I'm a dabbler in Ancient Egyptian history and this is a great buy. At under $15 I think it's a great deal considering it's hardcover and has a TON of full color pictures. It covers a wide array of topics from Geography to Pharoahs. The book is handsome enough to display on a coffee table, detailed enough to get a taste of ancient egypt, and still simple enough that it would make a terrific gift for a child of any age (I'm 23 and I think this book is fantastic).

Other topics include: daily life of the Egyptian (not just nobility!), tools, jewelry, mummification, writing system, agriculture, textiles, food, religion.

I think that Eyewitness:Ancient Egypt is an amazing book. I liked how they wrote about how the Egyptians built their pyramids. If you are thinking about reading this book you should,because you will learn alot. Belive me, it's a very interesting book.

this is a great book on ancient egypt. this book has 60 pages that are filled with lots of info. this book has a great overveiw on ancient egypt and is filled with lots of great colored pictures on every page. if you are into ancient egypt you will want to buy this book that is great for all ages.

George Richardson's Drummer is a young adult historical fiction novel set during the American Civil War. A young slave, Johnny Jackson, escapes and runs to a Union infantry unit when he learns they are camped only five miles north of the Confederate rebels. He befriends a young white drummer, and marches with the Union Army back to Frederick, Maryland, but is not allowed to join the white unit as a drummer. His disappointment gives way to more perils on a hazardous journey to Baltimore, with his freedom always in jeopardy, until he succeeds in joining the First Pennsylvania Colored Infantry and becomes a drummer for Company A. Johnny's battles and travails are destined to change his life in this powerful, adventurous, and sobering read which is very highly recommended for teenage and young adult readers.

This is an excellent story. As a former teacher, I have made some recommendations to my old colleagues to try and integrate this book into their curriculum. Mr Richardson uses excellent imagery to help spur the imagination and place the reader in another time and place. At no point does he "talk down" to the reader (target audience is younger teens?) which encourages the younger reader to keep turning the pages! I would highly recommend this book and plan to send copies to all of the relatives (young teens) for the holidays.

I found this book to be very interesting as a parent. My Son could not but it down. When you can get any child not wanting to put a book down you have found a key that you should build on. Mr. Richardson did a wonderful job of letting your minds eye see what it was like to be in that time period. I do hope he keeps writing about this wonderful young man. I can't wait to read more about him. Thank you Mr. Richardson for helping my child to love to read.

A thoughtful summary of how a family member with a debilitating illness can change the lives of the whole family, and community as well. Invaluable insights for family and friends; how to deal with a disease that can be all consuming, how to find support and peace for the primary caregiver, and how to negotiate some of the legal and financial pit falls. A real eye opener!

Alzheimer's disease is a terrible disease that robs the essence of a person, and leaves families in turmoil. In the book, SHE NEVER SAID GOODBYE, Vern Ellison tells his story. The story is about his love for his wife Sara and his family, and the tradedy of watching Sara fall into the Alzheimer's abyss, knowing there would be no return.

To be diagnosed with Alzheimer's at any age is tragic, with most of the burden resting on elderly spouses or children who care. But early-onset Alzheimer's is even more cruel, robbing the victim of prodtive twilight years when they should be watching their children marry and blossom and enjoying their grandchildren.

This book brings a story together of love, life and what is ahead for millions, if there is no cure or prevention for Alzheimer's disease.

A necessary read for everyone, particularly those in their 50's.

A 'must-read' for anyone caring for a loved one with AD As many books as I have read about this devastating disease, I must say this one rates among the very best. It takes you through the complete journey and gives the reader every opportunity to anticipate the inevitable, yet throws educating surprises along the way. It is not a mystery, but a true account of one very devoted man's caregiving journey. I highly recommend She Never Said Goodbye and extend my heartfelt "thanks" to George Ellison for writing it.

Out of left field, from the editors of The Collected Letters of George Gissing, comes a refeshing new view of Gissing--plus some charming turn-of-century Americana. The oddly successful combinaton comes about in this way. When the English novelist, desperate to escape for a time from his miserable marriage, visited Italy in 1897-98, he met there a 20-year old American traveller named Brian Boru Dunne. The precocious young man, who would later become a journalist in Santa Fe, New Mexico, kept a diary of their conversations over several months, recording Gissing's opinions on literature, modern and ancient Rome, and everything else that interested them. Years later, he wrote p some of his notes. The diary is lost, but the editors have used Dunne's surviving materials to create a fascinating portrait that shows us a more unbuttoned and humorous Gissing than we knew. Because Dunne is worthy of interest in himself, they have seen fit to include some other pieces: William Jennings Bryan's unconsciously hilarious rules for oratory; Cardinal Gibons' recipe for longevity; and an interview with Mark Twain written by Twain himself. Their 40-page introduction to Dunne and Gissing is unexpectedly fascinating. The voluminous footnotes explain so much, and in such style, that they are an integral part of the reading experience. This beautifully produced, amusing, and illuminating miscellany should attract all Gissing readers, and they will be rewarded by more than they bargained for.

