Stranded
By: Ben Mikaelsen
Reviewed by: W.Yoon
Period: P.5

This book, named Stranded, is one of the greatest book I ever read. This book pulled me into the book cause it was amazing. It grabed my attention. So I kept on reading the book and it got better and better. It was about a girl named Koby. She has one leg that is fake. She moves into a new school and a has no friends there. Everyone looks at her cause she's the only one with a fake leg. She gets frustrated at them looking at her leg. She got used to it so after few days she forgot about it and no one looked at her fake leg. She is one of those people who doesn't give up if they fail. They just try their best. She has no friends at this school. After school she goes and finds a stranded dolphin on the beach. She takes care of it. She is really good at taking care of animals. What will she do?
I like this book because of many things. The book is interesting, fun, wild, and has lots of things in common with me.
I like it cause she helps other animals and tries to do other thigs too, like bringing their family together and getting some friends."Dad, I want to help." Koby just wanted to get her parents together, get friends, and save the dolphins. She is just caring about everything. She is just a kid. That is why I like this book.
I dislike this book because it was sad and mean. Koby couldn't get any friends. She was new so no one liked her. They always stared at her fake leg. It was so sad. How would it feel? If you were Koby and you had no friends how would you react? It is so sad. She is just trying to fit in the school and people don't welcome her and they make her sad.What bad friends.That is so mean. I would tell my mother to move out of her. It is so sad and mean. "Koby walked up,a couple of girlsturned and noticed her exposed leggy. They smiled."
My favorite part of this book was when she was having P.E. and there was an activity she was good at. The captain was the most popular girl in school, Becky, chose Koby 7th pick. Their team was losing and Koby caught up and won the race. They were so happy to win. They got to be friends and were really close friends after that. Koby was so happy. That was my favorite part of the book.

I think this book was honestly terrific. The story of Koby, a young 12 year old girl, tells about how she copes with having lost her foot and also dealing with the break up of her parents. Koby feels that on the ocean she is completely freefrom everything especially the weird looks she has been getting since the accident. On the ocean Koby befriends a pilot whale and her calf. Later in the story she finds them stranded and, "No matter what - she's staying!".

The book "Stranded" is a wonderful book that tells a story about a girl named Koby that is having a hard time in her life and escapes it by meeting 2 whales. Koby experience something that had changed her life around. She wasen't able to do normal day to day things like other kids. Until one day she finds two whales. She grows attached and finds them again but this time stranded. Staying all night with lots of fears running through her head. She saves them and since then she made new friends and found a connection between her and the whales. They treated her as if nothing was wrong with her. Not only does this book teach you to look inside a person and not just the outside but to trust people and yourself. I strongly recomend this book because I simply could NOT put it down.

Tourism generates over {$$$$} billion annually for the Florida economy, which is more than twice the entire GNP for Cuba. That is why there is a fierce fight for the Florida travel guide market. Frommer's is one of the best guides available.

This South Florida guide is somewhat more expanded than "Frommer's Florida" Guide (see my review). If you are going to visit just MIAMI, the EVERGLADES, PALM BEACH, FT. LAUDERDALE or the KEYS, then you will find this guide more compact, lighter and a bit cheaper.

The same great writing style that is in the Frommer's state guide is found in this more compact companion. The accommodation and dining recommendations are reliable and on the money. This guide lists the best restaurants that South Florida has to offer. A lodging and restaurant index would be a definite plus for this guide. As it stands now, if you have a restaurant you want to look up, you have to go through all the listings in the city you are in until you stumble across the name you seek or miss seeing it completely.

The rating system is labored and difficult to understand. The explanation of the "new star rating system" is buried in the book and not indexed. It was by quirk that I found it. Strange.

The Internet web site addresses provided for hotels could be more comprehensive considering that this is a 2003 guide. In today's world of "connectivity" you can visit the hotel sites and see the accommodations and rates prior to making reservations. And, website/email addresses are restricted to the lodging listings even though many of the restaurants now have their own websites with photos and menus and email to makes reservations.

However, there are two significant areas in this guide that could use improvement: maps and hotels/restaurants.

