Product Description
Kaline Klattermaster LOVES his mom. ADORES his mom. But his mom can be, well, a bit forgetful sometimes. A bit lax. A bit...CRAZY. For instance, she's a bit crazy when she leaves him in the tub for THREE HOURS. Or gives him a chicken leg for breakfast...or forgets that he needs to go to school. AND he's not completely sure his mother understands how time works.

She's been even a bit MORE CRAZY since his dad left. So it's a very good thing that the folks in Kaline's tree house are not so crazy. They understand him. They don't mind that he sometimes HAS to play his pretend bugle, and, of course, they are FULL of good advice on how to handle bullies.

His mom hints that the tree house is imaginary. Kaline is UNCONVINCED.

The New York Times bestsellingauthor of A Girl Named Zippy is delightedto introduce Kaline Klattermaster, a little boy who understands the importance of a few good friends -- make-believe OR otherwise. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Delightful!
I enjoyed this book so much!It was cute, funny, tender, and clever.She hits on some hard issues in a sweet way.Loved the book and the characters!

Hilarious Read for All Ages
My 10-year-old son and I read this together after I had read the Zippy stories (because I couldn't get enough of her memoirs).It's laugh-out-loud funny, and my son and I still bring up situations and lines from the book.If you've read Kimmel's memoirs, you'll recognize her childhood imagination throughout this book.

A Delightful Read!
I love the characters!Kaline is a most imaginative and sensitive third grader who has more than his share of problems both at home (a most eccentric mom and a missing father) and at school (three huge bullies), but with the help of his rich fantasy life, he manages to deal successfully with all his problems.Mr. P, the equally eccentric neighbor, is a charming addition to Kaline's life.A most fun read!

Kimmel's examination of Kaline's amazing inner world is compelling.
Kaline Klattermaster lives in a treehouse with his two very cool older brothers and 100 puppies. The couch is shaped like a hot dog, and they spend their days eating s'mores and writing comic books. Okay, that's not exactly true, but Kaline's real life is almost as exciting as his fantasy one. In reality the precocious just-turned seven-year-old lives with his eccentric mother next door to the even more eccentric Mr. Osiris Putnaminski. At school, a year younger than all the other third graders, the imaginative Kaline is an outcast, bullied by three big kids who steal all his stuff, even his pants! None of this is made any easier by the fact that Kaline's orderly and dependable father is gone.

In KALINE KLATTERMASTER'S TREEHOUSE, Haven Kimmel --- the bestselling author of A GIRL NAMED ZIPPY --- tells the story of a sweet, sensitive and creative boy dealing with change and finding his own, however quirky, voice.

Kaline, though physically small, is a bundle of energy. But who can keep still when there are imaginary bugles to blow, exciting questions to ask, and even chaos and "pangemonia" all around? Not Kaline. This fidgety boy is constantly dancing, climbing and marching (to his own drummer he learns), and always thinking, inquiring and pondering. Kaline is at once a typical kid and a totally unique character.

Even before his father's disappearance, Kaline's mother was scatterbrained --- but now she is downright forgetful. She feeds him a chicken leg for breakfast, leaves him in the tub for hours and hours (so it seems to Kaline), and is knitting the world's largest afghan. Kaline's father was the one who kept the house running smoothly, the lawn neatly clipped, and Kaline properly bathed, dressed and fed. But now he is missing and Kaline's mom won't tell him where he went.

Thank goodness for Mr. P. right next door. With his ponytail, big house, old car and mysterious hobby, Mr. P. becomes a source of comfort and curiosity for Kaline while the boy's family is going through a major transition.

Kaline's father is gone, but he is not told why until the end of the book. This stress is glossed over, and it's hard to tell if Kaline's anxieties stem from it or are only exacerbated by it. The author tells us that he has been a strange kid all along. And therein lies the problem with this otherwise charming book: it lacks a focus. Kaline is a fantastic character, his parents are interesting and Mr. P. is intriguing. The subjects of divorce and not quite fitting in are both important ones in children's literature, but here they don't add up to a cohesive whole.

Still, Kimmel's first foray into juvenile fiction has many merits. Her characters are great, her style is readable, funny and thoughtful, and her examination of Kaline's amazing inner world is compelling.

--- Reviewed by Sarah Rachel Egelman

KLATTERMASTER'S KEGLYFILLED WITH 'PANGEMONIUM' which can mean just down-right FUN.
Kaline Klattermaster, a 3rd grade boy, shows more imagination than most lads. Kaline Klattermaster's Tree House provides more creative entertainment than can be absorbed in one reading. It's not JUST for ages 7-12, but for all Haven Kimmel readers who have come to love her zany Zippy style of story. Peter Pan and Tom Sawyer would have loved to live beside young Klattermaster.

This book is a good one for teachers to share in a classroom, or an elementary counselor to loan to the shy student, or a kid from a broken home, or some young boy (or girl) dealing with any loss. The book provides no particular answers to fit all situations, but Kaline is a character many pre-teens can relate to.He faced all the above as well as struggling with school and those classroom bullies.

