I loved this book a lot. It shows children that you do not have to be the biggest or the most popular to become help out in a tough situation. This book is an easy reader for all children. It is also a book that teaches a good lesson about life and how you shouldn't give up on anything.

I first purchased this book in the late 1970's when my son was just a toddler. He loved it so much that it was not uncommon for his grandmother or me to repeat the reading several times each day. In time he was able to fill in the blanks and finish the sentences on each page as though he were reading to us!! It's a classic, and I'm so thrilled that it's still available for other little ones to enjoy in their lives. I'm now reading this same treasure to my three grandchildren who love it as much as their father and I had. In fact they look for the little red caboose on every train that passes when they visit Grammy. So many valuable lessons are contained in the story, especially one of perseverance and self-esteem. I will always treasure this book.

I love this book. It really gets to your heart!! In the beginning of the story, no one paid any attention to the Little Red Caboose. However, in the end, he proved to everyone that he may be the last and smallest, but without him the train woudn't be complete. It expresses that you don't have to be the biggest and best looking to do the best that you can in everything you do! This show's kids that they're just as important as anybody else. No one is better or worse. When I'm 92 I will still read and love this book! It's an insperational book, especially for smaller kids to help build their self esteem. This is a great book for kid's to learn from.

V. Vale has served as the counter-culture's principle archivist and preservationist. The richly varied subjects of his books read like an anthology of dissent with the status quo. The potentcy of each topic is (or at least was) due in part to its' rupture with the overall views of the general public. The work is comprehensive, thurough and has always provided a great deal of insight to the subject, oftentimes in the subject's own words. SWING! is no exception. It is the definitive text to the what, the who, the wheres and the whys of the neo-swing movement. The one problem I have is that every time Vale releases another great book on another sub-culture, it doesn't seem to be soon after that that sub-group is eventually consumed by the status quo... castrating the subject of its' adverse positioning which debilitates its' power altogether. In this respect Mr. Vale is much like Columbus: A passionate explorer who's arrival foreshadows the coming of many uninvited strangers. Don't get me wrong. I enjoyed this book very much. All the musicians, dancers and other luminaries are very commited to this thing that they love very much. Though such a thing tends to be its' own reward, the dedication should be recognized, accredited and applauded which is exactly what this book does. At the same time, there is the imfamous GAP advert as well as some automobile commercials, The Cherry Poppin' Daddy's in an ad for BEST BUY and, of course, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy appearing on MELROSE PLACE, as the halftime entertainment at the ROSE BOWL (complete with flag twirlers in sequense fedoras) and the up-coming SUPERBOWL. In one respect, all this popularity has enabled some great musicians to make a full time living at what they do best and they deserve to cash-in. On the other hand, all this hype does seem to detach from this thing most of what made it interesting to begin with. Like so many others before it, the Neo-Swing scene seems less and less disposed to define itself on its' own terms and more at the mercy of how it is pecieved by an outside population of faddists and other avid magazine subscribers. For me, one of the most appealing things about going to rockabilly and swing shows was the noticeable LACK of Yuppies. That was three years ago. Today, kookery abounds. More actors than action. Too bad.

Although not much in the way of dancers and Swing Dancing, it does capture somewhat the Retro-Style of The Bands, Attire, Cars, Martinis, Cigars, Tattoos, etc. It would have been nicer to include more dancing and more People in the dance. Alot of the Information is NOT FACT and should not be taken Historically as so, but... it is based on what some of those people doing it now believe! If you are in the Boonies or not local to Los Angeles Or San Francisco this book is Awesome. Even if you are it is worth the Money.. Every Swing Fan should not be without it...I Liked It.

THE INTERVEIWS ARE GREAT AND ITS CHEAP ITS A GREAT DEA

This is an exquisite little book about a woman searching for her own version of happiness. Broken into three separate books, each detailing a different segment of her life, the books power lies in its simple elegance.

