Customer Reviews (15)

VHS Movie
I bought this movie for my daughter because it was one of her favorite childhood movies.Unfortunately, it is not out on DVD yet - however, this was - according to my daughter "an excellent movie, just like she remembered."

Good movie, no classic but solid acting by Begley, Jr.
This movie went a bit too slow for me, but overall, it was a good film.Made me cry a couple times when soem horrific things happened to the horse.But it was genuinely a well written story and Begley, Jr. is always a solid actor.The man is one of the greats of his era, as his Oscar winning father was a great in his.Tab Hunter did a great job with a small part.But his greatest film is:Track of the Cat.

DARK HORSE is a winner!
Wonderful family movie, heartwarming and endearing. A++++

One of thebest movies ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Great movie. espeially for horse lovers.I really like how everything worked out at the end and Allison got Jet!

great family movie
Good movie especially for teens.The only parts I didn't like were thegoofy "romantic" scenes between Ed Begley and Mimi Rogers...theyhad absolutely no on-screen chemistry.The interaction between the girland the horse is great.Worthwhile. ... Read more

Product Description
Read by Ari Meyers
approx. 6 hours
4 cassettes

For Antonia MacPherson, lying is a way of life. It's what works best when you are a weed in a family of roses. No matter what she does, her mother thinks she's wrong. Her older sister, Your Highness Elizabeth, (as Ant calls her) says Ant's best friend, Harrison, stinks, and her younger sister, Katherine the Great, takes notes on Ant's bad behavior to report back to their mother. The only family member to whom Ant admits to being related is Pistachio, her dog. A clever, resourceful and very funny liar, Ant sticks to her own moral code that gives Pistachio and Harrison precedence over all other living creatures. But when a concerned teacher sees the truth behind Ant's humor and lies, it seems Ant and her mother may be in for a showdown. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (29)

MISERABLE...
Books, especially books for young people, don't have to be full of misery to get a point across. Didn't see much to laugh about here.

Liar and her dog
When I picked this book up, I thought it would be boring and predictable like so many children's books I've read. But upon starting the book, I found myself transported to the little town of Sarah's Road, enthralled in the misadventures of 12-year-old Antonia Jane "Ant" MacPherson, who is constantly overshadowed by her sisters, "Your Highness Elizabeth" and "Katherine the Great". She's so convinced that this is not her real family, she tells everyone at school that she's adopted and writes letters to her "real mom". Her only real friends are oddball Harrison Emerson and her little dog, Pistachio. But the most interesting thing about her is her lies and deception. She has lying down to a science. When her dog gets sick, she takes him to a vet and gets a "temporary case of dyslexia", writing a backwards address and phone number. She even manages to lie about her grades by bringing home Harrison's report card, leading her mother to believe she gets Cs and Ds when she really gets As and Bs. Choldenko's writing is realistic and funny. Read this book now!!

Wonderful book;good lesson learned
Book Review on
Notes from a Liar and Her Dog
By: Susanna Nicole Cobb
Gennifer Choldenk is the author of Notes from a Liar and Her Dog.I think but I'm not positive that this book is realistic fiction.
Antonia MacPherson thinks that lying is the way of life.Antonia's life would be miserable if it weren't for her best friend Harrison and a "minute ball of fluff" named Pistachio.No matter what she does whether it is right or wrong, her mother thinks she is either lying or is wrong.Her younger sister, "Katherine the Great" is taking notes on Ant's misbehaviors that she keeps in a spiral notebook for her parents.Her older sister, "Your Highness Elizabeth" says that Ant is training to be a juvenile delinquent, her best friend (Harrison) smells like a salami sandwich, and the "minute ball of fluff" should be put out of his misery.Who will listen to an Ant when EVERYONE in his family has nothing but royal opinions against her?(Read the book to find out!!)
This book is best suited for grades third to middle school.Maybe even your reading level!I liked this book because it teaches a lesson to people.It teaches people not to lie and that lying is NOT the way of life.This book was great! There's nothing

Notes from a Lair and Her Dog
You should read this book because it is very intresting. If you start reading it you might not want to put it down it is very fascinating because it talks about a girl who is different. She feels left out and no one understands her. Her name is Ant she is trying to get away from many things. She just can't stand some people. Read this enjoyable story you will really like it.

