You definitly should read this if you dont you are missing out .....!!

This is one of the best books that I have ever seen on Pro/E. The chapters are very well-organized with easy to follow directions . For each concept, there are numerous examples with step by step instructions.

The book would be ideal for both beginners who are trying to explore Pro/E, as well as advanced users who are trying to make the best use of Engineering Design using Pro/E.

LOVE THAT DOG By Sharon Creech is a touching story of a boy who doesn't like poetry. "I don't want to because boys don't write poetry. Girls do." This book is written in a diary form and shows how Jack grows and learns to like poetry. He is inspired by his teacher, famous authors/poets and the love he has for his dog. As he begins to write poetry he is not too sure of himself because his words don't rhyme. After reading poems by famous authors he realizes they don't have to rhyme and becomes more confident and allows the teacher to post his poems on the bulletin board. At first his poems are anonymous then as he becomes more confident he adds his name and recieves many compliments from his classmates. Jack is particulary inspired by Walter Dean Myers and writes him a letter asking him to visit his school. Can someone that famous take the time to visit Jack's school?

I was delighted to discover this book and have thoroughly enjoyed sharing it with my students as well as my own children. LOVE THAT DOG is a delicious way to introduce young readers to free verse poetry...

However, in reading this book we are to believe that the poems are written by a young elementary student. In all honesty, Jack's attempts read very much like prose that is simply rearranged on the page with poetry-like line breaks. Students I have worked with through the years are capable of so much more!

So, while I LOVE this book and will continue to use it in my classroom, I certainly don't intend to neglect other poetry books that have delighted and inspired my young creative writers such as: ALL THE SMALL POEMS by Valerie Worth and LITTLE DOG POEMS by Kristine O'Connell George. LITTLE DOG POEMS, in combination with LOVE THAT DOG, is particularly powerful since these short poems are not only about a much-loved dog, but are also written in a first-person child's voice.

Worth, George, and other many other poets are needed in the "mix" to help young writers and readers understand that poetry is not *just* short lines and a lot of white space -- but that poetry is also about metaphor, imagery, and some of the amazing and surprising connections that can be made through lanaguage when we write poetry.

Love That Dog is written in the form of diary entries that read like short poems. The story is about a boy named Jack who begins keeping a journal while his teacher teaches a unit on poetry. Jack doesn't think he likes poems, or that he himself is writing poetry, until he receives feedback from his teacher. He also discovers that he has been using his poetry journal to explore his feelings about his dog who died.

This is a quick and very moving book that can be read by kids who are ages 8 and up. Even grownups will like it!

In the back, the author includes a section of famous poems written by well-known poets. She herself has written many other books and even won a Newbery Award for her book, Walk Two Moons.

I love LOVE THAT DOG because it is sad and funny and you learn a lot about poetry.

This is a book review of Chasing Redbird, which is an interesting, funny, and realistic story by Sharon Creech! Zinny, the main character in the book is a 13-year-old girl who feels she's responsible for the deaths of her aunt and Cousin. Having a large family of many brothers and sisters, she is feeling lost without her Aunt Jessie. She discovers a trail in her back yard, and finds out from a museum that leads to the neighboring town. Meanwhile an old friend of the family has moved back to town along with her son, who is a few years older than Zinny. He starts bringing her presents, and Zinny, who is used to boys using her, doesn't think much of it. During summer break Zinny asks her parents if she can start camping on the trail so she can finish clearing it by the time school starts, and they actually let her. While up there she discovers someone very special, and gets help from someone unexpected, while accomplishing her dreams and her goals. The author uses great humor, and realistic events to capture your attention throughout the book. The most important character in this book is Zinny, or formally known as Zinnia. She is brave but sometimes lonely. Even though she has a handful of brothers and sister, they sometimes dis-clude her. During this story she deals with the death of her aunt and cousin, her uncle who misses his wife, finishing uncovering the trail, and achieving her goals, and reaching her dreams. My favorite character in this book is Zinny. She has a lot of stuff going on in her life and deals with all of the bad things. Always leaving time for the trail, she makes a goal to finish it by the end of summer vacation. Zinny is a courageous character throughout this book, she doesn't stop for anything until she reaches her dreams, and catches her goals. From this book I learned to follow your heart. If you don't know what path to take in a situation do what your heart feels is right. You might ask yourself what you are doing and why you're doing it, but in the end you know that the decision you chose was best for you. "Life is like a bowl of spaghetti once in a while you get a meatball." This is my favorite saying in the book because it explains exactly how life is. Sometimes, while your life is okay or on the downside, something great happens. While I read this story I felt happy when Zinny accomplished her goals, and discovered the trail. Sad, was what I felt during the times of death in her family. I found myself laughing at some things that her younger brothers say, and when her uncle would stomp on a hose thinking it was a snake. Overall this book made me feel good, and helped me overcome situations in my own life! All the characters in this story are realistic and can probably relate to one of your friends or somebody in your life. They all have interesting personalities and are great to read about. To make the book more personal the author used first person writing to not only share the main characters experiences in more detail but also to share thoughts and feelings only the main character would know about. Most of this story is interesting, and kept you on the edge of your seat at some parts. Some parts of the book aren't as thrilling as others though the plot and setting fit the moral or message. Whether you live an interesting and exciting life, or you think its normal and average, this book will show you how to take any life, add a goal and make something great happen.

