One of the most interesting books in the Tunis series about the Brooklyn Dodgers, "The Kid Comes Back" is very unusual in that it's not really about baseball so much as it is about courage. Roy Tucker ("The Kid From Tomkinsville") serves in the U.S. Army during the Second World War in Europe, where he suffers an injury in battle. This book deals with what he goes through in the war effort, his rehabilitation and his difficult return to major league baseball with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Tunis, who also wrote "Silence Over Dunkirk," is extremely effective at letting younger readers know what WWII was like. He also does a masterful job of painting a word picture of what it was like for veterans to come back to an America that had changed while they were gone. Of all the Tunis books, this (to me) is the best. The "gee whiz" tone of the first four books in the series is subdued, and a very strong storyline carries all the way through.

I'm an artist, i love drawing. So far, this is my best book yet You draw like a professional, You get every line perfect. Once you get get used to it, you can create a mini cartoon. This is the ultimate how-to-draw book!

My husband was loaned "left behind" and recommend I read it, but, I never got around to it. He really enjoyed reading it. A relitive had loaned him a few of the other books in the series to read and one day, having nothing better to do, I started reading book 2, I couldn't put it down!! I then went out and bought "Left Behind"(book one) and was glad I started with book 2. I love the series!! I never read, I can never finish any book. I found myself rushing out to buy every next book in the series. I finished all 9 books(thus far)in the series in just 3 weeks!!! I would highly recommend this book to eveyone.

As the illustrator of the Jefferson building's overview for the book (pp.276-277), I had the rare privilege of walking through many of the areas of the Jefferson building not open to the public. Entering the Great Hall for the first time, I was caught off guard by its extraordinary beauty. Being a native Washingtonian, I was surprised that such a lavishly decorated structure existed here in Washington, D.C. The overall impression of the interior is more that of the Paris Opera House, than a government building. This beautiful book, with its many photographic details of the interior, allows the reader to recreate that sense of awe that I experienced walking through the entrance. With Anne Day's vivid photos, and the Libary's wonderful history, this book should be a welcome addition to anyone's personal library. Once you see the book, I suspect you may modify your itinerary for your next trip to Washington. This gem of a building is definitely worth a visit.

-Doug Stern

This book is being used by my grandsons 6th grade, and I am helping him with his homework. I have three university degrees, including Bachelor, Master, and Doctorate in science, business, and economics. And I have taught at the university graduate and undergrate level for more than twenty years. I was astounded at the efficient and advanced technique used by the author, Stephen Hake, to gradually introduce most basic concepts of logic, arithmetic, alegebra, geometry,and other subjects to my 12 year old student in this book, in a practical manner with practical every day applications, so that he absorbed them as by osmosis, without actually knowing it. This will provide him with a solid foundation for the four years of mathematics he will receive in high school, and for his later studies at university level. Hake does this without muddying up the young students mind with such distracting technical terms as "algebra, geometry, solid geometry, trigonometry, logic,and other subjects," by introducing the basic concepts of each subject with practical problems that require the student to, unwittingly, apply them.

My 12 year old son has used Saxon materials at home for 4 years. His younger sister is currently using 8/7. It can be challenging, but they've been very successful! It's nice as a mother of 5 to have confidence in the Saxon program as it frees me up to deal with other things. If they have a question, it is easy just to review the short lesson and find the answer! If I could give it 6 stars, I would. Now my third child is also in Saxon. Thank the Lord for this effective curriculum. The results have been great!

Minidoka? What kind of a word is that, you say? Then you stop and think, "Oh, Edgar Rice Burroughs, creator of Tarzan and John Carter. It's a made up word!" WRONG. Minidoka is a small town (or was, I don't know if it is still there) in Idaho where Mr. Burroughs worked in one of his many failed careers as a gold miner (1901 to 1904) with his brother at the Yale Dredging Company. It didn't pan out, pardon the pun, and the world is much more richer for the failed attempt.

Burroughs has never been accused of being a literary genius, although his stories have reached every corner of the world, his books are published in over sixty different languages (not counting dialects), his tales have been the basis for dozens of films, TV series, animations and comics. What Mr. Burroughs was gifted with was the art of storytelling and that trait has made him a legend.

Mindoka, 937th Earl of One Mile Series M is a story that sprung from that ability. No one knows for certain when this wonderful tale was created, perhaps it was one of the series of bedtime stories Burroughs told his children each night. All of them created on the spot as he paced the hall of their small home and spoke in a loud voice so that all in the house could hear. What ever occurred, Burroughs liked this particular story so much that he committed it to paper. Of a sorts, at least. He used the backs of old letterheads from the mining company, photo bills from Pocatello and letterheads of the American Genealogical Society to compose this story. None of the hand written manuscript is dated, nor was it discovered until 1955, five years after his death, in his personal belongings. The paper the story was written on gives proof that this is Burroughs first ever written work, never before seen by another beside himself until after he had died and never published until today. This makes that story almost a century old!

