France Books

If you loved the outsized adventures of Gargantua and Pantagruel (Penguin Classics), you will surely be delighted by Armstrong's second novel, The Last Troubador: Song of Montsegur. Set in the turbulent, insecure 12th Century when Christendom set itself against Islam in the east and reforming elements at home, this book has the large stage in which to handle some universal themes.
What sets this apart from most historicals and calls Rabelais to mind is the author's tongue which is so firmly planted in his cheek that even when we are transported by the death-defying action, we're always aware of the multiple levels of meaning. Most historical novels are necessarily short-lived: their view of history is a product of their own moment and so they become dated. The Last Troubador will no doubt be around for a long time because the wink and the nod to the reader is truly timeless.

By the way, I found this book because I'd read Armstrong's The Game, a very different detective novel that shares the same dry inviting humor.

Lynn Hoffman, author of the semi-Rabelaisian bang BANG: A Novel

Yummy characters. Doesn't sound like a ringing endorsement, but it is. Yummy, yummy. From the twisted and dark Diableteur to the golden-haired troubadour, there's isn't a character I didn't fall in love with. The Seigneur who redeems himself through love. The object of his love, the untouchable Dame of the Cathars. I even love the future pope (don't tell anyone!) Cardinal Sinibaldo Fiesco. This is a triumph, everything I love in a historical, from fighting, spunky ladies to romantic men with swords, and other weapons! I have to admit I was a little uncertain at first when the author made this tie-in from characters to Tarot cards. This was how I heard of the book, but I was all ready to hate the idea. I loved it. The Troubadour is the fool. The Magician is a woman, a snowy, white haired pagan sourceress. The Empress was the ever-pregnant mother of the travelling Baug Balar. And the Baug (it's like a circus, with trained horses, magic tricks, acrobats, really nice) is my favorite collection of images. The author throws in a nice dash of humor, but doesn't get carried away, shaking it up with some well-researched historical events and environment. I've been to Carcassonne, and it was so nice to see this beautiful place come to life. Over the top? Not really. Just so much to enjoy! The only thing I'm not happy about is the ending... it's fulfilling, with the main mission achieved, but as it turns out it's the beginning of an even greater quest. Which makes me very impatient for book 2, The Last Quest, which I'm definitely going to order. The Last Quest: Song of Montsegur

You don't have to know anything about the mysteries of tarot to enjoy this engrossing, fun read. It's a well-done combination of sword-and-sorcerer fantasy and historical adventure set in the 13th century. The tone is light, yet layers of period detail give it more depth than you might expect, and the characters are fascinating whether or not you understand their tarot inspirations.

Ramon Troubadour, the hero of the trilogy (yes, this is the first of three volumes), is a Fool extraordinaire on a quest to save the holy Dame of the Cathars from the fires of the Inquisition. The story is full of knights and kings, circus acrobats and animal acts, mysteries and magic, not to mention continuous action and sharp-tongued humor from the Fool as he goes about the business of discovering the secrets of the age.

The Catholic Church doesn't come off very well in this tale, as you might expect since it's set in a period when red hot pokers were as important to the holy orders as communion wafers. The trilogy itself is driven by a quest to find the world's most important religious relic and the machinations of the Pope and the evil Diableteur, a scythe-carrying devil. Other fun characters include a one-eyed Knight who may or may not be a Templar and a circus fortune-teller who also happens to be a witch.

The story moves along and carries the reader with it. I found it both engaging and entertaining.

If I didn't know better, I'd say that Derek Armstrong wrote this delicious novel purely for my own amusement and pleasure. With wit, wisdom (and more than an occasional wink) he offers a work that panders to nearly every one of my cultural, spiritual, and historical prejudices. Set in thirteen century France - that hotbed heroes, heroines, and heresy - it's a wide-screen Technicolor adventure worthy of a full Errol Flynn treatment... an adventure for spiritual grownups that educates as much as it delights. I can't wait for the next in the series.

