The Complete Anne of Green Gables Boxed Set (Anne of Green Gables, Anne of Avonlea, Anne of the Island, Anne of Windy Poplars, Anne's House of Dreams, ... Rainbow Valley, Rilla of Ingleside)

Amazon.com

When Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert of Green Gables, Prince Edward Island, send for a boy orphan to help them out at the farm, they are in no way prepared for the error that will change their lives. The mistake takes the shape of Anne Shirley, a redheaded 11-year-old girl who can talk anyone under the table. Fortunately, her sunny nature and quirky imagination quickly win over her reluctant foster parents. Anne's feisty spirit soon draws many friends--and much trouble--her way. Not a day goes by without some melodramatic new episode in the tragicomedy of her life. Early on, Anne declares her eternal antipathy for Gilbert Blythe, a classmate who commits the ultimate sin of mocking her hair color. Later, she accidentally dyes that same cursed hair green. Another time, in her haste to impress a new neighbor, she bakes a cake with liniment instead of vanilla. Lucy Maud Montgomery's series of books about Anne have remained classics since the early 20th century. Her portrayal of this feminine yet independent spirit has given generations of girls a strong female role model, while offering a taste of another, milder time in history. This lovely boxed gift collection comprises Anne of Green Gables, Anne of the Island, Anne of Avonlea, Anne of Windy Poplars, Anne's House of Dreams, Anne of Ingleside, Rainbow Valley, and Rilla of Ingleside. (Ages 9 to 12) --Emilie Coulter

Book Description

Favorites for nearly 100 years, these classic novels follow the adventures of the spirited redhead Anne Shirley, who comes to stay at Green Gables and wins the hearts of everyone she meets.

Customer Reviews:

The Complete Anne of Green Gables Boxed Set.......2007-09-02

I was very pleased my books came very quickly. They were new so they were in perfect condition. The whole set of books were very reasonably priced, and I'm enjoying reading them.

Just love Anne Shirley!!.......2007-07-17

This series is the most wonderful and entertaining of books!
I got the first book from the library and fell in love with it, and so bought the series from Amazon. These are my favorite books, and I am on my second time through them.

The series starts off about Anne, an orphan girl, who gets sent from the Asylum and goes to live with Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert of Green Gables.
Her life is filled with hilarious predicaments! Dyeing her hair, falling off the Barry roof, daydreaming and imagining to much, and plus, her rivaly with handsome Gilbert Blythe.

I highly recommend this series! I loved the rest of the books as much as I loved the first! Lucy Maud Montgomery wrote a masterpice! You will definitely fall in love with imaginative Anne Shirley!

Just like I remembered.......2007-07-17

This series is really great. I started from the first book and couldn't put them down. The story is just as intruiging and wonderful as when I read it the first time when I was younger. VERY VERY VERY enjoyable!

Light Reading.......2007-06-08

Read these books when I was younger and I loved them. Bought them for my sister who is 12 and she is really enjoying reading them. Actually don't mind reading them again myself.

Anne with an e.......2007-06-04

When my Grandfather was a boy he speant time on PEI on a farm located very near where Green Gables would have been. He bought this set for me long before i was able to read and they sat on my shelf until my high school years when i finaly picked them up. I had watched the movies with my Grandfather as far back as i could remeber and assumed the books would be worth reading. They quickly surpassed all other books and became my favorite.
Now, having just graduated college and looking for a litte direction and inspiration (like Anne I'm looking for work as a teacher) I picked them back up and have been rereading them. I feel like these books such life lessons that anyone with any beliefs can read them and learn good values.
These books and movies have always been like a comfert food for me these are the books and movies i read and watch when things are going bad.
I highly reccamend these books to people of al ages, they are well worth the time, and are a nice and easy read.

Average customer rating:

Repetitious, too long and meandering, and technically wrong
Rainbow Six: Clancy's Best Novel Yet!!! =)
Good story , but frequently poor writing
A mixed and confused bag
Intense

Rainbow Six
Tom Clancy
Manufacturer: Putnam Adult
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0399143904
Release Date: 1998-08-03

Amazon.com

For many readers, Jack Ryan embodies the essence of the modern American hero. Morally centered, disciplined, humble yet powerful, Ryan (and his onscreen incarnations in Alec Baldwin and Harrison Ford) has made Tom Clancy one of the most popular writers in the world. But as Clancy has constructed the Ryan mythology, he has quietly established Ryan's shadow double, John Clark. Appearing in The Cardinal of the Kremlin, Clear and Present Danger, and Without Remorse, Clark has many of Jack Ryan's most appealing traits, but he is also a darker figure embodying the more paranoid sensibilities of the late '90s. As is made clear from the opening pages of Rainbow Six, ex-Navy SEAL Clark and his colleagues believe violent, deadly force to be the best deterrent for terrorism.

Clark (a.k.a. Rainbow Six) has left the CIA to create an England-based organization code-named "Rainbow." Its mission: deploy an elite squad of American operatives combined with handpicked British, French, and German agents to stop terrorism in its tracks. Rainbow's emergence could not be more timely: in quick succession, the force diffuses three attempted terrorist actions. But Clark becomes suspicious when Russian agents suddenly show interest in Rainbow's work.

