The Cricket in Times Square

Product Description

The comic, sometimes tragic side of life in the city is brought into vivid relief as Chester Cricket and his friends struggle to bring success to their human friends' nearly bankrupt newsstand

Amazon.com

One night, the sounds of New York City--the rumbling of subway trains, thrumming of automobile tires, hooting of horns, howling of brakes, and the babbling of voices--is interrupted by a sound that even Tucker Mouse, a jaded inhabitant of Times Square, has never heard before. Mario, the son of Mama and Papa Bellini, proprietors of the subway-station newsstand, had only heard the sound once. What was this new, strangely musical chirping? None other than the mellifluous leg-rubbing of the somewhat disoriented Chester Cricket from Connecticut. Attracted by the irresistible smell of liverwurst, Chester had foolishly jumped into the picnic basket of some unsuspecting New Yorkers on a junket to the country. Despite the insect's wurst intentions, he ends up in a pile of dirt in Times Square.

Mario is elated to find Chester. He begs his parents to let him keep the shiny insect in the newsstand, assuring his bug-fearing mother that crickets are harmless, maybe even good luck. What ensues is an altogether captivating spin on the city mouse/country mouse story, as Chester adjusts to the bustle of the big city. Despite the cricket's comfortable matchbox bed (with Kleenex sheets); the fancy, seven-tiered pagoda cricket cage from Sai Fong's novelty shop; tasty mulberry leaves; the jolly company of Tucker Mouse and Harry Cat; and even his new-found fame as "the most famous musician in New York City," Chester begins to miss his peaceful life in the Connecticut countryside. The Cricket in Times Square--a Newbery Award runner-up in 1961--is charmingly illustrated by the well-loved Garth Williams, and the tiniest details of this elegantly spun, vividly told, surprisingly suspenseful tale will stick with children for years and years. Make sure this classic sits on the shelf of your favorite child, right next to The Wind in the Willows. (Ages 9 to 12)

Customer Reviews:

Racist Book.......2007-10-12

This book portrays very old racist stereotypes of Chinese people. It portrays Chinese people as speaking in stereotypical accents with all r's replaced by l's. It portrays Chinese people as not knowing when to stop bowing to each other. It portrays Chinese people wearing Japanese Kimono's. If you MUST buy this awful ignorant book, do not let your child read it without teaching them about the racism and teaching them how not to be as ignorant.

A bug and his buds.......2007-08-30

This is a fun book. It's a nice book to read a chapter at a time as a bedtime book, because nothing particularly stressful or traumatic happens. The chapters are reasonable short and benign. There is tension, there is some drama, there are rich characters struggling with their individual challenges. But there aren't many chapters ending on cliffhangers that will leave young readers or listeners feeling unsettled.

The strength of the book is the warm friendship between a displaced country cricket, a scheming but kind-hearted urban rodent, and an unflappable feline. There is also the human protagonist, Mario, a young boy who labors in Grand Central Station at his parent's newsstand. Mario's family dynamic, with the passive dad and the hard-boiled, derisive mother, sets up a nice juxtaposition. We see the sweet sap of childhood innocence standing its ground against a well-meaning but distrustful adult world.

I bought this book to read to my kids because I remember loving it so much as a little kid myself, both the book and the filmstrip adaptation, which I believe I can picture myself watching in an overcrowded mobile home that was functioning as a second grade classroom.

There's one distressing flaw to the book, which I don't remember from my own childhood because I wouldn't have noticed or cared at the time, but there is a part of the book that takes place in China Town, where it feels as if the story gets a dose of 1950's borcht belt race humor. The wise old Chinese man's dialect is achieved by switching every `R' into an `L.' As is "Vely solly." Since I was reading it to my kids, I just improvised a little and avoided doing the accent, but if an older kid is reading the book for themselves it merits a discussion. A little social-historical context.

That aside, we had a great time reading this book. The part I am asked to reread is when Chester Cricket, while dreaming that he is home eating leaves, waked up and realizes he's half-chewed through a two dollar bill borrowed from the newsstand register. There's brief panic and then excited brain-storming with his mammalian accomplices. As always, some credit goes to my unsubtle vocal performance, and I'm sorry, you can't buy that at Amazon. But it is funny stuff.

Cricket of fame and fortune!.......2007-07-07

If you are like me and love books like Molly Moon's Incredible Book of Hypnotism, you will certainly love "The Cricket in Times Square" because just like the "Molly Moon" books, it is compelling, interesting and has to do with fame! It is about a cricket from Connecticut, his name is Chester. One day Chester smells his favorite food, liverwurst, entered its picnic basket and then the next day he was in Times Square!! He met three friends, Harry Cat, Tucker Mouse, and a boy named Mario soon after arriving in New York City. The best part of the book is when Chester becomes famous for doing something crickets do so well, but Chester could do more. It is such a good book, I just can't wait for you to read "The Cricket in Times Square!!"

Wonderful.......2007-07-06

Oldie but goodie. Both of my children had to read it for school. It was very enjoyable.