Lon Milo DuQuette - Author of Accidental Christ

Witty, dry, well-paced, this story worked for me on all levels. Original plot and well executed, what else can a reader ask for? I recommend it for everyone to read. The characters are engaging - you are made to feel as if you are there with them, which is what a great story is meant to do. I loved it and will certainly read another novel from this talented author. Derek Armstrong is a keeper for me.

This is a huge book packed with information and gorgeous photography. There is plenty of science contained in these glossy pages from how the planets in our solar system formed, to the breakup and movement of our land masses to their current day positions, ocean currents, weather, ecology, glacial periods, and so much more. Most of the first half of the book is devoted to these subjects. The second half of the book gets into ocean life, from the smallest to the largest, how they live, feed, defend themselves. The pictures are breathtaking. This is a great educational book for all family members. Trust me, this one won't just sit around on your coffee table.

I recently sent this book to my younger sister who has inspirations of becoming an oceanographer. The book is so colorful and educational I think I want to become an oceanographer now!

This book is not a typical "coffee table" book. Although full of beautiful photographs, there is equal emphasis on educational text. Instead of being a book containing only full-page photos of ocean life, each page is a collage of wonderful photos and short articles that you will want to read. The publisher of this book (DK), offers a variety of books in this format (travel, etc), and the layout of this book is similar. That is not to knock the photos at all - they are great and some are full-page, but this book isn't page after page of full-page photos as some others are.

That said, this is an excellent educational text with so much interesting information to offer. (It made me want to read the book cover-to-cover, which would probably keep me busy for at least a few days!)

The four main sections of the book include:

Introduction
Ocean Environments
Ocean Life
Atlas of the Oceans

The Introduction section takes a scientific look at the earth. A sampling of the topics of this section include "The Evolution of the Oceans", "Tectonics and the Ocean Floor", "Hurricanes", and "El Nino and La Nina". Mixed in with the photos are a number of color drawings and graphs to help the reader understand the concepts.

The section on Ocean Environments includes articles on specific places like San Francisco Bay and Hardanger Fjord as well as general information on habitats such as Salt Marshes, Mangrove Swamps and Rocky Sea Beds. The pages are full of photos of the areas as well as typical species found there.

The largest section is on Ocean Life and focuses on the variety of creatures found in the sea. Exhibited within these pages are a number of amazing photos of plants and animals that I had not seen before (though I'm not an expert on this subject) including creatures such as the Glass Squid, the Blue-Ringed Octopus and the Goblin Shark. I thoroughly enjoyed the short paragraph articles describing unique aspects of the species shown as well as the longer texts on topics like "Echinoderms" that includes anatomy, reproduction, feeding and defense sub-articles.

The last section is Atlas of the Oceans and includes maps of the different oceans and text describing them.

Again, the focus of this book is learning, not just amazing photography, and it does an excellent job of offering a smorgasbord of articles on different topics. If you really want to learn about the ocean and its inhabitants while paging through fantastic photographs, you will thoroughly enjoy this book!

NOT 500 pages and if I had paused to read the item description properly I wouldn't have bought this book! Way too good a price to be true, it is not another edition of the wonderful Cousteau-forwarded book, but a perfectly respectable DK full-color children's book with many very nice color photos. Probably very worth $7.99 and I was just far too greedy to read the fine print.

I had been looking for a comprehensive ocean book for a while, and more or less found it here. A complete overview of the ocean: physical features, marine life, fishing, exploration - this book covers it all. Great photography and short pieces of information on hundreds of the ocean's species will immerse even the most casual terrestrial browser.

The species featured in this book are well distributed - representing all classes of animals and plants, and all zones and ocean communities, from the coastal to deep sea ecosystem. Their mini synopsis of species is proceeded by a helpful overview of the general category that covers them (such as mollusks: their basic anatomy, movement mechanics, feeding and life cycles for the entire group) before telling you about, let's say, the octopus. The bulk of the book is on ocean biota, with a smaller sections on ocean environments and an atlas of the oceans.

