Editorial Review

This award-winning novel remains a powerful classic of prejudice,love,and survival. In 1942, 11-year-old Phillip Enright lives with his parents on the Dutch island of Curaçao, but when the war moves too close forcomfort, his mother decides to travel with him back to the safety of Virginia. When their boat is torpedoed, however, Phillip is blinded and finds himself adrift on a life raft with an old black man and a cat. They eventually land on a deserted island.Phillip is suspicious of "the large Negro," but soon grows to trust--and ultimately love--the patient and generous Timothy. Dedicated to "Dr. King's Dream," Read more

Reviews (521)

Solid, well-done fiction -a teacher's review
'The Cay' is a wonderful little bit of fiction. It has action, is well-written and contains such themes as overcoming racism, sacrifice and resourcefulness. Its quick-moving plot and easy to read style should make it accessible to almost anyone.
Why this book inspired me
This book inspired me by perservering.The young boy on the island never gave up after he became blind.For example, he asked the elderly man to show him how to survive on the island.This helped me in school because even though something might happen to me I shouldn't give up.

An Excellent Book
The Cay, by Theodore Taylor is an extremely exciting book, which could be read by ages 10 and up because it does not have very hard vocabulary, and it is easy to understand. This book takes place on the island of Curacao in the Caribbean, during World War Two. Philip, who is a preteen lives on Curacao is from Virginia, and lives on the island with his mother, and father. German submarines have surrounded the island and were destroying boats that were trying to get off the island. When Philips mother gets scared that the Germans will attack the island, she wants to get back to the United States with Philip. When their boat leaves, the Germans do not torpedo them...yet. Philip ends up on a raft with an old colored deckhand from the boat. He is old, and is named Timothy, who is from the U.S. Virgin Islands. They keep drifting for around a week and then end up on a, small remote island that is in an area called the "Devils Mouth." Timothy has excellent survival skills. I definitely would recommend this book to anyone who likes, suspenseful exciting books. I think both boys and girls would like this book. Overall a great book that many people would like. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Action & Adventure - General    2. Children's Books/Ages 9-12 Fiction    3. Children: Young Adult (Gr. 7-9)    4. Fiction    5. Friendship    6. Juvenile Fiction    7. Prejudices    8. Social Issues - Prejudice & Racism    9. Social Issues - Special Needs    10. Survival    11. Juvenile Fiction / People & Places / Other   

Editorial Review

As the three Baudelaire orphans warily approach their new home--PrufrockPreparatory School--they can't help but notice the enormous stone arch bearingthe school's motto Read more

Reviews (221)

More dreadful fun
Once again the Baudelaire Orphans find themselves off to another place to live with another sinister guardian.Mr. Poe drops the orphans off at a boarding school where all of the buildings resemble gravestones.The rules at the school are horrible and the evil Vice Principal forces the students to live in an even more horrible shack with crabs that live on the floor and bite the orphans' toes.However the orphans finally make some friends at the school and for a time it seems as though this school will be better than the other places they have lived.However, Count Olaf, in disguise, gets hired as the school's new gym teacher.Once again, Olaf finds a way to sneak past the people in charge and trap the Baudelaire's in another trap.
The Austere Academy
Have you ever read the austere academy? Well if you haven't, you should read it-you it's the fifth book of the series of unfortunate events. So you may want to read the first four first.That way you'll understand what is happening. It's mostly about- it is about three, wealthy, intelligent, children whose parent passed away in a fire while the children, Violet, Klaus, and Sunny were atthe beach. When the children find a new home, they discover that their foster parent is trying to steel their fortune. In every book, at least the first five I've read, that the foster parent discise himself in order to steel their fortune. Also, in every book, they have new home but tradgety happens but not the fifth one.....
Series of Unfortunate Events Book 5 review
Series of Unfortunate Events Book #5 The Austere Academy
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Subjects:  1. Action & Adventure - General    2. Boarding schools    3. Brothers and sisters    4. Children's Books/Ages 9-12 Fiction    5. Children: Grades 4-6    6. Family - Orphans & Foster Homes    7. Family - Siblings    8. Fiction    9. Humorous Stories    10. Juvenile Fiction    11. Orphans    12. School & Education    13. Schools    14. Juvenile Fiction / Family / Orphans & Foster Homes   

