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R Books sorted by Average customer review: high to low .

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Linnea in Monet's Garden
Published in Hardcover by R & S Books (1987-10-01)
Author: Cristina Bjork
List price: $16.00
New price: $3.55
Used price: $0.01
Collectible price: $14.00

Average review score:

Delightful
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-10-19
This is a delightful living book. An opportunity to learn a lot about Monet, his work and his life while enjoying a beautifully told story.

Been there myself!
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2007-02-16
Fabulous book about places I have visited and loved -- I actually
know Michelle who owns the Hotel Esmerelda (she will autograph my
copy of book), and have spent many happy hours in the bookstore
around the corner (never go to Paris without visiting it), and
of course, Monet's art and home are the pinnacle. A wonderful
and inspirational book for all!

Monet's Garden
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2005-06-17
I absolutely LOVED this book when I was younger. So, if you're having doubts about your child liking it, I wouldn't...I had the doll of Linnea and I carried it around with me everywhere...and I also brought the book everywhere I could as well.

B e a u t i f u l
Helpful Votes: 14 out of 14 total.
Review Date: 2003-11-15
Linnea, a young Swedish girl has developed quite a friendship with the elderly Mr. Bloom, her upstairs neighbor. Mr. Bloom is a retired gardener who is the proud owner of a lovely book about the great French artist, Claude Monet. After hours and hours of studying Monet and his life, the pair begin the ultimate adventure: a trip to Paris, and where it all began! Linnea and Mr. Bloom visit the Marmottan museum to observe the many paintings of Monet. They study his artwork and how the genius painted. They learn about other Impressionist artists--many who were great friends of Monet. Eventually the young child and elderly gentleman make the ultimate trek to Giverny, where Monet lived and painted.
This book could almost be a 'fun' textbook. The artwork, both of the author's and of Monet's is absolutely exquisite. Becoming familiar with Monet's life and his paintings become a marvelous art history lesson. As an adult, I not enjoyed reading this lovely book but I learned a lot. In fact, a few days after reading LINNEA in Monet's Garden I was watching a Sex in the City episode where Charlotte was showing a group of people one of Monet's 'lily' murals. Being familiar with that painting because of this book was an exciting moment for me!

A Trip into the creative capacity and vision of an artist through the eyes of innocent wonder
Helpful Votes: 21 out of 25 total.
Review Date: 2006-09-04
In 1988 I begged my Principal(I was a teacher in the Salinas valley) to purchase a set of this book.I taught in the "middle of nowhere " that now holds a good chunk of my heart. This was the time of teaching through literature sets, wholly in love with language, and inspiring children by creating together environments to make meaning and to find "context" for learning.It was a time to motivate lives. Toni Ungs, my then Principal, turned to me and replied, no, that I would be the "only teacher" on site who would use the set. And so it goes in teaching, yet another opportunity denied by those thinking within their prodigious logic systems.
So... I bought the set out of pocket as I do most everything, a teacher tale for another time I spend thousands each year to do what matters. This book is just a delight for students. A young, girl, Linnea and her elder neighbor embark on a trip together to see Monet's Gardens.They live in Europe and this book offers a glimpse into another world for the children. Both share a love of the actual plants/flowers/gardens Monet painted, the artist, the paintings and after planning their trip together we in turn share their gentle journey as they go see the L'Orangrie/Paris and head to the gardens. Since I've had the pleasure of those places and share the love of Monet...it's a book that I share every spring with my classes. I choose to teach Monet in the spring when "what so soon will wake and grow , utterly unlike the snow" thoughts crowd my imagination. I am fortunate in that we have a TV and I bought a DVD player to share the DVD of this book.(among other things) The DVD's as good if not better than the book. I have a pop out book of his garden and a book from a Monet Retrospective I went to in New York in my teens to supplement the images and students seem as captivated as the rest of us in these experiments in light. The notion of a "series", of the way light, time, weather affect the same image are very fascinating things for my students.Then we paint. Of course I embed this in my talking of Paris, reading Madeline, trying to teach a bit of the French, and our sharing baguettes, cheese, Napoleons and a petit four or two. My first grade enjoys my attempts at cultural contexts and bringing into their lives a notion of great artists. I can confess here on this site, I suppose, that it's heady stuff to bring Monet, Picasso and the world of art to students.First grade allows you the kind of "you heard it here first" honor. I'm all the more brilliant in their eyes for it. Of course it connects them to much larger contexts and from time to time these are revealed in the year when my class screams out "Monet" at an assembly or "Beethoven, "Ode to Joy" "or somehow lets the school collective know we are up to something in room 10. And that something includes learning about a little girl that ventures to a hotel with her neighbor and picnics on the grounds of Monet's gardens and sees for herself the beauty of his creation from the world of nature. Now that's a sweet confession to share with Amazon readers. Choose this book for a child, you'll be glad you did.

