Canada Books

This book is amazing. The writing is different from anything else out there. The plot is excellent, the dialogue is clever and charming and frequently funny, the characters complex. I liked it better than the Fiend in Human. Gray is a truly unusual talent who hopefully will write many more books of this quality.

It's a sad comment on our times that even thrillers centering around serial killers don't give us a chill anymore. So to evoke the slightest ghost of a horrifed shudder, more and more authors are turning to crimes against children - where they will turn when even these fail to appall us? I gave Gray's first Whitty novel, The Fiend in Human, five stars and likened it to a cross between Dickens and Spillane. This sequel is still plenty good, but it didn't have quite as much bite. The previous book's most vivid parts lay in its descriptions of one of 1852 London's most formidable slums. It's difficult to elicit as much color from a Victorian nobleman's country estate, no matter how depraved its residents may be, as this tale tries to do. The Lewis Carroll and "Alice" analogy here is appealing. Too, Gray shows the same solid command of Victorian diction and cadences of speech (which can be so awful when other authors do them badly). Highly recommended.

Edmund Whitty, A London newspaper correspondent who can usually be counted upon for crisp and lurid copy, has fallen on lean times. After his triumphant expose of a notorious serial killer, he has inexplicably lost his knack for sensational reporting. Broke and desperate, he seizes upon a generous offer from a mysterious American to discredit a quack psychic. But how, he ends up wondering uneasily, does the psychic know so much about a scandal involving Whitty's late brother?

When the psychic is brutally murdered, Whitty finds himself accused of the crime and thrown into Milbank prison, the most bizarre institution of its kind in England. Help comes unexpectedly from "the Captain," a gangster not known for charity work. To save his own skin, Whitty must find the men responsible for the disappearance of the Capatin's young niece, Eliza.

Whitty's search takes him to Oxford, where he meets the brillant and eccentric Reverend William Boltbyn, a renowned children's author who delights in playing croquet, devising elaborate stories, and taking artistic photographs of little girls. There he uncovers a looking-glass world, the dark side of Victoriana, and the murder of innocence.

John MacLachlan Gray, who evoked "the mean streets and byways of 1852 London with a skill worthy of Dickens"[Publisher's Weekly] in The Fiend in Human, spins an even more irresistible tale of dark secrets behind the facade of Victorian respectability.

If the highest praise you can give a book is that it leaves you wanting to read more, then White Stone Day deserves top accolades. It has just about everything you need in a novel: a gripping plot, a strong sense of time and place that nonetheless doesn't overwhelm the proceedings, a sure narrative drive, a diverse and well-drawn supporting cast of characters, and perhaps most important, an intriguing and entertaining protagonist. White Stone Day would have been a very good book with any other main character; with cynical, dissolute, at times hapless Edmund Whitty as the protagonist, it's a great book--perhaps even more satisfying than The Fiend in Human, to which this book is a sequel.

Gray plots his second excellent Victorian literary thriller around two activities that were all the rage in mid-19th century England: photography and spiritualism.

Edmund Whitty, the earthy London newspaper writer and man of excess, first seen in "The Fiend in Human," has fallen on hard times. All his best ideas are being uncannily scooped by a rival correspondent and he's in "fearsome debt" to the Captain, a London crime boss, "the result of a wager in the sport of ratting, with compound interest growing like a tumour and default a mathematical certainty."

Approached by an American Pinkerton agent to expose a fraudulent psychic, Whitty seizes the opportunity, but the séance does not go according to plan. His brother David, who died in a rowing accident at Oxford, appears, plaintively proclaiming, "I did not live as you think I lived! I did not die as you think I died!"

Meanwhile, in Oxfordshire, Rev. William L. Boltbyn, based loosely on Lewis Carroll, is singularly enchanted by the Lambert sisters, particularly Emma, who is on the cusp of womanhood, a fact Boltbyn bitterly bemoans. He whiles away hours telling the girls tales and taking pictures of them in various romantic and classical poses, some suggestive.

Before it's over Whitty will be accused of murder and cast into the bowels of Millbank prison, only to acquire a new commission - the breaking of a child pornography ring which may involve both his dead brother and the abducted young sister of the distraught Captain, a girl bearing a strong resemblance to Emma Lambert.

