I do not enjoy watching wrestling. I admit it. The theatrics and hystrionics of Stone Cold Steve Austin and the other made up steroid thugs bring fear to my heart only in the sense that so many people actually enjoy this WWF drivel. This is not that kind of wrestling. This is a book about art. On the canvas of paints and that of turnbuckles. Ted Lewin evokes an era where even the villain had pride and the wrestlers were showmen, businessmen and family men. The book is even more extraordinary because this is not some chronicle written by a man cloistered away with photos and scrapbooks retracing the steps of others...HE WAS THERE. He pinned and was pinned, felt and doled out elbow smashes and with his family no less. Now Mr.Lewin is an accomplished author and truly remarkable painter (his work appears in the book). Though this book is written for "young adults", the children in us all will be rapt, front row, popcorn in hand waiting for the three count. And the winner - Ted Lewin. Bravo.

This is another book review from Wolfie and Kansas, the boonie dogs from Toto, Guam. We like wrestling for three reasons. First, we wrestle with each other and with other dogs. Second, our noncanine animals of primate derivation usually let us in the house to watch WWF Raw and Pay-per-views. Third, no other sport has so frequently paid tribute to canines. The ranks of great wrestlers include Dick 'the Bulldog' Brower, Junkyard Dog, Mad Dog Vachon, Bulldog Bob Brown, and tag teams like the Moondogs, the British Bulldogs, and the Pitbulls.

Unfortunately, we have little opportunity to combine our love of pro wrestling with our love of reading, as no one has written a good nonfiction book for adults about pro wrestling. Until someone does, Ted Lewin's "I Was a Teenage Professional Wrestler", which is written for the young adult audience, will fill the gap quite nicely. This book combines anecdotes and the author's paintings to give the reader a sense of what it was like to be a wrestler in the 1950's. This is a superb book for puppies, and a very interesting diversion for adults

As a member of Louise Borden's family, I'd deffinatly say that this book is worth buying. This book gave me the joyful feeling of being home for Christmas because my family has so many of the same traditions because the author is my aunt. The story is based on her life and ways of selebrating Christmas. A few months ago my family had to move to a diffrent location. When we were driveing to our new home I held this book in my arms thinking of the fact that when all of this moving was done then finaly my family would be home for Christmas. This book is deffinately worth buying!

My first experience with this book was through a book read aloud given at a writing workshop I recently attended. The teacher reading the book had invited Mrs. Borden to her classroom to read and discuss her writing. The story inspired me to remember some of the special Christmas traditions shared in our family. I'm going to read this book aloud to my class of seventh graders this coming week and ask them to recall some of those special Christmas memories of their own.

Ted Lewin's "Storytellers" is just another in a long line of Lewin miracles. I am always so taken with his storytelling skills, not to mention the astonishing illustrations he does.

This is the tale of Abdul and his grandfather, Moroccans who spend their time sitting just outside the town of Fez, entertaining crowds with stories. As they walk from home to their destination near the town gate, Abdul observes other citizens hard at work and he consistently notes that he and his grandfather have much better jobs than the poor folks who are either tanning leather or beating metal into bowls or weaving rugs. They arrive, finally, are seated, and Abdul tosses a bird into the air--his grandfather's cue to launch into a magical story with the Arab version of "Once upon a time" (it translates to "There was, or there was not"--what a charming way to launch into a story!).

Lewin captures all the heat, the saturated color, the movement, and the light of Morocco in these amazingly detailed watercolors. The book is a fortuitous dovetailing of excellent, absorbing story and a feast for the eyes. Highly recommended to adults and children alike!

This is designed to be read to very young children, who will enjoy investigating all the illustrations of life in Fez. Every age will get to see the vision of life in al maghreb, Morocco, in ways they have never seen before, beginning with the call of the mu'ezzin which you can almost hear. I loved how Abdul was not tagging along with his grandfather, on "Bring the Grandkid to work today"- he was involved as part of the work of his Grandfather, on a level that a child could complete, and integral to that work. At the end Lewin includes the sad information of how few of the true storytellers are left. That is a shame. A good story is always better than the best TV show. It creates imagination.

"Once a man felt a stirring in his heart, an itching to roam. And he felt pinched for space. He knew the stars of Maine. He knew the blaze of fall leaves burning New Hampshire hills. Still, he longed to know the endless prairie. The Sierra with snow. "Gather your neccessaries, " Pa said one day. "We're going West." So begins Tony Johnston's engrossing narrative of a New England family's journey, across the wide prairies and desert sand, west to the Sierra mountains and what will become their new home. His straightforward text is filled with drama, history and emotion as the family faces the many challenges of traveling months by covered wagon, losing their cow and chickens in rain swollen rivers, feeling the threat from wild animals and Native Americans trying to hold on to their land, struggling with hunger and thirst as food and water run out, and death. Ted Lewin's powerfully evocative illustrations of sunfilled fields, dark and ominous nights, a buffalo stampede, and the red and golden sunrise over the Sierras brings the story to life. Together word and art transport the reader back in time and takes you on the arduous journey of a lifetime. Perfect for youngsters 7-10, Sunsets Of The West is an inspiring story of the many trials, hope, bravery, and finally triumph. "The family built a house and tilled a patch of land. Then they planted the seeds. And the seeds grew tall. Sometimes they remembered the stars of Maine. Sometimes they recalled the blaze of fall leaves on New Hampshire hills. But they had seen the endless prairie. The Sierra with snow. Their hearts were at rest. They knew the sunsets of the West."