MariahWindsorSenorJrSchool
hey this book was very good it was about friend ship caring and all of that stuff but any way it was very good I thougt and if you don't WHAT EVER THATS COOL FOR YOU right but if you like good and funny book here is one so read it's very good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
???????READ THE BOOK?????? ... Read more

Product Description
Approx. 5.5 hours, 4 cassettes

There is nothing wrong with Wilma Sturtz that a little popularity won't fix--or so she thinks.And luckily for her, she meets a witch on the subway who makes her wish to be popular come true.Almost instantly, Wilma becomes the center of attention at her junior high school.She has more friends than she can keep track of and forty invitations to the Graduation Night Dance--plus someone is writing her love poetry.What more could a girl want?But what will happen when the wish ends?How can Wilma make sure she is never unpopular again?

In this original modern-day fairy tale, Gail Carson Levine takes an ordinary girl and gives her an extraordinary chance, and along the way reveals the truth about what it really means to be popular.

Amazon.com Review
Ah, the ancient mysteries of life. Why are the popular people popular?What's different about them--what makes them special? In The Wish,award-winning author Gail Carson Levine (Ella Enchanted, Dave at Night) exploresthe age-old question with a simple premise: a girl who is granted one wishby an old lady on the subway wishes to be "the most popular kid atClaverford." As is the fate of many who are granted only one wish, Wilmadoesn't think through her wish carefully enough. While she is now adored byboys and girls alike, she is a mere three weeks away from graduating fromClaverford. At Elliott, her next school, she'll be back to her lowly, oft-ridiculed self. Tension builds for Wilma until her graduation-night dance, the night before her popularity--and maybe even her relationship with her wonderful new boyfriend--will invariably come to a screeching halt. This fun, witty,insightful novel thoroughly examines the nature of "popularity," and whatit means to be true to yourself. It's not just because of the old woman'sspell that Wilma ponders, "'To thine own self be true.' But who was mineown self? That's what I wanted to know." Wilma is a funny, smart,no-more-awkward-than-most character with whom young readers of all socialechelons will identify completely. When her popularity runs out (and thespell does end), her true friendships remain, and she's left standing onher feet. (Ages 9 to 12) --Karin Snelson ... Read more

Customer Reviews (134)

The Wish
The Wish takes place in modern day.It is about Wilma, a self-conscious girl, who is very smart but wants nothing more than to be popular.In true Carson spirit, Wilma stumbles across an old fairy.The fairy agrees to grant Wilma one wish.And Wilma wishes for popularity.

This book is a wonderful perspective of the teenage girl and the difficulties she has.The characters are great, and so is the plot.

I recommend this book to all girls.

Lacks some spark
I am a huge fan of Levine's Ella Enchanted, which is a gorgeous adaptation of the Cinderella story.I was disappointed to find that this book lacks the spark of Ella.I think this is partially due to the difference in settings, but only partially.

Wilma was a much weaker character than Ella.I found it easy to identify with Wilma's insecurities and, as a former teacher and former student, I understood her desire to be popular.However, I was disappointed to find that this seemed to be the be-all and end-all for Wilma.We learn very little about her other than the fact that she's lonely, her writing is unconventional, and she is prone to the same peer pressure struggles as many girls her age.We never really get to find out what her hopes and dreams are and the things about which she is passionate.Ella Enchanted provided us with a heroine who had a great deal of conviction, cut I found that lacking in Wilma.It wasn't that I disliked her character, just that I felt she was more of a cipher than anything.She could have been replaced with another character and the story would have worked equally well.

One thing I would have liked to see this book do is explore the issues of popularity a bit more.We do find out that the popular girls sometimes have their own fears and insecurities, but I think this was a good opportunity for an exploration of the stresses that go along with being popular, and Levine missed it.I was hoping for Wilma to do some reflecting on why it might be nice to be a little less in the public eye.Still, I did really like that Levine made the popular girls a little more multi-faceted, and that they were basically good girls (with the exception of Suzanne) rather than the stereotypical bad girls.I liked that their popularity didn't ensure happiness.

