Did you ever do something good or bad to someone and it came back on you? The book Alice and Greta by Steven J. Simmons is a great example of how the treatment of others will come back on you! The book is about two witches, Alice and Greta, who see the same thing but differently. Alice sees good and Greta sees bad. Will Greta do good things or will she be in a mess? Well, you will find out when you read the book. I think this book was interesting because the pictures are so colorful and bright.

Student from G.P.

Alice and Greta is a delightful book written by Steven J. Simmons. As you can read from the other reviews, it is about two witches who choose to behave differently, one doing good deeds and one doing bad deeds. The Brewmerang Principle is the main theme here, telling the witches that whatever you do will come back to you. My four year old granddaughter LOVES this book. The illustrations
by Cyd Moore are vibrant and wonderful! This book has been a wonderful way to teach my young granddaughter that good deeds return good deeds to her. She talks about being like Alice and doing good things for people. If you are looking for an entertaining book with a great moral lesson, this is it!! I have just discovered the other books in the series and am going to buy them today!! Thanks for a wonderful book!!

Alice and Greta, two zealous young witches who have just graduated from Magic School, are ready for some action. Greta, whose nasty attire reflects her attitude is, searches for good things to ruin, while the sweet and perky Alice looks for good deeds to do. Each witch goes her own way until one day their paths collide, and Greta comes to terms with the most important lesson a witch can learn.
Cyd Moore's cover illustrations could cause this enchanting book to jump off of the shelf and into the arms of any young reader searching for a fun read. The detailed pictures and simple font help to maintain the picture book status, focusing on painting a picture through words and illustrations, while making each character and scene come alive. Simmons uses the witches' lives to expose the importance of treating others with kindness without blatantly preaching or forcing the idea on the reader. I recommend this magical book to children of all ages.

I am a third-grade teacher, and I loved this story. The chaos that is portrayed on the pages of this delightful picture book is so true regarding what it is like the last few days before Christmas vacation. I especially loved reading about the room mom commandos and the yearly Christmas pageant. I have bought this book as a gift for several of my colleagues who have also thoroughly enjoyed it.

I had the pleasure of receiving this book as a gift from not one but two different students ... I read it aloud and fell in love with it. The author is a teacher (no surprise), and I ... met him at a conference! He couldn't have been nicer. I have every intention of giving this book as a gift to my own children's teachers ... If you work in an elementary school or know someone who does, this book is a find. Best of all, the kids think it's hysterical!

Clever illustrations and a humorous storyline make this a must- read Christmas picture book for both children and adults. I am a first-grade teacher, and this book is the story of my life. I read this book to my students, and they could not wait to see what funny incident happened next. They have also asked me to read it to them over and over again. I highly recommend this title.

Here's another masterpiece from Steve Simmons. He has a way of writing what my kids love to hear....the good win in the end!

Another must read by Simmons. Bravo!

this book has a great aending and teachs kids to be kind and nice and then people will be nice to you

Greta's Revenge is a fun story with marvalous illustrations. It teaches about good and bad through a silly story.

This is a book that should be read by all young bankers. The is a great example of how banking plays a real role in the modern world. Moore highlight the depression and that the best is yet to come.

As a banker, I found that this book can be used as a tool in the day to day of any banker, wanting to be one step ahead of the rest.

george moore had a fascinating career at the firm now known as citibank. starting before the depression, the chronicle of his career is a snapshot of banking over the past century.

from the lessons of the depression, to rediscovering lending to companies, from creating a consumer lending business to the idea of foreign branches spanning the principal trade routes, moore was there. he hired and retained talented individuals who helped him raise the citibank banner from an also ran in the world of banking to the premier global franchise it was at his retirement.

as his successor, moore named walt wriston to lead the bank forward. he excelled in a ceo's principal job, to pick the right person for the company to not just succeed but to thrive.

I first heard about this author from Rich Horton. Now that I think of it, I've only heard about this author from Rich, but the buildup that Rich gave him forced me to pick up the Dalkey Archive complete collection of his works. I'm not very familiar with the Dalkey Archive, but from what I can tell, they are a non-profit or collective determined to keep worthy literature in print in inexpensive editions, mostly trade paperback (the name of the press is from a novel by Flann O'Brien). Spackman is a Harvard man who graduated from college just before the Depression, wrote and published his first novel at the age of 45, then had to wait over twenty years before his second was accepted. That novel, An Armful of Warm Girl (what a wonderful title!), received enough critical acclaim that he published three more novels in the succeeding years.

Heydey is that first novel, published in 1953, printed here in a revised form that the author had not completed before his death. The setting is New York City during the Depression and the characters are Harvard grads trying to live their dreams in a world that has all but collapsed. They take solace in alcohol and sex in an endless string of late night parties and rendezvous (is that the plural of rendezvous?). Imagine a Thorne Smith novel with no supernatural elements and a Harvard education.

