literature

This book is perfect for curling up with your children to read. One of the stories is Christmas-related and makes a lovely story to read the night before Christmas. The illustrations are beautiful and James Herriot is a master story-teller. You do not have to grow up in England or on a farm to appreciate his stories. If you love animals, you will love this book. My children look forward to cuddling up and reading another story with me and they are 8 and 11 year old boys! (But they love animal stories.)

I am a huge fan of any of James Herriott's writing. I love to read. My daughter, however, has a reading disability and the whole reading process is tedious and frustrating for her. We usually read together. This was one book that she requested to read again and again and again. James Herriott's heartwarming stories translate well into the youthful reader's world. Even if you are not an animal lover, you will find yourself falling in love with the lovable creatures and their eclectic owners!

This is our family's all time favorite book. James Herrriot's true stories paired with magnificent illustations make this a wonderful book to read to a variety of ages of children; adults find the stories equally enjoyable. We have frequently given this book as a "family gift"(a spread of ages and boys and girls), gift to siblings of a new baby and even to babies who have everything, but will later appreciate this lovely book.

I'm a huge fan of historical fiction and this book definitely rates near the top of my list.

While reading Lay That Trumpet in Our Hands, I was stricken with many emotions. Susan Carol McCarthy weaves a heartbreaking story of life in central Florida during the years of 1951-1952.

It begins with Reesa McMahon a young northerner who resides in Florida with her parents and two younger brothers. When her best friend Marvin, a young black man who worked in her parents' orange grove, was murdered by the KKK, Reesa is thrown into a world where she is forced to come to terms with the deception and brutality of the local government and become an adult when she should be enjoying childhood.

If you're like me, this book will amaze you with what we didn't learn in history books. I'm not sure why, but I never thought of Florida as a "Southern" state. This book reveals the truth behind one of the worst times in the Civil Rights Movement, and introduces new heroes who will forever be remembered!

You WILL love this book!

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While reading this book, I kept saying to myself and my husband, "I didn't know that or did you know that. . .". In other words, this book is based on facts of historical events involving the KKK and the FBI that occurred in Florida in 1951-1952. However, this story is far from boring; it's told from a young girl's perspective as she grows up emotionally. Not only does Ms. McCarthy tell a story of fearful circumstances but also personalizes it so that we rout for this girl, her family and the community. Every anecdote ties together perfectly. I especially didn't want to read about a "rattler race" in a dry sinkhole, yet I couldn't stop myself. So will you.

Florida is hardly the place one would look to find the hotbed of violence and hatred that was the Ku Klux Klan in 1951. However, as Susan Carol McCarthy tells us in her highly effective debut novel, at that time, it was. Reesa McMahon's nightmare begins in spring of that year when a nineteen year old black youth named Marvin Cully is killed. Marvin was her friend and worked as citrus picker in her father's orange grove. This event sets off a wave of violence throughout the state. Bombs explode and people are killed as far south as Miami. The NAACP and FBI get involved and eventually Reesa's father, Warren, is involved as a sympathizer for the blacks. This leads to an eventual clash between Warren and the local black community versus the KKK.
Susan Carol McCarthy displays a prodigious talent at writing realistic historical fiction. There is much to be admired in this work. The civil rights era is brought fully to life in her hands. There is a great sense of place in that the reader could almost smell the fragrant citrus groves of this small central Florida town. However, most impressive of all is her depiction of the characters. They are both empathetic and realistic including the dialogue they speak. In a sense, it is a coming of age novel. It represents a clash between childhood innocence and the harsh realities of the adult world comprised of racial bigotry and hatred. Remnicent of TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, LAY THAT TRUMPET IN OUR HANDS is a microcosmic saga that reveals the triumph of good over evil in the framework of a small southern town. Highly recommended.

The 'true' X-men from back-in-the-day are finally available for the X-men fans of today. First off, this book contains the first ten issues of the series, including individual covers, in full color on glossy stock and and hard bound. These stories (Uncanny X-men 1-10) were written in '61 and '62 by Stan Lee and drawn by the Jack Kirby, with both a forward and afterward by Stan...'nuff said. It tells the origins of the X-men (original team: Professor X, Cyclops, Beast, Angel, and Iceman), the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants (Magneto, Toad, Mastermind, Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver), introduces modern mainstay characters like Jean Grey, Blob, and Kazar all for the first time, and guest-stars old-school Marvel money-makers like Namor the Sub-mariner and the Avengers. New-school fans may be a bit thrown by the presence of sixties throw-back characters like the Vanisher, Unus the Utouchable, and Lucifer or the lack of explanation of Magneto's powers or his prior relationship with Xavier, but it's worth it to see the Beast and Angel before they turned blue...It is incredible to see how good the story was in the sixties, even reading it now after the year 2000.

