In language rich with Caribbean tones and sounds, Lynn Joseph casts her fishing net and pulls a school of readers in with the tide, giving "boys and girls who aren't familiar with the Caribbean a glimpse into another child's world." A woman of the island herself, Joseph writes the poems from the perspective of a young Trinidad girl. Beginning with "Morning Songs," the poems flow naturally across the pages as a Caribbean day unfolds. Before day's end, the girl is greeted by the "ebony man selling mangoes and papaws in the street," has school escapades, and sees "Mama gone to market with the figs upon her head." The pleasures and secrets of the island are revealed throughout, as in "The Palet Man" (Caribbean ice-cream man), and "Steel Drum," which beckons readers to hear the drum's "pom da de de de dom pom." Text-enhancing, full-page illustrations, bursting with Caribbean life, leave lingering images behind. Glorious colors depict everything from the multi-hued blue water where Brother swims "till he touch high heaven on a wave," to the all too real "Jumbi Man" (Caribbean boogie-man) with his "monkey face." Joseph craftily uses metaphors to construct new images from the familiar. In "Pullin' Seine," the evening ritual of fishermen pulling nets in from the sea, Joseph skillfully places the text, creating an image of the net's heaving and hawing, as fishermen begin, struggle, and successfully pull their net in. While the book is an excellent read-aloud for all ages, the text's level of difficulty along with the unfamiliar Caribbean words make it an appropriate independent-read for children ages eight and older.

I have read this book and I have to tell you, it is so well written and eloquent, a real page turner. I have also read Sons of the Profits, another book from Speidel and it is one of the best books I have ever read in my life. The books are funny and notoriusly accurate for the Seattle history.

I read and enjoyed this book as a child. I most remember how absolutely special and thoughtful it was of Evan's mom to accept and appreciate his need for a "place of his own." My apartment was quite like Evan's, filled to brimming with relatives both noisy and nosy. How tender the feeling created in the reader as Evan uses his space, and comes to treasure both his own little world and that he shares with others.

-kim o'connell

This nutshell is a great synopsis of negotiable instrument law. It saved me from failing a payment systems class that I really didn't understand a week before the exam.

Bill Speidel tells us how Seattle was "saved" by its seamstresses, or so they were called. But really when Tacoma got the rail deadhead, Seattle citizens thought they were doomed. However those miners and loggers needed some companionship and something to wet their whistle and Seattle was only too happy to oblige. There was a tax on these businesses and they allowed the city to thrive and prosper.

Anyway the attitude of lets make a buck before anyone else figures it out is very prevalant here and explains the large software company to the East, and the coffee house just South of downtown.

All in all a good read.

By focusing in on one particular unit of the Imperial Roman Army, Spiedel perhaps inadvertantly points up how many historians of ancient military institutions squeeze a maximum of explanation from a minimum of sources. The author uses words such as "seems", "assume", "must have" and "probably" rather frequently. He is aware of the limitations of too much interpretation, though he seems too uncritical of most of his sources (he doesn't care for Dio Cassius though.) Nonetheless, a solid attempt at understanding one element of the Roman military system. For cavalry buffs, read this with Hyland's work on training the Roman cavalry.

Prof. Speidel writes of the little known Germani Corporis Custodes, AKA the German (Batavi) imperial body guard horsemen; first hired by the Julio-Claudian Emporers. The Batavians one may recall were well known to Julius Caesar who first wrote of them in his book The Conquest of Gaul. The Batavi were sought after not only because they were foreigners but because they were the best riders in Europe at the time. The Horse Guard, later known as the Equites Sigularis Augusti (expanded), became the symbol of tyranical imperial rule and perhaps an appendage to the Pratorians or even protection from them. Speidel specificaly covers the "roughshod" riders of the 1st 2nd, and 3rd centuries in great detail with just enough historical overlay as is needed, and does not over fill his pages with exponet historical facts. The book continuously retains its focus topic and is a good read for the historical novice and perfect for the historicaly serious. The book contains descriptions of gallant exploits in combat as well as the humdrum daily drudgery of garrison duty.

