A good read but an even better document to the pursuit of dreams (well, maybe not dreams, but dinosaurs) by an adventurer. I couldn't help but think of Indiana Jones, except with a lot of modern red tape and government bureaucracy. Just being able to go after the dinosaur is a miracle, and Nugent paints a great picture for me. So many modern "adventures" are media-hyped, corporate events that pass as "sports" but this guy goes into the dark of the Congo and no one seems to care except the people he has to bribe and barter with along the way. Definitely check this one out.

A truly great book for anyone yearning for adventure! Nugent brings the wilds of the Congo into startling clarity. So vibrant are his descriptions, so compelling his pacing, that I couldn't put this book down for a moment once I began reading. I was so moved and inspired by Mr. Nugent's adventure looking for the Mokele-mbembe, that I spent a year searching for Bigfoot in the forests of the Pacific Northwest! Very few books have ever had such an impact on my life. I loved it.

The author has an amazing account to tell and he does it with great skill -- drawing his reader into the world, not only of primeval jungle and native folklore, but of the vibrant social structure of African life, where a visitor's knowledge of American television shows becomes a better item for trade than a pocketful of gold. As I finished the last, breathtaking chapter (it took every ounce of willpower not to peek ahead to it), I was ready to quit my job, pack up my bags, and set sail to Congo to go looking for the legendary beast myself. What a great read

Even if the targeted audience is children, but this book is also much interesting for adults. It's so well written that you'll feel somebody is telling you this story lively. I've a better understanding of the impact of war from this book. The ending is rather sad, unluckily it's also a true story.

Youngsters ages 10-14 will enjoy the suspense that Levine builds as we follow Japanese curator Fumiko on her quest to find the owner of a Jewish child's suitcase entrusted to her Holocaust Museum for a children's exhibit. Levine weaves the mystery and intensity of Fumiko's modern-day search with touching, but not overly sentimental, stories from Hana's past from 1938-1944. We begin to care for Hana and her family, while simultaneously unravelling the clues that lead Fumiko into the past.

Children will enjoy the simultanous stories, which are easy to follow. Teachers or parents will love to see their children watching Fumiko at work, bringing alive the real work of historians, and bringing little Hana's legacy to life. Inclusion of Hana's drawings made in the Terazin ghetto, as well as photographs of Hana and her family in Czechosolvakia, and photos of Fumiko and her children's group, give the book something extra special. Over 60,000 people have seen the museum exhibit that inspired the book, and I'm sure that it will be millions once this book is *truly* discovered!

This book was so sad! It is about this suitcase that arrives to a Holocaust Center in Japan and the story behind the little girl who used own it. The curator Fumiko crosses half the planet to find out what happened to Hana as she was taken from her home and killed just because she was Jewish. I really didn't understand what happened at the Holocaust until I read this book. Hana Brady had a normal life until the war started. Do we really need to destroy people's lives with a war, again?

Jiri Weil has here a masterpiece, a series of events involving a host of characters. Children hiding in a closet, German soldiers of high and low rank, elderly Jewish council members and scholars. What really chills me was my visit to the Holocaust museum days after finishing this book. The identification papers you draw upon entering that I received were for a man in the exact region of my Slovak grandparents. Before leaving much later that day, I viewed newsreels in the library. They provided actual background for the description of Reinhard Heydrich's assassination, told in detail in Weil's book. I highly recommend this excellent book.

In short vignettes, the author explores the difficult choices faced by the people of World War II Prague, from Reinhard Heydrich (never named by name) to individual soldiers, civil servants and Czechs and Jews of all stripes. Some episodes are absurd and full of humor, particularly the moment when the workers try to identify which statue on the roof is actually Mendelssohn's (they choose the one with the largest nose and are about to make the maximum possible error when they are stopped in the nick of time). Others are almost painful to read, such as the choices of a Jewish scholar hired to work on the museum built to illustrate the lives of his people; he realizes the purpose is to describe a people who are to be eliminated from the face of the earth.

Unlike many Holocaust novels, this book presents its points in a subtle and wonderful manner. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

This book opens with a black humor scene: how to remove the statue of Mendelssohn from the Prague concert hall during the Nazi occupation? From there, it shifts to short portraits of the gestapo, guards, ghetto residents, children, etc., all living in Pragu and trying to succeed/survive. It has been a long time since I have read a book so moving as this, and I highly recommend it

This Congolese market story introduces children to a village where peoples' lives are intertwined and their talents and services contribute to village life. The cause and effect trading process challenges children to follow sequence in an inventive and entertaining way as they ponder the meaning of value beyond money. Luzolo and Kiese show children how they can reach beyond their immediate desires to care for someone in need. Rich illustrations and a unique printmaking process make the brightly colored African clothing pop from the warm village backgrounds.

