Book Description

Transformers: The Ultimate Guide is a detailed look at the fantastic world of these mechanical marvels. Follow each character's history and witness the amazing evolution of the Transformers, from physical structure and weaponry to personalities, alliances, and important battles. Detailed illustrations show exactly how each character "transforms" from warrior robot to high-powered vehicle. Special feature spreads cover all aspects of the Transformers' world and include specially commissioned maps and detailed city plans of their home planet of Cybertron, descriptions of the giant space ark in which the Transformers traveled to Earth, major wars in Transformers history, and much more. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

How Ultimate Is It?
This is a book that has guts - with its back cover proclaiming it to be "the first fully authoritative history" of the Transformers, and the interior introduction claiming that it is the "one true history" of G1, hardcore Transfans would not be frowned on for finding such statements insulting, sounding for all the world like the book will be dismissing the original comics and cartoon in favour of what IT says is right and wrong.

Thankfully, the reader will discover that this is NOT the case. The "one true history" that the entire G1 section revolves around proves to be that of the latest incarnation of G1 - the Dreamwave comic book series. While perhaps a little disrespectful to the cartoons and comics that CREATED the universe that these comics have to thank for their existence, it's understandable that this is the route taken - and the cartoons and comics themselves are hardly set by the wayside, getting multiple pages to cover their own stories. With everything from the geography of Cybertron, the history of the civil war, massive cutaways of Optimus Prime, Megatron and Unicron, profiles on selected individual soldiers and sub-groups like the Dinobots, Constructicons, Headmasters and Pretenders, the book provides a wide, general look at the G1 universe. However, it is in the cartoons and toy sections that its weakness shows, as scribe Simon Furman's lack of knowledge outside of the DW and Marvel comics results in several niggly factual errors - he's done his research, but he hasn't gone far enough to eliminate all his errors. The look of the pages is worsened by the fact that many of the toys photographed are mis-transformed, or look somewhat worn. It would have been child's play to find fans with toys that looked better than this, but they didn't bother.

Of course, the book doesn't stop at G1. There are sections for all the ensuing series - Generation 2, Beast Wars, Beast Machines, Robots in Disguise, Armada and Energon. The Beast sections are some of the nicest-looking ones in the book, with beautiful CGI art from animation company Mainframe, but each section could have done with just one or two more pages to add a little more details on the events of their latter seasons, with information on the BW events relating to G1, Transmetal 2's, or BM's Noble, Botanica and Megatron's numerous bodies limited only to the vague episode guide page (like every section of the book dealing with cartoons, the episode guide only has enough to room to include selected key episodes, so the whole story evades the reader even in these entries).

The G2 and Robots in Disguise sections, however, leave a bad taste in the mouth. There is very little to say about G2, and the section required nothing more than a comic summary and toy pictures, but in addition to this, it's been padded with an entry on G.I. Joe crossovers and fanfiction - two things which, while presented and written perfectly fine, are simply needless, and whose pages would have been bettered served elsewhere - namely in the RiD section, which is stuck only showing pictures of toys, lacking any real information on the cartoon series or characters (speculation was that this was because Disney, who own the show, wouldn't allow competitors DK access to it in time for print, but other comments by Furman imply it was bumped for the Energon section). Worsening the matter is that most of the pictures for the section are taken from adverts and package art for the toys, and feature some pretty bad mistransformations and missing parts.

The book ends with a look at Armada and it's current, sequel series, Energon, then a brief look at the Dreamwave comics, two of the best-handled sections of the book.