Adult that liked, Kimmel's books, "A Girl Named Zippy" and "She Got Up Off the Couch", will enjoy this book as well.New words of expression are introduced throughout the book.Kimmel is as inventive with words as Kaline is with brothers, and race cars.Like:

.....1...extinguishment, to do with extinguisher drifts
.....2...precisedly
.....3...RUH-ROH
.....4...Super Humongnous
.....5...Pangemonia

There is no doubt going to be a new younger generation of fans reading the delightful silliness of Haven Kimmel. Everyone will want to be Kaline's friend, made-believe or real, and join him in the tree house (which is also another name for an extracessivous dog house.

Parents, teachers, grand-parents: gift this one to a young reader (but read it first yourself).

... Read more

Product Description
Peter Brown's photographs of the open spaces at America's heart reveal a complex landscape both beautiful and powerful, meditative and dynamic, vast yet intimate. When Peter Brown began to photograph the Great Plains, he started a journey that would take him over a dozen years and many thousands of miles to complete. Brown's photographs make a careful study of the land and sky of the Plains, and of the people who inhabit its towns and cities, showing us the endless variations of color, light, mood, and character that can be found there. In Brown's portraits we see the Plains in all its seasons, an ever-changing landscape of extremes, where weather is a genuine presence and human existence is at once fragile and resilient. These provocative images reveal both the stunning drama and subtle charms of the land and the people of this vast swath of America which includes the Dakotas, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Wyoming, Montana, Colorado, Utah, Texas, and New Mexico. "It is this America, in all its otherness, that Peter Brown has presented to us, with its complexity and simplicity, its banality and beauty, its ordinary grace." --Kathleen Norris, from the Introduction ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

An absorbing, rich portrait of the Great Plains
This is a really excellent collection of 77 photos taken 1985-1995 across the high plains states from Montana to Texas. All are in richly captured color, and all manage to bring the panorama of this wide open country within the viewfinder of the still camera. Brown's achievement is to show the suggestive and telling details that transform these "empty" landscapes into spaces that are filled with drama and atmosphere.

A shot of winter prairie, south of Edgerton, Wyoming, reveals the contoured undulations of grasslands thick with frost, the banks of a shallow wash weaving into the distance, the horizon blending into the brightly overcast sky. The entire image seems sepia-tinted in the winter light. An early summer shot of ground water standing dark and rippled in a Nebraska Sandhills pond shows tufted grasses in the foreground leaning with the wind. A single slender fence post is echoed in the distance by a single tree in full leaf and just visible beyond it a windmill. The grass extends to the gently rolling horizon where a white thundercloud begins to pile upward into the vivid blue of a brightly sunlit sky.

Light, shadow, clouds, all seem still but are in movement, and many of the photographs heighten a sense of time's gradual passing -- the hour, the day, the season, the years. A roadside directory, indicating the distances to ranches has been weathered and sun-bleached. An old shingle-roofed elevator stands empty and overgrown with trees. There's a disused one-room school, white paint worn by wind and rain down to the bare boards. Tall weeds grow in the playground, and the setting sun casts the shadow of a swing set against a side wall.

And there are many signs of life, as well -- a general store with gas pumps and pop machines in front, a TV antenna overhead, and a gravel lot for parking; a barber shop with curving glass brick and shiny red tile facade, with an American flag on a pole at the curb; a last-picture-show cinema, the Rialto, with nothing on the marquee, but above it a wonderful mural of cowboys around the campfire and a chuckwagon with "Welcome to Brownville" on its canvas covering.

There are photographs of small town life -- a young man and little girl stand by the front door of a tiny house, the white siding bright in the late afternoon sun and a darkening sky behind them; a sign painter sits on the back of his truck under a hand-lettered sign, "Advertise Dammit Advertise Before We Both Go Under"; a floor-to-ceiling chalkboard is filled with for-sale notices for hay hauling, an early American sofa and matching swivel/rocker, a 3/4 ton Chev. 4x4, toy poodles, chow puppies, and a bird dog that "will point."

And this really only scratches the surface. The photographs reveal themselves slowly, and with a patient and inquisitive eye, there is much to see in all of them. If you have lived in or traveled through this region, as I have, you will see much that you recognize, recall its quieter pace of life, and marvel again at the great diversity of landscape, seasons, and weather.

Kathleen Norris has written an appreciative introduction to the book, and Brown has an essay at the end, describing a lifetime of fascination with this part of the world. The book includes a listing of all its photographs, noting the location of each and the year in which it was taken. For anyone who grew up on the Plains and now lives elsewhere, this book is like a return home. As a companion volume, I'd recommend Ian Frazier's book "Great Plains," which covers this same territory in words and with much the same attitude. Kathleen Norris' "Dakota" is another good one.

