Issues Books

My husband loves to learn about how things work. The title of the book told me this was just the book for him.

*Keep It Short and Simple.

If you doubt that technical information can be short and simple, read this book. It was written for anyone old enough to read well, and especially designed for those who find technology intimidating. It not only provides comprehensive descriptions of the way hundreds of machines and devices work, but also gives explanations of the scientific principles behind each. The book makes liberal, effective use of graphic diagrams, and describes most of the machines and devices in 200 to 300 words on 1 or 2 pages.

This is a great book. It breaks down complicated concepts into simple principles that a child can understand. A good start for budding engineers.

This is a fabulous book! I like all of David Macaulay's books because they have so many details of how things are made. This is my favorite, though, because it answers questions about objects and technology for budding engineers and architects or just anyone who is curious! My son has loved his and I just bought one for my nephew.

Put these four things together--ingenuity, imagination, depictions, diagrams-- and you have a double ID toward understanding how things work. David Macaulay and Neil Ardley put together a magnificent volume for children and children at heart containing a way of understanding the laws of physics and mechanics.

The first illustration even shows God busy creating the rotation of the earth. Then they go to the earth where wooly mammoths lived and pick up one to take us through the history of mechanics, machines, and the like. Dozens of movements in five sections: waves, electricity, automation, digital domain, and machines show us just how easy these things are to understand done in drawerings.

Just as in child's play, there is no seeming order to the arrangement of items in the book. For example here are a few pages next to each other: vacuum cleaners, aqualungs or oxygen tanks, the toilet tank, the water meter, dishwasher, spray nozzle, fire extinguisher. Are you seeing an order? Yes, so am I.

Flipping over a hundred pages, I find the jet engine, rocket engines, nuclear power, nuclear weapons, fallout, nuclear reactor. OK, a definite pattern. Another hundred pages show these topics: movie camera, movie projector, printing, paper making, printing plate, printing press, bookbinding. More discernible order and logical arrangement.

One last check: scanner, bits and bytes, flash memory, magnetic storage, microchip, processor, software. We know where we are and recognize the order--a computer and its parts.

This reviewer has a suggestion for the reader. Once you have this book in hand, take it home, take it out every night and read a comfortable number of pages. If you have a child, read one page, discuss it, put this one away and take out a night-night book to read. If this is just your book, read several pages. By the time you have finished the book, you will have added dozens of operating systems to the computer banks in your own brain, making your child and/or yourself an expert in the way things work.

This is often the first book I read to my upper elementary student children. Many have not been read to or for some other reason do not know the JOY and FUN of a good book.

We act this one out. From getting their muscles "kneaded" and arms "stretched" like dough. I get their permission first. Sigh... that is the decade we are living in.

We "shake" flour (really a salt shaker.) And sprinkle oil (in a firmly sealed vial.)

We whirl and twirl a stuffed animal in the air. Next the checkers (pepperoni)

Then the children "cook" in the oven. (actually under a desk.)

This is one book the children ask for and moan when I tell them it is at my other school.

It makes believers of them that books are exciting.

What a fun book! Our 3 year old loves being made into a pizza with all sorts of toppings made from paper or play food. Great activity that ends with a nice hug!

This is a wonderful and exciting book for all family members of every age. It's sturdy, nicely illustrated,easy to hold and to read. Talk about love in the family, this book illustrates to parents the importance of communicating, touching, and just having a good time with our children. Pete's a Pizza brings out the child in adults and keeps the child in children.

Cheer your kids up by turning them into pizzas. A cute book for any collection.

Petes's in a bad mood because he can't go oult to play with his friends on this rainy day. To cheer him up and pass the time, his dad invents a fun and unique game. He is going to make a pizza out of Pete! The book is very amusing as the dad rolls the dough (Pete) and sprinkles cheese (paper) and tomatoes (checkers) on the pizza. This could be a wonderful game to play with your own children. Loads of fun to be had.

I thought that Up Up, Down was a great book. When the father fell down and his bottem was red. That anna repeats the same things. The baby brother because when he said no!! there were great. Yes in the store I always repeated the same thing. All kids read this book!!!

I think it was a wonderful book because the book was funny. My favorite part was when Anna fell down, because it was funny. The funniest part was when Anna said, I'm the queen of the castle mommy is a dirty rascal. Anna was my favorite character, because Anna was the funniest character in the book. The illustrations were very wonderful and colorful. I recommend all children should read this book.

