Please, Puppy, Please

Book Description

Away from the gate,
puppy puppy, please, puppy.
Oh wait, puppy, wait,
please, please, please,

please....

In page after page of tail-wagging fun, Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Spike Lee and his wife, Beacon Award-winning producer Tonya Lewis Lee, take a close-up look at what happens when a couple of high-energy toddlers meet their match in an adventurous pup who has no plans of letting up.

Irresistible illustrations by Coretta Scott King Award winner Kadir Nelson unleash countless memorable moments of toddlerhood, and puppyhood, which families with four-legged friends will enjoy over and over again.

A Children's Book-of-the-Month
Club Main Selection
A Black Expressions Book Club

Featured Selection

Customer Reviews:

BIG Thumbs Up!.......2007-03-31

My overly active 20 month old loves this book and will sit still quietly for an entire reading...until we finish at which point she will throw a tantrum because the story is over. The illustrations are beautiful and captivating and the rhythm of the text is delightful. My next purchase will be "Please, Baby, Please." Great work, Lees. I will be keeping my eye out for more from you guys in the future.

Beautiful illustrations........2007-02-15

My two year old cannot get enough of this book, he can hardly wait to get into his pajamas, "Puppy, Puppy", is all he can manage to say. The illustrations are beautiful, rich color, wonderful perspectives, the repeated phrases, which include a lot of "Please", can only be of great benefit.
In addition to being a great artist Kadir Nelson's work appears in some of the very best children's books.

Please Puppy, more.......2007-01-21

The pictures in this book were awesome, but the choice of words was boring and my daughter had trouble saying them. It wasn't even a fun tongue twister.

Great follow-up to the original.......2007-01-15

I very highly recommend this book. My kids (4 and 2) wore out Please Baby Please, so I decided to get this one for them for Christmas. My daughter already has named the two kids in the book after she and her brother. My son turns to each page and says 'peace puppy peace.' We read it pretty much every night before bedtime. All of this and we don't even have a dog. The book is well written, true to life and the illustrations are great.

Excellent book.......2007-01-09

My 15 month old son loves this book and will go over to the shelf, pull it out and hand it to me. The artwork is beautiful. It's a fun and easy read.

A Little Yellow Dog : Featuring an Original Easy Rawlins Short Story "Gray-Eyed Death"

Average customer rating:

Potent, original, capable, sexually puerile
just like the other guy said..."too convoluted and unlikely."
Too Convoluted & Unlikely
A woman, a murder, a dog
But why is he... I had to keep asking

A Little Yellow Dog : Featuring an Original Easy Rawlins Short Story "Gray-Eyed Death"
Walter Mosley
Manufacturer: Washington Square Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | Mystery | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books

General | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0743451805
Release Date: 2002-11-19

Amazon.com

The saga of Easy Rawlins that began in 1990 with Devil in a Blue Dress, continues in A Little Yellow Dog. Working as a janitor at Sojourner Truth Junior High School, Easy is asked to care for a small dog owned by the attractive Idabell Holland, a teacher at the school. When Idabell's husband is murdered, Easy finds himself mixed up with a gang of criminals engaged in looting Los Angeles schools and smuggling heroin from France. Idabell and Easy fall into a sexual liaison, but in the wake of it, Idabell is found stabbed to death in the passenger seat of Easy's car. While at first Easy thinks the murders are a "simple falling out of thieves," a surprising twist on the level of "The Maltese Falcon" reveals the truth.

Book Description

November 1963: Easy's settled into a steady gig as a school custodian. It's a quiet, simple existence -- but a few moments of ecstasy with a sexy teacher will change all that. When the lady vanishes, Easy's stuck with a couple of corpses, the cops on his back, and a little yellow dog who's nobody's best friend. With his not-so-simple past snapping at his heels, and with enemies old and new looking to get even, Easy must kiss his careful little life good-bye -- and step closer to the edge....

Customer Reviews:

Potent, original, capable, sexually puerile .......2006-02-05

Having been knocked a bit sideways by RL's Dream I thought I'd give something else of his a go.

This guy can write. Particularly in the final third as the story builds the intensity is gripping. He capably paints a cast of gritty urban characters, and hurls his protagonist `Easy' through Marlowesque investigation, dangerous engagement with cops and crims, beating and final climactic bloody resolution (in LA, no less). Easy is a good balance of resource and vulnerability and has his virtues. In many ways this is a better than average read. Moreover there are distinctively African-American insights.