An honest plain view.
Photographer Peter Brown wanted this book to reflect the many jouneys he made across the Plains in his youth...''from open country to a small town, through this town, on to a larger one, and then out again into open space and sky'', he says in his Afterword. This great book of photos does just that.

Years ago I read Walter Prescott Webb's definitive study 'The Great plains' and I became fascinated by this amazing part of America (still haven't managed to get there yet) and he descibes how some of the early settlers stopped when the came up against the Plains, being used to the European countryside they just could not take the flatness, no trees, no hills and if it it was not the quietness it was the wind, blowing for days on end.These fine photos capture the flavor of what they must have seen.

The small town photos show buildings with a weather-beaten look, the Allensville, Kansas, city hall is no bigger than a simple house, the lovely aerial shot of Marfa, Texas shows a town you could drive through in a minute and after the photo of Marathon, Texas it is back to the flat landscape until the end of the book.

If you want to capture the feel of the Plains this book will do it for you...an excellent keepsake.Maybe I'll visit next year!

***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.

picture perfect
I found this book in the giftshop at the Sioux Falls airport in South Dakota.As a woman who grew up On the Plains, I found that Brown's photographs captured the true essence of the beauty one finds there.It'snot simply a collection of "postcard" photographs of abandonedwindmills, lonely pastures, and fragile pasque flowers.The photos depictthe "real" plains, complete with its people and its architecture. Norris' introduction is, as I had anticipated, an enjoyable complement tothe photos.This is a lovely book to share with people who appreciate thebeauty of the Great Plains. ... Read more

Product Description
Best known for her innovative choreography, which revolutionized Modern dance, Trisha Brown has for many years made drawings and other works beyond the stage that integrate the performing and visual arts. Drawing has long featured prominently in her practice, shifting from a tool for schematic composition into a fully realized component of her broader investigation into the limits of her own body. Whether she is working within the frame of a sheet of paper, on the wall or on the stage, Brown delights in the play between structure and improvisation, between repetition and invention and between choice and chance. This volume, published to accompany an exhibition at the Walker Art Center, presents a broad survey of Brown's visual arts practice going back more than three decades. Featuring over 40 drawings, it includes essays by exhibition curator Peter Eleey and performing arts curator Philip Bither, as well as a specially-commissioned survey of Brown's drawing vocabulary contributed by the artist. ... Read more

Product Description
Best known as the firm chosen to work on the World Trade Center Memorial, the landscape architecture projects of Peter Walker and Partners vary both in scale and program: urban design and planning, corporate headquarters and university campuses, parks, plazas, museums, and gardens. Exploring the relationships of art, culture, and context, Walker and the members of the firm re-form the landscape challenging traditional concepts of design. Through drawing, model-making, computer graphics, and full-size mock-ups, the office moves from defining the program to experimenting with materials and forming the space. The design process, therefore, faithfully reflects the constant exchange occurring with clients, architects, and consultants. A knowledge of history and tradition and an understanding of contemporary needs and patterns of living, allow the firm to produce landscapes that are both timeless and unique.

This extensive monograph opens with a short essay about the organization and history of the office, the importance of apprenticeship in landscape architectural education, and the particular way that PWP artfully practices the craft of landscape architecture. It features nearly 300 images (with 3 gatefolds) of the firm's work since 1997, including 16 built landscape projects in the United States, Europe, and Asia. Seven projects in progress include the American Embassy in Beijing, several university campuses, and the World Trade Center Memorial. The 10 site-planning and urban design projects include Millennium Parklands in Sydney, Australia, and the Novartis Headquarters in Basel, Switzerland. Each section begins with a brief introduction by Walker, and the book concludes with four competition entries, including one for 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.Essay by Jane Brown Gillette.Clothbound, 9 x 11 in./232 pgs / 200 color and 75 b&w. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Amazing quality
amazing graphics along with pictures of the designs.if you like peter walker, you'll love this book.

An expression of interest
Peter Walker and Partners.
Landscape Architecture: Defining the Craft.
Thames and Hudson
531 Illustrations and diagrams 431 in colour.
2005 London
ISBN-13 978-0-500-34207-7

Based in Berkeley, Peter Walker and Partners (PWP) is, in conventional terms, a fantastically successful practice and this book documents their signature projects since 1997. Although with only three open competition wins to their name, the practice has received an extraordinary 110 industry awards since 1960. Not only that, everyone knows Peter Walker is a champion of quality, a leader who has bridged academic and professional spheres and networked the world to his practice. In Australia, as elsewhere, Walker is greatly admired; indeed, he is called upon to preface our books and help us design things like the Sydney Olympics.That we couldn't do this alone is not his problem. These are the halcyon days of Walker's career.

As described in his first monograph "Minimalist Gardens" (1997), Walker somewhat unconvincingly indebts his work to the mid to late 20th century art movement, Minimalism.He also acknowledges the influence of Japanese gardens and (environmental) artists such as the late Isamu Noguchi as well as drawing a line between himself and the 17th century French master, Andre Le Notre but anyone buying this book out of interest in these connections or Walker's intellectual or creative maturation in general will be disappointed.

