Socks Books

great book, if you are into US knitting history, this is a beautiful book for you. Lots of pictures and interesting info, the author has gone to some trouble to check her sources and debunks some knitting myths - Martha Washington amongst them. not so many patterns and not patterns that are not easily available elsewhere - but great info and great photos/images. I would suggest an important addition to any knitting history section of a library (personal or public)

What can I say? This book is a treasure. If you love knitting and are also a history buff, this book is for you. The chapters tell the history of knitting in America in chronological order, tying it deftly with events in American history. The illustrations, vintage photos, and vintage patterns allow you to travel back in time, so to speak, to see and feel how knitters did their craft, why they knit, and how they felt about it. Many of the stories are very touching and reflect knitting sentiment today--historical women knit for the same reasons we do and got the same pleasure out of it. It is also interesting to see the photos of vintage knitting pieces conserved in museum collections. For example, you can see how sock shapes and styles have changed over the years, or how sweater shapes have changes. Most touching to me were the dozens of historical photographs of women knitting. These were real women, with their lives, issues, experience of their times, and their knitting--which could either be a chore or a pleasure. Knitting tied women together (or should I say, "knit women together"?). These ladies were just like us. The vintage ads for knitting needles, patterns and materials were also of great interest, not only for their content, but for how much these items cost in past times (often pennies!). The text is charmingly and clearly written, and the stories the author tells just carry you along. She even interjects poems and songs of the times that dealt with knitting. All in all, this is a fabulous book. If you love knitting, and want to feel the kinship that ties all knitters together over centuries, don't miss this book.

A lovely book for the lover of history and knitting. It combines the two in a rather dry way, but the photos and patterns are captivating.

In addition to being an alternative look at the history of our country, this book has become an enjoyable coffee table book - for everyone. Excellent writing and the pictures alone are worth the purchase. Thank you!

I had such high hopes for this book. There are not that many books that look at knitting from a historical perspective, and this one promised to do so with lots of illustrations. Unfortunately, the writer's credibility as a serious historian is lost on the first page when she states that the English settlement at Jamestown, Virginia did not last and moves on to Massachusetts as the locale of the first permanent English settlement in America. Any child in elementary school in America would recognize that this is just wrong. Jamestown was indeed the first permanent English settlement in America and continued to thrive for many years after its establishment. I was left baffled--did she confuse Jamestown with the Roanoke Island, North Carolina colony from the 16th Century that did not survive--and how could her editors not catch this glaring error on the first page of text? Notwithstanding this serious and very basic historical error, I decided to muscle on through the book. The remainder of the book, while written in serviceable prose, could never be described as engaging and certainly not entertaining. And I can't say much for her scholarship, which seems to consist mostly of having looked at a lot of commercially published pattern books through the 20th Century and deducing what she thinks knitting was all about from those. Most of the illustrations come from these commercial pattern books as well. Finally, this book has no serious chops as a pattern book--it doesn't include any pattern after WWII and, as another reviewer has indicated, provides no insight to a modern reader or knitter on how to interpret the early 20th century patterns, which are written very differently than modern patterns. All in all a disappointment--not a good history book, not a good overview of knitting as a cultural, historical or social phenomenon, not a very good coffee table book and certainly not a very good pattern book.

It was not even worth the effort to ask for my money back.And I was generous when I gave it one star.I only bought it because they hooked me with the old buy this with that....

Got the product -- a book -- on time and it was in excellent condition. Would purchase another product from this seller.

This is a great book if you like to laugh. What a hoot!

The premise is deceptively simple: sock monkeys aren't just sitting idly on shelves waiting for human beings to notice and interact with them. They are in fact leading rich, sometimes complex inner lives.

Reading SOCK MONKEY DREAMS is much like peering through window after window of a doll's house (in this case, a turreted red Victorian two-story dubbed the Red Heel Monkey Shelter) to witness the scenes inside actually in motion, the characters fully fleshed and engaged in matters of interest and concern to them, whether we are observing them or not.

The reader is prepared for this shift in perspective by the opening chapters, in which, respectively, sock monkeys Folio and Benny Hathaway provide the history of the origin and development of their simian kind (including a fascinating series of photos illustrating the physical evolution of the species), and explain the impetus behind Benny's decision to gather stories of the Shelter's citizens.

