We are class 5T in Holland Elementary School in Holland, MA, USA. We just finished reading The Children of Topaz for our Holocaust unit in Reading. This was our fifth literature study book of the year.

This book is about a diary kept by a 3rd grade class in a Japanese internment camp in Utah during WW2. It was about the life and times of the camp community. The 3rd graders illustrated their diary. The book showed some of those pages. There were also photographs. The book covered the span of one school year.

Some of us liked how such young children wrote such an amazing story. It was amazing how the Japanese took the relocation so well. The children drew very good pictures in the diary.

Some of us did not like The Children of Topaz because it wasn't fiction, and we like fiction. The book was also kind of boring. It didn't have very many exciting parts. It was also depressing to read. Some of us felt there could have been more writing by children and less commentary. We found the terms and names confusing.

Some of us felt uncomfortable reading this book. The people who put the Japanese in this camp were us, the American people. We should have thought before we placed innocent American people in camps because of the way they looked. The whole story was about racism. It was heartbreaking.

COUNTRY OF THE BLIND is a collection of 33 short stories hand picked by H.G. Wells as his best. The stories were written first published between 1894 and 1906 in both magazines and other Wells' anthologies. Most of the stories are science fiction, though a few are not. Among my favorites were "The Stolen Bacillus," "The Lord of the Dynamos," "Under the Knife," "The Sea Raiders," "The Crystal Egg," "The Man Who Could Work Miracles," "The New Accelerator," "The Truth About Pyecraft," "The Magic Shop," "Empire of the Ants," and "Country of the Blind." "The Crystal Egg" and "The Magic Shop" both appear to have influenced Stephen King's NEEDFUL THINGS. Other stories were uninspired sleepers.

I enjoyed this book, but did not think the story line was as strong as some of the earlier books in this series. I had a feeling the author was writing stories just to extend the series a few more volumes. But, since I am a Bolitho fan, I will probably end up buying all of them.

I would recommend using the book only in advanced-level classes in folklore. The content is strong, and the presentation, in general, is clear. There is also a fine bibliography that will provide a useful reference resource for studying folklore. The main problem with using this book in introductory classes is that it is too complicated for most undergraduates. Also, there is a wide variety of examples that illustrate various points, but in the thrust to represent cultural diversity, the authors include too much material that simply is irrelevant and uninteresting to students. This book might be useful in a graduate course in folklore studies, but by the time that students begin studying folklore at advanced levels, they will probably be interested in more complex and thorough studies of folklore. The book might, however, be a good starting point for professors and students in other disciplines who are interested in folklore research. It also could be useful for researchers who wish to access the scholarly literature on folklore.

While George Catlin is passionate of his desire to chronicle the North American indians and thier traditions, he falls short in the area of the east coast tribes and nations. The Cherokee, Chippewa, Choctaw, and Six Nations (Iroquois,Mohawk,Algonquin,Oneida,Seneca, and Tuskaroras ) all were an integral part of American history, They are observed on a minimal note. Comparatively, the Mmandans,and Sioux were beautifully chronicled with respect to the traditions and fears of the white man that were held among many Indian nations of the period. The detailed description of the rituals that a boy must endure to become a man, make one realize how trivial our day-to-day challenges really are. You cannot read this book and not gain a renewed respect of the American indian, and all they endured to please the White man,and avoid bloodshed in the name of peace,as they believed the great spirit wanted.

Okay, folks, like a lot of books from the eighties eras written about michael, basically they're the same thing. the authors seem to copy each other. so basically this book is like Mark Bego's books about Michael. The cover is of Michael in the Beat It Jacket. with like blue lights gleaming all on the cover.

I would like to know is it valid for START 2 under the NMD

Rabid Yankee fan that I am, I bought this book expecting a fascinating overview of the Steinbrenner era with some new insights and perspectives. I got neither.

Maury Allen was without question a talented sportswriter in his prime, but this ranks as the worst written sports history book I have ever read. It soon becomes clear that Allen's book isn't the product of extensive research but merely personal reminiscences and meanderings that offer very little sense of depth or substance about this period at all. Allen's most gripping chapter is his first one concerning his eyewitness perspective on the Fritz Peterson-Mike Kekich "wife swap". After that, it's all downhill with skimpy warmed over rehashings of things I've read about in so many better written books.