Other viewpoints include a comically psychopathic pair of thugs for hire and the daring, foolhardy Lambert sisters keen on ferreting out the sinister secrets of the local Duke. Steeped in Victorian sensibilities of romance, propriety and the gulf between the classes, redolent with London's stewpots and taverns and bustling streets, Gray's witty, suspenseful story builds to a tense and satisfying climax.

--Portsmouth Herald

I couldn't believe all the information that this book contained. It told us of all the great spots in Banff and we didn't miss a one. This was our first time there, but because this book was top notch, we're planning our return within a few months. I would highly recommend this book to anyone traveling in the Canadian Rockies. It's better than the best!!

This was an excellent guide for family travel. It provided first rate information on dinosaur adventures in the Red Deer region to Waterton NP to the Canadian Rockies including Banff and Jasper and all points in between. Includes tidbits of local history and written in such a user friendly manner that by the middle of our three week adventure we were fondly refering to it as Mr. Moon, as in, what does Mr. Moon reccommend for dinner. If you are traveling to the Canadian Rockies, the British Colombia guide by this publisher makes an indispensable companion to the Alberta Guide.

This book was indispensible for my recent travels through Alberta. It contains detailed descriptions of all the best places to go, including some great small town festivals that I would of otherwise missed. The book also has many hikes included, mostly in the Canadian Rockies. I budgeted to spend around $50 a night for motels, and found that this book described many good choices in this price range but also includes campgrounds and more expensive places. Overall, I found it to be very current, not only for restaurants and the like but also coverage of issues such as overcrowding in the national parks, which I found an interesting addition.

This handbook was packed with great spots to stop. There were many places listed that the AAA guidebook missed, and all were fantastic. The book was sectioned well, breaking up different areas into day-trips. If you are going to Alberta for the first time, this is a MUST BUY!

This book and its companion volume to British Columbia are undoubtedly the best travel books I have ever used. I just returned from a two-month trip that took me to the Calgary Stampede, through the Rockies, up to Yellowknife and through British Columbia to Vancouver. Alberta is an amazing place to visit and by buying this book I was able to enjoy it all the more. The author has obviously done his homework and describes the region in a colorful style but also with an incredible amount of detail. By using these books I managed to plan my trip before leaving home, even down to where I wanted to eat. The other guide I had with me was rarely used. I also found local information centers sending me along well worn tourist paths, and while this book covers all of that side of Alberta it also led me away from the masses to areas of equal beauty. I highly recommend this book to anyone planning a trip to Canada!!

Shirley Hughes's books are incredible, and this one is our favorite. I have read this book to all 3 of my daughters and they all love it. They are now 19, 15, and 4. I grew up in England and have lived in the US for the last 35 years and Shirley Hughes's books bring back the feeling of being in England so well. Little ones can listen for hours to her stories!

When my son was born 13 years ago the hospital gave him this book. His first book. His favorite book until recently ( I think he is to cool to admit it now). It is evene in perfect condition. Hard to do with a toddler, young reader and now teenager. He still keeps it on his bookshelf and he tells his friends it was his first book.

Alfie Gets in Frist is about a boy who gets in first. He gets lonely and starts to cry. His sister was hungry and thirsty so she was crying to. I think it's funny, but it's not supposed to be. Here's why I think it's funny: it has this page and it's a funny page. It shows him cyring up a storm. I think it's funny because he has more tears than a regular cry.
I think people who like sort of funny books should read this. Also, people who like short books with some challenging words should read it.

This is one of my favorite Alfie Books. It is also the first in the series. It's about a toddler named Alfie who keeps running ahead of his mother and baby sister as they return from their shopping. Alfie wants to get home first. Eventually, he gets into the flat first--only to shut the door and lock himself in. Various neighbors come over to help, until there is a crowd in front of the door. The situation is rendered wonderfully in "split-screen" fashion, with the adults and the exterior of the flat on the left-hand page and Alfie and the interior of the flat on the right-hand page. Thus we see the adults standing outside and becoming increasingly alarmed, while Alfie calms himself down, brings a chair over, climbs up on it, and opens the door. Then everyone comes in for tea. It's really a sweet story. It's also a cautionary tale for those toddlers who, like mine, tend to shut doors they ought not to. Alfie's predicament made quite an impression on my son!

