Performing Arts Books

Robert Pattinson: Eternally Yours

Isabelle Adams

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Subjects -> Children's Books -> People & Places -> Biographies -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

This Book was Lame! 2 out of 5 stars.
4 of 5 people found this review helpful.

I love Robert Pattinson, however this book did not due him justice at all. It was juvenile and trite. Robert and Edward deserved a better turn. I hope someone else puts together a better Biography of this up and coming young man, I would like to see great things for him as a genuine actor, NOT a teen idol. I believe that label would spell career disaster for him. Best of luck to you Rob, you appeal to more than just teenagers! I'm sure we will see in much more, I just hope the films you choose serve you well.

Editorial Review:

Here's everything you need to know about gorgeous Robert Pattinson. From his early days in amateur theater . . . to landing the role of Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire . . . to the amazing moment he found out he would play Edward Cullen in the movie of Stephenie Meyer's Twilight!

Sigh over eight pages of glossy photos, be surprised by what Robert loves and loathes, and discover exactly what he looks for in a girlfriend in this inside scoop on a megawatt star!

Jammin' with the Jonas Brothers: An Unauthorized Biography

Lexi Ryals

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Jonas Brothers are Keepers 5 out of 5 stars.
18 of 18 people found this review helpful.

I read this book before I gave it to my Granddaughter. I am truly impressed by all the Jonas Brothers. Nick Jonas sounds like a wonderful, spiritual and gifted, young man. The entire Jonas family sound like a great support group for these boys, as they climb the ladder of success.
The book is a very fast read. Most of it is taken from interviews. I will give you a good insight into the boys. If you like the Jonas Brothers, you will love them more, after you read this. If you don't know how you feel about Jonas Brothers, after you read this book, I think you will be a fan. I know I am.

Editorial Review:

These brothers are already a tween sensation!

Girls can’t get enough of these adorable boys who have recorded two successful albums, guest starred on Disney’s Hannah Montana, are special guests on Miley Cyrus’s Best of Both Worlds Tour, and have just filmed a pilot for a Disney Channel series. We’ve got the inside scoop on these crooning cuties from their younger years to their current star status—complete with four pages of color photos!

Just Jonas! The Jonas Brothers Up Close and Personal (Star Scene)

Michael-Anne Johns

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Great Book 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

My 9 year old is obsessed with the Jonas Brothers, He wants to BE a Jonas Brother. He has some attention issues, so it's good to see him reading SOMEthing. I, (the mom) haven't actually read the book, so I don't know any details.

Editorial Review:

This 48 page, 4-color scrapbook is full to the brim of fun facts about the hottest group around: the Jonas Brothers!

Disney: Ultimate Sticker Book (Ultimate Sticker Books)

DK Publishing

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

MEDIOCRE AT BEST 3 out of 5 stars.
17 of 19 people found this review helpful.

this sticker book is inexpensive, i realize that, so i was not expecting tons of stickers, but only 4 pages?? and the stickers are big, like 2" x 2" big so that's not very many stickers for the money. i would not recommend this sticker book.

lots of colorful stickers! 4 out of 5 stars.
11 of 12 people found this review helpful.

Sixty-one stickers, approximately 2 inches square, cover a broad range of Disney characters and motifs. Stickers can be placed on corresponding outlines that are organized on 7 pages under several themes: Timeless Characters (Donald Duck, Chip 'n' Dale, Mickey Mouse, etc.), Favorites Forever (Bambi, Cinderella, Tinker Bell, etc.), Instant Classics (Ariel, Beauty and the Beast, etc.), and New Faces (Mike and Sulley, Stitch, Treasue Planet, etc.) This is a fun sticker book for older kids because they can read the titles and descriptions; younger children will be able to identify the correct placement by the picture outlines.

Placement would be easier and more fun if characters were placed in the context of a scene, but stickers are quite nice.

Editorial Review:

Building on the success of such titles as Toy Story: The Essential Guide and Dinosaur: The Essential Guide, the DK creative team has been given unlimited access to Disney's considerable archives to chart the development of the Disney Company, from its early days in the 1920s to the present. Kids and collectors will treasure this sticker book filled with Disney facts and lovable characters. The more than 60 stickers include images of film cells, sketches, theme parks, and more.

The Man Who Walked Between the Towers

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 50 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

The Hire Wire Act Over the World Trade Center 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

This is a wonderful story of Philippe Petit and his walk between the Twin Tower of the World Trade Center. It is done in a very moving way and the story is truly touching. I can't believe he did it! Since the towers are no more, the story is even more eloquent.

Great tool for the classroom! 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Love this book! My partner teacher and I use this book each year to teach a lesson to our 5th graders on September 11th. What better way than to give them some background of the towers and to draw their attention in...Then, to let them ponder on the thought as it ends that now the towers are gone. Wonderful book!

