Guns N' Roses: The Band That Time Forgot: The Complete Unauthorised Biography

Book Description

Both new and old incarnations of the explosive rock band Guns N' Roses are discussed in this compelling biography. Featuring exclusive interviews with key players on their personal and musical histories and supplemental color photographs, this is a comprehensive look at where the band started, the reasons behind their infamous split in 1994, and what the original members are doing now. This fully revised edition contains information on the highly anticipated Summer 2005 release of Chinese Democracy, Axl's first release in 10 years, as well as details of ex–lead guitarist Slash and ex–bass player Duff's hot new band, Velvet Revolver.

Customer Reviews:

The Book That Should Be Forgotten.......2007-01-11

This is possibly the worst book I've ever read. It reads like something a teenager would hand in for English class. There are many spelling mistakes, punctuation errors, duplication of sentences/quotes and places where Mr. Stenning just uses the wrong words. Mr. Stenning seems to think that asking questions is a writing style. Note to Mr. Stenning - That's the reason I'm reading the book, to find out the answers to the questions that you ask. I find it hard to believe that an editor even looked at this. The only solace is that there is some information in it for the hardcore fan, if you can endure the slop that Mr. Stenning passes for writing and sift through the "Axl can do no wrong" theme that pervades this book.

Good thing it was cheap.......2006-06-11

I am a huge fan of Guns n Roses and Velvet Revolver and thought this would make a great read. But right at the beginning I could tell that the author has no writing skills whatsoever. He really needed to fire his editor because there were quite a few mispellings and grammatical errors, but that wasn't the biggest flaw with the book. Most of the information is taken from magazine interviews and the rest seems to be complete hearsay. It would have been nice for the author to actually talk to the bandmembers in length before devoting a whole book to them. I feel that it was unfair, mostly to Slash, Izzy, Steve and Duff.
He made Axl out to be some god, which he is far from being. It was the other guys who had the drug problem, not Axl. YEAH RIGHT!

Either way, the book is poorly written so try to buy it used or borrow someone else's if you really want to read it.

Regurgitated facts; nothing new or original; too many typos!.......2006-06-10

I am a really big GNR fan and I have a large collection of biographies. When I heard about this one, naturally I had to buy a copy. I barely finished a fourth of this book due to the extremely large amount of typos and the fact that there is abosolutely nothing new in this material. I haven't read any other GNR book in at least two years, so I'm not a source of endless GNR trivia, but nearly every "fact" or "anecdote" in this book was something I remembered hearing from another source.

This book is extremely shoddily done; shame on the writer and the publisher! It was put out just to capitalize on the hype around Chinese Democracy (don't even get me started on the mud Axl is dragging the memory of GNR through), and the author/editor/publisher clearly had no concern for producing a high quality product.

Go read Mick Wall's book if you want unauthorized (but probably really true, just not that Axl wanted to hear it) material by an outstanding journalist.

What A Rip-Off.......2006-04-01

I wasn't exactly expecting greatness from this book, but I still could not believe how poorly written and incoherent this thing was. Paul Stenning should get himself to a basic English composition class immediately -- while there have been other reviewers who have mentioned typos, the problems are far worse than that. In paragraph after paragraph there were long, rambling sentences that made no sense and could have been written better by a stoned teenager. Even worse, when the prose does make sense, it's because a huge amount of this "unauthorized" material is blatantly plagiarised word-for-word from articles previously published in magazines like Rolling Stone, Spin, and others, with no credit given to the actual reporters who did the real work of finding such information. I don't think the lawyers who work for such magazines would look on this practice very kindly. Don't waste your money on this garbage; you can find better (and more coherent) information simply by surfing the web for a couple hours. The above rating is one star; that's only because Amazon doesn't allow you to select no stars at all.

guns n' roses the band time forgot.......2006-03-30

The band that time forgot is a bad name for this book. Guns n' Roses is a band that no one has forgotten about. How could you for get the band that had Riots rageing in St louis? How could you forget the band that wrote 'Coma' a song that is about drugs and overdoseing, then go and write 'November rain' which is about Axl's feelings for his girl friend that suddenly died! the answer is no way. this book tells the begining to the end of the guns'era. the mental and phisical abuse of Axl's stepfather in Lafayette IN. the drug problems of the hole band. and making the "perfict" album.
the strugles for axl to be the best was to his oun dismay. To read about this, and being a G'N'R' fan made it so relavent to see why the guns have gone there separet ways.

Average customer rating:

Simply Excellent!
Vol. 2 Table of Contents
Perfect
the ideal songbook for the gns fans
guns n roses rule

Guns N' Roses Complete, Vol. 2
Guns N' Roses
Manufacturer: Cherry Lane Music
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 157560051X

Book Description

This is Volume 2 of the two-volume Guns N' Roses Complete, which contains over 45 top songs from the albums Appetite for Destruction, GN'R Lies, Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II. Volume 2 (M-Z) features note-for-note tab transcriptions for 27 songs: Mr. Brownstone * My Michelle * November Rain * One in a Million * Paradise City * Patience * Perfect Crime * Reckless Life * Rocket Queen * So Fine * Sweet Child O' Mine * Used to Love Her * Welcome to the Jungle * Yesterdays * You Could Be Mine * and more! Also available: Volume 1 (02501286).

