When I Was Your Age, Volume One: Original Stories About Growing Up (When I Was Your Age)

Book Description

Perfect for literature classes and beginning writers of all ages!

"Tell me a story of when you were little" is something children love to ask. Now ten award-winning writers: Mary Pope Osborne, Laurence Yep, James Howe, Katherine Paterson, Walter Dean Myers, Susan Cooper, Nicholasa Mohr, Reeve Lindbergh, Avi, and Francesca Lia Block tell young readers stories drawn from their own childhood memories. The authors have also contributed notes about why they chose particular memories to write about and what in their lives led them to be writers. In this way, the extraordinary stories in WHEN I WAS YOUR AGE bear witness to the origins of a writer’s art—and honor the courage, tenderness, and fragility of children.

Customer Reviews:

A WONDERFUL BOOK , ESPECIALLY FOR PRE-TEENS !.......2000-06-20

The original tales presented in this book are actual memories of childhood penned by notable children's book authors. Although most of the stories have 8-10 year-olds as their protagnonists, they deal with emotions and predicaments more easily understood, I think, by slightly older children.

Pre-teenage can be such an awkward time; these tales can be healing/instructive to those in this time of life. The authors all have written beautiful stories which really should not be missed. And, as an extra special "gift" to the reader, each story is followed by a one-page explanation/note written by the tale's author. It's a relief to realize that each author not only survived growing up, but also flourished. And I loved being allowed to share private memories of these marvelous authors.

As a great fan of Katherine Paterson, I was especially touched by her story, which involved her older, prettier sister. Perhaps even more revealing, however, is the note she wrote to accompany this story. I am sure that the feelings here expressed were the souce of her poignantly beautiful novel "Jacob Have I Loved." (Great for girls age 12 and up.)

This book also provided an introduction (at least for me) to several authors with whom I was not familiar; I look forward to reading more by them.

Book Description

Seven of Jamie Lee Curtis's very popular books to grow by available unabridged on audio!

This collection includes:

Is There Really a Human Race?: This funny and touching fantasy is a dialogue between child and parent reminding us that being human is all about making good choices and relishing life's journey.

It's Hard to be Five: Learning How to Work My Control Panel: Learning not to hit? Having to wait your turn? Sitting still?! It's definitely hard to be five, but this encouraging book makes the struggles of self-control a little easier, and a lot more fun.

When I Was Little: A Four-Year-Old's Memoir of Her Youth: In this simple, childlike celebration of personal identity, a little girl looks back on her childhood from the lofty height of four and half years, and discovers that she is a unique individual.

Tell Me Again About the Night I Was Born: "Tell me again how you would adopt me and be my parents . . . ," a heartwarming story of not only how one child is born but also how a family is born.

Today I Feel Silly & Other Moods That Make My Day, helps kids explore, identify, and even have fun with their ever-changing moods.

Where Do Balloons Go? An Uplifting Mystery: When one little boy accidentally lets go of his balloon, his imagination takes him on a journey. This delightful mystery about letting go uses imagination as a tool to deal with loss.

I'm Gonna Like Me: Letting Off a Little Self-Esteem, whimsically demonstrates that it's important to like yourself every single day—no matter what.

Customer Reviews:

Boring, boring, boring..........2006-12-31

I bought the book "it's hard to be five..." because the book was describing my own son...this book is great,full of real life scenarios for a 5 years old boy. Then I saw "The jamie Lee Curtis Audio collection" and I thought: It should be good and great...Huge mistake!

First of all...Mrs.Curtis narration is B-O-R-I-N-G Boring, boring, boring.
She just can helped it. I did not like it at all. All the tracks on this CD are very bad narrated but the worst part is when she is reciting "When I was little" her voice is lifeless,dull, very very emotionless and of course.. not interesting for little ones. She should listen "The cat on the hat audio collection" By Dr Seuss in order to get an idea about what exactly is to be working having on mind little ears.

I wish I could get my money back!!!!!

Average customer rating:

Climactic Pre-climax
In Response to Comments by Others
So just what does make us mortal?
Stunted Short Stories by fermed
Stunted, by fermed

When I Was Mortal
J. Marias
Manufacturer: The Harvill Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Anthologies | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Anthologies | Short Stories | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 1860468918

Book Description

A dozen stories by Javier Marías —"the most subtle and gifted writer in contemporary Spanish literature" (Boston Sunday Globe).

