Facing fear head-on, so many of these women found a courage that is often undiscovered in most of us. It seemed to me that in many instances they were fulfilling some part of what their soul was sent here to do and learn. In some cases I think they would have preferred that it was someone else's destiny to make it happen, none of their stories are about easy painless solutions, but the choices they make in the face of their respective situations make them "poster women" for what courageous women look and act like in today's world. They take responsibility and ownership for issues/circumstances and most importantly for themselves in ways that remove them from victim status and put them in conscious leadership of their destiny. Because of these women, my daughters can think differently about how they can contribute to the world they walk through. A must read for women, their daughters and the men who love them.

Adams, known at the 'Atlas of Independence,' is less well known than Washington, Jefferson and Franklin, his Revolutionary contemporaries. He is also less revered. Ferling spends several hundred pages laying out the life and achievements of a man who was also crucial to our fight for independence and the survival of our Republic.

Adams was a prodigious diary keeper, and also a mostly honest one, if we are to judge honesty by self criticism and the ability to write about one's own perceived short-comings. This first-person material is a tremendous asset to compiling the President's life story, and one that Ferling puts to good use. The book uses ample quotes to reveal Adam's feelings about personalities and events of his day. Ferling has studied the diaries thoroughly, as shown by his ability to draw on portions from different times in Adam's life to illustrate points or show how Adams changed his views over time. The danger with such a diary based biography is that the diaries can become the book. Ferling does not make this mistake. His ample writing skills utilizes the diaries to illustrate his story and argue his interpretations of his subject's life and actions.

Also useful to the author is that Adams enjoyed a fascinating life. He touched all the great (and not so great) Revolutionary personalities, served for years as a foreign diplomat, was present at the birth of our Government and served as president. Also remarkable, was his relationship with Abigail, an unusual colonial wife who was educated, opinionated and enjoyed a marriage as very nearly an equal partner (highly unusual in those days). Their correspondence and relationship sustained Adams and show how she helped ground this great man of American nationhood.

How does Ferling judge Adams? His assessment is that Adams belongs among the greats of the American founding. This book's thorough telling of Adams's public life to make a pretty good case for Ferlings argument.

There are many fascinating aspects I found in the story. Adams tremendous dislike of Franklin is telling as to their different styles as well as Adams's thirst for approbation. His long and difficult relationship with Jefferson, culminating in their famous correspondence is another gem. Also interesting, is Adams's actions during his presidency when he stood alone against his party and long term political interests in keeping us out of war with France. It was a crucial decision that perhaps saved our Republic, given the potential for the European powers to divvy up a weak America should they have decided to play their rivalries here.

Adams lived a fascinating life and was a thoroughly interesting personality. Kudos to Ferling for bringing the story to a new generation.

I think the best part of this in-depth one volume biography is how the events taking place around John Adams as well as many of his important historical contemporaries are also explored, giving the reader a true vision as to how John Adams fit into the world of the 18th and early 19th century. Franklin, Sam Adams, Jefferson, Washington, Hamilton are all discussed and examined.

Although John Adams is not typically thought of as a notable president, after reading this book, you will understand why two recent polls of historians showed that he was rated as a "great" president who was as instrumental as any in the formation of the United States. By going directly against his own party while president, he was humiliated and initially ignored, but his actions were later realized to have likely saved the US from ruin soon after it's formation. If you are interested in John Adams, or colonial history...Buy This Book.

Ferling also takes great pains in illuminating Adams' amazing breadth of intellect and this a trait sometimes not associated with him. When one thinks about the intellectual titans among the Founding Fathers, Jefferson, Madison and Hamilton generally come to mind. Add Adams to that list and the Father of the Constitution should remain on this lofty list for all time.

Many American Revolution buffs eschew Adams and toss him off as not as interesting, flamboyant or "essential" as the other leading players. I challenge them to read this biography, which shows Adams was not only extremely intelligent, but likable and thoroughly human. This is biography at its finest.

"Nina Won't Tell" isn't about she doesn't say she loves Ben, but more along the lines of her uncle abusing her as a child. This series contains adult matter, yes, but is nothing too serious and is definately worth the reading. Katherine Applegate is now my favorite author (before it was Caroline B. Cooney).

I rate this book a ten because, just like the rest of the series, this book captivates your mind and sucks you in. I love it, nothing can top this series. Except for maybe Dove's Chocolate Promises

This book is just another example of why I think the earliest Animorph novels are the best. OK, there are some exceptions, but generally the standard is far better because the books stand on their own with a greater degree of success. Not quite of the five star standard, 'The Predator' comes very close. The introduction of Ax the Andalite brings humour to the book as he struggles with the concepts of taste and speech and the scenes in space are well described. If you enjoyed this book, I would recommend Animorphs #6, "The Capture", which is one of the best Animorph books there is.

The Predator starts out as Animorphs books always do: with one of the characters who says he can't tell you his last name because of the danger he's in. The danger is from the Yeerks, alien slug parasites who live on peoples' brains and take over their bodies. The animorphs are a group of kids who got morphing power from an alien Andalite and use this power to fight the Yeerks.

In The Predator, the character who tells the story is Marco. Ax, the brother of the Andalite prince who gave the animorphs their power, wants to return to his home planet. Marco, Jake, Cassie, Tobias, and Rachel devise a plan to help him: capturing a Yeerk ship by sending a distress beacon to the Yeerk mother ship.

After they send the distress signal, they turn into their most powerful morphs so that they can fight the Yeerks more easily. When the Yeerk ship comes, out walk two Hork-Bajir warriors. The animorphs attack the two Hork-Bajir, but when they finish they find themselves surrounded by more warriors with dreakon beams. The animorphs are taken to the Yeerk blade ship, where Marco gets the surprise of his life when he meets the Yeerk leader, Visser 1. With its help, the animorphs find an escape pod and zoom off.

