"Family Shoes" tells the story of Alec, the vicar,Cathy, his wife, and the four Bell children, Paul, who wants to be a doctor, Jane, who longs to be a dancer, Ginnie, who is at once truculent and charming, and Angus, the pet-lover. Their adventures and triumphs, relationship with wealthy Uncle Alfred and Aunt Rose, the flowering of Jane's dancing talent, and the extraordinary atmosphere of the family make this book a delight from start to finish. Please treat yourself and your children.

I like all the "Shoes" books but I really love this one most of all! This book introduces you to the Bell Family of 2 Boys,2 Girls,their parents & there wonderful Housekeeper Mrs.Gage.These Kids live in Great Britain with there parents and are always having fun & adventures.They are like a real family with arguments and getting into trouble and having fun too!This is one of those books that you dont want to put down once you have started it! And there is a sequel too called "New Shoes". You will enjoy meeting the Bell Family!

And the customer asked about the "Shoes" books, and amonologue about the wonders of Noel Streatfeild's "Shoes"books ensued, touching on Dancing Shoes, Ballet Shoes, and Skating Shoes, which is absolutely wonderful, I cried. And I did that because I had never heard anyone other than myself talk about these terrific books, and the fact that it is tragic that they are mostly out of print and hard to find. This book is a wonderful story of working hard for a goal, and accomplishing it, or at least getting on the road to achieving a reasonable, yet magical, goal. If you want a great book for your favorite elementary school girl, buy this one - then buy the other "Shoes" books (and get a copy of Tennis Shoes for your favorite boy too!)

KC had finally found him. Her mystery man. Although she just have a glimpse of him but she was convince that he was the man of her dream, except that he's not really the guy she saw on the lobby. Had KC had found Mr. Right at last?
Faith found her Davis again, and Davis told her he loved her. But then he had a real horrible secret. But his secret could tear them apart!
Winnie thought she could get away from her ex-husband at last. But he had come to the same town as she is. And now she realize she still love him. Had fate bring her and Josh together again to make up their marriage?

This book was one of my favorites when I was a kid. I never read it in English, I did not even speak English back then. I read it in Polish and now I want to see if it's as good in English as well. It's a book that makes one want to be at the places that are described, see and feel, touch and live with people who are characters of this book. I read this book hundreds times and I still grabbed it tonight, even though I am already twenty. And it still takes me into the author's childhood. Not only that, it takes me into my own childhood as well. It is truly an amazing book.

As the title suggests, this book is about problem solving. It provides much in the way of helping students meet the California State Mathematical Reasoning Standards. It is also one of few books dealing with this topic that can actually be used with kindergartners. It has great ideas for other primary grades as well.

It is a versatile book, providing activities for use with interlocking cubes and cuisenaire rods, as well as with familiar fairytales, leaves and collection jars. The activities interest young children, provide them with challenges to solve, require active participation and encourage math as communication. The activities are open-ended and encourage pupils and teachers to form the habit of asking questions that further the ideas involved in the activities.

I was introduced to this book by our District Math Coach who highly recommended it.

I love this book! I like to dance, and I think that the girls who are interested in this book will be dancers or actresses, etc. I think that it is a good story about children my age learning to love dancing and acting as I do, and I would definately recommend reading this book! I have read this book and Dancing Shoes, and I cant' wait to read Ballet Shoes! I am not sure if non-dancers or actresses would like this book, but I sure did!
It is about three children named Sorrel, Mark, and Holly, who, after a period of time, find that talent runs in their family. But Sorrel is rivaled by her cousin, Miranda, who thinks she is better than them. But they prove her wrong! Sorrel learns to love acting, while Mark sings, and Holly dances. I'll probably read it over and over again years to come!

I admit that I have never quite outgrown children's books, of which this is definitely one. It is set in England in 1942-43 and is about three children named Sorrel, Mark and Holly. Their mother is dead and their father missing when the grandfather that they were living with dies. They are sent to live with their maternal grandmother, about whom they know nothing because their mother eloped and was never forgiven. It turns out that their mother was a member of a very famous stage family; so they are sent to the Children's Academy of Dancing and Stage Training so that they can carry on the tradition. This book serves as a sequel to Ballet Shoes but it manages to be more successful than most sequels in that it doesn't follow the original characters' lives after they have resolved their primary drama, but it keeps them as peripheral to the main plot. This way, the reader knows what happened to them but is not disappointed by the fact that they have become so much less interesting. There really isn't too much commentary that can be given on this book. It's very nice if you like this sort of thing but probably be very annoying if you don't

Theatre Shoes was the first of Noel Streatfield's 'shoe' book that I read. After I finished it, I went straight to the library to get more. I love reading about how normal kids [poor and orphaned] can become great at something. In this particular one Sorrel, Mark, and Holly are living with their grandmother, who has almost nothing, in London. This 'shoe' book [along with the other ones that I have read] talks about their troubles and how hard they work to earn money by preforming [even though they do not want to] and how each one of them finds their own special talent. You get to know the charecters so well that you feel like you are one of them. The events in the book seem so real. I just wish Noel Streatfield had written more than just 10 of them.