Perhaps the biggest gap I see in the book is that it covers fisheries and other human impacts (trash, pollution, warming, acidification) only minimally and sporadically. The human impacts are highlighted for only a few key species, instead of treating it as an separate issue in its own right that affects, directly or indirectly, all forms of marine life. Indeed, the subtitle for the book, "the world's last wilderness revealed," is misleading and biased. It's akin a travel brochure selling an overrun tourist destination like Waikiki as exotic and pristine ("come and watch the natives surf!" I read once somewhere) - given our massive interference with most of the ocean, the term "wilderness" simply does not apply, except perhaps for the Antarctic region, for now.

But what the book does cover, it covers it well, being both engaging and informative. Over 500 pages serve as a good introduction to our waterworld.

Thank you, David and Alison, for sharing your Paris with me. Soon I will have the pleasure of spending a month in Paris, and the joy of being able to introduce my 16-year-old grandson to the greatest-of-all-cities. Your book deepened my knowledge of Paris, and will allow me to share more of its history with my grandson. I will be taking your book along, reading it in Paris, and looking for all those pieces of the city that you so beautifully described. Again, merci!

Downie's essays offers a quirky sense of humor and a wonderful eye for the details behind the details that at once demystify Paris and add to her mystery. Although the book is not a guide per se, the essays make me want to follow Downie's trails. As such, the book would have been better served with an index and some neighborhood maps. After all, give us a few more clues.

This just couldn't get any better. It is full of interesting tidbits and numerous places to visit accompanied by stories of people and places you normally don't hear told. I couldn't put it down, and I have recommended it to several people.

David Downie's recent memoire on Paris is a diminutive delight, a series of "thought prose" on different and unusual aspects of La Ville Lumière. There are countless books following a similar approach, but Downie's stands out due to the unusual information and presentation of somewhat obscure and arcane information that he has collected over the decades in which he has lived near the Place des Vosges in the Marais district of Paris. The result is an insider's point of view of the city that is quite unlike other tourist books, and perhaps implies that those who might most greatly enjoy the book are those who have actually visited and explored the city to some extent. Without having experienced the city itself first hand, the information presented here is a bit decontextualized and a little abstract.

For those who have visited the city and even perhaps stayed or lived there for any length of time, Downie's book opens up a world of insights that is often hidden from common view. This makes it now possible to explain why Downie has selected the name, "Paris, Paris" for the text, where the second "Paris" is written in italics. Downie explains that the meaning of this structure indicates that there are two simultaneous, yet nevertheless distinct, "Parises," the first being the "Paris" that the typical English-speaking, non-French national sees and experiences, and the second (the "Paris" in italics) is the one that native Parisians and Frenchmen know, a reality removed from the more cursory visitors of the city.

Downie chooses an interesting example drawn from the Paris metro system to illustrate the title's metaphor. For anyone who has used metro line 14, the fully automated and state-of-the-art Parisian metro line, the sound of the automatic station announcement will come to mind. As we approach Chatelet Station, for example, the system announces "Chatelet" in a springy, almost stylish manner. As the train begins braking and stops at the station, the automatic system again states "Chatelet," but in a much more terse, low-key manner. This interesting announcement technique that all riders of metro line 14 have doubtless noticed (whether consciously or unconsciously), serves as a gentle reminder that there are two Parises, and few people ever get to know them both.

The book is composed of a series of short, targeted essays on a wide variety of locations, personages, and historical events related to the city. Each section runs only six to eight pages, which is a perfect length not only to convey the topic, but also for targeted reading day after day. The writing style is clear and engaging, and as mentioned before, filled with tidbits of information about the city that anyone interested in Paris would enjoy learning. We get to read about such famous "Parisians" as Coco Chanel, the engineer who is in charge of nighttime lighting for all of Paris, and a host of others in addition to interesting historical aspects of the city itself.

An enjoyable book with a memorable set of stories, anecdotes, and "mysteries" of the city, "Paris, Paris" is a welcome addition to any Parisphile's library.

A wonderfully ill-tempered, sentimental, and informed account of nooks and crannies in the most interesting of cities. If I could arrange it, I would introduce Downie to the venerable Guy Grangeret, a visite-conference guide to Paris who is nothing less than Downie's spiritual twin. Neither man's dicta are suitable for beginners: all that irony and allusion would be wasted. Both provide insights and make connections that enrich the experience as well as thinking of the seasoned visitor.