Along the way, when Allen skimps over the seasons and games of the period he's supposedly writing about he wanders off into annoying digressions about players of the 50s Brooklyn Dodgers, or the early 60s Mets, or Richie Ashburn, or being rude to Richard Nixon in 1969, none of which has anything to do with the Steinbrenner era. And on top of that, he gets so many basic facts wrong that after awhile it really gets annoying. There's trouble in the opening when he has the Mets beating Houston instead of Arizona in last year's postseason! On another occasion he describes Dave Righetti's 1983 no-hitter as the first at Yankee Stadium since 1951 (uh Maury, what about Don Larsen?) Don Mattingly is described as the first Yankee captain since Thurman Munson (Graig Nettles, Willie Randolph and Ron Guidry held the position after Munson and before Mattingly). Tony Horton is described as playing for Boston and being victimized by Steve Hamilton's "Folly Floater" in Fenway Park (Horton played for Cleveland and the incident happened at Yankee Stadium). Don Mattingly's eight game HR streak is described as happening at a time when the Yankees were "going nowhere" in 1987 (They were in first place at the time).

This book is for completists only. As a comprehensive overview of the Steinbrenner era it is neither comprehensive, nor is it much of an overview.

This book should have been titled "All Roads Lead to the Locker Room: Sportswriter Allen's 25-Year Beat with the New York Yankees." To put Steinbrenner's name in the title and then refer to him so sparingly is like giving an actor top billing in a film and then killing off his character in the first scene.

The book really is a series of disjoint anecdotes about Allen's experiences covering the Yankees. It's fun to read at times, and it unearths some new dirt on the team's historically (until recent years) fractious clubhouse. But it's nothing more. I didn't learn anything about George Steinbrenner the man, and very little about Steinbrenner the owner. The title is false advertising.

And the fact errors are horrendous. The previous reviewers caught most of the major ones; I'll only add Allen's mistake on first reference to David Cone's 1999 perfect game. He tells readers that Cone hurled the perfect game against Minnesota, when in fact it was Montreal. He later gets this right.

If you're a diehard Yankee fan, wait for the paperback or borrow this from the library; it's an easy read and it can be quite funny. But if you're looking for insight into George Steinbrenner or a worthy addition to your baseball library, stay away.

I enjoy reading baseball books that contain stories and anecdotes that don't usually appear in the papers. Allen has amassed a wealth of these stories, and as a baseball fan who is not privy to the "inside story," I found the book extremely interesting and fascinating. Allen rambles through Steinbrenner's 25 years as owner of the Yankees, and, in the process, he relates many wonderful stories about baseball and the people in it. Some of his tales aren't complimentary, but he's never nasty or spiteful, and I find that refreshing. I recommend the book to anyone who likes baseball and likes to read the stuff that isn't covered by the print and broadcast media. The book was written as an anecdotal anthology, and it succeeds.

"Senseless Secrets," while presenting an outstanding review of the history of the U.S. Armed Forces, is written from a point of view that is difficult to accept. The author cites many examples where he believes the American intelligence services to be responsible for needless deaths of U.S. servicemembers. Many of these "failures," according to LTC Lanning's own analysis, are those of non-M.I. military and even civilian leaders disregarding or undermining the work of the intelligence community and even dismantling the service altogether. However, all are blanketed with the label of "failures of intelligence." Aside from that, of course, the book is extremely well-written and valuable to anyone with an interest in military history of the United States.

We must all remember that nearly every military succes or failure is easly explainable in retrospect. Inteligence is among the most vulnerable department when it comes to analysis such as this. It is always possible to critisize the quality and quantity of information available when , after the fact, many more things come to light. This is not a strike against the author, it is a reminder to us all to be rational and to delicatly determine the circumstances surrounding us.

failures considered fatal actions of the cia through civil war and the last two world wars; very interesting book for the new generations of army officers.