I have a hard time believing such a wonderful book for two year olds is out of print. Both my children love the story of this little boy whose brazen independance places him in a scary situation. They truely could relate to his delimma and the feelings it caused. They really loved the ending. It reinforced that independance may get you into scary situations but with it you can also get out of them and feel proud of your accomplishment.

Another great novel that explores the Chinese American (well in this case North American) culture as well as growing up during the great depression in an industrialized town. I was disappointed in the ending, feeling like it just drifted off. It was a little confusing. But the rest of the book I found pleasant& intriguing. "In all the ways they lived their lives, survivors like Poh-Poh and Stepmother, Third Uncle and Father, and those elders who hacked their breath away, they were all saying 'Sail, paddle, swim, but push forward to shore. Do not drown in the past.'"

This book tells a story. There's romance, mystery and some funny parts. The writer takes the time to divulge every minute detail, so you can relate to what's going on. That can make it tedious at times and even kind of slow, but it's part of the journey that this book relates. So if you're looking for a fast read, that you don't have to focus much on, this isn't that kind of book.

This was the first book I've read by the author and I plan to read others by him. It was just a pleasure to read this!

I've just re-read this book after having read it last year, and it retained it's touching and poignant story. Having grown up Chinese in Canada, albeit in the 1970's, I related to a lot of Mr Choy's characters.

A beautiful story.

btw: to the first reviewer... the story is of a Chinese-"Canadian", not chinese-american. the story takes place in Canada, and all of the characters pronounce to be Canadian. i just needed to clarify for my sake.

I finished All That Matters by Wayson Choy in the wee hours of the early morning. It was so beautiful and compelling that I could hardly bear to put it down to finish the next day.

All That Matters is the long and eagerly awaited sequel to Choy's first book, the award-winning and national best-selling The Jade Peony. Expectedly, it is a continuation of Jade Peony, this time written in First Son Kiam Kim's eyes, instead of the rotating narrators (which included all of the siblings of the Chen family) found in The Jade Peony.

All That Matters is very reminiscent of The Jade Peony - it is almost like an echo of Choy's first book. The book focuses centrally on Kiam Kim, from when he first boards the Hong Kong ship to Gold Mountain (Vancouver, B.C.) to his adulthood in Vancouver's Chinatown. Kiam Kim's Poh Poh is another important part of the story, with her Old China and superstitious ways. She tells stories about ancient myths and ghosts, of which make Kiam Kim feel torn - in some instances, he believes in the things Poh Poh tells him, but his father is constantly reminding him that they are in Gold Mountain, not Old China, and to adapt essentially to "modern, scientific, Canadian ways."

Kiam Kim's responsibility as "First Son" and "Dai-Goh (Oldest Brother)" sometimes burdens him, but he soon learns that this is the Chinese way - as the First Son and the oldest sibling, he needs to be a good role-model for the rest of the family and, ultimately, refrain from "shaming" the family in any way. He is best friends with Jack O'Connor, an Irish white boy who is his next-door neighbour. A somewhat clandestine but intimate relationship between Kiam Kim and Jenny Chong (the daughter of one of Poh Poh's mah-jong mates) forms. All That Matters also deals with the second World War, of which readers will see makes a significant impact on Kiam Kim and the rest of the characters in the book.

All in all, All That Matters is a satisfying, triumphant sequel to The Jade Peony - and rightfully so that it was long and eagerly awaited. Choy does not disappoint in this sequel to his first book. In fact, he writes hauntingly and seductively, often incorporating Chinese phrases uttered by Poh Poh and other members of his family to make things more homely and authentic. Readers will be compelled by this wonderful book, entering the world of Kiam Kim - his trials and tribulations, his responsibilities and burdens, his relationships and family, and, ultimately, what matters.

For fans of The Jade Peony, I highly urge you to pick up All That Matters and to read it. I guarantee you will like it as much, if not more, than The Jade Peony. It is no surprise why All That Matters won the Trillium Award again, not to mention was also a finalist for the Giller Prize.