Spiedel draws on a variety of source materials to give us a view of the role of gaurd cavalry in the overall Roman military system. What this reader sees as being of greatest value in the book, are the generally reasonable conclusions Spiedel offers concerning the evolving ethnic makeup of the gaurd cavalry units at certain times in the history of their existence, and the consequent ability of those units to function as a part of the Roman army. This aspect of Spiedel's work is particularly important in light of the fact that any history of Roman gaurd units must have something to say about the political context within which they originated and operated. A good and reasonable series of conclusions given the relative dearth of primary written materials.

As the previous reviewer stated this is an excellent book even for us adults! The colors were phenomenal and the ending made me cry! The only "complaint" I have is that it was a kind of long read for my 4 year old--he didn't pay attention for the time it took me to read the whole book. I'd still recomment it, though!

Recently I selected this book to review for a children's literature course. I was immediately captured by the pastel illustrations and later blessed by the unfolding of a story about encouragment and friendship. The author shares with us a story about two friends, one older and one younger. In ways, Mr. Washington is a mentor Ephram and Ephram is Mr. Washington's inspiration. As a teacher, I realize that this book is excellent for teaching about friendships, differences, and encouraging everyone to do their best. Plus the story and pictures alone are touching and engaging.

There is no point to these books. kids that are 5-8 really dont care about sex and the consequences. They wont remember it, and by the time that they start to care, they will most likely be atheists anyway. God has nothing to do with sex. Your creationism ideals are old-fashioned and have no place in modern society. The facts are that the human race was produced from natural selection and survival of the fittest. Kids are going to have sex anyway, no matter how much you preach to them. You shouldn't force your childern into your own religious dogma. If you really need to teach children about sex talk to them yourselves instead of having a lifeless substitute.

My husband and I have two boys under the age of ten and we are facing issues with sex. Our children are hearing about sex from children at school and on the bus. We are a Christian family and want our children to have Christian views on something so important. We bought the whole series and our boys now have all the answers they need from us. Thank you so much for this series.

To the parents who wrote that children ARE NOT thinking about these issues, you are really fooling yourself and in denial. I'm certainly not pleased to be facing this topic with my seven year old, however children are questioning these issues a lot sooner than we ever did.
This book is a good tool to explain to an already inquisitive child.

This book helped so much when trying to explain to my five year old son what happened to his baby brother. As a Catholic, I share many of the ideas and beliefs that Ms. Shriver brings forth in the narrative - however I feel this book would help children of many different faiths as well. My son would periodically pull "Whats Heaven" off his bookshelf to read together with me - more so right after his brother's death, but even now, 3 years later he asks me to look at it with him sometimes. Each time we'd go through it he'd ask some of his own questions and we'd struggle through them together. Sometimes we cried, sometimes not, but I believe by sitting down together and allowing him to think over these questions has undoubtedly helped in his struggle to understand death.

I heard about this book from a friend after my husband passed away suddently. My seven year old daughter was helped tremendously by this book. She has had this book read to her time and time again. Whenever she is feeling sad or confused about her farther's death, she pulls the book out and ask for someone to read it to her. This book has meant alot to her and is written on a level for young children to understand a difficult topic. I highly suggest that this book be purchased for children coping with the death of a loved one.

My grandmother passed away two days ago and I found myself having to explain death to my 3 year old and 5 year old. I had heard about this book several years ago and I immediately thought of it when trying to decide how to explain death to my children in a way that they could understand. I did not buy this book as a theological text; I wanted a book that would comfort my children and help them understand why I am sad. I used this book along with the Bible to help them understand death and heaven, and I found it very comforting myself.

Even for young children (2-4 yrs.), this book needs some VOOOOM! It's a story that says, A cutesy, 'See all the things God does.' Page after page of this gets pretty tiresome.