Festivals Books

I don't think that I could possibly have been so moved by this had I not known poverty, and a good deal of it, from time to time. Peretti knows (as do many who have known the Lord for a long while) that the journey towards compassion is actually a very tough one, join the Lords' school and you may be in for the equivalent of boot camp in the Marine Corps!

Superficially a tale about a little girl who does her absolute level best to rescue her Mum from bills that can't be paid, in fact this is a extremely effective story about hope, and the faithfulness of God. That's a subject which is profound, bears telling as many times as you like anyhow, and very apt for times we now face. The amazing truth is that God is WITH us, and has promised NOT to desert us. Even as I'm writing this, I remember so much about how prayer has changed our lives, given us hope, and that the words of those promises so long ago helped us when the cupboards were empty.

And God doesn't fail. The story shows how the grace of God ignites compassion and imagination, hits the decks and everyone gets somehow changed; thats the way He is; you can't get of the way fast enough!

Well, it's just wonderful, that all I can say.

Tremendous story to produce hope in the worst of circumstances. In the story with Daniel, Ruth's son, I think he encourages children to get involved with their family instead of just sitting around watching TV. Daniel's love for his mother shows in his efforts to make her happy. It is a weighty book that discusses tough times. In the end, well lets just say it's a treasure worth finding. The illustrations are photo quality. Terrific book I would highly recommend it to anyone (including a parent) who needs inspiration.

This is a fabulous book, full of the true meaning of "love your neighbor as yourself", the struggles of our daily journey, life is not always easy, but it is always good. "All is Well" even when by earthly standards it isn't. My daughters, 7 years apart in age would have me read it to them nearly every night. I have yet to be able to read it through without crying. Chocks me up everytime I read the part of Jenny desperately searching for the ornament. Awesome! Awesome!!

This book is so touching that it makes me cry while I read it to my daughters. It really helps children (and adults too) think about how important it is to share with others. It shows that Christmas isn't just about getting gifts! And, we can share with others all year long. We added it to our home library!

I bought this book for my two year old son who loves John Deere. We read it over and over and over again. I like that the black cat (who was thought to be bad luck in the beginning) turns out to be a good cat, and that the ghost turns out to be a scarecrow with a sheet on it. It was a great way to look forward to Halloween and to help my son know that all of the scary looking things aren't really that scary.

This, as with all John Deere books, is very cute. It's got the 'toy' tractor collection in it but has a nice story line.

very cute and great for any child - especially if they are into equipment and john deere

This book and the rest in this series are absolutely darling and my 2-year old grandson just loves it!! He carries them around and loves to "read" them and be read to. I'm very glad I purchased this series and will be very proud to tell him when he's older that Gra-Ma bought them just for him.

This is a beautiful story with a good moral. The illustrations are captivating. The are reminiscent of those of Jan Brett. This is a heart-warming tale of choosing between pleasing yourself or bringing happiness to someone else.

Even if the story were not so poignant a study in the selflessness of a young girl with her own special wish, the illustrations, worthy of consideration for the Caldecott Medal, would be reason enough to purchase this beautifully done book.

Every child has their own secret wish and Annika's is to have a beautiful black pony. According to Swedish tradition, the person who gets the almond in their Christmas pudding has a better chance of getting their wish. At ten years old, Annika has yet to find that almond. But even when she does find it, the spirit of Christmas supercedes her own desires.

The story is a lovely testimony to the greater joy found when practicing the principle "it's better to give than to receive."

This book will definitely be a lovely gift to give and receive!

Our daughter, Annika, was thrilled to find this book under the tree last year. The story is light, and a bit sentimental, but well told, and the illustrations are so very Swedish...this is a fine tale of giving for Christmas. Of course, now Annika suggests we need to have a traditional Swedish Christmas pudding, with almond, and a wish for a pony...

As a book loving family, we have many books, but few capture the warmth & beauty in the illustrations as here! Each page brings bright sunrays and . . . just BEAUTY!

