I just finished reading this book to my 7-year-old son and we both loved it. I'm a fan of Terry Jones from his Monty Python days, and was delighted to find his irreverent, offbeat humor intact throughout this fast-paced adventure. Having said that, I must caution parents on the appropriateness of some of this material for the pre-10 age group. If you read it to your child, be prepared to occasionally edit for language and subject matter. Also, as the action occurs in locales throughout France, you may wish to brush up on your French pronunciations!

Okay, first of all, this book is superb. It has wonderful descriptions, the characters are unique, and it has an eventful plot. Could it get any better? You bet. It is funny, and a good book to get kids interested in reading. I would reccomend it those who love medieval stories, adventure stories, humourous stories, fantasy,... Pretty much anyone! Probably best for ages 7 - 14.
I read this book before I read the prequel, and it wasn't so confusing. I've been looking for the first one, The Knight and the Squire, but so far I haven't found it in any bookstores. (sigh!) Now here's what it's about:
Setting: medieval France
Characters: Tom - an adventurous young squire
Ann - a mischievious young girl who masquerades as a knight for most of the book
and Emily - a young Lady who Tom runs into and immediately falls in love with during his adventures
Plot: Tom is kidnapped, thrown in a dungeon with a cannibal, condemned to death, he escapes, runs into Emily (who decides to come with him), and as he is escaping he discovers that the whole English army is drunk. Oh, and later he falls into a well, jumps off a palace wall to avoid being captured by the Pope's guards, and Emily, who thinks Ann is a knight, falls in love with 'him' until she learns the truth (that Ann is a girl).
Now the plot isn't the only thing that will make you laugh until you cry - for here are some examples of chapter titles:
"The Town Where Everyone is Drunk" and "How Tom Nearly Invented the Flushing Lavatory Five Hundred Years Before Thomas Crapper" and "What Happened Under the Pope's Floorboards"
Okay, so if you don't think that's funny, you probably shouldn't read it.
But, anyway, it's a funny, suspenseful, exciting book. I congratulate Terry Jones and say to anyone thinking about buying it "If you don't read it, you're really missing something!"

Read the Knight and the Squire first, then read this installment. They are wonderful -- exciting storytelling, humor and excellent medieval research behind them. Terry Jones is a gifted story teller. We found the Knight and His Squire on a trip to London several years ago and loved it so much that we ordered this book as soon as it came out in England thry Amazon UK. It was well worth the extra shipping expense. We cannot wait for the next book in the series. By the way, the novels have excellent male AND female leading characters, and are witty enough to interest adults as well. Go for it!

This is a good set of stories about Erik's voyages and adventures. Oral traditions of these stories are blatenly obvious, but help younger readers follow the stories. These stories will make great bedtime stories or beginning reader stories. The lessons are timeless and will surely get any child interested in reading more about mythology or the Vikings.

The boys from Monte Python have done it! After reading this book, I was thoroughly satisfied. I don't know what I expected to find within, but the impulse buy was worth it. The illustrations are lovely, and the stories are filled with meaning that you will carry with you always. The tales weave into each another to make on big journey. Each ends up with a moral, therefore making it important for children AND adults to read (since we seem to thinkg growing up means to forget childhood "lessons"). Learn them again with this pleasing book, it will keep you fingering through the pages until there are no more.

Written by ex-Monty Python member Terry Jones, it tells the tale of a Viking named Erik, who, with his men, goes on a quest to find the land where the sun goes at night. It is involving, exciting, well written, and great reading for all ages. I highly recommend it.

As a person of Irish descent, I was very happy to see "The Irish in America". This book is full of colorful illustrations showing what the Irish have accomplished in this country. I am referencing the book in my MA, History Thesis, this Autumn.

On page 57, however, the editors have made an understandable error. They attribute the founding of Manhattan College (1853), De La Salle University (1863) and St. Mary's (Moraga, California, (1863) to the Irish Christian Brothers. As a 1965 graduate of Manhattan College, I can tell you that these three colleges were founded by the French Christian Brothers, also know as the De La Salle Brothers. This teaching order was founded in Paris by St. John Baptist de la Salle, and predates the Irish Christian Brothers by almost two hundred years. To my knowledge, the only college founded by the Irish Christian Brothers in the U.S. is Iona College (1940) in New York. Personally, I enjoyed the book, found new facts about the Irish in America, and would recommend it to any Irish or Irish-American person.

Coffey and Golway give a wonderful overview of the experiences of Irish men and women in the United States. Coming to the U.S. as a result of political an religious oppression, as well as a result of the potato blight in the mid-19th century, the Irish worked hard to gain respectablity and political voices as American citizens. In many cases, especially in the early 20th Century, to be Irish was to be a second class citizen in the U.S. Today's attitudes prove that the Irish have come a long way in American society from being judged as such to becoming a very proud and celebrated nationality in our country.

