Customer Reviews (1)

Not as good as I'd expected
This is a tape of Dave Barry attempting to do standup comedy, and for the most part failing. The tape is only useful for the truly diehard Barry fans who must have everything he puts out. Old material is rehashed, there's asmattering of new stuff but if you're familiar with his work you'll knowall the punchlines. Buy it if you can't get enough Barry, but one of hispaperbacks or other cassettes would be a better choice for those who don'tlive and die by the word "booger" ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Dave Barry brings the laughs.
This book is a great intro to Dave Barry, as it contains four of his books.While the books are abridged (I think) the best parts are here, and the illustrations by Jerry O'Brien really add to the humor.Hardcore Barry fans will find themselves wishing they had bought the individual books, but for casual readers looking for a laugh, there are more than enough of them here.

Classic Dave Barry
This book contains four classic Dave Barry books:Dave Barry's Guide to Marriage and/or Sex, Babies and Other Hazards of Sex, The Taming of the Screw, and Claw Your Way to the Top.There are a lot of illustrations that are extremely funny in each chapter. Although some of it is a bit dated it is still classic Dave Barry humor. ... Read more

Product Description
Don’t even think of starting this book unless you’re sitting in a comfortable chair and have lots of time. A fast-paced, impossible-to-put-down adventure awaits as the young orphan Peter and his mates are dispatched to an island ruled by the evil King Zarboff. They set sail aboard the Never Land, a ship carrying a precious and mysterious trunk in its cargo hold, and the journey quickly becomes fraught with excitement and danger. Discover richly developed characters in the sweet but sophisticated Molly, the scary but familiar Black Stache, and the fearless Peter. Treacherous battles with pirates, foreboding thunderstorms at sea, and evocative writing immerses the reader in a story that slowly and finally reveals the secrets and mysteries of the beloved Peter Pan.Amazon.com Review
Humorist Dave Barry and suspense writer Ridley Pearson have clearly taken great delight in writing a 400-plus page prequel of sorts to Scottish dramatist J.M. Barrie's beloved Peter Pan stories. The result is a fast-paced and fluffy pirate adventure, complete with talking porpoises, stinky rogues, possible cannibals, a flying crocodile, biting mermaids, and a much-sought-after trunk full of magical glowing green "starstuff." Ever hear of Zeus? Michelangelo? Attila the Hun? According to 14-year-old Molly Aster they all derived their powers from starstuff that occasionally falls to Earth from the heavens. On Earth, it is the Starcatchers' job to rush to the scene and collect the starstuff before it falls into the hands of the Others who use its myriad powers for evil.

On board the ship Never Land, an orange-haired boy named Peter, the leader of a group of orphaned boys being sent off to work as servants in King Zarboff the Third's court, is puzzled by his shipmate Molly's fantastical story of starstuff, but it inextricably binds him to her. Peter vows to help his new, very pretty friend Molly (a Starcatcher's apprentice) keep a mysterious trunk full of the stuff out of the clutches of the pirate Black Stache, a host of other interested parties, and ultimately King Zarboff the Third.

The downright goofy, modern 8-year-old boy humor sometimes clashes with an old-time pirate sensibility, and the rapid-fire dialogue, while well paced, is far from inventive. Still, the high-seas hijinks and desert-island shenanigans will keep readers turning the pages. Greg Call's wonderful black-and-white illustrations are deliciously old-fashioned and add plenty of atmosphere to a silly, swashbuckling story that shows us how Peter Pan came to fly and why he, and his story, will never get old. (Ages 9 and older) --Karin Snelson ... Read more

Customer Reviews (242)

Loved it!
This is one of those middle-grade books that is as enjoyable to read for adults as it is for kids. Not only does the book answer all of those nagging questions about how Peter Pan is able to fly, why he doesn't grow up and how he and the lost boys came to live on the island of Neverland, but it is full of action, great characters, and absolutely hilarious. I highly recommend this for 4-8th grade readers and it would be a great read-aloud as well. Can't wait to read the rest of the series.

Fantastic Audio Book!
This is a fantastic series made all the better by Jim Dale's reading (also read the Harry Potter series).I listen to many audiobooks, but Jim Dale is one of the absolute best.The story itself is very fun to listen to with your family - we were all laughing out loud.