Looking back at what I have written here, it seems overly critical - but please, make no mistake, I heartily recommend this book. It's a brilliant overview of the history of Transformers and as concise a written guide as you could want - but it's just infuriating to me that DK's other guides for characters like Superman and Spider-Man, with their 60 and 40 years of history, could be so comprehensive, and yet the 20 years of Transformers has to be so abbreviated, with so many characters and episodes flat-out left out, to make the book an acceptable length. I am not pointing the finger of blame at anyone, however - Transformers simply has a *massive* history of characters, concepts and scenarios, making it all the more impressive and enduring. Furman's name power may make him come off as the most qualified person to write a book such as this, but some fan assistance would not have gone amiss. This would have stopped the mis-spellings (Elita One becomes "Eleta-1", for example, or the Armada episode "Cramp" becomes "Clamp") which are just the result of carelessness and not enough research, and would have provided superior toy pictures, and more accurate information about them. The toy pages are truly the weakest sections of the book - not one of them goes by that a factual error is not made. A fact-checker who truly knows his stuff - or perhaps several of them, one to each category, toy, comic, cartoon - would have caught these errors, and the book would have felt as though more care had gone into it.

Bottom line - this book is by no means an "Ultimate" guide. Entirely too much is left out, generalised or glossed over for that. But it's still a brilliant overview of Transformer history that both hardcore and casual fans should not hesitate to add to their collections.

More Than Meets The Eye
Every Transformer fan, new and old, needs to have this book. People who are only familiar with the newest incarnations can learn how it all started and long time fans will appreciate having a complete chronological account of the phenomonon. The book starts right where it should - before the original toy line or TV show and eplains the history of the Transformers homeworld Cybertron and the beginning of the war between the Autobots and Decepticons. What follows is a detailed examination/explanation of EVERY incarnation of the Transformers up to and including Energon. Character bios, selected show synopsis, toy descriiptions and inner workings of key players are all covered and supported by detailed artwork and photographs. Multiple pages are givin to the Japanese toy line and continunity as well as the US and UK comics, including the latest from Dreamweave. What more could you ask for?

Before reading this book I was skeptical about it's ablity to cover the entire Transformers universe with the detail it demands. Now that I've read all 141 pages, it has become a jewel in my Transformer collection. For once the title "Ultimate Guide" has been used appropriately!

These Transformers ARE more than meets the eye!
When I first picked up my copy(today) I thought "I'll just pick it up for Nostalgic Value and to put on my coffee table along with every other DK book" This book rocks!!!! It has like every thing Transformers ever! It has Transformers things that came out like 2 months ago! Thats really suprising to me. This book has toy guides, episode lists, detailed character bios, and comic book runs! My nitpicks about it are...
1.No prices on the toys(I have about 100 of them!)
2.Episode Listings only have about 10 eps for every season. If youre going to do it at all,do it right!
3.Major characters get 1/4 of a page bio. Bumblebee NOOOOOOO!!!!
Anyway, buy this book if you like any form of Transformers. If it be G1,Beast Wars, or even Armada...

