I came across this book in the library when I was 11 years old. I just had to find me a copy. To this day I look at my horses with a different perspective. The fact Mary Stanton made these horses love, hurt, and the sacrifices they all made to be free, is one touching look at the animal itself. I had always wished there was more to this beautiful animal and her book made my dream become a reality. Even though it is a fantansy, I am hooked on a wonderful book that I have read over 20 times, AND IT NEVER GETS OLD!!!! If you ever thought there were more to the horse, and that there is a higher being for every animal to look up to, this a perfect book for anyone.

Following in the footsteps of such books as Watership Down, The Plague Dogs, Tailchaser's Song, and The Wild Road; this book brings to life the wonderful world of horses. I couldn't put it down. Even now, after several years of reading both this book and Piper at the Gate, I still can't put them down once I start. This book has to be one of my favorite books of all time. Mary Stanton really did a wonderful job. I am still enchanted by these books. They hold mystery and magic; all the glorious things that make a great story. My congradulations to Mary Stanton for writing such a masterpiece.

My first reaction to seeing this book's title was to wonder what the author was thinking. It didn't sound particularly inspiring. I pulled the book off its shelf at the used bookstore I found it in, and immediately regretted my first impression. The cover art suggests a story far darker and deeper than you would expect from the book's title, and a Tolkien-esque epic scale. I bought it without another thought.

Sure enough, this was no children's book. What Richard Adams did for rabbits in Watership Down, Mary Stanton does here with her horses. The antagonists are truly evil in ways most storybook villians only aspire to, and the equine mythology/religion thoroughly detailed. My only disappointment was in thinking this masterpiece was a one-shot wonder, a belief that was thankfully proven wrong by the discovery of this book's more epically titled sequel, "Piper at the Gate"

NOT for young children (say, under 13). Anor the Executioner will give them the screaming meemies, and Anor's master (the equine analog to the devil) will give them nightmares (no pun intended) for weeks. But a MUST READ for anyone over the age of 13, whether you like horses or not.

NOTE: Due to the dark and supernatural nature of the storyline and antagonists, I'm tempted to catagorize this one under "anthropomorhpic/horror" instead of fantasy.

This is a must have for anyone who has a Basset Hound!! The pictures are wonderful, and the captions are great!! Bassets are very unique indeed, and this book captures that uniqueness at it's best!

Maggie's Way is a wonderful book in many ways. It is a beautifully produced book with the most fantastic photographs. The captions can be witty, funny or sad and many other things. For basset hound lovers it is a "must have". For those who love beautiful photography, it is also a "must have".

It is hard to decribe in words what it is like to be owned by a Basset Hound but Bill Stanton has captured their charm and unique attitude in these magnificent photos. Any Basset owner who has had their dog plop down on the ground and refuse to move in the middle of a walk, stubbornly claim the sofa as their domain, bury bagels, or totally ignore you when you try to get them to do something will laugh hysterically at the photos of Maggie doing the same. Highly recommend this book for anyone who is enthralled by this wonderful and sassy breed of dog.

I Loooooooooooooooove the series. They are terrific!!! But she left us just hanging there on the last book. I've been keeping my eyes out for a new one for quite some time now. I know she defeated Shifter, but hey, I want to know if she finds her parents and how things end. That just makes me mad, so please when you read this help me help all of us to get another book from Mary Stanton.

This book was an imagenative,interesting book.I think one of my favorite parts was when the Shifter turned into smoke and stoll the indego star.Hope ya like the book.

This is one of the best books ever made! -In the world. -The galexy. -The UNIVERSE! It is just soooooooo exiteing. Mary Stanton has got me impationtly waiting for the next book! So. Take my advice and BUY THIS BOOK!

I absolutly love this book. It is the best. I HIGHLY recomend this book to any horse/unicorn lover. If you love fantasy books,you'll definetly love this whole series. I also think it deserves more than five stars. It need about twenty million stars. I really hope you like this book if you read it.

This book is great! I got it at scholastic. It was my first Unicorns of Balinor series book. After I read it I bought three more. They are Search for the Star, Secrets of the Scepter and Night of the Shifters Moon. I am going to buy the fith one too. But By Fire, by Moonlight was the best one and I read it a couple of times. Here's what was really interesting: When the princess saw a mermaid that was saying "come here!" to her and the mermaid was holding the sign of the second challenge- the ordeal by moonlight. In this book there are mermaids, unicorns, magic, dragons and the most magical things. I hope you liked my rewiew. You got to get this book!

