Alfie and the Birthday Surprise

Book Description

Birthday parties always make people happy, and Alfie's neighbor, Mr. MacNally, really does need cheering up. Alfie thinks a party might be just the thing, and there's an extra special surprise in store for Mr. MacNally! Will Alfie manage to keep it a secret?

Customer Reviews:

Alfie and the Birthday Surprise.......2005-09-06

Anything Shirley Hughes writes is worth reading! She writes about everyday situations with which my 3 year old and I can relate (and we laugh, cry or feel whatever other emotion she provokes) and always enjoy!. She both writes and illustrates her books - and do so beautifully!

good book about death (and alfie).......2003-10-30

I am fond of this book because it incorporates death as part of a continuum of events in a child's life, instead of placing it front and center in a "the-moral-of-the-story-is" type of typical children's story.

Alfie's neighbor loves his old cat, the cat dies, the neighbor is very sad, the neighbor stays sad, and Alfie and friends and family decide to plan a surprise birthday party for the neighbor. Then there are lots of details about the party, including the purchase of presents, the making of the cake, and even getting a new kitten for the neighbor. Then, ta-dum, everybody yells SURPRISE! And the neighbor is happier, and the kitten turns out to be pretty cool, and the party is fun, and even though everybody remembers the old cat fondly, the new cat becomes a part of their life.

I like this approach and so, apparently, do my kids. I've been trying to find good books for kids about death, and this has turned out to be a favorite. And the pictures are *adorable,* I just wanted to reach right in and pinch Alfie's red cheeks.

Another wonderful Alfie story.......2000-02-15

We (my 3-year old son and 2-year old daughter and I) loved Hughes' "All About Alfie," and her story "Dogger," and this book is a wonderful next step for us, especially my son. There's a bit more text per page, and more mature subject matter (the death of a neighbor's pet) which helps ensure it will grow with him. (I was worried that he'd lose the wonderful role model he has in Alfie!) The only negative is that since the stories so completely capture Alfie's point of view, Annie Rose is a little flat, and my daughter is not as engaged by her. Alfie stories are a great example of how to be caring toward your siblings. The illustrations showing a happy family without a spotless house (it looks comfy and lived in!) make me want to give Hughes a hug!

Wonderful Children's Author.......1998-12-31

Shirley Hughes is a wonderful author who uses beautiful illustrations and a quiet writing style in her children's books. My toddler loves her book, Chatting, as well as other Hughes titles. I highly recommend sharing Alfie with your children.

Average customer rating:

Based on a real tree in Lam Tsuen, Hong Kong
A deftly woven and lovely picturebook story
Story based on Chinese custom

The Wishing Tree
Roseanne Thong
Manufacturer: Shen's Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Ages 4-8 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 1885008260

Book Description

Ming and his grandmother visit a wishing tree every Lunar New Year. As Ming grows from a little boy to a young man, the tree's presence remains an important figure in his life. When he is forced to overcome a tragedy, he develops a new relationship with t

Customer Reviews:

Based on a real tree in Lam Tsuen, Hong Kong .......2005-06-12

I absolutely love that this story is based upon a real Banyan "Wishing Tree" in a small village called Lam Tsuen in Hong Kong, and that there are other smaller ones among Hong Kong's countryside.

As if the story wasn't beautiful enough, the author took a lot of time explaining about wishing trees and how they are either banyan or camphor trees because these kinds of trees because they have aerial roots that curve & twist into unsual shapes that seem to look magical! She then goes on to tell her reader tells us that people come all though out the year to toss their wishes onto the wishing trees branches, but the majority of the people come during their Lunar New Year. She also speaks of the Ng Bo Dip which means "5 Treasures Piles" in Cantonese that the wishes are written. The brightly colored red & gold papers are then tied to a Mandarin Orange and thrown high into the branches of the wishing tree. I bet it's a beautiful sight! The author also includes a directions on how to make your very own Ng Bo Dip and also includes a black & white copy for the reader to photocopy, color and cut out!

A definate treasure to have in your home library!

