A great little book, similar in style to McBratney and Jeram's "Guess How Much I Love You", or the Frog and Toad stories. The illustrations by Chris Riddell are fabulous.

Rabbit and Hedgehog are two close friends (one is put in mind of Toot & Puddle or Bert & Ernie) with one not-so-small problem: Hedgehog hibernates the winter through and Rabbit does not.

Rabbit is concerned that Hedgehog will not miss or remember him during the long winter. Hedgehog plainly states that he won't miss Rabbit because he'll be sleeping. While Rabbit says he'll miss his friend, Hedgehog is bothered by the fact that he doesn't know what winter IS-he sleeps through it!

Hedgehog asks Rabbit to "save a bit of winter for me" and writes a note on the bark of a tree to help Rabbit remember. Problems arise when winter hits and Rabbit, who usually eats pink clover and green grass is reduced to eating brown things--including bark off trees with MESSAGES written on them!

Well, fortunately, while Rabbit may be scatterbrained, he remembers what Hedgehog wanted him to save, and manages, with a bit of forest ingenuity, to save some winter for his sleeping friend.

"A Little Bit of Winter" is a testament to friendship. The precise illustrations and depth of expression make the characters feel so very REAL, to children as well as adults. One can simply FEEL Rabbit's sadness and frustration at having to eat brown stuff, dig through mountains of snow AND be lonely on top of everything else. The joy both Hedgehog and Rabbit feel when spring comes and they get to be together again is infectious and radiant.

An excellent book, highly recommended. Even if you DON'T have children to give the book to, buy it and give it to YOURSELF.

This book is a pure miracle ! I've read it in french. (Amazing ! For one time, the french translation is released before the english edition!) I bought the book as a gift for a four-years-old girl but after I read it with her I went back to the bookstore to buy my own copy. The text is simple and speaks to both heart and soul. I had never read such a good and masterful description of friendship. And what a gifted illustrator Chris Riddell is ! Last but surely not least : you don't need to be a child to appreciate the tale, I testify and I swear !

this book is one of my favorites, I was given it as a present when I was seven and didn't like it, but I re-read it recently and I loved it!

The book is about Twig, a young misfit who has left the village where he grew up to find out who he really is, he meets all sorts of weird creatures, like the gyle goblins or the caterbird, and horrible cratures, like the skullpelt or the rotsuker, along the way.

this book is exellant and I would recomend it to anyone.

I can't believe anyone else hasn't reviewed these books. I picked up Beyond the Deepwoods as a birthday present for my 12 year old brother, but then flicked through it, decided I wanted it, and read it in one night. The writing is wonderful - elegantly creepy and terribly evocative. Chris Riddell's illustrations are amongst the best I've seen, whether in black and white or in colour. I cannot rave enough about this book or the next two that I've read in the Edge Chronicles. Am on the edge of my seat waiting for The Curse of the Gloamglozer to come out.

I tend to enjoy childrens' books almost as much (often more) as adults', and these books have pride of place on my favorite bookshelf. Go read them now!

First, this is catagorized wrong. I would put it for ages 9 and up, probably. The reading level is fairly easy, but the content is rather dark.

The world created is wonderful, excellently detailed and very believeable. The illustrations are great too! I would definitely recommend this book for any lover of fantasy novels.

Stew's latest book, Maximum Fitness, is a superbly done and well researched book offering the most detailed, creative, and decent workout yet. The 52 week program keeps you going strong all year long, changing up routines, offering numerous optional workouts, suggestions, and guidance along the way. Having completed the 12 Weeks to BUD/S workout, I can definitely attest to Stew's knowledge and expertise in physical training. Trust me, if you stick with his guidelines, you will see awesome progress no matter where you are, hard core SEAL wannabe or beginner just looking for a workout. The stretches and exercises are clearly described and shown through large photos. The workouts vary. Stew offers many hints and tips to push you throughout the book. There is nutritional advice as well. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this book.

Maximum Fitness is a complete reference of well researched and time proven strategies to help anyone, regardless of fitness level, reach their maximum potential.

The workouts are based on a novel crosstraining approach. This approach incorporates calisthenics, weight training, swimming, biking, running, stretching and innovative time saver workouts one can perform anywhere and still maintain peak physical condition.

