The Adventures of Tintin: The Crab With the Golden Claws / The Shooting Star / The Secret of the Unicorn (3 Complete Adventures in 1 Volume, Vol. 3)

Average customer rating:

Haddock is introduced in the Golden Claws

A little disappointing

Tintin on his adventures!

A rich part of this bilingual Canadian's heritage

The Adventures of Tintin: The Crab With the Golden Claws / The Shooting Star / The Secret of the Unicorn (3 Complete Adventures

The Adventures of Tintin: The Crab With the Golden Claws / The Shooting Star / The Secret of the Unicorn (3 Complete Adventures in 1 Volume, Vol. 3)
Herge
Manufacturer: Little, Brown Young Readers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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The Adventures of Tintin: The Broken Ear / The Black Island / King Ottokar's Sceptre (3 Complete Adventures in 1 Volume, Vol. 2)

The Adventures of Tintin - Red Rackham's Treasure / The Seven Crystal Balls / Prisoners of the Sun (3 Complete Adventures in 1 Volume, Vol. 4)

The Adventures of Tintin: Tintin in America / Cigars of the Pharaoh / The Blue Lotus (3 Complete Adventures in One Volume, Vol. 1)

Adventures of Tintin: Land of Black Gold / Destination Moon / Explorers on the Moon (3 Complete Adventures in 1 Volume, Vol. 5)

The Adventures of Tintin: The Calculus Affair / The Red Sea Sharks / Tintin in Tibet (3 Complete Adventures in 1 Volume, Vol. 6)

ASIN: 0316359440

Customer Reviews:

Haddock is introduced in the Golden Claws.......2007-08-23

Thundering Typhoons!! Had been trying to get my hands on this issue as it introduces my fave. character!! It compliments the package well because the issues are in a sequence and one ends up getting more of blistering barnacles! I would recommend this to Haddock's admiration club and otherwise as well!

A little disappointing.......2007-02-07

The quality of the printing is far from perfect. It smooches on several pages.Also, I read the French version first and the English one is, in my opinion, rather lame. A lot of work would need to be done to improve it.

Tintin on his adventures!.......2007-01-21

I have read many Tintin adventures and love them all. Herge can make very funny adventure stories.
In the book, The Crab with the Golden Claws, Tintin meets Captain Haddock. Captain Haddok loves whisky. Professor Calculus is not here. He comes in Red Rackham's treasure.
Reviewed by my child, C.B. Patras

A rich part of this bilingual Canadian's heritage.......2006-09-09

Volume 3: The Crab With the Golden Claws (1942), The Shooting Star (1942), The Secret of the Unicorn (1943). This is the third instalment of my reviews of each of the seven volumes.

As I mentioned in my review for Volume 1, as a child I read these stories in no particular order. So, when reading The Crab With the Golden Claws, I was surprised to see Captain Haddock in such a pitiable state, having made his acquaintance in later adventures...

But this is where he is introduced, and the friendship that develops between Haddock and Tintin not only allows the alcoholic captain to bloom, it lifts the curtain on one of the most entertaining, impulsive (Haddock = ad hoc, get it? In French, the pronunciation of the two is exactly the same...), flawed, and in essence loyal, good hearted and lovable characters in all comicdom. His irascible nature will be abundantly prodded with insufferable foils (Wagg, Abdullah, Castafiore, the Thom(p)sons, and sundry villains) throughout the series. We also meet the sinister Allan for the first time. The story takes place in Morocco, and the child sees yet more of our planet's vistas, while the adult continues to revel in Hergé's textured adventures and detailed settings, as well as a terrifying dream sequence.

Michael Farr's "Tintin: The Complete Companion" (highly recommended), gives a glimpse at why Tintin did not take in the USA as it did in the rest of the world, and that has to do with a couple of panels from The Shooting Star. Though with some brilliant sequences, such as the cinematic seasickness scene, it is not as captivating as the usual Tintin standard, but again, one does not want to miss a single adventure.

The Secret of the Unicorn has a number of threads, one of which develops into the sequel, Red Rackham's Treasure.

The Adventures of Tintin: The Crab With the Golden Claws / The Shooting Star / The Secret of the Unicorn (3 Complete Adventures .......2006-08-31

Good book for kids and aldult as well

Shooting Stars Omnibus : Cinnamon, Ice, Rose and Honey

Average customer rating:

Four Talented Young Ladies
What the ***?
Fascinating

Shooting Stars Omnibus : Cinnamon, Ice, Rose and Honey
V.C. Andrews
Manufacturer: Pocket
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0743449029

Book Description

FOUR GIRLS TOUCHED BY SPECIAL GIFTS.

FOUR STUNNING NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERS -- -

TOGETHER FOR THE FIRST TIME

Cinnamon...She escaped her family's turmoil by dreaming of imaginary worlds. But it's her talent for the theater that gives Cinnamon a chance...to truly escape.

