In this book, Serpieri gets even more hardcore than usual. This makes it one of the best books in the Druuna story-line. I still like the illustration books better, but from all the Druuna comic books, this one's the best hands-down.

The sequences in this one are more hard and explicit, but still erotic. Serpieri's work is unique because it's at the same explicit, hardcore, and still something classy and beatiful.

Druuna's beautiful backside has never been explored and exploited like in this book. Serpieri really shows his love for her voluptious body here. But he does that going deeper in her - her emotions, passions and her loves. Doesn't matter if it's a mutant or a regular guy, Druuna gives all of her. All her fantastic nudity, all her body. They seem to be in control, but the truth is that Druuna is the one who's in control.

Money is scarce on the Navaho reservation and the lack of funds in the police department means less officers and increasingly faulty and out of date equipment. Officer Frankin calls in a possible burglary in progress and requests help but the broken radio stopped working before he can give a location. By the time Ella Clah, the officer in charge of the special investigations unit, finds him, he is dead with a bullet in his brain.

It is clear that money is needed to upgrade the equipment and hire more officers. NEED (Navaho Electrical Energy Development) thinks they have the solution to the problem. They want to build a small clean nuclear power plant on the reservation believing it is a step in making the tribe self-sustaining. There is a large segment of the Navaho population that doesn't want anything to do with the project and those who are adamantly opposed to the project wind up dead or shot at. It looks like the NEED forces are turning militant but Ella suspects a cold-blooded killer is making it look that way while pursuing a personal agenda.

TRACKING BEAR is a great police procedural that gives readers an insightful look into the culture of the Navaho living on the reservations today. The novel displays the schisms in the tribe between the traditionalists and the modernists as well as the new traditionalists. The who-done-it is complex, compelling and exciting with a plethora of suspects from a grieving father to a Navaho activist. Aimee & David Thurlo have written another fascinating installment in this popular mystery series.

Harriet Klausner

I was turned on to Ella Maillart after stumbling accidentally onto her obituary in the New York Times. Her life was so interesting that I went to the library and read all of her books -- she is now one of my heroes. This was a woman who was years ahead of her time. She makes the North Pole explorers look like creampuffs. Hers are some of the most incredible travelogues you will ever come across, and are all the more amazing considering that she was the first true female explorer. Some kind publisher should reissue a collection of her best work. A winner and worth seeking out.

A favorite to check-out at the library and to give as a gift. This book is wonderfully illustrated and the text opens the door for a history lesson. I still get goose-bumps when I read it aloud to a child!

'My beloved, the establishment may not be ready, but God is!' (Mitchell, p. 39)

Reading 'Women: To Preach or Not to Preach - 21 Outstanding Black Preachers Say Yes!' was a very rewarding experience. Within this book, there are names familiar to me, and names new to me. The opening essay sets a framework for theological and historical reflection. The Mitchells have a regard for the authority of the biblical text similar to my own. 'Given this final biblical revelation, it is to be understood that God still speaks to individuals, an our prayerful interpretation of the changeless Word can still improve.' (p. 3) God has not spoken the final word on creation. The Mitchells also illustrate historical/textual points often forgotten or neglected by patriarchal authorities, such as the example of Huldah. 'When a woman is rated over the high priest in judging crucial spiritual matters, it has to be obvious that God places no limitations on what a woman can do.' (p. 8) My only concern with the essay would be a brief flirtation with supersessionism in the discussion on the theology of gifts.

Getting into the sermons by the women in this volume, there is a power and vitality that leaps off the page. They address in a number of ways the concerns women have toward their own role, and how society sees them. What they seem to have in great uniformity, however, is the certainty of a call from God for the role they occupy. Mitchell asks a basic question: 'Whom does God choose for the preaching of the gospel? Just how does God go about selecting those who are to bring the precedent-shattering Good News?' (Mitchell, p. 37) She concludes that the temporary societal structures of the church are not divine by any means. 'God does not pay any attention to the way we determine who should be called to preach or serve, and God never has.' (Mitchell, p. 38) God will call whomever God chooses. McKenzie seconds this with her example from the Hebrew Scriptures: '[Deborah] being a prophetess and a judge was not dependent upon the whims and fancies of her society, but upon the call of God. There is strength in knowing your job and doing it.' (McKenzie, p. 73)

