As a teacher of seventh and eighth grade students, I found this book to be a fantastic choice for them. It will hold their attention and make them want to read more about the MacGregor family. The action starts out immediately and does not let up. It lends itself well to venturing into other areas like science and geography for an interdisciplinary unit. Since the main characters are both a boy and a girl, both boys and girls will be able to relate easily to this book. I can't wait until my students have a chance to read this book and others by Richard Trout.

It's not often that I read books that are primarily for young adults but I'm so glad I received a copy of Cayman Gold: Lost Treasure of Devils Grotto by Richard Trout. This is the first book of a series that Richard is doing for LangMarc Publishing in San Antonio, Texas.

He started the book with historical information about lost treasure ships from 1622. Then delves into this family visiting the Cayman Islands. I had heard about these islands before but had no idea where they were. Now I know.

I'm not a skin-diver but this book really caught my interest. Richard took three young people and put them right in the middle of a mystery underwater. As he wrote and as I read I could feel myself swimming with scuba gear right along with the kids. He described their adventure to a tee and kept me on the edge of my seat.

From his description of the reef, diving equipment, mini-subs, and hurricanes-it's obvious that Richard knows what he's talking about. AND he even threw in a little romance.

This is a must read book! Its not only a good story but also has a glossary of new words for young adults as well as a suggested activities list. I highly recommend Cayman Gold and look forward to reading Richard's second book Elephant Tears: Mask of the Elephant.

This was a wonderful book! As I first started reading this book, I thought it was going to be mainly a historical book, and not real fiction. (No, I did not read the back of the book. I was in a hurry, so I grabbed it.) But then I realized that except for the introduction the whole book is fiction (Thank goodness!) One thing that I liked about this book though is that it could happen, it could very well happen. The series is about three kids who are traveling around the world with their father who is taking a year off from his job as a college professor to construct a book about endangered animals. In Cayman Gold they encounter criminals who have discovered gold in the Caymans and are destroying the beautiful reef in order to get it. But then Chris, the oldest, and a girl he meets, get in the way, and are kidnapped. What happens next? Will his family save him? Find out, when you read the book! You won't regret it! Main Characters:

Jack MacGregor: A college professor who is traveling the world to write a book on animals; The father.

Mavis MacGregor: The mother.

Chris MacGregor: The oldest of the three children. Is left in charge of his two younger siblings.

Heather MacGregor: The second oldest of the three.

Ryan MacGregor: The youngest of the three children.

Natalie: The girl that Chris meets in a photo shop. She likes him a lot, and he likes her.

Leo: The dockman who the children like a lot. Knows a lot about the island.

Turner: A bank owner and the criminal in charge of finding the treasure.

Mr. X: Turner's "partner" in crime.

So these books are the greatest!! They are full of words of wisdom, religion, romance, etc. What else could you want?!!? And you wil learn to LOVE Christy! By the time I was done reading them, (I read all of the series, I "inherited" them from my 20 year old sis when she got married!) I began to miss Christy. That sounds really weird, but its like shes your friend. Read them. Recommended for ages 11-17. (10 or 11 if you are mature for your age.)

I cannot tell you how good these books are!! They are very down to earth,inspirational,well-writen, religious, and the characters are very well developed and relatable. You read the first book and you are hooked! Going to a catholic school, these are good, not preachy, excellent religious books. I can relate to Christy and the other characters very well!

The Christy Miller Series are awesome! They are inspiring, and life-like, they make you feel like Cristy is your best friend. I love how the books have such common problems, such as fitting in with a crowd, having a crush on a guy, a snooty aunt, and growing close to God. I guarantee that if you read the first book, you will get hooked!

I really enjoyed this book. It was easy to read. And it talked about the other animals that live on the island. I hope to read more of them like this one.

Sabertooth Mountain is an easy-to-read book. It, along with the rest of the DINOTOPIA series, can be read in one day. The whole thing is filled wtih action, adventure and exciting events. The best part is where the kid falls out of the sky galley and the sabertooths save him. I would recommend it to you!

I have all of the DINOTOPIA paperback books (now that my mom ordered "THUNDER FALLS") an I think this book is one of the best. I like high places too (I live in Austria) and I like dinosaurs. This book combines both in a very interesting way.

The Diasappearing Island by Corrine Demas is the story of a nine year old girl. On the little girls ninth Birthday, here grandmother gives here a perfect sand dollar saying that they will sail to the disappearing island. An Island the grandmoher visited as a child. This is a beautiful book with stunning water color illustrations by Ted Lewin.

Based on actual events, this story is told by Grandmother to 9 year old Carrie, as they picnic on the remains of sunken Billingsgate Island, now visible only at low tide. Grandmother gives Carrie a sand dollar she collected on the island when she was Carrie's age. Carie collects a brick from the original lighthouse as proof that the island existed (for when she passes down Grandmother's oral history to her future granddaughter about the island that used to be). Illustrations by Ted Lewin, who won Caldecott Honor for "Peppe, the Lamplighter". Interesting author's note relates Billingsgate Island's fate to the sinking of Atlantis.