Ice...To her mother's dismay, she was a silent wallflower, not a social butterfly. Now, her secret gift -- her solid-gold singing voice -- may become her saving grace.

Rose...When she danced, she could dream -- and when her father's secrets threatened to destroy her world, a most unlikely person gives Rose the courage to follow her heart.

Honey...Raised on her strict grandfather's farm, her natural-born talent for the violin gave her a new life -- and love with a handsome soul mate. Will a shocking revelation shatter her newfound happiness?

Customer Reviews:

Four Talented Young Ladies.......2004-05-24

This book was about four young ladies who came out of their shells. Cinnamon did a beautiful job performing on stage. I think she deserved to get the last laugh on the girls who resented her for taking the lead role. Ice got what she wanted a chance to be herself. She made friends with a piano player. Rose was grieved when her dad died. She felt better about herself when she helped Evan get out and meet people. Honey liked to play the violin which her uncle Peter taught her to play. She enjoyed having a good relationship with Chandler.

What the ***?.......2004-04-21

Why take four godawful mini books and make them into one, horrendous novel? I suspect it's about the money. If you want to waste your money, go ahead and buy it. Otherwise, if you want to be smart and save, don't bother. As Simon Cowell would say - this is absolutely dreadful.

Fascinating.......2002-12-18

This book truly compliments the series. I do recommend that you read the other 4 books in the series. This book combines all four books, and tells of rise to fame. If you are a true VC Andrews lover then this book is for you.

Falling Stars (Andrews, V. C. Shooting Stars.)

Average customer rating:

a pretty good teen book
Hooray For Cheese!
Mysteries in the mansion
You people are wrong the GW is good!!
falling stars

Falling Stars (Andrews, V. C. Shooting Stars.)
V.C. Andrews
Manufacturer: Pocket
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0671039873
Release Date: 2001-11-27

Book Description

All The World's A Stage -- but What If The Play Doesn't Go As Planned?

mansion -- and become instant friends as they take off on a dazzling whirlwind of intense classes, theater outings, and celebrity-studded parties. And together they bend the strict house rules of Madame Senetsky, a famous actress who guarantees success for students under her tutelage.

But they soon realize this is no ordinary school. Madame Senetsky pushes the girls' studies beyond reason. She controls their social lives. And they get the strange feeling someone is watching them.

But who...and why?

Cinnamon, Ice, Rose, and Honey set out to untangle a shadowy web of Senetsky family secrets. As they explore dark corners and hidden rooms, every creak and moan of the old mansion tells a story too frightening to repeat. A devastating story that can destroy their dreams...

Download Description

Four talented girls from vastly different pasts share a dream of stardom: Cinnamon, the edgy actress; Ice, the phenomenal vocalist; Rose, the beautiful dancer; and Honey, the first-rate violinist. The four meet at the prestigious Senetsky School of the Performing Arts -- housed in an ornate New York City mansion -- and become instant friends as they take off on a dazzling whirlwind of intense classes, theater outings, and celebrity-studded parties. And together they bend the strict house rules of Madame Senetsky, a famous actress who guarantees success for students under her tutelage. But they soon realize this is no ordinary school. Madame Senetsky pushes the girls' studies beyond reason. She controls their social lives. And they get the strange feeling someone is watching them. But who...and why? Cinnamon, Ice, Rose, and Honey set out to untangle a shadowy web of Senetsky family secrets. As they explore dark corners and hidden rooms, every creak and moan of the old mansion tells a story too frightening to repeat. A devastating story that can destroy their dreams...

Customer Reviews:

a pretty good teen book.......2005-02-14

honey,cinnamon, rose and ice all are talented indiviuals in the arts and have been accepted int ms. stenksy's school to polish off their talents before hitting the big time. but all is not as it seems as this exclusive school. they sense that they are being watched all the time, they have no privacy and they are enouraged not to have any outside relationships.

but the house holds more buried secrets than the students know and to get to the bottom of it all may well cost them their lives and/or careers.

this is not one of the best vc andrews books. it does not have the same tense moments in it and the ending kind of leaves you disappointed as if the author ran out of ideas and wrapped it up quickly. not the quality you normally expect.

Hooray For Cheese!.......2004-06-30

This book is very cheesy. If you don't like cheesy books, I'd avoid this one if I were you. Like many Virginia Andrews books (the originals and the new ones), it is pure cheddar.
Personally, I don't mind cheese as long as it's well-plotted cheese with interesting characters, and this book definitely doesn't let me down here (on the character front, Cinnamon has become a goth, which is funny). It has a plot that, generally speaking, isn't lifted from one of the other books (they do that sometimes when they think you aren't looking), and although the narrator can be a bit of a whinger at times, the other characters more than make up for that.
If you've read the other mini-series, you will know that it might be best to skip the first four books (which are mainly about introducing characters rather than having a plot) and go onto the main book. For all three miniseries, I bought all five books. Learn from my mistakes.
This isn't exactly as good as the main books from "Orphans" and "Wildflowers," but it's nearly there. The ending is a bit anti-climactic, which is annoying, but since the rest of the story is brilliant I won't nit-pick. Read this book and bask in the glory of cheese.

