I first read this book years ago, at the same time as the film came out. Being too young to see the film until it came out on video, and being a great fan of the first film, Gremlins, I was delighted to be given a copy of Gremlins 2, and finished it off within a few days.

That was years ago, and I'd thoroughly enjoyed reading the book. Looking over it again now, I can't believe I didn't noticed how satirical the style is, and Bischoff doesn't ever go more than a few paragraphs without throwing in another sardonic comment, or personal reference about a celebrity.

This book is funny, though, and if you liked the mischevious characters from the first book, or if you are a fan of the film, then you will probably enjoy this book too.

David Bischoff's novelization of "Gremlins 2 The New Batch" is quite good, disappointing only in its length, or rather, lack thereof. I personally thought it should have been longer; it's a shame they were unable to get the marvellous George Gipe to do this book (I believe that he passed away), for he turned in TWO excellent novelization jobs-- on the original GREMLINS, plus BACK TO THE FUTURE.

But since, for whatever reason, death or otherwise, Gipe was unavailable, Bischoff steps up to the plate. And though perhaps not a grand slam, this one still goes out of the park.

Bischoff includes plenty of his own satire, while still staying true to the film (and also the first novel).

The best moment comes as Dr. Catheter repents. In the original theatrical version, here the "film breaks" and the Gremlins supposedly mess around with the projector; in the video release, the "tape messes up" and the Gremlins infiltrate the VCR. I had found myself wondering what Bischoff would do.

He lives up to those moments and creates an even funnier one. Mr. Glasses (aka "Brain Gremlin," voiced in the movie by Tony Randall) flies to Los Angeles, ties up none other than "Mr. David Bischoff" and takes over the keyboard himself for a couple of pages, talking about how the Gremlins will revolutionize politics. At this point, Bischoff frees himself. Mr. Glasses decides it's time to relinquish the keyboard and so flies right back to the Clamp Center. I nearly died laughing.

Hilarious!

This is a fun book that should help your youngster develop an interest in American History. It is easy to read an has great illustratiions. You will not be disappointed with this purchase. Look for others by the same author.

Nicely done. Jean Fritz relates to children of "all ages". A necessary compliment alongside the more encyclopedic versions.

While this book does make interesting connections and presents history as a narrative, it struck this reader as having a strong white Christian bias. Isabel, who expelled Muslims and Jews and then sanctioned the Inquisition to hideously murder and torture those that were left, practically has a halo over her head (the inquisition is mentioned, but she doesn't get nearly enough credit for it). Prince Henry's exploration motives are purely based on his desire to better the lives of savages by spreading Christianity; hubris, greed, and material gain apparently never entered into his equation. Meanwhile, while I commend Foster for devoting a quick chapter to African emperor Mansa Musa, ignored by mainstream children's histories until fairly recently, I have to say that her portrayal of Africans leaves something to be desired; probably the less said the better. I recommend checking the book out of the library prior to plunking down the bucks for it. I will say that it's a decent starting place, but please encourage discussion, hopefully from the non-Western and non-Christian point of view.

Genevieve Foster's books are based on an intriguing concept: a horizontal approach to history; a view of the world and the people who lived during the lifetime of the main character--in this case Columbus. Charlotte Mason would have us delve deeply into an era; these books help us do that.

Each section of the book starts with an interest-grabbing 2-page spread naming and illustrating people who lived during a portion of Columbus' life. These drawings could be copied and pasted into the student's book of centuries or timeline as the corresponding story is read. The maps and illustrations throughout the book provide much interest, although these short stories are appealing because of their conversational tone.

You'll want to acquire all the books in this series by Genevieve Foster.

The book provides different viewpoints of Indian intellectuals on America.The article 'The Indian Discovery of America ' gives the reader a very rare and realistic picture of America and the author should be commended for his boldness to present America in a positive light which it rightfully reserves in the modern era.One should remember the fact that Indian public has been under the strong anti-American propaganda for many decades especially from the time of Nehru.The book gives something for an average person to ponder and appreciate regarding the existence of the nation America which is considered the greatest nation ever existed in history.

It is hard to use, in the same sentence, logic and a man who believed both in the basic sphericity of the earth and the existence of the Earthly Paradise. But, all hero-villain dichotomies aside, we shall always be confronted with the fact that it was Columbus who started the inexorable process that produced America as we know it, to the exclusion of all who may have preceded him to these shores.

I doubt seriously that, even today, you can find any book in English containing as much of the process (speaking historically) that produced Columbus. The patchwork of overlapping interests that constituted the Medieval and Renaissance Mediterranean has to be one of the truly difficult places to begin on the globe. Just when you think Venice has emerged safely ahead of Genoa, and the Portuguese have shut the gate on Spain, then everything changes. Too bad the expression "sea change" wasn't yet invented when this book was written.

The African leg of the process has had some coverage, but not any more competently than here. I have some reservations about the claim that gold was the Italian merchants' only motive for trading in North Africa. And this claim is somewhat mitigated by the author's own observation that the attraction of the Canaries was a certain dyestuff easily obtained there. His explanation of
the crucial role of the Canaries, while Morisonesque, certainly explains much.

A chronological list of major steps would have been helpful. This book is, however, a "keeper," and will be for some time to come.

