good pictures, dry story
919516
Interesting pictures inside and some of the info is factual and you learn from. But since I did not get to the back it was a bit dry obviousness. Just the way it was written, i guess.
3387938
The pictures are gorgeous - makes a great coffee table book. However, the info is pretty generic and a bit fluffy considering Barton's years of experience as a Swissy breeder. Looks like the editor was given too much  free range on this one, and cut out everything that might have been  interesting or useful.
3888873
This is one of my favourite Grimm's tales, but I was disappointed in this picture-book.

Bell's version of the story is clear and straightforward, very little different from the Andrew Lang text. Watts' illustrations are attractive in a folk-art way, but too gentle and saccharine for the story, which has the usual Grimm harshness. In some pages, the artist seems to be doing her best to ignore the story, which may make for some problems in read-aloud sessions.

The wicked stepmother looks almost benevolent, and finding her lurking in the backgrounds of the first pages could be an amusing where's-the-witch game. But on the last page she is burnt to death and her daughter (who never appears in the pictures) is sent into the forest to be torn apart by wild beasts. But don't worry! The illustration is of an idyllic garden scene, so everything is safe and nice, at least on the surface.

Parents who buy this book on the basis of the charming and innocuous pictures may be in for a shock when they sit down to read the story at bedtime.
4883689
Quick and informative read if you're new to the events of the Mayerling Tragedy. If you're already familiar, it's rather boring and stale (also stilted; the translation is quite dry). However, the photographs are high quality and some are somewhat rare. Also in an appendix at the back of the book are the Viennese lyrics that Rudolf wrote (only in German; no English translations are included), published for the first time, along with some scans of the original pages. The photos and the lyrics alone are worth the purchase if you're a Rudolf fanatic (like myself).
4125856
This book has many lovely photographs, but it is short on specifics for actually taking excellent people pictures. The author gives generalized information such as "have your subjcet relax" without giving any clue as to how this should or could be done. While there are some useful tips, the book is not particularly useful as a whole. Most of the pertinent info could be put in two to four pages. It is not a book for serious photographers or for students of photography who are seeking answers. It is not especially useful to suggest that one "focus" your camra beforeing shooting the picture, without details such as appropirate aperture, lighting, angle, etc.

It's a pretty book, but I wouldn't recommend it for anything more than a casual browse.
277152
If you want a coffee table book, then buy it. The photographs by Hu Chui are stunning, and the reproductions of Chinese scrolls and paintings are excellent.
However, the information about the Forbidden City is at the  breakfast mush level - easy to digest but of little value. The information  is superficial, and often inaccurate. Knowledgeable students of the  Forbidden City will groan, and wince. It perpetuates blunders such as  referring to the East Glory Gate as the East 'Flowery Gate,' and the  Chinese advisor on eunuchs knows little about the subject. The book talks  about emperors as if they all had the same personality and all did the same  things.
Enjoy the pictures, but take the text with milk and sugar.
3145932
The story is nice, actually a marvel, however the storytelling is little more than the quality of a not so astutely written newspaper column.

That the two animals bonded is nice, but we see that in nature videos. The photographs are nice but they're nothing to rave about.
4737861
This storybook was given to me as a birthday gift a couple years ago. I must say, it doesn't quite compare to some other storybook adaptations that I have read. It includes a lot of pictures from the movie and a few blue-printed drawings of various characters and vehicles. However, the storytelling is choppy and for the book's length (48 pages), it cuts out a lot of good material and fails to tie various scenes together. Granted, this book was written for ten-year-old kids and I also recognize that Lucas' moviemaking makes a lot of quick cuts from scene to scenes. However, this book still could have been written a little better. Anyway, a book, even a children's book, is a total different medium from a movie
3878579
The book has some very nice photos and info, but there is one main weaknesses. This is supposed to be dedicated to cities, but it misses many popular ones (Boston, Portland, Auckland, NZ) and instead has towns of just a few thousands. Some towns are noted for the wildlife that is not actually in the town but far outside. If this is cities book, stick to cities and get all of the good ones!

