I found this book to be very enjoyable and fun to read to children. I have an etiquette school and have enjoyed using this book to teach manners and friendship skills. The book covers everything from just plain silly behavior and an unusual tea party to your manners and how you should behave. Children seem to respond very well to this story and I follow with a mad hatter tea party setting for the children to enjoy and sort of live out the story they have just heard. I stongly recommend this book for any family to have fun and get silly but to also teach some good manners along the way.

This book covers various careers in the horse field: trainer, groom, jockey, hotwalker, instructor, blacksmith, veterinarian, show rider, and breeder. "Here are the stories of men and women who have made it successfully in the worlds of racing, riding, showing, and raising horses. With honesty, enthusaism, they tell how they have found their jobs, what their work involves in ability, education, and dedication, and the rewards and satisfaction it brings. Included are not just people in the well-known and glamorous professions of show rider and jockey, but in the vital, behind-the-scenes positions of vetinarian, groom, hot-walker, and blacksmith. Also highlighted are the horse-related careers of mounted police, rodeo riders, and horse breeders." The New York Times said: "This book is indispensable to those few luck individuals who may get to own a horse. Its basic approach to the selecting, schooling, grooming, caring, and feeding of a horse will delight even those among us who must make do with a bike, skateboard, or any other humble vehicle." Publishers Weekly saide: "...Her writing style is direct and easy-going as she makes points readily assimilated..." Booklist says: "Clay herself is horsewoman, and her enthusiasm shows in the friendly tone that marks this guide to all-around horse care..."

This is one of the finest books on Midwestern wildflowers. I originally bought the book for my mother and then needed one for myself. I continually pour through this book in anticipation of spring and as I find something in the woods that needs identifying. The book contains great pictures and is organized in general order of appearance in the wild.

The characterizations are fun. The story line is old fashioned but entertaining. The pace is fast, putting an epic's worth of action and content into 158 pages. I learned a great deal about the Erie Canal, not to mention 19th century industrialization and even a bit about the Civil War, yet it was all well woven into a good story. Anyone interested in history but wanting a novel that won't take days to read should give this a look.

Bob instructs at my club and this easy to read book will improve all level of shooters. It is also a must for the begining level shooter to impress saftey and proper methods of shotgun sports.

I read this book for the first time over 20 years ago. Loved it then, still do. Will Henry/Clay Fisher brings these people from the past alive. They become living breathing sympathetc characters in this book and all his others.

Bravery, cowardice, pathos it's all here. One of my prized posessions is a picture of me by Luther S. " Yellowstone " Kelly's grave above Billings, Montana.

Will Henry/Clay Fisher is far better, than the more popular Louis L'Amour, at evoking a real sense of place, time and history.

Having been reared in Clay County, Alabama, I have read the book more than once. Grundy has done an outstanding job of portraying varying perspectives of life in this rural county which remains filled with people who are genuinely concerned for one another's well-being. While times have changed, the book brings clearly into focus a treasured way of life which continues to exist today in this area. The book consists of interviews with people from a number of different walks of life who have, through their own experiences, a deep love and respect for life in Clay County, Alabama. This book is a heartwarming reminder of times past and present and of the important things in life.

Delightful to read for its humor and twists of adventure, Zollocco is a story of the quest to return to a place that feels like home. As such, it follows proudly in the tradition of Homer's Odyssey, with its diverse lands and strange peoples, its marvelous and dangerous encounters, and the ever present drive to endure in order to find that place where one truly belongs. Like the Odyssey, Zollocco remains close to the heart long after the story is finished.

It is a deeply spiritual book without being sectarian, not an easy task in this day, but an important accomplishment. The forces which contend are large and of perennial interest, but their treatment is not simplistic, for they all coexist and intersect: the natural world versus human civilization, spiritual good versus worldly gain, the urge toward innocence versus the impetus to growth. The story is about regaining a balance lost, about human exploitation of Nature, and of one another.

The author writes with attention to language, judicious use of detail, and sympathy toward all her characters, allowing her readers to draw the mirror for themselves between the novel's universe and ours. We may even, if we wish, see humanity through the heroine who is both bright and passionate, sensitive and courageous - and deeply feminine.

Zollocco is written to be savored. The reader need not drop everything she is doing to rush nervously into the next chapter, although there is plenty of incentive to keep going.