I liked this book because it was a funny story. My favorite part was when Anna said, ouch my favorite character is Anna but I thought this book is all ages to read this book yes, I remembered something about my live. So have fun and buy this book.

I thought the book Up, Up, Down was a great book. My favorite part was when Anna repeated what their parents said to her. Also, I thought the funniest part was when Anna bundled up her parents with humongous band-aids. My favorite character is Anna because I thought she was very funny and always fooling around.

My favorite part of Up, Up, Down is when Anna parents told her, "Don't climb." The funniest part was when Anna sang, "I'm the king of the castle, mommy's a dirty rascal." My favorite character was Anna. I recommend this book to kids in elementary school.

My daughter and I have LOVED sharing Betsy-Tacy as a read-aloud. The way that the author weaves the girls' fantasies right into the chapter is a perfect illustration of just how real imaginary play is to children (or at least used to be when kids were allowed to imagine). Beware, parents: Have a hankie on hand for the Easter Eggs chapter. I had tears running in rivulets down my cheeks. The only sad thing about Betsy-Tacy is that my daughter wishes that she had a kindred spirit of her own as they do. Highly recommended!

I was introduced to Betsy and Tacy at 5 or 6 by my mom. She adored the series growing in the 50/60s. I grew up in the 70s/80s and fell in love with Betsy, Tacy and Tib. I have 3 daughters that now love these books also. If I had to name the best gift I ever received, I would name my Betsy books. I read the books at just the right time in my life. I would look forward to receiving my Besty/Tacy book at Christmas. When I had my 1st child, my mother gave me the final book in the series when Betsy also has a baby. I was overjoyed yet sad because I knew it was the end of the books.
These books were so important to me growing up that I still think of the characters often. They are wonderful classic stories of a simple time and true friendships.

B-T fans rejoice! Sutton Foster acquits herself well, and brings the characters and Maud's distinctive writerly voice alive in her reading of B-T.

Tired of reading the book over and over and over to your children? This audiobook can take over the chore. Or guarantee that you arrive at work in a good mood, by listening during your commute.

Don't hesitate, just get it before it goes out of print. Let's hope they issue more of the books on CD too.

I was recently reminded of the Betsy-Tacy books I loved so much when I was a young girl. You can not imagine my horror at seeing the current editions' illustrations of the girls, though. Part of the original books' charm was the simple illustrations. Whoever decided to change them should be ashamed. Ashamed and fired. Seriously.

Contact me if you want to join a campaign to have the real drawings returned to future editions of these timeless classics so many of us loved so much.

What a delightful book! I cannot believe I missed these books as a child; I picked them up to read with my daughters on a friend's recommendation, and they are a treasure. They remind me of so many other classic children's books -- Lois Lenski, Carolyn Haywood, Beverly Cleary, Eleanor Estes. Not only are the stories sweet and captivating, they take me back to a place where life was so much simpler. It's a return to innocence, and I loved the journey. I would highly recommend these books for little girls; they'll make new friends that they'll cherish for a lifetime.

Wally Hatford is a 10 year old boy who started a war between the Hatfords and the Malloys. He has three brothers, Peter, Josh, and Jake. The Malloys just moved in from Ohio to the Bensons' (The Hatfords' best friends) old house, and the boys want to want to oust the Malloy girls, Caroline, Beth, and Eddie (Edith) out of Buckman.

Wally is in Mrs. Applebaum's class, right in front of Caroline, the wanna be actress. He is the mastermind for the boys in the war between the Hatfords and the Malloys. Wally wants peace between the boys and girls to see how long it takes for a waffle box to travel down the river, to jump off a tree, and to climb a church steeple.

I could relate to Wally. He is like a kid in my class named Jake. Jake, like Wally, can think up of ideas to win a war against anybody, boy, girl, or parent. Jake also is curious of just things in normal life.

The Boys Start the War is a book just for children seeing that adults aren't interested in wars between boys and girls. It is easy to understand all of the humor and vocabulary in the book. I loved the book and went on to read the whole series.

The Hatford boys were looking out the window with their binoculars waiting to see three boys moving in their friends house across the river.When they see their girls moving in and not boys.They makea plan to sent the Malloy girls back to Ohio.Throwing dead animals to dead bodies.Playing bad tricks on the girls.Will the girls get back on them?Is the war barly begining?Are the girls going to get even with the boys. This is a really funny book to read.