A deftly woven and lovely picturebook story .......2005-01-03

Young readers ages 4-10 will find Wishing Tree by Roseanne Thong to be a deftly woven and lovely picturebook story set in modern Hong Kong and telling of a young boy and his grandmother who visit a rural temple's Wishing Tree every lunar New Year. Connie McLennan's realistic drawings enhances a story which tells how a wishing tree helps a youngster solve common problems in life.

Story based on Chinese custom.......2004-11-29

The boy Ming is disappointed in the wishing tree introduced to him by his grandmother when the tree fails to give him his wish that his aged grandmother survive her illness. But after a time when he does not go to it anymore, he comes near it again when a group of friends invite him to go with them. In talking with his friends and a nearby vendor, Ming realizes that the tree granted his grandmother's greatest wish for him--that he be happy. The simple tale is based on a real tree in a village in Hong Kong. The author Thong with bright pictures by McLennan describe how the Chinese write their wishes on pieces of paper, and toss these into the branches of the tree. Following the tale, the author gives directions on how young readers can follow this practice for themselves with their own wishing tree.

The Skeleton at the Feast: The Day of the Dead in Mexico

Average customer rating:

Very informative.
The Skeleton at the Feast
a comprehensive look at a bizarre custom
a comprehensive look at a bizarre custom

The Skeleton at the Feast: The Day of the Dead in Mexico
Elizabeth Carmichael , and Chloë Sayer
Manufacturer: University of Texas Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Mexico | Americas | History | Subjects | Books

Holidays | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Customs & Traditions | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0292776586

Book Description

"A handsome addition to the recent literature on this Mexican phenomenon.... The photographs are magnificent.... This volume makes a valuable contribution to the study of both Mexican popular culture and the folk art it has produced. It may also be timely, as one of the interviewees laments the way U.S. Halloween customs are supplanting some of the traditional celebrations in urban centers such as Monterrey and the Federal District."

—Hispanic American Historical Review

All over Mexico, early in November, families gather to welcome the souls of the dead on their annual visit home. The smells of burning copal incense and pungent cempasúchil (marigolds) mingle with the aromas of fresh bread, new clothing, sweets, and candles. One of Mexico's most important festivals since prehispanic times, the Day of the Dead is an occasion for celebrating and feasting, cleaning and decorating graves, dancing and making music.

In this unique work, the authors explore both the historic origins of this holiday and its colorful present-day celebrations in Mexico and the United States. Interviews with Mexican artists and crafters who provide goods for the festival—from personalized sugar skulls to gigantic papier-mâché skeletons—offer a fascinating glimpse into traditional and contemporary attitudes toward death and the dead.

Lavishly illustrated with color and black-and-white photographs, The Skeleton at the Feast will be required reading for all who are interested in Mexican culture, art, and folklore.

Customer Reviews:

Very informative........2002-06-26

The best book I've seen on the subject!

The Skeleton at the Feast.......2001-11-01

I bought this book several years ago at the Museum of Mankind, in London. It was the book for the exhibition, which featured incredible paper sculptures of skeletons and demons.
I read every word of the book, and enjoyed the culture, history, and personal stories of these Mexican artists.
Buy it!

a comprehensive look at a bizarre custom.......2000-04-05

As an anthropologist who teaches classes on Mexico, I use this book often. The "day of the dead" in Mexico exemplifies, for me, the difference between the U.S. culture and that of Mexico. Just as other cultures might find our U.S. Halloween celebrations strangely at odds with normally conservative Judeo-Christian religious observance, this book illustrates clearly the almost unfathomable blending of pre-Columbian cults of death and sacrifice with Spanish-Catholic traditions. Starting with its origins in Mexico's ancient civilizations, the book discusses and illustrates this observance through modern times, and takes the reader vicariously to the areas of Mexico in which it is most enthusiastically observed. Sit down with a cup of chocolate' and some "pan de los muertos" (bread of the dead), and enjoy a book whose topic you might have thought too morbid for your taste, but which you will probably end up finding much more compelling than repulsive. Unfortunately for me (but better for the publishing company!), I am about to order my 3rd copy of "Skeleton at the Feast"--apparently the students to whom I loan it find it too interesting to return!

a comprehensive look at a bizarre custom.......2000-04-05

The Days of the Dead: Mexico's Festival of Communion with the Departed

Average customer rating:

GORGEOUS pictoral essay on this oh-so-very-Mexican holiday!!