This is such a great series! It seems realistic, yet enchanting. I can't wait for more of these books to come out. I love this series, even though I am 15. If you haven't already, read this book and all the books that came before it! Mary Stanton is doing a fantastic job so far. Keep up the great work!

This book is similar to the Art of Monsters Inc. However, this time you get more than just images but you also get small introductions and quotes from the artists/animators. The book starts off with an introduction from John Lasseter and Andrew Staton, both Disney veteran animator and Pixar founder. Then the book goes off with a frenzy of incredible concept art, drawings, sketches, character sketches, color definition, and storyboard. It is amazing of how much effort they put into the film. Prepare and be dazzled with Ralph Eggleston's pastel storyboards (director of FOR THE BIRDS)! You also get a full throttle of hilarious character sketches by such famous modern illustrators - Peter DeSeve, John Sohn, etc. Pages of incredible studies on sea life and color concept for the film.

This book is a perfect inspiration for any animator or film/animation student.

Beautiful work!

If you are an animator or cartoon designer who wants to know what is going on. Or if you just love beautiful work that is fun and aspiring then this is the book for you!!
There are a ton of styles that are very fun with an array of different media.

Pixar has the absolute best creativity in the character designs!! Truly awesome book!

This book is a gem. Reading it, you get an appreciation for all the WORK that was put into this excellent film! The amount of effort these people exerted to create the characters, backgrounds, computer-generated "water," and every other aspect of the movie, is incredible. Flipping through these pages, you really get a feel for that.

The pictures are beautiful and make you realize things you don't think about while watching the movie. You don't realize that the story wasn't always going to play out the same way. You don't realize that the characters may have looked different had the animators chosen to go in another direction. Looking at these early sketches, step by step pastel drawings, and much more, you see what it's really like to make one of these fantastic films.

The quotes throughout are humorous and enlightening. (I particularly like the descriptions of the sharks and the fishtank.) They even reveal a secret I didn't catch after seeing the movie twice; the man in the dentist's office with the skull on his shirt is supposed to be a grown-up Sid from "Toy Story!" That kid needed a trip to the dentist! Overall, "The Art of Finding Nemo" is an unbeatable coffee table book.

The only thing I remember in 1965 about my childhood in Montgomery, Alabama was that I was six-years-old and there was the terrible murder of a white woman by the Ku Klux Klan. I didn't know her name. All I knew was she was killed for having a black man ride in her car with her. That is all I have known for years. Thanks to Mary Stanton's excellent biography, I now know her name and her story. One night after reading several chapters I could not get to sleep. My thoughts were of Vi and Highway 80 out of Selma. Remembering can be a painful thing but through the sensitivity of Stanton's writing and her personal admiration for Viola Liuzza, I came to love and admire this courageous woman. Sorry that we never met. I appreciate Stanton sharing her struggle to research the story and write it. That was fascinating and very rewarding to be at Stanton's side page after page hoping her contacts and leads would pan out.

This book took priority over my agenda, a page turner of the first order. Getting the real story of Viola Liuzzo was on the back burner of my own mind so long I didn't remember it was there until Stanton's book caught my attention at the library. The book is in layers, with the story of getting the story as telling of the 1990s as the unfolding of what was actually happening in Selma and America in the 1960s. The role of women and political correctness 1960s style all over the U.S.A. as well as in Selma rings true. The story of the civil rights movement in the context of the South is absolutely girpping.

Like Mary Stanton, I was also curious about Mrs Luizzo, and she stayed in the back of my mind. I am sorry for the loss her family and many other families suffered simply because they wanted to change something that was completely wrong and unjust. I also feel shame on a government who would go so far to make those who were right and decent appear so degrading and immoral and to even allow murder to protect the "status quo" This book is must reading for anyone who really wants to take the blinders off about what really happened during that horrible time. I have recently been given the opportunity to visit parts of Alabama and while the area I visited is very decent, mentally I can still visualize the Alabama of 1965 and understand why it is necessary to leave the Viola Luizzo marker defaced; as the author has stated the struggle isn't over. Thank you Mary Stanton

This book is a confirmation of the truths of the impact of the Bible on America: its foundation and its culture. The uniqueness of the USA in the world today continues to prove the scholarship of Stanton's work. For anyone who studies history, this book is a supurb summary of how our laws, moral values, and concept of individualism come directly from the Bible and its teachings. While America is leaving many of these principles over time, the events following September 11 reafirmed our roots as described by Stanton.

