Nonfiction Books

It reads as if you can hear them talking. Good stories and memories, some theirs alone, some we can remember, too.

Excellent book. It was interesting to learn a lot of things about their business/lives I didn't know. Sharp business men I'd say. Great entertainers...this is going right next to all my LP records, VHS tapes, CD's & DVD's.

Great, book. My wife is a big Statler Brothers Fan. Fast ship well pleased.

This is a wonderful look into The Statler Brothers. I enjoied every page They are truly Entertainers on and off the Stage. Every fan of the Statlers should read this book.

I have been a fan since Flowers on the wall, and I have a collection of greatest hit cd's that I sing with to and from work every day. And I never tire of my favorite songs. Of course I like some more than others, but I have a feeling they did too, all the more so after reading their book. Now I wish they would do a biography of the group and tell us more about themselves, how they interacted, did they ever have any internal "scraps", how did the traveling affect their families, etc., etc. They have protected their privacy, and have a right too, but they can still do that and tell us who have followed them through all their years more about themselves. I hope they will, but if this is the only book they ever do, it will do.

This is a very cute book and is age appropriate for my daughter who is turning 3 next month. She loves to pick out who she looks like, which is typically cookie monster or the honkers. I am glad I purchased.

It didn't really hold my son's attention. I'm not really sure why. Maybe because a lot of the characters weren't recognizable as Sesame Street characters. Otherwise it does a good job of showing the similarities in all humans (we all have noses that do the same thing, etc.) I only gave it four stars because my son wasn't interested after 2 or 3 reads.

This book is so sweet and my 3 year old loves it. I love the fact that it teaches that deep down we are the same but at the same time being different is a good thing. How boring would our world be if we were all the same?

This is a wonderful book for all kids. I read it with the children in my life and have them point out which one is their nose, eyes, mouth, skin, etc. and point out that we are all different and the same and isn't it great?!

This book is absolutely great for young children. It stresses the importance of how even though we are all different, we are all basically the same. It teaches children to accept everyone no matter how they look, what race they are, etc. This should be on the bookshelf of every child. It is also great for those with multi-racial families.

I highly recommend this book for toddler age kids, it allows them to dial 911 and gives different reasons for calling for help. The pictures are for young people, they are not scary or intimidating! The classroom teacher made a lesson plan from this book after my son brouhgt it in for show and tell!

My daughter loves it and now she can better grasp the importance of know when and how to call 911. So I think it is a must have. Very educational.

I gave this book to my three year old grandson after talking to him about how to call 911 and reasons to do it. The book has a phone pad so 911 dialing can be practiced and memorized. The dialing is answered with the sound of sirens; it would be better if a voice said, "What is your emergency, where do you live and what is your name?." The siren is very loud. Overall tho, I think the book is helpful in giving examples of what conditions would require a call to 911. My grandson knows his name, his address and how to hold his hand under someone's nose to see if they are breathing. The book is sturdy and colorful and will help children learn when and when NOT to call.

My daughter loved pushing the 911 buttons and the sounds. Would not recommend for children over 5.

I purchased this book for my 3 year old for Christmas and it was a great choice. After reading it twice he was able to grap the concept of what 911 was and when to use it. The only downside was when the book did come in the mail the batteries were dead. I had to go out and by new ones on christmas eve. It brought the book from a $7.95 purchase to $20.00, the batteries were $4 each and it takes 3 of them. I hope they last as long as they say they do. Battery issue aside it was one of the best book purchases I have made.

This series teaches skills that all of us should learn. It helps me as a parent to reinforce principles that I feel my child needs to understand. It's also great that given the choice between the Get Along books and classics such as Hercules...my four year old boy will choose to read the Get Along Series books.

--Mike (Father of three)

I would highly recommend any of the books in this series by Cheri Meiners. Join In and Play is a great book for parents whose children are shy or may avoid social interactions. It offers a variety of ways they can be included and have fun with their classmates and friends, even illustrating how to ask to join a game or play quietly beside another child. It also would be helpful in helping a more confident, popular child to reach out to quieter, less engaged peers.
These books caught my eye because the writing level is just right for pre-K and kindergarten children. Truthful without being preachy or overly wordy, the series shows children and family members from many different ethnic groups in the colorful illustrations, and each book addresses issues which are developmentally critical to this particular age group: sharing, taking turns, being afraid, listening, respecting others, helping out at home, etc. These books have given us a starting point to discuss problems at school or interacting with others, and have helped my son to have more empathy for his peers....I am hopeful that this quality will serve him well as he continues on to kindergarten and elementary school. It is exciting to hear him use ideas from this series to problem solve.

