"Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" is, at one and the same time, one of the best musicals ever written and one of the best operas of the 20th Century. The story, which has been adapted and re-adapted over and over again since its first appearance in the 1830s (as a serial thriller called "The String of Pearls"), concerns a homicidal barber and his landlady, who, er, disposes of the bodies through her meat pie shop. In this version, Sweeney Todd is a tragic antihero, driven to insanity by the misfortunes heaped upon him by people with much power and no scruples. The story is tight and dramatic, both the music and libretto are superb, and the ensemble style of the chorus offers solos, chamber groups, as well as full-chorus numbers.

This edition of the vocal score is taken straight from the composer's score, offering a clean, clear representation of Sondheim's intentions. Voice parts and solo lines are clearly and consistently marked, and there are very few awkward page-turns. Best of all, and this is all but unique among scores for Broadway shows, THIS SCORE CONTAINS ALL THE DIALOGUE. This is the complete opera, with all of Sondheim's score and all of Wheeler's book.

To put it simply, this is a must-have for all devotees of opera and/or musicals.

This is the most amazing score you will ever hear in your life! It is simply amazing! Everything is SOOOO very heartfelt and emotional... yet intelligent!

I am a teacher and I love these books. Todd Parr has outdone himself yet again in writing this book. I am sure that it will be a hit with my class of first graders.

I love the Todd Paar books! Neon-y colors and goofy, childlike art make these very simple books stand out from the crowd. Things that make you feel good include bubble baths, pets, hot chocolate with marshmallows, and bedtime stories. Things that make you feel bad include smelly feet, stinkbugs, worm stew, and monsters. The combination of things that are real and things that are silly will make you laugh and maybe take life a little less seriously. If you're a kid, there's an important self-esteem message in these books that the littlest kid can relate to.

Great way to get my 3 year old to think about her alopecia. She went away and thought about it for a while and then came back and started asking questions. A light hearted way to start talking about being bald. Lovely illustrations. The last page comes very abruptly and I felt it was a bit of a shock after pages of this is me with my hair in the snow, in the wind etc and then this is me with no hair.

I was having a 'bad' hair day when someone gave this book to me and it instantly made me laugh. The last page of the book summarizes it all: "No matter how your hair looks, always feel good about yourself." This book is so simple, yet inspiring to people of all ages.

This book gives a wide variety of all the different spots on a barrier island. we use it in enrichment class and I enjoy the book very much.

This book uses descriptive illustrations to add to the enjoyment of its useful information. Its particularly relevant to the Coastal Carolina region and contains interesting and helpful facts for the beachgoer. Its format serves the single page reader as well as those who enjoy larger portions. Highly Recommended

In this cogent and insightful book, Rakoff uses the law's treatment of time to illuminate how we organize our lives, and the sort of choices we make without even knowing we're making them: how things we assume are fixed are the product of social choices, which can be changed; how the usual explanations for such apparently inevitable ripples in the rhythms of life as time zones or the school year are artifacts of particular times and particular issues in American life. It's a liberating book.

This study of the interaction between society and the regulation of time is thoughtful, reflective, engaging, well-paced, compelling, stimulating, and persuasive. It is a work of political economy in the classic, grand sense, and integrates the disciplines of law, sociology, psychology, and economics. Understanding that leisure can be more than a residual category creates the potential for profound change in the workplace and home.

This book is a fascinating blend of American natural and human history, author Kim Todd showing that in a sense our history is almost as much one of animal immigrants as that of human immigrants. North America, already one of the richest continents in the world in terms of biodiversity, is home now to many thousands of introduced plant and animal species.

Some were brought in for a taste or touch of home, missed by European settlers in the strange wilds of North America. Some, such as the honey bee, also proved of later significant commercial importance, becoming so vital to agriculture and indeed everyday life - pollinating plants, providing wax and honey - that later there would be many who found it hard to believe that the honey bee was not native to North America. Others, such as the rock dove or pigeon, provided a mixed track record; as Todd puts it, noting how revered the dove is in Western literature and how hated the pigeon often is; that in essence, "the colonists brought doves to the New World and ended up surrounded by pigeons." As much as the rock doves proved useful for food, for delivering messages (labeled by some in this regard according to Todd as "gallant" birds, praised in poetry and song), and as prized pets, they proved a huge problem in cities. Others, such as the European starling, proved downright pests. Brought over in a misguided attempt to introduce to the continent all the birds mentioned in the works of Shakespeare, it has spread throughout North America and become a plague like no other, pushing out native species from prime habitat and forming such large flocks in some areas as to present health hazards.

Many introductions were accidental. When a canal was opened between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario in the 19th century, allowing goods from the Great Lakes and the interior of Canada and the United States to reach the sea via the St. Lawrence River (in a chapter she appropriately calls "An Artificial Wedding"), more than just ships plied these waters. The sea lamprey, long resident in Lake Ontario, had not been able to bypass Niagara Falls and enter the rest of the Great Lakes previously. Once present, Todd chronicles how the predator preyed upon the formerly vast schools of fish in the Great Lakes, sending fishing stocks plummeting and completely reworking the entire ecology of the lakes. Another creature taking unfortunate advantage of mankind to enter a new habitat - in this case the Hawaiian Islands - was the mosquito. Once an island chain completely free from this pest, this insect entered the islands from the emptied dregs of ship's water barrels. Quickly becoming a pest not only to humans but also to birds, the mosquitoes nearly wiped out many of the archipelago's avian fauna by spreading bird pox and avian malaria. Todd also writes of a recent immigrant, the monk parakeet, which first started to appear in the wild in the late 1960s thanks largely to escaped pets. Becoming more widespread, the author shows the debate between the parakeet's champions and those that seek to eliminate the exotic, scared of it achieving pest status, who ask themselves is this species of bird going to be end up becoming the next starling?