What I liked best about the book was the theme that friends like you for who you are, not what you are.Wilma wanted to be a part of this group not just because they were cool, but also because she liked their personalities.That is, I think, very valuable in an age that seems as though superficiality is the general rule.While I'm not sure that the theme of popularity was examined as thoroughly as it could have been, I thought Levine did a nice of job of dissecting which friendships are really worth having and which are not.

Additionally, I was glad to see that Wilma's actions ultimately had consequences.This added an extra facet to the story, the question of whether manipulation is ever right.

The bottom line is that, while I did find this to be a pretty good story, it wasn't one that struck me as particularly memorable.Still, it hasn't put me off Levine's writing.I'll continue looking for the magic of Ella in some of Levine's other works.

Too Much Kissing for 12-yr-olds
A book intended for middle-school girls, but fairly shallow ones. Should we really write about middle-school girls who think popularity and boyfriends and kissing are the most important things in the world?

A bit magical, as most of Levine's books are, this one is about an unpopular girl who has a wish granted by a fairy. Her wish -- to be the most popular girl in her middle school -- inevitably comes to an end when middle school ends, and she must go to high school. Will she still have friends? Will she still keep her boyfriend who kisses her on every street corner? Will she learn that she is a good person whether she is popular or not? A rather hackneyed plot, and not anywhere near as good a book as Ella Enchanted, or many of Gail Carson Levine's other books.

A great read
"The Wish" by Gail Carson Levine has clear wording and completely constructed characters. It's a great modern story around the moral "be careful what you wish for". Wilma Sturtz's best friends have gone away, and because of a paper that her teacher read aloud, she's been isolated. In the prologue, Wilma gives a sick-looking old lady her seat, and ends up becoming popular. Suddenly half of the boys in the eighth grade are asking her out to graduation night, and she has limitless friends, including Ardis, another popular girl that Wilma wanted to be friends with, and Suzanne, the thin-faced gossip, amongst the entire school. Then she realizes that there is a loophole in her reckless wish. Now she can only wait and see what will happen because of it. This story has clear enough wording for a seven year-old, and is a good book to pick up anytime, anywhere.

Fairy Godmother
The Wish
By Gail Carson Levine
Who ever had a name like Wilma? The only other Wilma she could think of was a Flintstone.

Wilma loved animals, especially dogs. She always felt loved by her dog Reggie. At school she didn't fit in with the popular kids, and somehow it didn't make sense to hang out with the unpopular kids. Mostly, everyone ignored the eighth-grade girl.

When she gave up her seat on the train for an old woman, the woman thanked her and told her that in order to repay her kindness, she would grant one wish. The woman looked old, but didn't sound like an old woman.
Wilma, not believing the woman, said she wanted to be the most popular girl at her middle school.

The wish was granted. Wilma's phone never stopped ringing. She had more than 25 invitations to the Grad night dance, and many were from the boyfriends of her new friends. But, the worries of her new popularity began early on. Do the new friends really like her? Will her popularity end when she graduates from middle school?

Wilma didn't ever act like a popular girl. She included other unpopular kids in her new circle. She helped others with homework, and out of all the possible dates she could have for the dance, she chose an unpopularboy who also loved animals and had a crush on her even before the wish. Wilma handled things so well, I found myself rooting for her to be able to keep her new friends and boyfriend.

This is a young adult book and may not be suitable for younger children. The story explores kissing, and teenage friendship issues.
I look forward to reading other books by Gail Carson Levine.

Jill Ammon Vanderwood
Author: Through the Rug
Through The Rug: Follow That Dog (Through the Rug) ... Read more

Product Description
In one of the most dazzling books of his celebrated career, Dean Koontz delivers a masterwork of page-turning suspense that surpasses even his own inimitable reputation as a chronicler of our worst fears—and best dreams. In The Taking he tells the story of a community cut off from a world under siege, and the terrifying battle for survival waged by a young couple and their neighbors as familiar streets become fog-shrouded death traps. Gripping, heartbreaking, and triumphant in the face of mankind’s darkest hour, here is a small-town slice-of-doomsday thriller that strikes to the core of each of us to ask: What would you do in the midst of The Taking.

