This is the one that introduces Diana Lynch to the Bob-Whites club, as she despairs of her recently arrived obnoxious uncle. Di doesn't bring much but bubbleheadedness to the party, but she does make Trixie look like a rocket scientist in comparison. And we get to see some of Trixie's snarky side as she makes sarcastic comments to Di on the school bus at the beginning of the book (but Trixie does come around later, thanks to Honey's gentling influence).

Note especially the ominous picture in the Deluxe edition (illustrated by Marvin Besunder) of Trixie alone on a field investigation to a seedy neighborhood. (For a discussion of the various illustrators, editions, and authors, check out the Trixie Belden Library website.)

This book climaxes with one of my two most memorable moments from the entire series (the other being in the Mystery of the Blinking Eye). Let's just say that it can be advantageous to stay on good terms with one's occasionally annoying siblings.

This is a great book! It's a little outdated (i read my mother's decrepit copies) but it is very warm and happy, but realistic- maybe her friends are a little nicer than natural, but Trixie has her share of faults. This mystery is suspenseful and fun- find it somewhere!

This was my first exposure to Trixie Belden; I borrowed it from a friend and I didn't want to give it back! Perhaps the sentimental value biases me, but this has always been one of my favorites.

As kids, we were often annoyed by our parents' tendency to trust our charming, rotten classmates and dislike our loyal, less polished friends. Therefore, it's easy to sympathize with Trixie, Di, and their friends when they can see through Di's uncle's trickery and her parents can't. Campbell shows real skill in making Uncle Monty subtly creepy without overdoing it.

How ironic that this warm, intelligent, realistic series is out of print, while the two-dimensional all-that-and-a-bag-of-chips Nancy Drew is still around! Trixie is an imperfect human being with real faults and limitations. Nancy was a great role model in many ways (she could change a flat tire - I never have!), but for a kid having growing pains, Trixie and her friends were so much easier to relate to. There is a real sense of warmth in these books that most of the old Grosset & Dunlap series (Hardy Boys, Dana Girls, Bobbsey Twins, Beverly Gray) lacked. Nancy's friends George and Bess were essentially ciphers; I used to wish that I could meet people like Trixie and her friends.

There's also a real sense of continuity - old friends don't just disappear from one book to the next, and the new friends they make get mentioned from time to time in subsequent stories.

And, to the best of my knowledge, the Trixie Belden books never had to be revised in order to remove racial slurs. Some elements seem slightly outdated, but with the emphasis on people rather than things, the books hold up surprisingly well.

This book was love-at-first-sight. It doesn't blab unnecessarily about the fabric, just lets you touch and see it for yourself. While being very visual and tactile, it also devotes a page with all the relevant information about each particular kind of silk (and who would have thought there would be so many?!): how to care for it, how difficult it is to sew, the ideal projects for each fabric, its characteristics, its approximate price per yard, hints/tips for working with the fabric, etc. I wish there was a reference book like this for everything! It has really inspired me and given me the confidence and knowledge that I need to both shop for silk and start some projects.

This is the perfect book if your local fabric store doesn't carry any (or enough) silk to learn on your own. Words just can't replace running the fabric through your fingers to see if it will work for your project, and this book lets you do that and more. The information collected here is worth twice the asking price. Now you can order what you need off the internet sites and have a better idea what to expect.

I got this book through the Crafter's Choice bookclub, but I had to come here to recommend it. It is ideal literally for anyone. Someone who wants to know more about the fabrics they wear, or as a book for someone like myself who knows a good deal about fabrics to refer to, which I often do. I'm a student at Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan, so I've taken textile classes before and know my fair share. I even have a swatchbook with many fabrics but this books is just exceptional. I will definitely buy the wool and cotton versions of this book eventually. Silk is my favorite fabric to sew in so it was a priority. The book has a really great layout also, making it not too much reading and easy to find the information you are looking for. You can find in the book what to expect from each fabric when you're sewing it, how to take care of it, all its variations, suggestions on fitting, really anything important that you'd need to know about a fabric.... and then more, making you knowledgable on the subject.

This book is very inspirational. For anyone who really appreciates innovative crochet techniques this book's definately a keeper. First of all it's huge with tons of high glossy photos. I loved seeing all of the different clothes. I've always thought of myself as an innovative crocheter but the artists in the book really let their imaginations go.

