My grandaughter loves your book and we would like to purchase more by Thomas Hood. Did he write anymore or is he about to??!!?? She's just two years old and is fascinated with all the little tricks and picture plays within the pictures. Please write more!! Deb Weber

Realistic, detailed pictures. Modern in the way of letting kids know they can be anything they want to be, and fun because it takes you many places, it's adventurous.

My 3 1/2 year old has loved this book since he was very little. The poem captivates his imagination and the pictures are wonderful to look at. He loves to show me which animal the boy is imagining and loves to find as many things from the poem in the picture on the last page. It's funny and sweet and kids discover new things every time they read it.

MY GREAT GRANDMOTHER WAS IN TOWN WHEN THE BOOTLEGGER WAS SHOT AND KNEW HIM. THIS BOOK SHOWS THE TRUE LIFE AND STRUGGLES OF LIFE NOT JUST IN SMALL TOWNS BUT ACROSS AMERICA. EXCELLENT HISTORY LESSON OF SURVIVAL AND WHAT GENERATIONS BEFORE US DID TO GIVE US WHAT WE HAVE.

This is definitely a page turner--rare in nonfiction. Mr. Hallwas combines the suspense of a murder mystery and the facts of a history lesson and makes it all fascinating! I was born in the area and my family's surnames are mentioned throughout the book. Most of my family members have read the book and have SO enjoyed it! In fact it may have solved a generations-old family mystery of a missing relative! A must read for anyone with family roots in small town America!

This book is excellent. Definitely a "can't put down" book. Hard to imagine the quiet, sleepy town of Colchester was once involved with Al Capone, Shoeless Joe Jackson, bombings of homes of law enforcement agents, and murders, bootlegging and crimes of this nature!

My son Joseph loves all the books in this series. Any boy that loves Thomas the Tank will! They are easy to handle for small boys. The pages are durable.

As every parent of a Thomas Fan knows, these books would better be durable and easy to carry. This book is an excellent combination of both. The four original stories are accompanied by the original illustrations, and put together in a durable hardcover, easy to carry format.

When my 3-yr old takes an interest in something, it usually becomes an all-out obsession: dinosaurs, construction vehicles, space and so it continues with Thomas the Tank Engine. We've read other books and rented videos, but these books (there are four in this series) are his beloved. The stories are simple and plentiful with a bit of a moral to them, without being pretentious or zealous. The writing style is delightful: adult enough not to bore the reader and yet perfectly understandable for the listener (assuming it's a child!). The pictures are clear but not movie or television tie-ins - it makes them more lovable! The books are small and my son loves to stack them and carry them around with him.

If your child loves Thomas and you're tired of media tie-ins, these books are for you!

Journey into Madness is one of THE ABSOLUTE BEST books I have ever read in my entire life. If I was the principal of a High School, Journey Into Madness would be a required reading for all of the students. The young people need to learn that they have the right to living a pain-free life. And they need to understand that they will NOT get into trouble for reporting distressful or torturous experiences to authorities like they're librarians, nurses, and teachers. Thank you, Gordon Thomas, for being so kind as to offer the peace and mercy needed in the hearts of so many children and adults around the world. The American children are forever in debt to you for your merciful kindness.

Love,
Joematters.com

Mr. Gordon's research and objectivity is laudable, his book an eye-opener. It lends credance to movies such as Blind Sight. Mr. Gordon's description of Dr. al-Abub, his training and mission and that his current endeavors continue makes one wonder what humans can be about that they could do to others what they do. Can there still be Dr. Camerons/al Abubs working the torture circuit in the name of nationalism and belief?

The second review merely seeks to lessen the impact of the book "Journey into Madness" by Gordon Thomas by pointing out that other governments do similar things. No. Not on the scale and with the hypocrisy that the CIA does.

For those interested, who would like to know more about such practices and how the CIA and the medical community continue their terror and human rights abuses here and in other countries, there is some mention of this in "The Serpent and the Rainbow" by Wade Davis. He writes of the work of the American psychiatrist Nathan Kline (sp?) with the CIA in Haiti. This details their search for a drug they (doctors & the CIA) could use to control people - turn them into zombies. It mentions, coincidentially, the secret and not-so-secret primate and human experiments occurring at the New York State Psychiatric Institute by a Dr. Leo Rozen (sp). These practices still occur. The NIMH, in fact, are admittedly are giving people with mental illness Angel Dust (aka ketamine) to induce psychosis. This causes more irreversible damage than LSD.

Recently there were series of articles in the Harford Courant (1998) and the Boston Globe on drug abuses and torture used in private and publicly funded psychiatric hospitals.

In sixth grade, I read a third draft of "Loser's Ledge," which was incredibly good. Mr. Thomas always told fantastic stories, and this is another one of them. From a biased point of view, this is a wonderful book, and from an unbiased point of view, it is still a wonderful book. Buy it; take it out at the library; whatever you do, read it.

Mr. Thomas was a great teacher when I had him in 6th grade. I remember reading a rough draft of Loser's Ledge, and loved it. I'm soo glad he got it published, and it is an amazing book! If you are looking for a great adventure/comedy, then Loser's Ledge is just the right thing! You won't want to put down Loser's Ledge.

