Blue Books

Hitler Youth (Bccb Blue Ribbon Nonfiction Book Award (Awards))

From School Library Journal
Starred Review. Grade 5-8–Hitler's plans for the future of Germany relied significantly on its young people, and this excellent history shows how he attempted to carry out his mission with the establishment of the Hitler Youth, or Hitlerjugend, in 1926. With a focus on the years between 1933 and the end of the war in 1945, Bartoletti explains the roles that millions of boys and girls unwittingly played in the horrors of the Third Reich. The book is structured around 12 young individuals and their experiences, which clearly demonstrate how they were victims of leaders who took advantage of their innocence and enthusiasm for evil means. Their stories evolve from patriotic devotion to Hitler and zeal to join, to doubt, confusion, and disillusion. (An epilogue adds a powerful what-became-of-them relevance.) The large period photographs are a primary component and they include Nazi propaganda showing happy and healthy teens as well as the reality of concentration camps and young people with large guns. The final chapter superbly summarizes the weighty significance of this part of the 20th century and challenges young readers to prevent history from repeating itself. Bartoletti lets many of the subjects' words, emotions, and deeds speak for themselves, bringing them together clearly to tell this story unlike anyone else has.–Andrew Medlar, Chicago Public Library, IL
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From AudioFile
This Newbery Honor book is enhanced by the narration of Kathrin Kana, who voices the facts and information as a compelling story and leaves the listener to gradually become aware of the implications of Hitler's plans for Germany and the Hitler Youth. Hitler's exploitation of Germany's young bought their devotion to the Nazi cause while blinding them to the true motives behind his quest for power. Kana's steady voice propels the narrative to its conclusion without diminishing the story's brutality. A concluding slideshow of photographs (to be viewed on computer) adds an important dimension to the narrative and demonstrates a meaningful innovation for audiobooks. An added bonus is an introduction and epilogue spoken by the author, which add power to the presentation. L.D.H. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

House of Sand and Fog (Oprah's Book Club) (Vintage Contemporaries)

Product Review
Oprah Book Club® Selection, November 2000: Andre Dubus III wastes no time in capturing the dark side of the immigrant experience in America at the end of the 20th century. House of Sand and Fog opens with a highway crew composed of several nationalities picking up litter on a hot California summer day. Massoud Amir Behrani, a former colonel in the Iranian military under the Shah, reflects on his job-search efforts since arriving in the U.S. four years before: "I have spent hundreds of dollars copying my credentials; I have worn my French suits and my Italian shoes to hand-deliver my qualifications; I have waited and then called back after the correct waiting time; but there is nothing." The father of two, Behrani has spent most of the money he brought with him from Iran on an apartment and furnishings that are too expensive, desperately trying to keep up appearances in order to enhance his daughter's chances of making a good marriage. Now the daughter is married, and on impulse he sinks his remaining funds into a house he buys at auction, thus unwittingly putting himself and his family on a trajectory to disaster. The house, it seems, once belonged to Kathy Nicolo, a self-destructive alcoholic who wants it back. What starts out as a legal tussle soon escalates into a personal confrontation--with dire results.

Dubus tells his tragic tale from the viewpoints of the two main adversaries, Behrani and Kathy. To both of them, the house represents something more than just a place to live. For the colonel, it is a foot in the door of the American dream; for Kathy, a reminder of a kinder, gentler past. In prose that is simple yet evocative, House of Sand and Fog builds to its inevitable denouement, one that is painfully dark but unfailingly honest. --Alix Wilber

From Publishers Weekly
Dubus has created a novel that is nearly perfectly suited to the audio format. Kathy Nicolo is a recovering addict whose husband has left her and who is making her way in the straight world with her own cleaning business. When her house in the California hills is mistakenly seized by the county for back taxes and sold at public auction, she finds herself living out of her car and on the brink of desperation. Once a wealthy and powerful man in Iran and a colonel in the army under the Shah's rule, Behrani is now a struggling immigrant who hopes that he can sell the house for a large profit, so that he can once again provide his family with a lifestyle like the one they enjoyed in Iran. Emotions take precedence over ethics, logic, love and the law as their paths collide in a surprising and tragic conclusion. The reading by the author and his wife is sublime. Dubus's performance as the hot-headed Behrani is frightening in its intensity. His wife captures Kathy's dispassionate disbelief with a flat distance that is as effectively realistic as it is palpable. Based on the Norton hardcover.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

How to Make Your Electric Guitar Play Great!: The Electric Guitar Owner's Manual (Guitar...