Other introductions were done to "improve" nature, primarily in the latter part of the 19th century.. The ring-necked pheasant from China was imported to improve the hunting, a bird thought worthy of the sport hunter and more of a challenge than native game birds. Similar motives were at work with the brown trout of Europe, a prized game fish that did much to foster the refinement and popularity of fly fishing in the United States (though their benefactor, Fred Mather, believed that they could provide a vital new source of food for the American people). With few concerns for the alien species' effects on native fishes the brown trout became by 1900 established in 38 states. Reindeer, introduced in Alaska with epic ideas to provide the native peoples with animals to herd and with new means of transportation and methods to make money, proved a failure as expected results failed to materialize for many reasons as the book shows.

Finally some introductions were simply done to make money. The story of the nutria, an imported marsh denizen of South America, is fascinating. Brought in to help meet demands for furs - in the days when fur farms were in their infancy and the wild fur-bearing animals becoming scarce - it degenerated from a promising project into get-rich-quick pyramid schemes (which even involved federal investigation) as the semi-valuable nutria pelts were hyped up to gullible buyers in a high-stakes game that penalized those who actually sought to take their pelts to market. Even native animals were moved about the country for such endeavors; the mountain goat, not native to the Olympic Mountains in Washington state, was brought in to try and improve tourism. The region was deemed good mountain goat country; indeed it was too good, with no predators and a variety of very rare and highly local alpine plants that were not able to withstand steady grazing by the agile animals, the mountain goat has proved an ecological disaster.

Todd discusses in an almost short-story format these and many other animals, including a variety of insect pests. The book is well worth purchasing; my only compliant was that even more species could have been detailed.

Kim Todd wields an endlessly entertaining story, even for those who do not have any interest in exotic species. She does what few naturalists are able to do; she makes a story about a science read like a human-interest piece, and a compelling one at that. The pages flow easily and her craftily constructed prose will have whisked you to the end of the book long before you wanted it to end.

I recently did a research paper on coyotes, interested in why they are increasing in the area. I had 18 sources and this book provided the most informative and comprehensive material available; it is also the most current group study available. It provides wonderful insight into the world of the coyote, such as habitat, social hierarchy, breeding, territorial patterns, general behaviors, etc. I fell in love with the coyote after reading it, and was disappointed to hear about the re-introduction of the wolf (predator to coyote) to Yellowstone National Park. The book also contains the most beautiful photographs of coyotes available. Highly recommended!

A friend recommended this book to me after I asked him why coyotes are turning up everywhere in the US. Wilkinson gets at the heart of why persecuting coyotes is a bad idea. If you love coyotes, you won't be disappointed.

This book not only gives advice on places to go in Indiana and Illinois -- it tells you so engagingly that it's fun to read! Well written, and unusually enlightening.

loved the book! a must-have! riveting! esp. glad to see mention of Rancool, IL 61866.

...such a handsome photo of the authors.

can't wait for the next edition!

The author states his purpose for writing this treatise in the books subtitle: A Discourse,Chiefly Tending To Excite And Promote The Decaying Love Of Christ In The Heart Of Christians. Love to Christ is as important to spiritual life, as the beating of the heart which pumps blood through the arteries that supplies oxygen to the cells, is to physical life, without it life will not continue. The importance of loving Christ cannot be overstated. Where there is much love for the Lord Jesus Christ there will be great zeal to promote His truth,His Kingdom and His glory. John Macarthur informs us in the forward of the book that the highest duty of the Christian is to love the Lord Jesus. A good portion of the book exhorts the reader as to why Christ ought to be loved. We have an example of this on p.35 the person of Christ should draw forth the believers love due to: "1)His greatness and authority;2)His holiness and purity;3)His wisdom and omniscience;4)His truth and fidelity;5)His fullness and all suffiency;6)His kindness and mercy." The author encourages the believer to make diligent use of the means God has provided to increase their love for their Lord. Some of those means being: hearing the Word preached, reading and studying the Scriptures, praying for increased love for Him, living by faith, cultivating a sense of His love for you, growing in your hatred of and striving against sin, associating closest with those who most love Christ, exercising the love that you do have that it may grow.Reading and meditating upon the truths set forth in this book will help any Christian to gage their spiritual health or lack thereof.

On my second time through this book, I tried to take notes on the most important points and gave up because I was copying down practically the entire book! Approaching the issue of loving Christ from a number of different perspectives--who Christ is, what He has done, etc.--Vincent's clear explanation of why and how Christians should love Christ engages your mind and moves your heart with incredible power. Neither exceedingly erudite nor sappy in the least, this book hits the question of loving Christ at its core. It reveals the height and depth and breadth of true Christian love in a way that cuts to the heart and cannot be ignored. If this is an issue with which you have struggled, either theologically or practically, do not pass this book by!

I bought this book for my niece, but her mother liked it just as much! This is a cute, funny book that I just love.

This book has big and bright pictures that will catch children's attention to keep on reading. It's size and hardcover pages helps to encourage children to read by themselves too.