I read Gary Soto's "A Summer Life" while I was writing my first book in order to educate myself in the creation of vibrant, evocative scenes that come out of ordinary, every day experiences. For example, in Soto's essay, "The Shirt," he shows how the tragic, post-Korean War existence of Uncle Shorty seemed magical and special to a young Soto who covets his uncle's shirt: "I used to slip it on when he was asleep, and at the age of five I knew the smell of a man who went and came back from war....It was the shape of muscle, the anger of a tattoo panther hiding behind cotton, the hair in the collar, the small hole where a bullet could have entered and exited without his dying." Or, with the simple first line of "The Weather," Soto can set the stage for the mysteries of climate: "January doesn't show its true face until you can scratch a cold window with a finger." This little book will make you smile (and sometimes wince) as it brings back your own personal memories of growing up. This is a wonderful collection that offers everyone, including new writers, a chance to enjoy and learn from beautifully crafted essays.

A Summer Life explores a young boys life as he grows up in Fresno, California. In a three partbook, broken into thirteen short chapters in each part, Gary Soto covers everything from "TheColors", to "The Chicks", to "The Computer Date". (names of chapters). Mischeivness wasdefinitely a part of this boys life, just as it is for most young boys. In just the first chapter, "TheBuddha", the boy killed ants with his Buddha toy, and ran underneath a moving semi-truck. The boy would do such silly things as taking old bicycle handle bars and imagining that they would slow him down and keep him from reaching a high, uncontrollable speed. He would also put bottle caps on the bottom of his shoes, then he would kick the cement to make an "engine of sparks" come from beneath his feet. Throughout the story the boy has a few problems with his siblings. When his sister chewed Bazooka bubble gum and saved the proof of purchases to send in and get a locket, he wanted her to get the binoculars instead. As the boy has these experiences with his family and his surrounding, he matures from age five to seventeen, and is confronted with events that teach him lessons about life. Gary Soto definitely shows his poet style of writing in A Summer Life. There is rarely a detail missed. This was truly a great book and I recommend it to readers who enjoy real life situations, a sly sense of humor, and a realist style of writing. I would give "A Summer Life" three thumbs up if I had another hand! -RmP

This book was first read to me when I was in fifth grade. Years later I can still remember being in California with the characters in the book - smelling, seeing, touching everything that they smelled, saw and touched. Wow.

One of the best photographers of our time or of any time. Gary Leonard has that rare gift of the photographer's eye that captures "the" shot. Complex in its simplicity. It is what many a serious a photographer works too achieve. Gary Leonard is a natural. He's the real thing.

The sheer simplicity of Gary Leonard's work might cause you to initially overlook it, but don't. Leonard is close to becoming a national treasure and, fortunately, someone was smart enough to publish a collection of his work. It's funny, weird, passionate and poignant all at once. And I couldn't believe that every page was better than than the last. Gary Leonard is so cool.

No one sees L.A. the way Gary Leonard does; this compendium of his life's work--so far--says it all. From the famous to the infamous to the dreaded, downtrodden and dreary, he finds them all in L.A. A must read for anyone in a love/hate relationship with Southern California who wants to be reminded just why.

I loved this wonderful book by thee Ray BradBurry Science Fiction Master. It was a delightful novel and so interstring. I really want to read more of BradBury's works. He really is a Sci-Fi master of books. BradBury is my favorite author of all time!!!!!!!! He might be yours to if you give him a chance. Don't just read Dandalion Whine read all of his books to get enlightened.

when i read this story i thought it was amazing how much ray brdabury could think of that are around today. tjis bookleaves you filled with some many questions that the is no one right answer and that is what make this an extrodanary story

The book was very good it was not a book that you had to think about. I liked it a lot.

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ESL teachers you don't know what you're missing. Students love this play, get excellent practice with pronunciation, and even become familiar with the Guy de Maupassant original. Lots of humor and a much more satisfying ending than the original.

I really enjoyed this story by Ray Bradbury because anyone can interpret it in many different ways. I mean they can get many different lessons from it. Every differet person gets a different lesson from it.

There is a publishing company my school has been reading lately. It is the Tale Blazer publishing company. This story is just one of many by them. I love this book. It is an easy read, and it teaches you a lot.

I felt chilled reading this collection of Poe's all time best stories. I especially loved the eerieness of The Cask of Amontialldo and the insanity of the narrator in the The Balck Cat, all so frightly believable. The illustrations top it off by adding a magical touch of frightful imagery to the collection.

I read this book about a year ago and loved it. I'm the type of person who reads before they go to sleep and I had to put this book down because it was so frightening. I loved the way Poe drew me into the story and kept me begging for more. I was always curious to know what happened next, even if I was terrified. My favorite of all the stories was the "Cask of Amontillado". It was so creative how you became almost like a part of the story.

There is a lot of good information packed in this little book! As well as covering different bat species, this book also explains how important bats are to the ecology of our earth. I highly recommend this book to everyone!

This book is about a kind of nerdy boy named Scott, who passes most of his time at the library. But everything changes when he sees a man with a red tunic, he follows him, and enters a whole new and wonderful world call Gale'tin. The rest is history that you should definately read.

This book is excellent for either children of about 10 years, teenagers, and adults as it is very light to read but it has some wonderful things that really make you think about today's world. It shows the difference between a technological world like today's and a peaceful, beautiful, and kind of primitive world like Gale'tin; but it teaches you that even if primitive, it is comfortable and nice to live in.

you also see Scott's counterpart which is a girl who likes him called Tully, and how they learn from each other thoughts and personalities and how "Logic" is not always so logical.

So in summary I really recommend this for you to read (specially for 2 bucks) as it will make you have a wonderful and enjoyable time.

The book is written in simple terms and yet a very in depth about FAS. The persons who contributed to subject of this book are not only knowledgeable about FAS, but very sincere and sensitive. Through the whole book I could tell they really care about all the medical issues affected by FAS. I especially like the questions at the beginning of each chapter, because they really help you understand all the issues relating to FAS. I have become more conscious and interested in all the issues discussed in this great book since I read it. This is not only a government issue,or a community issue, but a personal issue. Someone I know or love is being affected in some area of their lives from this very illnesses. I was especially moved to read about babies born with addictions. Alot of the information on this subject was new to me. I have not only been enlightened by this book, but moved to the point I now realize I must help do something for this great cause. I recomme! nd this book not only to those in medical or counseling fields, but especially to ministers and christians who desire to extend their hand of christian brotherhood within their community. The Church has the power and easiest excess to help the community. I encourage them to read this great book.