This book is my 4 year old daughter's favorite! It gives us both a good laugh everytime we read it. It's a must-have for every home as it teaches kids and parents how to be creative on a rainy day. Watching Pete's parents turn him into a pizza was quite funny!

Pete's in a bad mood because the rain has spoiled his plans to play ball with his friends. His father decides to cheer him up by making him into a pizza. As his mother looks on dubiously, he proceeds to lay Pete on the table, knead him, stretch him, and twirl him in the air. Mom joins in the fun as he adds the oil (water), flour (talcum powder), tomatoes (checkers!), and cheese (paper). After some teasing and tickling, the pizza is ready to come out of the oven, and the sun, too, is ready to come out. A chase and a hug, and the pizza marches out the door with his football; all is well with the world. Steig's simple illustrations are worth a thousand words; the expressions on the character's faces tell all. What a treat to see such playful, loving parents sharing a game that the author himself used to play with his youngest daughter.

My daughters enjoy reading this book, because it shows Pete and his parents having fun on a rainy day. Pete gets made into a pizza, with all the trimmings. Kids will giggle at the thought of Pete being covered in tomato sauce, cheese and pepperoni!

A fun read, with lovely drawings, and lots of color. A five star book for your child.

I had read all of Anne George's Southern Sister mysteries, so was anxious to read "This One and Magic Life". She didn't disappoint me -- I truly loved this book. How sad it is that we will no longer be able to enjoy any of Anne George's books -- she was a wonderful writer!

Anne was a dear personal friend. She sent this book to me shortly before her death. She told me that she felt that it was her best work and referred to it as her book about forgiveness. It has been a very long time since a book has moved me so deeply. I recommend it highly. Don't expect to find the wonderful, silly Southern Sisters anywhere in these pages. DO expect to find grace in all its guises-- as beauty, as elegance and, yes, Anne, as forgiveness and redemption. It grieves me that we lost this magnificent writer before she could write more books like this one. DO read her poetry, as well.

I have read all of Anne George's "Sister" mysteries and loved them all. When I discovered this book, I could not wait to read it. She did not disappoint me. I was touched by the characters and transported to Harlow, Alabama by Miss George's words. While "This One and Magic Life" is very different from the sister mysteries, you will find it to be a delightful read. Miss George will be sorely missed by this fan as will her lovable characters.

Citizen Washington is not your typical historical novel. While it is held together by a single voice, it is broken up into many short perspectives that lend the story of George Washington a varied examination. At first I found this inconvenient, but once I got to know the people speaking, I welcomed them again and again as they returned to add their view of an event. The story is told without sentimentality or heroics. In fact, the battles fought (or retreated from) are described very simply and directly. It's been a long time since I studied American history, so it was refeshing to read how the Revolution was fought and won from a "novel" point of view. Citizen Washington is definitely worth a read. I found the Federalist vs. Republican debate especially helful, told, as it is, from characters near the debate.

This is an excellent historical novel about George Washington. The novel presents Washington through the eyes of many of the people who knew him, including his wife and his slaves as well as the other great men of the day. It is a good approach for describing a very complex man with many sides.

The book focuses primarily on Washington's life up until the time he became President. The book does cover his entire life, but his years as President are skimpy by comparison to the rest of his life. The author's interest is more on who Washington was as a man than on his public accomplishments. Focusing on his formative years provides more insight into his character.

Nevertheless, the novel demonstrates the truly great accomplishments Washington made to American history. Without Washington, we would not have won the Revolutionary War: he provided the military strategy, the determination, and the leadership needed to win. Without Washington, we would not have become a country: he provided the leadership the 13 colonies needed to come together as a union. Without Washington, we would not have become a democracy: he resisted efforts to anoint him king, and he voluntarily relinquished power--first as commanding general who won the War of Independence, and later as the nation's first President.

Washington was an admirable person, and deserves the adulation the nation gave him then and since. But of course he had his flaws, and Citizen Washington conveys them, particularly via the characters in the novel who did not idolize him. Such was Washington's force of personality, though, that even his detractors were in awe of him.

This novel is particularly valuable as an adjunct to a nonfiction account of Washington's life, the best of which is James Thomas Flexner's Washington: The Indispensable Man.

