Ward Books

I think this book is adorable and I love the fact that "rednecks" can have a laugh at themselves. I'm sure there are those that would say this book is politically incorrect.....but I don't agree. The two little kids ages 2 and 3 that I read it to loved it!

This book was recommended at a recent math workshop I attended. It provides great counting fun for young children. It is truly a southern book that mixes southern culture with math. No kindergarten classroom should be without.

An absolute delight! Thank you so much, it is the perfect new baby gift!

This book is so cute. I am going to buy it for all my friends who are having babies. A very cute book. A nice baby present to tuck in with all the other gifts.

A most adorable counting book, lending its southern hospitality, while counting up to ten and back again. Ten Redneck Babies tug at your heart as they shinnie up magnolia trees, gobble down Moon Pies, and lap up buttered grits. The rollickin' verse, accompanied with the extraordinary illustrations makes this book a must read. You will to gather up 'Sounthern Humor and hospitality' that will suggest you read this book over and over again. Whether you're chompin' on watermelon or spending your time trying to treed a possum, this book will stand out in your library and make you know that's it's hard to beat 'Southern Charm'.

Pam Ward has weaved a tale about a girl name Trudy that is set on getting revenge on her ex boyfriend Lil Steve. She comes up with a plan to get her out the hood and at the same time pay him back for giving her a bad name.

I couldn't put this book down once I started it! This author is so detailed that you feel as though you are one of the characters!

I read alot of books, but this one so far is my FAVORITE! I took this book everywhere with me and every chance I got I read it, but at the same time I tried not to read too much because I didn't want it to end. Trust me, this book is that good!!!

There are alot of characters in this story, but you'll have no problem keeping up with them. I can't wait to read her second book thats due out this month, Bad Girls Burn Slow.

I had a girlfriend suggets this book to me and I was surprised to find so many well written male characters inside. The male dialogue in " Want Some Get Some" really discribes how men think. Who is this woman Pam Ward and how did she get so much information on us. I can't wait to see what she will do next.

I like how you're inside the words immediately. The characters excite and scare. Little Steve is righteous in his beliefs. Trudy struggles in her journey of revenge and gets some on the way. The club where everyone eventually winds up is phantasmagoria of life. The pace is hectic and heartfelt. I enjoyed it in the fast lane on the 101.

I always glance inside a book to read a few paragraphs before making a purchase - just to get a feel of it. Well, let me tell you, I was hooked on this one before I even walked out of the store! In a story with so many characters, it could be easy to lose track of them - but not here. The author paints each detail with such expertise that you feel like you're in the story - watching from the sidelines and sweating with them in the L.A. heat.

This story is raw and it's street. It's also refreshing that Trudy wasn't living "ghetto fabulous" which has become too common a lifestyle in today's urban fiction. She wasn't regarded as street royalty, driving around in the latest cars, and dripping in diamonds (so bored with those stories). She's a girl who is trying to make her way out the best way that she knows how; getting even with a hustler who did her wrong is just gravy!

I loved this gritty tale and can't wait to hear more from this author!

Street tale novelists better move over and make room for this gritty and edgy debut novel by Pam Ward! Want Some, Get Some is an urban tale that centers around Trudy aka Trudy with the Booty, a twenty year-old woman who knows that the streets of South Central LA are not all that life has to offer and wants out of living her daily nightmare.

Life has truly dealt Trudy a funky deck of cards. Her slick and shady ex-boyfriend, Lil Steve, hustled her into a relationship and making a sex tape only to turn around and sell it around the neighborhood, leaving her to face constant ridicule and unwanted sexual advances. Trudy's mother, Joan, turns her back on her only child and kicks her out of the house, leaving her to face life on the streets, living in seedy apartments and with even more seedier people. Joan tries to use the excuse of the tape as the reason for kicking Trudy out, but it is really her own personal motives that she puts first instead of her daughter. Trudy finds the only thing that keeps her sane is singing on stage at Dee's Parlor, a rundown juke joint that serves as a true black hole for all the shady players, hustlers, ballers, and shot callers.

