1 comments about Ghetto Girls, Special Edition.

1. Ghetto Girls is such a good book to read. It talks about real things that happens in the real world to young people who are unfortunate.I really enjoy this book because these things really happens to people today.This book shows how young people can lose their lives so fast over silly things.
   In reading this book I cant believe situations that young grls go through.It touched in a way that I would not judge anyone from where they been brought up.This book would be available to anyone in which does'nt cost much. Therfore, I believe that young people should this book because it gives an insght on how life can be.
   Sasha

No comments about Why Have They Taken Our Children?: Chowchilla, July 15, 1976.

5 comments about The Famous Stanley Kidnapping Case.

1. This book is that rare treat - a children's book that is so multi-faceted and well told that it will capture any adult reader as well.

   I found this book looking for something good for my daughter to read, then couldn't give it up to her until I had finished it! A tense, realistic, and heartwarming tale.




2. I liked this book a lot. This story has action to it and a regular story line to it as well. It was very good. This book had a lot of sense to it and good detail as well as plot. I recommend this book highly! It's most enjoyable.



3. as a kid i read the headless cupid many times. i remeber eading this and never finishing it for some reason now i ddi finish it. it was very good. i t is an exciting kidnapping story. if you look for something with a supernatraul twist like cupid this dosent have as much execept for blair,s vison however it still enjoyable.



4. THE FAMOUS STANLEY KIDNAPPING CASE finds the same characters from Snyder's classic THE HEADLESS CUPID in Italy. Molly has inherited a little money from an uncle and they decide to spend the year in Italy so she can explore art. The story is told from the children's point of view, mainly David's. Tesser, Blair and Janey act exactly as before, almost stereotypically so. However, there is no recurrence of the spooky happenings from Blair that made CUPID so wonderful. Amanda has reverted to teenage surliness after her about-face at the end of CUPID and is (again stereotypically) a real pain about the move she doesn't want to make.
   
   The kidnapping takes place after Amanda brags that her father is a rich movie-maker in California to impress the Italian kids in school. Instead of just Amanda, the kidnappers end up with all five Stanley children and find it is much more than they can handle. The children finally free themselves mostly by frustrating the kidnappers to no end. An enjoyable read, but not as good or memorable as THE HEADLESS CUPID.



5. I have to admit that I liked "TFSKC" best of the three Stanley books. I thought Blair's visions of the Virgin Mary were perfectly in keeping with the tone of the story, being set in Italy (seat of the Roman Catholic church and all).
   The characters were very *real*. I too came from a blended family and I could identify with both David and Amanda. I recently re-read the books and found them just as enjoyable this time around.
   (And yes, I had to sleep with the lights on again after reading "The Headless Cupid".)
   :o)

4 comments about Budgie the Little Helicopter.

1. Budgie: The Little Helicopter is wonderfully illustrated and catches the child's eye with all it's bright colors. The story is intriguing and my two children, 5 & 6 at the time (now 7 & 8) were totally absorbed by it. My son slept with the book for weeks.



2. My Granddaughter received this book for Christmas two years ago when she was two. She still enjoys hearing the stories about Budgie. It is a throughly enjoyable book for children. The video is great too. Wish there were more of them.



3. This was the first book I can remember loving. I'm not sure whether I memorised it from hearing it so much and went from there, but Budgie taught me how to read at the age of 3. Sadly I haven't read it since, but I highly recommend it to children as the characters are so easy to love!



4. I bought this book because my 2 year old is in love with helicopters. I didn't bother reading past the first couple pages because I figured it had to be tame since the Duchess of York wrote it. I was wrong. The first few pages are fine, and then I found out what the story is about. A little girl is kidnapped and Budgie needs to help rescue her. There is even a picture of two men chasing after a little girl in pigtails. I stopped reading as soon as I realized what the story was about and deposited it straight in the trash. This book is inappropriate for children. Based on the pictures I just can't figure out what age group this would be appropriate for. I personally don't want to send my son to bed with nightmares.

No comments about The Shark Island Mystery (Xtreme Adventures Inc.).

1 comments about Kacy and the Space Shuttle Secret.

1. Kacy, a sixth grade, usually does not succeed in school. Then she comes up with a science project that gets her interested. She wants to send a plant into space. Kacy has to fight to succeed, but finially she gets NASA to do it. Little did she know her plant would change her life forever.

1 comments about THE RESCUERS (Disney's Wonderful World of Reading).

