Tracks Books

I have three children and I find myself continually picking this book up at the public library. Over the years, my children never seem to get tired of this book (and Mom doesn't get tired of reading it either). They love guessing and knowing the correct answer of the animal on the next page. We love it!

As a Children's Specialist in a public library, I use this book constantly in storyhour. It has become such a favorite that I have had at least 10 moms ask me where they could buy it. The library copy stays checked out and it is most unfortunate that it is no longer available. It is simple, colorful and has great potential for "join-in" fun.

I'm new to golf and this book has really helped me to feel more at ease with the game. I wish all how-to sports books were this informative and usful.

Thomas Fahey has done a remarkable job in his delivery of basic golf information. This book is extremely easy to read. Enough so, that I found it a delightfully enjoyable read from cover to cover. The photos, diagrams, and drawings aided greatly in helping to convey each topic clearly. At only 130 pages, this book is very concise and to the point. "Basic Golf" is at the top of my favorite list and should be considered a must read for any beginning golfer

Excellent read about behind the glitter and money of professional basketball from the perspective of black ball players.

I personally thought this book was great. It was great because it told about how the NBA was so plain and simple back then but now its something else. So as you know this book was all about the NBA. So if you really like the NBA then you should buy this book. One of the best books I have ever read.

If you are contemplating adopting or purchasing a race horse, this is the book for you. It covers every topic of transitioning a race horse into a dependable riding partner. It's a step by step training manual that will ease the process for you and your horse. Off the track horses are wonderful mounts; you just need to know how to treat them. This book explains it all. It is written by the expert in the field. Pick it up today!

Anyone who owns, rides, trains, vets, plans to own, or shoes an off-track thoroughbred (OTTB) simply must read and own this book. It is potentially the best thing that has ever happened to the retired race horse in the U.S. and Canada.

Here we get all the information that we so much need: What's different about the OTTB's training needs? What has the horse experienced in the past, from weaning to racing? How do this horse's metabolism, temperament, physiology, emotional psychology, and work ethic differ from those of the non-race breeds? How can we help an OTTB transition into new careers? What feed and turnout routine is optimal, and what are the tolerances for variation? Which types of conformation in OTTB's lend themselves to which riding disciplines?

I so wish I'd had access to this book when I purchased my OTTB 8 years ago. It would have saved us both many hours of mutual confusion and fright. Every single sentence of this book rings true to my own experience and all the best literature I've read on the subject of retraining a retired race horse. They are different! Emotionally sensitive, eager to please, often having been deprived of true herd membership by their previous lifestyles, the OTTB's are a conundrum to many ordinary training regimens including natural horsemanship techniques.

This book lays out the entire life of the average TB racehorse, from birth to retirement to rehab to new beginnings. Written by a racehorse trainer who is the daughter of a racehorse trainer, it is not critical of the racing industry but it is knowledgeable of the special needs these horses develop. A true love of the OTTB informs every page, and author Anna Morgan Ford now operates a retraining facility called New Vocations, so she knows both sides of the racehorse's life, from track training to second career choice. You will find answers to every important question here, and references to further reading and resources are generally provided.

The photos are gorgeous and you'll get to see OTTB's in all kinds of activities from dressage, eventing, and show-jumping to pole-bending and cutting. I got teary-eyed many times at the actually inspirational content: yes, the OTTB does every post-racing equine job imaginable, and yes, these wonderful horses will make willing partners in whatever job you give them, if you approach them with sensitivity and engage their willing and enormous hearts.

I'm so happy this book appeared. I really believe that the OTTB is going to benefit from it: more knowledge, more good sense, more successful adoptions and purchases, more great training and health advice, equals a lot of horses saved from slaughter and a lot of joy. If you have ever dreamed of owning a retired race-horse, this is the one book you must read: your lovely future horse will thank you many times with his whole great big heart and soul.

This gorgeous and unusual book should be required reading for both lovers of memoir and anyone who lives in "Indian Country" (which, really, is most of us.) Hayes layers narratives of self, land, history and tribe in an unusual way that feels utterly organic. She also offers real insight into both the brokenheartedness and the joy that characterize modern Native people's experience. Though it is not without minor flaws, I give this book 5 stars because it is amazing and unique.