I have all the books from the Learning to Get Along series. They are wonderfully illustrated and written. These are great social story books to help kids. I use them for my son and for the kids I work with at school. My son (5) will just sit and read this books on his own. I absolutely recommend Cheri J Meiners books. (I even have a link on my website for her books)

This is such a wonderful book. It is very thoughtful, respectful and kid friendly. The book spells out very clearly how to "join in and play." There is a wonderful teacher/parent guide in the back with activities for children to practice on how to make friends. The book is very well written and the illustrations are so dynamic. You can really tell how the children are feeling in the book by their facial expressions. (My only caveat is that the illustrator wasn't given credit on the byline. I don't know how the publisher go away with this but it is an egregious error in my perspective.) All the books in the series are wonderful! My daughter reads them over and over again.

My daughter has been asking about ways to make money for the last couple of weeks, so I decided to get her this book. It gave her some ideas and encouraged her to look for more ideas on her own.

Does your young lady know the value of money? How do you teach her to make money work for her is wonderfully expressed in this book. Preteens(and all of us) need to know how to live on what money they have and refrain from debt and overspending ..a life-style habit can begin early when the young girl knows expectations of her in regard to money.

This book isn't as good as the other ones. I mean,it was a good book,but I think the other ones were better. But it does help you about spending money and stuff. But it also was a little boring at parts.

Money is such a simple thing, but the way we earn it, save it, spend it, owe it, etc. is a very complex thing, indeed.

A Smart Girl's Guide to Money is an exceptionally well done book aimed at a young audience -- hopefully before they make the uninformed miscalculations that drive an alarming number of Americans into debt, sometimes before they graduate from school.

How wonderful that American Girl has combined both survival skills and entertainment to benefit their target audience! Well done!

The first thing my daughter, age 11, read was the 101 moneymaking ideas and unfortunately, she was "smart" enough to point out that it really wasn't 101 unique ideas. For example: Decorate tins for Valentines day (#98) is similar to #99, #100 and #101 which are to decorate tins for other special days. Nevertheless, I pointed out that one idea can have different uses... She seemed satisfied with that answer and quickly moved on to "How to get a raise" in the allowance section.

I was impressed at the succinct ways in which ideas are addressed. The book includes:
~ many different emotions associated with money (including friendships and partnerships),
~ how everyone's personality is different (creating a different spending style)
~ values of money (good or bad purchases and needs or wants)
~ budgeting (including plastic money, use of checks with ledger entry, and types of investments)
~ a few quizzes such as one to figure out what type of work is best for you

Don't expect a lot of heavy discussion and explanations. As I said, the text is succinct, even to the point where you may need to add some parent explanations. Parent involvement is a good thing though, because the sooner you discuss finances with your child, the better off he or she will be.

There ain't too many ex-pat chicks out there forging their own way in foreign countries. To do this successfully like our heroine Sally Jay Gorce did, one must have inner toughness and a bit of zanyness. It has been said somewhere that female ex-pats have a freewheeling love life; to do this successfully one must have innate degage (one of my favorite French words from The Dud Avocado. It means detachment). Sally Jay's handling of ole European dog, Teddy, is classic ex-pat chick behavior: use 'em and abuse 'em. Here are some of my favorite Sally Jayisms:


1. I travel light so I can make my getaway.
2. I was merely a disinterested spectator at the Banquet of Life.
3. Mentally I was already over the hills and far away.
4. I am totally incomprehensible to everyone, including myself.
5. I reflected wearily that it is not easy to be a Woman in these stirring times.
6. I suppose I rather am an intellectual.
7. It was typical of my lunacy...
8. The vehemence of my moral indignation surprised me. Was I beginning to have standards, principles and scruples?? What would I do with them and how much were they going to get in my way?
9. One of the many many many things that fascinate me about myself....
10. Why can't everyone just change countries with everyone else?
11. I was a long way from St. Louis. My past was receding a little too rapidly.
12. I don't believe in looking where I am going.
13. I feel i should draw the line soon. I'd like to, only I don't know how. To tell the truth, I've never drawn it.
14. I, suddenly, had been around once too often.

