Toys and Games Books

This book is just what I hoped it would be -- authentic Victorian-feeling reproductions, well printed on card stock. It's a great collection. Now -- if I could just part with them, and mail them to people!

A word about the illustrations in this book: As someone with a background in cartoon and illustration, art history, (and the son of an art dealer), I was extremely impressed by Mr.Kennett's illustrations. The pen drawings blow me away. His mastery of pen rendering, human and animal anatomy, composition, "camera" angles, balancing whites, greys and blacks, the way he varies--almost seems to be experimenting with varying rendering and textural effects--from drawing to drawing, is astonishing. Also, while the drawings have a "modern" feel to them, they capture the romance and atmosphere of older time illustrators such as NC Wyeth, or Howard Pyle. Pen drawings with a technical fountain pen or similar instrument can look skillful, but sterile. These don't. Also, many current illustrators and artists who draw in a realistic or quasi realistic style, though their work is admirable, look very obviously like their work is traced over or very closely based on photographs. These most certainly don't. This guy can really draw. Wonderful stuff.

I did not know anything about the world of model aircrafts until I picked up this book. This book does a wonderful job of interweaving the history of the Air and Space collection with the role model aircrafts played in the war effort. I would be remised if I did not strongly encourage the reader to really take the time to look at each picture in the book. Some of the pictures give you up close detail information on the the intricate work involved in the models (i.e. maps in the cockpits). This book gives you a new appreciation to a hobby that is finally getting the respect it deserves.

Anyone that likes a challenge or enjoys puzzles will love this book. It's a lot of fun. I had the good fortune to be one of the puzzle testers for the book, and I thoroughly enjoyed doing it.

Excellent book for presenting not just objects with color but the feelings colors give us.

Love this game and would tell everyone to buy it. The smells were great and my kids love it.AAAAA++++++

This is a fab series for 0 to 3 years old. My boys adore the simple stories, serene photo-animations and finding the little bear in each picture. My only complaint is that most of the earlier books in the series are apparently out of print and I only have 3 of them. I hope they continue to add to the series.

Colorful Stickers. Shopping Fun.

Being a total teddy bear lover, I adore all the P.B. Bear books. This is a fun sticker activity book to help children match shapes or words with stickers. You can read the story and find the stickers as you go along.

This sticker book teaches some basic concepts:

Shapes
Numbers 1-10
Colors

Lots of fun and extremely colorful as all the P.B. Bear books are as well. You might also enjoy: P.B. Bear's Birthday Party or any of the P.B. Bear books.

I have started collecting bears again! They are the cutest! These books are too!

Your kids will love them.

~The Rebecca Review

It is totally awesome not to mention radical that someone put together a book of Pac-Man collectibles. I loved Pac-Man as a kid, not so much to play as to collect the many Pac-Man items on the market. In the early 1980s, Pac-Man was marketed almost as much as SpongeBob Squarepants today. You could find the yellow, round guy on everything from waste baskets to label makers. Not counting each individual sticker card and rub-off game, I have about 30-35 Pac-items which I keep on display, nothing close to what is documented here. This book has items I never knew existed, including animation cels from the Pac-Man cartoon show and ceramic molds for Pac-Man wind chimes. The items in the author's incredible collection are professionally photographed in glossy full-color. Some of the items are photographed at several different angles and there are notes about each item. Included are more recent collectibles that came out after Pac-Man became the Namco mascot. There are also estimated prices next to all the items which I find somewhat useful, although some of the rarer items (like the marque and manual to the Professor Pac-Man game) I think would almost be impossible to find at any price.

There is an 8-page introduction on the history of the Pac-Man game and all its spin-offs like Ms. Pac-Man, Baby Pac-Man, Jr. Pac-Man, Professor Pac-Man (never heard of this game, but it sounded interesting), Pac-Man Plus, Pac & Pal, and other versions that came out in the 1990s and later, as well as the Pac-Man cartoon, "Pac-Man Fever," and select Pac-Man merchandise (a revised edition would certainly mention Adam "Pac-Man" Jones). The grammatical errors in the text were surprising considering the care and detail put into the rest of the book, but it was a good overview on the massive success of the yellow circle with the piece cut out. The wonderful photos are what make this book a must and worth the price for anyone who is interested in or collects Pac-Man.

This book has a collection of origami patterns. Most are simple. There are even instructions for a paper airplane. A few like lily are more complex. I am decent at origami. I have bought other books but this is one of the two that I return to again and again over time.

I think the reason this book continues to be useful even though I now have more skill in origami, is because these designs are fun. Folding a paper drinking cup out of a piece of paper is very simple, but it is good to know if you are at a PTA type social function and have run out of cups. Other designs like water bomb have an almost purely evil function. (Well if you are clever you can fold and inflate it with a small gift trapped inside.) Most of the designs are just simple little toys, including flowers and animals. They can all be folded quickly and used to make a passed note look cute for extra cheering-someone-up. Any of these patterns can be memorized after folding it several times, so they are good to do on the spur of the moment.

This is a very good book to use if you are just starting out in origami and want a general book of patterns. The diagrams and instructions are clear and easy to follow. This book taught me origami basics to build on.