rattle Books

Get all these Rotten School books for your kids. Especially if they hate to read, they will be reading these all the time. My son is 8 and loves all these books and all the kids in the neighborhood do too. Another success for RL STINE

My 7YO son ripped through every book in this series. If you want your boy to read chapter books on his own, this is the way to do it. As soon as the next one in the series comes out, we'll be sure to get it, and he'll read it in one sitting. My son was also a big fan of Captain Underpants, of course.

I really like this mystery series and this book is no exception. This one actually keep me guessing who is the bad guy until the end.

This has been my favorite in the series so far (I've read all but three, I think). It takes place in the Museum of Natural History and I found it very interesting as I've been to two or three natural history museums. I read this a while ago, but I believe exhibits are mentioned, including extinct animals (maybe like the giant ground sloth). If you've ever been to a natural history museum, you might find yourself saying that you've seen an exhibit like the one being described. I would recommend this to people who like cozy and historical mysteries and, of course, those who like natural history museums!

In 1924 England, the separation between the social classes was so wide, most citizens believed that one should marry within one's class. Deputy Constable Alec Fletcher is not so sure that perspective is incorrect, but he cannot give up his fiancee Daisy Dalyrmple just to satisfy conventional wisdom. The honorable Miss Daisy does not give a fig about social class distinctions as she plans to marry into the middle class.

Unlike most blokes of the period, Alec appreciates Daisy's independence and fully supports her need for a career writing magazine articles. However, at the same time he wishes she would stay outside of his homicide cases. Daisy wants to comply, but fate seems to keep pushing murdered bodies along her path. She currently works in the London Museum when she finds the corpse of the Keeper of Mineralogy impaled on a dinosaur bone. Daisy later learns that a fortune in jewels is also missing. Unable to resist, Daisy starts snooping, which places her in danger from the killer and sends Alec towards a potential stroke from her latest involvement.

The eighth installment in the Daisy Dalyrmple series, RATTLE HIS BONES, contains the humor of a sitcom that makes it more enjoyable than the entertaining previous seven. Daisy and Alec are an adorable couple, whose enlightened outlook helps them transcend the loud objections to their relationship. The era and the crime scene provide an ideal locale for Carola Dunn's first class story line while the ending is perfect for those readers who relish a well designed puzzle. The author has done historical mystery fans a big favor with this wonderful tale.

Harriet Klausner

Daisy Dalrymple, a freelance writer with a penchant for stumbling over corpses, is working on a magazine article about London's Natural History Museum. When the geology curator is murdered, Daisy's fiancé, Detective Chief Inspector Alec Fletcher is called in to investigate. It is soon discovered that many of the museum's gemstones have been replaced with fakes. Now Fletcher must unmask the killer and recover the missing jewels while trying to keep Daisy from meddling in his case.

Set in England during the 1920s, the Daisy Dalrymple books are lovely light reading--sort of a cross between Agatha Christie and P. G. Wodehouse. "Rattle His Bones" is one of the best in the series. The writing is effervescent and the main characters are absolutely charming. It's not all froth--the characters are confronted with the barriers of class distinctions and the horrible physical toll of World War I--but the overall tone is very lighthearted.

As someone who enjoys prowling the dimly lit halls of Chicago's Field Museum, I particularly enjoyed the book's setting. As a previous reviewer mentioned, if you've ever seen a dinosaur exhibit, you'll have no trouble picturing the locations in your mind's eye.

This book is enjoyable, but I found it unevenly written. The parts about ghosts in America and Europe weren't particularly interesting - the stories chosen not especially original. One thing left me unsure just how well the book was researched. A picture accompanying a story about a haunted house in New Orleans, Hell House itself, showed a ghost on a stairway. This picture is actually the famous picture of the Brown Lady of Raynham Hall, who resides in Norfolk, England. This, and another misplaced picture, made me question the entire book and it's photos.
-On the other hand, the stories from Asia, South America, Africa, and Australia were very interesting. I have never heard any of them and found that part fascinating. So two-thirds of the book was superb.
-I am glad to have the book, when all is said and done.
-85 Snazzes on the 100 Point Snazz-o-Scale.

I am interested in ghost stories. This book had a combination of them, each written well.

Right now, my baby has no interest in sitting and reading books or being read to. This helps me get through a book with him! It's great!

