Customer Reviews (229)

Good Book

Sounder is a story of a boy and his troubling life. He is a black boy that is very pore and is discriminated by his color but he had his trust dog to keep him company. They live on a small part of someone else land growing food for winter. He was a sharecropper. Later in the story his father stole a ham. That night he was arrested. They found evidence it was him that stole the ham.

His father was in the local prison for a few weeks, but then he was moved to a slave work camp. After the boy found out about his father he set out on a journey to find his beloved dad.

Then after a year of searching he came upon a school. He saw about a nine students come out. Latter a teacher came out. The teacher took him home and cleaned him up. Some time latter he gave him a home and became his dear friend. He also tat him how to read.

Then he went home in the summer, to tell his family of his great new friend.

Will he ever find his father, you'll gust have to read and find out.

My review of this story is, it's good for school reports, but not a very good book for reading for fun.

Simply Sounder!
Sounder by William H. Armstrong has long been considered a classic in children's literature. It's the simple story of a young African American boy and his beloved dog named Sounder. The boy comes from a poor Southern iliterate family. Sounder is his best friend.

In Sounder, Armstrong writes simply about the times of being an African American young male in the South in the early twentieth century. The story was published in the late 1960s and earned plenty of accolades. The story was later made into a film with Cicely Tyson in an Oscar nominated performance as the mother.

While the story may not be complicated, it's beautifully done to capture the essence and momentum of the time that it was written. It is still read today and recommended in schools for young students.
It can be a tear jerker, so you will need a box of tissues.

I cant believe this was made into a movie!!!
I read this book for my book report thinking that it would be good considering it was made into a movie,and it got the newberry honor award. Boy was I wrong. The plot is dull boring and stupid. In my opinion this is what the bookwas like: a boy is poor his dad goes to jail he vists his dad,his family hunting dog runs away,his dog and dad die,he gets a tutor the end. They only mention the dogs name and no one else. I ended up doing another book bfor my book report because it was so bad.

If u think this book is good then your crazy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!(in my opinion)
I love dog books so this was sheer "torture" for me

A Good Book for All Ages to Read
Sounder is a good book for all ages to read. Some of the language is difficult to understand because it is set in the 19th century American South. The main characters are the boy and Sounder. The story begins by telling about his family, which includes his father, mother, younger siblings, and Sounder, the family's coon dog. They are extremely poor and have to work hard for everything that they have, which isn't much.

One day three law men come to haul off the dad for stealing a ham. They are very abusive to the father, chaining him and even striking him in the face with the chain. Sounder was making such a ruckus that one of the deputies shot him. The blast tears off the whole side of his head and shoulder.

The author gives such a good description of the animal's pain, sounds, and motions, that you can actually visualize the scene. What surprised me the most was the punishment that the father received. To me it didn't really fit the crime of just stealing a ham. He was placed in jail and placed on a chain gang for years and years.

I felt really sorry for this family. They really had to take up the slack and work even harder from dawn until dusk, every day, just to survive. I am very thankful that I wasn't in this boy's situation. I am very protective of my family and wouldn't have been able to restrain myself. I would have been jailed as well.

--Reviewed by Kiana Armjilo

one of those very few very good books for children
This book is not just another book about a boy and his dog, but about the larger issues of life and meaning.
The Platonic theme of the existence of anhigher order of ideas and shapes is one of the nice things about the ending.
The black boy comes to grips with a world of prejudice for the black
southern share crop farmers. Slavery may have ended in the 1860's, but
you really can't much tell it from this book. Freedom here seems to be the freedom to be mistreated ans starved inside an otherwise rich nation.
The poverty here seems to be the color white in the south.
One teacher reaches out and helps and shows that
not all men are liars and cruel? ... Read more

Product Description

Three classic dog tales brought together in a single volume

Customer Reviews (2)

Just what a 9 yr. old boy wants
My 9 yr. old grandson asked for Old Yeller for one of his christmas presents.He loves to read, and he loves animals. When I saw Old Yeller in the same book with 2 other dog stories, I had to buy it. He opened the gift, gave me a hug and a kiss, and started reading immediately.This book on dogs was exactly what he wanted. I've found that your service has been excellent for all of my purchases at Amazon.