Cricket in Times Square.......2007-04-28

The Cricket in Times Sqaure is about a talented cricket named Chester who came to New York from Connecticut in a picnic basket because he smelled liverwurst. Chester became friends with other animals like Tucker Mouse and Harry Cat. The boy, Mario Bellini, really liked the cricket and got his parents to let him keep Chester in their newsstand. Mr. Smedley was a friend of the Bellini family who was a music teacher. He wrote a letter to the newspaper so everyone found out about Chester's beautiful music. People were shocked when they heard how talented Chester was. During his adventures, Chester met Sai Fong who gave him Chinese food, mulberry leaves, and a pagoda. Our favorite part was when Chester ate the $2.00 bill because he was dreaming. It was very funny and exciting when they had to figure out what to do about it.
We got to know all of the characters in this book, but there were a few that were our favorites. We liked Chester because he had a way with words. He liked to eat liverwurst and mulberry leaves. Chester was nice, caring, and musical. Some of us have heard crickets chirping outside on nice nights, so we could picture how he looked and sounded. We also liked Sai Fong because of the way he talked and Tucker because of his sense of humor.
This is a perfect book for kids of all ages. It is good for learning new vocabulary words. We loved reading The Cricket in Times Square and we think our friends would enjoy it too! It was fun to read, it helped us learn all kinds of things, and made us laugh. Once you pick up this book, you will never want to put it down.

-Mrs. A's 5th grade class

Sleazoid Express: A Mind-Twisting Tour Through the Grindhouse Cinema of Times Square

Average customer rating:

Fans of Great Work and Important Film...
Interesting But Perhaps Misleading
More about the venues than the films
Worth a look
Strong on feeling; lacking on facts...

Sleazoid Express: A Mind-Twisting Tour Through the Grindhouse Cinema of Times Square
Bill Landis , and Michelle Clifford
Manufacturer: Fireside
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0743215834
Release Date: 2002-11-19

Book Description

Times Square was once America's most notorious red light and theater district. Its main artery was the Deuce, a tiny strip of neon and concrete coldly fleshing out 42nd Street between 7th and 8th Avenues. The street was wall-to-wall movie theaters, punctuated by high frequency shoebox-sized adult bookstores, male street hustling, weapons shops, phony drug salesmen, bootleg electronics stores, tourist junk shops, and guys offering couples to take their quickie Polaroid portraits while they sat in wicker chairs. The Deuce was the most intense block on which one could ever hope to see a movie. The main venues were grindhouses, down-at-the heels creations left over from the Minsky's Burlesque days-and showcases for the wildest and most extreme films in cinematic history. Their disenfranchised audience were film's harshest critics, demanding that the exploitation movies the theaters screened lived up to the promises made by their graphic, outrageous ad campaigns and shocking trailers. If the movies let them down, the audience would react by shouting, tossing food containers, and physically damaging the theaters. For exploitation movie lovers, going to a Deuce grindhouse was like taking your life in your hands for a cinematic thrill - which, of course, added to the fun and increased the shock status of the experience. Those theaters are gone, but the films remain. They've spread to millions across the globe through video and DVD. Wildly successful video companies like Something Weird and Grindhouse Releasing sell millions of vintage horror and sexploitation films that once haunted the Deuce. No more hard seats and sticky floors. Exploitation movie lovers now enjoy their entertainment in the safety of their bedrooms, watching a favorite film five times or more, gleefully programming their own double and triple features. Sleazoid Express: A Mind-Twisting Tour through the Grindhouse Cinema of Times Square will be an odyssey through the gritty venues of the old 42nd Street and into the world of the vintage exploitation movies in which they specialized. The book will span the halcyon era of the early-1960s through the mid-1980s, when American grindhouses began closing and the various exploitation movie genres moved to home video and DVD. It will reproduce for the reader what no home video can provide - the experience of watching an exploitation movie within the Deuce grindhouse setting, followed by behind-the-scenes talk about the movie's production. Each chapter of Sleazoid Express will focus on a uniquely 42nd Street exploitation genre and supply a close, intimate portrait of its makers, stars and showcases. Sleazoid Express will be an exploitation film fan's nirvana, while covering the essential works of the sleaze canon for a mainstream audience. The visuals will be a rich tapestry of graphic stills and rare original ad mattes. The chapters will contain sidebar interviews with and current photos of key exploitation film performers, producers, distributors and directors, many of whom the authors have known for many years. Exploitation movie makers, players, and merchants range from the eccentric to the outwardly criminal, and these will be rare interviews available in no other book. Detailed reviews of landmark films will also be presented as sidebars. Sleazoid Express will include an appendix listing various exploitation movie video companies and the genres they specialize in, with examples of the films that they make available. Sleazoid Express will combine a love for popular culture with an in-depth analysis of films that bring to light human nature's subconscious impulses towards sex and violence. The reader will visit the old 42nd Street, see what's playing and meet who was responsible for creating and merchandising the films. Sleazoid Express will be the definitive document of cinema's most shocking and extreme moments and people as they exploded in a legendary place.

Customer Reviews:

Fans of Great Work and Important Film..........2007-06-05

...get out and stay out! Sleazoid Express is one of the best chronicles of films they don't teach or even talk about in regular film discussion. What Clifford and Landis do over 300-odd pages is two fold: provide a ground-eye view of the chaotic horror of the old Times Square and realistically discuss a film culture that remains ignored in refined film history. Although they provide an artificial classification for each theater (one theater seemed only to play one kind of film while another was faithful to another genre- most histories of the Deuce never ascribe such fidelity beyond films which "got butts in seats"), their classification works as a prelude to the descriptions of the most graphic and unusual pictures you'll come across outside a college town video shop.
Can't find info on Wes Craven's early efforts or the beginnings of New Line Cinema? You've got it here. And you get it all without the false nostalgia and hubris infused by ditzy "respectable" critics hired to write liner notes on the latest DVD. This book is the grime under the fingernails of film history. You'll read about people you've never heard of (Andy Milligan and Roger Watkins) and get an honest (not written by studio interns) portrait of your favorite hacks. Sleazoid Express is the perfect antidote to sanitized film history- it's alive and lives for a time and place, long since dead.

