Princess Academy

Customer Reviews:

Cute Story.......2007-09-22

I picked this up at a book fair and thought it was a cute story.

I Love Kids Literature But This Book Was Not My Taste.......2007-09-13

I bought the book on the suggestion of other reviews but I was disapointed.
I read the book and it seemed to have a slow start, there was a large assortment of characters though I felt they were not very well developed.
I really don't suggest this tale. I am intereste dint he authors other ork but I will get it from the libray and not waste money purchasing them.

Definitely not what it appears.......2007-09-02

I liked this book far more than I ever intended to. I'm a huge fan of "Goose Girl", but a book with this kind of title? Why don't you just shoot me in the head? But eventually I found myself purchasing what turned out to be a literal diamond in the rough (you see, there's this whole mountain quarry thing going on in the novel).

Wow, was I impressed! Rather than a bunch of silly girls wanting to be princesses, Ms. Hale creates a realistic society of some mountain peasants simply trying to survive in their own little niche of the kingdom. Our heroine is Miri, a small girl that can't wait to join the rest of her village in the quarry. But she is not allowed.

To shake things up, the prince of the kingdom supposedly is destined to select a bride from their mountain. So all the elligible girls are gathered together for training.

And we all know what happens when we put a bunch of teenage girls together. Tensions run high as jealousy seeps in. All the girls have their different reasons for being at the school, for wanting to be princess. All of them, wonderfully enough, are fantastic reasons.

It seems as though our little Miri will fall behind. But she proves herself victorious as she grows and learns and realizes she is not the useless little thing she believes she is.

It's sweet, powerful, and inspirational, definitely worth its Newberry Honor.

Great read!.......2007-07-26

This is such a cute book. Perfect for girls 12-15. Fun to read and nothing offensive.

A wonderful story.......2007-07-13

This book was my introduction to Shannon Hale's writing. The characters are well-developed, the landscapes and locations are described vividly, and the ending is very satisfying. The world Shannon Hale has created for these characters is also very unusual and interesting, and her development of the mining town and its culture contributes greatly to the fullness of the story.

I found some of the scenes in the Academy schoolroom to be reminiscent of Frances Hodgson Burnett's A Little Princess (another of my all-time favorite books) -- the way that Miri interacted with her classmates reminded me a litle of Sara Crewe (defying a bully, protecting a younger classmate, etc.). The rest of the stories are very different from each other, however. Perhaps the schoolroom scenes are similar because they are both girls' boarding schools, and some behaviors in that setting can be expected (such as competition for being the best in the class, and clique formation).

Overall, I thought this book told a great story, with memorable characters and an exciting conclusion. It is a great way to introduce yourself to Shannon Hale's other books.

A Child's Introduction to Poetry: Listen While You Learn About the Magic Words That Have Moved Mountains, Won Battles, and Made Us Laugh and Cry

Average customer rating:

Wonderful! My 6 & 8 year old boys love this!
Whimsically Thorough
A nice resource for homeschoolers (or any parent who would like their children to read and enjoy poetry)
Engaging for both child and parent
A great collection

A Child's Introduction to Poetry: Listen While You Learn About the Magic Words That Have Moved Mountains, Won Battles, and Made Us Laugh and Cry
Michael Driscoll , and Meredith Hamilton
Manufacturer: Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Ages 9-12 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

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The Random House Book of Poetry for Children

ASIN: 1579122825

Book Description

Poetry can be fun-especially when we can read it, hear it, and discover its many delights with the help of cartoon character Professor Driscoll, delightful illustrations, and the poetry read aloud on CD.

This wide-ranging journey through the history and highlights of the world's poetry covers everything from epics and odes to nonsense verse and haikus, and is filled with examples of every style.

The multimedia package encourages children to listen, read, and learn-and opens the door to a lifetime of appreciation of a rich literary tradition.

It painlessly introduces kids (and parents, too) to the greatest poets in history, from Homer and Shakespeare to Robert Frost and Ogden Nash-and provides excellent examples of their work and commentary on what makes it so special. In short, this is a galloping tour through poetic history loaded with all of our most significant and beloved poems. In addition to charming illustrations on every lively page, A CHILD'S INTRODUCTION TO POETRY contains a full-length CD with wonderful renditions of the poems read by professional actors.

