Toys and Games Books

One of the best books ever written on Post war toys from Japan. Beautiful color photos of toys and their boxes, along with production dates and quantities, dimensions, description of actions, scarcity ratings and values. Patent drawings and illustrations are included for many toys. This book contains the most extensive listing of Japanese toy trademarks I have ever seen. I have been collecting Japanese tin toys for 35 years and this listing alone makes this book invaluable.

I have a full classroom set of these and though I'm a young teacher, I'll just bet they retire with me. Great quality! Love how the hands work together, driven by gears, mimicking a real clock.

I took a chance on this book as there were no reviews for it. What an awesome resource for those of you that are teaching primary (age 6-10) writing. It is a writing supplement with tons of reproducibles on subjects and ideas for things I hadn't even thought of - like a story map to plan the sequence of events in the story or a character web to map out how the young author will develop story characters. I thought it was well worth the money as the practice sheets develop skills that need many years of practice.

I love this whole series. We have them all and they're small and easy to carry.

This was a really fun book/game. It consist of several games you can play by spinning the wheel on the book. The book reminded me of a "fortune telling" type game for kids. The answer possibilities were very funny! I played this with my daughter and we had a great time spending time together and laughing! One of the spins said my daughter was going to be the first woman president but her car was going to be a garbage truck! She loves to play with her friends and they always have a good laugh! Great book to get the girls reading and fun at the same time!

As a young girl I was totally fascinated by paper dolls. Not only did I buy all those that came out, but I made my own also. A big favorite of mine was Katy Keene, the comic book fashion model. Imagine how thrilled I was to find reproductions of this very popular paper doll. The cut-outs are faithful to the original. Even if you are too young to remember Katy, you will love her. She was the Barbie of my day. This is a small price to pay for hours of fun for you or your daughter.

This book is filled with lovely color photos of early Kewpie paperdolls, post cards & other paper products that bear Kewpie pictures. Rather than contenting himself with only the very early products that were overseen by Rose O'Neil, John Axe continues with the production of later Kewpies. The most recent are not included, but Kewpie dolls as recent as 2001 are pictured. This is great for a collector such as myself who cannot afford to buy the early Kewpies, but must be satisfied with later reproductions. All photographs are in full color. A MUST for collectors' of the more modern Kewpies.

I think there are two ways to inprove your vocabulary....or maybe three: 1) Read literature written with an "educated vocabulary" and either circle the new words or make a word list of the new words---books like those written by Charles Dickens "A Tale of Two Cities" or "David Copperfield" for example, or, 2) go through a dictionary from front to back 10 times for repetition---alittle hard for most of us to do, right?, or 3) Work through a work-book like this one that will teach you words selected by the author. I think this is a very good book for doing #3 above....use a word work-book. Two things are for sure, the ONLY way to learn new words and remember them is to put the words into your "long term memory". And, the only way for the average person to put words into their "long term memory" is through "REPETITION"---Going back again and again to your "word list" or to your circled words in the book to remind youself and test youself on the words and their meanings. This book will help identify the "new words" you need to learn and it will provide for "repetition" of those words so the words will go into your "long term memory". And....and....then you'll know some "edicated" words to use on your teachers so they'll think you're "smart"! :o) But, seriously, one way tests test for "smartness" is to give a vocabulary test. The theory is that "if a person knows alot of words they are smart". This may or may not be true but that's the way The SAT and other tests test for intelligence. Thus, this book is very worth your time and effort. Get a copy of the book, impress your teacher, and maybe you'll be admitted into a college someday so then you can become a teacher yourself who teaches these words to students. Or, you could become like Frank McCourt, a world famous author. One thing I am sure of though is that having an "educated vocabulary" WILL permit you to do things you would not be able to do without it. Any comments? boland7214@aol.c

I got this to assess my home schooled four year old grand daughter's early literacy level, and it's just what I was looking for at the right price too.

I had searched the web for assessment pages I could print, and while I found a couple of good ones, there wasn't a whole lot out there. This book has them all in a basic progression. It's quick, all in one spot, and easy to use. I recommend it.

I don't know how long I have had this book now, but I would say it has been AT LEAST a month ... I purchased very shortly after it became available. (The release date was like June of this year, but they may have come out with it a little early.)

First you should know I am a LIFE-Master at chess, for many years now I have made my living by teaching chess on the Internet, building chess web pages, and writing about the game. (You will find a deeply annotated game in this line on my web site.)

The next thing I should tell you is that if you are a beginner or have played chess less than 1-2 years, DON'T buy this book!

But let's say you are not a beginner, and you feel experienced enough to tackle a book of this kind. There are still a lot of things you should know.

First off, the King's Indian Defense is an EXTEMELY complicated and difficult opening. I played my first chess tournaments in the 1960's but did not begin playing frequently until the very early `70's. I purchased the giant book on the K.I.D. (the hard-back one by Barden, Hartston, & Keene); and I began to study. I memorized literally hundreds of the lines in the book. But when I played this difficult opening in tournaments, I usually lost, and often lost badly. (Eventually I abandoned the opening entirely - or at least gave it up for over 20 years.) And I have heard of similar experiences by other players who went on to become experts or even masters at chess. AFTER I broke Master, I bought a few books on this opening and began studying again. And although I did better than before, my experiences with this opening were less than perfect. (I relate this just so you will understand what a difficult opening the "King's Indian Defense" really is.)

