Magenta, Noodles, Grub and the gang take a "funtastic" journey to learn about being clean and healthy. Kids will love Acid Man and the giant head lice, but they'll also remember to care for their teeth and hair. I know I headed for the shower after reading this one

We have all three of these books and my children (ages 8 and 6) love them! I really enjoyed "Five kids and a monkey Investigate a Vicious Virus". The authors made a difficult subject very easy for children to understand. They want to read them over and over. We can't wait for series 2 to come out.

This book (as with the other two in the Series) grabs my kids attention everytime. The health and hygiene issues are presented in such an enjoyable fashion, that even my youngest remembers the salient points. I recommend the entire series, as well as the optional Study Guides (especially for those other HomeSchoolers out there). Great Fun...hope you all enjoy them as much as we have!

The Blair Reader is a book of different essays that everyone can relate to. There are stories in this book that will make some people say,"thats what happened to me". Some of the stories in the Blair Reader will have you looking at certain situations differently. It acually opens your mind up to things around you in everyday life that you don't normally think about.So, read it, and you'll probably find it enjoying too.

This book was a core requirement for my freshman english class in college. It is a great text that familiarizes the student with many diverse writing styles and subjects, as well as the essentials of analyzing and interpreting literature. Though this is no doubt a dread to most college students, I really enjoyed the discussion in-class that was brought about by entries in this book (and i'm not even a nerdy English major!). One that stands out to me is an excerpt from Jonathan Kozol on illiteracy in america. I wrote an in-depth analysis of that work for the class, and have kept the skills I learned to this day. Whether used as a text, for leisurely reading, or for exposure to critical thought, the Blair Reader is an exellent volume. I highly recommend this book (even if your Enlgish professor doesn't make you buy it!).

As a core text for my freshman writing classes, I use the Blair Reader to integrate the diverse ethnic backgrounds of my students through writers with whom they can relate. The Blair Reader also provides an instructor's resource manual that guides the teacher through the use of collaborative group and multimedia activities to stimulate student writing. I would highly recommend this text to any writing or reading instructor who faces the challenge of the diversified classroom.

Maalouf's historical novel brims with insight into the ideas and times of the religious leader Mani. I had studied historians'conclusions on the prophet, and much of the minimalist period evidence available as compiled by GRS Mead. But this novel brought those belief systems to life in new and fascinating ways. A bold project, artfully executed. Read and enjoy.

Maalouf's glorious novel vivifies the age and the mind of the prophet, Mani. The Roman Empire is weak. Persian kings are intermittently strong. The deserts, oases, gardens, roads and cities brim with the excitements of new ways of thinking and new ways of living. Christianity, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, the followers of Mani, and other communities of shared belief, vie not just for converts, but for existence.

Military power, Roman or Persian, will nurture only a faith conducive to a perpetuation of that power. The thought of Mani, gloriously, fosters universal tolerance of belief and worship, in a world obsessed with the dominance and mastery of one, one power, one faith, one way. Those who create the powerful seem as crookedly straight as those who bear the power. Mani has concerns greater almost than power.

This novel portrays a tremendously vivid and vital world of merchants, kings, priests, powers and places. Maalouf admirably ranges the Mediterranean and Middle East and with his central character, Mani, (portrayed sympathetically but not over-indulgently so) aims not for mass conversion but for understanding and education. The fluctuation in support that Mani receives from his most powerful admirers seems to genuinely express the fickle nature of the relationship that exists between wisdom and power.

Maalouf has authored a fine historical novel that avoids at all times plodding plotting and tedium. With plausible characters, relationships, ideas, and a clear appreciation for the subject, the author has made this novel an opportunity for a meaningful reading experience of high quality.

The Gardens of Light is the sort of book which lingers in one's mind long after he has set it down. A historical novel, it reconstructs the life and trials of Mani, the true life third century prophet of a new religion, Manichaeism. A sophisticated religion which sees "light" and "darkness" in all things, and creation itself the product of their mixture, Manichaeism is unique in that it respects all religions and their prophets, whether Jesus or the Buddha. The title itself is an allusion to mani's conception of heaven, a "garden of light."

Beautifully written in verse which at times reads like poetry, the story recounts Mani's life from the time he was raised by a fanatical group of Nazarine monks in Mesopotamia to his ultimate martyrdom. Along the way he forms an unusual alliance with Shapur, the great King of Kings of Persia. the book is fascinating for the glimpse it gives of the ancient Persian court, and the relationship Mani forms with Shapur... how Shapur accepted mani's teachings, since Mani taught tolerance and harmony. Shapur shared these goals, but not merely because of his character - such a religion would help bind the various peoples of his vast empire together, much as Constantine adopted Christianity to help unite his. And here lies the true beauty of this book - it's exploration of what motivates men of power, and of faith. Ultimately, Mani's true story is a meditation on the nature of beauty, faith, and tolerance.

Never ever boring, The Gardens of Light will introduce the reader to strange religions, important historical personages such as Shapur, and exotic places such as the Persian Empire and India in the third century. I consider the time I spent reading this book to have been uplifting and educational. I highly recommend this book.