I was another one of Mr. Thomas's students in the sixth grade. He would talk about his book and getting it published and now he has. He was a great teacer and now he has written a great book. It was an exciting and interesting book with an excellent plot. I loved the book and highly recommend it.

To realise that for only a few dollars more I could have bought 'The Nightmare Factory' instead which contains all the stories in this book + many more! I guess I will end up owning them both. Ligotti is one of the few creditable horror writers working today and I could never get tired of his stories. They just seem to get deeper and deeper with each subsequent reading. However - if you are looking for blood/gore type horror don't bother - this is a deeply subtle writer at work ..

ligotti is the most disturbing horror writer i've ever encountered, hands down. after i finished "noctuary" i was hungry for more, but unfortunately could not find "grimscribe" anywhere, and am still fiending for a copy. the stories in this book resonate with a kind of sickly unreality (maybe best articulated in "the tsalal") and one gets the sense that while ligotti is on the one hand the impassioned horror writer trying desperately to communicate his vision to the reader, he is on the other hand the avant garde artist in the tradition of duchamp, laughing openly at our pathetic and delusory attempts to impose meaning and order on a universe that in the final equation has neither. it is almost as if he makes a point of pointing out the pointlessness. in this way, he is like his idol hp lovecraft, who constantly added subtle layers of philosophical nihilism and the most extreme forms of pessimism to his work. for those who love tasting the dark, you can't live without this

Thomas Ligotti is easily one of the least known masters of modern fiction. His work transcends genre and his prose is most often poetic, his imagery haunting and atmospheric. For fans of any type of literature, Thomas Ligotti is a rare gem and a great talent in the field, though sometimes a difficult read, his work is always rewarding.

This book preceeded his most recent work, "In a foreign town, in a foreign land" and his one of his best collections to date. Even the last section, which are simply bits and pieces from his notebooks, nothing coming close to a finished piece, far outshine many popular and exhalted writers working in the field today. Ligotti can create entire worlds, set mood and instill any emotion he desires, with a masters skill in less than a page, something many current bestselling authors fail to accomplish in hundreds of pages, or their entire body of work.

For those new to Thomas Ligotti, this book is a great place to start, for those familiar with some of his other works, look for "Alice's last adventure" in Prime Evil, "In a foreign town, In a foreign land" a very rare novella, and "Songs of a dead dreamer" the mass market paperback is a highly revised version of the original small press release and his first published collection of stories. Any fan of great literature no matter the genre will not be disappointed by this great artist's work.

ENJOY........

"The Simple Sounds Of Freedom" by Thomas H. Taylor, Random House, New York 2002. The title of the book is derived from President Clinton's speech in France on the fiftieth anniversary of D Day.

This is a biography of Joe Beyrle but the book is also a record of praise for the 101st Airborne. Joe Beyrle, from Michigan, was part of the 101st Airborne when that division dropped into Normandy on D-Day, 1944. He was captured, escaped, capture again and shipped off to a German POW camp. After one escape, he is captured in Berlin, the capital city of the Third Reich; he is tortured by Gestapo. Joe is rescued from the Gestapo by the German Army, the Wehrmacht, of all people, who claim him as their prisoner. They were following bureaucratic procedures, a common trait in Nazi Germany. After regaining his strength, Joe Beyrle again escapes, and this time, he is close enough to reach the relative safety of Soviet lines. After identifying himself as an American, Joe decides to stay with the Soviet armored column in order to kill Germans. Thus, he fights on both the Western and Eastern fronts in Europe in 1944-1945, fulfilling the sub-title of the book, "...Only Soldier to Fight For Both America and the Soviet Union in World War II".

As a 101st Airborne combat veteran himself, the author was capable of an excellent job of bonding with Joe Beyrle, so as to produce an almost personal memoir direct from the Joe's memories. At times, it was difficult to distinguish between Beyrle and Taylor. At other times, particularly in Chapter Sixteen, entitled, "Bastogne", it was evident that it was all Thomas Taylor writing in praise of the division he loves, the 101st. From the viewpoint of a biography of Joe Beyrle, such chapters were unnecessary, but their presence rounds out the story and makes a better history of the time. By the way, the photo collection in the book shows Joe Beyrle aging in a remarkably similar fashion to the character of Private Ryan in the movie, "Saving Private Ryan".

I found the story of Joe Beyrle to be almost unbelieveable. How could one person go through so much. I was very anxious to read the book, because I once knew who he was from work. I worked at Brunswick Corporation in Muskegon, as did he. I knew that he was a prisoner of war, and that he had been reported killed in action. However, I didn't know that whole story until now. Many of the comments about Muskegon as familiar to me. Also, I once met his parents, as I am friends with his niece.

Thomas Taylor is an excellent writer. He knows how to make the story interesting, and provides much detail. Even though many of the incidents in the story are not pleasant, they are a part of history. He depicts World War II as brutal and horrible. Let us hope that it never happens again.

An amazing story! Joe Beyrle completely inspires me, never have i heard such an amazing tail based on such an extraordinary person. We should all be thankful that Joe is on our side.

