This is an EXCELLENT book for children as well as parents. It covers artwork from New Guinea to Mexico, artists such as Renoir, Cassatt, Rousseau, Van Gogh, Cezanne, Pollack, Picasso and Warhol, silver items by Paul Revere and various sculptures. Works from Primitive to Twentieth Century. A must-have book for parents who wish to share their enthusiasm, and prepare their children for a visit to the art museum.

I'm 18, and I love Marc Brown and his "Arthur" series. This is a great book, full of surprises, for more reasons than one! The first big surprise is that Arthur even has a gerbil. It's never been seen before in any of the other books. Then the surprises continue with a flap on every page! A cute mystery and the book is well illustrated as well. I'd recommend this book to anyone.

The text and pictures are wonderful. It is a fun story about 4 witches who eat "bat wing sandwiches" and brush their teeth with "spider paste". This story is an annual Halloween favorite with my three children, ages 2, 4, and 6. I have shared this book with K -1 grade classes, and they seem to really enjoy it. The reading level is 1 - 2 grade.

The genius of Mark Twain is that his work is still enjoyable, and funny, to this day. This book, originally published in 1871, is Twain's account of his journey from Missouri to Hawaii (called the Sandwich Islands in his day). He tells story after story of his adventures along the way, starting with the stagecoach ride on the Overland Stage Line to Carson City, Nevada, around 1861, and then telling of his stay in Nevada, then California, then his visit to Hawaii. The stories are informative, humorous, and all-around entertaining. He lampoons everybody he can--nobody is safe--including miners, pioneers (emigrants), politicians, Mormons, Blacks, American Indians, Chinese, newspaper reporters, "desperados", even himself on more than one occasion. Sometimes his stories are so outrageous that you wonder how much is true and how much is embellishment, or just outright fiction. Even he understands this by telling the reader on occasion that he has not made up a particular story, to demonstrate that truth is often stranger than fiction, but also to imply that he has taken liberties in other places in the book. (I wonder if the Mormon Church has ever banned this book for the things he says about them.) Even while he is being irreverent, however, he often demonstrates a sensitivity toward people, with an awareness of the situation of others that seems to me to be ahead of his time. For example, he has a chapter on the immigrant Chinese population in the West, and while he pokes fun at them in some respects, he spends the time detailing their lives and culture, as much as he could understand it, with a respect that was uncommon in his day.

I bought a copy of this book years ago because I am a native Californian, and knew that there was some material in here about California in the early days (my copy is an old hardcover published by Grosset and Dunlap). As Twain states in his Prefatory: "...There is quite a good deal of information in this book. I regret this very much, but really it could not be helped." I enjoyed reading about the "old West" from an eye-witness, although most of it deals with Nevada, not California. While some of it sounded familiar, like something from any Western-genre movie, other things were like nothing I had ever heard of before, describing the "Wild West" from an original point of view. In that respect, this book is a great resource.

This book falls short of five stars due to some minor flaws. He often digresses with text that is not only marginal to the point, but not even written by him, reprinting someone else's text. I skipped over some of that. He would also spend pages detailing coversations between other people that he could not have possibly remembered verbatim. While I understand that it was a common writing style of his day, it sounds like bad jounalism today. Those complaints aside, this is some great writing by Twain and some valuable American history.

Twain's escapades in the West make fascinating reading. His encounters with the Mormons in Utah are particularly interesting. Anyone afflicted with Mormon missionaries on his or her doorstep ought to bring out a copy of this book and read aloud the chapter in which Twain discusses the absurd Book of Mormon. Nobody can match Twain in skewering foolishness and pomposity dressed up as religion.

A long-time fan of Mark Twain, I had still managed to make it past my fortieth birthday never having read this book. But recently, when I needed something to read (you know the kind of days I am talking about), I stumbled across this book and set to laughing.

The story-telling is magnificent. Few writers can take the small things of daily life and make them breathe -- but Twain possessed that gift, and uses it well. How many others went West the same time he did, and never saw the gold dust, sunsets, and taverns the way he wrote them into our consciousness?

And yet, and yet... As much as I loved the stories he told, I see "Roughing It" as important in a different manner. Even when the truth is slightly embellished to make us, his readers (of whom he is always very much aware), laugh out loud, it still truly presents the era and place he put down in black and white. We can be so bombarded with romanticized movies about the gold rush and settlers heading West, that we lose sight of them as genuine people with the same faults and virtues we know in 2001.

