Form-3 Books

On The Edge:3 Novels in1 by Heather Graham was a really good anthology. I enjoy books like this one. I am such a bookworm! The characters were great !!!

This book contains three (not two) enchanting tales of romantic suspense that are just perfect for light summer reading.

In the first entry by Heather Graham, Kit Delaney returns to the home she was born in and the family she is estranged from after the untimely death of her beloved father. There she begins a relationship with David Moore an enigmatic member of the household whose purposes are not entirely clear to her. She also engenders the enmity of at least one of her relatives -all of whom are afraid she will cheat them out of their rightful inheritance. The question is how far they will go to get Kit out of the picture and wether David can or will come to her rescue.

In "Shelter Island" the second tale, by Carla Neggers, Dr.Antonia Winter believes she is being stalked. She is afraid to ask for help because of the repercussions that a false alarm might have on her medical career and on the political aspirations of her new suitor, Hank Callahan. When she secretly retreats to an old cottage, belonging to a friend, on Shelter Island she is followed by Hank and by her stalker. Who will get to her first?

The last story, bySharon Sala, "Capsized",is myfavorite. Kelly Sloan is a DEA agent in an undercover operation that goes sour when a released prisoner whom she put away recognizes her. After three days of torture she manages to escape and swim to shore in Texas where she is rescued by Quinn McCord, a Texas Ranger with problems of his own. Together they must outwit the drug kingpin who has offered a two million dollar reward for Kelly's murder, in time for Kelly to testify against Dominic Ortega. The sparks fly in this tale of love and revenge.

These three tales are a good value for light, fun summer reading.

These 3 stories were fairly short but readers are not left feeling short changed. The characters felt real and the action was fast paced.
I recommend reading this book. It has romance and mystery, and a cast of secondary characters that makes me feel like perhaps there will be a sequel to some of the stories.

"Bougainvillea" by Heather Graham. Almost two decades ago her mother drowned. Her father never explained why, but he left their Bougainvillea home and never returned. With his recent death, his daughter Katherine "Kit" Delaney goes back to the family home. There she meets David Moore, a friend from her childhood. As they fall in love, Kit's tragic past catches up to her present fueled further by her doubts about whose side her beloved is on.

"Shelter Island" by Carla Neggers. Dr. Antonia Winter feels someone is stalking her. Not wanting to hurt her boyfriend's run for the senate with unsubstantiated stories, Antonia decides to leave for Shelter Island for awhile. However, Hank Callahan would rather not be a politician if he must give up his beloved Antonia. With a hurricane coming and a stalker following Antonia, Hank has his work cut out for him if he wants to keep her safe.

"Capsized" by Sharon Sala. In Mexico, DEA Agent Kelly Sloan realizes her cover is blown, which means she needs to escape before Ortega disposes of her in his malevolent manner. She manages to get to the sea, but drifts for three days before being found by Texas Ranger Quinn McCord. As she recovers her strength she and her male nurse fall in love, but Ortega and his in-law Gruber need her dead.

All three tales are taut romantic suspense thrillers that will please sub-genre fans except for the fact that readers will know each one could have been a stand-alone full-length novel.

Harriet Klausner

If you have a saracastic sense of humor (or know someone who does) this is great! If you like the Daily Show, get these. These books are so funny. I would recommend this book to anyone who is in need of: good, hardy laughter, the perfect present, or an interesting set of books. This is truly a great set and a great value.

A longtime fan of The Onion, I bought this set for a friend's birthday. Our birthday dinner in a sedate restaurant ended up with five of us reading headlines out loud, laughing so loud that we were reprimanded by the staff. Cynicism lives!

This box set is HILARIOUS! The three books (Our Dumb Century, The Onion's Finest News Reporting, Dispatches From the Tenth Circle) that are in here are all great. I challenge you to read this, and not laugh! I bought this as a gift for my friend, and we just died laughing everytime we read any of it. It is just the best!

It's also a really good price, and makes a great gift. If you know anyone who loves The Onion, or any similar types of humor, I totally recommend this!