Interesting But Perhaps Misleading.......2007-04-23

The book bills itself as a "mind-twisting tour through the grindhouse cinema of times square" This is a bit misleading as it seems that half or more of the work is simply re-hashing plotlines of every movie the authors deems important to whatever catagory they're discussing (mondo, Eurosleeze etc). The portions dedicated to the theaters themselves and their clientele is fascinating although I'm sorry the authors never delve too deep into some of their personal adventures or interesting stories of the 42nd street strip. Instead, they appear to take the easy way out with precious little research.

More about the venues than the films.......2006-02-25

This book is a fun read for those of us who are discovering the grindhouse era via the uncut DVD revolution, with a style that truely captures the atmosphere of Times Square's infamous sticky seat theaters. The writing is descriptive and imaginative, and the book is organized by genre (euro sleaze, blood horror, ect.) and easily navigated.

However a lot of the actor and plot details for the actual films are just plain innaccurate, which is a grating trait that could have been easily remedied by the authors giving the films another view before writing this book. Especially since the synopses where I noticed major errors ("Dolomite","The Candy Snatchers", "Cannibal Ferox", just to name a few)were not the "lost" obscurities, but films all now commercially available on DVD releases. The whole package ends abruptly, with no real resolution, and after reading a ton of Clifford And Landis' writing in other publications, I expected a bit better.

A fantastic love letter to a forgotten era, but by no means a definitive guide to grindhouse films.

4 stars

Worth a look.......2005-01-22

I found this a fascinating book. However, I felt that it was missing a final chapter where they described the fate of "The Duece" as it transitioned to a kid-safe disneyland. It just kind of ends abruptly with no conclusion.

The descriptions of many of the flicks are not only rather long and unnecessary (I skipped most of them as I hadn't seen the movie and didn't want to read spoilers), but sometimes flat-out wrong. Doleimte was gay? Could have fooled me. And they bag on Fulci's Zombi as being ridiuclous trash, yet constantly praise hastily made S&M nazi women in prison fare as if they are Oscar-worthy. Well, hey, to each his own I guess.

I especially like the adjectives used in the book. My personal favorite is the description of Ronni Howard--who was a fellow inmate with Mason adherent Susan Atkins--as "Ronni Howard, the hard-bitten, pill-addicted, ex-con B-girl whore cell mate" It doesn't get much better than this folks!

Anyway--Sleazoid is an important document of an entire generation of sleaze cinema that is now available to everyone via DVD and various other video outlets (listed in a handy index at the end of the book).

Strong on feeling; lacking on facts..........2004-09-01

I enjoyed this book a great deal, however there were some problems. View some of the films listed in this book, then read the reviews. It is apparent the writer(s) did most of this from memory, and a few holes are glaring. (Check out the sections on Dolemite and Fight for Your Life for examples).

However, not all is lost. This book gives its reader a great sense of what these horrible, dangerous, wonderful theaters were like. The atmosphere, the denizens, the smells and sounds and the drugs and the sex.

I reccommend this book for that reason alone. For good info on these types of movies, check out Michael J. Weldon's Psychotronic books.

Average customer rating:

hey, reader! stop giving no-star ratings to this book!
Prelude and fugue
An intelligent, touching book
Sex and the City
Not worth it

Times Square Red, Times Square Blue
Samuel Delany , and Samuel R. Delany
Manufacturer: NYU Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0814719201
Release Date: 2001-11-12

Amazon.com

An award-winning science fiction writer, esteemed professor of comparative literature at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, and celebrated essayist and memoirist, Samuel Delany is one of America's keenest observers. He was also a longtime habitué of many of the sex theaters in New York City's Times Square, spending, by his own estimate, "thousands and thousands of hours" at the Capri, Variety Photoplays, the Eros, and the Venus. In the 1990s all of these theaters were shut down through new restrictive zoning laws, part of a combined effort by the Walt Disney Corporation and the administration of Mayor Rudy Giuliani to gentrify the area, replacing these seedily memorable institutions with antiseptic, innocuous architectural and cultural creations in the name of health safety. But as Delany reveals in his new book, Times Square Red, Times Square Blue, the decision to clean up Times Square had little to do with public health, and everything to do with corporate greed.

In the two essays that comprise this eloquent, provocative book, Delany grieves for the loss of this strip of sexual release. Though he is careful not to romanticize or sentimentalize the peep shows and porn theaters, he does illuminate the way in which these venues crossed class, racial, and sexual orientation lines, providing a delightfully subversive utopia--and a microcosm of New York life. In the first essay, "Times Square Blue," Delany details his shared erotic and conversational encounters with working-class and homeless men in the theaters (which primarily showed straight porn films) and the genuine friendships that resulted; these immensely personal reminiscences also provide a social history of late-20th-century Times Square. Drawing on historical and theoretical resources in the second essay, "Three, Two, One, Contact: Times Square Red," Delany next builds a thoughtful and passionate argument against the gentrification of the area and the classist, characterless direction in which he sees New York heading. Read together, the essays of Times Square Red, Times Square Blue are both heartfelt homage to a beloved city and lament for a quirky vitality increasingly phased out by encroaching capitalism. --Kera Bolonik

Book Description

"Measured but emotional, illuminating but challenging." -The San Francisco Chronicle

