Three emerald necklaces cause everyone in Oz to forget all about Princess Ozma, the Wizard, and Glinda the Good and acknowledge instead a king named Skamperoo as supreme ruler! The mystic enchantment is responsible as well for the appearance of the glorious Wishing Horse, the most magnificent white steed imaginable. Only Dorothy and Pigasus, the flying poetrical pig, can save the realm. . .

I hold the Oz books in very high regard among books, and this is one of the best of the series. King Skamperoo is a very well-developed villain, who bears some similarity to other bad-tempered, ambitious monarchs throughout the series, yet is developed better than most of them. Instead of just coming out of nowhere to torment the people of Oz, as some villains do, we learn all about his home in Skampavia, and his reasons for wanting to rule Oz. Skamperoo manages to enchant everyone in Oz, except for Dorothy and Pigasus (who was introduced in PIRATES IN OZ), and it is up to them to save the country. As is usual for Oz books, this one introduces interesting new characters and locations, while still providing a sense of familiarity for people who know the other books.

Ruth Plumly Thompson took the wonderful idea of Oz from Baum & continued its development with delightful whimsy. the place names are always imaginative (e.g. Mudge, Torpedo Town). in this story, Chalk, the talking horse, is always ready with a witty retort. you'll never regret visiting the Land of Oz.

I disagree with the lady from Vegas. I really loved With a Stetson...I thought it was an ingenious idea and it was very humorous, romantic and it sizzled under the tree...Kudos! I also loved The Bridesmaid's Bet. Both of these authors displayed talent, sizzle, humor and tons of romance. The hero's and heroines were down to earth and real, someone that you could relate too and feel and see things through their eyes. They weren't the typical damsels in distress.I've read them twice and would recommend them to all my friends, hey, I already did that...

In Thompson's "With a Stetson and a Smile," Quinn Monroe is a city slicker frightened of snakes and bugs, and his travails as he tries to adapt to Montana ranch life are hysterical! His romance with Jo is engaging and often funny, and the secondary characters give this charming story some weight. A lot of Thompson's more recent stuff has a definite eroticism to the love scenes, and "Stetson" is no exception. All around, this is a well-written story with sweet, charming characters and an engaging romance.

In "Bridesmaid's Bet," Ridgeway takes on a familiar plot: tomboy finally grows up and decides to make "friend of family" sit up and take notice! Nothing about this story is especially original and creative, but the characters are well-rounded and engaging, the romance is sweet, and the writing is smooth. Enjoyable.

I thought this was a really cute story, and well written. Light, entertaining and enjoyable. I can always rely on this author to make me laugh.

Being that this book is old it makes much sense. I loved the book. It has many meanings to it and I encourage everyone to read it.

Anne L. Thompson Scretching has written a phenominal piece of work that everyone should have an opportunity to read. The material transcends time and speaks to today's issues of incest/child abuse and alcohol abuse in the american family. The play on stage comes to life in a way that causes audiences to laugh, cry, and applaud and explores every range of emotion that one can experience. Don't miss the opportunity to read this great work.

Kudos Ms. Scretching,

A riveting, spell binder that clearly and deftly shows the myriad of feeligs a contemporary, urban family must grapple with while confronting their worst fear:incest.

The talk shows and news programs may tell the facts of incest, but this book fills in the emotional void left by their "reports". In dealing with the issues of incest, broken homes & family's, the author, Anne Thompson-Scretching delves below the conscious to reveal the emotional wrangling, justifications and,finally, resoultuion like no one has done before.

Someone Should Tell Oprah about this book. She might find a soul mate in Ms. Thompson-Scretching, and a valuable piece of unrecognized literary genius in "You Shouldn't Have Told".

Excellent material for discussing a serious problem in our scoiety; a must read for professionals who deal with families in crisis.

This is a great calendar. The pictures really show the wide variety of landscape that Ireland has to offer. This is a bit oversized, but necessary to fit all of the pictures that are included. It's nice to have a calendar that has more than 1 picture a month.

I must admit, I have been purchasing the 365 days in Ireland calendars for years. This one is an overwhelming winner in our household! The upcoming year's calendar doesn't disappoint. It is stunning.

Ever dream of going to Ireland? Go there through the beautiful pictures -- spread out over many present and historic sites, you can see the beauty and color of the Emerald Isle. This calendar is a full size wall calendar with one large picture on the top fold and small pictures on each day as well on the bottom fold. Each month depicts an area in Ireland, then each little picture is a small shot of different places in the main area. Though loaded with beautiful pictures, daily blocks are plenty large enough to write appointments and special occasions.

This is a beautiful calendar that would be stunning in any home for residents and their guests to admire from month to month. Buy this one, you won't be disappointed -- a true beauty to behold!

This one was great! Anybody who is a fan of Jack, Jean, Penny, and especially Scruggs, will love this addition to the adventurous Peabody Series. Jack narrates, but of course, Scruggs steals the show. You'll even find Annette in this book--don't groan yet, she comes around. : ))

The Derwoods and there friend "Scruggs" are lost in the woods of Maine. They must learn to work together to survive. They have no idea what will happen ahead of them and the exciting adventure they will undertake.