I just finished reading through this book and i cant wait to get started.I really love the check list in the back so we can't forget anything we need to get started.The only thing that i do not like is every picture has been drawn.We would love to have some real color pictures to look at.

This is the easiest how-to book I've read in a long time. It's so thorough that the "equipment needed" list includes a stove. But they leave nothing to chance. The patterns are simple and well drawn and if you want to get adventurous, you can make a whole town from the patterns and ideas in the book. We spent the day on our "Gingerbread village" and neighbors and friends wandered through all day to help put it together. When someone said "This is fun!" my 7 year old said, "This is excellent!" Also good for school projects and book reports...especially the castle. But don't start out on the hard stuff.

After numerous gingerbread house failures, and swearing I would never make another gingerbread house, my sister recommended this book. Within a week my 3 children and I had made all six buildings in the book and created an amazingly beautiful gingerbread village. The book has easy to follow directions and illustrations, full size patterns (no more trying to enlarge tiny patterns) and lots of ideas for decorating. I now have the "gingerbread house bug" AND the secrets to success, and am starting on a victorian house - something I never would have considered two weeks ago. This book is GREAT!!!

I LIKE A SOUND HELP KIDS HOUSE YOU WOULD BE GOOD CARE KIDS RIGTH SO HELP YOU WOULD LIKE HELP FOR CHILDERN MORE CARE LEARN YOUR FAMILYS.

I originally bought this collection of Goal Setting Forms for my children, but quickly found myself making fast work of it for my own personal needs.

What you receive is a collection (multiple) of different forms, each with it's own purpose, and all designed to help you identify, plan, and post your goals for easy review and reinforcement. I highly recommend it for anyone of any age.

I have bought several of the books from The GoalsGuy series and was looking for tools that would help me to set my goals, not just keep them in my head. This collection is worth every penny and I highly recommend it. They are several types, each of which are helpful.

'In our village, the rocks had names.' With the first words I knew that I was going to delve into this book and would not bring myself to put it down until I had finished!
Set in 19th century Lebanon, The title "The Rock of Tanios" refers to a peculiar rock formation, looking like a great stone chair, that dominated the Lebanese village of Kfaryabda. The central characters are Sheikh Francis, a Christian Arab, and the sheikh's illegitimate offspring, Tanios. When I first started reading the book, I was on the quest to find why the rock was named after Tanios. Little did I know that that was the last thing that I was going to learn from this gripping tale. Through the fates and legends of these characters Maalouf creates a historical romance filled with local myths, political games, treachery, and love.
I would have to say that one of Maalouf's main themes is lost or forbidden love; how we fall in love with what's different from us, and discover we're different from what we thought we were.
And, it is forbidden love, which tears Tanios' family apart and drives him into exile.
Deceiving as hope might be, a twist in fate and luck brings Tanios back to his mother's bosom. Ironically, as he finally makes it to his beloved home, Tanios is left yet again as the estranged boy who did not truly know his own identity, or did he?
An amazing read, Maalouf has done it again. A prize well deserved for his fascinating imagination to mix true life with fiction.

This is the first book for Maalouf that I've read and he's since become my favourite author.

Make sure that you read Leo Africanus and Samarkand... I think they're somewhat better than Rock of Tanios as they have more fact and substance.

A wonderfull work by a good writer. Being Lebanese my self, I appreciate the way Amin shows the way of life in Lebanon during the era of Shiks and Emirs. He presented a fiction that addressed the human nature from different prespective: greed, power, ambition, love, respect, revenge, anger, lust, and above all the inner peychological confusion of a kid realising that his father may not be his real father, and all its results. I greatly enjoyed the inclusion of the Lebanese words in the book, though translated into English, you have to be Lebanese to truly feel the meaning.

For me also, this fiction shows that the way of life in the Lebanese village's life of the 1800s in its reality still have echos in the daily political life of today's Lebanon.

This was a good book but I must say that it wasn't really what i expected. This book is a critical study of the policies of the Blair Administration, but it is all left-wing criticism. I expected a more accurate discussion about the New Labour - more detailed information about the policies, and then a critical discussion! However, if you already know something about British politics, and the New Labour, I would assume that you would be interested in this book!

Good, but needs more depth. I am enthusiastic about the Claridge Press's new book "Blair's Britain" (also available through amazon) which goes into the deeper social, cultural and even spiritual implications of what the Blair Revolution is doing. Read the two in tandem if possible to get a complete picture.

I highly recommend this excellent volume to anyone curious about the current state of the British Labour party.

Editor, Mark Perryman has done a masterful job bringing together eleven first rate essays on the topic.

Although I must admit to feeling Blair's pivotal ideology has proven --sadly-- to be little more than shrewd electioneering, I was fascinated by the conclusions drawn by Perryman's crackingly bright band of contributors.

This is a fairly useful book for someone who's already proficient in camera basics. The printing and design are outstanding. I found that some of the photos are not top-notch as I'd expect from Don Blair and the explanations are too short for a newby. I was disappointed by this.