Trudy knows that revenge is truly best served cold so she drums up a bank heist plan to not only get out of her nightmare but get back at Lil Steve. Working at Dee's Parlor surrounded by some of the best of the best in the underworld gives her a perfect opportunity to put this plan into action. The only thing Trudy did not think about was that everyone has something that they want and will do whatever it takes to get it.

Pam Ward writing is very blunt and not for the faint of heart. There are plenty of characters in this novel that might confuse you at first but as the story progresses all of them intertwine to create one firecracker of a novel. Not only is there plenty of action and suspense, but there is also a hint of romance. Readers might need to buckle their seat belts and hold onto their seats, because this novel will take you on an intense ride that you will surely not forget!


Reviewed by Angelique
APOOO BookClub

This Alliance is the same great story already printed in hardcover. The softcover format makes it lighter weight and less expensive, but it still contains all the features of the hardback version, including the color illustrations and the Appendices. The sequel to this story, Run Before the Wind: Book Two of the Faeltheon, is currently in production and should be out by summer 2009. To see other reviews of this story, go to the hardcover edition.

The art in this book was wonderful! The story keeps a great pace and has a wonderful Christian message that is in undertones through out the story. The fact that the authors are teacher and students is another plus to read this book. I hope more in the series come out!

My kids and I have absolutely LOVED reading The Alliance. It is masterful storytelling and keeps you on the edge of your seat the whole way through. If you enjoy fantasy, you will LOVE the first book of the Faltheon!

This is a well written fantasy tale of a land of faeries, elves, and goblins. The vivid and comprehensive descriptions in this book, put you right in the story and give you an intimate knowledge of the characters and the fantastic places that they love and live in. The devotion to family, integrity, and faith as the characters move through this intriguing and exciting story is refreshing. This is one of four books and I am eager to continue this amazing journey with this wonderful cast of characters.

I truly and deeply enjoyed reading "The Alliance". It is the beginning of an epic journey that touches the reader in a meaningful and enjoyable way- teaching as well as it entertains. The values expressed by these three young authors and their former teacher are wholesome and Biblical, giving a well rounded worldview that will inspire both the young and the old. I recommed it highly to anyone who loves the worlds of Lewis and Tolkien and to anyone looking for an alternative to the darker literature so popular with young people today. Parents, teachers, students- add this to your libraries- you won't be sorry.

When I was 10 I was lucky enough to travel to Great Britain with my parents.On one of our excursions there,we entered a bookstore, because I had seen an Ant and Bee book.My mother bought it for me. Now at 36 years I still cherish it.So does my four year old daughter.I could not believe how much these cute little books go for now.I guess Ill be holding on to mine!!!

Sincerely
Carola Sosinsky,Wi,USA

Our first experience with Ant and Bee was in 1975 when my own grandmother bought Ant and Bee ABC for my daughter. It soon became a book that I read many times a day, in fact I have it memorized to this day. We have a favourite family story that we still laugh about today. My father came over to our house when our daughter was 18 months old. She sat in her grandfathers lap and of course wanted him to read her favourite book, "Ant and Bee ABC". As he began to read, our daughter suddenly took over and began saying the words to the book, word for word. My father jumped up and came running into the kitchen. "She can read!!" my father announced. "She is a genius!! We should put her on TV." We began to laugh so hard that we could barely speak. Our daughter had memorized this book word for word by the time she was 18 months old. You should have seen my father! It was a moment to remember forever. Thank you Ant and Bee books.