A I really like the Animorphs series because their are very descriptive and the authors make up great names for things.

Reviewed by Eli Schulman, age 10

This is the book I've used for years when reading this story to my own children, passing on Tasha Tudor and other illustrators. Why?

Although we can find the same poem and pay a lot more, with award winning illustrators, the illustrations provided by Douglas Gorsline are surely the best. They are quite colorful, and offer details little children love looking into...cats lie sleepily on the window sill, we see an overview of the town, the presents spilling from the open sack are intriguing and plentiful, and Jolly St. Nick is -- well, quite Jolly (as you can see by looking at the cover!)

The story is an "abridged version" - I'm not sure about other parents, but we read this on Christmas Eve, and we only have so much time and energy. Everything we remember from the classic poem by Clement Clarke Moore is in this version.

(From "'Twas the Night Before Christmas, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse" to "He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle, And away they all flew like the down of a thistle. But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,"HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO ALL, AND TO ALL A GOOD-NIGHT!" In between we have everything, from the names of the eight tiny reindeer, to a belly that shakes like a bowl full of jelly, including dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly, when they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky".

In other words, don't be scared off by 'abridged'!)

Perhaps a hardcover edition might be more appropriate if you're giving a gift (unless you're giving to more than one child), but this book is one of the best offers we've found!

A classic done simply and inexpensively!

The lyrics are the same, from book to book, but the fanciful illustrations in this one are enough to engage adults and children as they read this book together.

The perfect gift for any family whose Christmas tradition includes reading this classic!

You can turn to any page and read it without having to read what came before or after. It's fun to just open the book to a random page and follow that tip for a day. The conversational style is fun and motivating.

The recipes are *super*. It's such a welcome change from the "eat yogurt and celery sticks" boredom. The Hot and Sour Soup recipe is especially good.

An Anifan

Eerk the pacifist Android Chee informs the Animorphs of a new Yeerk project which is under high security on an nearby, isolated island. He also tells Marco that Visser One, who stole away the body of Marco's mother to become its host (the full story of how/why is later told in the series in the book Visser) is overseeing the project. The most serious problem is it involves an aquatic race called Leerans, which are physic, and if these mind reading aliens are able to be taken in force as hosts, all will be lost for the human Animorphs. Their very survival depends on their enemy Visser Three (again, see earlier books) thinking they're Andalite renegades who escaped the initial attack in space over planet earth. If their secret is let out, death or worse to themselves and families would be instant.

Some very serious problems occur when the group morphs dolphins to explore the underwater base of operations, resulting in the team needing a new morph. Unfortunately, the morph needed is a hammerhead shark, and they run into some adventures acquiring it.

Action packed with tension strung here and there to keep the story interesting, along with Marco's sardonic wit, the book reaches an interesting climax with a face off between Visser One, Marco, Visser Three, and the other Animorphs. No spoilers, but this book gets 5 stars for good readability, a quick paced plot, and well grounded, serious story.

Now, a short bit for anyone like parents, or someone else outside the target audience who might be curious about this series. Marco is the comic of the group, and even though he pops plenty of jokes, many of them funny, we see more to him than that. Above all, he doesn't want anyone to pity him, and he's a hurting young boy who lost his mother -- yet didn't lose her. As he put it, he's trapped by hope itself, showing the duel edge to the emotion. While his mother lives, there's a chance she can be saved, but if she were truly dead, he could heal to move on with his life. Marco is also the Animorph with the most inner rage, which was seen particularly in The Android with the spider morph. There's a very brief section in this novel which is insightful to that, and has a very deep moral to it about power... and power corrupting. Marco is sorely tempted to murder some school mate bullies who are teasing him ruthlessly and cruelly about his mother. Partially through shark morph, but still almost all human, his teeth are changing, and he keeps staring at the bully's throat, almost aware of the blood pumping through it. This is a very subdued part of the book, but Jake keeps Marco from being rash. We'll never know if Marco would have actually gone through with it or not, but we can hope he had the strength not to. This is one of the few places where Applegate introduced the idea of corruption through a very awesome power, at least within the main characters. She expands on it in later books with a character called David, who they turn into an Animorph and everything goes awry.

On the other side of the scale, we see just how much Marco loves his Mom, even more personally than before. The reader experiences first hand the loss he lives with day by day, and why he makes fun of life to laugh instead of cry. A well written, very good "page turner" overall, with some interesting threads and humor.

The Ellimist Chornicles. The second I saw it advertised in the backof one of the books I knew I had to have it! I've never read aChronicle I didn't love! It's so interesting to read about charactersand species The Animorphs know nothing about, therefore we're left inthe dark, filled with questions and wonderings. What IS theEllimist(s) anyways? How did it/they become what it/they are today?How great is their power? And how did it/they become involved with theCrayak? All these questions and more are answered in this book.

Itbegins with the Ellimist with one of the Animorphs, we never find outwhich one. The Animorph is dying, and I'm wondering if this will becarried on into the series, or if it's in the far future. But anyways,the Animorph asks questions about the fight, whether it's in vain, andwhen the Ellimist doesn't reply, s/he reacts in anger, raging aboutwho the Ellimist really is, and why he's controlling them. TheEllimist answers by telling his story, the story of his many lives,his 'death,' and how he became to be what he is today. A mightycreature stretching throughout the entirety of space, yet a tinycreature too small too see. You get to see him as a low-ranking,unimportant Ketran, to a machine-type creature 'fixing' theuniverse. You even witness the amazing battle that's been mentioned inprevious Animorphs, the battle with Crayak that ripped apart thegalaxy. It's an amazing book, and a defnite must-have for any Ani-fan!