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Net Privacy: A Guide to Developing & Implementing an Ironclad ebusiness Privacy Plan
Published in Hardcover by McGraw-Hill Companies (2001-03-26)
Authors: Michael Erbschloe and John R. Vacca
List price: $24.95
New price: $5.99
Used price: $1.07
Collectible price: $33.00

Average review score:

Excellent book!
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2001-08-13
This book addresses every aspect of doing business on the Internet securely. A must read for anyone that uses the Internet to either buy or sell.

Excellent Information, in "easy to understand" detail!
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2001-07-19
This is an excellent book for the skeptic who thinks that "it can't happen to us!" I think many different companies (government and private sector alike) will be amazed at how comparitively little it actually costs to prevent a corporate disaster. Ever wish to go inside the mind of a good hacker and learn how he does it? This is the book for you!

How to safeguard your e-business customers
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2001-07-18
The ubiquitous Internet is a double-edged sword. A major benefit is sharing information; a major detriment is the risk to customers of divulging private information. For e-businesses, therefore, privacy is a showstopper issue. This book was written to promote e-business success by helping organizations evaluate privacy needs, establish a privacy task force, use technologies to provide maximum protection, formulate privacy policies and procedures, implement and test privacy procedures, and monitor and modify privacy protection. This one's a winner--for companies that want to "win" at e-business.

How to safeguard your e-business customers
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2001-07-18
The ubiquitous nature of the Internet is a double-edged sword, with sharing information a major benefit, and the risk of divulging private information a major detriment. In the rush to establish an e-business, organizations can't afford to ignore the showstopper issue: privacy. Erbschloe and Vacca provide a how-to for businesses to help them evaluate their privacy needs, establish a privacy task force, use privacy technologies to the best advantage, formulate privacy policies and procedures, implement and test privacy procedures, and monitor and modify their privacy protection. This one's a winner--for businesses that want to "win" at e-business.

A very informative and useful book
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2001-07-11
A very informative and useful book in an area which is near and dear to all of us as we open up to the world of i-payments.

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Public Key Infrastructure: Building Trusted Applications and Web Services
Published in Kindle Edition by Taylor & Francis (2007-04-16)
Author: John R.Vacca
List price: $79.95
New price: $57.56

Average review score:

Vacca's PKI book is a 'must read'
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2004-08-08
"Trust used to be all about a handshake - and nothing has changed..."

So begins Appendix F in Vacca's book. The entirety of the book defines that critical handshake, which has been made so much more complex by Internet
freedom and opportunities. Layers of certification and handshaking, both online and offline, hashing, third parties, CA's.

Vacca includes costings, comparatives, definitions, implementation instructions, and white papers written by others with expertise in the area.

This book is a 'must read' for those of us working in IT security.