First off, even though these Masterworks are kind of pricecy, if you were to buy these comics that were anywhere near the quality of these Masterworks, it would cost you an arm & a leg.
These stories in X-men vol 1 are really good especialy when you conider marvel's target audience -- kids. Ignore the fact that everything is over-explained (and that Beast's character does a 180) And you should get a kick out of these if you have only the vaguest interest.
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This is it folks, this is where everyone's favorite merry mutants hit the comic scene and would go on to make an impact that not even Stan Lee could have predicted. Collecting the first 10 issues of The X-Men (years later it would be re-titled Uncanny X-Men); we are introduced to Professor X, Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Iceman, Angel, and the Beast: the original team of X-Men. Right off the bat they are thrown into battle against Magneto, and would later on face off against his Brotherhood of Evil Mutants (which included Toad, Mastermind, Scarlet Witch, and Quicksilver) and introduces us to the Blob and Ka-Zar. Namor the Sub-Mariner and the Avengers also make appearances, but the heart of this TPB lies within Stan Lee's story. He had described the X-Men as a hybrid between the Fantastic Four and Spider-Man: a team with otherworldly superhuman powers who faced the alienation and isolation of being different and being feared by normal humans. Jack Kirby's pencils are more than a throwback to Marvel's Golden Age, and for the most part they still stand the test of time. Though the story doesn't directly deal with Magneto's past and his reasons for his beliefs of mutant supremacy; this Marvel Masterworks collection is a must have for any and every fan of the X-Men.

This is the second in the series of the Guardian's of Ga'hoole. Soren, Gylfie, Twilight, and Digger are searching for the legendary Ga'hoole Tree. Here they might find help as to what can stop St. Aegolius'.

On the way, the run across a wounded owl that tells them about something far worse than the Academy for Orphaned Owls. Will the band find the Tree, and find out what this terror is? Find out by reading the second in this great series!

I liked this book because it was very interesting and had a great plot. What made this story terrific were the characters. Soren, Gylfie, Twilight, and Digger were amazing. They fight of enemies rescue owlets and everything else owls do. The four main characters really made this story awesome. My favorite part of the book is when Soren flies into a forest fire to retrieve coals for the great Ga'hoole tree. That's just one of the great parts. I can't wait to read the third book of this series.

This book is about a band of owls that are sent out to find the great Ga'hoole tree because they lost their families. At the Ga'hoole tree owls go out each night to perform noble deeds. When they arrive they are given their own hollow. Soon they will be put into chaws. A chaw is a group of owls who perform noble deeds like the search and rescue chaw. A weird thing happens to this search and rescue chaw, injured owlets start popping out of nowhere. They happen to come upon a strange owl that looks just like Soren. The owl is Soren's sister, Eglantine. When that is done one of the owls is missing, Ezylryb, Soren teacher wasn't there. Soren and his sister are sent out to find him.

People who like adventure and a little fantasy should read this book for sure.Teenager should also read this book because there are some hard words.

I decided to read The Journey because I read the prequel, The Capture. I like this book because it really shows how the owls interact. It's like the owls are real people that talk, walk, and have fun with each other. There are no people in this book. Just owls, snakes, and other birds, but it's really just an owl book. This second book still has Soren, Gylfie, Twilight, Digger, and a lot of other new characters. They make friends, and learn a lot of new skills at the Great Ga'Hoole tree.
At the end of The Capture, the four owls are a band to never split up and make it their quest to find the Great Ga'Hoole tree. Their journey to find the tree is exciting. About ¼ way into the book, the king and queen of Hoole find them, and lead them to the tree. When the four owls reach the tree, they learn about different chaws, which are different groups that you are selected into to preform certain deeds to help the world. Even Mrs. P, the blind snake, was back to doing what she longed to do, being a nest maid snake. The four owls soon find out that it's almost guarenteed that they won't be selected for the same chaw. While Soren is living his liufe at the Great Ga'Hoole tree, his thoughts of his sister, Eglantine, worry him. Was she captured by St. Aggies? Is she all right?
I truly recommend this book to anyone who has read The Capture. If you haven't read The Journey, but read The Capture, your mind must be going crazy to read the second book. It's really that good. It takes off exactly where The Capture ended. If you haven't read the first book in a little while, don't worry. The Journey reviews a lot. It's your choice. Do you want to find out about Eglantine? What's life like at the Great Ga'Hoole tree? Read The Journey, by Kathryn Lasky to find out.