I loved it, finishing it in two reading sessions. The style is the sort of thing I try to achieve in my own fiction--a balance between exposition and dialogue that alternates between insight and wit. The structure is oblique, to be nice, but revealing once we achieve the finale. At times, you wonder what does it all mean, but then, that may be the point.

There are some similarities between Spackman and Anthony Powell (another favorite of Rich's), including the focus on gossip and the "dance" of a group of people who step through life, changing partners or standing by the wall spilling punch. Powell, though, is so understated that his dance seems hidden, lost in the intricacies of its creation; Spackman, while not explicit, is like the best 1940s screwball comedy, teasing the censor with a playfulness that is *sans* malice.

It seems fairly obvious to me that Heydey is autobiographical (again, like Anthony Powell's dance). As the advice goes, Spackman started writing by writing what he knew. I look forward to reading the rest of the novels in this collection to see if they contain the same strange combination of *joi de vivre* and world-weariness.

I was wandering through the Literature section of a local bookstore the other day, looking at the "usual suspects" (Amis, Davies, Borges, Powell, and so on), really just checking out their selection, not expecting to find anything new, when I thought: "I'll bet I can stump them. Let's see if they have any W. M. Spackman!". Spackman is one of my secret pleasures: a rather little-known writer, born in 1905, died 1990, who published 5 novels, _Heyday_ in the early '50s, then 4 very short, utterly charming, stories of men and woman and guiltless affairs, published from 1978 through 1985. Spackman was a Philadelphian, at a guess "Main Line" or very close, very patrician, rather academic (he was a professor by main career), seemingly quite well off. His later novels (the early Heyday is somewhat uncharacteristic: sadder, dealing with younger people), are all concerned with older (and very well-off) men (usually in their 50s) in guilt-free adulterous relationships with younger women (from late teens to 40s in the various books). As such they have always struck me as full of wish-fulfillment. On the other hand, it's a wish that part of me secretly shares. Moreover, the prose style of these novels is stunning, gorgeous, complex, utterly elegant: worth reading almost as poetry.

Anyway, I had assumed (rightly until this book) that Spackman's stuff was OP: over time I've tracked down the novels in used book stores, but I've had a secret hope that I missed one, or that there might be short stories, or ... anyway something!

Went over to the S's. No expectations of success whatsoever. And what do I see: _The Complete Fiction of W. M. Spackman_. All five published novels (Heyday in a much revised form that he was working on when he died), one never-published novel, and two short stories!

What a find! This is a new book, published in 1997 by The Dalkey Archive Press. And I should plug that publisher: they seem to have been formed to republish the works of Flann O'Brien (another of my "secret pleasures", though O'Brien is actually quite well known), as they take their name from the title of one of O'Brien's novels, but they also publish a number of other very deserving writers.

And Spackman is very deserving indeed. As I have said he is most obviously notable for his bravura prose, but his characters are well-limned, and the events are funny and interesting. And behind all the blithe lovemaking is the shadow of aging and coming death: even in Heyday, which is about people in their 20s. Beautiful stuff.

When it comes to family and the B'nai Brith Northside Senior's Tennis Championship, Fanny Zindel is a fierce protector. With a spirit that belies her age, Fanny is also a keen observer of relationships and situations gone awry. When she leaves the States to represent her Jewish community at an interfaith conference in England and finds that her granddaughter has been wrongfully expelled from her snobbish private school, Fanny is there to defend the family honor.

Things should go so smoothly, right? When the young woman who accused Fanny's granddaughter, Susan, of wrongdoing is found dead, Fanny must do more than defend honor. She is compelled to sleuth on her own to keep Susan from prison. Between clashes with her sometime companion, Nathan, and the estranged husband of her conference roommate, it is clear Fanny's job will not be simple. There doesn't seem to be anything in her bottomless "everything bag" (where Fanny stores absolutely everything) to help remedy the situation.

Once available in print, Hard Shell Word Factory has re-released Bagels For Tea in e-book format, thereby doing a wonderful service for mystery readers. Fanny Zindel is a sharp, endearingly acerbic sleuth with an appetite for justice as great as her appetite for a good bagel.

Brilliant, terrific. A must for Gaddis fans, and any writers of criticism (including all you Amazon hacks)!

And after reading this book that's as much as I dare say.

We have an inexpensive paperback version (see our reviews) of this classic poem, and we said that's enough for us. That was before we looked through this beautifully illustrated (by Bruce Whatley) edition of The Night Before Christmas.

The lyrics are the same, from book to book, but the fanciful illustrations in this one are enough to engage adults and children as they read this book together.

The perfect gift for any family whose Christmas tradition includes reading this classic!

I discovered this book 31 years ago, for my daughter and it is still loved by all the family. The illustrations are wonderful, warm, charming and delightful and bring a special meaning to the story. We still read it to all the young children on Christmas Eve and for adults we read the story and pass a grab bag gift every time the word THE is mentioned. It would not be Christmas without this book. It is magical.