I've reading The Onion since it was a freebie paper in southern Wisconsin and worried it would lose it's edge when it went national...NOT AT ALL. Though not for the easily offended, it is laugh-out-loud, wet-your-pants funny as well as dead center in it's satire of life in these United States.

Manhattan's streets and parks are packed with historic monuments, and some fifty of them are included in OUTDOOR MONUMENTS OF MANHATTAN: A HISTORICAL GUIDE, which offers up background history, surveys of American sculptors, and analysis of each sculpture, its influences, and its history. A 'must' for any Manhattan resident or library seeking background information on the area's best outdoor monuments to use as either a take-along travel tote or a study.

Selecting 54 outdoor sculptures that are of personal and aesthetic interest, the author takes you on a guided tour of Manhattan starting from the Statue of Liberty in the south all the way north to El Cid by Anna Hyatt Huntington.

An easy read for all, each essay gives a brief introduction into the sculptures stylistic elements. It also compares them to how they could have been different and what that would have done to the artwork's meaning. The author also provides background information on the sculpture and its subject to further enhance our appreciation.

Of course when it comes right down to it, Durante shows us through sculpture great minds at work (artisan and innovator) who have accomplished much in their pursuit of values.

As a native New Yorker, at one time or another I've passed by and gazed at every one of the 54 sculptures listed in this excellent book. What I learned was how great each one is. Several of my favorites are mentioned (Columbus, Washington, Hamilton) as are some less publicized gems, like Verrazzano and Dr. James Marion Sims. By breaking down the categories of About the Sculpture and About the Subject, one can learn so much about these outdoor gems in the city. Dr. Durante's style of writing is very clear and she gives a practical guide in "how to read a sculpture" with an objective basis.

Pick your style of heroism and you'll find it here. Whether it's celebrating a job well done (Washington in Union Square) or charging into the battle of a new project (El Cid up in Harlem) or refusing to submit to defeat in the face of death (Nathan Hale in City Hall Park) you are sure to be uplifted.

Every New Yorker should own this book, as it will give them a chance to fill their lives with inspiration by simply traveling to a location simply mapped out in the book. As for non-New Yorkers, this is yet another reason to come here and enjoy the greatness of this magnificent city.

Apart from Ayn Rand's own work in esthetics (The Romantic Manifesto---and several other articles outside of it) and Dr. Leonard Peikoff's Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand, Dr. Dianne Durante's Outdoor Monuments of Manhattan is the first published work to apply some of Miss Rand's revolutionary esthetics to works of art. This is a MAJOR achievement.

In order to shape a culture dominated by by a rational philosophy, the Objectivist ethics is THE most important idea to get into the culture. And a number of outstanding philosophers have each, independent of one another, done admirable work in this area.

The second most important idea essential to changing our culture is Miss Rand's esthetics. Dr. Durante opened the door to this with her criticism of the thoroughly reprehensible exhibition in New York's Central Park of Christo's Gates. She stood firm against invective. Now she is offering more details as she applies Miss Rand's esthetics to Outdoor Monuments of Manhattan.

Outdoor Monuments of Manhattan is a clever organization of facts and commentary. It is also a welcomed introduction to important ideas that offer the reader rational guidelines to better appreciate and understand art in general and the outdoor monuments of Manhattan in particular.

A very strongly recommended instructional reference and resource, The Reference Librarian's Policies, Forms, Guidelines, And Procedures Handbook: With CD-Rom by expert librarian Rebecca Brumley is a precise collective reference for students of the library sciences and administration roles in library systems. The Reference Librarian's Policies, Forms, Guide-lines, And Procedures Handbook addresses every intricate detailing of a library's constructs, including management, personnel, selection and evaluation resources, circulation and interlibrary loan, query categories, resources and Assistance offered, in-person patron assistance, and an exploratory virtual reference on disc. The Reference Librarian's Policies, Forms, Guidelines, And Procedures Handbook is the ideal reference and study for all library systems from small community libraries to multi-branched urban libraries searching for a guide to the overall betterment of the flow in their working system.

