Wood Books

This is such a beautifully done book. It's nice to have a book for children where the author has actually come up with an original and creative story idea that still teaches a lesson. My girls love it and the pictures are gorgeous. Buy it if you want a wonderful kids book that is unique and truly a great story.

This is one of the best children's books I have ever read. My kids love the story and the pictures. It is easy for them to understand and follow and it has a fabulous message. I highly recommend it to anyone who even knows a child under the age of 13.

This is an extraordinary book -- the profound search over decades of one man, seriously wounded in France in WWII, for the search for how human civilization can ever progress to real peace. Using the inherited papers of generations of his American warrior ancestors back to the 1600's, he explores the different sides of what has led to past violence. Only in understanding that violence of the past is there hope for a future of a civilization that is truly different.

The book often reads as a stage play, though he did not write it that way: ancestors from different eras with different views converse with each other and the author. His research is broad and deep, not only in the many boxes of ancestral documents but in the history of how these difficult questions have been addressed by peoples through the ages.

This really would make an excellent required reading in a peace studies course or a history course. It puts the reader in touch with very difficult questions and very good research in a very readable way.

Beyond The Weapons Of Our Fathers by poet and essayist Edward W. Wood Jr. is a close and caustic study of the violence that has marked America since its war of independence, including the terrible toll of the Civil War down to conflicts still vivid in the memory of today's generation. An unflinching look at the intersection of violence and American History, culminating in a passionate call for a better future, Beyond The Weapons Of Our Fathers is especially timely reading in view of today's War on Terrorism and Middle East conflict with Iraq.

This is by far the best nature project book I have seen. Visually, it is very appealing--beautifully organized, with full color photos. The lessons are clearly presented, and differences between geographic regions are noted, making this book relevant for any part of the country. It is a very hands-on approach to learning about nature, which is so often absent these days. While it is geared toward activities for younger children, I found it to be a very inspiring book--made me want to walk out the door and start exploring NOW.

This is the best hands on science book I have seen yet. Great for kids to go out on their own or for parents to do with their kids as family outings and such. Has field trip ideas for each topic. Very highly recommended.

A fascinating look at how the reality show "Big Brother" was presented and viewed all over the world. Since so many countries produced their own local versions of the show, this provided an excellent opportunity for contemporary cultural analysis on a global scale. This is is a riveting read.

"Big Bother" by Dr. Toni Johnson-Woods examines the Australian "Big Brother" reality television program from a celabratory and popular culture theory perspective. Dr. Johnson-Woods lectures at the University of Queensland, and is (among other hats to wear) an expert in popular contemporary television.

Toni explores "Big Brother" in an international context, the production of of the program, the generic markers of "Big Brother" and reality television genre theory in general, the filmic techniques, the program's content and contestants, the audience, and the numerous media representations of the program. As "Big Brother" was such a successful and pervasive program within Australian television culture, it was very much worthy of investigation as a media case study.

I think that it is wonderful for our academics to be recording significant elements of contemporary culture, and using their research to define WHO we are at the moment, and WHAT we do in our recreation hours. Dr. Johnson-Woods has not only written an educational and informative book, but one that is fascinating to read. Five stars!

My son has tons of board books but hands down, Billy Bunny is his favorite! The pictures of the animals are so big and it is like their eyes are looking right at him. He especially loves the pages with Morris Mouse and Freddy Fox on them. He loves to scratch their noses b/c of the textures that are included in this book. This is a must have! Highly recommend!

We purchased Maurice Pledger board books (Oscar Otter, Olive Owl and Billy Bunny) for our child at 6 months and at 2 years old they are still favorites. Here are just some of what we love about them. The illustrations are spectacular. They accurately represent the wildlife being depicted. There is a great variety of textures to appeal to a child's desire to touch and feel. Our child's favorite page is the "sticky" plant in Olivia Owl. They encourage interaction with questions like "How many shiny beetles has he found on the rose bush?" (from Billy Bunny) and requests like "Tickle her orange tummy." (from Oscar Otter). They are oversized for board books (approx. 9x11 inches), which our child loves. They give children nice big pictures to look at.

People ought not only to read these sorts of books more often, but to write them. Birdsong is the sort of character-driven novel you'd expect from Walker Percy, in which characters, during the course of a day or a week, discover their freedom, realize the influence of others in their lives, the motivation behind that influence, and whether or not it has a right to be there. Dewey confronts each aspect of his past, vaguely aware that he is in a rare introspective moment that will allow him to separate his past from his present, and ultimately, choose his future.

The novel is set in 1958 before the drug, etc. scene. So the characters are valid to the period. A wonderful novel.

