Caring Corners – A Book at Bedtime Accessory Pack

The A Book at Bedtime Accessory Pack from Caring Corners lets your child bring story time to the Mrs. Goodbee Dollhouse. It’s a great fit for other dollhouses, too. With a bed, a vanity, and a stool for the adult figure to sit on during reading, this set fills out any bedroom. Small pieces keep this set from being appropriate for children under three. The lamp really lights up when the shade is pressed View larger. An Interactive Addition to Games of Make-Believe Complete with snuggly kittens and a flowered cloth cover for the bed, this set makes tucking in your child’s favorite dolls more realistic. And the included mom figure adds a new member to the family. The plastic pieces of this bedtime set seem durable, and the lamp on the vanity really lights up when you press down on its shade. The three batteries needed to power this feature are included. And as an added bonus, this set comes with a secret web code to unlock online activities from www.caringcorners.com. About the Mrs. Goodbee Dollhouse This set is designed to make a great partner for the Mrs. Goodbee Dollhouse (not included). The unique Mrs. Goodbee dollhouse comes to life when your child first rings the doorbell. Mrs. Goodbee’s eyes snap open, her lips light up, and she sings a welcoming song. As you child plays, eight audio activation points throughout the house keep the experience interactive. In the bathroom, Mrs. Goodbee offers comments like, “Flush, wash, wonderful! Good job.” When the fridge is opened, she may say “Brrrrrrrr” in response to the rush of cold air. Beyond the great sound effects, the Mrs. Goodbee house is full of thoughtful details that keep playtime interesting. Windows in the bedroom move up and down to reveal different scenes for daytime and nighttime. A lever by the oven reveals muffins, a pie, or a turkey cooking. With its unique fold-out design and six rooms on each side, there’s plenty of space for multiple children to play at the same time. When it’s time to clean up, simply fold the house up with your child’s dolls inside to save space. Explore the Good Deeds Garden Online There’s another whole world waiting online at www.caringcorners.com, where little girls can use the secret code that comes with their dollhouse to unlock the good deeds garden. The dollhouse offers children several games and tasks to choose from. Children can try their hand at feeding hungry fish or picking out the differences between two similar pictures. This feature is not simply designed with fun in mind; it’s also designed to promote responsibility. Every time a child does a real-world good deed, she can take a sticker from the Parent Guide and use it to decorate the back of the dollhouse. Secret codes that unlock additional games are hidden under the stickers, making this a fun and engaging process, and one that encourages positive social behaviors. What’s in the Box Bed, vanity with lamp, stool, book, mom figure, two kittens, and a web code.

The A Book at Bedtime Accessory Pack from Caring Corners lets your child bring story time to the Mrs. Goodbee Dollhouse. It’s a great fit for other dollhouses, too. With a bed, a vanity, and a stool for the adult figure to sit on during reading, this set fills out any bedroom. Small pieces keep this set from being appropriate for children under three.

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Grandfather Twilight (Paperstar Book) (Paperback)

Young children will be reassured by the gentle, glowing figure of Grandfather Twilight, whose nightly walk through the woods signals the onset of night and whose special task each evening is to place the moon in the sky. Perfect for bedtime sharing, the luminous illustrations enhance the warm serenity of the text. Full color.

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A Caress of Twilight (Meredith Gentry, Book 2) (Paperback)

Review

Faerie princess and private detective Meredith Gentry juggles love, sex, intrigue, magic, and more in this witty and sensual novel from Laurell K. Hamilton. Merry has her hands full: she’s desperate to conceive a child and thereby claim the Unseelie throne; she’s the target of intrigue from both the Seelie and Unseelie Courts; her newest client is an exiled goddess with a secret that could get them all killed; and a hideous fey force that alarms even her formidable lover-warriors is loose in Los Angeles. A Caress of Twilight is infused with Hamilton’s characteristic appealing blend of sex, magic, wit, and romantic dilemma. The mystery takes a back seat to the concerns of Faerie power and politics, making the book less balanced, but Merry’s growth in leadership and power, along with a bang-up ending, won’t leave fans disappointed. Readers new to Hamilton might be advised to start with A Kiss of Shadows or the extremely popular Anita Blake series. –Roz Genessee
–This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

In the second R-rated outing (after 2000’s A Kiss of Shadows) from bestseller Hamilton to feature bright and winsome faery princess Meredith Gentry, the unlikely shamus, who runs an L.A. detective agency with a staff of faery musclemen (plus a pet goblin), seems to spend almost as much time pondering her position in the fey world as attending to her client, glamorous film star Maeve Reed, actually a Seelie goddess, who needs Meredith’s help in getting pregnant. Meredith does what she can for Maeve, although she has troubles enough of her own in the conception game. As one of two possible heirs to the Unseelie throne, the other being her nasty cousin, Prince Cel, Meredith must produce her own child and then, by faery tradition, marry her partner. It isn’t easy, since any father must be kingly material, but our heroine is a game lass, and her failure is not for lack of trying. In an exciting climax, the LAPD Bureau of Human and Fey Affairs summons Meredith to battle a fearsome, crawling, tentacled and slobbering monster, the Nameless, which was too blithely created by opposing faery courts her own, the Unseelie, ruled by her millennium-old aunt, Queen Andais, and the Seelie, ruled by the ruthless and equally ancient King Taranis. More attention to the detective motif might have made the story more fun, but steamy prose and Meredith’s obsessive personal conflicts should keep the faithful turning the pages. (Apr. 2)Forecast: With a 10-city author tour, national print advertising and the success of last year’s Narcissus in Chains and other novels in her Anita Blake vampire series, Hamilton should make another run at the bestseller lists.Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
–This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Breaking Dawn (The Twilight Saga, Book 4) (Hardcover)

