After reading this book to our granddaughter, her mother found her reading the book all by herself. It was a breakthrough into pleasurable reading for our six year old granddaughter. We were all delighted with the interesting story. This book is about what interests children not what adults think will be interesting. The repitition and rhyme make deciphering words easier, and the illustrations were grand.

As children lend an ear to Grossman'e counting book, they will have but one question: "What creature will that girl eat next?!" Through words and images, excitement abounds on every page as the reader witnesses the progressive feast of one ravenous little sister. Grossman's words and Hawkes' illustrations keep the audience in a state of anxious anticipation. With predictable rhythm, Grossman's lines unite with the whimsy of a song and the silliness of a cartoon: "My little sister ate three ants. She even ate their underpants." Children can easily master the repetitive wording, becoming active and eager participants in the telling of the story. Beginning with the consumption of one hare, each page build upon the former, adding more sustenance to little sister's belly. As she eats across the pages, little sister's apparel transforms, providing context for her current meal. Eating eight worms, little sister has donned a bright red chicken suit; outfitted with snorkeling gear, she reaches for seven polliwogs. On almost every page the girl's round, gaping mouth dominates, amplified by her monstrous shadow and her exposed gullet. With vibrant hues in mostly primary colors, Hawkes' illustrations extend Grossman's text. After one edge-of-their-seat journey through the pages, children will giggle with desire to hear this unimaginable tale again and again.

I love this book! I plan on using it in my future classrooms. My 4 year-old nephew asks me to read it to him everytime he comes to my house. The illustrations are wonderful and the writing is great! This book is a must for teachers at all grade levels because lets face it every kid would love to read a book with the words "throw-up" on almost every page!

This is a fun, rhyming book that kids love. I've read it to my 5 year old every day for a month now. He just can't get enough!!

I just read this book to my son's 1st grade class - they were captivated - and there was much audience participation! They loved the story and my son said that for the rest of the day everyone in the class wanted to read it over and over again! This is a fabulous book and a must read for you and your children!

As a children's librarian, I am constantly perusing the shelves for books to order. I read this book only once and immediately put it on my MUST ORDER list. The pictures are spectacular, the rhyming begs to be read aloud,and the "let's get along" theme is attractive and exactly what we need to teach our children.

I picked up this book because it is a Texas Bluebonnet Award nominee. I found it to be delightful and charming. I was even more delighted to find that it is a true story about the author's father. That sort of information always makes a story even more alive. I greatly enjoyed this book. For the curious, this isn't the only book the author has written about her family.

This is a charming, interesting book. Kids will be intrigued by Marven's adventure - not only by the notion of being sent away from his family, but also the dramatic reasons for it and the incredibly different and appealing life he gets to lead with the lumberjacks. Adults will like all that, too, and will also be won over by the warmth and, ultimately, gentless of this very unusual story. A lovely, rare find.

Marven Lasky was my mother's husband. He passed away last week at the age of 91. I only read this book in detail to find out more about him. For more about his family, see "The Night Journey", also by this author.

This is one of the best children's books I've come across! The subject of skeletons can be scary to a child; but here, it's presented with such delightful pictures and silly text, my 4 year-old niece "forgot" to be afraid. It's a perfect length to hold a child's interest through to the end. You can't help but cheer on Boogie Bones, as he "trips the light fantastic" at the dance. And when his true identity is revealed, it's a child who shows the townspeople there's nothing to fear. Your own children can relate to this, and maybe even conquer some of their own fears. All in all, a great book for kids of any age!

Boogie Bones LOVED to dance -- and WE loved his story! It is so well-executed that all along the way, accompanied by exquisite illustration, we could actually feel Boogie's hope, excitement, fear, and exhilaration. Our family (3,6,9,11, plus grown-ups) was thoroughly charmed by Boogie Bones and his happy, heartfelt joy in "living".

This is a cumulative rhyming story that begins with a child's pair of bare feet dangling peacefully over the side of a bridge in the silvery moonlight of a Halloween night. One by one, various creatures of the night reach forward to grab one of the little, unsuspecting toes, but each attempt, in turn, is botched by the next creature. Black cats, bats, witches, ghouls and other spooky folk take a crack at the toe and the suspense keeps building in a delightfully fun and entertaining way. The Halloween creatures are all so funny that this story really cannot be considered at all scary but the level of suspense takes it out of the realm of the cute and deftly places it in the realm of the spine-tingly! It's high spirited Halloween fun for one and all.

We have checked this book out many times from the library and have found it a pleasure everytime. The illustrations are wonderful and the text rhymes enough to keep even my smallest child interested. The story line is about Halloween characters catching sight of a little girls toe as it is visable 'By the Light of the Halloween Moon' . Each wants this toe for himself/herself but is foiled but another creature coming upon the same scene. Lots of fun and a good book to read with your children.

I really enjoyed Dreamland. The story transported me into Theo's imagination. Roni Schotter painted a vivid picture of Theo's dreams and yearnings. It portrays a very positive image for children to follow their dreams and to honor their ideas.

I wholeheartedly enjoyed this book. It is poetically written, and full of feeling. I felt both Theo's joy and yearning. It seems like it would encourage anyone, of any age, to use their imagination. Kevin Hawkes' illustrations are exquisite, and beautifully capture the different textures of the Eastern tailor shop and the world of the West. This is a truly great book!!!