I can't sing the praises of Ant and Bee loud enough. I loved them as a young child in the mid 70's. Luckily, I held on to five of the books. (Ant and Bee and the ABC's, Ant and Bee and the Rainbow, Ant and Bee Go Shopping, Around the World with Ant and Bee, and Ant and Bee Tell Time) Unfortunately, seeing how much they are now worth (not that I'd sell), they were loved a little too much. My three year old daughter loves saying "Naughty Mommy" whenever we read a page with some "additional" artwork.
I can't quite put my finger on what makes these so magical, but the illustrations are a big part of it. I used to just stare at the pictures....the variety of ways Ant and Bee travel the world, the Shopping Center they shop at, the three-legged race at the zoo, their teacup home, etc. The stories were simple yet interesting. Repetitive but not irritating. Full of friendship and fun. And I must add, the image of Ant and Bee sitting on their make-believe rainbow as day turns to night is one of the sweetest children's book moments ever. Please publishers re-release these. They are a gold mine.

As a kindergarten teacher, and a fan of the Ant and Bee series from the time I was a little girl, I highly recommend these stories. I have vivid memories of my grandmother reading me the stories, and now my kindergartners love them as well. They are quite new to my students, but they love the characters, drawings, vivid imagery and repetition. They often "read" them during our free choice time. Of course, they now want me to add to my collection, so I'm working on it!

I could hardly believe that the Ant & Bee books were still available. A neighbour lent my two young children some of her's which her (now) adult children had as toddlers. My children have become obsessed with reading them on a daily basis. They have been wonderful for building my five year old's confidence with her solo reading. I urge the publishers to consider reprinting the whole series. Believe me there is a new generation of readers itching to get their fingers on the Ant & Bee books!

Mr. Ward's book is pleasantly free of theory and psychobabble and, instead, provides sound, practical guidance for dealing with the challenging people and situations that often trip us up. The "tools" section is especially helpful in providing specific solutions to a well-selected range of issues. Kudos to Mr. Ward for giving us what we need most -- practical tools for all levels of employees.

This book was great! Practical applications for problems all of us in business encounter on a regular basis. I would recommend this book to every manager as a guide to handling those bad behaviors, problem people and sticky situations which, if you haven't had to deal with, you most certainly will. The case studies will be a great source of training for the rookies in my company and I think every training department should look at this as a 'basic' text for new supervisors and managers! Great book and great information.

This book provides managers with excellent, clear advice that is useful when seeking to remedy staff-related issues. A basic premise of this book is the application of workable solutions that ensure the on-going success of both managers and staff alike. The earlier sections address the basic principles of staff management and leadership while the latter sections provide case studies that are pragmatic, relevant, and readily applicable. The index is well constructed readily guiding the reader to those sections that are most pertinent for resolving specific issues. The material reads well and is logically presented. Gregg's writing style is energetic, candid, and to the point. I recommend this book to all who lead and manage staff.

This book provides managers with excellent, clear advice that is useful when seeking to remedy staff issues. A basic premise of this book is the application of workable solutions that ensure the on-going success of both managers and staff alike. The earlier sections address the basic principles of staff management and leadership while the latter sections provide case studies that are pragmatic, relevant, and readily applicable. The material reads well and is logically presented. Gregg's writing style is energetic, candid, and to the point. Finally, the index is well constructed to guide the reader to those sections that are most pertinent for resolving specific issues. I recommend this book to all who lead or manage staff.

A valuable read for all employees. An opportunity to target your communication shortcomings in the workplace and respond at a higher level for more satisfying results.

I nearly didn't read this book because I thought it was a romance and didn't feel in the mood for that particular genre.

Despite my intentions of passing it on to a friend, I opened it up and decided to just read a few pages -- I'm SO glad I did! Once I started reading, I couldn't stop.

I won't try to rehash the plot as other reviews have covered it nicely, but I will add my thoughts as it's an amazingly realistic and engaging read full of adventure with extraordinary writing that pulls you in where you find yourself holding your breath, at turns horrified or astonished. I found myself pulled into another world, and I highly recommend this book.

Don't make my initial mistake of dismissing it lightly -- this is literature to be read and savored.