Tom Wheeler, consulting editor, Guitar Player
"What tomorrows great guitarists should know today about doing their own setup and maintenance."

Product Description
From shopping for a first electric guitar to setting customized action, this do-it-yourself player's primer for owning and maintaining an electric guitar explains the ins and outs of: choosing the right guitar; cleaning, tools and basic maintenance; personalizing and improving on a "factory setup"; trouble-shooting; basic guitar electronics; setups of the pros; and much more. Written by Dan Erlewine, author of the bestselling Guitar Player Repair Guide and the popular "Repairs" column in Guitar Player magazine, this book also includes a plastic sheet with specialized guitar tools you can snap-out!

How to Read a Book (A Touchstone Book)

Product Review
Jacques Barzun

These four hundred pages are packed full of high matters which no one solicitous of the future of American culture can afford to over-look.



The New Yorker

It shows concretely how the serious work of proper reading may be accomplished and how much it may yield in the way of instruction and delight.



Product Review
The New Yorker It shows concretely how the serious work of proper reading may be accomplished and how much it may yield in the way of instruction and delight.

Hunter of the Horde (The Broken Key, Book 2)

Yellow30 Sci-Fi, FootNotes Reviewer, 09/16/2007
The Quest Continues

The Death Mark! Not a good tag for a thief, even one of the best. For Bartholomew Agreani it meant that the price on his head was worth more than a lot of booty other thieves could pilfer. So, Bart's life had a bleak future - death, unless he could buy back the mark. Fate would place him in a strategic spot to ensure he could do just that. Having befriended Riyan Borenson and Chad Kelon of the small village of Quillim the trio stumble upon the fabled King's Horde. Now with money in hand, Bart is able to buy back the death mark. Meanwhile his other companions, Riyan and Chad enlist in the Warriors Guild, while their other friend, Kevik, tries to improve his craft as a magic user. One does not come into a lot of money without word eventually leaking out and finding it's way to other sinister ears. For you see, the King's Horde is famous and a number of villainous folk have been searching for years to find it. Some will stop at nothing to get the riches buried with the fabled King. Riyan is no longer the timid shepherd boy from Quillim or Chad the clumsy miller's son. The Warriors Guild has molded them into strong, determined young men. While Kevik is learning, through trial and error, how to become a successful magic user, he too is growing in confidence and ability. All these new skills will be put to the test as Bart finds himself the focal point of the Hunter of the Horde, a ruthless villain who has ways to make men talk. Riyan and his friends must use every skill they've learned to rescue their friend from this deadly hunter. This second book in The Broken Key trilogy continues to weave a spellbinding story that carries our four fellow adventurers on their quest to find the final two segments of the Key that will unlock the fabled King's Horde. Intrigue, adventure, terror and excitement carry the reader page after page. For the fantasy addict this will add to your addiction. Read with care, but enjoy the trip, for this is an exciting one.

Book Description


Riyan, Chad, and Bart continue their quest with the aid of their newfound companion, Kevik. Recently bereft of his master, Kevik struggled on his own to learn his craft and to put the appellation of 'Apprentice' behind him. Though lacking in confidence, his ability to creatively utilize what few spells he has mastered has came in handy time and again.

What they had feared most has come to pass. Word that they may have found the King's Horde had begun to spread. Now, it has reached the ears of one who will stop at nothing to discover what they know.

The second installment of The Broken Key continues to follow the four friends in their search for the final two segments of the Key that will unlock the fabled King's Horde. Through the words of an aged tome hidden in a long forgotten room, and the recollections of a madman, they set out for where they believe another of the segments lies hidden.

For more information about Hunter of the Horde, or any of the other books by Brian S. Pratt, please visit www.briansprattbooks.com.