Regarding the maps: the maps in the guide are lackluster. More and better maps would greatly help the user.

What put this guide on top of the competing guides is the clear and enjoyable writing style of the review. The introductions of the regional areas are the best of the guides I reviewed. You will do well if you have to chose just one South Florida guide and you select Frommer's.

This is probably the best guidebook I ever read. The author has a really good writing style and it is genuinely interesting and fun to read (not that I'm suggesting you pick it over Fitzgerald or anything, just that it's a really well-written book). Her restaurant reviews are really excellent--just reading some of them made me start to drool. And while many of the restaurant listings are for priceyish places, she does list some great, fun, authentic, and in some cases, way off the beaten track yummy places to try. I trust her opinion completely!

This is a really thorough guidebook, with good and honest hotel listings (one of the only people to vocalize what we all know--the Delano IS overrated!) and a great chapter on what to do and see if you want to do and see more than just the beaches of South Florida. The Miami coverage is awesome-- good tips on shopping, a really knowledgeable chapter on nighlife, and more.

The Everglades chapter has a hilarious essay about how the author was reluctant to go the first time, and the coverage of the Keys, Palm Beaches, Boca, etc. are just as good. I usually expect a Frommer's guidebook to be a bit stuffier than this, but as soon as I read the intro, I knew I had to try this book, and I'm so happy I did. You will be too. It rocks!

Wow. I used to think that South Florida just meant Miami and palm trees. This book proved to me and my husband that South Florida is much, much more. I got the book on a bet with my husband, who insisted that So Flo was a lot of fun and not just laying out at a pool kind of fun. This book proved me wrong and I lost the bet, but boy was I glad to be a loser in this wager! This book is a must have for anyone who thinks that a trip to Florida can be hot and boring. Quite the contrary!! Thanks, Frommer's. We'll be back to So Flo very soon.

In the summer of 1935, hundreds of World War 1 Veterans were in the Florida Keys to build the bridges linking the islands tot the mainland.

Many were curious and most unafraid when they heard a hurricane was coming. What was some wind and rain compared to bullets? Alas, the Labor Day Hurricane was perhaps the most powerful to ever assualt the U.S. mainland, moving across the Keys with 200-mph winds and a 20-foot storm surge.

More than 400 people died, including many of the veterans in their makeshift work camps. Drye's well researched narrative provides not only an hour by hour account of the storm track, but also chronicles the political fallout in it's aftermath.

I've lived through 5 hurricanes and in 4 of them the eye passed over my home. Reading this book made me feel I was in another only this time Ernest Hemingway was there as well. A great read for anyone who has been through a hurricane or wondered what one is like.

This book captures both the tremendous power of the hurricane and the terrible suffering of the people who were caught in it. It presents what I think is a fair explanation of the deaths of hundreds of American veterans of WWI and the circumstances that brought them to the Florida Keys during hurricane season. This little remembered chapter in American history should not be forgotten and Drye has done a service in bringing it back to light. It is a wonderful book that should affect everyone who reads it. I highly recommend it.

Delightful, off-the-wall, light entertainment. Who'd have thought a Prozac overdose could lead to such an amusing story (when I took too much, it left me anxious, wired, and paranoid)? I picked this book up in desperation, looking for some light reading ... and it was perfect--engaging enough to hold my attention, amusing enough for chuckles and the occasional belly laugh (wait 'til the "Vikings" make their appearance), off-beat enough not to be predictable--just what the doctor ordered on vacation! (Silly me, I had brought along an entire trunk full of political philosophy!) Shames' tale is less outrageous than the Hiaasen novels I've read (Sick Puppy and Stormy Weather) and a bit lighter, too. It's not as dark as an Elmore Leonard novel, either. Neither is it total mind fluff--and it's ambiguous enough to avoid a Hollywood Ending. For those suffering from situational depression, it has a not-so-subtle message: "Better chemistry through living." Break out of the life in which you're trapped and the brain chemistry may just sort itself out without the Prozac, St. John's Wort, or $100/hr therapist. Four stars for solid entertainment value. Four stars for whimsy. Four stars for daring to be just weird enough to be interesting. (If you'd like to dialogue about this review, please click on the "about me" link above and drop me an email. Thanks!)