This novel was one of the most informative books I have ever read. Not only did we get a run-down on the usual suspects of the era, Jefferson, Adams, and Washington, but the insight gained on the characters which history misses sometimes, like Alexander Hamilton, Henry Knox and Martha Washington made the book very hard to put down. The way Martin intermingles fictional and non-fictional characters is a work of genius. This novel is a fast-paced, fast-reading tale which NEVER bogs the reader down with an endless string of statistics and facts. The story is always the most important part of the book, and Martin hit a home run spinning this tale. I would recommend this novel, obviously to any Martin fans, but also to anyone who has wondered what historical fiction is like. I can not wait for his next novel!!!!

I waited two long years for this book to roll into my favorite used sci-fi and horror bookstore. The day it came I raced home and read it until I was finished. It is a well crafted story. This book takes place on a boat on the Mississippi river--prehaps an unexpected place for a vampire tale. The characters a fueding an almost good against evil--it works wonderfully in this story. The characters in this novel are well constructed and enjoyable to get to know. The plot is well defined, complex, and detailed. All I can say is that this is a great story. I urge anyone to try to get a copy if they can. I often feel like so many times like Fevre Dream was unfairly put out of print. If you can find it, I hope you enjoy!!

This unique novel is definitely one of the best I've ever read. It's a completely different take on the legend of vampires. Martin's vampires are not undead humans, but rather the remains of an ancient warrior species similar to, but, in some ways different from, man. His vampires don't sleep in coffins, nor are they vulnerable to things like garlic and holy water. They are, however, light sensitive, and, most importantly of all, they have a thirst for blood. It's the struggle of one of these vampires to lift the curse of that thirst that drives the story. "Fevre Dream", though, isn't really about vampires, it's about the struggle for acceptance, and, most of all, friendship. It's the friendship between the crusading vampire and an old Mississippi riverboat captain named Abner Marsh that is the center of this fast-moving tale. Martin creates a wonderful sense of atmosphere throughout, with his story racing through a background of life on the Mississippi river in the 19th Century. The author keeps us interested throughout with a series of twists and turns that throw our two friends together, tear them apart, then toss them together again as they join the struggle to end the thirst and bring vampires as much into the human world as possible. And, the last few pages are simply some of the most touching prose I've ever read. A super read. If you can get a copy, do so, though I'm certainly not giving up mine. Oh, and I e-mailed the author a few years ago to complement him on this work. I was shocked that he wrote me back and said that he's been considering a sequel to "Fevre Dream". We'll have to wait, though, as he mentioned that he would be tied up with a fantasy series, which turned out to be the excellent "Song Of Fire And Ice." We'll wait, George, and thanks.

While the aforementioned Buffy has a vein of humor running through it, *Fevre Dream* is a more serious story. But don't let that keep you from reading this book!

I have to admit, I struggled through the first three or four chapters, and it was kind of touch and go for awhile after that as to whether I would or wouldn't like it. (Once I start a story, I try to finish it no matter what, good, bad, or indifferent.) But I pressed on, and by about the tenth chapter, I was hooked.

What hooked me was the 1850s U.S. riverboat milieu which Martin so deftly draws you into (I felt as if I were actually there, plying the Mississippi!); the characters, from the gruff, courageous Cap'n Abner Marsh, to quiet, anguished Joshua York, to loyal Toby the cook, a black man given his freedom by Cap'n Marsh when he agreed to be his cook; and one of the most original plots I've come across in speculative fiction. I mean, who would've thought to put vampires on a U.S. riverboat, plus give a different, interesting twist to the vampire mythos?

A small caution: There is some foul language in the book, plus use of the "n" word, which some might find offensive. However, I think it was realistic to the time and place, plus the language came from characters where it made sense, so I came to accept it.

I picked this up at the library, and it took me the full 4 weeks to finish it. With the great descriptions, finely-etched characters, and a unique plot, I'm glad I stuck it out.