A very strongly recommended instructional reference and resource, The Reference Librarian's Policies, Forms, Guidelines, And Procedures Handbook: With CD-Rom by expert librarian Rebecca Brumley is a precise collective reference for students of the library sciences and administration roles in library systems. The Reference Librarian's Policies, Forms, Guide-lines, And Procedures Handbook addresses every intricate detailing of a library's constructs, including management, personnel, selection and evaluation resources, circulation and interlibrary loan, query categories, resources and Assistance offered, in-person patron assistance, and an exploratory virtual reference on disc. The Reference Librarian's Policies, Forms, Guidelines, And Procedures Handbook is the ideal reference and study for all library systems from small community libraries to multi-branched urban libraries searching for a guide to the overall betterment of the flow in their working system.

A very strongly recommended instructional reference and resource, The Reference Librarian's Policies, Forms, Guidelines, And Procedures Handbook: With CD-Rom by expert librarian Rebecca Brumley is a precise collective reference for students of the library sciences and administration roles in library systems. The Reference Librarian's Policies, Forms, Guide-lines, And Procedures Handbook addresses every intricate detailing of a library's constructs, including management, personnel, selection and evaluation resources, circulation and interlibrary loan, query categories, resources and Assistance offered, in-person patron assistance, and an exploratory virtual reference on disc. The Reference Librarian's Policies, Forms, Guidelines, And Procedures Handbook is the ideal reference and study for all library systems from small community libraries to multi-branched urban libraries searching for a guide to the overall betterment of the flow in their working system.

A very strongly recommended instructional reference and resource, The Reference Librarian's Policies, Forms, Guidelines, And Procedures Handbook: With CD-Rom by expert librarian Rebecca Brumley is a precise collective reference for students of the library sciences and administration roles in library systems. The Reference Librarian's Policies, Forms, Guide-lines, And Procedures Handbook addresses every intricate detailing of a library's constructs, including management, personnel, selection and evaluation resources, circulation and interlibrary loan, query categories, resources and Assistance offered, in-person patron assistance, and an exploratory virtual reference on disc. The Reference Librarian's Policies, Forms, Guidelines, And Procedures Handbook is the ideal reference and study for all library systems from small community libraries to multi-branched urban libraries searching for a guide to the overall betterment of the flow in their working system.

This almost gets there. An average of 3.86 is not quite enough, with not much else here to get a score of 5, pretty close a 4.75 you could call this one though.

Only one story here I thought was average, and actually something different here, the best stories are the meat in the middle, not the first couple of the last couple, if you are looking for somewhere to start.

Still, a fine year's best anthology, and well worth getting.

SF Best of 2003 : A Study in Emerald - Neil Gaiman
SF Best of 2003 : The Fluted Girl - Paolo Bacigalupi
SF Best of 2003 : Flowers from Alice - Cory Doctorow and Charles Stross
SF Best of 2003 : The Tale of the Golden Eagle - David D Levine
SF Best of 2003 : Bernardos House - James Patrick Kelly
SF Best of 2003 : Confusions of Uni - Ursula K. Le Guin
SF Best of 2003 : Jon - George Saunders
SF Best of 2003 : The Cookie Monster - Vernor Vinge
SF Best of 2003 : Legions in Time - Michael Swanwick
SF Best of 2003 : The Chop Line - Stephen Baxter
SF Best of 2003 : Calling Your Name - Howard Waldrop
SF Best of 2003 : The Empire of Ice Cream - Jeffrey Ford
SF Best of 2003 : Bumpship - Susan Mosser
SF Best of 2003 : Only Partly Here - Lucius Shepard


Old One vaudeville and some monstrous advertising.

4 out of 5


Pufnstuf probably wouldn't stand for this.

3.5 out of 5


Post-human furniture with passions.

4 out of 5


Human-bird shipbrain swap.

4 out of 5


Architecture s3xware's new girl.

4 out of 5


Interplanary virtual reality craft.

4 out of 5


Segregated Privacy Tarp trademark.