Customer Reviews:

Simply Excellent!.......2007-09-02

Guns N' Roses Complete, Vol. 2 is a must buy for GNR fans and guitarists. This book contains 28 songs from M(Mama Kin)-Y(Your Crazy) including: "Mr. Brownstone" "My Michelle", "Night Train", "November Rain", "Paradise City" , "Patience", "Sweet Child O' Mine" and of course "Welcome to the Jungle".

As the title suggests, every guitar riff, arrangement, rhythm, lick, solo, and fill is fully transcribed, note-for-note, in music and TAB! From the timeless intro and solos of "Sweet Child O' Mine" to the wooing acoustics of "Patience", it's all here, fully transcribed to learn. The transcriptions themselves are of the best quality money can buy and include all of the guitars in each song, not just rhythm or lead. As a bonus, the lead vocals are also included and make following the music much easier. Basically, all your GNR needs are found here and in Volume 1. (By the way ,if you are debating, buy Volume 2 first because, by chance, most of GNR's hit-songs begin with M-Z--as listed above)

It is worthwhile to note that when I say 'perfect', I mean it subjectively. There are people out there you critique the book's accuracy. However, all of these arguments are inconsequential. For instance, I heard someone say that on the final two notes of "Mr. Brownstone's" signature riff, Slash uses a 1/2 bend instead of a hammer-on as the book denotes. To this and similar claims I respond with: Who Cares! They both sound the same, both give you the same pitch and sound, and you play it so quickly it really makes absolutely no difference. Most of the "Inaccuracies" claimed of this book are equally trivial, and depend on what each person perceives. To be fair to critics and any claims I have not refuted or heard I will compromise that % 99.99 of the book is accurate.

Now, while the transcriptions themselves are out of this world and need no further discussion, I have a word of caution. Be prepared to work hard for them! Despite the inclusion of the lyrics, it is very hard to follow the music at times (I can read music and still go through hell at times). And this is only made worse by the fact the pages are as crowded and hectic as the beaches of Normandy; any notation denoting a coda or repeat is easily lost in the jumble of rhythm slashes, fill and riff signalers, chords and other special notations. You will find that making sense of it all is a task in and of its self, and thus learning a new song can be annoying as you try to follow it all. I would be willing to pay more money for a thicker book if the authors would write out all the parts on the same staff all the time, instead of resorting to the short cuts they take.
For example: the book will often say "Play Riff A" over the staff, referring you to an obscure rhythm piece written out two pages back, which you now have to hunt down, recall, then flip back to the original page, figure out how it fits and play...etc. This and other similar little short-cuts are ANNOYING! Would it kill them to simply write-out bloody "Riff A" again where it is supposed to be played?

That said, if you can't read music (or read at all), this book will be very hard to follow. Yes, it includes TAB, but without the musical knowledge it will be hard to know what is going on. Also, for any would-be-Slashes-and-Izzys out there (including myself), none of these songs are quick and simple to learn, so if you are only a casual guitarist or fan, don't waste your time and money. You will need patience and skill to play what's in this book because, after all, this is a note-for-note transcription of Slash and Izzy's playing. If you are easily frustrated or bored, this book isn't for you, and you would be better off buying one of the more simply arranged books available on Amazon. But if you really want to rock-out just as GNR did for whatever reason, by all means BUY THIS BOOK! You will find yourself learning not only the songs, but tons of musical techniques and skills.

Guns N' Roses Complete, Vol. 2 is a fantastic buy if you are looking for the perfect guitar transcriptions of many GNRS songs. As long as you are willing to go through the long hours of practice and some frustrating layout issues, this book will rock you world with its priceless contents! (Conveniently priced under $20)

Vol. 2 Table of Contents.......2007-03-26

Mama Kin
Move To The City
Mr. Brownstone
My Michelle
My World
Nice Boys
Nightrain
November Rain
One In A Million
Out Ta Get Me
Paradise City
Patience
Perfect Crime
Pretty Tied Up (The Perils of Rock N' Roll Decadence)
Reckless Life
Right Next Door To Hell
Rocket Queen
Shotgun Blues
So Fine
Sweet Child O' Mine
Think About You
Used To Love Her
Welcome To The Jungle
Yesterdays
You Ain't The First
You Could Be Mine
You're Crazy (from Appetite for Destruction)
You're Crazy (from G N'R Lies)

Perfect.......2006-03-07

Finally I can learn the songs how they're supposed to be played. I've downloaded and printed so many different versions of tabs of some of the songs in this book and most of them just never sounded right. This is a great collection of songs, I have the tab book for use your illusions II and I really didn't want to go out and buy all of their other album tabs seperately. This was the perfect solution. Excellent collection.
Just don't expect to be playing these songs the day you get this book - Slash isn't human, some of this stuff is impossible.

the ideal songbook for the gns fans.......2005-09-30

excelent transcriptions, and wait for purchase first part

guns n roses rule.......2004-05-29

Well there are only a couple of things I have to say. Those things are:

1. Guns n roses what else do I have to say?

2. If you are a big fan and what to play their songs, buy this along with volume 1.

3. Guns n roses rule.

4. buy it

5. this is an ordinary tab book and it's of one of the many classic bands.

6. the notes are PERFECT so you do not have to go searching for them on the internet for hours to end up with the wrong notes.

