This book was outstanding in my own mind. There was just not anything that turned me off and made put the book down. Yes, this is science fiction and actually loved it, because the characters were described so well. A person may feel as if they really knew or felt that they may be somewhat alike. I personally do not like science fiction but as much as I enjoyed this, I may just change and widen my reading variety. Considering some fairly difficult words I always stuck with and just tried to understand it. Kotzwinkle has put forth an extraudinary piece of literature and should be recommended for interested readers. To be honest with you this book is not easy and is a little long but in the end I promise that you will be feeling something. This has love, tragedy, and is quite suspensful. It is a wonderful book, and I personally recommend to everyone. joe gainer

In the book E.T., there is a view you don't get out of the movie. You get to see what E.T. actually thinks and feels about the world around him. In the very begining of this book, E.T. is with his crew on Earth. You actually find out why, and what the extra terrestrials are doing on Earth. E.T. got lost on Earth in the first place because he was attracted to the lights in the windows, he ended up in Elliots yard because the plants told him to go look in the window. E.T. was a botonist from another planet, and he understands what plants are saying. E.T. is very intelligent and sends dreams and thoughts to Elliot, Mary(Elliot's Mother) Gertie, and Micheal. You also get family history of the characters, and you understand why Elliot connects so easily with E.T. I felt this book was very well written, and I enjoyed every minute of it. Overall, E.T. is a very good book, and is worth reading.

The stunning debut of a grand American fabulist. Beyond the wondrous title, opening, & closing tales (generous blanket coverage of prehistoric, African, & Indian elephant/human/machine psychology/relations) this book includes the incredibly perfect "Marie" (the end of exhuberance), the incredibly perfect "The Great Liar" (the root of all fiction), plus several other amazements. Just a couple of clunkers, easily forgiven by grateful gentle readers.

Kotzwinkle's first book, which needs to be in print. Produce of a true deep sweet child/animal mind overlayered with a gravely dangerous literary sophistication. Funny beyond brief description or easy belief. Also remarkably kind, somehow, in spite of its occasionally alarming clarity. Mysteriously hopeful. Peculiar.

This is truly a wonderful book, of original fairy tales accompanied by charming pen and ink drawings. Although they are fairy tales, you won't find any frogs to be kissed, or dancing princeses, or even any neatly concluded "happily ever afters". You will get five unique and very different stories, told with exquisite style, and a belief in the wonder and magic of life. My 10 year old son thoroughly enjoyed this book, and I liked it as much as he did. Highly recommended.

The illustrations in this book were wonderful. Done by an amazing artist who is an even better teacher. Next step is to finish reading the story. =oD

Kotzwinkle's "Midnight Examiner" is a funny book. At times, uproariously funny, gut-bustin' funny. Roll-around-the-floor funny. But ultimately - that's all it is.

The plot: The staff of a low-brow publications house, among whose many titles is "The Midnight Examiner," bands together to save a porn star from a mafia boss, who she mistakenly shot in the knee. Slapstick action ensues as the rescuers, doped up on voodoo medicines, storm the mafia stronghold with a boomerang, fishing pole, derringer, blowgun, and Swiss Army knife.

The characters: A motley collection of has-beens, never-weres, and eccentrics. Each character comprises a unique set of quirky habits and mannerisms. There's the narrator, a polyester-clad schlep. There's the publisher, who is obsessed with blowguns. There's the new guy, fastidiously dressed, concerned only for his cats, and wickedly good with a fishing pole. There's the resident graphic artist, who has an epileptic/schizophrenic condition and draws big Aztec-like women on living room walls. And the mafia boss, who's driving anxiety is that his taste in interior decoration is low-class. In fact, there's a cornucopia of characters, a snowstorm of maladies, all amusing.

So what's wrong with funny? Nothing, of course. However, the best humor is something more than funny. It's a device used to reveal something deeper at stake by hiding it, by covering it up with laughter, and it's that ironic juxtaposition that strikes deep. The best example I can think of is Salinger - the sarcasm, the swearing, the ridiculous image of a child in a hunting cap wandering around New York City. All of it hiding the grief for a lost brother.

But...back to Kotzwinkle. Funny and entertaining, yes. Moving? Teaching something new? A great book? No, no, and no.

