Sandra and Susan Steen have written many children's books together (yup, they're sisters), and "Car Wash" is especially enjoyable. Kiddos who love car washes will get a kick out of the ride here, as the siblings in the back seat pretend that they are deep-sea adventurers. But even kids who are spooked by going through the car wash will enjoy it, too, as it suggests a different attitude and a different approach for their next trip.

G. Brian Karas has done some remarkably imaginative illustrations here, incorporating paint, glass beads, strips of sponge and fabric, and so on to create a textural collage. It's lots of fun, and perfectly complements the manner in which a car wash incorporates all different sounds, smells, and rhythms.

What a great adventure---to experience a car wash. This book brings a child out of the car and into another world experiencing an imaginative view of a car wash. With plentiful colors and big illustrations, this book is an excellent choice for young children who cannot read or just beginning to read.

My almost three year old daughter loves going to the car wash and she loves this book. The simple story is about two kids and a parent who take their muddy car through the car wash. As they go through the wash the kids imagine their car is a submarine and they have an underwater adventure. They kids imagine they pass coral reefs, sea monsters, sharks, and a giant octupus. Once the car is clean, the family goes out to lunch and then it's oh no! dirty car all over again. The illustrations are done collage style using fabric, pearls, and buttons. It's a very cute story and an easy read. Whenever I am tired and my daughter is begging for a story I reach for this book. There are very few words on the page so I can sit back, relax, and let her narrate the story for me. We both really enjoy this book.

I bought this book for my son and he absolutely loves it. I bought the paperback version, which he is a little young for. But he carries it with him and loves it when we read it to him. It is a big hit.

The best series I have found for very early readers. The pictures match the text, the sentences are very short, and the words are words children use everyday. I highly recommend this book and others in this series for any early readers out there.

As with every Margaret Wise Brown book I have ever seen; (I own 13 titles now); VERY Kid-friendly. My daughter likes bugs too and is just learning to read. Most pages in this story have 2 - 3 words. Perfect for the early reader!

a girl marries. she soon frinds herself a widow with a baby on the way. the heir to a fortune. some one is trying to put her in a nut house but her lover saves her. my favorite quote from the book " he lend over me and looked at the baby and said there's only one thing wrong he's not mine, that was his praposil for marrage" the 8th victoria holt book i read.

I first read this novel when I was in junior high school. It was the second novel I read by Victoria Holt, but it was the first one that made me want to read more of her books with enthusiasm. It was very hard to put down this book after the first chapter. The suspense kept me wanting to find out what was going to happen next. Victoria Holt is a great romantic-suspense author and it's really sad that she's no longer around to write more books. And I'm even more disappointed that "Kirkland Revels" is no longer in print. My copy of the book was borrowed and I never got it back. I don't even remember who borrowed it. It was back in the 1970s. So now all I have are fond memories of the book and the story. I wish the publisher would print this book again (hardbound). I need this book to add to my collection of Victoria Holt novels.

This is the first nowel of Victoria Holt I read, since then she is one of my favorite writers. If you want to read some books by her, Kirkland Revels is a good choice for begining.

The adventure racing world waited a long time for a resource as comprehensive as this one. It is no surprise that we were finally provided this resource by the man who founded Odyssey Adventure Racing, a company that produces more races than any other US AR company and also offers a great racing academy.

One of the best features of The Complete Guide to Adventure Racing is that rather than giving us "the gospel according to Mann and Schaad", it provides multiple views from various experts on controversial topics such as nutrition, strategy, team dynamics, and sleep management. You may occasionally find that the contributors disagree with each other, which only serves to underscore the strategic nature of the sport.

What I didn't expect was inspirational content in addition to the detailed information of this text. By including first-person stories from other racers, race directors, and observers, the book becomes a "good read" in addition to an instructive one. It makes you want to get out there and register for the first race you can find. Buy this book and you'll see what I mean!