E-Commerce users - feel secure!
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2004-07-19
As usual, John writes a very timely book on contemporary IT issues. Most people are still afraid to use their credit cards on the net and businesses have huge constraints in terms of what can and can't be done through the web. As the rules of the game toughen for the every-ready hacking minds, government are also cracking down on such culprits, however, for the average user of electronic commercial transactions, there needs to be a stronger feeling that their money is safe. John's PKI book helps to educate those with this understandable concern, that it may now be getting safer to do business on the net.

Must read for IT Security Professionals
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2004-07-13
This book covers the entire spectrum of PKI technology with an emphasis on the pratical aspects of design,implementation and use. As an IT security professional, I have found this book to be extremely useful in my job as we must constantly be on guard and make use of the latest technology to stay one step ahead of the multitude of security threats we face on a day-to-day basis.

Understanding PKI
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2004-07-12
To successfully transact business on the worldwide web, a secure network is essential. John Vacca's book explores public key infrastructures (PKIs)as a technology to provide that security. This book would be a good resource for anyone responsible for maintaining network security in big business or small.

Handshakes
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 6 total.
Review Date: 2004-08-28
"Trust used to be all about a handshake - and nothing has changed..."

So begins Appendix F in Vacca's book. The entirety of the book defines that critical handshake, which has been made so much more complex by Internet freedom and opportunities. Layers of certification and handshaking, both online and offline, hashing, third parties, CA's.

Vacca includes costings, comparatives, definitions, implementation instructions, and white papers written by others with expertise in the area.

Previously a developer and implementor, and now a user, I wish that we had had this information then when we were implementing PGP, and I can only hope that my host sites now are compliant.

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The R. Crumb Coffee Table Art Book
Published in Hardcover by Little, Brown (1997-09-01)
Author: R. Crumb
List price: $40.00
New price: $44.98
Used price: $14.98
Collectible price: $50.00

Average review score:

MUST HAVE in Hardcover if you can
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-03-17
I have the hardcover edition. I collect Robert Crumb's works and this is a favorite of everyone looking at my collection. It you are an art student this along with his Gotta Have'Em Portraits of Women by R.Crumb is good resource material. I'd give The R. Crumb Coffee Table Art Book in (hardcover) ten stars if I could. I have not had the opportunity to look at the soft cover version but I would bet it is well done.

Excellent!
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2008-04-05
I just picked up the hardcover edition yesterday at the bargain section of my local bookstore. Once I started reading it I couldn't put it down. It's in chronological order of R. Crumb's work broken into chapters. Each chapter starts with a write up by him telling about what was going on in his life at that time, and how some of the drawings came to be. I find him to be a fascinating artist. He bares his soul in his work, not really caring how he appears or what people think.

Ultimate Crumb
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2007-09-12
This book is the ultimate Crumb. You won't be disappointed if you love his work.

Worth every penny
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2007-11-22
Just about every huge page (this book is big!) is filled with inspired color drawings from the legendary underground artist. Crumb gets very personal in this book, it's incredibly honest and, at times, deep. He takes the reader on a nostalgic journey through his childhood, life, and career. It's about growing up, finding the artist within, and adjusting to the insanity of the world. Or, you can simply read it for the edgy, often sexual comics. Either way, this is a big heavy book that is hard to pick up, but harder to put down.

Confessional comix
Helpful Votes: 5 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 2008-03-07
A generation ago, American poets such as Sylvia Plath, Robert Lowell, John Berryman, and Anne Sexton gave birth to a genre that's come to be known as "confessional poetry." Their verse revealed intimate facts about their lives that simply weren't spoken of in polite company: fears, phobias, sexual hang-ups, pettiness, depression, suicidal tendencies. Some of their work wound up being rather pathetic, more confessional than poetic. But when it was good, it invited readers to face their own demons.

Robert Crumb, whom the art critic Robert Hughes has called the "Breughel of the 20th century," is a confessional artist whose chosen genre is comics. For 50-odd years (with the emphasis on "odd"!), R. Crumb has explored his many identities and personae in thousands of sketches, drawings, and paintings. The R. Crumb Coffee Table Art Book is actually an autobiography put together from a handful of the work Crumb has produced over the years. It's interspersed with essays by Crumb on his childhood, school days, the hippie scene in San Francisco, his marriages, his "personal obsession with big women," his spiritual yearnings, and his love of old music. Taken together, it's a fascinating portrait of a man who's dared to explore some of his deepest and darkest places, and to do so (at least sometimes) publicly.