"Remarkable." -Salon

"Essential." -The Nation

"In a provocative and persuasively argued cri de coeur against New York City's gentrification and the redevelopment of Times Square in the name of 'family values and safety,' acclaimed science fiction writer Delany proves himself a dazzlingly eloquent and original social commentator. . . . This bracing and well-calibrated blend of journalism, personal history and cultural criticism will challenge readers of every persuasion." -Publishers Weekly[starred review]

Both a celebration of the kaleidoscopic possibilities inherent in urban diversity and a eulogy for the plurality of human contact and stimulation squelched by the Times Square makeover." -Village Voice

If one street in America can claim to be the most infamous, it is surely 42nd Street. Between Seventh and Eighth Avenues, 42nd Street was once known for its peep shows, street corner hustlers and movie houses. Over the last two decades the notion of safety-from safe sex and safe neighborhoods, to safe cities and safe relationships-has overcome 42nd Street, giving rise to a Disney store, a children's theater, and large, neon-lit cafes. 42nd Street has, in effect, become a family tourist attraction for visitors from Berlin, Tokyo, Westchester, and New Jersey's suburbs. Samuel R. Delanysees a disappearance not only of the old Times Square, but of the complex social relationships that developed there: the points of contact between people of different classes and races in a public space. In Times Square Red, Times Square Blue, Delany tackles the question of why public restrooms, peepshows, and tree-filled parks are necessary to a city's physical and psychological landscape. He argues that starting in 1985, New York City criminalized peep shows and sex movie houses to clear the way for the rebuilding of Times Square. Delany's critique reveals how Times Square is being "renovated" behind the scrim of public safety while the stage is occupied by gentrification. Times Square Red, Times Square Blue paints a portrait of a society dismantling the institutions that promote communication between classes, and disguising its fears of cross-class contact as "family values." Unless we overcome our fears and claim our "community of contact," it is a picture that will be replayed in cities across America.

Customer Reviews:

hey, reader! stop giving no-star ratings to this book!.......2004-01-31

A confused "Amazon Customer" is repeatedly inserting blurbs from other periodicals into the "customer review" section of this page, AND failing to give "star" ratings to these inserts -- thus steadily dragging down the star-rating of this book. Since the blurbs are positive and have been repeatedly entered, I assume this "Amazon Customer" wants people to be interested in the book. Well, by failing to give a star rating, you're doing exactly the opposite! So either stop inserting blurbs altogether, or start giving them star ratings. This book is too cool to be muddied up by your confusion.

Prelude and fugue.......2000-03-11

Samuel Delaney has done the near imposible - he has written a book that is both titillating and informing. Dividing his cogent 21st Century social philosophy into two parts is at first disconcerting: Why are we reading (buying) a book that lets us in on the gossip of firsthand observation of Times Square New York, then in a page turn becomes a sophisticated academic treatise on our current social problems, in the City, and in a Country? Once past this mirage of a hurdle Delaney makes it patently clear why he chose this format. If we are introduced to a problem in a seductive manner, we pay closer attention to the bigger issues. This superb little book is illuminating in its exploration of where we are in our interpersonal relationships, our interplay with those around us (street, neighborhood, city, country), and our current drive to homogenize our world. Beautifully written, immensely readable, and a very important contribution to our social perceptions!

An intelligent, touching book.......2000-01-06

I always thought of Samuel Delaney as a writer of science fiction, my least favorite genre, so this is my first book by him. I was impressed and delighted. The worst thing I can say about it is that Mr. Delaney has a love of dependent clauses strung along inside comma-copious sentences that were sometimes hard to read. But he has awesome insights too, and compassion and wisdom lace every page. Makes me wish I was old enough to partake of that culture.

Sex and the City.......1999-11-24

A remarkable book, with both the frankest discussion of people's sexual desires and needs of any book I've read in years, and a compelling argument about the crucial role places like the old Times Square play in the life of a city. A paeon to America's cities and an intimate history of a culture being destroyed. Delany's masterful prose makes this brief book a treat to read. A great stocking stuffer for the intellectually and sexually adventurous.

Not worth it.......1999-11-20

This book promises to be a history and social commentary on Times Square's sleazy recent past. But in reality the book is told from a very narrow and restrictive point-of-view (. . . )There's nothing wrong with that except he practically ignores the fact that the West 42nd Street sex shops, peep shows, and massage parlors were also an attraction for heterosexual men. The reader will get painfully tired of reading endless descriptions of Delaney's sexual exploits among the XXX theater crowd. Additionally, the handfull of black and white photos of the empty storefronts of the "Forty Deuce" were taken after most of the shops had been driven out of business. Without good photos of the way 42nd Street used to be, the vibrant nature of the area is greatly diminished and Delaney's text doesn't make up for it. If you are looking for a social history of the old Times Square, something balanced and better illustrated, try Josh Alan Friedman's "Tales of Times Square" instead.

Average customer rating:

OMG this is the best book u can ever read
Got tissue?
Once Again Paullina Simons Delivers
Stunning !!!!

The Girl in Times Square
Paullina Simons
Manufacturer: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0007118937
Release Date: 2006-03-06

Customer Reviews:

OMG this is the best book u can ever read.......2007-03-09

yeah right i was still in shock with the end anyway lily is a girl who has loads of issues with life...and her family especially her mom was really depressing... i think its a book for every age
ps the love between spencer and lily effected me big time and while you're reading you become a piece of it
WONDERFUL AWESOME THE BEST.........

Got tissue?.......2007-03-09

This book is very good. I would like to say that I did not have tears in my eyes while reading the pages, but that is not true. The unlikely romance is desireable. The main character-Lily's family is most suprising. Maybe because I am from a close family, but I was disgusted by the way Lily's family treated her. The ongoing battle with Lily's illness was depressing at times, but I still gave it 5 stars.