1. I like this book because it's about rescuers. My favorite part is when they save the gril named Penny. In this book I like the pictures because there are mice and there's a mean lady.
   You should buy it because it is old and famous.

5 comments about Deep.

1. Deep
   By: Susanna Vance
   
   
   Picture this, a beautiful island known as a Cook Island named Calista. Its small, only a 30 minute walk all the way around, not even big enough to be found on a map. In the middle, off the ocean shore, is a dense forest. It's the place you read about in fairy tales, where the sun always rises and sets perfectly. The only problem is that a mysterious man who thinks he is in charge of everything owns it, but could that really ruin it all?
   Ask a 13-year-old red head named Birdwinkle Sidwell or Birdie. Follow her as she takes you on an adventure you will never forget, that all begins when she travels to the Caribbean for one year of her life. Birdie is a normal teenage girl who wants to be an author but has a problem. Nothing amazingly interesting has ever happened to her so she has nothing to fill the pages of her book with. She wishes for something more exciting, something bigger, something to make a best seller and all of that comes true in an unexpected way.
   Morgan Bera was born to the one true thing she loves, the endless sea. She fears land and what it seems to do to the people who live on it or even visit it. Morgan's strength and courage is the only thing keeping her going in life. After Morgan and her parents go their separate ways she is in search of someone to give her "official" papers so her beloved Svanhild would finally become hers, but her sense of ocean laws leads her on an adventure that will change her life forever.
   Nicholas the Australian shows you the true meaning of a man with two faces. Is that sweet man really a fake though or is it all just your imagination. I mean, isn't he just an innocent Australian man that had the misfortune of some terrible accident? Judge for yourself as his character unravels before your eyes.
   What about that popular girl though? That always seems to have her life together. What is her life really about? Well she gets Nudelized into this perfect little princess by her mom and the evil man himself. She tries to hold on to her true self and tries to stay the person that was once Birdie's best friend but will she?
   The author, Susanna Vance's writing style captivates your attention throughout every page. Getting inside Birdie and Morgan's heads (as they switch off narrating the story) allows your emotions to change as well as your opinion about Nicholas's true heart to change as theirs do. The book places you on the island as well not watching form afar.
   This book is not only about a struggle to survive but also a struggle to hang onto yourself and your character. As unsuspecting victim's lives get turned upside down what happens to them and does the duck ever drown?
   Deep really keeps you thinking about tomorrow and what it brings. It is definitely a page-turner that teaches you the true importance of life and everything else. Be careful what you wish for, it just might come true in an unexpected way!



2. I could hardly put it down. DEEP by Susanna Vance is a rapid ping-pong of alternating chapters about two very different and yet similar girls, one who lives in the rain and the other drifting deep on the sea. The story floats along comfortably until a storm of danger strikes, startling the reader with unexpected peril and making it impossible to put down the book until it's over. Wow! What a fascinating book!
   
   For writers this book would be a great study of two distinct voices, alternating storylines and strong waves of plot. For readers, it's pure enjoyment.
   
   I also loved Susanna Vance's first book, SIGHTS was another thrilling, surprising read. And I was so impressed, I went over to her website www.SusannaVance.com and found an opening page as dramatic as this author's plot twist and turns. I will definitely read anything else Susanna writes.



3. A thirteen year old girl named Birdie, which lives in the tiny, wet, town of Riverton, goes on vacation with her parents. While on vacation she gets kidnapped.
   Read this book to see if Birdie is ever joined again with her family.
   I enjoyed a lot about this book. The book was very suspenseful. I didn't know what was going to happen next. Every paragraph had you sitting on the edge of your seat. This book was so good, that it was hard for me to put it down. Even though I usually don't read books that much, if I don't have to.
   There was only one thing that I remember disliking about this book, and that was that around the last two or three chapters, there is two people telling the story. I got a little confused.
   I would recommend this book to any teen girl that cries while reading a book. (I cried).



4. Birdie and Morgan are both complete opposites: Birdie worry's about school and her ex-best friend and all Morgan thinks about is the sea. This book is great with surprising deadly twists and an excellent ending. Recommended for middle school students. I LOVE THIS BOOK!



5. How would you feel if you were kidnapped on a boat in the middle of the ocean? Or, how would you feel if you were living on your own on a boat at sea?
   