Despite this being implicitly his book, Walker, insofar as one can tell, doesn't contribute a single reflective word. Like a corporate annual report, this book has no identifiable author except the generic entity, PWP.Perhaps, as an established figure, Walker feels he no longer has to speak too much about the work. Maybe he has nothing new to add to his well publicised views. Or perhaps, after years of arguing for landscape architecture to be appreciated as a meaningful arthe's changed his mind and concluded that- as this book's title suggests -it is now craft that really matters; and craft, unlike art, speaks for itself.But he (i.e, PWP) couldn't have played into the old squabbles between art and craft unconsciously, and yet such things are not addressed. There is, in fact, only one theme in this bookand that is that PWP delivers quality. Accordingly, this book looks and feels like an Expression of Interest, in other words- an ad, albeit one with the imprimatur of Thames and Hudson. Having said that, what text there is, is relatively lighter on spin than we have become accustomed to.

There are 37 posh projects collected in this volume and they are categorised into: Recently Completed Projects; Projects in Progress; Site Planning and Urban Design; and Competitions. The projects are prestigious, big and lush, an extraordinary range of work amassed over just a few years. Accompanying each project is a straightforward (if not reductive) explanation of the brief and PWP's subsequent design strategy. This is where the consumer of this book, if he or she unpacks each design, stands to learn something of value because, irrespective of whether you like or dislike their styling, PWP projects are exemplary in terms of accurately responding to a project's priority needs.

Typical to the corporate monograph there is a perfunctory essay up front by Jane Brown Gillette. Rather than engaging with Walker's oeuvreor matters aesthetic, her essay is essentially a cursory description of the mechanics of the practice. She toasts PWP's loyal workers (apparently the best students from the best universities) and lauds its diplomatic project managers.Her essay reads not as if written for the international landscape community that PWP has so effectively used as it's global conduit, rather, the essay seems directed at prospective clients. She forewarns but also allures them to the culture of excellence that is PWP and makes that excellence seem user friendly. Apart from a brief notation of the firm's position in North American landscape architecture and the occasional but typical landscape architectural inanity such as telling us that PWP can make "nature visible and meaningful" there is nothing critical, analytical, theoretical, insightful or even polemical in this book.In this regard, academics or anyone interested in the intellectual "craft" of landscape architecture will have no use for this book.

In Gillette's essay there are references to, and quotes referring to "ideas" in the designs, but for mine they are not actually ideas; they are solutions. More often than not these solutions rely on a somewhat formulaic geometric elegance which creates structure, followed by superimpositions of pattern to form surface. To be "ideas" they need to have meaning, not just efficacy, and meaning is a question this book ignores. For Walker, minimalism has been a way around the problem of representation, but, at some level, there is no way around representation, no way around meaning. Since the text in this book is so lazy, the images of the PWP craft have to do most of the talking. Hence, the book is literally stuffed full of super gloss photos, 531 to be exact. But many are cliché's, relatively vacuous images of greener-than-green trees, sparkling water, and an awful lot of nice people generally looking content in PWP's sanitised, high-resolution Arcadia.

Although they have reason to be, PWP doesn't come across as smug. As Gillette says, if there is one word that describes the practice its "earnest".Be that as it may, one also gets the feeling that despite having a studio full of the best people the office culture of PWP might lack internal critique. Of course, it is an exceptional achievement to have created a global practice and maintained such high standards; but, the book, in failing to offer anything but promotional material, feels disingenuous. Apart from an excess of photos the book doesn't really explore or zoom in on the details of construction and project management that PWP are so good at. In other words it doesn't deliver what it promised - a `definition of the craft". So, whilst it will no doubt bring in more work, it wont go down well in history and therefore I think we can expect a third monograph on Mr Peter Walker et al.

... Read more

Product Description
Edith Pargeter, who also writes under the name Ellis Peters, previously combined her passion for history and storytelling in her creation of the much-loved monk, Brother Cadfael. It was she who paved the way for many others to explore the past through the thriving field of historical mysteries, and for this she was loved by readers and other writers alike. Past Poisons is a bumper crop of outstanding new short stories by the leading American and British historical crime writers, all wishing to pay tribute to the work of Ellis Peters. It is a fitting memorial, and a landmark anthology that no fan of historical crime can do without. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Unimpressive
The name Ellis Peters in the title of the book was clearly meant to lure readers.None of the writers are up to her standards.There is no shame in not being a master but it left me feeling a little cheated.There were a couple of stories that I kinda liked but the rest were forgettable except two were downright yucky.And the tributes to Ellis Peters written by each and every author were so uninteresting that I didn't bother to read any of them through.