Stephen Mitchell's translation is a great intro to the Tao. Simple, a little convoluted at times and yet somehow straight to the point. I bought this illustrated hardcopy as a gift and keep a text version as my guide.

I have come to have a fondness and deep appreciation for Mitchell's work and choices of subjects. I bought this translation because of high praise for it hidden in one of Jim Harrison's poems. This version is, perhaps, the most readable of all I have encountered. Many people find it inspiring and that must be why it is such an acclaimed translation. Having dealt with a dozen or so translations and the texts behind them, I do note that Mitchell takes some liberties. His is a very idiomatic translation, which often reads better than word-for-word literalness, the latter often proving too wooden to be enjoyable or clear. And Mitchell might even omit a few phrases or add one here or there. But the spirit is all Lao Tzu. Also, the volume is full of the most exquisite ancient Chinese illustrations, making it the most beautiful of any of my Tao Te Chings.

Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching (The Book of the Way) has long been referenced by those who seek to understand the Eastern philosophy of the harmony of the universe. In simple, eloquent verse this collection of poems (though there are those who would object to the 'poem' label) the secrets to shedding the self with its attendant judgment, desire, and critique provide the guide for finding oneness with the cosmos.

Steven Mitchell is the translator of these ancient texts and his sensitivity to the poetic flow of the concepts and instructions enhance this version of the TAO TE CHING. And as if that weren't sufficient reason to make this your access to these ageless meditations, this book is an 'illustrated version', tastefully combined with old Chinese drawings and paintings that allow the eye to roam while digesting the moments of beauty of the words.

This book becomes a constant companion for those who look to make sense of the world and its chaos. If ever there were the perfect gift for the friends in your life, this elegant little book is surely one of the best. Grady Harp, March 05.

In this version, Peg Streep edits James Legge's 19th century translation. The editing is a major bonus, as it adds something
to the overall flow of the work. Here is an example of the poetry of the words: "Abstinence from speech marks him who obeys the spontaneity of his nature." Whereas countless other translations are well worth the read, the text in this edition offers something every bit as beautiful as the artwork that accompanies it.

If every philosophy or religion had a book like this, it would be much easier to appreciate and perhaps even enjoy the diversity of belief among humankind. Mitchell captures the simplicity and straightforwardness of the text, and what we get is a incredibly beautiful book of verse. Some scriptures and cornerstone philosophy texts try to argue their way into your head; the Tao, especially as translated by Mitchell and coupled with stunning artwork, effortlessly works to seduce its way into the core of your being.

When you put the book down, you may disagree with many components of the Tao's underlying philosphy. But during the short time you live between the book's covers, it is a joy to enter the rhythmic flow of the Tao and put skepticism on hold.

This book is so much packed with information and data!
Well presented and well written, you will find more in this book about Napoleonic warfare than any other books focusing on a single topic:

-weapons and equipments
-beautiful uniform plates
-Infantry and cavalry tactics with diagram
-full bios of many of the generals
-full order of battles
-accounts and explanation about particular engagements on the battlefield with diagrams and actual battlefield pictures
-historical interpretation: you will learn for instance through a rational explanation why it was almost impossible to break an infantry square by cavalry
and much more

My only complaint would be that at times I had the feeling that the book was a bit all over the place, however, each time, there was something so interesting to pick.

This book is a real treat, addictive, informative, going well beyond the battle of Waterloo to encompass the essence of Napoleonic warfare at dirt level. At this price, with so many pages of pure pleasure, it is a true bargain.

This is an excellent book for who begins to study the battle of Waterloo. Complete, clear and very entertaining.
A very good purchase.

This is an excellent read, full with illustrations, photo's of the actual battlefield and information in general of napoleonic warfare.

Wow, What a book! If you would choose one book to give you all the background information on this famous battle; This would be the one. Outstanding graphics, maps and photos! Well done!!!

This is one of the better books on waterloo. Good graphics and detailed maps. Fair and balanced view.