"One wife can be all things to a man," spoke Marcian, the Roman centurion-turned-Christian (played by Jeff Chandler) in the 1955 film, "Sign of the Pagan." Ironically, he said it to perhaps the foremost polygamous pagan of them all, Attila the Hun (portrayed by Jack Palance). Attila's calm but disarming response carried a paradoxical logic: "How can a man know which wife is best, unless he can choose from among many?"

The underlying concept corresponds to the content of this fascinating book by Frank Thompson: it places before us a powder-horn of plenty, from which pour details and keen observations that enable us to feast on a banquet of enlightening historical tidbids and informational delicacies.

The second part of Chapter 1 is very fittingly sub-titled, "The Shifting Face of the Alamo - a Visual Essay." A real value of this section is that it encapsulates the evolution of the visual depictions of the Alamo throughout the decades. Though relatively short, the section offers a chronological series of illustrations of the shrine. Among them is the historic 1849 daguerreotype, the first known photographic image made in Texas and the only known such photo of the Alamo without its now-defining campanulate roof, added by the U.S. Army not long after that daguerreotype was made. One of the book's more illuminating gems is that the author informs us of artist and Alamo historian Craig Covner's conjectural but very plausible theory, about which particular European structure might have influenced the design and prompted the shape of the Alamo's operatively now world-recognized façade.

The book would appeal to both the scholar and the general audience, for there's much in it that would interest both. It's infinitely more readable and enjoyable than the traditional dry academic dissertation, while offering us glimpses into the past and even insights into historical events and the people who took part in them. Without claiming clairvoyance, one could say that the most avid fan of a book like this would be the intelligent and astute reader who has any interest in the Alamo and its sub-categories. What's more, it could easily prompt and intensify a regard for the subject from others whose interest might be only peripheral to begin with.

By their own procedural history, the actions of some are entirely predictable. "The quintessential professor straightening out the errant student" is a perceptive remark, laden with insight, by historian Bill Groneman, which will exemplify the kind of reaction and objections from some academics to Thompson's volume. We can easily foresee academic hard-liners trying to trivialize this book because it doesn't suit their own scholastic purposes and follow the traditionally expected collegiate formulas for presenting historical source material. We should be mindful, however, that this isn't the aim and purpose of Thompson's book. Its very title is aptly descriptive but shouldn't be taken literally, for although the book does indeed present a cultural history, it also offers a sensible and well-reasoned historical account. After all, culture is part of our history as much as history is part of our culture. The account in this book is one with which some hard-of-reading academics might still take issue in some of its details - but from which many of Thompson's readers could learn, and of which many authors would be proud. The content and tone of negative criticism usually reveals far more about the critic - where he's coming from and where he's going - than about the work on which he's commenting. In academe, one's behavior in reporting on another's book can speak volumes.

Photos abound in this book. One is from the film "The Man From The Alamo" (1953), in which a young, pre-"Wyatt Earp" Hugh O'Brian (who portrays Lt. Tom Lamar in the film) is seen walking, in buckskins, hot on the heels of Glenn Ford. Also pictured are some of the "new" Alamos - structures built to resemble the Shrine of Texas Liberty, including a copy center in Cypress, Texas, and a ballroom & convention center in El Paso. Some might call these buildings as pretentious and prosaic as the "fooferai" worn by some of the characters in Alamo-related films; others would view these structures as being visually pleasing, entertaining curiosities and rather enjoyable and even fascinating to see. In context, a fine song can be just as gratifying as a fine symphony.

Among the book's wealth of illustrations are photos of four of the actors who over the years have portrayed on film the man who was operatively responsible for what became perhaps the greatest single traumatic event in southwestern American history during the first half of the nineteenth century, and whose revealing sense of modesty prompted him to call himself "The Napoleon of the West": His Excellency, El Presidente y Generalissimo Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna y Peréz de Lebrón. Debatably the most visually convincing cinematic Santa Anna might have been J. Carrol Naish, who portrayed the Mexican general in "The Last Command" (1955), and who brought a subdued but very real kind of palpable humanity to the role that's rare in such portrayals. Photographic images of the real subject indicate a remarkable visual likeness between the two men. In character, Naish bears an almost uncanny resemblance to the historical Santa Anna. While they're not actual "clones," the features and facial structures correspond, making Naish persuasively credible in the role. Parenthetically, the same can be said of actor David Keith's arrestingly believable portrayal of James Bowie in James Michener's "Texas."

One of this book's many advantages is that it offers particulars that would be unavailable elsewhere in a single volume. It would impress readers as a rather thorough compendium of both factual details and conceptual notions about the history and popular culture of the Alamo. Does this book by Frank Thompson contribute to our fascination with and our enjoyment and knowledge of the Alamo in virtually all its incarnations? "It do."

...

