The appeal in this Julie Andrews biography is the amount and quality of the pictures it includes. The book covers her childhood and then divides her career into Broadway, Movie and Television sections. The text is somewhat basic; informative but not very in-depth. Robert Windler's book is much more informative as to Julie's career and an older book that only goes through 'The Sound of Music' concentrates much more on her childhood and Broadway career. The Arnzt/Wilson book is a good overview of her life and career and the pictures are truly superb!

If my house was on fire, this is the one book I would grab. The pictures are outstanding, the book features much information about her early career and lots of memorabilia from her childhood years. These are not the overused pics of Julie that we all see over and over again. Not sure why Julie had it pulled from the shelves, but I would certainly describe this book as a love story to Julie from Arntz and Wilson. This book just warms my heart.

Julie Andrews. The world's most beloved singer and actress. The darling of entertainment closest to our hearts. But, there is just one problem. When the world thinks of Julie, they immediatly think of Mary Poppins (for which she won an Oscar) or Maria von Trapp. Nothing annoys me more than that. People can't seem to undertsnad that hse is NOTHING like Mary Poppins! The only thing I think they may have in common in they are both good with children.
I encourage all of you out there to read a Julie biography book! Heck, maybe I'll write one! But do yourselves a favor and get this book! Learning about the fascinating life of Julz Andrews will be something that will both surprise and capture you- you will NOT regret it!

This book about Julie Andrews is extremely interesting. Julie has had many inspiring experiences in her life and continues today to have many more. This book explains how she became what she is today. Also, this book tells the reader many interesting facts about Julie Andrews personal life and career.

SLIGHT ERROR on my reivew of Robert Windeler, JULIE ANDREWS, A LIFE ON STAGE AND SCREEN; this review was made on the HARDCOVER versiuon of the book, not the paperback (as stated on my review). Thanks for correcting this slight error ASAP. Sincerely, Robert Corbell

Julie Andrews: A Life on Stage and Screen is a great read and I have to say that I found it rather informative. Aside from a few spelling and grammatical errors, it was a good book. Any serious Julie fan should read this!

I'm afraid I have to disagree with other reviewers of this book. The writing is often awkward and grammatically challenged (to use a current euphemism). And Sandy Irvine comes across as a rather ordinary young man, self centered, good at sports, and good with his hands, but lacking in any sort of intellectual sophistication. It was this very sophisitcation and intellectualism that made Mallory the interesting figure he remains. Had Mallory been a mere hearty, he would have far less interesting. In contrast to Mallory, Irvine strikes one as eactly what this biography tries to convince one he was not, i.e., a follower who had little idea of what Mallory was leading him into.

Because of Irvine's commoness and the bad writing (Where oh where was an editor!?), this is hardly worth the time, and certainly not worth the money.

Fearless On Everest: The Quest For Sandy Irvine is an intensely personal, candid, and informative account of the life of a young man who died at the age of 22 while on an expedition to climb Mt. Everest. Written with a narrative smoothness that completely engages the reader's attention, biographer and Irvine family member Julie Summers includes newly discovered letters and photographs and specifically addresses a long-debated question in mountaineering circles: Why did George Leigh Mallory choose the young, less-experienced Andrew Irvine as his partner on so hazardous an enterprise? Also very highly recommended for mountaineering enthusiasts are three related titles from Mountaineers Books addresses the doomed Mallory-Irvine expedition: Ghosts Of Everest: The Search For Mallory & Irvine (699-5, $.....); The Mystery Of Mallory & Irvine: Fully Revised Edition (726-6, $.....); The Wildest Dream: The Biography Of George Mallory (741-X, $......).

This is a very well-written and researched book. It provides an introspective and analytical look into the man of mystery on the expedition...Sandy Irvine. The photos, family anecdotes, and treasure trove of memorabilia recently discovered provided a full and satisfying read. You can't know all about the 1924 expedition until you know about what made Sandy Irvine tick.