Customer Reviews:

Wonderful! My 6 & 8 year old boys love this!.......2007-04-22

Wow! I have been trying to introduce poetry to my boys since they were toddlers and the only feedback I ever received was blank stares - maybe it was my reading style. But, for some reason, they just LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this CD. We listen to it in the car and fight over which poem we listen to first. Some of our favorites are The Pied Piper, Thomas' Do Not Go Gently into that Good Night, the limericks (I was a bit worried when it started with There was an old man from Nantucket. . . . - but it is actually the children's version, obviously) and Kit Marlowe's The Passionate Shepard to His Love. My 8 year old has several of the classics almost memorized.

Our only complaint is the reading of Lewis Carroll's Jabberwocky. It is somewhat flat and not at all as exciting as it could be.

Nonetheless, it is a great, rich, collection of beautiful poetry that your kids will enjoy. It truly is one of our favorites.

Whimsically Thorough.......2007-04-15

I found this book through a bookstore display, and am very pleased with it. This is a well thought out, thorough introduction to basic poetry forms, with familiar poems--a comfort to the parent who may want to read this material to the younger child. The drawings are really fun, with enough on the page for the jaded 21st century eye to look at. If that weren't enough, there's a CD of the poems, so the reader can also hear them spoken, an important element of poetry.

I think the breadth of the poetry styles chosen, including the nursery rhymes and limericks, is just right, and can be expanded on by the parent or teacher by reaching beyond the book. I plan to use this book as a basis for some directed summertime reading for my grandkids, but this book is easily enjoyed by the adult.

A nice resource for homeschoolers (or any parent who would like their children to read and enjoy poetry).......2006-11-20

I homeschool my children (ages 7 and 9), and I wanted to add poetry to their literature curriculum. I found this book at the library, and it was a perfect introduction to the many forms of poetry, with great examples for each. The biographies of famous poets in the second half of the book were also a very useful teaching tool. They were short, informative and interesting. (I learned a few things myself...)

I kept the book in the car, and my children took turns reading (aloud and to themselves). They looked forward to their poetry lessons, and even memorized a few poems on their own accord. My son read Poe's "The Raven," and commented, "I don't understand it, but it's scary, somehow." I found it fascinating that a poem writeen almost 200 years ago could frighten a modern-day child.

This book was a wonderful tool to pique my children's interest in poetry. I plan to buy or borrow other books on poetry to cultivate their budding interest.

I can't comment on the CD as it was no longer included in the library book. However, my children and I enjoyed this book so much that I will definitely purchase it soon.

Engaging for both child and parent.......2006-04-15

My son is only in preschool and has a lot of fun with this book, and I think it has enough variety and range that we'll return to it for years. There is great background material for parents to read and think about, and perhaps share with their kids as they get older. The performance of the poems on the CD is lackluster, but the overall quality of the book's text and selections is superb.

A great collection.......2004-12-17

My daughter's only 3, but her latest routine is to pick poems from this book to read before bed. Which is great, it's something we both can enjoy. I like the book's entertaining illustrations and helpful, down-to-earth writing style. I'd recommend it to anyone!

Average customer rating:

A great book but not for flatlanders
patience required, rewarded
An odious narrator/author
Just like being there
The Muddled Mountain

The Magic Mountain
Thomas Mann
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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Buddenbrooks: The Decline of a Family (Everyman's Library)
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A Companion to Thomas Mann's Magic Mountain (Studies in German Literature Linguistics and Culture)
The Tin Drum

ASIN: 0679772871
Release Date: 1996-10-01

Book Description

In this dizzyingly rich novel of ideas, Mann uses a sanatorium in the Swiss Alps--a community devoted exclusively to sickness--as a microcosm for Europe, which in the years before 1914 was already exhibiting the first symptoms of its own terminal irrationality. The Magic Mountain is a monumental work of erudition and irony, sexual tension and intellectual ferment, a book that pulses with life in the midst of death.

Customer Reviews:

A great book but not for flatlanders.......2007-09-30

Anyone who is preoccupied with the cares of the "flatland", who lives busily working away with the sense that everything will keep humming along indefinitely, will find this book a waste of time. The main character, Hans Castorp, takes leave of his life in the lowlands of northern Germany at first on a vacation, but then due to a lingering illness stays on at a sanatorium in Davos, Switzerland for what turns out to be an ominous seven years: the time leading up to the outbreak of World War I. From a life of comfort and security, in which he follows the well-defined and socially-acceptable track of becoming an Engineer, he finds himself transported with an unknown future to a rarefied mountain world, in which death is stalking.