Three Great Dog Stories
Although I am past middle age, I still go back and read these wonderful stories.I recently purchased these for my grandchildren, and they enjoyed them as much as I did the first time I read them many years ago. I hope my grandchildren collect them and save them for their children, because they never go out of date. ... Read more

Product Description
Angry and humiliated when his sharecropper father is jailed for stealing food for his family, a young black boy grows in courage and understanding by learning to read and through his relationship with his devoted dog Sounder. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (3)

An Interesting & Useful Dictionary of Shakespeare's Themes.
THE ARDEN DICTIONARY OF SHAKESPEARE QUOTATIONS.Compiled by Jane Armstrong.396 pp.London : Thomson Learning, 2000 (1999).

The present compilation contains 3000 quotations, both well-known and lesser-known, from Shakespeare's plays and poems.The quotations vary in length from short sentences such as "For he was great of heart," through to longer passages such as Hamlet's soliloquy, "To be or not to be," which can run to almost a page or more.Most quotations, however, are quite short, and many consist only of "a strikingly expressed thought or resonant phrase" such as "Do you smell a fault?"

Speaker, addressee, and act/scene/line references are keyed to the Arden Shakespeare series, and some are followed by brief annotations which help clarify the context.The book is rounded out with a 4-page Life of Shakespeare; a 12-page Glossary; an extensive 45-page Keyword Index; and an Index of References to Plays.

In her Preface, Editor Jane Armstrong writes that, as in "the 'commonplace books' in which Shakespeare's contemporaries recorded memorable extracts from their reading," her book has been organized by topic - e.g., ABSENCE, DESIRES, GUILT, HASTE, LOVE - since she feelsthat this "often clearly reveals the concentration round a subject ina particular play; and ... sometimes shows ideas recurring through Shakespeare's work, either in similar form or in a progression from the more straightforwardly expressed to the increasingly complex and embedded" (pp. xi-xii).

The book, in other words, has been designed to serve a twofold purpose - primarily as a commonplace book or compilation of themes, and onlysecondarily as a dictionary - and because it contains only 3000 quotations readers are occasionally not going to find what they may belooking for.

I was surprised, for example, to discover that a key linefrom 'Titus Andronicus' -"When will this fearful slumber have anend?" -has not been included.In fact, SLUMBER doesn't even appearas a topic, since the single line containing it has been subsumed under SLEEP.I was also, until I carefully read Armstrong's Preface, surpised to find that, although there are twenty "heart" quotations, HEART itself does not appear as a topic.

To locate the line "For he was great of heart," which has been included under the topic NOBILITY, you will have to search the Keyword Index. In other words, if you are searching for a particular line you shouldFIRST CHECK THE KEYWORD INDEX, since the book has not been arranged asa dictionary of words but as a commonplace book of topics or themes, anda more accurate (and less misleading) title for it would have been 'TheArden Commonplace Book of Shakespeare Quotations' or 'The Arden Dictionary of Shakespeare's Themes.'

A truly complete 'dictionary' that would perfectly satisfy all readers and in which we would all find all of our favorite passages and lines could of course only take the form of a rearrangement of Shakespeare's complete works, something clearly impracticable in a handy-sized book of just 396 pages.

Within its limits, and given its aims, I've found that in use the Arden compilation is an interesting book that does a fairly good job on the whole.Many of my favorite lines are there, though others aren't,but in compensation I've been guided to interesting new lines and have enjoyed exploring certain themes.The main frustration I've encounteredis that many passages seem too truncated, and I would have liked to have seen more of the poetic context.But this of course would have meant a much larger book.

The book is bound in a decorative glossy wrapper, stitched, well-printed on good thin paper, and is quite a handsome production.As a small 8vo in size (8 by 5 inches) it's not too big, has a nice look and feel toit, and is easy to consult and read.Although it isn't perfect (what is?), I'd say it's a useful (though occasionally frustrating) reference that will also provide interesting browsing material for the Shakespeare enthusiast.

In sum, this is a book with many attractive features, but don't expectto find everything you look for in it : only a Complete Shakespeare or perhaps something like the Schmidt Lexicon could provide that.And to avoid the possibility of confusion, don't forget to read Jane Armstrong's Preface, in which she makes it perfectly clear that this book is _not_ primarily a dictionary of words. It's intended to be something more interesting!