I believe that this book is a very good example of strong beliefs at work. This book starts off with a very wise saying; "Life is like a bowl of spaghetti, once in a while you get a meatball." That's how life is and that is how this book is too. It is the story of a girl named Zinnia,Zinny for short who's cousin Rose died when she was four. Her aunt Jessie also dies nine years later and Zinny feels responsible for both deaths. Zinny has a bunch of brothrs and sisters and nobody can tell them apart. Zinny feels like she dosn't own her life; she feels like she has to share that with her siblings too. Then she finds the trail. That is like a meatball to her. Since she found the trail, she calls it her trail. Naturally now her brohters and sisters want to help her uncover the trail and Zinny feels scandalized but her siblings lose interest and all is well. In the middle of all this an old family friend moves back to Bybanks. He gives Zinny presents but instead of feeling good she feels sad because she is used to boys giving her presents so yhey can get through to her older sister. Read to find out if Zinny finishes the trial, if Jake really likes her and if she can move on with her aunt and cousins death. I absolutely love this book and read it in one sitting. Zinny is a character stuck in the past. I think that all the other characters inhanced the book greatly and the book is very good with them. You need to pay attention to all the characters and how they progress in the story. I think I felt whatever Zinny throughout the book because Sharon Creech did such a good job portraying Zinny's feelings through words. This book just shows tha if you believe in some thing it will come true.

In the small towm of Baybanks there lived a 13 year old girl Zinnia Taylor and her mom, dad, 3 brothers, 3 sisters (aunt,Cousin)& her uncle. Her and her cousin were born at just about the same time and were so mauch alike people mixed them up! But when Zinny and Rose(cousin) were 4 Zinny cought whooping cough and then Rose caught it to and died. Zinny felt responsible for her death. Since Rose's death Zinnys aunt and uncle have always treated Zinny as a daughter. Then one day Zinny discoverd an old path that she later found out was called the "Baybanks-Chocton trail" Zinny spent alot of time clearing away the trail. Then one day when she was on the trail she discoverd a stone that had a hole under it, and in the hole was a liitle pouch that had a golden medallion that had the initials "TNWM" Zinny was confuse and spooked so she showed it to her aunt-along with a snake! In response her aunt crawled in a drawer and died. Zinny also felt responsible for this death. Theres alot more but if you want to know what happens you'll have to read it yourself!!

I have just finished reading Bloomability for a school book report. The description of Switzerland was so awesome that I decided to write my history paper about it! There's just one thing. Although I loved the characters, the book was just to fast of a read for me. I really didn't have to think about anything (so if you're the kind of person who likes that, you'll love this book) and I finished the book in three days! But not because I couldn't put it down.

Now back to the story. Domenica Santolina Doone (Dinnie for short) has never lived in one place for more than a year. Her father keeps seeing "new opportunities" and once again the family is whisked across America. Then one day Dinnie is "kidnapped" by her Aunt and Uncle and is taken overseas to an Internaional school in Switzerland. There Dinnie learns Italian, makes friends each with a different character, learns to ski and opens herself up to the world.

This is a great book for adolescent girls. Enjoy!

Me, being a huge Creech fan, I was happy when I layed my hands on "Bloomability." The characters in this book might not be as detailed as you would want them to be, but it still is very good.