Rainbow Six appeals on all the levels that Clancy fans could hope for. The Rainbow operatives, from Navy SEALs to German mountain-leader school graduates, are rendered to inspire with their physical and mental prowess. The book is infatuated with the latest gadgets for scrambling, transmitting, and decoding secrets. And, in a carefully woven narrative that simultaneously traces the Rainbow team, a former KGB agent named Popov, the Australian Olympic security team, and a sinister group of American scientists, Clancy artfully reveals the mystery of "Shiva" at the center of the novel. How does Clark measure up against Jack Ryan? He may be the perfect hero for a world with hidden villains. --Patrick O'Kelley

Book Description

Over the course of nine novels, Tom Clancy's genius for big, compelling plots and his natural narrative gift (The New York Times Magazine) have

mesmerized hundreds of millions of readers and established him as one of the preeminent storytellers of our time. Rainbow Six, however, goes beyond anything he has done before. At its heart is John Clark, the ex-Navy SEAL of Without Remorse and well-known from several of Clancy's novels as the dark side of Jack Ryan, the man who conducts the secret operational missions Ryan can have no part of. Whether hunting warlords in Japan, druglords in Colombia, or nuclear terrorists in the United States, Clark is efficient and deadly, but even he has ghosts in his past, demons that must be exorcised. And nothing is more demonic than the peril he must face in Rainbow Six: a group of terrorists like none the world has ever encountered before, a band of men and women so extreme that their success could literally mean the end of life on this earth as we know it. It is Tom Clancy's most shocking story ever--and closer to reality than any government would care to admit. As Clancy takes us through the twists and turns of Rainbow Six, he blends the exceptional realism and authenticity that are his hallmarks with intricate plotting, knife-edge suspense, and a remarkable cast of characters. This is Clancy at his best--and there is none better.

Read an excerpt of Rainbow Six

Play Rainbow Six the game.

Customer Reviews:

Repetitious, too long and meandering, and technically wrong.......2007-06-16

I usually enjoy reading Clancy's novels, but this must be his worst. I tried to finish the book, but it took me almost three months. The story is highly repetitious, with similar incidents throughout the first half of the book. The prose was too verbose. The book could have been half the length and would have been better. Worse yet, Clancy was offbase in his over-eagerness to introduce new technologies, and promoted the DKL Lifeguard (supposedly a human presence detector), which was proven in a later Department of Justice double-blind study to perform no better than random chance, and upon a physical engineering dissection by Sandia National Lab, found to contain a block of plastic with a human hair in it as the active sensing element! Shame to Mr. Clancy for falling for that. One would have thought that someone who had been exposed to so much hi-tech through all his research would have had better sense.

Rainbow Six: Clancy's Best Novel Yet!!! =).......2007-05-01

This heart-pounding book is about a newly formed elite counter-terrorist group known as Rainbow Six. The organization is "blacker than black", as only a few select hundred in Washington, D.C. even know about the organization. John Clark leads Rainbow Six, and there are two teams of counter-terrorists, all hand-picked and trained. Suddenly, terrorists strike all over the world, from Bern, Switzerland to Worldpark, Spain. Rainbow swiftly responds to these attacks with devastating speed, neutralizing the enemy forces with astonishing skill and minimal casualties. But there is something behind the numerous terrorist attacks, as the Sydney Olympics approach, and the terrorists will unleash something deadly, capable of eliminating all of mankind to simply save the environment...
In this fast paced action novel, Clancy unweaves the mystery behind the motiveless terrorist attacks occurring in alarming frequency. The book is impossible to put down once you start reading, from the exciting introduction to the unexpected ending; all illustrated through lots of detail, making you want to read more.

Good story , but frequently poor writing.......2007-04-20

I think Tom Clancy has written some interesting novels in his career, but Rainbow Six displays some of Clancy's worst faults. The narrative is peppered with Clancy's own personal viewpoints on certain matters, reducing the suspension of disbelief so important for a thriller. To me a good writer should be an *impartial* teller of a tale, without injecting the book with the writers views on some matters. For example, a made up and fairly inoffensive example might go;

John Clark took a swig of Miller Lite and grimaced.
"Ugh, tastes like s***!" And he was right, all Miller beer tasted like s***.

Such lapses are as disconcerting as watching an intense movie and then having an actor look directly at the camera and say "I'm only doing it for the money".

Another writing fault is with national sterotypes, particularly the English. I lost count of the number of times I read such sub Spitfire pilot stuff like "Good show, old man!" "I say chaps" "Rather" and other outdated phrases. Tom Clancy seesm hellbent on injecting the most tired and cliched "Briticisms" and every oppurtunity. He seems to be wracking his brains for ways in which his English characters can say "bloody hell" "loo", "telly", "chappies", "wally" etc. Yes Mr Clancy, The "Brits" do talk differently, as you seem to delight in pointing out, but we kind of get the idea after the 100th time. I'm not English and not innately offended by any of it (I live in Scotland) but the English charcters are so overdone that if Clancy had intoduced a Scottish character I'd seriously half expect him to be called Hamish MacDougal, wear a kilt and play bagpipes. It'd be almost comical if it didn't get so tedious. And as I said most of these are *outdated* phrases. To me it's as odd as having the American characters talk ike Hopalong Cassidy or somebody from a Charlie Chan movie;

"Well gee, pardner, any news on the wherabouts of them low down horse rustlin' varmints? Let's head 'e, off at the pass"
"Say, what's the big idea?"
"Gee, you're a pretty swell fellow"

Sound ridiculous to appear in 1998 novel? Of course it is. And most Clancy national stereotypes are just as cringeworthy.