Bride starts the saga of the Christopher family which Mr. McCarry has written about in his other novels. If you like a book about adventure, family and love, this book is the book for you!! It takes you back in time and deposits you there where the sheer beauty and explosiveness of Mr. McCarry's writting will keep you for many hours!! You will miss these characters when the book is over and if you are like me, that is how you measure how good a book is!! Read this book, you will not be let down!!

This book is one that will consume you. It is a haunting tale, amazingly well researched, and with a very uncommon story line. Follow the wealth of characters and their almost dickensian development, each more vivid than the last. Fanny, although the central character, is merely the path to carry the reader through one experience to the next. This book has many dark angles ,often inherent with this level of tangibility. The contrast to your more typical novel only amplifies the life that literally courses through this book. It is well worth the time. But be warned ,it sticks with you, for better or for worse.

. . . to take to a desert island, this would be the one. Bride starts the saga of the Christopher family and if you like adventure, espionage AND a story of faithful love rewarded, this book will surprise and please you on every page. You will be stunned by the sheer beauty and power of the writing and when you turn the last page, you will wish there was that much more.

McCarry was able to bring actual events of late 17th century English and American history to vivid life and his research into the time period is thorough. For example, I believe that he used actual events like the cold and snowy February 1690 night attack by French and Indians on present day Schenectady and the extraordinary escape of Mrs Hannah Dustin from her Abenaki captors, for the fictional attack on Alamoth and the manner of Rose Barebones escape from the Abenakis. His dreamy writing style lends itself to the way Fanny, his main character, sleep-walks through life, as if she and the virgin forests of America are waiting to be awoken to reality. This book is something which one seldom sees on the shelves of bookstores these days: it is exciting, thrilling, romantic in the grand manner of true romance (the worth of true patient love), as well as giving the average reader a taste of what life in America once was, a land filled with enormous trees, wild strawberries so abundant that walking through them was like walking through strawberry preserves, filled with danger and Indians who lived by a code of morals that only the French tried to understand. I highly recommend this book!

I happen to live in the Cotswolds, the setting for this beautiful book, this Monet of literature. And, complying with the below reviews, I have to say that Stroud has become a concrete river, choked with litter, sidelined with Burger Stars, neon lights; a MacDonalds is in the blue print stages. Hills are lined with new developments. It's like, and I quote my mother, "A disease is spreading."

Yet there are places untouched by Americanisms, consumerism, electricity (and here I apologise, as this becomes less of a review, more an account of personal experience). But there are still rivers afloat with leaves, valleys deep that welcome sunsets. They frost the sky in winter, burn it by summer.

"There's beauty in decay," as someone said. Haven't got a clue who. But there you go. Although dying of shallow needs and commercial interests, snippets of the old way can be found. And in all their glory, too.

This book was required reading during my childhood and, of course, I couldn't have dragged myself more slowly through it. How wise we become with age. This is an astonishing book. Lee is such a master of description that, after only a few pages, you slowly start to smell the fresh country air and hear the languid sounds of summer as you are inescabably drawn into the world of his childhood - a world that you realize has already faded into the mists of history. But this special time has not been lost - it has been captured forever in this irreplacable series of pictures. The people in these stories become more real than seems possible with only pen and ink: his characterizations are as clever as anything by Dickens or Dostoevski, and he catches the very essence of the sights, sounds and people around him with a charm unmatched by any other English writer. But this is not a story-book universe: the people in his young life have all the frailty, vanity, delight and tragedy that you would expect in any small community - but what other has been crystallized with such talent and wisdom. A wonderful work of art.

A book to read & re-read. Finely crafted & evocative of a now long ago & far away time and place.

There should be more than five stars for books like this one. All the reviewers who wrote about how poetic yet concrete, magical yet real this account of boyhood in the Cotswolds have said it much better than I can. It is pure magic. I wish it was 20 times as long. You might also find this book under the title "The Edge of Day". If you loved "Cider With Rosie" you might also enjoy "Lark Rise to Candleford", "The Golden Evenings of Summer" and the movie "A Christmas Story".

