I was amazed also to see so many reviews on The Silver Crown. I read this book when I was in 5th or 6th grade, my cousin introduced me to this book. She was always reading something and she recommended this book to me. I have checked out this book periodically from the library to reread it. It has been about 30 years since I first read that book. I was reminded of it again when I started to read the Harry Potter books. The Silver Crown drew the reader in right away because it started off as a very normal story. The heroine, Ellen, is a very believable character. The author made the events in the book seem like it could really happen. I can still recall the chapter where Ellen escapes into the woods at night from the the seemingly friendly Mr. Gates. The story is ultimately about good versus evil and how this young girl, with the help of some very caring and courageous people, overcomes a particular force of evil. It would be wonderful to see this book in print again. This is one of the few books in my childhood that made such a lasting impression.

This book was read to our 5th grade class by...I wish she knew how today I am still affected by the different world of "reading for enjoyment" she opened for me. I, like many others reviewing this book, looked for it on several occasions and thought I had the title wrong or I had imagined the book; and am glad to know that I can easily obtain it now. (For years I looked for "Mystery of the Silver Crown")

Silver Crown is so well written, it's great for readers of all ages who are ready for adventure. It opens worlds of wonder, stimulating the imagination. I remember the anticipation and not being able to wait until the designated time the teacher would read the coming chapters. I wanted to get a copy for myself to go ahead and finish it, she was taking too long--a chapter or two at a time was not enough. How disappointed I was when the book ended...the entire class wanted more, and so will you. I think that's why if you have your own copy, you will read it time and time again...I've ordered and am waiting for my copy now!!

If you can obtain a copy, get it and share with the young ones in your life...read it together with the whole family or lend it to a teacher you know to share with his/her class...they will love you for it. Everyone you introduce to this classic will remember you fondly for years to come when they think of this book (and they WILL think of it time and time again!)...it's one they and you will never forget (IT'S BEEN 27 YEARS FOR ME!!). Get it and enjoy!!

Like many of you, I was in fifth grade (mid-1960s) when I discovered this book. Our school librarian knew I loved books, and she pressed this one into my hands as soon as she received it. :) Along with _The Phantom Tollbooth_, The Silver Crown is one of my most memorable childhood reads. I don't remember the plot so much as the imagery -- dark, tense, and electrifying. I looked it up today thinking it's something my 12-year-old might like to read while he waits for the next Harry Potter book. I'm so sorry to see it's out of print. I guess I'll read through the rest of the customer reviews to see if anyone else has been able to find it. Judging from the lasting impression it made on the pre-Gen X consciousness, it looks like the publisher would do well to re-release it!

Although this book is religeous in tone - and not subtly so, the lesson is a powerful one I have shared with my friends who are not religeous. It has been loved and embraced by all I have shared it with! With children's books today being centered around goofy graphics and rediculous, substanceless characters and plot lines (usually and offshoot of the latest cartoon character), this book is a welcome change. Max Lucado brings the concept of positive and negative comments into an easily understood concept of stickers - stars are good, and dots are bad. He gently points out that although you can't escape the stars and dots habits of the world around us, you can begin to realize that it doesn't matter what people say about you or "stick on you" - You are special, you are loved, you are a unique and wonderful individual simply because you're you.

I recommend this for all people, whether they have families or not, because it's a simple, fun tale, written in an engaging style with beautiful illustrations that conveys a concept that is important to all of us.

I used to read this book to my campers when I was a counselor at a Christian summer camp. The message is that our creator, God, loves us for who we are - he made us who we are. Whenever we feel inadequate in this world, all we need to do is remember God's love for us. When we do that all those negative things that people see about us and even those that we have started to believe ourselves will disappear. This story is included in Lucado's book, The Book of Secrets. This excerpt from that book is enhanced by Martinez's wonderful illustrations.

Why 5 stars?: This book is wonderfully written and illustrated. The message is one that all children (and adults) need to remember. God is able to see past what others do. He looks not only at our surface, but what is inside. He made us the way we are for a reason and he loves us because we are all so different.

This beautifully-illustrated storybook is an allegory of God's love revealed in a simple story about a little wooden boy who discovers that he has value and is loved simply because he is loved by the one who created him. Punchinello and all the other Wimmicks--little people made of wood--spend their days wandering around and evaluating one another. The standards are set by society: the talented and beautiful receive shiny gold stars; the less attractive and ordinary, an ugly gray dot. Punchinello, who is no different from the other Wimmicks, but excels at nothing in their eyes, is covered with the ugly dots. One day, Punchinello meets Lucia, a Wimmick who has no stickers on her at all. Amazed, he quizzes her and finds that it is because she has come to know Eli, their creator, and this knowledge has given her the ability to feel loved and accepted no matter what anyone else says. Because she is secure in Eli's love, the stickers others try to affix simply will not stay on. Punchinello visits the kind woodcarver and nestles in the love and acceptance of a proud father. He leaves Eli feeling strangely warmed, but still unsure of his worth. As he remembers his time with Eli, he realizes he IS worthy. He IS loved. And the gray dots that have covered his little wooden body begin to fall off. A terrific message for children--an equally important message for the adults who read the story to them.