This IS The Ultimate Guide!!!
As a longtime Transfan who hasn't even gotten halfway through this book yet, what can I say but...WOW!!!
I'm well aware of just how comprehensive and attentive to detail DK's series of guide books are - from the Marvel and DC Comics character guides to the Star Wars books, from that super-cool James Bond guide detailing every movie up to 'The World Is Not Enough' to the Lego Book which contained almost every bit of info on the Lego company you could cram into print. But the Transformers guide goes above and beyond to appeal to both the rabid fanbase and those uninitiated in the multiverse of the Robots In Disguise. If you're not a diehard Transfan but are fascinated by that little toy line that became something of a pop-culture phenomenon, then this is the perfect place to acquaint yourself with the Transformers saga.
For starters, the first part of the book deals primarily with the story that started it all - the Generation One saga. And it's pretty expansive. Everything you could possibly want to know about the Transformers - from the geological makeup of the planet Cybertron to the exact inner workings of Optimus Prime and Megatron themselves, to the personalities that make up the heroic Autobots and the evil Decepticons - is covered here in glorious full-color detail. Veteran TF scribe Simon Furman was the right man to put in charge of cataloguing every little detail, smartly melding elements of both Marvel Comics' continuity and that of the G1 cartoon AND the newer Dreamwave Productions comics into one cohesive timeline. Furman does pick a little at the continuity conflicts and errors that have cropped up in the past twenty years of the franchise, but it's largely unimportant as the most critical elements are still covered. And there are some elements injected therein that even a Transfan would crack a smile at: Macadams Old Oil House, for one (complete with a transforming bartender who more or less looks like an Old West barkeep in robot mode), and even a chapter outlining Optimus Prime's many deaths and resurrections (I'm not sure, but I think only Dracula has come back from the dead more times).
But there's more. The book also covers the ill-fated Generation 2 segment of the franchise, the Beast Wars days and Beast Machines, Robots In Disguise and even the Armada-Energon continuity, all with the same depth and informative style, although not nearly as much as G1 given the rapid succession of these later series. And apart from character schematics, historical data and episode synopses galore, the book also hits upon the toys themselves, detailing some of the greats and even touching upon their Japanese upbringing in lengthy exposition. It allows for a great sense of prehistory to the Transformers franchise, explaining how the original G1 line was culled together from figures included in a multitude of toy lines released in Japan by Takara.
The comic book continuities are not left out, either, making up quite a bit of the foundation of the G1 backstory. Publishers and entire story arcs are referenced here, as are some of the defining personalities who helped flesh out an ever-growing mythology - from original TF writer Bob Budiansky to innovative TF artist Don Figueroa. There are segments dealing with both Marvel's American comic and its UK counterpart (both written, at one point, by Simon Furman, which gives him further credential for bringing this thing together).
But I would be remiss if I did not mention some of the more tantalizing, more mystic aspects of the Transformers saga brought up in this volume. Specifically, the origin of Cybertron itself, and of the everlasting duel between the heralds Unicron and Primus. Their struggle adds something not expected in a toy brand involving robotic characters: a defined mythology to their world. The Transformers' religious reverence for their origins highlights another dimension to the saga that, in the big picture, may enable the unseasoned reader to understand why these big lugs continue to ignite the 'sparks' of countless legions of fans.
When they say the Transformers are 'more than meets the eye', you'd better believe it...and if you don't, get this book. Kids will be drawn in by the outstanding graphics, and the young-at-heart who enjoy all things sci-fi and fantasy-related will not be disappointed. It's worth ever penny.

the ultinate guide transformers
This book is absolutely fabulous. The illustrations and graphics are wonderful. Definetly worth the wait and money. My son is 5 and adores this book. This is his new bible. ... Read more

Book Description

"Tom The Turtle" walks children through the stages of moving. Forty six beautiful color illustrations using animals, insects, and reptiles invite moving as a positive adventure. In sensitive words, Tom walks children through feelings, thoughts, and action stages.The child participates in simple exercises that make the concepts come alive to the young reader. Tom captures the world of children for spontaneous interaction with the illustrations designed to enhance each move. ... Read more

Reviews (9)

A "moving" book for all ages!
This is a "moving" book for children and adults alike. It is well written and the illustrations are adorable. The charming Tom explores many fears and feelings that we all experience in a move or transition. Highly recommended for children and adults of all ages.

Author's Update
"Healthy Kids" magazine endorses 'LET'S MOVE TOGETHER' to all pediatricians and families. The American Academy of Pediatrics identifed ''LET'S MOVE TOGETHER' as ideal for children who will move. Moving is traumatic for children ages 4-11 and children need special help. 'LET'S MOVE TOGETHER' provides the reassurance children need.

Recommendation
"Healthy Kids Magazine" distributed to Pediatricians in the United States recommends 'Let's Move Together' for children and families who are moving in the October/November issue. The American Academy of Pediatrics identifies moving as one of life's most stressful events for children. 'Let's Move Together' provides the discussion, tips, and coping suggestions for a successful move.

From One Parent To Another
"Let's Move Together" captures all the emotions around moving and fitting in once a child gets there. Schubeck writes honestly about all the feelings we can have surrounding a move from one home to the next. This book allows parents to manage the moving process along with their youngsters. What a great way to reconnect with our children! Clanuwat's illustrations are clean and refreshing--They come to life!