This beautiful book was in my family as a hard cover edition for many years and was a Christmas Eve tradition for my four sons when they were growing up. It's poor battered body disappeared some time after the last of my little ones went off into the adult world. I am so delighted to see it back again, though this time as a nicely affordable soft cover. Clement C. Moore's enchanting story poem already provides an atmosphere filled with warmth and joyful expectation and with the addition of Tasha Tudor's quaint, nostalgic water-colors from an antique New England the Christmas magic is complete!
The winter landscapes fill our senses and Tasha's own gray tabby cat and Welsh Corgi welcome us into this charming world.
Tasha's Santa that you will meet in this book has been portrayed as the poem describes him...a right jolly old elf. He's not that much larger than the corgi and his team really consists of eight "tiny" reindeer. His pointy ears and his Eskimo mukluks add to the delightful ambiance of the book. He dances with the toys and with the happy animals and we can truly believe it will be a happy Christmas for all.
I hope this book becomes a Christmas Eve tradition for many, many more families.

This game is so awesome! It was the first RPG i ever played and i loved it. This game is so cool. It provides hours of entertainment and fun. You just choose your character and Play! It is so fun. (I've said that about a million times b/c it is.) So if you are bored this summer get this book!

I do not have this book but a friend of mine does and it rocks! We play this for hours non-stop. It provides hours of entertainment and fun. So if you are planning on buying this book but don't know its worth it, well take it from me it is way worth it. So dont exagerate pick up your copy today!

Ok, let make this simple: this book is amazing!!. I was very concerned at first with the system: it use only d6 dices?, how the elves will be managed? and the magic?. All these questions worried me, but let me tell you: the system is great, flexible (like or more the d20 system) and simple. The races and character classes (order) are very well made and presented. Of course, the elves are superior, but thats does not mean that the other characters will not be relevant. The ROLE playing is what is relevant. And this book present wonderful opportunities for make many good roleplaying sesions.

The magic system (another big issue) is great also: is not to powerful, but powerful enough. It let you combine your magic, you do not need to "memorize" the spells, etc. But one thing is important to remember: forget about big balls of fire or dozens of magic rays creating havoc between your enemies... Think more of how Gandalf use the magic and you will have a more precise idea of how the system works... And you want to be a member of the Wizard Order? This book tell you how to achieve this.

One last word: the biggest challenge will be for the Narrator (or storyteller, DM, or whatever you call it). To create a wonderful story in the Middle Earth that capture the Tolkien mood without copy the books will not be easy, but this book help you a lot in the process... The rest is for your imagination.

Initially I purchased this book for the multitude of color photographs contained within it. Once I began leafing through its pages, I realized it was written in such elegant simplicity that I was drawn in immediately.

Each chapter covers a different aspect of Hindu worship in India: worship in the home, with one's community, at a temple, etc. The book does not so much explain Hinduism as it does the way Hindus approach their faith.

I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in Indian culture or Hinduism. It's a fascinating read.

Tons of books have been written that explain and glorify the wisdom and philosophy of Hinduism. Many non-Hindus have been more than happy to embrace some or all of these concepts, one of the most ubiquitous being the concept of "karma". But even they can feel awed, confused, surprised or a combination of these emotions when they first encounter the seemingly anachronistic practices of Hinduism- like worshipping the stones or trees.

This is one of the few books that explain well to the western audience the whats and whys of the oldest religion in the world. It focuses on the approach of common Hindu folks to their religion and how it enhances their day-to-day life. Author starts with some basic concepts and then goes on to draw pen-pictures of daily lives of devout Hindus that, at least in the religious sense, defy modernization in contemporary India. The text aided by vivid pictures fires the imagination and magically transports the reader to India. The deep passion of the author is clearly reflected in the knowledgeable text. Hinduism is a very flexible religion, which is primarily the reason it has survived thousands of years. It is perfectly acceptable to practice faith in ways different from those of ancestors, provided certain basic tenets are kept in mind. The approach to religion may vary by region, by economic status, or caste but the important thing to note that diversity is acceptable.

Author has presented the approach to Hinduism in rural India or that practiced by lower income strata of the society, which comprises of a significant number of Indian Hindus. This approach is different from that practiced by urban Hindus or those in middle or upper income class. This book is highly recommended to all who have interest in religion, those who have an unquenchable thirst for anything Indian and even practicing Hindus.

Its books like this which are truly inspirational. Open it up and you will open up to India and the complex spiritual diversity of Hinduism. The process of 'meeting God' pervades all of life here. Everyone has their own unique and individual 'puja' for 'dharsa' This is a look at a whole culture, and not just a religion. The images are spectacular. These ancient rites flourish in the face of any modernization. Probably the best introduction to Hinduism out there.