Schaeffer is the most poetic and influential writer today! This is simply an amazing novel - It literally sent me back to college to major in literature- the book is that profoundly amazing. To read Schaeffer's words is the experience of a lifetime. Do yourself a favor and read this novel; pass it on to a friend, then purchase every book she ever wrote, quit work, and dive into great writing!

when that love doesn't turn out to be quite what you had in mind... I hope the male readers aren't put off by the title (because this novel is for both sexes.) I guarantee you both men and women will be able to relate (if you have ever been burned by love). The author goes for psychological insights and the book will stay with you for years for this reason. A sad and incredible tale, reads like non-fiction torn from today's headlines. What a motion picture this would make, on second thought, maybe Hollywood ought to keep away, as they, more than likely, would ruin it. Five stars easy. The damn thing left me in tears. Not an easy thing for a straight male to admit, not to mention it also helped me get over a bad love affair. If you've loved and lost you know that's something that can easily push you over the edge. If you happen to be going through something like that at the moment, I suggest you read the book and it just might keep you from doing anything stupid.

This author does a fabulous job of conveying the main character's madness in a way that comes across as a dream sequence. One seldom finds an author who can write a well-rounded story that truly involves the reader. By the end of the book, Agnes comes shining through -- with all her shortcomings. Read this book! "...a woman scorned..."

A marvelous book that deserves to be reprinted, this is the story of a ten-year-old orphan girl living on a huge moldering English estate with her nasty governess. She discovers a group of Lilliputians who have been living on an island on the estate since they escaped from the sideshow into which they were put by an associate of Lemuel Gulliver many years before. There's a good T.H.White homepage with a far more complete review at http://home.techlink.net/~moulder/mistress.html. Like the best children's literature, this is written so well as to be a delight to any adult reading it to his children (as my mother read it to me in the mid-fifties). Find a copy in the library, if you can.

Maria is a ten-year-old orphan girl, growing up in her crumbling ancestral home, under the authority of a cold guardian and a tyrannical governess. But when Maria paddles over to a small island in the center of a lake on the grounds, she makes a marvelous discovery: the island is peopled by Lilliputians. Yes, the sea captain who rescued Gulliver so long ago, returned, and trapped a group of the unfortunate Lilliputians for a sideshow act. But, they had escaped, and built themselves a new home on the island called Mistress Masham's Repose. Unfortunately, human nature has changed very little over the last three hundred years, and the Lilliputian's safety exists only in their being unknown to the humans living around them. Can Maria safeguard the little people from her greedy guardian and governess?

I caught the title of this charming book quite by accident, but am delighted to have it! Author T.H. White (who also wrote The Sword in the Stone and The Once and Future King) did an excellent job of building a magical world set into our own, peopled with characters that are fascinating, scary, charming, humorous, and so much more! The storyline kept me on the edge of my seat, as I watched Maria and the Lilliputians adventure through the book.

This is an excellent book for young readers, and for adults as well. I highly recommend this book to everyone!

I got this for my niece, a 10-year-old re-reader of the Potter books. I had read it in my early teen years, and followed up with the King Author books. The political undercurrents were invisible to me then, and don't add much now.

She said she liked it. I'll probably get her the Sword in the Stone for Christmas.

It has a happy ending. I had a crush on the protagonist as illustrated by Eichenberg. At 52 it is difficult to be sure of one's competence in reviewing a book for young people, but the memory of it persisted so long that I missed it, long since lost, and paid an exorbitant price for a used copy for my daughter a few years ago. She liked it too.

Odious though comparisons may be, I find more magic in the characters populating Mistress Masham's Repose than I do those in the Potter books. I think, too, that there is something to be said for the progressive maturity of the subsequent White books. Years from now my daughter and niece (and I) will still be enjoying T.H. White.