I was assigned this book to read for a master's class several years ago, and how glad I was for it. Evans thoroughly backs up his arguments -- and in my view, his most compelling stance is that the American Revolution was actually a *conservative* one, directly challenging modern "conventional wisdom." How so? In a nutshell, he says that by desiring to uphold decades and centuries of established legal foundations, the Founders were at odds with an England (Parliament) that was more and more acting without lawful permission. A must read for those interested in *true* liberalism ("classic" liberalism), not contemporary liberalism.

Evans has written many successful books, but this is a stunning, path-breaking work. It is a frontal assault on Karl Marx and the economic determinism that underpins Marxism. In place of economic determinism, Evans offers what might be called theological determinism. He demonstrates that free countries are free largely because of religion, rather than despite religion, as liberals claim.

Allright, Piper at the Gate wasn't as good as the Heavenly Horse, but it was still good. I actually read Piper before Heavenly Horse, and it was very inspring. There were some boo-boos between Heavenly Horse and Piper, though. One of the worst was El Arat didn't strike the bargin to kill Dutchess' foal, but Pony's. I thought that that was somewhat poor on Stanton's part.

I believe Heavenly was better - loyalty to the first book maybe...! But Piper was simply 'the best' too! Couldnt put it down...went without sleep...almost! I want more horse books from this author as she is able to express what I want to believe in the world of Equines.

I lvoed this books so much i bought it at ebay for a small fortune, i HAD to have my own copy. Piper does have a few flaws - IF you've read the origonal Heavenly horse. the editor just missed a few facts - like taht it was POnys FOX that was demanded as a price, not Piper himself. Not a big enough deal to be annoyed about though, THis IS a fantastic book and theres a revistiation by our old friend Cory the collie in this book ( a version of him and even of newton the barn cat can be seen in the recent unicorns of balinor boks by the same author)

If you like Basil and dill or even the info about the dark barns of this book your in luck, in the unicorns' books, basil and dill not only make an appperance, but so does the pit and "He whos hall not be named in the dark"

READ READ READ!

This lovely small book was a delight to read. The author made a considered and deliberate decision, at a very young age (while still in college) to lead a simpler life, close to the earth. I really admire his adherence to his principles and his problem -solving skills in a time when we all just call someone else to do things.

I loved reading about the methods he used for farming, building, and general survival with none of what we consider the amenities of life. I found myself feeling very calm as I read this book....a sure sign that the conveniences of modern life bring stress with them!

While a bit on the fringes of what is possible for most folks this little book does provide some very good glimpses of the virtues and rewards of simplicity as a life-style. I plan on returning to it again someday and would recommend it.

I enjoyed every page and how beauty is found in the small every day life that transpires on the farm. The animal companionship, the rewards of sowing and reaping, the well thought out strategies for self sufficiency. If you're looking to get off the corporate treadmill or break from the collective madness of modern society, here's a book to get you started on your way. The fact that the farm is on 20 acres brings this lifestyle into home range for others aspiring to slow down to nature's pace and experience nature's glory on a daily basis. Two thumbs up for this book - it has even inspired me to plant my first vegetable garden!

Valley of Fear was a great book! Dang!Mary Stanton can sure bring to life her characters. Unicorns of Balinor is my favorite book no doubt! This book brings to life a vivid image in your head! Hint to all readers-MUST READ ALL BOOKS IN THIS SERIES IN ORDER! I love this book!

Sunchaser the unicorn , Lori , Ari and a unicorn toby are trying to find the Royal scepter and they ask the old mare of the mountain , who tells them they will find in the valley of fear were the black unicorns are. Ari needs it to be the princess of balinor , she just wants to be the ordinary girl she is but she must for Sunchaser the great unicorn and she must for Balinor. So Sunchaser and Toby the unicorns with Lori Sunchasers master and Ari the maid to her go to the valley of fear dressed as soldiers and Ari finds the Royal Secpter but both girls Lori and Ari with Sunchaser fall into the pit and are back at Glacier River Farm.

The Unicorns of Balinor is a very good example of protagonist/antagonist books. Foreshadowing is also displayed very well. I remember when I read it for the first time two years ago, I was kept on the edge of my seat because the story line is very addicting and suspenseful. It's hard not to imagine your self in a woodland watching the old mare of the mountian appear or carefully making your way across the fiery feild (in order to recliam the royal septer from the evil shifter).

True, the book ends very abruptly, but that is why it is in a series. This is not; however, a series you can read out of order. Trust me, I have tried to do that. It doesn't work.