A Valuable Resource
The well illustrated characters guide the young readers in understanding the feelings, thoughts and actions involved in making a transition. This book is a valuable resource for those families in careers that keep them on the move. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Young adults (and even older ones!) will love this book
This book is a visual feast and a joy to browse; the graphic design captures the energy of the Harlem Renaissance. It's like a scrapbook jammed with "rent party" tickets, dinner programs, book covers, letters, playbills, song lyrics and more. There is something here to capture the interest of even reluctant readers.

But the text also shines. The story of how and why Harlem came to be is told clearly and without mincing words: we learn the glorious achievements in art, music, theater, literature and just plain survival, but we also learn of the racism haunting the era, and the infighting within the Black community itself. I think readers will appreciate this honest, realistic approach, which brings the era to life.

By the way, given the graphic beauty of this book, the price is a steal! ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Lenka puts actions into words
I read this book after receiving it at a conference that Lenka Peterson spoke at. In reading the book, I realized that she had put most of the information covered in an 8-hour session plus enough to fill another week of 8-hour sessions. The book truly takes actions and in-person teaching lessons and makes them readily available to anyone anywhere.

Helping Young People Discover Theater
In this wonderful new book, Lenka Peterson and Dan O'Connor draw on more that 30 years of experience to reveal how to teach and direct plays with children. Their sophisticated yet accessible guide covers everything form the basics of acting to mounting and staging a production. It includes plenty of child-friendly sample scenes and relaxation techniques for kids. Perfect for established children's theater groups as well as churches, schools and camps, Kids Take the Stage shows how we can help kids realize their creative potential...and, in the process, create a new generation of theater lovers.

Bravo!
This is a magical book, full of exercises and anecdotes that teach children to celebrate what they have to offer as potential artists, but mainly as human beings. I recommend it to anyone who wants to introduce children to acting and the theater. It is joyful, rewarding, wise and a lot of fun to read. Bravo/Brava! ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Irresistable Shakespeare is a very hands-on book!
Irresistable Shakespeare is a well written, well thought-out teacher's guide. I am planning on introducing Shakespeare this year to my gifted and talented students and the lessons are user-friendly and will be an excellent introduction to a very difficult subject. The lessons cover the difference between prose and poetry and the use of meter. I am very impressed with Rawlings Miller and am looking forward to using it.

I would give this ten stars if I could!
Hi! I am not a teacher, but a mother of a 10-year old who is studying Shakespeare in school, and I wanted to help her, since my own background in English is extremely spotty (ahem). I read the teacher's comments (Ms. Miller) and am SO glad I ordered this book! My daughter and I are having such fun studying the text, taking turns reading the parts, even acting them out! Since Ms. Miller's experience as a teacher of Shakespeare is so great, we are BOTH learning a great deal together...

I would advise this book for any parent who wants to help their child gain a greater understanding of Shakespeare -- as a living play, and not just dull text on the page -- Miss Miller brings it all to life -- I wish I had had her as a teacher so many years ago.

As a conscientous mom who wants to help her child, I cannot recommend this book enough -- buy it, you will be glad you did. ... Read more

Book Description

The Caldecott Honor book, now in paperback!

With mournful moan and silken tone,

itself alone comes ONE TROMBONE...

Then a trumpet joins in to become a duet; add a French horn and voila! you have a trio -- and on it goes until an entire orchestra is assembled on stage. Lloyd Moss's iresistible rhymes and Marjorie Pricemans's energetic illustrations make beautiful music together -- a masterpiece that is the perfect introduction to musical instruments and musical groups, and a counting book that redefines the genre. ... Read more

Reviews (23)

ENCHANTING
I first came across this book in one of my university classes (Music for the Child)and fell in love with it immediately. It is now is my son's (age 2 1/2) favorite book. Even my husband loves it. We can all recite it by heart. It's a great way to introduce musical instruments to young children. My son recently saw a harp in person for the first time and recognized it right away because of this story. The prose, the illustrations - all are wonderful!!! A must for any child's library!

