I'm a sixth grader, and I read this book over the summer. I highly recommend this book for history-lovers. I went to Gettysburg, PA, this Spring and it really got me into the Civil War. When my mother showed me the book, I couldn't pass it up. It's a great book with lots of true background. James Edmond Pease goes through lots of interesting things. I don't know how he did it. Some parts were so exciting I couldn't sit still!

The Journal of James Edmond Pease by Jim Murphy is about a 16-year-old Civil War Union soldier who is chosen to write an account of the war. In the beginning, he seems to be a little whimpy. I liked this book, even though I am not interested in the Civil War. It was interesting because it is taken from a direct point of view. It is realastic, too. For example, a lot of things are spelled wrong.

"The Journal of James Edmond Pease" by Jim Murphy is about a 16-year-old Civil War Union soldier who is chosen to write an account of the war. In the beginning he seems to be a little whimpy. I liked this book, even though I am not interested in the Civil War. It was interesting becauseit is the direct point of view.

The Great Fire of Chicago happened in 1871 on a dry Sunday. The fire began in a barn and swept throughout the city. Through the author Jim Murphy the book takes you through the lives of many people. Eventually it rains, extinguishing the fire and leaving 98,500 people homeless. The Great Fire was one of those books that starts out boring, but if you continue to read or listen to it you'll notice yourself wanting to know what happens next. This book goes through the lives of the people during the fire and shows their hardships through great detail. The Great Fire was caused by many mistakes including a tired fire department. They did all they could, but were unsuccessful because they were unprepared for such a disaster. I would recommend this book to people searching for a good historical non-fiction book.

I read this book to my 4th and 5th grade class and they loved it! I was afraid they might be bored but the writing is fantastic and the story really interested them. They remember all of the details and have been talking about the fire with their friends and parents. We were all really disappointed when we came to the final page. I've even become inspired to read more about the fire.

This non-fiction historical book for children is the opposite of dry and boring. Murphy brings alive the excitement and terror of Chicago's Great Fire by incorporating dialogue, first-hand accounts, drawings, engravings, and newspaper reports. My ten year old son could not put this book down (and he usually reads only fiction). In the skilled writing of Jim Murphy, The Great Fire of Chicago is at once the story of a city and the story of very different people in that city reacting to sudden disastor. Maps and enticing chapter titles ("3.'The Dogs of Hell Were Upon the Housetops'") lead the reader into the story and I, for one, did not emerge from the book until I reached the end.

*The Great Fire* is an excellent introduction to reading history, as well as being a really good read. My only quandary is this: which of Murphy's books shall I order now? My ten year can't wait to consume the next one.

Our heroine is a fourteen year old girl named Sarah Jane Price. Her father, a recently deceased schoolteacher, has left her behind limited financial resources and no relatives. Staying with caring owner of her boarding house, Miss Kizer, Sarah Jane pays a small weekly fee and helps Miss Kizer with chores, such as washing dishes and collecting buffalo chips.

However, Sarah Jan knows that her father's money won't last forever, and discussing her situation with Miss Kizer and the traveling minister the Reverend Laurent, they feel her best option is an Orphan Girls' Asylum. Sarah reluctantly accepts that, but when her friend Ida notifies her that the girls there are made to work six days a week in a clothing factory, with the Asylum keeping their wages, Sarah Jane becomes determined to find a way to stay in Broken Bow.

Dreaming about her father and the the help she gave him in his classes, Sarah Jane realizes her destiny. With Ida's help, and pretending to be sixteen, she is able to convince the town school board to hire her. But that is not the end of the struggles! The schoolhouse is in horrible condition, there is no books, supplies or furniture. She must deal with unruly students, blizzards that knock the school down, and difficult adults who refuse to believe in her.

This was a relatively good book. I was able to predict some of the epilouge. More for 4-7th graders than eighth graders.

Life is very hard for Sarah Jane Price in Broken Bow, Nebraska after her father's death in an epademic. However she even with money running out very quickly and life being hard is determined to stay by her father's grave and not follow others who are moving to the west. The fourteen-year-old girl decideds to take her father's old job as a schoolteacher for the children of Broken Bow, Nebraska because nobody has been found to replace her father. However the lack of experience hurts Sarah but does not hurt her heart. This was a great historical fiction book by Jim Murphy. I think it was one of his best. What a great edition to Dear America and its Fans!

Life in the small frontier town of Broken Bow, Nebraska, is difficult, especially for a fourteen-year-old girl on her own. Which is what Sarah Jane Price is now that her father, the schoolteacher, has died in an epidemic. Sarah Jane is devastated by this loss. She is unable to remember her mother, who died when she was very young, and her father was the only family she had in the world. She is determined to stay in Broken Bow, where she can be near her father's grave. But her money is running out, and to stay in Broken Bow, Sarah Jane will need to find a source of income. Broken Bow's children need a teacher now that her father has died, and Sarah Jane decides that she can be that teacher. The school board decides to give her a chance. But she is young and inexperienced, and teaching is more difficult that she ever imagined. Can Sarah Jane succeed? Fans of the Dear America series will love this book, and I highly reccomend it to fans of historical fiction.