The adventure racing world waited a long time for a resource as comprehensive as this one. It is no surprise that we were finally provided this resource by the man who founded Odyssey Adventure Racing, a company that produces more races than any other US AR company and also offers a great racing academy.

One of the best features of The Complete Guide to Adventure Racing is that rather than giving us "the gospel according to Mann and Schaad", it provides multiple views from various experts on controversial topics such as nutrition, strategy, team dynamics, and sleep management. You may occasionally find that the contributors disagree with each other, which only serves to underscore the strategic nature of the sport.

What I didn't expect was inspirational content in addition to the detailed information of this text. By including first-person stories from other racers, race directors, and observers, the book becomes a "good read" in addition to an instructive one. It makes you want to get out there and register for the first race you can find. Buy this book and you'll see what I mean!

The Complete Guide to Adventure Racing by Don Mann and Kara Schaad is destined to become the definitive work on adventure racing. I am not an adventure racer myself, but I am a runner and mountain biker with aspirations to do an adventure race one day soon. I have found this work to be not only informative, but inspiring as well. I especially enjoyed reading the articles by top adventure racers, tips from experts in every
field of adventure racing and the personal stories of those who have fulfilled their dreams of extreme challenges. The book is well written and the photography and illustrations are first class. Don and Kara have assembled advice and instructions from the best multi-sport athletes in the world. I have read every book ever written about adventure racing and this is, by far, the most informative. I consider it an invaluable addition to my "library" of sports and fitness literature. If you have ever competed in an adventure race, simply have a dream of someday pushing the limits of your physical boundaries, or you just want to read interesting stories of those who have, The Complete Guide to Adventure Racing is a "must read".

I'm not a manga freak. Not yet, anyway. And I don't use 'freak' in a bad way. But I really loved this. It had a beautiful cover (but... I don't think it's the one that's being sold here :S), and... yeah.

It took my reading the blurb halfway through the book to realise that Raenef (spelling...?) was... dum de dum... MALE! Maybe the bishiness is taken a little far here, but once informed, I was happy with it. Eclipse is beautiful... There are a couple of lovely pages with single pics of the characters - ie, Eclipse and Raenef - the artwork is quite nice. Style is... erm... pointy. Not hair, faces. Pretty thin people. Plot was... gripping, but in the cool way. Not like, omg, what happens next? More, heh, poor, beautiful Eclipse... What cruelty is Raenaf gonna inflict on him next? The actual story was good, though. First installation and that.

Story - good. Artwork - Pretty. Length - better than a lot I've read... The two stories at the end were a little short, but that's to be expected with extra, unrelated stuff. They were nice, even so. Erm... Buy it! It's fun! ...and did I mention how pretty Eclipse is?

I'll admit it; the only reason I bought this book in the first place was because of the gorgeous artwork that immediately drew me in. Sure, I had skimmed over the summary on the back, but that wasn't the priority for me at the moment. Yet right now, I'm glad my thinking then was that shallow, because I'm very glad of the choice I'd made at that fateful day at the bookstore.

Demon Diary is amazing in just about every aspect one would require a manga to be in order to be great. It's a story about the demon lord Raenef and his mentor, Eclipse. These two make a very interesting couple to say the least; Raenef acts like anything but a demon lord, completely clueless and sometimes downright dense. Eclipse, on the other hand, is Raenef's respectable and rather serious tutor. (Although at times he does have his rather humerous moments.) The combination of the two personalities is nothing short of laugh-out-loud funny. At this point of the story, Demon Diary is nothing more than informing the readers of Eclipse and Raenef's process of teaching/learning, yet at the end of it all, someone unexpected does manage to test Raenef's abilities as a demon lord. As a bonus, there are also two short stories at the end of the manga, titled "Crystal Heart" and "Terra".

The artwork is top-notch and beautiful down to the last page, and obviously very shoujo. The relationship between Eclipse and Raenef (and when I mean relationship, I mean RELATIONSHIP. Shonen-ai warning for those of you averse to it) will probably appeal to mostly female readers, yet the nifty magic scenes and exploding pieces of building may attract a male audience.