I Can Read With My Eyes Shut! (Beginner Books)

Product Description
Illus. in full color. "In Seuss's familiar rhymed couplets and illustrations, the Cat in the Hat shows Young Cat some wonderful stuff about reading with both eyes open."--School Library Journal.  

Card Catalog Description
The Cat in the Hat takes Young Cat in tow to show him the fun he can get out of reading.

Icy Sparks (Oprah's Book Club) (Oprah's Book Club)

Amazon.com Reviews
The eponymous heroine of Gwyn Rubio's Icy Sparks is only 10 years old the first time it happens. The sudden itching, the pressure squeezing her skull, and the "little invisible rubber bands" attached to her eyelids are all symptoms of Tourette's syndrome. At this point, of course, Icy doesn't yet have a name for these unsettling impulses. But whenever they become too much to resist, she runs down to her grandparents' root cellar, and there she gives in, croaking, jerking, cursing, and popping her eyes. Nicknamed the "frog child" by her classmates, Icy soon becomes "a little girl who had to keep all of her compulsions inside." Only a brief confinement at the Bluegrass State Hospital persuades her that there are actually children more "different" than she.

As a first novel about growing up poor, orphaned, and prone to fits in a small Appalachian town, Icy Sparks tells a fascinating story. By the time the epilogue rolls around, Icy has prevailed over her disorder and become a therapist: "Children silent as stone sing for me. Children who cannot speak create music for me." For readers familiar with this particular brand of coming-of-age novel--affliction fiction?--Icy's triumph should come as no great surprise. That's one problem. Another is Rubio's tendency to lapse into overheated prose: this is a novel in which the characters would sooner yell, pout, whine, moan, or sass a sentence than simply say it. But the real drawback to Icy Sparks is that some of the characters--especially the bad ones--are drawn with very broad strokes indeed, and the moral principles tend to be equally elementary: embrace your difference, none of us is alone, and so on. When Icy gets saved at a tent revival, even Jesus takes on the accents of a self-help guru: "You must love yourself!" With insights like these, this is one Southern novel that's more Wally Lamb than Harper Lee. --Mary Park

From Publishers Weekly
The diagnosis of Tourette's Syndrome isn't mentioned until the last pages of Rubio's sensitive portrayal of a young girl with the disease. Instead, Rubio lets Icy Sparks tell her own story of growing up during the 1950s in a small Kentucky town where her uncontrollable outbursts make her an object of fright and scorn. "The Saturday after my [10th] birthday, the eye blinking and poppings began. I could feel little invisible rubber bands fastened to my eyelids, pulled tight through my brain and attached to the back of my head," says Icy, who thinks of herself as the "frog child from Icy Creek." Orphaned and cared for by her loving grandparents, Icy weathers the taunts of a mean schoolteacher and, later, a crush on a boy that ends in disappointment. But she also finds real friendship with the enormously fat Miss Emily, who offers kindness and camaraderie. Rubio captures Icy's feelings of isolation and brings poignancy and drama to Icy's childhood experiences, to her temporary confinement in a mental institution and to her reluctant introduction?thanks to Miss Emily and Icy's grandmother?to the Pentecostal church through which she discovers her singing talent. If Rubio sometimes loses track of Icy's voice, indulges in unconvincing magical realism and takes unearned poetic license with the speech of her Appalachian grandparents ("'Your skin was as cold as fresh springwater, slippery and strangely soothing to touch'"), her first novel is remarkable for its often funny portrayal of a child's fears, loves and struggles with an affliction she doesn't know isn't her fault. Agent, Susan Golomb; editor, Jane von Mehren.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Imajica (The Fifth Dominion, Book 1)

-- Washington Post Book World
"Rich in plot twists, byzantine intrigues and hidden secrets, Imajica is a Chinese puzzle box constructed on a universal scaleBarker has an unparalleled talent for envisioning other worlds."

-- Publishers Weekly
"Mesmerizing invention."