My husband is Scandenavian, and we enjoy the rice pudding each year, complete with the almond hunt. What a delightful way for my girls to look forward to this tradition!

The moral of the story is so pure and honest, as Annika struggles with her own desire to do right and yet to please herself. A virtue seldom seen in our time! (Sad but true!)

An incredible book!

Excellent book to read aloud to children. My sisters and I are tea drinkers, and we each have at least one daughter, so this book of tea drinking "Aunts" with a smart daughter who manages a wonderful surprise for her mother with the help of her Aunts is much loved around our house.

The only thing possibly more fun for a child than her own birthday party, may be participating in throwing a surprise party for someone else -- someone like Mama. This book is a wacky retelling of a family story of just such a surprise party. Told through the eyes of a little girl who sees herself as the only organized one in an extended family of true characters, the story is a fun ride through the chaos of planning the party and keeping the secret.

I loved the two principal characters, two aunts who are as opposite as fire and water. One nitpicks every detail of the party plans while the other puts off her responsibilities until the very last minute. And I had to smile at Dad, a quiet, good natured male lost in a maelstrom of female activity. He is left trying to remember the secret party password. Add to that cats, who like to play "Tarzan with the streamers and hippo with the punch," and you've got the recipe for some real commotion.

Told with a rare combination of running narrative and speech bubbles, this story is fun for adults and children. My kids loved reading the speech bubbles themselves while I read the narrative. And the wonderful, bright illustrations add visual energy to convey the absolute bedlam that ensues when the family tries to pull off the big surprise.

This book is really a celebration of family, and a clever look into the elements that make family special. Full of great language and imagery, it's a winner at our house.

This is a children's book that truly will delight adult readers. (Proof: I'm 37 and I've read it several times, sometimes when my two-year-old daughter, Isabel, was napping.) This sunny story is entertaining and speaks to the good (but too often bungled) intentions of families everywhere. Please read it!

This is a delightful story about a young girl who is conspiring, along with her two aunts, to have a surprise party for her mother (who of course says she doesn't want any fuss for her birthday). Her aunts have some differences in opinions over the party plans, chaos breaks out, and the girl is there to pull it all together just in time for her mom's arrival at the party. This is written from the girl's perspective, which I really like because it gives you insight into her spunky personality. The illustrations are cute, too. I probably wouldn't recommend it for children under 4, but older kids will definitely like it.

This is a fun story about Santa's challenges in delivering Christmas. I especially love the engaging illustrations by Greg Newbold.

This is a charming and beautifully illustrated book about our barnyard friends and Santa.
I highly recommend this wonderful story. Enjoyable to all young people during this
Holiday season. Your children will love it.

it's fun to read even though it's for my son because it's not all cutesy. The animals start off like my kids, not getting along and fighting but then at the end they learn to like each other and end up saving christmas

In the beginning, the barnyard is frought with selfish interests until Santa
asks for help. The sweet animals rally in charming ways. The book ends with
a poignant wish---an important message for any age group!!! It's terrific!!

I will never forget the excitement of seeing this book on the shelf. Admittedly, the heavy emphasis on outstanding photography made me hesitant. But, having been to the Festival a couple of times (and having cut through many a book related to Wagner), I had to go with it. I was not disappointed. Indeed, I would be hard pressed to suggest a better written book on the festival, its relationship to Nazi Germany, the conflict of schools of interpretation, Wagnerism, or ... Wagner! This book sails and you are sorry when the trip is over. It also provides a serious, well-organized discussion of the development of Wagner's music and the characters who desired the association of the Wagner household. The musician, performer, historian, critic, biographer, and disciple will all be entertained.

I consider this book to be very informative, on a topic that may not interest everyone, but anyone who is interested in Wagner and his music should read this book. The links the author makes between the Bayreuth festival and Hitler help explain why Wagner's music was considered central to the National Socialist ideology. Another book which I have read and which I highly recommend for people who do not know much on Wagner but would like to know more is "Wagner without Fear" by William Berger. It mentions the Bayreuth festival, but also summarizes all of Wagner's operas (except "Rienzi"), something which is not found in "Bayreuth: A History of the Wagner Festival."