Where I hesitated to rate this any higher than a B came from the odd sexual morality. This review in a sense overstates it because it's only a minor aspect of an otherwise solid and occasionally striking book. And I'm really unsure (as an Australian Caucasian) just how to relate this to the significance of the Afro-American context. Is `Easy' meant to be a troubled individual, or is he in some ways meant to be racially emblematic? It feels like Mosley deliberately underpins the book with Negro values that, perhaps, he's happy to have at odds with my own. Or perhaps he wasn't even vaguely trying to write for an audience like me.

OK, what I'm talking about is the way that Easy - in so many ways an in control, mature, far-sighted, sharp, cool guy - seems to be consciously presented as a dumb animal in the opening scene - setting the book up more as soft-porn than a sophisticated crime novel. Easy himself is aware of the incongruity:

I'd been on good behavior for more than two years. I was out of the streets and had my job with the Los Angeles Board of Education. I took care of my kids, cashed my paychecks, stayed away from liquor.
I steered clear of the wrong women too.
Maybe I'd been a little too good. I felt an urge in that classroom, but I wasn't going to make the move.
That's when Idabell Turner kissed me.
Two years of up early and off to work dissolved like a sugar cube under the tap.

It's not merely titillation - but it is, make no mistake, titillation - and even if there's more going on, starting like that is very much a cynical use of voyeurism to get people in early. It just seems such an immature (or different?) view of sex.

Is it just stepping up the flirtations of a Chandler novel: in Farewell, My Lovely Marlowe fairly happily allows himself to play around in the seductive charms of a dangerous woman - is this simply Mosley kicking it up to 90s flirtation (i.e. from a little `foolin' around' to all the romance of instant rutting on a desk)? But I wonder if there's more - if it's simply that teenage thing of presenting a hero who has to show, "Hey, I'm in control, but I'm no prude." He's not writing James Bond farce here, so it's not excusable as daydream absurdity.

I'm skating on very thin ice here - I've got nothing to go on but the pap of the media's presentation of black America (we get plenty of US TV over here) - but is Mosley celebrating this sexual beast as part and parcel of the dormant avatar of the semi-mythical powers of the `streets' - presented here much as a dangerous magical power that can be drawn on but will exact a price. Is he deliberately suggesting that his Negro hero, as a Negro, has latent and at times uncontrollable urges for sex, risk and violence? For a white writer to hint at such animal tendencies would be, I suspect rightly, condemned as libellous racial stereotyping. Again, is this, rather, just something in `Easy', and never meant to be generalised? Sure it's the theme of a million `street' style T & A rap bluster music videos, but I thought Mosley would be somewhere beyond their openly stupid misogyny.

I suspect that Mosley would simply realise that whatever he was saying, I just didn't `get it'.

Whatever, this is one of those well written books that I just can't recommend as highly because I find something too offensive. I mean, it's not as offensive as, say, Fry's The Hippopotamus or Golsdworthy's Wish (again, both gifted writers), but I can't really just ignore the trivialisation of sex; I would have been able to thoroughly enjoy this aspect of the book if instead of sex he had have had Easy merely kiss Idabell (or, later, Bonnie). Moreover, handled well this would have been at least as powerful (and a world less gratuitous). If Easy had have, for example, found himself out of the blue passionately kissing a woman he'd hardly spoken to, when he'd had no other intimate relationship for years and was unsure about commitment, it would be just as valid to continue immediately afterwards:

When I leaned over to kiss her forehead I experienced a feeling that I'd known many times in my life. It was that feeling of elation before I embarked on some kind of risky venture. In the old days it was about the police and criminals and the streets of Watts and South Central LA.
But not this time. Not again. I swallowed hard and gritted my teeth with enough force to crack stone. I'd slipped but I would not fall.

A kiss can mean a lot. It can open up a whole new potentiality in a relationship - and be a risk that a cautious mind might regret having taken. It can also maintain an attractive innocence. I will probably be dismissed by some as being too childish in response to an adult novel. But for Mosley to treat sex like this feels juvenile to me: isn't he old enough to have worked out that commitment and relationship and sex have a bit more going on than this puerile opening daydream?