Mr. Smith's detailed and inspirational descriptions of the exercises, coupled with expertly photographed segments, produces a fine reference that the novice will easily comprehend. Also, the expert will be challenged like never before - try running three miles followed by swimming, abdominal, and chest exercises for thirty minutes, and then another three mile run! Maximum fitness in the only result!

Maximum Fitness is like having a personal trainer next to you during your workout 52 weeks a year. I have had a private lesson with Stew Smith recently and I can attest to his depth of knowledge, and sincerity with which he wants us all to reach maximum fitness.

I recieved this book shortly after it became availible. I've used numerous workout programs (including military training) and this one looks to be the best by far. LT Smith's 12 week program from his previous book put me in the best shape of my life and I can't wait to see the results once I'm done with this program. The 4 phase structure varies the workouts so you don't get bored with the program and every day is a bigger challenge than the day before. Outstanding book for those wanting to become a SEAL or just get into great shape.

The Birthday Presents is such a wonderful book. Poor Hedgehog and Rabbit don't know when their birthdays are. They decide they will celebrate them together and go about choosing a gift for each. Each of them chooses a gift with love and care. You can almost feel how much thought they put into their gift. This book focuses on the act of giving, not just the gift itself. A great book for any age!

This is a dear, sweet book about being happy with what you have. "The Birthday Presents" is Paul Stewart's short but sweet tale about two pals, a rabbit and a hedgehog, and how they go about trying their darndest to pick the most wonderful possible birthday gifts for each other.

Deciding that Rabbit's hole is just a mite dark, Hedgehog bottles up a bunch of moonlight. Simultaneously, Rabbit worries that Hedgehog might be bothered by the sunlight while sleeping out in the open--so he packs up a mossy box of darkness. Of course the pals are disappointed when they open their gifts, but they later figure out on their own the good wishes behind each gift--and the best way to put the gifts to real, everyday use.

Any small child can begin to learn from this book the secret of choosing to be happy with what you have, instead of worrying about what you don't have, and parents and kids alike will get a kick out of Chris Riddell's vivid illustrations.

I initially picked up this book out of curiosity; I don't use the 'dead' civiliazations much in my campaigns, but I usually enjoy seeing how White Wolf creates their alternate histories.

This book was done reasonably well, covering five separate cultures - sub-Saharan Africa, Mesopotamia, Central/Southern America, Greece and Rome, and 'the Arctic'. The sections are all similar, with flavor text at the beginning, a brief overview of history in the middle, and magic from these cultures at the end. Some of the chapters are wonderfully executed, while others seem almost like they were rushed. In a few cases, I would have preferred that the authors and typesetters condensed some information, to make room for more flavor or culture notes (the explanation of the Mayan calendrical system is basic, but could have taken half the space).

Overall, if you are planning on dealing at all with 'dead' civilizations as a mage, then this book (supplemented with real history books) will give you that something extra to make your stories more believable!