On the cover of the book, Berberova is compared to some of the absolute lions of Russian literature - Turgenev and Chekhov - which puts her in some good company. I really don't know if she's as good as those two, but she definitely has style and knows how to connote emotion well with sparse description. I do wish that she had spent more time giving us a setting and a time for the story. This book ends up being solely a personal journey, divorced from the happenings in Paris and St. Petersburg.

This book, in particular, reads and works like a short story and can be gone through in a couple of hours. I don't want to give away how the whole story operates but I want to make it clear that it can appear listless until you get to that last 20-30 pages - so you just HAVE to stick with it. The ending makes you want to go back to the beginning and read it again, hopefully with a clearer understanding of where the story is going and how the main character, Vera, is getting closer to finding what she seeks all along.

While I highly recommend the text, it does come at a fairly stiff financial price. I wish that there were a paperback available.

I have to say up front that I'm the translator's proud brother. However, if I had hated it, I wouldn't have coimmented at all. A brilliant book, full of the precise observation we normally associate with great poetry. We see a suicide laid out, two children kissing, a ride in the winter wind, with nothing of the cliche (or at least the previously-encountered) in the details. Berberova gives you the fullness of day-to-day experience by telling you what no one else has consciously noticed. She has lifted them from the subconscious to the fore of attention. At one level, the least important, the novel is almost mechanically planned: 3 parts, nine chapters to a part, each roughly the same number of pages. That's a superficial, static structure. The organic life of the book comes not only from Berberova's depth of observation, but from her narrative technique - a kind of "backstitching." You first encounter fragments that don't quite make sense, and as you read on, the details get filled in. It's like coming into the middle of a conversation in which you don't know the people talked about. Later, when you do meet the people, you realize, "Oh yes, that's who was meant." Berberova is particularly good at evoking the "floating" state - the feeling of the mind surrounding everything - that comes from concentrated thought. You experience it along with the characters. The book opens with a spectacular description of a suicide - an odd opening for a book about happiness. Yet the title doesn't seem ironic. It really is about not just the pursuit of happiness, but about happiness itself. One may agree or disagree with the conclusions the author reaches, but one can't deny the honesty and the perception in the effort. I don't understand Russian, so I can't comment on the accuracy of the translation. However, I can say that the translator convinces me that I'm reading great literature, and that's really the only test I care about. The English prose is both lively and beautiful, the "authorial voice" vital and full of confidence. Why Berberova was so unknown for so long, I can't tell you, but in this translation, she is one of the finest modern novelists I've read.

Fans of Nina Berberova should be ecstatic to see that one of her finest works is now available in a pitch-perfect translation by Marian Schwartz. Those who have not read Berberova until now have the perfect starting point to explore all of her work (short stories, novellas, novels and her memoir The Italics Are Mine). This ironic, concise tale of the emotional arc of a Russian woman's life from the idyllic era predating the Russian Revolution to post World War Paris is so thrilling and touching that I finished the final page wishing that all novels, short or long, could be this transporting.

This is the story of three half sisters living the ex-patriot life in Paris before WWII. In the hands of a Jane Austen, it would have been filled with trivial flirtations and misunderstandings- bringing everything to a happy conclusion. But Nina Berberova is Russian. Therefore this novel is filled with introspection, analysis and suicidal tendencies. To her credit, she only touches briefly on the existance of God.

I say this a little tongue-in-cheek because, in fact, for those of us who love the Russian novel form, that is what puts it head and shoulders above Jane Austen. One must use one's mind, not merely be entertained.

I give this 4 stars because Berberova is not exactly Dostoyevsky or Tolstoy. However, if you want something a little deeper than the average modern novel, but don't want to spend several months plodding through it, this book is for you.

Ms. Berberova's work has been praised as work that resides on the same tier as, "The Old Russians". High praise but not presumptuous as her book, "Cape Of Storms" demonstrates. And like many Great Russian writers her work is not something to casually stroll through. She demands your attention to detail, and her style can leave you wondering which turn you may have missed. None of this detracts from the reading, and some of the confusion may be due to translation, which no book benefits from.