Victims of mistaken identity, sponging relatives, amateur sleuths, eavesdroppers, professional liars, assassins, and failed bodyguards populate the short stories in When I Was Mortal. Plots turn on curious exigencies—a woman about to star in her first porn film; a night doctor who adds new meaning to "specialist"; a ghost whose neglect is greatly resented. "In the space of ten or twenty pages," as the Nouvel Observateur remarked, "Marías contrives to write a novel." "The short story fits Marías like a glove," as Le Point noted, and these stories have been acclaimed as "dazzling" (The London Times Literary Supplement); "formidably intelligent" (The London Review of Books); and "startling" (The New York Times Book Review).

Customer Reviews:

Climactic Pre-climax.......2001-04-05

Javier Marías embraces apparently trivial situations and augments their attention value by emphasizing what goes through people's minds prior to engaging in thoroughly climactic experiences, such as killing one's boss or breaking into the world of pornography. Suspense keeps building up, but then it dissolves. After reading a couple of these stories one gets a hold of the trend and expects no suspense breaking. A few tales later the book becomes obviously boring.

In Response to Comments by Others.......2001-01-06

A reader should consider the possibility that Marias' introduction to the book is also fictive, including the details about commissions.

So just what does make us mortal?.......2000-11-25

In fairness to Mr. Marias, I think an alternative view of this collection should be offered to the book-buying public so that they can decide if they wish to purchase this item.

Although this collection does have its faults and is sometimes uneven--I think a couple of entries could easily have been left out--it offers an interesting and entertaining literary voice and suggests a universe that is uniquely cohesive and disturbing. Indeed, one could posit that in Mr. Marias's universe little true empathy exists between persons, be they husbands and wives, childhood friends, or even casual or business acquaintances. A general, undefined antipathy permeates the boundaries of most human interaction in these stories, suggesting that modern society is lacking some basic interconnectedness at its core; yes, something is rotten in the state of Denmark, but just what is not so obvious as in Shakespeare's tales.

This is not to suggest that everyone is alone and riddled by angst, anger, or fear--and spouting off about them--but merely that modern relationships display some palpable sense of absence rather than a unity at the core. The sense is that fate or accident has thrown people together--or blinded them--and that this condition of unexpressed unease is allowed to exist until, one day, it emerges in sudden flares of violent action.

Indeed, violence can be found in almost all of these twelve tales, but not the overt violence of today's movies and TV news. These tales are rarely graphic or disturbing in that sense. The violence is often suggested and its reasons masked rather than explicitly shown. One story asks, Have two women worked together with a "foreign" doctor to quietly eliminate their husbands? Another depicts a bodyguard who now seems compelled to kill the person he has been hired to protect, but we are left to ponder the reason. Still another leaves us wondering about the suicide of a main character. Indeed, Marias takes us along the path of Yeats' poems, where we are often left with questions rather than defined answers, and in that sense the tales can be confounding if you are not willing to read closely, and reread, to unearth the subtleties of the elegant prose and the barely revealed clues. Little is directly stated in these stories, and I am sure that will cause consternation among those who want clean-cut, easily defined tales that have a neat beginning, a logical progression, and an inevitable or shocking end. That is not Marias's way. More often, you are left to fill in the subtext. Fortinbras does not waltz in neatly at the end to restore order.

Was I always pleased with these stories? Nope. But did I learn from them and find some small truths about people and the way we are mortal? The answer is defintely yes. And because the prose is refined and subtlely ironic, because the viewpoint is often detached and analytical, and because Marias presents an unsettling world that truly reflects our own, I was curious enough to read them as befits their merit. They peeked my interest enough to even attempt a novel by Marias, and that may well be my next Amazon purchase.

By the way, the story "When I Was Mortal," the centerpiece of the work, is among the best conjectural narratives I have read. It may not be worth the price of admission alone, but it goes a long way toward making this volume a worthwhile purchase.

Stunted Short Stories by fermed.......2000-05-27

There are twelve short stories in this volume, and none seems to have been finished: they either lack a proper beginning, a decent middle or a completed end. Perhaps the future of the short story is going to be this: incomplete musings, wobbly sketches, outlines, unfinished plots, half-baked ideas. An introduction to this volume tells us that 300,000 copies of the book have been sold in Spanish speaking countries, and lists the many prizes won by its author Javier Marías. Obviously someone has enjoyed these stories, but not I.

There is no question that the author is capable of churning out lovely sentences and pretty paragraphs; but this is like laying bricks beautifully, but having no construction plan, or a defective one: the final product will be pointless and not pleasing to the eye.

