This is one of my daughter's (age 4) favorite books. The spanish translation uses common expressions from Spain which add life to the characters and make it such a pleasure to read. Sam, Lolly, and Spider invent silly stories that get wilder with each turn. This book sparks creativity and can be read over and over again.

Poor Carruthers. He's ready to hibernate, only he doesn't know it. And poor Emily and Eugene, his friends, who try everything to cheer him up to no avail. This is one of Marshall's quieter books, but no less effective. Plot, illustrations, details are all there.

I like the book, frankly, because of its weight. I don't mean the weight of its ideas and insights. I mean its weight, in ounces. At 145 pages, you'd expect it to be light and it is. Most books today weigh too much.

An excellent book for teaching the importance of reading and gaining an awareness of simlarities in plot. Poor Winnie learns that she may the next 'stuffed chicken for dinner' as a result of not wanting to read a famous tale. The story takes the reader on a rollercoaster of 'what-ifs' and creates wonderful moments for predicting text. I will be using this story for numerous lessons in my classroom, from developing a sense of story to partner predictions. Excellent illustrations, too!

If wolves went to ballet, they wouldn't go to Swan Lake, they would go to Swine Lake! We think 4th and 5th graders would like this book because it is more challenging. You should read it a couple times to really understand it and have fun reading it. It's a very good book. It has action in it. We thought it would be rated 4.

Swine Lake is a wonderfully creative story. It takes a twist that my daughter (age 7) nor I expected. The art of Maurice Sendak is as wonderful as ever. Great fun to read.

Swine lake, was absolutely wonderful, and it brought back memories of my childhood years. I reccomend it to those who are young at heart. I found it a very tasteful, and enjoyable piece of literature. So read it i say...thankyou

Miss Nelson is Back is written by James Marshall and Harry Allard, and was made for Miss Audrey Bruce.
This short story is about a group of nine children in classroom 209 with a teacher named Miss Nelson. When Miss Nelson is out for a week the children get a lesson taught to them that they will never forget.
Children will enjoy this book, because it is dealing with children and things that they go through.
Children can learn a good lesson for school about not messing with a substitute teacher , because one time you just might get a one that wont put up with any of their nonsence and could punish them very bad by possibly putting them in detention or worse.

Miss Nelson Is Back is written by James Marshall and Henry Allard, and was made for Miss Audrey Bruce.
This short story is about a group of nine children in classroom 209 with a teacher named Miss Nelson. When Miss Nelson is out for a week the children get a lesson taught to them that they will never forget.
Children will enjoy this book, because it is dealing with things that kids have to go through.
Children can learn a good lesson for school about not messing with a substitute teacher, because one time you might get a teacher that wont put up with any nonsense, and could punish them very bad by possibly putting them in detention or worse.

101 Dalmatians is written by Walt Disney Company, and its copyright is 1995.
I think that 101 Dalmatians is definitely appropriate for children. Kids can learn alot about counting in this story, and also they can learn about their favorite pets, dogs! If your child likes to read then this would be a great book for them, because it has a good amount of words for a child to read.
This short story is about two dogs that fall in love, and get their owners to fall in love also. Then the dogs had 99 puppies, and Cruella Devil gets two men to try to skin the puppies so that she could have a fur coat.

The story, Four on the Shore, is about three kids, who are trying to do their homework but Sam's little brother will not leave them alone. So they decide to go by the lake to try to get away, but Sam's little brother follows him. He promised to be good but all he did was complain. So they started to tell scary stories thinking it would scare him away. But instead of that, he scared them with his story.
I like this book because it had a surprising ending and it is most likely to happen in real life. A lot of kids have little brothers or sisters that will not leave them alone. And I think this book will help them deal with it. This also was a good book because it has to do with things that go on single everyday. I know lots of people who have to deal with a little brother or sister and it isn't fun, but in this book it shows them that sometimes it is actually fun to have a little brother or sister. I am the youngest so I don't know what it feels like to be bugged by younger siblings. But I do know its not all fun to have older ones too. It also was very easy to read. I think a lot of little kids would enjoy reading this story, especially if they have younger siblings.

We need more books like "Four on the Shore". The characterization, plot and humor are all extremely well done while the vocabulary is very readable. I have found this book to "capture" many reluctant readers. Please keep it in print!

I read this book to my seven-year-old brother, and I think I enjoyed it more than he did. The story was charming, and the illustrations made me laugh out loud. I would definitely recommend this book.

I think Frank Marshall fans will find this book invaluable,it features many of his best games and plus it gives a good biography as the book progresses, perhaps the games could use some more notes but what is there is good enough.

GM Andy Soltis certainly knows how to write fine books, and this is one of them. Even non-Americans should appreciate a book about this US Champion who was also one of the world's top 10 for almost 30 years.

The book covers Marshall's life set in its historical context, and also lightly annotates many Marshall games, including some draws and losses. Marshall was famous for his combinational ability, but Soltis shows that he had confidence, with good reason, of being able to outplay many opponents in the endgame.

Marshall's skill should not be underestimated although he lost matches decisively to Lasker and Capablanca. He won the enormously strong Cambridge Springs tournament of 1904 ahead of then world champ Lasker. At St Petersburg 1914, he was one of the five finalists, and Tsar Nicholas II awarded these players the original grandmaster title. In the mid 1920s, Marshall showed that he could cope with the new hypermoderns. Even in the 1930s, when his strength had lessened somewhat, he captained to USA team to victory four times at the Olympiads, and the USA teams have never risen to the same heights since.