So overall, this book has me turning the pages, but it hasn't made for 100% smooth reading so far.

A mixed and confused bag.......2007-04-05

Tom Clancy is at his best when describing military weapons systems and tactics. He does less well with his human characters who seem real enough during their missions, but become two dimensional when the action stops. The magic of a good book is that the characters come to life. Unfortunately, in Rainbow Six they never really do, and so I never really cared what happened to them. More disturbing is the amoral tone of the book. Tom Clancy takes the position that counter-terrorism teams have to crossover to the dark side in the service of the good. This seemed supportable until the final mission where I felt the "good guys" lost their humanity. If you give up the moral high ground and sink to the level of terrorists are you really any better then they are?

Intense.......2007-02-16

Clancy really keeps you going on this one. Like inside Delta Force, this book takes you inside how these teams work and the stress they are under. Keep them coming.

Average customer rating:

What's with all the bad reviews?
Book's message: Happiness = everyone has the same, regardless of whether they earned it or not
Socialism Primer for Children
wonderful
Beautiful pictures in this book.

The Rainbow Fish
Marcus Pfister
Manufacturer: North-South
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1558580093

Product Description

A timeless story about the joys of giving and the pleasures of friendship. Hardcover.

Amazon.com

If you read this very popular book just before bed, and the light is still on in the hallway, you can make the rainbow scales glitter on the page, and realize why the Rainbow Fish was so proud of his beautiful decoration. Sometimes, though, being too proud of outside beauty can blind a fish, or a child (or even, heaven forbid, a parent) to the beauty people hold inside. That's the lesson of this simple tale, imported from Switzerland. It's a useful one for future sneaker and designer clothing shoppers, for rainbow fish--and for quieter, plainer minnows, too.

Customer Reviews:

What's with all the bad reviews?.......2007-08-15

I remember owning this book as a kid and honestly..There's no need to pick at it like some of these reviewers have been. The only thing I remember about the book from my childhood was how shiny the scales were, and how fun they were to look at. That's about it and the story itself didn't scar me or set a bad example as I don't even entirely remember it. The colorful illustration was distracting enough from the story. Sure, it's not perfect and it didn't exactly spread the greatest message, but I can assure you that when asking a grown person who had read the book as a kid what they remembered about it, they probably wouldn't speculate endlessly on how it shaped their morals later on in life. If you show it to a young enough kid, chances are they won't even care what it's about.

So when it comes to monitoring what our kids are taking in...Well, this book is the least of your worries, trust me. Saying that this book is in the "triumvirate of picture book mediocrity...", as one reviewer put it, puzzles me. Do the people reviewing the book even remember being children?

Book's message: Happiness = everyone has the same, regardless of whether they earned it or not.......2007-08-15

I really liked this book when I was little. I really loved (and still do) fish. Plus this book has some beautiful pictures. The only thing I didn't like was the ending. It always made me really sad. Now I know why it made me sad... IT'S COMMUNIST PROPAGANDA! The fish starts out all shiny and pretty, it's way better than the other fish, but the greedy other fish don't want to be friends with it. Instead of being happy with what they have, they want to be beautiful like the rainbow fish. They want to have shiny scales too. So the rainbow fish redistributes his scales to all the other fish until each of the fish only has one shiny scale and nobody is very pretty. He gives up his individuality for the good of the collective. This book has evil communist morals! The author equates individualism with possessive selfishness and promotes collectivism as the correct morality. He depicts the fish's scales as possessions that other fish are entitled to (ie...redistribution of wealth). I can't believe my parents read this book to me.... It does have pretty pictures though.

Socialism Primer for Children.......2007-08-12

This is a beautifully illustrated children's book that communicates socialist ideaology. The author equates individualism with possessive selfishness and promotes collectivism as the correct morality. He depicts the fish's scales as possessions that other fish are entitled to (ie...redistribution of wealth). Of course youngsters won't be able to identify the world view, but they'll be expected to internalize the social/political values modeled in this book.

wonderful.......2007-07-29

what a great story of learning to share and making friends, my children love the foil detail on each page and ask to hear it nearly every day. terrific book, should be a part of every collection

Beautiful pictures in this book........2007-07-27

Children like this book. The pictures are great. I think the story could use some work but all in all it is for children and they like this book.

Average customer rating:

A child's view of fireflies.
Touching
I thought this book was horrible
great images
A Magical Experience

Fireflies (Reading Rainbow)

Manufacturer: Aladdin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0689710550

Customer Reviews:

A child's view of fireflies........2006-11-06

Nothing can match the wonder of a night filled with tiny lights of the firefly. This book takes me back to the child's delight in catching them, trying to make the wonder last. But, I, too, let them go in the end. Pass it on.

Touching.......2005-11-14

I love this book! It has a simple, beautiful message. It brings tears to my own eyes every time I read it. I use this book to teach my 7th graders to write a critique. The illustrations are excellent and add to the magic feeling the descriptive words in the story captures. I am looking forward to reading this with my daughter in a couple of years.