Benny clarifies early: "Before we go any further, I think that we should get one thing straight. The way the monkeys at the Red Heel Monkey Shelter look at life is not necessarily the way all sock monkeys look at the world around them... Not all sock monkeys are self-centered, crazy, infused with magical powers, or convinced they are royalty or ex-movie stars. Not all monkeys have their own TV shows, join rock bands, or run little secondhand shops. As far as I know. But some of the monkeys here do these things." (SMD, p. 16)

The majority of the book provides glimpses into the lives of these monkeys, through snippets of interviews and articles from The Monkey Ape Vine, as well as sidebars that explain Cool Girls slang or the rules of games like Slug Bug and Slickety Wicket.

But the clever, often funny and sometimes poignant writing is only half of the delight of SOCK MONKEY DREAMS. Numerous gorgeous, full-page photographs of sock monkeys in action, using satisfyingly detailed sets, provide the reader with a visual feast. They also provoke not a few 'how did they DO that?'s. The Minibabies garden, GAGA OSME circus scene, and Zippy's surreal birthday party are particular favorites.

The vignette style of SOCK MONKEY DREAMS makes it possible to read the book beginning at any point (dreams, after all, being non-linear). It succeeds in operating on multiple story-telling levels to appeal to a range of ages and temperaments. It is both simple and sophisticated, clever and straightforward. It is by turns sweet and sardonic, laugh provoking and insightful. The characters into whose lives we glimpse are shown clearly to be as prone to foibles and follies, to hold hopes (or delusions) as strongly, to love and disdain and provoke and ignore each other as completely as any human beings.

SOCK MONKEY DREAMS is the sort of book that will stimulate all but the dullest or most jaded imaginations, and I recommend it most highly.

Whitney Shroyer and Letitia Walker, Sock Monkey Dreams: Daily Life at the Red Heel Monkey Shelter (Viking, 2006)

All the sudden there's a sock monkey revolution out there. I'm not entirely sure why, but the odd-looking, slightly ominous little dolls are all the rage again. Viking are the latest company to capitalize on the trend with Shroyer and Walker's Sock Monkey Dreams, an odd little photography book that purports to be about the lives of some sentient sock monkeys.

Okay, once the trauma of that image is out of your head, away we'll go with the review.

The basic idea behind the book was this: construct a scene, add some sock moneys, take a picture, write some text to go with the picture. Not out of the ordinary for a book of photography. This is a lot more than just captions, though. Shroyer and Walker have created an entire sock monkey civilization, replete with politics, a pecking order, the bad side of the tracks, you name it. The stories intertwine to give a complete (as far as we know) picture of life at the Red Heel Monkey Shelter. It's exceptionally clever, and well carried-out. The pictures are taken with an eye to composition, though that shouldn't be surprising given their artificial nature.

It's quite the flight of fancy, and if sock monkeys don't terrify you, you'll probably love it. *** ½

BUY THIS BOOK!! That's the best advice I can give you if you need to keep young children totally and happily absorbed for hours and days on end!

There are more than a dozen projects here, along with all the materials needed to create them. There's no need to purchase tape or glue -- it's all here. The illustrations are great, the instructions are very, very clear so that children will have no trouble at all working independently.

What a wonderful fun craft book to develop creativity while having a fabulous time! I can't recommend it highly enough.

My granddaughter and I had lots of fun with this book. It encourages imagination and creativity.

We bring this book with us when we go out to restaurants. It's easily portable because of the pockets for the scissors. The scissors are kid-friendly but still need a little supervision because they're a little sharp. The book keeps my four-year-old entertained for quite a while. Definitely recommend it to kids who are 3.5yrs or older. I've purchased five of them, to give as birthday presents, too!

My almost 5 year old will do anything to use scissors. He was very excited about getting 2 different kinds of scissors and a whole book to cut up. The straight scissors are hard for him to line up, but he doesn't really care if the lines aren't perfect. There are lots of different activities in the book and I thought this was well worth it, though we went through the book pretty quickly.

I really like this as a gift or for my kids. It has fun, easy, creative ideas and allows kids to practice their scissor skills at the same time.

This is my absolute favorite kids book. I have great memories of my dad reading this to me when I was little. My whole family (5 girls and one boy) quotes it all the time. Fun story! I now read it to my nieces and nephews and they love it!

my son received this book from his second grade teacher in 1981. i have 2 younger sons and we must have read this book a thousand times. at nite, while waiting for the school bus, and in-between. i had it memorized. now i want it for my granddaughter and cannot believe that it is no longer being published. and it is not in the library. what a crime to not have this book available.