The narrative moves briskly at the beginning, much like I remember BUDDENBROOKS, but soon the author gets into a different kind of territory and sabotages the running narrative by lengthy descriptions. At one point, he takes almost an entire page to describe Hans taking his temperature (in keeping with the theme of time). What drew me into this descriptive style concerned the events as they unfolded: certainly, Hans's attraction to Clavdia Chauchat, the fate of his cousin Joachim, the doings of the patients at the sanatorium in the face of death; and especially, the perceptive way of the author in noting all those personal concerns that are often skipped over in the usual rush and roar of everyday life.

On one level, this book is about the education of Hans Castorp - an education all-together different from what he would get in the flatland. We get introduced to the long-winded discourse of Settembrini, the secular humanist ; and as a counterpoint, Naphta and his incessant arguments defending the authoritarianism of the Church. These two represent the European conflict between the legacy of the Greeks and the religion imported from the Levantine deserts. They, along with others such as Rhadamanthus and Peeperkorn, more closely resemble operatic characters than actual flesh and blood characters. They engage more in soliloquies than dialogue, and they confront and challenge Hans.

On a deeper level, Hans can be seen as embarking upon a spiritual quest, which is certainly unlike the material quest that he was following in the flat-land. The quest for the Holy Grail in Western Mythology is a quest that can only be undertaken by a unique individual on a way not traveled ever before by anyone else, by the most difficult of possible ways. Hans is as Settembrini calls him: "the delicate child of life". But he is tested in his own way by the very immediate presence of death and disease; and he is also tested when he gets lost in a snowstorm.

patience required, rewarded.......2007-05-30

I won't summarize anything here... it's been done in these reviews already... but I've just finished the book and found it to be one of the most rewarding reading experiences of my life. I can see that this book isn't for everyone...it does require a great deal of patience...there are lots of long, slow moving passages... but it isn't haphazard in it's unfolding. I just feel as though I've been in the presence of a master here, an author who guided me quite expertly through his created world. I found the characters fully developed, the story rich in detail, landscape, thought, idea, and purpose. It did take me a LONG time to read, but it was worth every second. I rank this among my favorite books, one of the most important books I've read, and one of the most rewarding.

An odious narrator/author.......2007-04-26

I've read this novel at least four times over the past forty years...twice within the last year. It's always made me uncomfortable in a manner that I've found it difficult to define. To some extnet, the problem has always been the two dimension characters that fail to engage. And, certainly the character of Setembrini (sp?) with his constantly referred to "plastic" or "graphic" speech (depending on how you translate the German), his tasteless toothpick, and idiotic, theatrical getures is almost terminally irritating to the extent that I find Naptha (who Mann works hard to make unpleasant) pleasant. (By the way, I don't believe Naphtha is a "terrorist" in our modern usage of the word as some here seem to feel.)

But boring characters and situations are simply a part of the literature of mittle europa. And anyone who reads much of such literature either learns to put up with it or, for whatever reason, to like it. No, I think that perhaps I have at last figured out what so puts me off. It's the personna of the narrator. He's is SO superior. The whole novel reads like it had been written by a precocious, sophomoric adolescent showing off..."Look how smart I am! Look how much cleverer and insightful than any of the characters (and you, Dear Reader) I am!" It is for me an unpleasant tone, which, combined with the rather flat characters and situations makes the novel irritating at best...and for the literate among you, yes, I know that I've just"confused" author and narrator. That is intentional as Mann seems to be using the nineteenth century narrator as author's spokesman technique.

As to Mann's wanting the reader to see a homoerotic connection between Hans and Joachim, I don't see really how it can be missed...Joachim the manly soldier, Hans the soft, gentle boy...ah, yes. It goes, I hope, without saying, that there can be homoerotic elements in a novel that is not at all gay.

It's reasonably well known that the Nobel prize for literature is awarded not for a single book, but rather for a body of work. And, anyone who knows his history knows that many classic liberals (I do not refer here to the bastardized use of the term found in contemporary politics) wanted to reintegrate Germany into the company of civilized nations after that nation's lost of stature in and after WWI. I suspect that the politics of inclusion won the Nobel Prize for Mann rather more than his actual writing.

So, why have I contined to read this novel over many years? Quite simply because of the setting. When I was a small boy there was still a tuberculosis sanitarium in the town in which I grew up. For whatever reason, the mysterious, graceful, boring life of such places has always intrigued me.

Just like being there.......2007-04-07

This book will give you a true insight into what it was like to be in a TB Sanitarium which is where the story is set. Reading it is just like being there. Dull, Monotonous, Tiresome, Going on without end.... If that was Thomas Mann's mission when he wrote it, then the book is an amazing success.