Also, it would be nice if there were a map showing where each place is on the page (rather that at the beginning of the book).

Some of the "strengths" and "weaknesses" for each city are a bit trivial. Or, they discuss about living in the city rather than travelling.
3144085
Suzy Lee's The Zoo is a picture book in which the words only tell a small part of the story. A young girl visits the zoo, apparently in Korea, with her parents. The text, a few words per page, gives a simple recounting of events. "We visited the aviary, and then the gorillas", etc. But behind the scenes, two parallel adventures occur.

The initial scenes are very detailed, and drawn mostly in shades of gray. The only comes from a peacock, wandering loose about the zoo. The animal cages seem oddly deserted, with the inhabitants not to be found. And then the little girl wanders off, following the peacock into a world of color.

Alternating pages show the increasingly frantic parents, still in gray, looking for their missing daughter. Meanwhile, the daughter plays with the animals, loose in some sort of idyllic forest scene. The scenes with the girl and the animals are clearly not real, but reflect every child's wish-fulfillment. Getting sprayed by an elephant. Sliding down the neck of a giraffe, into the waiting arms of a gorilla. Soaring with the birds. Smiling, playful animals everywhere you look. In the end, the relieved parents find the girl, fast asleep on a bench, dreaming about the animals.

Both sets of illustrations reward close study. The "real world" scenes are pencil sketches in muted colors, with, in a few cases, cut-out paper dolls apparently overlaid on the page. They are filled with realistic details, like the face mask worn by the balloon seller on the first page, and the spilled trash here and there on the ground inside the zoo. The people represent a wide spectrum of humanity, from snooty woman with backpack, to fighting young boys, to coy teenage girls, to parents with cameras, teacher with students, and smiling, pig-nosed sisters. Only our young heroine displays a splash of color in her cheeks.

The animal scenes, by contrast, are awash with color, deceptively crude colored pencil sketches of smiling animals. The trees in the background sometimes look like origami, made from brightly colored paper. The grass and sky bear the marks of heavy scribbling, to fill in the background. There's no strict adherence to the "right colors" either. The elephants are shaded with purple and green. The trees have orange, pink and purple branches. The bear is brown, overlaid with a touch of blue. The colored pages look, in short, like something that a kid (albeit a very talented kid) would draw.

The parallel tales are linked. As the parents run past the empty aviary, their daughter is flying through the sky with the birds. The animals are missing from all of the realistic scenes, as though, just perhaps, they might really be off visiting the girl's imagination.

This is a book for any child who loves animals, and thinks that zoos are paradise. It's also a book for any parent who has temporarily misplaced a child - the parents' fear is palpable (and, happily, relieved by the end of the story). All in all, it's an unexpected and rewarding adventure.

This book review was originally published on my blog, Jen Robinson's Book Page, on March 14, 2007.
281551
So this was a full of beautiful pictures, which of themselves are worth 5 stars. However, there is very little by way of content or explanation of the pictures and I  would have loved more explanation. I understand that this was directed at a childs audience, but as the parent reading and discussing this with my child, I would have liked more background information that I could gloss over or expand upon as I saw fit. For example" In Japan there is an island full of rabbits"...my 5 year old love that and wanted to learn much more about the "easter bunny island". This is the first book I downloaded from Speedy publishing and I'm not sure if I would pay for any more. I have seen other books advertised for free/discounted prices and if you can download for free I definitely recommend the book as a picture book, but content lacking. I didn't pay full price for the book so I recommend this product only with the reservations listed above.
4625018
I don't know why the individuals who gave 5 stars, did so. The most beautiful, striking part of this book is the photographs. They're great!! hands down. However the narration on each animal just follows 8 basic formatted questions, Range, Size, offspring, Etc.; definitely necessary info but it's very shallow to stop there. Besides a few scattered phrases there is very minimal specific,unique info regarding an individual mammal that any animal lover would've expected to find even some basic stuff! The narration is definitely overly general and vague. THEY created a template and just filled it in. I expected alot more. I see that there are other books that have much more info but pictures? "fahgetta- battit" (these are hard to beat!) I guess you need both. It was definitely an improvement over past Audubon books. I wouldn't buy another Audubon guide online but rather in store & see for myself. I know there's only so much space in 1 book but ITS VERY SHALLOW!
2397331
This is a nice book and is the full-sized edition, with dust jacket. Having lived in Nairobi near Karen Blixen's farm I am very much into the stories of colonial life in Kenya a hundred years ago. This book provides an interesting look at colonial life from the eyes of a young woman who grew up there.