7. has lyrics to help you find your way

Book Description

Over 45 top songs from the albums Appetite for Destruction, GN'R Lies, Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II - together in two volumes. This is Volume 1, and includes tab transcriptions for more than 20 classic hits with titles starting A-L: Anything Goes * Bad Apples * Breakdown * Civil War * Dead Horse * Don't Cry * Double Talkin' Jive * Estranged * Garden of Eden * Get in the Ring * It's So Easy * Knockin' on Heaven's Door * Live and Let Die * Locomotive * and more. Volume 2 (M-Z) is also available. (02501287)

Customer Reviews:

Vol. 1 Table of Contents.......2007-10-16

14 Years
Anything Goes
Back Off B*tch
Bad Apples
Bad Obsession
Breakdown
Civil War
Coma
Dead Horse
Don't Cry (Original)
Don't Cry (Alt. Lyrics)
Don't Damn Me
Double Talkin' Jive
Dust N' Bones
Estranged
The Garden
Garden of Eden
Get In The Ring
It's So Easy
Knockin' On Heaven's Door
Live And Let Die
Locomotive (Complicity)

This is how I learned to play guitar..........2007-02-27

Seriously, if you want to learn how to play rock music, buy these books (volume 1 and 2) and practice learning the rhythms and leads and solos. It's challenging stuff for sure, but there's a wide variety of styles and such. I recommend learning all of Patience to start, then move on to harder songs. I learned so much from learning songs and parts of songs from this by striving to play it note for note. Theres a ton of guitar playing on all these songs so it should keep you occupied for a long time.

If your advanced and just want to learn GNR songs then its just as good. Everything is easy to read, the print size etc. is perfect and everything is accurate as far as I can tell. Get both of these books and you have the blueprints for learning to play rock music.

Slash is definately my favorite guitarist and to me there's none better when it comes to playing with heart and soul and technique to match. If youre serious about self teaching yourself rock guitar definately give these books a try, it will be very rewarding.

Volume 1 - don't miss.......2001-08-19

Includes songs like Break Down, Civil War, Don't Cry, Knocking on Heaven's door and more - just fun to play. A must have for all those who play the guitar or Guns n roses fans. Don't forget to buy volume 2. Doesn't have the songs from: 'The Spaghetti Incident?' though, maybe it's better this way because that album wasn't too good.

Great Tabs, I wish all tab books were like this!.......2001-01-05

I love how every single song is in this two book set (Complete I and Complete II). It's very thorough and it has every signal note from every Slash solo. But, it is a bit advanced (for me too) and a lot of it is pretty complex. Good thick tab book though.

simply the best!.......1999-11-06

If you want to learn Guns N' Roses songs exactly how they were recorded, get this book!

The Band That Time Forgot: The Complete Unauthorised Biography of Guns N' Roses

Average customer rating:

All over the place
VERY mediocre in some areas,WAY too many typos,BUT....
Chinese Democracy, the album we will never see (big surprise)
It's okay ...
THE BOOK THAT EVERYONE SHOULD FORGET!!!

The Band That Time Forgot: The Complete Unauthorised Biography of Guns N' Roses
Paul Stenning
Manufacturer: Chrome Dreams
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1842402463

Book Description

The personal and musical history of Guns N' Roses is detailed in this revealing band biography. Timed to coincide with the highly anticipated release of Chinese Democracy, their first album in 10 years, this compelling account offers complete, updated information on the band's incredible past and current ambitions. New interviews with ex-band members, including lead guitarist Slash and bass player Duff, provide fresh revelations about the band's key players. Previously unpublished color photographs from the group's early days gathered from ex-members' personal collections offer an intriguing visualization of the band's past.

Customer Reviews:

All over the place.......2006-02-21

This book is just what I called it, all over the place. The stories are interesting, but the scattered ideas and errors in the text make me think twice about the accuracy of facts. It was difficult to follow because the writer jumps around timelines a lot. I don't recommend it if you are really just getting into learning about the band, but if you are already a fan and pretty knowledgeable, you might get a little something out of it. Be warned, however, that the lack of chronology and scattered narrative make it a somewhat difficult read.

VERY mediocre in some areas,WAY too many typos,BUT...........2006-01-28

Still worth owning if you are a Guns N' Roses fan.

Here,British journalist Paul Stenning traces the entire career and story of Guns N' Roses--one of the world's most succesful and most influential rock bands. The childhoods of Axl Rose,Slash,Izzy Stradlin,Duff McKagan,and Steven Adler and the musical influences Rose,Slash,Stradlin,McKagan,and Adler have had are both documented here,and there is some really good insight and info into the life of Axl Rose and all of what led to Rose doing some of the decadent and outrageous things that he has done in his life (there is also some "Axl Rose Psychology" in this novel,which reads in both a fascinating and shocking way). Here,you will also get to learn all about the formation of Guns N' Roses,the stuff that went on in GN'R's career and the lives of GN'R band members inside and outside of Guns N' Roses,behind the scenes stories to Guns N' Roses songs,more into what made GN'R so controversial,and there are several other interesting things in this book. While this book is mostly focused around Axl Rose (as well as Slash),some of the stories in this book that have to do with either Steven Adler,Izzy Stradlin,and/or Duff McKagan are completely fascinating (most of this book has recycled information in it,and there is not too much new info to be found here,but there is a lot of really good info in this book),and Paul Stenning also documents the whole story behind "Chinese Democracy" in this novel. I always wanted to learn more about the new line-up of Guns N' Roses,the making of "Chinese Democracy",and more on the songs that have been written for the CD(as well as the CDS' planned sequels)and if you want to know those three things(as well as everything else I mentioned in this paragraph)like I did before purchasing this book,this book has what you are looking for.