Once Again Paullina Simons Delivers.......2006-09-07

I've been a fan of Paullina Simons ever since I once stumbled across The Broze Horseman. Since then I've read every other Paullina Simons book I can get my hands on. If I absolutely had to compare it to another Simons novel I'd compare it to Tully in that it's very much a character study, but really it's not all that similar. It's new literary ground for Simons.

Basically the plot deals with a 24 year old New Yorker named Lily, who sort of floats through life. She's broke and afraid to commit to anything. Suddenly several unexpected events occur at once and the ever superstitous Lily is shaken to the core: Her best friend and roommate, Amy, goes missing suddenly, and Lily wins $18 million in the lottery. Lily is terrified to cash in her ticket because she's waiting for her luck to run out (which she thinks will happen by something bad happening to Amy). But Lily can't escape her fate even by not cashing in her ticket. She's diagnosed with an extrememly rare form of leukemia. On the verge of death Lily suddenly realises that she can't bear to leave the life that she's been afraid to commit to. She's fallen in love with Spencer, the detective in charge of looking for Amy. Meanwhile Spencer has uncovered disturbing evidence linking Amy's disappearance to Lily's brother Andrew, and the consequences of a case from his past have come back to haunt him (Simons fans might remember Spencer from the book "Red Leaves").

The plot sounds confusing but that's because the book seems to defy genre- it's a love story (Lily and Spencer), a mystery (what happened to Amy? How was Andrew involved?) a family drama (wait to you read about Lily's family!) and the story of Lily coming to find herself as she fights for her life, and tries to fight Spencer's demons so that he can share that life with her. Anyway, I recommend it to all of Simon's fans, and I can't wait to read her next book.

Stunning !!!!.......2006-07-14

This book took me totally by surprise - this is the story of Lily, a 25 year old girl living in New York, whose flatmate and bestfriend Amy suddenly goes missing. In comes Detective Spencer O'Malley, who by searching for Amy unravels more than Lily and himself could ever have imagined. This is an amazing story of a girl struck by luck, both good and bad, who tries to make her way through life when revelations on herself, her family and her loved ones come crashing down on her. Paullina Simmons has done an amazing job with this difficult story. I read the book in less than a week and couldn't wait to find out about Lily, Spencer, and those around them. Truly truly wonderful book, I cannot recommend it enough.

Average customer rating:

Love, Love, Love Paullina Simons' books

The Girl in Times Square
Paullina Simons
Manufacturer: HarperCollins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0007118929

Customer Reviews:

Love, Love, Love Paullina Simons' books.......2007-09-15

Just one of many engrossing ( and sometimes disturbing) books from Paullina Simons. This book gets your attention and keeps it throughout the book. When its over, you will be wishing that it wasn't.

The Lincoln Highway: Coast to Coast from Times Square to the Golden Gate

Average customer rating:

Lincoln Highway: Coast to Caoast from Times Square to the Golden Gate
Excellent book
Great Book on Americana
The Lincoln Highway by Michael Wallis
An American travelling history lesson

The Lincoln Highway: Coast to Coast from Times Square to the Golden Gate
Michael Wallis
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0393059383

Book Description

The best-selling author of Route 66 and a Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer celebrate America's first transcontinental highway in all its neon glory.

It began in 1913 with a glorious new highway—stretching across 3,389 miles and 13 states—that connected the bright lights of Broadway with the foggy shores of San Francisco. It was a magnificent and meandering road that enticed millions of newly motoring Americans to hop into their Model Ts and explore the fading frontier. The Lincoln Highway. It was the road of Gettysburg, Pretty Boy Floyd, Notre Dame, the Great Salt Lake, and the Gold Rush Trail. Once a symbol of limitless potential, it is now undergoing (as Route 66 did twenty years ago) a miraculous revival. With hundreds of new and rare photographs provided by two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Michael S. Williamson, this ode to a bygone era guides us across the true spine of the country, exploring vintage diners, Art Deco buildings, and funky roadside attractions, all waiting to be discovered. 300 color illustrations.

Customer Reviews:

Lincoln Highway: Coast to Caoast from Times Square to the Golden Gate.......2007-09-12

Very well written--this book makes you want to get in your car and drive. We are planning our next vacation to cover just a part of the Lincoln Highway.

Excellent book.......2007-09-07

Excellent book, well written with many classic photos. Would highly recommend this book for anyone interested in the Lincoln Highway.

Great Book on Americana.......2007-08-10

What a great book to establish and chronicle the history of this very important highway in the history of our country. If you think of the internet and how it reduced the size of the world. This highway when first completed, did the same thing to this GREAT country of ours. Very interesting book about what you would see while traveling this road. Makes me want to jump on my motorcycle and head out!!!

The Lincoln Highway by Michael Wallis.......2007-08-09

I was very excited to receive this book, as I received my college degrees from Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Il....I discovered during my time there that the main street through the old town was part of a national highway, so I was eager to explore it further.

I started to read this book, and found it interesting because of the amount of history that it covered in each state. But the further I got, the more I was annoyed by the writing. The writing seemed very simplistic, and I think it would be adequate for, say, a fifth grader. I almost felt insulted by the lack of any sophistication. On the other hand, the photographs are wonderful!! I think I will stop reading the book and just look at the photos instead; then I will feel as though I've gotten my money's worth.