The pictures are beautiful, vibrant. Quietly raucous story of commerce in a simpler place. Story is a little complex for 6 yr olds, maybe better for 8-9.

A delightful, engaging story that not only entertains but teaches children about the value of a true gift and about the lives of those from different cultures. The colorful illustrations are beautifully rendered and produced by a unique process.

A great collection of seven stories, in which a narrator who seems like the same person (if under varied guises--none of whom smoke!) tells of his encounters against those who buy into the system of secularism, deceit, and denial of the ethical. Whether witnessing an old man watching his wife die in an impersonal hospital, mulling over a fellow worker who claims to have seen a Marian apparition, selling carp to Christmas shoppers, helping a neighbor's child who has literally dropped into his apartment, meeting an old flame returned from affluent exile, listening to a professor who sees phallic symbols rearing rampant in the urban landscape, or boating with religious fanatics, Klima deftly captures the flow of moments that accentuate the survival of the sensitive and the idealistic holdouts who refuse to give in to the system. Even the rants he describes avoid stereotype, and the subtle criticism of the dissident permeates these vignettes in a well-crafted, undogmatic, and moving manner. Although George Theiner (not as photographer but as translator) gives Klima's voice a bit too much of a working-class British inflection, the English version succeeds in its colloquial, unforced fluency. This is what post-1968 Prague must have been like, you think. Far from the Charles Bridge and the Stare Mesto. Grim suburbs, bulldozed fields, damp mattresses, endless queues. Worth remembering today, and to learn from how the Stalinist experiment warped all those under its control.

Hats Off to Klima, this is a wonderful book - satire at the highest level. I am really surprised that Klima had the guts to write this is a communist Czeck (then communist). I do not remember anybody other than Capek who was as brilliant. The translation by George Theiner is also great. Though there are seven stories, one for each day of the week but I promise you will finish it in a couple of days. He brings up the dark side but not in a gloomy way but rather in hilarious fashion mixed with sarcasm which definitely deserves all praises. I will definitely recommend this book as a must buy.

First of all, I can't recomment Mr. Klima's works highly enough. "My merry mornings" is the first one I came across, and I have since read most of his other (translated) works. Most strongly appealing are his wry understanding of the characters he draws; his ability to mine the emotional depths of even day-to-day situations; and his almost understated depiction of life in the shadow of an east bloc regime.

"I hung back, unsure, if this was the thing I'd die for/ and so perhaps never found what it was I would live for." From The Other Side/ El Otro Lado

I found this collection of poetry to be an honest portrait of the poet's experiences. The novelist Julia Alvarez, author of "How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents", "Yo", and "In the Time of the Butterflies", displays her wide range of poetry in this book, The Other Side/ El Otro Lado. It is divided into four main sections, each with their own topic, and each section has poems about that topic within it. The first section deals with the poet's childhood, as she lived in the Dominican Republic. Then the book moves on to deal with other topics such as her family's hurried getaway to the United States, and her awkward adolescent years, as she tried to adjust as a minority Latina in a world of gringas. The book moves on to her adulthood and encompasses topics which vary from her poetry readings to her boyfriends. Especially touching are the poems which speak about her return visit to her homeland of Dominican Republic, the point at which Julia realizes that she does not fit in here anymore any better than she fit in at her school when she first arrived in the US. This book is a tale of one woman's journey from immigrant to American citizen, and it expressed with the deepest and sincere sense of humanity. Her unique story-telling style of poetry makes this book unique, and her experiences will warm your heart.

I had read this book before a year ago and never really appreciated it until this year in English class when my class read it. I loved the book in the first place but now i have an ever deeper love for it since i understand it better. This book is great for casual reading but when analyzed and looked into it is excellent. I recommend this book to everyone but especially for young Dominican women trying to find a person, a book, that they can relate to.

I found this book of poetry to be an honest portrait of the poet's experiences. It is divided into four main sections, each with their own topic, and each section has poems about that topic within it. The first section deals with the poet's childhood, as she lived in the Dominican Republic. Then the book moves on to deal with other topics such as her family's hurried getaway to the United States, and her awkward adolescent years, as she tried to adjust as a minority Latina in a world of gringas. The book moves on to her adulthood and encompasses topics which vary from her poetry readings to her boyfriends. Especially touching are the poems which speak about her return visit to her homeland of Dominican Republic, the point at which Julia realizes that she does not fit in here anymore any better than she fit in at her school when she first arrived in the US. This book is a tale of one woman's journey from immigrant to American citizen, and it expressed with the deepest and sincere sense of humanity. Her unique story-telling style of poetry makes this book unique, and her experiences will warm your heart.

This book was awesome, in fact the whole series was wonderful! I enjoy all books that have a Nazie related topic.