I read this excellent book, here in Brazil.This book has forword, acknowledgments, five chapters, an afterword, a glossary, the resources and an index.There's not many details about almost any product, but I'm not a military.Even if you are a military, this book is for you too.About socks and boots, there's informations.About canteens there's informations.The photos of this excellent book are all colored photos.In fact, there's more space in this book to the photos, than to the text itself.For me,a civilian, this book is amazing, but for experts about battle gear, this book will be with less informations, than a profissional would would like to see.This book was printed(in China) in 2006.It isn't outdated in any sense.The quality of paper and cover is also excellent.
About pistols on combat, this book writes on page 106:"I used my pistol far more than my turret weapon or carbine, and it was quit effective.All you need to do is draw the weapon and hold it in front of most iraqis, and they will stop yelling and stard behaving themselves.If you point a .50 cal or M240 or an M4 at them they will just laugh at you - They know you won't pull the triger.They take the threat of a handgun much more seriously."
Here in Brazil there's a proverb:"Vivendo e aprendendo".On a translation to the english, we would have:"Living and learning".I knew three World War II veterans;all aren't alive today.All told me that in a war, handguns(pistols and revolvers) are next to useless.They saw friends and foes killed/wounded by artillery, air attacks,rifles and even submachine guns' fire.They never saw, in that war, any enemy or foe killed/wounded by pistols or revolvers.The last of these friends, died last month.All died not thinking that a military could put a pistol as more important than a rifle or even a hand grenade.Well, I'm 38 years old.Living and learning:pistols are now more important than ever before because, today the war isn't a conventional war, but a unregular war, against the nazislamism.

As a guide to the gear modern warfighters carry into battle, this book provides a good overview. The author obviously knows his stuff and speaks intelligently and with authority about a subject most laymen, I am sure, take for granted and give little thought to. Mr. Halberstadt has an excellent grasp of the subtleties involved, and he makes it easy for the rest of us to understand.

A lof of good info on private purchase miltiary gear. Troops today seem to have a lot more freedom in that area than we did back in the 60's.

Every soldier who's every humped a ruck is going to love this book. Hans Halberstadt, along with fine contributions by Graves, Hilliard and others, has finally come out with a definitive work on the current evolutions of personal military equipment. Halberstadt's world class photography covers everything from boots to buckles and rucks to rifles, complimented by gear critiques from operators fresh from combat. Once a soldier, always a gear junky, and this book's a keeper.

Ever wonder what all that stuff a soldier is wearing while watching news clips from Iraq and Afghanistan? It's all answered here in Battle Rattle. For one with no military experience, I was enthusiastic to learn about a soldier's gear and weaponry, how it's packed and minipulated in the field, and what goes vs. what stays. The book is tall with large color photographs so the reader can easily understand the function of each piece of equipment. As well, the book contains several informative combat stories as told by war vets. A great read!

Because I'd read all the other books with Titus Bass, I had to read this one. But, this is clearly not Johnston's best work. Whereas the other novels were fast paced and exciting, this one is much slower and in places tedious. Maybe it's because Titus is aging; he's just naturally slowing down.

Titus Bass, variously a cattle rustler, a trapper, a doting husband and father, and a man with a serious "rep" in and around the 1840s Rocky Mountains, is one of those heroes that transmogrifies from book to book, sequel to sequel. Unfortunately for those of us dummies who start reading the series in the middle, there's a lot of old war stories that just don't make sense. Half of this book cannot be read unless you know the prior goings-on. Too bad, because the other half could stand on its own. In this free-standing half, we have the story of Titus (aka "Scratch") joining up with his trapper buds (and some not so buds) to steal horses from the Mexicans in California. There's much excitement in this endeavor, and no little killing. Following which there's a boring interlude in which Scratch makes his way through the mountains back to his wife and kids. They all set out for Taos, NM, although you have to be privy to earlier books to have the slightest idea why (characters from earlier books pop in and out constantly, with no other introduction to speak of, except little footnotes which Mr. Johnston is kind enough to supply, indicating which of his prequels will reference the individual). In Taos, a real hair-raising scenario ends the book, based on history, apparently. The killing which takes place there makes the American Psycho look like Peter Pan. Thus, the good, the bad, and the many passages you can skip. Diximus.

Howdy folks. James Drury here. You might remember me from the Virginian. I don't read many of Terry Johnston's books, but I read this one and I want to leave you some of my thoughts. First, it's a shame to have Terry Johnston gone. He left us way too young, and cancer got another one. I do enjoy Johnston's stuff, but I have to say it's a little rough for my tastes. I read all of Kirby Jonas's novels on audio tape, and Kirby has a similar flair to Johnston as far as historical authenticity but without the bite of graphic violence, too much cussing, and other things just better left to the imagination. I know I sound like I'm slamming an author who was well-loved by many and always will be. I don't mean to slam him, and I do recommend this and all of his books if you are strong of stomach. For a milder, but still authentic taste of the West, read Kirby Jonas's books or listen to me read them on audio. Thanks for hearing me out.