This wonderful children's novel tells the story of eight year old Princess Irene. Cared for by her nurse Lootie, she lives in a mountain farmhouse while her father rules over the region from a mountain top castle. The local folk work as miners but are beset by the Goblins who inhabit the underground. Irene is saved from the Goblins by Curdie, a thirteen year old miner, and she in turn saves him. The whole thing is told in a pleasant conversational style and is filled with humor, word games, magic, derring-do, and pure wonderment.

George MacDonald, a Congregational minister turned novelist, who seems nearly forgotten now, was one of the seminal figures in the development of Fantasy. His influence on other Fantasy authors is obvious, he was a childhood favorite of JRR Tolkein, who especially liked this book, and C.S. Lewis named him one of his favorite authors. His own stories draw on many of the themes and characters of classical European fairy tales. But where they were often merely horrific and meaningless, MacDonald adds a layer of Christian allegory. Thus, Irene and Curdie are eventually saved by a thread so slender that you can't even see it, but which leads them back to safety, teaching Curdie that you sometimes have to believe in things that you can't see.

The book would be interesting simply as a touchstone of modern fiction, but it stands up well on its own and will delight adults and children alike.

GRADE: A

whenever I find a used copy of this or MacDonald's "The Princess and Curdie" I buy it and give it away. Both books are full of religious symbolism if you think about it, and old other-worldness if you don't. "The Princess and the Goblin" can be enjoyed by early elementary school children, while the language of "The Princess and Curdie" is more challenging and suited for 5th grade and up, though anything is possible with a bit of extra effort. Worth trying. George MacDonald (deceased) has a loyal following as do, of course, Tolkien and C.S.Lewis who were his friends. These are lovely books to read aloud.

I cant believe I haven't read this untill now, its such a great book! A princess lives in a castle all her life, never knowing of the great dangers that go on in the mountain. One day(being about 7 years old) she finds a stairway in her house that she has never seen and it leads her to her great, great grandmother. After she meets her grandmother she is shown the dangers of the goblins and meets a boy named Curdie who mines in the mountain with his father. Throughout the book Curdie and the princess have many encounters with the goblins. This is a great book I highly recommend it for readers of all ages.

My seven year old daughter discovered George and Martha at her school library and delighted in bringing home a new set of five stories each week. We giggled together each time we read them and even my five year old son asked for them again and again. These stories are brief but filled with wonderful language, important themes and lovable characters. I would recommend them for any child's home library.

Having read George and Martha as a child, I was happy to receive the complete version of Marshall's stories for Christmas this year. The stories are clearly for children, but are humorous for adult readers as well. The pea soup story is a classic. The illustrations are wonderful.

As the mother of a 3-year old who constantly clamors "Read me a story!" I can't say how happy I was she got this for Christmas! It is a struggle to stop at just one, or five, or ten stories. George and Martha are enchanting, and we laugh out loud at the dry humor of the stories and the drawings. A+!

As its generic title implies, this book doesn't really focus on a single Java topic. Instead, it covers many different topics, most of which area relatively advanced, and does a decent job with almost all of them. Some of the chapters were on topics that are pretty basic, such as event handling and layout managers, but even in those areas I found lots of useful tips and tricks.

My one complaint is that some of the examples were a bit contrived. On the other hand, the code samples were extremely clear and easy to understand, and I suppose that there's a tradeoff there between realism and simplicity. That's why I'm still giving this book five stars -- because even if the examples weren't "realistic", they were at least effective.

Since the topics are largely unrelated to one another (with the obvious exception that they're all relevant to Java programmers), this isn't a book that I'd recommend someone read from cover-to-cover. However, I do consider it a very good reference for most of the subjects that it covers, and a good starting point for the remainder.

Despite covering advanced topics, this book is surprisingly clear and easy to read. You won't find any lengthy, irrelevant ramblings about the history of this or that or anecdotes about the author's pet in Professional Java Programming -- it gets to the point and covers the topics thoroughly. Another thing I liked is that unlike a lot of programming books these days, this one is written by a single author, which means that there's little or no duplication of information and the writing is consistent throughout the book. That's not to say that this is a title that you'll want to read from cover to cover, but it does provide terrific information on lots of topics.

