Gertrude and the Printed Page is an intriguing novel, incorporating equal measures of mystery, governmental takeovers, political espionage, interpersonal relationships -- and a large dose of morality. The author takes a peek into another lifetime and introduces us to a world where civil liberties and basic human rights are in jeopardy.

As a writer, Mr. Alpert reveals a genuine passion for books and freedom of the press and, with this story, truly pays homage to the printed page. Well-conceived and imaginative plot, with warm, likable, effective characters ... a valuable tale to read for anyone who doubts the importance of freedom and the integrity of the written word.

My co-author and I recently traveled to Sugerloaf, N.Y. for a leisurely day of shopping in the quaint little craft shops the town is known for. While we were there, we passed a table where a delightful gentleman sat, peddling his wares. It was, of course Stanley Albert, and we shared many thoughts about writing and publishing, as well as life itself. To make a long story short, My co-author bought "Gertrude and the printed page" from Stanley, and as we drove home, I began reading the story out loud as she drove. Comprised of short chapters, the book was easy reading. There were not a lot of detailed descriptions to get bogged down in. Just a simple, free-flowing tale of the last bastion of printed word in a country that resembles the USA. Laced with mystery and dialogue that is both simple yet realistic, Stanley weaves a tale of intrigue and disturbing social situations that culminate in an exciting, very satisfying ending. The perfect book to read at night before retiring, Gertrude and the Printed Page is a must read. Stanley states that he has two goals. "To contribute to humankind through writing about controversial and ethical challenges, and to write 100 books by his 100th birthday. We wish Stanley a long and colorful life, and concede that he has already achieved one of his goals.

Stan Alpert, a master of creative fiction, writes this innovative novel on the subject of the first ammendment. This book foretells life without books, through depiction of a nation in which books are banned. Most interesting is that Mr. Alpert crafted this tale long before the internet became an integral and paperles part of our lives. An intriquing novel well worth reading.

Animation studios are desperate to find proven material for their feature films--especially in the wake of disappointments like "Treasure Planet."

That's why I'm surprised nobody has optioned the rights to one of the greatest children's books ever; it has emotion, thrills, an important lesson, and one of the cutest lead characters I've ever seen.

That book is, of course, "Scuffy the Tugboat."

Scuffy is a toy tugboat (hence the title) who dreams of something more than "sailing" in his little bathtub. When he is taken outside and accidentally swept away in a river, his harrowing adventure makes him realize that he should never have taken his old life for granted.

Just imagine Scuffy the Tugboat brought to life by CGI, charging down rivers, dodging logs and old tires...and facing the bustle of a busy shipyard before being miraculously recovered by his owner.

I can practically hear a popular actor like Ed Burns lending his distinctive voice to the little red tugboat, and Sting's nautical motif from "the Soul Cages" leads me to nominate him for the soundtrack.

As long as it's a faithful adaptation of this classic tugboat tale, nobody would ever be able to say: "the book was better!"

It's been years since I've read this, so I really don't remember it much. I just remember Scuffy. But I do remember that this was always one of my favorites. I read other reviews of people growing up in the 1950s and reading this. Well, this has been a favorite since 1982. Scuffy is still going strong.

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"Scuffy the Tugboat" is a classic in childrens literature. It has an almost iconic status with people who grew up in the early Baby Boomer years.

Way back in 1946, toy stores were quiet uncrowded places. In one toy shop there was a rocking horse, a GI Joe Doll and a few cuddly soft toys ........ and one grumpy red painted tugboat called Scuffy.

Scuffy was ambitious. He thought he was meant for bigger things, than just sailing in a bathtub.

The toy shop owner (with his memorable polka dot tie) and his little boy, took Scuffy off to a laughing brook. It was springtime and the brook was running fast. Scuffy was soon off on his adventure.

The pastoral world he passed through seemed placid, but at night the hooting owl gave him a fright.