I noticed a happy coincidence in my habits with this book. There is a persistent theme throughout of harmony with nature, of the power of the unspoiled forest to move the spirit. The day before I finished reading Zollocco, I suddenly realized that I had not read a word of this book indoors - quite unplanned, I had always been outside with the sun and sky above me, the grass at my feet, and hedges and trees nearby. This was a most splendid setting in which to enjoy this tale of finding one's true place.

This novel follows the storyline in "Guards! Guards!" and "Men at Arms". I use 'storyline' loosely, because each novel is a stand-alone volume in quirky, highly sarcastic humor.

References range from the classic (Plato's allegory of the cave), to the modern (downsizing).

As a Pratchett fan who has been disappointed with the Discworld volumes from the last 5 years or so (U.S. release dates), the storyline is very satisfying. We continue to see the humanness in the characters, with very modern problems we face (well, perhaps not all of us have a vampire toying around with our life, but I'm starting to suspect...).

The story centers on new-character Dorfl, an old golem. I won't give any spoilers away, but he reminds me of Brutha, tackling themes of religion, the purpose of life, and basically, what makes us human - Even if a lump of baked clay isn't strictly human.

All I have to say is, I alternated between audible chuckles, to satisfying smiles (my favorite), to ohoh, are those tears in my eyes. It's a feel-good book, but lest that turn you off, it's not simplistic Hollywood-style sappy.

If you have never read Pratchett before, here's my recommended list:

The Colour of Magic.
Guards! Guards! -> Men At Arms -> Feet of Clay.
and my personal favorite..
Small Gods.

Feet of Clay is Pratchett's eighteenth Discworld novel and is the third one about the Ankh-Morpork City Watch, commanded by the world-weary and recently elevated Sir Samuel Vimes. Pratchett's cheerfully off-kilter fantasy world curiously overlaps our own in some ways---though the "time" is medieval, the characters in the book face problems like gender discrimination and a rising crime rate. This gives the author the chance to be satirical (usually in a funny and effective way) at the same time he spins an interesting fantasy yarn---and, incidentally, to spoof cop movies, most notably the "Lethal Weapon" convention of an older policeman on the verge of retiring but faced with just one more case. . . . This time around, the Patrician of the city, Lord Vetinari, is apparently being poisoned in an "impossible crime" (one devised with some ingenuity), and golems seem to be involved---creatures of animated clay, with no wills of their own. There are plots within plots, wheels within wheels, and dwarfs (including a hilariously named new addition to the Watch), vampires, werewolves, and trolls in the mix as well as humans, actual or dubious (Nobby Nobbs of the watch is nominally human but has been disqualified for shoving). Pratchett cares about his characters, and you find yourself caring, too: will the noble-minded young Captain Carrot's beloved desert him over differences in species? Will Vimes, a reforming alcoholic, backslide in the despair of a thankless job? But even with such concerns, the novel's a fun read, though if you're new to the sub-series dealing with the Watch you might want to begin with Guards! Guards! before reading this one

Some of the other Pratchett books I've had to give only four stars - because of Feet of Clay. This, to me, was the most memorably enjoyable book in the Discworld series.

A series of brutal, yet inexplicable crimes once again lead Sam Vimes and the Watch down the alleys and backstreets of Ankh-Morpork ... well, not Nobby, because he's been appointed a lord by the Registrar of Heraldry!

For those who relish in the early Pratchett non-stop puns, Feet of Clay has it; like the plot twists? got you covered; like a little message about free will? No problem. You want fries with that?

Anyone who enjoys humor will enjoy Terry Pratchett - people who like a very engaging plot with a surprising ending will really enjoy Feet of Clay. Since you don't really have to read the Discworld books in order, this can be a great starting point - just on the strength of the read. I highly recommend it.

I have trouble reading classic literature. I am an avid reader and I want to enjoy the classics, but just find it difficult to understand the meaning in some of the writing.

This, however, was a pleasant surprise. Although written in the early 1700s, the story itself was fairly easy to follow. Even towards the end, I began to see the underlying theme of the satire that Swift has been praised for in this work.

Being someone who reads primarily science fiction and fantasy novels, I thought this might be an opportunity to culture myself while also enjoying a good story. I was correct in my thinking. Even if you can't pick up on the satire, there is still a good classic fantasy story.