As a long-time student of George Gissing's work and one of his first biographers, I was delighted to read this vivid and perceptive first-hand account of his activities and opinions. Few people who knew Gissing personally have left memoirs of him, and Dunne's is certainly the fullest up-close portrait that we have. He describes Gissing's writing and eating habits, his attention to clothes, his reactions to Italy and his people, and his opinions of other writers, and all this helps to clarify the novelist's character. I especially appreciated the excellent informative notes, which provided much needed background, and brought Dunne himself forward as an interesting and significant figure.

I stumbled onto George Gissing two years ago through his travel classic "By The Ionian Sea: Notes on a Ramble Through Southern Italy." I had not read much late-Victorian writing, except for brief forays into Thomas Hardy. Now I have found a new champion -- George Gissing -- and am discovering that post-industrial era through his works. In this process, I discovered Dunne's delightful memoir and was drawn to it because it recalled a time in Gissing's life when he seem most happiest: his 1897-1898 tour of Southern Italy, the setting for "By the Ionian Sea." Dunne's memoir -- wonderfully edited to fully explain all references, from obvious to obscure -- can be read on more than one level. First, it gives a vivid recounting, through an innocent young journalist's eyes that miss little, of a golden three or four months or so in Rome, hobnobbing with Gissing and two other Victorian writers, H.G. Wells and Arthur Conan Doyle. It also can be seen as "a work in progress" where the reader can examine how Dunne, by now in middle age and an accomplished writer in his own right, moved from diary through drafts of memoirs. And particularly important for the Gissing enthusiast is the introduction, which puts the era in perspective and paints a vivid picture of the players in Dunne's Roman holiday.

Volumes 3, 4, & 5 are the essential bedrock of any respectable American's library -- the starting point from which any serious investigation of the American Revolution commences -- there is only one word to describe Freeman's achievement -- SUPERB -- to fault Freeman for his detail suggests the mind of an adolescent seeking easy crib notes for a school paper -- the footnotes (relegated to back pages of less scholarly histories) tempt the reader down little-trodden paths of historical investigation leading to new & fascinating insights -- it is the detail and Freeman's lean transcendent prose that make the difference in comparison to the abridgement -- for any American with an interest in our history -- how independence was wrested from defeat by the sheer will perserverence & determination of one man -- a man who refused to be cowed or mentally defeated by the world's great superpower or by even more insidious enemies -- those selfish conservatives who wished to find common cause with Britain to return to the status quo & maintain their perogatives without risk of loss -- how Washington overcame all odds despite the obstinate stupidity of Congress -- the incompetence of state legislatures & governors (including Jefferson) as well as the greedy selfishness & studied indifference of the propertied classes -- these volumes describe Washington's monumental achievement -- but the biography does not concern itself solely with the man himself but also with that dedicated band of true-believers inspired by his example -- some of modest talents -- some of great -- and some who proved unable to keep the faith -- but most important of all it descibes the achievements possible what a great leader can achieve with an army of starving ragamuffins & scarecrow refugees, the refuse of colonial society, unmarried men of small means representing all races, nations, & ages (& not a few women as well) bound together by hope for a better future (based on promises Congress failed to keep) and their undying love & respect for Washington -- volumes 3, 4, 5 represent the essential core of classical American history -- books I'd want along if I were marooned on a desert island -- these volumes are nothing less than the prose outline of an AMERICAN ILIAD.

THE definitive biography of our first president. Freeman can only be faulted for providing too much detail. If you really desire to find out about George Washington, read this book. It should be required study material for contemporary, so called historians.

Ok well I read this book for the first time, and I can say confidently that Freeman must've known Washington personally. The detail in which Freeman goes into does not leave the reader questioning anything about Washington. Everything is there in the book!! A must read for the lovers of history!

A little boy had a set of tin soldiers that were made from a melted spoon. One soldier was missing a leg because there was not enough metal left over from the melted spoon.

Tossed aside by the boy, the one-legged soldier sees a paper cut out figure of a ballerina. She is poised on one leg and he feels an instant bond. He has found another one-legged toy and believes this to be love.