I thought this book was horrible.......2005-10-03

I bought this book online and was not able to see it like I would in a book store. Had I seen it I would never have purchased this book and will never read it to my 6 year old son! It went from suggesting eating your dinner quickly to wiping a dirty jar on your close to cutting holes in a jar lid with scissors quietly so your mom won't catch you. One of the illustrations shows a boy holding scissors wide open with his hand on the inside of the open blades. I would never read it to any child and think the message is just horrible. Yes it is fun to catch fireflys but I know this could have been done better without the dangerous suggestions and disregard for listening to adults and being careful!

great images.......2003-03-12

I read this book to my class of first graders and they loved it! This book is well-written and uses wonderful descriptive words to paint a vivid picture for the kids. They connected to the story and wanted to hear it again!

A Magical Experience.......2002-10-19

I read this story to my three little children. After I did so in a kind of hushed whisper, we all looked at each other like we just discovered a magical place together. My oldest, who is 7, leaned her head back self-consciously, in a kind of surprise, to stop her tears from spilling over. There is so much youthful joy and discovery and poignancy in the story. What a beautiful book, not just in its words, but in the sepia-tone illustrations.I put it on MY wish list for Christmas!

Gravity's Rainbow (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)

Average customer rating:

The Best Novel Since "Lolita" and "Ulysses"
The Rocket Arcs, the Fight Rages On, the Challenges Remain
A very good 3 1/2 star book
Sex and explosions, what more can you want?
You can't polish a turd!

Gravity's Rainbow (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)
Thomas Pynchon
Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0143039946

Book Description

Winner of the 1973 National Book Award, Gravity's Rainbow is a postmodern epic, a work as exhaustively significant to the second half of the twentieth century as Joyce's Ulysses was to the first. Its sprawling, encyclopedic narrative and penetrating analysis of the impact of technology on society make it an intellectual tour de force.

Customer Reviews:

The Best Novel Since "Lolita" and "Ulysses".......2007-09-07

"Some joker put hashish in the hollandaise, causing a run on the brocolli." Just another event in the life of Lt. Tyron Slothrop, who was attending the wild party in question in the Herman Goering casino as part of his search for the Schwatzgerat--the V2 rocket (serial no. 00000) which carries the mysterious Imipolex G device--all over wartime Europe, while the British secret service, and assorted others, search for *him*.

Why? You'll have to read the book. Along the way, he meets--among many others--a British captain with black-market connections that allow him to have fresh bananas in London's wartime winter in return for homegrown "magic mushroom" drugs; an African tribe whose members serve in the SS as V2 crews; an insane American Major whose solidiers sing diry limmericks about the V2's various components; an Italian nobleman--and a British Brigadier--with odd sexual practices (even by Pynchon's standards); and that's just the start of it.

The adventures of Lt. Slothrop in this mad looking-glass world are funny, amusing, bizzare, and complex. What's more--and this is what makes the novel a masterpiece--Pynchon integrates so many actual facts into his fictional world that it makes it and its inhabitants have much more versimilitude than the people described in most *non*-fiction works about WWII. Slothrop is more "real" than the Hitler we read about in most biographies of the man; his friends and enemies more real than, say, the defendants in Nuremberg are in most books about the trial.

If Pynchon speaks, say, of a car used by a lieutenant in a specific sub-department of the German Army in 1944, you can be damn sure that particular car model was in fact used by just such lieutenants at the time in reality; that pynchon took into account the wartime shortages that made the car's quality to deteriorate from 1944 to 1941; and that the lieutenant's resentment of this would be relevant to the plot.

To be sure, the lieutenant might then want to kill Slothrop in order to fulfill an anient prophecy based on Mayan star charts (which you can bet are also accurately portrayed); or to have a homosexual affair with him; or to do any number of bizzare or absurd things that one would expect in the looking-glass world where the novel is set. But that is just what makes this novel so great: Pycnhon doesn't research to teach us facts about WWII--even if a lot of the facts he puts in the novel are probably unknown even to WWII history buffs (like myself). He *uses* his research to create his funny, bizzare, and incredibly engaging world.

Read it--perferably, with a glass of wine (or something stronger) at your side. You will laugh, chortle, be shocked, and be amazed. Rarely had a better novel been written.

The Rocket Arcs, the Fight Rages On, the Challenges Remain.......2007-08-06

Ever since I discovered Thomas Pynchon, in college in 1982, I have fought the battle between the two camps on this book ("greatest ever written" vs. "fraud") on the side of Pynchon, where I still stand today. Many of my friends, having heard me talk about this novel, have attempted it and given up. Not necessarily because of its difficulty, but more because of what they want in a book, or don't want, or because they were not interested in what Gravity's Rainbow does, offers, and succeeds at. I don't disparage anyone who does not like Pynchon, but you must conceed the notion that just because you don't like something doesn't mean it is bad. I can't stand rap music, but I would never tell anyone it has no validity for them, and I freely admit that I don't know what makes rap good. Therefore, we all need to be careful in judging Pynchon, and especially Gravity's Rainbow as bad when we just don't like it. For those it speaks to, it has no peer.