This supplement for Mage is an excellent source book for diversifying your games. The main focus of this book is on "dead" magic: the forgotten magics of civilizations of yore. The book has lots of rotes, wonders and so forth, but the bulk of the book is about how these civilizations practiced magic, and how the Traditions (namely your players) can adapt it.
The first section covers the magic of sub-Saharan Africa, with a definate focus on western and southern Africa. Lots of details on the diversity of African culture (and a nice map too), along with how westerners (including most of the Traditions except maybe the Dreamspeakers) have marginalized African culture. Then we are given some sample African rotes, many focusing on fertility, healing and spirit magics, and some pretty nifty wonders. There are also some interesting supertnatural creatures and locations, in case you decide to run a game set in Africa.
Following this is a section on ancient Mesopotamian magic. While I wish they would have toned down the infernalism a bit, this was a pretty nice section. Alot of it revolved around the meta-plot too, tying it in with Hermetics rediscovering Mesopotamian magic. Alot of the Mesopotamian magic focuses on complex divinations and spirit controlling magics. There is also a bit devoted to adapting Mesopotamian magic to the modern Traditions. Although groups like the Hermetics and Verbena usually use these in their ancient forms, modern Traditions have some unique takes on these rotes. Very nice. There are also some Mesopotamian beings (including the Lamassu!).
The next chapter was one of the best, in my opinions, focusing on the bloody magics of Mexico and South America. WW is pretty direct and to the point, stating that the Mayas, Aztecs, Incas and other Native Americans here used human sacrifices and that their magics were not for the weak. A bit of this chapter is taken up by an explanation of the Mayan calendar (which probably could have been briefer). Regardless, the sample rotes (including things like turning into a jaguar, making obsidian almost unbreakable and even causing volcanic erruptions) are all pretty neat and nicely based off Aztec and Mayan mythology (and the Mayan calendar). Further detail is given to some Wonders and mystical locations (including the Andes). Pretty cool.
The next chapter focuses on classical Greece and Rome and their continuing influence on western magic. Everything from Plato to Greek mythology to Roman Hermeticism to "enlightened science" is explored. Its pretty cool if you want to incorporate Greco-Roman magic into your games. This section also has a lot of plot seeds, such as the start of the Ascension War, the "Golden Race" and the Oracle of Delphi, so player's might want to skip this. Some decent rotes, Wonders and mystical locations are given, along with some classic monsters. Pretty neat.
The closing chapter covered the magic of the Inuit and other people of the Arctic Circle. It was pretty decent, going into great details about shamanism and hunting magic in the far north. The rotes, Wonders and spirits given are all very good, and can easily be adapted into almost any shamanic paradigm. Over all, this was an excellent book. I would recommend that if you intend to use any of the cultures in here, you look through both "Guide to the Traditions" and any number of books on history, archaeology, mythology and/or anthropology as well. I already found quite a bit of the African, Aztec/Mayan/Incan and Inuit sections helpful for running all Dreamspeaker chronicles, and intend to use the Mesopotamia stuff in a "Year of the Scarab" centered game. I'm certain other STs will find this book equally useful.

Chris Stewart's mastery of technical thrillers is evident in his first novel, "Shattered Bone". His second book, "The Kill Box", leaves the reader breathless as the world approaches complete destruction. As the plot twists and turns like an Oklahoma tornado, Mr. Stewart's fictional story is way to believable in todays world.

Congratulations to Mr. Stewart as he now joins the ranks of the few great techno-thriller writers of all time.

The Kill Box is a great action thriller that thrusts the reader into the action immediately. The author's first hand experience with the military, aircraft, and the tactics used, make the story gripping and exciting from start to finish. A great amount of detail was put into this book which paints an excellent picture as if the reader is actually taking part in the story. He describes military planning, briefings, and politics with amazing reality.
The story line is very good and leaves the reader guessing at every twist and turn of the plot. I normally find it hard to have a book capture my total attention from cover to cover, but this book had me on the edge of my seat as I found it hard to put it down.
I have served in the military and have seen and heard most military acronyms. Chris Stewart goes to great lengths to work many military acronyms into his story. I think the author could better the story if there were fewer explanations of the acronyms and added civilian terminology to let readers of nonmilitary knowledge better understand what he is trying to explain.
Overall, the book is very good and I would recommend it to anyone who likes military or spy stories.

Maj. Chris Stewart's second novel is well written and original. Stewart's writing has gotten better since his first novel Shattered Bone, and he uses more adjectives to convey better imagery to the reader. The plot is great, the tension gripping, and altogether Stewart is certainly proving himself as a writer of military techno-thrillers. I only had one problem with The Kill Box. This is the second time he has named one of his characters "Wallet". In Shattered Bone the Secretary of Defense is named "Wallet". Now it's the Air Force Chief of Staff. What gives? Other than that little annoyance, The Kill Box was great. I only hope his next book, The Third Consequence, doesn't do this.

To be honest, what made me order this title was its very enticing cover design - it begged to be read.

Though I enjoyed the book, I wasn't AS intrigued by it as I was by, let's say "The Hills of Tuscany" (F. Mate), or "Under the Tuscan Sun" (F. Mayes). In a way it seemed that "Driving Over Lemons" stayed one-dimensional.