Like I said, I don't suppose I was the audience he was aiming at with that.

just like the other guy said..."too convoluted and unlikely.".......2005-06-29

"call me fool."

that's what easy rawlins says to us when idabell makes things very informal between them. that is the answer to all the questions you might have about this muddled and somewhat confusingly stupid story about a woman who could have made everything right if not for her love for a little yellow dog. when you read the book and wonder why easy did this and why he did that and how come he didn't do this smart thing or that smart thing, just remember what he tells us early on in the beginning. "call me fool."

two shady twins are dead, one of them found on the grounds of the school easy works for. through some rather unbelievable circumstances, other than because easy is black and the cops are mostly white, easy is a suspect for at least one of the killings. instead of telling the police the truth, which isn't always smart when you're black in the 60's, he lies to them. over and over again. instead of playing dumb, he lies. that's not the smartest move either. so let's just keep going with this story, calling him "fool." this "easy" fable of double homicide turns into something frighteningly worse as the gangsters get meaner, the whites get more evil and the blacks tell worse lies. when idabell asks easy to temporarily care for her "little yellow dog," everything falls to pieces and his nice little model citizen charade goes to crap, literally. before long, easy is about to get killed, about to lose his job, about to go to jail and about to clean up dog feces.

the dog, however, is very funny. he hates easy so much it's crazy. when easy is being beaten up by a bad guy, he sees the dog in the distance and waits for the dog to help out so that he could get a breather. but when the dog attacks him instead, a scene about sheer brutality becomes pretty funny.

with some backstory about several, and i do mean several, key characters, we're off and running with this yellow dog tale that doesn't disappoint nor does it relieve. it's just there. there for the moment, there for the heck of it, but there. in classic mosley fashion, we get a whirlwind of characters that we've mostly forgotten about by page one-hundred, but they return by page two-hundred as important links in this whodunnit chain. you really have to be a fan of these rawlins mysteries to keep up with mainstays like mofass, jewelle, jesus, feather, mouse and jackson. for the most part, these characters never really go away, so as long as you are familiar with the books, the introductions of new characters who are mostly just along for this single story shouldn't be much of a problem. well, usually it's not, but the convoluted plot kept spinning me into a weird place where i didn't know my right from my left, let alone my ups from my downs. not one of walter's better books.

i miss easy the drunk from earlier novels. easy the womanizer, the street runner. now, his words are pretty well-written to compensate for his life changes, but i miss the old easy. he was much more exciting. fool or no, he was right about one thing from the very first page - it was the dog's fault.

Too Convoluted & Unlikely.......2004-11-05

The fifth book in Mosley's Easy Rawlins series finds Easy in 1963, working as a maintenance supervisor for a public school in the Watts area of Los Angeles. For two years he's been living clean, having given up the "street life" and heavy drinking to work a straight job, while taking care of the two children he's taken in. Much is made of his desire to live a low-key, normal life, and yet... when a corpse turns up on the grounds of his school, he instinctively lies to the police, when telling the truth would likely have kept him out of the whole mess. Granted, it's well established in the series that the police are rarely (if ever) to be trusted, and there's always been a tension in the series about the allure of the "street life", however, when balanced against the moaning and groaning about wanting to lead a quiet life and raise his kids, it just doesn't make sense.

Instead, Easy lies--not to protect himself--but on behalf of a beautiful teacher he has a ten minute hookup with and who happens to be the corpse's wife, and even then, there's no clear reason for the lie. Soon, a second corpse shows up, and the lead investigator intuits that Easy's hiding something. Given several chances to come clean, Easy instead opts to plunge back into the streets to try and solve the multiple murders himself, which of course only puts him in a more compromising situation. Yes, it's made abundantly clear why a black man would not want to get involved with the police no matter what in 1963 (and not much has changed in 40 years), but wouldn't the savvy Easy of the previous four books would surely recognize that in this instance, simply being truthful is more likely to placate the police than his surly evasiveness?

From the start, the plot is wildly convoluted, and it grows ever more improbable. Almost as improbable as the transformation of his hell-raising, crazy friend Mouse, who at this point has also settled down with a wife and kid. Yes, one expects characters to transform over the course of a series, but in Mouse's case, the transformation is so utterly at odds with his stated nature that it seems entirely unreasonable. In any event, Easy runs back and forth all over LA, trying to solve the murders for the police he's trying to stay one step ahead of. The pieces of the puzzle are very complicated, and include a series of thefts from the school district, a herion smuggling operation, and of course, a few lovely ladies. The one thing that really keeps the book interesting is Mosley's vivid supporting characters, from low-lifes to bureaucrats, white, Hispanic, Asian, they all come alive on the page. Ultimately, though, one of the weaker books in the series.

A woman, a murder, a dog.......2004-06-25

In Mosley's fifth Ezekiel "Easy" Rawlins mystery it's 1963 and streetwise, brooding Easy has established a "straight" life for himself and his two adopted street children. The supervising custodian of a school in Watts, Los Angeles, he arrives for work to find Mrs. Turner, a young, lovely teacher, distraught because her husband wants to kill her dog.