Dinnie isn't a normal girl, she lives with a family that moves around ever so often. Sometimes this frustrates Dinnie, but she still loves her family. Everything handles pretty well until the day Dinnie is sent out to boarding school in Switzerland. her life changes as she copes with different conditions, people, and life styles. Soon, Dinnie meets friends; Lila, Keisuke, Belen and Guthrie along with many other kids of numerous nationalities.

This book sweeps you into Dinnie's life, and doesn't let go until the last page. You feel as if you know her, and you are going through what she is. Creech is an amazing author, and this is one of her bests. If you want to read other books by this author, Chasing redbird, The Wanderer, Absolutely Normal Chaos are for you! Have fun reading "Bloomability!"

Dominica Santolina Doone: A girl who doesn't have an established home. A girl growing up amid failed "opportunities". A girl created by an author, yet like girs everywhere.

Dominica (called Dinnie) is the youngest child of her parents. Her father moves the family every six months in search of nonexistent opportunities, and Dinnie's brother Crick is a juvenile delinquint, her sister Stella pregnant and married at the age of sixteen. The reader gets the impression that Dinnies mother fears for her daughter's well being when she arranges for Dinnie to attend an international school in Switzerland, where her uncle is the newly appointed headmaster. At first, Dinnie feels isolated, alone, betrayed and forced into this new opportunity . However, Dinnie discovers later that this is one opportunity that will change her forever- this was a bloomability.

I absolutely loved this book, and I believe that although many events were highly improbable, the tone of the book is truthful and the bloomabilities in this book are the bloomabilities of life. Thank you, Ms. Creech!

Ciao!

In the book Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech, thirteen-year-old Salamanca Tree Hiddle loves the farm where she lives with her parents in Bybanks, Kentucky. But everything she loves is taken away when her mother leaves and her father decides he and Sal will move to Ohio. Sal finds a special friend in the unusual Phoebe Winterbottom, whose mother also disappears. When Sal goes on a trip with her grandparents from Ohio to Idaho, where her mother went, she knows she must get there before her mother's birthday and bring her home. Along the way she tells her grandparents about Phoebe's unusual life and realizes that their lives go along a similar path.
This novel by Sharon Creech is very touching and will make you get involved. The novel is filled with many well-developed characters, humor, and plot twists but is very heartbreaking at times. The story gets the readers involved in how it feels for a mother to leave her child then the child realizing that her mother has died. This book also had many good quotes including the opening line stating, "Don't judge a man until you've walked two moons in his moccasins." This shows the message that Creech is trying to state which is that you should not judge anyone until you get to know them more better. This applies to many cases in the book. This is a great book for young adults to adults. I recommend it highly!

In Walk Two Moons, Salamanca Tree Hiddle starts on a journey to meet her mother who left home a year ago. Throughout the ride, she tells her grandparents the story of her past year in Euclid, Ohio. As the audience, we get to weave in and out of Sal's current life and past story in the touching form that belongs only to Sharon Creech. I read this story two years ago when I was eleven, and remember being confused and dubious about the whole thing. It is true that there is something strangely depressing about Sharon Creech's storylines; throughout the sad and mystical stories of Sal's life with her mother back in Bybanks. Also the somewhat cynical and horrific imagination of Sal's friend Phoebe. Still, there is something definitely thrilling about reading this story, especially now that I have had a chance to reread it. The humble, unassuming albeit slightly witty thoughts of Sal's is very fun to read and some of the anecdotes enlightening. I would suggest this story to any kid or adult willing for something unlike any other book I have read before.

This book, in my opinion, is an excellent book that I've read many times. Inside this book are some ingredients to a truely touching novel. First, there's that crazy, wild and funny areas that cover a very sad core. I'm talking about, of course, Phoebe Winterbottom, who's perfect life was untouched by anything out of the ordinary. When tragedy hits, however, she is unprepared for a shocking disappearence, leaving her lost and confused. Second, there's the dreaming and difficult remembering that Salamanca goes through. As she recalls the past, she wishes that she had done so many things differently to change the position she's in now. This leaves the reader saying, "Awww." Overall, this novel isn't the kind that you read and forget. Everything in it sticks to your mind ......