I had to read this book in school and at first I thought: "I believe in love and all, but how will I understand it?" Well, luckily, we had an updated version that put it in words we knew. And I must say, it really does deserve all the tv references it's gotten over the decades. Not only did I feel my heart break when Romeo died with tears running abundantly down his cheek, and when Juliet awoke hoping to be reunited with her love and instead finding his body on the floor, but I also felt crushed when Mercutio died. He was the one character I felt most similar to. Shakespeare knew how to break your heart right open. Each time I go back to that paragraph where Mercutio refers to Queen Mab and the way she makes dreams and when he talks about reputations being the determining factor of someone's character instead of personalities, I feel even more attached to Mercutio. I'm sure everyone can find someone with similar personality traits if they read Shakespeare. But this truly is one of the greatest love stories and anyone who's lonely and finds themselves wishing for love should read this. Romeo was that same sort of person until he met Juliet. But one has to wonder, was it simply an intense infatuation? This question has been posed before and I'm not so sure it's a wrong question. But perhaps it really was love. Only Shakespeare knows...And he took secrets like those to his grave...I also recommend this to people who have already found love as it is a chilling reminder that love can surpass anything and anyone in love should do anything in their power to make sure that the flame never goes out, even if it means death.

What would you do if you fell in love with the wrong person? Well Romeo and Juliet are in this same situation. The scene is set in Verona where two household families share the same social status. From the birth of these two enemies come Romeo and Juliet....P>This book was amazing. Once I started reading, I couldn't put the book down. I felt as if I wanted to get in the story and try to fix all their problems. Shakespeare is a creative writer. He put in true life problems that teenagers deal with today. Shakespeare taught me never to give up and to accomplish my goals. In this book, Romeo and Juliet are not allowed to fall in love. Their parents band them from seeing each other and they wouldn't allow them to following their hearts. But they did it anyway. This book taught me to follow what I believe in and to think for myself, not to listen to what other people want me to do. If I did, then my life would have been miserable. The only thing I didn't like with this book was that it was so hard to understand because it was written in Old English.

I recommend the book, Romeo and Juliet, to anyone who loves to read tragic love stories, who is interested in reading Shakespeare's writings, or who is interested in reading an outstanding book.

Romeo and Juliet is a great tragic romance. The story is full of love, violence, passion and hate. It's an excellent epic poem in which Shakespeare tells this tragic story using a beautiful language, very poetic and lyrical. Try it, you'll never forget it.
This story is about a pair of two star-crossed lovers, which take their life in Verona. For years, the feuding of the Montagues and the Capulets has disturbed the peace of Verona.
It all began in a party in the Capulet's house in which Romeo and Juliet made their love vows, and Romeo proposed marriage to Juliet. After this marriage, everything was tragic.
Deaths and fights were constantly a problem in the two houses. So Romeo and Juliet would leave Verona to stop the quarrels, but this plan failed when Lord Capulet told Juliet to marry Paris.
Friar Laurence would make a new plan, to skip this ceremony. Juliet would pretend to be dead and afterwards, when wake up, leave Verona with her love.
This plan also failed because Romeo didn't get to know about this and killed himself when he saw Juliet lying on her grave. Juliet did the same when she saw Romeo lying beside her.
After these deaths, both families realised that hate between them caused lots of deaths. Capulet and Montague made up their quarrel. They promised not to fight again and make a golden statue about the two beautiful star-crossed lovers.

An okay book for little one's to be read to bed. It sure could put me to sleep.

It's a day of firsts at Merryhill Farm. Dumpy is off to his first construction job away from the farm, building the new school playground and Charlie is off to his very first day at school. New firsts are a little scary and Dumpy's radiator feels full of bubbles while Charlie's stomach has butterflies. Each feels a bit lost at the beginning of the day...Charlie, meeting a new teacher, Mrs Bundle and making new friends and Dumpy, feeling a bit overwhelmed by Buzz the Bulldozer as he works hard on the new playground. But both do very well. And, at the end of the day when Steady Gus the School Bus breaks down and Mrs Bundle doesn't know how the kids will get home, Dumpy and Charlie save the day..... Julie Andrews and her daughter, Emma Hamilton are back with a new and endearing Dumpy story, pre-schoolers will love. Their gentle text, full of true to life situations, little ones will identify with and silly sound effects is complimented by Tony Walton's wonderful expressive and colorful illustrations and together they let youngsters know in a very positive way, that firsts can be fun.