This book is a tongue-twisting, ham-it-up with funny voices and sound effects, must for anyone who reads to children. The words themselves roll from the tongue in sheer joy; and although there may be deeper messages in the book, it's just plain fun to read. I've seldom found a book I enjoyed reading out loud more than this one, and I can't wait to read it to my granddaughter!

The book that I received was just like I thought it would be. I am very statisfied with this purchase.

This is a delightful book that children love. I have used this book as presents for children who have loved and read and read this book. I will continure to share this book because it is so wonderful.

This book is overpriced for what you get. At least at $11.98 the cover should be stiffer. A few pages, not much of a story. I was disappointed.

As an elementary school counselor, I have to point out that this is a great book to use to teach the character trait of perseverance. Abigail does not give up...when what she tries does not work, she tries something different and in the end is successful at reaching her goal!

This is a cute story for kids but I was disappointed with the book itself. It was a small paperback (which is fine) but the quality of the pictures and pages inside were not professional looking at all. Some pictures looked as though they were created on Microsoft Paint and printed straight from the computer. I guess I expected more for the price I paid.

Abigail the Snail is an adorable children's book! This silly story gets a giggle out of my son every time we read it. It is well written with creative and bright illustrations. I would recommend it for anyone with young children. I am looking forward to Abigail's future adventures!

Thank you to the authors of Abigail the Snail. What a great book. I am an elementary school teacher and I love this book. I plan to use Abigail the Snail with my students when I teach them the concepts of rhyming words and phonemic awareness. Learning rhyming words is often a struggle for my kindergarten and 1st grade students. Abigail the Snail gives me a fun new way to teach this difficult topic. The great illustrations in the book will ensure that my second language learners are comprehending the story. I also love that Abigail the Snail is written and illustrated by teachers. How wonderful. I can't wait to buy the next book in the Abigail the Snail series.

My granddaughter watches Caillou on TV and so I knew she would like this DVD. She has been watching it since Christmas.

The story is cute, the pictures are colorful and it is the perfect length story to keep a toddler's attention. Plus, the price cannot be beat!!

Caillou is my twin 3 yr. old's favorite kids character in books and tv. The books are colorful, easy to understand and cover topics that all preschoolers can really relate to. The Missing Sock captured my sons imaginations with the fun looking for a missing sock and (ugh) getting locked in the basement with Daddy!! By the way, Mom gets to be the rescuer and hero.

Caillou's sock is missing from his pile and he goes to look for it in the basement laundry room. On his way out, the door handle comes off in his hand and he has to call for help. Daddy rescues him, then Mommy locks them both in the basement when she closes the door as they are checking the washer and dryer. Obviously the story has a happy ending. Personally, I was terrified of our basement as a child. I don't know if this book would have made me more or less scared. Probably less, since Caillou is quickly rescued by his parents. I do know that my two year old boy loves it, which is why it gets four stars from me.

my son loves this book, caillou is missing his sock the whole entire time in the book, so my son takes off one sock while we are reading it, but i wish at the end when he finds his sock, they would have a picture of him with his sock back on his foot! my son didnt want to wear his other sock still after the book was done! haha not that thats a big deal, its still a cute book!

Sea Changes: A Novel is a midlife romance between a conservative man and a woman who identifies with defending the environment and other activist pursuits. They clash over political issues from Hurricane Katrina to homeland security to global warming. Yet despite their differences and the emotional pain of losses in the past, they seek happiness together in the latter stage of their lives. A heartwarming story of finding balance and compromise.

Personal experiences of the author and his mother (who lived in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina), and his travels help create realistic settings for the places the main characters, Peggy and Raoul, visit on the East and West Coast. Branley successfully puts into words the emotional pain of losing a loved one, especially a life-long spouse. While reading the story you will find yourself pondering, what would my life be like in a similar situation.

The characters in Sea Changes, loosely based on people he observed on his daily early morning ferry commute, are likeable and well-developed. The dialogue among the small group of passengers who ultimately become friends is the backbone of the story. Their conversation is realistic and lacks dependence on clichés.

Branley's sub-themes in the novel, through these conversations, the oppositional careers of the soon-to-be lovers and their adventures while dating, focus on current issues like homeland security, global warming, and how the effect of a lack of investment in community infrastructures hurts the environment. He easily makes his point about these issues without being preachy.