As a fiction writer myself, this book first served as an inspiration to me. Few writers since Shakespeare have Pynchon's vocabulary and word craftsmanship. He can write a sentence that you can read over and over and marvel at in its genius. Put a lot of those sentences together and you get a tome of genius. The most important moment for me when reading this novel for the first time was when I was reading along, and I stopped and actually said to myself "wow, I didn't know a novel could do that." This declaration was repeated many times before I reached the end, and it is that amazing realization that makes this novel so great, and so important to human letters. Even the naysayers, those who attempt to find flaw with this novel, those who hate it and find it unreadable, would be unable to point to another novel like it. No other novel takes you where Gravity's Rainbow does, no other novel challenges you in the way this one does. For me, a challenge is what makes a novel special. I don't mean a challenge to understand it, but a challenge to imagine the world it describes. A challenge to look into yourself and find the things that this novel thrives on, and the challenge of letting your mind float across language that the brilliance of which could not have been imagined before you read it. Gravity's Rainbow takes you to places and inspires thoughts that no other novels do.

Now, that being said, let's have a caveat. Gravity's Rainbow was written by a man with a wide range of knowledge, a large vocabulary, and a prodigious thought process. You'll need a dictionary close at hand and you should use it without shame. You might want to read one of Pynchon's shorter books to work your way up to this one, just to get the feel of how he operates. Lots of players spend time in the minors before they are ready for the major leagues. When I first read this novel I had read V and The Crying of Lot 49 before attempting it. I also had a literature class in which we discussed Pynchon and his themes (paranoia, conspiracy, what lies beneath the surface) Most of all, don't take anyone's word for anything about this book. Just read it and let the words do their work. Make of it whatever you want, and if you don't like what's happening to you as you read it, just stop. You're no less a person, no less a reader, no less an intellectual, it just wasn't for you, and this novel is not for everyone. That's one comforting thing about it, it makes no bones about the fact that it just isn't for everyone. Few things of quality are. For me this has always been the greatest novel I've ever read, but that may not be true for everyone. To those who tread the Pynchonian path and, like me, find a home there, I welcome you.

A very good 3 1/2 star book.......2007-06-29

Yes, there's a lot of gravity here - dense, intense, tyrannical and demanding gravity. It does demand. There's nothing wrong with a little work though. Some of the reviewers here had to attempt this thing a few times before actually making it - myself included.
It's a mountain and I the reader felt like a mountain climber, if you will, and when I got close to the top, even though I knew the view would not get any better I said to myself: I'll take the extra steps and finish this thing. Then I can say: I finished this thing. Was it worth it? For all the five star reasons, sure why not. There's gold in them hills.
But, too often I felt frustration knowing I have enjoyed journeys far more user-friendly that had just as good a pay off.

Sex and explosions, what more can you want?.......2007-06-11

What sets Gravity's Rainbow above other books, at least in my humble (but correct) opinion is that it changes your perception of how to tell a story. In this book we don't have a simple and straightforward storyline. We don't have just prose to tell it (there are many digressions in the form of songs and poems and details of the lives of inanimate objects). In the end, there is a story behind the madness, even if it's sometimes hard to see.

Also, a little tip. Tips don't work for everybody, but I think this is a good one. Re-read it. I don't think any human can read it once and get everything they can from it. Don't limit yourself to one reading and say "This is great!" or even the opposite. Do it again.

You can't polish a turd!.......2007-06-09

The one and only reason I bought this book was that Neil Gaiman mentioned it in the book American Gods. I was thinking wow, if Gaiman thought enough of this book to mention it, then it must be worth reading. Well, it wasn't!

You ever get the feeling that someone is just writing to read how eloquent he can be? This is that book. This is the emperor's new clothes. I am the kid that says, "Hey, what is that fat stinky man doing running around naked?" Why are all the other people saying he looks so great? Freakin Sheep!

I would have given it zero stars if that had been an option.

Average customer rating:

...and the Other on a Banana Peel
Unlikeable
Not Free SF Reader
Interesting Concepts, but....
vinge never disappoints

Rainbows End
Vernor Vinge
Manufacturer: Tor Science Fiction
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0812536363

Book Description

Four time Hugo Award winner Vernor Vinge has taken readers to the depths of space and into the far future in his bestselling novels A Fire Upon the Deep and A Deepness in the Sky. Now, he has written a science-fiction thriller set in a place and time as exciting and strange as any far-future world: San Diego, California, 2025.

Robert Gu is a recovering Alzheimer's patient. The world that he remembers was much as we know it today. Now, as he regains his faculties through a cure developed during the years of his near-fatal decline, he discovers that the world has changed and so has his place in it. He was a world-renowned poet. Now he is seventy-five years old, though by a medical miracle he looks much younger, and he’s starting over, for the first time unsure of his poetic gifts. Living with his son’s family, he has no choice but to learn how to cope with a new information age in which the virtual and the real are a seamless continuum, layers of reality built on digital views seen by a single person or millions, depending on your choice. But the consensus reality of the digital world is available only if, like his thirteen-year-old granddaughter Miri, you know how to wear your wireless access—through nodes designed into smart clothes—and to see the digital context—through smart contact lenses.

With knowledge comes risk. When Robert begins to re-train at Fairmont High, learning with other older people what is second nature to Miri and other teens at school, he unwittingly becomes part of a wide-ranging conspiracy to use technology as a tool for world domination.