The Muddled Mountain.......2007-01-16

What am I to say here? Well, at least I shall provide a counterpoint to these absurdly gushing reviews spread across the Amazon landscape. In short, this so-called "novel of ideas" is the most insipid, abstract, pettifogging work I've ever had the misfortune to plough through. Yes, yes, go on to tell me, in review after review, I'm missing its supposed "symphonic" structure and that I must bend over backward and touch my toes while reading it for a third time to fully appreciate it. Sorry, much like a Naptha or Settembrini, you're wasting your breath. This is the sort of thing schoolmarms say to students who don't fancy Jane Austen.

Not one of the characters portrayed here is convincing. They all stand out like two dimensional set pieces. This applies especially to Hans Castorp, our supposed hero. He is more like an empty vessel filled with one fluid and then another as we move from chapter to chapter. I suspect this is why this is called a "novel of ideas" even though the two prominent ideologues here, Naptha and Settembrini, as our narrator points out (as if he needed to) contradict themselves time and time again. The overall effect is a distancing of the reader from what he is reading, a very unpleasant experience.

Some of the reviewers here (whatever are they thinking?) compare this book (and favourably!) to Proust. No two different writers could possibly exist. Proust's beautiful, poetic cadences pull the reader into his world from the first pages of the Overture to the last pages of his three thousand page opus. At the end, it is no exaggeration to say that one feels as if s/he IS the narrator Marcel and has emerged from his deep contemplation of time, like him, with an entirely new perspective on the world. ----Not so here. I feel more distant from Hans than I did when I first picked the book up. And I don't feel anything but deflated by the empty chattering about time as a concept herein.

Regarding this novel as a Bildungsroman, I couldn't help thinking of how terribly it suffers in comparison to Maugham's Of Human Bondage, where, heaven forefend, things actually happen to fully threshed-out characters, to whom one can actually relate. And in which the young man of the story, Phillip Carey, is entirely sympathetic in his harrowing process of maturity. It too has its many highbrow intellectual discussions. But Phillip ingests these ideas. They become a part of him. They affect how he acts and feels during his coming of age in the world. In other words, he is everything Hans is not.

Yes, yes no doubt I'm not "getting" it, I hear readers of this review exclaiming, along with Thomas Mann, who in his Letters, recently published in English, states many times how taken aback he is that readers and critics do not realize the homoerotic feelings of Hans for his cousin, Joachim, in the book. ---Well, readers, did you "get" that part, so important to Mann?

Please, unbiased reader, DO NOT bother with this book. Read Proust. Read Maugham. Read Beatrix Potter. Read ANYTHING but this mass of boring, silly confabulations.

Now that I've offended all the Mann aficionados with this review, do carry on and crucify it by pressing the "Not Helpful" button in a sense of outrage in my insulting of your favourite book. I'm simply telling the truth. It will be worth having written it if only one dissatisfied reader, who, like myself, can not understand what all the fuss is about, appreciates it.--Please, don't tarry, declare it "moribund" and push it down the icy slopes on a toboggan.

Average customer rating:

For serious readers...

The Magic Mountain (Everyman's Library)
Thomas Mann
Manufacturer: Everyman's Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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A Companion to Thomas Mann's Magic Mountain (Studies in German Literature Linguistics and Culture)

ASIN: 1400044219
Release Date: 2005-06-21

Book Description

(Book Jacket Status: Jacketed)

With this dizzyingly rich novel of ideas, Thomas Mann rose to the front ranks of the great modern novelists, winning the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1929. The Magic Mountain takes place in an exclusive tuberculosis sanatorium in the Swiss Alps–a community devoted to sickness that serves as a fictional microcosm for Europe in the days before the First World War. To this hermetic and otherworldly realm comes Hans Castorp, an “ordinary young man” who arrives for a short visit and ends up staying for seven years, during which he succumbs both to the lure of eros and to the intoxication of ideas.

Acclaimed translator John E. Woods has given us the definitive English version of Mann’s masterpiece. A monumental work of erudition and irony, sexual tension and intellectual ferment, The Magic Mountain is an enduring classic.

Customer Reviews:

For serious readers..........2006-07-17

It is almost pointless to assess a star rating to a book like this - a novel that breaks most of the conventions of the genre. I am a fan of Thomas Mann - I love Death in Venice and his short stories. This book however, taxed my abilities as a reader to the limit. It took me about two months to finish it. I don't pretend to have absorbed everything in it. It is an 854-page philosophical novel without any real plot.

