Festivals Books

I read Katie Kazoo Love Stinks! I think Love Stinks is an exiting, fun book beacause Katie turns into Cinnamon and makes a diaster when she's the candy maker. In the book I read,"Katie had turned into Cinnamon." This helped convince me that it was a good book.

I really think this book is intresting. It's the best book I ever read! I really recommend this book.Trust me I am a total Katie Kazoo fan.

You should read this book. It is a really good book. Katie is an interesting character.

This is a good book for those new to and those advanced in magic. It explains how to form a magic circle,envoke the elements,folklore and rituals of the moon.Must read for anyone interested in this subject

I learned so much about the esbats that I am surprised I got along at all with out reading this book sooner. I learned about the feast of cake and ale, which is left out of most of the pagan books I have read. And not only is this given for one person to do it also gives an example of when two or more people ar participating. I love the light hearted style and the true student feeling I get from her writting. Another taisty tidbit found in this book is her examples of rituals for every moon phase. And last but not least is the glossery of moon dieties from around the world, and not just goddesses either.

This is the same book as "Lady of the Night" it was renamed when it was rereleased. The renaming is appropriate because it fits more precisly with one of the major strenghts of the book--inclusion of the Moon God!The author not only includes the names and descriptions of Moon Gods along with the Moon Goddesses in her apendix on moon deities, She also discusses gender issues involved with moon rituals.She encourages men to draw down the moon god during their esbats. but she goes further to say that women should draw down the moon god and men should draw down the moon goddess. This is a totally revolutionary concept for Wicca and one i whole heartedly support.McCoy is a feminist, and a female (as am i) and feminist equality goes both ways!If you have always seen the moon as feminine and the sun as masculine--get ready to break some beliefs wide open. McCoy describes the Moon God and shows how the moon as masculine is as just a valid spiritual concept as the moon as feminine.Now don't get the impression that this is all the book is about. This book is very wide in scope. It is full of moon rituals--two for the full moon esbat--one solitary and one group. plus solitary rituals for the waxing moon, waning moon, moon rise, and moon set.The aspects of all these phases are described in full. There is also a dicussion on moon calendars and hints for creating your own. Part 5 of the book is full or spells and magical associations for all the phases of the moon. The author shows ways we can adapt any spell to any phase. There is also a very good chapter on advanced natural magic.As McCoy is always a supporter of creating your own rituals and traditions--she includes a chapter on constructing your own rituals. And even more helpful are the hints through out the book on activities for moon phases, and ways to celebrate the moon with others--outside a ritual settings. It has exerises on understanding the maiden mother and crone, which are really excellent.Another great resource this book provides is the apendix on moon holidays-which is from a multi cultural perspective. This is a wonderful book and i highly reccomend it.

Vilhar and Anderson, a husband-wife photographer-writer team, have put together a superb book. Through mainly visual images and pithy explanations/picture captions, they have encapsulated Japanese matsuri (festivals). The Japanese have festivals for everything and Vilhar has collected a good mixture: Gion, of course (Kyoto's most famous festival), kites framed by Mt Fuji (for Children's Day), young geisha, etc. Nobody today is doing better work in Japan/on Japan than Vilhar & Anderson. The only "problem" with this book is that it was too short. I, for one, would pay more to get more.

Matsuri, World of Japanese Festivals is a masterwork of photography. Vilhar's eye and skill with the camera captures the exquisite detail that exemplifies traditional Japanese culture and sensibilities. Like a door into historic fantasy, Matsuri gives both the well-travelled and arm-chair travellers a chance to immerse themselves in a world of beauty and ritual that took Vilhar and his wife Charlotte Anderson nine years to collect for this presentation. Well worth the price, I only wish there were a companion book of text to describe the ritual festivals in greater detail.

Matsuri - Shrine festivals, which catch the spiritual essence of Japan. This book is a MUST, if you have ever visited to or are interested in Japan.The photographs are just amazing (how did Vilhar get these shots?) and the captions very informative. I am living for >10 years in Japan, and Matsuri is one of my favourite books. Order two: one for you and one for your best friend!

This is a funny, light hearted book about a family getting together for Passover. The mother trying to make light fluffy matzoh balls always reminds me of making matzoh balls with my mother - waiting and hoping they would float. The illustrations are great and the fun and funniness of family get togethers are events anyone can relate to and laugh at. By far it is my favorite Jewish children's book.

I found this book to be very colorful and very imaginative. My three year old loves it when all the relatives start to float. He helps me make matzah balls and after reading this book, he will actually eat them. I love how this poor woman brings her relatives back down to earth. It is a wonderful and warm book that children will love.

I actually have not seen or read this book beyond what is visible on Amazon's website, but it looks like such a charming book and I would desperately like to have a copy for my son if I could find it at a fair price. I've been searching high and low to no avail. I think it's outrageous that people are trying to sell it for almost $200, and good luck to them finding a buyer. If you are also interested in this book, please try contacting URJ Press at 888-489-8242 and urge them to re-print it!

