I am the mother of a child with special needs and this book has a beautiful way of explaining what it is like to be different from typical children. I highly recommend it to anyone who knows a child with special needs. I am buying several copies to give to family members and friends to help offer perspctive on what my son's life is like. It is a precious story.

The first time I read this book I started to cry. It touched my heart so deeply. Louie doesn't play like other little kids, or speak either. This has his big brother Leo(from the first book, Little Leo the Late Bloomer)very concerned. Leo decides he will help his little brother how to play, write, and speak. To no avail. Soon Leo finds that Louie just does things differently from the norm. I have an autistic daughter with a big sister who is alway thinking of her little sister. This book is cute, warm and endearing. The illustrations are wonderfully alive. If I had enough money I'd buy this book for every big brother and sister with a special needs sibling.

It's the best book I ever saw. The colors are very bright. I especially liked when the animals were camoflauged. Porcupines ended up stuck up in the tree. I love the book very much. It shows all kinds of animals and they all were led by the panda named Milton.

I have had my own copy of 'Milton the Early Riser' since I can remember. It is one of my favorite childhood books. Milton the panda bear can't sleep. There is a big wind storm which rearranges all of the animals in the land, so to keep himself occupied, Milton puts them all back where they belong. By the time all of the animals wake up, Milton is so tired, he finally falls asleep.

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...

An intelligent and affectionate tribute to one of Hollywood's great directors. The photo collection is an amazing scrapbook of a career that seems impossible, but lasted for almost a century. He worked with everybody! Robert Trachtenberg has meticulously chronicled the life of this remarkable and gentle man and captured the magic of movies through familiar images that now have even more relevance. Is this the same "R. Trachtenberg" -- the photographer, whose name I've seen in magazines? His artist's eye is as keen as his choice of subject. George Cukor is an American treasure. You will treasure this book that celebrates his life and work.

When I first saw this book I asked myself, "is it just another standard Hollywood biography?" However, after a few minutes into it, I realized this is the kind of book one encounters rarely and values enormously -- provocative, highly literate, engaging, terrifically insightful, beautifully constructed (in its writing and art direction, including some magnificent photographs of Cukor and his actors). It truly gives the impression that you are not only "inside" Cukor's elegant, complicated mind ... but inside one of his classic movies. It's a perfect Christmas gift for anyone interested in Hollywood.

Steven Kellogg is wonderful telling the story of Sally Ann from her birth, her running, and the bear battle, to meeting and marrying Davey Crockett. Very strong woman. This folklore tale has excellent color illustrations. I would highly recommend this one for reading to and by the K through the 8th grade, along with a recommendation for teachers and parents, also.

This was a great book especially for young girls. It tells the story of a female hero and all her adventures. Even after marrying Davy Crockett, one of the most famous folk hero's, Sally Ann remains independent and the greatest hero in the book. I highly recomend it to anyone, especially those interested in folk tales.

Thomas E. Dewey, the epitome of Manhattan Avenue politics to conservative Republicans, was himself born and bred further west than the venerable Robert Taft himself. A product of Owosso, Michigan, Dewey attended the University of Michigan, studying literature and law, all the while pursuing a career as a professional singer. It was music that brought him to New York, one of many surprises unveiled in Richard Norton Smith's biography of one of America's most prolific political campaigners.

Dewey was a capable enough performer that in 1924 he was booked for a solo performance in the cultural heart of America. In the audience was the noted music critic Deems Taylor. Taylor commented upon what he perceived as Dewey's contrived emotional stage effects, but this flaw was dwarfed by a more essential one: suffering from laryngitis, Dewey's voice totally shut down halfway through the program. A thoroughly mortified Dewey was forced to take stock of his career, and as a second choice he decided to pursue a law degree. Columbia University of the 1920's enjoyed a plethora of great legal minds, and even the frustrated singer came to develop a passion for law and the potential theatrics of the courtroom.

Dewey's rapid ascent through the law profession was abetted by two factors: his labors on behalf of New York City's struggling Republican party, and the patronage of George Z. Medalie, who would become Dewey's legal and political rabbi. Medalie, a major character in this treatment, enjoyed a thriving private law practice, but he was drafted for one of the city's frequent, and usually unsuccessful, forays against organized crime, which literally held New York in a stranglehold in the 1920's and 1930's. Medalie, who had once consulted for Dewey's firm, brought this "prodigy" into his investigations of the seamy criminal underbelly of New York including, as it turned out, the disappearance of Judge Crater.

