We got lucky and happened to check this out from the library, but then we had to buy it! My daughter loves all the silly rhymes, plus the bright colors of the illustrations. She never gets tired of reading it!

This is a great book to read to antsy kids. My child not only istened, but got very involved with the characters, soon WE were a hippopota-family! Who can resist saying, "Hippopotamama"? The text flows beautifully and the illustrations are playful and just perfect for this tale! If you loved the Happy Hippopotomi, then I wholeheartedly recommend, "The Maestro Plays" also by Bill Martin, Jr.

You will really enjoy reading this book to your children. The invented words involving hippo are a fun, poetic learning experience for the listener and the reader. We laughed all the way through and the more you read it the better you get at it. Pretty soon you'll all be singing it around the house. Your child will have this one memorized in no time!

I am reviewing the book Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. The author of this book is J.K Rowling. I thought this book was very interesting. It all starts out when Harry's parents were killed by Voldemort. They said that Sirius Black betrayed Harry's father by being Lord Voldemort's spy. Harry hears about this and wants to go and kill him. His friend Hagrid is losing the case against his animal Buckbeak. Harry, Ron, and Hemione go to Hagrid's house the day of the execution, but he tells them to go back to Hogwarts. On their way back, Ron gets stuck on the Whooping Willow, the tree. To Harry and Hermione's surprise, theyfind Black in there. Read this book to find out what Black has to say and do about what he is being accused of.

I LOVED this book I already read it twice in English and I've tooken spanish for 7 years as well but even if you don't know spanish you can still understand whats going on in the book if you've already read it in English J.K.Rowling has written another wonderful book taking you to the 3rd exciting & mysterious year of Hogwarts so kick back! and enjoy this EXCELLENT book by J.K.Rowling.

Now Harry is a third grade! When he escapes from his uncleshouse for a problem with the family he starts to lives in the LeakyCauldron for a while, there he gets to know that a killer and friend of Voldemort is chasing him. Everybody tries to protect him but when he starts to go to school he gets to know that he's not the real murderer .Also Harry get to know much about his parents. They have a new dark arts professor, is professor Lupin, he have a big secret but also is the best professor since Harry is there and helps he to fight the dementors, creatures that originally lives in Azkaban, the jail of the warloks. They goes to Hogwarts to protect the students from the murderer .

This is a superb book! The photos are excellent, showing Cuba as it truly is today, with whatever still stands after four decades of inattention. Anyone who has not seen Cuba in 40 years should pereuse this book. The photographer does not make a political statement of any sort -- he merely records the beauty that is there. One of the few books about Cuba that I would recommend to anyone, regardless of political sympathies.

My boss gave me this book for Christmas. Boy, did he pick the right gift. Engels' architectural photography is breathtaking. Even thought the splendid colonial buildings depicted in this book appear to be falling apart, one can't help but be mesmerized by the ghostly beauty of it all. Through these photos it appears as if Havana has been become frozen in another, more prosperous era, but has never been maintained since. What you take away from the book is a city that is eerily beautiful precisely because it seems as if it is only a skeleton of what once was. If you are, like me, a lover of architecture, these photographs will make you feel terribly sad because so much grandeur is rapidly vanishing. At the same time, there are more than enough traces of splendid architectural details seen in this book, albeit in crumbling pieces, to make any fan of architecture want to see more of Havana. I gained much from this book, especially seeing, with my sometimes too-American eyes, how a very close and small Caribbean neighbor has architecture that at times seems to rival that of European capitals. I highly recommend this book.

This books presents the beautiful and rich architecture found throughout Havana. Through his pictures Engels lets the architecture speak for itself. Beth Dunlop's 5 page introduction is concise and to the point; a great compliment. Great pictures, a treasure collection.

Having rafted the Colorado myself 2 years ago, this was a perfect souvenir-reminder of my trip. The photos in particular are exquisite - some I have no idea how he managed to capture without ending up in the river himself. I lost my Pentax to the very first rapid! This book definitely gives a sense of what the Canyon, the river, and the rapids are like. Makes me want to go back!