Review

Great love stories thrive on sacrifice. Throughout The Twilight Saga (Twilight, New Moon, and Eclipse), Stephenie Meyer has emulated great love stories–Romeo and Juliet, Wuthering Heights–with the fated, yet perpetually doomed love of Bella (the human girl) and Edward (the vampire who feeds on animals instead of humans). In Breaking Dawn, the fourth and final installment in the series, Bella’s story plays out in some unexpected ways. The ongoing conflicts that made this series so compelling–a human girl in love with a vampire, a werewolf in love with a human girl, the generations-long feud between werewolves and vampires–resolve pretty quickly, apparently so that Meyer could focus on Bella’s latest opportunity for self-sacrifice: giving her life for someone she loves even more than Edward. How close she comes to actually making that sacrifice is questionable, which is a big shift from the earlier books. Even though you knew Bella would make it through somehow, the threats to her life, and to her relationship with Edward, had previously always felt real. It’s as if Meyer was afraid of hurting her characters too much, which is unfortunate, because the pain Bella suffered at losing Edward in New Moon, and the pain Jacob suffered at losing Bella again and again, are the fire and the heart that drive the whole series. Diehard fans will stick with Bella, Edward, and Jacob for as many twists and turns as possible, but after most of the characters get what they want with little sacrifice, some readers may have a harder time caring what happens next. (Ages 12 and up) –Heidi Broadhead

From Publishers Weekly

It might seem redundant to dismiss the fourth and final Twilight novel as escapist fantasy–but how else could anyone look at a romance about an ordinary, even clumsy teenager torn between a vampire and a werewolf, both of whom are willing to sacrifice their happiness for hers? Flaws and all, however, Meyer’s first three novels touched on something powerful in their weird refraction of our culture’s paradoxical messages about sex and sexuality. The conclusion is much thinner, despite its interminable length. [...] But that’s not the main problem. Essentially, everyone gets everything they want, even if their desires necessitate an about-face in characterization or the messy introduction of some back story. Nobody has to renounce anything or suffer more than temporarily–in other words, grandeur is out. This isn’t about happy endings; it’s about gratification. A sign of the times? Ages 12–up. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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Twilight (The Twilight Saga, Book 1) (Paperback)

Review

The book that started the phenomenon is now available in a deluxe collector’s edition! Featuring a ribbon bookmark, cloth cover, ragged edges, new chapter opener designs, and a beautiful protective slipcase, this edition is perfect for fans and collectors alike.Bella Swan’s move to Forks, a small, perpetually rainy town in Washington, could have been the most boring move she ever made. But once she meets the mysterious and alluring Edward Cullen, Bella’s life takes a thrilling and terrifying turn. Up until now, Edward has managed to keep his vampire identity a secret in the small community he lives in, but now nobody is safe, especially Bella, the person Edward holds most dear. Deeply romantic and extraordinarily suspenseful, Twilight captures the struggle between defying our instincts and satisfying our desires. This is a love story with bite.
–This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

Grade 9 Up–When Bella Swan moves from sunny Phoenix to Forks, Washington, a damp and dreary town known for the most rainfall in the United States, to live with her dad, she isnt expecting to like it. But the level of hostility displayed by her standoffish high school biology lab partner, Edward Cullen, surprises her. After several strange interactions, his preternatural beauty, strength, and speed have her intrigued. Edward is just as fascinated with Bella, and their attraction to one another grows. As Bella discovers more about Edwards nature and his family, she is thrown headlong into a dangerous adventure that has her making a desperate sacrifice to save her one true love. One of the more original vampire constructs around, this recording of Stephenie Meyers debut novel (Megan Tingley Books, 2005) is narrated with great style by Ilyana Kadushin, who makes the infinitely romantic tale of star-crossed lovers resonate with a bittersweet edge. Although Edward and Bellas romance and subsequent danger develops slowly, the pacing is appropriate for teens who want learn all the details in this suspenseful tale. An excellent purchase for both school and public libraries.–Charli Osborne, Oxford Public Library, MI Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
–This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Another Jost Van Dyke Then & Now | St. John Life

The photo below came from the book The Virgin Islands , Pleasure Spots in the Caribbean, by Bruce G. Lynn. It was published in 1970. The photo below is mine. See more here: Another Jost Van Dyke Then & Now | St. John Life

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Another Jost Van Dyke Then & Now | St. John Life

The Salvare: Fiction about cruise ship medical tourism …

The Salvare: Fiction about cruise ship medical tourism. Wed, 11/11/2009 – 10:50 — Patri · Here’s the book’s website. It is called Universal Coverage, and asks: “If the system failed you, how far would you go to save your child?”