The tale is very strange, not at all like his works that were published in his lifetime. This is a children's story, it is written with the intention of being read aloud to children and has all the classic elements of fairy tales. Horrible monsters, magic spells, beautiful damsels to rescue and battles to be fought, all of these are in there along with a never before seen look at the man's sense of humor.

The story itself is quite captivating, even if it is a bit difficult to read for an adult. I dare say that I will be hard pressed to pronounce some of the words that Burroughs has created for this story, but many of the characters and creatures are quite endearing. I really liked the hoobody and hookidooki. The hoobody reminded me of one of the mythical creatures of my people, the Apache, (perhaps that's where he got the idea) and the hookidooki was just plain fun to read about even if it was a villain.

The setting for the story is Idaho of a million or more years in the past, but with European type kingdoms all based as the origin of Irish names. Very interesting concept and for the life of me I can't determine why he took that tact in the story. But it matters not, as the tale is fantastic.

Many aspects of his published works can be seen in this story. The way his heroes act and react is based on this tale. Many animals and places for completely unrelated stories are mentioned here as something else. It is almost as if he created an entire universe from the seeds that he planted for himself in this story to his children.

There is something else that is very special about this book. The cover art is a painting by J. Allen St. John that has never been published before. Who is St. John, you ask? This is the man that made every single cover painting for Burroughs books starting in 1915 with The Son of Tarzan and ending in 1942 with The Tiger Girl (I have copies of all of these). The painting was made over 50 years ago when an art director told St. John that it was impossible for an artist to do an illustration using all known mediums that were known at the time. St. John went to his loft and created a drawing he titled Minidoka by those exact means just to prove the man wrong. This cover is the first printing of that painting.

The book is a mere 63 pages long with about 15 of those pages being lavishly drawn full page illustrations. Each page also has drawings around the edges that have to do with what the story is talking about at the time.

The book is published by Dark Horse Comics and is available now at all book stores. You will more than likely have to special order it, because it is a limited edition print. The price is ... well worth it. I can hardly wait until it is mass produced so that I can get a reading copy to give my children when they are old enough. Get one of these first prints while they are still out there. You will never regret it.

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Miranda

Written by John L. Cowart

Published by Scythe Publications Inc. of Nashville, TN in 1996.

It would be easy to start dreaming of what the world would be like toward the end of the 21st century. Space travel, fancy gadgets to help people function in low gravity environments, and alien forces would probably float through our imaginations. But, what about the forces within our own hearts? How will people treat one another in the year 2085? Even more importantly, how will the children of God stay faithful amidst the technologically sophisticated and in the face of severe persecution?

Easy to ponder, yet it is quite another matter to take pen in hand and put it all down on paper with a Christ-centered focus. Perhaps this difficulty of creating good science fiction from a Christian perspective is one reason that so little of it is now available. John Cowart has accepted the challenge with Miranda. The suspenseful conclusion of each chapter makes it hard to put down and the end of the book offers an unexpected conclusion that will cause you to re-examine the strength of your own faith.

Miranda is a space colony/mining camp on one of the moons of Uranus, toward the edge of our solar system. A Pulitzer Prize winning reporter for the New York Times takes a special assignment to report on life in deep space. Little does he know the deep trouble he will find there. Yet, he and his companions discover that God can even use deep space to deepen one's faith when he trusts the Lord with his whole heart.

I am always looking for principles to live by in the books I read. I will share one from this title and that is the lesson of forgiveness. Do you remember how Christ distinguished believers and non-believers as recorded in Matthew 5:43ff? One of the ways to tell a child of God from a child of the world is by the love they have for people who are not easy to love, like the ones trying to hurt them. Forgiveness is the mo! st effective way to see the power of love overcome the power of evil. There is a gripping testimony, toward the end of Miranda, as a persecuted believer extends forgiveness to those who had inflicted such pain and sorrow upon her own life and that of her friends but her husband, a non-believer, could only extend anger and hatred. I am not saying that this is easy, but Christ would not have taught us to forgive our enemies nor exemplified it from the Cross if we were not to practice it in our own lives, even if our life is "out of this world", on a place like Miranda.

I recommend this title for any science fiction fan, especially for those who want to have a deeper walk of faith.

A fantastic fever dream of superheroics! While the universe stumbles sleepily through business as usual, there is a cancer affecting all of reality itself. The only hope of defeating it lies in the hands of a telepathic, telekinetic madman named Jackson King. Together with his wife Christine, he recruits, rebuilds, and ressurects unique members of his surgical strike force, the Monarchy. Their mission: to eradicate the cancer at any cost. Doselle Young's writing is brilliant. His original superhero creations are some of the most imaginative in years. The book is a puzzle and as the pieces slowly come together you will be amazed...