At the beginning of this sequel to Family Shoes, the Bishop has asked Rev. Alex Bell to move to a new parish, a depressed housing project outside London. The residents there seem entirely lacking in community and church spirit, and indifferent to their new vicar. Because the Bishop has urged each of the Bell children to find a way to make the new assignment a success, each uses her or his initiative to make connections between the vicarage and the community. By the end, they've learned an important lesson: people become invested in each other by *doing things together* to improve their community, rather than by having those improvements done for them.

Streatfeild's books are among my favorites to re-read, but they are markedly formulaic: each has three or four kids, one of whom is pretty, and one who is plain or fat. One or two will be talented and driven, one gifted but unmotivated, and one lazy and often resentful of her position within the family. Almost all of the children in her books end up being essentially responsible, family-oriented, enterprising, and good problem-solvers when they learn to work together, using their different skills. What saves these books is Streatfeild's ability to capture the little resentments and solidarities of family life. As well, even the less likeable characters tend to become more sympathetic, because they grow in realistic ways. Ginnie Bell, Jane Winter, and Nicky Heath all mature through their escapades, but they do not really repent or fundamentally change - they certainly continue to infuriate their siblings!

Streatfeild's refusal to thoroughly reform her characters keeps the books from being saccharine-sweet and makes possible some truly touching moments. In New Shoes, this moment comes when we see Ginnie's realization that her smug, horribly spoiled cousin Veronica is desperately lonely. Although Ginnie certainly uses Veronica's desire for attention to get what she, herself, wants, by the end of the book she has ensured that her cousin's parents see their daughter in a different light.

"New Shoes" is one of the most enchanting of Noel Streatfeild's delightful stories. With all the warmth of its prequel, "Family Shoes," it has a refreshing newness and youth. Cathy and Alex and their four children accept the bishop's invitation to a new church in a new town outside London, and all the children join together to help make Crestal New Town proud of itself. The children's talents expand on this broader stage, and the book is so vivid, so vital, so absorbing that you'll enjoy it even if you have not yet read "Family Shoes." The publishers were mad to allow this gem to go out of print. Please reprint it!

"New Shoes" is a delectable sequel to "Family Shoes." The book can stand on its own, but it will make you eager to read the first adventures of the Bell family. Reverend Alexander Bell accepts a call to a church in a new town outside London, where the bishop thinks the new town needs not only Alex but Cathy and the childrem, Paul, Jane, Ginnie, and Angus, to help make the new town proud of itself. The blossoming of the children's talents, Ginnie's adventures with Admiral Oakley, what it takes for Mrs. Gage to stay with the family, the surprise reappearance of Miss Bloggs, Aunt Rose, Uncle Alfred, and Veronica (we all have relatives!), Ginnie's plotting to remain at St. winifred's, and the transforming effect of the Bell family on the new town,create a book you'll read over and over. Don't miss Ginnie's debut in the national press!

The story of a rising young star and her troubles with the past. A great book, yet not the best of Streatfeild. A good read for those who can get there hands on it.

This is a fun filled adventure through the streets of London. Great book if you can find it!

This is an amazing tale. It fits together with a neat story. A young girl gets an amazing chance for the theatre. It's a great book if you can find it.

I recieved my summer reading list for Honors English a few weeks ago, and under the section that held a list of three play titles to choose from, I came across Blithe Spirit. Having never heard of Noel Coward, or anything of the other two plays in this book (Hay Fever, and Private Lives) I decided to give the book a chance and I am pleased that I did. I am not a huge fan of reading plays, but after I read Blithe Spirit, I felt that I just had to keep going and read the other two. After reading this book, it is now very obvious to me that Noel Coward was a man with extreme talent, and an awful witty sense of humor. While reading these plays you come across some really interesting situations, and characters, and I guarentee that you will be smiling throughout the whole thing.

Noel Coward's talent for spinning gossamer plots into rapier-sharp comedy assures his reputation in theatre, and his comedies have such timeless appeal that they remain staples of both English and American theatre. This volume collects three of his most memorable scripts: the fantasy BLITHE SPIRIT, the farce HAY FEVER, and the razor-wicked PRIVATE LIVES.

