I am a grandmother of 16 and my grandchildren and I were delighted by this simple but effect story. We found it to be charming and warm. Just the type of story children need to teach positive attributes to them. parents could learn a little about tolerance and acceptance as well!

Hey, what else could anyone ask for in an adventure story for children. You've got Chocolate, pyramids, to lost boys, and a monkey (changito) to save the day! What an imagination. Even the Aztecas couldn't have come up with this one. We loved this! Recommened to readers of all ages. We also bought there T-shirts and posters. Great stuff!

This was so much faun and educational at the same time for our children. The short adventure story actually taught them somehting about another part of the world, and kept their attention. It was a fast paced story. We loved the package that the book comes in and the free iron on t-shirt decal that was a free gift! A free gift with a purchase. Now that was great!

This cookbook has to be one of my favorite to date. To have so many diverese foods at your finger tips that are truly easy to prepare, as well as fun is great. Not to mention that they taste as good as they look in the illustrations. My family and I enjoyed cooking these resipes, but enjoyed sharing them with friends even more. Great food!

The recipies in the cookbook are great the kids whom wrote the series are great thinkers god must of blessed them with alot of inginuity.

We loved this book. The recipes are from various regions around the world on their "Chocolate covered adventures" series, and are truly a breeze to make. If you like Egyptian, Persian, Traditional English, Asian, Ethiopian, Italian,Chinese, etc. you'll love this small efficently refreshing book. The "Temptuous Truffles", and the "Chocolate and fruit Filled Sambusas" along with the "Vegetarian Sambusas" have to be my children and my favorite recipes in this ingenous cookbook. The cute illustrations of Tyco-the changito (monkey)making his famous "Chocolate Covered Bananas" is truly my husbands favorite recipe. He says even an old goat like him can learn to cook. This book bring sfamilies together in a fun, non-threatening manner. There is something for everyone's taste buds, from sweet, to salty to spicy. Our family loves it. This is a must for every kitchen.We also applaud the authors fo donating 10% of sales to various charities, as they have with all their books.

This was 63 pages of pure adventure. We thought we were geting a 30 page book and we were so delighted to see 63. The story was great and that monkey was his usual fun loving self. A great adventure and very informative at the same time. Our children didn't even realize that they were learning, while enjoying this book. Great pictures and the hieroglyphics table was a bit hit! We definitely recommend this one!

How can we begin to explain how fascinated we were with this adventure. The Egyptian pyramids alone is worth the reading. But the extensive background research material that the authors included, and the hireoglyphic alphabet table and a decoder is beyond exceptional. The resources for further knowledge about this region of the world had me in awe, and I've ventured through the pyramids before. The story line was something right out of a movie. The ancient map, the missing treasure, the bad guys, the chase, all made for an exciting read. We truly enjoyed the illustrations, and phototgraphs. If you need an instant vacation, pick up a copy of this book. While it may be written for children by children, it is sophisticated story telling, that any age will enjoy and this was only volume 1. We can't wait for volume 2 and 3. A Great Read!

I work as a DJ at a country radio station and I produce and host a weekly classic country program. I needed a book that provided a good bit of general information about a wide variety of singers and groups without a lot of useless information and what not -- this book has exceeded my expectations! As an "encyclopedia," this isn't something that you read cover-to-cover, but anyone who has ever belted-out a note of country music can be found with just the right amount of information. If you are looking for a country music reference book, this is it!

After hearing about this book, I was anxious to find it. I am pleased to report that it is indeed "the real deal" and not only met but exceeded my expectations. Well organized and easy to read, this encyclopedia provides just enough information in each entry to fill your plate. It is not too sketchy, nor too long in any areas (but I would have liked to read a bit more about Hank Williams and George Jones!) As an encyclopedia, it is not something you "read" per se, but rather "explore"...over and over. The names of familiar artists jump off the page and every scan can lead you to learn either something more about someone you know, or perhaps introduce you to someone or something totally new. Numerous illustrations (and it could use a few more)break up the mountain of text; the pictures provide enough rest for your eyes before scouring the pages for more well-researched documentation. This compilation is just awesome; the years of research have paid off in my humble opinion. What makes the book so wonderful is its scope -- suitable for a newcomer and also detailed and informative enough for the country music veteran. I highly recommend you buy at least two. One to enjoy as often as you want to and the other to offer as a special gift. Whoever you give this book to will NOT have another like it on the shelf. My "gift volume" will be going to my Dad as a tribute and thank-you for being weaned on the music that is country. If you love country music or think you want to, add this book to your library. There is enough interesting history and data collected here to satisfy even the largest musical appetite for the better part of year. ENJOY !!!

