The book Shadow of the Red Moon by Walter Dean Myers was a book I don't recommend. That is because Walter Dean Myers I think is a better writer when he writes about the inner city urban community. This book had its ups and it had its downs. At some parts there would be a lot of action and at other you would get bored really easy. Myers made it unique making Jon be half Fen and half Okalian. He was half of the enemy and half of the endangered race of humans. The beginning came with a bang and made you want to read more which I liked a lot but after a little bit it would start going from action to boring and back to action then boring. I thought the book was really weird to do that. I also thought they should of changed Kyra's name to something else that matched his attitude. Like he said in page eighteen ""Go away!" The boy spit his words out angrily." I didn't agree with most of what the book said. It doesn't relate to one thing of real life because it is a fantasy book about prehistoric people. I definitely don't recommend this book to anyone because it doesn't have an exciting plot. I read this book because the cover persuaded me it looked like the name and the illustration had a powerful meaning. The book was at sometimes entertaining but I recommend another book that will keep you entertain during the whole time you read the book

as Jon leaves the cristal city in search of the Okalian holy land he meats the many creatures of the wilderness including a black unicorn named shadow and the dreaded fens the enemies of his people

Pop Art: U.S./U.K Connections 1956-1966 is a great read for those facintated with the Pop Art movement. The color plates are really good and so is the writing. It's an informative look at the parallels between the Pop Art movement in the U.S. an the U.K. The book includes the icons of the era along with some lesser known artists and works. It presents an interesting perspective suitable for both the beginner and expert art enthusiast.

This collection is a travesty indeed. Great poems no doubt, but abysmally read. Furthermore they should have put all the introductions together separate and apart from the poems. It's nice to hear intros the first time around. But who wants to hear the intros everytime you listen to the poems? Sometimes I want to hear just a stream of poetry without any interuptions and this format makes that impossible. It's incredible that such a great concept could be so terribly executed.

I could not get this back to the store for a refund quickly enough. While the poem selection is great and the poem introductions are narrated well, the choice to use "modern poets" as the readers made this compilation utterly unlistenable. The only one that I found acceptable was Anthony Hect--the others were notably bad. In particular, I found Jorie Graham's "readings" to be abysmal. She reads each poem as if it were simply a string of unconnected words, giving equal stress to each, with halting pauses between them, never breaking out of a drowsy monotone. Other readers were not much better.

There are three major flaws in the readings:

1) The readers are no better than the average untrained person, and often much worse. (You've just got to hear them for yourself to appreciate how bad they are.)

2) Successive poems by the same poet are read by different "readers." It's jarring to hear 3 or 4 poems from Poet X, each in a wildly different voice.

3) No regard is given to matching the sex of the poet and reader. In general, it is really annoying to hear your favorite poet read by the wrong sex. In particular, making this mistake on "gender specific" poems (like having a woman read Poe's "Annabel Lee") is unforgivable.

Why is this all so upsetting? Because it is practically impossible to find poetry collections on CD, making this a serious waste of limited resources. If you are looking for a good collection on CD, buy "81 Famous Poems CD" by Audio Partners (ISBN 0-945353-82-0). It's a good collection on two CDs and is read by professionals: Alexander Scourby, Bramwell Fletcher, and Nancy Wickwire. In the meantime, we can only hope that the producers of this collection will eventually come to their senses and re-record the poems with the services of trained professionals.

If you are prepping for the GRE in literature or are trying to gain a basic understanding of literary periods and poets, this audio-collection is a must. It features a brief introduction about each poet's life. It also includes a brief introduction about the theme of each poem. The fact that you have to listen to these introductions before listening to the poem inculcate the poem and aids retention. If literature has turned into a cumbersome and overwhelming task, this collection will not only provide you with a sense of direction but will also make literature far more pleasurable.