Of the three, BLITHE SPIRIT and PRIVATE LIVES are best known to the general public through various film versions and frequent revivals. BLITHE SPIRIT concerns a novelist who invites a medium to give a seance that he might learn tricks of the trade for the book he is writing--but the medium is no fake, and she unintentionally summons up the ghost of his first wife, who promptly moves in and makes his second wife's life a living hell. PRIVATE LIVES offers the story of a divorced couple who unexpectedly meet while honeymooning with their new spouses--whom they quickly abandon in order to resume their torrid passion for each other. Trouble is, although they love each other desperately, their personalities are about as compatible as two scorpions in a bottle. HAY FEVER, one of Coward's earliest successes, presents the story of visitors to an eccentric family who are very nearly driven mad before they are able to escape.

Coward was reknowned for his sophistocated and often acid turn of phrase, and all three of these plays contain enough outrageous situations and sharp-tongued lines to make even the worst sourpuss laugh loud enough to annoy the neighbors. Although those unused to reading playscripts may find HAY FEVER a bit hard to grasp, both BLITHE SPIRIT and PRIVATE LIVES read extremely, extremely well--so much so that you're likely to find yourself acting them out as you read! Wonderful fun, and strongly, strongly recommended.

Noel Coward's _Hay Fever_, Evelyn Waugh's _Handful of Dust_, and Kingsley Amis's _Lucky Jim_ are, for my money, the three funniest things written in English in the 20th century. I was a drama critic for nearly 12 years, saw hundreds of productions of all kinds from coast to coast in the US and a few in London, and never laughed harder or enjoyed myself more than at a regional US production of "Hay Fever" in the late 1970's. Do it again! Do it again!

Santa Barbara Architecture, From Spanish Colonial to Modern, is a wonderful informative book for this genre of architecture. It is a survey book, following lovely homes and businesses for blocks and blocks of neighborhoods in Santa Barbara. As an architectural student, I found it very informative and correct. Spanish detailing is abundant. My only criticism is that the pictures would have been better if they were in color, given all the color in Spanish, mission-style architecture. However, it's well worth the price just for the information.

I browsed this book at Borders today. This is a labor of love. From the turn of the century to the present day, it has at least one photo of every building of significance and by every prominent architect of Santa Barbara, Monticito, and Hope Ranch. There are many buildings by local architects as well as by famous ones. Also, the landscape architect is listed when that is appropriate. I loved this book because I have visited Santa Barbara many times and fantasised about living there. In fact, for me, Santa Barbara is the most beautiful place I have actually been to. For those readers who love architecture, this is a must have book: Mission style, Bungalow style, Spanish Revival, Mission Revival,Hacienda, Classical, Modern, Prarie Style, Californian, all are represented here. More importantly, the homes (mostly, but many government buildings are shown also), were commissioned by clients with the money to make the scale of the project majestic enough to last the ages. I have great pleasure is being inside beautiful homes, and this affords us a chance to see buildings that we ordinarily never would. If you can afford it,buy this book and have many years of browsing and dreaming.

Wow, do I remember what an uproar this caused when it first came out! As the murderous villian presented himself as a man of God, many incorrectly saw this graphic novel (and, in regards to complex characters, a compelling plot, and thematic depth, this does indeed deserve to be called a novel) as being an attack on religion. Its nothing of the sort. Instead, this is an attack on racism and intolerance in all its forms -- even the kindly-looking forms that speak words of love while thinking only thoughts of hate.

The plot deals with the anti-mutant crusade of a televangelist whose followers back up his sermons with murderous violence. (The opening scenes in which two mutant children are ruthlessly gunned down is powerful and haunting.) The X-Men (mutants themselves for those who, for whatever reason, might not know) join forces with their usual nemesis, Magneto, and, in the course of battling the nominal villians, they must decide for themselves whether to follow a path of peace or to give into Magneto's call for violent revolution.

Its a strong story and one of the best to come out of what, in my opinion at least, was the X-Men's strongest creative period. Considering the violence, sex, and sadism that's become almost common place in all forms of "entertainment" nowadays, the violence in God Loves, Man Kills seems almost quaint. Unlike so many others in his field, Claremont takes no joy from creating violence and never sinks so low as to cheapen the suffering found within this graphic novel's pages. For that he is to be comended. Hopefully, other aspiring comic book writers will take his lesson to heart and return the industry back to where it truly deserves to be.

This book plays wonderfully on the one thing that unites Charles Xavier and Magneto - their love for their fellow mutants. A right-wing extremist believes that Xavier is the anti-Christ, and his phrases only too often remind us of similar personages in America. The philosphy and theory is supported by necessary action, not the other way around as is the case in so many lower quality comic books. Overall, an excellent work.

This story is as moving to me today as it was when it first came out long ago. As a long-time fan of the "new" X-men (the first one I bought was 105 straight off the rack) it pleases me to see that the long-awaited movie seems to have been based on this book. The themes of prejudice and hatred based on fear of the different or the unknown are just as timely now as they were then. The courage, "humanity", and compassion shown by the mutants in this book are poignant counterpoints to the aggression and fear of the "normal" people.