Don Blair and Skip Cohen wrote an outstanding workbook that beautifully illustrates the posing of individuals and couples in a concise step-by-step manner. This book is easy to read and understand making it the perfect guide to use with your clients in the studio or on location. The sections on dealing with individual flaws in your subjects and how to minimize them is worth the purchase price alone.This book is great for beginners and seasoned veterans alike.

This little book has been a great help to those I know who have purchased it. It is the right size to fit in a camera bag and take along on photo assignments to offer help in the field. Very useful information...

A girl shows her cousin a Tarot Deck. Then her mother walks in and freaks out. By the time we figure out what the panic's all about, it might be too late. The ending feels fake (to me).

Will Cade Merrill ever find out what happened to his cousin and her assistants during their filming of THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT?

In the summer of 1974, sixteen-year-old Sharon Webster is sent away to camp at Deep Creek Lake in Western Maryland. Here she meets Gavin Burns, a boy who wears a "Plague" T-shirt in honour of his favourite band, and is obsessed with the occult, tarot cards and everything to do with the Blair Witch. Gavin is infatuated with Sharon and sets about trying to prove the Witch's existence to impress her. The plot goes tragically wrong and results in Sharon witnessing the horrifying death of Gavin in the swamps near to Deep Creek Lake.

Now forty two years old, and with a sixteen year old daughter of her own, Sharon has done her best to forget that the events at Deep Creek Lake ever happened. But for her daughter, Kayla, it isn't so easy. Her mother has never spoken of the events that went on, yet Kayla finds herself dreaming of a boy in a "Plague" T-shirt holding a Tarot Card to symbolise death. He tells her his name is Gavin and begs for help as she watches him drown in the swamp. Kayla is frightened by these dreams but her mother refuses to tell her what happened. Together with her cousin Erin and boyfriend Jon, Kayla resolves to seek the truth about the secret her mother is keeping from her. As in the Blair Witch Project movie itself, the three venture into the forest, armed with a video camera and determined to find answers. But is history about to repeat itself, and who will be the next victim of the Blair Witch?

This is the scariest book in the Blair Witch Files so far. The action is fast-paced and will keep you on the edge of your seat throughout. This book was more about being scary than having an interesting or complicated plot. I really recommend "The Death Card" and the remaining books in this series to all teen readers and horror fans.

In 1974, teenager Sharon Webster witnessed the horrifying death of Gavin Burns at the hands of the Blair Witch. Refusing the face the truth, she reported that Gavin had been killed by a bear, and from that day on, she has lived in denial. Twenty-six years later, Sharon has a sixteen-year-old daughter of her own, Kayla, and a fifteen-year-old niece named Erin. When Kayla begins to have nightmares about the events her mother witnessed, she is determined to find out the truth her mother has been hiding. So Kayla and Erin, along with Kayla's boyfriend, Jon, hike to the woods Kayla saw in her dreams. But the three teens are making a big mistake. Because although Gavin is dead, the evil that destroyed him lives on. And now it's after Kayla, Erin, and Jon. This was a terrifying addition to the Blair Witch Files series.

It provides interesting twists and turns, especially about the Blair Witch's real identity. But is any of it true? As usual, no definite answer is given--and that is becoming just a little annoying. The books in this series pretty much stood on their own feet--this one should be read after reading The Blair Witch Dossier, by D.A. Stern.

Hi. This was one of the most interesting and by far the best book from the Blair Witch Files,(besides The Prisoner which was the scariest). To me it had all the answers to why and how the Blair Witch got started. In the book,Elly Kedward tells her life story,you get to read the story through her eyes,from when she was just a kid to when she was setup,and band from Blair town , how she felt, who she met along the way, how and why she came to be evil,(Elly Kedward was not even her real name).And it had an unexpected,great,ending.This book was not really scary as some of the others from the files ,but it was so interesting that it did not matter. So if you want to know about the Blair Whitch,from her own words then get this book. You wont be disappointed!

It's been six years since Cade Merrill's cousin, Heather, disappeared in the Black Hills Forest. Cade has spent all this time searching for answers. His research on the Blair Witch has ruled his life. He is walking the line between dedication to finding his cousin, and total obsession. When Cade receives a mysterious email from a psychic who claims to be able to channel the Blair Witch, he's not sure what to believe. The psychic, who goes by the name of Chris, promises him all the answers he's been looking for, but may just be a fraud. Chris sends Cade three tapes, supposedly of the Blair Witch telling her story. The story told is one of a young girl named Annabeth, growing up in a small English village in the eighteenth century. Forced to burn at the stake her own mother, accused of witchcraft, in order to prove her innocence, Anna is still blamed for the village's misfortunes. Sent off to America, she takes the name Elly Kedward and settles in the town of Blair, bound by her promise to her mother for revenge, a promise that will bring her face to face with her dark and evil destiny. Although several of the books in this series have been disappointing, I thought this was one of the better ones. I am sorry to see it is the last.