The illustrations are amazing, and the story is touching and reminds of my own childhood interactions with my grandparents in the mountains of Colorado. I'd recommend it almost anyone - the story was wonderful and makes me want to visit Cape Cod to see this "disappearing island"

Jim and Odile Scheiner have been photographing and diving the BVI since long before any Bush's were in the white house. Their diving expertise and professionaly crafted photgraphs will guide you to some of the best diving in this area. Don't travel to the BVI without this book if you're planning any diving! It's that good.

If you're planning a bareboat charter in the British Virgin Islands and would like to head off to dive sites on your own then this is the book you need. The book contains dive site locations, mooring locations, skill requirements, weather considerations, site layouts, suggested underwater routes, and dive descriptions. We arrived in the Virgin Islands with a bag of dive books and this is the one that we used over and over again!

If you want a realy good book for diving at the BVI then take this one. I got all of my informations out of this book and all dives where fine. The only thing i missed was a map with stations for tank refill.

Sue Cowing's anthology offers gorgeous affiliations. Each double-page spread pairs remarkable poems with stunning visual works. So marvelously diverse are the images that it is hard to keep in mind that they are all drawn from the works of only one museum, The Honolulu Academy of Arts. The editor's deft choices give this lovely book its distinctive excellence. The volume in its entirety is a wonderfully composed and elegantly orchestrated picture poem. It is a collection to savor and to return to often for refreshment.

A buffet of poetry--not the tired old poetry we've munched again and again, but fresh ideas from fresh poets, mainly from the Pacific area. A meaty soup of eclectic art, as diverse as a Grecian urn and an Eskimo seal sculpture. A book to relish from time to time, too rich to be eaten at one sitting. A book to ponder, to chuckle over, to dream... I especially enjoyed the wise folk sayings such as, "Water..needs no feet..heals itself," from the Philippines and "One dog barks at nothing, ten thousand others pass it on." from Japan. The Chinese, speaking of butterflies, say, "Lives one day..what does it know of the seasons." Ancient wisdom, modern applications. This is a book for all ages--of people and of times. In Hawaii, it won the coveted Po'okela award.

Good parties should introduce us to someone new and worth meeting. This lovingly put-together anthology of poems and visual art is The Party for the End of the Millenium: John Keats and Kobayashi Issa talk fire and water with an Australian aboriginal bark painter and an Inuit sculptor. Sue Cowing, an award-winning author herself, hosts an exhilarating party, having invited poets and artists from New Guinea, Fiji, Samoa, Hawai'i and other Pacific lands to join more well-known guests like Marc Chagall and Elizabeth Bishop. It's a pleasure to see what connections are made, but the true rewards come when you begin entering into conversation with these dazzling sensibilities yourself. And though there's no "children's poetry" here in the conventional (condescending) sense, the poems have been selected so that the lucky child who stays up late and wanders down into this celebration will feel included and full of wonder. Highly recommended

My husband and I recently used our time share in Nusa Dua, Bali. It was a delightful experience, and this book is a wonderful souvenir of our stay on the island. The seafood at Jimbaron Bay was mouthwatering, and I can hardly wait to recreate some of the recipes in this book. It is unusual to find a book that combines the culture, beauty of the island, and food preparation as well as this does. It is a great buy!

My wife and I went on our honeymoon to Bali. We ate at the Ritz-Carlton, which sucked, and the Inter-Continental which was excellent, AND the local warungs. We enjoyed the warungs the most. But this book still helps give an understanding of Balinese cooking. Beautiful pictures show how elegant this simple cooking can be!!! Highly recommended. I've cooked a few of the recepies, wonderful! Come on over for dinner!!

I'm afraid Dnet from Australia has fallen prey to the kind of PC liberal attitude that is every bit as ignorant as any conservative bias. My husband and I recently had the pleasure of taking a cooking class with Heinz, and I'm happy to report he is devoted to sharing the real cusine of Bali with the world. Heinz is married to a woman from Bali, and together they run perhaps the only restaurant on the island devoted purely to the cuisine of that country. At the restaurant, he clearly respects and adores his staff and they him. Dnet might not be aware the the majority of warangs on the island serve mainly Indonesian food with a just a few dishes from Bali. Heinz also has built up a network of sustainable farmers along with independent fishermen and shopkeepers to supply his restaurant. We were struck by by his compassion and understanding of the economic situation facing his fellow islanders, and his efforts to train a new generation of Balinese chefs who might proudly show the world their fine cuisine. In addition, Heinz is devoted to the conservation of the endangered sea turtles of Bali, and has used much of his money toward those efforts. Honestly, I wish people would try to learn a little more about an author before making smug snap judgements about him. Plus, the cookbook is pretty darn great.

Apsley Cherry-Garrard appears to have been an almost stereotypic member of the British landed gentry of the Edwardian era-affable, proud, wealthy and somewhat aimless-until he talked his way onto Robert Scott's ill-fated Antarctic expedition. After two years suffering in Antarctica, Cherry returned to his estate in broken health facing an essentially undistinguished future managing his wealth.