The Days of the Dead: Mexico's Festival of Communion with the Departed
Rosalind Rosoff Beimler
Manufacturer: Pomegranate Communications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Holidays | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Customs & Traditions | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0764906194

Book Description

Mexico's Festival of Communion with the Departed / Los Dias de Muertos, un Festival de Comunion con los Muertos en Mexico

This book offers a remarkable look at Mexico's traditional holiday honoring departed ancestors, friends, and family. Each aspect of the multiday festival is carefully explored: the journey to the cemeteries to spruce up neglected gravesites, the lively marketplace selling breads and candies in the shapes of skulls and skeletons, the peaceful vigil as friends and families crowd the cemeteries to await the arrival of their loved ones through the long night.

San Francisco-based photographer John Greenleigh traveled to small towns in Mexico in four different years to document this extraordinary festival. Accompanied by evocative text by cultural scholar Rosalind Rosoff Beimler, the pictures speak eloquently to a ritual that is at once mocking and respectful of death---and ultimately affirming of human life.

Customer Reviews:

GORGEOUS pictoral essay on this oh-so-very-Mexican holiday!!.......2003-04-12

BEAUTIFUL pictures!!! A photographer who captures the very HEART and SOUL of the people, and with a sensitivity to their culture and beliefs that merits the utmost applause!!! If you can't go to Michoacan on November 1st, this has got to be the next best thing to being there!!

Winds of Fury, Circle of Grace: Life After the Palm Sunday Tornadoes

Average customer rating:

Makes you want to give your own children extra big kisses
A touching memoir of terrible loss and gradual healing.

Winds of Fury, Circle of Grace: Life After the Palm Sunday Tornadoes
Dale Clem
Manufacturer: Abingdon Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Death & Grief | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

General | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

Customer Reviews:

Makes you want to give your own children extra big kisses.......1999-10-17

I read Dale's book as soon as I could get it. Knowing him, his wife and children, I wanted to read what I was afraid to ask even a friend like Dale - "How do you survive losing a child?" Winds of Fury is Dale's version of the events around a tragic tornado in which many members of his wife's church died, including their four-year-old daughter. His story is painful, but filled with grace and hope. In places he is brutally honest, and in other places brutally funny. After I finished (which wasn't long because I couldn't put it down), I was thankful to God for giving me two beautiful children. I recall going into their rooms while they were asleep and giving them an extra kiss, painfully aware that Dale and Kelly could never do that for Hannah again. I was also filled with hope from reading the book. Dale reminded me that truly nothing can separate us from the love of God.

A touching memoir of terrible loss and gradual healing........1997-10-05

No one in northeast Alabama will ever forget Palm Sunday 1994. When deadly tornadoes ripped through northern Calhoun County, killing nearly two dozen people, a spring Sunday dedicated to beginning the holiest week of the Christian year became instead a stormy day of pain and loss. And yet, as the Rev. Dale Clem's memoir "Winds of Fury, Circles of Grace" demonstrates, the terrifying storms could not blow away the faith and devotion that would testify in no uncertain terms to a love and spirit that transcends disaster and death.

As the Rev. Kelly Clem led Palm Sunday services, including a children's pageant in which their 4-year-old daughter Hannah took part, Dale Clem was hundreds of miles away, leading a youth group on a spring break service trip to Oklahoma. The first report Clem received was sketchy, a message received from a cell phone call. "There's been a tornado," he was told. "It hit your wife's church... Kelly is in the hospital, the girls are okay; you need to call home." In the time it took for him to find his wife - interminable time - fear grew. No one had news about Hannah. Finally he was able to speak to Kelly, who told him: "Hannah is dead."

It was the beginning of a long day, a long week - a long year - of tears and mourning. "Winds of Fury, Circles of Grace" chronicles that year with touching honesty, neither shying away from sorrow nor forgetting joy. Clem captures the grief of a small congregation in a small town, where relationships are strengthened both by proximity and faith. He recounts unpleasant moments, such as hurtful and hateful notes received from zealots equating Kelly's ministry and the priesthood of women to Sodom and Gomorrah. And he shares many happy memories of Hannah - "Have I ever told you that I love you?" he would ask Hannah and her younger sister Sarah, and Hannah would giggle, "Oh, Daddy, you tell me that all the time."