I picked up this book because of the title, how we think and why is an interesting subject, but this book goes beyond that. I loved how the book immediately went to the point of it's subject. It explains how we as human thinking machines can alter our lives for the better just through our thought process, James Allen gives a simple explanation on how what we think is what we are. As deep and way out there as it may sound, he doesn't just babble, he gets to the point with examples and explanations of why this is so. The book just gives you the key to this power we all have and can easily develop by just changing our thoughts. There's a chapter for different aspects of our lives, and it's easily read in a short time, I've read it 5 times myself, and love it everytime. It's a very positive and inspirational book, and written decades ago by a man "I Beleive" really cares, and was not out just to make money on this "New Age Generation" (with no offense to other authors, there are good ones out there)

It is a joy to see there are others that found this book to be a Masterpiece. I found it right after I finished high school and have read it no less than 100 times. It is like an old friend who reminds me that my life is what I make it, without exception. It helped me learn that I could not blame anyone else for the condition of my life, I was sololy responsible and therefore only I could change it. I finished high school in 1984 with a C average (I thought I was quite stupid) and in 1997 I finished my Ph. D. in Computer Science with an A average. I believe the ideas that James Allen wrote in this short Masterpiece with all heart and these ideas helped me change my life, drasticly. James Allen was a very wise man, anyone could learn something from him! I will close with some of my favorite quotes from this Masterpiece, "You can not travel within and stand still without.", "There is effort and there are results, chance is not.", "Dreams are the seedlings of reality.", and "You will receive exactly what you earn, no more, no less."

This excellent compilation of essays by James Allen truly holds the key to success, amongst other things! I feel so inspired after reading this book, so ready to put into practice what this powerful, little book is teaching. This "classic" has been around since the turn of the century and it seems to be even more relevant in today's stressful and competitive society. I underlined so many wonderful and inspiring passages that I intend to refer to on a daily basis. As Allen states, "a man is literally what he thinks", or as the saying goes, garbage in, garbage out! Or put another way, "All that a man achieves and all that he fails to achieve is the direct result of his own thoughts."

I have learned that I cannot blame others for my life, or my state of affairs - they are my creation, the end product of my thoughts and actions. Allen states that man makes or unmakes himself by the thoughts he keeps and cultivates. Man is truly is his own worst enemy!

I really resonated to his quote on fear, "Thoughts of doubt and fear never accomplish anything, and never can. They always lead to failure. Purpose, energy, power to do, and all strong thoughts cease when doubt and fear creep in." How profound and how true. How we let fear run our lives - again proving how powerful our thoughts can be. Allen further expounds by saying, "He who has conquered doubt and fear has conquered failure."

The garden of our mind is only cultivated by us. What kind of crop we want to consistently yield is solely determined on our positive, enriching, and encouraging thoughts or on our doubting, destructive and negative ones. We alone hold the key to our future, and our success, and our attainments in life. We can either have a feast or a famine - it is only up to us.

This highly inspirational book cannot help but to motivate you in some degree. I feel like I have been given the keys to a door that was once rusty and would not open, but now will yield freely in my hand. Another great quote is, "The Vision that you glorify in your mind, the Ideal that you enthrone in your heart - this you will build your life by, this you will become." This is one book that you will want to keep constantly by your side, especially for those times when you get discouraged, or when the road seems rough. Just reading one page will have you having a change of heart, with its motivation putting you back on that right path.

This book is a MUST read if you are desiring to change your negatives into positives! The power of the mind is incredible - in all areas of our life!

I have a love-hate relationship with this book. I love it because my son loves it. He is two and a half. He has loved it for a year--really loved it. Every time we go to the library he makes a bee-line for it. We sit and read it. More often than not we will attract other toddlers who will surround us and recite the text along with us. It casts some sort of spell on small children, I think. I do not own this book, however, because I HATE it. It is so repetitive that I wince as I read it. In fact, one does not read it so much as one chants it. The brown bear mantra. My son has the entire text memorized. We'll be in the grocery store or in the car and he'll start reciting it. Or I'll chant part of it and he'll chant the rest. Or we'll ad lib, inventing new animals with new colors: "Grey Mouse, Grey Mouse, What do you see?" I guess I don't really HATE this book; it's hard to hate something that gives you so much pleasure. But I'm not ready to own it yet. That said, I can't wait for my brother to have a child. He sent my son a noisy Thomas the Tank Engine book for Christmas. It beeped and whistled and hooted and basically drove me out of my mind. I intend to pay him back with "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See".