The very beginning is critical to the book as it begins to piece together three sisters that share much but not always the same parentage. If you miss anything here, the rest of the book won't work unless you begin again. Whether their formative years are on Russian or French soil these three women could not be more different. Sonia is giving to asking questions that center on why, what, and who, and when the answers are not forthcoming it decides her fate.

Dasha will eventually find herself in Oran in circumstances much more pleasant that either of her other siblings/partial siblings, and Zai remains for the most part the most enigmatic of the three. The book also takes the forms of first person narrative, a diary that belongs to Sonia, tremendous dialogue, and is host to major events that take place largely out of the mainstream of the book, even while described on the book's pages. Further layers are added to the story when pre-war Paris is the locale for most of the book, and the life of being part of an emigration, and not part of so much else also runs through the work. The ideas of what an émigré is and is not, is part of, and all they can never be, is extensively debated.

I have read two of this Author's books, and I have enjoyed them both. They are for those times when you want a book that demands your attention as opposed to a lighter diversion.

Berberova's original CAPE OF STORMS was published in 1951 in the Novyi Zhurnal. For the English language reader, knowledge of Russian history at the time of the Revolution must be assumed. The author plunges immediately into the setting where a mother is brutally raped and murdered by Bolshevik criminals. Dasha, one of three daughters sharing the same father, witnesses the bloody crime. Her natural father Tiagin comes for her, and they leave the tumultuous city to live abroad, resting finally in Paris. But Tiagin leaves behind his baby, Zai, for his wife's lover to raise.

A third daughter, Sonia, lives in Paris and is the child of his present wife. Dasha and Sonia do not meet their sister Zai until she is 14. The second chapter is the story of Zai's separation from the family who raised her and her assimilation into her father's family. Both Dasha and Zai exhibit a detached awareness of the people most important in their lives. Each seeks self-fulfillment in Parisian culture but each remains unable to form close associations with its people.

Sonia's story is the most poignant but the least understood. Her portrait is painted through the author's introduction of her diary. Born to a French mother, unlike her Russian sisters, Sonia's personality is the most like a native Russian. She is highly educated but without direction --- a misfit in her political time. Berberova could have placed Sonia into the American culture of "flower children" and not missed a beat.

Each character in the novel is tragic. Berberova's style is difficult to follow because of her transitions to multiple points of view in rapid succession. She dedicates much of the novel to philosophical wanderings into the psyche of each main character. However, none realizes their dream by the end of the book. Zai, the youngest, comes the closest to accepting her world.

From Sonia's journal comes her philosophy. "Because in the world everything flows logically out of everything else, because everything tends to flow down, a miracle flows into the everyday, despair flows into suicide. It's going to happen."

Dasha embraces the Parisian social elite by marrying into her employer's family and moving to Africa. Her letters are without salutation, as if she is incapable of showing her love. Although she adapts well to life's changes, she remains outside the realm of deep emotion. For her, the death scene in Chapter One is the barometer that controls her outlook on all of life.

CAPE OF STORMS is a difficult book to enjoy because it opens the wounds of revolution that strike three girls tragic emotional blows for their entire lives. It is, however, a study of the methods the human mind chooses to cope with life's difficult choices.

--- Reviewed by Judy Gigstad

I read this book because it looked interesting, a man and a cat switching bodies, I kind of figured it would be fun. It was. Some parts of this book are very funny and had me laughing out loud. You can tell Marian Babson really got into the cat's mind and it seemed like some parts really were written by a cat. That evil stagehand Woody was really mean and I'm glad he got what he deserved in the end. Also it's good that Winstanley Fortsecue and the Monty got their old bodies back . . . the ending was a happy one . . . that's always good. It was a great mystery and a really fun book to read.