It tells the story of Hans Castorp - an average Joe from Germany - who goes to visit his cousin in a health spa for three weeks and ends up staying for seven years. The trip isn't so much a vacation for him but a period of intellectual development - sort of like going to college. The bulk of the book is taken up with philosophical discussions with the humanist Settembrini and the radical Naptha. In all this, it is very difficult to tell where Mann's sympathies lie.

One of the joys of reading Mann is that his sentences evoke a Europe at the beginning of the twentieth century. This however, wears thin over 800 pages. As A.S. Byatt points out in her wonderful introduction, one tries to hurry along but the novel demands to be read at its own speed. At the end of the novel, there is the fear that you missed something and didn't get everything out of it. Mann's advice was to simply read it twice. John Irving loves the book and claims to have read it more times than he can count. I may read it again - but not for a long time.

Cirque Du Freak #4: Vampire Mountain: Book 4 in the Saga of Darren Shan (Cirque Du Freak: The Saga of Darren Shan)

Average customer rating:

A half-vampire and a half-book
What happened?!
vimpire mountain
Very Interesting
Off To See The Council

Cirque Du Freak #4: Vampire Mountain: Book 4 in the Saga of Darren Shan (Cirque Du Freak: The Saga of Darren Shan)
Darren Shan
Manufacturer: Little, Brown Young Readers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0316905747

Customer Reviews:

A half-vampire and a half-book.......2007-03-14

I have enjoyed this series so far, but this book was incomplete. The first three books were complete self-contained stories. This book setup the story, but then came to a cliffhanger ending. You need to buy the next book to read the complete story. Essentially, I had to pay full price for a half-book.

What happened?!.......2007-03-10

The first three Cirque books were awesome! The series started out spectacular. It should have had that quality, and be great from beginning to end.
So what happened????
Darren Shans writing style and voice seem to have changed. It's been eight years, now, and Darren and Mr. Crepsley are off to vampire mountain. And, um, that's about it. Call me ignorant, but that's all I could see. Some parts on the way there were great, but the rest went way downhill. To me, the rest of the book compiled of Mr. Crepsley's friends, and how Vampire Mountain works. A plot only comes near the end, with a cliffhanger. I definately did not enjoy this as much as I did with Tunnels of Blood. I liked seeing Darren interact with the "normal" world and Evra Von. Things change, but something about this book doesnt seem right. I do hope things shape up soon.

vimpire mountain.......2007-02-20

i give this book 3 becaue itsbored and only thing that they talk about is that how do they get there.its about darren sean who goes to the vimpire mountain and he takes 2 little man and a wolf. and some part of the book is exciting because like how the wolf tried to save sean from danger andmostly its boring because it toook half of the book to just to get there

Very Interesting.......2006-11-03

I love this book because I love reading about vampirers.Darren Shan is a thirteen year old boy even though he doesn't look thirteen he is the reason why he doesn't look his thirteen is because he is half vampire it doesn't let look like he is his age because he is growing slower than the normal humen would.

Off To See The Council.......2005-10-18

Darren Shan, star and author, has been hanging out with vampire Mr. Crepsley and the Cirque Du Freak. Mr. Crepsley decides that it is time to journey to the vampire counsel (held once every twelve years) and present Darren to the Vampire Princes. Creepy Mr. Tiny insists that they take two of the Little People with them.

The Journey to Vampire Mountain, home of the Princes, is long and hard. The journey itself is meant to weed out the unfit. Many hardships are encountered and it is discovered why the Little People are accompanying them. They are to deliver a message from Mr. Tiny regarding a dark future.

This is a very interesting book and is the first to set up a long plot cycle concerning the history and future of all vampires. The trek to Vampire Mountain provides a nice setting for being able to clue the reader in to much of the history and customs of the vampires. If you read this far you will find yourself needing to read more volumes in the series.

Average customer rating:

I remember reading this book in junior high.
Mind Enslavement
Patrick Micheal Dawson's Book Reveiw
The White Mountains
The White Mountains

The White Mountains
John Christopher
Manufacturer: Simon Pulse
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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The City of Gold and Lead
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The Possessors

ASIN: 0689856725

Book Description

35th Anniversary Editon with new Text and a New Preface by the Author!

Long ago, the Tripods -- huge, three-legged machines -- descended upon Earth and took control. Now people unquestioningly accept the Tripods' power. They have no control over their thoughts or their lives.

But for a brief time in each persson's life -- in childhood -- he is not a slave. For Will his time of freedom is about to end -- unless he can escape to the White Mountains, where the possibility of freedom still exists.