As a great fan of Ms. Andrews I find this book a major disappointment. Despite finding several fans' names acknowledeged(including my own!)in the book I can't help but wonder if the author sought enough help from any of us or asked our advice. I'm sure we could have assisted in correcting mistakes and adding much more valuable information on Julie's career! The book was overpriced when it was printed nearly 10 years ago and remains even more so! A brochure from Greenwood Press states that the book is "a complete, all-in-one resource, the volume represents a comprehensive and accurate profile.." The book is certainly an ATTEMPT as an all-in-one resource. As far as being complete, comprehensive and accurate it most certainly is NOT! The concept of the book seems fine. Dividing Julie's career into 4 major areas(Films, Stage, Television and Recordings) would make sense to most fans as she has had major achievements in each field. A short biography, chronology, bibliography, several appendixes, and index thrown in for good measure would on the surface suggest a well organized book. However the small selection of black and white photos included is disappointing. Only beautiful color shots of one of the most attractive and photogenic actresses of our time would have done Julie justice! At the very least a generous selection of candid shots of Julie at work or relaxing would have been much better than what was chosen. I'm amazed that the publishers (Greenwood Press) can't afford to give us a nice dustcover for the book (no dustcover is included). Apparently only Elvis and Ol'Blue Eyes deserve dust covers in Greenwood's series of biographies.Everyone else in this series deserves nothing which I think is a slap in the face to Julie and many other great entertainers. Aside from bad window dressing let's pick out a section of the book - Discography. The discography is far and away the most disappointing section of the book. When the book was published in l989 we were very much into the world of ! Compact Discs. Julie had several CDs issued at that time. The book mentions NONE. To repeat, the book mentions no compact discs at all! Most of the listing is composed of tired old LPs that very few people collect anymore. That wouldn't be so bad, but the author lists several LPs with no tracks at all! This is unforgiveable. How difficult would it have been for the author to call some fans and ask what the tracks were on every LP issued on Julie? I maintain that it would not have been hard at all. Mr. Spindle(the author) owes all of us an apology for this oversight as well as numerous errors and omissions. Greenwood Press owes all of us an apology as well for not proofing the book in an accurate manner. I will mention several errors that I have picked out at random. The album "Love, Julie" is listed as being released in January, l988. That is strange because I bought my copy in the summer of l987! The LP "An Evening With Julie Andrews" is listed as only being released in Japan. I have an Australian pressing in my collection! The author omits a cassette only recording of Julie's reading of her own children's book: "Mandy" as well as 2 other cassette only releases with Julie's voice. The TV listing in the book omits tons of interviews that Julie did on Entertainment Tonight and other shows. A Japan TV concert appearance is not listed from the late l970's, a PBS Special with co-host Bill Bixby entitled The Puzzle Children is omitted as well.An appearance that is listed (David Frost show of l970) mentions Julie with"future husband Blake Edwards". Julie and Blake were already married at that time! A TV special with Rudolph Nureyev (Invitation to the Dance)was not broadcast from New York but the Merriweather Post Pavillion in Columbia, Maryland! The only saving grace of this book is the detailed listings it gives us of each episode of the "Julie Andrews Hour" broadcast in the early l970's. If only the rest of the book could have been so meticulous as this! section I would not have a problem with it! Please note that the errors and omissions that I have mentioned were easily found by my perusing the book. I have never sat down and examined each section thoroughly and tried to find just how many mistakes there are in this volume. I will leave that chore to any serious Julie fan who wants to take on this daunting task! The book does contain some interesting facts but one is left with the feeling that the author must have had a deadline and in order to meet it he sacrificed a lot of accuracy. I truly hope that not too many editions of this book have graced library shelves. Since the book has not been reprinted in nearly a decade hopefully not too many copies have been sold. I would still tell most Julie fans that if they must collect everything by all means buy this book. But to the average fan or someone merely interested in Ms. Andrews life and career please don't regard the book as a serious reference work! In my humble opinion the only book that has come close to being a great all around reference book on Julie is the Arntz and Wilson book which is now sadly out of print. It is certainly the best book on Julie ever published. The Les Spindle book which I have just reviewed will remain a great disappointment to most fans of Julie. I think it is up to the fans to demand that an accurate bio-bibliography on Julie does indeed appear! Julie certainly deserves one as do her fans!