I do not believe that an artist should need to explain his work; having to explain indicates a recognition by the craftsman that his work is defective, or incomplete, or in need of being propped up, or excused, or forgiven. Mr. Marías prefaces this short volume with an introduction explaining his stories. This introduction does not enhance the stories at all and probably detracts from them.

He has this to say about other short stories he has created: "There are still a few [short stories] scattered elsewhere, written very freely or without any commission: it seems advisable to me, however, that they should either remain in obscurity or else scattered." Exactly so. These twelve deserved a similar fate (scattered obscurity) but instead they were gathered together and translated into English and presented in this handsome volume. Not a book that I will recommend to my friends.

Stunted, by fermed.......2000-05-24

I ordered this book on the basis of Mr. Marias's fame as one of Spain's best modern writers; I wished to sample my countryman's fame and enjoy the vehicle of his success. At the very start of the volume the reader is informed that about 300,000 copies of this book have been sold in Spanish speaking countries, and also that Mr. Marias has won numerous prizes for his writing.

Also at the start of the book is an author's foreword, in which he explains himself. For it is true that this little volume of 12 short stories needs to be explained, and that is my main criticism of the book: the stories cannot (and therefore do not) stand on their own feet. The author has to bring the reader into a back room and tell him about his creations (even though, I for one, fiercely resist invitations to back rooms); to explain that 11 of the 12 stories were "commissioned" (that is, someone offered to pay for a story of so many words, or one containing "the sea, a storm, and animal..," or one taking place in Madrid); to explain his philosophy about the creative process; or to tell about how some of the stories had been modified in order to appear in this volume. The trouble is that an artist should either let his productions speak for themselves, or (if they are mute) let them remain silent.

Customer Reviews:

Love overcomes.......2007-04-18

The message I got from this book is love overcomes all obstacles. This was a good book. In the beginning, it was a lot of what if's, should I, shouldn't I, which I think slowed the books pace. By the middle of the book things got steamy and started happening so fast that I became glued to the book. This was overall a good read.

An interesting twist on internet dating that satisfies..........2006-11-04

"When I First Saw You" is a sizzling romance novel about two persons who meet online. The twist is that Chante Campbell has no idea until hours before she meets Dr. Antonio Marks that not only has her grandfather Pops been communicating with Dr. Marks in Chante's name for months online, BUT Pops has accepted a proposal from Dr. Marks on her behalf.

Chante takes off on a trip to meet Dr. Marks face to face and to explain to him the mistake that has been made due to her eager grandfather wanting to push her into opening her heart to love again. Chante is determined to set things straight and get back to her life as a single mother to her darling son and a survivor of domestic violence who has vowed not to open her heart again. She is determined until she catches one glimpse of Dr. Marks and quickly becomes enthralled.

This novel follows Chante as she struggles with setting the record straight while fighting a fierce, mutual attraction. Author Angie Daniels infuses the story with drama, romance and intrigue that does not disappoint. She takes us on a thrilling journey as Chante tries to reconcile her past and her current dilemma with the future she truly wants.

A Wonderful Story That Touches on Today's Issues!.......2006-09-25

Ms Daniels incorporates a romance around internet dating - surrival of Domestic Violence and a career focused woman! There is love all abound in this story - not just with Chante Campbell and Dr. Antonio Marks! Of course Dr. Marks is good looikng and a DOCTOR! Ms. Campbell does a great job of being focused on her career, son and family. Its the family around the two main characters that help make the story. This story does revolve around internet dating and the pros and cons thereof. Tony's sister Germaine has a bad encounter online - while Tony has a good encounter with Chante - until he finds out Pops was the writer for awhile! Good story about how two people can make things right after so many wrongs.Intimate scenes were a bit bland at first but it does pick up. Dafina Publishing did let two errors go by in the story: Page 102: Chenoa is really Chante - I got confussed there for a minute and on page 282 HEROIN is the destructive drug - HERIONE is me! A female hero! Best of luck to Ms. Daniels!

When I Care About Others (The Way I Feel)

Average customer rating:

Great book

When I Care About Others (The Way I Feel)
Cornelia Maude Spelman
Manufacturer: Albert Whitman & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding

Short Story Collections | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | Baby-3 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 080758889X

Book Description

In today's society, perhaps more than ever, young children need to develop empathy. In this simple book, the author begins by helping children see that when they are sick, hurt, or unhappy, others care about them. Children can then begin to see that others need to be cared about as well. Common situations will further a child's appreciation for and understanding of what others feel and need.