If there is any childrens book I never get tired of, it's Brown Bear. My almost 7 year old loved this as a toddler and now reads it to her two year old twin brother and sister - and THEY love it. Its repetition is comforting and familiar, yet never boring. The photos helped her to learn to 'read' it by doing a picture walk long before she could really read other books. The words are so simple she memorized it. And she was so proud of her reading that it inspired her to continue to 'read' this way with other familiar books. VERY highly recommended....even I am not tired of this book. One of the best, IMHO.

This was the second book (Tana Hoban's black and white book was the first) that I read to my son when he was a few months old and read it again and again. He was fascinated by the bright pictures in the book and the rhythmic language. Brown Bear brown bear, what do you see? I see a _____ looking at me... As he began to recognize animals and moo like a cow and quack like a duck, the pictures began to take shape for him and he would recognize them for what they were drawn to be. Mr. Carle writes and illustrates wonderful books. My son who is now 3, close to 4, still enjoys the book and he can now easily anticipate which animal is on the next page. I have this book in the board book style and when my son began to "read" for himself, this was one of the books he would frequently reach for. Highly, highly recommended!

Salamandastron is the third book of the Redwall series I've read and loved it a whole lot. All the brand new good guy characters and the bad guy characters that the book introduced. The best conflict that I liked is when Martin's sword was stolen and Samkin and Arula went after those weasels that stole it. The chase was an awesome thing to read about and when Samkin met Spriggat, Alfoh, and his army of shrews. When they met up with Log-a Log and his shrews and when Samkin finally got back the sword I was really happy. When they went to Salamandastron to defeat Ferahgo and his bandits of weasel I new it was going to be an awesome battle. After that exciting fight at Salamandastron they had a great feast at Redwall when they returned with Martin's sword. I'm also glad that Redwall got a new badger queen. I am reading other of your books and please keep on writing!

Sincerely,
Daniel Scot McCarthy

I read a real good book called Salamandastron, by Brian Jacques. It is a fantasy book about woodland creatures that fight wars with vermin like rats, weasels, stoats, etc......... This particular book is about the evil Ferrahgo the Assassin-an unmerciful ferret warlord that wants to take over the mountain fortress Salamanstron. But, Urthstripe the Strong has other plans.Mean while at Redwall Abbey, place of peace, the sword of their mighty hero has been stolen by two stoats that brought a disease and killed a man.See how they cure the sickness,recover the sword, and if Urthstripe can defeat Ferrahgo and the vermin in the action packed fantasy book, Salamandastron.

Salamandastron has to be the most moving and captivating book that i have ever read.I sat enthralled for hours whilst reading this and became totally captured by the detail and personalities that each of the characters has been given.It has been read so many times that i have now lost count! I adore the bravery of Mara and the companionship that Pikkle Ffollger shows her.My favorite part has to be when Mara add's the last name to Urthstripes title - "father" as this was when Mara realised that she did love him.I think that Brian Jacques is a brilliant writer and is also a very unique writer as i don't know of any other writer who can write a whole page on the description of food!! well done!!

I will echo the other reviewers: this is one of the best, if not the best book I have read.

The book covers the subect on a number of levels. First is the factual story of the events leading up to the making of the bomb, which in themselves would be fascinating. For example, the fact that in two years the Manhattan Project built an industrial plant larger than the US automobile manufacturing base. That only in December of 1938 was the fission of Uranium first discovered, but the course of events were so rapid as to lead to the Trinity test in July of 1945. As a sometime program manager, but no General Groves, it was a fascinating account of the world's most significant projecct.

The second level is a very enjoyable history of nuclear physics as the reader is lead through the discovery process from the turn of the century to thermonuclear fusion. That discovery process is the vehicle for the third and fourth levels of the book. The stories and personalities of the scientists, around the world, who added to that knowledge, what shaped and motivated their lives and how they indiviually gained insight, brilliant insight, into the riddle that was physics. I felt I got to know people like Rutherford, Bohr, Oppenheimer, Fermi, Szilard, and Teller. The fourth level was that the insight was not really individual but collaborative. This book is one of the finest descriptions of the scientific process and how this open, collaborative and communicative process works across boundaries.