Sure, Chris Stewart describes the hardships he and his wife Ana encountered when starting their lives in this run-down farm house named El Valero, he also throws in a good sense of humor, but in my opinion the book lacks a certain local color - something both above-mentioned books on Tuscany offer in abundance... Mate and Mayes couldn't have written their books about France that way. With Chris Stewart's book I wouldn't be so sure... Not much uniquely Spanish in it.

However, it is an entertaining read, if simply for the theme itself: Couple starts a whole new, different life in a foreign country - be it Spain, or another (Mediterranean) place...

If you're not looking for something uniquely Spanish, go for it. You won't regret!

This was a warm, spirited, pleasing book to read. Although, Driving Over Lemons will not indoctrinate the reader into all things Spanish, nonetheless we learn a good deal about Andulucia as seen through Chris Stewart's eyes. I picked up this book because I was intrigued by Stewart's life. I am glad he chose to share it with the public. The book details a rich "neighborhood" of "characters" that really belong in a good fiction book. Eccentric ex-pat English ladies, a Dutch farming-family, scheming sheep dealers and of course, the local hero, Domingo. While some people are only dealt with briefly, others beome the focal point for important events in the Stewart's life. Unlike some authors who spend a year somewhere, and then write an omninscient account of their time, Stewart is going nowhere. Having sunk his life savings into his Spanish farm, Stewart is forced to learn (but not always accept) local ways and customs as he carves out a life with his ever-capable wife Anna, and later, their baby Chloe. So, if you are looking for some good, escapist non-fiction, this book is for you. It is the perfect book to toss in your bag as you embark on vacation.

This book has been huge in the UK - top ten for the past six months - and no wonder. It is such a great tale: Chris Stewart, one time drummer of Genesis (he left at age 17) sinks his all (the grand sum of $35,000) into a peasant farm in Andalucia. It has no runing water, no electricity, and gets cut off altogether when the river is in flood. Oh, and it turns out that the man who sells him the farm has no plans to move out himself. But as the subtitle says, Chris is an optimist, big time, and that carries him through, along with a little realism from his wife Ana, and local wiles from Domingo, the best neighbor you could hope to find. The book gains its strength from the fact that Stewart has no money and needs to work (as a sheep shearer), bringing real and often very comic insights into the local life - something I found lacking in the Mayle/Mayes Provence/Tuscany bestsellers. But like those books, this is a perfect holiday read - and a book that makes you yearn to follow the Stewarts' lead, and head for a simpler life in the sun.

Briefly, this book was so many wasted hours. Ridiculous plot devices, lost threads, cheesy but amazingly brain-dead characters, frequent use of absurd coincidence. Count yourself lucky if you avoid this piece. One saving grace-type situation was that I gave the book to someone that really annoys me.

I found the book rife with unnecessarily complicated plot devices that detracted from the overall read. If they needed to "bring in" Capt Ammon, why didn't he just disappear one day? Or have a car crash? Why this unbelievably complex ejection situation? Were his handlers worried that someone would say, "Hey, an F-16 pilot disappeared. Maybe he's going to steal a B-1!!" And why did they run away at low altitude/high speed after stealing the B-1, which presents a huge, unique signature to anyone with a radar, instead of simply climbing, slowing down, and "looking" on radar like every other bizjet enroute to New Orleans? So much of the plot reads as nonsensical, as if it was only put there to make the story more exciting, not plausible. As an Air Force fighter pilot, I found the technical side filled with inaccuracies that didn't need to be there, even if you get past the "B-1 is the most awesome warplane in the known universe" tripe. "Stew III?" F-16's at Bitburg?

Overall, I found the whole book contrived and unbelievable. I almost quit halfway through, but kept thinking, "Surely this gets better." Nope.

I personally dont think this book is worth the money spent on it. While the premise and general idea was good, the Stewart failed to develop the storyline to its true potential. It could have been SO MUCH MORE!

Characters were not well fleshed out, and ended up as mere skeletons. While Stewart does make an attempt to give his lead character Richard Ammon a personality and to try and make the reader feel for him, somehow he falls short. The result is a rather loosely pieced together character ensemble.

Plot-wise, the book went rather slowly in my opinion. Again, Stewart does try to give us different angles from different POV's but to no avail.

If you HAVE to read this book, get it from the library. Spend you money on something else, like Ken Follett's "Jackdaws" for example.