Customer Reviews:

A "must have".......2000-04-22

This book features beautiful colorful illustrations and a very cute story, full of accurate cultural details. To be enjoyed by children and adults alike, it also is a great way to "teach" your kids about death, or to help them deal with mourning, whether or not you are hispanic.

Wonderful.......2000-03-29

El Espiritu de Tio Fernando is an excellent book describing the mexican celebration of Days of the Dead. The book follows a young boy and his mother as they remember his uncle who has died within the last year. The book is simple yet includes many aspects of the celebration. The illustrations are wonderfully detailed so as to show the emotions of each part of the celebration. The text is in both English and Spanish allowing all children to enjoy it equally.

Average customer rating:

Celebrating the holidays after a death
Papa's Latkes by Michelle Edwards
Highly recommended tale of family, loss and moving on
A book for everyone

Papa's Latkes
Michelle Edwards
Manufacturer: Candlewick
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Picture Books | Ages 4-8 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | Ages 4-8 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0763607797
Release Date: 2004-09-23

Book Description

A family prepares to celebrate Chanukah for the first time since Mama died — in this heartfelt, bittersweet tale that will resonate with anyone who has ever faced an empty chair at the holiday table.

Three plates, Selma reminded herself. Just three plates this Chanukah.

For Selma and her little sister, Dora, this is their first Chanukah without Mama. When Papa comes home carrying a big bag of potatoes and all the ingredients for latkes, Selma is worried. Mama always made the Chanukah latkes. Could they make them without her? In Michelle Edwards's poignant story, illustrated with Stacey Schuett's warmly glowing artwork, Selma comes to realize that while Chanukah — and especially latkes — will never be the same without Mama, Selma can still celebrate, and will always remember.

Customer Reviews:

Celebrating the holidays after a death.......2006-12-12

This is a wonderful story about a moving on after a loved one has died. This moving story is about a father and his two daughters and how they celebrate Hanukkah after the little girls' mother's passing. The girls each grieve in their own way. The story really focuses on the latkes and their is no mention of the meaning of Hanukkah or the symbology of latkes or candles. Still it is a poignant story that leaves you feeling like celebrating the holiday.

Papa's Latkes by Michelle Edwards.......2004-11-28

Michelle Edwards treats us to everything but the actual recipe for latkes in her latest book, "Papa's Latkes" (Candlewick Press).

Two little girls have loving memories of their mother and especially Mama's latkes, now that it's Chanukah-their first one without her. And Papa is determined the holiday will be celebrated as usual.

The girls strive to keep everything the way Mama had it, but sometimes our best isn't good enough. Although the menorah is polished, the tablecloth Mama embroidered with menorahs and dreidels and stars of David is set out, and sour cream, applesauce, and jam are spooned into the green glass bowls Grandma Yetta had carried with her from Poland, there are only three plates on the table now, instead of four.

Will Papa's latkes be "poetry on a platter" the way he announced? Can Chanukah ever be the same?

The richness is, indeed, in the details, and Edwards supplies many family remembrances throughout that touch the heart, while Stacey Schuett, enriches the text with spare but colorful illustrations.(You'll especially love the last double-page spread.)

Edwards walks a fine line here without losing her balance-"Papa's Latkes" is touching without being overpoweringly sad. Close the book and you'll swear you can smell potatoes, onions, and oil.

(A minor point: I think the editor erred in not including a latke recipe. Non-Jewish children reading the book may want their mamas to make them.)

This is a gentle story well done.

Audrey B. Baird, author Storm Coming! and A Cold Snap! (both by Boyds Mills Press, www.boydsmillspress.com) and editor/publisher of Once Upon A Time (http://onceuponatimemag.com), a 32-page national support magazine for writers and illustrators of children's literature.