Mysteries in the mansion.......2003-08-16

I enjoyed this book because it had so many secrets and mysteries. You really have no idea how it's going to end until the very end. You just can't put it down. It's basically about 4 girls that are good friends and are finding out things that they shouldn't. They are too curious and afraid of getting caught and getting kicked out of the school. You learn that sometimes people aren't always as they seem. Maybe the people who seem most likely to suceed don't, vise versa. It takes you through the twists and turns of a strange famous person's life. How come every thing you research draws a blank, it's all explained. I'd encourage reading it if you love a good mystery and want to be surprised at the end.

You people are wrong the GW is good!!.......2003-04-17

Awesome book It holds my attentionits full of mystery and trying to do whats best for aother person Anyone cold enough to say this book is stupid u didnt read it your lieing it teaches a valuable leson everyone should know!! So dont listen to them other people and give this book a chance cause it is GREAT!!

falling stars.......2002-07-04

I liked the book Falling Stars. I liked the way it brought all types of backgrounds together as one family setting. If you had read Cinnamon, Ice, Rose, and Honey you would know how different all of the charaters really were. They all had to go through, or had gone through some rough times to get to the point where they were.I think V.C. Andrews gave everyone a type of situtation that they could relate to in one way or another. I liked the fact that the students all except one of course, {Howard} stayed together as one. I got the feeling that the students were telling Ms.Senetsky that no matter how bad you think things are if you are open and honest with people you can make things right. I really liked the feeling that I got when I finished this book.I felt that you can make a difference no matter how small people may make you feel. No doubt Ms. Senestky had alot to try and hide, but if she had just been open from the start there would be no reason to try to hide her daughter from the world in which she lived. Gerta did nothing wrong and if the public could not accept her I would not want to be in their spotlight.

The Shooting Star (The Adventures of Tintin)

Average customer rating:

Good adventure but poor as science fiction
The Shooting Star
Great adventure volume from Tintin, has a controversial side
The Shooting Star
L'etoile mysterieuse!

The Shooting Star (The Adventures of Tintin)
Herge
Manufacturer: Little, Brown Young Readers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0316358517

Customer Reviews:

Good adventure but poor as science fiction.......2007-08-19

In this adventure (written 1941) the world comes close to annihilation when earth almost collides with a star (or a meteorite). A piece of the star (or the meteorite) brakes off, and it falls into the Ocean. Professor Phostle discovers a new metal in the meteorite/star using spectroscopy, which is named phostlite. Tintin and Captain Haddock sets out on an expedition together with a team of international (European) scientists to find the piece that broke off as well as the new metal.

From the drawings and the description of the approaching object it is clear that it must be a star (being a large hot fusion object in space, and the use of spectroscopy, etc.) On the other hand solid pieces cannot break off from stars, and it is described as a meteorite at one point. It is clear that Herge did not know the difference between a star and a meteorite. There are also other passages that show poor understanding of science (previous reviewer points out another example). Therefore, this adventure cannot be viewed as good science fiction (just compare with other contemporary science fiction literature).

However, as with most Tintin books, the story is fast paced, spell binding, exciting and full of humor. The story is heavy with mystery and tension but it also has light hearted moments. It is an entertaining story, and once you start reading it you can't put it down.

I should say that there is some controversy surrounding this adventure. The international members of the team picked for the expedition are from Nazi Germany, axis occupied nations, or neutral nations. Also the original villains were Americans (this was later changed to Sao Rico). It might also have contained an anti-Semitic caricature, but this is not noticeable unless you expect it before hand. However, it should be noted that Herge denied that the character in question (Bohlwinkle) was intended to be Jewish. Belgium (where Herge lived) was occupied by Germany at the time, and the newspaper he worked for was the only independent media that was allowed to operate under the Nazi occupation. This might have influenced how he wrote the story.

Despite its flaws, I really enjoyed this story and I have read it and re-read it dozens of times, but it is not among the better Tintin adventures.

The Shooting Star.......2007-03-11

One of my favourite Tintins and one I still enjoy. Admittedly it is a bit silly in places and most certainly is bizarre. But a jolly good romp all the same.

One mistake I noticed: if the meteorite crashed into the ocean it should have triggered tsunamis, not an earthquake.