Peter and the Starcatchers


This book is great for young readers and teenagers. This book is about a boy named Peter who is an orphan heading to King Zargoth III's castle. Peter and his little gang of orphan boys are going along also. The boys are leaving a place they call home to become slaves to King Zargoth III.The boys board a ship named the Never Land. The ship is secretly carrying the greatest treasure alive. Peter meets a nice young girl named Molly.Molly keeps lots of secrets.Peter gets a cabin on the ship with his gang.The "grub" is terrible on the ship, so the gang sends Peter on a mission to find tastier food.While searching for food, he finds a floating rat.Peter later discovers that a magic source called starstuff gave the rat the power to fly.After Peter and his gang meet Black Stache, the pirate, the Never Land crashes into a reef. If you want to find out if Peter and his gang of orphans survive, you need to read this book.

An Exciting Adventure Story for Youth
I read this book to my 7-year old daughter, and we both enjoyed it. The book is well-written and the story is intriguing. It is created as a prequel to the Peter Pan story; however, that connection is loose and the story is good apart from it.There are some events that are weird and some that were slightly disturbing for a young reader.Overall, we liked it enough to begin reading the next book in the series.

fun and exciting, for both kids and adults!
fun! fun! and more fun! if you have ever wondered where Peter learned to fly, how Captain Hook really lost his hand, or where Tinkerbell came from - look no further than this book.the answers are all here, in this first of the Starcatchers series.though i have no idea what is in store from the rest of the books, i will definitely be reading them in the very near future.

the story naturally centers on Peter, who is an ordinary orphan on a ship headed for Rundoon with several other orphan boys, a very special girl named Molly, and a mostly unpleasant crew.as expected, there are pirates and treasure and a deserted island, but there are also talking animals, mermaids and a little bit of magic.the story of Peter, Molly and the orphans really sucked me in and had me laughing and cheering them on.i felt like i was a kid again, or at least that i was on an extended Disney theme park ride!

the writing is simple, as the book is intended for grades 5-9, but that didn't stop me from enjoying this as an adult.there was a slight bit of predictability in the conflict, but there were also moments that took me completely by surprise, so it was all in good fun.

the audiobook was read by Jim Dale, who also narrated the Harry Potter series (although i didn't listen to those) and he had such excellent voices and narration that it really brought the story to life!i'd recommend this for anyone with children, or any adult that is looking for an exciting, lighthearted read. ... Read more

Product Description

Little Scallop should be happy. She’s a princess of the Mollusk tribe, rulers of beautiful Mollusk Island. And she has two fun friends - Aqua and Surf - who just happen to be mermaids. But Little Scallop is bored. Her warrior brothers are allowed to do exciting things, like spying on the pirates who live on the other side of the island. Little Scallop longs to have a real adventure. When Aqua and Surf invite her to go pearl-diving - even though she knows she shouldn’t - she can’t resist. So late one night, she sneaks off into forbidden waters with Aqua and Surf. That’s when the trouble starts - they run into a fierce storm and a strange ship sailed by men who would love to capture a mermaid. Soon, Little Scallop is caught up in the adventure she always wanted. The question is: can she and her friends get out of it?

Customer Reviews (14)

No Peter Pan but still grand
The Never Land Series debuts with Escape from the Carnivale. This new Disney series tells the stories of other characters in Never Land besides Peter Pan.In this tale, a curious girl named Little Scallop, who is the chief's daughter, befriends the mermaids Aqua and Surf. The mermaids normally stay close to the shore, but today the girls decided to search for pearls.Since pearls are found in deeper water, that means leaving their safe haven and hijinx ensue.

Escape from the Carnivale is a short story with pirates and an exciting rescue. You can't go wrong with pirates. I liked this story more because it didn't have Peter Pan - there were some lost boys, but Peter Pan is so often the central character that it was a nice change

new characters to enjoy
This book is designed for younger readers.If you have children who've enjoyed hearing you read aloud any of the Barry/Pearson Peter Pan series, this is something they can likely read on their own.A 2nd or 3rd grader who reads well would have no problem with this short and action-packed story.