Rooted in the earth and shining with long gone summers and freezing winters this is a beautiful and poignant flower of a book. Written in a sensuous and lyrical poetic prose it tells the story of the authors's boyhood in the Cotswolds of the West of England. Spinning round the great orb of his clutter-minded and loving mother are his sisters and wider village life. There is Illness, murder, private sorrow, boiling summer and frozen winter and finally the running down of the feudal clock as long awaited change comes to the valley. A book, more even - a place to be visited again and again...

God, I love these short stories. These are a must, must read for anyone interested in France during this time period, and someone interested in the nuances of human relationships. Colette was given as a gift to me some 20 years ago, and I have reread these stories so many times, the book is falling apart.

Her short stories are superb! Much much better than any of her novels. If you like short stories, try reading John O'hara (A completely different vein, but excellent also).

The Collected Stories of Colette by Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette, ed., and with an introduction by, Robert Phelps. Highly recommended.

According to the introduction, this collection represents 100 stories taken from a dozen volumes published during Colette's lifetime. They are categorised as "Early Stories," Backstage at the Music Hall," "Varieties of Human Nature," and "Love." Some, like the Clouk/Chéri stories, appear to be fiction, while many, like "The Rainy Moon" and "Bella-Vista," seem to be taken straight from Colette's varied life and acquaintances.

Whether writing fiction or chronicling fact, whether writing in the third-person omniscient or in the first person, Colette herself is always a character-rarely as an influencer, that is, one whose actions or choices drive the plot. Colette's preferred role is as observer-and it is one for which she is well suited.

An inveterate sensualist and a former music-hall performer, Colette integrates her characters (real and fictional) with everything around them-their clothes (costumes), their abodes, dressing rooms, and haunts (sets), and their neighborhoods and towns (theatres). Much of Colette's writing, no matter how mundane the surface subject, is about art-the art of living and, notably, the art of loving. In "My Goddaughter," the subject tells her godmother how she injured herself with scissors and a curling iron and recounts her mother's reaction. "She said that I had ruined her daughter for her! She said, 'What have you done with my beautiful hair which I tended so patiently? . . . And that cheek, who gave you permission to spoil it! . . . I've taken years, I've spent my days and nights, trembling over this masterpiece. . . ."

Colette is attuned to everything, every sense, every nuance. "A faint fragrance did indeed bring to my nostrils the memory of various scents which are at their strongest in autumn." ("Gibriche") ". . . set in a bracelet, which slithered between her fingers like a cold and supple snake." ("The Bracelet") " . . . the supper of rare fruits, an[d]of ice water sparkling in the thin glasses, as intoxicating as champagne . . ." ("Florie") "Peroxided hair, light-colored eyes, white teeth, something about her of an appetizing but slightly vulgar young washerwoman." ("Gitanette")

Colette does not pretend to be an objective observer of human behaviour; she does not hesitate to express to the reader her weariness with certain individuals or situations, and her stories of her vain, pretentious, overbearing friend Valentine reveal her jaded and waning affection. She knows this woman so well that she sees her almost as Valentine sees herself-a drama queen acting out stories, roles, and games without depth of feeling for them. "What Must We Look Like?" becomes Valentine's driving philosophy, to which Colette responds with "a mild, a kindly pity." In "The Hard Worker," Colette says, "I can see she does not hate him, but I cannot see she loves him either." What Colette sees-and does not see-is to be respected.

Some stories, such as "The Sick Child," are vivid and imaginative and reveal Colette's amazing ability to think and dream like a gifted child. "The Advice," with its mundane beginning and premise and twisted, horrifying ending would enhance any collection of gothic or mystery tales. Other stories, like "Gibriche," several of the other music-hall stories, and "Bella-Vista," tackle topics that even today remain controversial. "Bella-Vista," in which Colette's moods seem to wane with every familiarity achieved with her hostesses, offers an ending that is heavily foreshadowed throughout but is surprising and gruesome nonetheless.