Coffey and Golway use numerous anecdotes, excerpts, and other quotations from famous and not so famous Irish Americans. Included in this book are Denis Leary, Frank McCourt, and a forward by Patrick Kennedy. Reflections of these Irish-American personalities on their grandparents' or parents' lives and hard work, as well as memories of Catholic school, and other aspects of Irish-American life. Glossy photographs accent each passage beautifully and add to the overall attraction of the book. Contributions by all the authors provides a celebration of Irish ethnicity and heritage in the United States that is portrayed as humorous, melancholy, but overall proud. This book accents the PBS Documentary by the same name very nicely. After reading this book, I wished in a sense, that I had some Irish heritage.

This is collection of short stories that offers a wide mix of speculative genres. Fantasy, SF, horror, and just plain weird. The stories run the gambit and most are good. "Jeo Defined" and "Moon Warrior" were excellent stories and well worth purchasing the book. Even just the so-so stories were enjoyable and all the authors are names to keep a look out for. In the end, this is a book of up and coming writers and a few of them will no doubt be big names someday.

I didn't know what to expect from this collection of short stories but I was happily surprised. The stories cover a wide range from fantasy, science fiction, and horror to those hard to classify strange stories. Each one is worth reading. My favorites were the one about a radio personality who was singing the Siren's song and the one about a criminal who is forced to undergo "augmentation" to control him. Some wild stuff for a great read.

This tape is well done. The sound effects create an atmosphere that draws in the listener. The actors are dramatic, but not overly so. The short stories themselves are well written, delivering edge-of-the-chair suspense (or knee-slapping comedy, as the case may be).

As most net surfers are aware the Sci-Fi Channel's web site has included a section devoted to science fiction radio drama...Seeing Ear Theatre. One aspect of which includes originally produced productions cerated especially for the site and which has featured performances by many well-known SF actors as Micheal O'Hare,Mark Hamill,Marina Sirtis,and others. With a few exceptions, a lot of the dramas are based on recent short stories by SF writers such as Terry Bisson, Allen Steele, John Kessel and Gergory Benford. With the release of this audiobook editon(which includes introductions by SF's resident angry young{sic}man Harlan Ellison)now one can listen to these stories anytime you want. The best stories(IMO)are the Three Odd Comedies and The Death of Captain Future (which despite the pulpish-sounding title is a darkly humorous tale set in the future history of Steele's previous works such as Orbital Decay and Clarke County,Space). If you like audio drama-- especially newly produced audio drama...you'll love this collection and you may also want to check out Vol. 2 which should be on sale soon(I know I can't wait).

WOW what a story! Brian Smith could sell this as a short story by itself it is so good IMO. I just wish they sold a hard copy of these writings--not just audio! I have been reading Sci Fi for a long time. This guy is great! Reminds me of 2001, a space odyssey a bit. Worth the price just for this one folks! I noticed there are no other books by Brian Smith for sale on Amazon. What's up with that? He needs to write books, and Amazon needs to sell them--geez, do I make myself clear?

I read this book because I was truely intersted in learning more about the great Sawchuk and how tough it was for the goalies in the past. What I didn't know about was how bad his personal life was or should I say his wife's and children's lives were. At least now it is much more acceptable for people to seek help who have such troulbed lives. I wish he could have found the help and the support he needed. Let's hope there is more help offered in the Hockey Leagues today!

To read the personal lives of the Sawchuk family who kept Terry's life quite for thirty years is interesting and amazing.David Dupuis captures the facts of a life of termoil and the familys personal pains.I give Jerry Sawchuk the oldest son my blessings for releasing the information that has been kept within him and his family.This book captures not only the hockey legend but the radical collision he had with every day life away from hockey.My love goes out to the Sawchuk family and they should be proud of the fine job done with this fantastic book .

Before I read this book, all I ever knew about Terry Sawchuck was that he was the greatest goalie ever to play the game of hockey. After reading this book I found out how a great athlete of the past is so much like the athletes of today. Sawchuck was an alcoholic womanizer who physically and mentally abused his family. This book tells a compelling story about his personal life and the greatest moments from the games he played. This book is a must for any hockey fan.

I think the author did a good job at describing what a friend is for.The story is good for little kids because it may teach them that they need to share or when you when you need something done no one will help you. I think the pitchures book are colorful and cheerful.

The Selfish Crocodile by Faustin Charles and Michael Terry is a very funny book. It is how a crocodile won't let anyone in the river except himself. Until one day when something happened to him and he discovered that he needs friends. He finds out the real meaning of friendship and that we can all get a long together.

The Selfish Crocodile offers a pleasant medium for teaching young children about kindness, selflessness, and the significance of living harmoniously with our fellow creatures. I highly recommend this book for ages 3 and up.

This book looks very good for someone building plastic model airplanes. It is worthless for a scratch builder of balsa models (which I am).