The last level, the biggest surprise and the most profoundly unsettling, was the realization of how this event, inevitable, has "changed everything" about human history - an appreciation, I believe 55 years later, we who did not participate in the Manhattan Project, have yet to fully realize. Niels Bohr realized it in an instant.

The book is superbly written. The personalies came alive, I felt I knew Niels Bohr. It was absolutely suspenseful even though you know the ending (you don't really). I was caught up in the story as though it were a novel. After reading late the night before, one evening I came home and declared to my wife "They dropped the bomb!". Such was the intensity of my participation in the book that my voice had excitement to it. She was horrified. I had to explain, "No, no. In the book. On Hiroshima". When history is that exciting it is hard to beat.

This is one of only a few books about which I can say that I will never quite view the world the same again.

A masterpiece and a must read.

When I was an undergraduate in physics at Harvard, a professor once told us that this book should be required reading for all budding physicists. Having read the book now, I agree absolutely. The individuals involved in the distinguished beginnings of 20th century physics and their stories are as engrossing as the consequences mortifying. I am a reader who believes in the counterfactual argument that the bomb prevented a horrific invasion of Japan. However, the idea of one smallish weapon killing tens of thousands (millions, if you count later bombs) must continue to terrify us and all of humanity forever. During the war, events were as terrifying as the bombmakers could imagine. At Los Alamos, the physicists were working for one purpose -- to get the bomb before Germany. That they were mostly Jews makes the quest that much more sobering. This is an account of events with a complicated reality, a very troubling legacy and a cast of truly fascinating individuals. Rhodes has done a service by telling us this story so elegantly.

I have almost completed Rhodes' book on the making of the atom bomb. It is truly amazing in the wealth of detail and also the broad scope in contains. I am not a scientist or knowledgeable about physics so this content was very difficult for me to understand. I suspect readers without such knowledge will have a struggle trying to understand the description of the various experiments that led to the bomb's development. But in all it is fascinating to read about the battle between the military and the scientists as to whose authority should be paramount. How much secrecy was needed as the bomb developed is another theme of the book, as is the race against time and the Germans who were also on the brink of making the bomb. You will also see that scientists like Niels Bohr were very concerned early on about the complimentarity of nuclear energy and the bomb--their potential for good as well as evil. Mr. Rhodes has done a great service to America and humanity in writing this story. Read it and, like me, you will be mesmerized. Don't let the 780 pages intimidate you, reader, from perusing this epic book.

The cover caught my attention. Olivia was written big and boldly across it. A white piglet wearing a red dress with a black bow tie and zebra stripped stockings. It begged me to read it.

Author and Illustrator Ian Falconer has written a funny book about a little piglet named 'Olivia' who has too much energy. My favorite part of the book are the first four lines: "This is Olivia. She is good at lots of things. She is very good at wearing people out. She even wears herself out." The reader is shown (on two pages) a series of drawings in succession of Olivia jumping, running, standing on her head, yelling, playing ball, etc. and finally (the last drawing) she is flat on her back exhausted.

You can see her driving her mom crazy. She's adorable to read about but if she were my daughter she'd drive me crazy also. In my baby name book 'Olivia' means 'holy'. Not quite Olivia I thought. I got the dictionary and read through all the definitions for 'holy'. There it was at the bottom 'holy terror, a troublesome child'. Bingo! Now that's Olivia but in a funny way.

As I read through the book I could hear myself giggling. Laughter is good for the soul, so go ahead and get a heavy dose of Olivia. I recommend it. It's good for you!

"This is Olivia. She is good at lots of things. She is very good at wearing people out."

This is a book that EVERYBODY should read, but especially if you have a little girl. Olivia is a rather sophisticated little pig who jumps, and runs, and bakes cakes, and dances and sings ("40 Very Loud Songs"), terrorizes her little brother, Ian, tries on every garment in her closet (including a pair of mummy's pantyhose), makes exceptional sandcastles at the beach, recreates a Jackson Pollock painting on the living room wall ("Uh oh... Time out!") and who (eventually) goes to sleep.

Don't miss this one. Our favourite book. I admit that I bought it because I liked it, but my 3-year old can't get enough of it!

FIVE STARS! Ian Falconer comes up with a children's book that no matter how many times I read through it, it is incredibly pleasing. The storyline about an imaginative young girl named Olivia is simple and captivating. Whether looking at art, building sand castles, or dealing with her copycat brother, Olivia is charming. The humor in Falconer's work is contagious with its harmonious blend of illustration and text. The illustrations are done in a "limited" palette of black white and red with an occasional brown thrown in. Please do not make the mistake of thinking that this book may be handicapped because of its limited palette. It merely serves to increase the reader's delight in Olivia and her world. Olivia is one of the finest reading encounters that I have run across in my life. Olivia is quite simply... perfect.

