Glacier's Secrets: Volume 2; Goat Trails and Grizzly Tales

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Glacier's Secrets: Volume 2; Goat Trails and Grizzly Tales
George Ostrom
Manufacturer: Farcountry Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Nature & Ecology | Science | Subjects | Books
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Glacier's Secrets: Beyond the Roads and Above the Clouds

ASIN: 1560371730

Book Description

Join the Over-the-Hill Gang once again for their weekly Thursday hikes in Glacier National Park, and share the fun and the wonders. In picture-and-text format, Ostrom lends his deep knowledge and devilish sense of humor to writing about the wildlife, the vistas, the peaks, the camaraderie, and even the tragedies that this group of hiking and climbing elders have experienced.

Book Description

"This book will save you money and grief before you can say woven roving."--Sailing

"A comprehensive and accurate work that should benefit almost any owner of a fiberglass boat."--SAIL

"This book will prove a valuable addition to the library of any boat builder or owner who is seriously interested in doing his own repairs, as well as intercepting minor problems before they become major projects."--Boatbuilder

Are there hairline cracks in your boat's deck or topsides gelcoat? Have her color and luster faded over the years? Does she have deck leaks? Has she been holed? Is her hull oilcanning in a sea? If your answer to any of these questions is yes, this book is for you. This is the definitive guide for fiberglass boat repair and beautification, covering not just cosmetic dings and scratches, but also major repairs of structural damage to hull and decks. It will show you how to:

replace deteriorated gelcoat, or repair the flaws in an existing gelcoat and recoat it with polyurethane or marine alkyd enamel paint;
strengthen a weak and overly flexible hull or deck;
tab in loose hull liners and joinerwork;
make templates from the good side of a hull to reshape large shattered or missing areas on the other side;
repair or replace water-saturated deck cores;
repair keels, rudders, and centerboards;
rebed and refasten underwater and on-deck hardware;
rebed, refasten, and strengthen hull-to-deck joints;
fix broken hatches, and make new ones when necessary;
treat the symptoms and causes of overstressed hulls.

That beautiful craft swinging at anchor or nestled dockside, her topsides reflecting water and sky like a polished mirror, could be yours. Here's how.

Customer Reviews:

dated.......2005-06-23

This is a very old book as far as fiberglass boats go.Must later prcedures,and products not included. There is some usefull info in the book

I think there are better books out there . . ........2001-02-05

This is a good book. It is complete, to be sure. For the expert fiberglass repair person, I cannot speak, but it is certainly difficult to read for an amateur. Generally, a bit much to swallow. I think that other books have similar information more elegantly stated. The fault is not with the content, but the presentation.

Also Valuable When Buying A Used Boat!.......2000-02-06

Of the many boatbuilding and repair manuals I have seen, I would consider this to be the best reference for fiberglass boat repair. The pictures on the dust-jacket alone indicate that a serious treatise is contained within. It would appear that no matter how bad it looks, there is no problem beyond the scope of the competent fiberglass repairman. (Caution - some of the color photos of repairs-in-progress between pages 118 and 119 are not for the faint-hearted!)

Mr. Vaitses has been at this for a long time and with experience in the world of wooden boats (all boats have wood in them somewhere) as well as having been a player in the fiberglass revolution, is able to offer a well-rounded perspective. His honest, no-nonsense approach to problem-solving is refreshing.

Besides the obvious background info and how-to descriptions, this book can be an invaluable asset when examining a used boat. Mr. Vaitses is currently working as a marine surveyor (a person who inspects and evaluates the condition of boats for prospective buyers). All used boats need some kind of work and the challenge then becomes evaluating the nature and scope of needed repairs, e.g. distinguishing structural and safety issues from cosmetics and determining whether one can affect the repairs oneself vs. how much it will cost to have someone else do it.

Book Description

If you own a fiberglass sailboat or powerboat, this is the book to turn to when dealing with questions of maintenance, improvement or repair. Here you will find clear explanations and easy-to-follow, step-by-step instructions covering the fiberglass hull,

Customer Reviews:

If you own a boat..........1999-12-21

If you own a boat then you understand that B.O.A.T is an acronym for Bring Out Another Thousand (dollars). Anyone who owns a boat, unless that boat is new, and has not yet been used will be forced to deal to boat maintainence issues. This book will help you to do some if this maintainence yourself so you don't have to spend a fortune to keep your boat running.