Highly recommended tale of family, loss and moving on.......2004-11-07

Stacey Schuett provides the warm, realistic drawings to this picturebook story of a family facing their first Chanukah without their mother. When their father comes home with a bag of potatoes for latkes, Selma is worried: Mama always made the Chanukah latkes: how can they make them without her? Papa's Latkes is a gently told and highly recommended tale of family, loss and moving on.

A book for everyone.......2004-10-25

I read *Papa's Latkes* and found myself crying. It's a beautiful book that reads wonderfully aloud. The images are shining and transcendent. The emotions are strong and true. For anyone who has suffered the loss of a parent, it's a book to wrap around you and take comfort from. *Papa's Latkes* is filled with the hope of days when grief lessens and the strength of family.

Halloween and Other Festivals of Death and Life

Average customer rating:

A fantastic book on fall and harvest folk customs. Wow!!

Halloween and Other Festivals of Death and Life

Manufacturer: University of Tennessee Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Holidays | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Customs & Traditions | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Reference | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0870498134

Amazon.com

"Halloween is many things to many people; we do not celebrate the day in any one way." So Jack Santino writes in this first ever collection of essays dedicated to the study of Halloween and related festivals. Thirteen folklore and culture scholars examine the evolution of Halloween from its Celtic origins through its adaptation into modern culture. Essays on holiday customs describe harvest and autumnal rituals in Scotland, new Halloween traditions in response to legends about contaminated candy, the custom of "pranking" (more popular in some areas of the U.S. than trick-or-treating), England's Guy Fawkes Day and a parallel Bonfire Night in Newfoundland, and the development of American trick-or-treating in the years 1940-1990.

Also covered are the sociopolitical meanings of carnival celebrations and attempts to control them, the Tex-Mex tradition of el Dío de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), and community approaches to Halloween in such diverse locales as the Canadian prairie, rural Vermont, and Greenwich Village in New York City. A final section looks at the history of Halloween noisemakers and unusual imagery (including the decoration of graves) in two Southern settings. In several of the essays, the authors examine the ironic, even disturbing, implications of such a popular holiday being based on images of death, evil, and the grotesque.

Halloween and Other Festivals of Death and Life is written with a lively balance of scholarship, anecdotes, and enthusiasm, with ample black-and-white illustrations. Whether you're interested in Halloween as a scholar or simply a celebrant, this is the book you need. --Fiona Webster

Customer Reviews:

A fantastic book on fall and harvest folk customs. Wow!!.......1999-09-17

This book remains one of my all-time favorite books on folk holidays. A series of essays on various fall and harvest celebrations, it centers around Halloween, but branches out to discuss celebrations from Christmas mummers parades of the Ulster Scots and cutting the last sheaf of wheat, to Bonfire night in Newfoundland, to modern day trick-or-treat scare myths.

Beyond merely recounting the history of Halloween, this book does a wonderful job of placing our holiday in a global context and discussing what societal need these holidays or myths fulfilled. A fascinating study of our human history, I recommend this book highly to anyone interested in folk history and the "meaning" of holidays.

Amazon.com

Shortly before her death, a little Mexican's girl's grandmother (who is also her best friend) takes her to the Magic Circle of oyamel fir trees to say goodbye to the monarch butterflies as they prepare for their migration north. Even after a butterfly that has landed on the girl's arm flies away, her arm still tickles. "That's because they carry the souls of the old ones, and the old ones never really leave," Grandmother says. After Grandmother dies, all the sad little girl can think about is that her arm doesn't feel the tickle anymore, and her grandmother's scent of cornmeal and roses is fading as well. It's not until the season for the Days of the Dead, the time to remember the old ones, that the girl discovers the truth of her beloved grandmother's words.

