Originally published in 1970, "Whose Mouse are You?" is as much fun for young children and beginning readers now as it was back then. The text is short and simple, it rhymes and repeats, so even very young children can get interested in the story and repeat it after a few tellings. The illustrations are wonderfully simple and uncluttered, drawn with only with black yellow and red (from which we can get pink, orange and grey, too!)

When I was a infant/toddler teacher in daycare, "Whose Mouse are You?" was one of the all time favorites. Children just learning how to speak would call out "mouse book!! Mouse book!" and then sit glued to the pages. I've even seen an elementary school art teacher use this book to show how one does NOT need a box of 2 bazillion crayons to make interesting and fun illustrations-"get creative with limited tools" she said, passing out only red, yellow and black markers to the class.

For lapsitting readers as well as beginning readers, "Whose Mouse..." is an excellent choice and a lot of fun!! Enjoy!!

Frank is an incredibly skilled image maker, able communicate on many different levels with a single image. Jack Kerouac is the perfect person to write the intro to this book. Both artists worked in a similar way, using travel, speed and chance to communicate fleeting, yet deep, feelings about our complex culture.

Perfectly enjoyable by anyone with an interest in American culture, but essential for those practicing documentary photography.

They say that Robert Service was not a 'poet's poet'. The effete literati sneered at his work, and accused him of writing doggerel. But, the people have always loved his work. He was truly a 'people's poet.'

His first volume of poetry, The Spell of the Yukon and Other Verses, sold out while it was still on the presses. Two of his ballads, The Shooting of Dan McGrew and The Cremation of Sam McGee, are among the most memorized poems in history.

The Shooting of Dan McGrew alone made him a half-million dollars, which was a sizeable fortune in his time. He never had to do manual labor for his bread again, after its publication.

This volume of his work contains not only all of his best-known poems (those contained in both The Spell of the Yukon and his second, longer collection, Ballads of a Cheechako), but also many of the photographs of the famous Northwestern photographers, Clarke and Clarence Kinsey -- famous not only for the photography of the Klondike gold rush, but also for Clarke's later photographs of Pacific Northwest logging, some of which were included also in my father's book, When Timber Stood Tall.

This is a high quality coffee table book that you will not only delight in reading before the fire on a winter's evening or when that confining office job is getting you down, but it will also display well on your coffee table, where it will draw friends' attention like a magnet.

For Robert Service is, without a doubt, one of the best-loved of the world's poets. His poetry stands alongside that of Kipling, Coleridge and Poe in the public's affection.

Joseph Pierre

This book is set aboard the United States Navy aircraft carrier U.S.S. Ronald Regan. Tensions are high after an Iraqi Mig-29 is splashed by an F/A-18E Super Hornet while approaching the no-fly zone. The Mig-29 pilot just happens to be the nephew of an infamous tyrannical leader......and the battle is just about to begin.

Enter the lead character "Brick" Maxwell. Brick is privy to certain information about the engagement that the United States Government would rather remain unknown. His commanding officer, "Killer" Delancey is somewhat of a loose cannon when under pressure, and will do damn near anything to become the first "Ace" since Vietnam.

Without ruining the rest of the book, lets just say that it is quite action packed, with great character development, and real-world fighter pilot tactics.

Pilots and non-pilots alike will appreciate the exceptional authenticity that can only be provided by an experienced Pilot (30,000+ hours of flight time, 300+ carrier landings, trained F/A-18 pilot, aerobatic pilot, and retired Airline Captain) like Gandt. In the words of another reviewer, Gandt also happens to possess the "...pen of a poet".

I absolutely can't wait to read the next "Brick" Maxwell adventure!

The book captures the very soul of aerial combat and is an absorbing read for anyone who treasures the excitement of aviation.

The Aeneid is often called the founding epic of the Roman Empire. I think this requires a little explanation. The Romans absorbed almost completely the culture and art of Greece, and Homer's 'Illiad' and "Oddessy' were well known to the Romans. Virgil's 'Aeneid' is stylistically derived from Homer, but Virgil breaks new ground as well. Virgil's is much more of a national epic, and of course Homer couldn't be as nationalistic since Greece was not a nation in the same sense that Rome was. Also, Virgil is writing centuries after Homer and the events depicted in the 'Aeneid'. A lot of the story foreshadows the future of Rome and Virgil is writing about Rome's (mythical) history only to put his present day Rome in context. For example, he explains why there was such a national enmity between the Rome and the Carthage, why Latin came to be spoken in Rome, and he alludes to the origin of several famous Roman gens, including the 'Julius'. Any student of the classics will appreciate the mythological world created here by Virgil.

The translation by Fitzgerald is very good. The problem of translating poetry is twofold: stick to a literal translation, and you loose the verse; try to keep the verse and you probably will have a hard time staying true to the text. Fitzgerald's translation is in verse, and it is very lucid and flowing, not at all difficult to read. He may at times take some artistic license from time to time for the sake of preserving the verse, but I have the feeling he has stayed very close to the Latin text, and there is something to be said for reading the book as Virgil intended it - in verse.

Lastly, I recommend this particular edition (Everyman's Library, ISBN 0679413359) because of the introduction (Philip Hardie), the Post Script (Fitzgerald) and the extensive notes (Fitzgerald) on each chapter, explaining much that the casual reader would otherwise miss in reading such an historically loaded book. There is also a index of the people and places mentioned in the book, which is absolutely essential given the various people and events Virgil alludes to.