Great adventure volume from Tintin, has a controversial side.......2006-12-26

One of Herge's most controversial books (not considering here "Land of the Soviets" and "Tintin in Congo", whose anticommunism and colonialism are so crude and over the top they are hard to take seriously), this is actually a very entertaing adventure yarn. Herge wrote it during the German occupation of Belgium on World War II, and the plot deals with a European team of scientists rushing to the North Pole to recover a meterorite in competition with an American team. What is controversial is that all members of the European team belong to the axis or countries aligned or associated with it (Spain, Sweden). And the backer of the american expedition is an unmistakably jewish financier (called Blumenstein in the first editions, and Bohlwinkel in later ones) who tries to sabotage the European expedition in a number of ways. The book is very entertaining, but such details left something of a bad taste.

The Shooting Star.......2006-11-09

"The Shooting Star" is one of my favorite Tintin adventures. It's got action, humour, and a colorful final sequence.

Walking home one night, Tintin sees a large star in the sky, a star that hadn't been there before. The astronomers have spotted it too, and predict it will colide with and end the Earth! The meteor causes an earthquake on impact, but fortunately that's all. According to some of their readings, the astronomers believe the meteorite is made of a mysterious new metal, and decide to make a trip by boat (led by Captain Haddock) to the Arctic Ocean to investigate. An oil company from Sao Rico has also decided to visit the meteor, to take the new metal for themselves. It becomes a race filled with sabotage and seasickness. Will Tintin and the astronomers be able to beat them to it?

It's a very easy going, straightforward story, and I think that's why I like it so much. It's got a few elements of sci-fi to it (like the effects of the meteor on the Earth) and a dream sequence, which were a nice touch too. It's good to see Captain Haddock, it always is, but from the way the story starts, it is a bit unexpected. A nice surpise though.

Definitely worth reading for fans of Tintin.

L'etoile mysterieuse!.......2005-04-29

The Shooting Star - L'etoile mysterieuse, or The Mysterious Star, in the original French version - is the tenth story in the Adventures of Tintin series. It is also the second featuring the colourful Captain Haddock, always a welcome and comic addition to the otherwise tense (but still wonderful) tales.

In this adventure, a mysterious shooting star and an unexplained heat wave are rumoured to signal the end of the world -- that is, until eccentric Professor Decimus Phostle proves otherwise. Phostle (perhaps a predecessor of Professor Calculus?) determines that these oddities are in fact caused by the emergence of a new element, which he names phostlite after himself. The adventure itself revolves around the professor's - and Tintin's, of course - quest for a lump of the material itself. Of course, the perfunctory bad guys are determined to get there first.

Comedy is lent, as always, by the aforementioned Captain Haddock, who moonlights in this book as the unlikely president of the Society of Sober Sailors (or S.S.S.) and by Tintin's plucky dog Snowy. The Shooting Star is followed by an adventure in two parts, The Secret of the Unicorn and Red Rackham's Treasure.

Shooting Star: A Martha's Vineyard Mystery (Martha's Vineyard Mysteries)

Average customer rating:

Disappointed
Nice summer whodonit
fun lighthearted Martha's Vineyard mystery thriller

Shooting Star: A Martha's Vineyard Mystery (Martha's Vineyard Mysteries)
Cynthia Riggs
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Minotaur
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 031237027X
Release Date: 2007-05-01

Book Description

In Shooting Star, ninety-two-year-old poet Victoria Trumbull becomes embroiled in controversy at the community theater on Martha’s Vineyard. The new artistic director has announced plans to replace local amateur talent with off-Island professionals, and the cast and crew react murderously.

Victoria intended the theater’s current production, her adaptation of Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, to debunk the common farcical movie-monster interpretation by returning to Shelley’s original serious commentary on the Industrial Revolution. However, after the night of the dress rehearsal, Victoria loses control over the production, and her drama begins to take a strange course.

On that night, the eight-year-old boy playing the part of Frankenstein’s young brother disappears, and before a search can begin, a killer strikes. The Vineyard’s police forces mobilize for an Island-wide search. In the original story of Frankenstein, the boy is the first victim of the monster, and Victoria fears that a copycat killer is following her playscript. She determines to find the missing boy and track down the killer before more deaths occur.

Along with familiar Island characters from her previous books, the author introduces a cast of new and often eccentric players. Shooting Star, the seventh book in the Martha’s Vineyard mystery series, explores the rich setting of the Island that author Cynthia Riggs knows well, from the rose-covered Dukes County jail on Edgartown’s Main Street to the quaint ferry terminal in Oak Bluffs. It’s a delightful read that both fans and newcomers to the series will be sure to enjoy.

Customer Reviews:

Disappointed .......2007-08-09

I was disappointed in the latest Cynthia Riggs. I've enjoyed all the previous 'Victoria Trumbull' mysteries but found this one a bit tedious and confusing.

Nice summer whodonit.......2007-05-16

In Cynthia Riggs mystery, Shooting Star, Martha's Vineyard is not just the touristy locale that is loved by so many. Island Players, the local community theater, is the setting for a fast and interesting story of child disappearance, and murder.