My younger sister is 7 years old. When she started reading the book,outloud, I was interested. The book was a little bit hard for her,but she loved it. Later, I read it. It meant a lot to me and now it is one of me and my sister's favorite books.

after reading one page, you're hooked. makes you feel lucky to live in a home. children ages 8 to 18 will definitely enjoy this book. definitely best children's book material. frances o'roark dowell did an awesome job. i give it two thumbs up!

Where I'd Like To Be is a great book by Frances O'Roark Dowell. It is about a girl named Maddie who lives in an orphange and keeps to herself. She hardly tells anyone her secrets especially about her scrapbook of dreams. Her scrapbook contains magazine clippings of things she wishes she had like a big house, dogs,etc. One day her scrapbook is revealed.One of the boys at the orphange becomes friends with Maddie. Eventually she trusts him enough to tell him about the scrapbook and dreams. This is a heart-warming book that you should read. To find out what happens to Maddie read this book.

What if when you were a baby, a ghost saved your life? Well, according to Granny Lane, that's what happened to 11 year old Maddie. She longs for a family and a place to call home and feels that it's hopeless. After all, who adopts an 11 year old? But maybe it wasn't as hopeless as she thought.
Maddie may seem a normal kid to you, she goes to school, has great friends, is in after-school activities, but then you go to her home. She has shared a room with people who come and go as often, it seems, as the seasons. Maddie lives at the East Tennessee Children's Home. She wants a home so badly she has a "book of houses" and a "book of people." Throughout the book she and her friends find that they are all a family, a strange one, but a family none the less.
Where I'd Like To Be, is a book that all people should read for a heart warming tale. I think what I liked best is that you can almost feel each character's emotions as they change. I think anyone who likes a story that makes you glad for what you've got, should read this book.

Great book, especially for young girls in their search for self. This book surely must be based, at least in part, on some observations from East Tennessee Christian Home in Elizabethton, Tennessee because the author has cited several times East Tennessee Children's Home (where the novel is set), as well as Allen Avenue (the actual location of The Home), and Elizabethton, Tennessee (the city in which the novel is set). I certainly encourage young girls to read the book, as well as their parents. I think it will lead to more understanding on both sides.

My 6 year has a ton of books and takes out a ton of books out of the libary. As a result, his bar is pretty high for books that wow him. After I bought this book, he asked me to read it to him every day for 2 weeks and it's still a favorite!

Big and small are fascinating themes for him and this book has an innovative approach to this concept.

Additionally, the actual size challenge is fabulous. Kids are fascinating by giant squids and tiny insects etc. It's wonderful to see some element of their size depicted in true size on the page. Very creative approach.

Has also inspired my son to think about biodiversity since so many \extra large or extra small outliers of species are depicted.

Great book.

My daughter loves this book and so do I!!!! I highly recommend it to anyone with kids, and you yourself wil love it!!

Holy cow, do my kids love this book. We bought it for our 3 year old son, thinking it would be too simplistic for our 5 year old, but both kids are fascinated with the pictures and love to compare their own body parts to the animals featured in the book. For example, they like to put their hands on the gorilla hand, measure their heads against the eye of the giant squid, put their toes on the elephant's toes...it's just a lot of fun to read this book to them because they get so engaged in the contents. Highly, highly recommended.

This is a wonderful book for any classroom (Pre-school to Middle School). It's a great tool to motivate students to investigate on their own and explore other animal facts. Awards this book has won: 2005 NCTE Orbis Pictus Honor Book; 2004 The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books (BCCB) Blue Ribbon Nonfiction Award. (Many of Steve Jenkins' books have won several awards and honors.) He's on my "author watch" list.

Between the paper-cut collage, the huge pages, the factual information done in a fun way and just the overall style of the book makes this one of my favorites I've reviewed so far. Children and adults will love to measure themselves up to the 3 foot giant gippsland earthworm and find out that the giant squid's eyeball is bigger than their head. There is even an open out middle page of the world's largest frog and a crocodile that can chew your arm off in one bite. Steve Jenkins, author and illustrator, did an amazing job with this book and I believe it is enjoyable for all ages.

