Quiet Dan has been adopted into a family which has experienced a series of foster children over the years - and his new 'sister' Mary can't understand why. For Dan, it's an uncertain miracle which can change at any moment, and his past survival skills kick in to keep him at bay from his new family. For Mary Kate, a determination to reject the new brother almost becomes reality. A moving, involving story which gives plenty of psychological insights.

While this may be a small book on a small imprint it deserves wider distribution. John Shevin Foster has managed to distill some down home truths into an easy read. We've all made mistakes when it comes to love. We thought we knew it all, only to have our hearts broken by the person that was not for us.This book opens our eyes to things that someone in love may not want to see. In 55 short pages the author manages to remind us of all the common sense lessons that grandma gave us,while at the same time translating them into modern,everyday,scenarios that grandma may not have experienced. This book might just as easily have been titled "How to tell if your partners no good."But hopefully the feminists will catch wind of the title ,go into a tizzy, gain the author lots of press,and sell lots of copies.

Remember those huge books you used to have to read in Reading Class during grade school? You know, the ones which were filled with short stories and had the questionarres and/or matching assignments in the textbook's accompanying workbook which you had to answer after completing each story segment?

Well, I had first encountered "Marco and The Tiger" as a "short story" in one of those things during the fourth grade. As I had taught myself to read before starting any school and regularly devoured books while the rest of my classmates still stumbled over words, I really ate this one up: it started with Marco collecting for his paper route at the weird huge door with the fist-shaped knocker and only got more and more strange and wonderous from there. I was fascinated with the whole setup, and I couldn't help but wonder what, if anything, had happened afterwards. The memory of it ended up both haunting and delighting my childhood memories for the rest of my life.

WARNING: Spoilers ahead.

Just the other day, I saw a copy of this sitting in my local thrift store and snatched it up.

Now that I've read through the whole thing, it turns out that the "short story" was in reality just the first two chapters condensed to create one. And I'm happy to say that the rest of the book is just as charming as the portion I had originally read all those years ago. John Foster has quite a way with words throughout this quaint little tale, and he gives it real personality that is both unique and touching. This is the sort of book that I would have read in one setting way back then, and would later proceed to re-read again and again on a regular basis. Here is a book which is naturally cute and appealing without ACTING cute and appealing, a story so well-told that it was obviously second nature to its creator.

The story is simple but actually quite unique when you compare it to others similar to it: a boy named Marco discovers a tiger living in the middle of a battered courtyard in the middle of New Orleans (!!!), befriends him and later wonders what on earth to do with him.

Now I have to state something right off the bat: this is the type of story which will appeal only to those who love animals and have the natural ability to suspend disbelief and accept what's going on here. For example, the boy and the tiger work out a method of communication in which the tiger understands English, and in return Marco learns that the tiger uses his own form of sign language to communicate (a cocked eyebrow means "yes", stretching the neck means "no", thrashing the tail means "I don't know", etc... sort of makes the tiger sound like a typical Andy Warhol interview, doesn't it? ;) ). But Foster makes it work because he presents everything from Marco's point of view so well and effectively that you immediately get the impression the author himself (a) still has the natural ability to communicate with children as equals to be taken seriously, and (b) might have based this on a story he himself dreamed up as a boy. Every single detail is described with loving care, ringing true to Marco's personality and resulting point of view.

For example, one passage describes Marco's fear of some kind of mustached gamekeeper hunting down and killing his tiger, and adds as an extra thought, "Marco had no idea why the man would have a mustache, he just knew that the man would." A lesser author would never have bothered to have put in such details, but Foster is obviously a natural storyteller, and he's enjoying himself here with every page. I don't know how to describe his writing style except to say that it's appropriate to the story, gives it added believability and works wonderfully in presenting us with Marco's thoughts and perspective.

I actually got hooked on this little story and got concerned about what was going to happen, especially since Foster also shows a GREAT natural flair for hooking your suspense... right down to the very last scene that closes the book in which he simply doesn't allow the reader to relax in relief until the last minute.

I'm not sure whether later additions of this book ever had different illustrations or not, but the one I found--a first edition from 1967, I believe--has beautiful illustrations, particularly of Marco rowing his tiger across the water on the title page. In fact, the whole book brought back teary-eyed memories of what books for young people used to be like back during the time when this one came out, the time I grew up in.

And after you finish this one, which I know both children AND their parents will enjoy, you just might find yourself as the grown-up-who-never-grew-up wondering to yourself: why can't more modern children's books be as naturally crafted and entertaining as this one?

I really enjoyed this book because it was an exciting book to read to younger children...

Foster points out that the rate of formation of specialized districts has been rising rapidly. She provides a system for classifying them and notes all of the historic stimuli for their development. She then focuses on the two main reasons for their development: the influence of developers and increasing fiscal pressures on state and local governments.

The strength of the book is in its empirical analytics. One of my favorite parts is where she enumerates specialized districts by geographic scope and property taxing power. Over half of all district have this ability. It is these that may pose potential future problems to the residents and businesses they tax since the districts are not run by elected officials. Hence officials will be able to raise (and lower) taxes and yet are free from significant repraisal.

Although thorough, Foster finds her data often limit the scope of her analysis. But she makes the most of what she has. She finds, for example, that special districts tend to spend more per capita on a specified public service than do general-purpose governments (states, counties, townships, cities, boroughs). She points out that they may provide a different type of service, however, which may justify the extra expense (she points out that they are also more capital-intensive). Because of this upward spending bias, metro areas that rely on them also have a greater share of their public spending concentrated in the typical functions of the districts.