Sea Changes is about love, loss, grief, hardship, and ultimately moving forward in spite of an innate tendency to resist change. This debut novel is inspiring and entertaining and won't disappoint a reader looking for romance.

The focus of this work is exploration and reflection following the lost of a beloved spouse. However, anyone who has ever faced grief will find that this book hits home in ways that are poignant without being overly sentimental. Peggy thinks she is ready to move on but each cautious step she takes reminds her that transition is never easy. I like her spunk and her sense of humor. A very enjoyable read.

A woman's midlife takes new dimensions when, equipped with her past and everything she stands for, she embarks on a relationship with a commuter she meets on her local ferry. Through their romance and journeys together, she will now find out where she stands in life, as the author opens a window for us to watch. Written in a careful and solid style, I found this faceted story to be a very enjoyable read.

This novel takes you on journeys within journeys. A perfect blend of levity, emotion, drama and surprises, Sea Changes smoothly weaves the personal lives of the characters with sweeping issues and events to pull the reader deep into the story. Branley presents exactly the right amount of detail in scenes and dialogue to make the story come alive. I have traveled through many of the same places and life events as the main characters, Peggy and Roaul. Branley not only captures the feel and tone of those places, but also the pain and joy of love, loss, and life.

My 2 year old daughter loves this book. It's a very cute and funny book. I highly recommend it.

The book is about Tina and how she never wants to take her favorite pair of socks off even to have them washed! I think it is an excellent book for 4 to 8 year olds. We all know how funny it is to children to talk/hear about smelly things! "Eeew!"

The stinky smell of socks does not bother Tina, but it bothers everyone else including the animals... I think that it is hilarious to see what the stinky smell of her socks does to all the animals in her way. I also like how persistent Tina is against everyone telling her to wash her socks! And when her friends cannot stand the smell any longer, they wash her socks! And she figures it all out - why bother washing them, someone will do it for you when they are smelly enough! Her socks are washed by her friends and she gets rewarded with a matching shirt for getting her socks cleaned! Now she has two things she will never, ever take off!

Robert Munsch has done it again with a great story for the younger set and parents as well. Who hasn't had to deal with a child who loves a piece of clothing so much she won't take it off? Everyone will laugh out loud!

It's great to find books for girls that give them an alternative to the princess personna that is prevalent even today. I'm glad my granddaughters have choices like this book along with the more traditional "girl" stories that are still much in evidence today.

My family has always loved Robert Munsch's book " I Have to Go". My 4yr old liked to read it so much he brought it into the bath with him. Needless to say we had to replace it and that is when I saw all the other stories that Robert has. I bought several of his books and I have to say that "Smelly Socks" is one of our favorites. I think my son asked me to read it everynight for 1 week straight!!!!

I order this book every time I am hosting a princess party. The girls and boys always love making their own tiara.

This book was a big success for my six- and eight-year-old granddaughters. Every day, a new tiara. How much better can it get?

Great fun and easy to do. Good choice for my 9 yr old grandaughter. Chicken Socks books are the best.

My girls enjoyed making the tiaras, and best of all, it is an activity they can do on their own.
They love making small ones for their dolls and stuffed animals, though getting those to stay on is a challenge! As others have mentioned, it would be nice if more tiaras were included in the package. Great rainy-day activity.

Tried it twice with young, self-described "princesses" (and we can go on all afternoon about that one), but the gift has been a hit both times. Now what is it with this whole princess thing?

I bought New Socks for my 3 year old son who LOVES the color orange. He has a pair of orange socks himself. He likes the pictures and the silly story. The story is very simple and short.

This is a beautiful book featuring wonderful mod design. My very young babe loved the bright big pictures. But let's be honest, for children who don't read yet, it's all about how much enthusiasm the parent or caregiver has for reading the book. If you enjoy reading it, your child will. This happy and energetic little book is sure to be loved by kids again and again, in large part because mom, dad, brother, sister, friend, babysitter or anyone else with the ability to read will enjoy sharing it aloud.

I liked the title, picked it up and was initially dismayed to see the chick had the voice of "The Pigeon" (Mo Willems). Once I got past that quirk, I found some qualities that make it a good book for laps or groups. The striking (retro?) bold color scheme and simple text will appeal to babies -its first audience- which can then extend itself to toddlers because of those very same reasons, including now the cute storyline. For early literacy skills, the use of the exclamation mark comes to mind.It is plentiful here, appropriate and a great way for children to learn the art of expression within text. Both adult and child can appreciate the good humor shown here. Kids will get excited about the darndest things-even orange socks!