An American travelling history lesson.......2007-08-09

Michael Wallis has done it again! This book is rich with stories & pictures that will remind travellers of highway route probably long forgotten by many. It will also bring back many happy memories for those that have not forgotten those seemingly endless miles of road, travelling from coast to coast either for work or pleasure.
A must read for fans of automobiling history and indeed American history, period.

The Devil's Playground: A Century of Pleasure and Profit in Times Square

Average customer rating:

Times Square from an historic perspective.
TRY SOMETHING DIFFERENT
Well Done
Times Square deserves a more exciting book
Where every night is New Year's Eve

The Devil's Playground: A Century of Pleasure and Profit in Times Square
James Traub
Manufacturer: Random House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Current Events | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0375507884
Release Date: 2004-03-16

Book Description

As Times Square turns 100, New York Times Magazine contributing writer James Traub tells the story of how this mercurial district became one of the most famous and exciting places in the world. The Devil’s Playground is classic and colorful American history, from the first years of the twentieth century through the Runyonesque heyday of nightclubs and theaters in the 1920s and ’30s, to the district’s decline in the 1960s and its glittering corporate revival in the 1990s.

First, Traub gives us the great impresarios, wits, tunesmiths, newspaper columnists, and nocturnal creatures who shaped Times Square over the century since the place first got its name: Oscar Hammerstein, Florenz Ziegfeld, George S. Kaufman, Damon Runyon, Walter Winchell, and “the Queen of the Nightclubs,” Texas Guinan; bards like A. J. Liebling, Joe Mitchell, and the Beats, who celebrated the drug dealers and pimps of 42nd Street. He describes Times Square’s notorious collapse into pathology and the fierce debates over how best to restore it to life.

Traub then goes on to scrutinize today’s Times Square as no author has yet done. He writes about the new 42nd Street, the giant Toys “R” Us store with its flashing Ferris wheel, the new world of corporate theater, and the sex shops trying to leave their history behind.
More than sixty years ago, Liebling called Times Square “the heart of the world”—not just the center of the world, though this crossroads in Midtown Manhattan was indeed that, but its heart. From the dawn of the twentieth century through the 1950s, Times Square was the whirling dynamo of American popular culture and, increasingly, an urban sanctuary for the eccentric and the untamed. The name itself became emblematic of the tremendous life force of cities everywhere.

Today, Times Square is once again an awe-inspiring place, but the dark and strange corners have been filled with blazing light. The most famous street character on Broadway, “the Naked Cowboy,” has his own website, and Toys “R” Us calls its flagship store in Times Square “the toy center of the universe.” For the giant entertainment corporations that have moved to this safe, clean, and self-consciously gaudy spot, Times Square is still very much the center of the world. But is it still the heart?

Customer Reviews:

Times Square from an historic perspective........2007-07-21

James Traub certainly paid tribute to one of New York's prime attractions,Times Square. If you ever wanted to read the history and get acquainted with its past then this book has it all. Fascinating read from cover to cover with vintage Times Square pictures. Good work by Mr. Traub!!

TRY SOMETHING DIFFERENT.......2007-06-04

THE PROBLEM WITH THIS BOOK IS THAT I EXPECTED IT TO BE ABOUT THE HISTORY OF TIMES SQUARE BUT IT BECAME TOO MUCH A BOOK ABOUT THE HISTORY OF BROADWAY, THE SHOWS AND THE ACTORS. MAYBE TO THE WRITER THEY'RE ONE AND THE SAME. ALSO, THE WRITER IS FROM THE NY TIMES AND HE WRITES WITH THAT UPPITY ATTITUDE AND LANGUAGE THAT ONE COMES TO EXPECT FROM THAT NEWSPAPER. IT USUALLY TAKES ME DAYS TO READ A BOOK OF THIS SIZE. THIS BOOK TOOK ME WEEKS BECAUSE IT LOST MY INTEREST. THERE WERE SOME INTERESTING PARTS ABOUT THE BUILDINGS AND THE BUSINESSES THAT HAVE COME AND GONE, HOWEVER, I WOULD TRY A DIFFERENT BOOK ABOUT TIMES SQUARE.

Well Done.......2005-01-05

This book really captures the characters, glamour, degradation and rebirth of Times Square since it's beginnings in a very entertaining and informative way. The story is weaved together wonderfully incorporating social, political , cultural and architectural details in a lively narrative that was a pleasure to read. From the Lobster Palaces to Flo Ziegfield to the speakeasys of the 20's to Irving Berlin to the tawdry porno theaters and massage parlors of the 70's to todays tourist mecca....it's all here. Traub has done a great job of researching and documenting the history of a place that does it's best to bury it's past. You can walk those mid-town streets after reading this and recognize historical significance that is all too easy to take for granted in a place as busy and bustling as Times Square.

Times Square deserves a more exciting book.......2004-06-29

Growing up in the early 70's in a smallish town, I was well aware of what would happen to any small town girl lured to New York City to seek her fame and fortune. If you dared climb down from that Greyhound bus you would be immediately sucked into the tawdry and dangerous underbelly of New York, never to escape.
During the early 1900's Times' Square was the center of the
city's nightlife. Vaudeville,theaters,speakeasies,nightclubs, the area was covered and celebrated in print,plays and movies. It was fun and glamorous and often where you went to been seen. As time passed, the glitter lost its shine,Times Square began to openly display the darker side that existed in the shadows. By the 1960's it was filled with cheap eateries, flophouse, porn shops and peep shows and the people that populated that world.
The 1980's and 1990's brought a rebirth and a whole new idea of what the public would tolerate and a huge infusion of money, changed the face of New York,especially Times Square. James Traub chronicles the ever changing cast of characters
passing through his familiar area, the huge personalities, political figures,celebrities, gangsters,pretenders, and the various incarnations of the "heart of New York". It does cause me to wonder.....did cleaning up the heart result is loss of soul? An interesting (but dry) read.

