I bought this book for my son and he absolutely loves it. I bought the paperback version, which he is a little young for. But he carries it with him and loves it when we read it to him. It is a big hit.

The best series I have found for very early readers. The pictures match the text, the sentences are very short, and the words are words children use everyday. I highly recommend this book and others in this series for any early readers out there.

As with every Margaret Wise Brown book I have ever seen; (I own 13 titles now); VERY Kid-friendly. My daughter likes bugs too and is just learning to read. Most pages in this story have 2 - 3 words. Perfect for the early reader!

How on earth I ever managed to enjoy Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin novels before reading Anthony Gary Brown's wonderful dictionary is a mystery. Brown's book is a must have for all those who wish to get the most out of reading O'Brian's excellent naval stories.

I've been sampling this book for a couple of weeks and I can't tell you how much I've been enjoying it! For a fan of the Aubrey/Maturin books its almost as good as having a new POB come out! I think of someone I want to look up, then by the time I've read that entry I've been led to another, and then another and I keep stumbling on the most amazing facts and interesting historical stories.While just keeping track of all the names in the books is useful enough, the "enhanced" information - all the details about "real" people and ships and historical events - is the most exciting treasure for me.I can not begin to imagine the hours and hours invested in this masterpiece, though the careful attention to details and proofreading suggest it was a labor of love. All I can say is that I'm very grateful to the author for having written it. It will make reading and re-reading the Aubrey/Maturin books an even greater delight, and for me at least, it will lead deeper into the historical literature behind the series.Every bookstore in the country should stock this on the shelves next to the Aubrey/Maturin books so new converts will have it in hand right from the start.

Anthony Gary Brown's "Persons, Animals, Ships and Cannon in the Aubrey-Maturin Sea Novels" is a wonderful resource for anyone who loves the nautical fiction of Patrick O'Brian. The depth and breadth of research evident in this companion volume to the Aubrey-Maturin series is truly awe-inspiring. Every "proper name" reference -- no matter how slight or obscure -- has been diligently tracked and, where ever possible the historical reality behind the fictional is revealed. Characters I had assumed to be merely creations of Patrick O'Brian's imagination are shown by Gary Brown to be based in actual persons. Whenever Stephen Maturin speaks of an obscure botanist or philosopher, Brown has explained who he or she was and what was the significance of their work. There are many, many hours of delightful browsing in this volume for any Patrick O'Brian fan.

My son, Maxwell, loves this book. We brought it for his 1st birthday. His dad reads it to him often. It's a positive reinforcement of the uniqueness of being African American. This book does a great job at highlighting the beautiful features of African American children. Maxwell smiles and laughs when he sees his own pretty brown reflection at the end of the book.

A beautifully written and illustrated book for children of all races. My daughter especially enjoys looking in the mirror on the last page. Its a wonderful self exploratory book for babies.

This bought this book for my grandsons (2 1/2 and 15 months). It quickly became one of their favorite books. They especially enjoy the mirror in the back. Thanks for such a positive and very simple book. SEG

I think a lot of children may think of being Christian as something imposed on them--having to go to church, having to follow rules. This book shows them that God can be a source of strength in bad times and that being a Christian can be a joyful, fun thing. Ben, Helena and the children live in a time when being a Christian was dangerous, but they bravely confront their oppressors and draw strength from the stories of Jesus. The adventure and humor in this book make it accessable even to children who are not Christian and to old fogies like me!

With stories like "Ferryman" (Eric Brown), "The White Stuff" (Peter F. Hamilton & Graham Joyce), and "A Night on Bare Mountain" (Graham Charnock), anthologies don't get any better than this. My only quibble is with the experimental narrative "Thirteen Views of a Cardboard City"(William Gibson) which rounds out the volume with a whimper, not a bang. Otherwise, this is Hugo & Nebula territory.

Every photo is original and very cute. The photo quality
is clean and clear. Any Tiger lover will enjoy this
calendar. Don't hesitate to grab this.

As a Vermont native I may be somewhat biased about my home state. However, should you obtain a copy of Vermont for Every Season you will understand the basis of my bias. Vermont for Every Season is reasonably accurate in its depiction of what a visiter to Vermont could expect to see throughout the course of the year. It depicts people living in a state which hasn't yet been developed to the point of being nothing more than a paved-over artificial human habitat. It reflects living life at a somewhat slower pace where the natural environment dictates the speed of life, not man. I strongly recommend this book. As you leaf through the pages you can almost feel the cold on a ski slope, smell the maple sap being boiled into maple syrup in the early spring, view cows in a peaceful pastoral setting in summer, or have your senses pleasantly assaulted by the colors of autumn. It's a super coffee table picture book. The photography is of the highest quality. Take this advice from an expatriot Vermonter - buy the book... it's worth the wait.

In that most memorable of scenes from Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol (1843), the villain-hero Ebeneezer Scrooge has just been shown a vision of his desolate future. Like his partner Marley, he will soon be dead, buried unceremoniously, then completely forgotten -- save for the moments when his life is ridiculed, mocked as an example the greatest miser in the history of London town. Terrified of this abysmal future, Scrooge cries out:

"Spirit! Is this the shadow of things that MUST be, or only MIGHT be. Tell me, Spirit!"