This is a must read as it's the most satisfying book i've read in years. How Tom Taylor put this mans story in to words is beyond me.....very well done!

My father left me this book when he passed away. Had I known my father had such good taste in books I would have asked what else he liked to read! I must admit, I read it more out of obligation than desire (my preferred genre is Fantasy) but boy-oh-boy was I in for a surprise. This has to be one of the best novels I've ever read. I'm not much of a history buff so this was my first novel set in an historical setting. The characters were superbly developed. I am sure I would know Richard, Tostig and Eleanor if I saw them walking down the street - as a matter of fact, I'd probably propose to Eleanor on the spot. On the historical side it was invigorating to have an entirely believable setting for the novel. The author clearly has masterful control over a wealth of knowledge concerning life in the Middle Ages. Mr. Costain not only writes authoritatively, but he almost brings you to the point of letting you 'live' in Ireland / England during that period of time -- from a humble peasant's hovel to a King's castle, you'll know what life was all about. And the ending of the book has a unique twist to it that caught me totally off guard. I loved everything about this book save this single item: I finished it too fast. My recommendation is for a full five stars ... I'd prefer giving this book six stars if possible. Read it, you won't regret it.

I first came across this book on my mother's bookshelf when I was about 12 years old. An inveterate bookworm, I started reading, and could not stop. I have read this book many times over the ensuing 27 years, most recently two weeks ago. The story is still riveting, and parts of it can still move me to tears. As a result of reading this book, I actually went to the field of Runnymede when I was a student in England in 1981. The bus driver was sure that, as an American, I'd be wanting the JFK memorial just over the hill, but I assured him that I was bound for Runnymede. It it lovely and empty and still, except for a small stone monument, erected by the American Bar Association, celebrating the Magna Carta as the beginning of real freedom for all men under law. Had I not read this book, I might never have made the effort to visit.

I enjoyed the characters immensely and, while I have over time read other books just as compelling, and with perhaps grittier writing, I still come back to this lovely, familiar tale for inspiration. Two weeks ago I reached for it because I was preparing a presentation (for a graduate class) about Eleanor of Aquitaine, and reading about her life stirred memories of this book.

If you can find it, read it!

I read this book a long time ago, but felt I should review since I've just begun another Costain book. He is a wonderful author. His characters are alive and he really shows what life was like back in these Dark Ages. I recommend this book to friends that I know love to read, and it has caused more than one sleepless night while they try to finish the book. Begin your journey today, and try to find this book if you can. Try the local library.

What better way to spice up your holidays than with a little murder in the family?! Christie gives us her version of Scrooge in crusty ole curmudgeon Simeon Lee who has amassed a fortune in the diamond mines of South Africa. As Christmas approaches, he invites all his family, many of them long-estranged, to spend the holidays at his palatial estate Gorston Hall. Christie proceeds to do what she does best---she gathers a group of diverse characters related by blood or marriage, reveals their worst traits, and allows one person to be murdered while pointing the finger at each of the survivors. Simeon Lee has concocted a sadistic game to play on his family. The game begins when he allows his family to hear him give instructions to his lawyer to change his will. The game continues when he gives each of them a thorough dressing down for their weaknesses, stupidity, and greed. The game reaches a climax in Simeon's study where one person is found with a slashed throat.

"Murder for Christmas" was also published as "A Holiday for Murder" and "Hercule Poirot's Christmas." It is notable not only as an excellent example of the locked-room mystery, but also as the most bloody of the Christie mysteries. Noted for her cozy murders via poisoned chocolates and a foreign substance in the afternoon tea, in this one Christie gives us all the blood and gore she is capable of. Her brother-in-law had requested that she come up with a "good violent murder with lots of blood" and this is her answer to him hoping it will satsify his lust. Though not anywhere close to today's violence on tv, this is the bloodiest of the genteel novels Dame Agatha wrote.

Unfortunately for the clever murderer, Hercule Poirot happens to be spending Christmas with the Chief Constable of the county and is therefore conveniently on hand to assist in sifting through the many red herrings and false identities that make this novel complex and exciting.

If you're yearning for a good old-fashioned English country-house Christmas with lots of interesting characters on hand, you'll find this one most satisfying.

The family has gathered home for Christmas. Even the prodigal son and a long lost granddaughter have come home for the holidays. The ailing patriarch of the family is murdered in a locked room with no mode of escape for the murderer. Poirot solves the murder with his usual flair. Interesting group of characters. It's a very good mystery that will keep you guessing.

I can't believe this book is out of print! It's definitely one of the best mysteries Christie ever wrote. A feuding family gathers for a reunion during the Christmas holidays, summoned by their obnoxious old father, and when Dad turns up dead as the proverbial doornail, it has to be a family member that committed the crime. Well, it was a family member, all right... I'm not giving away the surprise, but suffice to say you can't always trust your nearest relations, and sometimes you don't even know who they are. Christie was a national treasure and this book is one of the prime jewels in the treasure chest. Somebody please reissue this book and fast. There's a whole generation out there waiting to discover a gem.