A couple hours later there's a dead man in the school yard, the teacher has disappeared and Easy's stuck with a yapping mutt while the police fit him - a black man with a shady past and an attitude - for murder.

Rawlins is a man of few words, keeping most of his dialogue interior. Mrs. Turner is beautiful, alluring, available.

"'Call me Idabell,' she said.
Call me fool."

Easy has his weaknesses but understands them. He's proud and as the bodies mount up, he evades the cops and pursues his own investigation - as much for the excitement as to save his own skin.

Mosley's style is all personality - strong, eloquent, streetwise, stubborn, vivid and determined. Easy tracks his quarry with savvy and cynicism - if he doesn't get the murderer, the cops will get him.

Mosley's latest is a tightly plotted, fast-paced and thoughtful read. Pure pleasure.

But why is he... I had to keep asking.......2004-05-23

Here's a guy who is just trying to keep his life clean, after having a questionable past. He is obviously not involved in this killing, yet he continuously puts himself in situations that will get him linked to the case.

All he had to do was tell the truth from the start. Someone who had such a sordid past, and had since managed to straighten out their life, would just keep their eyes down, and be as honest with the police as possible.

At the begining, he keeps repeating that he doesn't want the police to get too interested in him, since he didn't get his job by honest means, and he doesn't want them to find out.

Turns out, he got his job the same way 85% of Americans get their job; A friend put in a good word for him. How he got this new friend was a bit unscrupulous, but their is no amount of investigating that would have uncovered that.

Even so, if he didn't want the police getting too interested, why did he keep putting himself in places and with people that were linked with the crimes.

The whole plot was just way too ridiculous for me to let go and enjoy the story, which, by the way, I thought was written with too choppy a style of writting anyway.

Book Description

Steven and his best friend Russell are back!

When Russell's dog, Rodney Rodent, jumps into a mural to chase a demonic-looking gnome and disappears, the Flint Future Detectives are on the case. With the secret password (Bow-wow-wow yippee yo yippee yay!) Steven, Richelle, and Russell enter the mural too, only to find the mysterious Mr. Chickee on the other side. To find a way out, the detectives must complete a mission—finding Rodney Rodent. And that means they're in some wild adventure!

As Steven says, "I second that emotion."

Customer Reviews:

Flint Future Detectives Are Back.......2007-08-29

This book is crazy. Meet Mr. Chickee again but this time the kids go on a different mission outside of Flint. They enter a wacky world to find Rodney Rodent and save Mr. Chickee's world called Ourside. There are new characters and spoofs on famous author JK Rowling. Learn where the quadrillion dollar bill originates. Silly silly humor that will have your 8 or 9 year old busting up. "Bow wow yippie yiyay." Read the book to find out what this means.

Average customer rating:

Family Drama
Let Sleeping Dogs Lie
Very Good and Realistic
Disappointed - Again
Family Ties

Let Sleeping Dogs Lie
Patricia Haley
Manufacturer: Kimani Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

United States | Short Stories | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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General | Fiction | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 1583146245

Book Description

Angela has reunited with Reese after a recent separation and is struggling with the adjustments necessary to restore the marriage. Letting the dust settle isn't easy, but she's taking the right step given her faith. Choosing to ignore the drama swirling around her immediate household, she also sits in a place of denial regarding the rest of the Reynolds family, whom she holds in high regard. That is until shocking rumors involving her father surface, and her world comes crashing down. The unity blanket and bliss once covering the family are in jeopardy and the ugliness is threatening to erupt. Gossip and accusations of guilt spiral out of control when an issue of paternity arises. Perhaps the weight of pretending could be bearable, but the new rumors about Sylvia crossing the line drives a wedge in their already not-so-sisterly bond, stretching Angela's faith to the breaking point.

Sylvia is nursing her own wounds and refuses to suffer in silence any longer. The day of reckoning has arrived and Sylvia is wielding the ax of judgment. In the past she has masked her hurt and anger, determined to go along with the farce. Convinced that Angela is blind to the truth, Sylvia is bent on giving her sister a view of the real world, even if it requires extreme measures. She plans to expose a slew of devastating truths at the upcoming family event and punish those responsible for her torment. Sylvia is determined to set the record straight, regardless of the lives that are sure to be impacted, including her own.

Relationships appear permanently destroyed, but Aunt Ida Mae, the voice of reason rooted in faith and trust in God, facilitates reconciliation in a family that seems unfixable. Let Sleeping Dogs Lie tugs at the heart of human frailty and family dysfunction, begging the question, Can faith in God's promises and a pinch of unconditional love enable the unforgivable to be forgiven and the painful sting forgotten?