SUMMARY: Salamanca's mother, Chanhassen "Sugar" Pickford Hiddle, had promised to come back to her daughter and husband before the tulips on their farm bloomed. She had just needed a bit of time alone to clear her heart of dark thoughts, taking a cross-country trip from Bybanks, Kentucky, to Lewiston, Idaho. But after the tulips bloomed and withered, she still hadn't come back. Feeling that the farm reminded him too much of his bygone wife, Salamanca's father takes his daughter and eccentric parents to the Ohio city of Euclid. Thinking that she should have a chance to visit her mother, Gramps and Grams bring Salamanca to Lewiston, tracing her mother's footsteps and stopping at every landmark she had seen. While on the way, Salamanca tells her grandparents the wacky story of Phoebe Winterbottom, a girl who Salamanca met in her Euclid school. Salamanca realizes while narrating the tale how similar she and Phoebe are, both with departed mothers, and both acting alike while fighting to get over it.

There's a whole other story about Phoebe also.

SUMMARY: Phoebe Winterbottom is a quiet girl, whose fickle imagination is unrivaled by none. In her world, people are either perfect or just plain wicked. That's what attracts Salamanca, who becomes her best friend and gets involved in Phoebe's abnormal life. The trouble begins when an odd young man (who Phoebe automatically points out to be a raving lunatic) is seen lurking around her house, asking questions about her family and mother. Once in a while, cryptic messages would be found written on blue paper on Phoebe's doorstep. Then, something happens that changes Phoebe's life as it is. Phoebe's mother disappears, leaving no note of reason. Phoebe, being how she is, convinces herself that the lunatic had kidnapped her, because she loved her and wouldn't leave on purpose.

Read this book! Its an excellent book to add to your collection, and you won't regret it. I promise!

This book about the mixed up life stories about Samantha's best freind Phebee, while she is also trying to get her life staight. Samantha tells her grandparents this story of her friend on her way to find her mother who died, long before that on a winding road...

I love all of Sharon Creech's books and I have all of the ones written for people of my age (she has written some for young children that I have not read seeing I am not a young child). BTW, Sal's name is not Samantha it's Salamanca Tree Hiddle, Sal for short.

Report on The Wanderer By: Sharon Creech

Do you dare to sail across the ocean? Sophie,her three uncles, and two cousins sail across the ocean on a sailboat to Ireland seeking their grandfather, Bompie. Along the way they stop at cool places, where they explore and discover. They also meet neat people who tell them incredible stories about their lives or scary stories about the island they were on. And they find out things about each other they never new before,like what happened to Sophie's parents and that their uncle Dock wanted to be an artist before he went to college. I give The Wanderer five stars because The Wanderer is a great book and the writing style is very unique and neat. This book is set up as two dog logs Sophie and one of her cousins wrote on the sail boat. I think that the way the book is set up makes it more fun to read and more exciting. The Wanderer is my new favorite book!

Book Report By: Alyssa R.

The Wanderer
In this book there is two main characters; Sophie and Cody. They are cousins but of different gene pools. Sophie was adopted when she was little. She's what you would call a three sided person. One side is dreamy and romantic, another side is logical and down to earth, and the other side is hard headed and impulsive. Cody, on the other hand, is very frivolous. He always was fooling around and didn't take things seriously.
Sophie was always dreaming of sailing across the ocean. When her Uncle Dock (Sophie's favorite) told her that she could go with him on a journey across the ocean to see his father, Bompie, Sophie plead to her parents. Her mother decided to let her go knowing she would be safe. When Sophie set off, she didn't know what she was dealing with. On her trip everybody had to teach the crew something. Sophie told stories that she heard from Bompie when she was little. Cody, the knuckle head, showed juggling. Everybody else (Sophie's Uncles and other cousins) taught sailing. But nobody knew about the fierce storm ahead.
I find it very unique that Sharon Creech writes the book from a different point of view. She had you read from Sophie's and Cody's journals. Sometimes things are repeated but I like her style because it's different. I would recommend this book to anybody. It is exciting and you'll never want to put it down. I usually don't like these kind of books but this was great.