However,even though this book is very good in several areas,it is very low in some areas also. The large amount of typos in here(I didn't count them all up,but I was able to tell from reading the whole book that EVERY chapter in this book has more than five typos in it)is annoying and just plain ridiculous(there is even one part of this book where Paul Stenning uses a * but then does not say anything about what it is there for),this book does not tell enough about the post Guns N' Roses careers that Slash,Duff McKagan,Izzy Stradlin,and Steven Adler all had and the making of "Appetite For Destruction",and there is a little bit of a setback to this book. That setback is the fact that Paul Stenning is an OK,but mediocre author,so while this book does have several interesting facts in it,the several interesting facts to be found here are told a little bit poorly. Granted,the list of critiscms for this book that are mentioned above does seem long,but the good things about/in this book are all really good and are good enough for me to give this book a four star rating instead of a three star rating(believe me,I did like this book,but I can see where both the good and reviews of it are coming from).

There are actually two editions of this book available--an original version(the version I am reviewing right here)and a revised version(which you can find right here off of Amazon;it has a white cover).I would definitely say to go for the revised version--unfortunately,it fixes very little(if any)of the typos in this version of it,but it does add a new and good interesting chapter on Velvet Revolver,the new rock band that Duff McKagan,Slash,and Matt Sorum are in with former Stone Temple Pilots lead vocalist Scott Weiland and guitarist Dave Kushner,who has played in several different bands.

Despite it's faults,this is a very good book. If you know very little(or nothing)about Guns N' Roses,this book is worth both reading and owning(if you know a lot of information about GN'R and have read other GN'R books,whether or not you want to own this book is really up to you),but if you already know a lot about Guns N' Roses and knew a lot about GN'R before purchasing this book(which was my situation,although I did find a lot of facts in here about Guns N' Roses that I had not known about before I purchased this book),I still do suggest to not hesitate about buying,reading,and owning this novel,even though it does have some faults.

Chinese Democracy, the album we will never see (big surprise).......2005-09-20

I used to love Guns N' Roses. I doubt they themselves thought that they would turn into such a worldwide phenomena. They were part of a unique niche of metal bands with similar stories where the members all migrated to the West Coast to make it big. They indulged in sex, drugs and rock n' roll, made no bones about the fact that they weren't choir boys. Riots, fast cars and flashy women, and living on the edge were what it was all about. Appetite for Destruction was perhaps one of the greatest metal albums in history with stadium rock anthems. They were one of the monsters of rock.

And then ... it all fell apart. The music climate had changed as Seattle overtook the landscape. Troubles with the law, tensions within, stints in rehab, and a huge mess of bad choices led to their inevitable split. Axl was greedy, others were stupid, and they were all pretty immature to begin with. In this book you won't find out anything you didn't already know (or can gather if you're completly new to the material). Axl owns the Guns N' Roses name, and he pushed eveyone out of the way to get it. The others moved on to other projects, the latest being Velvet Revolver - which is not bad.

DO NOT ACCEPT THINGS IN THIS BOOK AS THE TRUTH. I say that for several reasons. The typos are just ridiculous. I'm not the best speller in the world but they could've at least run a spell check here and there, leading us to believe that they aren't that swift to begin with. They omit a few key players such as Steven Adler. He would have things to say about them no doubt. The man had a stroke he was doing so much cocaine, and what happened? Like a lot of people who hit rock bottem, the people they thought were their friends abandon them. Shows what kind of friends (let alone people) they are.

Do we miss them? Not really. We moved on and absence didn't make the heart grow fonder. We'll never see the promised Chinese Democracy, and after Axl was Botoxed until his face was pulled taught for the few public appearences he made he learned his lesson and won't be coming out of his cave for a while. This is a dramatic story, and looking back I realize they are all far better off that they aren't together anymore. They chose to self destruct without being in a band.

It's okay ..........2005-08-16

If you know nothing about the band then bye it, otherwise most of the content of the book is just recycled information. At times I felt like I was reading the "Here Today, Gone To Hell" website. I could have finished a majority of the stories myself ... kind of like taking a peek at my girlfriend's diary. Any value to be had from the book is really just the consolidation of all the various Guns N' Roses information that's out there. Nothing ground breaking here, just a collection of what's all out on the Internet. I read it once and gave it away.

THE BOOK THAT EVERYONE SHOULD FORGET!!!.......2005-08-08

This book is absolute trash! It contains no new information, everything is just recycled from somthing else, from the likes of rolling stone or MTV. It has no new quotes, true but trashy gossip or anything else AT ALL!!!

DONT WASTE YOUR TIME AND MONEY!!!

The author is somewhat biast aswell, to everything Axl has ever said or done in the past and present.

This book will also bore you to tears!

Book Description

Her name is Omakayas, or Little Frog, because her first step was a hop, and she lives on an island in Lake Superior.It is 1850, and the lives of the Ojibwe have returned to a familiar rhythm: they build their birchbark houses in the summer, go to the ricing camps in the fall to harvest and feast, and move to their cozy cedar log cabins near the town of LaPointe before the first snows.