Last but not least, as a keen player of the Marshall Attack against the Rúy López, it was interesting to read about its genesis.

I used to have this book, I broke my own rules and lent it to a student and friend ... and he left Pensacola. (I never saw him, ... or the book again. But in his defense, he was in the Navy, and they move those guys around a lot.)
I also used to have an original copy of Marshall's book, but I have lost that over the years, too.

But the book is absolutely a treasure, I borrowed a friend's copy to do this review. (For accuracy's sake.)

I am too young to have known the man. (I played my first chess tournament in 1966.) But I knew Mr. Marshall's wife (Carrie) quite well. For many, many years; she was the lady who sat at the foot of the stairs and greeted you as you walked into the Marshall chess club. I feel very badly - I wish someone had told me who she was the first time I visited there. The Marshall's are a HUGE part of the history of the game of chess, at least here in the U.S.

What do you get when you buy this book? Quite simply one of the very best chess books ever written, at least in the area of a (chess) biography. It is very clear and very obvious that this book has been researched to a level I personally have never seen before.

By comparison, I am interested in history and very fascinated with several figures in history, notably Abe Lincoln and Andrew Jackson. (Among others.) I have read virtually every book I could get my hands on about these two persons ... and in the process I have found literally hundreds of mistakes. (One authors' chronological record itself was ridiculous, he had Jackson - MANY TIMES!! - in two different places at the same time!)

But in Soltis's book, I have yet to find a single error. This might be because Marshall himself left a tremendous amount of material behind. He wrote several books, kept journals, and filled literally hundreds of yellow legal pads with notes of his own. And the people who actually knew Frank Marshall told me he had a fabulous memory.

The former secretary of the club personally told me that Soltis spent hundreds and hundreds of hours there, pouring over records, making notes, and making copies of the material that is available there.

The result? A simply fabulous book that is virtually free of errors. I am NOT saying Andy made no mistakes, every human does. But Andy has worked VERY hard on producing a document/book that is about as error-free as any person could humanly try to do. Andy has gone well above and beyond the call of duty here.

"What about the book," you say? Well, it too is beautiful. A gorgeous hard-back book that is nearly 400 pages in length. 220 very deeply annotated games. Additionally, there are DOZENS of game fragments.

Personally, I do NOT think you would buy this book if your only interest was to improve your game, there are simply too many other good books devoted to that subject. (Check out the books by Capa, Reinfeld, Watson and Yermolinsky.) No, you would buy this book for many reasons - maybe because you consider yourself a Marshall fan. Or you consider yourself a student chess history, and want to learn more. And maybe you think you might benefit from studying one of the greatest tactical players the USA ever produced.

All the bases are covered here. A thorough index, photo's, match and tournament record ... quite simply there is not a topic or subject here that you can't think of that Soltis has not covered in great detail. (On page # 203 you can find Marshall's famous victory over Levitsky, Breslau; 1912.)

The only topic that I could not find was the list of Marshall's best games; perhaps Soltis did not feel qualified to make that judgment. You have over 200 of Marshall's games here, so after playing through them all, you could do your own list. (My own choice would have to come from one of the games from his monumental win at Cambridge Springs, 1904.)

If you are a fan of Soltis, as I am ... or want to learn more about chess history, then get this book. I will say no more.

My son is 4 and loves this book! We have read it every night this week, at his request. It is a wonderful book for learning new words (cavernous, scurry). It taps into my son's sense of the absurd. The theme of a child conquering big, scary things is very age appropriate. I highly recommend this book!

We got this book because we thought it was WRITTEN by James Marshall. Oops. Was told it was a good "positive book for girls" etc. kind of stuff. Yeah. Its okay. The rhymes just aren't very in-sync. Sorry, but its just okay. Some of the phraseology is not easy for younger children to understand. Since this book apparently is supposed to flow, by rhyme, taking time to explain (why Isabel gave the doctor a cure by giving him his own shot in the butt, for example) each new rhyme on each new page of Isabel's weird adventures makes it unappealing. I haven't been asked to reread this book since I bought it. PS. James Marshall does a great job illustrating, though! :)

This is a terrific book. In using it as a children's librarian, I never met a kid who didn't love it -- and many wanted to check it out right away. It's got a strong heroine & lots of humor. James Marshall's pictures are perfect for the Ogden Nash poem.

The book Goldylocks and the Three Bears was a very good book. The book was about a family of three bears who decided to go on a picnic. There's first a big papa bear, then a medium mama bear, and then there is a little baby bear. Then Goldylocks comes trottying along and Stumbles upon the three bears's home. She sees that no one was in the house so she decides to go right ahead on in. Then she eats the bears food, breaks one of there chairs, and falls asleep in baby bears bed, and of course they catch her. I always loved reading this book for some reason, maybe because it takes place in the blackwoods of Germany. This book is a definate read for all children. No child should go with out three little bears, it's a classic!

This is the original story, well told. I rate it at 4, versus 5, stars, though, because of the illustrations. Although absolutely beautiful, from an artistic point of view, they are a little complicated, from a child's point of view. For instance, there is an illustration of Goldilocks sitting on Papa Bear's chair, but no illustration of Mama Bear's chair or Goldilocks trying it out. Same for the beds. The main illustrations are framed with smaller illustrations which seem to be referencing all that Goldilocks does, but I bought this book for my two year old (who LOVES it), and I think it would be clearer for him if it had more explicit illustrations.

Our behavior determines how folks feel about us. Clearly Goldilocks was not favored by her family, friends, or the three bears. Be careful the impression you leave behind.