Escape into this Mini-Adventure!
Have you ever wondered what was going on with the Mollusks and The Lost Boys while Peter was away having adventures in Peter and the Starcatchers, Peter and the Shadow Thieves and Peter and the Secrets of Rundoon?Well, this easy chapter book series (billed A Neverland Book) neatly fills that gap quite nicely.This story takes place in between Starcatchers and Shadow Thieves and features Little Scallop (along with others) on a madcap mini-adventure involving mermaids, pirates, a traveling carnival seeking new attractions, the infamous Black Stache (and his gang), dolphins, and of course the irascible Mr. Grin.We begin the story with Little Scallop wishing her father had more time for her as she goes off to spend some with her mermaid friends, Surf and Agua.All three are tired of being told what they can and cannot do because of their age, and as young children often do, they break all the rules to swim out to Shark Cave, forbidden to the two young mermaids AND Little Scallop (it's certainly not in the shallows where her father has told her to stay).So off they go...and no sooner than they are on their way than a raging squall comes upon them and they become lost AND what's worse, there is a ship (deathly dangerous for mermaids).Surf is captured and now it's up to Agua and Little Scallop to get help for their captured friend and in the process of doing so, they encounter a lot more adventure and danger than they bargained for...will they rescue their friend?You'll have to read to find out!

Overall, this is a cute addition to the Neverland stories, though I would wager this is most appropriate for a slightly younger age range than the longer Pan novels Barry and Ridley have written.Escape from the Carnivale comes in at 134 pages and is a nice early chapter book with large spacing and type with an entertaining and easy to follow storyline that younger fans of Peter Pan and get into easily on their own (best for ages 4-8) and it would certainly make a great read aloud story for younger readers!I give it four stars, both of my kids loved it and we all hope that there will be many more of these to come...we absolutely loved reading more about the Mollusks, the Lost Boys and The Mermaids!!!

NOTE:My appologies for the double posting, I accidently ticked the no button on the over 13 question...oops!

Escape into this Mini-Adventure
Have you ever wondered what was going on with the Mollusks and The Lost Boys while Peter was away having adventures in Peter and the Starcatchers, Peter and the Shadow Thieves and Peter and the Secrets of Rundoon?Well, this easy chapter book series (billed A Neverland Book) neatly fills that gap quite nicely.This story takes place in between Starcatchers and Shadow Thieves and features Little Scallop (along with others) on a madcap mini-adventure involving mermaids, pirates, a traveling carnival seeking new attractions, the infamous Black Stache (and his gang), dolphins, and of course the irascible Mr. Grin.We begin the story with Little Scallop wishing her father had more time for her as she goes off to spend some with her mermaid friends, Surf and Agua.All three are tired of being told what they can and cannot do because of their age, and as young children often do, they break all the rules to swim out to Shark Cave, forbidden to the two young mermaids AND Little Scallop (it's certainly not in the shallows where her father has told her to stay).So off they go...and no sooner than they are on their way than a raging squall comes upon them and they become lost AND what's worse, there is a ship (deathly dangerous for mermaids).Surf is captured and now it's up to Agua and Little Scallop to get help for their captured friend and in the process of doing so, they encounter a lot more adventure and danger than they bargained for...will they rescue their friend?You'll have to read to find out!

Overall, this is a cute addition to the Neverland stories, though I would wager this is most appropriate for a slightly younger age range than the longer Pan novels Barry and Ridley have written.Escape from the Carnivale comes in at 134 pages and is a nice early chapter book with large spacing and type with an entertaining and easy to follow storyline that younger fans of Peter Pan and get into easily on their own (best for ages 4-8) and it would certainly make a great read aloud story for younger readers!I give it four stars, both of my kids loved it and we all hope that there will be many more of these to come...we absolutely loved reading more about the Mollusks, the Lost Boys and The Mermaids!!!

Good Short Story Involving the Minor Characters of the Original Barry/Pearson Prequel Masterpieces!
Although this short story does not contain either of the two great main characters Peter and Molly from the masterpieces Peter and the Starcatchers or the sequel to that prequel Peter and the Shadow Thieves and its length is only a fifth at most of either of those two books, it's still a great read.

Escape from the Carnivale allows a couple of the minor characters from the other adventures to have a bit of limelight and ultimately save the day.Teacher and the other mermaids, Fighting Prawn and the mollusk tribe, the Lost Boys and Black Moustache (now known as Hook) and other island residents do make appearances but this novel's pages belong mainly to youngest daughter of the Mollusk tribe, Little Scallop and James from the Lost Boys.