Whether you're an astrologer or just an astrology buff, your library is just not complete unless this classic book is a part of it. Sakoian's Astrologer's Handbook is not just one of my favorite "go to" astrological sources, it's every astrologer's "timeless" professional "bible".

This was the book which actually introduced me to astrology, and it remains by far the best I have seen after all these years, both in that category, as well as a general book on the topic for the whole spectrum of those acquainted with the field from beginners to scholars. It is a serious, easy to read, no-nonsense primer, which at the same time acquaints the novice with the actual philiosophy behind the subject in the form of concise delineations, and that is what is really important. More than that, it is also devoid of the mumbo-jumbo which many use to try and "spice up" and mystify an otherwise very real art, and which has ended up in discrediting it and making it a laughing stock. I will say no further, suggesting to the reader that it should be read directly instead to form an opinion about it, rather than reading its reviews.

ive used this book for over 10 years, well written
and fundamentally sound methodology, some sections
are not fullfilled, since it was written in 70s
planets in later signs such as neptune in scorpio,
to aqquarius , pluto in libra to capricorn are thin
still one of the best, buy this instead of online
horoscopes, because its got the basics, however, does
not do interpretations of transits to natal , or
progressions still i like it

The book is neatly written,it explain step by step "How to Caste your own Horoscope", and interpret it. Further the book explain the importance of not only Sun,but moon,the houses and the importance of aspects in study of horoscope.This book is unique because it considers the horoscope not only from Sun sign,but in totality.Acker & Frances have intelligently used their previous experience as writers to explain in clear,concise way "the systems approach" of casting and analysis of horoscope.Book is free from any ambiguity.The book is recommended for beginners as well as advanced lovers of Western Astrology.After reading this book you will be hungry for the next book by the writers.
Dr.Parihar(Vedic Medical Astrologer)

I like this book quite a bit. It has the standard introductory to casting a chart, but it has two particular things in it that I have not found in any other book I have ever read.

First, it describes each house cusp in each sign. Normally books just describe Ascendant and Midhaven, but this includes the other 10 houses.

Second, when describing the aspects, it doesn't do the standard Good Aspect - Bad Aspect - Conjunction. It does all five major aspects: Conjunction, Sextile, Square, Trine, and Opposed. Separate interpreations for each aspect for each planetary combination.

Those are two excellent things that no other book I've ever ran across has.

The only down side is that the interpretations are a bit new-agey, so you have to sort the wheat from the chaff while using it.

This is the first book I read my six year old about the holocaust and World War II. It gave a sense of the times, the difficulty, the hatred of the Jews by the Germans, without being too explicit about the type of horrors the "boots" inflicted on those they "took away." It motivated a great deal of discussion and acting out of the story. I could not imagine a better introduction.

"Rechtes... verlassen des links..., Recht, link" said the German commander as he and his men walked down the streets of France. The book The Butterfly a great book about a French girl named Monique who finds out about a secret her mother was harboring for many months. One night she wakes up. She doesn't know why she did. She sees a ghostly girl who is petting her cat when Monique said something. The girl gets up and runs. Monique doesn't know what to do. So, she tells her mom her mother gets very angry but not at her daughter. I think this book is unbelievable. I like how the author does a good job showing how they reacted to all the problems.

My wife selected this book, for our 5 year old daughter, in the primary school library, before the Christmas break. Last night, when I picked it up to read to my daughter, I had no idea what it was about. It is a gentle introduction to World War 2 and the German Nazi's. It does not mention concentration camps or gas chambers. It is about a wonderful family in France that sheltered Jews hiding from the Nazi's, during the German occupation. This morning, my daughter asked me to read the book to her again.

The book The Butterfly By patricia polacco is a story about a little girl during the 1940's, but her mom was hiding people in the basement.When all the people have to leave, even her best friend.But they will always have a gift from eachother to remember them.
I would recommend this book to whoever picks up this book.It has a little bit of everything a memior,a little bit of went on in history,it also has a lot of friendship.
In this book you will have a lot of vizualization,question,and a lot of craft. These will help you understand.