Customer Reviews:

Family Drama.......2007-06-15

This was a really good book. It kept you wanting to know what would happen next. This family if full of drama. Many of us have people in our family that are just this same way. There is also always that one or two who don't particularly get along and someone who has to keep peace in the family. I would highly suggest reading this book for an interesting story with a little bit of a twist. You definitely learn how to trust God and he will take care of whatever it is. Hold strong to your faith even when the physical looks impossible.

Let Sleeping Dogs Lie.......2007-06-13

This book was excellent! It touched on issues that can affect families such as lies, suicide, molestation, guilt, and adultery. While some of the characters are religious, others have a strong relationship with Jesus Christ. Because of Jesus Christ, the family is able to deal with their issues and the overcome the obstacles that threaten to destroy many families.

Very Good and Realistic.......2007-02-19

Patricia Haley was an unknown at least to me in the literary world. A recent book club selection required that I read her book, Let Sleepng Dogs Lie. I found the book to be very well written and descriptive. What I liked most is that each character was well developed, almost to a fault as they were not perfect and closely resembled many in my very own family. There were many twists and turns and while I became frustrated at times, this was central to the overall theme of the book and again points to the realistic nature. I thought it was a very good read and most of my book club members voiced the same same sentiments during our book discussion. I would like to read more from Patricia Haley and I am certain I will in the very near future.

Trinice Speight Moses
SWAP Book Club
New Jersey

Disappointed - Again.......2007-02-01

I ordered this book when I ordered another one of the author's book (Still Waters), and I was disappointed again. There were too many characters, the story line was slow, and the ending was tied up too quickly. I forced myself to complete the book just to see how the author would bring everything together.

Family Ties.......2006-11-01

Patricia Haley writes about two sisters who are as different as night and day. Angela is the oldest and the church girl. She prides herself on being a Christian and can quote scriptures, however it seems they have little meaning. She has just reunited with her husband after a brief separation due to his infidelity. She says she forgives him, but her actions and words say otherwise. While her husband is trying to fix their marriage, Angela is more concerned with other family matters. Her younger sister, Sylvia, is everything Angela is not. She is an award winning psychologist and living the lifestyle of the rich and famous. She is also "daddy's girl". However, Sylvia is harboring some secrets of her own, secrets that can shatter the perfect Reynolds family. The girls rally together and stand strong with her mother when their father, a middle school principal is accused of molesting one of his students. The accusations against Mr. Reynolds starts a landslide and as the extended family gathers together more and more secrets come to light. It takes the voice and wisdom of Aunt Ida Mae to keep the family from falling apart as she admonishes them to Let Sleeping Dogs Lie.

I am not sure what all Ms Haley was trying to convey in this novel. The storyline seemed all over the place. There were too many sub-plots and the main story got lost in the shuffle. I thought the characters LaToya and Tony were important to the story, but their characters were not developed at all. In fact, LaToya seemed to be forgotten and only one other chapter beside the first one was devoted to her. Mr. Reynolds`, the accused, voice was weak. Angela, Sylvia and their mother were not very likeable people and just got on my nerves. I have been a fan of Ms Haley since she published her first novel Though I was disappointed in this offering I will be anxiously awaiting her next book.

Jeanette
APOOO BookClub

Average customer rating:

Digby (I Can Read Book 1)
Barbara Shook Hazen
Manufacturer: HarperTrophy
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Picture Books | Ages 4-8 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 006444239X

Book Description

Digby is getting old. She can't run and play much anymore. But Digby is still a very good dog. She is good at waiting, watching and understanding. Best of all, Digby is a faithful friend -- and she will never be too old for them!A little boy wants to play with his dog, Digby. His sister says Digby is too old to play catch. But if Digby can't run and jump, there are other things she can do now. In a spare, simple text, Barbara Shook Hazen presents a story about change and life-cycles perfect for the youngest readers.

A little boy wants to play with his dog, Digby. His sister says Digby is too old to play catch. But if Digby can't run and jump, there are other things she can do now. In a spare, simple text, Barbara Shook Hazen presents a story about change and life-cycles perfect for the youngest readers.

