Readers Preference Reviews

Duncan likes the way he looks and is proud of the fact that the other penguins have feathers but he has a nice fluffy coat instead.  Soon it starts falling off one small patch at a time and he is worried about what is happening.  A story about changes that occur as we grow older it is an entertaining read.  The book is written in both English and Latin American Spanish for children who are comfortable with either language or parents wanting to help their young child learn a second language.  The only problem, at least in the English, was page 10 where a minor grammer mis

When his mother has to leave baby bunny alone while she goes to pick lettuce she tells him to not open the door for anyone.  They had heard the wolf howling the night before and baby rabbit knows to be very careful.  But the wolf wants rabbit for his stew and he is determined to get it.  A pretty predictable story as this sort is so common among so many ethnic groups it does have one particular thing that makes it different.  Throughout the story Latin American Spanish words are introduced in a context where the reader can figure out the meaning without having to look it

When his parents decide to go out and look at the flowers in the garden young Rip Squeak plans a surprise party for them.  He enlists the help of his sister, the cat, a frog, and a dragonfly to get the job done.  Even with a discontinuity in the story between pages 9 and 10 it still reads well. The illustrations are excellent and well above the average quality one expects from Raven Tree Press.  "The Surprise Party" is a very typical story with no real surprises and a recommended read for young children.

It's bedtime and Paul is not ready to go to bed, at least not yet.  How can he go to bed when everyone else is still up?  Soon, Paul becomes the bedtime monster!  But his parents know just how to handle that.  "Bedtime Monster" is an easy  read in both English and Latin American Spanish and a recommended book particularly for those who are trying to expose their child to a second language.

Some day soon we may reach the point where we have the ability to download and read books complete with illustrations, tables, the ability to mark up the text or any manner of other things just like we do with regular books.  But the difference will be the ability to have several hundred or even several thousand books on a small tablet not much larger than a regular novel is today.  Although we are moving in that direction, we are definitely not there yet... at least not for the majority of us.

Beginning OpenOffice 3 walks the reader through using the most common features of OpenOffice, arguably one of the most powerful and complete office suite available.  And best of all, it is free!  Many companies and individuals are discovering it for the first time as they deal with the need to exchange files with others who are using the newest version of Microsoft Office.