What is it you want out of your average everyday picture book? Do you want a story? A plot of some sort with a beginning, middle, and an end? Or are your demands a little more broad? I mean, what if a picture book went and just talked about socks for pages at a time? These days, publishers of children's literature have had their eyes opened wide by the phenomenal success of titles like, Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!. So suddenly it's perfectly okay for the narrator of a work for preschoolers to talk to them one-on-one without having to go so far as to dredge up a standard storyline. With Bob Shea's, "New Socks", all you have t do is combine an ultra-mod look with an over-the-top enthusiastic presentation and you've got yourself a book that walks the line between what's cool and what's inspired.

A glasses-wearing yellow chicklet (who is apparently named Leon, though the book never calls him that) asks you to guess exactly what it might be about him that's so new. The glasses? Not so much. No, he's wearing his New Socks. They fit him to a tee, look good, and there's nothing better for sliding across a wooden floor. As we watch, the chicken uses the socks to overcome his fear of big slides and pretend to ring up the President. When at last his energy dies down a little the chicken says to the reader, "What can't these New Socks do?" The last line in the book sums it all up. "Now I'm all excited to get pants!"

First off, this may well be the very first hipster picture book I've encountered, published in the last five years. Mod titles are a dime a dozen and you can find more rock, rockabilly, punk, jazz, and blues books for kids than you'll ever have a need for. But how many of us have ever encountered a hero with thick black-framed glasses and a singular fashion sense? If the chicken in this book confessed that he found these socks at an awesome vintage store inWilliamsburg for $3.00, I wouldn 't blink an eye. The fact that it takes a childhood staple (a sometimes unnatural love for the inanimate) and molds it into a picture book format is just gravy on the cake. So to speak.

As I may have mentioned before, "New Socks" probably owes its very existence to "Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus". This isn't to say that the two books are particularly similar. Aside from the avian hero who talks to the reader, the two are fairly different in terms of tone. No, it just seems to me that had "Pigeon" not garnered itself a Caldecott Honor and numerous profitable accolades, Little Brown & Co. might have been less inclined to take a chance on the pair of bright orange footies found here. The Mod look, coupled with the joyful storyline, makes the book unique. I can think of plenty of books that could be considered "good design" but that don't have so much as a lick of humor to them. So it's nice to sometimes see an exception to this rule. I'm not sure how repeated readings will fare, mind you. Still, I can see adults growing tired of the reading of this book long before their kids ever do.

"New Socks" to my mind, is the very antithesis of the Fancy Nancy books. Clean lines. A color palette of orange, yellow, and aqua blue. And nary a sparkle or a smidgen of glitter in sight! I mean, technically it's all about fashion, but in a completely different kid-centric way. Where "Fancy Nancy" is all about embracing the idea of fanciness in a pseudo-grown-up style, "New Socks" feels more open and honest. We've all had that one piece of clothing that we're just so jolly well pleased with. I mean, let's face it. If I had a pair of big, comfy, plush, bright, beautiful orange socks I'd probably go all nuts over them myself. The chicken here is true to himself. This is what pleases him and he's just so happy with his newest acquisition that it's all he can do not to tell you about it for pages on end.

You know who this chicken character reminds me of? Have you ever watched those old Looney Tunes sequences involving Foghorn Leghorn and his small bespectacled chicken friend? This, right here, is that same chicken only modernized, hipstered up, and contemporized within an inch of his life. As I page through the book, I wonder if it will end up being a good read aloud with kids. Put just the right amount of force, bluster, and sheer good spirits into a reading and this chicken may veritably leap off the page. It's worth a shot anyway. As new books go, it's nice to find a title that's so well and truly pleased with itself. If you're looking for something fun, but you want to purchase a picture book that'll suck in style-centric parents, youcouldn't ask for a more ideal title than "New Socks".

As a youth services librarian, a lot of crap comes across my desk. "New Socks" however is the total opposite of crap. It is so wonderful! Not only is humourous and bright for kids, but parents/readers will get a big laugh. One of the most difficult things to do is to create material for children that is just as entertaining for the adults having to watch/read it. "New Socks" totally achieves this. My favorite part is "Wood floor! WHOAH!" Because, I TOTALLY still slide across my wood floor in new socks!