In any case, Demon Diary is a wonderful manga that anyone who is interested graphic novels in general should at least take a look at.

While I was at the store looking for something new, I saw this book all by itself on the shelf. It must have been fate!! The story is so cute and funny, and I just love Raenef! And grumpmaester Eclipse aint to bad either.
The story starts with ditzy little Raenef trying to become the best demon lord, and poor Eclipse just trying not to get humiliated. You see Raenef isn't what you'd call a 'normal' demon. He's so light hearted and funny. He's having a hard enough time trying to remember to never appologize or use any curtesy ever, when a knight attacks the castle.
His relationship with Eclipse is amusing, and kind of strange at first. I hope to discover more in the next books to come.

Also included in this book are the short stories, Crystal Heart and Terra.
The only bad thing about this book is that the main story was so short in this volume, only about half the book was actually Demon Diary. Oh, one more thing. If you have a prob. with same gender relationships, GET A LIFE AND DON'T READ THIS SERIES!!!!
Anyways... the books great and if you read Dragon knights, I think you'll enjoy it. And it just so happens that the books come out on the mounths that dragon knights don't, so you can always look forward to something each month!!
All in all great book, get one as soon as you can. It's a great new way to look at the world of demons!!! ...

My brother suffered a brain injury last year and I read everything I can get my hands on, about brain injuries. I thank Kara for sharing her story through humor and sports analogies. My heart goes out to all of those suffering a brain injury.

It's amazing that Kara has been through so much yet remains adamant to keep her life as "normal" as possible. Her motivation to help others through sharing her hardships and lessons-learned is truly inspiring. She enlightens those who are not aware of the day-to-day struggles that people with closed head injuries endure.

Kara has compiled an effective "guide book" for others, who like her, have experienced this life-changing injury. She describes the road to recovery as painfully slow and full of unexpected "potholes", and the importance of celebrating each of the small successes along the way.

We've given copies of this "survival" book to friends who have a family member who may be the victim of both head injury and the ignorance of others about this. Hopefully, they will be inspired and comforted by her candidness and her triumphs.

Through her delightful humor and dogged determination, Kara brings hope to many. We wish her continued success on her courageous journey!

Being a head injury survivor myself, Kara's book, "I'll Carry the Fork" was a turning point in my own recovery. With Kara's ability to put into words, what I had kept in my injured mind, helped me to let go of the feelings of worthlessness. Through her book, Kara helped me laugh at my frustrations and forgetfulness..I learned that to laugh is to heal and see the human side to my perfectionistic past. To read her words, gave me comfort of being understood..and to be understood gave me the courage to recover. "I'll Carry the Fork" expresses everyday challenges for head injury survivors, and changes the focus of feeling defeated by our trauma; to find the strength within us, to accept ourselves as the "chosen people" to teach others, head injury or not, that life is what you make it. Every day is a gift. Kara shows us all that we should be brave, face our fears, and never give up on our yesturdays, todays and our tomorrows. After reading her book, your life, your thoughts and your daily outlook will be changed forever. This is a powerful book. I am a better person because of it. I challenge everyone to read it..enjoy the words of wisdom...then read it again.