The actors are performing an adaptation of Mary Shelly's Frankenstein. Victoria Trumball is the 92-year-old poet who has written this serious adaptation, and she is also an part-time sleuth. The new artistic director is causing a stir when he continually pushes to turn the playhouse into an equity theater with professional actors. A controversy is abounding with those that want the theater to stay a community theater with local amateur actors.

The book starts the night before opening night when an eight-year-old actor, who is playing the part of Frankenstein's young brother, disappears. He was last seen with one of the other actors, Peg Storm, who has been found dead. The child is missing and an island-wide search is started. A visiting forensic scientist is called in to help the local police. More actors turn up dead and other characters are brought into the story to keep it interesting. The fast pace of the book kept me guessing just who was the bad guy, or gal--and even though I thought I had it figured out, it was not who I thought.

Armchair Interviews says: Recommended for a nice quick read for that summer vacation.

fun lighthearted Martha's Vineyard mystery thriller .......2007-05-02

On Martha's Vineyard, nonagenarian poet Victoria Trumbull is excited as she is the playwright of Island Players, a local amateur group's summer stock adaptation of Frankenstein that is truer to the Shelley novel than Hollywood's poetic license. Many of her friends have parts in the production and all seems to be going fine at first until maniacal martinet director Dearborn Hall begins spinning the production closer to Hollywood than Shelley's condemnation of the horrors of the Industrial Revolution. Still Victoria feels good about her work as the theatre prepares for opening night.

However, disaster strikes when eight-year-old performer Teddy Vanderhoop, performing the role of Victor's five years old younger brother vanishes. At about the same time he disappears, someone kills Peg Storm, the actress performing the part of the Frankenstein housekeeper. Frightened by the tragedies as everyone assumes Teddy's dead, cast members quit before they are killed too. Dearborn refuses to close the production down as the show must go on even while the police search for the child and the killer as does the ninety-two years old first time playwright.

The seventh Martha's Vineyard mystery thriller is a fun lighthearted tale that fans of the series will fully enjoy. Besides insight into the original Frankenstein, the whodunit is shrewdly set up from almost the onset keeping readers wondering who and why. SHOOTING STAR is a wonderful amateur sleuth tale (although the feisty heroine has become certified as a graduate of the Tisbury Citizen Police Academy) that will have the audience applauding for encore performances.

Harriet Klausner

Thomas and the Shooting Star (Glitter Picturebook)

Average customer rating:

Awesome overall.
Another good one!
Thomas
Beautiful--and Very Colorful!
great bed time book

Thomas and the Shooting Star (Glitter Picturebook)
W. Awdry
Manufacturer: Random House Books for Young Readers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0375815236
Release Date: 2002-04-23

Book Description

One restless night, Thomas looks out and sees a shooting star flash by. Determined to see where it went, Thomas sets out into the darkened countryside. The strange nighttime sights and noises add up to a wonderful after-dark adventure for Thomas.

Customer Reviews:

Awesome overall........2007-01-24

Tommy Stubbs's illustrations are beautiful and friendly-looking; the book is of great quality, with a cloth binding and nice paper. The details (like a visit from an owl) are cool and fun to talk about with my almost-two-year-old. My only problem with this book is that Thomas sneaks out past his bedtime without telling anyone but a sleepy [and irresponsible] Gordon. I'm not saying kids will imitate Thomas, necessarily, but if my son had insomnia I'd rather he read a book than sneaked out of the house! Of course, it wouldn't be easy for a train to read a book, so I don't know what I'm suggesting for the storyline in Thomas and the Shooting Star, but it does bother me just a little that Thomas slips out on his own.
My son really enjoys reading the book, though, and he'll ask us to read it several times in the same day. It's definitely a fun story.

Another good one! .......2007-01-10

This is another good Thomas book that's not scary just nice. My son, who's 3, loves getting this one read to him before bedtime.

Thomas.......2007-01-03

Kids seem to love anything that has to do with Thomas and his friends.

Beautiful--and Very Colorful!.......2006-07-20

Thomas and the Shooting Star caught my son's eye the other day when we were in a "Stuff Mart". He actually chose this book and another Thomas book over a PS2 game!

The front cover features dozens of irridescent, hologram-like stars that sparkle in a rainbow of colors. Thomas and the Shooting Star has 13 colorful pages with vibrant illustrations. Thomas and the Shooting Star tells the story of Thomas, who is having trouble falling asleep. He complains to Gordon, and Thomas spots something bright streaking through the sky. "What was *that*?" he asks Gordon.

Gordon replies "a shooting star" and gets the idea to play a joke on Thomas: he'll tell him that a shooting star runs through the sky telling the other stars how to get to sleep. Gordon urges Thomas to try to catch up with the shooting star, so it can tell Thomas how to fall asleep!

Thomas encounters a few of his friends on his nighttime excursion, and lo and behold--chasing the star *does* make him sleepy!