But with Mark Twain's keen eye, our history -- our American history -- comes to life. And suddenly, we "get it", we comprehend that all that stuff we had to learn in high school was done by people, not daguerrotypes.

I loved this book it is all about that phase we go through when we won't eat anything, and some of us never grow out of it.
It all starts when D.W. brings in the groceries with her mom. She tell her mom a long list of everything she won't eat, and number one on that list is spinach.D.W. is so picky that she won't eat anything at her house or a friend's house and especially not at a resturant.Her parents decide that they won't take D.W. to anymore resturants because of the tantrums she throws when they try to make her eat something.
Then their Grandma Thora's brithday comes around. D.W. doesn't want to be left out on her grandma's birthday so she promises that she will be nice at dinner.
They go to a resturant and D.W. tries to hide under the table so that the waiter doesn't see her, but it doesn't work and the waiter gives D.W. a kiddie menu to order off of instead of the grown up one. She orders a Little Bo Peep Pot Pie. She eats it and she likes it a lot. Then at the end the waiter tells her that it was made with spinach.
I think that this is a great book for kids because we all go through a phase when we are little where we won't eat anything, that's why I think that this is good for kids to read because it takes a funny view on the matter when the waiter tells D.W. that it is made from spinach.It also tells kids that it is ok to try new things and that you should because you may just like it. It's like they say, "Don't knock it 'til you've tried it."

My 22 month old daughter loves the D.W. books within the Arther book series by Mark T. Brown. D.W. is a great little character full of spunk and curiosity and I must admit that I enjoy reading about her along with my daughter! This book is one of her favorites and must be read every night at bedtime or like a previous reviewer stated, she says "Mommy, D.W. Picky Eater" until I agree to read it. She has even memorized parts of it and pretends to "read" it herself. It is a delightful book that will soon become a favorite of any child's library even if he or she is not within the recommended age group that this book calls for.

This is a great book for children ages 3-8. The pictures are absoloutely wonderful with a lot of detail and nice color. My seven year old sister makes me read it to her every single night, and doubles over laughing!! A MUST READ!

EMERGENCY! is nonfiction that reads like a page-turner novel. This book contains over 100 vignettes written by emergency room doctors and nurses all over the country. Some are dark and sad, some are hopeful and uplifting, most are gruesome, and all are so compelling that you can't help but go on to the next. I don't think I have a particular penchant for morbidity, but I read this book in one afternoon.

There are stories of GOMERs (Get Out of My Emergency Room), elderly people barely hanging on to life who must be resusitated; patients with DSB (Drug-Seeking Behavior), who come in with an imagined complaint in hopes of getting narcotics; SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) babies; mothers having babies in cars; severed body parts; Code Blues; people with, er, complaints of a personal nature.

We meet a young man who needs a blood transfusion thanks to a stab wound, but won't get one because he carries a card in his wallet that states he's a Jehovah's Witness. Gastroenterologists try out their new toy; interns try to intubate patients; lab techs faint in patients' laps; everyone works long hours.

EMERGENCY! brings us straight into the ER, where we know the stress of trying to keep patients alive, and the anguish of family, friends, and staff left behind when it can't be done. You will cry, you will laugh, you will wonder why you are reading this book--but once you've started it, read it you will.

Kimberly Borrowdale, Under the Covers Book Reviews

I have to say this book was wonderful! It would be great for anyone who is glued to the TV on Thursday nights. As I read the stories, I actually imagined the story taking place at Cook County General with Mark,Carol,Carter,Elizabeth,Kerry and the rest of the crew. It is also great for anyone who has no clue as to what I am referring to. After reading it, I bought a second copy for my cousin who is an RN. I highly reccommend this book!

This book gives a good view from the MD's perspective. It is both funny, and at times, very reflective. If you are in the field or love the show ER, this is a book that you can very easily associate with. The stories are all captivating in its descriptive manner, you won't be able to put it down. If your stomach gets a little 'queezy' from the site of blood, maybe this book isn't for you. If you know what it's like to work, both in-hospital and pre-hospital fields, this book is for you. I loved it and so will you

My divorce lawyer recommended this book to me after I expressed concern about how my kids might be handling my divorce. To be honest, it struck me as somewhat childish, but both of my sons took to it and claimed that it made them understand what was happening... and that it made them feel better to know they were not the only ones who've experienced this. And that was good enough for me!