The satisfying routines of Omakayas's days are interrupted by a surprise visit from a group of desperate and mysterious people. From them, she learns that all their lives may drastically change. The chimookomanag, or white people, want Omakayas and her people to leave their island in Lake Superior and move farther west. Omakayas realizes that something so valuable, so important that she never knew she had it in the first place, is in danger: Her home. Her way of life.

In this captivating sequel to National Book Award nominee The Birchbark House, Louise Erdrich continues the story of Omakayas and her family.

Download Description

In this captivating sequel to National Book Award nominee The Birchbark House, Louise Erdrich continues the story of Omakayas and her family.

Customer Reviews:

Another Erdrich Novel for Young Adults.......2006-12-28

The Game of Silence by Louise Erdrich (HarperCollins, 2005); Where the Great Hawk Flies by Liza Ketchum (Clarion Books/Houghton-Mifflin, 2005).

Considering the depiction of Native Americans in books, so much has changed since I was the age of our twelve-year-old daughter.

In several new books for young readers, the narrative vantage point has been very decisively shifted to place native characters in the point-of-view position, in the center of events instead of serving as "colorful" parts of the scenery. I've recently read aloud to our daughter Lillian two new young adult novels with Native American themes, Louise Erdrich's The Game of Silence (HarperCollins, 2005) and Liza Ketchum's Where the Great Hawk Flies (Clarion/Houghton-Mifflin, 2005).

At about Lillian's age I read James Fenimore Cooper's The Last of the Mohicans, and I strongly recall the ache I felt in response to Cooper's elegiac, grandly romantic evocation of the "noble" Chingachgook, who appeared to be in Cooper's view inseparable from the strange and sublime new American landscape. As an outdoorsy suburban Boy Scout, I couldn't help but see woodsman and trapper Natty Bumppo as an exemplary white ambassador to the Indians.

Along with Cooper's portrayal of close companionship between an immigrant frontiersman and aboriginal chieftain, I imbibed from that book a desolate, lump-in-the-throat sense of traditional Indians as an endangered species, remnants of a society too fragile to withstand the onslaught of the Europeans' well-armed civilizing force.

In the popular media, depictions of Native Americans continue to wobble or careen between positive (dignified, sensitive, stoic, ecological) and negative (brutal, aloof, lethal, voracious for alcohol), yet in contemporary literature for children and young adults, the native characters (as is also true of African Americans) are now usually portrayed in far more complimentary ways. While in all earnestness, some authors create stories that seem too didactic in seeking to compensate for the stereotypes of the past, these new books of Erdrich and Ketchum offer writing for younger readers that is enjoyable as well as challenging, and historically complex.

Erdrich is the author of nine novels for adults, two collections of essays, and three collections of poetry along with two children's books and a previous young adult novel, The Birchbark House (nominated for a National Book Award in 1999), to which the new novel The Game of Silence is a sequel.

It's not easy to summarize the differences between the volcanically talented Erdrich's books for adults and those for younger readers. The former are more erotic and more violent, with a fabulous flexibility about conventional definitions of "realism," and an intensely metamorphic use of language, with surges of imagery born in dreams and hallucinations. Yet in other respects Erdrich's way of crossing the page is unmistakable, in any genre.

As Lillian pointed out when I asked her about what makes a good young adult novel, the most obvious difference is that the narrator -- the active, witnessing consciousness of a story's events -- is usually a child or teenager. The tenor and tempo of the narrator's voice is therefore different, and in a successful young adult novel the voice is convincing, evocative and flushed with personality, not an adult's idea of how younger people sound.

Erdrich's young adult books are never simplistic as they explore tremendously difficult experiences, including European-borne epidemics, which decimated native communities throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth century. It's certainly noteworthy that when writing for younger readers Erdrich never resorts to a "special" tone or style, like certain adults who adopt condescending mannerisms when talking to kids. The Birchbark House and The Game of Silence are as serious in scope and as beautifully written as any reader of Erdrich's adult books would hope.

As with its predecessor, the setting of The Game of Silence is a mid-nineteenth-century Ojibwe community on an island in the lake Gitchi-Igaming, eventually known as Lake Superior. In both books, the main character is Omakayas (or Little Frog, "because her first step is a hop"), who is idiosyncratic and multi-dimensional, like classic literary girls such as Brink's Caddie Woodlawn, Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables, Wilder's Laura and Mary, Dorothy Canfield Fisher's Betsy, and Alcott's March sisters in Little Women.

A substantial pleasure in Erdrich's Omakayas books is their portrayal of daily life among the Ojibwe, who are related in language and in their seasonal subsistence-cycle (summertime agriculture, autumn fishing and gathering, wintertime deer hunting, and spring maple-sugaring) to the Abenaki people of "Wabaniak" or northern New England and Quebec, our own region. While Omakayas and her family are beginning to see the ripple effects of changes in the east, for instance in the arrival of native refugees fleeing colonial seizure of their traditional homelands and the horrific diseases that precede the settlers themselves, readers are given at least a glimpse of the complicated societies that existed prior to the coming of Europeans.