I have currently read Tropical Depression by Laurence Shames.
This book was about a man going through a semi-stage of depression.Murray Zimmelman is going through his second divorce while contemplating suicide.Suddenly he snaps and drives 14 hours non-stop to Key West Florida where he begins a new life.He meets an indian who is fighting for his rights.Murray helps the indian get an island named after his tribe.I would suggest reading this book.

This is a hilarious book with zany characters and situations. I dare anyone to read to the Indian fishing scene without laughing out loud!

I bought this book and still refer to it whenever we're heading back to Key West. It's the most informative book on Key West and the Florida Keys I could have ever hoped to find. There are reviews of restaurants (big and small, expensive to modest), hotels, guesthouses, walking tour guides, even prices of the various accomodations and attractions. There are even juicy behind-the-scenes stories about the colorful lives of past and present Key Westers. Ms. Keith is a wealth of information and makes an extraordinary effort to share that information with the rest of the world. This is the consummate guide to Key West, and I've recommended it to everybody I know.

Definitely a 5-star Reference to The Florida Keys We were in Key West on our last day when we first encountered June Keith's book on the Keys, and immediately felt it was highly informative and accurate - we wished we had found it when we first arrived! It was evident that June Keith made significant efforts to visit or sample most if not all of the restaurants, locations, and visitors information she writes about, and to provide an objective, unbiased review of those topics. An excellent guidebook for anyone visiting, traveling, and thinking of living in the Florida Keys.

What a great guide to the Keys! We we're really pleased with restaurants we selected from the guide. Reviews were right on target. The history and background facts were fun - and informative. Hi-lighted activities were well selected. I would highly recommend this book to anyone going to Key West.

The story of a sister raising her brother and putting her life on hold could have been just another hardluck tale. But, the intermingling of the Navy Seal's problem and the brother's discovery of the sabotaged ship work very well. By adding the romantic twist between Callie and Chase, Ms. Lee places the icing on the cake. Held my attention from the very beginning.

This is an excellent read. It deals with two people coming to grips with their past and coming together to save a man who is on death row. It's gripping and makes you think about the issue of the death penalty. Carey is strong, but dealing with her beliefs in the justice system and her past with Seamus. Seamus is also dealing with griefs of the past and trying to come to grips with his past with Carey. This book deals with alot of issues from the death penalty to the pain of alcoholism. I loved all of Rachel Lee's 'Conard County' series, but this is the best of her books by far.

Rachel Lee is one of the great writers that came up through Silhouette Intimate Moments and she also writes very humourous contemporary novels under the name Sue Civil Brown. I recommend those if you are in search of a giggle or three.

After I dream shows the pattern of Lee's writing. She always has a man that has been scarred inwardly, almost to the point of being 'crippled', but love and inner grit triumphs against all.

This is a a great mystery. Chase Mattingly, a former navy seal, is a professional diver, yet on this last dive for an insurance company something goes terribly wrong. He begins to hallucinate and nearly pulls off his helmet before they can get him to the surface. Two months later, Chase is hold up with a gun in a small A frame in the Florida Keys, waiting for the 'monsters' he saw on this last dive to come for him - or to use the gun on himself before his insanity claims him.

The next door neighbor has problems, too. Callie Carlson has raised her brother since she was fourteen when the father died at sea. She hates the sea, blames it for taking everyone she loves from her, and now her brother wants to start a fishing service for tourists. After an argument, brother dashes off in a huff on his boat with a friend. Callie is sick with worry because a storm is coming in. She bumps into Chase and he suggests they call her brother on radio. Brother is safe and thrilled to have found a half sunk boat he plans to claim as salvage. The next they know, the boys are being charged with murdering the owner of the boat. Suddenly, Chase begins to question his fears of insanity claiming him, when he discovered the partially sunken boat was at the precise point where Chase had his last dive.

That is just the beginning of their troubles. A great suspenseful read with well drawn characters.

