Glancing through Milo and the Mysterious Island was intriguing. Written and illustrated by Marcus Pfister, the book takes a new approach to children's literature: you get to decide what ending the book should have. You can opt for a happy or sad ending, depending on which you prefer. Milo and his friends embark on a journey, taking their magic stones, to find the mysterious island with striped mice. Things take a twist in each ending as the mice struggle with an unfamiliar culture and don't always make the right decision.

What first caught my eye about this book were the illustrations. Not only are they bright and colorful, but the magic stones actually seem to glow on the page. The reason for this is that the stones are done in a sort-of gold holographic material that jumps off the page. However, as I read, the book certainly had meaning as well.

Although the book has small words and is easy to read, the book packs a punch with its thought-provoking story. As the book progresses and you are given a decision as to which ending to read, a child is taught a valuable lesson. The book demonstrates on a child's level what happens when we jump to conclusions about other cultures. It demonstrates how unfair and mean we can sometimes be. On the other hand, the book also pushes the child into making a much more difficult decision: accepting and learning from other cultures.

This book is a terrific addition to children's literature. Not only are the illustrations visually enticing but the story itself holds value beyond its easily understandable words.

I love this book! I have read this book to my two toddlers, and plan to read it to my fourth grade students. I enjoyed the two different endings that are available. I always have to read both. This book is wonderful to help children talk about differences among people. In life we have two choices, we can embrace differences and learn from them or we can be fearful of differences. This book provides many opportunities for discussions with children on a very important topic, differences. Differences come in the form of disablities, languages, culture, and appearances. This story is fun to read with younger children and great for discussions with older children and even adults. This is a must read!

The Story: The title refers to the name given to an enormous albino sperm whale who is being hunted by Captain Ahab, the ruthless, single-minded, driven master of a whaling ship. Ahab hunts Moby Dick because, in a previous hunt, Moby Dick amputated Ahab's leg in a failed attempt by Ahab to catch the white whale. The story is told in retrospect by a crewman, Ishmael, of the ship, who was a young, somewhat naive man at the time.

This is not a novel for everyone; it takes a patient and persistent reader to tackle the rich but complicated writing style of Melville, as well as the author's penchant for going off on detailed, descriptive tangents. However, the writing style almost becomes poetic at times, and symbolism and metaphor abound. The closest thing to Melville's style I've found amongst contemporary writers is Gene Wolfe ("The Book of the New Sun", "The Book of the Short Sun", "The Book of the Long Sun"). Wolfe also borrowed from Melville the device of telling the story from the viewpoint of young, naive observers, who report what they see with little bias or editorializing, which leaves the reader to interpret the story on his/her own. Melville drew a clear picture of life on a whaling vessel of that era.

To me, this story is a detailed and adventurous tale of obsession verging on insanity. Ahab is so focused on catching and killing Moby Dick that he loses sight of his own welfare and the welfare of his men. He never questions his own motives; he is out after revenge for losing his leg, as well as out to redress the insult of a simple beast not accepting the dominion of Man. Moby Dick's defiance of Mankind's superiority and sovereignty is seen as an outrage, a matter of honor for Captain Ahab to resolve. But, why did Moby Dick bite off Ahab's leg in the first place? Ahab sees it as an act of war by the whale, a refusal to bow down to the Master of the Earth (Mankind). Might it not just as easily be an animal naturally defending itself against a predator (Mankind) invading his (Moby Dick's) domain?

Jay Nussbaum wrote a book called "Blue Road to Atlantis" which is a gem of a story that retells Hemingway's "The Old Man and the Sea" from the fish's point of view. Mr. Nussbaum could make quite a story out of Moby Dick's point of view of this puny maniac who keeps harassing him and trying to kill him.

I'm still reading the book, but this version is quite helpful because in the back it has explanations for Melville's sometimes confusing allusions.

"My Father's Island" captures the sense of adventure, wonder, and fear of pioneer life on the Galapagos. The story is both humorous and tragic, and the book is compelling enough to read in one sitting.

"My Father's Island" is absolutely delightful. The book includes a very amusing view of cultural differences as seen by young Johanna; first between America and Quito, Ecuador and then between civilized Quito and the rugged pioneer lifestyle required just a few decades ago in the Galapagos.

The flora and fauna of the islands are more accurately named and described here than in the book "Floreanna." I recommend "My Father's Island" over "Floreanna" for providing more information on the islands, the lifestyle and for a more compelling story.

I now feel that I have a better idea of the hardships and challenges faced by the early settlers to the Galapagos. And, to top it off real life love stories are included, too!

I am looking forward to Johanna Angermeyer's next book.

Even for a non-sailer, this is an easy, entertaining, fast and well-crafted read. I enjoyed it immensely.

EXCELLENT! Couldn't put it down!