A Good Bargain
The price is right for this well-indexed, well-organized reference.It boasts 3,000 entries and all are in a logical context.The print is adequately sized and the margins are wide.There are no annotations, which would have been helpful.

My problem with the book is the selection of quotes.Many famous quotes do not appear, and some very obscure ones do.It could be the authors wanted to stay off the beaten track, and draw attention to the less familiar.The result is quotes you don't particularly want to quote.It seems as if a computerized word-search was done, and this was the outcome.

Surprisingly, there are not too many Shakespearian Quotation Dictionaries available.If you wish to have such a reference, you will not find many alternatives.I would give Arden's a lukewarm recommendation in that it could fulfill a need, and there are not many choices.

The best Shakespearean quotation book out there!
This book is well-organized, nicely printed with the headings in large bold letters.This makes finding a quote under a specific topic easy.I am using it for my college Shakespeare class.BUY THIS BOOK over any of the others. ... Read more

Product Description
Major McKinley is the first complete account of the CivilWar service of President William McKinley, the last of the Civil Warveterans to reach the White House and the only one who served in theranks. McKinley enlisted as a private in the 23rd Ohio VolunteerInfantry (later commanded by another future president, RutherfordB. Hayes) and was the regiment’s commissary sergeant when hisbravery at the Battle of Antietam led to a commission and anassignment to Hayes’s military staff.

McKinley regarded the end of slavery as the significant outcome of thewar and valued the contributions of the black soldiers in the Unionarmy. After the war, as a young lawyer and congressman, he defendedthe rights of freedmen and did so long after others had tired of thecause. He also reached out to former Confederate soldiers in an effortto help restore unity to a divided country. This initiative eventuallyovershadowed and diminished his advocacy of civil rights.

Drawing on a wide variety of sources, including McKinley’s ownpapers and the diaries and letters of men who served with him, thisbook presents a new picture of McKinley as a soldier and provides afresh appreciation of his later life as a veteran in politics. ... Read more

Product Description
The Genealogy and Family History Collection is a unique set of materials that describes the histories and narratives of particular American families.The Collection brings to life pre-1923 books that contain information such as birth, death, marriage, property and migration records of specific families. Many of these families followed interesting migration and movement patterns from Western Europe and beyond to the United States well over 200 years ago. Included in these volumes is information such as last wills and testaments, period photographs of towns, buildings and landscapes, portraits of family members, and descriptions of business interactions. Encompassing such comprehensive and personal information, this collection will appeal to genealogists, family history researchers, as well as descendants and casual historians. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

good for genealogy
My husband's side of the family tree and I needed this to fill in some family connections.Good for who married who and children......

I did not find it as helpful. The index in the back does NOT have by given name, only by surname. So if you are looking up say Eli Lundy, you will have to read thru a lot before you find him and you dont know how many times the family used that name throughout the generations.

You have to know already who was married to who to follow this. ... Read more

Product Description
Another great novel by the Newbery Medal-Winning Author of "Sounder". ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

A more than worthy sequel
As another reviewer pointed out, Sour Land is certainly a sequel to the more famous Sounder, though that's only made clear in a few words near the middle of the book. I'm not so sure that the McLeod Place is a sequel to this, though. In any event, this book is a little masterpiece, albeit a crunchingly sad one. It concerns an honest farmer and his children who take on an elderly black man to work with them on the farm. He is very literate and well read; clearly he is the boy from Sounder. It's good to knew that the drive to learn he had as a boy yielded such fine fruit.

An inspiring book
My book club thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. We also learned a little about the life of the author, and we could see so much of his history in it. Moses Waters is a a most beloved character and an inspiring role model. It's sad that such a beautiful book is out of print. Also recommended, see the other 2 books in his trilogy: 1. Sounder, 2. Sour Land, and 3. The MacLeod Place.

This is a book to reread when you need a little lift. It will tell you how Moses Waters made his sour land sweet!