On the morning that will mark the end of the world they have known, Molly and Niel Sloan awaken to the drumbeat of rain on their roof. It has haunted their sleep, invaded their dreams, and now they rise to find a luminous silvery downpour drenching their small California mountain town. A strange scent hangs faintly in the air, and the young couple cannot shake the sense of something wrong.

As hours pass and the rain continues to fall, Molly and Niel listen to disturbing news of extreme weather phenomena across the globe. Before evening, their little town loses television and radio reception. Then telephone and the Internet are gone. With the ceaseless rain now comes an obscuring fog that transforms the once-friendly village into a ghostly labyrinth. By nightfall the Sloans have gathered with some of their neighbors to deal with community damage...but also because they feel the need to band together against some unknown threat, some enemy they cannot identify or even imagine.

In the night, strange noises arise, and at a distance, in the rain and the mist, mysterious lights are seen drifting among the trees. The rain diminishes with the dawn, but a moody gray-purple twilight prevails. Soon Molly, Niel, and their small band of friends will be forced to draw on reserves of strength, courage, and humanity they never knew they had. For within the misty gloom they will encounter something that reveals in a terrifying instant what is happening to their world—something that is hunting them with ruthless efficiency. Epic in scope, searingly intimate and immediate in perspective, The Taking is an adventure story like no other, a relentless roller-coaster read that brings apocalypse to Main Street and showcases the talents of one of our most original and mesmerizing novelists at the pinnacle of his powers.


From the Hardcover edition. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (550)

Highly disappointed and disgusted at the ending...
The book would have gotten a 5 star rating but the end just messed it ALL up. If I could give this a 5, I would! The concept of an alien invasion terraforming the whole world into its image was both fascinating and horrifying..I loved it!

But, Dean Koontz had to go and mess it all up. Apparently, the "Aliens" that killed the folks in the International Space Station was Lucifer himself. The giant mothership that was making it rain? It was Hell. Hell was a spaceship floating in outer space. Lucifer decided that Humanity is violent and killed everyone except a few folks and all the kids. Humanity got a second chance.

I've only read a three of his books (this one included) and I will never read another one because they always end in such disappointment. And what the heck is this thing he has about dogs? Arrgh.

Mr. Koontz, next time, don't mess up a great story with religion.

Great Thiller
I preface this review by saying that I am a Dean R Koontz fan and I have been for 20+ years. One of my favorites was the first one I ever read-- Strangers. There isn't anything he's written that I don't like. Sometimes it does take me a little while to get enthralled in his books, but I'm never disappointed. For me, this book felt hokey for awhile, but all of a sudden I found myself riveted, and the ending was perfect. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys thrillers and also the open minded. This is not for someone who wants a factual type history book. I will definitely re-read this book over the years

Intense and suspensful
Koontz is a master storyteller, and in the beginning of the book one can almost feel an unseen weight hanging over the main characters. It's coming closer, threatening to crush them, and as evident as it is that the strange things happening to them is only the beginning, there is no guessing where it will lead. Most of the book is a pageturner - it is intense and suspensful and one really wants to know what's going to happen. Towards the end the religious overtones become a little too strong for my taste and that's why it only gets four stars.

I really liked it
After reading some reviews on here, I was ready to not like this book.I honestly loved it.I have been disappointed in the ending to lots of Koontz's books lately and was expecting this one to fall flat too but I was satisfied this time. I enjoyed the message at the end.

This Novel took me nowhere...
I've read several of Koontz works, and this has to be his weakest. It starts quite strong. I was thrust immediately into the suspense and horror of the characters. Koontz trademark pace, style, and characterization are there, making this start out as an easy and enjoyable read. However, somewhere between Part 2 and the end of this novel, things got utterly confusing for me and all that went out the window.

Maybe it was how unclear this Taking was. [TINY SPOILER, BUT NOT REALLY] Was it aliens? Apocalypse? Some crazy dream sequence? Koontz hints and hits all three of these possible conclusions, but nothing is ever definite or described. And the main character is not a psychic but may have some deep seeded intuitions about the nature of things. She is always on the cusp of some great revelation about this "Taking", but never gets there. This confused me more, because somehow at the end, the character magically ties everything together, despite the fact that she was nearly clueless the entire novel.