The steadfast tin soldier has a series of mishaps. He falls off the window sill into a stream. From there, he is transported to a rat infested sewer. He is swallowed by a fish and through an unlikely stroke of luck, winds up back in the boy's playroom with the other toys and the ballerina.

The ending is what gets to me every single time. A gust of wind lifts the paper ballerina up and she flutters into the fire place, winding up a charred heap of ashes. Devastated, the tin soldier joins her. The remaining metal that was once the tin soldier is a charred piece of heart shaped metal.

I still think this is a very sad story. The photographs really emphasize the feeling this story evokes.

I taught 1st grade for 4 years and all of the teachers in my grade passed this book around at Christmas to read to our class. I cried everytime I read it. It has a wonderful message and my kids in my classroom always loved it! I have now (finally) purchased my own copy of this book to read to my little girl. It is a classic and I know she will love it as much as I do. Every home should have this book to read at Christmastime.

This is a really good book. It has all the characteristic's that made the original a cherished and remembered fairy tale. It is a great gift for any young child, and can be enjoyed by adults too. It maintains the feel of the original tale, but is more like a poem. The art work on each page is beautiful, and the pictures are totally devine. I would recomend buying this for a different and fully enjoyable version of the original.

A simply outstanding historical novel set in the age of ancient Rome's legendary conflict with the city of Carthage, The Young Carthaginian by G.A. Henty is a totally thrilling historical action/adventure tale that will rivet the listener's attention from beginning to end. Superbly and dramatically narrated by William Sutherland, The Young Carthaginian is written with detailed attention to historical accuracy and truly brings to life a long-lost time of Hannibal, the legions of Rome, and the absolute destruction of a great maritime empire. A confidently recommended addition to any personal, school, or community library audiobook collection, The Young Carthaginian is complete and unabridged on eleven compact discs, offering 12 hours, 30 minutes of an impressive, "theater of the mind" quality entertainment experience.

Who would have thought that a book written in the 1800s could be so appealing today? Doing a little internet research, I have found that G.A. Henty lived from 1832-1902, and the books he wrote were historical fiction "for boys". He was called "The Prince of Story-Tellers" and "The Boy's Own Historian", which certainly may have been true, but I'm an adult female who loved this tale! The style of writing sounds a little formal and old-fashioned, but it actually helps create a feeling of antiquity, appropriate for its ancient setting during the Punic Wars.

The fictional and lovable hero, Marchus, a relative of the famous Hannibal, accompanies him on the Carthaginian campaign against Rome. I learned so much about Hannibal through this book, yet the majority of the plot involves other adventures that Marchus gets into. He has near escapes from bears, wolves, lions, treacherous tribesmen. In two instances, he escapes with the help of an elephant, and a raft in the subterranean reservoir of Carthage. This was fun stuff, and I am so impressed that this book I found, that is so old it doesn't even have a publication date in it, could be so delightful. Someone could make a great movie out of this!

Everyone, it seems, has heard of Hannibal bringing his army,including the elephants,through the Alps, right to the doorstep of Rome. However, a readable account of Carthage vs. Rome is not easy to find. I've been very happy to find this fascinating historical novel as the best way to teach my two sons, ages 11 and 14, about this time in history. There are some valuable lessons for us all in the book--valor, honor, and how corruption destroys great nations.

There are times that I think my life was or still is hard. Well, I'm a black female who grew up in a middle-class home with two teachers as parents. College was as automatic as sleeping and eating. But, for these young men in the book "The Pact", college was as uncertain as winning the lottery. I always knew that our young black boys growing up in the inner-city had it super hard, but this book allowed me to see another side of our young brothas. They all have dreams as little kids, even though they don't see anyone in their neighborhood to emulate. Somehow, someway, Sampson Davis, Rameck Hunt and George Jenkins all found the determination to succeed and become doctors. Their positive story is proof that just one person can make a difference in a kid's life. Everyone needs someone to look up to; someone to follow.

We all have gifts we can share. Read this book and feel blessed that someone in your life took the time to mentor you and be there for you; not everyone has that in their lives. I am so proud of these young men! Not only are they smart and positive, but they are cute too! What a great combination! God has truly blessed them and their family.

What a refreshing book. Thanks to Tavis Smiley for recommending it on the Tom Joyner Show.

"The Pact" is an incredible book! I just finished reading the remarkable journey completed by Drs. Sam Davis, George Jenkins, and Rameck Hunt. It's an easy, quick read ~250 pages.

If you're not familiar with their story, they are 3 young, African-American men from Newark that establish a pact at 17-years old to become doctors. Over the years, they run into many obstacles (peer pressure, arrest, finances, and family issues) that tend to dissuade so many young people from pursuing their dream. With the "I got your back" support of each other, mentors they encountered throughout their journey, and God they become doctors despite how many people had presumed their future would turn out.