If you have a powerboat, a rowboat, or a sailboat then I recommend this book. This also makes a great gift for any boat owner.

One thing that I really like about this book is that there are lots of pictures and diagrams to help you understand what they are talking about. When you are doing work on a boat, sometimes one picture can be worth a thousand words.

It is obvious that the people writing this book really know what they are doing. This was not written by amatuers.

Book Description

Damage to glass-reinforced plastic construction is often not detected at an early stage; this can lead to expensive repairs or loss of value. Osmosis (gel coat blistering) is one of the main problems Tony Staton-Bevan addressed. His common sense advice on the prevention and cure of problems with hulls, decks and fittings, cracks and blistering, stress crazing, fading gel coats, and collision damage will help owners find potential trouble spots and repair the damage.

Manual for Repair of Fiberglass Boats 2e

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Manual for Repair of Fiberglass Boats 2e
Richard C Mclean
Manufacturer: AUTHOR, PUBLISHED BY THE
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Spiral-bound
ASIN: B000QA5Q8A

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Manual for Repair of Fiberglass Boats 2e
Richard C Mclean
Manufacturer: AUTHOR, PUBLISHED BY THE
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000UG8HAE

A Manual for the Repair of Fiberglass Boats Suffering From Osmotic Blisters

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A Manual for the Repair of Fiberglass Boats Suffering From Osmotic Blisters
Richard C. Mclean , and Rodger E. Mclean
Manufacturer: A is A Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Ring-bound

General & Reference | Technology | Science | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000PL6J2C

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The Restoration Handbook
Enric Rosello
Manufacturer: Wiley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Sports | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0470512644

Book Description

An essential guide to yacht restoration and repair with sequential photographs for step-by-step guidance.

This book is a beautifully presented guide to how to completely overhaul a fibreglass cruising yacht. It is filled with colour photo-sequences, which detail how to replace the engine, hatches and rigging for example.

· How to restore a cruising yacht

· Colour photo-sequences for easy use

· Restoration is a key topic in the sailing world

· Covers every aspect of restoration in detail, e.g. deck repair, the galley, electrics, engine, the bow

· Highly illustrated with more than 1000 sequential photographs to show each stage

Book Description

Inside this indispensable and beautifully illustrated workbook is everything you need to know to become an esteemed Egyptologist.

As readers of the fascinating EGYPTOLOGY are all too aware, the feisty explorer Emily Sands mysteriously vanished on an expedition up the Nile in 1927. But in a remarkable turn of fortune for Miss Sands's many fans, detectives have uncovered a second volume penned in her own hand — a course book on ancient Egyptian history and culture intended for the voyager's beloved niece and nephew. Now available to budding Egyptologists everywhere, this comprehensive volume — illustrated by the same artists who lent their talents to EGYPTOLOGY — is brimming with facts on ancient Egyptian culture and history, followed by intriguing assignments and fill-in opportunities on everything from archaeological finds to theories on how the pyramids were built.

Among the book's delightful novelty elements are:

— An envelope containing Miss Emily Sands's Top Ten Things to See in Egypt
— Flaps to lift, revealing hidden treasure in desert sands
— A four-page foldout section full of stickers featuring treasures from King Tut's tomb and other ancient Egyptian artifacts.

Customer Reviews:

Very Nice.......2007-07-04

I enjoyed this book and am sure that my grandchildren will as well. I was surprised that it was smaller and less interactive then the companion book. "Egyptology, Search for the Tomb of Osiris" which everyone in my family loves. But this one is fun and full of understandable information.

Fantastic Book.......2006-07-08

My 10 year old daughter first checked this out of the library twice & still wanted to check it out again.
I logged on to Amazon & found it, bought it as a surprise & she looks at it & reads it at least weekly.

If you want a GREAT kids book on egyptology this is it!