In summary, The Political Economy of Special-Purpose Goverments is a very important book for the field of public economics. It is not the book for the layman, however, since it relies on the application of statistical techniques to the Census of Goverments data.

I read the book to my middle school classes and then had them fill in an "I AM" writing assignment I picked up at a writing conference. There are 18 2-word sentence starters. The kids were to choose to be one of the four characters in the story and write from that point of view. The papers are some of the best I have ever gotten out any English class. Boys wrote with the most emotion that I have ever seen. The book also lends itself to the dicussion of abandonment and foster care, of which I am a foster mother myself. It was great to see these kids feel the character they chose, and express thoughts "beyond the print", a Six Traits of Writing Program phrase for an advanced skill in reading. I teach remedial kids all day long, and this book captured them. I never showed them the pictures so they could see the characters in their own minds. They understood how the tail lights of the car looked liked mean red eyes as it sped away.
Asking the kids if they could fit all of their possessions in a shopping bag gave many a real cause for pause.
It was a real story for kids to relate to. The next day, we made a Valentine gift for their moms. I had the best week of this year because I took a chance and jused this book. It is a must for caseworkers and foster parents.

This is an excellent study of John Paul II's difficult encyclical on faith and reason. Most of the contributions deal with the vexed issue of "Christian philosophy," a much disputed topic in the 1930s which has been given new life by our reigning philosopher-pope. Highlights are the fine essays by Avery Cardinal Dulles, placing the current issues in historical context, and the remrkable essay by David Meconi on the Marian dimension of philosophy.

All entries are clear and concise, and they list the language from which the word comes (if it's not from the Common language) and the page numbers of the specific Tolkien books that reference the word.

Abbreviations are explained near the front of the book... and anyone who doesn't understand that "q.v." (quod vide--"which see" in Latin) is a common publishing abbreviation for "this word is cross-referenced in this very book" can surely figure it out from the context in which it appears.

I highly recommend using this book as a reference while you're reading The Silmarillion, the Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle-Earth, or even The Lord of The Rings, although reading it during LotR might indeed ruin some surprises if you haven't read it before. Btw (by the way), it makes the appendices at the end of LotR easier to digest.

For any serious Tolkien fan, this book is a must-have. Robert Foster provides concise, accurate descriptions of almost everything having to do with Middle Earth. The guide is very easy to use and includes page references and helpful appendices.

Tolkien created a marvelously intricate world of Middle-Earth, but keeping track of all the names of people, places, and things can be a daunting task. Furthermore, many of the subjects have more than one name! I was reading the "Fellowship" and found myself diving into this reference book many times. It actually gives more depth to the story, and gives the reader more clarity, which increases the enjoyability of the reading. Some people might not like diverting their focus from the main book by having to look up a name in the Guide, but I actually found that it made my overall reading experience more enjoyable. It's like grease for the mind, making it easier for your brain to envision Tolkien's visions. One slight "drawback" I found was that sometimes this book can give you TOO much information on some characters prematurely, possibly spoiling suprises in the story. I had one small experience like that, but it wasn't too bad. The benefits of this Guide far exceeds the drawbacks however.

I used it for the cost accounting class and though I found it helpful, I thought that there were too few problems given in the study guide and the ones there did not really reflect on the ones in the textbook. The summaries were well written and an excellent tool for review, but I think the problems should correlate more with what is in the text. I did get A in the class, but I've seen better study guides. Accounting is all in practice, so problems are more important than the terminology.

I have used an earlier edition and thought it was great, but this one is even better. Easiy to follow and effectively packs a tremendous amount if information between the covers. It really makes a compex subject come into focus. Can't think of enough good things to say about this guide.

Like math, the learning process for cost accounting is enhanced by working practice problems and applications. The Cost Accounting: A Managerial Emphasis Student Guide and Review Manual provides excellent cost accounting material with solutions. I would recommend this guide to any student who is serious about learning and understanding the concepts presented in the related text book -- Cost Accounting, A Managerial Emphasis.

Strenghts: Quite readable considering the subject. Terms are laid out in bold face and concepts are explained in identifiable sections. The summary at the end reinforces concepts and key terms. The end of chapter questions give you something to think about. Most examples are easy to follow. Weaknesses: Some concepts that include examples are explained with formulas in parentheses so that you have to stop reading and look at the figure. Not bad but I like them in the figure or in footnotes. Some of the exercises/problems were difficult to relate to the examples in the book. Other than that this book is great. What would make this book a 5? The study guide.

An easy to read and understand book characterized with the breadth of material and examples.

If you are looking for a single volume "bible" on cost accounting, this is likely the best book in print today to fit that bill. It is comprehensive in scope yet has many strengths to ease comprehension and aid readability.

The topics are grouped in six main sections each with several chapters on that topic. Since it is unlikely that you will read this reference / text book left to right as you would a novel this organization helps in finding what you are looking for and focusing on the area(s) of interest.

There are many helpful illustrations and a good use of color as well as chapter summaries and all the exercises you could ever hope for.

A very excellent feature is the use of application problems that take you step-by-step through building an Excel spreadsheet. This is tremendously useful.

The web support is also a good help as well as the streaming video vignettes.

I honestly find this topic very interesting and the 11th edition of this book to be a very valuable resource.