Carsten Stroud writes an entertaining tale. It's worth reading in spite of its Spanish language boo-boos, which are far too frequent in this book. Stroud should really have enlisted some help with translation of Spanish dialogue.

A young, New York State patrolman (retired early from a gunshot wound) is appreciating a slower pace of life fishing off the Florida Keys, when a tropical storm blackens the sky. He is unaware of the danger he's about to reel in from the turbulent seas.

The character, Rick Broca, is lured into a deadly scheme that reaches international proportions - all from risking his life to save another man whose identity is shrouded in complexities and unknowns. Broca becomes entwined in a net of unsavory intrigue with no apparent escape.

Stroud has an uncanny ability as a storyteller to combine personalities and action into a blend that keeps you turning the pages, wondering what will happen next. "Cuba Strait" is a complex story, which comes together in a convincing way that perfectly fits the age of mass terror.

This is the first novel I have read by Stroud, and it definitely will not be the last. If you enjoy action, adventure, and intense stories, Stroud is a writer worth remembering!

A frequent guest on television's hit series "Law and Order," voice performer Armand Schultz is in constant demand. Well he should be listeners will agree upon hearing his reading of the thriller "Cuba Strait."

Carsten Stroud's sixth novel, grabs readers from the opening lines with the appearance of Charles Green, an American pilot with a "loaded Glock strapped to his thigh and the fifty rounds of nine mill tucked in the breast pocket of his brown-leather bomber jacket." A former Navy man who was sent to Hawaii in 1969, he's now about to take off on a dangerous and mysterious flight. His plane, a Kodiak, is flawless; the weather is not. The cargo is unknown to him, as is the lone passenger who keeps an assault rifle pointed at Green's kidney.

Protagonist Rick Broca is a former New York State Police officer who quit the force after a glitch in the chain of command stopped him from saving lives during a school massacre. He is tending to his employer's boat, cruising off the Florida Keys before returning to his new job as a Hollywood technical consultant. When Rick sees the small Kodiak go down, he's all action.

There is a chilling underwater rescue attempt interrupted by an enormous female tiger shark dubbed Maybelline by Floridians. She is 500 pounds of "gouges and badly healed wound" with "an ugly puckered furrow carved into her snout." Maybelline has the unknown passenger for a starter, and wants Green who is trapped in the cockpit for her main course. However, Rick manages to save the pilot who claims to be a navy flier.

Rick's move to return the pilot to Miami is thwarted by a raging fire fight with another vessel - some no-holds-barred Cubans want Green and the cargo back, and they want both now. Obviously, Rick is on to the fact that Green is more than an ordinary charter pilot but no information is forthcoming.

The author's penchant for dark humor comes to the fore when Rick forgets that he has left the half-eaten remains of Green's passenger in the refrigerator of his employer's boat. So, when the boss goes out on a fishing expedition he is taken prisoner in Cuban territorial waters and charged with murder.

Aware that his error may well cost his boss his life Rick finds himself in the middle of a complex miasma of international intrigue. Rick doesn't know who to trust nor do listeners as suspense escalates to a startling finale.

- Gail Cooke

I've enjoyed all of James W. Hall's novels and enjoyed "Off The Chart" as well. But this present effort isn't quite up to snuff. While Hall is a master of plot, this one has a few too many utterly implausible twists and some turns that simply don't overcome this reader's sense of credibility.
Thorn, Hall's wonderfully crafted character, adds a few new problems and opportunities to his life in the form of Alexandra, a new romantic interest, and her doddering father who is introduced for reasons I don't quite fathom.
The main villain, Vic Joy, is simply unbelievable.
It's not a bad read: Hall keeps things moving along a quick pace and some of the scenes are tension producing. But overall, "Off The Chart" simply isn't up to the standard Hall himself has set with his earlier work. Still, for anyone who enjoys Hall's work or for those simply looking for a reasonably good adventure, I would recommend this novel - but with less vigor than I have for his prior work.

Jerry

See book description above.

I am never disappointed with James W. Hall. His novels always keep me on edge and it seems he gets better and better with each novel. This time around he seems to have made his protagonist, Thorn, a little more human, and not quite the superhero he was in previous novels. A fast paced and very gripping story. Keep up the good work.