Titus Bass strikes again! If you've read the other books in this series, I'm sure you already ache to follow Titus on another adventure, so pick this up.

Johnston is a great writer, easily on a par with Elmer Kelton or Kirby Jonas or Louis L'Amour. Well worth the read!

Have read all of Terry's Tiltus Bass novels and find them to be not only great stories but also great history lessons of the American West. I have a special interest in Terry's Titus Bass books as he mentions people in the novels that my great grandparents knew, such as John McLouglin, Robert "Doc" Newell and Joe Meek. My great grandmother's sister married Doc Newell a number of years after he had retired from beaver trapping and setteled in the Willamette Valley in Oregon. Keep an eye out for the last Titus Bass novel later this year titled Wind Walker.

This collection is a masterpiece, and its companion volume the School Bag is every bit as good. While the collection includes many classics, the various obsessions of the editors have led them to uncover works that you are unlikely to have read before.

I return to this anthology again and again.

...Want a break from poetry that is "sophisticated," "domestic" or "Lacanian"? This is it! It's been a favorite of mine for ten years, restorative on every read. It bears the stamp of green, love, a garden of great poems (Keats, Neruda, "Anonymous" etc.) fresh as the day they were written. This vivid new cover sort of sums up the feeling.

A fascinating collection, more useful for insights into the favorites of two of the more important poets of the late 20th century than for anything else. While bowing down to no old chestnuts out of misplaced respect, the collection also suffers from a preferance for poets from Ireland and the United Kingdom and some choices seemingly inspired by multi-culturalism and little else. Nonetheless, the collection does have some wonderful pieces that would be hard to find on one's own, as well as a fantastic tribute to Shakespeare by including several passages from his plays and none of the sonnets.

This book stunk, it literally had smelly pages

This book stunk, it literally had smelly pages

This is a reprint of Mason's classic 1938 edition. It is fascinating, even though Mason uses some slightly racist-sounding phrases, it is obvious that he repects (respected) Amerindian culture. He has a great feel for their spirituality. And personal experience with our First Peoples. It's a little corny and naive other parts.

Mason's book has many drawings of original drums and their designs. He gives detailed practical instructions on how to build drums, hand-frame drums and a pow-wow drum, from processing a raw animal hide to bending wooden slats into a hoops, stretching and drying the drum head, painting and adding adornments. He left me with the impression that it is nearly impossible to build dud!

Stinky probably spoke true (if the book was a 1938 musty-smelling edition) but Stinky's review was woefully misleading. The book is a classic on woods craft type drum building. It also provides an intimate glimpse into the recent past before thoughts and words were filtered through a politcally correct seive.

This is a great book for babies. My daughter seemed to love this toy. I think its worth it!

I got this for my ten month old granddaughter and wish I'd gotten it sooner. She loves this little book: the bright colors, simple designs, the fact she can chew on it, it makes noise, all of it is good!

This cloth book is not only colorful but has the added rattle for a baby to play with when reading them their cloth book. The baby can grab the cloth book by the rattle so it is easily accesible to them.

The book is charming and will be a delight for the babies.

However, my daughter washes EVERYTHING for the babies. This book was not designed to go into the washing machine, but it survived the trip. There was residual moisture in the rattle part. If this leads to mold, then the rattle part will be removed.

I bought this book for my daughter's first Christmas when she was 4 months old. Around that age I noticed that she had taken an interest in books and other small objects, but she was teething and mouthing all of her books and toys. I thought that it would be nice for her to have a book that she could chew on without destroying the pages. Additionally, she didn't yet have the dexterity to turn the pages of her board books, but she could turn the pages of the cloth book easily. She loved the book and spent a great deal of time happily playing with it and enjoying the rattle, too.

When my daughter was around 6 months old, my husband started reading the book to her every night as part of her bedtime routine and pointing out the colors. She is 14 months old now and we are amazed at how much she has learned from this book. She can identify many of the objects in the book. The neatest thing of all is that she can now point to all of her primary colors. When we are playing with other toys, like her blocks, for example, I can say "Point to the red block" and she will point to the correct one! I know that she learned this from the repetitive reading of Colors. Colors has made a great "first book" for my daughter, and I am so happy that she is learning as well as having fun with it!

I bought this for my 6 month old and she loves the feel,of the book and we read them everyday to her. I would highly recommended this to any one!