There is not only crochet clothing but woven, leather and found objects. If you hunger for abstract designs and techniques this book will satisfy.

I have the edition of this book which came out in the mid'80s and which was embraced by all of us doing wearable art as the ultimate art we are all aspiring to achieve. The author then had the most famous wearable art gallery too in New York City. The pictures are out-of-this world in the earlier edition and I can't believe they'd be anything but splendid in this later edition. I can't even count how many hours I've spent going over the pictures again and again in the book. I can't understand why Amazon doesn't have a front cover to show you on this book though. Mine has a knock-you-out front cover with an absolutely gorgeous cover model in wearable art. If you've always wanted to understand what wearable art is, this book answered all the questions I had about the movement and the pioneers who started it. I spent (more money) on my book back then so this one is a real deal if you get the same number of pictures.

I am so impressed with this book, that I would reccomend it to anyone who has ever had any interest in "art to wear" Truly remarkable and one of a kind.

this book is an excellent resource for aspiring speech language pathologists.....it provides great charts in a convenient ring binder.....

I am an SLP and work in a hospital setting and have found this to be an invaluable resource while working with clients of all ages. It takes what you've learned as a grad student and sums it all up into a useful resource that you'll use over and over again.

I use this as a text in my Diagnostic Procedures Class which I teach at So. Il. Univ. @ Edwardsville. This book has tables, norms, and forms for diagnostics in a variety of areas. I wish I had this book at my disposable when I was doing work as a staff therapist. It takes the best diagnostic information from a variety of texts and puts it in one book!

My daughter brings me this book on a regular basis to look at the babies. She loves them. The book is really short and has very few words so it is perfect for a few minutes cuddle time in the afternoon.

My baby loves to look at other babies, which makes this book about babies fabulous. I am trying to get her into a bedtime routine which includes a book or 2 before bed and this book seems to be one of her favorites. She loves to look at pictures and often coos at them like she is carrying on a conversation. Too cute!

We love the Baby Einstein products and this book will surely become a favorite in our house when my daughter is older.

This book is a great way to introuduce art to a young child. It has wonderful pictures and good questions to help start a discussion with your child. IE) A is for Angel, followed by questions about how the angel differs from you. A nice way to help have a conversation with your child. I only gave it 4 stars however because I don't see it having great appeal for children younger than a year or two, whereas the Baby Einstein board books entertain my daughter for longer periods of time.

Makes art reallly fun for little kids! I use this book with my two year old and also with my five year old in different ways. It's a great way to get kids to talk about art and the selections are fantastic! Julie Clark has done it again!

if only they had a book like this one 28 years ago when my own children could enjoy and understand art in such a clever way. on every page vincent van goat appears with a bandaged ear and a short beard. the selections of art are excellent and the facing page leads children to discussion about the work. i would like to see more books like this one.

Like all Protectors, Jason Murphy has special abilities that enable him to communicate with sea creatures and turn into a were-dolphin. However, unlike his peers, Jason has an evil father Hieronymous to contend with. His odious dad imprisoned Jason for six years causing him to miss the birth of his son Davy to the human Lane Kent. In turn this also left him subject to being declared an Outcast by the Venerate Council of Protectors for violating the required registration of half-breed births.

Hieronymous has plans to kidnap his half-breed grandson so he can steal the child's superior intelligence and become the smartest evilest dude in the world. Jason wants to win back the trust of the only woman he ever loved, but never bothered to tell Lane about his species. Even more important he must keep his son safe from his own father.

The lead couple is a delightful star-crossed pair, who clearly cherishes one another yet cannot trust each other. Hieronymous is kind of cartoonish as a villain, yet that adds to the pleasure of the tale. The other Protectors come across pathetic wasting time arguing over whether their peer Jason is a risk due to his gene pool to the point that the reader will scream at them to stop squabbling and take on the villain all ready. Perhaps nobody but Julie Kenner could take a farfetched tale even by fantasy standards and turn it into an amusing escapist novel.