From the perspective of the common man, I can say that I know more about the historical Alamo than ever.

This book offers a broad review of the Alamo and it's place in our history as well as it's impact on our culture. I was very impressed with this book. I picked it up only to paw through and look at the numerous pictures and movie stills and found it to be thoroughly informative and entertaining.

Mr. Thompson may offer some information that distorts or contradicts what you thought you knew about the Alamo, but it's worth the exposure to his insights and opinions.

"The World According to Student Bloopers," a section of Lederer's book, has been widely pirated on the Internet and is thus familiar to many, even though they may not know its original source. There's a reason why this text has echoed around the world: One cannot read it without laughing. Other sections of the book, all of which deal with the many misuses, distortions and double-entendres encountered in everyday English usage, aren't quite so laugh-packed, but are still well worth the trip.

This is one of the funniest books! Make sure you're sitting down, or better yet, lying down whe you read this book. Grammar has never been so funny. Then again, I'm not sure if I ought to laugh or cry at how the English language is murdered :-) The drawings in the book are also hilarious.
This book is a most enjoyable way to learn about how not to make mistakes in your writing. It has lots of great lines you can pull out to amuse people with, ( eg. Headline - Milk Drinkers Are Tuning to Powder). It would also be great reading during the summer, in preparation for English classes. Absolutely loved it.

It would be impossible, I'm sure, for a field guide to North American Fossils to provide us with every single fossil that can be found on our continent. No doubt the Audobon Society did not have in mind for a user of this guide to be able to identify everything they find, but to at least highlight the more common fossils, and to guide the reader to look for answers to all the rest. For instance, in Nebraska there are at least 3 types of horn coral that can be found near the Omaha region alone, and there is doubtless many more species that can be found. The guide helps you find the most common and to surmise what you have found by those examples.

Furthermore, no book to be placed in the back pocket of us fossil enthusiasts could possibly be made very thin if it included every illustration, and every detailed description of every type of fossil.

If I have one complaint about this book, its that the maps are difficult to read, and could have been simplified a bit more.. and printed clearer. But, that is a small complaint as I am able to get further detailed maps, and descriptions from the State of Nebraska Geological Survey and other sources.

Get this book if you want to seriously hunt for fossils.. and identify them.

The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American fossils was the first and best book on fossils I ever purchased. The pictures and maps have helped me may times to find locations to dig for fossils. Hundreds of beautiful drawings and complete descriptions help to identify the fossils you find. Highly recommended.

This is an excellent guide to the art of mixology and setting up a home bar. It shares the same features as "Ultimate A-to-Z Bar Guide" such as the alphabetical format which I find very useful and convenient as quick reference at the bar; and the appended listing of drinks following certain typologies - a great help finding the right drink appropriate to the occasion or what one has in stock. The presentation and layout however is more appealing and inspires neophytes like me to explore more the diverse world of wine and spirits. It is an alternative but will not replace the "Ultimate A-to-Z Bar Guide."

I'll admit that I was impressed with the cover as well as the little green ribbon used to mark pages, but when I browsed the book it impressed me enough to buy it.

This book is chock full of information and recipes pertaining to the past 130 years. It has trivia, origins of liquors and pictures as well as history of drinks that are famous today.

Examples include: did you know that Absinthe was eventually replaced with what we use nowadays called Bitters? Also has origins of liquors (you know "Eau-De-Vie"? No, I didn't, but if you don't either it's the pear-in-the-bottle liquor -- they literally fasten the bottle to the pears before they get too big and the pear grows inside the bottle.)

If you're looking for a guide to help you make that "time period" party just right, this is the one for you. Tells you how to stock your bar properly, glasses to use and drinks for special occasions, such as Wassail for Christmas and tropical drinks from the 40s. You name an ingredient -- they've got a drink for it.

If you're not a social drinker, this pretty much makes a good read. I've literally curled up in bed just browsing the information aside from the recipes.

A must have for the serious bartender-wannabe for authentic drinks and history.

Zapped is one of the most inspirational books I have ever read! Marianne Thompson tells us the story of how she had prayed for Mr. Right to come along and, as if sent right from heaven, she meets the man of her dreams. Throughout the book, Thompson describes the inexplicable occurrences that take place after she makes the aforementioned plea. She tells her story with a great deal of wit and insight. Despite Thompson's intelligence, the dialogue could use some improvement. Other than that, Zapped is a wonderful and endearing book. It has elements of divine power, but not offensively so, which means that everyone, including skeptics, could enjoy this gem. A great read...

"I couldn't put it down and I haven't read a book in five years. I was so engrossed in this book I almost missed my bus stop while reading it."

Zapped: A True Story Of Divine Intervention is an engaging real life story that looks at remarkable coincidences as discreet Divine Intervention. Following the true-life saga of Marianne Thompson, a woman who prayed devoutly for true love, and discovered the Truth about the meaning of love and rooting out her own insecurities, Zapped is a powerful modern parable as engaging and entertaining as it is meaningful and inspirational.