Editorial Review

Fans of Lemony Snicket's wonderful Series of Unfortunate Events won't besurprised to find that in the sixth installment the three Baudelaire orphans'new home proves to be something of a mixed bag. As our ever sad but helpfulnarrator states, "Although 'a mixed bag' sometimes refers to a plastic bag thathas been stirred in a bowl, more often it is used to describe a situation thathas both good parts and bad parts. An afternoon at the movie theater, forinstance, would be a mixed bag if your favorite movie were showing, but if youhad to eat gravel instead of popcorn. A trip to the zoo would be a very mixedbag if the weather were beautiful, but all of the man-and woman-eating lionswere running around loose." And so it is for the bad-luck Baudelaires. Theirfancy new 71-bedroom home on 667 Dark Avenue is inhabited by Esmé GigiGeniveve Squalor (the city's sixth most important financial advisor), and herkindly husband, Jerome, who doesn't like to argue. Esmé is obsessed bythe trends du jour (orphans are "in"), and because elevators are "out," Sunny,Violet, and Klaus have to trudge up 66 flights of stairs to reach the Squalors'penthouse apartment. (Other unfortunate trends include pinstripe suits, aqueousmartinis--water with a faint olive-y taste--parsley soda, and oceandecorations.) Read more

Reviews (170)

Snicket has done it Again!
The Baudelaires have faced many, many, predicaments that lead up to the E-
Return to Home?
Dear Reader,
uhhh ok
it was not the best one but i would say still good.... ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Action & Adventure - General    2. Brothers and sisters    3. Children's Books/Ages 9-12 Fiction    4. Children: Grades 4-6    5. Family - Orphans & Foster Homes    6. Family - Siblings    7. Fiction    8. Humorous Stories    9. Juvenile Fiction    10. Orphans    11. Siblings    12. Juvenile Fiction / Family / Orphans & Foster Homes   

Reviews (53)

Good Ending for a Good Series
Good ending to a good series.Terry Brooks comes through again.

Good News and Bad News
The good news is that Terry Brooks' latest Shannara trilogy, High Druid of Shannara, is a considerable improvement over his previous effort (Voyage of the Jerle Shannara).The bad news is that this one suffers almost as much from sheer "ho hum", as the last one did from sheer implausibility.
Series fizzles out
Spoiler warning.
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Subjects:  1. Fantasy    2. Fantasy - Epic    3. Fantasy - General    4. Fiction    5. Fiction - Fantasy    6. Science Fiction - General    7. Fiction / Fantasy / General   

Subjects:  1. Action & Adventure - General    2. Children's All Ages - Fiction - General    3. Children's Books/Ages 9-12 Fiction    4. Children: Grades 4-6    5. Dogs    6. Fiction    7. Historical - General    8. Juvenile Fiction    9. Orphans    10. Slavery    11. Juvenile Fiction / Action & Adventure   

Reviews (10)

Outstanding Reference for Database Developers Moving to SQL 2005 From 2000
We have been heavy users (both as developers and administrators) of SQL Server 2000 since it came out in 2000.We were anxious to upgrade to SQL Server 2005 and did so in early 2006.For the first couple of months we largely utilized SQL 2005 in the same way that we had done with SQL 2000 (with the exception of using the new Management Studio) and did not really exploit the new features of SQL 2005.This book definitely opened our eyes to many of the new features of the SQL 2005 database and we are using many of those features in our current development efforts.
Not what I was looking for
If you're looking for a "what's new in SQL Server 2005" this book covers that.If you're looking for a reference book on the product, that goes into how to configure or upgrade from an earlier version--Keep Looking.
Excellent SQL 2005 Coverage
This book does an awesome job of hitting everything that is new in SQL 2005.There is a lot to cover so it doesn't go into deep depth, but it does give you a good overview and points you in the right direction to find more information out on a particular topic by making sure you have a great introduction. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Client/server computing    2. Computer Books: Database    3. Computers    4. Computers - Languages / Programming    5. Database Management - General    6. Database Management - SQL Server    7. Database management    8. Information Storage & Retrieval    9. Programming Languages - General    10. Programming Languages - SQL   

