We have just listened to the audio book of "Stickeen" produced by Mara Purl and thoroughly enjoyed the story! I have already told my daughter and she is anxiously waiting for my next "care package," because I told her I would be sure to enclose the tape of "Stickeen" so she can enjoy it also. The story was wonderful and it was so beautifully produced with music and sound effects. I will look for some of Muir's other stories to enjoy, especially if Haven Books Audio does some more.

I found the audio tape to be a great source of entertainment. My imagination was captivated. It's a great source of family entertainment, personal journey and pure fun.

Our family loves to travel by car. In a huge state like Alaska, there's plenty to see, but not much to listen to on the radio, as stations are few and far between. One of the best things we listened to on our trip was "Stickeen," the remarkable dog story by John Muir. We loved Lee Salisbury's voice, and the beautiful music on the tape. This was an hour that flew by, and a few dollars well-spent. We're sending copies to all our relatives.

This is a great book, which should be in every elementary/middle school library. It gives bios of ordinary kids who through extraordinary effort started a project to save the environment.

This story is about a girl named Aisha, that trys to save the desert. Aisha lives in the Sahara Desert. Aisha learns about the animals in the desert a young age. She teaches the people in her town about the desert, and how to respect the animals that live their. She soon got a job helping the animals get new land to live on. Also she helped making perserves for the Ibecs. The Ibecs are tall, white, hooved, and almost extincted. When I was reading this part of the story, I imagined Lamma like creatures at a perserve. Aisha once helped prevent a flood in the Ibec's perserve, by helping to build a sandbag dam. Aisha counts cranes that fly through the Sahara. This story is extremly interesting. If I met Aisha I would ask her many questions. One might be, "How do you enjoy helping the animals in the desert?" I think it is excellent to be helping the enviroment at an early age because you will probably continue helping the animals for the rest of your life. If you did a book report on this story you would most definently get an A.

Not only is Carl Dennis a great poet, he's a great teacher as well. In fact, I took one of his creative writing classes at Buffalo. This series of poems stands by itself for its modesty and simple eloquence. He casts each of his poems in an aura of optimism, despite the tragedies and frustrations. He teaches us to savor the beauty of moments and recollections. My favorite is a meditative poem called "Sarit Narai," where the author remembers an accident at Niagara Falls while taking a stroll, and imagines what could've been. Read this book if you enjoy short stories and vignettes, especially those of Raymond Carver and Andre Dubus. You will be mesmerized by the power of this book.

If you like poetry that doesn't speak in a private hyper-literary language, this is for you. (Even if you do like that other kind, this is a welcome break.) Carl Dennis seems to follow some of the traditions of Raymond Carver in that the poems are almost prose-like in their directness. This helps the poems do what poems should--take everyday occurrences, stories, or emotions, or wishes, and deepen them. These are beautiful.

How often have we tried to sift through all the clutter of the encyclopedic volumes of baby care advice usually found on the bookshelves today? With Dr. Carl Robinson's Basic Baby Care, there's no problem. It's written in simple, easy-to-understand words of wisdom from an African American pediatrician who saw the need to present his expertise and experience in a format anyone could understand. And it works. Targeting a segment of the population that may or may not have a level of education needed to decipher complicated medical terms, and offering no-nonsense advice about such things as child abuse, male/female relationships, and single parenting, Dr. Robinson has succeeded, in only 160 pages, in making readers say, "THAT'S what I needed to know!"

This book was fantastic, complex and intriguing. It was difficult at first to understand the imagery and where the author was going with such a graphic description. Lately I have been aware that our society has been inundated with subtle imagery of sex and violence, but this book helped me embrace the true personal significance of that imagery, particularly if it is reoccurring. It is avery personal book that allows you to read it from the perspective that it is the author's story, yet still gain so many insights about yourself, even if you can only relate to glimpses of the account. I think the book is appropriate for anyone who is on a journey of self-awareness and discovery and looking for answers for some sexual or violent imagery. This book can help take those images and place them in the context of your own experience and enable you to open up to them in a very positive and useful way. They go from disturbing nightmares to acceptable thoughts. Highly recommeded for all those on a path to a higher self.

Rumpelstiltskin is a classic fairy tale and this is a beautiful retelling. The illustrations are lush and full of detail that adds to the story. The retelling is easy to read but does not talk down to children.

My daughters who are five love this book and we have read it dozens of times. I highly recommend this for fairy tale lovers. I was attracted by the illustrations which are beautiful but stayed for the story.

This is a retelling of the famous children's "fairy" tale, first presented by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm in the early 19th century. A young mother has to guess a gnome's name (he had been spinning straw into gold for her) in order to prevent him from taking her new-born babe. This book was a 1987 Caldecott Honor book (i.e., a runner-up to the Medal winner) for best illustrations in a book for children. Paul Zelinsky did considerable research to follow the original version of the tale and his art reflects the time period of the story. It is a beautiful book.