Crumb believes that the pivotal moment in his personal and artistic life was the period in the mid-60s to the early 70s when he dropped acid on a regular basis. Although he sometimes worries that he might've fried his brain, he also thinks that the LSD trips liberated his psyche and helped him break through to new and deeper levels of creativity. The LSD was, he tells us, his "road to Damascus."

Perhaps. It's true that Crumb's work has changed over the years--it's become more brutally honest, more introspective, darker and at the same time funnier. Perhaps the LSD had something to do with it (although, personally, I quite dislike some of the work that comes from that period, finding it rather flat and silly). But I suspect that the single greatest influence on Crumb was his childhood and his family, especially his brother Charlie, who seems to have been just as much a genius as Robert. Crumb the man really is the child of Crumb the boy. The LSD may've helped Crumb get in touch with the raw energy generated from those days.

Crumb has become notorious for the sexuality of some of his comics, and has taken his share of political correct knocks. But The R. Crumb Coffee Table Art Book makes clear that the bottom line of much of his art is his existential need to explore and expose the shallowness and absurdity of much of modern life. Above all, as he tells us (p. 247), he wants to tell the truth, not only about himself but about us as well. Whether it's in the pages of "Zap" or "Weirdo" comics, or in panels featuring Shuman the Human or Mr. Natural, Crumb continuously questions racial, sexual, cultural, and artistic conventions, pushing the envelope as far as it can go and frequently causing readers discomfort. There's also a longing on Crumb's part for deep meaning in a universe that appears crazy. This most often reveals itself as nostalgia for bygone days (his love of "old" music, for example), but also more explicitly as a yearning for a god that he can no longer fully believe in and frequently mocks.

Reading R. Crumb is an intense experience. Like all good art, his stuff can make one laugh with joy or send shivers down the spine. The R. Crumb Coffee Table Art Book is a good place to start if you're just discovering Crumb, and an equally good collection to help long-time admirers get some idea of the big picture of Crumb's work and to better appreciate its depth. It's also a good catalyst for getting in touch with one's own multiple identities.

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Sailing into the Abyss: A True Story of Extreme Heroism on the High Seas
Published in Hardcover by Citadel (2005-03-01)
Author: William R. Benedetto
List price: $23.95
New price: $15.71
Used price: $0.51
Collectible price: $99.98

Average review score:

"Sailing into the Abyss"
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-03-05
This book is spell binding, excellently written and so full of history that it makes you want to reach out for more info.

A true story for our time and one that needs to be shared. If you want to know more about the Coast Guard and what it's like to be at sea, this is the book to read. I'm having trouble putting it down.

Those in Peril Upon the Seas
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2008-07-01
"Sailing into the Abyss" by William R. Benedetto is to the Merchant fleet what the "Perfect Storm" was to the sword-fishing fleet.

The book gives "arm-chair" sailors like me, uncontrollable shakes and chattering teeth even...with a hot cup of coffee in hand! Benedetto's writing abilities plunges the reader directly into the cold sea next to the unfortunate struggling seaman who has just abandoned his sinking ship.

This is the riveting story of the Merchant vessel "S.S. Badger State" that was taking its deadly cargo of bombs and munitions to Da Nang to help support our troops and the war effort in Vietnam. Shortly before Christmas of 1969, the "S. S. Badger State" runs into two gargantuan storms that seem to converge directly into the men and cargo of the "S.S. Badger State." The bombs break loose in their cargo holds, and then...
you must read the book!