Not even Medalie could have imagined what kind of courtroom tiger he had unleashed. It was to Dewey's advantage that few intrepid souls wanted to tackle the dangers of addressing organized crime, particularly when corruption pervaded the police department and the courts. Dewey became New York City's district attorney in 1935, prosecuting famous gangsters, politicians, and public figures with a take no prisoners approach. Smith describes several of the most famous investigations in considerable detail, but it is Dewey's style that is most intriguing: a workaholic perfectionist whose "when in Rome" style and prosecutorial armtwisting were not for the prudish. Dewey's face became one of the most recognizable in America-through newspapers, newsreels, and a series of Hollywood B-movies in which Dewey lookalike actors reenacted the more famous of his investigations.

After the substantive defeats of Hoover in 1932 and Landon in 1936 many Republican voters in the 1940 primaries turned to the fresh aggressive look of Dewey. By May 1 Dewey stood at the head of the pack, but May 1940 proved to be his undoing. Smith observes that it was not a Republican challenger who derailed Dewey's victory train, but Hitler himself. After the disaster of Dunkirk, Dewey became "the first American casualty of the Second World War," as one wag put it at the time. As the war came visibly closer to American life, Dewey's youth and limited international experience became glaring obstacles to his White House hopes. Defeated for the nomination by Wendell Wilkie, Dewey captured the New York state house in 1942. A genuinely compassionate man, Dewey's lengthy tenure as governor was marked by fiscal conservatism and social reform. His vision was remarkable: he predicted the postwar housing shortage and developed a state surplus for postwar needs. He saw the fiscal possibilities of a better highway system and sowed the seeds for what would become the interstate highway system by his advocacy of the New York State Thruway, which now bears his name.

Had Dewey's ambition been quenched in Albany, he would probably be remembered as one of the most effective state leaders of the century. Regrettably for his posterity, it is his unsuccessful runs for the presidency in 1944 and particularly 1948, when he "snatched defeat from the jaws of victory," that most Americans associate with Dewey. Smith does not psychoanalyze the 1948 event, as many historians do, nor does he demonize Truman, whom he credits with conducting a masterful if brutal campaign. Smith concedes that Dewey's 1948 campaign was too ethereal, but in the final analysis Dewey was a victim of himself. Like Nixon, he was not a natural gladhander, and his perfectionism in crafting his speeches not only resulted in a wooden product but devoured time better spent in personal appearances.

Smith describes Dewey's personal life as that of, well, a rich suburban Republican. Early in his career Dewey made the acquaintance of journalist Lowell Thomas, who gradually drew him into the social circle of Quaker Hill, an exclusive mountain community near Pawling, New York, north of the city. Dewey remained a presence in Republican circles until his sudden death by heart attack in 1971. He labored to keep his party moderate, campaigning vigorously for Eisenhower and against the Taft wing. Smith brings to light several interesting anecdotes of Dewey's later years. In 1970 a coterie of leading congressional Republicans, deeply concerned about the style and direction of the Nixon White House [read Haldeman and Ehrlichman], nominated their former party leader to speak privately with the president. Dewey apparently agreed to approach Nixon, but his sudden death intervened. Smith also records that the widowed Dewey courted Kitty Carlisle Hart [then a panelist on the popular TV program "To Tell The Truth"] and asked her to marry him. [The question was still under negotiation at the time of his death.] On the last day of his life, in Miami, he played golf with Carl Yastrzemski. His final regrets, it appears, had less to do with presidential campaigns and more to do with his belief that he had worked too hard and played too little.