Having met Wayson Choy at an author reading in December made reading All That Matters for me that much more exciting and thrilling. I felt like I shared an affinity with various characters in the book and, at times, with Wayson Choy. I am certainly looking forward to reading more work by Wayson Choy.

I highly recommend All That Matters.

I picked this book on a whim at the airport, and had no idea what to expect from the author. By the end of the book I was mesmerized by the heartbreaking story about a young Chinese American growing up in Vancouver's Chinatown during the 1930's. Choy weaves real American history with a lovely touching tale of life for Chinese immigrants, cultural interactions, family traditions, and new friendships. The prose is hauntingly beautiful, catching the reader by his words and tugging at the heart.

When I first saw the name Emily Carr. It was on the side of a building for an art school, located on Granville Island in Vancouver B.C.. Upon returning, I did a little research then purchased this book from Amazon. Emily Carr, painted on her own and was not influenced by the cliches of groups or individuals. She found her own niche as a Canadian artist in British Columbia. It was not until later years that she would be discovered by the Group of Seven in the east, and there she stated finiding her kindred spirits in nature. I can only say, that like Frida Kahlo and Gerogia O'Keefe, Ms. Carr was a true individual. I've always been enamored by the Pacific Northwest. I very much felt at home in British Columbia. I'm truely happy to have found this artist. She is a must read and look, has much offer not only artisitically but as a woman who roamed alone in search of encapsulating the history of native peoples slowly fading away and the nature around her. I hope art history teachers will discover this female artist as well. And find room in their instruction. She has much to offer. She is my kindred spirit.

I heard about this artist from a friend. I also visited Canada recently, altho not in the area where Emily Carr lived. She is revered in Canada but not nearly as well known in the United States. I personally love her paintings. To me they perfectly respresent the times she lived in and her not so easy life.

An incredible book fulfilling every Carr fans wishes. Truly a beautiful piece of literature and visuals. I was very impressed with the depth of knowledge the Author had of Ms. Carr and the extensive listing of pictures from private ownership and many Galleries. Contains a complete history of her life, travels, writing and of course her unwavering pursuit of success. An absolute must have for anyone who is a Carr fan. Thoroughly enjoyable.

If you are interested in expanding your knowledge of artists on this continent (North America), specifically the West Coast, I'd recommend this erudite volume on the work of Emily Carr. Emily Carr was a late-bloomer, but when she found her own she produced haunting canvases of her encounters with Northwest Coast Native Art, specifically totems. This was followed by strong formalized images of the coastal rainforest. Late in her life she painted expressive landscapes. I recently read that a joint exhibit of Emily Carr, Georgia O'Keeffe, and Frida Kahlo "Places of their Own" will be travelling to various venues in 200l/2002.

This is one of those books that is a must for any person interested in Pacific Northwest history, art, and culture. I first encountered Emily Carr at an amazing exhibit at the Royal British Columbia Museum in Victoria. I have been a big fan ever since.

My knowledge of English just isn't good enough to do justice to this artist and this book. Robert Bateman translated into paintings all the enchantment I have felt for nature since I was a child. Wish I was much younger to try to follow his footsteps!! Marvellous book!

To see a Robert Bateman work is to glimpse a moment in Nature's time when an elk treks across a vast winter landscape of snow, conifers & mountains; or a stream bank where tender green plants glow against the moist earth & a minute bird perches; or a trumpeting bull elephant confronts you in a storm of dust. Roger Tory Peterson has written an expressive introduction & Ramsay Derry's profile of the artist makes good reading - especially as he's included a history of who Robert Bateman is; where he's lived; several works-in-progress sketches; photos of the artist in action & on location. A worthy addition to your library.

This book, together with "The World of Robert Bateman" is one of the best wildlife art books ever published, and truly shows Bateman at his best. The later collections (especially the very last ones) don't even come close to the beauty of the paintings in these two books. In most paintings the animal is just one character, sometimes not even the main one, while the landscape and the surroundings (depicted in marvelous and maddening detail) almost always plays a central role. Here Bateman shows to be a master of the techniques he uses, and creates pictures of stunning beauty who truly come to life. Both books are highly highly recommended if you life "realistic" wildlife art.