I am reading this book to my kids aged 5 and 7. We already read "Finn Family Moomintroll" which I read and adored as a child. My criticism of "Moominsummer Madness" lies in its translation. I don't remember finding anything strange or difficult in "Finn Family..." but here I find that the English is often awkward, or unnecessarily difficult words are used. This is a shame! If you are looking for a Moomin book to read to your kids, maybe you should look first to those translated by Elizabeth Portch....

I received this book as a Christmas present in the early 50s from a Finnish family whom my mother helped through the hard times of WWII and after with her version of CARE packages.

Moominsummer Madness became my favorite of all my books--read until the red hardboard cover faded to pink and the binding frayed. My personal favorite interaction is Moomintroll and the Fillyjonk at her hut in the spruce forest on Midsummer's Eve. When I first read it, I didn't have a clue what Midsummer was or what a spruce tree looked like, but I immediately resolved to have a life full of both as soon as I could escape from Eisenhowerian Oklahoma.

And I did just that.

This is probably the best of the moomin books - it has some of the best moomin pictures and is completely nuts! :)

If you're expecting an overview of the 1940s Greenwich Village scene, adjust your expectations. This is for the most part an account of Anatole Broyard's life, as he lived in Greenwich Village in the 1940s. The focus is on Broyard's concerns of the time and his particular perceptions. It is a distinct difference.

That acknowledged, I'd like to say that I recommend the book anyway. Broyard's account is valuable for its loving criticism of the 1940s art world, for its honest recognition of the stupidity of youth, and for its meandering remembrances, repleat with similes and earnest attempts to find meaning in the past. The book is valuable because of its examination of life, an examination that is all the more interesting for the time period and the location of the subject.

I said that Broyard's account was more an account of his own life than of the times. But it is also an opinion of mine that one life tells a lot about a time period. The setting for the memoir is New York just after WWII--the whole city is glad to be alive and glad to be carefree for the first time since the beginning of the war. And Broyard's account of himself and others in the period is fascinating for that reason, for the way this made people act. Need another reason? Broyard's memoir is peppered with chance meetings with prestigious artists and writers of the time. He exposes the mentality they all lived with--the way they lived with art the way other young people live with football or pop music. He exposes the advantages and disadvantages that that presented. Most of all, he exposes your youth--your own youthful pretensions, and stupidity, and wisdom. It's the account you would write if you had the time... And the insight.

When I started the book I was delighted early on that his female roommate, who goes everywhere pantiless, has already run into W. H. Auden and sent the two of them crashing to the floor of a bookstore. Oh yeah, and what's this guy smokin' on the cover?

This is an autobiography that delves into the art and literary scene of Greenwich Village during the late 40's, post WWII era. I was surprised to find that the author actually passed away before he finished writing this memoir. I can't imagine where he would have gone w/ it, but I'm sure we've missed out.

His writing is very circumspect, and the fact that it's not actually a 'finished' work does not matter. I enjoyed the book as I've said above. I found myself considering cubism, Auden, Anais Nin, the Village, studying art in college, sex from the perspective of a man of the times. Anatole (cool name) is a sensitive man, honest about the shortcomings of his era.

Plus I loved his crazy girlfriend. I appreciated his candor. What else can I say? When he says that the sex was hot, you'd have to believe him. Cool book.

One brilliantly sunny day in July, I decided to head out to the lake to bask in the sun and read. Unforuntately, I realized halfway there that I hadn't bought anything to read. So, I trotted over to my local used bookstore and began browsing their recent acquisition table. This little volume immediately gained my attention. It looked like fun, it looked like it would be a quick read, and it was short enough that it wouldn't keep me from continuing in any of the other books that I was already reading. So, off to the lake with this book in hand I went.

KAFKA WAS THE RAGE was quite a nifty little read. I had read a fair amount about the Beats at one point, so this had some of the same post-WW II Manhattan atmosphere, but that was set more in the area of Columbia University, so this shifted the scene further south. There is no real story to tell here. Broyard merely recounts in a more or less anecdotal form a number of events and individuals from a particular moment in time. He has a gift for summoning up particular moments in vivid detail, and a talent for the brilliant line. An example of the former is his recounting of an adventure in which he took Delmore Schwartz, Clement Greenberg, and Dwight MacDonald to a Spanish Harlem nightclub. Another is his description of his art professor Meyer Schapiro.