Or maybe it was the repetitious use of the word 'disquieted' and any other form of the word known to the English language. "She was disquieted. He was disquieted. The silence was disquieting. The disquiet disquieted it." It got to the point where I bet myself to put the novel down for a day if I read the word disquiet again. Page later, I fulfilled that bet.

The novel seemed horribly rushed and ultimately thoughtless. I made it to the end thinking the mystery of the taking would be sloved. Maybe you're a psuedo psychic like the main character if you can guess what my reaction was. ... Read more

Product Description
2 Paperback Books and 1 Audio CD ... Read more

Product Description
Paperback Book & Audio CD ... Read more

Customer Reviews (151)

Enjoyable to Read
My 3.5 year old picked out this book, and I was hesitant to get it.It just looked like another princess book, which I don't want her listening to.Once I started reading, we both enjoyed the book.In response to one of the reviewer's remarks that the character has bad manners, I addressed it by asking my daughter what she thought.Each time the main character misbehaved, my daugther easily identified the misbehavior.We've all had kids who act up, but they also need to know when it's over the top so they can stop.It's satire fiction, and you have to teach them what it is.

Book inserted in binding upside down!
For the first time ever with Amazon, this book actually had been inserted in the binding upside down.It doesn't alter the quality of the book at all, and since I bought it as a gift for my granddaughter, and wrote in it before I gave it to her without noticing the mistake, I won't be returning it.Not a big deal, but I'll check things more carefully in the future.

Baffled as to why this is so popular
We read this book while waiting for piano class to start. Given its popularity, I was surprised at how awful it is. The cute little girl on the cover is actually a whiny brat who disobeys and disrespects her parents and finally gags and chokes down vegetables to change her skin color. She doesn't learn to like vegetables at the end or anything, she only does it out of dire necessity. Now *I know* not every kids book has to have some great huge redeeming value or lesson, but this is like an anti-lesson: just do what you need to do at the last minute and you can slide by with bad habits and behavior. We have seen kids like this at the playground (usually throwing tantrums in princess dresses and kicking their mothers and/or nannies) otherwise this book would just be funny because its so over the top.

Aside from the message (or lack of) I just didn't think the art or writing was all that clever either. "Pinkerbelle" oh my, that's so original. Yawn.

So when we read it we discussed how bad the little girl is and how sick and obese she will get if she doesn't eat healthy food, and how she won't make any friends if she acts like a jerk. I guess there was a lesson in that. And I'm pretty confident that what my husband and I teach our kids about behavior and eating have a greater impact on them than a dumb book. Hey they are polite and like veggies and hiking, so it must be working. But we'll stick to the much more charming "Fancy Nancy" series if we need a girly-girly fix.

(And by the way, we eat cupcakes of any color, any size, any flavor, any chance we get. So I'm not a complete veggies-only healthy whole food nut ;)

So cute!
This is book is so cute for little girls.My girls are 5 and 3 and both of them LOVE it!

Grandma bought this book and wish she hadn't
I do not reccomend this book. When Grandma was visiting, she brought this book as a gift. I do not like the messages in this book. The little girl sticks her tongue out at her parents and she "shouts" and is disrespectful. Also, the book makes it seem like eating veggies is a bad thing. I do a lot of veggie eating in our home, this was the LAST thing we needed to have hit the house. Cute ideas but it should have been written better. Wish I could return the book. ... Read more

Product Description
This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Product Description
It is an old remark, that the life of any man, could the incidents be faithfully told, would possess interest and instruction for the general reader. The conviction of the perfect truth of this saying, has induced the writer to commit to paper, the vicissitudes, escapes, and opinions of one of his old shipmates, as a sure means of giving the public some just notions of the career of a common sailor. In connection with the amusement that many will find in following a foremast Jack in his perils and voyages, however, it is hoped that the experience and moral change of Myers may have a salutary influence on the minds of some of those whose fortunes have been, or are likely to be, cast in a mould similar to that of this old salt.
... Read more