I have 3 Bateman books all are special ,a book for everyone to enjoy

THE ART OF ROBERT BATEMAN appears in its 25th anniversary edition to include text by Ramsay Derry and an introduction by noted ornithologist Roger Tory Peterson himself as it provides a stunning blend of full-page color wildlife images and accompanying artist profile. This was the artist's first book and cemented his career: its re-appearance is perfect for collections who either don't have the original or find their lending copies worn.

Loved the novel and loved the story. There was too much inside British stuff in the novel for a Houstonian like me to get the irony of.

This novel was new when I first picked it up for a train journey. I had been reading a good deal about Muriel Spark in newspaper notices at the time, so this was the chance to find out for myself. It was love at first read, and I was curious whether the wonder of it all might have survived the decades.

Muriel Spark's work is commonly classified as `satire', and I suppose that's fair. However something that her early admirers, including Evelyn Waugh, stressed was that she is not really like anyone else, and I believe that is true also. Obviously, satire has contemporary themes, so it might seem a likely candidate for early obsolescence, but a few moments' thought suggests otherwise. Juvenal Voltaire Swift and Macaulay have not exactly gone out of fashion, and are still read with enjoyment by people who cannot be bothered to look up their contemporary allusions, and 40 or more years after it was launched the satirical magazine Private Eye seems not only to be still going strong but to have passed on its special vocabulary, originally attached to figures now little remembered, to a new generation of fans. Small wonder in that case that Mrs Spark is still wearing well.

For newcomers to the author, this is as good an introduction as any. It is completely characteristic of her, it does not threaten memory overload with a huge cast of characters as The Bachelors possibly does, it stops short of being downright weird like The Hothouse by the East River, but on the other hand it escapes being lightweight like The Abbess of Crewe or even the immortal Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. Of the standard Spark features, Catholicism is relegated to a brief mention, of much the usual kind, in the last page or two, but two of the characters, including the principal character (hardly qualifying as any `hero') are Scots. Her ear is as acute as ever, and readers old enough to remember the fashion for addressing people with rhyming animal names (`See you later, alligator.' `In a while, crocodile.' etc) must smile at the way the thing is done here.

The book evokes an era, and one that I remember quite well. This was the impoverished post-war Britain of dull clothes and duller food, before we first swang in the Swinging Sixties. Small manufacturing companies were still common, and it was still common for them to be British-owned and managed before automation, globalisation, the EU, MBA's and consultant-speak set in. Mrs Spark is a talented observer and mimic, and as usual there is little or no sense of affection for, or between, any of her characters. She is funny in a wry way rather than any aisles-rolled-in way, and as usual you never quite know where you are with her. Situations can become serious and even lethal in the proverbial twinkling of an optic, and one of her dramatis personae in this book is murdered and there is another attempt at murder or at least serious assault.

There is no outright irrationality this time, at least if you opt as I do for the theory that the bumps on Dougal's head are only sebaceous cysts. However Spark's characters are mainly just marionettes puppets and caricatures, and I'd say that goes for all of them in this book. I'm not sure whether I have been to Peckham in south London or to the Rye, which is an area of parkland or similar, but it features occasionally these days in news items about gang crime, knife crime and gun crime, often with an ethnic basis. It got headlines just a day or two ago when the ineffable current holder of the post of Home Secretary told us that she was afraid to go out at night for a takeaway meal in Peckham, and she has a constant police escort. That was what prompted me to reread the Ballad of Peckham Rye, because the title is a good one - like the ancient ballads this novel captures the feel of a time and place otherwise receding into inexact memory and helps us match it up against what it is like, or what we are told it is like, now. I never met Muriel Spark in person, I may or may not ever have seen Peckham Rye, but in a sense I shall always know her from there.

The Ballad of Peckham Rye (1960) seems more typical Sparkian fare than 1958's Robinson, which is to say more arch, more satirical, and more stylistically bizarre. And yet, while in Robinson Spark uses realism to loosen readers from their moorings so that they founder in the depths of what seemed to be a straightforward story, in Peckham Rye her wry, detached sketches release the reader into a kind of drunken clarity about such Big Ideas as, say, human nature. Reading this short novel, I told a friend at the time, felt like being in one of those whiskey-induced hazes in which certain lines and observations blaze with a delightful, transcendent truth--for example, "Dougal gazed at him like a succubus whose mouth is in its eyes," or "My lonely heart is deluged by melancholy and it feels quite nice"--while the lesser details, like What Is Actually Going On, recede elegantly into obscurity.