Highly recommended.

James W. Hall's "Off the Chart" is a suspenseful, complex tale populated with three-dimensional characters in a vibrant setting.

A modern day high seas pirate with a Mafia background, a violent psycho pirate wannabe, a former Secretary of Navy working covertly for a black helicopter organization converge to alter the life of confirmed loner Thorn's newly idyllic life.

Via deceit and deception the villains coerce and convince Thorn's best friend Sugarman and girl friend Alexandra to abandon him---leaving Thorn to fend for himself versus the land-grabbing pirates.

In the attempt to seize Thorn's valuable five acres of waterfront property, the pirates abduct Sugarman's nine-year-old daughter---introducing a ticking clock subplot that leads to a nightmare confrontation.

The crisply written high octane pacing never slows as the action moves from the Keys to the middle of the ocean to the Central American jungles.

Jim Hall never disappoints---superior in every way.

The book has minimal diving-related discussions. It is more of a generalized guidebook to the Keys. If you're looking for diving-specific info, go elsewhere. As a guidebook, it does an okay job. Not a bad book, especially considering the price.

"[Adventure Guides] direct you away from the theme parks and into the great outdoors... the information on trekking routes, canoeing, wildlife refuges - even golf courses - is well researched." The Sunday Telegraph

"This book makes it easy to discover the whole [Everglades], even the secret places like Corkscrew Swamp." National Audubon Society

My dog-eared and heavily underlined copy of the 8th edition attests to the fact that over the course of many visits, Ms. Williams has been a reliable and marvelously opinionated guide to this quirky corner of America. This is not a conventional tourist's handbook of the type that merely rates this hotel or that restaurant with so many stars, although Williams' advice on these matters is invariably sound. It is, rather, what its title indicates: a history and guide. If you want to understand what the region is really all about, the rich cache of lore in this book will enrich your trip immensely. Key West and the other islands aren't "paradise," although they may look like it at first glance. They're more interesting than that. Their story is by turns uproarious, bizarre, sad, and disorderly. Like other Caribbean islands, the Keys (in particular the town of Key West) have experienced a historical Wild Mouse ride of booms and busts. It's a story well worth reading, and Joy Williams -- also a distinguished author of fiction -- is uniquely qualified to tell it. She also writes with special feeling and expertise about the Keys' unique ecology. As you drive down US 1 to Key West, counting down those mile markers as you go, keep this book within easy reach. It is an informative practical guide as well as a first-rate work of travel literature.

Before my last trip to the Keys, I picked up two books: this one and the Insider's Guide to the Keys. The Insider's Guide was less opinionated and had more "tourist" information but it was harder to find what you were looking for.

This book is organized is such a manner that it's very simple to find out the history of each Key as you drive down the Overseas Highway from Florida City to Key West. You'll read about the attractions, the places to stay and the restaurants Key by Key. That's very helpful. There's no flipping from chapter to chapter just to find out about the attractions in one place, dining in another, water activities in yet another place and accomodations elsewhere.

I also liked the opinions that the author expressed. For example, her takes on the Conch Tour Train, the Little White House, Mallory Square and the Key West Aquarium were right in line with our experiences. We happily skipped some other attractions based on this book and we don't believe we missed out on a thing.

If anything, there are some interesting things we saw in the Keys that weren't touched upon in this guidebook. How could the author leave out Robbie's Marina where for $1 you can "SEE the Tarpon" and for an additional $2 you can "FEED the Tarpon"? This "attraction" was mentioned to me at least a dozen times by various people I talked to, including a stranger at the post office in Virginia!

I really enjoyed this guidebook and only wish that it was even more comprehensive.

This book is a well written book first, funny, insightful and at times critical, and then its a guide book. If you only take one book to the Keys take this! You'll learn more about this fascinating part of the world than you could imagine, history, geography, flaura and fauna - but most of all people - from the lawyer, counsellor B who jumped off the tower of the Holiday Inn in Key West, and henceforth remembered as No Bungee B to the many writers who have lived there: Hemingway, tennessee Williams, etc. Its my all time favourite:- and I live in England!!