Good companion to Egyptology. .......2006-02-28

There are more maps and flaps to explore. I thought it went very well together with "Egyptology"

Average customer rating:

A stupid pop up book
Egyptology is not a fantasy adventure
Great book for kids
Great book
Amazing book, best gift for a young teen

Egyptology
Ian Andrew , and Dugald Steer
Manufacturer: Candlewick
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Action & Adventure | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

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

ASIN: 0763626384
Release Date: 2004-11-04

Book Description

Discover the wonders of ancient Egypt through a fascinating journal from a lost expedition — a treasure trove of fact and fantasy featuring a novelty element on every spread.

Who can resist the allure of ancient Egypt — and the thrill of uncovering mysteries that have lain hidden for thousands of years? Not the feisty Miss Emily Sands, who in 1926, four years after the discovery of King Tut's tomb, led an expedition up the Nile in search of the tomb of the god Osiris. Alas, Miss Sands and crew soon vanished into the desert, never to be seen again. But luckily, her keen observations live on in the form of a lovingly kept journal, full of drawings, photographs, booklets, foldout maps, postcards, and many other intriguing samples. Here are just a few of EGYPTOLOGY's special features:

— an extravagantly gilded cover, featuring a raised Horus hawk pendant with three encrusted gems
— a playable game of Senet — ancient Egyptian checkers — including board, pieces, original-style dice, and rules
— a souvenir booklet showing how to read simple hieroglyphs
— a scrap of textured "mummy cloth"
— a facsimile of the gilded mummy mask of King Tut
— a gilded eye-of-Horus amulet with a "jewel" at the end

Rich with information about life in ancient Egypt and peppered with Miss Sands's lively narration, EGYPTOLOGY concludes with a letter from the former Keeper of Antiquities at the British Museum, explaining which parts of this unique tale may be accepted as fact, which are guided by legend, and which reflect the author's delightful sense of fancy.

Customer Reviews:

A stupid pop up book.......2007-08-31

What a waste of paper. I was very disappointed when my cohort recently purchased this book. She told me it was a pop up book for little kids, but I could see through the lies and deceit. Unlike my friend Maryanne I can see this book for what it really is....a cheap gimmick to exploit the middle class of America. As if we didn't have enough I-Spy books, pop-up books, and Dora the Explora books. Her kids did enjoy the book however, and even learned a bit of Egyptian culture. The ends do not justify the means. I would much rather have my child look up Egyptian history and culture for a fraction of the cost on the internet. Please save your money and invest it in a more productive manner. Children can learn from pop-up books, but poor quality books like these are not worth the money.

Egyptology is not a fantasy adventure.......2007-05-29

This book is very nice to explore (especially for children). However, as a professional, degree-holding Egyptologist myself, I find it insulting to place my work alongside Dragonology and Pirateology. Egyptology exists in the real world, and it is truly fascinating (which is why I have devoted my life to it). Too often, people ignore the realities of the field, preferring its fantastic versions. In my opinion, this hurts the perception of ancient Egypt as a whole.

That being said, this book is well-made and would be fun for children to explore. Buy your children this book to pique their interest in the field, and maybe eventually gear them towards more accurate representations of the Egyptian past.

Great book for kids.......2007-05-25

This is a great book to introduce kids to ancient egypt history. It is fun and easy to read. The cover is interesting and attractive. My son likes this book a lot and is using it to support basic facts in a school project.

Great book.......2007-05-12

This book is much like all the others in the series. It's very well made and nice looking and the kids love to explore all the pockets and envelopes inside. The price is great and I would recommend any of these books.

Amazing book, best gift for a young teen.......2007-05-07

This book is one of the most memorable presents I have given to my sister. It is really good for young kids because it includes lots of mysteries that the reader has to solve. The pages are extremely beautiful and original and the book really looks fancy. I haven't read it, however my sister is fascinated by it and has requested other books from the series.

Average customer rating:

Egypt: Civilization in the Sands
Pauline De Flers , and Philippe De Flers
Manufacturer: Konemann
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Photo Essays | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

Egypt | Ancient | History | Subjects | Books

Egypt | Middle East | History | Subjects | Books

General | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Guidebooks | Reference & Tips | Travel | Subjects | Books

General | Middle East | Travel | Subjects | Books

General | Travel | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 3829054416

Secrets of the Sands: The Revelations of Egypt's Everlasting Oasis

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Thinking Big
Fatally flawed
An almost perfect "picture"
history and archaeology prove their worth
Only desert?