This is a book in the ultra-cosy mystery genre. The feline capers are well-written and it is clear that the author has made careful observations of cat behaviour. The human characters and their motivations, and the situations they find themselves in, are somewhat two dimensional and predictable but that pretty much goes with the cosy territory.

It is a delightful, undemanding read and I look forward to reading more cat mysteries written by this author.

I admit it. I'm a smart woman who is a sucker for cat mysteries. I can't help it.

I just started reading Babson's books, picking them up here and there, and I very much enjoy them. I like having different characters in every book (rathering than wondering which character in the little town of Catville is going to get murdered this year).

Babson's books are a joy to read. They do not insult your intelligence (as much as other books in this genre), the characters are developed, the stories are interesting.

If you like cat mysteries and have never given Babson a try, please do. You will be very pleasantly surprised. She's quite a good writer, her stories are fun...and you can always be sure the cats never get seriously hurt. ;-)

The book has a great new introduction with additional stories and recipes. Makes for memorable reading about cafes, diners and other eateries that were once on the road and others that are on 66 today. Recipes work!

I originally bought the first edition of this fantastic book and had to buy the deluxe update as well. This book is truly fantastic. I spent a good part of last summer driving from Los Angeles to Missouri on old route 66 and this book was a welcome friend along the way (how many people plan trips with cookbooks in hand, I have no idea).

From the standpoint of the trip it was great to be able to find some of the same restaurants that my parents ate at 30+ years ago. The book is also full of menus, pictures and stories - and it's the stories that set the book apart. The stories about the restaurants and people along the way made the entire trip seem like visiting old friends.

The recipes are also second to none. I've tried over two dozen of the recipes and none have disapointed me so far. All of them are simple, tasty and relatively simple to make. You can't go wrong by using these recipes.

Finally, I love the changes from Chicago to Los Angeles in terms of the regional recipes offered. I've long been a fan of American regional cooking and this book, while not a "regional cookbook", shows a flair for the subtle changes in restaurant fare as you travel the mother road.

Every Route 66 traveler has memories - this book delighted me with stories of places I have stopped, dishes from the 50s, and great memories from waitresses, owners, customers, and home-town folks who talked about Route 66 eateries that are gone as well as food stops still open today. The recipes are reminiscent of the 50s although some come from the whole 66 era. Every time I drive the road there are changes. The author points this out and some of the people she interviewed are now deceased - but I'm glad their memories were saved - bet they were glad to reminisce. I found the book a delight! Glad Clark is a fellow Oklahoman.

I really like this book. It's a very informative about some of the most important sires in Arabian horse breeding.
As an Arabian horse owner, I wouldn't want to be without this book in my collection.
I very much enjoy reading about the horses behind the the famous names and show results, the REAL horses, their special hallmarks and what their owner/trainers remembers about them. Special memories.
And being from Sweden, I am of course very proud to see one Swedish bred stallion, Alladdin, among the legends!
I just wish there would have been colored pictures, that would have made the difference to a five star rating.
I highly recommend this book!

As a reader from NZ, I found this book readable, informative and full of wonderful and interesting pictures. The "human interest" stories about breeders finding their "hearts delight" form part of the text - and as one scrolls through the book, the role of the owner in the fate and fame of each horse is revealed as the true catalyst in their journey to immortality. A very interesting book, but the quality of the binding is poor. GJMD NZ South Pacific

This book is an important "who's who" of the Arabian horse world. Twenty-two of the most influential stallions are profiled. Of special interest are the the only two mares profiled, Bint Sahara and *Sanacht. Bint Sahara is the dam and granddam of three stallions featured - Ferzon, Fadjur, and Khemosabi. The combination of *Sanacht and Bint Sahara through the blood of Fadjur created one of the greatest breeding and show horse dynasties of the Arabian world. An invaluable resource book for researching potential purchases of horses and stud services. The stories of the people involved with these horses are fascinating. One of my favorites is the story of two great breeders, Frank McCoy of California and Dr. Eugene LaCroix of Arizona, meeting halfway in the desert near Indio, California. In one trailer was Dr. LaCroix's stallion Aarief, and in the other trailer was McCoy's Bint Sahara daughter, Fersara. They took them out, bred them, put them back into their trailers and went home. The result was another of the breed's great stallions, The Real McCoy.