This wonderful little book uses a repetitious pattern (ala "A Hole in the Ground" or "The House that Jack Built") to explain the events of a family Passover Seder. The text is full of rhythm and the illustrations are beautiful, warm, and soft bringing to life the closeness of community and illustrating the importance of family during such an important celebration. Those familiar with the traditions described herein will enjoy the book for the memories it can help evoke and those unfamiliar with such things as "matzah", "Dayenu", and "afikoman" will delight in learning about them.

Although this is a child's book, like Tevye, it drinks to life. It's a real seder! No one sits down! Someone spills something. A kid falls alseep! The tateh can read and see naughtiness out of the same eye! Here is genuine glee and warmth. A well-meaning Protestant reviewer called its form "The House that Jack Built," but it is, of course, "Chad Gadyoh" Everything in the contextual information at the back is clear and accurate - I used it at a seder for a mixed crowd who, after they understood the references, fell in love with the rhymes. And with the girl who Reads the Four Questions Nice and Loud.

This book, especially the illustrations, captures all the warmth and poignancy of family sedars. The subtleties in the pictures (Papa's hand clutching the son's arm, who is reaching for the matzah; the child asleep on the table; the many conversations being held at once) bring back so many childhood memories. A beautifully written and magnificently illustrated book for all ages!

I just read this book to my class today. They loved it!! A little boy is going to a Memorial Day parade and finds out that there will be a surprise there. We go through the parade and he thinks that each parade event is the surprise, the thrown candy, the firetrucks, the band etc. only to find out that seeing his grandfather (a war veteran) in the parade. The mother gives a great explanation of the holiday. The book shows veterans in wheel chairs and uniforms. Great illustrations. This is also a great multicultural read.

It's tough to teach young kids about the reason we celebrate Memorial Day. The subject is one they may have trouble grasping amid barbeque parties and parades. This book sums it up perfectly and makes a wonderful lesson for young children. The various fun things Marco gets to experience lead up to the real surprise when he finds his abuelo among the honored veterans in the parade. Children will be able to identify with Marco as he watches the parade, and the excitement building to the surprise will keep them interested throughout the story.

This is a wonderful, sweet book. It is the story of a little boy who goes to a Memorial Day Parade with his mom. She tells him that there is a "big surprise." As each event in the parade unfolds, from the marching bands to the free candy, he asks if that was the surprise. Each time, his mother tells him that the surprise is even more special. At the end of the parade, people stand and begin to clap. The little boys wonders why, then spys his beloved grandfather, a veteran, being pushed in his wheelchair at the front of the group. The sense of expectation builds with each page and the illustrations are very bright and cheerful. My children loved this book. What a wonderful way to introduce children to the Memorial Day holiday and the people who are at its heart!

I got Models and Mirrors from a friend's private collection yesterday. Yeah, a delayed discovery of a brilliant work, by now classic. What to do, good books like many other good developments reach India in bullock carts, I mean, the time it takes to come from abroad; may be it has reached some centres here much earlier; I live in the fringes...Nevertheless, classic is a classic, it will be discovered and re-discovered in generations to come.
Models and Mirrors was my discovery of yesterday, thanks to my lucky friendship. One night of reading, I am conquered. Can I own a copy? I should try.
I wasn neither a follower of systems theory; nor am I an anthropologist. I teach political science; Diversity in Models and Mirrors,that fascinates. All-encompassing...Play, work, masks, clown-convincingly sweeping conception of bureaucracatic logic; True it is there everywhere, even under your bedcover!

I loved the intersections, great minds don't distinguish between work and life...Such a pleasure to sail through the pages, wondering and wandering...

Models and Mirrors, for me, is one of the rarest experiences in coming close to a thinker's modes of making perceptions, analysis and the making of connections. The ways of thinking are so transparent that the reader is never gone out of touch with the logical labyrinth, which the author creates in the universe of Models and Mirrors. The very question that arises in your mind after reading a line, the author has touched it in the very next one, leading the reader through such inspiring steps into the ecology of mind.

Rituals are no more the long, boring corridors of the anthropologist's `pure' disciplinary travelogues- Models and Mirrors have rescued them from their exclusive sites of enactment making them observable to everyone of us whatever your field or discipline may be. Similarly, it makes you look underneath the fascinating spectacles around, so that we may continually ask, how much has actually changed in our lived- in- world. How impactful are the `changes' that we usually see (mostly talk about) on the surface?

Students of all disciplines, artists and composers, theorists concerned about social transformation, intellectuals stuck up in their `cultural contexts' and anyone who likes an exciting mind traveling-can find this book authored by anthropologist, Don Handelman, significantly moving.

Models and Mirrors is such a tempting and inspiring volume; poetic and thought provoking; I carry it with me always- the most friendly, caring and challenging work I've encountered.