Customer Reviews:

I remember reading this book in junior high........2007-09-07

I'm very happy to see that this entire "White Mountains" trilogy is still in print. I remember reading this in my early teen years, and how much I enjoyed it. Even then, I knew it was inspired by The War of the Worlds, but it creates an entirely different narrative around the "tripod" invasion and take-over of Earth. I enjoyed the entire trilogy. A great choice for the young sci-fi fan.

Mind Enslavement.......2007-08-02

You're only free to think and feel the way you like until you're 14 and ready for adulthood. Then you must be "capped" (and controlled) by the ruling, mysterious, and god-like Tripods. This is the story of Will, Henry and Beanpole in their dangerous and desperate adventure to escape the enslavement of capping. A gripping story. A Non-Workbook, Non-Textbook Approach to Teaching Language Arts: Grades 4 Through 8 and Up

[Science fiction suitable for the intermediate and junior high grades, if not beyond.]

Patrick Micheal Dawson's Book Reveiw.......2006-10-25

This story is about a kid named William who starts a journey to find the White Mountains a place were men are free from the tripods, a unknown species of giant three leged metal creatures that have taken over the world! When he tries to sneak out he is caught by his curios cousin (who's mom has just died). His cousin decides to go with him ,so they travle to the ocean where they meat Captin Curtis who takes them across the ocean. There they meat up with a boy named Zahn Phole, but they nick name him Bean Pole. Then they start there dangerous journey across the world to the White Mountains!
Will they ever make it?
Find out by purchising this book!

The White Mountains.......2006-10-24

(Science Fiction)

The White Mountains is about three boys who know the secret of being Capped. When you're Capped, aliens known as Tripods take you on your thirteenth birthday and shave your head to then apply a wiry mesh of metal that is welded deeply through all the layers of your skin and then through your skull to just gently reach the brain. What this does is let the Tripods control their minds and ultimately make the humans their slaves. So you can't ask a Capped what it's like to be Capped because the Tripods will make them say "it's just wonderful!" And now one knows this all of this except three boys and a village hidden from all the quiet chaos: The White Mountains, where all is free and no one is Capped. Join Will, Henry and Jean-Paul during their amazing journey to the White Mountains.

What I loved about John Christopher's writing was that there was never a dull moment. The boys were always doing something worth the reader's attention let it be stealing food from locals or escaping encounters with Tripods and risking everything. This was definitely a great book and a page-turner.

The White Mountains.......2006-10-24

Deltora Quest #05: Dread Mountain (Deltora Quest)

Average customer rating:

dread mountain is awesome
The best book in the series!
The Dreaded Mountain of Summer Reading
Gem five.. will they survive?
uummm...

Deltora Quest #05: Dread Mountain (Deltora Quest)
Emily Rodda
Manufacturer: Scholastic Paperbacks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0439253276

Book Description

The Shadow Lord dominates the Land of Deltora. Only Lief, Barda, and Jasmine can save it from his evil powers. To do this, they must restore all seven gems to the magic Belt of Deltora.Four gems have been found. Now grave news has reached Lief from his home. He longs to return--but the quest must continue. To find the fifth stone, the heroes must venture to the edge of the Shadowlands and enter the dark and terrifying realm of the monster Gellik.Can Lief, Barda, and Jasmine survive Dread Mountain?

Customer Reviews:

dread mountain is awesome.......2005-12-16

This book is one of the best books I have ever read in my life. You really should read it,infact I bet you would enjoy it to! If you do read this book it will probabably take some time to read but, if you read the whole entire book you will be dying to read it again. Also, you need to tell all your freinds how good it is and I bet they would like to read it to!

The best book in the series!.......2005-07-09

Our three heroes are on the track of the fifth gem which lies in the dangerous Dread Mountain, but before that Lief has a terrifying vision of his parents home, barren and destroyed.Lief, Barda and Jasmine, continue on their journey, managing the long walk by flying in the pouches of a peaceful species called the Kin.When they enter the domains of dread mountain, they must face poisoin gnomes, grey guards and messages written by the writer's blood.And worst of all they are stuck in the terrifying mazes of the evil mountain!But this only seems small compared to the darkness they feel when they face the fifth guardian, the evil Gellick, who is invincible to destroy.Will our heroes survive the dreads of Dread Mountain.........................................................

The Dreaded Mountain of Summer Reading.......2005-02-05

Books Books Books. You are always forced to read stupid books for Summer reading. I begged not to have to read them and so the choice was given if I could find a book in the next week to read I didn't have to do summer reading. After searching without success I found a book to replace Summer reading that was the newest of The Deltora Quests at the time. Like the four books before this book cast it's spell and I could not put it down out of interest. It is not exceptional, not the most action packed, not the most romantic and certainly not having the best monsters but I will always consider it my jewel. I'd take Gellick over the Hoboken Chicken any day! That poisin spitting frog on the front, he will set you free.