Many speak of great power in the example of Jesus and the way he acted with regard to all people. 'Jesus, then, was about the task of infusing women with the spiritual strength and confidence of believing in themselves as equal children under God.' (Hale, p. 91) Jesus was not one to 'go along to get along', but rather one who risked everything for the greater good of all. This is what women are called to do, also. 'Risking it all will mean that women will have the audacity to preach when some who presume to know the mind of God declare that they can't.' (Grant, p. 108)

The structures of society work to keep women from pursuing their callings. Some are direct obstructions, but some are more subtle, and lead to women not making the effort required (which is usually an extra effort). Bishop Barbara Harris spoke of this in relation to the Samarian woman at the well. 'Too many people are absent from the well. Because the woman came, she received a blessing. Simply because she came, she received a blessing. So many stay away and do not avail themselves of the blessings that can be theirs.' (Harris, 58) Sometimes, women have to make the decision to do what they are called to do in any way possible, regardless of the support of their community. 'I had to move forward regardless of whether they followed me or not.' (Gerald, p. 53)

In all, this is a remarkable collection, very readable, very inspiring, and a welcome addition to my library. Admittedly looking in from the outside, it seems that the Black community as a whole has a tradition both of strong women's influences in the church, yet also having resistance to women's presence in official leadership roles. (I am reminded of some of the things Melva Wilson Costen wrote in African American Christian Worship here.) However, there is undeniable power in the preaching in Mitchell's book, and that power comes through even just from the reading. I can only imagine the force of grace that would come through the hearing of these sermons!

I understand readers' affection toward this book -- a novel that takes place on the Isle of Nollop (Nollop being the man that composed the famous phrase "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog," of course). When letter tiles of the famous phrase begin to fall from the Isle's tribute, citizens take it as a sign from Nollop's grave.

"Speak or write the letter 'z', first offense-public reprimand, second offense-public flogging or the stockades, third offense-deportment from the island of Nollop. If you refuse to go, death is the punishment."

Thus unfolds the fun behind this novel -- letters begin to "disappear" from the text (words containing them aren't used, at least), until finally, words are spelled "creatively" when there are only a few letters remaining that haven't been banned.

As a writer, I understand the remarkable fun Dunn must have had writing Ella Minnow Pea. To begin with, the idea of an island devoted to the phrase "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" is an interesting one, and to follow, how entertaining would it be to write a novel where you must constantly think of alternate phrasing?

My only criticism of this book, however, is that the characters writing the letters (the "narrators," if you will, as the story is told using the Rashoman effect) are incredibly flat, and I felt nothing for them. They were merely there to present Dunn's idea. There was little development or actual action in the book. I felt that the characters rambled in their letters, talking about much of the same things, merely to in permit the continuation of the novel and its missing letters.

Mostly, I think I enjoyed the concept of the book, rather than the book itself.

What a clever and unique book this was! It was a fable, a parable, a lovely story of what language means to us and what happens when it gradually disappears.

Written entirely in the form of letters, this book became more complex as letters disappeared from the Nollopians' vocabulary.
After the letters begin to fall off the statue dedicated to Nevin Nollop, who thought up the pangram "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog", the island of Nollop, located off the coast of South Carolina, is never to be the same. As each letter falls, the Council, sure that it is a sign from the beyond, decrees that that letter may no longer be used in speech or writing. The first major catastrophe as a result of this ruling is that the libraries must close since all books contain all 26 letters, including the forbidden one.

Initially, the inhabitants are not unduly alarmed, even though they pride themselves on their love and use of language. Indeed, the high-level vocabulary in this book sent me to the dictionary many times. However, the citizens soon become suspicious of each other and begin turning each other in to be punished for using a banned letter.

The cleverness of this author is most apparent when he improvises words for those that contain a forbidden letter..... as when he re-names the days of the week when the letter D falls. The word God can no longer be used so instead, God becomes "our omnipresence". Yesterday becomes "yesters". Later, the man behind the fish counter is referred to as a "piscimonger", a knight is a "horseman-gallant", and a university is a "university".

Here is an incredibly clever paragraph, written after many letters have fallen and thus been forbidden for use: "This is to inphorm ewe opf statoot 28-63 past this mornig with implormet phrom high elter R.Lyttle. Hensephorth, sitisens may, in graphy only, espress themselphs threw yoose oph proxy letters, yet only as hear-twins."

This was an amusing and appealing book, fun to read and to think about afterward.

By the way, Ella Minnow Pea (LMNOP) is the name of one of the main characters....and LMNOP are also the last five letters left when Ella saves the day!