This was the first of Sharon Creech's books that I read but I read many more of her books afterwards and they are great.
Sophie has a secret that not even she really understands. She wants to go on a boat trip with her 3 uncles and 2 guy cousins across the ocean to see her grandpa, Bompie. On the trip, they are all asked to teach one thing to everyone else. Sophie teaches Bompie's stories. She says Bompie told them to her but everyone knows she has never met Bompie. (He wrote her lots of letters, though.) Cody, one of Sophie's cousins, teaches juggling but everyone already thinks he is a complete goof and can never be serious. He is determined to prove everyone wrong and to be serious. Brian, Sophie's other cousin, needs to loosen up. He's a know-it-all.
This is a very adventurous book packed with secrets, mysteries, challenges, and memorable characters. Plus it's all told through Sophie's journal and Cody's summer journal.
If you read this book, I promise you won't be let down.

Ruby Holler is an adventurous book about a set of orphan twins who are forced to grow up feeling unloved and unwanted but become strong through the connection they have toward each other. The most enjoyable part about this book is the way that the author Sharon Creech develops the characters Dallas and Florida. She really emphasizes the bond between twins and the connection that they feel toward one another. In the orphanage they have separate rooms and yet find a way to stay close. "Next door, Dallas heard Florida whimpering. He crept to his closet and lifted the cardboard flap covering a hole in the wall. Florida? What's the matter?" She gives a real sense of the attachment the twins feel to one another. The twins know and care about each other so much that they can, at times, predict what the other one is thinking, feeling, and even trouble. "We had better find a town pretty soon," Dallas said. He didn't want to tell Sairy that the awful feeling he'd had about Florida being in trouble was getting stronger." The author gives the reader a very true sense of how strongly twins are connected. There is a real bond there that many people don't understand but I think the author has a gift for portraying the true, yet often incomprehensible, reality of that connection.
I also believe that the author develops Dallas and Florida in a way that would allow any reader to find these characters fun, mischievous, and adventurous. You are joining two children on a quest to find themselves as well as their place in this crazy world.

This was a great book. Not my fave Sharon Creech book, but quite good all the same. It is about twins Dallas and Florida. They are nicknamed the trouble twins. They have been booted from tons of foster homes. The Home they live in now is not a good one.

But then daydreaming Dallas and forceful, crabby Florida get sent to yet another foster home. They try not to get too close to the old couple, but they realize that they like living there in Ruby Holler.

Through trips with the couple, the twins reach into their hearts and spill the feelings that have been welling up inside them.
Not a bad book. I've read better, but still very good.

This is a great book by Newbery Medal winning author Sharon Creech.
The story is about 13-year-old twins Dallas and Florida who live at the Boxton Creek Home Orphanage, run by the awful Trepids. They have lived at many foster homes but always brought back to the orphanage. "Nothing but trouble," the adoptive parents say. "Nothing but trouble." That's how they became "the trouble twins".
Tiller and Sairy are a 60-year-old couple whose kids are long gone. They want to go on an adventure while their bodies are still strong enough to climb a mountain, etc. Tiller and Sairy find Dallas and Florida at the Boxton Creek Home and take them on adventures.
Sharon Creech's latest book is bound to enchant lovers of "Bloomability", "Absolutely Normal Chaos", "Chasing Redbird", and "Love That Dog", some of her other novels. Be sure to read this.It is definitely Newbery material. I strongly recommend it.

Len Deighton is 3 different writers. His first books (1962-82) are directionless, pointless, storyless, boring.

His Bernard Samson books are good.

After that (mamist, city of gold) he goes into his second childhood with simpleton, stupid, unbelievable plots and characters.

Not recommended

I read this book right after a Tom Clancy novel, and well, it's hard to compete with the master, Tom Clancy. I would probably have enjoyed this more if I had read it first. The plot just wasn't near as exciting as the the Clancy book, and I think that did play a part in my opinion of this book. All in all though, it was a good book and well written

Comparing Len Deighton to Tom Clancy works only in that both authors choose from time to time to operate in the shadow world of espoinage. In a Clancy novel there is never any doubt who wears the white hat; it is this distinction that separates Deighton from Clancy. A generation back the comparison between Deighton and Clancy would have been Graham Greene and Ian Fleming. Which you choose says more about the types of novels you read than which story you preferred.

MAMista is a story written by an author quite comfortable examining the moral ambiguities presented, with good detail to his fictional surroundings, direct in his presentation, and very agile in his story-telling abilities. The characters always come alive with the story, including some minor ones you'd rather not have done so. The only complaint; in setting the mood so well, Deighton can go on a bit more than necessary. This is a minor flaw in an otherwise graceful novel.