This delightful hardcover book is a favorite of my son's, and the best Thomas book there is, in my opinion. (My guess is that Britt Allcroft didn't write it...although her production company is listed as the creator).

Highly recommended!

great bed time book.......2005-08-04

my 2 1/2 yr old daughter loves this Thomas book. It's the perfect length for bedtime reading. Enjoy!

Average customer rating:

Shooting Star: Library Edition
Peter Temple
Manufacturer: Bolinda Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Cassette

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ASIN: 1740303598

Shooting Star: The Brief Arc of Joe McCarthy

Average customer rating:

A bit too short on ideas
Brief but informative book
An excellent, if brief, view of McCarthy and a very dark period for the United States
Wrongheaded and Brilliant
An impressive survey and biographical sketch

Shooting Star: The Brief Arc of Joe McCarthy
Tom Wicker
Manufacturer: Harcourt
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 015101082X

Book Description

Joe McCarthy first became visible to the nation on February 9, 1950, when he delivered a Lincoln Day address to local Republicans in Wheeling, West Virginia. That night he declared, "I have here in my hand a list of 205 [members of the Communist Party] still working and shaping policy in the State Department." Anticommunism was already a cause embraced by the Republican Party as a whole; McCarthy tapped into this current and turned it into a flood. Little more than five years later, after countless hearings and stormy speeches and after incalculable damage to ordinary Americans and the nation itself, McCarthy's Senate colleagues voted sixty-seven to twenty-two to censure him for his reckless accusations and fabrications. We know today that not one prosecution resulted from McCarthy's investigations into communists in the U.S. government.

Journalist Tom Wicker examines McCarthy's ambition and record, attempting to discover the motivation for his demagoguery.

Customer Reviews:

A bit too short on ideas.......2007-01-10

Good book, but more on the general atmosphere of the times, the results of McCarthy's hounding and the fear that stopped so many from standing up to him would have been welcome.

Brief but informative book.......2006-11-26

As the title suggests, this brief, (I read this book during a flight delay at O'Hare), but interesting book chronicles the meteoric rise and fall of Joe McCarthy from 1950-54, (from his West Virginia speech to his censure), and his controversial impact on US history during that time. Although there is a brief biographical sketch of the subject, (juxtaposing McCarthy's incredible and at times admirable drive to succeed with his carelessness with facts, the truth and people), there isn't much analysis or historical perspective here. This isn't a knock of the book - just a description. (For a more detailed analysis of communism in the US - Reds by Ted Morgan; for a more in depth bio of McCarthy - Thomas Reeves). If you are looking for an introduction or a refresher to McCarthy and the "ism" that bears his name, this very readable book will not disappoint.

An excellent, if brief, view of McCarthy and a very dark period for the United States.......2006-07-19

Tom Wicker always had an ability to break down rather complex news into brief, but always incisive, articles and columns in his years at the New York Times. "Shooting Star: The Brief Arc of Joe McCarthy" proves no exception. I first became aware of this book in a terrific review done by Anthony Lewis in the June 8, 2006 New York Review of Books. As is often the case with that publication, if you don't have the time, or the inclination, for the full read the reviews are truly the finest in the publishing business. It is interesting that the review truly feels as "long" as Wickers entire book (not really unusual).

What Wicker does that makes the book compelling is to demonstrate that while McCarthy was the "right" man for his abborant demagoguary, the time was ripe with the Soviet Union growing as a menace and a natural enemy after being an ally durine WWII. Wicker futher demonstrates in many ways how effectively no one, not even Eisenhower, was able to stand up to McCarthy and his outright lies. The press was not without its complicity as it eagerly sought his one line headlines but did not do its role, even a modicum of it, as a "watchdog" of our government. The citizenry - also guilty of allowing such a stain on our history.

There is much to be learned from this short read. Not least of which is that our system of checks and balances AND the media and voters ability to question ALWAYS should go on without threats and retributions. Sound familiar? I would imagine if old Joe were still alive he would only grant interviews to Fox News.

Wrongheaded and Brilliant.......2006-05-27

The recent movie _Good Night and Good Luck_, about Edward R. Murrow, was the first introduction many young Americans had to the junior senator from Wisconsin of the 1950s, Joseph McCarthy. There are stories that say that test audiences reported they liked the movie, but thought that the performance by whoever was playing McCarthy was exaggerated and unbelievable. There was nothing the producers could do; they had decided that no one could play McCarthy but McCarthy, and his scenes were archival films of himself, saying his own lines with his own dramatic intonations. It is too bad for our nation that McCarthy was not just some movie monster, but was all too real. In _Shooting Star: The Brief Arc of Joe McCarthy_ (Harcourt), Tom Wicker has given a brief but engrossing biography of an amazing character who changed our nation. Wicker points out that no one speaks about such concepts as Trumanism or Hooverism or Nixonism, but McCarthyism (my spellchecker does not question this word) is an idea which remains in our history and may be activated again.