The biggest sign of how unimpressed I am with this book -- I am going to give it away which I never ever do, but I feel kinda guilty that I am going to inflict this lame book on some poor soldier in Iraq.I shall have to include better reading material and some snack food in the box. ... Read more

Product Description
When Penguin gets pooped on by a flying goose, he doesn't just get angry--he decides to do something about it. Penguin and his flightless friends set out to build a flying machine that will give them the bird's eye view they've never had in this picture book. Illustrations. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (20)

Grandkids love this book
This is one funny children's book and my grand daughters love it. It kept them entertained for hours.

Many a moral
This was SO fun!

Okay, yes, at first it seems like it's a story about bird doo. However, it's quickly apparent that the story is about so much more! It's about working hard to achieve your dreams, over coming challenges, cooperation. What's more, I was starting to fret when our hero, Penguin, starting acting rather snobbish and rude. But lo! Such actions did not go without their consequences!

This is a delightful little book, and children will surely thrill at the joke...more This was SO fun!

Amusing use of bathroom humor - creative
I purchased this book, along with several others, for my son because he became jealous that I receive so many books in the mail.He is just graduating Kindergarden and really liked the idea of the target pooping in the book.I have long recognized the fact that the male species never outgrows the use of bathroom humor and finds it much more fascinating than our female counter parts (thank God!)Evidently, that is one of the things that seperates the sexes.In any event, it was an enjoyable read with a six year old and we have read it many times.The pictures are age appropriate and entertaining as well.Unless you find the use of bathroom humor to hold a young boy's attention, I recommend this book.

Great talent with abundant humor
I first saw this book from Communication Art Illustration Annual Issue. The illustrations were so appealing that I had to get this book. Peter Brown is such a talented artist with great sense of humor. The story was very fresh as well. My daughter pointed out the penguin and other birds. She is a bit young to understand to story but in due time she will enjoy it as much as me. I just can't get enough of the illustrations, I visited his website with all the cool flesh. Definitely a talent to keep an eye on.

very funny, both the story and the illustration
My 5-year-old son and I read this book together one night and we both laughed from the beginning to the end. The story was fresh and the drawing was detailed. We couldn't help read it one more time. Then my son read it with my wife. The next morning, he was reading it again while having his breakfast. A very nice book! ... Read more

Product Description

In 1798, a decade after the Founding Fathers created a nation based on the principles of liberty and equality, Charles Brockden Brown, then an unknown Philadelphia writer, invented the American Gothic novel. His first book, Wieland, is the story of a religious fanatic haunted by demonic voices instructing him to murder his wife and children; in subsequent works, a young country bumpkin confronts the depravities of city existence, an impecunious daughter becomes the erotic obsession of an insane egomaniacal rationalist, and a sleepwalker awakes to—and participates in—the extremes of frontier savagery. How could a glorious age of American history also give rise to the darkest of literary traditions, one that would inspire Edgar Allan Poe, Stephen King, and many other best-selling American writers?

In Charles Brockden Brown's Revolution and the Birth of American Gothic, Peter Kafer carefully unravels the mystery of what compelled this pious Philadelphia Quaker to become fascinated with a peculiar form of dark European imagery and transform it into something wholly American. In the new nation, Kafer notes, there were no ancient monasteries, no haunted castles, no hierarchies of nobility to draw upon. Taking inspiration instead from his pacifist family's persecution at the hands of the American Revolutionaries, including the likes of Alexander Hamilton and John Adams, as well as from perverse expressions of European-American Protestantism and the suppressed histories of his native Pennsylvania, Brockden Brown wrote of the horrors that lurked below the triumphant veneer of the young American republic. In doing so, he became the literary conscience of his generation.

Written with a witty and acutely critical eye, Charles Brockden Brown's Revolution and the Birth of American Gothic illuminates the social and political influences on the nation's first professional novelist and reveals the surprising origins of one of American literature's most popular and enduring genres.

Product Description
Chaucer at Work is a new kind of introduction to the Canterbury Tales. It avoids excessive amounts of background information and involves the reader in the discovery of how Chaucer composed his famous work. It presents a series of sources and contexts to be considered in conjunction with key passages from Chaucer's poems. It includes sets of questions to encourage the reader to examine the text in detail and to build on his or her observations. This well-informed and practical guide will prove invaluable reading to those studying medieval literature at undergraduate level and English literature at A level. ... Read more

Product Description

Central to the repertoire of Western art music since the 18th century, the symphony has come to be regarded as one of the ultimate compositional challenges. Surprisingly, heretofore there has been no truly extensive, broad-based treatment of the genre, and the best of the existing studies are now several decades old. In this five-volume series, A. Peter Brown explores the symphony from its 18th-century beginnings to the end of the 20th century. Synthesizing the enormous scholarly literature, Brown presents up-to-date overviews of the status of research, discusses any important former or remaining problems of attribution, illuminates the style of specific works and their contexts, and samples early writings on their reception. The Symphonic Repertoire provides an unmatched compendium of knowledge for the student, teacher, performer, and sophisticated amateur. The series is being launched with two volumes on the Viennese symphony.