Fresh, charming, artistic approach to counting and music
I wish I could give this book 6 stars, because it is a truly wonderful book for preschoolers. One by one, the instruments in a classic orchestra are introduced, combining simple counting with music education. The text is in elegant rhyme, perfectly complemented by the bright, original & whimsical illustrations (make sure you pay attention to the "dance" performed by the cats, dog and mouse). A top-notch addition to a young child's library.

Emergent readers' gem!
Being a cello player myself, I believe all children should be exposed to music as soon as possible. This is a great introduction to music, orchestras, and the sounds the instruments make. It's great for emergent readers because of the rhyming and the way the words seem to flow from page to page. The illustrations are beautiful and whimsical. I really like the way the author uses pretty advanced descriptive words for the sounds the instruments make, like 'mournful moan' for the trombone and 'the reeds implore'.

Students will also learn basic information about musical groups, such as what they're called, octet, quintet, etc. A great part of this book is that the musical terminology is not reduced to children's levels. The words are quite large and reflect what is really true about classical musical instruments and musical groups. I think children would enjoy seeing the illustrations and learning about these instruments, and perhaps picking their favorite one. It plants an early seed in their head about orchestral groups, makes music fun, and perhaps creates a new generation of orchestral students.

Obviously, this is a minority opinion
As the 20-plus reviews thus far have ALL been five stars! So, take what I say with a grain of salt...

and even I actually mostly like this book (though I know at least one person who actually dislikes the book and won't read it anymore -- she finds the art ugly and the text strained -- but I'm married to her, she can write her own review).

I don't particularly notice the art, I'm usually half-asleep when reading this book to my 4-year-old in bed. But the text does sometimes jar me -- my teeth practically break when I get to the lines that rhyme CELL-o with hell-O (clearly one is supposed to pronounce it HELL-o here, but I can't make myself do it) -- on the other hand, some of it's really quite nice: "with steely keys that softly click//its breezy notes so darkly slick,..." (that ought to give you a sense of it -- if you say that aloud and think "ooh, I like the way those words fit together", and you want to say them to your child, then get this book. If you think "a clarinet's notes are breezy? or slick?"
or you worry about the rhyme of clarinet and septet, then maybe it isn't for you.)

Still, I like the nice twist on counting books, with 1,2,3,
becoming solo, duo, trio, etc. -- and the mouse-cats-dog subplot in the pictures is cute, too.

Awesome!
My three year old loves this book. We've read it only a few times, but he can already correct me if I mess up. He is learning to count, about instruments, the orchestra. It is just a fabulous book. Not to mention the terrific artwork. This is definately one of my favorites!!! ... Read more

Book Description

Book Description

From Captain Hook to Cruela De Vil, Disney Villains: The Essential Guide offers an insider's look at the most wicked villains in Disney history. Reflecting on the themes of adventure and suspense in both classic and new Disney films, this unique reference is packed with colorful illustrations, annotated drawings, and lively text about the villains everyone loves to hate. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

not just for kids!
As an adult who wanted to learn how to play the recorder, I wasn't sure how (or where) begin. This book is set up from very easy tunes to increasingly difficult (although it never gets too hard.) If a tune involves a new technique (examples: new time signatures, sharps and flats, etc.) the author explains these new things simply and to the point. The best thing about this book is that there are a variety of songs, most of which are recognizable (some Xmas tunes, classical pieces, folk songs, etc.) I wish there were more exercises to increase your technique, but that's being picky. I would recommend this book to both children and adults. ... Read more

Book Description

New heroes. New villains. A new mission. Share in the legend with books based on LEGO'S BIONICLE action figures. ... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (1)

