Form-4 Books

I bought this for my 5 year old son after checking out another book by Thornton Burgess (Old Mother West Wind) from the library that we liked. These stories are fun for both of us. Short chapters are good for short attention spans or they can be strung together for a longer story. Unlike The longer Burgess Animal Book for Childen, which reads like a list of facts, there are actual stories here which is good for younger children.

I remember these books from my childhood, and now I'm reading the series to my 3 children, ages 5,7 and 9. They love the stories, and I feel good reading them wholesome, nature-inspired literature.

My daughter was reading these books in school, so I purchased a set for her at home since she was telling me about them and laughing long after she got home from school. I wanted to see what I was missing so I have been reading them to her at bed time. We have enjoyed The Adventures of Reddy Fox, The Adventures of Danny Meadow Mouse and The Adventures of Grandfather Frog, thus far. It is an enjoyable experience because while I am reading them for the first time, my 6 year old knows what's coming from her experience at school and she is having a great time enjoying her "secret". The stories are enjoyable to read even as an adult, and not the mindless clutter that so many children books are.

I just bought both boxed sets to give to my brother for his children. We both remember the books fondly from when Mom would read them to us when we were young.

My boxed set contained these books: Peter Cottontail, Reddy Fox, Chatterer the Red Squirrel, Grandfather Frog, Danny Meadow Mouse, and Happy Jack. Note that previous reviews said the 6th book was Buster Bear. My set had Happy Jack in its place. I don't know if they changed the sets in 7 years or what happened. I suggest buying the sets first and then figure out which singles you still need if you want to complete your collection.

The Burgess books are very very great. I love them. The stories are fun and the covers are interesting. I want to collect them all and I think you would too. I am 9 years old.

The first time I read this book I was only 8 years old Garfield has done wonderful things for me. He has given me a companion. Even if he is a cat.

This "Treasury" is a collection of Sunday Garfield comic strips from October 1984 through November 1986.

This treasury collection also shows the final morphing by creator Jim Davis of Garfield and his friends into what we see today in the comic strips.

This book is a nice anthology of some of Garfield's funniest moments. Really enjoyable

Speaking as a writer of humor/satire/parody (most recently, Scratching the'Net: Web Sites for Cats - a book answering the question, "What would the internet look like if it were run by cats?"), what can I say except that Garfield is truly a cat's cat. And it's all here in this excellent collection.

Garfield is back in living color for the fourth time and it's funny. In this book, Garfield and Odie run away from home and do several other things in color. Garfield makes me laugh all the time and I'd recommend this book, as well as his mini-books and other treasuries. Funny.

This tenth installment of the "Garfield" comics contains Garfield's attempt at show business on the midnight fence, a visit to Aunt Gussie, using swiss cheese to catch mice, Garfield's "Night Before Christmas", Garfield's (poor) fun with a paper bag, a fight with conscience, a hunt for the mailman, a stiff neck, another vacation (which also lasts for three weeks), and the search for Pooky. We're also seeing more of the orange cat on his hind legs; the Darwinian evolution really works. So let's keep on reading!

Garfield is a puffed up caricature of all cats. They truly believe that the world revolves around them and their food better be there when they want it. Like Garfield, my cat, appropriately named Sassy, wants attention when she wants it and then will bite you when she is done. Yet, like Garfield, she is a lovable creature that would be missed if she was gone. Garfield is funny, a bit demented and always a good read.

It is hard for me to pick out a favorite Garfield book because everything Garfield does makes me laugh. "Garfield Makes It Big" is a non-stop laugh riot. One of my personal favorite moments in Garfield history is when Jim Davis used the classic Xmas story "T'was the Night Before Christmas" and just visualized the story using his comic characters. It was both funny and appropriate at the time he did that back in '83. I love Garfield's neverending practical jokes on Jon, like loosening up the top of the salt shaker. And of course I just love it when Nermal comes to visit and manages to make Garfield look bad in front of Jon's eyes. The reader also sees Garfield attempt to mail Nermal to Abu Dhabi for the first time. And of course there are the times that Garfield terrorizes the mailman. I love it when Jon takes Garfield on vacation. The strip where Jon tries to board the plane in peace is hilarious because he doesn't want to be known for having to sit in third class. Whenever I am down, I can always count on Garfield making me laugh.

Jim Davis has once again used his expertise to charm and captivate our minds in his explosive 10th collection of comics. His wit and humor make America's favorite fat cat come to life, now more gluttonous and hilarious than ever before. My only complaint is that the Sunday strips are not printed in color, but overall this is a wonderful arrangement of comics.

My book title is Garfield makes it Big. It is about a fat cat that does not like to do anything. It's a good book because he sleeps all of the time. The mice are his friends. He likes lasagna so every time John cooks it Garfield eats it. The authors name is Jim Davis. I would recommend this book to the people who like comely. My name is Bryant Mathaw Stevens. Hop you like this book.