I have traveled through the Grand Canyon many times, both on the river and on the trails. John Blaustein has not only been able to capture the beauty of the canyon but also the soul of the river it contains. Abbey's journal is a fine compliment to the pulchritude of the pictures.

Any fan of unique photography and wonderful words should buy this reissue. Mr. Blaustein is a gifted photographer and abbey is equally adept in capturing the magic of this river trip. The book is a reminder of what could be lost, if we fail to preserve the glorious heritage of our national parks.

We bought this at a used book store a week ago, and have read it at least 50 times. If you have a very imaginative child, this is a great book. The illustrations are great, different from standard picture books. The main character, Mary, creates a darling "garden" project which she magically becomes a part of and plays in. She isn't quite sure how it is all happening, but she likes it. The unexplained magic is charming, thought provoking, and just plain fun. I love the idea that some of lifes surprises have no obvious explanation. If you have a child who seems to get lost in imaginary play, I am sure they will enjoy and relate to this book. This inspired us to create our own secret garden. Great project idea. We love our Martin Waddell books, and this is no exception. Can't say enough good about this book.

My five year old son and I enjoy this book. It's a keeper! The illustrations are very different and we found them so interesting.

I purchased the book in order to do a presentation on it for my Children's Literature class. The illistrations are in fact what orinally caught my eye. I was doing stock at work and came across it and thought it was so colorful and interesting and thought, what child wouldn't be fascinated by this book. I eventually read the book and came to find that the story is great as well. I think it would encourage any child to use their imagination as well as to explore different artistic mediums other than crayons and construction paper.

I purchased this book quite a few years ago and I am still using it today. In fact, my daughter is getting married and I am getting her this book so she will be as organized as her mother! It was so easy to organize everything and I can find what I am looking for in an instant. This book tells you what catagory to file your document, when to save in archives and when something can be tossed away. I wish that I could give this book ****** !

The system you wrote is fantastic. I have been rifeing through drawers, boxes, and paper for years. I really didn't think there was a way. But there is. Thank you very much, Mary Martin. I really didn't think it was possible.

I wish I had gotten this book sooner. I have always been a slave to the paper tiger. The thing I like about this method is that it not only showed me what is important to hold on to and where to speciffically file things....but it also shows what NOT to keep and WHEN to throw it away. It sounds simple and IT IS! Thank you to the Martins for a great system.

I got this book because I just loved the Horatio Hornblower mini series on A & E. This book really shows how they did the special effects in the movie. The detail in the writing as well as the great photographs is amazing. It goes into how they copied to scale perfectly the old ships to make the models for the movie.It also goes into detail about the actual ships they modeled the models after. I must say after I read this book I watched the movies again and found myself looking for the models! The book is a must have though if you love Hornblower. Its well done in every way.

Though the number of recreational ship modelers is legion, few have achieved such breadth of knowledge and mastery of craft as author Martin Saville, who served as senior supervisor and consultant for the Emmy award-winning Horatio Hornblower films.

Anyone with even a passing interest in tall masted ships is apt to be enthralled with the Hornblower series, due in large part to the quantity and exceptional quality of the models used to depict the English, French and Spanish ships. The sailing and combat footage, complete with flame-spewing cannon, billowing sails and multiple-vessel horizon perspective shots, is so realistic that even expert model builders may find their disbelief inadvertently and momentarily suspended.

Saville's book admirably answers the dominant question that rings in your ears after seeing each episode: "How did they do all that?"

He provides a fascinating behind-the scenes account of the design, construction, and filming of the eleven model ships that were constructed for filming, complete with revealing photos during the various stages of construction.

One of the delightful things about Saville's approach is that he assumes that the reader has little or no prior knowledge about period ships and sailing. In addition to providing an understandable and novice-friendly explanation of each aspect of ship design and construction (hulls, masts, rigging, armament, etc.), he also includes concise summaries of the actual historical people and events upon which the Hornblower series is based.

For ship modelers, this book answers many of the nagging questions that may have been gnawing at you as you watched the films. To accommodate the requirements of the film cameras, most of the models were 4 meters (13 feet) in length and were designed to remain afloat for weeks at a time, thus requiring an innovative combination of the skills of shipwright and modeler to achieve such convincing success. Saville's book gives an interesting and detailed description of the headaches endured and triumphs enjoyed by the design team in making the project a reality. And yes, he even describes the electrical firing system they rigged for the cannon.