Tony Johnston opens his saga of a pioneer family trekking westward with an apt quotation from Louis L'Amour's "The Quick and the Dead," "Many have died, Suzanna, but more will come. There are always people who hope, who wish, who dream."

Hope, wish and dream is precisely what this family does as they reluctantly say farewell to the familiar in New Hampshire, and set out for the unknown. As explained in a reader's note, it would take a family a full month to travel by covered wagon from New England to Missouri, the spot where wagon trains set out for the West.

Their journey would begin in mid-May after the worst of winter and when prairie grass had grown tall enough to feed their livestock. If good fortune shone on them their entire trip would last six or seven months. One had to be hardy to endure such a passage.

They took only their necessities and a few items that they loved. Joyful times occurred when they joined other families around an evening campfire. Danger lay in wait for them with wild animals and Indians. A broken wheel was a disaster; death a companion. Still they soldiered on until at last they reached the land of their dreams.

Ted Lewin's glowing full-page illustrations add a luster to this story of our forefathers.

- Gail Cooke

This delightful book is an excellent cross cultural experience for both parent and child. The book not only allows its readers to taste the Islamic Berber culture of Morocco, but also teaches valuable lessons in family values, friendship, self reliance, and faith in God and nature....

I had never heard of Babe Didrikson and only came across the book because it was about to be thrown out. What a save! The book is wonderful. I am an elementary school teacher, and this book and Babe Didrikson's life story will definately be shared in my classroom. The book is well written, and Babe's story is interesting and inspiring.

This beatiful book subtly helps children see the importance of historical buildings (in this case, barns) and the need to preserve our past. A father and son preserve boards from barns which are too beaten down to restore. During a break in their barn-saving work, the father tells his son, "We'll recyle the whole barn...this barn will live for another hundred years, in a hundreddifferent places." Americans just now seem to bewaking up to what Europeans have known for centuries -- we must preserve our past in order tohave a sense of who we are. This book teacheschildren that lesson. (You might also want to share the video, "Madeline and the New House", with your kids. In it, Madeline convinces the owner of her home to restore it rather than tear it down.)

Although I'm currently in highschool, I still remember reading Barney in Space along with its prequel in my second grade classroom. Even back then I was a mini-geek and knew all of the school librarians by name. They knew me as the Barney kid, as I'd check this book out every other month. I would religiously read it multiple times from second grade when I first read it to the end of fifth grade when I graduated the school. My only disappoint was that the book was (and still is) out of print, so I couldn't have my own copy. This tale about a newly adopted orphan (a young boy named Barney) who must adjust to his new life has his work cut out when in the first book he met Tibbo, a boy from another planet. I won't give the first book away, but in Barney in Space (this book) Barney fears for Tibbo, who is stuck on a malfunctioning space ship, but has enough trouble himself when a crazy alien brainwashes Barney's friends/family and decides that Barney must be taken off Earth to the home planet. This story once kept me on the edge of my seat, and I now must leave this review to go see where I can buy a copy and 'relive my youth'.

The award winning children's book illustrator loves to eat Buddha's Delight at the Kum Kau take out chinese restaurant in Brooklyn's Fort Greene/Myrtle Street neighborhood. Based on photos he took and sketches, he has created extremely realistic watercolors (worthy of a gallery show) that capture a day in the life of the take out restaurant through the eyes of the fictional son of the restaurant's owners. The inside front and back covers, alone, are worth buying the book for. They consist of the recreated takeout menus from the restaurant (with reasonable prices). The book opens with a young boy waking up on a Saturday to help out at the restaurant. As the shutters are still closed on the take out shop, the cooks receive deliveries, chop and dice, and chop some more. Menus get folded, water gets boiled, woks get washed. Customers arrive, and the whole family, cousins and uncles included, all help out. Interesting neighbors pop in, including a fire truck and its engine company crew, all ordering various favorite dishes. Who knew so much work went into the preparation of your child's take out Moo Goo Gai Pan? Later, it is evening, the neon lights comes on, and it's time for the family to order their own dinner for takeout and delivery... What will it be?? Read and find out. This is a must read for parents and their kids as they wait for their dinner to be delivered