Dougal Douglas (or Douglas Dougal, depending on who you're talking to) may be a devil, and some people think he seems more Irish than Scottish. Whatever else he is, he is a lot of fun. THE BALLAD OF PECKHAM RYE lacks the sympathetic, possibly autobiographical central character found in many Spark novels (THE COMFORTERS, THE BACHELORS, etc.); however, it doens't fall into the black hole that swallows THE DRIVER'S SEAT or other works consumed by Spark's sense of evil. Instead, Dougal Douglas, the ever-present mischief-maker, takes the place of the sympathetic center. He wreaks havoc, but only by bringing out the devil in others--he himself has a kind of curious innocence in the midst of their scheming and violence, and acts as a (presumable) spokesman for Spark when he categorizes their various moralities (Functional, Emotional, Puritanical and Christian).

Such a summary doesn't begin to capture the delight and wit of one of Spark's most enjoyable and economical (again, not a page too long, which cannot be said for many of even our best writers today) books.

Dougal Douglas, the protagonist of this short novel, is a modern-day trickster, stirring up the sleeping industrial town of Peckham, where secrets and neuroses are in abundance. I loved Ms. Spark's sense of comedy. It makes her books always a fun read, and it's subtle enough so it never becomes an annoyance to distract one from the story.

I've recently embraced snorkeling, and one of my biggest frustrations is the number of books that combine snorkeling and diving... and then focus almost wholly on the diving. Since many of us cannot get PADI certified (for example, if we've ever had asthma), we're left with only snippets and leftovers of information. But that's NOT the case with "Best Dives' Snorkeling Adventures." This book does an excellent job of listing and rating snorkeling sites around the world (though mostly near the USA, Caribbean, and northern South America). It lists recommended dive shops in those areas, and even offers suggestions of where to stay. And best of all? It's for those of us who SNORKEL.

I hope that when they put out a 4th edition, Huber, Huber, & Sammartino include a page or so on Florida's Golden Coast (Fort Lauderdale, etc.) or, really, *any* other East Coast US snorkeling sites, assuming any exist (their main focus on the US itself includes the Florida Keys, Florida Springs, and Hawaii). Still, I'm now far better prepared to choose my next snorkeling vacation destination, so I'm rating this 5 stars.

I was surprised to find out that the title did not tell the truth. The writers did not include half the world. The indian ocean for example is missing.

This book is a must for anyone who enjoys water activities. It is a terrific book for beginners and also for those who are advanced in snorkeling.

I love this guide. My dive vacations are strickly to take underwater photos and being able to plan ahead makes my life so much easier. It gives me the airlines, the resorts with prices, when I can expect good weather. It's like having a personal travel planner. I would not plan a Caribbean dive trip without consulting this trustworthy book.

While most travel guides give vague descriptions about snorkeling or send me to places with nothing to see, Best Dives Snorkeling Adventures gives complete vacation planning details with maps and directions to terrific places in each destination to snorkel off the beach, sign up for a boat trip. IT COVERS all the best Caribbean, Bahamas and Bermuda snorkeling sites, the dive shops that will take you on boat tours and resorts that are especially dive-friendly. Great for families, novice and experienced divers.

This is a book that will delight readers of all ages. Not only are the illustrations masterpieces, the story is as well.

Anna is a beautiful husky who is the runt of her litter. She and her littermates train for a 2,500 - 3,000 mile run that will take them an estimated six months.

The curly tailed dog and her littermates are followed as they are being trained for the run. Mushers and dogs alike work well together; the bond of cooperation between them is not only strong; it is paramount.

The beautiful husky, once dismissed because of her small size proves herself to be up to every challenge during the training and the run. The Little Husky Who Could can take her place with Akiak, another husky who proved her stamina and determination even when her mushers wanted to retire her. An excellent family, classroom and general discussion book, the message can never be shared enough. This wonderful book makes me think of McFadden & Whitehead's 1979 classic, "Ain't No Stopping Us Now" and Matthew Wilder's 1983 hit, "Ain't Nothing Gonna Break My Stride."