The river got bigger and busier. Scuffy was proud because he knew it was HIS river. He was nearly squashed between two logs that were on their way to the sawmill. With the spring melt a great flood burst the rivers banks. A lady and her cow had to be rescued off her roof.

Pushed along by the floodwaters Scuffy arrived in the big city. It was a very noisy and busy place. When Scuffy tooted nobody noticed.

Scuffy was just about to be swept out to sea. He wished the man with the polka dot tie and his little boy could rescue him. Miracle of miracles, there they were just as Scuffy was about to pass the last bit off land. He was rescued.

Scuffy realises that sailing in the bathtub is not such a bad thing ...... in fact he said "this is the life for me".

The illustrations by Tibor Gergely are what make this book so appealing. The scenes are full of life and activity, be it the pastoral river scene with its friendly animals and the colourful towns and cities. Look for the details in the city scene. Try to find the horses.

Tibor Gergely was a great children's book illustrator from this period. In addition to his artwork in Scuffy you can enjoy his illustrations in those other "Little Golden Book" classics, "The Little Red Caboose" and "Tootle". These three books are perfect companions in any young person's library.

Gertrude Himmelfarb provides an interesting and thought-provoking analysis of the Victorian Age. Her formidable logic, study, and sources enable her to break down the stereotypes of Victoria's Britain. In doing so, she constructs a far more realistic, fair, and honest portrayl of Victoria's reign. Do not be fooled, Ms. Himmelfarb does not simply lavish praise on the past and turn her nose up at modern culture; she provides a reasoned and valuable look at the two times.

This book should be read by anyone who seeks to understand where we have been and where we are going.

I was brought up to think of all things Victorian as stuffy, repressed and backward. It was a pleasant surprise to realize that far from being a social wilderness, Victorian England and America had much about them to admire.

The belief in God, country, indisputable truths, and loyalty to family were the hallmarks of the Victorians. It is regrettable that in our own time we have no constant stars to guide us as our recent forbears had.

The advances in medicine and science are all good. But it sad that with all these scientific advances, people feel more isolated and insecure than the erstwhile Victorians encumbered with all the constraints of that age.

Ms. Himmelfarb remains the current authority on all aspects of Victoriana, with each of her dozen or so books explicating one aspect of Victorian England in great depth. "De-moralization" writes adoringly of Victorian virtues, a set of rigid standards that spanned all classes, genders, economic levels, politics, and religious groups -- her chapter on Victorian Jews is priceless! Heavily documented and written in "textbook" style (many footnotes, a few charts and graphs), Himmelfarb uses her Victorian books as propaganda to show how removed today's "values" are from our ancestor's "virtues." Her weak link here is in documenting the damage such change has wrecked on our current social scene, although she makes brief references. Her idealistic take on the Victorians shows them as models of excellence, charitable, hardworking, bonded, intelligent, and responsible, without dwelling on the negative aspects of industrialism, ethnocentrism, or racial and sexual discrimination. Still, the wealth of facts she has accumulated is invaluable if one does not get caught up in her conservative rantings and broad assumptions. Can we return to the best that the Victorian era offered? Himmelfarb makes it clear that this would be impossible without an organized society and a strong moral leader who could "lay back and think of England!"

This is by far Lew Welch's most intelligently written book and it was done as a graduation thesis for Reed College in 1950, when he was stil in his early 20's. This was an important time for Welch. He was still attempting to find his voice and was just then making his first contacts with William Carlos Williams. Later, when Welch became part of the Beat scene, he would look back at his own innocent days at Reed and try to recapture the excitement and importance of his explorations of Stein in his failed novel, I Leo. But this is not the voice of the hard-drinking, semi-messianic Lew that we find crowding out his talent in his later works; this is the voice of a subtle thinker saying (without the smoke and whistles of today's English departments) some important things about Stein. Considering the date, this is an amazing thesis. William Carlos Williams admitted that he had learned some important things from Lew's thesis, and it continues (now in book form competently edited by Eric Paul Shaffer--but please don't hand this perfomance to Shaffer--Lew Welch is clearly the star in this show) to remain of value for students of Stein's work. We only wish he could have continued to have written so lucidly and to have lived on to help us through some of the stranger developments of American criticism and poetry that now appear--unfortunately--to have become the norm.