I am an elementary guidance counselor that works with children whose family is going thru or has gone thru divorce. This book is fantastic in helping the children understand what is going on in their life. I love the way it is broken down into sections, so that I can use the section that will best help the child. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK!!!!!!

My daughter was 6 at the time of my divorce and reading this book became an every night event. The book helped her to understand her feelings and provided great comfort. Tonight, we discussed one of her classmates whose parents are divorcing and my daughter asked if she could buy a Dinosaurs Divorce for her friend. So here we are...purchasing one to pass along to a friend. We both highly recommend this book!

My daughter absolutely adores this book. Like another reviewer, my only complaint is the sturdiness of the play people. Once I'd taped Arthur's head on for the second time, it occurred to me to laminate 'em! That's what I'll do when I get our backup version of this. So that's the ticket. Other than that, she loves this book. She'll sit forEVer putting the guys in and taking them out. I've not seen her concentrate and work so hard at anything else yet.

Our two year old absolutely loves this book. We've given this book as a gift to all the two year olds we know, they all like it a lot. We purchased our daughter a new book. She had torn the figures and slots they go in on the old book because she plays with the book daily! We had the figures laminated so they would hold up longer, it cost @$2 at a printing shop. One problem with some of the books is that the pages come apart, they need more glue inbetween!

Over the past two or three years my five-year-old daughter has worn out two copies of this book. I am ordering a third. She never gets tired of moving around the punch-out characters, talking to them and for them.

I have 2 boys - an almost 2 yr. old and a 4 1/2 yr. old. I picked this book out of the library 2 weeks ago and have read it approximately 100+ times over that period - they absolutely love it! My 4 yr. old "read" it to his little brother about 8 times a few nights ago - he literally memorized everything about it, including my own reflection throughout - a real joy and a great stress-reliever for me!

Marc Brown describes ridiculous uses for pickles and backs the descriptions up with very silly illustrations. And, the fact that "pickle" is kind of a silly word makes it fun.

HIGHLY REcommend - I'm online to buy a supply for gifts!

My second grade class loved to hear me read this book. They would ask to read it over and over again. I enjoyed it myself. I would recommend this book to children of all AGES!

Researchers constantly find that reading to children is valuable in a variety of ways, not least of which are instilling a love of reading and improved reading skills. With better parent-child bonding from reading, your child will also be more emotionally secure and able to relate better to others. Intellectual performance will expand as well. Spending time together watching television fails as a substitute.

To help other parents apply this advice, as a parent of four I consulted an expert, our youngest child, and asked her to share with me her favorite books that were read to her as a young child. Pickle Things was one of her picks.

Our daughter likes anything funny, and this book certainly fit the bill. It is designed as a short, simple poem that looks at various imaginary ways that pickles can be used (decorations on a Christmas tree, as an ear, as a nose, as hair, as toes, as objects to juggle, to come out of a water spout, as desserts, breakfast food, sweet snacks, as kites, etc.).

Each potential application moves off in a new direction to stretch your child's imagination.

Since the poem is short and triggered by the illustrations (of big green pickles), it is easy for the child to memorize it, and begin to "read" to you.

The illustrations are clear, colorful and capture wonderful expressions on children's faces.

A great thing to do with this book is to take another fruit or vegetable and create your own book (poem, illustrations, and all). I remember having the most fun with eggplants!

We all start with lots of imagination, and generally lose that imagination to complacency. Use this wonderful book to recreate your own imagination and build on your child's! You'll build happy memories and associations that way.

Enjoy!

Using HTML 4 Spec. Edition is an excellent tutorial and reference for the consumer who wishes to learn HTML. The only downside to this book is that you must know a good deal about web design already, not neccisarily HTML, but the overall idea of web design and publishing. I would recommend this book to most people who are interested in learning HTML.

As a new HTML user I found this book to be one of the best of the references for beginners. The introductory chapters can be a bit tedious if you are already familiar with computers and the web, but the rest of the book is full of useful information that will keep pace with your development.

I recommend it as one of the best references for people starting to develop their own web pages.

Covered a lot of essential fundamental skills. It gives you a better understanding behind HTML coding. You will need another resource book if you're planning to create a more technical site, however, it gives you a brief idea of what JavaScript & CGI look like. Great coverage on HTML frames, forms, grahics, links, dynamic styles,etc.

If you are not a good reader, prepare to spend extra time on this book. It tends to bore you out after a while.