The adventure begins with a bored Little Scallop, envious of her older siblings who get to go on adventures, spying on Hook and the other pirates, disappointed that her father spends his time worried about them and not giving her attention.When mermaid friends her age decide to break the rules and swim out in the open ocean to a cave so they can get some pearls to make necklaces, Little Scallop decides to go along.It is not long before they are lost and one of the mermaids (Surf) trapped in a net is hauled onboard a ship called The Carnivale and thrown in a tank with a number of other "freak" prisoner marine animals.The captain of the ship Crookshank is determined to capture more mermaids and other exotic creatures to perform in his show and sees the island as a great place to acquire new slaves.With all the Mollusk tribe up in the mountains at a Sun ceremony it is up to Little Scallop and James to come up with a plan to rescue their friend with the help of some dolphins and the other mermaids.Hook however wants the ship for himself.

Escape for the Carnivale is aimed at a younger market than the Starcatcher Peter Pan prequel books but that doesn't mean it's not as good. ... Read more

Product Description
In South Florida, everyone wants to get a head. But not just any head. A very famous human head--severed and snugged away in a cryonic container. A head that could spark a revolution and change the course of history.

Everybody wants a piece of the noggin: rotund gangster Big Joey G., a 102-year-old environmentalist, hard-boiled Miami reporter Britt Montero, lawyer Jake Lassiter,and a would-be dictator in exile--with ex-president Jimmy Carter and a lovable manatee named Booger thrown in for good measure.

With bodies piling up it's anybody's guess what will happen from one chapter to the next, as an all-star line-up of Florida's finest writers take turns at taking this outrageously original novel to the limit--and beyond.Amazon.com Review
Dave Barry starts the madness in Naked Came theManatee, introducing a 102-year-old environmentalist named CoconutGrove and a manatee saddled with one of Barry's favorite monikers,Booger.Carl Hiaasen closes down the party, andin between, 11 of Florida's literati, including ElmoreLeonard, John Dufresne, and Edna Buchanan, make twistedofferings to the affair: three severed heads, all bearing a remarkableresemblance to Fidel Castro; four murders; some sex; someespionage; even an appearance by Jimmy Carter and one by Castro himself.

Originally published as a serial novel in the Miami Herald'sTropic magazine, Naked Came the Manatee resembles aliterary game of telephone, with each writer contributing a chapter andpassing it on to the next, who then makes the most of what he or she isgiven. The result is a novel with wildly fluctuating styles and morecrazy plot curves than a daytime drama, but thanks to these 13masters of the craft this roller coaster of a book isalmost as much fun to read as it obviously was to write. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (53)

Entertaining But Uneven
Like the waters of Key Biscayne, in and near where much of the plot of this book occurs, this story is choppy.That's to be expected, given the novel consists of 13 chapters, no two written by the same author.Dave Barry kicks off the story, Carl Hiaasen finishes it, and the writers in between are all seasoned Floridian authors of varying renown.Some of the chapters are funnier than others, some better written, and a couple don't work at all.The approach makes for disjointed storytelling at best, and reads more like a series of tenuously interconnected vignettes than an actual story.It's an interesting writing experiment, but one that's been done before and better.If you're a fan of any of these authors or the peculiar inanities of south Florida life, you'll enjoy this book.

Naked Manatee
Very enjoyable book. Surprising to have such an author lineup, one/chapter. Left the mystery a little shallow but a fun read.

Crazy good read!
I had a lot of fun reading this mess of a book, but if you are looking for a 'normal' novel then you might want to run the other way. This is NOT a book to be taken very seriously (and if you try then you'll probably end up hating it). It's like the pass a long stories you wrote with friends back in school - it jumps around adding and dumping characters at will and it sometimes seems like the authors wanted to see how crazy they could make their chapter end to see how the next author would write their way out of the mess. I think it was pure ridiculously demented fun from Dave Barry's opening to Carl Hiassen's ending.

A Manatee with an Identity Crisis
In case you didn't know, this book is actually written by several Florida authors, each contributing a chapter and taking the story where they so choose.I believe it was originally published in a magazine, with each author submitting the next installment of the story.The first is Dave Barry and the final is Carl Hiaasen with several other prime examples of Floridian writing genius in between.

This book covers the bases when it comes to Florida humor, taking place in Miami, we have nature lovers, skin divers, lawyers, police, Castro Impersonators, drug dealers, hit men, famous actors, and of course Castro himself.Throw in a couple of severed heads and a manatee with an identity crisis and you have an entertaining 201 pages.

The manner of the writing of this book leads to characters making drastic personality changes, some characters not getting a proper ending, and lots of laughter all around.The writing styles vary from chapter to chapter, some more focused on plot than others, but I recommend this book to anyone looking for a short entertaining read that they don't want to invest a lot into.