Ernestine Hayes has captured what it means to grow up with one foot in white culture, the other in a native way of life she must struggle to keep alive and burning in her heart. I loved the way native stories wove in and out of her experiences. I hope she has another book in the works because I want to read more of what she has to say.

This biography is a work of art: it's tough to blend this much biographical data, anecdotes, photos, and clippings into a coherent and interesting story. Yet, teacher-librarian-author Dublin has done just that; the book is engaging enough to pull in even reluctant young researchers. Kids who are sports fans will find it particularly interesting and inspirational, as Rosenfeld was an amazing athlete who had a wonderful sense of humor, team work, and fair play. The text is rich in ethnic (Rosenfeld was a Russian Jew) and feminist themes, as well. Book has T of C, timeline, suggestions for further reading, bibliography, and index.

An excellent biography of Jewish Canadian athlete Bobbie Rosenfeld. The writing is clear, simple, and interesting. Dublin deftly creates context so that readers understand the historical significance of Bobbie's achievements, including her impact on the women's movement. The book is chock-a-block with interesting quotes and amusing anecdotes that keep the reader engaged. Sidebars contain intriguing tidbits that are relevant to nearby text, usually providing background information or expanding on a topic mentioned in the body of the text.

The book comes from a strongly Canadian point of view, and will be particularly popular there, where the places and people named will be commonly familiar. However, the text is quite accessible to non-Canadian readers as well.

The list of resources at the back of the book is very thorough, and includes a timeline, lists for further information in print, video, and online formats, a bibliography of the author's sources, photo credits, and an index.

The large black and white photos are clearly reproduced and intelligently captioned.

This title was named a 2004 Sydney Taylor Honor Book. You can listen to an interview with the author on the podcast The Book of Life at www.jewishbooks.blogspot.com. Listen to the February 2006 episode to hear the interview with Anne Dublin.

Grades 3-7

Boot Tracks by Matthew F. Jones is the riveting story of Charlie Rankin, a recent prison release, and of his debt to "The Buddha" who got him a job on the outside, killing a man he's never met. Carrying readers through Rankin' s skillfully crafted, articulate and original novel that reveals the psychopathology underlying a criminal life, Boot Tracks follows Rankin through his meeting of Florence and their rapid attraction to one another. A true "page turner" of a read, Boot Tracks is especially recommended as a original thriller and clearly documents Matthew F. Jones as an author to look forward to! Readers new to Matthew Jones will want to seek out his early novels: A Single Shot, Deepwater, and Blind Pursuit.

For those who like their noir fiction dark, gritty and intense, the stunning crime novel, "Boot Tracks" by Matthew F. Jones is a gripping page-turner. Racking up a deceptively slim 206 pages, this novel delivers a simple story woven with layers of psychological complexity. The novel's protagonist, ex-con Charlie Rankin is released from jail and travels directly to a fleabag motel. He's there to commit a murder at the behest of a manipulative prison cellmate "The Buddha." With Buddha's orders to kill on his brain, the emotionally disconnected Rankin hits town with "no plan, no firm intent, and a sketchy idea" of how to commit the crime.

Rankin strikes up a bizarre relationship with an ex-porn star--a grubby nymphet with a "permanently stunned look" named Florence. While she claims some sort of mystical connection to religion, her beliefs are muddied by her narcotic addiction, and her former career in numerous tawdry films. The morally bankrupt Rankin doesn't have any tolerance for religion, and he views emotion and introspection as weaknesses. Somehow Florence--another one of life's washed up, washed-out rejects has retained an iota of trust and faith in her fellow human beings--whereas Rankin's creed borrowed from Buddha is: "Open up to no one, and leave no trace of yourself." Rankin and Florence have both learned to project their fractured personalities into different zones of existence--Florence through her role-playing in pornographic films, and Rankin by creating an alter ego in order to escape a horrific childhood of constant brutality.