Wicker shows that there was more to the man than just demagoguery or power-grabbing. He was "witty, intelligent, a scintillating conversationalist, and enterprising". When he started running for elections, he crisscrossed Wisconsin, emphasizing his (exaggerated) war record, and impressing young voters with his interpersonal skills; he had an almost perfect recollection of names and faces and could call by name people he had barely met on previous stumpings. He made little impression as a senator when he got to Washington in 1946, but then gave a fateful Lincoln Day address in Wheeling, West Virginia, in 1950. His speech simply reflected standing Republican horror of communists, fellow-travelers, reds, and pinks, and he "had nothing new or original to add to the campaign - save, crucially, the drama, hyperbole, and audacity of which he quickly showed himself a master." His style of presentation was impressive, and especially his assertion that "I hold here in my hand" a list of names of commies working in the state department. He angered and alienated even those who agreed with him, like J. Edgar Hoover, who could not abide McCarthy's wild accusations which did not have, as he put it, "preliminary spade work" to back them up. By the time of Murrow's _See It Now_ broadcast in 1954, McCarthy's approval rating was slipping, although he insisted that all attacks on him were attempts to force him to drop enquiries into commies all over the government. In April 1954, the famous Army-McCarthy hearings were broadcast in their entirety, and got a 68% share of the television audience. McCarthy violated a lawyerly agreement that he would not bring up the former membership in a possible communist front organization by a lawyer in the firm of the Army's lawyer Joseph Welch. Welch was thereby able to give his famous "Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last?" speech, and McCarthy was doomed.

He descended even more into the alcoholism and ill-health that had bothered him all his life. He was baffled that America had rejected his anti-communist efforts and made him the butt of jokes, like Eisenhower's quip, "It's no longer McCarthyism. It's McCarthywasm." McCarthy did change national policy, did cause fretting over such issues as executive privilege, fifth amendment rights, and intellectual freedom, concerns which are still with us. He pursued, and encouraged our society to pursue, the communists the names of whom he always claimed to have in his hand, and he ruined lives, but he never uncovered a single communist, much less got one convicted. His brief arc was only from his Wheeling speech in 1950 to his disappearance on the political stage in 1954 (he died in 1957). Wicker describes him as "a victim of human aspiration who fought desperately and with uncommon success to achieve the wrong dream." The tragedy of the wrongheadedness of a brilliant man has rarely been so starkly depicted.

An impressive survey and biographical sketch.......2006-05-22

Joe McCarthy rose to public acclaim back in 1950 when his hunt for members of the Communist Party within the U.S. government itself resulted in a virtual witch hunt of political figures, then American citizens, who were members. While anticommunist was already a Republican Party cause, McCarthy took it a step further and elevated it to new levels - yet five years later he was condemned by his own party. SHOOTING STAR: THE BRIEF ARC OF JOE MCCARTHY explores his rapid rise and fall, with a journalist's eye to uncovering the underlying motivation to his actions. An impressive survey and biographical sketch emerges.

Diane C. Donovan, Editor
California Bookwatch

Average customer rating:

Daft Names R Us
a fine book
I'd give it ZERO stars if I could
The review of Ice
The second book in the SHooting Stars Series

Ice (Shooting Stars)
V.C. Andrews
Manufacturer: Pocket
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0671039946
Release Date: 2001-07-31

Book Description

Ice wishes she could just become invisible....

Ice hides from the world behind a shield of silence. And that is what her mother hates about her. All she wants is a normal daughter who wears makeup and sexy clothes to attract boys. But Ice gets her chance to shine when she reveals her beautiful singing voice. And her extraordinary gift may become her saving grace when tragedy and deception almost destroy her dreams...

Download Description

The second book in the "Shooting Stars" mini-series introduces Ice Goodman, who has an incredible singing voice that makes her an object of jealousy--especially by her own mother. But when deception and tragedy threaten to destroy her dreams, Ice must find the strength to hold her world together--and her talent could be her saving grace.

Customer Reviews:

Daft Names R Us.......2005-03-15

First of all, I think this whole "let's give the heroine a silly name just because we can" business has got WAY out of hand. I've known plenty of people called Jade and Rose, and I've heard of people called Cinnamon, Honey and so on, but I think Ice is just a name they made up. (Please note- if you actually know someone called Ice please accept my apologies.)
Anyway, this Ice character. Well, as I've said before, these mini-books aren't really about having a story- they're more about establishing character and leading up to the main book. She's established as being very shy, and only really using her voice to sing, not talk (is this sounding like "Little Voice" to you? Anyway). She's very prudish and sensitive, but then that's not too unusual in a Virginia Andrews character. She's also a non-stereotypical black character. You know how a lot of her other black characters (Pheobe, Star and so on) have short tempers and are always trying to pick a fight? Well, not Ice. Which makes a nice change.
Throw in romance, a tarty mother, a wise father and a lot of jazz references and... Well, like I said, there isn't much of a story. But if the character sounds appealing to you, go read the book.
I think they should call the next heroine Apple. Just because.

a fine book.......2004-03-30

i don't see that this book is a bad one , in fact i find it much nicer than cinnamon which was a little bit silly about the spirits thing...ice is a very touching story, the only drawback i think was that it's short.