I actually made it all the way to page 18 before bursting out laughing. This may be the most hilarious book I have ever read and, at the same time, it has exciting action, mystery and intrigue, romance, magic, and cows in dresses. When this ragtag bunch of tabloid writers decides to challenge a local Mob boss to save their favorite porn star, they call on all their varied resources. Blow guns, fishing poles, boomerangs, an Egyptian cabbie, voo doo spells and potions, and an impeccable sense of haute fashion all play key roles in Kotzwinkle's demented game plan. If you like to laugh, you are going to love this book. But, alas, there is a downside. Kotzwinkle has apparently chosen to move on to other venues and characters, thus you will feel a great sense of loss at the end of the book as you part company with this wonderful group of friends. I think that all Kotzwinkle fans should join forces and demand a sequel that brings the tabloid gang back together again for more exciting and hilarious adventures.

This is a delightfull funny novel. Howard Halliday is the jaded editor a small line of dubious low-brow publications, ranging from softcore-porn to religion, most notably the tabloid "Midnight Examiner" which is notorious for sensational headlines like "UFO FOUND IN GIRL'S UTERUS". The setting and characters of Halliday's small media empire are plenty colorfull and amusing enough, but when they cross paths with the sinister machinations of a crime boss, the genius of author Kotzwinkle kicks into overdrive.

This is a delightfull read. I think it could make a marvelous movie.

-- DCM "Froggy"

One of the funniest books I've ever read, Kotzwinkles telling of the story almost has you believing that a bear could actually pull all this off! The hero of the story is a bear who one day finds a book manuscript hidden in the back woods of Maine, reads it and thinks its such a wonderful story that he takes (steals) it to New York city with the idea of selling it. After adopting an alias (Hal Jam), he peddles the book around the NY publishing world and meets many quirky and self absorbed people on his way to eventually becoming world famous. Throughout the story he vacillates back and forth between wanting to remain in the comfortable but strange and "hard to figure out" world of man - with its unlimited quantities of sweets and women; and wanting to return to his beloved forest where life is so much simpler. The plot is very much like the movie "Being There", except with a slapstick slant. Everyone that the bear meets reads deep and profound meaning into Hal's brooding silences and short, out of context statements. It kept me laughing out loud for two straight days, I can't remember the last time a book did that to me!

There's so much truth about the publishing world in this drop-dead-funny satire that it's a wonder the publishing world ever published it!
Outrageous premise of a man who writes The Great American Novel, loses the manuscript in the woods, and becomes so depressed that he goes into hibernation and becomes beast-like. The flip side of the equation, the part that makes this book a dangerous one to read in bed beside a sleeping mate, is that the manuscript is found by a bear who manages to sell it on a trip to New York. The bear is courted by NY's best and finest celebs, and he impresses reviewers, agents, and editors with his hyper-intelligent and deeply moving monosyllabic grunts and one-word responses to interview questions.
But the parts that'll make your trying-to-sleep spouse want to kill you are the love scenes between the bear and the object of his affection, a 'fur-bearing woman,' (a lady who doesn't shave her legs).
Don't miss it. Buy two, and give one to your favorite quirky friend.

The Bear Went Over the Mountain is not only hilarious it is also a great commentary on our society. If only more books this funny existed!

Entertaining tale of the humans use of animals for medical research.

This book allows you to look at a different point of view in animal research. from the animals side. What do they think? Do they feel? Do they care? Should we, as humans, care about these things? This book is not for kids.

Dr. Rat is an exploration of the use of animals in human research. You are given the view of a lab rat that has been in the research lab just a little too long. He is missing various parts and is quite mad. He talks in poems that make a lot of sense when you stop to listen to them. He is as smart as he is savey in the 'way' of the lab and leads the animals in a revolution to take over the world.

Very entertaining, much more of a social statement than other books of his,and makes you think about the use of animals in medical research and if it is the 'right' thing to do. A must read for those of used who think we are liberal and open minded. And even for those who believe strongly in animal reseach.