Too many cooks and all that . . .
If you are a fan of any of these authors, do yourself the favor of sticking with their individual efforts.Hiaasen's chapter (the final one) cracks broadly at the missteps of several previous authors.I enjoyed only 3 chapters (Berry, Hall, & Hiaasen), and I put up with the rest to see how Mr. Hiaasen would tie it up.Even his talents could not salvage this - and here, I strongly agree with other reviewers - MESS. ... Read more

Product Description
Dave Barry Is Not Taking This Sitting Down: What's been getting Dave Barry all worked up lately? What can possibly induce him to rise up - yes, actually out of his chair - in indignation? Well, lots of things, including the real skinny on the IRS, Donald Trump, the airlines, and so much more...

Dave Barry Hits Below the Beltway: Below the Beltway includes Barry's stirring account of how the United States was born, including his version of a properly written Declaration (When in the course of human events it behooves us, the people, not to ask "What can our country do for us, anyway?" but rather whether we have anything to fear except fear itself) and a revised Constitution (Section II: The House of Representatives shall be composed of people who own at least two dark suits and have not been indicted recently).

Boogers Are My Beat: Dave Barry gives us the real scoop on: • The scientific search for the world’s funniest joke • RV camping in the Wal-Mart parking lot • Outwitting "smart" kitchen appliances and service contracts • Elections in Florida • The Olympics, where people from all over the world come together to accuse each other of cheating • The truth about the Dakotas, the Lone Ranger, and feng shui • The choice between death and taxes
And much, much more - including some truths about journalism and serious thoughts about 9/11.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A Couple of Issues
These are not Dave's best work. The humor seems a bit formulaic & stale. It's still enjoyable if you're a hardcore Barry fan.

My biggest issue is with the CDs themselves. My player seems to have a problem reading them, often it takes several tries. Then each CD is broken into 'tracks' that are maybe 30 seconds long. So it's rather a pain to skip through the CD to the place you left off. There are 100 tracks per CD. What's the point of that? ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Get Shorty Warmed Over?
Carrying on in the tradition of Irma Bomback and Art Buchwald, Dave Berry certainly qualifies as one of the great American humorists of our time. His newspaper column has a unique cadence that allows the reader to easily imagine the writer's voice brilliantly describing the mundane and ironic challenges of marriage, parenthood, and citizenship.

In Big Trouble, however, that distinct voice seems muted. What remains is a generic, paint-by-numbers aping of Get Shorty, a formulaic caper comedy peopled with cliché-spouting stereotypes. The book reads exactly like the kind of movie you might pick up at Blockbuster when all the latest titles are checked out. And, to be sure, that's exactly the kind of movie Big Trouble turned out to be: an unsurprising, mildly amusing piece of fluff.

I'm a huge Dave Berry fan. His essays on contemporary family life and observations on our loopy culture are dazzlingly side-splitting. Fiction, I'm afraid, seems (at least in the case of Big Trouble) to be more than a bit outside Berry's wheelhouse. A swiiiiing... and a miss.

Rand Bishop, author of Makin' Stuff Up, The Absolute Essentials of Songwriting Success, and the novel/mock memoir, Grand Pop.

Great
If you like florida mystery/humor books you will love this.Laugh out loud funny!

Miami's slyest booster (sort of)
As the many readers of his column know, Dave Barry has a sideways sort of sense of humor. And, as much as he loves Miami, he's certainly not blind to the failings of his home town, where gun-ownership is a given. His first novel is part Marx Brothers, part Carl Hiaasen, part Goofy-on-dope, all set in the Miami suburb of Coconut Grove. Eliot Arnold is an ex-newsman struggling to make it with his small advertising agency, while his teenaged son, Matt, plays "Killer" with squirt guns. Matt's intended victim, Jenny, is the daughter of Arthur Herk, vice-president and bag man for a thoroughly corrupt and murderous local corporation, whose days may be numbered as a result of his not-bright embezzling. And there's Puggy, a street person living in a tree in the Herk's walled yard, who has a thing for their illegal maid, Nina. Puggy also works (sort of) for two Russian ex-army chislers who own a run-down bar as a front for their arms-dealing operation. And there's Snake and Eddie, small-time grifters who decide to make a big score -- bigger than they know, unfortunately. And there's FBI agents and assorted cops and several overlapping love stories and a very suspicious metal suitcase. (Now I've gotta see the movie!)