Sreekala S
New Delhi, 30-10-2003

Models and Mirrors, for me, is one of the rarest experiences in coming close to a thinker's modes of making perceptions, analysis and the making of connections. The ways of thinking are so transparent that the reader is never gone out of touch with the logical labyrinth, which the author creates in the universe of Models and Mirrors. The very question that arises in your mind after reading a line, the author has touched it in the very next one, leading the reader through such inspiring steps into the ecology of mind.

Rituals are no more the long, boring corridors of anthropologist's 'pure' disciplinary travelogues- Models and Mirrors have rescued them from their exclusive sites of enactment making them observable to everyone of us whatever your field or discipline may be. Similarly, it makes you look underneath the fascinating spectacles around, so that we may continually ask, how much has actually changed in our lived- in- world. How impactful are the 'changes' that we usually see (mostly talk about) on the surface?

Students of all disciplines, artists and composers, theorists concerned about social transformation, intellectuals stuck up in their 'cultural contexts' and anyone who likes an exciting mind traveling-can find this book authored by anthropologist, Don Handelman, significantly moving.

Models and Mirrors is such a tempting and inspiring volume; poetic and thought provoking; I carry it with me always- the most friendly, caring and challenging work I've encountered.

Sreekala S
New Delhi, 30-10-2003

Great book for any cat lover

author of "Hobo Finds A Home"

I received a copy of Mog's Christmas for my second Christmas in 1979 from an Aunt. I fell in love with the story and Mog's reaction to all of the changes in "her house" at Christmas time. My favorite part is when Mog thinks: "It was a tree, a tree walking!" What Mog does not see is that Mr. Thomas is carrying the family Christmas tree inside the house.
The author has masterfully interpreted the feline perception of the flurry of Christmas activity. This book is a must for any child or adult who loves cats or the hustle and bustle surrounding Christmas time. I have read this book to or with my family every Christmas since 1979. I even read this book to my second grade students last Christmas, and they really enjoyed it. I plan to make time to read this litte gem to my students every year at Christmas time from now on.

Mog is in shock. Strange things are happening at her house, and she doesn't like it one bit. Everyone is running about the house, hanging up mistletoe and decorations, blowing up balloons, baking loads of food. So Mog runs outside, and climbs up to the roof where she can be away from all of the hectic festivities. Until suddenly she finds herself in the house again, with everyone wishing her a happy holiday.

I adore cats, and Christmas is my favorite holiday, so MOG'S CHRISTMAS quickly won a place in my heart. Judith Kerr has created a lovely children's book that will show the reaction of a cat when anything about his/her house changes, whether it's for a day, a week, or more. The illustrations are absolutely lovely, and will quickly make MOG'S CHRISTMAS a favorite for the winter holidays.

Erika Sorocco
Book Review Columnist for The Community Bugle Newspaper

We have many of the Mouse books and my two year old enjoys them all. This book is really sweet and shows the love between siblings. I highly recommend all of these books by Lauren Thompson.

I bought this for my daughter a few months ago and she loves it....she especially loves the way it finishes "...because...I love you!" My daughter just turned one and even though she probably doesn't understand all of what I'm reading, she loves the cadence, the pictures, the sense of progression and that wonderful ending....which she now says along with me!

My daughters love all the Lauren Thompson "Mouse" books. We just got this one for Valentines Day and my two year old has slept with it ever since! These books inspire your child to think "what could it be?" The illustrations are simple and sweet. Must haves for any preschooler!

I really loved this book, as I've loved all the ones in the series. Filled with drawings that capture the simple essence of the holidays, and activities that actually make it fun for kids to learn about Advent and the meaning of the Christmas miracle. I used it with my kids to open a discussion as we put together our Nativity set, and it inspired each of them to create a Nativity of their own in their rooms! Galvin's work is accessible, warm and friendly. A must buy if you have children!

Jennifer Galvin's books are WONDERFUL! They keep my kids busy for hours, and the illustrations are ADORABLE. We hope Jennifer Galvin and Paulist Press keep these books coming! We also recommend My Catholic Pray and Play and My Catholic Easter and Lent activity books, also by Jennifer Galvin.

WE LOVE THESE BOOKS!

My five-year-old and my ten-year old both adored this book. Jennifer Galvin understands children. She knows what they like and she knows how they think and learn. Her charming illustrations pleased my children no end--she instinctively knows what little kids want to see. (John the Baptist not only has his camel-hair-coat and bare feet--he also has toes and toenails--details my son gleefully pointed out to me).

The "what's wrong with this picture" puzzles had my son in stitches, especially the donkey in the party hat and the presents behind the bushes (subtle hints of the true meaning of Christmas). The word search and word scrambles were not only clever enough to challenge my daughter, they were brilliantly organized, leaving her with a much more thorough understanding of Advent. This book was so much fun that my children didn't even catch on to the sneaky way the author educated them along the way. As my son followed the maze to take the shepherds to Bethlehem, he told me, "They all want to see the baby Jesus, because Christmas is his birthday." My son knows the true meaning of the holiday season now, and it's all Jennifer Galvin's fault. :)