I read it first when I was eleven, never knew a SINGLE person who KNEW about this book. It was a modern ANIMAL FARM in the LABS of SCIENTIFIC experiments on animals. You may think what happens to the animals in this book is extreme, but that's just because you haven't met your FRIENDLY neighbourhood CRACKPOT, one of those scientists who makes money off torturing animals. These people are the MENGELS of today, and they are secretly torturing animals as we speak. Any University Laboratory, any Hospital you look at has these awful experiments going on. And we call ourselves CIVILIZED ?

I have read these other reviews. Yes, it is laughably funny; yes, it is frequently greusome. What I have failed to read about this book, at least so far, is what can be taken from it. On a basic level, it will make you think about animal conciousness and experimentation, animal cruelty, and blind procedure. True, this makes the story excellent by many standards. However, at the heart of the novel is a message of social and political awareness, and the comentary makes a profound statement on the ailing status of the world today. Kotzwinkle has created an AWESOME METAPHOR which stretches far beyond "a sad story about lab rats", and I am shocked other reviewers couldn't see that!

William Kotzwinkle, despite his frequent turns converting blockbuster movies like ET: the Extraterrestrial into novels, is one of the more consistently interesting fantasy writers around. In The Game of Thirty, he tries his hand at a hard-boiled private eye novel and proves quite capable.

Jimmy McShane is a former military cop turned NY City private detective. When he is hired to look into the mysterious death of an antiquities dealer, he finds himself getting drawn into a murderous match of wits with the killer, based on the ancient Egyptian Pharaohs' Game of Thirty.

Mixing traditional elements of noir fiction--first person narrative, wisecracking dialogue, and urban locale--with nearly Victorian elements, reminiscent of a Sherlock Holmes or Fu Manchu tale--cobra venom, egyptology and the like--and throwing in a New Age heroine as Jimmy's sidekick, Kotzwinkle produces a neat little thriller that manages to be both modern and nostalgic and seems like it would be perfect for the big screen.

GRADE: B

The Game of Thirty is a little bit above average when it comes to stories in the mystery-esque genera. The plot is interesting, and although it revolves around a typical "hard guy" main character and "kooky, yet bright" dilettante female companion, the story does not come across as being too cliche. For me the best part about the book was the Egyptian atmosphere, which is centered on a board game - the Game of Thirty. Although at times this game is used to envoke far too much foreshadowing, on the whole it helps the story progress. An antiquities theme runs througout the book, but many other sub plots are developed (generally well), that allow the reader to peak into other walks of life. The worst part of the book is the ending. Readers can guess the ending about 1/2 way through, and the conclusion is completely unrealistic. Still the Game of Thirty is a good read.

The Game of thirty was a ming boggling and fascinating book. It seemed to lead you into a new dream and keep you there. This book deals with tough issues, deeper than you can imagine, and handles them straightforward, in a New Yorker approach. I definetlty reccomend this book to anyone. It is an intriguing tale that sweeps you off your feet.

Walter will bring tears of laughter to your eyes the first time you read it. It is very funny and the illustrations are fantastic,very clever, my kids never get tired of this book. I have a 6,4 and a 2 year old and they are all fans of Walter.We wish there were more kids books as funny as Walter.I also highly recommend "Dirty Bertie" and "Frank Was A Monster Who Wanted To Dance".

Walter is a dog. A dog who farts constantly. His new human family tries everything possible to cure Walter. At one point they even try giving him low fart dog biscuits. Walter is so afraid to fart that he holds his gas in. You'll have to read the book in order to find out just what happens when two burglars break into the house at the exact moment Walter can't hold back anymore. Great fun for all.

Preston McClear, author The Boy Under the Bed

Walter is a dog with a problem, and a rather noticable one at that. Put it frankly, he farts

A lot.

It seems nothing will keep Walter smelling sweet, or at least keep him from smelling bad, but Water manages to do things his own way and come through smelling like a proverbial rose, though not, unfortunately, an actual rose. ;)

i was almost put off on this book by the title and storyline, though once I openend it and started reading, not a single perosn in hte bookstore I work at could avoid hearing my loud cackles. This book is as funny as it is subtle, and neon sledgehammers would be more likely to sneak up on someone), but that's it's charm. It is sweet, and funny, and more than entertaining. The styles of both the writing and the artwork in this book complement each other wonderfully and you'll find yourself laughing untill your sides ache and you've got tears running down your face.

At least I did. :)