Toys and Games Books

This was a wonderful book! If you love history, children, photography, or teddy bears, you have to purchase this book! There is nothing on the market like this. The photographs pictured are so endearing! This makes a great gift book! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Cherish Me Always is a series of 4 books (3 have been published as of Spring 2002) that have grown out of the author's photograph collection. The photographs are shared in a graphic format that compliment the vintage photos. Poetry and literary quotes maintain the feeling of childhood storybook wonder. The child subjects of "Teddy Bears and Warm Fuzzies" are both girls and boys. Many of the toy companions shown are teddy bears, but not exclusively so. There are many identifiable and unidentifiable plush toys that do not seem to be teddy bears, but all of the plush animals seem to be loved and cherished by their child companions. This book is an enchanted journey back to the childhood days of bygone years.

I grew up in Chinatown LA. My parents dragged me to many Chinese operas. Even when I had no idea what they were singing, the beautiful costumes and makeup and spectacle were dazzling. This compendium is a wonderful introduction to the art form. I adore paper dolls in general, but Dover paper doll series also instructs. The art work and detail of the costumes are wonderful.

I digitize for the embroidery world. This selected Chinese Opera Costumes of Paper Dolls, was just glorious. It gives details of the clothing, and it's ok to play with paper dolls, no matter what your age.
Very Nice book, Students of costumnes will appreciate this book, and younger children will have loads of fun.

All illustrations are exceptional and discriptions perfect. A must have for marble collectors.

This is my great great Grandfather's Marble Company! I had no idea folks were collecting his marbles.
And a book with price guide, I am in total amazement.

Teachers live with extremes. Either they are given a pre-packaged curriculum, which professes to be full of real life literature experiences, but turns out to be programmed instruction, or they are given no guidance and allowed to shut their doors and teach. Meanwhile students move through schools with very different learning experiences. Students deserve a consistent curriculum, and teachers deserve to bring their own creativity to their classrooms. The Complete 4 is helping us discover that this can be done in our school. The book has helped us imagine yearlong instruction where students have similar learning experiences, but I don't need to use the same read alouds or teach the same lessons as my colleagues. Finally a book that helps us structure our own teaching. Pam gives the power back to the teacher. Hooray!

This is a brilliant and smartly written text book for elementary school teachers. It is clear and organized and will help any teacher with the daily tasks of teaching children to read and write. Pam Allyn definitely knows her subject matter and shows great respect for teachers. This is a must for anyone in the elementary school teaching profession.

This is a beautiful book the Barbies are wonderful!! The information content is interesting. This is truly a book for Barbie lovers who like myself cannot afford to buy all the Barbies that we love!

I don't collect Barbie dolls -- I collect books on Barbie dolls. And Jane Sarasohn-Kahn's books are my all-time favorites.

"Contemporary Barbie" showcases Mattel dolls from the eighties to the present, in more-or-less chronological order. Thoroughly researched and beautifully photographed, this is the best book on the topic of Barbie dolls. "Contemporary Barbie" is more of an artistic exploration of Barbies than a collectors guide, but this edition contains new, revised information about the dolls issued and their market values. I keep this lovely book on the table, and even non-Barbie-lovers can't resist picking it up and thumbing through it.

"Contemporary Barbie" may disappoint some because it only covers dolls made in and after 1980. But the last twenty years has been a rich period in Barbie history, done justice only by this fabulous book.

Get excited! This is not a fluff book! Bringing her experience as a columnist for a fashion doll mag, her passion for the dolls themselves, and a wealth of contacts in the world of manufacturers, doll artists, and collectors, Beth Owens gives us the most comprehensive reference on the world of fashion dolls at the turning of the century. With emphasis on those "stars" in the ascendancy at this moment, and with a nod (but not much more) to the 11 1/2 inch former ruler of the doll universe, Beth explores the genesis, history, and development of the modern fashion doll, which is primarily the interest of the adult collector (or the child inside of one!) Written in an elegant and eloquent style, and lavishly illustrated with photographs of beautiful little "ladies of fashion" , this book will, I expect, become the standard reference for this genre of dolls. Several of the many superb photographs illustrate new dolls just coming onto the market, for such is Beth's "connection" to the doll world that she can discourse comfortably on even the newest developments. In addition to reams of information, she offers guidance on beginning and refining a personal collection, and shares her own development as a connoisseur of the fashion doll today. Beth is truly mad about her subject, and has such a fresh and enthusiastic approach that I yearned to be able to invite her to my house to ...play dolls!

