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This book has several advanced techniques not found or not explained in other quilling books. It is a great "next step" book for those who have already used the basic techniques. It is also a great inspiration to show beginners what can be done with quilling. The designs are elegant and interesting, not cute and they don't look like they came from 1970.

Great overview of quilling. Amazing, creative designs! Exciting inspiration.
If you have any interest in quilling, this is a fun book. Projects are not too "country" the way other books and kits tend to be. There is a range of historical and contemporary styles. This book is neat for the novice but geared for more complex quillers. Beware, this is not much of a step-by-step manual though. More for ideas!

Beautiful to look at and fun to try!

I like this book because their is a odd character it is the bunny. The bunny is a funny charcter because in a part it was recess time and he playing thing that he did not know how to play. He started playing jump rope and his teacher did it so fast that he couldn't believe it. Then he tried to jump rope and then recess was over. I suggest that people read this book.

This is my mom's first chapter book. It has short chapters and easy text. The illusrtrations are really cool and I think this is her best book because Radish (a girl rabbit who is in 2nd grade) gets into a lot of funny problems. The book is based on problems that I had when I was in second grade. I liked this book.

Valori Wells is a woman of many talents, a photographer as well as a quilter, and with a keen eye for color and line. The designs and colors of her new book featuring the New York Beauty block are absolutely luscious - deep and rich and complex, with a new surprise and delight on every page. This demanding block, like its sister the Mariner's Compass, presents difficulties in construction (matching points and all that nonsense), but Wells has the answer - paper piecing - and the book provides foundations for the quilt projects and gives permission for their reproduction. The book is sprinkled with "mini-lessons" on specific techniques, and with the author's photographs, especially of plants, from which she gets many of her inspirations. All I can say after drinking in the beauty in this book is "Wow!"

As a quiltmaker, I find this publication to be one of the most beautifully creative books I've seen in years. I think a friend of mine said it best, "Valori Wells may have gotten a start riding on her mother's (quiltmaker and author Jean Wells)coattails, but she has definitely come into her own." Not only are the patterns wonderful, but the creative ideas for quilting patterns are stunning. As an avid reader and lover of all books, I would have enjoyed this book even if I did not make quilts. It would be a colorful addition to the coffee table of any art collector.

This is a beautiful rendition of the Musee d'Orsday. Not too difficult but does require some time and patience. The quality of detail, including that of the acetate windows and central arch, make for a great display piece.

I've made this and several other l'Instant Durable paper models. They're wonderful projects (if you like this sort of thing) and I've enjoyed having them on display hanging from my bedroom ceiling. I highly recommend!

This collection of Mr. Stivender's memories from his first year in Catholic school all the way up to his prom was very funny. I have never been to a parochial school myself, but from what my father has told me about his memories, these stories give a taste of what Catholic schools were like in the 1950's, but in a hilarious manner.

As a graduate of "Holy Cross" where Stivender went to school, I could clearly relate to every word in this book. His story telling talents certainly entertained this reader (actually listener, I got the book on tape and listened on a recent car trip). Stivender certainly has a way with words and the events that he experienced and recollects can be clearly imagined and remembered by anyone who entered a Catholic grade school at that time. Unfortunately our own children of the next generation will not be able to share these experiences. I laughed for 2 hours and then laughed again as I listened to the book a second time with my 18 and 20 year olds! They too enjoyed every word. If by chance Stivender reads this review, I "was" Kathi Reiner and my feelings were hurt (only teasing) that you did not mention me in your trip down memory lane.

I thought this book was excellent. It was extremely helpful as far as taking a piece of work that I found difficult to read, and not only making it understandable and interesting, but also giving it meaning and purpose. I now comprehend the book's importance as a historical piece of literature much better than I could before. I found the biography of Casmus' life to be well-rounded and captivating, without needing to read an entire book about him! I highly recommend this book for any student of literature who wants to better understand Casmus and/or his writing of The Plague.

Jesse Cunningham catalogues a broad, well-researched collection of essays that address readers on a variety of levels. Camus biographers Germaine Bree and Gaetan Picon introduce the work with insightful, easily understood discussions on theme and allegory. The other contributing writers, (John Cruickshank, Derek Parker, David R. Ellison, Brian Masters, Rachel Bespaloff, Jennifer Waelti-Walters, Patrick McCarthy, Allen Thiher, David Sprintzen, Bernard C. Murchland, and Robert R. Brock), tackle a variety of subjects with pertinence and wit. I highly recommend this work as an insightful read and a stepping stone to further research.

No one knows Woodrow Wilson as the late Athur Link knew him. Link, a Princeton historian, was chosen to edit The Papers of Woodrow Wilson, perhaps the largest collection of presidential documents and references ever assembled. From 1963-93 he and a team of researchers cataloged the collection. Toward the end of the project, Professor Link had an extended conversation with journalist James Robert Carroll who recorded, edited and presented the result in this fascinating short volume.