Customer Reviews:

Great book.......2006-08-29

Shows to be considerate of others' feelings and beng loving and think of others. To treat them as we would want to be treated.

Average customer rating:

Loved by this Doctor Mom
Have fun exploring the island and meeting endangered animals

When I Am Quiet on Oahu
Judi Riley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Short Story Collections | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | Ages 4-8 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 097405822X

Customer Reviews:

Loved by this Doctor Mom.......2007-10-01

Great Sequel to Riley's "When I am Quiet on Maui" book....another "fav" of my 2yr. and 4 yr. old sons.... Holds the attention span from cover to cover----even my 2 yr. old--likely due to such bold, beautiful illustrations and interactive nature of book helps keep the focus...and the 4 yr. old delights in "the hidden words" in the pics and is fascinated with it overall!!!! It is another MUST HAVE for the preschool/early elementary age group!!!!

Have fun exploring the island and meeting endangered animals.......2006-10-10

WOW! What a fabulous concept for a kids book! The story begins: "When you are quiet what do you hear," then continues "When you are still what do you see?" We read this one over and over again. It leads to awesome discussions and it is really fun learning about the different animals on Oahu. I had no idea so many of them were endangered species. This is a really nice sequel to Riley's first book about Maui. We've never been to Oahu, but after reading this book, we feel like we've been there dozens of times. Definitely get this book if you love the islands!

Cuando Fui Mortal/when I Was Mortal (Punto De Lectura, 4)

Average customer rating:

dozen by JM
Spiral of Death in the text.

Cuando Fui Mortal/when I Was Mortal (Punto De Lectura, 4)
Javier Marias
Manufacturer: Suma
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

General | Short Stories | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Spanish | Foreign Language Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 8495501422

Book Description

From Spain's best selling author comes this collection of short stories in which a gallery of disturbing characters in unsettling situations, make it a fascinating and captivating book as María's most celebrated novels. "Marías is a moving talent; his prose is ambitious, ironic, philosophical and in the end compassionate". -New York Times Book

Description in Spanish:

Una galería de turbadores personajes en situaciones inquietantes, unidos a una prosa de alta tensión, convierten esta collección de cuentos de Javier Marías en un libro tan fascinante e imprescindible como sus novelas más celebradas.

Customer Reviews:

dozen by JM.......2000-12-05

This volume contains 12 stories by Javier Marias, who is the most famous writer in Spain and winning many prizes for his work. All stories are based on the extraordinal situations and but once you start reading, you can not stop it as he writes so elegantly.

Spiral of Death in the text........2000-12-01

Here is a dozen of novels written by Javier Marias, one of the most famous spanish writer in our days. All these works are written under the obsession of the Death and the characters are in a kind of hesitation. And those characters are very attractive. Observation of them by narrator is also very refined and there is a fragment of fetism deep under. You may get lost in the World of J.M. where images of Death construct spirals. Some of his writings are already translated by an brilliant translator, M. J. Costa but anyway, those who happened to have the opportunity to learn a bit of Spanish language may find some pleasure reading this. Give it a shot!

Average customer rating:

When I Was a Horse And Other Stories

Manufacturer: Texas Christian University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Classics | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Literary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

British | Short Stories | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | Short Stories | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0875653251

Book Description

Seventeen stories gallop, frolic, and slither across the pages of this collection. Sometimes inspiring, sometimes fatalistic, but always lyrical and thought-provoking, Domecq examines the human condition from a unique viewpoint.

A pet canary is caught between her nesting instinct and her desire for solitude. A jaguar is guardian spirit to a middle-aged woman. And in the title story, a young girl is transformed during recess into a wild stallion.

Book Description

There is only one reason why writing a book on this subject matter is relevant to our times. And it is due to the fact that African nations, like most developing countries, need a new approach to issues relating to the challenge of creating sustained economic development.

Compensatory Trade Strategy represents a multiple options plan for establishing and implementing trade arrangements in developing countries, particularly in times of hard currency shortage.

Author John Akhile brings twenty-five years of experience on the conduct and finance of international trade, specifically on sub-Saharan Africa, and offers a new look at this global crisis. With his comprehensive approach, Akhile creates a basic plan for those interested in compensatory trade.

For developing countries, Akhile presents strategies for creating new industrial development projects and for arranging trade transactions for critical supplies. For companies who are seeking to continue and even expand existing opportunities, Compensatory Trade Strategy is a road map for achieving both objectives.

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