The Grimm Brothers wrote one of their most famous tales,"Rumpelstiltskin", over a century ago and others havetranslated and retold it many times since. Paul O. Zelinsky retold"Rumpelstiltskin" based on one of the Grimms' earliest versions of the story. He was also the illustrator. The illustrations in Zelinsky's version are oil paintings. This allows him to create an exceptional antique setting for the story, as well as striking characters. There is such detail in each illustration that there is almost an individual story with in each picture. The intense use of shadowing combined with a kaleidoscopic amount of colors also makes this story's pictures peculiarly realistic. Zelinsky clearly portrays a distinct and more exciting way of seeing the classic tale, "Rumpelstiltskin". The first thing that makes these illustrations so life-like was the individual characters combined with the ornate and detailed backgrounds. The expressions on the characters' faces are drawn in such detail that the reader can easily see what they are feeling at a glance. The reader can also predict whether a character is good or bad from the detail of his/her face. The queen's (miller's daughter) large, gentle eyes and delicate, ivory skin demand the reader's compassion, even though she broke her promise to Rumpelstiltskin that saved her life. Rumpelstiltskin's tiny body accented by his pointy nose and chin gives off a sinister aura. The little details with in each picture make them all unique. An example is when the king is walking into the room where the miller's daughter is with all the spools of gold. There are rays of sunlight coming throughout the window reflecting off the spools that it hits. The colors used makes the room look warmer and more comfortable than when she had entered into it the night before. You can see some of the gold thread unraveling off various spools. The wrinkles in the miller's daughter's clothes shows that she is not in a very comfortable position as she sleeps one of the piles of gold. These are all such minor details that you might not even notice in a photograph. The title page and end papers even include detailed artistry. They show a petite village that is surrounded by a range of mountains and an ocean. The narrow, dirt road winding down to the tiny community gives out the idea that the village is relatively secluded from the rest of the world. I think that the title page and the end papers are a great way to covey the setting and atmosphere to the reader right away. The component of Zelinsky's illustrations in, "Rumpelstiltskin", that made them seem so life-like was his use of shadowing. A good example of this is when the queen sent her servant into the woods to look for Rumpelstiltskin. In this picture the only light the reader can see is from the servant's lantern and the few feet it shines on around her. The reader can also see the moon's reflection in the ocean. This use of shadowing makes these illustrations look not only life-like, but like photographs too. In Zelinsky's version of "Rumpelstiltskin", the illustrations were very realistic, because of his use of shadowing, complex use of colors, and phenomenal detail. Zelinsky's pictures are so effective that the words are practically unnecessary to tell the classic tale of "Rumpelstiltskin".

Each chapter is about a day's adventure of one of the animals (Weasel, Sierra Grouse, Chickaree, Black Bear, Lizard, Coyote, Deer Mouse, Stellar Jay & Mule Deer)on the rock and surrounding forests and meadows. Sally Carrighar compresses her observations into one day and weaves a fine tale of the hunts, escapes, games and imagined thoughts of each animal.

This book, written from the point of view of each of a series of animals living around Beetle Rock, follows the web of life and illustrates the beauty of the natural world. This is a book for anyone seeking to understand the natural world, and anyone who truly loves animals.

My apologies to Carl, but he really doesn't strike me as an important Pulitzer Prize-winning poet. I appreciate the mythic themes of this book, & some of his insights & ponderances, but for the most part it just doesn't feel...important. For instance, why should I care when this guy writes a poem about a novelist friend of his whom he supports? Hey I have friends who do things too. & Carl Dennis does do some clever things with rhythms, but I can't believe he's one of the greatest living poets. How did he wiggle his way so far into the spotlight? Personally I disagree with many of his quasi-logical statements anyways, even while I can appreciate what he's trying to do with them. I'm glad I got this book to see what's going on in Pulitzer poetry this year, but not because I think the book is too memorable.

