What a pleasurable contrast to lugubrious teen fiction this book is! It dances, it races, high on its heroine's energy and anything-but-wry humor. Its characters don't tolerate stoic suffering for long, but are busily changing their lives. I find their enthusiastic optimism infectious: it brings the reader's own adolescence to mind, when life seemed to change unpredictably every few weeks--and Klass's prose reminds me irresistably of a high school marching band, full of percussive rattling, oom-pah tuba notes, and bright trumpets. Sit back, have fun, enjoy the adrenaline rush.

This, her latest in a series of amatuer radio adventures for young adults, is a tense historical story with science fiction overtones. It is probably the best, though Wall's first book, Night Signals shows depth, as well. The two college-age main characters are transported back to the Oregon Trail through a freak accident. They must face the difficulties of that time-period and the hardships of the Trail with 20th-century sensibilities. Interlaced within this story, they are in radio contact with a WWII fighter pilot in 1943 via a mysterious atomospheric condition that is sending radio signals through time. The pilot has crashed on an island in the Pacific and is preparing to die; his story is moving as he writes a letter to his wife.

A Spark to the Past reads like a well written television movie, and has very good imagery and plot. All in all, this is a fine story, and it will likely be appreciated by its readers.

To See My Mother Dance is a good short story, if you are looking for a quick book for a book report ect... this is the perfect book. It's about a 13 year old girl named Jessica. Her mother left her when she was just born and now her dad is remarried and she is learning all to well what it is like to have a mom. Jessica is very mad and thinks her real mom is coming back for her some day, in other words, she is not very nice to her step mom.

Any visitor to a foreign country is well advised to get to know its religion, not only because it's practiced by most inhabitants of the country, but also it illuminates many cultural and social parculiarities of the locale. This book claims to be a travellers' book on Japan, yet Buddism, which informs most of Japan's architectures, art, literature, is relegated to an a few index pages in the back of the book. More distressingly, Christianity is treated with a whole chapter, "The Christian Century", which should be appropriately titled "Encounters with the West". The Christian Century implies somehow that Japan was almost Christianized, when in fact the reader will find that at most 50,000 Japanese converted during that time. Too much emphasis is put on how these converts were persecuted, without putting these incidents into historical context. In 16th century Japan, the Emperors saw Christianity as a threat and meddling to their affairs, due in part to the missionaries' arrogant dissimal of Buddism as idolatry. In the index, Buddism is said to be a religion that "conceives salvation as extinction, rather than redemption." This is a serious misunderstanding of Buddism.

By title, this book, indeed this series, may put fear into the reader of being a too-general and non-scholarly vast account of a subject matter too complex for any quality to come from the short format. Tames proves these fears wrong almost from the beginning in this indeed scholarly, engaging, and very well-balanced account of the history of one of the most misunderstood nations among today's world leaders. Tames does write a very general account, but "general" can be better understood as "broad" and "far-reaching" in this narritive. Regardless of the period discussed, his approach is rarely too single-tracked. This is a developmental history, and as such, properly includes development of Japanese government, culture, arts and literature, and the cumulative effects of this development onto the subsequent generations of Japanese. Tames does an excellent though suggestive job of relating the development of the Japanese nation to that of its people, and vice-versa. Throughout, except for the beginning, where it is often difficult to make any pre- and early histories come to life, the narritive flows freely with a purpose, and Tames' clear interest in his subject shines through the pages to take the reader with him on the easy, air-conditioned, and quick monorail tour through the safari of Japanese history, which is exactly what it is meant to be. In addition to the narritive is an excellent bibliography with commentary, as well as an entire reference section on everything Japanese from language to food and drink to holidays and their meanings. Especially for ex-pats living in Japan who don't want to be bogged down with anything dry or without connection to their experience, this is a quick, excellent read. It does a great job of subtly explaining the oft-seemingly unexplainables of Japan today.

