This is an unusual book--definitely not a novel, for the plot is non-existant. The storyline alternates among 4 teenagers and 3 veterans of different wars--none of whom meet each other. According to the Summary, there is a theme which provides commonality/literary glue (see Heading) but even that is somewhat obscure. The chapters are short and read quickly. Master story-teller Paulsen held my interest because I kept waiting for the four protagonists to interact and solve the world's problems--or at least their own.

But it was not to be, which lead to my frustration and disappointment. If he just wanted to write good short stories, he could have rearranged them, so that readers would realize when the end had been reached about a specific young adult. Nor did I notice any thread of nuclear disaster, as proclaimed on the back of the book. I found human vulnerability and dignity, as these young people sought meaning and direction in their lives. All four pursued th! eir goals differently, but it was unfortuate that they never knew of each other's dilemmas, so they could learn from each other's experience. A sad commentary on the social isolation of the teen years. Knowing the heights to expect from Paulsen, I felt cheated.

Have you ever thought about something in life, and wanted it to happen, then later on, thought it would be best, if it didn't? Well, four teenagers: a native American girl, an illegal Mexican immigrant, a sheep-herder's daughter and a gifted rock musician try to cope with the challenges of life, in the USA. They figure out that the life they wanted, or had, should change. I didn't really like this story. I found it confusing in ways. I think that Paulsen should have stuck with one dynamic character, and dealt with all of his or her conflicts. Then, do the next character's story. But the book was good in ways. It showed me that life isn't what you think it is. The character that I liked the best was probably Sue, the Native American girl that never really loved her grandfather until she found out how lucky she was to have him. Later, she learned to love him, and the stories that he told.

I am a junior high school teacher in Japan.I found this wonderful book in the school library.Everybody will be amazed by the construction of this book.But the more important thing is the vivid description of the heart of the youth.I love the story of Sue and the story of Lola especially. An Indian girl,Sue,met an Indian boy.And she woke up her self-knowledgement as an Indian.It was described through the changing of the way which she viewed her grandfather.I want to listen to him singing stories about animals,the wind,moon and seasons. The story of Lola,an only child in a sheep ranch,is also impressive .I can imagine the smell of the birth of sheep when reading this stoty.The connection between Lola and her parents through the common work of keeping sheep,was certainly described. The stories of three youths in the battle field are realistic because the auther heard them from the real soldiers from that time.I have been trying to tell the students about the misery of the war,so that the stories of young soldiers are impressive. I read Gary Paulsen's other book"TRACKERS".In this book the boy's changing heart about death was also described vividly. Peter Paulsen said that he wrote these books for youths but they touched on my heart as well although I am 55 years old.I think Gary Paulsen is a wonderful writer who can describe the heart of youths and Mother Nature vividly.

Tiltawhirl John is about a fifteen-year-old boy who runs away from home to work on a beet farm. The famer is a bad dude to mess with. He beats his workers, hardly feeds them and makes them work hard for little money, that the workers never get. One day the boy went to the farmer to ask for his money and the farmer beat him badly. When the boy was better, he ran away from the farm, and was picked up by Tiltawhirl John. His life turned around. I didn't like the book because the boy kept talking about the beet farm, all through the story. There wasn't very much action or suspense in the plot.

I have read many other Gray Peulson books before I read this one. I like this book because it was an exciting story of a young boy. The book was told by a thrid persons point of view and it was limited. It was hard for me to put the book down at first, but I put it down advetually. The book is about a teenage boy how wanted to find out what a real life was. He runs away from home, the works on a beet farm. Than runs away from there and meets Tiltwhirl John, Wanda, and Billy. I would recommend this book for a high school aged people and up.

I was given an copy of this novella, an origional print, over six years ago. Since then, I've read it at least ten times.

This book is marketed as a children's book. It is not, and this perhaps accounts for any negative review it receives. "Tiltawhirl John" begins as the boy, whose name we never learn, is running away from home, avoiding the responsibility of running his uncle's farm. He wants to make a life for himself, to strike it rich. "Tiltawhirl John" is, at the risk of sounding cliched, a coming of age novel.

His idealistic fantasies take him to a beet farm, where he is savagely beaten, and then a carnival, where he is befriended by a family.

Billy, the tough yet tender geek, Wanda, who runs the "saliva pit," and T-John are among the memorable, beautifully written characters in this book. Paulson has the unique ability to quickly draw complex characters, whether they be a young cowboy or a knife wielding, vengeful ex-lover.

Paulson also tells a damn good story. In fact by the end of the book, when you realize that your never again going to hear from Wanda, T-John and Billy, you'll cry. I guarantee it.