Volume IV The Second Golden Age of the Viennese SymphonyBrahms, Bruckner, Dvorák, Mahler, and Selected Contemporaries

Although during the mid-19th century the geographic center of the symphony in the Germanic territories moved west and north from Vienna to Leipzig, during the last third of the century it returned to the old Austrian lands with the works of Brahms, Bruckner, Dvorák, and Mahler. After nearly a half century in hibernation, the sleeping Viennese giant awoke to what some viewed as a reincarnation of Beethoven with the first hearing of Brahms's Symphony No. 1, which was premiered at Vienna in December 1876. Even though Bruckner had composed some gigantic symphonies prior to Brahms's first contribution, their full impact was not felt until the composer's complete texts became available after World War II. Although Dvorák was often viewed as a nationalist composer, in his symphonic writing his primary influences were Beethoven, Schubert, and Brahms. For both Bruckner and Mahler, the symphony constituted the heart of their output; for Brahms and Dvorák, it occupied a less central place. Yet for all of them, the key figure of the past remained Beethoven. The symphonies of these four composers, together with the works of Goldmark, Zemlinsky, Schoenberg, Berg, Smetana, Fibich, Janácek, and others are treated in Volume IV, The Second Golden Age of the Viennese Symphony, covering the period from roughly 1860 to 1930.

Product Description
When Chowder goes off to the Fabu Pooch Boot Camp, as usual he just doesn't fit in. Chowder tries his best, but his attempts to make himself more fabulous all fall flat. When the First Annual Fabu Pooch Pageant is announced, Chowder anxiously tries to think of a way to stand out. After all, the prize is a one-year supply of Snarf Snacks! Some pups practice their pearly grins, other hounds get massages to relax. One pooch even gets permed! But Chowder finds his calling when he discovers a trampoline. He leaps, he flips, he bounces, and he wows the crowd!


... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Another great Chowder story
Another delightful story about Chowder.My children are 3.5 and 2 years old and love the Chowder stories.Great illustrations and entertaining story (translation: you won't get bored reading it for the 50th time)!

So sweet!
We have the first Chowder and couldnt wait for this one to come out!Our daughter (4.5 yrs) loves both books - especially the illustrations - as do my husband and I.We own a bulldog so we are a bit partial though!The message of being yourself is a wonderful one that all kids need to learn and this tale did a great job of keeping our daughter's attention.Cant wait for another Chowder book!

Loveable dog with sweet message
Reviewed by Olivia Alejandre (age 4) and Mom for Reader Views (12/07)

Mom's review / summary:
Chowder is a lovable dog who tries to fit in and be like the other dogs at the Fabu Pooch Boot Camp.In preparation for a dog show, he fixes his hair like theirs and tries to walk like they do.Then, on a walk around the camp, he spots a trampoline and his true self comes out - an acrobat!He practices constantly, getting better at tricks.At the dog show, his jumps and back-flips award him not only cheers from the audience, but also the "Best Bouncer in Show" award and a lifetime supply of Snarf Snacks (since he's their new spokesdoggy!).

Olivia seemed to be quite focused on the dogs (she loves dogs) and the trampolines, and so didn't seem to grasp the overall message of the book until we talked about it later.The art is beautiful and quite attractive to the eye - adults and children alike.However, the humor is subtle in nature and hard for kids to understand.

Olivia's review:
"Chowder loves to jump.Chowder loves trampolines.He wants to be an acrobat.He goes to a dog show.He tries to be fancy like the other dogs but his tongue is wet.He jumps on the trampoline from the roof and does back-flips.And then, he gets some snacks."

Some quotes from Olivia about "The Fabulous Bouncing Chowder":
"I like all the doggies."

"Does she look mean?" (Ms. Fabu)

"That's not very nice." (the other dogs not playing with Chowder)

"I want to jump on the trampoline as high as Chowder and get lots of exercise."

"How do we do a back-flip?"

"I like this page." (Chowder doing the tricks at the dog show)

"Look at all the trampolines!" (last page)

[Mom]:"Do you think we should try to be ourselves or try to be like other people?"
"We should be ourselves because I like being [me]."

Whimsical tale dog lovers will relish.
Chowder the dog is off to the Fabu Pooch Boot Camp - but he just doesn't fit in - until he discovers a trampoline. It's a camp where beautiful dogs are turned into fabulous dogs - and Chowder is able to discover his own beauty in an unexpected place and fashion in this whimsical tale dog lovers will relish.