Every family should have this series as a family heirloom. I felt like I lost a friend when I finished the book. You grow so close to the characters. I would be thrilled to see any of her book series made into a movie mini-series. I can't get enough of her work. I've never been so impressed with another author. I would love to meet Bodie and Brock. They are spectacular. I can't wait to finish the series. I can tell you one thing, It'll be on my bookshelf as a keepsake. If I can pry it out of the hands of friends and family who want to read them as well. - Megan Villa

Are you looking for history, love, and adventure?? Look no further. Bodie Thoene's series Zion Covenant covers everything in each book. The main character(Elisa) is 1/2 jewish and the other half is german. The setting is in Vienna Austria in the late 1930's. Elisa is thought to be full german by the gestapo so therefor she is not questioned. Eventually she gets caught up in smuggling jewish children out of Germany. Her father(being all jewish) is eventually sent to a consentration camp. Will her life ever return to normal? What is normal fo her now? Read this book and find out for your self!!!

I have looked through a lot of books on the former Soviet Union and its collapse. Very often, Western authors show clear misunderstanding of the process and how it evolved. I was pleasantly surprised to find a very good analysis in this book. Being a Russian citizen, I discover that it truthfully depicts the history of my country and gives a very thorough picture of what has happened in it before, during, and after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The authors go to great lengths in order to convey their knowledge to the reader and I very much appreciate their work and effort.

review by illinois reader missed the main points of the book in my opinion. 1-gorbachev tried to reform system thru democratizing(he succeeded)the system and retaining some aspects of socialism(he failed) 2-Democatization allowed the option for a return to capitalism,formerly outlawed,to be considered as an option. 3-The elite opposed early moves toward perostroika because they feared loss of priveleges when decentralization was attempted 4-The elite then embraced the move to capitalism, despite the opposition of 60+percent of the citizenry,hence the title "Revolution From Above" 5-The USSR did not collapse because it was moribund,but because the elite felt that they could enrich themselves more under capitalism than they already had under the soviets. 6-Socialism may not be dead because it failed in the USSR.The author considers that as a first attempt from which future generation can learn. 7-This is well documented academic work well written and with an unconventional view point.

Kotz and Weir start this book with a long detour through Soviet economic history, which is worthy on its own in explaining an often mythologized subject, but really pays off when it explains how the Soviet Union had a very distinct class structure that laid the grounds for the current era. With intelligent sociological analysis they show how the coordinators and bureaucrats who inhabited an allegedly "socialist" system did so for predominantly personal gain, and how they eventually sought and found even more gain in ending that system altogether. Crucial reading for understanding class conflict in Russia today.

I read Latinos in Baseball (Sammy Sosa) by Carrie Muskat. This book was full of information and excitement. It tells everything anyone would like to know such as his batting averages, homeruns, teamscores, childhood, and problems in his life. I liked this book because it reminded me of all the obstacles that go on in other people's lives. People who are baseball fans would like this book. I really admire Sammy Sosa because of the way he plays the game; he plays for fun, not for money or fame. I'd recommend this book to baseball player's and fans of Sammy because it tells how he expected more out of himself and didn't expect his teammates to make up for him.

This is a really good story about how Sammy Sosa grew up in the Dominican Republic. There are lots of pictures from his home in the Dominican Republic, and it tells a lot about how he learned to play baseball and went to the United States to play professional baseball.

This was, without a doubt, the best Sammy Sosa book I have read. The author did an great job telling every aspect of Sosa's life from his childhood in the Dominican Republic to his success as a baseball player. Reading this, I felt as if I were talking to Sammy himself. Excellent writing and a must-read for any Sosa fan!

Perhaps there may be too many names for a reader unfamiliar with the setting and the plot, but the main character, the Lithuanian people, could not have asked for a better story teller.
I was in Vilnius in August, September, October and part of Novembember of 1990, and met many of the individuals mentioned in the book, as well as others, yet unnamed. Perhaps I should have kept a diary and recorded some of the events that should be known. I would be glad to share them with Mr. Krickus, if he chose to contact me.

Krickus, who was on the ground in Lithuania for much of the period, offers a well written and insightful account of the Lithuanian independence movement during the later Gorbachev years. Unlike many foreign observers, he is sensitive to the differences in personality and tactics that emerged in the Sajudis movement. The description of the Soviet attempt to take the TV tower is particularly moving (I know some people who were there that night). I suspect Krickus is slightly overestimating the effect of Lithuanian resistance on the outcome of the August coup attempt, but this is a minor quibble.

Krickus' work in this area is told in the format of a novel, not dry history. The people involved in critical moments are real. It is a compelling story and one that puts into perspective why the expansion of NATO should include the Baltic states.