The seventh intallment of the "Garfield" comics includes the first appearance of Jon's Grandma, Garfield's attempt on show business on the midnight fence, another useless diet, more flirtations with Arlene, and an outside walk in the dark night. Also, the appearance of Lyman is becoming less and less apparent; I almost feel sorry for the man. Anyway, Garfield (along with Calvin and Hobbes) is the only comic I read. I like it!

Garfields first 6 books were good.
Now... here comes GARFIELD SITS AROUND THE HOUSE. Funnier and fatter, see garfield as he goes fishing, asks 'Have you kicked your dog today?' and eats his cake for his 4th birthday but eats the candles on fire as well. I really enjoyed it. It is one of my favorate books. I'm the only peson in my class who likes Garfield. It is so good.
It has comic from 11 January 1982- 15 August 1982.
It is good!

I'll never forget the first time that I read this book back in the 7th grade when my younger brother checked out at the library and this book is Garfield's best book yet cause the drawings were getting better and they were starting to come up with more ideas.
The funniest moments were when Garfield ate the whole cake when the candles were still lit on the cake, when Odie eats Garfield's burger and says ribbit, his bad case of Monday's, or when Garfield beets on Odie.

If you love Garfield books, then this book is highly recommended cause it is the funniest book of the early 1980's.

Garfield:He opens his mouth.Odie:he takes the hamburger!Garfield says:What the? Odie says:RIBBIT. That was a comic from Garfield sits around the house.

Everybody out there keep buying Garfield books! They can be worth a lot of money someday and can become collector's items! I'm always going to keep all of mine so when I have kids they can read them!

This fifth installment of the Garfield comics is a treat for the eyes. Here we get to see Garfield's Grandpa (this is when we delve into Garfield's origin). We also get to see more of the orange cat's nap attacks, his journey to the city pound, his P.O.V. in catching mice, and his flirtations with Arlene. Also, on 4/18/1981, we see Garfield on his hind feet the first time, but this is only minor. On 5/17/1981, this is when we start to see his hind legs as part of his cartoon evolution.

This book is as good as Garfield has always been. I could only afford to buy the first 4 books as a kid. I never was able to by any of the others during their original run. I remember reading parts of this book in K-Mart as a kid wishing I could get it. I also read these strips in the newspaper.

Is Jim Davis trying to pull a George Lucas on us? All of these re-released full-color books are missing the final page of the original release books.

This re-release Fifth Book (Takes The Cake) is missing the "Garfield Characters That Didn't Make It" special page that was the final page of the original release.

It would be a shame to have the special comic lost to time. Luckily I have all the originals.

Normally I should give a 1-Star rating to show my displeasure with the missing content of this release. However, I simply can't bring myself to give a poor rating to a Garfield book.

Garfield Takes the Cake (#5) contains all daily comics from November 3, 1980 through June 7, 1981. Garfield's Second Tresury contains the color version of all the sunday comics held within #5.

I don't know what it is about Garfield that still gets me to buy his books ever year. I have been a fan since I was in second grade, will be 22 years in September. I think what appeals me to the lazy fat cat is his sharp wit and cynicism. Just like Garfield, I hate Mondays with an immense passion and I love lasagna. One of my personal favorite books in the entire series is "Garfield Takes the Cake", the fifth volume of Garfield comic strips. I loved it when Garfield's grandfather pays Garfield a visit. I thought it was a nice touch. I got to see where Garfield got his looks from. I also loved it when Garfield met Arlene. Talk about oil and water. Arlene is definitely Garfield's equal when she is able to match wits with the fat cat. And I love all the fat jokes Jon makes and Garfield's reaction. The camping expedition is a definite classic Garfield moment. No matter how old I get, I can never get tired of reading Garfield. He is my escape from a crazy world known as reality.

This fantastic collection of poems explains the structure for many poetic forms, providing examples of each. My fourth grader read it through and found it fascinating and inspiring. She is now writing her own poetry. I also found the book educational and interesting. A superb book.

This book was a lot of fun to read to my students and really helped conjure up some creativity in them!

I bought this book for the children's section of my library. My niece loves it! It has sparked her interest in poetry so much that she is not only writing her own using the rules taught in the book for each form but she is also seeking out forms not included in the book! She has discovered that Tyger Tyger by William Blake is her favorite poem. I could not be more pleased with this book.