Secrets of the Sands: The Revelations of Egypt's Everlasting Oasis
Harry Thurston
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Egypt | Ancient | History | Subjects | Books

Egypt | Middle East | History | Subjects | Books

General | World | History | Subjects | Books

Book Description

In a part of Egypt so parched that decades might pass between rainstorms, amid a sea of sand, is a green island-Dakhleh, the "everlasting oasis"-that may contain the whole of human history. In this extraordinary book, an acclaimed science writer and journalist follows an international team of archaeologists as they unlock the secrets of nearly half-a-million years. Using high-tech methods, these scientists have made stunning finds, including indications that Dakhleh may have been the cradle of the Nile civilization that gave rise to the pharaohs and the pyramids. They have unearthed a perfect Old Kingdom town, with palaces and temples from the Golden Age, huge caches of mummies and papyri, an entire Roman city-a Pompeii in the middle of the desert-and the world's two oldest books. Blending elements of adventure narrative, travelogue, and scientific mystery, SECRETS OF THE SANDS also traces on a grand historical scale the story of how humans have interacted with the changing environment, laying bare a parable with relevance to us all about the fragile balance between humankind and our world.

Customer Reviews:

Thinking Big.......2007-01-03

400,000 years of human history at one spot on the Earth. An incredible, mind stretching book. Records the changes in human life as climate changes, religious beliefs are developed, and conquerors come and go. This book illustrates the importance of water to human life, and current problems of water resource management in Eqypt.

Fatally flawed.......2006-08-29

This book documents the Dakhleh Oasis Project (DOP), a breathtakingly ambitious effort to assemble a picture of the complete history -- human, geoglic, hydrologic, and meteorologic -- of the Dakhleh Oasis in Egypt. What makes this project so compelling is the unique set of circumstances found at the Dakhleh Oasis. It is isolated from the world, and is therefore more self-contained than any other site. It is even drier than the Nile Valley, and thus many organic artifacts remain after thousands of years. And the ever-blowing wind and shifting sands bury ancient sites and preserve them all the better.

Indeed, the Roman-era city of Kellis was abandoned because it was overwhelmed by sand -- and preserved for the archaeologists. Unlike Pompeii, the residents were able to take all their valuables with them when they fled, and so we don't get the perfect snapshot of Roman life that we get in Pompeii. But what has been found in Kellis alone has been staggering. Hundreds of papyri and two complete books have emerged from the sands. One of those books is an account book for an agricultural operation in the oasis, specifying in detail the quantities and prices of various agricultural commodities -- a historian's dream!

Mr. Thurston organizes the book in temporal format, presenting the results from earliest Paleolithic times right up through modernity, devoting a chapter to each period. He has done an excellent job of organizing the vast results of all this research into digestible form. His book presents a clear birds-eye view of a huge, rambling project. Despite this, I give the book only three stars because it is fatally flawed by several blunders.

The first flaw is that the author injects himself into the story. Too many times we read of his personal experiences bumping over the desert in an ancient Land Cruiser, struggling against the windblown sand, or wilting in the heat of the desert. I realize that he is adding some emotional oomph to the tale, but I found such material distracting.

Closely related to this is his dwelling on the people doing the work. The material on their personalities and histories is somewhat interesting, and it is certainly useful to communicate to the public the sacrifices that these people make, but I found this material too extensive and distracting from the core topic of this book.

I'll also ding Mr. Thurston for a rather overblown writing style; a particularly egregious example comes at the outset of the book:

"I had no idea what they could be when I first laid eyes on them. At a distance they looked like great red serpents, half buried, coiling through the sands. These strange formations reared up at the far western edge of the Dakleh Oasis in Egypt's Western Desert. Here, the oasis fields -- so intensely green they almost hurt the eyes -- end, giving way to mountains of yellow sand."

I groaned inwardly when I read these lines. The color-drenched vocabulary continues throughout the book. Now, I'm no academic and I certainly don't like bloodless writing. My objection is not that the writing is colorful or has emotional content. My objection is that all this material divagates from the real content of the book. I read this book to learn "The Secrets of the Sands", not "The Inconveniences of the Life of an Archaeologist" or "The Struggles of a Writer". My guess is that, had Mr. Thurston stayed strictly on topic, the book would have been halved in length.