Link shares many insights with Carroll. We learn that Wilson typed many of his own letters; that most of his speeches were not written in advance, so that staff members had to scrambled to recreate copies afterward. Wilson taught himself shorthand, facilitating note taking. Link believes Wilson sustained small strokes very early in the century and that his obstinacy over accepting modifications to the World War I peace treaty stemmed not from ideological animosity toward Senator Henry Cabot Lodge and others, but rather from typical after match symptoms from his major stroke of October 2, 1919. He contends also that Edith Wilson did not make policy decisions for her ailing husband. Rather, she regulated who could see him and for how long, in an effort to provide him maximum rest and a calm atmosphere.

This book is not only interesting, but also useful for students of the presidency and for learning about the work techniques of a famous historian.

A fascinating behind-the-scenes view of Woodrow Wilson's life and afterlife, via a freeflowing conversation with Arthur Link, the late great Wilson biographer and editor of the amazing Wilson Papers. Link knew more about Wilson's life than anyone - perhaps more even than Wilson himself - and here he tells engaging and revealing stories about Wilson's rise from scholar and college president to New Jersey governor and president of the United States, culminating in his heroic fight for the League of Nations in 1919. We get rare glimpses of Wilson's childhood, loves, marriages, his intellectual life, and the impact of illness - including a series of strokes - on his presidency well before his dramatic collapse at the height of the League campaign. Link also describes his own leading role in one of the greatest editorial feats of all time - the nearly 70 volumes of the Wilson papers - documents written by, for, and about Wilson - which give us as complete and rounded a picture as we have of the life of any president - indeed of any human being. From their modest origins in the late 50s, when Link had little inkling of the scope of the task he'd rather casually undertaken, to their waxing with the publication of two massive, brilliantly annotated volumes a year, to the end in the early 90s, with the image of Link at his desk editing the last volumes almost singlehandedly (and by hand! - no computers), Link tells us in entertaining style how it was done, both the careful planning and the serendipity - including the thrilling discovery of a lost trove of papers from Wilson's childhood and early career in a forgotten upstairs closet of his Washington house. Tedium at times there was, Link acknowledges, but his unflagging enthusiasm and devotion shine through this conversation, as does his admiration, tempered by real discernment and almost infinite knowledge, of Wilson's character, achievements, and legacy. Highly recommended for anyone with an interest in history and in how it's made - how leaders live it and how scholars write it.

With great illustrations, my 3 years old son can read out the story even without knowing the words. The story is about a rabbit that was struck in the street with cement. The animals in busy town tried to find ways to get the rabbit out, including using big fan, dump truck, stick, and finally power shovel to scoop him up. It is amazing that just with the simple questions, like "Can we blow him out?" can arouse the interest of the little reader to read the book. This is one of favourite bedtime stories for my son. It is really a great book. I highly recommend this book for toddlers.

Like other richard scarry books this one has the usual FUN cast of characters....The pictures are charming and the words are not imtimidating. It would be easy to follow and predict the words because the pictures are so discriptive. This was a great early reader book.:)

This is a historically thorough yet immensely enjoyable work. Filene's take on "roots music" is refreshing--honest and free of gushing hyperbole; just cynical enough without ever becoming acerbic.

The stories Filene chooses to tell are illuminating and often funny--Leonard Chess faking his way through Blues hitmaking; Leadbelly being marketed as a country bumpkin in overalls when he preferred to wear suits.

There are so many more stories to be told, though--musicians to discuss, angles of the folk boom to expand, that I wish Filene would write more--perhaps another volume.

Most books about popular music fall into one of two categories. You have your pretentious rock n' roll critic who writes in impenetrable and cryptic prose (Hello Anthony DeCurtis and Robert Christgau) or you have purely academic writings that miss the heart of what is often music felt at a gut level. Then along comes Benjamin Filene. Filene offers up a brilliant discussion of the ways in which folk music became a part of our American consciousness. Profiling the careers of such artists as Leadbelly, Muddy Waters, Pete Seeger and Bob Dylan, "Romancing the Folk" presents an extremely lively, readable and well thought out discussion of the way folk music was presented to the American public and ultimately accepted as a valid art form in its own right. In doing so, Filene breaks from the stale world of traditional popular music writing and gives you a fine read while you listen to "Blood on the Tracks," "Goodnight Irene," "Hoochie Coochie Man" or "Talking Union."

What a great book! The title "Route 66 Souvenirs" says it all. Everytime I hit Route 66, I end up buying a ton of souvenirs. I actually constructed the models in the book, and placed a bunch of them in a curio cabinet, along with several real-life souvenirs that I had bought along Route 66. Doing this was incredibly great "therapy" til I can get back on the old Mother Road again!

Š Alan Rose's new book is art in itself. Somehow, the author has enhanced the innovative precision of his past paper-building books with a humorous perspective and the sense that -- like Buzz and Todd -- one's along on a colorful Route 66 adventure with an old pal. Got two copies: one for the buildings and one for the book.