Giselle Potter, illustrator of Kate and the Beanstalk and other intriguing picture books, applies her unique, naive artistic style in muted earth tones to Barbara M. Joosse's narrative: the oval-faced grandmother and granddaughter work tortilla dough together, hold hands under the butterfly-covered trees, and keep the imaginary nighttime monsters at bay. Joosse's poetic tale celebrates the magic of remembrance in a way that will speak to every child who has loved--and lost--someone special. Details about the legendary 2,000-mile migration of monarch butterflies and about the Mexican Days of the Dead add an exotic twist to this delicate, touching story. Joosse is the author of many wonderful books for children, including the award-winning Mama, Do You Love Me?. (Ages 5 to 8) --Emilie Coulter

Book Description

Set in Mexico amidst the monarch butterflies' annual migration and during the Days of the Dead, Ghost Wings, written by Barbara M. Joosse, author of the best-selling Mama, Do You Love Me?, and illustrated with the luminescent artwork of Giselle Potter, is the touching story of a little girl whose very best friend is her grandmother. But one spring, Grandmother becomes thin as smoke. When she dies, Papa says, "When you love someone they never really leave." But to the little girl, Grandmother seems impossibly far away. Who will sing to her? Who will chase the monsters from under her bed? Then, during the Days of the Dead, something extraordinary happens that brings Papa's words vividly to life. Ideal for one-on-one sharing as well as a group discussion, Ghost Wings' poignant message of the endurance of love and the power of memory is sure to linger long after the book is closed. A discussion guide is included.

Customer Reviews:

Remembering Grandmother.......2004-05-21

I stumbled upon Ghost Wings at the public library a week after the death of my mother-in-law. I was trying to find a book that would help my four-year-old deal with the loss. Ghost Wings is an amazing book. Its illustrations are gorgeous, but it is the story that captures the essence of a child's confusion and pain. It also deals with the acceptance stage of the grieving process. Although we aren't there yet, this magical story has made it possible for my daughter to understand that her grandma will never truly be gone, that "the old ones" are never far away. Every time we see a butterfly, monarch or otherwise, we are reminded of the spirits of those we have lost.

Beautiful story and illustrations.......2001-11-26

This book takes the reader into the beautiful world of Mexican culture through a sweet story and amazing illustrations. I read Ghost Wings to a first grade art class and they really enjoyed learning about Los Dias de los Muertos and how the little girl in the story participated in the festivities. The full page illustrations perfectly bring the poetic story to life. At the end of the book there are some interesting projects and ideas that can be done with children. There is also a helpful explaination section, full of details about the Day of the Dead holiday and Mexican culture. I think every children's library should have a copy of this book.

A Festival of Deaths (Gregor Demarkian Series)

Average customer rating:

Talk Show Pizzazz
Father Tibor strikes again
Like all of Haddam's books, this is taut and well-written.
I was hooked from the opening pararaph.
One more 'best' in a series of them!

A Festival of Deaths (Gregor Demarkian Series)
Jane Haddam
Manufacturer: Crimeline
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

General | Mystery | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books

General | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0553560859
Release Date: 1994-11-01

Customer Reviews:

Talk Show Pizzazz.......2003-08-26

Based on copyright information Jane Haddam is a pseudonym it is believed. DeAnna Kroll is six feet tall. THE LOTTE GOLDMAN SHOW was her idea. When the Siamese twins fail to materialize at the airport on time because of delays at Gatwick and Heathrow, the show is thrown into turmoil and a replacement subject has to be found. DeAnna Kroll is the closest thing to a friend that Lotte Goldman has encountered in a long and action-packed lifetime.

The show is outrageous, a kind of Dr. Ruth extension. The characters manifest all of the exotic diversity of New York City. The people are just plain vivid. For example, there is Itzaak Blechmann late of the Soviet Union and Israel whose experiences have put his body into a crisis mode permanently. "His fright-or-flight response never came down out of high gear." Most workers on the show are immigrants. Lotte Goldman likes to give people chances. She is an immigrant.

A worker on the show turns up dead in the storeroom. Her apartment has been ransacked. There is a jealous co-worker on the scene who strikes the reader as suspicious. Gregor Demarkian, a former FBI agent resides in Philadelphia. The show is to go on the road and travel to Philadelphia first. Demarkian is famous in Philadelphia for solving some high profile crimes.

So--the set up is preposterous but the writing is good and the scene has been set for Demarkian to work his detective magic on the situation. To be sure, of course, he enjoys no official title, and he is not really authorized to solve any mysteries whatsoever. (His favorite fictional detective is Nero Wolfe and there is a certain resemblance.)