Dirty
This might have been a fun book if it had been more decent, but it just went too far.It deserves an R rating, and I find nothing at all amusing about that.I threw it in the trash before I was half done.And I won't pick up any more of Barry's fiction unless I have reason to believe it's no worse than a PG-13.

And no trouble at all except to put down before you finish
If the Marx brothers could have teamed up with the Keystone Cops in a 21st Century cops and robbers episode in print they might have picked Big Trouble as a nice fit.Puggy, a benign version of the modern `street person' phenomenon, drifts to Miami to find himself at home living in a tree over the fence separating the family a wealthy low-level gangster from the world of consequences.He stumbles into a job in a run-down bar owned by two ex-Russian gunrunners dealing in stolen Soviet arms, and so begins one of the funnier dead-serious books I've read this century.A kid in a squirt-gun assassin game tangled into the activities of real-live hit-men, a man-woman Miami's finest cop team tightroping it between battles of the sexes and societal chaos all combine to make this a readable, laughable, believable book you might even put aside to read again a year from now.. ... Read more

Product Description
Features the best material from today's most popular humorists such as Garrison Keillor, Dave Barry, Bailey White, Andrei Codrescu and more. 4 cassettes. ... Read more

Product Description
This compilation features stories and excerpts from literature that illustrate lifestyles and emotions shared between homosexual men. 2 cassettes. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Good, but don't get too excited.
First of all, this book has very little to do with erotica.The title of the book is Passion; Men on Men.It is a collection of writings regarding men, their feelings, thoughts and emotions.There are both humorous pieces as well as thought provoking ones.Yes, there are some writings concerning gay men but straight men are not left out; longing is universal after all.It is truly a mix bag of essays and excerpts from books. An audiobook quite unique.It tries to cover a wide variety of men but it falls short to a point.Nevertheless, it was enjoyable to listen to.It is unlike any other audio product I have purchased in the past.Buy it if you want something diferent to listen to then the current best seller or book of the month.It will make you think about your gender in a fresh way.This book contains 2 audio cassettes and has a variety of readers.gay, straight and Bi males are talked about throughout the selections included here.Hopefully there will be another collection in the near future.In my opinion there is not enough written about males and their psyche.this is a shame. ... Read more

Product Description
Please enter a Synopsis. ... Read more

Product Description
Featuring some of the most famous columnists in the business, this guide reveals the secrets to becoming a syndicated newspaper columnist, through both the author's own experiences and anecdotes from the respected writers who excel in their craft. From finding topics, to digging up information, and ultimately writing a column that makes people think, laugh, or cry, all the wisdom necessary to write opinion, humor, and insight columns is clearly presented in this in-depth manual.

"I never thought anyone could write a book that would really teach someone else how to be a newspaper columnist. Boy, was I wrong. Suzette Martinez Standring has pulled it off?and with flair." ?Bill Tammeus, The Kansas City Star

Suzette Martinez Standring is a syndicated humor columnist and features writer whose work appears in The Boston Globe, the Milton Times, The Patriot Ledger, and other publications. She was voted best columnist by the readership of the Milton Times in 2003 and has been featured on Boston's NPR station. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A Must Read for All Inspiring Writers
Developing Your Writing Voice

Suzette Martinez Standring is more than a helpful, how-do book; it can be the start of a new career for many inspiring writers. She starts her book where all with the understanding that "every morning millions of readers turn the to their favorite newspaper columnist." Writers need an audience, they seek it, crave it and survive upon they support from their audience. The very thought of being in the public eye (or eyes) is what most writers seek and this book teaches a writer gives answers for that goal. Standring moves her readers, step by step, up the hill for "telling the story" and give an opportunity to become a successful columnist writer. She reminds writers that not all start out for recognition as a columnist, but often find themselves at that door in their writing career. What a wonderful opportunity for recognition as a writer while developing readership fans, she reminds the reader. Included in her information is, not only her knowledge but also that of great columnist that have been and/or are in the business. She helps to develop one's "voice" with advice from well-known columnist the late great Art Buchwald. Tell your story, write it to fulfill the editor's wants, and make it the right length. How difficult it is to tell a good story in a short amount of space. Standring takes her readers, as a good teacher does, through those steps, while helping them understand their voice. For example, will you be a humor or life-style columnist metro or religious?Blogging and getting on the radio are all included. She talks money, syndications, ethics and all else it takes. What more could a writer want?Her book is a mandatory read at three universities and it only just came out this year. That will speak for its credibility as a superb and educational columnist read.
... Read more