Most of the stories, whether fiction or nonfiction, seem to come from life in one way or another. The quantity of stories and the quality of the collection reveal the incredible scope of experience of Colette, the dry, often weary yet obsessive observer, interpreter, and chronicler of human nature. As Judith Thurman says in her introduction to Colette's work, The Pure and the Impure, "This great ode to emptiness was written by a woman who felt full." As well she should.

Diane L. Schirf, 27 May 2003.

Ok. You've read the Claudine novels, and Cheri and the Return of Cheri. Now what? There are other novels (The Vagabond, Gigi, My Mother's House) but there are these short stories that are "must-reads."

Colette was one of France's most distinguished writers. Though not a writer of massive books like Victor Hugo or Proust, or of psychological novels like Zola or Flaubert, she caught that French essence of individuality and quirkiness and the golden age of La Belle Epoque before World War One changed France forever. Her books are pure joy as are these short stories. If you have NOT read Colette, you are in for a treat. (And don't neglect Claudine or Cheri. )

If you're looking for a refreshing deviation from the mean of women writers, then Colette is it. Her stories offer a pleasurable clearing of the literary palate.

The BEST book I've ever read. I would have said, the BEST recipe book, but it's more than a recipe book. It's like a mini adventure book along with some great tips to life and great recipes to supplement the experience.

"I'll Have What She's Having" is a fun-filled, pun-filled and often poignant view of two women and the journeys they have taken so far in life, both together and individually. Denise and Deirdre are perfect examples of how you have to let go of your own plans and experience life's plans that present themselves to you. You will feel like you know these women soon after you open the book and that you will want to know where their journey takes them in the future.

"I'll Have What She's Having" is an honest and funny story about a 20 year friendship and what life has in store. It gives just the right recipe for life and more importantly leaves you with a moral to the story...embrace your life choices, and believe in the synergy of life.

"I'll Have What She is Having" is an honest and funny story about a 20 year friendship, and what life has in store. It gives just the right recipe for life and more importantly leaves you with a moral to the story....embrace your choices in life, because "the grass is not always greener".

A great book about two girls from Villanova University that each had an idea of the way they wanted their lives to go, however, they wind up following the opposite paths, and still maintain a great friendship (true story). The book is funny and interesting! A great gift idea! Great food and drink recipies!

What a beautiful celebration of an area under threat. Thank you to the Wards for their focus and drive. We hope to see more work from these talented artists.

Beautiful photo essay on the Alaska Wilderness with a hopeful bequest to future generations of animals and all who love America's wild places.

So many Americans know so little about this great gift our forefathers have given us - The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The fact remains that this coastal plain supports the highest density of mammals and birds in the arctic. Kennan Ward's book brilliantly helps us understand what's at stake here. The photographs alone are priceless! We believe that it would be a sin to rob future generations of the opportunity to understand this virgin land. Anyone who cares about America's heritage should take time to read this masterwork and understand what's at stake.

It is amazing how this book gives you a personal feel for the animals and their environment. The wildlife is perfectly comfortable and nature performs for Kennan Ward. He has the connection and a gift for capturing nature in its most potent moments. This book is a work of love and pristine beauty! If this land is allowed to be exploited for oil, this could be the last record of this incredible wilderness.

Kennan Ward's book contains stunning photographs of the land, plants, and animals of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Mr. Ward writes from his personal experiences as a photographer and naturalist. Kennan published this book to help keep this pristine wilderness area a place of incredible beauty and wildlife diversity. His book makes a strong visual argument for the case of preserving this wildlife area from oil drilling. He does this by showing photographs of the significant environmental impact of oil companies in Alaska. I hope this book will not be a reminder of what the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge was like, but instead, what it will continue to be for future generations of people and wildlife that come to this "last wilderness." I would highly recommend this book to any person who would like to learn more about the wildlife and environmental issues pertaining to the Refuge.