So there you go. Witticisms for the girl on the go. Most of these bon mots came from Part One, my favorite section of the novel. It is rather telling that Sally has a male middle name: it mirrors some of her (above) male attitudes and viewpoints.

Thanks to The New York Review of Books, this relevant gem has been revived.
The ageless battle of Yin and Yang in a feminine framework is pleasantly portrayed by the author.

First, let me say this book is written very well. It's a fluid read, and the descriptions of Paris and the bistro regulars are so vivid I felt I'd been there. Many of the observations of human nature are dead on the money.

That being said,in this age of Turner Classics and cable TV, I felt like I was seeing a re-run. What must have been a unique read in the 50's is now a bit of same old, same old. Holly Golightly redux.

Sally Jay Gorse, the heroine, is -- as one character describes Americans -- an avocado of a girl: "a hard-center with a tender meat surround, all wrapped up in a shiny casing...and so green - so eternally green."

I, too, found Sally had a hard center which today we'd characterize as shallow and narcissistic. She's self-involved, opportunistic, dissolute, aimless, bored, loose, and unsophisticated in the ways of human behavior. Trading on her good looks alone, her tender insides are only activated when her narcissism is thwarted. I couldn't really like her, although I tried, nor could I identify with her.

If you need to revisit Paris in the 50's, this is your book...or you could watch American in Paris on TNT.

Too many books are weak lemonade; a few, straight bourbon with no chaser. Elaine Dundy's "The Dud Volcano" is a bottle of chilled Champagne: invigorating, light, irresistibly sippible. Its picaresque heroine, Sally Jay Gorce, is no prude, though certainly no whore. She's a hoot: a fully realized character whose narrative voice immediately grabbed my attention and never let go until the very last (hilarious) word. I've no idea if Paris in the 1950s was anything as the book describes, but Ms. Dundy makes me believe that it was.

"The Dud Avocado" may not be a great book, but it's a very good one: a bubbly comedy of manners when one's mind is ready to escape to a different place and era close enough to our own to be both recognizable and adventurous. And with Sally as your guide, the excursion is never, ever dull.

I am glad that The Dud Avocado has hit the popularity mark again, if it ever lost it. This was a very fun read, and I was tempted to start over from the beginning the second I read the last word. I will definitely be reading it again soon. I would go into specifics about what I like about the book, but there's so much great stuff, and I am known to go on forever about these things. So, rather than give a detailed description, I would just highly recommend others to read it for themselves. This book does not disappoint!

I bought this book a few years ago and had to force myself to finish it. It's definately not as great as it is made out to be. A lot of it is common sense, and Simmons repeats things over and over as the book goes on. There are a few good little anecdotes, but other than that this just isn't worth it.

Every girl from age 1O up and her parent should read this book so they understand what is in store for them in middle, junior high and high school. Rachel Simmons beautifully describes the unique bully culture of girls present on every school campus. It is so important for girls to understand this phenomenon so they are prepared and don't unknowingly become victims.If you have a daughter...it is a must-read for a parent. Also add to your bookshelf, Bully-Proofing Children: A Practical, Hands-On Guide to Stop Bullying. This provides an excellent understanding of bullying (as well as girl bullying)and more importantly how to prevent it and intervene to stop it. This too is a must-read for parents of all kids who are about to enter school.

i'm not sure how i missed this book. it was published in 2002, and is absolute must reading for EVERY youth worker (male or female) and every parent of a girl.

it's a tough read and an easy read. easy, because simmons is an excellent writer and fills the book with real stories of real girls. tough, because the real girls she profiles reveal a profile of aggression (almost universally experienced) that is so painful, so destructive, it's difficult to read (especially if you care about teenage girls).

i had a great chat with my 13 year-old daughter, liesl, after reading this book. she was very open about how girls treat each other. i may be fooling myself, but i do think that liesl's private school (a waldorf school, which is particularly nurturing and has no tolerance for mistreatment) protects her from the fullest extent of what this behavior would look like in the vast majority of schools. in fact, i could easily see liesl being the aggressor (the rumor-creator, the silent treatment-giver, the "we don't like you" club-originator), were she in a different context.

the book talks at length about why this alternative aggression is so commonplace amongst girls. it also talks about why schools are so poor at addressing it. it's a bit light on suggestions for what we all (who care about girls) can do about it - but there is some of this, especially near the end of the book.