In summation, this is a lost classic. This is one of those books that deserves to be in the panthean of American novels, but probably won't be, because of dumb luck.

Mr. Paulson, if you're out there, I salute you. You're novel has influenced me a great deal.

Dancing Carl is a book about two boys who meet a mysterious man named Carl. They live in a small town, McKinley, Minnesota, that revolves around winter. They have a gravel pit that they flood and freeze. After it is frozen, they divide it into smaller arenas for hockey, kids skating, music skating, and freestyle. Carl takes over Stan Johnson's job of deciding when to flood the gravel. He takes over the warming house, along with the rinks. He also has a strange power that he uses to solve many problems and also has the ability to skate on the ice in sneakers. Willy and Marsh think there's more to Carl than just the insane, drunk, depressed bum that the townspeople see so they decide to check it out for themselves.

I think this book was a good book. Although it is dull in some places, it gets interesting in the end. Usually, the plot jumps around at the end of chapters but it stays still in the end. First you have to understand that Carl is thought as insane and some of the townspeople aren't exactly glad for him to live in the warming house. " 'I guess he's been doing some pretty weird stuff. Dancing or moving or something. And he's taken over the rinks like it was his town or something...' "

Willy and Marsh find out about Carl, about his life and his power. If Marsh had not brought the B-17, an army fighter jet, model then Carl wouldn't have gone over the edge. He truly goes insane and, using his power, reenacts what had happened in his past. Willy and Marsh see why Carl has all the beat-up army gear and why he is all washed up. If it weren't for Helen, Carl may have been really gone mental.

Helen appeared one day in a Russian square hat and the same type clothing as Carl's flight jacket. This is my favorite part in which Carl performs several dances dedicated to Helen on the ice rink, with the entire town watching. I don't like the end, though, when Marsh learns that Carl and Helen move and suffer from many problems. "And I heard many things still later. I heard that Carl went crazy and should have been put it the state hospital and I heard that Helen had some part of her brain hurt many years before and I heard they moved into a house together and shared government checks. I heard they couldn't be married because of something in Carl's life and I heard even later that Carl died of drink and Helen had to go to a special home to live and all of this happened in some other town they moved to and none of it, not one single thing of what I heard, makes any difference at all."

I love Gary Paulsen! This book is such a sweet and sad story. I think this is one of his best books ever.

A friend of mine, I'll call him Carl, SR, gave me this book to read. He said to me, "it's about the dance man, the dance...." So I read it. It is about more than just the dance. It is about love, deception, revenge....all centered around this guy, Dancing Carl.

If you like the book "Dancing Carl" you may also like "Bedtime for BoBo", "The Tird Burglar", "What Color is Your Boxers", and "Scott M's Dance Tutorial".

This book poorly explains the concepts needed to understand C++. It is advertised as an introductory book, however, this book will only be useful with one or more semesters of exerpience with C or C++. The books only saving grace is that if you are studying for the AP, this book uses the STL dirived AP classes that you will need to be familar with. If you arn't taking the comp sci AP there is no reason to even consider using this book.

Far better than any comparable text, this volume presents the concepts of computer science with clarity and much detail. Neither bewildering the novice nor boring the expert, C++ For You++ covers all aspects of the AP C++ Exam. Two notable feature of this book are the clarity of the examples used to illustrate the concepts and the absence of numerous typos found in many of its competitors. The authors quickly respond to any questions you might have and maintain a nice web site with updates. I personally used this book to prepare for the AP Exam my senior year in high school, and found it instrumental to understanding the language. My teacher had selected a different book, but it was so horrible in comparison that several of my friends and I used copies of this book instead and saved ourselves a lot of trouble.

C++ for You++ is a wonderful book. I don't know what the people who gave it 1/5 stars were thinking.

The difference between it and other introductory books becomes apparent from the very beginning of the book.

THe typical approach in intro programming books is to begin with a completely useless "Hello World" program. I don't know about others, but I generally feel like I'm being talked down to if the book assumes that I am too dumb to be able to undestand anything more.

People learn a language not to write "hello world", but useful, more complex code.

C++ For You++ starts off with a "dictionary" program. At first glance, this looks overwhelming. But as one starts to read the explanations and description that the book gives of what all the pieces of code do , and how they interact, it reason and meaning of the code becomes apparent.

This approach allows for a very rapid ascent to a level where very useful programs can be written. Other books I have read waste much more time pre-chewing everything for the student, and take a lot longer to start giving useful information.

When I picked up this book, my programming experience was confined to a very superficial study of Pascal (a couple of weeks worth of studying). Using this book, I was mastered enough C++ in three weeks to be able to outcompete the other AP C++ students in my class, who had had a *year* of high school level C/C++ class time, and were were using other books.