this is a must have book for any DK's fan, solely because it is a book about the dead kennedys. it's not really a very good book persay, but who wouldn't want a book about them? it seems like a condensed version of the liner notes from all the records, more or less. there are a few pics which you probably won't find anywhere else, as well as a letter from members of the band denouncing the book itself. nonetheless, a must buy.

This book was, in my opinion, the most interesting compilation of DK info/lyrics/pictures that I've ever seen. Being part of the FOWJB (Formerly Obsessed With Jello Biafra) Club, I know how it feels to pick up this book being a DK fan. I found the book in Tower Records in New York, and I was intensely happy with just looking at the book for at least a week after. It is an incredible find for any DK fan.

However, the question arises when you read the letter on the back cover of the book: Is the band proud of this book? The answer in simple. No. The Dead Kennedys themselves opposed the printing of this book. For various reasons (I won't spoil the good read for you, should you want the book.) they didn't want it to come out. Also, even though it is a punk book, it somehow strikes me as a "very special issue" of "Bop" or something in that line of publications. The book offers no substance at all, really, only rare pictures and articles. Any good punk rocker will feel a twinge of guilt while reading this book.

So it comes down to this: Obsess over the band, or support the band's wishes? Although the band is broken up, and long gone besides, it's still a question that deserves to be considered. So think about this point: is it your principals or your obsessions that rule?

This book was fare it wasn't my favorite. It has alot of pictures but not very much information on the band. I would recomend this to real dead kennedys fans because some one who's new with them probably wouldn't like it. enjoy! and if your looking for stuff on jello biafra then this si definatly not the right book for you there's barely anything on him at all

It's important to know it's for a cast of 24 characters. I bought it hoping it would work for a total of 6 kids, but there's no way to cut it down that far.

If you have a larger number of children as cast members, I think it would be a fun production.

"Not-So-Silent Night" is an EASY, cost effective, children's Christmas Pageant to produce. It's "easy-to-use" format allows children to part-take based on their areas of interest and abilities. Parental involvement is minimal and gives children inspiration and freedom to produce their own costumes and props.

If it wasn't for the ease that "Not-So-Silent Night" presented, down to promotional flyer ideas and caroling sheet also included, I doubt we would have been able to complete our first pageant in the time constraints we faced to the success and platitudes we received. I personally recommend this pageant for any group looking at preparing a children's production.

I loved the premise of this play: Shepherds who visit baby Jesus on the night of his birth are so excited about the events of the evening that they make a great deal of noise and are arrested for disturbing the peace. The play takes place in the court room where the shepherds are on trial. I laughed out loud at the witnesses for the prosecution, especially Dr. Sigmund Fruitcake! The children performing the play loved it, too.

Thus is a very nice book about two teens who fall in love. They hate each other at first, but quickly discover that appearances are not all there is to a person and that their first imperssions of each other were quite inaccurate.

Too bad this book is hard-to-find because it is a really good young-adult romance. It's hate at first site for Joy and Richie. They are complete opposites: she--short and blonde, he: tall and dark. From the first day that their paths cross, disaster strikes. Of course, these mini-disasters embarass and infuriate Joy while Richie can't get that conceited smirk off his face. When an unexpected event takes place, Joy and Richie find that they have more in common than they would like to admit. Can they stop fighting long enough to make up

This is a very good young adult romance novel. On her first day in a new school, Joy, meets a boy named Richie. And it's hate at first sight. But, later they fall in love. This is one of my favorites, too bad it's so hard to find. I can really relate to Joy's problem.