I loved reading this book!
I just loved Sour Land! It was a nice break from all the sugar coated books that most kids read. Sure, the end is sad. But I think that is was the real world is like, full of disapointments, deaths, horible sicknesses, and whatever might come your way. So, reading this book might prepare kids for stuff that is going to get in there way of live one day. I have to tell you that I have always wanted to read a book that had a plot of an adult's book, but was writen for kids. I found that book, I read that book, and I loved that book! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Great Discussion about Managing New Military Technology
The book discusses how the British dealt with new military technology and new defense business concepts in the 19th century.Its not a pretty story, but a useful one to know.Armstrong invented the first effective breech loading cannon and built a company to make and sell it.The British government did not know how to deal with a privately-owned arms manufacturer since they had been using publicly-owned and operated arsenals for centuries.The story of Armstrong's company is the story of how Britain learned how to mange high technology and private industry in national defense.As you might image, it was not easy for either side.Many problems arose which we still see today.It is useful & instructive to see the initial responses and first behaviors from the British government and British industry; they differ little from some current proposals.Understanding these early responses will help the modern practitioner or academic understand the processes and avoid some of those early mistakes.

Did not give five stars only because the editing for the book is weak.Some sections repeat earlier discussions.Facts are fine; presentation is good, but not great. ... Read more

Product Description
This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more

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The book has no illustrations or index. Purchasers are entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Subjects: History / General; ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

129th Pennsylvania in disquise:
Reprint of an 1864 book detailing the service of the fictional 210th Pennsylvania, a nine-month regiment which charges on Marye's Heights at Fredericksburg and is heavily engaged at Chancellorsville just days beforethe expiration of their enlistment. Originally published anonymously underthe guise of fiction, Mr. Arner's commentary demonstrates the connectionsto actual people and events in the 129th Pennsylvania (3rd Division, FifthCorps). Offers a particularly interesting picture of the divisioncommander, Andrew A. Humphreys. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Great Way to Learn the Basics and In-Depth Tactics
This book, coupled with How to Study by Kornhauser, is a great way to get the basics. Readers will learn everything they need to know, including outlining form, studying for all subjects, etc. Also, it teaches timemanagement, and offers some suggestions for time management. The best thingabout this book is its in-depth direction and examples of correct andincorrect form. This is most definitely worth the 10 dollars or so. ... Read more

Product Description
Taken from the acclaimed and best-selling Francis of Assisi: Early Documents set, this collection contains Saint Bonaventures Major and Minor Legends of Saint Francis as well as his Sermons about Saint Francis. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

A real Francis/Bonaventure fan is excited about the connection made
The spirituality of Saint Francis is so important for today.Saint Bonaventure captured it in his theology.Here is a way to see the connection and grow in one's knowledge and familiarity with them both.

Franciscan Spirituality
This book enables you to have a deeper understanding of the unique quality of Franciscan Spirituality.

You Will Be Amazed
Although this work is obviously a "find" for scholars, it is also a gift for those searching for models of discipleship and inspiration in their daily lives. True, Francis was highly exceptional and yes, he lived in the Middle Ages, but his theology, preaching and, most of all, practice of Christianity remain relevant to this day.

The introductory material provides adequate background for the work Bonaventure developed as a definitive portrait of the man who became Saint Francis. For me, however, the real story starts about 40 pages in, with the "Major Legend" that covers Francis' life and the miracles reported after his death. The chapters average fewer than 10 pages, and any one could be the basis for personal or small group reflection on the message and how it applies today. In addition, you may be amazed at what you didn't know about Francis of Assisi as you come upon paragraph after paragraph recounting visions, miracles, and devotions. They begin like these: Once when he was asked how he protected himself against the bite of winter's frost with such thin clothing... Once it happened that one of the brothers responded more gruffly to a poor man begging alms... Once in Rome he had with him a little lamb out of reverence for the most gentle Lamb of God.... ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Excellent account of love lost and reocvery.
I recieved this book from Mr. Armstrong after I lost my parents in a planecrash in 1988. I was one of his students at Kent School. This is anexcellent account of losing a loved one and the depression that follows.Armstrong takes you through his heart breaking story of the death of hiswife. He is left alone to raise their children. It tells of his depressionand how he overcame the tragedy.

I thanked him for helping me through thehardest part of my life. It woke me from the depressive slumber and helppull me back to reallity. It is an excellent book for anyone who hassuffered a loss. ... Read more

Product Description
An old Virginia farmer and his grandson fight to save their land in the Blue Ridge Mountains from being taken by the government for a system of parks and highways. ... Read more