But the most serious blunder in this book is its dearth of maps, diagrams, and illustrations. Over and over I found myself reading through dense prose that struggles to explain something that could have been made crystal-clear with an illustration. Over and over I found myself consulting the single low-resolution map, trying to figure out what the author is writing about, and failing. There are thumbnail photographs at the beginning of each chapter, but they serve only to to tease -- a few drops of water to a man dying of thirst.

I have many books on archaeology, at varying levels of condescension to the nonspecialist reader, and they all boast lots of maps, illustrations, and photographs. I quickly scanned through a number of these books and I found that the average seems to be about a dozen maps and several score illustrations, either line drawings of artifacts or photographs. This book has exactly one map -- and a rather poor one at that -- and zero illustrations other than the aforementioned thumbnail photographs. You get a better photograph of the author on the dust cover than you do of any of the artifacts.

The absence of illustrations ruined the reading experience for me. Too many times I found myself plodding through a heroic attempt to portray in prose what could have been made clear in an illustration. Too many times I found myself cursing the clumsiness of the attempt. I finished the book with a sense of relief at the end of an ordeal, ran to my computer, and started finding material there. An hour's research generated enough illustrations and maps to resolve many of the uncertainties created by this book. Thank god for the Internet!

If you're prepared to read this book next to the computer, looking up illustrations as you read, I think you'll find it a rewarding experience. If not, I still give a guarded recommendation for the book largely because the Dakhleh Oasis Project is so impressive. I just wish that the book were written to the same standards of most other books about archaeology.

An almost perfect "picture".......2004-07-08

I concure with all the reviews, here and in the press, about this wonderful book -- with one big, glaring difference. The virtural absence of maps, drawings, and pictures makes this book less attractive, useful, and valuable than it could be. Time and time again, I longed for a site diagram or an illustration of an artifact or, especially, a photograph of something mentioned or even described in the book. The few pictures and the one map that do appear are grossly inadequate. I can only wonder what Thurston was thinking.

history and archaeology prove their worth.......2004-02-13

Wow. An exciting and thorough book.

Once upon a time, a long time ago, I was asked to go along as expedition nurse on a field survey of the Qatarah Depression in Egypt. A friend with her PhD in history and another with a PhD in linguistics had come to the conclusion that the hieroglyphics of Crete and Egypt might have originated in the Western Desert. Computer research into both scripts suggested a relationship with Berber, the language of a nomadic tribe in North Africa. Because oil reseachers in the area had reported finding large amounts of pottery in the field and nomads generally don't burden themselves with heavy ceramics, my friends decided to do a surface survey for material that might support their thesis. They believed that the area had once been a very large fresh water lake in prehistoric times and might well have sustained a sizeable settled population. Unfortunately at the time, the US government had decided to cut back funding to many research projects, and my friends were unable to find financial support. End of saga. Reading Thurston's Island of the Blessed is a wonderful chance to see with what major discoveries I might have been involved had things been different! I can only say, "congratulations" to the sensible Canadians and their government.

Island of the Blessed by Harry Thurston is a particularly interesting document, because it chronicles not only the discovery of a long lost culture--actually severa--but because it covers an almost continuous record of habitation in the Dakhleh oasis, an area blessed with a continuous source of water. The association of climate change and human and other biological response is documented in these material remains through over 8000 years. Important too is the author's conclusion that man-wrought changes in the environment have caused major problems in the past and look to be shaping up to bring on even greater catastrophe in the future. His very brief discussion of irrigation cultures and their effect on the environment is very sobering, especially given the statistics of world population and dependence on irrigation agriculture.

Again history and archaeology prove their worth to the modern world.

FOR THOSE OF YOU WRITING PAPERS: in history, archaeology, sociology, cultural anthropology, biology, geology, climatology, political science, and economics. This book shows an interesting use of history, anthropology, archaeology, and environmental biology/climatology as applied to modern day issues. Is this a valid assumption? Does the past predict what the future may be like? Why or why not? How does this new field data compare with that found by other authors, like David E. Stuart (Anasazi America) or Richardson Benedict Gill (The Great Maya Droughts: Water, Life and Death). Which author would agree with Thurston's position? Do you think that climate change is actually brought about human action? Why or why not? How do the physical remains found by the Canadian expeditions in Egypt's Western Desert illuminate the process of desertification?