The author is really a superb writer and nautical historian. However, he sometimes gives too many historical examples of similar events to intensify the fate of this particular ship and incident. His examples are extremely interesting but...often too long. These constant historical vignettes only serve to take the readers focus away from the main events at hand. Much of that ancillary information could easily be put into another book on historical ship wrecks.

William Benedetto deserves the highest praises for sharing his expertise and love for those who suffer peril upon the seas.

A truly good book and one that all sailors, past and present should read.

Aye--Aye Captain!

Entrancing!
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2007-10-22
This book is superbly written. The amazing story of the SS Badger State is magnetic, and even more fascinating because it's true! I will recommend this book every chance I get, and I will keep my copy as a prized possession.

True Life
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2006-05-31
I recently sailed with a person who was a crewmember on the S.S. Badger State when this tragic incident occurred. Your book brought the story full circle, thanks for writing such an illuminating account.

Paul J. Gunis

Serviceable Accounting of a Tragedy
Helpful Votes: 4 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 2006-08-27
Very few people are likely to have heard of the loss of the American merchant ship Badger State at Christmas of 1969. She was carrying a load of bombs to resupply the Air Force in Vietnam, and a chain of unfortunate events--poor stowage of the explosives, carrying an insufficient amount of cargo so that the ship rode high, bad weather--combined to lead almost inevitably to tragedy.

Benedetto, in very simple and unadorned prose that is not bogged down by a great deal of nautical jargon, provides a workmanlike rendition of the last days of the ship and crew. He draws heavily upon the documented testimony of survivors before a Board of Inquiry and received very significant input from Charles Wilson, the captain of the late vessel.

He also throws in a great deal of material (which at times verges on simple padding) about the tragic experiences of many other ships of the U.S. Merchant Marine over the last two hundred years, particularly about their destruction by, or, in some cases, escape from, Axis forces in WWII.

A small number of black and white photos are included. The diagrams of the ship and of the bomb pallets would have been better placed at the beginning of the book for easier reference.

This is not a lyrical and haunting masterpiece of man's struggle against the hostility of nature, but it's a serviceable enough rendering of an otherwise forgotten disaster and a nice primer about the sacrifices of the merchant marine.

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The Secrets of Facilitation: The S.M.A.R.T. Guide to Getting Results With Groups
Published in Hardcover by Jossey-Bass (2004-10-29)
Author: Michael Wilkinson
List price: $45.00
New price: $30.11
Used price: $35.51
Collectible price: $45.00

Average review score:

Facilitation Results
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-01-14
A great book for those engaged in facilitation. It is well written and easy to understand. It is one of the better books I've found on the topic. The reason for 4 start instead of 5 is the price of the book. Books that would compliment this are "Leading Through Collaboration" and Leading Groups to Solutions: A Practical Guide for Facilitators and Team Members

SMART Facilitation - A very good read
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2007-07-24
Well written -- brief and to the point. Valuable even if you only read the first and last chapters. If you think you want to work on Facilitation skills -- get this book!

Good book to teach facilitation techniques
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2007-05-25
This book starts with good real time situations to describe the common problems in facilitation and how to overcome them. It helps both beginners and serious facilitators. Through a series of real life examples it teaches the best practices for effective facilitation.

An Excellent Resource!
Helpful Votes: 4 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2007-02-12
I am the Principal of Cohesion Inc, a marketing & business consulting organization, and also a part-time course director in the marketing faculty of the Schulich School of Business, York University in Toronto, Canada.

Facilitation is an important part of my work and teaching, and as such I regularly review literature on this subject to discover new insights and techniques with which to experiment.

Whether you are new to facilitation or already an experienced practitioner, this book will serve as an excellent resource to build your skills in this area.

Best book on facilitation I've read
Helpful Votes: 7 out of 7 total.
Review Date: 2006-01-29
This is a wonderful, practical, well-written book, with 60 facilitation secrets that are worth far, far more than the price of the pages. In fact, I learned more from this book than I did from a nationally recognized Advanced Facilitation course for $1700.