Fashion doll collecting is not only a hot new trend, it can also be big business as the selling and trading of these items often involves major bucks. The ultimate hobby guide for those who have a penchant for these pretties is "Contemporary Fashion Dolls" by Beth Owens who is an avid collector and former contributor to trade publications.

There is a broad range of images in these dolls, all the way from the cute pop-eyed trolls who were popular in the 1960s to America's sweetheart, Barbie, to Franklin Mint representations of Jackie Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe to the top of the line exquisitely formed and clad Madame Alexander creations.

Dolls, we learn, had been relegated to the realm of children's toys until the mid 1900s. It was then, following a surge of interest in eighteenth century European dolls, that the United Federation of Doll Clubs was formed. An imprimatur had been placed on grown-ups playing with dolls.

As the number of collectors grew so did the demand for Barbie as she was among the most accessible and affordable. Some savvy business folk gave her a glamorous wardrobe, imaginative accouterment, a best friend, Midge, and a handsome boyfriend, Ken.

Although many try to rival the vaunted Madame Alexander dolls none have succeeded. We read: "The most influential force in the proliferation of fashionable dolls was Madame Beatrice Alexander, who would irrevocably change the course of fashion doll history. Throughout her doll-making career, Madame had an intense passion for fashion and her creations were exquisitely and stylishly dressed in the finest fashions available."

And fashion doll history is still changing as dolls reflect us and our lives continue to evolve. As the author asks, will there be a "Casual Friday" doll?

My homeschooled daughter really likes this book (she's in 2nd grade). When we received it, she did 20 pages in one sitting. I had to ask her to save some pages for later :) It states a rule, then has a few pages of different activities for each rule. For homeschooled kid, you can do more per day. For kid that attends a public school, the activities on each page are short enough to be enjoyable. This book came with CD that has a pdf file of this whole book, so you can redo some lessons by printing them later again.

I love this book. It has a section that explains the grammar/punctuation rule, then a number of pages to reinforce the lesson. The examples are quite clear and the rules broken down into the basics. Great for us homeschoolers and terrific for traditional students who just want reinforcement or review.

This is an amazingly comprehensive collection of Cracker Jack prizes, with HUNDREDS of detailed photos showing THOUSANDS of prizes. While this book is a must-have for the serious collector of Cracker Jack prizes, it will delight anyone with pleasant memories of those special prizes.

The accompanying prize lists with descriptive and historical information are presented chronologically, with prizes grouped by series where applicable. An elaborate identification system reflecting the prizes' date, composition, marking, type, size, color, and description is utilized, with estimated value for each prize given.

Searching through CRACKER JACK TOYS for that fondly remembered surprise can be almost as much fun as originally digging for it in a box of Cracker Jack!

After my grandmother passed away, we found a shoebox full of cracker jack toys. It was her special treat for her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. We took them and mounted them for memory reasons, but this book brought our love of the little toys to a reality of why we loved them as children and the precious value that they have for us today. A great part of our childhood in a great book!

I bought my nephews this last summer and they love putting together the paper airplanes so I bought them more for this summer. Great activity to keep the boys busy.

These are colorful and imaginatively designed paper airplanes. All you need to assemble them are sissors, glue, and paper clips. Assembly is straightforward. Now, the planes won't win any contest for distance in flying. They often don't fly in a straight line. But my 3 year old boy loves them. He loves it when Daddy builds an airplane for him. They fly, and even fly after getting beat up by a 3-year old's play. Just think, 8 airplanes for $5. What a great deal. I gave these these to my son at Christmas and have built 4 already (3 months later). I suggest you don't build them all at once. Space them out as treats. I highly recommend these!

They are very colorful and detailed. I used them to make a mobile for my artroom. They'd be somewhat hard for little ones to assemble, but no problem for adults.

I was very pleased with this booklet. It gives the patterns for 8 flying dragons. I would recommend copying them rather than cutting them out of the book so you can use over and over. Got it for a children's party and they loved them! Need to play with the paper (copy double sided) and the glue used as affects the flying.