But he did not disappear, as you might expect-instead he turned out the memoir "The Worst Journey in the World," often acclaimed as the greatest adventure memoir of all time.

Ironically, Cherry's life might at first have seemed an almost featureless existence, punctuated two remarkable events-a life-threatening adventure and a best-selling book. But author Sara Wheeler does a remarkable job bringing her subject to life both as a sympathetic individual and as a kind of symbol of his era. The quality of her scholarship is really excellent - she has left no paper relating to Cherry unturned, and documents her sources in an unobtrusive but comprehensive set of notes after the text, leaving the powerful narrative flow of the main text uninterrupted.

It's a very exciting book; I would have offered 5 stars but the narrative does frankly slow down a lot after "Worst Journey" gets published; and in any case I think time might be equally well spent on Cherry's own book.

Sara Wheeler in Cherry (A Life of Apsley Cherry-Garrard) has provided a wonderful service to those avid, hungry readers of Antarctic adventures. The author has filled in the life of one of the important personalities from the herioc age of arctic exploration in such a way as to deepen the understanding of the men how took this challenge, particularly both before and after the adventure of their lives. Cherry, of course, wrote the classic and indispensible, The Worst Journey in the World, the finest book written by an actual explorer himselfself. He is the perfect subject and his life makes for an exciting and interesting read. Sara Wheeler has written a wonderful book that touches on many important events in the life of the early twentienth century and the passing (sadly for Cherry) of the Victorian Age. It is an enjoyable book that equals or surpasses many of the books in the past couple of decades looking solely at the Antartic adventure. Read it. Enjoy it.

Apsley Cherry-Garrard's "Worst Journey in the World" remains a polar classic, still in print 80 years after it first appeared. If you're like me, you can't help but wonder what happened to "Cherry" after it was published. Wheeler's biography not only tells you, it also tells you of his life before he went south with Captain Scott.

Cherry was a complex man who struggled with his personal demons for most of his life. Wheeler presents his story with compassion and objectivity, and my only objection is that she is not nearly hard enough on Captain Scott. Scott and his companions did not die because of Cherry's failure to rescue them; they died because of Scott's bungling.

If you're interested in the history of Antarctic exploration, "Cherry" is a must-read. However, be prepared for the fact that some of it is a bit less than cheerful.

This book gives us a peak in to the life of a very interesting, talented woman. She actually has time to ride her horse with her dogs running along beside. She has great adventures, thanks to a horse, Clifford, with a spunky personality. I think any animal lover will enjoy this book very much. References to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan are pretty interesting, also.

This is a story about a horse that has a mind of his own, another horse who is perfect, and one who isn't so right in the head. Clifford of Drummond Island is a great book. Clifford is a chestnut colored Morgan colt who is raised using "clicker training" a technique used on dogs. With clicker training Clifford learns various tricks including learning how to fetch a cone. Clifford wins the hearts of everyone on Drummond Island, especially Mrs. Bailey's dad. This a great book for horse lovers and non-horse lovers alike!

Nancy Bailey has written a wonderful book, for animal-lovers of all ages, about Clifford, her Morgan horse with TOO much personality. Her evocative and descriptive prose takes the reader on a journey to Drummond Island, Michigan, and encounters with family members, islanders, birds, dogs, "fudgies," and of course Clifford himself. By the end of the book, I felt that I had known all of the characters myself!

I was pleasantly surprised by Educating Waverley. I took it out of the library without knowing anything about it, because I was in the mood for something light and diverting, which it appeared to be, and I was totally engrossed by it. It's an old-fashioned novel, in the best sense of the term: well-crafted, with a strong sense of place, and a large cast of quirky, interesting, fully realized characters.

The author's craft shows in the way she juggles chronology by having the story jump back and forth in time from the early 20th century to the present day. In less skillful hands, this could have been confusing, but it isn't. Instead, the effect is like putting together a jigsaw puzzle: first one corner of the picture becomes clear, then another, until finally the last piece snaps into place with a satisfying click, and you see the whole picture in front of you.

The locations in the book are described so vividly that -- even though I've never been to the Pacific Northwest -- I now feel I know what it's like to live on a small island in Puget Sound.

But mostly, it's the characters who make Educating Waverley memorable. There are heroines in the book, there are villains, there are a lot of imperfect people making their way through life the best they can -- and every one of them is brought fully to life.

Oh, by the way -- did I mention it's funny?

Educating Waverley may have been the first Laura Kalpakian novel I read, but it won't be the last.

i picked up a publisher's copy of this book, knowing nothing about it. (it literally had a blank cover) what a joy! funny, inspiring, masterfully well-written and meaningful on many different levels...i could keep this up, but your time will be better rewarded by reading this treasure. i actually feel lucky for having happened to stumble upon this book - it is one of those very rare ones that truly 'changes your life.' how much? well, to start with, i've never before felt motivated to post something on the web!

Ms. Kalpakian has tremendous talent; the story flows, the characters are interesting and there are always some surprises.