How about something refreshingly original, amazingly creative, wholeheartedly unique? Or maybe something containing whimsically plausible characters encasing hearty penchants for the written word and appetites for poetically stimulating language usage? Look no further! Read Ella Minnow Pea for a divine, utterly addictive, and monumentally appealing perusing experience.

In the fictional island of Nollop, home to the late, great Nevin Nollop, inventor of the sentence, "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog," a pangram that contains all 26 letters of the alphabet, there's an uprising going on! Seems the monument depicting said sentence (in an effort to memorialize the citizens' esteemed island founder) is falling apart, letter by letter. High Council members determine this as a word from the great beyond, a way of communicating to us Nollop's wishes to eradicate that certain letter from use -- verbally or written. As an island full of people who use letter-writing and communication as an art form, these wishes could only spell 'demise.' If only there was a way to prove the tiles' falling as an act of faulty cement glue....

Ella Minnow Pea is an extraordinary book of letters from one citizen to the next that increase in hilarity and difficulty as each letter of the alphabet is increasingly banned from use. Mark Dunn is an extremely talented writer in my eyes, especially given this amazing task to expand his vocabulary beyond normal conversation. Have your Thesauruses handy -- Ella Minnow Pea will take you on quite an intellectual journey.

I really enjoyed this book. I looked forward to reading it every chance I got. It was so interesting and easy to read that it seemed to take just hours to complete it. Right away the book starts with a courageous Lakota woman who manages to give birth to the main character, Waterlily, by herself. From there, you learn of an interesting group of people who have a love and respect for their kin in a way that I have never heard of.

As a child obsessed with the Sioux tribes, I begged my grandmother to buy me this book. I was not sorry.
In addition to being one of the best stories I've ever read, this was a fantastic look at the old ways of the Dakota.
This is a great book, and not just for people who are already interested in the subject, although that certainly can't hurt.
Oh, just read the book already.

This is one of my favorite books. I received it as a gift from a friend whose mother was full-blooded Sioux, and I have since given it to several women friends. It is beautiful and moving in it's depiction of the everyday life of a young woman as she comes of age, marries and lives among her people observing intricate kinship relationships. The prose is somewhat slow moving, but to me, it evolks the rhythm of a far away place and time. There is life, death, celebration and sadness. I, too, find myself remembering it often.

This book was invaluable for me as my children were growing up. They are in high school and college now and I am so glad that I had this book to guide me through the formative years. My children are well balanced, confident and pursuing the goals they have set for themselves. Since I had no idea what I was doing when they were small, I used this book over and over. The pages are worn and falling out from so much use. Now I buy a new copy to give to new and expecting moms...there's no better baby gift, I think!!!

I got a copy of this book maybe 23 years ago. It made me laugh out loud while I was sitting alone in my house, and it was filled with ideas that I put to use. The job jar was worth many times the price of the book. Our son and his friends used to beg to dip into the job jar and take out a folded piece of paper that said "Dust everything in the living room" or "Pick up all your toys," and they would perform the task on the paper as though they'd been given a prize, a phenomenon which I believe the authors had described!

The book is written in a wonderful style, very approachable, very comforting. I think it helps to have the perspective of Marguerite Kelly, who truly cares about the children and the parents she's addressing. It's like having a warm, wise, helpful friend who comes unobtrusively into your home and holds your hand as you navigate the shoals of motherhood.

The humor in the book is terrific. I found that many other books were too rigid, too doctrinaire, and they inspired a sense of "Omigosh! I'm doing this wrong!"

But Marguerite Kelly never made me feel self-conscious and uncomfortable. She makes helpful suggestions that make motherhood go better.

For years, I gave this out to everyone I knew who was having a first child.

My highest recommendations for this book. You will rarely in your life spend money more meaningfully.

This book has answered so many questions that I didn't even realize I had. The authors are like trusted, experienced friends on any subject re: children ages 6 and under. I have used the sensible advice re: discipline, toy/book selection, activities, and crafts more times than I can count. I have re-read the areas on age-appropriateness many times over the course of the last 5 years. I would highly recommend this book for any parents of young children.

"Garfield Rolls on" was a disappointment. The wise cracks weren't as funny as the later strips and the "story lines" were a tad boring. I suggest reading the later books of Garfield. I do not recommend.

Ths is the first Garfield book I bought. I especially like the comic or comics with Nermal. Garfield and Nermal are always a funny combination.This book is so funny. Make sure you get this one.

Everybody out there keep buying Garfield books! They can be worth a lot of money someday and can become collector's items! I'm always going to keep all of mine so when I have kids they can read them!