By the way, Fitzgerald has also translated the 'Illiad' and "Oddessy', and I would recommend those translations as well. Indeed, it would be best if you were to read: 'Illiad' and "Oddessy' by Homer, 'War at Troy' by Quintus of Smyrna, 'Annals' by Tacitus, and some of the relevant lives from Plutarch. Although this is certainly not required to enjoy the 'Aeneid', it would help the reader get more out of the book.

It is said that Virgil wrote this poem at least partially in hopes of fostering the national sentiment of the Romans, of making them proud of their heritage, and of uniting them in a common ancestry. His motives are very clear--there are a number of references to the future glory of Rome, and various visions of the leaders and generals who would bring Rome her greatest glory. Interestingly, this poem was never completed, and Virgil, on his deathbed, asked that it be destroyed. It was preserved, however, by Augustus, and so we have it in its mostly finished form today.

This translation by Fitzgerald is excellent. Like his translations of Homer, Fitzgerald's Aeneid flows very smoothly, and stays true to the feel of the original. Also, there is a postscript in the back detailing both the history of the times, and various events in Virgil's life. This postscript is very helpful in understanding the world in which the poet lived.

There is also a glossary of names in the back, very useful for keeping all the people, places, and deity straight. The Everyman's binding is a great way to go at an affordable price. All in all, this version of The Aenied is very satisfying. I highly recommend it.

I found so many of my own favorites in this extraordinary collection. I was also introduced to many wonderful new poems, I might never have read. And some of the comments from the folks who submitted the poems, are as moving as the poetry itself. The book emphasizes the pure joy of reading poetry. And poetry appreciation is alive and well in America!

There is Anna Akhmatova's "The Sentence," submitted by a woman from Georgia who remembers her brother "who returned from Vietnam, a broken man of 21," when reading this poem; and Margaret Atwood's "Variation On The Word Sleep," "the most beautiful love poem I have ever read," writes a woman from Queens, NY; Lewis Carroll's "Jaberwocky" is included, with the comment, "Where else can you find a tale of danger, adventure, triumph, and jubilation - all so utterly wrapped in nonsense?" There are wonders printed here, by Ranier Marie Rilke, Alexander Pope, Sir Walter Raleigh, Sylvia Plath, William Shakespeare, Wallace Stevens, Dylan Thomas and Allan Ginsberg...and so many more. It must have been a difficult task, indeed, to select 200 poems from so many worthy submissions.

I recommend this anthology to poetry lovers everywhere, and also to those who do not care for poetry. This collection may change your mind.

I must say that my favorite selection in the book was "I May, I Might, I Must" by Marianne Moore mainly because of the reason behind its selection. The only complaint (it isn't much of one) I have about the book is that my favorite "I Thank You God for Most This Amazing" by ee cummings didn't make it, but hopefully, there will someday be a Americans' Favorite Poems Volume II, and it will.

The book is arranged geographically. Beginning in Siberia, Mr. Matthiessen takes through Asia to Australia and then on to Africa and Europe and finally to North America. There are no cranes in South America (or Antarctica).

The author is at his best when he is combining his wry observations of the people and places around him with an enthusiastic and well-informed account of the natural history of a region. I felt that he was less successful when he lets his righteous indignation get the better of him and begins to make snide comments about the absence of a love of the natural world in Chinese society, the wrong-headedness of various bureaucrats and the corruption of local officials.

It is not as if I disagreed with his point of view, but I knew that I already shared it before I even picked up the book. I can't imagine anyone who had any doubts about the importance of cranes as sensitive indicators of the general health of the environment being won over to the crane's side by this hectoring, doctrinaire authorial voice. But then, perhaps this books is really just an extended love letter to the cranes and to the environment in general. As such, it succeeds wonderfully.

Peter Matthiessen travels with George Archibald, from the International Crane Foundation, through Asia revisiting places where cranes were previously abundant. They share the wonder of the many sightings of cranes. Yet Dr. Archibald is quoted as saying,"What a species we are!" after "being astonished anew by the destructive and murderous proclivities of man".

I learned so much from this book and recommend it to those who are not afraid to see the world as it is.

He has produced an unforgettably bleak picture of ecological matters in China, and an optimistic account of our own country's efforts in getting whooping cranes started again. That we don't know what we are doing in dealing with the cranes is shown in a paradoxically happy outcome for them in Korea. Wars are, as the posters used to declare, harmful to children and other living things, and the Korean War was disastrous for humans and for cranes. There is now a Demilitarized Zone between the two Koreas, just a couple of miles wide but running from the Sea of Japan to the Yellow Sea. Human habitation is forbidden in the area, and farming is very limited. Matthiessen is thus able to visit the DMZ's boundary, accompanied by armed soldiers. ("One may visit a North Korean museum that reveals American atrocities, but we decline this educational opportunity, electing to go birdwatching instead.") He thus gets to watch cranes in the "most fiercely protected wildlife sanctuary on earth... an accidental paradise for cranes." Woe to the cranes if peace breaks out.

This volume includes paintings and drawings of cranes by Robert Bateman, lovely renderings that are more compelling than the usual field guide renditions. They complement Matthiessen's fine text. Cranes are long lived, and they often mate for life. Their windpipes are modified like French horns to produce eloquent and distinctive calls. Their size and their pugnacity, for they are protective birds and dangerous to handle, should make us respect them as fellow-citizens of the planet. There is no need to invoke anthropomorphism; there is a spiritual bond between humans and these animals which Matthiessen has movingly demonstrated. He knows, however, that "the time is past when large rare creatures can recover their numbers without man's strenuous intervention," and despite his romantic optimism, his stories show we are strenuously bent on something else entirely.