3 out of 5


Upload iteration revenge.

4 out of 5


Slave escape chronowar torpedo overrun takedown homage revolution.

4.5 out of 5


Future war info can hurt your brain :
"Me? Sir--" I took a breath. "You want me to prosecute myself. For a crime, an alleged crime anyhow, I won't commit for twenty-four years? Is there any part of that I misunderstood?"

4.5 out of 5


Wrong president.

4 out of 5


Synesthesia vision desserted.

3.5 out of 5


Corporate volunteer bad atmosphere economics.

3.5 out of 5


Annoyingly vague vaguely ghostly woman.

3.5 out of 5




4.5 out of 5

The book contains several stories. Rated in the Amazon system of stars (from one to five: "I hate it", "I don't like it", "It's ok", "I like it" and "I love it").

A Study in Emerald, by Neil Gaiman: A clever Victorian era detective follows a criminal mind that matches his own. ****.

Flowers from Alice, by Cory Doctorow and Charles Stross: Inviting his first love to his weeding brings several headaches to a man. **.

The tale of the Golden Eagle, by David D. Levine: What was once the brain of a starship becomes a legend. ****

Bernardo's house, by James Patrick Kelly: A very special house longes for his owner to return. ****

Confusions of Uñi, by Ursula K. Le Guin: A visit to Uñi takes unexpected twists for a very cautious man. ***

Jon, by George Saunders: A boy is torn between his home and his beloved. **

The Cookie Monster, by Vernor Vinge: A girl looking for a mail abuser finds discovers her world is not what it seems. *****

Legions in Time, by Michael Swanwick: Wishing to get even with her commanding employer, a woman places herself in an evolutionary war. *****

The Chop Line, Stephen Baxter: A young woman has to confront her older self on a battle for the future of mankind. ****

Calling your name, Howard Waldrop: After an electrical shock, a man tries to understand a world that is not what he recalls. ***

The Empire of Ice Cream, by Jeffrey Ford: A gifted boy finds a friend in bowl of ice cream. *****

Bumship, by Susan Mosser: A disgruntled employee gives an interview to an influential reporter. ****

Only Partly Here, by Lucius Shepard: A worker at ground-zero tries to make sense of what the wreckage is about. **

Science Fiction: The Best of 2003 is an excellent anthology with most of the stories of above average quality. The best include "A Study in Emerald" by Neil Gaiman, a clever pastiche of both Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and H.P. Lovecraft, "The Empire of Ice Cream" by Jeffrey Ford about a man suffering from the strange disease synesthesia and "The Cookie Monster" by Vernor Vinge about new hires at a large technology firm who realize there's more to their jobs than meets the eye. The collection also features good stories by David D. Levine, James Patrick Kelly and Michael Swanwick. The stories are written in a wide variety of styles with diverse themes. Science fiction fans should find several stories that they will enjoy.

I usually find that I have one or two favourites out of an anthology but this was different - I liked most of the stories in this book.
The subjects range from time travel to space opera to cyberpunk, sort of, but they are all the kind that you will remember for a long while.
Be prepared for bittersweet endings.

When one considers the incredible influence that Marxism has had in the unfolding history of the later nineteenth and twentieth century, the beginning student of the combined writings of both Marx and Engels will find this collection of the essential works of these two pioneering socialists absolutely essential reading. Its list of included works covers the waterfront of all that is required to gain a fruitful first look at the wealth of their philosophical musings, and the nature of their revolutionary canon, as well. Reading this material is essential if one is to understand the depth of Marx's understanding and the detail of his genius, however discredited he may be in current estimations. Indeed, with the rise of international corporatism is so close to his prognostications regarding the final phases of capitalism that it is hard to deny his continuing relevance.

Included here is everything from the Communist Manifesto all the way to Volume One of Das Capital. One can gain a better appreciation for his ideas regarding the way in which the antagonism between the oppressed and the oppressors provides the motive force for history, and how all history is the history of such class struggles between the owners of the means of production, on the one hand, and the workers, who have nothing to barter with but their considerable capacity to accomplish labor. If one want to gain a better appreciation for the nuances regarding how alienation is created buy the organization of work, or the origin of property, or even the ways in which all of the aspects of a particualr society's culture are manifestations of the values of the ruling class, then a careful reading of the material found here will serve you well. I highly recommend this book. Enjoy!