Only desert?.......2004-01-07

What could be more remote from North American experience than the Great Sahara? Vast sweeps of sand, burning rock outcrops - there seem no breaks in the desolation. Legends abound of lost explorers, armies disappearing, cities lost without a trace. As the dunes form and shift under the persistent wind, the image of the desert as a dry sea is almost inevitable. As with any sea, there are islands - scattered, hidden and elusive. In the Sahara, an "island" is an enclave of trees, animals, birds, and what they all depend on most - water. One such "island" is located in Egypt's Western Desert. Known as Dakhleh, it has proven to be the longest inhabited community on the planet. The blessing is the continuing flow of water.

For nearly five hundred thousand years humanity has found refuge in this scattering of springs and wells that have come and gone with the changes in Earth's environment. A Canadian-led project is vividly chronicled by Maritime science journalist Harry Thurston in this oustanding book. Known as the Dakhleh Oasis Project, it has probed the desert for a generation. Thurston follows the multi-national, multi-discipline team of anthropologists, mineralogists, and archaeologists as they probe the sands for evidence. The results are building a chronicle of understanding of land use, environmental change and the ebb and flow of human society in the region. Dakhleh, once isolated from the Nile Valley, was ultimately governed by pharonic appointees. Conditions fluctuated along the great river system, but Dakhleh achieved a stability rarely enjoyed within an empire. Later, the Romans came, building roads and temples, scattering coins and leaving graves.

Thurston follows Royal Ontario Museum team leader Tony Mills, as he explains the discoveries the team has made over twenty-five years. The oldest finds, of course, are the flint tools used by the earliest human settlers. Later, communities formed, their construction testifying to environmental conditions - walls were carefully placed to resist the onslaught of desert winds. With a regular source of water, Dakhleh's farming practices diverged from that of the Nile Valley, producing exportable wines and olive oils, in addition to the grain crops. It was this economic stability that allowed Egyptian governors to achieve autonomous status within the Pharaoh's Empire. Dakhleh's isolation was sufficient to generate its own gods.

Mills' team members are gathered from around the globe - Australia, Canada, Poland are represented. These are dedicated workers, not least of which is Tatyana Smekalova who daily follows a clearly defined plot to record underground magnetic indicators by marching up and down with detecting device and a computer strapped to her back. Her records show where to dig and where to ignore. The swerving needle of her device has revealed buried communities and a major temple. More important, she finds pottery storage sites that provide clues about how people lived. Pottery may contain anything from grains to coins.

Thurston depicts the findings of immense importance. Mummies, hidden from grave robbers emerge with golden faces. The dry air preserves even straw sandals, revealed after centuries of abandonment. Reams of papyrus rolls came to light, but in Thurston's account, the greatest discovery was a stack of wooden platters, once tied together with string. As the sand was brushed away, writing appeared on the pieces of wood. The package proved to be the world's oldest book!

On a flight to the camp, Thurston encountered a courteous young Egyptian, who offered him a window seat, saying "It's only desert". Sorrowing at the light dismissal, Thurston reflects on the many treasures unearthed from the young man's "Only desert". In relating the journey through immense time in his account of the project he's nearly become part of it. Under his deft touch, Island of the Blessed reads more like an adventure yarn than history or science. Yet the science is solid and the history valid, related with a captivating style. The story isn't merely ancient societies and artefacts. A major element in the researchers' work is tracking how the fluctuating environment affected human life. So long as the water continued to flow, the communities survived. Changes in weather cycles and excessive demands are draining the water below our reach. It's becoming an all too-familiar tale. The great underlying water table is disappearing, a fact being repeated in many places. North America is not exempt. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa]

Average customer rating:

Jekyll and Hyde, and the Miss Universe contest

Jessica and Lila are at it!

Best Friends

hello...helLO...HELLO???