This book is a hilarious book. The Hatford brother's best friends, the Bensons, moved away from Buckman to Georgia. The boys were expecting 3 boys to move into the Benson's house, but they were surprised when they found out that it was actually 3 girls. The Hatford brothers decided that they would try to make that the Malloy sisters so miserable that they would want to move back to Ohio and the Bensons would move back because no one would rent their house. The boys are in for a surprise when they have to go against the Malloy sister's cleverness. The pranks go on from dead fish to dead bodies and from floating heads to washing windows. The boys and the girls keep going at each other. They both can't tell their parents because then they would have to tell about all their other pranks. The war goes on and on to other sequels.

I like book because of all the pranks. The pranks are all thought up cleverly but something always goes wrong. A quote that shows something going wrong is, "`You got the flashlight?' Jake asked Wally breathlessly. `Heck, no. You were carrying it.' `I thought you grabbed it,' Josh said. `Someone did!' But that someone was already inside the house." This shows how the Hatfords lost their flashlight while pretending to be a floating head outside Beth Malloy's window.

Another reason I liked this book is because it's a humor book. I don't read many humor books but this book made me laugh. This book is filled with many hilarious events. Caroline Malloy draws a funny picture of her teacher but Wally manages to steal it and blackmails her. The things that go wrong are also funny. Just when one side thinks they've won, the other side finds a way to get even. There are many other books in the series and this is only the first.

My favorite part of the book is at the end of the book when the final prank is played. When the girls go to get Caroline from the Hatford's tool shed, they think they won because they made Jake say to them, "Your faithful, obedient servant." As they were leaving Wally comes out with Mrs. Hatford saying that the girls were coming over to help peel the bushels of apples the Hatfords had picked. I thought this was hilarious and was a great way to end the book to keep you hooked.

Just when the Hatford boys were expecting three boys to move into the house across the river the Malloy girls arrived instead. Wally and his brothers decide to make Caroline and her sisters so miserable that they'll want to go back to Ohio, but they haven't counted on the ingenuity of the girls.

Cast of Characters:
Malloy's:
George Malloy-father-football coach
Jean Malloy-mother
(Edith Anne) Eddie-11-6th grade
Beth-10-5th grade
Caroline-8-4th grade
Hatford's:
Tom Hatford-father-mail man
Ellen Hatford-mother-hardware store worker
Jake and Josh-11-6th grade
Wally-9-4th grade
Peter-7-2nd grade

This is really cool.It can be for 3-??yrs old.Pluse it takes places in my hometown Buckhannon,WV.The school they go to has beem turn into a building for 5-18 year olds,called Stockert Youth Center.The Mallory girls are really cool!!The Boys are trying to get the girls out of their old best friends house by playing tricks and being mean,and the girls try to show the boys the can't tear them away from Buckman wich really is Buckhannon.Read it!!Its cool!!

I personally have not read these books, but I have been purchasing them for my niece for special gifts, for her. After I gave her the first three books she said she really enjoyed them, because she likes horses alot. Then when I gave her a few more she was very excited because she didn't realize there were more in the series. In March I will have given her through book 10, so there are still more to come for her. I enjoy giving the gift of reading to children.

In 5th grade my AG reading teacher told me about the Heartland seires I used to not like to read but these books hve changed my mined!I am on #15 but Every New Day is my absolut favorite Heartland book! I love the new charachters and the new setting!! I loved the way Huten (amys moms freind) works with his horses and helps with Murcery I wish I could Give it thousands of stars!!!!!( I will Be sooooo Sad when I Have read them all but im looking faward to the nw series Chesnut Hill!)

This book is Very Good. In the book Amy takes a horse mucerey that once loved to jump but now he refuses even the tinyest jumps. When Amy can not figure out the problem she takes mucrurey to a guy (Huten) that once new Amy's mom. Amy had seen the man work his own horse and she thought they had a very speical bond. Once Amy is there it is almost time to leave and her and Huten haven't worked with mucerey one bit, instead Huten takes amy out on walkes and talkes about stuff. Read this book to find out if what happens. I would recomend this book to any horse lover(like me). I Really LOVED it.

This book is so cool. Whenever Amy and Ty are alone together, I just want to be with them!

go out and read it NOW!!!!!! This was my all time fav tied with new beginnings. amy goes 2 the appilachians with mercury, a horse that wont jump. the reason amy takes him is because she wonders if the ppl there could help mercury. when amy gets there, huten, a native american friend of her mom (,and a wise horse healer), doesnt seem 2 do anything 2 mercury. instead he helps her understand with strange sayings. but wat huten says is really true. go out and buy it NOW!!!! :) peace out,
a huge heartland fan

I'm a first year vet student and have read this text over the summer to get my feet wet. Excellent. Its just enough to explain the real mechanisms of specific cells and immune functioning. I would highly recommend as this text gives a thorough explanation to very difficult material.