Even more so than in The Birchbark House, in The Game of Silence Erdrich incorporates Ojibwe words and phrases, deftly translating them within her English sentences and also including a wonderful glossary that also can be read through for its own delights. As described in another of her recent books, Books and Islands in Ojibwe Country (National Geographic Directions, 2003), Erdrich has been painstakingly learning her ancestral language, and the steady presence of another language in The Game of Silence changes the sound, the texture, and the perspective of the story.

Another ingredient in classic literature for younger readers is illustrations, and like The Birchbark House, The Game of Silence features Erdrich's lovely pencil drawings, accompanying her image-rich prose as a visual counterpoint.

More Please!.......2006-11-12

the continuing saga of omakayas and her family draws you in and keeps you close. Several of my 5th graders read the book together and immediately asked to read the sequel. When told that it hadn't yet been published, they were dashed, and anxoius for its release. I find it poetic and beautiful, and they are hooked by the story. A teacher's dream...

Newbery? This one merits your attention........2006-03-12

This is the sequel to The Birchbark House. Like its predecessor, it transpires in the Ojibwe tribe's mid 19th century home on one of the Great Lakes and on the family of Omakayas, the middle child of three `siblings'. (Siblings is like that because of what happened in Birchbark House.) Also like Birchbark House, this one is a charming blend of historical fiction and clear, lovingly drawn, appealing characters. A young reader will benefit greatly from seeing the westward movement of white people through Native American eyes, and do that within the context of a most enjoyable story with endearing characters and emotionally accessible events, plus they'll get a smattering of Ojibwe language and its culture. Well worth giving to your middle school reader.

The rest is silence.......2006-01-22

No one becomes a children's librarian in the hopes of someday striking it rich. We all do it for our separate, twisted, obscure little reasons that probably have their roots somewhere in our youth. I did it partly because I realized that I wasn't cut out to be an archival librarian (the moment of inspiration came when my husband pointed out that I'd set my coffee cup down on my conservation textbook) and partly for two little words: readers advisory. I love recommending good books to good readers. I love recommending good books to bad readers. I love recommending good books period. And if I were to calculate the most frequently cited question I get on the children's room floor it might be, "My child loves the Laura Ingalls Wilder books. What else can you recommend?". Now until now my instinct was to grab "The Birchbark House" by Louise Erdrich and thrust it into the waiting patron's arms. Now, unfortunately, I have a choice to make. "The Birchbark House" is good, yes. But its sequel, "The Game of Silence" is even better. How can I go about not recommending the sequel before its predecessor? I can't. Just the same, "The Game of Silence" does not absolutely require that "The Birchbark House" be read in order to understand the following story. It stands on its own beautifully and it shouldn't be any wonder to anyone that it garnered itself the 2006 Scott O'Dell Award for historical fiction. It undoubtedly deserved it.

Having survived the smallpox plague of 1847, Omakayas still mourns the loss of her little baby brother, but keeps her spirit strong. Good thing too. A band of raggedy homeless people have arrived in the girl's Ojibwe camp and her good tribe takes them in immediately. Amongst the people is a baby, its mother long gone, and the perfect remedy for the hole in Omakayas's family's heart. Word has reached the tribe that the white settlers are forcing all Native Americans to move farther west despite a treaty made years ago. To verify the truth behind this rumor and to see whether it was the whites who broke their word or the Natives, four men are sent from the camp to discover the truth. In the time that it takes the men to get back (the span of one year) we watch Omakayas's adventures and traditions. As time goes one, however, it becomes clear that change is imminent and that Omakayas must allow herself to go into the woods to seek the spirits that have given her so much knowledge in the past. What she sees may make all the difference in how she lives the rest of her life.

Though I'd enjoyed "The Birchbark House" I was reluctant to read its sequel immediately. No matter how well read a children's librarian might be, it's very difficult to voluntarily read books in a genre that you yourself avoided like the plague as a child. In my case, historical fiction. I decided not to read this book simply because I'd read the first one and probably knew exactly what to expect with this sequel. Then it started appearing on all the Best Books of the Year lists. And then Roger Sutton (editor of Horn Book Magazine) started singing its praises to the skies. About the time people started murmuring the words "Newbery" and "Game of Silence" in the same breath I knew I had to give in and read it. Thank God for that. Having honed her skills already on everything from picture books to adult novels, Erdrich has sketched out a perfect tale. Characters grow and change and know one another better by the story's end.

I've always had a weakness for Erdrich's pencil illustrations, thinking them as essential a complement to her stories as Garth Williams's were to the "Little House" books. In this story Erdrich uses them to their fullest effect. Pinch, Omakayas's mischievous little sprite of a brother, is rendered here in all his round spiky-haired cheerfulness. Though he annoys those he loves past all endurance, you're just as enamored of the little guy as his doting mother and frustrated (but amused) siblings. There was one picture in the batch that I found a mite bit confusing, of course. In the chapter "Fish Soup" we see a picture of Twilight (Omakayas's cousin) gutting a fish with her hair in two pigtails above her head. Oddly enough, she seems to be wearing a short-sleeved t-shirt of a particularly modern design. It's a cute little image but if the shirt isn't made of 100% cotton then Erdrich probably should have made that clearer. As it stands it seems like a very odd discrepancy in the midst of otherwise historically accurate pictures.