Gem five.. will they survive?.......2003-07-11

As they travel to Dread Mountain, Lief, Barda, and Jasmine find a clear spring. But an ominous sign makes them unsure. They are thirsty, and out of water. They drink, and later discover the entire truth of Dreaming Spring. They also meet the Kin, a fabled creature thought to be extinct. The Kin take them to the mountain, but their only young follows. Can they care for her, and themselves, too? She proves to be helpful, and as they learn about what happened on the mountain, they are imprisoned by the Dread Gnomes, Gnomes that live on the Mountain, under the rule of a toad-like creature, Gellick. The fifth gem, the emerald, is inbedded in his brow.

uummm..........2003-06-26

I liked these books a ton. I am a big fantasy person (harry Potter, Lord of the rings, tamora pierce, etc) and i thought they were really good. one of my best friend lent them to me and i had the whole series (and deltora shadowlands) finished within, like, a week. I am in 7th grade and a big reader (at least two hours a day) and these books are great (but not as great as tamora pierce).

Fourth Uncle in the Mountain: The Remarkable Legacy of a Buddhist Itinerant Doctor in Vietnam

Average customer rating:

Fourth Uncle is Fantastic
As good as it gets
Incredible!
A Transporting Tale

Fourth Uncle in the Mountain: The Remarkable Legacy of a Buddhist Itinerant Doctor in Vietnam
Marjorie Pivar , and Quang Van Nguyen
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Griffin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

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Fourth Uncle in the Mountain: A Memoir of a Barefoot Doctor in Vietnam
The Buddha and the Terrorist
Amongst White Clouds
The Silk Road Journey With Xuanzang
Jake Fades: A Novel of Impermanence

ASIN: 0312314310
Release Date: 2006-10-03

Book Description

Set during the French and American wars in South Vietnam, Fourth Uncle in the Mountain is the true story of an orphan, Quang Van Nguyen, adopted by a sixty-four-year-old monk, Thau, who carries great responsibility for his people as a barefoot doctor. Thau manages against all odds to raise his son to follow in his footsteps and in doing so saves him, as well as a part of Vietnam's esoteric knowledge from the Vietnam holocaust. Thau is wanted by the French regime and occasionally must flee in to the jungle, where he is perfectly at home living among the animals. As wise and resourceful as Thau is, he meets his match in his mischievous son. Quang is more interested in learning Cambodian sorcery and martial arts than in developing his skills and wisdom according to his father's plan. Fourth Uncle in the Mountain is an odyssey of a single-father folk hero and his foundling son in a land ravaged by the atrocities of war. It is a classic story complete with humor, tragedy, and insight, from a country where ghosts and magic are real.

Customer Reviews:

Fourth Uncle is Fantastic.......2007-06-27

In buddhist legend, meditation adepts attain a "samadhi fantastic beyond description". This is Fourth Uncle. The magic, sorcery, and martial art stories give way to the natural magic of one pointed concentration - in the cave of the primoridal, original, and pristine mind. I enjoyed this book so much, in spite of the tragic backdrop of pre and post Vietnamese history. There is a great human truth here, that goes beyond religions, in the narration that radiates out through the eyes of a child coming into adulthood. There is also a lot of what is called by aboriginal peoples, "indigenous knowledge" about Viet Nam, which sadly may be disappearing because of enviromental desecration. This book is also a hommage to the folk doctor tradition. This tradition, so vital to the revitalization of the human spirit, is also in danger of being marginalized by institutionalized medicine. Better that it be accommodated for what it is - natural wisdom.

As good as it gets.......2007-06-27

I read a lot. I never write reviews. I will for this book because it is an all time great. A classic. You will never forget it.

Incredible!.......2007-04-18

This breathtaking autobiography has resonated really with me. Coming from a Vietnamese background as well as having a lineage of traditional healers, Quang's story has the same tones within the realm of traditional medicine that were told to me as a child.

As an acupuncture student, Quang's journey had a lot similarities to that in which I'm encountering. It was amazing reading this book because every step of the way, you felt as if you were with him.

With mysticism/magic, acupuncture, herbs, ghosts, spirits, and myriad of characters, Fourth Uncle... is truly one of the greatest qutobiographies that I've read in a long time.