This collection of poems is a gem. Mr. Dennis explores, from both religious and secular perspectives, issues of practical concern that touch all of our lives such as faith and its absence, paths not taken, regret, envy, forgiveness, happiness, and living a life that we can be proud to claim as our own, particularly in the face of multiple and often conflicting standards. For example, in "Guardian Angel," he illustrates how happiness often hits indirectly, "Like losing oneself in a casual conversation/ That tests our powers of empathy, not cleverness." In "Pride," he embraces self-esteem, suggesting that it can open our eyes to the good in others, even if it doesn't enable us to see in ourselves the virtues others find in us. He considers in "Department Store" whether the moments we covet in others' lives aren't "...only a truce/ In a lifelong saga of border warfare," a saga similar to our own struggle to not envy and be proud of who we are. In "Not for the Idle," he explores why the books of those persons often mistaken as idle, "Lined up on their desks, don't look like drinks/ Lined up on a bar..." In "The God Who Loves You," he suggests that peace can be found between the life we have and the life that might have been by recognizing the former as the life we've chosen. These are lines from just a few of my many favorites. I have read these poems four and five times, both because they are simply beautiful and because I can tell that Mr. Dennis has thought long and hard about these issues and I want to make sure I catch every insight he is conveying. With each read, I develop a greater appreciation for how exceptional his work is. These poems are reflective, honest, intimate, and rich in compelling metaphors, analogies, irony, and humor. I might add, as an additional compliment, that poetry is usually not my cup of tea, but Mr. Dennis's perceptiveness, as well as his writing style, which is never pretentious, captivated me from the start. So if you happen to be reading this Mr. Dennis, thank you!! Thank you for an extraordinary collection of poems and for the insights and inspiration they have given me.

Dennis is not a "difficult" poet, but he has perfected a wonderfully flexible, almost conversational style of versification which artfully conceals a highly pondered structure. He relies on enjambment to propel the reader from one line to the next, allowing the ironies to blossom almost as if by chance, as he spins out "what-if" scenarios over which his own rueful intelligence presides like a benevolent deity. Dennis' "practical gods" arise from the texture of our everyday lives, and wish-fulfillment reveries, but they are also religious entities, vehicles for prayer.

Reading the 'Tales of the City'-Series was such a wonderful experience I could easily repeat it as much as I could. Maupin's style is so great and terrific, it's strange I hadn't heard of him that much, before I read it.

The characters are surely some of the best ones ever created in literary history. The developement of the storyline is so surprising and unexpectable it's breath-taking. The twists and turns are so effective, because you seem to know the characters so well, and never had thought... well, you have to explore the secrets by yourself. I have never seen such a developement of characters. The same persons are totally different in the last book than in the first one. It's great.

I won't rate every book differently, although they are very different. But they are so great alltogether and so well-connected it's hard to tell them apart.

This is wonderful stuff!1

How can you not love the antics when blueblood DeDe Halcyon goes to a wimmin's festival and accidentally lets in the homophobes? Or how about when Booter falls asleep on his boat and drifts into Wimminwood and is kidnapped? The story and adventure continue on just as compelling as the first four editions. You will laugh, you will cry...you may find yourself all over again...

Callenbach demonstrates a complete lack of understanding of the people who live on the Great Plains and the issues facing them. This book is very poorly researched, is full of factual errors, and consists primarily of wishful thinking. The idea that taking land from the people that own it and creating a giant buffalo park will be an economic boon and reverse the population declines the Plains has experienced for the past 60 years is ludicrous. If you're really interested in the future of the Great Plains, read some of the more recent articles by Frank and Deborah Popper. The Buffalo Commons is a useful metaphor, but nothing more.

To begin with, i haven't read this book.But the idea seems to me great. Bringing buffalos to the plains will start a new period in the life of America, only we'll have to bring indians too. They would live quietly though loudly, producing some kind of energy which was always here, and which otherways is dissolving into Nowhere.This energy is necessary for generating life all over America. Joseph Campbell tells an interesting story about how buffalos interchanged with indians in the process of buffalo-hunt. They (buffalos) said they are not against hunting them in general, but they must be asked to and treated politely. Anyway all this play is inevitable, they said (indians used to follow them to the end of the rock and made them jump into the precipice) You must only find a suitable form. Another, more human and beautiful attitude we see in the film "Bless the beasts and the children", but this is a kind of unfair play from the side of the bad guys that we see there. Anyway, America must return to It's roots, the only question is where and what these roots are? perhaps this returning is going on somewhere without us, humans, and this is for better because we would spoil everything, even the ecologists? And this process is wild and strong? And it is expressed in our personal mythologies? I had written about the russian-american connections( i am a Russian originally) as the connections of the Bear and the Buffalo, both of them are beautifully and roughly strong, but they differ very much in their behaviour. So i think they would not fight, when they meet, imagine what they would do? Bear had a strong hand, Buffalo a strong foot...no, it's hard to imagine. Dance perhaps? Do circus? So to finish with this short review of an unread book( I liked Ecotopia very much, and want to ask if somebody knows what Mr.Callenbach is doing at the moment)I would like to phantasise about returning bears to the Russian forests. There are still a lot of them, but so many were killed, and so many went to the zoo and circus. What would be Russia with bears in the streets of Moscow? Perhaps people are so tired that nobody would notice?

An excellent book. Callenbach clearing shows that he did his "homework". A must read for anyone who feels that bison should be reestablished on the American scene.