Harriet Klausner

This book was great it had everything that I really enjoy in a Romance novel!! I have read alot of Julie Kenner yet,this was one of her better ones. The good characters and a strong plot was a good twist to the story!!! My main issue with this book was that it went slow at the beginnning yet at the end it picked up and started to take off in a very good way! you should read this and try it for yourself

Jason is finally free to return to real life and reunite with the woman he loves and had to leave seven years ago, in the process, he will get to meet his son, Davy, at last. Of course, it won't be as easy as all that.

First off, as far as Davy's mom, Lane Kent is concerned, Jason abandoned her when she was pregnant. She may still love him, but the hurt is great, and she is ready to get on with her life, in the form of trying to find another man to be her love and Davy's father.

Then, there is the fact that Jason's evil father wants to kidnap the boy before he turns seven. This is the man who kept Jason and Lane apart for all that time. You see, Jason is not just a man, nor is his father or his son.

Jason is a Protector, a super hero, and his father is the most evil of all the Protectors' enemies, an Outcast. If the evil Hieronomous can capture Davy, he can drain the boy's powers just as he turns seven and actualizes them completely. Lane knows nothing about all this, until Hieronomous sends his other son, Mord, to kidnap Davy. Once that is accomplished, Lane, Jason, and other Protectors readers have grown to love, including a certain ferret, must rescue him. Hopefully, there will be time for Jason to reignite Lane's love, but that has to be secondary to finding Davy. Hieronomous must not become any more powerful.

***** As always, Julie Kenner can be counted upon to deliver a fun book, something most of us can really use along about now. Though lighter than SILENT CONFESSIONS, it still has powerful, intense love scenes. Lane may not be a heroine, but she is not a force to be lightly taken, and Jason is as charming as the dolphin he can become. I hope that this is not the last in the series, and that maybe the mysterious Mordecai gets his own story in the near future. *****

Reviewed by Amanda Killgore.

I have read most of Dan Jenkins' books and would rate this one near the top. As in all of Jenkins' works, the characters are colorful and find themselves in the damndest situations. This book is one belly-laugh after another. Anyone who enjoys country and western music, beer drinking and permanently adolescent male behavior will love this book. Great tale of Texas honky-tonk culture.

This book is so funny that one feels one must read portions aloud to anyone within hering distance. The dialogue is brilliant. Though very broad, it is always true and real. I only wish Eric Partridge were still alive....he would have found countless words - and lines - to incoporate into his "Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English." The fact that it takes place mostly in a Texas bar and is about country-Western music should not obscure the fact that this book is a kind of minor masterpiece. Bravo!

Marvelous. Magnificent. Fill in your favorite superlative and go for broke.

I've read this book so many times I can quote much of it from memory, but it never gets stale. I'm always entertained ... and deeply impressed not only with Jenkins' style and talent, but with his earthy insight into the human condition and the latent goodness in us all.

You can live a perfectly fine life without Dan Jenkins, but you're missing important things to think about if you ever finish laughing.

Anyone who lives with a cat will know exactly where the writers of this book are coming from. A very humourous collection of songs which reflect the moods of many a cat.

Not only are the songs enjoyable to read, but the illustrations are an added pleasure.

The only thing which lets the book down is the size of it. A few more songs, for the price paid, wouldn't have gone a miss.

Cats love Christmas too, so why not share the Christmas spirit by singing their own special version of carols snuggled together around the xmas tree. If you have cats, you will identify with every xmas carol in this book.....Truly enjoyable.....

This is a really funny book - best read aloud in the company of like minded feline fanciers. Better still - sing a-long around the piano. Add a glass of wine (or 2) and you are guaranteed a great laugh. Excellent present for those fond of cats.

This book shows Angelenos and the world that there is much diversity to celebrate and enjoy in Los Angeles and it does it in a fun, colorful way. The illustrations are delightful and the text informative. Even long-time residents will learn something new. Fun for adults as well as kids. We bought them as gifts for everyone on our holiday list.

As residents of Los Angeles we are thrilled to have a book which highlights our city, its diversity and its vivacity. Each page is a jeweled mosaic. We will enjoy introducing our grandchildren to their city in picture and word.

This book is one of those rare children's books that teaches the adult as well as the child. I can only hope that the authors and the illustrator work on capturing the magic of other cities, just like they did with Los Angeles!