Editorial Review

Ed Abbey called Read more

Reviews (96)

Eco-Terrorists as anti-heroes
I was familiar with this book several years before I chose to read it.I knew that it was about a bunch of "lawbreakers" who, in a spirit of environmental idealism, set about to ruin what they considered myriad evidence of massive anti-environmentalism.Their activities included the destruction of highway billboard advertisements, burning and exploding bridges that carried hugh oil tankers across them, as well as sabotaging the oil tankers themselves, and blowing up government built dams that resulted in the drying up of some of nation's most majestic rivers.The four members of the "Monkey Wrench Gang," Doc A.K. Sarvis, his feminist girlfriend Bonnie Abbzug, Joseph "Seldom Seen" Smith, a polygamist Mormon, and George W. Hayduke, also wanted some payback for massive deforestation and for the forced death of thousands of cattle and other animals who were fenced in by barbed wire, thereby prevented from escaping from fierce winter snows and related frigid weather conditions.
Edward Abbey's Legacy...Great Literature and a Greater Appreciation for the American Southwest...And the Glen Canyon Dam
The name Edward Abbey is a foul couple of words for some, and is followed by foul language off the tongue of the same people. But, it shouldn't...both for his great body writings and for his fierce appreciation for everything that makes the American West great. "The Monkey Wrench Gang" and its sequel "Hayduke Lives" are classic American Literature as well as important social commentary on who we are and what should matter to us as a society and a country. (This review is for both books so might be a bit longer than usual.)
Not fine literature, just a story for fun
Edward Abbey's writings tend to attract a love `em or hate `em response."It changed my life.""I've found a hero." "The guy's an idiot.""Monkey wrenchers are criminals."
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Subjects:  1. Environmental protection    2. Environmentalists    3. Fiction    4. Fiction - General    5. General    6. Humorous fiction    7. Southwestern States    8. Fiction / General    9. Modern fiction   

Editorial Review

The Nobel prize-winning Albert Camus, who died in 1960, could not have known how grimly current his existentialist novel of epidemic and death would remain. Set in Algeria, in northern Africa, Read more

Reviews (131)

Meaninglessness Exists Only Until You Impose Your Own
THE PLAGUE by Albert Camus is one of the most gripping, thought provoking novels to emerge from the aftermath of the Second World War.It tells of the bubonic plague breaking out in Oran, in Algeria, with thousands dying daily for months on end.Eventually, after heroic efforts by the city government, the plague begins to abate, and the survivors bury the dead and try to make sense out of what seems like an undirected thunderbolt from a vengeful god.On just this level, THE PLAGUE carries the reader along with its realistic depiction of first the fraying and then the snapping of the tenuous strands that bind a civilized society.But this is Camus writing, a man whose novels and plays always suggest more than they say.THE PLAGUE lends itself to allegory, in which the totality of the surface story covers a hidden one.In this case, given that western civilization had come THISCLOSE to annihilation by the German Nazis, the allegory could safely point to a world conflagration that had ended just two years prior to the book's publication.Just as the Nazis had hidden beneath the legitimate German government of the 1920s before emerging to overwhelm Europe with death and destruction one decade later, so do the rats wait in their lairs, secretly multiplying, waiting for the day to leave their lairs to spread their disease, announcing to a disbelieving world that the nightmare has already begun.
poor translation
I don't wish to comment on the story itself (I haven't even finished the book, in fact); merely on its style and wording. I know a bit of French, and understand the form of the language. As I read Gilbert's translation, I can see that form and style. Unfortunately, it makes it difficult to read in English. I get the impression that Gilbert tried to present the English version as close as possible to a verbatim translation of the French, and it really inhibits the flow. I find that I'm constantly caught up trying to disentangle sentences, and it makes it very hard to focus.
Read "Blindness" and Pass on The Plague...
Dr. Rieux, the main character of the novel, moves throughout the book in a detached surreal hopeless manner.He goes thru the motions of "doing his job" while death surrounds him from a wide spread and accelerating plague.
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Subjects:  1. Classics    2. Fiction    3. Literary    4. Literature - Classics / Criticism    5. Literature: Classics    6. Plague    7. Psychological fiction    8. Fiction / Literary    9. Modern fiction   