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The Salvare: Fiction about cruise ship medical tourism …

The Salvare: Fiction about cruise ship medical tourism …

The Salvare: Fiction about cruise ship medical tourism. Wed, 11/11/2009 – 10:50 — Patri · Here’s the book’s website. It is called Universal Coverage, and asks: “If the system failed you, how far would you go to save your child?”. … Link: The Salvare: Fiction about cruise ship medical tourism …

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The Salvare: Fiction about cruise ship medical tourism …

Hosting Directory #1 – You Could Be At Sea Dance Hosting

Gentlemen, if you’ve ever thought about sailing the oceans of the world as a dance host on a cruise ship , this book is a must. Mr. Hughey is a professional ballroom dance instructor who has spent many years at sea as a dance host. … Read more here: Hosting Directory …

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Hosting Directory #1 – You Could Be At Sea Dance Hosting

Cloth Books Recalled by Sterling Publishing Co. Inc. Due to Strangulation Hazard

A string attaching a ball to the book can become entangled in the basketball hoop element, posing a strangulation hazard to young children.

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Cloth Books Recalled by Sterling Publishing Co. Inc. Due to Strangulation Hazard

Cloth Books Recalled by Sterling Publishing Co. Inc. Due to Strangulation Hazard

A string attaching a ball to the book can become entangled in the basketball hoop element, posing a strangulation hazard to young children.

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Cloth Books Recalled by Sterling Publishing Co. Inc. Due to Strangulation Hazard

Omni Daily Crush: “Miss Lonelyhearts & The Day of the Locust”

As anyone who wandered through high school and college with me knows, a crush can last a very long time. And today I want to note one of my longest-running crushes–alas, as a sort of eulogy. For today is the official release date for New Directions’ new edition of Nathanael West’s two short masterpieces, Miss Lonelyhearts & The Day of the Locust . Nothing really to be sad about there–glad to see someone’s still taking an interest!–especially since the new edition features an introduction by Jonathan Lethem, who I’d rather read on books than just about anyone else. So two of my favorite novels (novellas, really) joined in one, and two of my favorite writers–what’s not to like? But for something new to be born, something else must apparently die, and this new edition will replace one of my favorite things in the world , the paired edition that New Directions has published since the ’60s. You know the one, the slim little grayish volume with the blurred photo of a crowd full of faces and the broken heart on the cover. The miracle of it, I think, is its compression: two great and strange works squeezed together into a book of under two hundred pages. Miss Lonelyhearts is only 58 pages, for Pete’s sake, but nobody ever talks about it as the short story it really is–everyone seems to agree to treat it like a novel, and that’s because it carries enough in its densely packed nuggets of story that it can swagger around like a big boy

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Omni Daily Crush: “Miss Lonelyhearts & The Day of the Locust”

It Has Begun: Start Deciphering The Lost Symbol

FYI, Da Vinci Code fans: in their buildup to the shrouded-in-secrecy release of The Last Symbol in September, Doubleday has started a Twitter account @lostsymbolbook and are releasing three cryptic tweets a day that apparently (they’re way over my head) are clues to the mystery in the new book. You can follow the tweets on Twitter, and we’re also adding links to them on our page for the book each day. Here are the first two days’ clues: Tuesday, June 23: Codes of ethics? T 10 C; 6 P O T SOD; 12 S O T Z Intelligence agencies have developed “micro-bots”: tiny, remote control, electronic “bugs” that can track people undetected. Inspired or invasive? Unbroken codes… mystery continues to shroud the cipher at the Rosslyn Chapel. Wednesday, June 24: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8086261.stm Before they were Illuminati, they were Perfectibilists. Who stole William Wirt’s skull? And while we’re at it, time to set your clocks for the moment of the book’s arrival (you can subtract a day or two for the moment when Janet Maslin’s NYT review, thanks to a copy somehow obtained by a Times staffer, will appear…): –Tom

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It Has Begun: Start Deciphering The Lost Symbol

YA Wednesday: Not Just for Teens

Jezebel helps me kick it off this week, with Ed Westwick (Chuck Bass) as Lord Byron. (Original image from GQ ): More YA books challenged… In Illinois, parents tried to get Sherman Alexie’s Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian pulled from the required summer reading list at Antioch Community High School. From a parent: “If there were just swear words, I could deal with that. But sections of this book are just vulgar.” ( Daily Herald ) But they failed . One of the parents, like other grown-ups involved with recent Gossip Girl controversies, suggested warning labels. Bookshelves of doom responds: Would Lord of the Flies and Hamlet and American Psycho and The Hunger Games get slapped with one that reads VIOLENCE INSIDE? For that matter, would American Psycho get the SEX sticker, too? Jeepers. Some books would be so plastered with stickers that we wouldn’t be able to see the cover art anymore. Who would decide how much ‘offensive’ content was enough to warrant a label? ETC.

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YA Wednesday: Not Just for Teens