In every novel there's an odd little moment here or a word there that strikes the reader as funny. For me it was the moment when Old Tallow, the warrior woman who hunts with a pack of trained dogs at her side, says that when she fell down a cliff she, "pitched ears over butt all the way to the bottom". Butt? Interesting word choice there. Still, it gets the message across. And for every little quirk in the tale there are three times as many small instances of writing perfection. As Old Tallow has a rotted finger chopped off and scalded closed (it sounds more violent than it actually plays out) Omakayas sees only a single tear fall from the woman's eye. Later, the girl, "wished she'd caught that tear. It was rare. Probably, it was the only tear Old Tallow had ever shed". Even better are sections that discuss Pinch's fish catching skills. Though his traps look like beavers' nests and his decoy the oddest shaped fish anyone has ever seen, time and again Pinch catches more fishies than anyone else. "The fish that Pinch carved was apparently the most delicious-looking fish in the world". In this way Erdrich weaves that ever necessary thread of loving humor into her books. You can be meaningful all day and bore children to tears or you can dot the text with funny and very real moments of childhood and end up with an even better book. Erdritch opts for the latter.

Here's what I love about the stories of Omakayas. They're actually interesting to kids. There are great snowball fights, snow houses, contests, and examples of kids playing in realistic ways. At the same time they're historically accurate and though they never downplay the horror of colonization, neither do they wallow in misery and woe. These books show characters proud of their ancestry who are precious to their readers because they seem so very real. People complain all the time about how depressing good books are to kids sometimes (ala "The Bridge to Terebithia"). Fine. Let's have them all read "The Game of Silence" in school instead. You'd be hard pressed to find a book half as wise and a quarter as amusing. I could probably go on and on and on about it (which is a relief after reviewing some books that take all my energy to find words to describe) but I'll just leave you with the knowledge that this is undoubtedly one of the best books to come out in years and years. A bloody brilliant piece of work.

A REMINDER OF THE BEAUTY AND BOUNTY OF NATURE.......2005-09-08

When it comes to stories of the Ojibwe people, it seems to this reader/listener that Louise Erdich writes not only with her pen but also with her heart. A native of North Dakota, Erdrich is of German-American/Chippewa descent, and she is a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Ojibwe. Thus, her novel "The Birchbark House," which introduced young Omakayas, glistened with insight and admiration for characters who lived in the 1850s.

The same may be said of "The Game of Silence," beautifully delivered by voice actress Anna Fields.

Now, of course, Omakayas is older and she has learned a great deal as she goes about her days among her people, all following the shifting seasons. There have been changes: a sister has found someone to love, and Omakayas becomes aware that she possesses a unique gift - her dreams foretell the future.

As the story opens, days are peaceful on a Lake Superior island. The people live in houses made of birchbark during the summer, then as the days grow cooler they prepare for harvest. When winter falls all will leave their birchbark houses for cedar cabins close to a town, LaPointe.

However, the Ojibwe's serenity is interrupted by white men who want them to leave the island, want to push them away from the land they call home.

Intended for young listeners, those in grades 5 through 8, "The Game of Silence" will not only offer them a wealth of historical detail but also a reminder of the beauty and bounty of nature.

- Gail Cooke

In a Circle Long Ago: A Treasury of Native Lore from North America: (Native American; ALA Notable Book)

Average customer rating:

Campfire Stories
You'll see them reach for this one time and time again.
It's a winner!

In a Circle Long Ago: A Treasury of Native Lore from North America: (Native American; ALA Notable Book)
Nancy Van Laan
Manufacturer: Knopf Books for Young Readers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Ages 4-8 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0679858075
Release Date: 1995-09-19

Book Description

Celebrate earth's bounty and the inherent value of all living things with a lavish anthology of traditional Native American animal and nature lore, selected and retold especially for young children. Representing 20 tribes and every ethnological region, this definitive treasury includes "Raven, the Rainmaker," the Tlingit tale of a generous act that brought fresh water to the earth; "The Corn Song," from the Dine, which celebrates the blue grain that is the tribe's staff of life; and "Coyote and the Blackbirds," a hilarious Pueblo legend about a conceited coyote who gets his comeuppance. This rich reference tool also contains an introduction, appendix, map, and informative source notes. Nancy Van Laan's spirited retellings and Lisa Desimini's stunning multimedia artwork make this an ideal read-aloud and a must-have addition to folklore collections. A Children's Book-of-the-Month Club Selection.

Customer Reviews:

Campfire Stories.......2000-08-09

I am an interpretive naturalist for a state park. I use the stories in this delightful book for my campfire programs. The stories are excellent for a family audience, amusing, and usually have a lesson within. There are numerous delightful illustrations. This would be a book that could be used for reading aloud to a diverse age range of children.

You'll see them reach for this one time and time again........1998-12-16

This is a book that is guaranteed not just to sit on the shelf. Since we got it, I have found it under beds, in the car, in the bathroom... seemingly everywhere one could possibly read! When it couldn't be located the other day, my son, 9 - who will not hunt for anything - actually became so desperate to find it, that he started to clean up in the hopes of locating it. Also, this is a book that will grow on you. I first picked it up because of the incredibly rich paintings of animals - my favorite is the first one that accompanies The Long Winter. But as we've read it, I've come to love it for its other, smaller illustrations. The text is great because it's not all the same. There are long and short stories and some poems that just stick with you. Nancy van Laan has done an amazing job of researching these stories - her sources includes oral histories and stories previously published only in scholarly journals. But her writing isn't dry at all, but lively. Really, a remarkable book. It would make a perfect gift for anybody - not just a child - fascinated by Native Americans, wild animals or the environment.