In the Service of Dragons (In the Service of Dragons, Book 1)

Product Description
For the first time ever, Robert Stanek's In the Service of Dragons is available in a high-quality, hardcover edition with a dust jacket. This uniquely collectible edition features: two full-color cover illustrations; a special introduction to Ruin Mist's inhabitants, history, and languages; 20 full-page illustrations; an illustrated guide to people, places and things in Ruin Mist; and deluxe illustrated maps. About the Author: Robert Stanek is the award-winning, international best-selling author of more than 65 books for young people and adults. He lives with his wife and children in the Pacific Northwest in the United States, and is intensely fascinated with our natural world. He loves the outdoors and frequently takes his family on short trips to see the natural wonders of the Pacific Northwest, including Mount Rainier, Mount St. Helens, the Columbia River Gorge, and Puget Sound. About the Book: In the Service of Dragons is the continuation of Robert Stanek's multilayered epic fantasy adventure for young adults that began with The Kingdoms and the Elves of the Reaches and continued through The Kingdoms and the Elves of the Reaches 2, 3, and 4. In his acclaimed The Kingdoms and the Elves of the Reaches books, he introduced us to the story of Ruin Mist, an extraordinary world of magic, adventure, and intrigue. Now in the eagerly awaited follow-up, he once again proves himself a wonderful storyteller with a gift for fast pacing and believable storylines. Already hailed as a classic, Robert Stanek's powerful series has been enjoyed by readers all over the world. The Elves of the Reaches returned from exile, bringing grave news. War came to the Kingdoms, and many perished in the turmoil and unrest. An attempt was made to kidnap a princess and assassinate a king. Now, from the ancient past a dark power returns. "The Fourth Wind blows across the mountain tops," they say. And the Twelve Clans emerge from myth and memory. As prophecy becomes reality, the factions struggle for control only to further divide the lands. Some would say that it was foolish for King Andrew Alder to support the Elves of the Reaches and send men to aid their cause when Men in all lands were being put to the test of steel. And in the North, men back their words with action. Against a backdrop of treachery and intrigue, murder and mayhem, the price of freedom is high. Many will pay with their lives. Many will succumb to imprisonment and enslavement; for when alliances shatter, old hatreds rise anew and the plotting and scheming begin. Bold, inventive, brilliantly imagined, In the Service of Dragons is a novel of magic and wonder-a tale of pure excitement you will not soon forget.

Publisher Description
In the Service of Dragons is written especially for young adults. Readers all over the world are discovering the works of Robert Stanek. Fans have called his books the "Star Wars" of fantasy, and liken his writing to a wonderful cross between JRR Tolkien and JK Rowling. We tend to think that the books are just plain fun to read. Filled with mystery, intrigue, adventure, and magic the books transport readers to a world unlike any other. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Instant Chromatic Harmonica: The Blues Jazz Improvisation Method (Harmonica)

Book Description
An amazingly simple blues/jazz improvising method for chromatic harmonica. Perfect for total beginners or for good chromatic players who dont know how to jam.

Instant Expert: Collecting Books

Fine Books & Collections, September/October 2004
"the essential book for any beginning collector."

AB Bookmans Weekly, June 2004
"what this book does is open doors and minds to the art and the science of book collecting, painlessly."

Iron Kissed (Mercy Thompson, Book 3)

From Publishers Weekly
Shape-shifter Mercy Thompson has a complex life, juggling two werewolf lovers and a job working for a fae mechanic; things get even more hectic when her boss and mentor is arrested for killing a citizen of the fae reservation. As the fae seem content to let him rot, Thompson takes it on herself to clear her friend's name, beginning a lone-wolf investigation that may cost her life. Briggs's third novel featuring Thompson (after Blood Bound) is another top-notch paranormal mystery; her well-balanced contemporary world, where humans live uneasily among werewolves and fae, is still a believably lived-in world; the ever-present threat of government legislation against nonhumans (though familiar to X-Men fans) adds weight to her paranormal elements, and thoughtfully researched mythology adds rich detail. Thompson is a sharp, strong heroine and her lycanthropic love triangle is honest and steamy. Briggs never shies from difficult material, and she moves effortlessly from werewolf pack psychology to human legal proceedings, making this a tense, nimble, crowd-pleasing page-turner. (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Product Review
"In the increasingly crowded field of kick-ass supernatural heroines, Mercy stands out as one of the best."
-- Locus