For someone with no immunology background this is a great place to start. I wish I'd known about this book before taking immunology in medical school. It is short enough and such engaging writing that I'd strongly recommend reading it before taking an immunology course. This book isn't going to be one you go to for specifics about this receptor or that cytokine it's all about understanding how all the parts fit together.

This is one of the best books I have read in Medicine, for its ease and information. It stimulates you to go and read more.

The beauty of this book lies in its folksy language, brevity, completeness, and versatility.

First, the author avoids making you snooze over this potentially dry subject. The prose is clever and written basically as someone would talk to you. Of course, the prose does get a little too relaxed at time, but I find the language far more understandable than some stuffy textbook.

In addition, the author has compiled a brief yet very thorough composition on the immune system here. If you were seeking a very complete overview of immunology without needing to memorize all the details (like cytokines, names of cell receptors, etc.), you could read this book in one night and have a very good understanding of the immune system. However, if you're a medical student needing to actually memorize all those seemingly trivial details, this book is probably sufficient for you as well. That versatility really lends this book to a very diverse audience.

I think that anyone from a college student in an introductory immunology course up to a practicing physician needing a quick reference to the immune system would love owning this book.

I'm a first year medical student and hadn't had immunology until I was taught it in about two weeks this year. This book was exceptionally helpful in giving me the big picture while still providing enough detail to unite the big pieces together. The book isn't exhaustive, but it's not meant to be. It's also very easy to read and memorable. This book was quite useful to me and I highly recommend it.

Jamie Lee is very clever with her wordings and rhymes. The illustrations are very eye-catching. Always looking for a new way to challenge and stimulate children's minds....this is it!

Jamie Lee Curtis, Is There Really a Human Race? (Joanna Cotler Books, 2006)

Man, this book started off so well. Of its thirty-two pages, fully twenty-six of them are great stuff. Playing on the multiple meanings of the word "race", Curtis asks all sorts of amusing questions about humanity. While it does get a tad overbearing at times with the moralizing ("If the race is unfair, will I succeed?" comes flying out of nowhere, for example), it's quick, funny, and wonderfully illustrated by Laura Cornell. Unfortunately, then come the last six pages, where Curtis tosses away the metaphor and dives straight into the moralizing. Show Don't Tell is gasping by the wayside, obviously not having the lung capacity to finish. Sense of Subtlety got knocked over the head by an unscrupulous racer and is lying in the gutter, quietly sobbing. Not Talking Down to Kids lost his jockey and bolted for the track bar. Moralizing and Sanctimoniousness hit the wire in a dead heat.

Still, the first bit's worth it. **

I love reading this book to my son. It not only gets him thinking about the human race, but me as well. Jamie Lee Curtis did a fantastic job with this one.

This is a lovely little book for both children and adults alike. Three weeks before christmas I picked it up in the bookstore and couldn't put it down. I bought that copy right there then went home and bought ten more off Amazon and sent them to all my close friends for Christmas. For me it ranks right up there with the Lorax by Dr. Suess as a children's story with heart and wisdom. Read it to your children, read it for yourself.

While I don't usually review picture books, I highly recommend this charming book for adults who need to be reminded to slow down. I bought a copy to purchase for a youngster -- but was so moved by the message that I plan to keep it myself and will have to buy another. Curtis's important message is sure to strike a chord with over-scheduled adults who happen to be reading the book aloud to children. Cornell's whimsical illustrations (I loved the girl who's got the biggest hair "without product") make you pause for a closer look as you follow the text, which is exactly what a good picture book should do. This book makes a great gift for anyone -- regardless of age. -- Cindy La Ferle [...]

At thirteen, Julie Edwards - or Miyax Kapugen - was married according to the agreement between her parents and those of her bridegroom. Miserably unhappy in her temperamental husband's home, Julie fled. She and a wolf pack befriended each other, out in the wilds of her native Alaska, and because of the wolves Julie has survived to find her way home. Back to her widowed father, who (to her considerable surprise) has missed her and looked for her. And then, when told falsely of her death, has mourned for the daughter he loved and now knows he should not have pushed into that early marriage.