This book isn't just for Wagner buffs, or opera-goers generally. Fascinating for the way it weaves the history of the festival and the Wagner family into the overall context of German history in the 19th and 20th centuries, it should be enjoyed by a much wider audience. The growth of virulent nationalism, and the birth of National Socialism and all the evil that followed were intimately intertwined with the evolution of Bayreuth, and they are part of this highly interesting story.

At no point is this book dull or didactic. The story of the relationships between members of Wagner's family are engaging. The many photographs of the various productions, as well of members of the family and notables from the world of music, are well-chosen. The description of the intrigues and genius behind the design of the Festspielhall and the design of the operas make this a book for all who are interested in the theatre. A highly enjoyable work.

This is a well-written and hard to put down history of the Bayreuth Festival. Thanks are due to Mr. Spotts for sifting through many works in German that are hard to find. However, there are a couple of curious statements that make me wonder about the veracity of the book as a whole. In his discussion of the 1951 reopening, he refers to Karajan as an up and coming young conductor from Aachen. Well, in 1942 Karajan left Aachen to assume directorship of the Berlin State Opera, and by 1951 his associations with the Vienna Philharmonic and the Philharmonia Orchestra had made him an internationally known recording artist. Hardly a young upstart from the sticks!

In the same chapter, he refers to a society that was organized around Hans Pfitzner to protest the radicalism of Wieland Wagner's productions. However, Pfitzner died in 1949, presumably without seeing the first of Wieland's stagings in 1951. No explanation is given for this statement.

In general, this is a book written by a well-informed and insightful fan, but perhaps one without a strong musical background.

for a close friend having a girl (or who already has a girl). Shower gift, birthday gift, thinking-of-you gift - this is the perfect book. I've already given it to two of my close friends, who have both loved it. My 3-1/2 year old likes this book as a bedtime story as well. Very sweet, very tender, very beautiful.

Kids have a hard time understanding that their parents were once small children. In this picture book a mom explains to her child of all the things she did before becoming a parent. She did things like make lots of noise, fought with her brother and loved all kinds of shoes! But the thing that the mom has always wanted is to have a little girl. She use to dream of that day and now her dream has come true and she is sharing the old stories of her childhood with her own daughter!

Engagingly written by Kathryn Lasky, Before I Was Your Mother is a thoughtful tribute to mothers and daughters everywhere, reminiscing about how every beloved mother was once a precocious little girl herself. Charming color illustrations by LeUyen Pham fill the pages of this tender picture book for young readers ages 3 to 7. Very highly recommended for family, school, and community library picture book collections, Before I Was Your Mother would make an especially nice gift for Mother's Day!

I received this book for Mother's Day from a dear friend who supported me through a long struggle with infertility. I was blessed to give birth to my daughter Caitlin in September, 2000. This book is wonderfully touching as a mother tells her daughter about what she was like before she became a mother, and how much she longed to someday be a mom. She tells her daughter, Katie, how she named all of her stuffed animals and toys "Katie" ... and how "she dreamed of having her own little girl to love."
"Now, I am your mother, and you are my only Katie. I tuck you in and tell you stories about the time before your time, when I was a little girl who ...slept in her firefighter boots...and who dreamed of having her own little girl to love."

For any woman who has longed for a child and has had her dream come true, this book will tug at her heartstrings for sure. And what a wonderful way for us to remind our children of how much they were wanted and how deeply they are loved.

I can't say enough about this book, as you can see. :)

Caits Mama (Who also named her dog Katie when she was a kid)

Benny's Pets is my two year old daughters favorite book. The vibrant pictures and well thought out rhyming allow us to enter Billionaire Benny's imaginary world. His rare and exotic animals explore far off lands. Mom and Dad will never grow bored of reading this book. One will try to master reading each verse to perfection stressing different words. My daughters favorite characters are Attila Gorilla, Zebra Dinah and Lilly the Filly. This book is fabulous for all ages and makes a wonderful gift.