Where every night is New Year's Eve.......2004-04-25

James Traub's wonderful book, "The Devil's Playground : A Century of Pleasure and Profit in Times Square" will provide readers with a comprehensive look at what was once the crossroads of the world. Scholarly without being dull, authoritative without being smug, Traub vividly portrays the rise, fall, and ambivalent revival of the world's center of amusement and advertising. I say "ambivalent" not because I disapprove of the transition which took place in the 1990s (anyone nostalgic for the "personality" of post 1960s Times Square is oblivious to the misery of the prostitutes and addicts who were stuck there) but because it smacks too much of outsiders moving in. But, as Mr. Traub suggests, we needed people from outside New York to believe that the place could be rehabilitated--we New Yorkers had given up on it after all.

All the familiar characters are here (Hammerstein, Runyon, et al.) and some new ones that we don't always associate with the former Longacre Square. And some of the events described in this book will surprise even the most "seasoned" of New York buffs. The book is as entertaining as the place once was and now strives to be.

Book Description

Described as “a continuous carnival” and “the crossroads of the world,” Times Square is a singular phenomenon: the spot where imagination and veracity intersect. To esteemed scholar and author Marshall Berman, it is also the flashing, teeming, and strangely beautiful nexus of his life. In this remarkable book, Berman takes us on a thrilling illustrated tour of Times Square, revealing a landscape both mythic and real. On the Town is a unique look through the lens of the ideas and works of art that inspired–or were inspired by–this landmark’s allure.
Times Square pulses with life, drawing countless millions who long to be surrounded by too many in the midst of too much. Beyond the immense crowds, the intoxicating lights, the imposing architecture, and even the recent incursion of corporate headquarters that limn the Square’s present boundaries, there is an indefatigable humanity (and undeniable sexual tension) that, for more than a century, has nourished creative expression.
Interleafing his own recollections with astute social commentary, Berman reveals how movies, graphic arts, literature, popular music, television, and, of course, the Broadway theater have reflected Times Square’s voluminous light to illuminate a vast spectrum of themes and vignettes. Berman shows us Times Square as it is seen in Alfred Eisenstadt’s iconic photography, the movies of Busby Berkeley, John Schlesinger, and Martin Scorsese, and the stage choreography of Jerome Robbins.
Conversely, we see how Times Square’s distinctive aura finds its source in a stunningly diverse list of performers, writers, and impresarios, including Theodore Dreiser, Florenz Ziegfeld, Ethel Merman, Al Jolson, Bob Dylan, and Bruce Springsteen. Berman also celebrates the unsung heroes of Times Square–the artists, engineers, and hucksters behind the Square’s landmark signs that, throughout the decades, re-created raging waterfalls, blew smoke rings, bathed onlookers in the Square’s eerily welcoming light, and projected the image of what Americans want to be against a surface of who we really are.
Part love letter, part revelatory semiotic exposition of a place known to all, On the Town is a nonstop excursion to the heart of American civilization, written by one of our keenest, most entertaining cultural observers.

Customer Reviews:

inspiring with a negative note........2007-01-12

It is vivid, and inspiring, but for a foreigner it is full of hard-to-follow references, connotations, subtexts related to the Town. And that holds true for a foreigner who loved and lived the city for couple of years. As for the style, Berman is actually a poet in my mind.

Walking to Vermont: From Times Square into the Green Mountains -- a Homeward Adventure

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No denial here, it's a good read!
Walk to Vermont
Worthy Addition
Not over the hill yet
A JAUNT OF GREAT PROPORTIONS

Walking to Vermont: From Times Square into the Green Mountains -- a Homeward Adventure
Christopher S. Wren
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0743251520

Book Description

A distinguished former foreign correspondent embraces retirement by setting out alone on foot for nearly four hundred miles, and explores a side of America nearly as exotic as the locales from which he once filed.

Traveling with an unwieldy pack and a keen curiosity, Christopher Wren bids farewell to the New York Times newsroom in midtown Manhattan and saunters up Broadway, through Harlem, the Bronx, and the affluent New York suburbs of Westchester and Putnam Counties. As his trek takes him into the Housatonic River Valley of Connecticut, the Berkshires of Massachusetts, the Green Mountains of Vermont, and along a bucolic riverbank in New Hampshire, the strenuous challenges become as much emotional as physical.

Wren loses his way in a suburban thicket of million-dollar mansions, dodges speeding motorists, seeks serenity at a convent, shivers through a rainy night among Shaker ruins, camps in a stranger's backyard, panhandles cookies and water from a good samaritan, absorbs the lore of the Appalachian and Long Trails, sweats up and down mountains, and lands in a hospital emergency room.

Struggling under the weight of a fifty-pound pack, he gripes, "We might grow less addicted to stuff if everything we bought had to be carried on our backs." He hangs out with fellow wanderers named Old Rabbit, Flash, Gatorman, Stray Dog, and Buzzard, and learns gratitude from the anonymous charity of trail angels. His rite of passage into retirement, with its heat and dust and blisters galore, evokes vivid reminiscences of earlier risks taken, sometimes at gunpoint, during his years spent reporting from Russia, China, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, South America, and Africa.