Saville also includes an excellent biblography listing the best reference materials regarding the history of the period and details of ships, masting and rigging.

In short, this book is a satisfying read for those interested in the Hornblower books, in tall masted ships, in shipbuilding, in ship modeling, and in the mystical methods of Hollywood moviemakers in capturing these images on film.

As a hobbiest and model ship builder, I fell in love with the TV series which resulted from this book. So when I bought the book I thought I knew what I was getting. Wow, was I surprised! There are plenty of photos, model drawings and descriptions in here to keep me building for years to come! Now I can't wait for them to re-air the series so I can compare my ships with theirs!

I'm not sure why I picked up this book and started reading it. For some reason I wasn't really expecting to like it - but by the time I finished it I was firmly convinced that it was one of the best books I've read all year, and one of the better books on buddhism I've ever read. The stories themselves are told in a very compelling and entertaining style - each and everyone was not only insightful and "meaningful" in a moral and ethical sense - but a lot of fun to read as well. The accompanying commentaries for each story are intellingently rendered, and really opened some doors for me in terms of the meaning of the stories.

This is a wonderful book "for all ages" as they say.

I've been reading this book to my children and they are finding them quite enjoyable. There are lots of stories here and we typically read a story before bedtime. My 6 year old finds some of the stories difficult to understand -- there are no pictures. My 10 year old always asks to be read a new story.

The foundation of all these stories is kindness and compassion. They touch something deep inside that says "Ahh, this is right, this is how we should truely live." This is by far the best book of "childrens" stories I have ever read. I enjoyed them at least as much as my children.

If you lived at the time of Martin Luther King J r.
By Ellen Levine

The Book is about when it was the 1950's to 1960's. A man named Martin Luther King Jr. was the leader for the blacks. White people were very mean to African-Americans. They had to use different schools, phone booths, neighborhoods, bathrooms, restaurants, hotels, and drinking fountains.

I like this book because I wonder about if I were there, would I have tried to help the black people? I know I would have.

I also think the illustrator did a great job on coloring the pages. I think the author wrote this book because it was about segregated laws. She wanted kids to know a famous leader or what it was like if the kids were there with him.

Whenever teachers in our predominantly white elementary school ask me to recommend a title pertaining to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., or to African American history, this is one of the first books I suggest for grades 4, 5 and 6.The question and answer format lends itself to reading aloud and then discussing topics that come up, like segregation, white supremacy, the Montgomery bus boycott, etc. I recently read part of this book to a fourth grade class who just had "segregation" as a vocabulary word. The students were quite attentive and asked some excellent questions.The title is a bit misleading in that some might view it as a biography of Dr. King. While many sections do draw upon personal events in Dr. King's life, such as when he was a youngster riding in the car with his father and he heard a police officer call his dad "boy." Or again, when he was young and he was told he could no longer play with his white friends. But as the title says, it's really about if you lived at the "time" of Dr. King. Therefore, it's an excellent introduction to many aspects of the Civil Rights movement.While the watercolor illustrations are an improvement over the black and white drawings in earlier editions of this "If You Lived At the Time Of" series, in this case I think the text could be more fully enhanced with actual photographs, especially since many of these illustrations are copied from well-known photographs.All in all, this is an excellent introduction to the Civil Rights Movement for upper-elementary students (and apparently for middle-school students according to another review here). This is one title that, in my opinion, should be in every elementary school in the nation. Recommended.

I read this book to my middle school students every year. Levine explains the need for a civil rights movement in terms that kids can understand. This book makes students want to learn more about this important event in American history.

My 14 month old daughter loves this book. We received two of them as gifts when she was younger and she can recite both books now. It is wonderful to watch how excited she is whne it is reading time.

This series of books is wonderful for little ones. My 18 month old son has loved them since he was a year old. The large flaps are easy for him to manipulate and the he loves to act out what each page says! A must for parents of toddlers!

Children love to do the things the book tells them to. Parents will love having their child kiss them, cuddle them, tickle them, and scream. Enjoyable for everybody.