   The book "Deep", by Susanna Vance, tells the courageous stories of two girls. These amazing stories tie into one in the end as they both come face to face with not only each other but the one person they fear most. The first story tells of Birdie, or Bugs as her kidnapper names her. When her parents decide to go on vacation to the Caribbean's, she is taken on board a ship owned by a handsome guy. While her parents are on the dock watching she is kidnapped, this is one of the most memorable parts. Meanwhile Megan, who has lived at sea her whole life with her Mother and Father, is now alone. After the tragic death of her sister, her parents lose it completely. She has top leave them ashore, while she takes to the sea alone. One vivid picture that will stay in your mind though out the entire book is when Megan saves a young girl from abusive brothers and takes the girl to her grandparents.
   
   I really enjoyed this book. It was a very well written, powerful book that will show you that you can over come any thing that you set your mind to. Good words, a strong plot, fun to read, and keeps you interested though out the entire book, are just some reasons this book is impossible to put down.

5 comments about Gone.

1. Unlike many reviewers here, I enjoyed the book. Maybe it's because I am a new Jonathan Kellerman reader, and not having read all of his previous Alex Delaware novels (I've only read Obsession), I don't find them repetitive or disappointing. This one is about Hollywood, and the dream that brings so many into the Hollywood scene, the idea of being a star. A young couple creates a hoax where they have been carjacked and held against their will for attention. Soon, one of them is found murdered and the other is missing, and the body count soon rises.
   
   By not reading them in order, I have missed out on the relationships between Allison and Alex and Robin and Alex, which are also in this book. I do look forward to reading more of the series.



2. Where is it? I've never received it and it's been a month since I ordered it!



3. This is the second book by Jonathan Kellerman I've read, "Billy Straight" being the first. I really enjoyed that one and anticipated a good read with "Gone". Wrong! This book was extremely tedious, from start to finish. I kept at it longer than I should have, to the point I just started skimming through the details to just find out who did it..so that I could give them book away to some unsuspecting victim.



4. I gave up on J. Kellerman some years ago and only picked this up on CD at the library when I failed to put something of more interest on my reserve list in time. Far from it being a fill-in, I'm loving the book. The reader is a wonderful performer. Like Jim Dale, he gives each character a different voice, and does an excellent job.
   
   I read about 1/2 other-readers comments and the capsule reviews above, and concede that while they may have a point, I recommend this book on CD or tape to anyone with a long commute or drive. It's engaging, the detail level is absolutely perfect for anyone, like me, who "reads" the book in 30-to-40-minute increments over 3 weeks (perhaps a person who also enjoys Eric Rohmer films for the dialogue AND wallpaper/china/house furnishings), and the characters/friendship between Milo and Alex never fail to be interesting. I'm not done yet (3 disks to go), so I don't know whodunnit yet - but if it turns out to be the person I've been mentally saying, "hey! look harder at this person!" then I concede that the set-up might have been tighter.
   
   Again, not completely done, but I also appreciate that this doesn't have the level of gore and psychosis most A.D. by J.K. books have (so far).



5. Gone by Jonathan Kellerman is a great fast paced mystery thriller. In this one Kellerman tells us what kind of things can happen to naive young people who go to Hollywood hoping to become stars. It's an old shtick, but Kellerman makes it feel fresh and new. As in most of his books, we learn of yet another group of people that are vulnerable to exploitation because they are somewhat invisible to the rest of us. (I'm not talking about Hollywood wannabes here). The great thing about Kellerman's stories is right from the beginning you think you know where it's going, and you're always wrong. Kellerman's villains are all different and motivated, each one brings a new meaning to Evil.

3 comments about Show Me the Evidence.

1. I thought "Show Me The Evidence" by Alane Ferguson was a very good book. Two best friends are living a nightmare. Three babies are dead. There is no evidence, just emty caskets. Nothing to prove the babies died of anything but a crib death. Lauren Taylor and Janaan Kashad race against time to solve the mystery and to save themselves.



2. "This a great mystery that the whole family will love. A real thy slaper. You won't be able to put it down! Five stars all the way!"



3. The premise of this book-- a high school girl begins to suspect her best friend of psychological problems after finding a defaced photograph, and then the friend is accused of somehow causing the death of three infants-- drew me in. I expected it to work itself out to be a treatise on how dangerous repressed emotions are, or possibly even schizophrenia.

   but this book does not condescend to its teenage readers that way. Lauren refuses to believe in Janaan's guilt and as events play out they become more difficult to explain away-- especially when the coffins turn out empty.

   The two girls end up doing some detective work of their own and uncover the surprising truth. This is somewhere between Judy Blume and Nancy Drew and I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would-- I was prepared to find a predictable conclusion enjoyable enough but this was so much better. Highly recommended and an unexpected treat!