I have the hard-to-find first edition of Gérard Herzhaft's Encyclopedia Of The Blues, the one printed in 1996. It is worth finding if you can. If not, this edition (which I am trying to decide whether to buy or not) may well be as good or better than the first. The first edition has over 500 pages, but fewer photos I think. Gérard Herzhaft's Encyclopedia Of The Blues is the most accurate, in-depth, and comprehensive collection of Blues musician information I have been able to find anywhere in the past 6 years of being an active Blues fan. I wish Gérard would know how much his great work is appreciated by all of us Blues music fans in the USA and the world. Thank you Gérard.

I write as a blues fan of forty years standing in order to assure folks that this French fellow knows his stuff. When I first heard about this Encyclopedia 8 years ago, I was concerned that it would be another effete European effort to convince Americans that they have no taste.

Au contraire! This is the first survey-type of blues review which does justice to disparate blues streams such as blues shouters (barely touched on in Cohn's book) and boogie woogie, as well as Delta blues and obscure East Texas singers of the Twenties.

The Encyclopedia is well-organized, with fine summary essays on various blues streams so that the reader can follow developments on different fronts without having to turn back and forth between essays on individuals. There is a generous serving of individual biographical sketches as well, and Gerard does us the favor of pointing out when certain blues artists are following in the footsteps of others.

He also does a good job of including glancing references to less well-known blues artists who are worth investigating later in yours blues journey.

All in all an excellent reference work with plenty to interest the casual blues fan.

As you would imagine, this is a lovely book. The paper is nice, the colorwork is great. And it is a sweet way to introduce (or reinforce) the beauty and diversity of the alphabet. The endpages show an upper- and lowercase alphabet and each letter pair is associated with a word. Aa with Artist, Bb with Bumblebee, etc. Once inside, you'll find facing 8-inch square pages for each letter -- on one side beautiful large letters ("U is for umbrella") and on the other a full-page color plate of a detail from one of the Museum's artworks (an umbrella from Degas's 'Waiting'). Small print on the text page gives you the artist's name, nationality and lifespan, and the work's title and date. The book ends with small representations of the entire works from which details were taken. The three features -- letter pairs with word, word with painting detail, and letter with full picture -- complement each other in a way that also makes this a book ripe for play. This is the kind of resource I would like to see more of from this country's artistic community -- educational, thoughtful and fun. Thanks, Getty!

The illustrations in this book are beyond wonderful.(Duh) Because, of course , they are reproductions of masterpieces. The alphabet letters are huge and displayed on a large negative space.Is also fun for the child to "find" the thing being represented by the letter. Very educational and a joy not to always have to look at the simplistic primary color illustrations in many of the childrens books. My 2yr. old grandchild loves this book and I purchased 3 others for my other granchildren of various ages. It is humorous ,elegant and charming. The"grape", "skull" and "umbrella" are favorites!!!

the first book i found that spells out everything you need to know, and wastes no space on the things you don't. if you're an independant theatre producer/director read this book!

Paul Harris' Producing Your Own Showcase provides a winning examination of the theater and performing arts, explaining the legal and practical issues of producing theater and providing tools for actors, directors, and would-be production managers. From tips on skills needed to produce to assessing performances and gaining funding, this provides solid advice from seasoned pros.

While I know that this book was meant to be funny (and it is), it's really a reminder that there's such a thing as sticking with a bad situation too long. My favorite quote from the author is "The more things you quit, the more things you'll have the opportunity to succeed at." Here's to saying enough's enough. Here's to quitting the old and starting something new. If you're in a rut, buy this book to remind of why quitting isn't so bad.

I have always been ashamed of quitting but, as an avowed and now self-celebrated quitter this book was perfect to validate and analyze my methods. Ms. Harris has showed me that quitting is an art with wit and humor

As someone who got interested in ventriloquism (and eventually dumped a 20 year newspaper career to work with WOODEN dummies) I was often frustrated reading how-to-do-ventriloquism books. Most were either amazingly boring, unknowingly pompous, or filled with cutsey-comments that seemingly padded an explanation of what I believe is actually a relatively easy "art" (if you are nutty enough to practice in front of a mirror until you perfect the "hard" letters). This is one of my FAVORITE now to do ventriloquism books -- and to this day it remains the funniest. I still do a routine in my show based on the structure of one of Paul Stadelman's classic bits (I have long since replaced the actual jokes). The late Paul Stadelman was a "classic" and I believe underrated vent who performed, taught and was on television for many years. And this book is worth it's price just for the zippy routines with Stadelman and his dummy Windy Higgins. These don't go on and on with long set-ups but are punchy, quick pay-off bits (and if Stadelman used a pun it was seldom groan-inducing). Stadelman was clearly more influenced by vaudeville and comedy teams than by other ventriloquists (which I think is GOOD). At the least these routines help readers understand routine construction and setup-joke structure. The late, wonderful Col. Bill Boley (another performer who deserved a higher national profile since there are zillions of ventriloquists running around doing bits of his published work and others who painstakingly "emulate" his original routines) was the only other ventriloquist whose published routines came CLOSE to doing this. And to TEACH you vent? This book has it all. It gives you the substitute letters (to say for the hard letters) and words to practice to perfect them. It also tells you how to make a puppet out of your hand, gives you performing tips, has some great ventriloquism-related photos, and and list of suppliers and organizations (some of this is outdated now). If someone was interested in "vent" and had this book, George Schindler's Ventriloquism: Magic With Your Voice and the in-its-own-class Maher Studios correspondence course they'd have it all. Plus, if they have this book they're going to also have some BIG laughs while reading it. Paul Stadelman is truly ventriloquism's unsung hero!