given my passion for early adolescent ministry, i was intrigued to read that this behavior is at its peak during the young teen years. the author focuses all of her research on girls from 5th grade through 9th grade, with the "sweet spot" (bad choice of words, i suppose) between 11 and 14.

here's one particular paragraph i found fascinating:

at first glance, the stories of girls not being allowed to eat at the lunch table, attend a party, put their sleeping bag in the middle, or squeeze inside a circle of giggling girls may seem childish. yet as carol gilligan has shown, relationships play an unusually important role in girls' social development. in her work with girls and boys, she found that girls perceive danger in their lives as isolation, especially the fear that by standing out they will be abandoned. boys, however, describe danger as a fear of entrapment or smothering. this contrast, gilligan argues, shows that women's development "points toward a diffrerent history of human attachment, stressing continuity and change instead of replacement and seperation. the primacy of relationship and attachment in the female life also indicates a different experience of and response to loss. the centrallity of relationship to girls' lives all but guarantees a different landscape of aggression and bullying, with its own distinctive features worthy of seperate study.

This book is truly an eye opener and surely will help cast light on the subject of female aggression which does not end in high school. I was drop-dead gorgeous from 15-45 years old with a heart to match always ready to be nice with other girls or women (depending on the time frame). I was brought up in an upper-middle class neighborhood where I was very sheltered in a very exclusive high school. For the most part, aggression in girls was non-existent, except for male bullies, which were hardly something to cry about back then. I was self confident. I had everything, I lacked nothing. It was AFTER high school that I encountered female aggression. At one job one female came to me ABSOLUTELY LIVID and said, "You think you are so perfect, we'll find something wrong with you!!!!!" . . . Women there did not WANT my friendship, they wanted to fight me. The subtle but exceptional violence I encountered was truly amazing to me, and I was totally confounded for a while because I never encountered such devious and vicious behavior in high school--IN THE LEAST. If this happened to me, this can happen to anybody.

This author really helped clarify things. She gets feedback directly from the girls, and you would be surprised at what they say!! This book will certainly help young ladies (and even not so young ladies) understand these forms of exceptionally vicious and insidious female aggression and warfare that is parasitical in nature and uses other females as prey for their own personal satisfaction. Bullies build their self esteem by inventing cruelties. Female aggression is ALL over the place and it is surely caused by low self esteem. What are they telling themselves?: I guess they are telling themselves they have no other recourse for their self esteem other than to prey upon and torment others in very devious ways.

The author really wants to expose as much as possible, and I think this author does a fantastic job at it. I REALLY want to thank the author for helping me understand that which I couldn't figure out on my own--because this mentality and behavior was SO foreign to who I was. This book will certainly help others understand that girls are indeed JUST AS violent as boys--in other ways. She mentions that females will indeed try to get other females into a friendship so they can abuse them. I personally saw that they can even bring males with them into the aggression (you would be surprised that men don't always have high self esteem either). Perhaps I don't agree with just a few points that the author is mistaken about, but this book is truly an eye-opener and will CERTAINLY HELP girls out there victims of aggression in high school AND BEYOND. This type of aggression and violence stems from the inability to verbalize insecurities in an open and honest manner. If someone feels they are bullied because they feel they are "nerds," one can be sure that ANY EXCUSE they WANT is valid for bullies. They need to satisfy their insecurities using someone else.


(I got this book some years back in hardbound, but never did my review) I was prompted by the latest news of the girl being attacked by other girls who brought two guys into the aggression with them. I, in the meantime, have stopped being an ally of women since it happened to me.

Great job to the author!!!

This is an amazing book that only someone who had been bullied herself could have written with such understanding. This book is a 'must read' for anyone being vicimimzed, whether at work or at school. It should be recommended reading for teachers too as it might make them more aware of 'bully' situations in their classes.

Covers everything related to Star Wars. Very interesting with great pictures. My husband was intriqued by this book.

i bought this book for my granson a 7 year old for is birthday he love star wars and the book was the best present for him.

I bought it last month, but the book was published one year ago. This book is the special edition of Star Wars: The Ultimate Visual Guide. I bought the original edition of this book in 2005. This book can be saw as a simple timeline with picture stories of star wars, including movies, book, music, games, comics and so on.I very like this book.

The book has everything that i required. I belong to the 501st Legion I Australia and need reference images etc is rather important to me. Big clear images and easy to follow while reading. Very good product and i recommend one for all Star Wars fans.

TK-2264

This is a must-have for all Star Wars fans, big and little! Awesome photos!