Dr. George Jenkins, probably the most focused in the group, knew at a very young age that he wanted to be a dentist. In high school, the three friends attend a college presentation offering full scholarships to minority students interested in the medical field. Knowing that neither he nor his friends could afford college THIS OFFER would be their ONLY way to attend college...the formation of the pact.

Surprisingly, after completing college and med school, Sam and Rameck were still unsure if they wanted to be doctors. Sam saw business/management as his future and Rameck wanted to be an actor (he'll settle on being a rapper). (If I didn't know the outcome, I would have been in suspense until the bitter end waiting to learn if they became doctors.) The death of an important person in each of their lives confirmed that medically helping others is what they were meant to do in life.

If you're in the education field or work closely with children in your community this is an excellent book to pick up when you...

- feel like what can I do to get through to this person
- need a testimony that success is not by luck but achieved through faith, perseverance, and support from others
- need a roadmap to better mentor a person in need

"The Pact" is an amazing story of inspiration and motivation to get (primarily) black teens to see beyond their environment, current situation, and look ahead with a plan for tomorrow. "The Pact" also displays the need for adults to begin mentoring children before they reach their teens. The book concludes with the doctors providing the "how-to's" to make a pact work.

This book is a must read for ALL ADOLESCENT MALES!! It is a strong testimony to the power of friendship and perseverance despite circumstances. Each young man had someone in their family who directly or indirectly motivated them to persevere. They had to make some very uncomfortable choices, but were able to keep their "eyes on the prize." Affirmative Action programs continue to serve a real purpose in our society. This book has become a mandatory read in my classes. To the one who still holds to the "...because I'm Black" statement. My question to you is "How long are you going to be Black?"

The PRINCESS AND THE GOBLIN proves yet another of MacDonald's fantasy charmers (q.v. AT THE BACK OF THE NORTH WIND), as the novel presents the adventures (psychological as well as physical) of protected Princess Irene (aged 8) and a brave miner boy with the unlikely name of Curdie. The tale involves the schemes of evil goblins who lurk below the earth, who exult to tease and torture the "sun people" as they call humankind. Can a mere youth foil the callous machinations of these subterranrean fiends?

Princess Irene meets a mysterious but loving old lady at a spinning wheel (have we heard this somewhere before?), while Curdie proves himself a useful ally to her King-papa. Her faithful but outspoken nurse, Lootie, learns some bitter lessons, as she is almost dismissed by the king and (even worse) by Irene herself. Grown ups must learn to believe what they hear from honest children; children must learn to believe what can not always be seen or what makes scientific sense. Any little girl who sees herself as an unrecognized princess can learn to behave with the grace and dignity of a True Princess. Boys will admire the courage and resourcefulness of the miner's son--the only one in the kingdom to realize what the goblins are plotting. A quaintly spun yarn (with gentle edification for children) for readers of all ages.

This wonderful children's novel tells the story of eight year old Princess Irene. Cared for by her nurse Lootie, she lives in a mountain farmhouse while her father rules over the region from a mountain top castle. The local folk work as miners but are beset by the Goblins who inhabit the underground. Irene is saved from the Goblins by Curdie, a thirteen year old miner, and she in turn saves him. The whole thing is told in a pleasant conversational style and is filled with humor, word games, magic, derring-do, and pure wonderment.

George MacDonald, a Congregational minister turned novelist, who seems nearly forgotten now, was one of the seminal figures in the development of Fantasy. His influence on other Fantasy authors is obvious, he was a childhood favorite of JRR Tolkein, who especially liked this book, and C.S. Lewis named him one of his favorite authors. His own stories draw on many of the themes and characters of classical European fairy tales. But where they were often merely horrific and meaningless, MacDonald adds a layer of Christian allegory. Thus, Irene and Curdie are eventually saved by a thread so slender that you can't even see it, but which leads them back to safety, teaching Curdie that you sometimes have to believe in things that you can't see.

The book would be interesting simply as a touchstone of modern fiction, but it stands up well on its own and will delight adults and children alike.

GRADE: A

So many fine reviews here already about MacDonald's powerful text (for children and adults). I would only add that this edition which includes 8 or 10 gentle and mysterious drawings (watercolors?) by Jessie Wilcox Smith portrays the fearful goblins (also Curdie, Irene, and her father, etc.) without weakening the strength of the tale or scaring the young reader. I purchased this book for an avid seven-year-old reader who loved the story and also commented on the "beautiful" pictures. The book is also good to read aloud to a number of children in a broad age range. My too-cool 11-year-old became mesmerized after the first chapter and found himself talking with his younger brother (!) about the story.