The chapter on consensus-building, which introduces 4 common techniques for building consensus (Delineation, Strengths and weaknesses, Merge and Weighted Scoring) I found particularly useful. The 6 high-level agendas for common facilitated sessions (among them process improvement and issue resolution) are a must for every facilitator.

I would recommend this book most highly for facilitators who want to build on their existing skills rather than as an introduction to the field, as some of the secrets (those related to dealing with dysfunctional behavior, for example) assume some foundational facilitation skills. However, anyone interested in the field would benefit greatly from the secrets in this book. A truly great addition to the facilitator's library!

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Treasures of the Snow
Published in Paperback by Moody Pr (J) (1950-06)
Author: Patricia St. John
List price: $5.99
New price: $1.92
Used price: $0.01
Collectible price: $10.00

Average review score:

A Classic
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-06-28
I bought this book for one of my children, and my wife couldn't put it down. This is quite simply a classic.

Great Book
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-05-07
What a great story. We read it to our 6, 4, and 2 year olds. They loved it just as much as we did. The author did a wonderful job of weaving Christ into an intriguing story.

Treasures of the Snow
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-01-19
Excellent book for children, best for ages 5 to 16. Rich character development, adventure, strong hero models, and delightful reading. I have read Patricia St. John's books for years, and given countless copies as gifts. A great choice for parents to read with their children. (I'm an educator of children.)

Excellent!
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2006-08-29
I loved this book. I have never read one that is better. It was a great example of how we should forgive and also showed how love casts out fear. I love how it shows the characters' feelings. It was a very good book.

Still not tired of this after 30 years...
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2007-04-10
I read this as a child and it inspired me with a lasting love of Switzerland. I have four children of my own now and we've read the book aloud every couple of years. We also have the audio version. It's just one of those beautiful books that never grows old and is the closest thing to a perfect Christian novel for children that I know of. I'm frankly baffled why Moody felt like they needed to abridge it--the new version is OK but lacks the richness of the old. Find a used copy if you can, but if not, don't miss the story. I couldn't recommend it more highly, and even as an adult it challenges me in my faith.

The movie is delightful as well--beautifully acted and with stunning scenery. Our family was blessed to visit Chateau D'Oex, the village where the majority of the movie was shot. We thought it was the most gorgeous place in the world! Patricia St. John actually spent part of her childhood in Switzerland and I think that's why the whole novel feels so detailed and real.

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Because a Little Bug Went Ka-Choo! (Beginner Books(R))
Published in Hardcover by Random House Books for Young Readers (1975-09-12)
Author: Rosetta Stone
List price: $8.99
New price: $2.99
Used price: $0.01
Collectible price: $10.00

Average review score:

Little actions and big consequences
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-08-04
A little bug sneezes and each consequence leads to a bigger one creating in the end total chaos in town, and all because a little bug went ka-choo!
This book is a fun way of introducing the idea that even our smallest actions can have important consequences. The story is funny, and the rhymes are catchy.
The book is by Dr. Seuss under another pseudonym, what else could we expect from the good doctor but a hilarious story that children will love???

Great fun
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-04-14
I love this book and so does my toddler. We have read it many, many times and immensely enjoy both the story and the illustrations. I don't mind reading it over and over because I feel like I see some new detail in the illustration that I didn't see the first 50 times we read it together. It's a delight for anyone reading it.

Great for Rhythm and Rhyme, preschoolers like it
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2006-12-10
The consequences were far reaching and wide ranging when one little bug sneezed - just what happens, it ripples out and are quite fun. The illustrations are rich and warm, soft curves and good colours with lots going on in each to maintain interest in repeated readings of it.

This has beautiful rhythm to it and is easy for children to get predictive about, learning to anticipate and the value of language, and rhythm.

As an adult I get a bit bored with it - it is quite fun but not for repeated readings, but it is high on the reading request list at home so it gets read repeatedly at the moment.