In Julie's absence Kapugen has married again, and his new wife is a schoolteacher from Minnesota. Ellen has convinced Kapugen to give up, for the most part, his life as an Eskimo hunter. Although they still live in the village where they met, Kapugen flies an airplane and cares for a herd of domesticated musk oxen while Ellen continues with her teaching job. Julie's homecoming is marred not only by her doubts about her father's choice of a fair-skinned, red-haired outsider as his new wife, but also - far more - by her terror of Kapugen's insistence that if and when the wolf pack comes to hunt his musk oxen, he must kill them. Julie knows that Kapugen means it, because he killed one of "her" wolves before. She can't go off to high school in Fairbanks, not even when she falls in love with a young Eskimo man who will be going to the university there. She has to stay in the village until she figures out how to save her wolves from Kapugen, whom she loves despite his growing departure from the ways he taught her to follow.

Coming of age novels with girl protagonists are rare enough, if one doesn't count (and I certainly do not!) those books whose whole point is how that girl learns to accept the limits of traditional femininity as the cost of mature happiness. Books like this one, about a girl who comes of age by meeting physical and intellectual challenges thrown at her by Nature itself - and by the clash of cultures, too - are rarer still. Marvelous! Simply marvelous!

Julie was about an Eskimo girl who got lost in the Alaskan tundra. Julie, the girl learned to live by wolf ways. She followed the wolves and they accepted her. Amaroq was the pack leader and Silver was his mate. Nails was Amaroq's best friend and Jello was the lowly puppy-sitter. Kapu, Sister, Zat, Zing, and Zan were the puppies. Amaroq got shot by a helicopter flier and died. Kapu was also shot but was nursed back to health by Julie. Julie then found her father, Kapugen (Kapu was named after Julie's father.) near by. Kapugen had stopped following the Eskimo traditions and married a gussak (white) woman. Julie was not at all thrilled about this. Then she saw flying goggles hanging in the house. Julie then realized that Kapugen had shot Amaroq. Julie learned how Kapugen had changed. Then, she found out how Kapugen had started an industry in musk oxen. The caribou which is sort of like a moose or deer is one of the most eaten animals on the tundra. The wolves also eat caribou. The caribou was not going through Kangilik, where Julie was now living or where Kapu and his pack were. The wolves were very hungry and needed food to live off of. What will Julie do to save the wolves?

This one, in my opinion, is a bit better than the first one. Since this one has more social interaction, it makes time seem to fly by much quicker. It also contains the same friendly wolves, which also makes it exciting for anyone who read Julie of the Wolves.

This book is very amazing, it is just as good as it's original, 'Julie of the wolves'. I really loved reading this book, and I'm sure you'll love it too, if you love animals. Don't waste your time on another 'tundra imitation' book, get Julie of the wolves, Julie, and Julie's wolf pack now!

This book is about a young girl living in Alaska, in the village of Kangik trying to get used to her new home. She hears that her father will kill her wolf pack if they kill another oxen. She then goes back out on the Tundra to find her pack and lead them to Caribou. This book is wonderful and teaches us about Eskimos and their traditions. It is a fantastic novel telling how one girl is so in touch with all other living things. If you love learning about other cultures or love Julie of the Wolves and want to see what happens next, then you have to read this amazing book!

This cleverly written concept (counting and poetry) book combined with the most beautiful illustrations makes this a must have for any home library. Before they can even read, children will enjoy have this story read to them while they look at the vivid pictures and try to count all the bugs to match the story. Opportunities to increase vocabulary are bountiful with the creative and broad use of vocabulary within the rhyming plot. The ending shows a great character building lesson to get to know someone before making a judgement. Just perfect!

Very cute story. I bought my niece the Fisher-Price tea party set and bought this book to go with it. The story is short but the pictures are adorable and very colorful. I would recommend this book. My niece is 1 1/2, I wouldn't recommend it to anyone over 3.

We've been reading this to our little guy since he was three months old, if even that, and he was glued to it from the start, easily his favorite book, still, at nearly 13 months. Great color, great rhythm, and lots of fun bugs! :)

The "Miss Spider" books are pretty easy reads. Nice stories, wonderfully bright, and imaginatively styled illustrations!

My 3 year old is a little concerned with spiders in general and I think by giving a sweet personality to a spider, it helps to take the edge off of the spiders we may find in the house and in nature.

The artwork in this book will keep any child interested. It took my daughter a few reads to get into the story and she still prefers Miss Spider's New Car, but we read this book often.