A Transporting Tale.......2006-10-12

This book had me quickly transported to another world--the descriptions were rich and entrancing, the story fascinating--and the telling as if you're listening to Quang. I read this in hardcover over a year ago and many of the images are still vividly with me (not a common experience for me!).

Average customer rating:

My first grader loves these books

Cypher The Mountain Giant (Beast Quest)
Adam Blade
Manufacturer: Scholastic Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Sepron The Sea Serpent (Beast Quest)
Tagus The Night Horse (Beast Quest)
Tartok The Ice Beast (Beast Quest)
Ferno The Fire Dragon (Beast Quest)
Epos The Winged Flame (Beast Quest)

ASIN: 0439922259

Book Description

Under the spell of the dark wizard Malvel, Cypher the one-eyed Giant wreaks havoc on the city he used to protect: Colton, the very center of the Kingdom's trade routes. Our heroes must head North to the mountains to free Arcta and help unearth Colton from mudslides and avalanches before it's too late!

Customer Reviews:

My first grader loves these books.......2007-09-18

I have a 1st grader who reads at the 4th grade level. While his reading skills are great, he is still only 6 and his topics of interest are ...well, the interests of a 6-year-old boy. My son LOVES this series. He curls up with them and reads them on his own, and yet still loves to have them read aloud. Best of all, his dad and I don't mind reading them aloud --- we love them too.

Average customer rating:

The Farthest Away Mountain
A Magical Tale
One of my most memorable and happy part of my childhood
The best book ever!!
Amazing!! What a treasure!!

The Farthest - Away Mountain

Manufacturer: Listening Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Cassette

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The Fairy Rebel
Tiger, Tiger
Harry the Poisonous Centipede (An Avon Camelot Book)
I, Houdini
The Key to the Indian (Indian in the Cupboard)

ASIN: 0807277622

Book Description

This is the tale of the young heroine Dakin, who sets out on a terrifying journey through wicked woods and haunted mountain paths to find the farthest-away mountain and break the spell by which it's been bound for two hundred years.

Customer Reviews:

The Farthest Away Mountain.......2006-04-05

This book taught me to go for what you want in life. It teaches that no matter how impossible it may seem, it can be done. I read this as a child, now I am 29 and I still think of it. I still like to sit down with a chunk of cheese and a loaf of bread as a snack, just like Dakin took with her on her journey. When it snows in the winter I think of the colored snow on the mountain that Dakin was determined to investigate. I have even tried to make colored snow myself. Gargoyles have a whole different charm to them once you know this story. Just from writing this I am excited to read the book all over again.

A Magical Tale.......2005-11-17

I read this story to my daughter for the first time when she was 4 and she loved it. A year later she wanted me to get it out of the library again. Recently, she insisted that we buy it. We read it through twice and now, since she is an excellent independent reader at 6, she is reading it again for atleast an hour at night to herself. Her favorite part is when the gargoyles say that they can "still feel". She has made her own stuffed gargoyles out of paper and pretends to be Dakin talking to them. This story is pure magic. It combines all of the elements of a questing story, but the fact that it is about a brave girl who knows her own mind, makes it special. There aren't many stories written for young girls like this and that makes it even more unique. I highly recommend it to anyone with a child who has a thirst for adventure and an interest in all things magical.

One of my most memorable and happy part of my childhood.......2005-07-21

I remember my mother reading this book to my twin sister and me. It was a hard back copy that she had gotten from the Library. My sister and I would come down out of our bunk beds and sit on the floor with my mother as we were enthralled to listen to her read this story. I loved the colored snow and the gargoyals. When I was married and had my first child I desired to read this book to my son and I did but it was mostly for me since he was only a few months old at the time. I will read it to him again. But I love this book. This story is a great treasure to me that I will always remember.

The best book ever!!.......2005-05-05

This adventurous, amazing, edge of your seat tale is my all-time favorite book! I've read it about three times and I've never gotten tired of it. When ever I see it in a library, I jump up and down and tell everybody "that's my favorite book!" I suggest anybody I see and all of my friends to read it. It is extremely entertaining.

Amazing!! What a treasure!!.......2004-12-22

I discovered this book when I was in the Fourth grade and have read it about 5-6 times a year since then! Now that I am in my early 20's Dakin and her hopeful attitude and her high spirits always bring me comfort and courage through tough times in my life. I have shared this book with children I have met and every one of them discovered the same magic and mystery I did when I was a little girl! Lynne Reid Banks is an amazing author who puts all the hopes and fears any 15 year old girl experiences into the heart and mind of Dakin, a heroine we all truly fall in love with! This is my favorite book of all time and I will cherish it always!

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