Fortunately for Ebeneezer, it was not too late to change his stingy ways, give up the futile accumulation of money, and find true happiness by devoting himself to helping the less fortunate human beings around him.

Perhaps it is not unreasonable to say that our planet today resembles the troubled Scrooge. Our environmental predicament is perilous, yet it is not too late to save ourselves. We can improve our world if and only if we act, soon, with compassion and intelligence. In facing this crisis there is no place for these classic Dickensian spirits: Apathy, Panic, or Ignorance.

Obviously, Earth 2000 is a culture far more complex than the Victorian society of 150 years ago. Today we have easy access to mountains and megabytes of paper and electronic data. But how can we discern which peaks of these information mountains are reliable, trustworthy, and wise?

Accurate information and keen insights is why this yearly book from the Worldwatch Institute -- Vital Signs -- is a publishing event of the utmost importance. The facts throughout this book are categorized into trends in these areas: food production, agriculture, energy, atmosphere, economy, transportation, communication, health and social problems, and military issues.

The facts and the numbers are astonishing. For example: Last year the world endured 35 wars: except for the Kosovo conflict, all the others occurred in third-world countries. Cigarette smoking last year was responsible for the deaths of 4 million people, a number which is expected to increase 2.5 times, to 10 million, by the year 2030. In 1999, the total number of persons infected with HIV was almost 50 million. About 2.6 million persons died from AIDS last year (most of these in Africa), pushing the total cumulative death toll from AIDS to 16 million. World population last year increased by 77 million persons, as the total population of Earth swelled past the 6 billion mark.

One of this year's most disturbing trends is the growing economic gap -- and the quality of life gap -- between the privileged persons and the poor. The World Health Organization has estimated that more than 1.1 billion persons are malnourished, at the same time that more than 1 billion persons suffer from health-related problems caused by obesity. Last year's edition of this book, in the section "Malnutrition Still Prevalent" shows that nothing has improved:

"Nearly 1 billion people worldwide do not get enough to eat each day, and several billion get enough calories but their poor diet falls short in providing basic nutrients. ... Regardless of the form it takes, malnutrition levies a heavy toll on human health, leading to increased susceptibility to disease, reduced levels of energy and productivity, and increased morbidity and mortality." As to be expected, the poorest nations, especially in South Asia and Africa -- Bangladesh, India, Ethiopia, Vietnam, Nigeria, Indonesia -- contain the highest numbers of malnourished persons."

If it all sounds like a nightmare of gloom and doom, take heart. In a number of areas, significant environmental progress is being accomplished. In the all-important realm of energy, the world is beginning to make the necessary shift from burning fossil-fuels (the major contributor to global warming) to non-polluting and renewable sources such as wind and solar cells. Organic farming -- without pesticides -- is thriving. More world treaties have been formed to control environmental degradation. Western Europe is now heavily taxing corporations who exceed pollution limits. Nuclear weaponry is shrinking; life expectancy is on the rise; and Nongovernmental Organizations (NGOs) are growing in numbers of groups and volunteers, and already making an impact for positive social and environmental change.

The premise underlying Vital Signs 2000 is that the trends depicted here will shape the nature and quality of our lives in the coming years. Vital Signs 2000, the companion volume to State Of The World 2000, are the two most authoritative and insightful publications in their field. Everyone who wants to help to make this world a better place -- socially, economically, politically, sustainably -- should raise his own social and ecological awareness by beginning with these two books.

Michael Pastore, Reviewer

One of the world's longest running friendships is viewed, reviewed and analysed in a very innovative way. Unlike the usual boring textbook type material one might expect to read on the subject, this book seems to be in a more informal, user-friendly layout. It should be enjoyed by layman and academic alike.

This is a neat coffee table book for hockey fans. Because it's compiled under the supervision of the NHL, it isn't going to reveal anything that Gary Bettman doesn't want you to know. I did find some interesting content in it, though. It's loaded with some great photos and short essays on the daily doings of the NHL as they happened on March 23, 1996. What I mainly liked about it was that it didn't just stick with a few teams, but almost all of them appear in one part, or another. It also talks about travel, workouts, pre-game prep (including what equipment crew are doing when ESPN and Fox Sports Net aren't around), ice rink conversion, press, fans, games, coaches, the dressing room, hotels, broadcasters, Gretzky, Keenan, St. Michael's, kids, arena crews, and trainers. It doesn't give the whole picture on everything, but it's an adequate scratch at the surface.

I have been trying to find this book for sale for about a year without any luck.Maybe this note will bring this book to my possession.I am just your average Joe looking for a book that has my picture in it next to the Stanley Cup.I would love to purchase this book if anybody has it.

I find this book to be really interesting. What makes it the most interesting is that the person on the front cover of this book is me. I found this out by just happening to be in a book store and looking at hockey books. I looked under the Tampa Bay Lightning and their was my picture with my name by it. I really made me mad. No one told me they were going to put my picture in a book or my name. I don't even have a book for myself. I wish they still made them so I could have one. I feel they should have sent me a book or at least told me I was on the cover and my name was inside the book. Don't you think.