Reviews (11)

Further frothy unrealism from Cabot, dumbed down for our age group.
Meg Cabot's books seem to be getting shorter and shorter timespans. HOW TO BE POPULAR is spent over the course of a week.
Another great teen lit
Meg Cabot does it again. She somehow wrote another great teen lit book that all teen girls will relate to. This isnt only entertaining, but there's a moral to the story too. Being popular doesnt mean being happy, which the main character Steph Landry figures out after reading an old book about how to become popular.
How to be Popular
I loved this book. Steph , because of a Big Red Super Big Gulp incident, will forever be unpopular. Until she finds The Book. The one book that will change her from unpopular to popular instantly, but will leave her friends Jason and Becca completely in the dark as to why she WANTS to be popular. And soon she realizes that being popular isn't as good as it sounds.
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Subjects:  1. Children's 12-Up - Fiction - General    2. Children's Books - Young Adult Fiction    3. Children: Young Adult (Gr. 7-9)    4. Fiction    5. High schools    6. Humorous Stories    7. Juvenile Fiction    8. Love & Romance    9. Popularity    10. Schools    11. Social Issues - Adolescence    12. Juvenile Fiction / Social Situations / Adolescence   

Reviews (54)

it sounds like this
Here's the thing about Sarah Dessen.She lets us in.Into these lives of characters who share their pain with us so intensely it's like you already know them.And you want to help them finally be the people they want to be, even if they don't know it yet.
Just Listen
Just Listen
This book is amazing.
I really loved this book as I do her others as well including: The Truth About Forever, This Lullaby, Dreamland, Someone Like You, and That Summer.She is a truly amazing writer that indulges so deeply into the subconscience of the main character and shows you the journey that they have to go through to grow, learn, develope, and share.Each book always reminds me something in my own life and is therefore easy to relate to.Her books are not only for young adults but for adults especially women who have children or don't because anyone can relate to these stories of growing up.She is a truly inspirational writer and this was a great book.I couldn't put it down and read it in 4 and a half hours. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Children's 12-Up - Fiction - General    2. Children's All Ages - Fiction - General    3. Children: Young Adult (Gr. 10-12)    4. Fiction    5. Girls & Women    6. Interpersonal relations    7. Juvenile Fiction    8. Models (Persons)    9. Self-actualization (Psychology)    10. Social Issues - Emotions & Feelings    11. Social Issues - Friendship    12. Social Issues - Sexual Abuse    13. Juvenile Fiction / Girls & Women   

Editorial Review

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Reviews (192)

Children of theMind
A+, It's a gotta have for the Sci-Fi Officianado.
far fetched ...
everybody is a mind reader in this book, everybody knows exacly what everyone else is thinking, why they are thinking it, and whay they think they think it ... not so good....

The most annoying book in the series
It's a bad idea to create a character-driven sci-fi when your characters are this annoying.The majority of Children of the Mind consists of inane dialogue between characters that are impossible to care about.The characters are so one-dimensional and predictable that you already know what they'll say before they say it.Peter says nothing except smart alecky remarks, Val spends the whole book whining loudly about not being a real person, Novinha is as crazy and hard-headed as she's been for the last two books, and Ender spouts off a bunch of trite, up-with-people garbage every chance he gets.Somehow, Card even managed to make Jane more irritating than my ex-girlfriend during PMS.The only decent characters in this book are Miro and Wang Mu, and they aren't nearly enough to save the story.
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Subjects:  1. Fiction    2. Fiction - Science Fiction    3. Science Fiction    4. Science Fiction - General    5. Science Fiction - High Tech    6. Science Fiction - Series    7. Fantasy    8. Fiction / Science Fiction / General   

Editorial Review

Lois Lowry's magnificent novel of the distant future, Read more

Reviews (253)