Some great lines:

"I thought that being a Communist was a penalty you had to pay for being interested in politics."

[on Dylan Thomas] "To him, an American party was like being in a bad pub with the wrong people."

[on Delmore Schwartz] "Like Samuel Johnson, whom he resembled in many ways, Delmore was not interested in prospects, views, or landscape. He had looked at the city when he was young, and saw no need to do it again."

[on a painter friend] "His voice was soft, deep, and cultivated and his manners were a history of civilization."

As one might expect (and hope for) in a memoir set in such a vibrant era, the book is marvelous for its incessant name-dropping of famous individuals who pop up briefly as characters: figures as diverse as Erich Fromm, Maya Deren, Anais Nin, Caitlin and Dylan Thomas, W. H. Auden, Gregory Bateson, as well as the previously mentioned Schwartz, Greenberg, MacDonald, and Shapiro.

As a student of Kevin Nierman's for ten years, since the age of eight, I have had the good fortune to be exposed to his wonderful teaching style. Kevin has the natural ability bring each child's inner creativity to the surface. He has challenged teaching conventions by allowing young kids to do whatever they want with clay, including throwing on the wheel -- and he has proved that young children can succeed and have fun working on the wheel. More importantly, he knows how to make working with clay FUN!

The Kids 'N' Clay book brings Kevin's experience and natural teaching ability into a format accessible to all. This book is filled with tips and ideas, a wonderful aid for kids who have any kind of artistic inclination. Although it is not necessarily intended to be a beginner's manual, it can be an excellent supplement to any art classes your child may already be taking. It is a helpful and fun guide to the wonderful creative world of clay.

I am a fourteen year old student of Kids n Clay and this book is a great way for kids to learn how to throw and handbuild. Any child can learn to throw with practice and help and this book gives a kid what they need to know to start. From my first days of throwing to today I have grown so much as a potter with practice and this is something any kid with the motivation can do. I highly recommend this book!

The book is full of great projects for kids on the wheel and handbuilders. Most importantly are the helpful instructions on how to teach the wheel thowing process. I gave copies of this book to several new after-school teacher's assistants so that they could understand the teaching process better. It definitely helped.

I've given at least 5 copies of this book to friends ranging in age from 8 to 50, and everyone I've given it to has loved it. Moomintroll's adventures here are less rollicking than in the earlier Moomin books, but that's in keeping with the wintry setting of the story. Jansson is expert at combining sly, sometimes dark humor with a sense of wonder and delight in the world. The mood is quiet, sometimes somber, but somehow reading this book always makes me feel happy and content. Probably my favorite in this wonderful series.

This book and its' companions changed my life. And many others. Tove Jansson's Moomin series is without doubt the finest children's literature ever. And it must be said that it's in the running for the finest literature ever, period. 'Midwinter' is somewhat more somber in tone than the earlier Moomin books, but does not yet approach the dark, lonely colors Jansson paints with in the last two parts of the series. Full of memorable sequences and fairy-tale imagery, this book is guaranteed to delight children and induce in adults a painfully strong yearning for the days of their childhood.

Moomintrolls usually sleep through the long winter, but when the moon shines upon him, Moomintroll awakes one January to discover an alien world of cold and snow while the rest of his family sleeps on. (Moomintrolls are not trolls as we commonly think of them, but handsome little round fellows - see the picture on the cover. That's Moomintroll on the left in the brown coat.) At first he feels terribly alone in this strange season, but he soon discovers companions in the form of Too-Ticky, a sensible creature who has taken up residence in the bathing house, and Little My, a devil-may-care little critter known from other Moomin books in the series. Alongside these friends Moomintroll faces the winter, with its freezing cold blasts, sledding on tea trays, equinox bonfires, ice fishing, and blizzards that promise spring. He soon discovers that the winter landscape is full of lonely, oddball (and comical) creatures who are not around at other times of year, and does his best to shelter and entertain them in the Moominhouse. Like all of Jansson's fine Moomin books, this one astounds me with its ability to convey power and subtle emotion with just a few choice words. Her exquisite attention to the aspects of the season, as well as to the sensitive inner worlds of her characters, render this a masterpiece. (Its subtleties, both comic and deeper, might perhaps be appreciated by slightly offbeat children who like a little peace and quiet sometimes to be alone with their thoughts.)