The story continues in this second volume, as the point of view switches to a character we have not previousely met; Corwin, a sixteen year old orphan boy land-dweller living in the mid four-hundreds, for whom life is an everyday struggle, scavenging seashells to sell for a penny; avoiding all people for fear of them recognizing him for his dark deeds. When, early one morning, the fortune he's always dreamed of falls straight into his lap in the form as a stunningly beautiful seashell. It immediatelly begins gives him strange visions of beautiful girl from the sea. Frightened of what he fears may be his neglected magical talents resurfacing, Corwin tries to hide himself and the shell, only to find it almost immediately stolen from him, and the girl from his visions (Nia) meets him face to face, and from her he learns the awful truth. They have been mentally joined together by their respective magical talents through the bite of a small creature living in Corwin's shell; if they do not find the shell and the creature within seven days and complete a ceremony known as the Naming, then Corwin and Nia will both die. From then on it is a race against time, as this unusual sparkling fantasy adventure takes us to other worlds. This book was a reasonably good continuation of the first one, but it is definitely one of those books that's hard to really get unless you've read the first one. I bought the whole series at once, luckily. Another thing: the romance! Don't get me wrong here; I like romance all right, but I never like it just for the sake of it being romance, and I'm always very choosy about which couples I believe in. Nia and Corwin could have been very nice and cute, had it been presented in a different way. This book makes it seem like it was almost nothing but physical attraction on Corwin's part, and even that seems stiff and forced. The scene where Corwin 'has' to kiss Nia so he can breathe underwater will make even the most shallow teenager roll her/his eyes. Despite this however, it wasn't enough to make me take away more than one star, and I have high hopes that the final installment will be much better.

This was a very good book, of course it is the 2nd of 3 books. All of them tie into other old world stories which works. The end of the 3rd book could have had more happy details but overall it was worth reading.

I started reading the first book of the series when i was on vacation. i didn't know that i would enjoy it so much! i just had to get the other ones. i found the seccond one (it took me a day to read), and i liked that one the best. even after i got the third book, i liked the seccond one the best. i don't know why, i guess i just like the middle parts the best! :) i can't wait to read more of Kara's books! i hope this helps someone in need of finding a good book.

As I was last minute shopping on Christmas Eve, I saw this new book by Jim Karas. I picked it up, turned it over, and right there on the back cover he lists most of the excuses I have used for years to not take control of my weight (I won't even tell you how much weight I have gained). I read Chapter Three, "I Don't Have The Time," right in the check out line and felt as if he was speaking directly to me. Yesterday, I finished the book (it's an easy, informative and often times funny read as he talks about his 15 years experience with clients) and I am ready. I've made my decision that this New Year's resolution is to "Flip The Switch" and once and for all lose weight.

If you are like me and ready to do it, then this is the book for you.

The title of my review sums up my feeling toward this book. I had heard of Mr. Karas' earlier book, The Business Plan for the Body and had intended to buy it but like most of my good intentions, never got around to it.

I frequently read his column in Good Housekeeping magazine and this week happened to see him being interviewed by Diane Sawyer. He has done a terrific helping her lose weight. Anyway, I bought Flip the Switch and immediately started reading it. This book makes sense.
Also, Karas can write. The first two chapters on believing in your ability and the second, visualizing yourself successful at weight loss were extremely helpful to me. Also, they weren't silly overly Oprah pop psych. Karas gives his readers realistic advice.

He then details all the excuses we humans use to avoid facing reality when it comes to weight loss, and he not only refutes them, he outlines how to overcome them.

I began my weight loss program two days ago. I've had it with the excess weight and this time I going to make weight loss a priority, I'm fliping the switch and that switch is staying on for the rest of my life.

I am embarrassed to say that I have read almost every weight loss book ever written. I actually read Jim Karas' first book, The Business Plan for the Body, and really liked it, but as he says in Flip, never could get passed my excuses for not getting started. Well, now I am ready. His Chapter 9 "I'm A Woman" is a must read for EVERY woman struggling to lose weight. He just makes sense and explains many reasons why weight loss is harder for woman than for men. Trust me, there are no gimmicks in this book. Just good, clear advise on how to successfully lose weight. I've decided to "Flip" and I strongly urge you to as well.

Once you start reading "Flip The Switch" you won't put it down. This is the best weight loss book around. His eating program allows you to eat whatever you want, just count calories. He gives you three exercise programs and even has videos that coordinate with the book.
His writing style is very smooth. I can understand how he was so successful with Diane Sawyer.

