and humble beginnings by folk-artisans in Mexico.

Latin American crafts are special because they're created by people who have a passion for life. They express it in their art with vibrant colors and whimsical expressions.

I sincerely appreciate the work that goes into creating these figures. This book captures all of the above and more.

I picked this book up just recently and was rather delighted by what I found. Vicki Ragan's photos are lovely, but it is Shepard Barbash's text that is the real delight here. How many of those who buy this book will be like the lady below who, apparently without reading the text, complains that the book does not feature all her favorite artists and all the little alien figures which she is sure are the most important images coming out of Oaxaca?

Please do buy this book, enjoy the lovely pictures, but then read the text. Barbash raises, rather subtlely, the question of whether these woodcarvings are folk art or a response to a commercial demand; he questions whether we are right to put our own "surrealist" readings on these wonderful little figures which are hardly conceived out of some sort of pychological dream matter.

Instead he puts this work into its proper context. These wonderful, brightly colored woodcarvings are the work of individuals with their own stories, hopes and fears -- for whom the incomprehensible wealth and technology of the United States is far more surreal than anything they might produce.

I have one of the cute little aliens the reader below speaks of. They are nice, but superficial beside the personal stories and personal expression that occasionally finds its way into this fascinating art that exists somewhere between folk and commerce.

A handsome retelling of this Russian folktale with superb illustrations by Gennady Spirin. A wonderful gift to give for all ages.

Gennady Spirin is one of the greatest illustrators of our day, adapting his style to various ages and lands. In this beautiful book he is in his homeland of Russia, and the costumes are exquisite! A must have for all lovers of water folk and faerie tales.

As the mother of 2 adopted Russian children (and one biological), I am working toward putting together a collection of Russian story books that my children will treasure in years to come. The Sea King's Daughter, in addition to being a feast for the eyes, is also rich with history. In the beginning of the book, there is a whole history of Russia and where the story originates. It is fascinating and really gives a depth to the book that is hard to find in other children's fables and fairy tales.

The pictures are so amazing that it really generates discussion when we read it to our 6 year old. She likes to choose her favorite dress in the centerfold!

A delightful book - I would recommend it to anyone that enjoys richly illustrated and different children's books.

The story of the legendary Russian hero Sadko comes from a byliny, an epic ballad, composed by a minstrel during medieval times, although today it is better known as an opera by Rimsky-Korsakova. The story is set in the city of Novgorod, which was on the banks of the River Volkhov on a major trade rout that made it the greatest commercial center of medieval Russia. "The Sea King's Daughter: A Russian Legend," reflects the Russian legend that every river has its own nymph, who is the daughter of the great Sea King into whose water all rivers flow. At the start of this story Sadko is but a simple musician who lives in river port city of Novgorod the Great who spends each day attending the feasts of the city's rich merchants where he plays his 12-string gusli as the guests dance. But while many a fair maiden catches his eye, they all belong to rich families that would never accept a poor musician.

However, one night Sadko's music reaches the ears of the Sea King himself, who had come to the River Volkhov to visit his daughter, Volkhova. The Sea King insists that Sadko must come and play his wonderful music in the great hall of the huge palace beneath the sea. Even if the title of this legend was not "The Sea King's Daughter" you would already have an idea of where this story, retold by Aaron Shepard, is going. However, there is a very interesting twist to the tale and one which provides a nice insight in the Russian character. This is not a predictable story and young readers will be struck by how different it is from the other fairy tales on which they have grown up.

Regardless of what you think of the story, the illustrations by Gennady Spirin are worth picking up this oversized storybook. The front piece claims that these are watercolors, which I find hard to believe, but I am in no position to question the assertion. These are finely detailed illustrations that remind you of some of the most exquisite Renaissance paintings that you have seen, although these are clearly part of the folk art tradition as well (you do not see lobsters wearing armor on their legs in high art). The two-page spreads of the feast in Novgorod and the court of the Sea King are marvelously detailed. My favorite is the painting of the Sea King first appearing to Sadko. The cover painting of the title character is rather subdued in comparison and does not prepare you for the wondrous art you will find inside this book. .

Here is another children's book that I bought for Gennady Spirin's illustrations. What can I say? What a talented artist Spirin is. Look for yourself. You'll be surprised.