He loses track of time, waking with the sun, stopping to eat when hunger gnaws, and camping under starry skies that transform the nights of solitude. For all the self-inflicted hardship, he reports, "In fact, I felt pretty good." Wren has woven an intensely personal story that is candid and often downright hilarious. As Vermont turns from a destination into a state of mind, he concludes, "I had stumbled upon the secret of how utterly irrelevant chronological age is."

This book, from the author of the acclaimed bestseller The Cat Who Covered the World, will delight not just hikers, walkers, and other lovers of the outdoors, but also anyone who contemplates retirement, wonders about foreign correspondents, or relishes a lively, off-beat adventure, even when it unfolds close to home.

Customer Reviews:

No denial here, it's a good read!.......2007-03-05

I have yet to hike the Appalachian trail, and I'm only 41, but I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The author has some wisdom well worth sharing, as well as a very candid view of his experience. I didn't feel he was in denial at all. Rather, he was realizing that 65 isn't so old, after all. This book is about the physical AND emotional journey into retirement. If you are interested in human nature as well as mother nature, chances are you will enjoy it. I gave it 5 stars to make up for some of those 2 star submissions. I've given it to my Mom, who has read it and enjoyed it and plans to give it to my sister. I wouldn't be surprised if it makes it's way to my Dad after that ... Enjoy.

Walk to Vermont.......2006-11-29

This book started out slow, but it really picks up and is an interesting read, especially when the author hits the Appalachian Trail. I found it hard to put down the book at that point.

Worthy Addition.......2006-02-03

"Walking to Vermont" is a worthy addition to anyone who collects, reads, and enjoys books on the culture of walking. I especially enjoyed it because it is also a worthy addition to literature related to the Appalachian Trail, and sits on my bookshelf besides Bryson's "A Walk in the Woods", Emblidge's "Appalachian Trail Reader" and Hall's "A Journey North."

This is not a book of discovery -- Mr. Wren knows who he is and is comfortable in his own shoes (but perhaps not his socks). The story reads like both a narrative and a memoir, as Mr. Wren recounts events and stories collected in a life as a foreign correspondent.

Fans of the Appalachian Trail and of the literature associated with it will be very familiar with the themes: trail magic, trail angels, trail names, and the wonderful people that make up the hiking culture.

I have been to the Hanover Ben and Jerry's and have never had a "White Blaze." I will protect my source on who informed me about it, however...

Not over the hill yet.......2005-02-02

A good book for those who are interested in nature, human and otherwise. At age 65, this New York Times foreign correspondent walks out of the Times building and just keeps on walking. Four hundred miles and five weeks later, he is at home in Vermont. This book chronicles the ups and downs, humanly and geographically, as he hoofs his way on New York city streets, over highways, under bridges, through towns and villages, over the Appalachian Trail, arriving home just in time to feed the cats. Henry David Thoreau is his philosophical mentor as he ponders things like the best way to carry a backpack, filter your water, boil your oatmeal, keep the mosquitoes away, pamper aches and pains, and decide upon a suitable trail name. Along the way he meets an interesting variety of fellow travelers, most walking for reasons that go way beyond just exercise. Civilization is never far away, and the author meets up occasionally with his wife and friends, when he forsakes the Daniel Boone lifestyle for that of the aging jet-setter dining in an exclusive restaurant. He admits that after these respites he is glad to hit the lonely trail again. During the book the reader is treated to gentle flashbacks that reveal Wren's adventurous career as a reporter in Russia, China, the Middle East, and other exotic locales. These recollections seem a bit shoehorned in, but they are necessary to understand how far the author has come. After what he has seen in his life, a hike of four hundred miles is just a walk in the woods. Those like me who are generally the same age as Wren will find the book a nice reminder that we're not over the hill yet. Wren says, "Life seems sweeter once you accept that it cannot endure. The best part of growing old is that welcome relief from being merely young." Great stuff for a graying head! Upon finishing the book, I went out for a good, long walk. But I'll be back for supper.

A JAUNT OF GREAT PROPORTIONS.......2004-09-03

I would call this a quiet book; pleasant storytelling with rippling rhythms of then and now. The author is a retired N.Y. Times foreign correspondent who attends his retirement party in Manhattan and then the next day starts walking to Vermont (near Hanover) where he is going to live. He walks on the Appalachian Trail where the distance is almost 400 miles and he accomplishes this in 5 weeks moving through 5 states. He tells of his experiences while on the trail with frequent interjections of incidences overseas while doing his work for his newspaper. I feel he could have elaborated more about his overseas experiences as they were interesting, but they took up from one paragraph to one page...oh well, I guess that is another book. He meets some interesting characters on the way, but because of the nature of his quest, nothing is permanent. I thought he hiked in a most sensible manner as every so often he would rent a motel/cabin, get a good meal in a local cafe, and take a shower/bath to clean off all the accumulated crud, and stop in to see past friends in their homes (which were on the way) and stay for a day or two. He accomplished lhis goal and derived great satisfaction in doing so and then wrote a book about it.

A Guide for Using The Cricket in Times Square in the Classroom

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A Guide for Using The Cricket in Times Square in the Classroom
SUSAN ONION
Manufacturer: Teacher Created Resources
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1557344191
Release Date: 2004-11-03

Product Description

Grades 3 - 5 This resource is directly related to its literature equivalent and filled with a variety of cross-curricular lessons to do before, during, and after reading the book. This reproducible book includes sample plans, author information, vocabulary building ideas, cross-curriculum activities, sectional activities and quizzes, unit tests, and ideas for culminating and extending the novel. 48 Pages Ages: 8 & up Manufacturer:Teacher Created Resources®

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