Thomas E. Dewey, unfortunately, is probably best remembered by most Americans as the little fellow who lost the 1948 Presidential election to Harry S. Truman in one of the greatest upsets in American history. But thanks to the work of Richard Norton Smith, we can now see Dewey for what he really was - a crusading, crime-busting district attorney; perhaps the best governor New York State ever had; and the man who "modernized" the Republican Party and allowed it to survive through the Depression years and the 1940's. Dewey came from a small town in Michigan, and his rise to fame and fortune came remarkably fast. A compulsive workaholic and "neat freak", Dewey graduated from the University of Michigan and Columbia University Law School in the 1920's. He briefly considered a career as a singer - he had an award-winning baritone voice and liked to sing Broadway tunes in his bathtub - but decided that the law would be a more stable and suitable career. He married an actress, settled in New York City (although he never really liked New York, and bought a large farm 70 miles north of Manhattan in the late thirties and happily became a weekend farmer). In 1933 Dewey, only 29, became the assistant DA and helped to send several gangsters to prison. In 1935 he was elected District Attorney for New York City, and he soon achieved national fame as the "gangbuster" - the honest lawyer who sent dozens of famous mafia leaders to jail. His most famous target was "Lucky" Luciano, the mafia boss of all New York and who was even more powerful than Al Capone. Dewey's conviction of Luciano made him a national hero and propelled him into presidential politics at the incredible age of 38. Hollywood even made movies about him. In 1940 he ran for the Republican presidential nomination and nearly won, despite his youth and inexperience. In 1942 he was elected governor of New York. During his twelve years as governor he passed the first state civil rights laws in America, lowered taxes AND cut a budget deficit in half, and founded the State University of New York. He also rooted out political crooks and ran a remarkably honest administration. In 1944 he ran for President and came closer to defeating Franklin D. Roosevelt than any of his four opponents. Dewey's great moment was supposed to have been in 1948, when he was considered to be a sure bet to defeat President Harry S. Truman and restore the Republicans to the White House. All the polls showed Dewey winning easily, and Dewey refused to even mention Truman's name - even as Truman insulted and ridiculed him in speech after speech. This was a costly mistake - Truman won a narrow victory in one of the great political upsets of all time. At the age of 46, Dewey was a "has-been". Smith does a wonderful job of explaining why, despite Dewey's honesty, intelligence, and obvious leadership skills he was never able to win the White House. Partly this was due to Dewey's personality - many people felt him to be cold and calculating, a short man with a bad temper and an arrogant attitude towards others. Smith fills this biography with plenty of delicious quotes (Dewey's secretary - "He was as cold as a February icicle"), and he also offers a superb history of the Republican Party in its lean years between the 1920's and the Eisenhower Fifties. Although Dewey will probably always be remembered more for his 1948 upset than for his substantial achievements, Smith's biography will at least ensure that those who read this book will come away with a much better appreciation for the man and for what he accomplished. A terrific book!

Those Who Can, Teach discusses modern American education. The book is divided into sections on schools, teachers, students, the history of education, and careers in teaching. The reader will learn, for example, theories of learning; rules of conduct governing educators; issues confronting students; and the role of technology in the classroom.

Those Who Can, Teach explores the diverse and complex aspects of the education profession from grade school to high school.

I especially like the keywords and reflections at the end of each chapter. I am currently using this book as a text in a course designed for students who are seriously considering teaching as a career.

Dewey Markham has been able to bring the so-called "complicated" wine to the most basic level. The book covers topics from Why to drink wine to what is a vintage.
My favorite section was the taste areas of the tongue: sugar, tannin, acid and sweetness. This was very informative on how to taste the wine and what to look for when tasting.
The wine label section was very well presented with the various labels I always get confused but this section in the book goes over the various forms of the labels.
Overall this book was an easy and informative read. If you want to start understanding wine I recommend this book as your first step.
Have fun reading and drinking.

This book is a fine introduction to wine for anyone interested in obtaining a good foundation for the understanding and ultimate enjoyment of wine. It's a simple and fast read, yet is very informative. It takes you through how to taste wine, how to buy it, how to order it in restaurants, how it is made, and what to look for in wines. The author finds a way to deliver this information without being too serious or stuffy; the presentation is quite down to earth and very approachable, nonintimidating. A fun book

This book kept surprising me, ultimately being very satisfying. When I ordered it, it was a bit intimidating. I feared a mass of impenetrable details. Most of the book in fact is appendices.The 200 or so pages of narrative contains nice insights into 19th c French life, but also shows wine lovers a very different era, when, for instance, the shippers were more important than the wineries.The book has one interesting fact after another. Did you know that the 1855 was NOT official? That there were a zillion similar ones? That the whole purpose was to set a price structure in the 18th century?A great read for the wine lover who is into every last detail.

This version of the Dewey Decimal Classification fits on your desk and in your budget. Abridged Edition 13 offers the up-to-date features of DDC 21 at a price small libraries can afford. Here's what you get in a single volume: * Major revisions of 350-354 public administration, 370 Education, 570 Life Sciences, 580 Plants, and 590 Animals * New table numbers for countries of the former Soviet Union * Updated terminology and new topics including virtual reality, Internet, rap music and in-line skating * Over 40 pages of additional index terms * Numbering compatible with DDC 21, so libraries can expand easily from the abridged to the full edition.