This is not to say that the King's Indian is unplayable ... far from it!! Geller, Boleslavsky, Bronstein - and many other Soviet players of that generation mapped this dynamic opening out. ("Before E. Geller, we did not understand the King's Indian." - Mikhail Botvinnik.) And of course Bobby Fischer used the K.I.D. so much ... it was really his "meat and potatoes." And Garry Kasparov has also used the King's Indian quite a bit ... and won many beautiful and brilliant games with it. (Many modern GM's use this opening today.)

The next thing you will want to know is that this is a high-quality book, by a publisher (Batsford), which has a lot of experience publishing chess books. Nice and sturdy flex-cover, a good job of translation, good editing, a good font, excellent diagrams, pages with little bleed-through, a very solid job of organizing, etc.

The author, Svetozar Gligoric - who is getting older and is probably past 70 now - was once one of the best players in the World. (FIDE rated him as being in the top ten in the world in the late 50's and early 60's. `ChessMetrics' says he was in the `TOP 50' in the world from the late 1940's ... all the way until 1980!!! His peak seems to have been in '58 or '59 when he was ranked as # 6 in the world with a rating of 2682. ChessBase's player database says his best ELO was in January of 1976, {he was 52}; with an official rating of 2575.)

But don't let my discussion of this man's age throw you off. While his best playing days might be behind him, this guy has probably forgotten more about chess than most of us will ever know. He has faced such titans of chess as Botvinnik, Fischer AND Kasparov over the chessboard. He has won the Championship of his country - Yugoslavia - many times. He was an official Candidate for the World Championship numerous times as well. He was once the strongest player outside of the USSR and is also one of the pioneers of this opening. (I very fondly remember his "Game of the Month" in the `Chess Life' magazine. It was my favorite column for years!) He has written dozens of highly acclaimed chess books in Europe and is also a recognized and revered chess teacher.

So are we ready to talk about the specifics of this particular book now?

This book is ONLY about ONE opening, The King's Indian Defense. Further, it is ONLY about a sub-system of this opening known as "The Mar del Plata Variation." (Really none other than Fischer pioneered this system - he above anyone else is the player whose sparkling victories inspired others to play this line.) This line occurs after the following moves: 1.d4, Nc6; 2.c4, g6; 3.Nc3, Bg7; 4.e4, d6; 5.Nf3, 0-0; 6.Be2, e5!; 7.0-0, Nc6; 8.d5, Ne7. THIS is the Mar del Plata system ... and nothing else! (Black's position looks cramped, but he has many dynamic possibilities.) The very first game of the book on page # 12, is the contest: GM M. Najdorf - GM S. Gligoric; Mar del Plata, 1953.

This book is laid out in three main sections, a total of 14 chapters. There is a list of illustrative games, a historical introduction, the main part of the book, and a very good index of variations.

I have spent many hours with this book. I have looked at least 15 of the games; several I have analyzed in detail. In a few of these, I have checked every line and note with a strong chess computer program. (Fritz 8.0) I have found one or two (minor) errors ... and one line where it appears a move pair was left out. But overall the quality of this book is extremely high. Very good analysis and explanations as well. Some of the illustrative games are superb!

[Now in case you think I am blowing smoke: here are a few of the books I own on this line ... and I won't even mention much older books: and both by Nunn and Burgess; by GM J. Gallagher; by Colin McNab; by Margeir Petursson; by Graham Burgess; by GM A. Soltis; by IM John Watson; by M. Thomas; several INFORMANT monographs on this opening, etc. I also own all five of "The Encyclopedia's of Chess Openings," and many INFORMANTS to boot.] So when I say I have seen a few books on this opening, you should take my word on it.

This is a high-class book with fantastic analysis by a world-class expert on this line. My only really valid criticism of this book? Since the late 1980's or early `80's, the "Bayonet Variation," (9.b4!?) has dominated GM Praxis in this line. But this variation is the last chapter in the book, and the book is dominated by analysis of 9.Ne1. (The author has also chosen many of his own games, when a perusal of NIC Year-books would show other games are more important.)

Now let me give you some advice: If you are not a Master, you should get the following books: Nunn's Chess Openings; Modern Chess Opening's, 14th edition by Korn and de Firmian; and one other all-round book on the King's Indian. If you are a really serious competitor, you might need both of the books on this opening by Nunn and Burgess. If you are below 1500, you will probably need at least one good "How To Play" the King's Indian. I also recommend you take at least a few lessons from a teacher in your area to insure you understand the basic ideas of this line. (Barring this, find a player who is at least rated higher than you who might be willing to be your study partner.)

In closing, let me say this is a great book. My only regret was that it was not around when I first started playing this line! And if you are a postal player, this book is a MUST!!