It Completes
When I first reviewed The Giver years ago, I loved it.Until I got to the end.It felt woefully incomplete.It wasn't simply that the reader was required to imagine possibilities.It felt like the author hadn't finished showing us her theme.Now she has with this sequel, and I only wish I could go back to increase the stars on The Giver, for the sequel has pulled up that book as well.
Gathering Blue
Kira is a child that is left with no family.Her mother now gone and taken to the field, with nowhere to live and no one to take care of her.Many people wouldn't mind if Kira and her twisted leg were left in the field to die. People thought that she was no good and couldn't do anything for the community.One of the women of the community had taken her land and made it into a place for their small children.These same women didn't agree that Kira should stay; she had gone to the Council of Guardians with the situation.
Gathering Blue, the best of Lois Lowry
The book Gathering Blue is about a crippled girl named Kira. After her mother dies from sickness, Kira is left an orphan. Most of the town is more than happy to get ridof her, especially Vandara. In an angry attempt o kill Kira, she reminds them that "If there is any death, the causer of death must die." She is brought to trail with Vandara as her accuser. Vandara's charges against Kira are that she is worthless, eats a lot yet she doesn't earn her food. Kira is speechless and has no idea how she is going to defend herself. It doesn't matter because the Council of Elders has plans for her. Kira's mother was an talented seamstress and Kira is even better. She has been asked to repair the Singer's robe and in time, create her own section of work onto the robe. Her encounters with people who know the real truth changes her life forever. Read more

Subjects:  1. Children's 9-12 - Fiction - Science Fiction    2. Children's Books/Ages 9-12 Fiction    3. Children: Young Adult (Gr. 7-9)    4. Family - Orphans & Foster Homes    5. Fiction    6. Juvenile Fiction    7. Orphans    8. People with disabilities    9. Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Magic    10. Science fiction    11. Social Issues - Special Needs    12. Social Situations - Special Needs    13. Juvenile Fiction / Science Fiction, Fantasy, Magic    14. Reading Group Guide   

Editorial Review

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Reviews (63)

Sorry To Close This Book
I had put off reading this book for a long time.It just sat there on my bookshelf wanting to be read.But for some reason I didn't until recently.And now I know why.I hated closing this book because now I will never see Nest Freemark again.
Another page turner from a master
Angel Fire East is the last installment in the Word and Void trilogy that started with Running with the Demon.Twenty-nine year old Nest Freemark lives in her hometown of Hopewell, IL recovering from a divorce and trying to decide what to do with the rest of her life after a strange ending to her career as a professional runner.Meanwhile John Ross, the Knight of the Word, starts a mission to find and capture a gypsy morph, a creation of wild magic that can be used for good or evil, which could tip the balance in the war between the Word and the Void.Of course, the forces of the Void are hot on his trail and Nest and the people she loves most are caught in the middle as a battle for the gypsy morph is joined in Hopewell.
a fine conclusion to Word/Void
Terry Brooks wraps up his Word/Void Trilogy with Angel Fire East.It is now some fifteen years after the events of Running With the Demon and ten since A Knight of the Word.John Ross is still fighting the good fight, trying to stop the small events that he knows will tip the world closer to the power of the Void.He dreams of the future, of a world in ruin and of the events that could hold off that future.He learns that a Gyspy Morph will be born, a being born of wild and uncontrolled magic that could tip the balance in the favor of the Void if Ross fails in captured the Morph.It is raw magical energy in a physical form.Standing in Ross's path is Findo Gast.Gast is a demon sent to stop John Ross and to claim the Morph for the Void.He's a mean one, Mr. Grinch.
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Subjects:  1. Fantasy - Contemporary    2. Fantasy - Dark/Horror    3. Fantasy - General    4. Fiction    5. Fiction - Fantasy    6. Fiction / Fantasy / General   

Editorial Review

It's tough when the things that stand between you and your desired sugar bowl are a host of deadly mushrooms and an uncomfortable diving suit. The unlucky Baudelaire orphans find themselves in deep (once again) in this eleventh book in Lemony Snicket's odd-and-full-of-woe-but-quite-funny Series of Unfortunate Events. In