I found "The Butterfly" a very interesting book because it not only shows how Jews, but how non-Jews lived in fear in World War II. It tells how the little girl, Monique, is afraid of the "tall black boots" in her small French village. The "tall black boots" refer to the Nazi officers. It is not until Monique's friend, Monsieur Marc, is beaten and taken away by the officers when Monique finds out why the Nazis are in her village. One night Monique encounters a little "ghost girl" in her room that teaches Monique that she is not the only one afraid of the War. The little "ghost girl" turns out to be a Jewish girl named Severine hiding with her parents in Monique's unknown basement. It turns out that Monique's mother was hiding this secret from her. One night when Monique and Severine are playing in Monique's room when a neighbor sees them. The girls tell Monique's mother that someone had saw Severine and that Monique and her mother will be in trouble if they continue to harbor Severine and her family. That night, Monique and her mother take Severine and her parents to safety and Monique ends up in trouble. Will she ever be safe?

The Cats in Krasinski Square is about a Jewish girl who is plays with cats outside a ghetto where people are starving. Her family and friends are determined to smuggle food into the ghetto. How will they do it? How are the cats involved in the story? Very moving, very beautiful!

This is a childrens' book for children and adults about resistance and caring in Warsaw by an intelligent and brave Jewish girl, her friends both human and feline. It is sad but also encouraging. It is a difficult topic written with great sensitivity.

This is a real story that happened a long time ago during WWII. It is a great book because the little girl thought of a good plan to distract the police. The illustrations were great. It was a beautiful story because they were helping Jewish people.

The story takes place during WWII and is based on a true event. We liked the story because they helped people who were trapped get food. The story was interesting. The girl had two great ideas to help others. The girl was brave by helping smuggle food into the Warsaw Ghetto.

Once upon a time in a far away place, there lived a bad man, a very bad man. In fact this man was so good at being bad that he convinced the people of his country that he was a good man. Not only that, he convinced them he was the man for the job, the job of leading their government. So he did. Then he convinced his people that there were enemies living right there in their country and they should remove them. But inside his government where there were dark secrets, this bad man decided to create a Final Solution for dealing with these enemies within.

Years later and still unto this day, many writers and historians and journalists have tried to explain how this bad man gained such power to do the awful things he did. Karen Hesse and Wendy Watson combined talents to create "The Cats in Krasinski Square," in their effort to show one tiny moment in this ugly episode of history, the Holocaust of Jews, first in Germany, then rapidly spreading to other Germanic countries and conquered ones in World War II.

In Poland in Warsaw in the Jewish community, walls were built to keep in Jews and keep out non-Jews. Simply an early phase of the Final Solution. Separate the Jews into ghettos, then collect them in cattle cars to take them to the concentration camps, then eliminate their existence through crematoriums--the Final Solution. Notice the massing together at each phase, attempting to make negligible their humanity.

The cats in Krasinski Square are homeless because of the rounding up and crowding together of the Jews. The cats thrive on mice, but they miss their former masters. People outside the ghettos, both non-Jews and Jews able to escape and pass as Polish, keep the cats socialized by the attention they give them (see cover for an example).

A nameless girl, a Polish Jew, who escaped the ghetto, is the narrator of this simple, but heroic act to get food inside the ghetto. There are many holes in the walls, the escape hatch for the cats who come and go, seeking mice. It also is the entryway for food. For this particular episode, friends will arrive on trains with satchels of food to bestow in the holes of the walls. Unfortunately, the Gestapo knows and waits with hungry dogs. The cats are used as lures for the dogs, who go after them instead of the food. Food disappears into the walls and starvation is staved again for a while longer.

That is the essence of the story. A great story. The other half of this wonderful story is the illustrations. They are done in pencil, ink, and watercolors on Strathmore drawing paper. Watercolors tend to give a transparency to the subject, providing a dreamy cast. Watson also uses dark colors, possibly pencil, to provide a ominous overcast to every scene, then offsetting each with an orange glow, perhaps suggestive of hope and action. This is such a perfect pairing, words and illustrations to convey a message of action through hope and hope leading to action. A must-read book for every public, school, and home library.