In a world where every computer chip has Homeland Security built-in, this conspiracy is something that baffles even the most sophisticated security analysts, including Robert’s son and daughter-in law, two top people in the U.S. military. And even Miri, in her attempts to protect her grandfather, may be entangled in the plot.

As Robert becomes more deeply involved in conspiracy, he is shocked to learn of a radical change planned for the UCSD Geisel Library; all the books there, and worldwide, would cease to physically exist. He and his fellow re-trainees feel compelled to join protests against the change. With forces around the world converging on San Diego, both the conspiracy and the protest climax in a spectacular moment as unique and satisfying as it is unexpected. This is science fiction at its very best, by a master storyteller at his peak.

Customer Reviews:

...and the Other on a Banana Peel.......2007-10-01

"Rainbow's End" is the story of a reawakening curmudgeon, a madman's plan for world domination, and a not-to-distant future where the equivalent of mental telepathy exists thanks to computing advancements and where books are destroyed to preserve them.

Vinge writes clearly and simply so that the book is almost an easy read. I use almost because there are a few set pieces that the author must have clearly developed in his mind and then not noticed that there were lacuna when he transferred the ideas to paper. The result is that occasionally I understood what was going on, but never quite figured out why it took the form it did.

In this book Vinge often tries to be slyly humorous, and often succeeds, whether it is in the subtitle ("a novel with one foot in the future" which must surely be meant to be followed by "and the other on a banana peel") to a character taking the form of a rabbit who, like the Energizer Bunny, just keeps "coming and coming and coming".

Although I gladly devoured the book, I must confess that I really dislike one of Vinge's recurring plot devices, which is the use of adolescents as major characters. With the possible exception of Cleopatra, I've seldom found such an important role for teenagers in history. It's almost as if Vinge was trying to lure teenagers into an interest in his books by giving them such an important role.

It's obvious from the beginning that the main character will be transformed by his experience in the book, but I never quite understood the reason for his transformation. I also found the ending an attempt to wrap up things too nicely, while at the same time leaving a few strings untied, perhaps in anticipation of a sequel.

"Rainbow's End" won the 2007 Hugo Award, although two other nominees "Blindsight" and "Glasshouse" seemed more interesting to me. On the other hand, despite my criticism, the book was am enjoyable read.

Unlikeable.......2007-09-08

I am normally a great fan of Vernor Vinge. This story, however, did not do much for me. It is well written enough that, despite my dislike, I continued and finished it but I cannot really say I enjoyed it.

The story takes place in the not too distant future. Terrorism is a fact of life as is the availability of weapons of mass destruction. The goal of governmental agencies is to be on the lookout for the "next bad thing" and hope that it does not become the "final bad thing". When some non-US intelligence services get a whiff of a project that has the potential to be "very bad indeed", they find reason to believe it is being developed near San Diego in a biolab. What most of them do not know is that the project itself is being mounted by one of their own. They conceive a plan to investigate, not knowing whether this is an independent effort or one of the US government.

Technology has, of course, progressed a great deal. Much of this progress has been in the area of information technology. People can "wear" their computers and have access to information almost anywhere. Another area of advance in is medicine. Many things are curable now and that bring in the protagonist.

He was been withering away from Alzheimer's disease. Now, a cure has been found tailored to his own genetic code. Along with it, his body has been rejuvenated. His first problem is that he is now woefully unprepared to live in the modern world and must go back to remedial training in a local high school. The second is that he is not a very nice person.

What he does have going for him is an extremely intelligent granddaughter who loves him despite his character failings, a son who is a high military official tasked with responding to terror threats and a daughter in law who is also military and who has access to the biolabs. This makes him the chosen agent for the foreign agents.

As I said, the story was well written, it just did not capture my interest very well.

Not Free SF Reader.......2007-09-07

The Fast Times are at UCSD, not Fairmont High.

This book starts well, with some seriously technlogical espionage and security problems beeing looked at. You could call it an 'S' start, Strossian, or Stephensonian perhaps.

Unfortunately, after that, when the major part of view character, the recovered Alzheimer's patient is introduced, things slow down. He basically has to go back to school after years of being no compos mentis. His son and wife are involved in the security industry mentioned previously.

In the middle of this, a conspiracy about lowish level mind control lurks.

In earlier life he was a spiteful acclaimed poet, and now has to learn basic stuff like new computer operating systems. This part drags on a bit too, or more than a bit too long.

There are some entertaining references to be fond - a homage to Border Guards with kids playing 'Egan soccer', and major Pratchett gameworlds, etc., including a failed game 'Zones of Thought', so happy to poke fun at himself, too.

The part of the book that has the most important consequences doesn't generally get enough time, so that prevents this rising above the level of average to be good.

Interesting Concepts, but...........2007-08-11

A 4 rating for the ideas behind the novel, especially how our networked society will continue to (d)evolve ... unfortunately it is written like a teen novel and I gave up on it half way through ...

vinge never disappoints.......2007-08-07

While this book didn't blow me over in the way that A Deepness in the Sky or A Fire Upon the Deep did, and seems perhaps a bit lighter than either of those two books, it nevertheless engaged me greatly-- both on the plot-action-page-turning level and on the intriguing-ideas-about-the-future level.

Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt (Reading Rainbow Books)

Average customer rating:

Wonderful history lesson
Fantastic for reading aloud
Perpetuating a Myth
Keep believeing
A tale not often heard

Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt (Reading Rainbow Books)
Deborah Hopkinson
Manufacturer: Dragonfly Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0679874720
Release Date: 1995-07-10

Book Description

Illus. in full color. As a seamstress in the Big House, Clara dreams of a reunion with her Momma, who lives on another plantation--and even of running away to freedom. Then she overhears two slaves talking about the Underground Railroad. In a flash of inspiration, Clara sees how she can use the cloth in her scrap bag to make a map of the land--a freedom quilt--that no master will ever suspect.

Customer Reviews:

Wonderful history lesson.......2006-11-03

This is one of many books I purchased as a learning tool for the Education Committee of our local quilt guild. It's instrumental in showing our young people some of the history of quilting. It's even fun for "older" people to read.

Fantastic for reading aloud.......2005-03-08

Deborah Hopkinson's use of dialogue in this story is what really recommends it to be read aloud. The characters come through the story so well through their words. They usually don't come right out and SAY anything, but instead communicate vital information in a round-about sort of way. They pretend not to have a care in the world, all the while desperately plotting against their captors.

This is book would be a great tool for opening up a discussion about why people say one thing when they really mean something else entirely. Also, this book is great for discussing ways of "escaping" authority and subverting roles of apparent compliance.
Sweet Clara deserves a place on the bookshelves of young revolutionaries worldwide.

Perpetuating a Myth.......2005-02-10

While Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt is a wonderful work of fiction, it should be considered just that.
While the horror of slavery are age appropriately described so a child can relate...poor Clara is taken from her mother...the story perpetuates a myth...that quilts were used to assist slaves to freedom.
I urge teachers not to use this book in their classrooms prior to further research. Neither Quilt Historians nor African American Studies Historians have been able to connect quilts to the UGRR, and to perpetuate the myth is a disservice to our children and the African American People.

Keep believeing .......2005-01-14

5. The story is sbout s young girl and she got taken away from he rmother and she was staying with her aunt but it really wasn't her aunt she was just raised around her before she got
moved too.She was trying to find a to get to her mother. She got there because it rained and no one had to work. She got there and seen her mother.
6.This story is an okay story but it wasn't long enough but it was okay. If you like picture books than you wold like this book.
7.Thsi book was also irony because I didn't thin kshe would get to see her mother.
8.I rated thisbook for four stars because it was an okay book.

A tale not often heard.......2004-01-02

A small quibble before I sink into utter praise. The cover of this book depicts the aforemention sweet Clara and her sweetheart as they run joyfully through the fields. To freedom. Running joyfully, mind you, away from the slave plantation in broad daylight. I'm not saying that there weren't a couple slaves here and there who felt complete and utter joy as they ran, but this scene is positively idyllic. Shouldn't they be afraid of getting caught? Then again, maybe it's just representing the feeling that accompanies such flight, rather than sticking to the strict facts of the matter.

In any case, I began off point and I'm bound to wander off point unless I pull myself up and mosey on over the actual point. Ahem.
ACTUAL POINT: The book is quite good. You don't see that many stories reflecting the quilts that served as maps to lead slaves to freedom. The story is a realistic one, despite everything I said about the cover. And the people are especially well represented. You like Clara. You want her to find her mother and escape off of the plantation. The illustrations are, in pure James Ransome style, beautiful. I've nothing more to say. It's a book that should belong in every library's collection. Nuff said.

Average customer rating:

ENEMY PIE

Enemy Pie

A Sweet Message

Top Ten

best book ever

Enemy Pie (Reading Rainbow book)
Derek Munson
Manufacturer: Chronicle Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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The Recess Queen

How to Lose All Your Friends (Picture Puffins)

King Of The Playground

Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon

Don't Laugh at Me (Reading Rainbow Book)

ASIN: 081182778X

Book Description

It was the perfect summer. That is, until Jeremy Ross moved into the house down the street and became neighborhood enemy number one. Luckily Dad had a surefire way to get rid of enemies: Enemy Pie. But part of the secret recipe is spending an entire day playing with the enemy!

In this funny yet endearing story, one little boy learns an effective recipes for turning your best enemy into your best friend. Accompanied by charming illustrations, Enemy Pie serves up a sweet lesson in the difficulties and ultimate rewards of making new friends.

Customer Reviews:

ENEMY PIE.......2007-09-14

What an outstanding piece of children's literature! This book reminds me of the old fashioned picture books of my youth with a modern feel. It teaches a valuable lesson without being preachy or didactic. Throughout the story a young boy struggles with a new neighbor who is not very nice. The two become sworn enemies, until, our main character, with the help of his Dad, decides to get even by serving enemy pie. While Dad bakes the pie, it is the protagonist's job to keep the enemy occipied by playing with him. Finally the pie is ready and he no longer wants to serve him the dreaded pie. After all, we don't serve our friends nasty pie, do we?

Enemy Pie.......2007-05-10

This is a feel good book! It helps your grade school child realize that whom he/she thinks is their enemy can really turn out to be a great friend.