Editorial Review:

In 1974, French aerialist Philippe Petit threw a tightrope between the two towers of the World Trade Center and spent an hour walking, dancing, and performing high-wire tricks a quarter mile in the sky. This picture book captures the poetry and magic of the event with a poetry of its own: lyrical words and lovely paintings that present the detail, daring, and--in two dramatic foldout spreads-- the vertiginous drama of Petit's feat.

Walt Disney: Young Movie Maker (Childhood of Famous Americans)

Marie Hammontree

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

I hope more people read this exciting book. 5 out of 5 stars.
12 of 14 people found this review helpful.

This book was enjoyable. Marie Hammontree described how a person can be a big success while being a little poor. It shows the ups and downs of Disney's life. She describes what it took to get to the top of his career. This book tells who he was inspired by and how they helped him. She told me his problems in his life and how they were solved. It gave me the puzzle pieces to his life so I could better understand it. All in all I think it was a really informative book.

Best young person's bio on Walt Disney 5 out of 5 stars.
7 of 8 people found this review helpful.

There are several books that put the biography of Walt Disney in a format meant for children, and this is the best of them. The majority of the book tells what Walt's life as a child was like. The publisher has produced a whole series of bio type books for young people, and has a good formula. They try to put the child in touch not only with the life deeds of the man, but his personality, and how he got his start. In understanding a great person from history, it is tremendously useful to know not just what he did, but why he did it. Who and what influenced this person. What was he like as a kid himself? Without these it is hard for a kid to connect to the historical figure, and this book accomplishes it very well. I highly reccommend! For a good adult bio, check the Bob Thomas book, or the Amy Boothe book.

Editorial Review:

In the childhood story of an American original, readers learn how a farm boy in Missouri grew up to be the father of Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Pluto, Goofy, and scores of other beloved characters.

I Dreamed I Was a Ballerina

Anna Pavlova

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Subjects -> Children's Books -> Arts & Music -> Performing Arts -> Dance -> Nonfiction

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

The Beginning of a Dream..... 5 out of 5 stars.
17 of 17 people found this review helpful.

Taken from her 1922 memoirs, Pages Of My Life, dancer Anna Pavlova tells of her first experience at the ballet as a little girl. Her simple and gentle words are full of imagery and passion as she relates the wonder of watching the Sleeping Beauty ballet...the sounds of Tchaikovsky's music, the mesmerizing beauty of the dancers, and the roar of the audience. On that thrilling afternoon her love affair with dance began, and a dream commenced that set the course of her life. Ms Pavlova's lovely text is enhanced by the magic and wonder of Edgar Degas' paintings. His artwork transports the reader back to this long ago performance, and together words and art bring that day to life. Perfect for youngsters 4-8, I Dreamed I Was A Ballerina includes short biographies of both Pavlova and Degas, to complete the story, and is a masterpiece to be treasured by aspiring ballerinas and artists, everywhere.

Editorial Review:

A young girl's discovery of ballet is combined with the magic of French Impressionist Edgar Degas's paintings to create a story as delicate and lovely as the ballerina herself. Drawn from the 1922 autobiography of prima ballerina Anna Pavlova, this reminiscence tells of her first trip to the ballet to see Sleeping Beauty with her mother. Her youthful words reflect the sweet wonder of the experience, as well as the gentle love between mother and child. The moment the breathless Pavlova voices her desire to dance on the stage one day, followed by her mother's response that she is "her silly little dear," is made all the more poignant by the reader's knowledge that this particular little girl's dream did come true.

Filled with the enchanting details of the ballet, and perfectly accompanied by the famous ballerina paintings of Degas, this is a book to be treasured by dancers, art lovers, and devotees of ballet alike. (Ages 4 to 8) --Emilie Coulter

Who Was Elvis Presley? (Who Was...?)

Geoff Edgers

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

elvis by mathias 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

elvis is sad story in the begining but then comes happy times when elvis gets his his first guitar on his 11th birthday and evevn better when he makes his big comeback I really liked it

this is a cool mini book on Elvis 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

in remembering his death around this time of the year this is a good book for a younger era to find out who Elvis Presley was and what made him who he was as a artist. this book covers alot of territory and isn't long and it is a cool book for a newbie on Elvis.

Editorial Review:

Put on your blue suede shoes and get ready for the latest title in the Who Was…? series! The King could not have come from humbler origins: Born in Tupelo, Mississippi, during the Depression, he grew up with the blues music of the rural South, the gospel music of local churches, and the country-western classics. But he forged a sound all his own—and a look that was all his own, too. With curled lip, swiveling hips, and greased pompadour, Elvis changed popular music forever, ushering in the age of rock and roll. Geoff Edgers’s fascinating biography of this icon of American pop culture includes blackand- white illustrations on nearly every spread.

