I read this to my daughter as we want her to pick up Spanish. One easy way to do that, is to read to her, and we try and do that as much as possible. This is an easy way for her to pick up the language and sounds. Easy read and intro for little ones. You may also want to get "El Oso Verde" and "El Rinoceronte Roso".

This is the worst Seal Book ever written.

Having read my way through a good portion of books on the SEAL mission in Vietnam, I would have to say this one ranks pretty low. The author seems to be unfocused and the story floundering for a bit. Actually, to be honest, i never finished the book, a rare thing for me, but I just couldn't take it anymore. Don't worry about this one for your SEAL list.

This book was OK. I think though there should have been a glossary or something in the back of the book for all the Vietnamese words he used! I couldn't keep them straight. As well as he himself kept jumping inbetween calling his commanding officer Mr. name and Dai Uy. It got confusing as to whether he was talking about the same guy. Enjoyed reading about all of the missions!

THIS BOOK HAS GOT TO BE ONE OF THE MOST BORING I HAVE READ IN AWHILE. NONE OF THE STORIES WERE SCARY. WHAT WAS SCARY WAS HOW MUCH I PAID FOR IT! THEY SAY THAT THE STORIES IN THIS BOOK ARE NOT INTENDED FOR CHILDREN BUT I HAVE TO TELL YOU THAT MY YOUNGER SISTER READ IT AND FOUND IT HILARIOUS! DO YOUR SELF A FAVOR AND DON'T BUY THIS BOOK. IT'S NOT WORTH THE TIME AND MONEY.

In his Introduction to this anthology, Rogers fondly recalls his father's lively readings of scary bedtime stories--a tradition he calls "Scary Daddy". Presented here are more than twenty tales aimed at giving the reader that same creepy-but-good feel. Like a children's book, Bedtime Stories is set in large, almost calligraphic type and amply illustrated with full page artwork opposite each story.

There are a few standout stories here. Rogers's own "The Dead Boy at Your Window" is haunting, unsettling, yet amazingly tender and uplifting. Elizabeth Engstrom's "Vargas County" also transcends it's own eeriness as a grandfather discovers his long-buried capacity for love and tenderness. And one of the best stories I've read this year is the well-crafted "The Still Life Drama of Passing Cars."

Unfortunately, Bedtime Stories confounds far more often than it thrills. Jane Yolen's "Souls" begins well, but ends with a twist that is--literally--heavy-handed. Steve Resnic Tem's "There's No Such Thing as Monsters" is just too vague to be unsettling--a problem with nearly all stories in this volume. And the few stories that are meant to be humorous are instead ridiculous.

Ultimately, these bedtime stories (and the low-resolution illustrations) lack the edge to darken any dreams. Recommended only if you are willing to pay for three good stories out of twenty-three.

When I got this book I returned it right away. What is with the overly large print? I'm not blind and I'm not 4 years old. I thought it was a children's book. I didn't buy it from Amazon and the other internet company did not let me know that this was large print. Was the publishing company trying its best to fill up enough pages so that they could release this as a book? I want more bang for my buck.

It is amazing that a supposed authority on accents, Dr. Stern, would be associated with this book (and especially the cassette that goes with it.). He is - allegedly - a dialect coach to the Stars. It may explain some of the atempts at foreign accents that have recently come out of Hollywood. The accents on the cassette are nothing short of embarrassing - A cringe a minute. I asked a fellow actor to listen to the French accent and guess what it was: He guessed Spanish! If you want a first rate book on accents, buy Robert Blumenfeld's "Accents - A Manual for Actors". Now where do I go to get my money back?...

I recently bought the CD version of this, and I am compelled to warn people who are thinking of buying this. If you are at a;; serious about learning dialects, do NOT buy this CD. ... A high school drama student would have done a superior job. You would be better off learning dialects from the Simpsons or Saturday Night Live. This is not an exaggeration, this is a flat out warning. Don't waste your money. ... Pygmalion is old school cockney. Not modern. You want authentic Cockney? Try "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" and "Love, Honor and Obey." They're the best. "Scum" and "The Krays" are also pretty good. And that's on the authority of a real cockney girl (my girlfriend).