The examples and problems given are also excellent. Someone complained they are too hard. That's not true. They take thought, that is true, but isn't that the whole point? And we all know how brilliant those programmers at big companies such as the one reffered to by one of the reviewers always are, don't we? ;-)

Oh yes. This book covers some things that are NOT on the AP test (namely inheritance), in addition to the stuff on it. I think this was a great decision on the part of the authors, as inheritance is a fundamental part of C++ and OOP.

Most books out there are mere study aids for the AP test. This book actually teaches people to program in C++. And once you know C++, then it isn't much of a problem to demolish the AP test.

Recently, I gained the privilege to read a book that was written by Gary Soto. The book that I read was entitled, Local News. Throughout this short book, Gary describes 11 different situations that are common for teenagers growing up in Hispanic neighborhoods. I will give a brief, yet detailed description of five of my favorite stories.

Chapter #1: Blackmail Blackmail was about a dispute between two teenage brothers. The setting takes place in a primarily Hispanic neighborhood located in California. Angel, who was the younger brother, found himself being picked on by his older brother named Javier. (Javier's nickname was Weasel) One day while Angel was taking a shower, Weasel snuck into the bathroom and took a picture of Angel, who obviously was bare-naked. Weasel threatened to show the picture to all of the girls at school if he did not give him $20.00. Angel, who was extremely angry yelled, `You punk, I'm going to get you!' His threat was worthless though. His older brother had absolutely no fear of him. Angel was very nervous because he didn't have $20.00 to give him, nor would he want to waste that much money on such a stupid joke. Finally, when Weasel realized that Angel wasn't capable of paying the ransom, he forced him to do his chores instead. Although Angel resented doing his brother's chores, he accepted the job. In the end, Weasel began to feel sorry for his younger brother and gave him the picture back.

Chapter #3: First Job

This chapter was about a 13-year-old boy named Alex. The setting took place on a hot summer day. Alex, who was the main character, had an older brother and sister and one younger brother. Both of his older siblings had jobs and were making money, which made Alex jealous. One day, Alex was asked to rake and burn some leaves for a woman named Mrs. Martinez. She offered him one dollar therefore he accepted the job. After Alex was finished raking the leaves in a pile, he lit a match and started the pile on fire. Just then, he realized that he had left his younger brother alone at home. Therefore, he decided to run home to make sure he was content. While he was away from the fire, it spread to Mrs. Martinez's deck. This event added some suspense to the story. When Alex returned to her house, a neighbor was already there and had the fire under control. Due to the fire, Mrs. Martinez was very angry and refused to pay Alex for the job. Unfortunately, that was Alex's first experience of having a job.

Chapter #4: El radio This chapter was about two teenage girls who had a small party together. The event took place in Patricia's home on a Friday night; her parents were not home. The other character, who was named Melinda, came over to listen to the radio with Patricia. As the two girls listened to the radio, they started to act crazy. Consequently, they spilled a bucket of popcorn and made a mess. When their parents returned home they were angry with the two girls. Finally, the girls were able to cheer up their parents by doing something very unique. You will have to read the story to discover what happened. This chapter possessed an exiting theme because it described the friendship of two girls.

Chapter #5: Push-up Push-up was the name of Carmen's new kitten. Carmen was a young girl living in a Spanish-American community. Her new kitten was very cute and was always receiving the family's attention. That made their other cat jealous. Therefore, it always fought with Push-up. One day, Carmen brought her kitten to school with her to protect him from the other cat. I thought that was an extremely risky idea. Therefore, I feel that this story contained a high level of suspense. When she and her kitten arrived at school, she secretly placed it in the ball container. Carmen felt bad for the kitten and said, `It will be ok, it is for your own good.' As the day passed by, Carmen struggled keeping the kitten a secret. In order to learn what happened to her and her cat, I suggest that you read this story.

Chapter #10: Nickel-A-Pound Plane Ride The main character of this story was Araceli. Araceli was a twelve-year-old with skin the color of brown sugar. Her dream was to fly in an airplane. One day, she finally got her chance. When she climbed into the plane's passenger area, she noticed that the engine was very loud. Therefore, she became a little nervous. As the plane began to take off, she became even more nervous when it rocked back and forth. She gradually began to feel unsafe. After the ride was over, she realized that flying was not all that she hoped it would be. The theme of this story was sad. The setting was on a cold rainy day, which gave the story a gloomy effect. When Araceli realized that she did not like flying, I was disappointed because it was her dream to fly.