Harry Houdini (DK Biography)

Vicki Cobb

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Subjects -> Children's Books -> Obsessions -> Magic

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

The life of Harry Houdini, the world famous "master mystifier" 5 out of 5 stars.
11 of 12 people found this review helpful.

This DK Biography of Harry Houdini is described as "A photographic story of a life," but I can tell you up front that it is not a collection of photographs with captions but an illustrated biography that is comparable to other volumes put out by this company. That means you will find over 100 photographs, artwork and artifacts, including photograph of his famous escapes, posters from throughout his career, and a look at things like his collection of handcuffs. For somebody like me who knows most of what they know about Houdini from the movie with Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh (and whatever television documentaries I might stumble across from time to time), this book is quite educational. Vicki Cobb tells about the life of Harry Houdini so it reads like an American success story. Born Ehrich Weiss, the kid who will become Harry Houdini leaves home at the age of 12, gets bored working in a factory, and starts practicing coin trips in his spare time. Eventually the son of poor immigrants would be selling out the theaters of Europe as the greatest magician and escape artist in the world.

To set the stage for Houdini's life, Cobb begins with a prologue, "Failure Means a Drowning Death," that talks about his performance in St. Louis, Missouri, on January 27, 1908. Having escaped from the local police station the day before, Houdini performs his "Death-Defying Mystery: Escape from a galvanized iron can filled with water and secured by massive locks." By the time you get to the part where you wonder how he did it, Cobb has you interested in how Houdini became the greatest magician of all time. Then we get to the fact of his life, with the early chapter devoted to how the Weiss family came to America, what Show Business was like in the 1890s when Weiss got started, and how the young Houdini learned his trade as a magician and taking his name from Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin, his hero.

Cobb pays attention to how Houdini developed his career and you should pay attention to all of the posters that document his career: they start off with lots of text and hyperbole, but by the time he becomes famous as the "master mystifier" basically he just needed "HOUDINI" in large print. So Houdini goes from "Dime Museum Harry," to "The King of Handcuffs" and then the "Self-Liberator" who conquered Europe at the end of the century. Cobb highlights a quotation from Houdini: "The whole secret is getting the first hand free; after that it is all plain sailing." The glory days of Houdini cover him as a great self-promoter, but also pay attention to his family and his work as a scholar and author in the field of magic.

The final chapters looked at how Houdini started taking risks to come up with bigger thrills for his audiences by doing dangerous things like jumping into rivers and flying an airplane. This goes hand in hand with his great creativity (we get to the Water Torture Cell from the end of the movie "Houdini" at this point). The last stage of Houdini's career deals with not only his death defying feats, but also his debunking of mediums ("The Dead Don't Talk"), which became part of his legacy when he died on Halloween in 1926 from a ruptured appendix. Houdini had told his wife that if it were possible to speak to her from beyond the grave, he would do so, and for ten years his widow Bess attended seances on Halloween to hear the code they had agreed on as proof she was hearing from him. But it never came.

If you want to know how Houdini did it, then you will be happy to know several of his best-known tricks are explained (but not all of them) in this informative biography. Cobb emphasizes Houdini's showmanship as well as his creativity in being important to the act so young readers can better appreciate the career of somebody they will never see perform. The back of the book has a two-page timeline of key events in Houdini's life, a Bibliography of more than a dozen books, a Works Cited list, and six Webs ties that will provide more information about Houdini as well as a trio of documentaries about the master mystifier (he felt he was more than a magician and therefore favored this appellation).

Editorial Review:

DK¹s acclaimed DK Biography series tackles two of history¹s most colorful figures in Harry Houdini and Albert Einstein. Perfect for book reports or summer reading, the DK Biography series brings a new clarity and narrative voice to history¹s most colorful figures.

The World's Greatest Elephant

Ralph Helfer

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Subjects -> Children's Books -> Animals -> Elephants -> Fiction

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 12 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Best True Story! 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

This was a wonderful "trip" through the lives of the two main characters. It is so awesome, you have trouble believing everything that happens to both of them on their life journey. You will not be able to put this book down. My husband, who hardly ever reads, would not put it down until he was finished. It brought tears to his and my eyes. Can't say enough.

Editorial Review:

It’s unbelievable but true! Born on the same day in the same small, German circus town, young Bram and his elephant, Modoc, had a lifelong friendship that spanned over eight decades. But it was never easy. From the breakup of the circus to the shipwreck in the Indian Ocean that nearly cost them their lives, the bond between the boy and the elephant survived the most unimaginable trials. This true story of their adventures together, and eventual rise to circus stardom in the Ringling Brothers Circus, will be a treasure for animal lovers everywhere.

The beautiful, life-like illustrations by Ted Lewin make the perfect backdrop to this amazing chronicle by Ralph Helfer.