It's a winner!.......1996-10-01

You know you have a winner when your children are ready early for school to make time for one more quick story from "the beautiful book," before the school bus arrives. The illustrations are as magnificant as the stories are captivating! A Rare joy for the whole family

Chiefs and Generals: Nine Men Who Shaped The American West (Notable Westerner's Series)

Average customer rating:

Could have been much better...overall, not worth it

Chiefs and Generals: Nine Men Who Shaped The American West (Notable Westerner's Series)

Manufacturer: Fulcrum Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Book Description

The fifth book in the Notable Westerners Series by Etulain and Riley, Chiefs and Generals presents a collection of newly written essays focusing on noteworthy Indian tribal and white military leaders of the nineteenth-century West.

*Essays authored by university professors, leading authorities on these notable westerners.
*Profiles include Red Cloud, Geronimo, Chief Joseph, Victorio, O. O. Howard, George Custer, George Crook, Ranald Mackenzie, and Nelson Miles.
*Make history come alive with readable, well-documented, and balanced assessments of important participants in the western past.

Customer Reviews:

Could have been much better...overall, not worth it.......2007-05-13

After reading the first two chapters of this book that deal with Red Cloud and Victorio, it was enough to form an opinion of this book (which I will finish for no other reason than to see how bad it can get). I don't want to waste my time getting into details, but this is politically correct trash (especially the chapter on Victorio). The Red Cloud chapter was poorly written. If you've read my other reviews and think I know a little something about the Old West, then believe me and stay far away from this book. And most of all, based on the first two chapters, this book is just not very informative. Shame on Robert Utley for giving this a good review inside the front cover.

5-28-07
Now that I've finished the book, I will say some of the later chapters were a little better. However, it is my opinion that none fulfilled the mission statement as I understood it to be. Too often the authors spent too much time with dates instead of personalities. This book is subtitled: Nine Men Who Shaped the American West. The key word being shaped!!!! These essays should have been more in the way of a study of the individual (e.g., character, legacy) instead of a synopsis of each individual's career with what happened on what day. I can get that elsewhere. I expected insight into these men and too often the authors lost sight of this. The Mackenzie essay has two incorrect dates. P. 167 (bottom)-June 28 should read "July 28" and p. 174 (bottom)-1873 should read "1874."

Voices of Multicultural America: Notable Speeches Delivered by African, Asian, Hispanic and Native Americans, 1790-1995

Average customer rating:

Voices of Multicultural America: Notable Speeches Delivered by African, Asian, Hispanic and Native Americans, 1790-1995

Manufacturer: Thomson Gale
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Speech | Words & Language | Reference | Subjects | Books

Directories | Catalogs & Directories | Reference | Subjects | Books

General | Reference | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
ASIN: 0810393786

Average customer rating:

Ada Deer: Notable Native American
Carole Marsh
Manufacturer: Gallopade International
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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

All 4-for-3 Deals | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
ASIN: 0635015420

Ghost Dancing the Law: The Wounded Knee Trials (Notable Trials)

Average customer rating:

Ghost Dancing the Law: The Wounded Knee Trials (Notable Trials)
John William Sayer
Manufacturer: Harvard University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Leather Bound
ASIN: B000LLTK1I

Product Description

Quarter bound in leather with gold stamp on cover, gilt edges and silk bookmark. Special printing for Notable Trial subscribers.

Notable American Indians: Indiana & Adjacent States

Average customer rating:

Notable American Indians: Indiana & Adjacent States
Alan, J. McPherson , and James Carr
Manufacturer: AuthorHouse
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Specific Groups | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | World | History | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1425998895

Book Description

Due primarily to a lack of accurate data, little has been written regarding the life histories of individual American Indians. Biographical Indian sketches that have been published are about a few outstanding individuals, mainly leaders in warfare, such as Tecumseh, Weyapiersenwah or Blue Jacket, and Meshekinnoquah or Little Turtle. The authors of this volume have compiled a broad range of biographical data and have woven them into rewarding personal stories about Indian leaders of the lower Midwest (1700-1850) that will engage the reader's attention. In this book, the reader will discover what life was like for thirty-one notable American Indians of the Miami, Potawatomi Shawnee and Delaware tribes. Many of these notables include renowned warriors and patriots of the Indian cause during the 18th and 19th centuries however, several individuals are peace chiefs and religious leaders, women and white captives. For many of these subjects, their lives were interwoven with each other. In the gathering of this book, the authors have pored over letters, diaries, reports, books and internet and have traveled around the Midwest researching historical society archives, libraries and historic sites. Accompanying the biographies are individual pen and ink drawings that add visual interest to the pages. The authors write with a concerned passion about the historic Indian subjects they selected from the history pages of an earlier time. The reader of American Indian history will profoundly benefit from this biographical compilation that is highly readable and informative.

Average customer rating:

Notable Native Americans

Manufacturer: Thomson Gale
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Science | Dictionaries & Thesauruses | Reference | Subjects | Books

General | Genealogy | Reference | Subjects | Books

Directories | Catalogs & Directories | Reference | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0810396386

Average customer rating:

Ada Deer: Notable Native American
Carole Marsh
Manufacturer: NY
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000MUICXK

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