Book Description

Mr. Chickee, the genial blind man in the neighborhood, gives 9-year-old Steven a mysterious bill with 15 zeros on it and the image of a familiar but startling face. Could it be a quadrillion dollar bill? Could it be real? Well, Agent Fondoo of the U.S. Treasury Department and his team of Secret Government Agents are determined to get that money back! But Steven and his best friends, Russell and Zoopy the giant dog, are more than a match for the Feds. After all, Steven is the president of the Flint Future Detectives Club, and the inventor of fantastic spying and detecting equipment such as the Snoopeeze 9000!

Customer Reviews:

Mr. Chickee's Funny Money.......2007-05-30

I love how the characters of Chickee's Funny Money have such "funny" names, like Zoopie, Agent Fondoo, and Mr. Chickee. The characters are hilarious! This book would be great for 8 to 12 year-olds (2nd grade to 6th grade). Mr. Chickee's Funny Money is adventure fiction. In the book, a boy named Steven sticks up for his old blind neighbor, Mr. Chickee, when all the other kids (except for his five-year old friend, Russell) make fun of Mr. Chickee. One day, Mr. Chickee wants to leave Steven's town to visit some relatives. Mr. Chickee gives Steven an envelope and tells Steven not to open it until he gets home. When he gets home, Steven opens it up to find a...quadrillion-dollar bill with some jumbled letters! He wants to know what it means, so he shows it to his Mom and Dad. Steven's Dad takes him to a government agent named Agent Fondoo. When Agent Fondoo saw the quadrillion dollar bill, he wanted to get it back. It used to be the government's bill, but Mr. Chickee somehow got it. Christopher Paul Curtis made the words pop out from the page, like when Steven's dad said, "'I'M NOT PLAYING WITH YOU, STEVEN DAEMON CARTER. STAY OUT!!!!!!!!!" My favorite part of the book is in the ending, but to tell you would give the entire book away. Two thumbs up for Christopher Paul Curtis!

Excellent book for youth.......2007-01-19

An excellent mixture of comedy and intrigue. Book positively explores the concept of relationships. Is a little week on supporting authority figures, but all in all a very good book for youth.

sorry - Not his best.......2006-10-29

The Wastons is one of by favorite books and I really liked Bud Not Buddy and Bucking the Sarge...but alas this one does not reach the same high standard. Compared to the Watsons, Bucking the Sarge is for an older reader and Mr. Chickee is for a younger reader. It does have some very clever ideas and some funny moments but it does not come together as brilliantly as his first two books.
What ever happen to the movie for the Watsons?

a laugh out loud book.......2006-07-13

My 6th grader couldn't resist reading this book out loud at the dinner table, chuckling the whole time. A didactic father who turns every event into an excuse for a math or history lesson, an overly patronizing mother who has read one too many child psychology books -- what child wouldn't identify with their long-suffering son, who sees right through them? I especially liked the fact that here, as in Bud Not Buddy, while it becomes gradually clear by the end of the story that the protagonist is African-American, that fact is no more and no less relevant than describing some other character as Irish. Highly recommended.

Mr. Chickee's Funny Money Review.......2006-03-30

By: Christopher Paul Curtis
Reviewed By: B. Lin
P.1

The book is about a blind man who gives Steven a quadrillion dollar bill but Steven does not know if it is real or not. He decides to take the book to the "Feds" to see if it is real of not. Well, agent Fondoo is offering Steven 2 thousand dollars for the quadrillion dollar bill but Steven knows better than that. The agent then start traking Steven. Read the book to find out what happens. It is a very funny and exciting book.
I like this book because of how the author writes. He writes simple buy yet, uses words that can get you tense. He makes you feel that you are a spectator who is in the book and you can see in your head of what is happening. If there is a sequel I will be wanting to read it and I wonder what will happen to Steven in his next adventure.
My favorite part in the book is when Agent Fondoo had to apologize to Steven and his parents and Russell's parents too. I didn't like how the way Fondoo treated the kids so I thought it was really funny how Agent Fondoo had to give Steven and his family a lot of things so he could apologize. I hope that the if the sequal comes out Steven will be able to find out who and how r. Chickee was invovled with all of this. So, read the book and experience how fun and exciting this book is.