Every year Poetry Month comes along and every year there are children's librarians like myself who shudder at its approach. Poetry. It's not something that every person in the world is going to appreciate right off the bat. So, if you're like myself, you get out a bunch of poetry books, put them in an area labeled "POETRY MONTH SELECTIONS" and then desperately search the internet for further poetry-related activities you can hold in your branch. This year I decided I'd try to do some poetry with the homeschooler bookgroup I run. What I really wanted was to show the kids lots of books with different kinds of poetic styles in them. A collection of poetic forms, if you will. I couldn't find anything perfect, however, so I just chalked it up to there being too few useful poetry books for kids in this world. Then I attended the Children's Book Committee annual breakfast at the Bank Street College of Education. And the winner of the 2005 Claudia Lewis Award, as it happened, was "A Kick In the Head", as selected by Paul B. Janeczko. I was curious so I picked it up. And right then and there it hit me that THIS was the book I'd been so desperately searching for all this time. It's a truly interesting collection of poetic forms done in such a way that kids will not only understand them, but want to write some of their own. After I recovered from the shock I returned to my library and sure enough, lo and behold, there was the book sitting perkily on my shelf where it had always been. So parents, educators, and librarians, heed my warning. Discover "A Kick In the Head" for your own Poetry Months before it's too late. Don't make the same mistake I did.

The book contains twenty-nine different poetic forms. Everything from your basic haikus and limericks to triolets, aubades, and pantoums. There are blues poems and clerihews, and even the rare riddle poem or two. Janeczko has culled the most amusing and child-friendly versions of these forms possible, and it works. For example, take the villanelle. You might not think it lends itself naturally to a child's reading, but then you see how cleverly Joan Bransfield Graham has created, "Is There a Villain In Your Villanelle?". And into this lively jumble we throw Chris Raschka's brightly colored mixed-media extravaganza. The result is a high-energy introduction to poetry in all its wild and wooly forms. A lovely amalgamation to say the least.

None of this is to say that there wasn't an odd choice or two. For the "found poem", Janeczko reprints Georgia Heard's, "The Paper Trail". The poem is a beautiful list of different kinds of writing, and it soon becomes clear that these are the scraps of paper and floated to the ground when the Twin Towers fell on 9/11. No mention of 9/11 is ever made, but you'd have to be pretty dense not to get the St. Paul's Cathedral reference. Fans of that old Cat Stevens song, "Morning Has Broken", will see it listed under the "aubade" section. And I, for one, had no idea that poem/song was written originally by classic children's author Eleanor Farjeon. Go figure.

I'm not normally a Raschka fan, by the way. Something about his images, I find off-putting. But I did enjoy a lot of what the artist decided to do here. For the "senryu" poem, for example, he was able to construct a month old cheese sandwich using only paper fibers of various orange, yellow, green (bleck!), and cream-colored shades. And if you think he had an easy job of this book then YOU try making an illustration for Shakespeare's "Sonnet Number Twelve". Even worse, make a picture for a poem imitating "Sonnet Number Twelve". It's doubly hard. So a tip of the hat to Raschka's efforts.

Now people are going to wonder what ages to hand this book to. I say, all. Obviously some of the poems, like the sonnets, aren't going to charm very small ones. But kids who like silly limericks or tankas that begin with words like, "Fish guts" will find their favorites in this selection. As for older kids, this book is useful well into high school. At that point the students will start appreciating the difficulty behind some of the more elaborate poems. A lovely addition to every library and I dare say a necessary one. No poetry section is complete without this book.

This book is a wonderful tool if you are teaching poetry. It describes many different types of poetry with an example and a simple explanation. Very colorful pictures.

Since I don't have time to read webcomics daily, It's nice having them all together. I alos liek teh little "Explanations" or back story on teh bottom of each page.

I had read Penny Arcade now and then in the past, but didn't follow it on a regular basis - then while browsing the comics and manga section of the bookstore, the title of this volume just jumped out at me, as I am a cockatiel owner who loves birds in all their weirdness.

The title of this book (even though the contents have little to do with birds :) ), plus my passing interest in Penny Arcade, and great love of video games made me decide I needed this book. And I enjoyed it thoroughly. I love the art, I love the gamer humour, I love Gabe's Appendix... in short this book is a lot of fun. Highly recommended for fans of gaming and Internet culture. I plan on collecting the rest of the volumes in the very near future!

This collection of the Penny Arcade comics covers an entire year of their work. While they don't do story arcs very often, the work included is still fantastic, and introduces some of there newer repeat characters.

This book was great! Jerry Holkines never lets up on the wit factor. Laugh out loud!

As with the last three volumes, this book delivers exactly what it promises: a year's worth of side-splitting, laugh-out-loud comics. Holkins' writing is, as always, uncompromisingly witty, and Krahulik's art improves every year.

The only noticeable improvement to the compilation would be a little extra material in the rear of book. The full color, full page art included in the previous volume blew me away, and it would be nice to have something that breathtaking in all of their publications.