This is the best Marx anthology available. Aside from selections taken from all of Marx's major works, it contains lesser-known selections on a variety of topics. The whole presents a steady stream of selections through Marx's life. Consequently, it gives the length and breadth of Marx's writing without burying you in a life-time of reading. Short explanatory introductions help place the selections in Marx's development and in broader history.

A good follow up is Main Currents of Marxism by Leszek Kolakowski (3 volumes). Unfortunately those books are out of print in America, but they can still be found in good libraries and in the used-book market.

This is an excellent selection of the writings of Karl Marx. This includes many writings which do not make it into the usual Marx/Engels Readers; Writings including Marx's Letters, his criticism of Bakunin, more writings on economics than in the usual Reader, and so on. One flaw of it, though, is that it does not contain the later writings of Engels writen after Marx's death. I suppose this is to be expected; It is after all *Marx's* writings, not Engels. However, the loss does not affect it much, and the book is still one of the most valuable tomes of Marxism I've bought. I'd recommend anyone interested in the thought of Karl Marx to get this book; If one is interested in both the writings of Marx and Engels, I'd recommend they get this book and the Marx/Engels Reader to supplement it. I have both, and both are fascinating.

This is a brilliant collection of some of the very best writings of Karl Marx. A must read for anyone with interest in Marx's early writings (non-Marxist period), letters, essays, his Doctoral thesis, and then later on his political writings forming the `theory of historical materialism', commonly referred to as Marxism. Personally, his `Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts 1844' is really a very nice reading because it renders a very attractive insight into Marx's early intellectual and psychological fight against Hegel's Phenomenology to form the basis of his theory later on. Also included is: Critique of Hegel's works and A Poverty of Philosophy (critique of Proudhon) which are excellent readings. Recommended to everyone; quintessentially to anyone trying to get an insight into one of the greatest intellectual minds of all time.

Subhasish Ghosh

St. Cross College
University of Oxford

The "Star Trek SCE" series is written about the "Starfleet Corps of Engineers", which are the topnotch engineers sent in to solve puzzles that have stumped the engineers on an individual ship. It's an interesting idea, very much more traditional science fiction rather than the space opera that is commonly seen in most "science fiction" these days; more attention is paid to the science, without sacrificing plot or character developement.

On the down side, I wasn't quite as taken with the stories in this book as I was with those in the first two entries in the series; on the up side, while book one ended on a cliffhanger and book two therefore started in midstory, this book did not resort to such cheap methods of keeping us interested; it began and ended as a self-contained set of stories.

I believe I've said this already, but I think this S.C.E. idea was about the best ever (you GO, DeCandido!), and this next batch was no exception to that idea. Waiting for the paperbacks puts me woefully behind the eBooks, this I know, but my patience has been consistently rewarded with each new publication.

In Book Three, we get eBook stories 9-12, and each one is a separate little thrill ride into the S.C.E. universe. And I guess what I'm most impressed with is the continuity of character development and growth throughout each author's writing. That can't be an easy task, especially when the authors are also charged with writing a compelling plot.

If you're like me and don't really care for the eBook format, but are interested in learning about the Starfleet team that goes in to clean up the messes, I *highly* recommend these books. Fast-paced but complex, with great character development and depth.

Good job, I say! Don't stop!

I originally read all the S. C. E. novellas in eBook form. But I pick up the paperback print compilations as an excuse to re-read them! S. C. E. is probably the best Star Trek series and these 4 stories are excellent, building up the crew and giving them character. At about this point in the series, you really start to care about the characters. I heartily reccomend this book and the entire S. C. E. series to anyone who's look for a well-written series that is a new twist on Star Trek.

Star Trek-Starfleet Corps of Engineers Book #3: Some Assembly Required is an anthology of four stort stories involving the the corps of engineers first appearing as ebooks and now is in printed form.