One of the stranger aspects of the show is the early hours in the morning it is taped. Demarkian is picked up at five A.M. to go into the studio. He is to appear on a program concerning serial killers. Another worker on the show turns up as a dead body. I do not think the plotting here is very adroit but the character portrayals and dialogue are wonderful. Even though this is a genre work it is fairly serious in the sense that it shows the consequences of violence in straightforward fashion.

A third person turns up, but this person is only almost dead. The Bureau dealt with paper crime or the employees of the Bureau were called in after the fact. Demarkian had been astounded at all the blood, confusion, and mess of a real crime scene the first time he had been called into one.

The mystery takes place during the season of Christmas and Hanukkah. There is liveliness with the existence of Armenian and Jewish clerics among the cast of characters. Demarkian is determined to remain a resident in his ethnic neighborhood because had had been so immersed in the lives of serial killers when he was in the Bureau. Gregor Kemarkian is also helping to investigate a hate crime.

Well, the mystery is really like a closed room puzzle, sort of like, you know, did the bultler do it. It is quite an accomplished piece of work.

Father Tibor strikes again.......2002-04-15

To get the most out of the series, you should first read, at a minimum, NOT A CREATURE WAS STIRRING. One of the plot points in this book is that the murderer from that case is finally running out of appeals. Although the name is very carefully omitted, you'd be able to eliminate some of the suspects in the previous case if you read this book first.

When Father Tibor Kasparian emigrated to the United States from the old Soviet Union by way of Israel, Rabbi David Goldman sponsored him. Now the rabbi needs a couple of favors.

The more complicated favor is something that obviously must be done: helping a Hasidic temple in Philadelphia that's being harassed by some white supremecist group. Gregor gets in touch with an old friend at the FBI who tracks those groups for this one.

The simplest favor, unfortunately, is least to Gregor's taste, but all the ladies of Cavanaugh Street want him to do it: to appear as a guest on _The Lotte Goldman Show_ (hosted by the rabbi's elder sister) during their annual visit to Philadelphia. Worse, the other guest is a serial killer on loan from prison, one Herbert Shasta (fortunately, not somebody Gregor personally had to deal with, but bad enough). Mr. Shasta's presence immensely complicates things when one of the young men working for the show is found murdered backstage; Shasta didn't do it, but any defense attorney could use him for reasonable doubt.

As it happens, this is the 2nd murder the show has had in recent weeks: Maria Gonzalez, the former talent coordinator, was killed in New York. Is another serial killer present - this one on the staff of the show?

Like all of Haddam's books, this is taut and well-written........1999-02-14

Festival of Deaths finds Gregor Demarkian thrust into the crazy world of a TV talk show. A young woman working for the show is killed in New York just before the show goes on the road to Philadelphia. In Philadelphia, the violence continues, and Demarkian and John Jackman of the Philadelphia police sort it out. As usual, Jane Haddam spins a web around the murders consisting of an unusually large cast of characters and their lives and activities. Even minor characters are well drawn, and though there are clues to the solution of the mystery, they're well hidden and the reader is led astray in any number of subtle and entertaining ways. The whodunit in a Haddam novel is almost always a surprise, but the best part is getting to the end, one page at a time.

I was hooked from the opening pararaph........1999-02-10

Gregor Demarkian, the retired FBI agent, is a man of reason, logic, intelligence and good will. Jane Haddam recognizes that life as it is lived reflects few of these qualities. The play in her works, which allow for her subtle ironic commentary, comes from the contrast of Gregor and the situations in which he finds himself. This time he is agrees to appear on an outrageous talk show--as favor to a friend--completely unaware of that he's agreed to appear center ring in America's favorite new circus.Hannukah, the season of light, that celebrates the survival of the oppressed, is the theme of this book. Haddam contrasts the cult of celebrity and the outrageous with the lives of those who work on the show, many of whom are among the poor and the marginalized. Well-done, thought-provoking and engagingly funny and ironic.

One more 'best' in a series of them!.......1999-02-09

Festival of Deaths offers the very best in character studies -- a Haddam trait -- with a kettleful of red herrings along the way. A healthy dose of humor is added to keep things hopping as well. I hate it when I read any book from start to finish in a single session, but I couldn't put it down! One more 'best' in a series of them.

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