This is a great book to read when you're on vacation or at the beach. It's the story of 3 sisters Alice, Allegra, and Edith (aka Minnow) who are reluctant to leave their summer house when their parents vacation plans are suddenly changed. Rather than spend a week with their boring and strict aunt, they concoct a plan which will allow them to stay behind without their parents. As Allegra puts it "We'll be on the island and we won't have a worry in the world!" But their plan goes awry and they find themselves facing dilemma after dilemma: sprained ankles, sunburns, murdering thieves (not really) and NO food. Some parents may worry about the ideas sent by of three young girls living for a week without adult supervision. Not to mention there's a lot of skinny dipping. But if you're going to oppose the book on those grounds, you may as well tell people to burn copies of "Pippi Longstocking". The book is well written with a definitively humorous tone. The characters are very real and well portrayed. Overall the story is charming and witty and exciting. If you like it you may want to read Lindbergh's 'Pinapple Place' books, though I think this book outshines them.

Anne Lindbergh shines! A great book

If children's recordings were cars, the Hear We Go Kids book and tape series would be a fleet of Cadillacs: big, luxurious productions, tastefully appointed and sumptuously upholstered. Lyricist Brian Potter and composer Wayne Green exhibit some of the finest kids'songwriting found anywhere. Noted children's illustrators Kevin Hawkes and artist Rosekrans Hoffman serve up a feast for the eyes in the lyric books for Fun Stuff Holiday and Another New Day, respectively. A mix of lushly produced musical styles, including pop, country, and Celtic, further distinguishes this handsome, must-own collection.

My copy was inscribed to me when I was six, in between Dr. Seuss and the Phantom Tollbooth. Looking at it again now, I marvel that it was only eight stories. Bits of them have stuck in my mind ever since: the necklace of raindrops, each with a special power, the girl who had to be washed with her dress on and hung out on the line to dry so it wouldn't shrink past her, the train station in the desert, the cat who ate the yeast, the quilt and the camels and the traffic lights from Beirut. Get a copy and wear it out, then read Joan Aiken's other marvelous books.

I am thrilled to see this book back in print after so many years. I read it when I was a kid and even after 3 decades I still remember the story of the girl who gets a magic necklace of raindrops and the story of the cat and his wishing mat made out of a gray dress. The new illustrations are nice and I like the fact that it is in hardback, because it will last longer.

Eight stories designed for bedtime reading or relaxing newly independent readers will find appeal in a wide age range. From a flying pie to elves on shelves, A Necklace Of Raindrops And Other Stories is packed with whimsical scenarios and fun moments.

Dial-a-Ghost was a great book. I was expecting a book exactly like it because Eva Ibbotson always writes fantastic books. It started out with a family living in their house during the war. A bomb hit their house and they became ghosts. They went to a ghost house where normal people could rent ghosts for their house, to scare or to just live there. The nice ghosts got mixed up with the awful ghosts and disaster began. The awful ghosts went to a nuns church adn the nice ones went to a nasty old mans house who just wanted the ghosts to kill people. I all turned out OK in the end, but you will have to see what happens for yourself.
Dial-a-Ghost was just everything I thought it would be. Fun, funny, entertaining, and exciting. This book had me reading in the car for hours in a row until I finished it. I just could not put it down. If you have read the Secret of PLatform 13 then I just know you will love this book. Both of the books are similar in the way that they have fun and crazy characters adn are just fun reads. Eva Ibbotson always succeedsin writing the books that really capture my attention and I hope that you will feel the same way after reading just a couple of her books.

Written By: C.C.

I'm just finishing reading this to my six-year-old (the nine yearold is listening, despite having read it twice already)and we all love it so much that they can even been torn away from The Simpsons! If you haven't dsicovered Ibbotson yet, start with this one, or The Secret of Platform 13 (which is astoundingly like Harry Potter, but long before Harry Potter was written).

Oliver, an orphan, unwillingly inherits Helton Hall from his dreary relations, never guessing that the evil Fulton and Freida Snodde Brittle (family motto: I set my foot upon my enemies)want it so badly they pay an agency to send them the most horrible ghosts on their books. Luckily, the Shriekers (not only violent, but snobs) get sent to some kind nuns by mistake, and Oliver is sent the lovely, gentle Wilkinson family. The Wilkinsons, who have been camping in a London knicker shop ever since a bomb fell on their own home, have adopted a little girl ghost called Adopta, and she becomes Oliver's special friend. But the evil Snodde-Brittles are furious when, instead of dying of asthma and terror, Oliver loves his new guests...and The Shriekers, equally furious, are coming to Helton too.

Funny, thrilling and moving. We all adored it.

Dial-A-Ghost is definetly one of the best books I have ever read. I first chose it because I have read and enjoyed many books that the author, Eva Ibbotson, has written previously. Dial-A-Ghost is about a little orphan child name Oliver Smith who has spent ten years in an orphanage after his parents died. Unexpectedly, he inherits Helton Hall. There, the evil Snodde-Brittles, Cousin Fulton and Frieda, are supposed to take care of him. However, the Snodde-Brittles are next in line to inherit Helton Hall if anything happens to Oliver. With this in mind, they call the agency, Dial-A-Ghost, and order two evil ghosts who are supposed to scare Oliver to death. While this is happening, a group of nuns order a family of nice ghosts to live in a extra house that they have. Their files get mixed up and the nuns are left with the terrible hate filled ghosts, and the Snodde-Brittles are given the wonderfully nice family. The ghosts were killed in World War One and treat Oliver as if they were their real son and brother. Soon, the Snodde-Brittles find out about the mistake in ghosts and demand that the mistake is fixed. However, Oliver is able to break the hard shell of the dead, hateful couple and comes to the core of their rage against kids. Together, they scare off the Snodde-Brittles.