I'd give it ZERO stars if I could.......2003-07-25

After buying Cinnamon, I swore I would never buy another stupid minibook ever again. Well, one night I was in the grocery store and, for reasons unknown to even myself, I wound up tossing this little thing in my shopping cart. Thankfully, this was the book that cured me of ever buying another V.C. book again without reading some excerpts first. There aren't words to describe how horrendous this book was. I couldn't even finish it. I wound up skimming to the end to see what traumatizing event would afflict Ice. It's a shame, because Ice's story had promise. I bet the real V.C. Andrews would've made a wonderful full-length novel (for adults, no less) out of it. Sadly, that can never happen. Unless you are under the age of 13, I'd advise you to skip this tired mess.

The review of Ice.......2002-05-30

This story is about a young girl named Ice. She has parental problems. Her mom has a drinking problem and always makes Ice feel bad about herself. Her father always wants another child. Then Ice's mom claims that he is just trying to make her unattractive, but I don't think he is. So Ice has problems and tries to get though them is her own ways.
I loved this book. The reason is because I also have problems, but not as harsh as hers. Ice was a very interesting charter in this story. She always listened to others though her thin walls of her apartment. She can do this because her parents don't come home until later at night. This was one of her ways that she learns about life. To me this was a very interesting way to learn. These are all of the ideas that made me like this book so much.
The reason why I chose this book is because of the cover that looked so cool. I also loved the title and how someone would name their child "Ice". The story was exactly what I was looking forward to be reading about. The last reason why chose this book is because I like the way that V.C Andrews writes.

The second book in the SHooting Stars Series.......2002-03-11

I was very wary on reading this book as a result of all the negative reviews. But scrolling down to some of the more earlier ones I realized that I should give it a chance and I wasn't really disappointed. Ice is an entertaining novel to the series that deserves 3 or 4 stars (since I like the series so much I gave it the benefit of the doubt and gave the book 4 stars instead of 3). Ice tells the story about a shy teenager named Ice. When Ice is very young her school psychologist gives her the label elective mute because it seems like she chooses never to speak and in so many ways that is true. At 17, she lives with her narcissistic mother and her silent father and very rarely talks herself. The only time she ever really opens her mouth is to sing in her church choir or sing old jazz tunes to her father. Her voice is so beautiful that she finds she may have the chance to change her life forever, but not if her mother has her way. If you enjoy VC Andrews mini-series I recommend you read this. I can't wait to read the next books in the series (the 3rd being Honey). Enjoy!

Average customer rating:

A very moving story. Perfect for our times.
This book couldn't be any better

When Stories Fell Like Shooting Stars
Valiska Gregory
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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When the Wind Stops

ASIN: 0689800126

Customer Reviews:

A very moving story. Perfect for our times........2001-12-06

What a wonder is "When Stories Fell Like Shooting Stars"! I stumbled across this book 18 months ago, while searching for stories that would engage both my self and my then four-year-old daughter. The story echoes the plurality of our times -- particularly in light of September 11 -- but is rendered in such a simple and evocative voice as to leave adult and child alike dazed by its redolent charm. And the illustrations: daring, bold, dark -- and yet filled with a suprisingly luminous light, are like none I've ever seen in a "children's" book. Waste not a moment, sojouner, and purchase "When Stories Fell Like Shooting Stars"! You won't be sorry.

This book couldn't be any better.......2001-03-14

This book strengthens children's conflict-resolution skills by demonstrating the consequences of decisions. By using stories that start out similarly, the author skillfully weaves the message of peace and shows that it's better to share things than to fight over them. The message is very universal and doesn't target any one group of people. In fact, the characters in the story are animals. The author carefully picked certain animals with negative or positive connotations to be the main characters. The fox is still sneaky, cunning, and selfish and the bear is wise and protective. The pictures are very intrically done, with an emphasis on the warm colors (red, orange, and yellow) in one story and an emphasis on cool colors (blue, purple, green) in the other. The book is also rich in metaphors and similes, which are new and creative, not overdone sayings. This author did a great job with this story. I loved the book so much that I wrote a unit plan for it! The only thing I'm disappointed with is the advertising and distribution of the story. I had never heard of it until I chanced upon it in the public library. All the teachers and school librarians that I talked to were not familiar with the book. With better advertisement and distribution, this book might have been a best seller. Although it targets children, this book is written for us all.

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