This is one gorgeous book! It covers an unusual topic--bird songs, in a beautiful way. Each bird is drawn in a different geographical setting, accompanied by a different child, so it is also a multicultural experience. Plus it is sumptiously illustrated. It is one of the best bird books that covers birdsong for young readers that I have ever seen, and I've been looking/teaching for 20 years.

Not only is this book beautifully illustrated, it will also take your child on a journey through the seasons all in one day. They will be able to wake with the calls of crows and go to sleep to the hoots of an owl. I highly recommend this book to all young readers especially if they love birds and their birdsongs.

Rayvon Fouche's Black Inventors In The Age Of Segregation: Granville T. Woods, Lewis H. Latimer, And Shelby J. Davidson refutes the common notion that inventors were lone geniuses who worked in relative isolation in the late 19th-early 20th century world. Most indeed developed their ideas within industrial organizations that supported their experiments: for blacks, this meant real challenges in working on innovative designs while breaking social barriers. Fouche here uses the lives and works of Granville Woods, Lewis Latimer and Shelby Davidson to detail the social frustrations underlying their research.

Professor Fouche has written a fabulous book! Black Inventors in the Age of Segregation is clearly the most thoroughly researched book on black inventors to date. He provides a detailed account of how difficult it was for black inventors to succeed in a segregated society. His book describes the experiences of three black inventors and explains their importance to African American people in the twentieth century. This is a must read for anyone wanting to know more about black inventors, their inventions, and their lives, as well as those interested in African American history and the history of invention.

Unlike Philbert Suggs review, which is obviously, a sarcastic, soap-box stance, of a denial ridden, brain damaged animal rights/anti-hunting advocate who has not read the book in the first place. He is obviously shrouded by self-substantiated lies including his false profile in which he says he is a hunter and uses Elvis as his picture (a drug-ridden, stammering bafoon such as himself, evidently). Such people could benefit from reading such books in which denials of natural processes of life and death are not tolerated and truth is spoken. People are hunters by nature, Ted has always promoted that as he does in this book. Ted has never tolerated false idealistic views such as those perceived by Mr. Suggs who thinks his food has never had an effect on an animal or the environment or has denied that his actions through his course of life has never lead to the death of an animal or destruction of their environment. People who share views as those of Mr. Suggs pave a dangerous path to destruction of humanity through denial and lies. Rock-on Ted, and keep on spreading the truth of humanity and our impact of the environment, helping to preserve habitat and the abundace of wildlife for generations to come, and teaching kids to not just "Say No" to drugs, but, to kick the dealer in the balls, drag them in to the street, smash them into the curb and leave them to rot in the gutter. You have helped many youth to preserve their life and give them a good path to follow to become an asset to their community and the wild in general.

I myself am not a hunter. I really just do not understand it. However, my husband enjoys it immensly. While I do not understand the hunting mentality I do understand people such as Mr. Suggs. While, Mr. Suggs is exceedingly gifted in the art of penning sarcasm, he unfortunately lacking in his choice of reading materials. I find it odd that a person who does not enjoy a sport, nor the person who is participating in the sport, would read a book involving both. I give kudos to Mr. Suggs writing ability, shame on him for speaking out of turn.

This book has aged remarkably well. First published in 1964, it remains the best account of the Boston Tea Party in or out of print. In fact, it's something of a classic. It's easy to read, tells the story in all its complexity (which involves going beyond Boston to look at how opposition to the Tea Act played out in Charleston, Philadelphia, and New York), and places the "tea party" in the larger story of the American Revolution.

Mr. Labaree's Boston Tea Party is an excellent chronology of the American Revolution from the Townshend Acts to the Boston Tea Party, culminating in the Coercive Acts and the beginnings of the Continental Congress. Labaree lays out the increasing tension between the American Colonies and Britian. He delves into the radical nature of the Revolution as a libertarian mass movement. Although the colonists were led by leaders like Samuel Adams, Dr. Thomas Young, and Joseph Warren, Labaree cogently lays out how the Revolution was a mass movement of the people. Hundreds, if not thousands of farmers became involved in assisting Boston after the passage of the Coercive Acts. Philadephia organized a mass meeting of over 8000 people to protest the tyrannical acts. After the passage of the Coercive Acts, Boston, Philadelphia, New Haven, Baltimore, Annapolis and other colonial cities were inflamed. This beginning of revolution was not a movement of only the rich, but of an enraged, passionate people defending their liberties.

Most importantly Labaree shows how the British and Americans viewed imperial relations and the position of the colonies in the Empire. Overall a really fine read for those interested in our libertarian revolution.