Where The Water-Dogs Laughed: The Story of the Great Bear

Average customer rating:

Storytelling at its best, raised to the level of myth and timelessness
Water-Dogs
A truly fascinating story & so well written!
A Book about Grace
Inside the Mind of a Great Bear

Where The Water-Dogs Laughed: The Story of the Great Bear
Charles F. Price
Manufacturer: High Country Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Historical | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 1932158502

Customer Reviews:

Storytelling at its best, raised to the level of myth and timelessness.......2007-01-01

With this novel Price brings to a close a remarkable multigenerational saga set in the mountains of North Carolina, a remote corner of the world in which the brutal aftermath of the Civil War is up-close-and-personal and seemingly without end. But what an end to this four-volume feast of the senses! Price engages the reader in the rawness of human nature and lets us rise to the level of myth and timelessness, right alongside his characters, touching the best and worst in all of us and causing us to think about our own need for finding meaning and seeking redemption. Price skillfully and sensitively lets us share in the journeys of both Hamby McFee and the Great Bear; and his drawing us inside the minds of both of them, raised to the level of myth, is storytelling at its very best. Supporting the central story of Hamby and the Great Bear are richly textured themes that create the fabric of the mountains and her people---environmental, economic, societal, political, spiritual---and never once does Price lapse into a gratuitous or stereotypical treatment of these themes. These books will linger in your mind long after you read the last page, and I recommend you treat yourself to a real feast by reading all four novels in the order they were written: Hiwassee, Freedom's Altar, The Cock's Spur, and Where the Water-Dogs Laughed.

Water-Dogs.......2006-12-22

Charles F. Price is one of the best kept secrets in the Appalachian Mountains. His book, "Where the Water-Dogs Laughed: The Story of the Great Bear," contains sophisticated character development and a true to life historical treatment of the time just after the Civil War. Those who were wealthy and powerful got that way by exploiting the land, and most everyone else scraped by and wished they could do the same, except for Hamby, a half Black, half White man who spends much of the story working out his anger toward the injustices he faces.

I was thoroughly taken by the main character, Hamby, and the Great Bear Yan-e'gwa's intertwined fates and of course the crooked dog Cattywampus' role in the end. The dog, who had previously been damaged by a bear so severely he could not walk straight quite literally had to be made straight again by Yan-e'gwa.

The idea of recognizing the life force of the land made the book feel so much more contemporary than the typical story written about the era of the Civil War and after. The strength of humans is measured not in their defeat of the land as adversary, but in their connection to it as steward. In this, Hamby comes out superior to all.

This was the first Charles F. Price book I have read and I highly recommend it. His is not a genre I normally read, but I found it a pleasant surprise and plan to read the rest of his work.

A truly fascinating story & so well written!.......2006-12-21

The other reviews here are more detailed than mine. but I do want to add that "Where the Water Dogs Laughed" is a marvelous book, one that shows some literary cohones and ingenuity. When Price writes in the voice of the bear, the font changes to clue you in, but even if it didn't, you would know it isn't the voice of a person. It's hard to put my finger on exactly how (the magic!) Price does this but he does it so well that going from people narrative to the voice of the bear is totally seamless. It works really well.

Hamby McFee makes his last comeback here in a truly poignant story of family loyalty, complex racial issues, accurate local history such as the typhoid epidemic of 1889 ( I hope I have the correct date!) The ending of this book is spectacular, one that is not only surprising but has a vivid luminous quality that left me breathless. It reminded me of Nuala O'Faolain's 2002 novel "My Dream of You" that has a mystical and also surprising ending.

Why no large publisher picked up this book, even for a possible movie version, is almost shocking. This is a wonderful book full of great characters and exquisite storytelling. Charles Frazier, move over!

A Book about Grace.......2003-12-07

This book is about grace. Where the Water-dogs Laughed is peopled with characters so real I experienced their triumphs, failures, and thoughts as my own. Set in the late 1800's in the mountains of Western North Carolina, the characters are engaged in struggles that echo many of today's troubles including the devastation of the environment, the need to make money from the land, domestic emotional abuse, and hard economic times. The Great Bear and Cattywampus Dog are as real as the people. The Cherokee belief about the covenant between bears and man is told through the Great Bear. I found this a surprising approach and became intrigued with the Bear's voice and experience of his world. My favorite character is Hamby McFee, an ex-slave, who takes over the book from beginning to end. He struggles with feeling separated from others and yet bound to them through their shared place in the Hiwassee valley. His desire to maintain his integrity by protecting himself from the judgment of others with a hard, bitter attitude results in a loneliness I found familiar. Hamby is one of the most original characters I've encountered and I found myself wanting to defend him whenever he was misunderstood by the other characters. Price incorporates the romance of his own grandparents, Lily Carter and Will Price, into the story. Their courtship is formal and old-fashioned and ultimately inspiring as they overcome the obstacles laid out for them by Will's adopted father. Another love relationship takes place between Absalom Middleton and Cassandra Weatherby; Price does an incredible job of evoking an erotic, passionate relationship without ever depicting a sexual encounter. Adding balance, humor, and grace is Irish Bill Moore who is as rooted to the land as the Great Bear. Like an elf who lives in the forest he emerges from the mountain mists beating his Civil War drum, gaily teasing the wife he adores, mourning his two sons who are lost to a typhoid epidemic, longing for his youth, and wisely seeing the ability of man and Mother Earth to endure. This book is gritty, true, and full of the struggles of daily existence and it raises us up to taste something larger than ourselves.