Learn how to throw your voice! Make your hand talk, your shoe sing, and your mother-in-law shut up! Everyone will be tongue-tied when you start talking to the lamp shade -- and it talks back!

Paul Stadelman, a professional ventriloquist who starred on his own television show for many years, shares with you the secrets that have made him a hilarious success.

Ventriloquism, as taught in this book, is easy to learn. If you follow a few simple rules, anybody can do it. And it's so fun that once you start, you'll be talking to yourself for hours.

This book explains how to use standard puppets as well as novelty figures such as balloon animals and gym socks. Includes 22 complete comedy dialogues to get you started. All outrageously funny.

Approximately 200 pages presented as a comprehensive step by step guide to setting up and getting the most out of Suretrak. I found many helpful tips that are not in the Suretrak's help files or manuals. A chapter is also devoted to the new features in Suretrak Version 3.0 and this allowed me, as an existing Suretrak user, to hone in on the new features. In all, 21 workshops re-enforced the material as its presented and made me reflect on the content. Readers will need access to the Suretrak software (the demo version will do) to get the most from this book.

When I reviewed the SureTrak program here last may I considered myself to be an experienced used who fully understood the features of that powerful PM application. After reading this book I found out that I was only using a fraction of the features that are built into SureTrak. For example, while I knew that it supported multiple calendars. This feature gives you absolute control and is especially useful when you're using subcontractors or multi-national resources. Until I was stepped through it by the book's lessons I didn't know how to fully exploit its power.

It was the same for reports. SureTrak includes reports for every conceivable management style and project type. The problem is there are so many that it's difficult to select the ones best suited to each project's unique requirements or your PM standards. This book clearly explained the reports and clearly explained how to create custom reports in the unlikely event that what you need isn't already included. I also learned a lot from the lessons on resource management, as well as the author's tips for project management in general.

If you're using SureTrak you should get this book because it's a safe bet that you're not using everything it has to offer for planning, scheduling and control - and this book will reveal them.

Although SureTrak Project Manager 3.0 ships with adequate documentation and the program is intuitive, there are three good reasons to buy this book:

1. The product documentation covers every feature - the information about planning and managing projects using this powerful tool is scattered throughout, making it difficult to tap into SureTrak's power without wading through an overwhelming amount of nice-to-know, but non-essential detail.

2. Although anyone who has used Microsoft's ubiquitous MS Project will have no problem getting started with SureTrak, they will miss the true project management features of SureTrak that are not present (or don't correctly work) in MS Project. This book identifies those features and shows how to use them effectively.

3. The author goes beyond merely describing how to use SureTrak by showing you how to use effective project management techniques, many of which take years of managing projects to discover.

The book is structured as a series of 20 lessons (called workshops) that are designed to step you through setting up a project, and planning and scheduling it. If you follow them in sequence you will be able to not only set up a project using SureTrak's rich feature set, but will also pick up general project management techniques along the way. An example of one such technique is how the author classifies projects into four levels for planning and controlling. These levels are based on project complexity, with Level 1 being the simplest and suitable for short projects, to Level 4 for complex, high-value projects. You are given the planning and tracking criteria for each project type, which allows you to tailor your approach as well as ensure that you don't over-manage simple projects or under-manage the complex ones.

You are also shown how to use the more powerful features, such as the many project views (work breakdown structure, activity or resource), managing the sophisticated calendaring functions, and effectively using the resource profiles and reporting features. I particularly like the way earned value is treated. The author shows how to use SureTrak's facilities for managing to earned value, as well as explaining this essential technique (which, by the way, is now a part of the Project Management Institute's PMBOK 2000 version). Another bonus is the way scheduling is explained by walking through adding logic to activities. You'll not only be shown how to perform this task, but given reasons why you should use one approach from among four possibilities to establish relationships. In this example the choices are start-to-start, finish-to-start, start-to-finish and finish-to-finish.

This book is clear, concise and heavily illustrated with screenshots from SureTrak. The tutorial style and the way the lessons are sequenced will get you quickly up-to-speed with SureTrak and give you the knowledge and skills necessary to employ it with minimum reference to the manuals that come with the software.