One of my jobs at our local library is to read stories to young children, sometimes also at elementary schools. I recently read this story to the 1st,2nd, 3rd and 4th graders and it received rave reviews. One teacher had each of her students draw a picture of his or her favorite story, and 25 of the 30 drawings were of Anna , the amazingly brave little sled dog. The illustrations were beautiful and large enough for groups of children to see them , while the text had a good amount of drama that held their interest.

Big Enough Anna is a winner all around. The message is encouraging without being patronizing or syrupy; the illustrations will draw in even children who might think dogs are a little bit scary; and the story itself is full of a sense of daring and adventure and, most of all, the love between the musher/storyteller and her team of sled dogs. A great classroom unit could be built around this book, using the adult/teen version of the same story (Alone Across the Arctic) for additional background info or activity inspiration. (Both books could be read by a teacher in a weekend.) You will fall in love with Anna and all the dogs, and be cheering for them throughout all 3,000 miles of their expedition!

I really like this book! It's a kid-friendly story with great pictures and message. Pam Flowers tells the true story of how the smallest dog in her dog-sled team saved the life of her biggest, strongest one...and also made possible the successful finish of her expedition across the American and Canadian Arctic. And she subtly sends the message that each of us can mazimize our strengths and lead useful, productive lives, even if others think we have too many weaknesses. We may even become heroes!

Anna's small; and small dogs aren't usually what mushers want in their teams. But Pam sees Anna has a big spirit and is curious, intelligent, willing to learn and a hard worker. So even though Anna's young, Pam puts her where her exceptionally-good leader, Douggie, can teach Anna the ropes of that critical position. Then things happen; and physically-small Anna is "big enough" to do what needs to be done. She saves not only Douggie but also the expedition.

I'd read "Alone Across the Arctic" (also by Pam Flowers with Ann Dixon,) and admired Pam's own fortitude, intelligence and perseverance. I wanted to know more about the adventure. Here's a gold nugget of a book that does that. And it's well written; both youngsters, and the adults who may share it with them, will read it all the way through...several times.

The great illustrations (paintings) by Bill Farnsworth perfectly capture the story and the attention of young children. I love looking at them each time, too.

This is a great Christmas present. If you've finished your shopping, surprise everyone for Valentine's Day.

This exquisitely illustrated book is based on the true story of a litle sled dog who rose to the occasion and became a hero in her own right. Anna, a small Alaskan Husky female, was judged too small to be of any use when Pam Flowers made her historic journey across the Arctic with a team of sled dogs(chronicled in ALONE ACROSS THE ARCTIC). But when Pam's wise old leader dog disappeared, Pam put little Anna in the front because in spite of her size she was such a hard worker. Douggie, the wise old leader dog, was eventually found, but was so exhausted that little Anna had to take over and take charge of the trip. This lovely book not only teaches an important lesson--- that what matters is how much heart and spirit you have, not how big you are--- it is so beautifully done that I'm giving it to all my adult dog loving friends for Christmas.

"Warts & all"

Here is a fascinating and loveable soul/

A CAN NOT PUT DOWN READ/

This read made me appreciate his painting much more/ background REALLY enlightens imagery here/

& Photos, too / Here was one intriguing looking fellow, to attest/

One of the most enjoyable bios I have yet read

And for the used price, you can't go wrong ...

Nouritza Matossian's Black Angel: A Life of Arhile Gorky is for the most part a riveting read on a difficult artist. It is easy to dismiss Gorky's mature style as just the latest Abstract Expressionist fashion when in fact it preceded many of that movement's most important works, serving in the process as a bridge from surrealism to abstract expressionism. Perhaps more than any other contemporary abstract painters, Gorky's background is crucial in terms of understanding his artistic vision. As such, Matossian does an incredible job of giving the reader the entire scope of this background, sometimes to the point of tedium. The book,however, though over 500 pages long, has an easy pace to it for the most part, and definitely lets the reader in on what surely must have been one of the most frustrating lives, from beginning to end, of any major artist in the 20th century. Gut-wrenching at times, Matossian's portrait of Gorky's life is a miracle: juxtaposing the lyrical work he produced with the unfortunate string of incidents that plagued this sensitive human being. If you are interested in understanding more about Arshile Gorky, then the sheer scope of this undertaking is a great place to start.