Shaffer's stunner of an introduction, as well as the insight and organization of this book, made me see poetry in an entirely new light, as well as the brilliance of Lew Welch. Shaffer's work is extraordinary. I can't wait for the upcoming release of Shaffer's own work, PORTABLE PLANET. He is a very real talent!

Any one interested in the deeper mechanics of how our language makes meaning out of sound, and how sound itself is interesting into and unto itself should add this book to their collection. I have profitably reread Eric Paul Shaffer's introduction several times for his analysis of Welch's and Stein's interplay as artists and poets.

The Lighthouse Mystery

The Lighthouse Mystery is about a family that rents a lighthouse, and they see a lady on the beach every night. At twelve o'clock they here a person down stairs, and the dog, Watch starts barking and doesn't stop. Oh, I almost for got the charectors were Henry the big brother, Violet little sister, Benny little brother , Jessy big sister,Mr Alden the Grandfather, and Larry cook a scary stranger that becomes a friend. I don't know about you, but I loved reading it. It had so much adventure. And it always got more mysterious in each chapter.So if you don't like mysterious things, than you wouldn't want to read this book. But you never know. Your probably asking why I picked this book? Well ill tell you, I like books that have mysterys. If you dont like mysterys than i wouldnt suggest you read this book but if you do like mystery books than you would love this book so i suggest you read it and i hope you will like reading this book and theres what i think.

The story is an adventure because a family moves to a lighthouse for vacations.They tried to be friends with every body,and they tried to solve a mystery.This is a very exciting book.I liked it because it has a lot of things that are cool.So
I recommend it to people and readers because they are gingto love it.It will take a while,but it is a nice story.It takes place on the beach and it's about friendship.

This book is exciting! It takes my breath away! SO cool!

How wonderful to read about the emotions of what is sometimes considered to be "deviant" love. I believe they would each be honored to know that their true relationship is public and, for the most part, that people are touched by their genuine caring for each other. I highly recommend this book, especially for those people who find it hard to understand relationships between same-sex couples.

What a hoot! Kay Turner has done it again, producing a book that's both entertaining and eye-opening -- a delightful-as-usual combination of the scholarly and hilarious. Brava! A wonderful gift for and/or from yer girlfriend.

Just imagine having your love notes found, analyzed and published for the world to see? Well, this is it. One of the world's most famous and iconic couples' lyrical notes to each other are here for all to share. Should it have been done? Some may say 'no', but considering the fact that they are by Stein, one of the most well-known, unread writers in history, and Toklas, whose place in history largely hinges on her hashish fudge, I'd say 'why not?' These ladies have long been used to public curiosity and scrutiny and became household names during their 1934-35 visit to the US. The introductory essay alone, though scholarly, is worth the price of admission---"Having a cow" will take on a whole new meaning in your vocabulary!

My daughter is 24 and remembers this from when she was little. I wish the Large and Growly Bear would get published again for my grandchildren. The little bear trying to scare everyone in the forest would get a new generation of children to love him.

An excellent book for pre-readers because they get so animated with the actions of the bear in the book. Young smart minds will memorize each page and anticipate which animals are coming next and what they will do as the bear tries to frighten them. We are in our second generation of use.

I discovered this gem at a used bookstore and bought it for my toddler twins. We fell in love with it at the first reading. The premise is ingenious. A large and growly bear wakes up one morning and decides to find someone to frighten. All of the animals he encounters are too busy to be frightened, but the bear does manage to frighten himself. This book has a lot of repetition, which aids in language development, and it employs many poetic devices. In addition, having such distinct characters makes for good voice-changing possibilities (and we parents know that for a toddler, voice-changing=interesting.) The best adjective I can think of to describe this book is transcendent. Skip the lame, uninspired new children's books and scour the used bookstores for this gem.

