With the discerning eye that has made him one of the most popular film reviewers of our time, Lyons recommends a wonderful range of alternatives to the videos playing (sometimes over and over again) in the living rooms of American families. Organized by category, each entry includes cast and credits, detailed plot summaries, suggested age groups, and information on the movie's background.

Beginning with Charlie Chaplin's Shoulder Arms, released in America near the end of World War I, the military comedy film has been one of Hollywood's most durable genres. This generously illustrated history examines over 225 Army, Navy and Marine-related comedies produced between 1918 and 2009, including the abundance of laughspinners released during World War II in the wake of Abbott and Costello's phenomenally successful Buck Privates (1941), and the many lighthearted service films of the immediate postwar era, among them Mister Roberts (1955) and No Time for Sergeants (1958). Also included are discussions of such subgenres as silent films (The General), military-academy farces (Brother Rat), women in uniform (Private Benjamin), misfits making good (Stripes), anti-war comedies (MASH), and fact-based films (The Men Who Stare at Goats). A closing filmography is included in this richly detailed volume.

In the year 3000, you are the first archaeologist to dig up a parking meter - describe the find in your daily log book. More than 60 similarly creative writing exercises, each comprising a teacher page and a reproducible student handout, build skills in nonfiction (such as personal narrative, biography, opinion, informational writing, and business letters), fiction (including descriptive writing, character, point of view, the narrator's voice, and flashbacks and foreshadowing), and poetry. The book includes indexes of authors cited and skills addressed. Grades 6-8. Illustrated. Good Year Books. 153 pages.

Educational resource for teachers, parents and kids!

This study examines children's films from various critical perspectives, including those provided by classical and current film theory.

This directory lists nearly 500 agents across the United States--and even a few in Canada. Writers will find listings organized by literary agents (fee-charging and non-fee-charging) and script agents (TV, movies, and plays). Through articles written by professionals, the book also answers the most frequently asked questions about agents--what they do, where they are, and how to sign and work with them.