SHOWDOWN SVH #19 (Sweet Valley High (Numbered Paperback))
Francine Pascal
Manufacturer: Bantam
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

Sweet Valley High | Sweet Valley | School | Series | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
General | Literature & Fiction | Teens | Subjects | Books
Pascal, Francine | ( P ) | Authors, A-Z | Teens | Subjects | Books
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Head over Heels (Sweet Valley High Series, Book 18)

Say Goodbye (Sweet Valley High, No 23)

Rags to Riches (Sweet Valley High, No 16) [Paperback] by Pascal, Francine...

Too Good to Be True (Sweet Valley High #11)

When Love Dies (Sweet Valley High #12)

ASIN: 0553268236
Release Date: 1985-04-01

Customer Reviews:

Jekyll and Hyde, and the Miss Universe contest.......2006-06-18

When best friends and bitter rivals, Jessica Wakefield and Lila Fowler, fall for the same boy, readers little expect that a relatively harmless Miss Universe contest between the two would escalate into a potentially life-threatening situation for Jessica. Jack, the mysterious and handsome Romeo who sweeps Lila off her feet, and equally captivates Jessica, is plainly not all that he seems. Lila thinks she's finally found the attention and affection she craves from her father; Jessica, on the other hand, just wants a good time. And Jack, on whom they both pin these hopes, plays Prince Charming for more sinister reasons than mere ego and vanity. Although Jack's intentions towards Lila and Jessica are never clearly outlined, we assume that it is Lila's money he needs, and Jessica's company that he wants.

In Showdown, book number 19 of the Sweet Valley High series, readers will more readily sympathise with Lila than with her rival, because Lila's reasons for wanting to be with Jack are more heartfelt than Jessica's. Jessica may envy Lila's wealth and jet-set lifestyle, but it's clear she doesn't really understand her best friend's loneliness or insecurity. To Jessica, Lila is rich, beautiful and therefore wholly desirable; that is, direct competition for the Miss Universe crown. Lila, already second-best to Jessica in terms of raw beauty, talent and charisma, is outraged that a girl with everything, including a loving father, would still attempt to steal her boyfriend. Yet the balance of power in favour of Jessica ultimately proves to be Lila's saving grace, when Jack's charade falls apart to reveal the monster, Hyde, in disguise. With this plot development also comes a paradigm shift: we forgive Jessica (yet again) for being so selfish, and focus instead on her safety. Jack, at this point, is so unlike Prince Charming that the book's underlying message of the dangers of reckless behaviour and drug abuse is clearly evident. Jessica, who absolutely indulges in the former, is now placed in a situation in which she must confront the effects of the latter, in a boy with whom she just wanted to have fun at the expense of her best friend's feelings. And whilst neither Jessica nor Lila will ever win the Miss Congeniality crown, readers can still be thankful that in this story, at least, both girls escaped not from a mad scientist, but from one of the series' most troubled and troubling characters.

Jessica and Lila are at it!.......2005-04-04

Lilia has been friends with this new guy to Sweet Valley. Noone knows that much about him but Jessica tends to find out.But thats her mistake when she tries tow find out about his past it might turn deadly. What will happen to Jessica? Read this book to find out. Its very good.

Best Friends.......2002-10-25

Francine Pascal is a good author in writing Sweet Valley Twins- Best Friends. I like how the book ends. Francine makes it realistic and you can really picture what's happening in your mind. It's well written. There are two mane characters Elizabeth and Jessica. They are twins. What I didn't like about this book is it should have been longer and it should have been harder to read and it should have been longer. I really enjoyed this book and that's why I hope you would read Sweet Valley Twins- Best Friends

hello...helLO...HELLO???.......2000-09-22

HELLO PEOPLE? tHIS IS THE BEST SWEET VALLEY EVER. PURE CLASS. THE FEUD BETWEEN THE FABULOUS LILA AND THE JEALOUS SPOILT BRAT JESSICA AT ITS LOW DOWN DIRTY BEST. IF U ARE A DIE HARD VALLEY FAN THEN THIS IS AN M U S T !!!! RETRO SWEET VALLEY... KATE WILLIAM, BRING BACK THE 80'S STYLE TWINS. SWEET VALLEY NEEDS THEM!

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