The art in this coloring book is boring. What makes coloring fun is the detail--even for the youngest "artists", simple lines in complete pictures make for better coloring. These pages are not filled--usually there is a central image of Harry, Ron or Hermione or two or three of them--no details of place or action and lots of empty white space around them. Even the glitter glue doesn't make up for this boring collection of coloring pages. Still it is Harry Potter and a true fan will still find some pleasure in it. Also Neville makes a rare appearance.

A very cute story about a determined duck. The book's smallsize makes it easy to take along on travels but it makes it difficultto use as a coloring book.

The historical content of this book is quite interesting for anyone who has been a faculty, staff, or student of the UH system. Focus is primarily on the Manoa campus, but brief sections (a little too brief) include the expansion of the CC system, as well as the Hilo and West Oahu systems. Unfortunately, for some, the book goes too deep into the politics of the UH system and leaves the reader wanting to know more about the campus itself, such as individual building constructions and proposals; the architectual designs of the more modern buildings; food services; the parking crunch. Additionally, the book is severely lacking in specific dates; for example, there is not even an appendix entry on when buildings were completed. Overall, it's an interesting read, but may leave many wanting for more, especially for post-1970's context, which is far too few.

A very sweet, simple baby book for people who want a sentimental memory book of baby's first year. The pages have beautiful Beatrix Potter pictures on them. All general topics are covered, and most pages allow you to fill in baby's firsts (i.e. first smile, first laugh, first time baby sat up, first pair of shoes, etc) while keeping the fill in the blanks about feelings (i.e. "When I was born, my parents felt ___") to a minimum. **One interesting note: In the US, babies usually go to the doctor at 3weeks old, 2 months, 4 months, 6 months, 9 months and 12 months the first year (or something like that). This book only has sections for baby info (height, weight, etc) at 3 month intervals, starting with 3 months, then 6 months, so if you want to record doctor visit stats from all your baby's doctor visits, this book will not have the space you need, and that's why this book doesn't work for me.

This book is somewhat dull at first, but when you get into it, you'll like it. Read this book.

This book clearly was not what I expected. Though the book is the only "authorized" biography of Rowling, it's a dissapointing book. For starters, the print is huge and not to mention the book starts on page 11! The biographal part was really the only part where fans wanting to learn about Rowling can find information about her. Plus, is in a question-and-answer format, so it dosn't really tell full-out about Rowling. The rest of the book basically is about the Harry Potter series, and it tells about the four books that have been released so far. (Come on hurry up book 5, I'll be waiting for you on June 21!) Anyway, the book is basically more about Harry Potter than J.K. Rowling. And, like one reviewer said, you could go to the bookstore and read it in less than 20 minutes. Don't waste your money on this one, just wait until a decent biography of Rowling comes out.

I was very exited when I first heard about this biography about J.K. Rowling. I immedietily went to my local public libray to check it out.

Let me tell you: this book is not worth anything. It is way too short. It only had 96 pages, and the book actually started on page 11.

The print is HUGE. It took me 15 minutes to read it. Also, I was dissapointed because the biography part was very short, the rest was all garbage all Harry Potter fans know about the four books.
And yes, it will spoil them for anyone who hasn't read them.

Don't waste your money. Read it in a bookstore or check it out of the library, but don't bother buying it.

If you want a better, more detailed biography, try J.K. Rowling: the Wizard Behind Harry Potter by Mark Shapiro.

I was kind of dissapointed with this biography, since I had wanted to read more about her life instead of the books which I have already read. I liked the interviews from O magazine, Newsweek and Larry King but felt that we didn't need to read the things about the books, since if they are looking for info about J.K. they probably already read the books. So it was okay, not the best.

I belive that the man who wrote this book did not read the books at all or he did not know what he was doing.On the second time of reading it. I read that the bank was ran by owls.How can owls run a bank?I was taught by a published writer it is best to make sure the book is free of grammarical errors so it apears to be professional.I wonder did he edit the book or have an editor edit them?

I bought J. K. Rowling: the Wizard behind Harry Potter hoping for a book that would tell me a little bit more about the life of J. K. (Joanne Kathleen) Rowling. However, I did not find it here.

Marc Shapiro, the author of this unauthorized biography, seemed to point every part of Rowling's life to Harry. He didn't bother to go into detail about Rowling's childhood friends, just mentioned them to point out that Rowling had gotten the idea for Harry's name from theirs. Though he did go into great detail about Rowling's writing habits, as well as the publishing deals she recieved, he left out the other part of her life- the life without Harry.

There is so much of Rowling's life that was left out in this biography, because there was no relevance to the books that made her famous. Though the book was informative, it was not at all what I had hoped. I think that the author should rethink his approach to biographies. This was supposed to be a story about Rowling's life, not about Rowling's writing.