Fun and silly
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2006-09-14
My [...] loves this book. You can have so much fun with it as the book builds from a little bug sneezing to a out of control circus parade. The rhymes are well-done. Good for all ages.

FUNTASTIC!
Helpful Votes: 3 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2006-04-03
This is one of Dr. Suess's books written under his pseudonym Rosetta Stone. This book shows once again what an amazingly clever man he was. Each of my children love this book. And I just finished reading it to my youngest son's preschool class. They enjoyed it so much they asked me to read it a second time! It is a fun and extremely enjoyable book for everyone!!!

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Bedford Handbook for Writers
Published in Paperback by St Martins Pr (1997-08)
Author: Diana Hacker
List price: $41.90
New price: $1.95
Used price: $0.01

Average review score:

review
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2008-02-15
The Bedford Handbook
I was satisfied with my order, and was delivered as it said

good
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2007-09-04
i ordered it and got it in a very good condition and in time. customer service is awesome. my blessings. keep up the good work.

definately a help!
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2006-10-31
this book is good for when you're writing essays and you can't remember a certain format or something and you can flip through the book real quick for examples of essays, outlines and thesis statements, although I wish i had the cd version of it so i can always have it with me instead of toting around the book. they could have made the format of the book better.

for instance i remember seeing a book called "A Writers reference" both are MLA format and one came from my community college and just the way its put together is better over all than this one.

An Excellent Guide
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2006-03-28
The Bedford Handbook is an excellent guide for anyone enrolled in a college English course. The book gives details on correct grammar usage, as well as descriptions of different essay styles. The book is very helpful to me with my English class.

Hacker lite, but not light enough
Helpful Votes: 9 out of 11 total.
Review Date: 2007-01-02
Diana Hacker has an English comp book for any possible usage, she grinds them out every few years. My college requires me to use this book as a handbook. That is unfortunate.

Of course, this book provides a basic explanation of English composition, grammar, documentation, and document design and critical reading. However, the attempt in this case is to present something that is lighter than Rules for Writers, a full scale manual that is sufficient to use as the only text for a college composition course or as a full writers reference, and her Writers Reference, which is a good handy handbook that is inadequate as a full course book, but is great as a rule book to be used by students taking a course using another text.

Usuing this book, I have had to create supplements from web material for issues that I expect to be covered fully in a college handbook such as the requirements of formal writing.

To be sure there are interesting illustrations and graphics and like her other books, the text is intimately linked with the enormous online network that Hacker and her publishers have created. It is not an awful book to use, but I would prefer Rules for Writers, Jane E. Aaron's Litte Brown Handbook, or Writer's reference.

R
Black Duck
Published in Paperback by Puffin (2007-09-06)
Author: Janet Taylor Lisle
List price: $6.99
New price: $3.43
Used price: $3.48

Average review score:

good book
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-07-20
My 13yr old son was like "what is this" when he found this book I had purchased for him. Hours later he was still absorbed. He said it was a great read and very interesting.

BLACK DUCK
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-07-16
Historical fiction either works really well, or it doesn't work at all. Those YA historical fiction novels that deftly capture the distinct essence of a time period and place so different from our own that you can hear the unique cadences in speech patterns and visualize details not even mentioned in the text, those novels are to be treasured and savored more than once because they offer not only a well-told tale, by delicious tastes of bygone eras. Recent novels like AL CAPONE DOES MY SHIRTS and OCTAVIAN NOTHING accomplish these goals heroically; you feel as if you are living in the times and that is part of the emotional journey that we love. YA historical fiction that fails is highly awkward, illogical, anachronistic, and MADDENING. We argue with ourselves about why the author couldn't get it right! The guilty (or at least the current crop) shall remain nameless...