Gianni Granzotto, a former commentator for an Italian television station and president of Italy's largest news agency, is the author of a number of highly regarded biographies. He spent six years writing this book, visiting Seville, Santo Domingo and Haiti among other places Columbus went. He also retraced in a small boat Columbus' voyage from the Canary Islands to the Bahamas following the day-by-day log kept my Columbus on the original expedition. This information was taken directly from the book, there was no information available on the author in English. The thesis of this book takes a twist as the reader progresses through its near 300 pages. The first impression the reader gets is that Columbus was a romantic man with an unending thirst for discovery and conquest. The reader learns of Columbus' shortcomings such as his lack of leadership and poor people skills. Also one gets a picture of how Columbus wanted to believe so much that he had reached Asia, that he could not see the truth and died believing not knowing he had discovered a new continent. We learn that Columbus was a dreamer rather than the great navigator history once made him out to be. If America was not where it was, Columbus and his crew would have died during the crossing in search of Asia, thus his name would have been buried into history without another chance of ever resurfacing. In my opinion this book is a valuable addition to the books out there on America's discoverer. The author made a special effort not to draw on speculation but rather verified evidence. He retraced Columbus' first voyage in a sailboat himself. He visited the places Columbus had landed in the Americas, places where Columbus had lived in Europe, and possibly where he had been buried, though nobody really knows for certain where he was buried. Even though the effort was made to keep the book as objective as possible, Columbus' emotions and intentions were pure speculation that help the book in a more romantic novel like delivery. There was one mistake I was able to spot in the book in reference to the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire who captured Constantinople from the Eastern Roman empire on page 2 of the book. The sultan's name is not Mohammed, but Fatih Mehmet. Other reviewers of this book also sight erroneous information in the book but do not specify what exactly. The general theme of the book takes the reader along the journey with Columbus and his crew. As the reader you share in the frustrations of not being able to take the journey that he lusted after for more than 20 years. Than in his triumph as he returns to Spain to show the world his accomplishments. Than again in his failure of finding any substantial gold in the Americas, and returning to Spain disgraced. The author does rely heavily on accepted mainstream reference books that were primary sources for his book. He mainly regurgitates what Las Casas, Bernaldez, Oviedo, and what Christopher Columbus' son Fernando wrote about the man. The author's opinions are not contrary to the primary sources, so no new information is uncovered. I have not read any other books on Christopher Columbus except for a children's book that had this book among others in it's bibliography. The book is full of details with names of people and places and dates all relevant to Christopher Columbus' life. The sheer amount of detail gives credence to the book, However the amount of detail sometimes resembles filler material that would not be necessary in understanding the life of Christopher Columbus. According to some of the professional reviewers this book adds very little to the collection of books available on the subject. However it was very easy to read and gave me a vivid picture into the life of one of the most important explorers to have ever lived. In my opinion it's entertainment value along with it's blend of attention-to-detail makes this book a fine addition to the literary work on the subject for the laymen who may not be able or willing to finish one of the more serious works written by other authors.

This is one of several books I have been reading to answer the currently raging debate over Christopher Columbus, explorer or Indian slaughterer? Written in the late 1940's, the author Morison spends the first pages of this book hailing Columbus as the "Discoverer of the New World", which we know is not true. Page 1 also states that "This was the most spectacular and most far-reaching geographical discovery ever recorded in human history." This and other terms of unbridled honor almost turned me off, but I later found that Morison balances his opinions well with candid observations of what Columbus did poorly. He clearly points out that Columbus was a terrible scientist and mathemetician, poor governer over people, a self defeating negotiator, and an absolute failure as a colony planner. Although Columbus was generally very compassionate toward the natives, his short comings eventually lead to absolute bedlam in the "Indies" and when faced with this strife, Columbus and his two brothers responded by killing both natives and Spaniards, which further lead to the expulsion of the Columbus brothers from the region. I found the book to be extremely informative and it gave me a clear picture of how Columbus came to be a hero, victim and tyrant at the same time. Morison makes the conclusion that Columbus was an extroardinary seaman and mariner, and he would have been best served if he had stuck with only that. Every other enterprise Columbus tried only lead to failure and shame. I highly recommend the book despite its antiquated writing style. Buy it.

Hi!:) This book is nice and informative without being too long and boring. It will most likely appeal to children around 5 or 6 through about 9 or 10. After that, they may want to read another, more in depth biography about this remarkable and fearless sailor and explorer.
The illustrations are realistic and well done.
I, as a parent, felt that the ending was a bit weak, but children will certainly gain a better understanding and clearer picture of the explorer, and his sacrifices, upon reading this book. Wording is simple and uncomplicated. A step 2 book.
Good information, good book!~

America is the country that it is just because Coyote wanted to find a good baseball team! Or so says Thomas King in this extremely playful take off on both the legendary trickster Coyote and her crazy encounter with Columbus's "discovery" of America. Thomas King has found a hilarious way to poke fun at just about everything he can, from Columbus's mistake to our preoccupation with vacation vehicles. And the dazzlingly colorful illustrations add to the wild and wacky world of turtles, moose, Native Americans and, of course, Coyote, who's nose falls off everytime she laughs. A quick easy read, King's book deserves a spot near the best of Dr. Seuss.

Goodbye Columbus is a book centering around a young lustful relationship in which problems arise due to differences in social class and religion. It is an easy read and is a good choice for someone who wants to read something entertaining. It is best for mature readers who do not mind a sexual theme.