Nia has a dream - that one day she will be an Avatar, one of the beings joined together with a Farworlder to be part of the ruling council of Atlantis. It is a great honour and she can't wait to compete in the trials - but then her cousin Garun is chosen instead. Angry and confused, Nia begins to question what has happened - which leads to a discovery that will change the way that she thinks about her home forever. The future of Atlantis lies in the balance and Nia's dream could destroy the entire city.

This book is the very excellent beginning of the water trilogy. Nia is smart, stubborn, and determined to win the role of an Avatar - but even when the dream is denied she fights for what she believes in. This book is great and the concept behind it is very cool. In this "reality" Atlantis is home to the mermyds who were created from the humans of Earth and the alien Farworlders. Nia is a very human looking mermyd with fairly normal colouring and legs, but some mermyds have tails and look more like fish. As Nia explores the msytery of why Garun was chosen over her she discovers two prisoners in a prison less society.

This is an excellent book that draws you into the world of Atlantis and keeps you there. I can't wait to finish the second book.

The legend of Atlantis comes alive in the 3 part Water Trilogy. We again can read about the exotic, beautiful, and peaceful undersea world. 16 year-old Nia has dreamed of nothing more that to become an Avatar in her home, the city of Atlantis. Avanters and the ancestor alien race called the Farworlders rule alongside one another in the undersea world. Nia, a mermyd of the aristocratic Bluefin clan, finally has her chance when a member of the Council steps down. Nia feels that she would definitely be chosen to represent her clan in the trials. body. Nia's dream is shattered however when her grandfather passes over her and chooses a cousin, Garun, to represent their clan in the trials. Her world further falls apart when the object of her affection, Cephan, is picked to represent his clan in the trials. However Nia learns that Atlantis has dark secrets too when Cephan shows her a person who should not exist at all and Nia finally begins to piece together things about herself. . . Can she find out all of the truth in time to save her beloved Atlantis? Nia's struggle with feelings of betrayal, disappointment, and budding romance are realistically depicted. I can't wait to read the next book in this Trilogy.

Sixteen-year-old Nia loves her home, the beautiful and peaceful underwater city of Atlantis. And her greatest wish is to be one of the ten Avatars that rule the city alongside the ancient alien race known as the Farworlders. Now that one of the Avatars and his Farworlder companion are retiring from the Council, Nia finally has the chance for her dream to come true. When another from her clan, the Bluefins, is selected to compete for the honor instead, Nia is devastated. How could her untalented cousin Garun be chosen over her? When Cephan, whom Nia secretly loves, shows her a secret that challenges her deepest beliefs about her home, she is crushed. Has everything she has always held to be true really a lie? Cephan seems to care about her, but is he holding something back? Nia is on her own, and if she wants to uncover the secret of Atlantis, time is running out. I loved this book and I can't wait to read the other two books that will complete this trilogy. I highly recommend this book to teens who enjoy fantasy novels or who are interested in the legend of Atlantis.

Brian Karas's Muncha! Muncha! Muncha! is an exciting and cute story about three bunnies and a first time gardener. The menacing trio are a curious bunch of cottontails just looking for food. Mr. McGreely (a first time gardener) has different plans! Mr. McGreely is determined to get those veggies into the pan and on to the plate. But, too bad for Mr. McGreely. Those fluff balls get past his fence, wooden wall, moat, and his huge cement castle equipped with barbed wire, a satellite dish, and a drawbridge. This hilarious book is filled with twists and turns, bunnies and vegetables, and one very upset gardener.

Both my 1 1/2 year old and 4 year old love this book. The love to yell "muncha, muncha, muncha" as the bunnies raid Mr. McGreeley's garden. We laugh as each method he tries becomes more elaborate. The easy words and repetition makes this fun for toddlers too.

This book is wonderful--even my 2 1/2 year old loves it. He follows the location of the bunnies, names all of the vegetables, and tracks how determined Mr. McGreely gets with each page. Chanting "muncha, muncha, muncha!" is truly contagious, and having the suprise sharing of the vegetable crop is a nice end to the book. The illustrations are amusing. This is definitely a good one to purchase for your child's library.