Which leads us to Janet Taylor Lisle's latest. BLACK DUCK is (to maintain the metaphor) an odd bird; it captures that time of the late 1920s nicely, but focuses on perhaps the most unusual of young adult subjects: rumrunning. Told primarily in flashback, BLACK DUCK follows Ruben Hart, a fourteen-year-old from Rhode Island who finds himself (as does most of the rest of the town) involved either directly or peripherally with breaking the law (it is Prohibition, after all). This era is brought to life expertly by Lisle's correct decision to have the story told through a first-person point-of-view. That choice allows her to capture the language, mannerisms and trends of the time quite accurately. Building slowly, she offers plenty of historic detail without the weight of seeming to force the historical information on us (like QUAKE!: DISASTER IN SAN FRANCISCO, 1906 does).

I was also taken with Lisle's characterizations, particularly those of the several characters who made unexpected, yet by-all-means organic choices -- always a joy for an English teacher to read -- that took the plot into unexpected, yet organic places.

Though the historical nature of the book is, as far as I can tell, relatively accurate, it is an incredibly bold move on Lisle's part to make practically all of the characters law-breakers (yes, even many of the kids)! On top of that, the reader and a majority of the characters don't want [SPOILER NOTICE] the legal authority -- in this case, the Coast Guard -- to capture the rumrunners aboard the Black Duck. WOW! And it works... beautifully. To take a questionable subject for young adults and approach it in a highly questionable way, and succeed (!!!) deserves real kudos from YA fans.

As an English teacher, this is a great piece for discussion and analysis -- in part for the above-mentioned reasons, but also for the dramatic structure in which the flashbacks are interrupted by the present and newspaper stories of dates in-between.

So, in the categorization of YA historical fiction that soars and those that sink, this rumrunning ship, heavy with cargo, is definitely buoyant.

Black Duch
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-06-18
Black Duck is a great piece of historical fiction. It tells the story of the rumrunners off the coast of Rhode Island. Because of the mystery running through it, this book will keep you reading for more to find a surprise at the end. There is a couple of "bad" words in the book, however, I recommend it for 6th through 12th graders, boys and girls.

Great Historical Fiction Geared For Kids!!
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-04-25
I bought "Black Duck" based on the book's description and also based on all the great reviews it has received thus far. I loved the book the entire way through. "Black Duck" is geared for kids ages 9-12 according to the description with the main characters being teenage boys.

I enjoyed how the author intermixes the past with the present in "Black Duck" by making some chapters in the present day and other chapters in the past. Janet Taylor Lisle is able to bring to life what rum-running during the prohibition may have been like on the New England coast in 1929 by using a cast of fictional characters and how prohibition may have effected a community. The story is told through the eyes of Ruben Hart, who was a teenager during 1929.

Currently Ruben Hart is an elderly man. He is approached by a young boy named, David Peterson, whom wants to be a journalist when he grows up. Young David has his sights on writing a story about the the rum-running days and this is where he crosses paths with Ruben Hart. David is set on interviewing Mr. Hart about the rum-running days as he has heard that Mr. Hart knows something about those days. The interview happens over the summer vacation and David learns/hears quite a story from Mr. Hart & quite a tale it is. The two become friends by the end of the novel.

"Black Duck" is a good story with well developed characters!! The story is intriguing and keeps you wanting to know more about what will happen next!!

More Than I Hoped For
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-04-06
A year ago three of my sixth graders wanted to read Black Duck, a new book in our school library, for Literature Circles. That was my first experience with the book. I started reading on my way home to Illinois and couldn't stop. Likewise, my sixth graders had a lot of praise for the mystery set in the Prohibition Era. If you parents or teachers are looking for a book that will motivate even the most unwilling reader, this is it. One of the boys confided that although he is a jock, he had to confess he couldn't stop reading it. At first some of the girls were resistant, but soon they, too, had to admit they were hooked. Telling the story in an interview is a unique format. This book also lends itself to a variety of research topics the students enjoyed: Prohibition, the Great Depression, the Roaring 20s, Women's Suffrage, politics, gangs, gansters, Rhode Island, the East Coast, and of course bootlegging and smuggling. What a great way to learn some history! I highly recommend it.


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