This book is really well written and it takes a bunch of Java topics and goes into alot of detail on them. What I liked the most was that it was easy to read (even though its about 1000 pages) and gives a lot more information than most other books. This is the third book I've read that covers layout managers and it offered the best coverage by far. I also really liked the XML chapter because it helped me to understand what XML is all about and how to use it in a Java program. It also explains really well how to use Java Help, which I'm going to be putting using on a project soon.

Some people dont like Wrox books but I do and and I think this one is great. It was really clear and informative and I highly recommend it to anyone doing serious Java coding.

Carol Shifflett's second book covers the martial art of Aikido in a way I've never seen before. Most of the books I know deal with either the techniques or the philosophy, some try to cover both. Mostly, the technique books are lost on me because I'm not good at learning techniques from photographs - and the philosophy books are often very difficult to understand without guidance. But Carol's book talks of things I haven't found in any other place:

Ever thought about the physics of Aikido? Ever seen a collection of answers to those "silly" beginner's questions? Ever thought about "verbal Aikido"? And - ever gotten advice from people of various Aikido styles from all over the world? This book contains all this and much, much more.

It is like walking around a sculpture you already knew from pictures and finding out that it is three-dimensional and you can see it from angles you never thought of. Each topic, each question is not only presented in one way but with various approaches to help the reader gain a better understanding. Everyday experiences included in the book suddenly reveal a new sight on the principles of Aikido.

But what I like most about this book is that it approaches the art I love with a lot of humor without making fun of it.

C. M. Shifflett's newest book, "Aikido Exercises for Teaching and Training," (AET) expands her previous book, "Ki in Aikido, A Sampler of Ki Exercises" (KIE) (itself a limit -shattering book in its own right) in several directions.

While KIA dealt only with Ki Society style aikido, AET expands its scope, drawing lessons from all styles of aikido and a global internet discussion list where all aikidoka ae welcome. Likewise, Shifflet's second book focuses attention on all stages of study in aikido, from the first day in the dojo beginner to the 20 year experienced sensei. Finally (and most importantly in my opinion), AET expands well beyond traditional "throw uke to the ground" aikido, to encompass such rarely discussed topics as dojo injuries, the physical basis behind many common techniques, the psychological and physiological process of learning and "verbal self-defense."

It is this last section that truly creates the book's value, at least for this reader. In a chapter at the end entitled "Off the Mat, in Real Life," Shifflett (with a little help from linguistics expert Suzette Elgin) dismembers the traditional view of martial arts as a means to beat evildoers on the mean streets of your local city. instead, she shows how to apply principles of aikido to the sort of conflicts people are far more likely to encounter in their real, non-Steven Segalesque lives.

I have read the final chapter, including Verbal Self-Defense, Life Etiquette, about five times. I have read the middle of the book, about techniques and exercises, twice. This is a disturbing underemphasis on my part of the end. The middle of the book will likely never save your life. The end likely will.

This chapter alone compelled me to buy the book -- the rest (including the badly needed translation of Aikido and the Dynamic Sphere technique numbers into the actual names as they are used in real dojos) was merely a bonus. A wonderful, amazing bonus that makes this book one which, if you can only buy one aikido book, you should buy. But a bonus all the same. =) Like her previous book, this is also wonderful for a nearly constant laugh, with quotes from a wild variety of seemingly mad, yet inspired, aikido practitioners on and off the internet.

The late George Simcox, Chief Instructor of the Virginia Ki Society says in his introduction: "I wish I'd had a book like this one available to me when I started teaching 25 years ago!". Well, I wish I'd had a book like this when I started practicing Ki Society Aikido 10 years ago. This book is outstanding and full of great illustrations and discriptions of techniques and terms. I am sure I would have learned more, quicker if I had had a resource like this. This book not only contains excellent discriptions of the basics of Ki Society Aikido and the basic exercises, it also covers rolling - a tricky skill to learn at times - and a lot of physics and theory behind the art. But best of all, it has a comprehensive bibliography and videograhpy and an extremely complete glossary of Japanese Aikido related terms by Chizuko Suzuki, that took me almost as long to read through as the body of the book! If you are interested in Aikido or have been practicing for quite a while, there is good stuff in this book for you! I highly recomend it.