Past and present gave a westerner view of culture and their characteristic vertues. Having Japanese friends and co-workers I wanted to understand their unfathomable virtue and how civil the makeup. I find that Mr. Tames not only covered the world they came from but how they are contributing to our culture in America 2000. Past and Present :-)

Reading "Waiting for the Rain" was like watching a good television show. I thought it was a good book to read if you like to know about segregation. The book was pretty good, but dull. It also gave a lot of information on the history of South Africa and Apartheid. Tengo was the main character. He had a best friend named Frikkie. Tengo is black and Frikkie is white. They are separated by their color and what is going on in S. Africa. The only thing I saw wrong with the book was that there wasn't much action. The book is mostly about friendship and color. The other thing that was bad was the ending. It doesn't say what happened to each of them afterward. I would change the ending if I could or make it longer. The book was an overall of 4 out of 5 stars. You should read it.

Is it right to discriminate someone just because of the color of their skin? Right or not, this has been going on in South Africa. The book, Waiting for the Rain, by Sheila Gordon, gives a good perspective on how the blacks were treated in Africa. The protagonist is a black boy, named Tengo, who lives on a farm with his parents under the owner Oom Koos. Tengo becomes friends with Oom Koo's nephew Frikkie. Tengo and Frikkie get along really well, until they get older and start to understand the racial discrimination of the blacks in South Africa. Tengo really enjoys to learn and thrives to see the world. When he moves to Johannesburg with his cousin Joseph to go to school, he learns a lot more than he bargained for. Tengo had to go through many struggles in his life while in the city. He learned how life truly was for blacks and how much the whites really hated them and that things were all segregated. He finally was able to decide in the end of the book what he wanted to do in life. I really enjoyed the end of the book. I liked how the author had the last meeting with Tengo and Frikkie, and how they were able to talk one last time. I also loved how the book ended and how it kept u thinking. Overall, I think book was well written and told the lifestyles of blacks in South Africa well. The book was a little below the grade level it was given. I recommend this book to people who enjoy learning about other countries and apartheid. It gives a good perspective and insight on how life was for the blacks.

Waiting for the Rain, an historical fiction novel by Sheila Gordon, is a story about prejudice that will shock you. It takes place during the 1950s in the bustling cities and grassy planes of South Africa. At this time, the country is filled with racial prejudice. The two main characters, Tengo and Frikkie, are childhood friends; however, one of them is white and the other is black.
Tengo and Frikkie soon find that they are fighting on opposite sides in this racial battle. Tengo dedicates himself to a life of change, and Frikkie joins an army that attempts to keep life the way it has always been. The reader will love the suspense created by their changing relationship. Also, the reader will enjoy the detailed language the author uses to describe the setting. Everyone with a heart will love this book and be driven to learn more about this period in time.

I don't see how this book deserves a star. Cici is one of the flakiest charactres I've ever read about. She wants to become a famous actress.....yet she doesn't take acting classes, or accept an ensemble role in her school play. She thinks she won't have to go to college to become an actress.....but I'm an actress myself, and I know it takes a lot more work than just sitting around waiting to be "discovered" and thinking you'll be a great and talented person just becaiuse your family owns a movie theatre.

This quirky book is easily misunderstood but was made into a play and performed to hysterically funny reviews. I believe it's a satire on the unreality of breaking into acting. Odd and wierdly refreshing.

I grew up playing with Lettie Lane paperdolls, also by artist Sheila Young, and was excited to find that this item was available as well. While I enjoyed looking at all of the different outfits and how each doll has its own unique features, I was disappointed that they were too big to be used with the Lettie Lane dolls. Even some of the characters within the book itself are not size-matched to be used together. So, while the dolls and outfits are beautiful, I rate it at 3 stars for the size issue.

I thought this book was real exciting. I think that if you like exciting, mysterious, and wierd books you will like for sheila. I thought it was a nice book, and I think you will to.