"There is little to be satisfied in reading this book"?? I couldn't disagree more. Bleak House left a profound impression on me, and was so utterly satisfying a reading experience that I wanted it never to end. I've read it twice over the years and look forward to reading it again. Definitely my favorite novel.

I don't know what the previous reviewer's demands are when reading a novel, but mine are these: the story must create its world - whatever and wherever that world might be - and make me BELIEVE it. If the novelist cannot create that world in my mind, and convince me of its truths, they've wasted my time (style doesn't matter - it can be clean and spare like Orwell or verbose like Dickens, because any style can work in the hands of someone who knows how to use it). Many novels fail this test, but Bleak House is not one of them.

Bleak House succeeds in creating a wonderfully dark and complex spider web of a world. On the surface it's unfamiliar: Victorian London and the court of Chancery - obviously no one alive today knows that world first hand. And yet as you read it you know it to be real: the deviousness, the longing, the secrets, the bureaucracy, the overblown egos, the unfairness of it all. Wait a minute... could that be because all those things still exist today?

But it's not all doom and gloom. It also has Dickens's many shades of humor: silliness, word play, comic dialogue, preposterous characters with mocking names, and of course a constant satirical edge. It also has anger and passion and tenderness.

I will grant one thing: if you don't love reading enough to get into the flow of Dickens's sentences, you'll probably feel like the previous reviewer that "...it goes on and on, in interminable detail and description...". It's a different dance rhythm folks, but well worth getting used to. If you have to, work your way up to it. Don't start with a biggie like Bleak House, start with one of his wonderful short pieces such as A Christmas Carol.

Dickens was a gifted storyteller and Bleak House is his masterpiece. If you love to dive into a book, read and enjoy this gem!

This is the second book by Dickens I have read so far, but it will not be the last. "Bleak House" is long, tightly plotted, wonderfully descriptive, and full of memorable characters. Dickens has written a vast story centered on the Jarndyce inheritance, and masterly manages the switches between third person omniscient narrator and first person limited narrator. His main character Esther never quite convinces me of her all-around goodness, but the novel is so well-written that I just took Esther as she was described and ran along with the story. In this book a poor boy (Jo) will be literally chased from places of refuge and thus provide Dickens with one of his most powerful ways to indict a system that was particularly cruel to children. Mr. Skimpole, pretending not to be interested in money; Mr. Jarndyce, generous and good; Richard, stupid and blind; the memorable Dedlocks, and My Lady Dedlock's secret being uncovered by the sinister Mr. Tulkinghorn; Mrs. Jellyby and her telescopic philanthropy; the Ironmaster described in Chapter 28, presenting quite a different view of industralization than that shown by Dickens in his next work, "Hard Times." Here is a veritable cosmos of people, neighbors, friends, enemies, lovers, rivals, sinners, and saints, and Dickens proves himself a true master at describing their lives and the environment they dwell in. There are landmark chapters: Chapter One must be the best description of a dismal city under attack by dismal weather and tightly tied by perfectly dismal laws, where the Lord Chancellor sits eternally in Lincoln's Inn Hall. Chapter 32 has one of the eeriest scenes ever written, with suspicious smoke, greasy and reeking, as a prelude to a grisly discovery. Chapter 47 is when Jo cannot "move along" anymore. This Norton Critical is perhaps the best edition of "Bleak House" so far: the footnotes help a lot, and the two Introductions are key to understanding the Law system at the time the action takes place, plus Dickens' interest in this particular topic. To round everything off, read also the criticism of our contemporaries, as well as that of Dickens' time. "Bleak House" is a long, complex novel that opens a window for us to another world. It is never boring and, appearances to the contrary, is not bleak. Enjoy.

After years without picking up a novel by Dickens (memories of starchy classes at school), I decided to plunge into "Bleak House", a novel that had been sitting on my bookshelf for about ten years, waiting to be read. Although I found it heavy going at first, mainly because the style is so unfamiliar to modern readers, after about ten pages I was swept up and carried off, unable to put the hefty tome down until I had finished it. This book is a definite classic. The sheer scope of the tale, the wit of the satire (which could still be applied to many legal proceedings today) and the believable characters gripped me up until the magnificent conclusion. One particularly striking thing is the "cinematic" aspect of certain chapters as they switch between different angles, building up to a pitch that leaves the reader breathless. I can't recommend "Bleak House" too highly. And I won't wait so long before reading more Dickens novels.