After reading Local News by Gary Soto, I now have a better understanding of what a typical teenager's life was like in Spanish-American communities. Although this book was simple and easy to read, I feel that I have benefited from reading it because Gary Soto did an outstanding job of displaying each character's styles and traits in their everyday environment. If you are interested in learning about Spanish-American communities, I recommend reading this book.

I read "Local News" for my college Children's Literature course. The teacher assigned it for the week on multi-cultural literature. The book itself was okay, but I believe it has a limited audience. Gary Soto wrote the book for two purposes. One was to show everyone that Mexican-American children are really no different than any other children. The second was to provide Mexican-American children with literature that contained Mexican-American characters, kids that they felt they could relate to. So, in that aspect, it was a good book. I would highly recommend it to anyone specifically looking for Mexican-American characters or for any parents or teachers looking to teach their children and students about kids in other cultures and to broaden their horizons.

it was a great book that depicts our lives in the twentieth century and is extremely interesting. i love all of gary nash's books and find them all extremely important to have.

I read this book, from our school library, to a class of third-graders. We are located near Plymouth and I read this as a prelude to our class trip to Plimoth Plantation.

It was interesting and gave some good insights into life in Plymouth in 1626. However, there were a couple of glaring errors. The boy in the story spoke of a visit from Squanto. This would have been impossible since Squanto died in 1622. Also, the author refers to the Pilgrims as Puritans in two or three different places in the story. The Pilgrims who came here for religious reasons refered to themselves as "Saints." The Puritans came to Massachusetts in 1630. The author should also explain, in the story, why March 25th was considered to be "New Year's Day." On March 25th, the date in the journal changed from 1626 to 1627.

The artwork was very interesting, presented in the form of woodcuts. This was tied into the story as the boy telling the story was making these woodcuts.

It's an interesting story and very informative. I would recommend this book to anyoe who would like to see what life was like in "Olde Plimoth."

This book was excellant for a report I did on Jefferson. It is a pretty simple biography, easy to read. It gives basic information on Jefferson, but is not extremely in depth. Still,it was informative and worth reading.

I read this book because it was assigned to my son's 7th grade class. To him it was just another reading assignment, but I couldn't put it down. Sisters/Hermanas is a fascinating look inside the minds of two 14 year old girls, both striving desperately to market themselves in a cynical adult world where only appearances count. Both girls are despised "types" - Rosa a prostitute, Traci a nearly mindless puppet of her ambitious, gold-digging mother - but in describing the minutiae of the girls' lives Paulsen helps us see their confusion and vulnerability and the way each is trapped in her role. The story builds to a climactic confrontation in a shopping mall and then ends abruptly. If you have read Paulsen's novels about boys (e.g. The Island, Brian's Winter, Canyons) you may expect a coming of age story here, in which the protagonists learn, grow, and take command of their lives. Paulsen breaks off the story before this can happen, leaving it up to the reader's imagination, along with the depressing possibility that nothing at all will happen and that both girls will remain trapped forever. This book cries out for a sequel - or even better, multiple sequels describing different outcomes, as Paulsen wrote for Hatchet.

The book is a series of concise scenes showing one day in the lives of two 14-year old girls living their lives in similar ways despite the fact that they are from different worlds. Traci is focused on becoming a member of the elite, the cheerleading squad. Rosa is interested only in surviving, day by day, doing whatever is required to keep her alive.

The contrast between the two lives of the girls in this story becomes the similarity that makes them "Sisters/Hermanas."

I liked the book because it was short yet moved me in a way I would never have expected. I put down the book asking myself "What prejudices do I hold against other people that are really the things that tie us together?" This book can make students think about how they feel and may intrigue reluctant readers. It may also be very useful in the bilingual classroom because the book is written in both Spanish and English.

This book is great! I liked the short excerpts from each girl's day. Having the excerpts short and switching from one girl to the other made clear the similarities. I liked the theme of the destructiveness of obsession with beauty and youth. The obsession is so prevalent in our culture and in this book you can see the horrible damage it can do to young women. It is great this is a bilingual book. I would have been most impressed if Gary Paulsen had actually written it in both languages, alas, he did not. But he had a wonderful idea though. My only problem was with Traci recognizing herself in Rosa. Realistically, I do not think that would have happened. Although Traci going along with her mother would have.

I found it difficult to involve myself in the plot due to the volume of dialogue, particularly in the earlier sections of the book. More narrative would have helped set the scenes.
The book works well in creating scenes and "atmospheres" and also contains a number of interesting themes. However whilst the plot is intriguing I felt it left too much to the readers imagination. A stonger amd more well defined plot might make the reader more eager to turn the pages? However this represents a promising first attempt from a new author and I look forward to the second.