The book is a delightful snapshot of an American family and their travels and travails, as told by pilot and patriot Chick Williams. In the style of Mark Twain, we see and feel what it was like to grow up in small towns, and travel about the world. We are exposed to the behind the scenes antics, and drama, as the jet age comes to full maturity and becomes a part of our lives. As told through the eyes of a commercial airline and Air Force pilot.

CHICK WILLIAMS DIARY IS SPLENDID READING WITH LOTS OF HUMOR. I KNEW HIM AS A BOY AND IT WAS GREAT TO FOLLOW HIS EXCITING LIFE. PILOTS DO HAVE FUN AND CHICK WAS NO EXCEPTION!

If you are a pilot, this certainly is a must read book. Captain Charles "Chick" Williams has unfolded the story of his flying experiences in both an exciting and humorous way. The early years tell of his youth as an "Army Brat" and then on with his own military life, airline experiences and finally retirement. I had the opportunity to meet Chick earlier this year and found his story telling abilities in person equal to his ability to reduce them to writing. I highly recommend this book.

Charles Williams gives readers a great look at the experiences of both military and commercial airline pilots. The stories he tells provides a look behind usually closed doors. As a frequent flyer, I am always interested in his insights and stories about commercial aviation. He tells them well here and this book should be a fine reading experience for both pilots and passengers.

Winds Aloft is a great read for everyone. What a wonderful way to bring to light the dreams of a young man who knew flying was to be his life long career. Some stories are short and others are longer but they all bring the reader into the cockpit of several types of airframes and put us into one of the seats. Well Done Chuck Williams!

i just HAD to make a review on this!
i got this in the mail today and after a couple cartoons i was on the floor laughing like crazy. this book is for everyone- even people who don't like to laugh! they will think it's witty

This is hilarious stuff! I wish my wife understood this kind of humor.

Most cartoons may come across as a bit dumb, but not the Far Side. If you like to think and laugh at the same time and are sick of the same old silly antics, don't miss this little book. The drawings are great and the subtle, implied humor even better. This is my favorite cartoon book to date.

Highly recommended.

With the classic bear not wanting to be shot pointing at his friend seen through a rifle's telescopic lens cartoon on the front cover you know that you're in for a treat.

Beyond the Far Side contains some of the all time classics such as Superman checking for change in the coin slot of a phone booth while getting changed, "Say what's a mountain goat doing way up here in a cloud bank?" seen through the cockpit window of a plane and the classic smoking dinosaurs picture with the caption "the real reason dinosaurs became extinct."

Once you have one Far Side cartoon you have to own them all. The only way you can do that is to buy every single one of these Far Side books. This isn't a bad one to start off with.

Tip it may be cheaper to buy The Far Side Galleries which are three of these books put together so compare prices.

Gary Larson's The Far Side continues to please. These are the jokes great greeting cards are made of. As only the best humorists like Jerry Seinfeld do, Mr. Larson makes the reader smile and laugh the most when making us laugh at ourselves. In his cartoons, the reader will see the idiosyncracies, rigidity, and sarcasm of everyday life. His cartoons are caricatures: hyperbole. So that, in a way similar to Jerry Seinfeld, Larson makes us feel more confident and pleased with the humor of it all because we are not laughing at anyone's expense.

My 6 and 8 year old boys absolutely love Tashi! They can't get enough! I just order big, big book #2 for them. Keep the Tashi adventures coming!

My boys 8 and 5 were captivated and couldn't wait to find out what adventure came next! I hightly reccommend this series!

This is a great book with lots of fun adventure stories. The stories are similar to Lord of the Rings......but for kids. :-) My kids beg for this book every night.

We think Tashi is a excellent book for all ages. Katie is nine and her younger sister is four, and they both liked the book a lot, as did their parents. The stories are not too spooky but exciting. We liked the charming "old country" that Tashi was from, created mostly by the pictures. Tashi has pointy hair and earings and wears a really cool jacket and boots. The houses in the "old country" look Japanese? Chinese? It's hard to say. It looked like a really nice place to live except for the warlords, baron, giants, flying houses, pirates and demons. We got swept up in the magical ride of "The Big Big Big Book of Tashi". We definetly plan to read "Tashi and the Dancing Shoes".

I bought this book to read to my 4 year old son, who is ready for stories with more meat on the bones (a higher word-to-picture ratio and stronger plot) than most picture books. He loved it -- he was so sad the last night when he said "Dad, you forgot to put the bookmark in!" and my husband told him they had read the last story. We'll read it again and again, if his 6 year old sister (who reads at a 3rd grade level) hasn't run off with it -- again! It is great for kids ready for stories with real plot, but not for too-mature themes. Particularly good for boys, just because there are so few for them at this stage; a lot of the other stories in this niche are kind of princessy -- which my daughter loved, but which wasn't right for my son.