A Sweet Message.......2007-04-06

I am the chair person for our PTO's reading committee. This book was chosen for a program called building community through literature that our elementary school participates in. The gentle message of this book is that we can turn our enemies into friends and it is perfect for our young children. It's funny, sweet and simple. Our principal read it to the school on reading across America day and the kid's loved it. We purchased one for each classroom in our school. I highly recommend this book as a gentle way to teach tolerence and acceptance.

Top Ten.......2007-02-07

This is in my top ten of all children's books! It's a gem. The kids love it and it has a wonderful message!

best book ever.......2006-12-16

best book ever--boys, girls, whatever. All my kids (ages 2-5) loved this book--we read it over and over and they have hundreds of books to choose from and never read a book over and over (except for maybe knuffle bunny, by Mo Willems). Dad (me) loved it too. Girls maybe not soo much as boys.

Beyond the Rainbow Bridge : Nurturing our children from birth to seven

Average customer rating:

Waldorf goodness...
A very useful book on early childhood development from a Waldorf perspective
Great parenting book
Required reading for anyone curious about Waldorf education
Enlightening...

Beyond the Rainbow Bridge : Nurturing our children from birth to seven
Barbara J. Patterson , and Pamela Bradley
Manufacturer: Michaelmas Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Perfect Paperback

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ASIN: 0964783231

Customer Reviews:

Waldorf goodness..........2007-08-14

I have been wondering about Waldorf education for some time. I feel that this book is a great intro. Easy to read, and full of information. I would recommend it to anyone who is looking into Waldorf.

Heather mama of 5

A very useful book on early childhood development from a Waldorf perspective.......2007-01-18

A very good "first" Waldorf book for a parent who is just beginning to explore the philosophies underlying this educational & lifestyle movement. Highly recommended. Much of the book is in question-and-answer format.

Great parenting book.......2006-03-26

I really enjoyed this book. I would suggest it for all parents, not just waldorf. I loved the parent - teacher discussions.

Required reading for anyone curious about Waldorf education.......2006-01-30

This is such an easy to read and pleasant book. It is very non-threatening and easy to understand. It has a very well organized format. Highly recommeded!

Enlightening..........2005-09-22

I think this book is very insightful in alternative ways of parenting. It makes you stand back a minute and think of how your child might percieve our parental actions. Often it is hard for an adult to see through the eyes of a child. This helps a bit. It is not something that you need to strictly adhere to, they are ideas that you may try to incorporate into your style of parenting. Whether you are going the Waldorf route or not, I think many parents can gather insight about parenting from this...(A side note to the tub cleaning reviewer - try biodegradable cleaning products or give your son a bucket full of soapy water and a sponge, or a spray bottle filled with plain water, he doesn't need to know that he doesn't have the same cleaning solution that you do...it's the fact that he wants to clean with you...someday he won't want to do all these things with you...and you'll fondly look back on the times that he did - that we all need to remember.)

Rainbow Magic #2: Amber The Orange Fairy: Amber The Orange Fairy (Rainbow Magic)

Average customer rating:

Amber the Orange Fairy
fairy madness
Great for early elementary school
LOVE IT!!
Amber the Orange Fairy

Rainbow Magic #2: Amber The Orange Fairy: Amber The Orange Fairy (Rainbow Magic)
Daisy Meadows
Manufacturer: Scholastic Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0439744652

Book Description

When Rachel and Kirsty arrive at Rainspell Island for vacation, they have no idea what kind of magical adventure awaits! The seven Rainbow Fairies have been banished from Fairyland by the wicked Jack Frost. If they don't return soon, Fairyland is doomed to be colorless and gray. The girls have already found one Rainbow Fairy, but now Amber the Orange Fairy is trapped in a seashell! Can they rescue her, too?

Customer Reviews:

Amber the Orange Fairy.......2006-05-29

I really liked this book. Ruby the Red Fairy is safe in 'the pot at the end of the rainbow', but now Amber the Orange Fairy is caught in a seashell! Can the feather they found in one of the bags that King Oberon and Queen Titania gave them get her out?

fairy madness.......2005-12-25

my (just turned) 6 year old niece loves these books- she's currently reading the rainbow magic "color" series, i bought her inky and preordered the next few. i have even created a wishlist just for all the books i'm going to order her in the near future. i'm a little confused about the different series, party fairies, weather fairies, jewel fairies etc... but she was VERY particular in telling me- she's reading THIS color series, she didn't express a very definate desire to read the other series. regardless of her interest i'm going to send her a few of each of the series. i'm a little afraid she's going to burn out of these books because there are so many of them. but then again i think i had a hundred baby sitters club books when i was a kid! but for those just as confused as i am----- i'm almost positive that if the kid is saying- "i want rainbow magic!" get them the color fairy's because they seem the most popular and well loved by my niece and all of her school mates. (she goes to an all girl school)

Great for early elementary school.......2005-08-06

Our 6 year old loves this series. She can't wait for the other books to be released.

LOVE IT!!.......2005-06-30

We started this series for our four year old daughter as a read aloud. She can not wait to get the next book and she has us reading the book again and again. We love seeing her soo excited about books!

Amber the Orange Fairy.......2005-05-01

Kirsty and Rachel already found Ruby...now they found Amber hidden in a seashell! But problem after problem happens...Jack Frost's elves come, and the pot freezes.

Your reviewer,
Lydia, age 9

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