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Remember the Batman movies? Well, the movie producer of successful movies like these and entertaining children’s television shows such as Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego?, Michael Uslan, has released this adorable children’s book. Chatterbox - The Bird Who Wore Glasses is available in a durable, hard-cover format with a lovely cover sleeve that will help prolong the life of the book. At 40 pages and full of excellent illustrations, this book is sure to entertain children.

Sad, red-headed Nancy doesn’t fit in well with the other kids who call her “Nancy Nobody”. She wished and wished for a new friend and one day the dream came true when a feathered, sight-challenged friend flew her way. Nancy felt needed, she was loved, and her world was set right by her new funny bird.

John Steven Gurney, a very successful artist and illustrator, colorfully illustrates the large pages with plenty of things to look at. Written in playful, light verse the author does mention things like prayer and “God’s love”, there fore it may appeal to a religious audience.

The book includes a CD with 2 songs and the orated version of the story by actress Brittany Murphy (voice of Luanne on King of the Hill, also known for her parts in Clueless and Up Town Girls). This could certainly appeal to the independent child who wants to “read” the book themselves. As well, the CD option may provide a few extra minutes for busy caregivers. The bullying shown in the beginning of the story, though very minor, may be useful for building empathy in the classroom for lonely and segregated individuals.

Children with family pets, especially birds, would definitely enjoy this book. Also, kids that are just becoming used to either themselves or someone they know who has recently gotten eye-glasses.

Chatterbox - The Bird Who Wore Glasses is actually the first book in a series by the author Michael Uslan. Check out the website for the book at: www(dot)chatterboxthebirdwhoworeglasses(dot)com

ISBN#: 0-97538432-5
Author: Michael E. Uslan
Illustrator: John Steven Gurney
Publisher: EE Publishing & Productions, Inc.

~ Book Reviewer: Lillian Brummet - Co-author of the book Trash Talk, a guide for anyone concerned about his or her impact on the environment - Author of Towards Understanding, a collection of poetry. (www.sunshinecable.com/~drumit)

A novel re-definition through experimentation of the classical format of the book is emerging.

Consider the now defunct BookTailor. It used to sell its book customization software mainly to travel agents - but this technology is likely to conquer other niches (such as the legal and medical professions). It allows users to select bits and pieces from a library of e-books, combine them into a totally new tome and print and bind the latter on demand. The client can also choose to buy the end-product as an e-book. Consider what this simple business model does to entrenched and age old notions such as “original” and “copies”, copyright, and book identifiers. What is the “original” in this case? Is it the final, user-customized book - or its sources? And if no customized book is identical to any other - what happens to the intuitive notion of “copies”? Should BookTailor-generated books considered to be unique exemplars of one-copy print runs? If so, should each one receive a unique identifier (for instance, a unique ISBN)? Does the user possess any rights in the final product, composed and selected by him? What about the copyrights of the original authors?

Or take BookCrossing.com. On the face of it, it presents no profound challenge to established publishing practices and to the modern concept of intellectual property. Members register their books, obtain a BCID (BookCrossing ID Number) and then give the book to someone, or simply leave it lying around for a total stranger to find. Henceforth, fate determines the chain of events. Eventual successive owners of the volume are supposed to report to BookCrossing (by e-mail) about the book’s and their whereabouts, thereby generating moving plots and mapping the territory of literacy and bibliomania. This innocuous model subversively undermines the concept - legal and moral - of ownership. It also expropriates the book from the realm of passive, inert objects and transforms it into a catalyst of human interactions across time and space. In other words, it returns the book to its origins: a time capsule, a time machine and the embodiment of a historical narrative.

E-books, hitherto, have largely been nothing but an ephemeral rendition of their print predecessors. But e-books are another medium altogether. They can and will provide a different reading experience. Consider “hyperlinks within the e-book and without it - to web content, reference works, etc., embedded instant shopping and ordering links, divergent, user-interactive, decision driven plotlines, interaction with other e-books (using Bluetooth or another wireless standard), collaborative authoring, gaming and community activities, automatically or periodically updated content, ,multimedia capabilities, database, Favourites and History Maintenance (records of reading habits, shopping habits, interaction with other readers, plot related decisions and much more), automatic and embedded audio conversion and translation capabilities, full wireless piconetworking and scatternetworking capabilities and more”.

About The Author

Sam Vaknin is the author of “Malignant Self Love - Narcissism Revisited” and “After the Rain - How the West Lost the East”. He is a columnist in “Central Europe Review”, United Press International (UPI) and ebookweb.org and the editor of mental health and Central East Europe categories in The Open Directory, Suite101 and searcheurope.com. Until recently, he served as the Economic Advisor to the Government of Macedonia.

His web site: http://samvak.tripod.com