It takes a long while to get rolling and it tends to be rather dry. Also, while it relates stories related to a range of characters (who are analogues of real people) it does not provide a good picture of where you are. Rather, it provides little patches where things happen without really providing a foundation of the larger geographic picture. Regardless, what you get from this book is a sketchy picture of life that is reminiscent of Little House. For me, when I finished it, it was like I'd been served a meal without much sustenance and that I had left the table feeling hungry.
51000
This book couples real photographs with a gentle story about Henry, a duck who is raised on a farm near a pond. Unlike other books in this series, the boy who raises Henry remains nameless, and the book is more about life from the animal's perspective, and less about the relationship between the child and the animal.

Many of the pictures are cute, but, as with other books in the series, the educational value is muddied by failing to address issues related to the animal's welfare. In this case, the boy takes home a duck egg (a pretty bad idea), and uses an incubator to hatch Henry out. The boy also makes the mistakes of putting the hatchling into a wading pond before it can swim, and of using a hairdryer to dry the duck off. In the end, the duck wanders off to the pond where his egg was found, and meets up with a female duck. Presumably, Henry will return to a life in the wild. In reality, this readjustment is probably not possible. I'm not hung up on the idea of truth in children's books, but I do think that the authors should focus on positive, responsible pet ownership, particularly if they are joined by realistic photographs, giving the book more of an authentic feel.

Children who are exposed to this book should be taught not to bring home an egg from the wild, and also that raising a wild animal is a responsibility that doesn't end with allowing the animal to wander off into the world.
1711345
I do like the pictures in this book. They are about 3/4 size of a regular page, just FYI. They are not perforated so it requires scissors to remove each picture. I find the pages to be fairly thin which causes markers or gel pens to soak through. I guess I'd have to admit I was less than impressed. However, I could see this being a great addition if you want your kids to join you for coloring. There's lots of pages to choose from and less detailed.
6000
This book has some good interior photos, but the how to section is very sparse.

One nice idea in the book is that every photo has a lighting diagram along with it to show you how the result was achieved.

Unfortunately the diagrams are not always very specific. For instance how was the scene metered, what was the type of grid used, what was the output required.

In other words not a lot of exacting detail. Also it would be nice to see a before and after shot, but these are pictures by some very talented photographers that were not shot for teaching, but for clients.

It has no information at all on general lighting principles, special techniques, or anything else of real value.
430135
If the subject matter interests you, then get this book, as it's the only one of its kind.  It's full of great photos and artwork, and a lot of information. Full disclosure, I never went to Pacific Ocean Park, but only heard about it.  Personally, I found the book to be poorly organized, with terrible layouts.  The authors chose to put everything in chronological order, which I thought was a bad choice, as it's hard to keep track of all of the names and information as the subject matter jumps around.  To me, it would have been better to have separate sections on the real estate aspects, the design and designers, the rides themselves, the filming of movies and TV shows, etc, so that there would be more coherent through-lines.  The layout is poor, because the text on the pages doesn't always relate to the photos on those pages, and the photo captions are sometimes next to the photos, sometimes on the opposite page, or sometimes on the preceding page.  Although the text often exalts the quality of the rides with lots of hyperbole and praise, the photos show a pretty cheesy looking amusement park.  Basically, I was disappointed in the book because the info is all here, the research is excellent, but the presentation is seriously lacking.  A better editor would have made a world of difference.