Review by Richard Pearson

As a loyal fan of Julie Andrews, I have followed her life & career over the past twenty or so years with much interest. In my humble opinion, Mr. Spindle's book is a major and welcome addition to the short list of Julie biographies. This is the first book to truly cover Julie's ENTIRE career, spanning the Broadway stage, film, television, concert tours and her writing career. It is exceptionally well-organized, divided into 4 major areas - Films, Stage, Television & Recordings - and the author has invested much time and research in this major compendium. Mr. Spindle truly deserves some kind of award for this major undertaking, for discussing Ms. Andrews's career can be a daunting task. Most of the fans I know (after running a Julie fan club for five years) have stated they enjoyed the book, and found it an accurate and well-crafted work. As well as the four main sections just mentioned, the book also contains a short outline biography, a chronology, lengthy bibliography and index. The photo section is very impressive, with some great shots from "The Julie Andrews Hour" (ABC) not seen in previous books on Julie, as well as other photos. The shot from "Duet For One" with Julie holding the violin, is simply lovely. The author (or editor) did a good job in the photo selections. I must mention that the book was part of a series of "Bio-Bibliographies in the Performing Arts" published by Greenwood Press in the 1980s. Other volumes discussed such stars as Patty Duke, Elvis and Sinatra. Worthy company for our Julie! I must mention that there are several errors in the book, most noticable in the Bibliography and Discography sections. Several entries for books and magazines contain factual & grammatical errors. The blame for this should probably go to the editor or proofreader & NOT to the author, as one malicious "fan" deemed. The Discography is extremely well-organzied, containing Julie's early recordings done in England when she was a child performer - the FIRST Andrews biography to include these recordings, I might add. This section should serve as a model for standard discography listings in future biographies; with full details such as record label, year and catalog number. Mr. Spindle unfortunately appears not to have been aware of several audiotapes narrated by Julie in the mid-eighties for Dove Audio - an abridged version of her own book, MANDY, as well as lending her voice to one story on THE SUMMER FRIEND, and narrating yet another audiotape, the classic tale of knomes in THE LITTLE GREY MEN (one of Julie's favourites when she was a child). The author also makes a few minor errors in the TV section as well, such as stating in the entry for "The David Frost Show" (1970) that she appears "with future husband Blake Edwards" while the fact is they were married in 1969. A major accomplishment is the author's detailed listing of every episode for Julie's variety show, "The Julie Andrews Hour" (1972-73). This section alone shows how much time and work the author put into this project. The book has some interesting sections, such as the listing of film roles Julie either turned down or was considered for, among them the comedy "Forty Carats" (which starred Liv Ullman), "International Velvet," a sequel to "National Velvet;" and "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" which won an Academy Award for Maggie Smith. Julie would have given a superb performance as the lonely middle-aged schoolteacher who deals with life as best she can. A pity that Julie turned down the role. In summing up, I consider this book one of THE BEST volumes ever written on Julie Andrews; and it is a major achievement in which the author discusses every aspect of her glorious career. Throw in a delightful photo section, as well as outline biography & very lengthy bibliography, and I think any Julie Andrews fan who reads this book will find it just as compelling & well-crafted as I have. Take a bow, Mr. Spindle. You have done an excellent job with this exceptional book!

The writing is pallid. The illustrations are numbingly bad. This is an excellent example of what a children's book should not be -condescending, smarmy, hollow and hokey. If it weren't for Julie Andrews Edwards' name on the cover, this book would be a hard sell at a vanity press. Julie, Julie, Julie! This regrettable foray is to children's literature what your topless scene in "Victor, Victoria!" was to drama. Only the topless scene made more sense.
Please, spare the lives of future trees and brain cells. Let Dumpy be pulped.
(...)

Dumpy the dumptruck lives on a farm with a family. His particular favorite family member is Charlie, a little boy. It's Christmas Eve, and Charlie can't get to sleep. He hears a noise and realizes Santa Claus has crashed his sleigh. Christmas will be ruined if Santa can't deliver the toys to the children of the world, so volunteers get Dumpy to help. It's now up to Dumpy to save Christmas for everyone.

This is a very creative book, and a must read this Christmas.

Dumpy Saves Christmas should be nominated for the Caldecott metal for outstanding illustrated juvenile books. I am pleased that Julie Andrews, her daughter, and her ex-husband are able to collaborate in writing such an imaginative series of Dumpy the Dump truck books. This book has an unusual twist from the traditional Santa Claus and reindeer story. This book is an excellent addition to any child's Christmas library. I am buying several copies of this book for Christmas gifts as well as keeping a copy for myself.