I own nearly all of Dr. Stern's Accent/Dialog books and tapes, including "Dialolect Monologues" I and II and over 20 of his individual accent/dialect tapes (example: Acting With an Accent/Norwegian & Swedish). While I do feel that it is worthwhile to own Dr. Stern's tapes in order to complete one's libary of accent/dialogue books and tapes, I do not feel that Dr. Stern's tapes are the best of the bunch. If I could only choose one author's accent/dialogue tapes I would not choose Dr. Stern's. Dr. Stern's system has several flaws. The first flaw is that Dr. Stern is a "one man band", meaning the only voice you will ever hear is Dr. Stern's. By contrast, two of the three other accent/dialect systems I own include lots of recordings of actual natives speaking the dialects. The second flaw is that Dr. Stern chooses dialects that bias towards educated middle class. For example, his tape on New York City accent does not teach the normal Brooklyn/Bronx dialect of the "Dese and doze, toity toid street" variety, but instead uses as his standard a sort of mildly Jewish middle class Manhattan accent as the single dialect he teaches on the tape. Similarly, his tape on the Polish dialect sounds so sanitized and educated that its really hard to tell what accent it is other than being mildly European and educated. Similarly, his Italian tape is of a European, educated person instead of the lower class Italian that one would expect to hear included on a tape devoted to Italian. A third and severe flaw in Dr. Stern's single-dialect tapes is that he repeats every exercize first in standard American and pauses for the student to repeat it, and then says the word or sentence in the dialect and pauses for the student to repeat it in the dialect. This effectively wastes about a quarter of the tape, as it doesn't teach anything to hear and repeat the words/sentences in standard american. A forth flaw is that Dr. Stern is obsessed with his pet theory that each dialect must resonate from a unique portion of the mouth cavity. Dr. Stern wastes from ten to twenty minutes of each of his hour long single-dialect tapes going on and on about the point of resonance of the dlalect. This is mind-numbingly boring to hear more than once, so one ends up fast forwading through it when listening on subsequent ocasions. The two accent/dialect systems that I recommend are not currently offered by Amazon so I will not give their names. Hopefully at some point Amazon will expand their selection of accent/dialect tapes. It would also be extremely useful if Amazon had a cross reference system in place so that one could show all video tapes or recordings that, say, give examples of a Cockney accent, an Irish accent, etc. For example, the 1938 video of Shaw's Pygmalian is an excellent example of Cockney, but one must figure this out on one's own as Amazon does not list videos by the accent/dialects they use.

This is a review on "Volume I". It is a warning for those contemplating buying Volume II".

It is amazing that a supposed authority on accents, Dr. Stern, would be associated with this book (and especially the cassette that goes with it.). He is - allegedly - a dialect coach to the Stars. It may explain some of the pathetic atempts at foreign accents that have recently come out of Hollywood. The accents on the cassette are nothing short of embarrassing - A cringe a minute. I asked a fellow actor to listen to the French accent and guess what it was: He guessed Spanish! If you want a first rate book on accents, buy Robert Blumenfeld's "Accents - A Manual for Actors". Now where do I go to get my money back?...

I bought volume 1 of this series and I just wanted to warn people who are considering buying this. If you are serious about learning dialects, do NOT buy this. If you think it would be fun to learn some different dialects and want to have a remote chance of fooling anyone, do NOT buy this. A high school drama student would have done a superior job. You would be better off learning dialects from the Simpsons or Saturday Night Live. This is not an exaggeration, this is a flat out warning. Don't waste your money.

While the actor who read each instructive monologue was talented, he has some weak points, (White South African was too close to Australian). The only "authentic" voice was russian. Also, each dialect could have been applied to the same text, rather than applying to culturally specific topics. Then, differences in pronunciation, emphasis, would be more evident.