I read The Chocolate Sundae Mystery.
I thought it was a very good book because it was easy to read. It is a "boxcar children mystery" and the ice cream disappears and all the whipping cream has gone sour in Greenfield. I think 8 to 13 ages should read it.

THE CHOCOLATE SUNDAE MYSTERY is the second best Boxcar Children book besides THE HOME RUN MYSTERY & THE MYSTERY IN THE EMPTY SAFE. I can't decide between those two. I love the excitement and suspense. I was mad when my dad said it was time to go to bed right at the climax. A+

Dear Reader,

The Chocolate Sundae Mystery is a great book! It is the best mystery book ever! My favorite character is Jessie. You will never forget this book! These mysteries are very thrilling! You will love it!

Enjoy,

Natalie

Henry, Jeessie, Violet, and Benny's parn\ents died and they end up living in a box car from an old train. They could have gone to their grandpa, but they thought he was mean. Then finally when Henry was working, he heard that his grandpa was looking for them. So Henry told the news to the lthers and they decided to go and live with their grandfather. One day Benny found a diary and the mystery began. They found out that the diary was a little girl's. They found the diary behind the wall with some coins. How Benny found was by having an idea to put a hole in the wall and a bell to wake Benny or Rory up. That's when Benny found the dairy when he was working on his idea.

okay, if you are looking for the best boxcar children book ever, this is it!!!!!! i LOVED this book! o wish i still had it! (PARENTS: DO NOT CONVINCE YOUR CHILDREN TO GET RID OF THEIR FAVORITE CHILDHOOD BOOKS!!!!!!!!!) this book is wonderful. i still remember the first time i read it: SPOILERS! and they finally figured out that behind the house meant behind the house PICTURE, which was in the little girl's room, if i remember correctly. and there was the whole coin collection! i love those alden kids! they are so self-reliable! yes, i am 19, almost 20, and haven't probabley read this book in seven years, but i still remember it, thats how good this ONE boxcar children book was!

I finished this book in like 30 minutes. It was so good! Benny invites a friend from Canada to come and they try to communicate through cups on a string through the wall.They find a journal with some strange coins. I liked this book and you will, too.

After reading this book I am both happy and relieved to say that I am finally on the road to figuring out our two reference librarians. I had thought that there would be no hope but this important guide clears up many of my long-standing questions!

When the journal _Booklist_ appears in our library mailbox, I grab it, open it, and quickly scan the table of contents for the page number of "The Manley Arts" column. Forget the book reviews -- they can wait until lunchtime. I *have* to read Will Manley first. He's the Dave Barry of librarianship, the Andy Rooney of bibliophiles, the Jerry Seinfeld of bookworms. His comments are always on the mark and usually make me smile and nod my head in agreement. Here, his observations about goofy patrons with bizarre questions and typical reference desk scenarios are accompanied by Richard Lee's funky illustrations. The result is the kind of honest silliness that should first be thoroughly enjoyed by oneself and then immediately shared with colleagues. Though this book is clearly one of specialized humor, anyone who works in a public service occupation will recognize some of the customer categories -- "Dorkus Completis," "Studentus Moronis," "Parentus Irresponsibilis," and the rest. If a layperson stumbles across these pages, let the outcome be that he/she learned that (a) librarians are people too and (b) that they have a good sense of humor. It might be a strange and twisted kind, but it is humor nevertheless. Thank you, Will, for encouraging us to laugh at ourselves.

Just read this one, checked out from my local library. I'm not a librarian but my mom is, and I'm about to start working on my MLS. We both had a good laugh w/ this book.

The section on "stupid reference questions" made me howl. I pray I will be able to keep a straight face if I ever end up working in Reference. May end up choosing cataloging from the get-go! The 10 stages were funny, if a little depressing.

Think of Matt Groening's "Life is Hell", focused on Librarianship. That's pretty much the kind of book you have here.