Rankin doesn't question the morality of his plan to kill a total stranger. He's long past the point of morality--although he shows flashes of humanity at the oddest moments. The novel explores Rankin's Proustian psychological journey through 'involuntary memory'--and these childhood memories--usually triggered by acts of violence--offer insight into Rankin's damaged soul. But the memories are clouded with illusions and fantasies, and even Rankin isn't quite sure exactly what exists in his past. As Rankin undertakes his mission to kill, he experiences numerous semiotic events in the form of people and animals that appear along the way to his hellish task.

The novel never loses its tone of despair and frozen isolation. Snow falls on the urban landscape and magnifies the sense of desolation experienced by the characters. The subtle motif of 'boot tracks' appears throughout the novel, and these footprints in the snow represent the irreversible, seminal actions undertaken in life--our actions and the events we experience form the path that leads to our destiny.

A blurb on the back jacket of "Boot Tracks" states that a previous book by the same author, "Deepwater" was made into a film, and I'm not surprised. "Boot Tracks" screams to be on the big screen as a neo-noir thriller. The terse prose of this remarkably visual novel is permeated with sensory immediacy. One can almost smell the stale sweat and the cheap musty perfume rising from the unwashed bodies of the author's unpleasant, alienated and often-grotesque characters. This is a tight, tense read, and one you won't soon forget--displacedhuman

As a father of 3 and 7 year olds with no other family around, my main source of mentoring as a parent is books like this one. Some are very useful, like Love And Logic, others are nothing but unusable fluff with no substance. Only one I have found so far covers the entire spectrum of parenting like Dr. Susan Baile's excellent presentation. I wish it were released on CD and that she would write a book. I agree with the other reviewer that you'll listen to it again and again.

Unlike most similar things, "Building Self-Esteem in Your Child" is extremely well thought out and examined. Dr. Baile quotes real clinical studies and other references. She doesn't just make claims and neglect to support and substantiate them. The information she presents is well structured. It not only resonates, it ties together into a coherent whole.

I found myself responding to it not only in the context of my role as a very imperfect parent with children but as a child with a very imperfect parent. I found causes for my own imperfect self-esteem.

Listening in my car, I frequently found myself saying, "Wow," and rewinding to hear the passage again, or pausing it to let the full impact of the insight settle in. The presentation is very rich in content.

All in all I cannot say enough good things about it. I tried to contact Dr. Baile to thank her for her contribution to the art and science of parenting but was unable to find any contact info on the web. I would have loved a forum to hear other parents' take on her observations and insights.

Lots of timely information for parents, no matter what their children's ages. You'll want to listen to it over and over.

Tim Rawson has written an engaging and beautifully researched book exploring the saga of wolf control in Denali National Park. He also documents this controversial issue outside that park, both in Alaska and throughout the country. It is an unthinking oversight, however, that the publisher neglected--either in the subtitle or in the Library of congress catalog info--to mention the fascinating character who resides in these pages: Adolph Murie. This lesser known brother of Olaus Murie was largely responsible for our modern day understanding that wolves are an essential part of the ecosystem. Pre Adolph Murie it was popular to think of wolves as vermin in need of extermination. Adolph's life work, as it unfolds in Rawson's pages, turns this scholarly history into compelling biography. Even if you haven't read Barry Lopez' OF WOLVES AND MEN (or if you have any interest in wolves in general), CHANGING TRACKS is a true classic.

Alaska residents and students of national parks issues will find Changing Tracks involving: it details the events which shaped both Mt. McKinley Park and the national policy on dealing with predators in national parks in general, outlining the decisions and actions which have influenced park service policies throughout the country. A variety of experiences, from game managers to conservationists, are presented in this scholarly, involving survey.

This is an excellent book for the beginner coach or the coach who has many years of experience. It introduces the reader to different types of motivation and how to motivate teams and players of superior levels of performance and teams and players that are perennial losers. Warren also talks about other coaching issues such as assistant coaches, coaching women, the superstar athlete, and dealing with administrators and parents.

This is a very good book. I am on my second time reading it. Good book to read inbetween seasons or at the begining of your season. A lot of common sence ideas, but they remind you or open your eyes again. Also a lot of new approaches or ideas to try out. Each part of the book deals with differend aspects of coaching and motivating players. I highley recommend this book to any coach who needs help motivating players, or just as a refresher. You will learn something new by reading it and it is sure to help your team.