Inside the Mind of a Great Bear.......2003-11-12

In WHERE THE WATER DOGS LAUGHED, the last in a series of four books by Charles F. Price, the author has reached his full stride as a writer. His characters, especially the protagonists, Hamby and the Great Bear, are finely drawn and the way their minds work, is the most fascinating part of the book. In addition, his skillful blending of Cherokee legend and family history creates an accurate and telling picture of that part of western North Carolina that never seems to be included, on a map, with the rest of the state.
The time is the turn of the last century, when the first glimmerings of antipathy between "progress" and "ecology" become apparent. As often happens, the need to provide a livlihood for one's family, is frequently at odds with what is good for the land and its' inhabitants, including bears. This Bear is the standard bearer for his race and his thoughts and memories form his purpose.
Hamby, the main human character has appeared in the earlier books, but without the sensitivity and definition given him in this novel. He is a man who lives alone, spiritually, from the rest of the world and has his own set of standards, from which he never deviates. As a result, he misses some of the gentler experiences, of human life. These two uncompromising characters are brought together in a stunning, yet trimphant collision, that will ring through the mountains for years.
Charles Price is considered a regional writer, but this book makes him a universal one, in my opinion. No matter where you live, this book is a great read. Don't miss it.

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An eye opening read.........

Blessings on the Sheep Dog
Gerda Saunders
Manufacturer: Southern Methodist University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

United States | Short Stories | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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Book Description

From the violent world of apartheid South Africa to the supposed immigrant haven of the United States, the people in Saunders's debut story collection brave life's big questions about connection, displacement, death, love, race, and justice. Grappling with feelings too disturbing to articulate, they turn to anthropology or math, music or cosmology, to make sense of the dissonance around them. More often than not, the only truth they find is that life is a complicated dance, and doing the right thing a moment by moment decision.

In "We'll Get to Now Later" Stan, a guilt-stricken white South African immigrant confronts his apartheid past when he meets a Zulu dancer traveling with a circus in the United States; in "Pig Day" Jared, an American teenager, accidentally kills his best friend Nick, the son of a Romanian immigrant, and is co-opted by the bereaved father to build a coffin; and in "A Sudden New City" Heila, a mentally frail and physically faltering white South African grandmother, drives a tractor into a black crowd as revenge for her husband Jacob's infidelity across the color line.

The voices we hear in Saunders's stories are male, female, young, old, American, South African, Romanian. In richly textured prose, they attest to moments as sublime as the music of the spheres or depict images of earth bound brutality bloody as a goat's severed head on a pike. In the tradition of Nadine Goridmer and Norman Rush, but with its own sense of comedy and metaphor, Blessings on the Sheep Dog is a wizardly act of ventriloquism to listen to, relish, remember.

Customer Reviews:

An eye opening read................2005-08-27

I bought this book because I went to high school with the author. I never gave a thought at the time to what it must have been like growing up in So. Africa during apartheid. She was "just a foreign exchange student" who happened to come from that part of the world.
From reading her book I saw a whole new side of her and enjoyed every second of reading the book. I would highly recommend it for anyone - it is a great book regardless of whether you know the author or not!

Rip's Secret Spot (Green Light Readers Level 1)

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Rip's Secret Spot

Rip's Secret Spot (Green Light Readers Level 1)
Kristi T. Butler
Manufacturer: Green Light Readers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Ages 4-8 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

Multiculturalism | Issues | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | Education | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0152026460

Book Description

Pat and her family keep losing things. Maybe Rip the dog can solve the mini-mystery! This lively companion to The Tapping Tale finds its perfect match in Joe Cepeda's gently comic illustrations.

Customer Reviews:

Rip's Secret Spot.......2001-04-22

Rip's Secret Spot is a welcome addition to a great series of beginning readers. The words are appropriate and repetitive without being boring, and the story is simple, but well received by young readers. I use many titles from Green Light Readers as extra reading practice for students just past simple phonics readers and have found them to be beautifully illustrated, attractive, and satisfying for this group.

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Silba por Willie
Ezra Jack Keats
Manufacturer: Viking Juvenile
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Picture Books | Ages 4-8 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0670843954

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