If you are looking on how to improve your fishing methods or where-to-go fishing, Stephen Sloan's Ocean Bankruptcy is not the book. Steve has taken the pulse of our oceans repeatedly through the years, and let me tell you something: this book is not only for anglers, but for everyone on earth who is concerned about our fisheries, our environment, our oceans, our earth.
Every decade a book comes along that alerts us to various problems that face our world.
Ocean Bankruptcy is the environmental book for the present decade. Compares with Rachel Carson's Silent Spring in importance.
With the tremendous demand for seafood around the world, huge commercial longline boats are raping our oceans for quick profits. Unless something is done, and done quickly, our oceans may never recover.
Sloan is not afraid to duke it out with wealthy individuals, influential friends, powerful lobbies and he even takes on countries themselves. He names names. I've never read a more gutsy environmental book; Steve is lucky to be alive! There is mystery, intrigue, deception, tension so the book is a real page turner, but, more importantly, it is absolutely necessary reading if we are to save our oceans.
Sloan is one of our best, most versatile anglers today. He has done it all. Fished everywhere. H e could enjoy fishing the world's best places for the rest of his life; instead he is greatly concerned about the future of the oceans and devotes most of his time, energies and resources to help save our fisheries.
CNN, 60 Minutes, Dateline and PBS would do well to interview Sloan regarding Ocean Bankruptcy.
Buy this book immediately... if not sooner.

This fast paced book about the destruction of our world fisheries reads like a Clancy novel, the intrigue alone will amaze you. Best of all Sloan actually comes up with easy solutions to these problems. This is a must read whether you like to fish, eat fish, or are concerned about the environment.

I really enjoy Katherine Applegates books. This was one of the best of her books that I have read. Katherine has a way of entering you into the life of each character and you are able to feel the pain from each. I wish for anyone to please email me and give me their views.

If anyone wants to read a book that will excite them for more, this is the book. I love the characters and how Katherine Applegate handles them. A truly great book!!! Read it!

Ocean deep has most beautiful illustrations. It is about a girl who feels lonely in a boarding school, in Swiss Alps. The book is all about her sensations about the beautiful world around her. She meets a man living in the mountains, who builds a boat in his barn(an unlikely place to build a boat). The girl dreams about going out into the ocean on this boat. It is a very good book. If you like beautiful art and an interesting story to take you into a different world, then you will love this book. I would reccomend this book to anyone 10 to adult.

this is the most wounderful story. yan does a beautiful job telling the story through his illistrations and words. I recomend this story from the ages 8 to adult. i am positive you will be happy to be a proud owner of this book. the illistration just left me speechless theey are so beautiful. i recomend this book to all the dreamers out there, and everyone who loves beautiful pictures.

"An Ocean View" is a small gem filled with all the big concepts about the ocean. It's an ideal primer for understanding the ocean's physical, geological, and biological forces. Dr. Russo has accomplished the admirable feat of condensing and enormous amount of detail and presents the science of oceanography in language for the general reader. If you want to broaden your understanding of our planet, which is over 70% water, then this small book is a good place to start!

I liked this book because it offered me an excellent overview of the state of the global ecosystem from an oceanography perspective. As a concerned nonscientist, the concise and clearly written nontechnical summary of oceanography allowed me to appreciate the severe environmental stresses on our planet from that viewpoint.

Has anyone ever succesfully robbed a casino? many wonder the different options one can take in illegally stealing from a bank vault similar to those of nuclear silos. But only one man, Daniel Ocean, has the exact plan and courage to take on such a task.
Ocean, a top star hit man criminal type is at it again right after he gets out of jail. His target, 3 five-star casinos located in downtown Las Vegas. An excellent book! This edition of the fabulous 70's classic integrates modern technology with Ocean's (and his men) plot to overtake Terry Benedict for [messing] him over and stealing his woman. If you have not yet seen the movie, then this book is just for you.
Be determined however to experience great jumps as the story hops around different scenes and explains most but not all the details. You will have to figure the rest out yourself. Hope yo uall enjoy this book. Happy Reading!

-Randy

this was a great book...easy reading, great plot! I reccommend highly as an excellent book to help pass on a plane or car...

I took Tom Garrison's class at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa, CA. Wonderful class! He taught along with the book and every session was both insightful and interesting. Dr. Garrison is without a match in instructional etiquette and eloquence. Indeed, this book showcases his best work on the subject. Read the book... Be educated by the diagrams and charts... Be taken back at the amazing realms of life under the ocean... And most of all, be in awe of a marvelous earth (or "Oceanus") that is in great need of our consideration right now. Otherwise we end up dead like the aliens... Oops.. I hope I did't give a way the ending! If you have few bucks, come and take the class at OCC. You will be so glad you did. Just don't come in late through one of the side doors, or leave your cell phone on. He can't STAND those things! It drives him CRAZY!

This textbook is very well written. It is ubnderstandible to students and others of all ages and interests. It contains intersting color pictures and graphics about the subject material for each chapter. Each chapter also contains web links to a homepage that accompanies the book. The book is full of intersting personal stories, history, theory, and facts. Dr. Garrison and all who have contributed to this book have set the standard for textbooks and integrated learning for the next decade.