Sorry, but I have to disagree with the reviews so far. I my opinion this is the worst book from QUE-Books I have ever read (most of the QUE-books are really good). The author never explains the essential details about HTML, he always strays into simple, unneccessary details or into complicated, unneccessary details, but never gets to the point what is really useful. And if there's the rare occasion something is really explained, it will be repeated at least five times... I don't want to say the author doesn't know what he is writting about, he simply just don't know how to write...

I just have to say this is the greatest book ever written. Why? Because it's MY web site that is featured in Chapter 3, Fig 3.12! It's under the heading of "The Wrong Stuff: What Not to Put on the Web"

I never got any royalty money out of the deal either, whats up with that? Can I sue for defamation of web site? Hmmm... probably not, but since it's the first site I ever made back when I was a freshman in Highschool, and now it's immortalized in print - I forgive him.

Greatest book ever written!

This book was great

Night Terrors is about a grave digger who goes by the name of "Digger". Digger moves away from his hometown to find other graveyard jobs, and while working at these different jobs, people start telling him scary stories.

One of the stories in Night Terrors was about a kid whose dad had a mummy in the basement, and the kid wanted to bring it to life with an Egyptian chant.

I thought Night Terrors was a good book because the stories were well-written, and I could imagine what the people in the stories were going through. Night Terrors also had a drawback; I thought the stories could be scarier.

"Night Terrors" is a collection of twelve short horror stories for teens--well, five short stories told by Digger (the storyteller) and seven chapters that follow his drifter existence down the Atlantic coast. The first chapter, "Digger's Promise," is more of an introduction on how he got into the grave digger profession and received his first promotion before he ever learned to drive. This is a rather amusing tale, in a sick sort of way. Following this, an alternating pattern is set between Digger's life chapters and the stories he's heard over the years, as explained below:

"Just Say Yes" -- Two girls plan on stealing a biology midterm exam as one girl's way of getting the attention of a boy she likes. However, they stumble across a horrible secret of their teacher's in the process. Not too bad, but it's not the best in the bunch. The ending was just the tip of the iceberg.

"Good Night, Jon; Sleep Tight, Jon" -- A couple of guys plan on getting their new "friend" in trouble by involving him in a grave robbing prank, but it backfires on one of them. One of my favorite stories in here; good twist at the end. I especially liked the last sentence.

"Like Father, Like Son" -- A boy breaks into his father's basement office to perform a ceremony that will awaken the Egyptian mummy his archaeologist father keeps there--except he reawakens something else. Fans of Egyptian mythology should like this one since it scratches the surface of ancient rites, but it isn't tedious in a textbook sort of way.

"The Cat's-Eye" -- While cat-sitting for an old lady, two girls snoop around her house and find a closet full of old clothes--only the closet holds something far more fateful for one of the girls. This one has a "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" feel to it.

"Something Always Happens" -- Three guys are stranded in the middle of nowhere when their car dies. One of them goes for help, but he finds more than he wanted in the marshes, as do his friends. Even though the dialogue of the old woman was a little boring, if you read between the lines, you can probably guess the ending ahead of time.

The second to last chapter, "Footprints in the Snow," returns to Digger's point of view, where he deals with the death of a close friend (his boss), who was killed by one of the wolves that lives nearby. Digger, once again, moves and finds himself full circle, back in his hometown. He also notices that the pack of wolves has followed him. In this chapter, he--as well as the reader--learns of his true identity, which is no big surprise really. If you take a close look at the picture on the front cover, you can probably figure it out beforehand.

All of the stories deal with either peer pressure, conspiracies, or pranks, which most young readers can relate to. The various locales--like empty school halls, tomblike basements, foggy cemeteries, or endless closets--create great atmosphere, as do the monsters that are involved: vampires, ghosts, mummies, witches, cannibals, and werewolves. This book is easy to read, fast-paced (I read it one sitting; it's just under 180 pages), and suspenseful without being gratuitously gory. Young horror fans should enjoy this one.

Prepared for children 2-6, this is a beautifully illustrated collection of prayer poems. Moving from season to season the poems help young children share the beauty of creation. Little boys and girls are encouraged to feel they can talk to God about anything.

Murphy has written a compelling account of the life of Pascal D'Angelo, an Italian immigrant who left a hard life in Italy for one harder in the United States: carrying rock and hauling rock to make way for roads and railways, a pick and shovel man. His language is clean and sure; he uses D'Angelo's life to illuminate the experience of many Italians who came to this country in the early years of the 20th century. More than that, however, he makes D'Angelo's fervent desire to read and write English palpable. Writing words on the unheated shack where he lived, visiting the local library, gleaning stray meanings from his fellow workmen -- it will give young people a glimpse of how much one can long for the right words. His poetry is ornate but passionate, and the whole is a marvelous read.

The book stunk. I read it over and over and I couldn't find out the problem.If I were and you had to read this book for your book report dont read it.

This book wasn't that bad. The only boring thing about it was that you always knew what was going to happen. I think that the information given was pretty obvious, though!