"Some Assembly Required" contains:

"The Riddled Post" written by Aaron Rosenberg
"Here, There be Monsters" written by Keith R.A. Decandido
"Ambush" written by Dave Galanter and Greg Brodeur
"Some Assembly Required" written by Scott Ciencin and Dave Jolley

In this book the stories contain high-tech action-adventure and it will keep your attention. The stories are written as short stories and they are written as building on one another. As the stories building to an exciting climax and they have some very clever solutions.

I liked the way the stories are written and the way plot is laid out and the action moves quickly... but the character development is not lacking and it gives the reader a sense of being within the confines of the story... like your in the middle of all of the action.

As each story is written as a complete stand alone story, there are references in each to past adventures making for intresting reading. You'll be engrossed in the story and wanting the characters to succed in each adventure.

This anthology covers story #9 through #12 of the ebook series and the corps of engineers work at solving problems. This is a fresh addition to the Star Trek series and you'll be fascinated as a group of giant monsters fall through an interdimensional gateway, the engineers work on a planetary computer system, solve a mystery of an outpost riddled by a strange new weapon, and defeat a foe who has the corps outgunned in an exciting space battle.

Have tech, will travel is the corps motto and Starfleet's miracle worker will take you on a journey you will not soon forget.

Ok, so not everyone is into the "darker" side of life. We prefer to focus on sunflowers, streams and good old-fashioned values here in the midwest.
To many people, gravestones are just plain creepy. Haven't we all watched horror movies where the dead crawl out from beneath a cracked headstone and kill innocent lovers?
Mr. Brown's book made me look at the gravestones in a brighter (although not unentirely SAD) light. I saw the loss that families suffered through in the intricacy of massive stone mausoleums. I felt the emptiness of parents in the lifelike sculptures of their children. And I shook my head at the quirkiness of folks whose death markers are every bit as weird as they themselves must have been.
I've had this book for 5 years and I STILL pick it up now and again to read the stories behind the cemeteries. I have also given it as a gift to people in my life who I know won't get totally freaked out by it. They LOVE it.
It is a wonderful read/lookat/whatever.... just try it!--

My husband John and I love tombstone art and stomp around the countryside taking photos of cemeteries. This is one of our favorite books, with lots of wonderful photos of cemeteries around St. Louis and so forth. The author also writes a wonderful commentary on the nature of cemeteries, their conditions, and how we view them today as a modern American society. The photos of the children's graves are especially haunting. A must for collectors of tombstone art.

John Gary Brown, does an excellent job at showing the eccentricity and beauty of grave markers. He uses different angles, and points of view in his compositions, to bring out a morbid beauty, that is rarely seen by the naked eye. A truly impressive collection of masterpieces. Just when you think the works speak for themselves, Brown also includes wonderful poetry, which co-exists perfectly with the photographs. A must for anyone's artistic anthology collection.

While the photography is excellent, and the author offers several interesting insights into symbolism and customs, the facts about particular monuments are incorrect. He gives the wrong locations for several monuments (placing them in cemeteries across town), and the descriptions of the cemeteries themselves contain errors

This is an excellent read aloud storybook for young children. The illustrations are full page and well done. The stories themselves are short but captivating enough to read to a squirmy toddler.