Worth buying
Not just a blase book, this has articles from different journalists like Ronin Ro, SH Fernando Jr etc and is a good study on aspects of Hip Hop. Sort of book that people might overlook but that would be an error. Interesting. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A treasure chest of wonderful stories.
A book of encouraging stories and poems for our young generation to teach them everything from self-discipline, responsibility, honesty, loyalty etc. Read when George Washington was 14 year's old he wrote 110 best ways to act around people, he called it the "Rules of Civility". Read Walt Whitman's ode to Abe Lincoln, and my favourite by Frank Crane, entittled "Boy Wanted". Though the tittle of this book refers "for Young People" I think adults can without a doubt learn as well. I certainly have and I am in my fifth decade of my life. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Even Opera Haters Will Love This Delightful Book
My children, ages 5 and 2, and I, a musician mom, love this book. The pictures are colorful and beautiful. The first page of each story is a picture of all the main opera characters with their names underneath, so the children can refer to this page if the story begins to confuse them. This is followed by a synopsis of the opera, a blurb about the composer and then the opera itself. The text is simply magnificent. The stories are interesting all on their own, and even if you don't like opera you will love this book.

"Child-Friendly" Opera
This book would be a good choice for introducing children to the stories from operas. The author does a nice job of retelling in simple terms, the often-time complicated stories from seven different "child-friendly" operas. Some of the stories will be new to children and are sure to hold their interest. A couple of the operas are based on fairy-tales the children already know and they will be interested to see the differences in these versions. My only complaint was that I did not feel that the illustrations lived up to the same high quality as the stories. ... Read more

Book Description

In this richly layered compendium, Aliki shares her keen insight about music and all its themes and variations. Ah, Music! is about composers and instruments. It's about artists and performers. It's about history -- from the earliest music through classical, modern, jazz, and popular times. It's about diversity and pleasure.

If you have a love of music in your bones, or if you are just learning, or if you are about to play in your first recital, it's about you. Ah, music!

Reviews (1)

Refreshing Music Mini-encyclopedia
Aliki provides a broad synopsis of music-its place in history, cultures and the human heart-in this inspirational, informative volume. Each page consists of a collage of images united by a concise narrative.
What is especially refreshing about this mini-encyclopedia of music is that Aliki "bookends" the mechanics and "hardware"- types of instruments, who's who of Western composers, time lines of jazz and pop music - with "software," placing music's emotional and social value into perspective for the child. She shows how music is the background of everyday life, for example, with this definition, "Rhythm is a marching-band beat, a puffing-train beat, a beating-the eggs beat, a heart beat."
The book closes with a panoply of pictures demonstrating how music comforts and inspires, by helping people to relax, calm anger, cheer low spirits, and create or perform work. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

A wounderful, wounderful book!
A interesting and fun book filled with cool pictures, and facts you never knew! A must read for any Lindsay fan!

Nice compilation
The book is mostly a compilation of Lindsay's various interviews with magazines. It also has a biography and a filmography. One chapter is devoted to debunking myths concerning her. I've seen all the pictures that are in the book and read most of the text in other places. There were a few things that I hadn't read before. It's a good buy if you've never read the many magazine interviews she's given (or don't want to track down each and every magazine).

Best book on Lindsay I've Found
What's so cool about this book is that the pictures rock AND that I finally have book that tells me real stuff I want to know about Lindsay!!! There's lots of stuff in here that is so new to me--I keep reading it over and over again!

Great!
This book is so colorful and appealing to the eye. There are fun pictures and lots of gret information about Lindsay. I definitely recommend this book. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

The Sith, Revealed!
For anyone interested in the background of the dreaded Sith,
this is precisely where you begin! A terrifically informative
guide.

good
It told you a lot about the sith and how it started, but most of it comes from the expanded universe. It did not give you much detail of the sith in the movie. Great pictures. Its a good deal for sith fans, you might learn some thing.

The Mystery Has Been Solved
Finally we are told of the mysterious sith. They have lurked in the shadows of the Star Wars world for too long. A wonderous colection to the Star Wars universe and a must for the fans of it. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Great resource
Beautiful tape of music to introduce to your children. Some songs are instrumental. Includes songs such as "Miss Mary Mack," "Say It Loud, I'm Black and I'm Proud," "Lift Every Voice," "Kumbaya," etc. The book has the words with wonderful illustration of Black children. No sheet music, but a few arrangements are included. ... Read more