An amazing and strange author wrote J.K. Rowling The Wizard Behind Harry Potter. Marc Shapiro wrote this interesting unauthorized biography. The book was published in 2000 but did you know that dreams could actually come true? That is what J.K. Rowling The Wizard Behind Harry Potter actually tells.
Joanne Kathleen Rowling ( J.K. Rowling ) wrote the adventures of Harry Potter. When she was a child she loved to write! She then wrote the Harry Potter books and finally became a published author like she always wanted to.
I thought the book was boring in the first chapter because I already knew things about Harry Potter. The book then became interesting and memorable. I think it's very interesting to know about the author. I think an author wouldn't have difficult problems in life. That's not true because J.K. Rowling did have bad problems in life. The book is memorable because I learned about the author of Harry Potter. Harry Potter is one of my favorite books that I like to read.
I liked how Marc wrote about how J.K.'s life is not that good. She doesn't have a husband but she does have a daughter. Marc wrote about Joanne's younger stories that were very neat to learn how she wrote when she was younger. I dislike how Marc wrote about her cat purring. That was extremely unintelligent, it made no sense to write that in the book.
The book ensures that dreams can come true. It did for Joanne, so it can for anyone. All Joanne wanted to do was become a published author and she did in 2000. The book suggests that you should never give up on a dream. Your dream could actually become reality. So never give up on your dreams!
I really enjoyed reading J.K. Rowling The Wizard Behind Harry Potter. It gave me more motivation on my dreams. I can do anything if I reach directly toward my dreams.
I think people who read the Harry Potter books should read this biography. You get to actually learn about the author and know how she came up with Harry Potter in the first place. I enjoyed reading this book and learning about Joanne, the author of my favorite series.

I'm glad not to be alone in seeing the Harry Potter books as only an empty marketing success and Zipes is acute when he comments on the banality of "Americanized" culture continued today by media giants like Disney. But Zipes is guilty of the same mamby pamby moralism that he criticizes in others, if you've read his Oxford Book of Fairy Tales you'll find that it's an unimaginative collection of innocuous speech codes and flaky feminist paranoia which is tedious and boring. Much of the "homogeneity" he complains about in popular culture comes from the dictates of "least objectionable programming" which advertisers like and is not unlike the political correctness found in elite Western institutions, where Zipes hails from obviously. J.K. Rowlings caricatures are embarrassingly "diverse" as if from a from a sensitivity training pogram which good leftists like Zipes should respect after all. Zipes reiterates all the liberal platitudes which have become suburban marketing clichés. Although he doesn't exactly advocate body piercing or tattoos. Not yet anyway. In short it's difficult to see where Zipes complaints lie since corporate progressives are pretty much dictating his own taste.

In this collection of essays based on speeches and lectures, the author - an admirer of Adorno - poses questions that should concern parents and teachers everywhere: Who decides what is "appropriate" literature for children? How are children introduced to this literature, and what do they make of it?

The first four chapters of the book, peppered with the somewhat off-putting jargon of literary theory, deplore the vertical integration of publishing empires, the marketing of books in association with toys, games, gadgets, T-shirts, etc., which results in "cultural homogenization" of the children. Adults decide "what's good for children" and use literature, among other tools, to manipulate and control them.

In chapters 5-9, the discussion gains momentum by using concrete examples of literature written for children. Changing attitudes toward Grimms' Fairy Tales and the "Struwwelpeter" stories of Heinrich Hoffmann have spawned multiple translations, bowdlerizations, dramatizations and parodies. The author shows how the "sexist" content of most fairy tales (the hero is almost always a male) has triggered feminist re-interpretations. Finally, there is no "authentic" version of fairy tales; all of them, including the ones collected by the Brothers Grimm, have been "contaminated", i.e. adapted and collated from multiple sources.

The final chapter on the phenomenal success of the Harry Potter books seems to be the one most American readers have focused on. It stresses the stereotypical aspects of the stories and the commercial hype that attended their release, and, again, their sexist nature - one of the author's pet peeves.

While some of these arguments seem excessively gloomy, all of them deserve our thoughtful consideration.

While I admire Zipes work in general, I think he's missed the point about Harry Potter. Zipes remarks that Harry is a classic boy scout, a straight arrow (...). He complains that the novels follow a tedious and grating fairy tale formula (...). The only difference between Harry and anyone else, according to Zipes, is that Harry has a lightning-shaped scar on his forehead (178).

Zipes misses the point on the importance of the scar - the scar is the central metaphor of the series and the importance of scars and wounding says something about our culture's adoption of this particular hero.

I had bought the book on line to save money, however waiting for one month and still having not received the book for school is definitely no worth saving 15 bucks.

This is a great text for learning the fundamentals of nursing practice. However the binding does not hold up for even 1 semester. i would reccommend that this be published in 2 books, or better yet in a 3-ring binder for durability & ease of use. Our school uses this book, but mine and 9 others of 25 have fallen apart within the first semester. we use it for 3 semesters. It is very frustrating to keep up with loose pages, so instead of a 5 I rate it a 2.

This is the textbook used in my first semester of nursing school. I read very little of it because I found the size intimidating, and the print was very small. It would take me several hours just to read one chapter. But the CD that came with the book has a tutorial on acids, bases and electroytes that I found extremely helpful. The Virtual Excursions workbook (purchased separately) was excellent. It was like getting extra clinical time. The study guide was good but it made the process of getting through each chapter even longer.

I read this one first, then the one by Lindeburg. There is no comparison- the Potter book has too many mistakes, outdated material, its organization does not mirror the exam's organization like the Lindeburg book does, it is not in depth enough to be of any use. After working through the Lindeburg book, I rarely even referred to this one (and the exam was a snap).

While trying to study from this book I found many outdated references. For instance, tables and charts for the 1984 "green book" and references to the 198-something HCM. The book also has a hydraulics and hydrology slant. Even the Highway section turns into a hydralogy review loosly based on highways. Do not buy this book, instead look into the Lindeman reference.

The mistakes, inconsistencies, and assumptions are frustrating. I don't know if there is anything better on the market. If so, I wish I had it right now.