The Story Tree: Tales to Read Aloud is a large format book containing seven known folktales from world folklore, including "Monkey-See, Monkey-Do" (Indian), which is a version of the famous Caps for Sale, "The Magic Porridge Pot" (German), from Grimm's Fairy Tales, and "The Three Billy Goats Gruff" (Norwegian). The book includes one Jewish story, "The Blue Coat," which is the very popular story often titled "Joseph Had a Little Overcoat" as in Simms Taback's Caldecott Medal winning book. However, in Hugh Lupton's version, there is no indication that it is from a "Jewish" source, not even in the source notes - only that he had heard the story either from an English or a Scottish storyteller and saw it in print in Parabola magazine, (but without stating which issue or version). Actually, this story comes from a Yiddish folksong called "I had a little coat." In 1978, storyteller Nancy Schimmel made the song into a story ("The Tailor") and published it in her book Just Enough to Make a Story: A Sourcebook for Storytelling (Sisters' Choice Press). If one did not know the origin of this story, there is nothing identifiable as cultural markers to indicate that this is a Jewish folktale. The boy's name is Tom, a rather non-descript choice. As the coat gets cut down to a waistcoat (yes, a waistcoat), and then to a hat, then to a bow-tie, then to a button, and finally to a story, the mother repeats, "Oh dear, oh dear, that coat [or other item] is tattered and torn beyond all redemption!" Now, redemption is a Jewish concept, but I wonder how many parents will be able to explain clearly what that means in the context of this story. Why weren't more American words used in place of `waistcoat' and `redemption'? There are, however, some repetitive sections of the story that make it a delightful participatory experience for the reader and listener to say out loud together. The cartoonish illustrations are delightfully spaced all over the pages with a lot of color and humor. However, there's a scene with snow and a palm tree, which don't seem to go together. Ages 5-10. Reviewed by Peninah Schram

This is one book my husband and I can stand to read over and over. Our toddler loves it. We cannot figure out why but for six months it has been the top choice to read and study the pictures. Although some stories are a little much for a toddler, he likes the sweeter ones anyways, so we are fine with reading it to him.
The table of contents is great as there are pictures by the titles so he can choose which story we read. He did not like the CD at all and cried - the man's voice is kind of creepy on it.
A wonderful book to add to any collection.

This book is a collection of well-known tales from different cultures, including Indian, Norwegian, African-American, etc.. Some of the stories have some tension and may be rather scary, but some kids may like them. The book includes:

--The magic pot: about a magical pot that is always full of food, and how it needs to be managed.
--Monkey see, monkey do: about a hat salesman who upsets his cart and a bunch of monkeys who steal his hats. The salesman must be quite clever to get his hats back.

--Sweetest song: about a little girl who goes out to pick flowers, and forgets to mind where she is going, soon wandering off deep into the forest. She has to think fast to get away from the wolf who follows her.
--Little Lord Feather-frock: about a cat, blackbird, and rooster who all lived together. A cunning fox starts carrying them away, and the cat and the blackbird must scheme to free the rooster.
--Three billy goats gruff: about 3 billy goats who need to cross a bridge that has a terrible troll living under it. They manage to get across by relying on the troll's greediness and their own brute strength.
--Little red hen: about a hen that finds a seed and asks other animals to help her plant it and take care of it. But no one is interested into helping her, so she must do the work herself. When the seed grows and ripens, she makes it into bread and keeps it for herself since no one helped her with the work.
--Blue coat: about a little boy with a favorite coat made out of blue fabric. When he wears out the coat, his mother cuts it down and makes a vest out of it. This happens again and again until the coat is reduced to a button.

All told, the book has about 4100 words.

Book was in condition as promised and arrived promptly. Great transaction - would definitely use this seller again =)

A good source for teachers to find stories about the myths and legends of the constellations.

All three Williamson "Tales alive!" books are great but of the three this is my favourite. The stories chosen are delightful and cover a range of sky related themes, eg. the sun, moon, stars, weather. The stories were not always the best known from a region (I noticed this with the Polynesian entry as that's my part of the world), and this was a definite plus for me. The activities are great - I work with slightly older children than the book is aimed at but could easily adapt them to suit.

This collection of ten folktales from around the world (Native America, Slovakia, India, Europe, Canada, Polynesia, Mexico, Africa, and Scandinavia) focuses on the sky--heavenly bodies, the seasons, and the weather. In addition to Milord's colorful and creative stories, this resource also contains background information, science experiments, hands-on projects, games, arts and craft activities, and recipes. Children are invited to learn about the mysteries of the sky through exciting activities such as baking a batch of celestial pretzels, solving a lunar calendar puzzle, making a Beaufort scale to estimate wind speed, and flying an origami-style paper kite.