The Mom's Choice Awards® honors excellence in family-friendly media, products and services. An esteemed panel of judges includes education, media and other experts as well as parents, children, librarians, performing artists, producers, medical and business professionals, authors, scientists and others. A sampling of the panel members includes: Dr. Twila C. Liggett, Ten-time Emmy-winner, professor and founder of Reading Rainbow; Julie Aigner-Clark, Creator of Baby Einstein and The Safe Side Project; Jodee Blanco, New York Times Best-Selling Author; LeAnn Thieman, Motivational speaker and coauthor of seven Chicken Soup For The Soul books; Tara Paterson, Certified Parent Coach, and founder of The Just For Mom Foundation(tm) and the Mom's Choice Awards®. Parents and educators look for the Mom's Choice Awards® seal in selecting quality materials and products for children and families. This book has been honored by this distinguished award.

I love this book! It so imaginative and wonderful. Every child who sees it wants one for their very own. Very positive messages boost the child into believing in themselves. And the artwork? No words to describe the whimsical pictures, on every page. Thank you, Mr Whimsy!

Wow! What an awesome book! It is a breath of fresh air to find something so creative and witty! My daughter loves this book... she loves the animals, their names, the stickers, and the map! I love that it teaches her to be rich in imagination, just like Benny! Way to go Mr. Whimsy! Everyone should have a copy of this book!

The familiar text is augmented by brightly colored illustrations reminiscent of modern stained glass windows. This is an outstanding holiday book to add to collections in church and public libraries or for personal giving to Christians of any age.

The familiar text is augmented by brightly colored illustrations reminiscent of modern stained glass windows.This is an outstanding holiday book to add to collections in church and public libraries or for personal giving to Christians of any age.

The glorious stained-glass cathedral windows of England inspired Fiona French to create this wonderful celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. The words, directly from the book of Luke from the King James Bible, are brought to life with bright beautiful designs. Although the traditional words may be too advanced for very young readers, they will be drawn to the book for the illustrations. This concise version of the Nativity would be an asset for personal collections.

The familiar text is augmented by brightly colored illustrations reminiscent of modern stained glass windows.This is an outstanding holiday book to add to collections in church and public libraries or for personal giving to Christians of any age.

Beyond Peanut Butter & Jelly is a unique cookbook that is a necessity for any caregiver's library. Complete with kids' favorite recipes, crafts, theme party ideas and childcare tips INA has produced an attractive, high quality book. Making meals fun, creating crafty artwork and nurturing nanny tips contribute to this one of a kind cookbook.

If you have children this cookbook is a must have. The book is filled with recipes from nannies, and who knows children better then them. Along with being an excellant cookbook it is also filled with tips and ideas parents and caregivers will find very usefull.

There is a birthday party chapter, a craft chapter and a section for educaters, agencies, and nannies. Even if you're not a cook this is a wonderful resource to have. Need to know how to remove gum from hair or ink from clothing - see page 50.

This wonderful book also helps to support the International Nanny Association (INA). INA is a non-profit educational association for nannies and those who educate, place, employ, and support professional in-home child care providers.

THIS IS AN EXCITING BOOK FOR CHILDREN, THEIR PARENTS, THEIR CAREGIVERS AND THE DIRECTORS AND TEACHERS AT CHILDCARE CENTERS OR PRESCHOOLS. THERE ARE MANY KID FRIENDLY RECIPES, CREATIVE CRAFT IDEAS AND SOME VERY ORIGINAL PARTY THEMES. I HAVE GIVEN THIS BOOK TO SEVERAL FRIENDS KNOWING THAT THEY AND THEIR CHILDREN WOULD HAVE A LOT OF FUN WITH IT.

The recipes are great! My charges and I are having so much fun making the recipes!!! Today we made "Painted Cookies". Very creative!