This book is FABULOUS!
Chowder has done it again! I absolutely love this story. The message is thoughtful and the illustrations are beautifully done. Great job Peter Brown! I am such a fan and look forward to more of your amazing books! ... Read more

Product Description
The Neurocognition of Language is the first critical overview of the cognitive neuroscience of language, one of the fastest-moving and most exciting areas in language research today. And it is a necessity for anyone requiring a summary of our current understanding of the relation between language and the brain. It brings together human language experts who discuss the representations and structures of language as well as the cognitive architectures that underlie speaking, listening, and reading. In addition to valuable reviews of existing brain imaging literature on word and sentence processing and contributions from brain lesion data, this book provides a basis for future brain imaging research. It even explains the prospects and problems of brain imaging techniques for the study of language, presents some of the most recent and promising analytic procedures for relating brain imaging data to the higher cognitive functions, and contains a review of the neuroanatomical structure of Broca's language area. Uniquely interdisciplinary, this book offers researchers and students in cognitive neuroscience with state-of-the-art reviews of the major language functions, while being of equal interest to researchers in linguistics and language who want to learn about language's neural bases. ... Read more

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This diminutive terrier from Manchester, the Toy Manchester Terrier, known by British fanciers as the English Toy Terrier, is the focus of this Special Limited Edition, the only book of its kind about this elegant, compact breed. Although recognized by the American Kennel Club as well as the English Kennel Club, the Toy Manchester Terrier has a small but devoted following, a discriminating lot of dog lovers who know the charm and allure of this unique Toy breed. Agile and active, the Toy Manchester Terrier is an intelligent, personable dog, which makes limited demands on his owners.

Illustrated with color photographs throughout, this volume covers the history of the Manchester Terriers in England and America, breed characteristics and standard as well as health care, obedience training, housebreaking, everyday care and behavior of the breed. Written with both the pet owner and breed fancier in mind, this comprehensive edition promises to be an invaluable resource for all admirers of the breed, who will welcome advice about selecting a puppy, preparing for the pup’s arrival, preventing puppy problems and much more. ... Read more

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This lavishly illustrated book documents a remarkable collection of cutlery and provides a complete survey of the design and evolution of British cutlery from Neolithic times to the present day.
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Customer Reviews (1)

Very interesting book
Having an interest in antiques and particularly in the evolution of cutlery, I find this book very interesting.Lots of very clear photos and plenty of explanations. ... Read more

Product Description
Provides in -depth coverage of the official exam objectives for Exam 1D0-425 and 1D0-420. Includes practical information on web site and e-commerce design. CD-ROM included. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Not quite enough for the CIW v5 Site Designer
I recently passed the CIW Site Designer exam by studying almost entirely from this book. I scored an 80 on the exam. Even though I passed, I don't recommend using this book alone when preparing for the exam. There are questions on Flash and security, topics which are not covered in this book. I recommend supplementing this book with other material for anyone planning to sit for Version 5.

Great Book, Great Buy!
I used this book to study both exams and I passed!

Great choice for exam prep
I bought this book used based on recomendations of others and was not let down.I would suggest additional Internet research on OBI statndards and OPI standards.Regardless, this book presents information necessary to pass the test with a high score in a concise and well organized fasion.I got a 92 on the first part and a 92 on the second part. I may just keep this book.

Study Exam Guide
Passed CIW exam 1D0-420 & 1D0-425 scoring 90% for each.
I found the book very easy to read & a concise Study Guide (at times maybe TOO concise). The Site Design-Part 1, covered all the exam objectives with good explanations. However I felt that the E-Commerce - Part II, fell short of covering 2 aspects of the exam objectives, namely Catelog Design & relating OPI-OBI standards.

All in all, I would recommend this book to anyone striving to pass the above CIW exams.

Must have book for high grades in a short time!
A very concise must have book that condenses the material down into what you really need to know to obtain high CIW grades.It helped me pass the Site Designer exam with a 93 and E-Commerce with an 83. The Assessment Test at the beginning of the book gave me a very accurate look at what I needed to concentrate on but I read every page too. Especially helpful were the chapter summaries, exam essentials, and key terms at the end of every chapter which exactly pinpointed what I needed to learn. Also, the questions with answers at the end of every chapter were very exam like and perfect for practice exams when not near a computer. I took the book everywhere. But I also spent many hours with their Sybex EdgeTest Engine on the included CD simulating the exam until my scores were passing. I tried out the included flashcard feature, too, but much preferred the multiple choice format. Since this is their first edition, it does have some typos and a few questions with errors but they were very easy to spot and fix. Many thanks to the author, publisher, and to Amazon. ... Read more

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The story of oil is a dramatic one, full of unusual circumstances and people. From the discovery of oil along riverbanks to the space-age applications of its by-products, the petroleum industry, then and now, fascinates and surprises. This definitive history of the Canadian oil and gas scene - a project of the Petroleum History Society - explores everything from early drilling techniques, refining methods, pioneers of the industry, major corporate players and the American connection to the technical aspects of gas pipelines, petrochemicals and offshore drilling. The authors describe the ways in which Canadians have left their mark in oil and gas knowledge and technology and helped to define the profound changes oil and its sister commodity, natural gas, have had on human society. As well as being an extensive history of our oil and gas industry, the volume covers technological advances and use of petroleum resources, economics, government policy and social and environmental issues. ... Read more