Essentially, the book details the travels of Lemuel Gulliver, who by several misfortunes, visits remote and unheard of lands. In each, Gulliver spends enough time to understand the language and culture of each of these land's inhabitants. He also details the difference in culture of his native England to the highest rulers of the visted nations. In his writing of these differences, he is able to show his dislike with the system of government of England. He does this by simply stating how things are in England and then uses the reaction of the strangers as outsiders looking in, showing their lack of respect for what Gulliver describes.

I found it very interesting to see that even as early as the 1700s there was a general dislike of government as well as lawyers.

I would recommend this book to anyone who reads the fantasy genre. Obviously, it's not an epic saga like so many most fantasy readers enjoy, but it's a nice break. I would also recommend this to high school students who are asked to pick a classic piece for a book report. It reads relatively quick and isn't as difficult to read as some of the others that I've tried to read.

Lemuel Gulliver is a surgeon/ship¨ˆs captain who embarks on several intriguing adventures. His first endeavor takes him to Lilliput, where all inhabitants are six inches tall, but resemble normal humans in every other respect. His next voyage lands him on Brobdingnag, where a grown man is sixty feet tall, and even the shortest dwarf stands thirty feet tall. On his third trip, he travels to several locations, including a floating island. During Gulliver¨ˆs final voyage, he is abandoned by his mutinous crew on the island of the Houyhnhnms, which are extremely intelligent horses. No evil or concept of lying exists among these creatures. The island is also inhabited by Yahoos, savage, irrational human-like creatures who are kept as pets by the Houyhnhnms. Gulliver wishes to spend the rest of his life on this peaceful island, but he is banished and forced to return to England.
I really enjoyed this book, and I would recommend it to people 14 or older. Since the novel was written in the 1700¡¯s, the words, grammar and usage are a little confusing. The reader also must have prior knowledge of 18th-century politics to get a full image of what Swift is trying to convey. At some points, the author goes into detail about nautical terms and happenings, and that tends to drag. Overall, the book is well-written, slightly humorous, if not a little confusing.

It's amazing how our perspective changes as we age. What we thought was important as children may now seem completely insignificant, replaced by entirely new priorities, priorities children wouldn't even understand. At the same time, things we used to take for granted, like having dinner on the table, being taken care of when we're ill, or getting toys fixed when they are broken, have become items on adult worry lists.

Your perspective on literature can change, too. Reading a story for a second time can give you a completely different view of it. "Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twain, which I enjoyed as a sort of an adventure story when I was a kid, now reads as a harsh criticism of society in general and the institution of slavery in particular.

The same thing is true of "Gulliver's Travels" by Jonathan Swift. The first thing I realized upon opening the cover of this book as a college student was that I probably had never really read it before.

I knew the basic plot of Lemuel Gulliver's first two voyages to Lilliput and Brobdingnag, home of the tiny and giant people, respectively, but he had two other voyages of which I was not even aware: to a land of philosophers who are so lost in thought they can't see the simplest practical details, Laputa, and to a land ruled by wise and gentle horses or Houyhnhnms and peopled by wild, beastly human-like creatures called Yahoos.

While this book has become famous and even beloved by children, Jonathan Swift was certainly not trying to write a children's book.

Swift was well known for his sharp, biting wit, and his bitter criticism of 18th century England and all her ills. This is the man who, to point out how ridiculous English prejudices had become, wrote "A Modest Proposal" which suggested that the Irish raise their children as cattle, to be eaten as meat, and thereby solve the problems of poverty and starvation faced in that country. As horrible as that proposal is, it was only an extension of the kinds of solutions being proposed at the time.

So, although "Gulliver's Travels" is entertaining, entertainment was not Swift's primary purpose. Swift used this tale of a guillable traveler exploring strange lands to point out some of the inane and ridiculous elements of his own society.

For example, in describing the government of Lilliput, Swift explains that officials are selected based on how well they can play two games, Rope-Dancing and Leaping and Creeping. These two games required great skill in balance, entertained the watching public, and placed the politicians in rather ridiculous positions, perhaps not so differently from elections of leaders in the 18th century and even in modern times.

Give this book a look again, or for the first time. Even in cases in which the exact object of Swift's satire has been forgotten, his sweeping social commentary still rings true. Sometimes it really does seem that we are all a bunch of Yahoos.