I read this book during a recent illness and I am glad of it because I was able to concentrate fully and stay within the world which the author so skilfully evokes. I have rarely found a biography of an artist, especially a modern one, so lovingly and painstakingly portrayed with brushstrokes just like a painter to produce image after image and make the man come alive in such an engaging way. I learned about the history of the ARMENIANS but through his eyes and yet the scholarship and objectivity shone through. So many insights and beautiful stories, such a strong sense of place, whether in long-lost Armenia or Boston of the 20s or New YOrk of the 30s and 4os , the characters who weave through this incredible tapestry, no a carpet. This writer belongs to the tradition of Armenian troubadours who were storytellers and sang their songs in verse in many languages. I felt the narrative had a poetic lilt and yet she kept back her obvious involvement in the subject. In her introduction which is worthy of attention Nouritza Matossian tells of her own family and their wanderings because of the Genocide, her desire to keep an even balance and not to succumb to the despair of her foretfathers. This book is a vindication of a culture which has been hammered and a Genocide which needs to be acknowledged. It tells of the courage of exiles and immigrants who brought such skills and moral values to this country which did not accept them very often. The accounts of Gorky's pursuit of excellence in art, his love for his mother and her inspiration are universal themes. I saw him as a quixotic, temperamental and charming character whom I would have loved to know. She brought him alive and I cared for him so much that I could hardly bear to finish the book, knowing that he would die. I received a great gift in understanding how it is possible for someone who has lived at traumatic life to transcend his suffering and 'give something to the world' as he said to Leger, something good. His paintings are incredibly beautiful and I see l know that he paid an even greater price than the loss of his childhood for those canvases, he paid for them with his health and security. Gorky's suicide has always puzzled me and I understand it for the first time after reading Matossian's book twice. The discussion of art and ideas, her ability to interpret him and even to depict the work is accurate and vivid. I saw from her website www.arshile-gorky.com that she performs a one-woman show in which she tells his story with slides and music as his mother, sister, sweetheart and wife. Those four characters are in the book and she pays tribute to them. It must be wonderful to hear this author tell her extraordinary story in her own words because this is a book which rings with her love and commitment for her subject and that is a rare and generous gift. All I could wish is that this book were even longer because I hated putting it down at the end. It changed my attitude to many things in my own life. This book deserves to win prizes.

For anyone convinced that crucial or shocking events during childhood have a major impact on psyche, this book is a must read to understand Gorky's art and his impact on American art. It is also an enlighting read to better understand the rituals, culture, and methods used by Gorky's (Adoian's) Armenian kin to survive (or not survive!) opression at the hands of the Ottoman Turks. Matossian points to the ancient Armenian architecture, illuminated manuscripts, stone crosses, among other objects which Gorky saw and experienced as a child and which left a powerful imprint on his future art. Once some of these objects are seen, it is easier to understand the origin of Gorky's shapes, colors, and titles of his masterpieces.

Besides the extensive research that took Matossian to Gorky's Armenia, her knowledge of the Armenian language gives powerful insight into the letters written by Gorky in his native tongue to his family. Fantastic book which is part history, biography, art history, psychology, criticism and reads like a compeling historical novel!

Allow me to add an "amen" to the previous reviews. Matossian's background in Armenian culture is a great advantage in exploring Gorky's childhood, and her obvious patience in organizing material from the many first-hand interviews of Gorky's survivors pays off in a vivid, scrupulously detailed account of his rise and cataclysmic final years. As an arist I brought a huge respect and admiration for Gorky's work to the book, and wasn't disappointed to find that the Gorky the author describes matches the intensity and dazzle and complexity of the works. So vivid was her writing that the ending left me moved almost to tears. This is our American Van Gogh, a giant arguably greater than Pollock, and his story is one of the great tragic--and ultimately triumphant--dramas in all of biography.