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“All about passion, whether for . . . romance or adventure, this sweeping debut renders poetically the dynamics of desire.”—Kirkus ReviewsThe year is 1900 in gold-prospecting Alaska. Essie, a Midwestern farm girl fleeing from a stormy marriage, joins up with prospectors bound for Nome, where the golden sands teem with dreamers, schemers, and high rollers. When Leonard, Essie's stubborn and volatile husband, travels north, astonishing scenes of pursuit, sacrifice, and crucial decision rise to a conclusion that is both surprising and inevitable. Powerfully evoking a past world and the variable territory of the heart, this novel establishes Peter C. Brown as a consummate storyteller. Reading group guide included. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (11)

Loved this book!

There are very few books that I can't wait to read and find out what happens next in the story.This is one of those books. The writing is superb and the story is wonderful.

I hope he writes another soon.

A Trip Through Nome's Gold Rush
I picked up this book from the bargain table, and I really was not disappointed. The story follows Esther Crummey as she leaves her alcoholic husband in Minnesota and takes a job on a ship on its way to Nome, Alaska during the Gold Rush of 1901. Esther's husband manages to follow her to Alaska, where Esther needs to come to grips with what she needs to do - in light of having met a man who could possibly give her a life of happiness.

Although this synopsis sounds a bit trite and overdone, in the hands of Peter C. Brown it works well. More than anything is the place he has chosen to tell the tale - Alaska has a reputation of being rather exotic, and the Gold Rush period a time not very well known. Mr. Brown has done his research (supposedly his grandfather was in the Gold Rush, and he gleaned a lot of his knowledge from him as well as journals from that period), and it really comes through in the this novel. Having never been to Alaska, I felt as though I were there experiencing the tundra and creeks and rivers and beaches and the mud. I felt the chill and could see the men setting up their equipment and feel the hope of striking it rich. In this, a beautifully crafted novel.

As far as Esther's story is concerned, I was not all that impressed. It felt stilted and a bit dry, but then it was probably more true to life than most of us want to realize. The story of her husband, Leonard Crummey, was somehow much more enticing to me. Whereas Esther was simple, straightforward, and by the book, Leonard was complex, evolving, and complicated. To me, it seemed the bigger story involved Leonard more than Esther, and I enjoyed reading about him more than her. But that was just my opinion.

Overall, an easy to read book, almost escapism with the descriptions of Alaska, and engaging with characters that seem to come to life.

Storytelling At Its Finest
Don't get this book if your main goal is reading about Alaska--that's what nonfiction is for. Buy this book because you love a good, well-told story, because you're addicted to complex, complicated, compelling characters. The Fugitive Wife is a superior novel, wrought with some of the most gorgeous language being crafted in contemporary fiction. The fact that you get lots of juicy inside-info on the history of gold mining in Alaska at the turn of the century is icing on the cake of this pulse-pounding adventure. But the true adventure involves the life or death leaps of the human heart, the risk-taking of trusting your instincts, the thrill-ride of giving yourself over to love that answers back as selflessly as it's given. For the cover price of this book, you get in return a journey you'll never forget, with characters who will stay with you long after the last page is turned.

A fast read, but doesn't live up to its promise
I wanted to read this book for one reason and one reason only.It's set in Alaska and I just can't resist books about the frozen north.Maybe someday I'll visit that area of the world.But for now, its books that take me there.

The central character, Essie, has all the characteristics of modern historical novels:she's smart and "feisty".In this case, she's a Minnesota farm girl who marries a man who has many faults.Her husband, Leonard, has had a hard life. He has a weakness for drink which causes many hardships in the couple's lives, one of which leads to the death of their young crippled son.Essie leaves him and goes to Alaska during Gold Rush times where, naturally, she meets a strong and desirable man.

But Leonard is not to be forgotten.He travels to Alaska to find her.That's the conflict and the conclusion is inevitable.

I think the author wanted the reading public to identify with Essie.But, personally, I identified with the husband.He is a complex individual with a troubled background.I felt I understood him and where he was coming from.

As I mentioned before, I wanted to read this book because of its Alaska setting.I was a bit disappointed.I guess I've read too many books already about Alaska to make the scenes in this book memorable.

The Fugitive Wife is a fast read andI enjoyed it while I was reading it.But I know it will soon be forgotten in the dustbin of books that didn't quite live up to their promise.

A fine yarn
The best historical fiction places us in the past and lets it view it through the eyes of someone we care about. This book does that and does it well. The period and place (Alaska at the turn of the century in the middle of a gold rush) are both fascinating, and the "back story" is spare and heart-wrenching. There are many characters in here, all well-drawn, but Leonard, with his limited way of understanding the world and weakness for the jug really broke my heart. I'm not going to offer a plot synopsis because there are plenty up here, I'm just going to recommend this book. ... Read more