Mr. Ashey seems to know what he's talking about. This book covers a wide range of topics centered around altering and adding detail to your models. Lots of techniques for begginers to advanced modelers with simple tips to create the effects you want. He sometimes uses tools that most of us don't have, and doesn't always explain their uses, (i.e. working w/ resin and superglue) but on the whole a Very informative book. I would suggest it for anyone who wants to get more out of their model than what comes in the box.

I only make 1/72 scaled mordern airplane model. I've refered this book much although it devoed to 1/48 scale.

Even you don't like aircraft modeling, It can help you to get an interest in the model aircraft.

I will order other modeling books written by Mr.Ashey.

I am a Star Wars fanatic and picked up this book without a second thought. Let's just say I was lucky to have seen the movie (which was awesome) before I sat down and read the book.

The book is aimed at 10 year olds, I think. The dialogue is taken RIGHT from the movie, and the descriptions are so BASIC. I actually feel less intelligent after reading this book. How much effort does it take to directly copy the movie? SW, ESB, and ROTJ all had very good novels, and went into more detail about certain scenes (ie. Luke's training on Dagobah, the history of the Republic). However, in TPM, the "background" is so obscure and generalized you'd be better off not knowing it (case in point: the history of the sith). The pod race was so BORING I couldn't believe it! It is understandable that visuals are needed, but come on, at least TRY and put detail and expression into your writing!

Before I get too angry about this I'd better stop. I should also explain my rating. I would have given the book 1 star, but the extra star is for the nifty Darth Maul cover.

I normally don't read books after I've already seen the movie, and especially not books based on a screenplay. But since I like Star Wars, I thought I would make an exception with this book.

It went a little slowly since I already knew the story, but I did enjoy it the whole time. The book was pretty much right in line with the movie, but there is a some extra information in the book that you don't get in the movie, such as a better picture of Annakin's life before the Queen and her entourage show up on Tatooine, and a better understanding of the relationship between Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon, and a more in-depth explanation of the Sith, and their background.

If you're a Star Wars fan, you'll probably like this whether you've seen the movie or not.

I loved this book. Personally, I've seen the movie 3 times already (due to change to higher number soon). The 2nd time I saw the movie, I went and brought the book. It was worth every cent. Now, I was introduced to Star Wars when I was four. My grandmother had it at her house and I thought it was scary as anything. My brother got it for his 7th birthday (when I was nine) and we watched all of them straight through and I finally understood the plot. Then I was hooked. My dad started to let me read the Star Wars books. I enjoyed most of them (save some Kevin J. Anderson books). Until this day, my favorite SW book is "Jedi Under Seige", surprisingly by Kevin J. Anderson/Rebecca Moesta. When the new movie came out, my friend and I skipped school to see it. For those of you who haven't seen it, get off the internet, get your shoes on, and haul your butt to the nearest threater showing Episode One. The book, in my opinion is just as good as the movie, which was killer. Terry Brooks is a talented writer (unlike some. I'm not mentioning any names, Ms. J. V. Jones. And Mr. Kevin J. Anderson (Adult Star Wars)) and keeps strictly to a plot line. He doesn't give away any secrets about the movie until they're supposed to be given (Sound familiar, Ms. P. C. Wrede?).The one problem I had was that the battles could have been more descriptive. As an unpublished novelist, I'll say firsthand that battles ARE hard to do, but when you're doing Star Wars, blood and gore, and lightsabers, and ships, and big explosions work. Thank you and have a nice day.

...but it's not Gaiman. But then, Neil set the bar at an extremely high standard, one which few can match, especially with regard to The Dreaming.

I had finished reading the Sandman series not long ago, kinda thinking how much I would like to hear more stories of these fantastic characters, when I ran into this book.

It is made up of 3 short stories featuring Cain & Abel, Mad Hettie, and a few other Familiars from the Sandman series.

Story 1: "The Goldie Factor"- This is a story that centers around our favorite gargoyle, Goldie. Goldie gets angry at Cain for his continuous, mean behavior towards Abel. She realizes that she can't change the situation and runs away from home where her adventure in the dreaming begins... (this was my favorite of all the stories)

Story 2: "The Lost Boy"- Mad Hettie finds a young man who has been enchanted by the faerie people and helps him find his way home. Within this story is also the mystery of a key that Mad Hettie has stolen.

Story 3: "His Brother's Keeper"- Just another evening get-together at Cain's house.

It was nice to delve into stories focusing around the minor (but no less loved) characters from the Sandman series. The stories were basically good, but at times felt a little wonky (not a lot, but just a wee bit).

If you are looking for appearances of Dream or Death they do not show, but this shouldn't stop you from enjoying a good read and great art work.

I would consider myself perhaps an intermediate in the world of Neil Gaiman. BOTH books about the dreaming are beyond masterpieces. his characters are colorful, the storylines are in depth and fascinating, and the artwork is phenomenal. to gain a better understanding of the sandman comics, read both books on the dreaming: beyond the shores of night and the gates of horn and ivory. definitely worth the money.