Crazy James

How would you like to be a rat living on a farm during harvest time, and on top of that you have a sick child. In the fictional adventure by Robert C. O'briens Newberry award winning novel, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh. In this book Mrs. Frisby goes to desperate measures to get help and to move her house so it won't get hit by the trackter. If you like adventure and survival, you should read this book.

This book is full of adventure and witty humor. it is a fictional novel that is mostly about survival as Mrs. Frisby, a widowed mother, tries to find a way to move her house without having to make her son Timothy, who is very sick, come out of the house into the cold. So she goes out looking for help and finds it in a group of super-smart mice that escaped from a laboratory named the Rats of Nimh. This pack of lab rats devise a plan to move Mrs. Frisby's house.

This novel is for young adults from the age of 9 to 15 years. This is because the story talks about death, some humor kids might not understand. There is also one point of violence where the farmers cat, Dragon, attacks the rats. Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh, has some parts where teens will like, in some of the witty plans the rats come up with to move the Frisby household.

This book is written in third person. It has Mrs. Frisby whos husband died and was left to take care of her children. When moving day comes her son Timothy gets very sick and can't go outside or his condition might get worse and he could die. So she gets help in the Rats of Nimh and they come up with a plan.

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh, is a Newberry Medal award winner jam-packed full of adventureand survival. This book is definatly not for children under 8 or 9 years old.

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nihm is one of the best books I ever read. Everything in this book is so specific. When you look in it you might think it looks hard, but it realy is not. I usualy hate reading chapter books, but this one is great. I realy recomend this book to you. In this book,Mrs.Frisby's son (Timothy) gets sick. Mrs.Frisby has to go to a doctor named Mr.Ages. Mr. Aages gives the medicin to Mrs. Frisby to make Timothy better. But when she gets home she finds out she has to move soon because Mr. Fitzgibbon (the ouner of the house) is going to plow their home. A lot of other exciting stuff happens in this book, but you have to find out yourself.

After some consideration, I decided this was my favorite book as a child. However, it can be enjoyed by people of any age. Through mice and other small personified animals, Robert C O'Brien built a tale that is impossible to put down or frown upon. When the youngest of a family of mice falls ill with pneumonia, he is forced to stay indoors. This presents a serious problem, since the family must soon move to their summer home or be plowed by the farmer's tractor who owns the field. The mother and head of the family, Mrs. Frisby, is forced to turn to a mysterious group of rats living under a rose bush for help. What Mrs. Frisby hadn't known, however, was the rats' connection with her late husband Jonathon Frisby...Hopefully, this short summary is intriguing enough to make you read this book. You won't regret it.

We have this book in a small and large size together with anEric Carle videotape that has the story. A young caterpillar is bornand begins to eat his way through the world and through many foods that you child will be able to identify. These foods are eaten on each of the seven days of the week, an added bonus, as your child begins to learn that Sunday is a different day that Monday. The caterpillar gets very fat. He builds a cocoon and then emerges a large beautiful butterfly. My 3 year old does not tire of this story. He learns about nature, food and the days of the week in one absolutely stunningly illustrated book. You can't get much better than this for young children. If you have young children, or if you are looking for a gift for a 4 year old and younger child, this book is highly, highly recommended. Enjoy.

This was one of my favorite books when I was younger. It has very bright colors and that makes the book more enjoyable. It is about a baby caterpillar that gets very hungry and eats so many things. On one day, he eats a lot and the next day he eats more and that keeps happening for a week. Then on the last day of the week he eats so much that he feels like he will be very sick and he takes a rest then makes himself a cocoon. The caterpillar is inside the cocoon for quite a while and gets a good rest then when he comes out he's a...
I enjoy reading this book it is a very good book for kids because it has good illustrations and colors. It is also something that really happens in real life. Caterpillars are really like what they say they are in the book. I would rate this book a 5 because this is a really good book. I would suggest that you read it.

Another great story from Carle. His illustrations are always fantastic, but his stories can be erratic. This on is a dead-on hit. It is the brief story of a caterpillar's feeding frenzy before he makes his metamorphosis into a butterfly. The book introduces children to the days of the week, the names of fruits, and numbers as the caterpillar eats through different foods each day --two pears on Tuesday, three plums on Wednesday, etc.-- until he finally weaves his cocoon and emerges as a beautiful butterfly. This story is a hit every time. Carle's bright colors and clever die-cut artwork never cease to entertain even the youngest child, and there is surely nothing in nature closer to magic than the emergence of a butterfly. This is a beautiful and fun book that will enthrall any child.