Festivals Books

I love the Willow books. They are so charming, and sweet, and gentle. The watercolour illustrations too are soft and muted and downright adorable. Especially this Christmas story contains some pictures so sweet and pretty I'd like to frame them!

These books are perfect for a soothing, quiet story before bedtime--I would recommmend them for 3 to 6 year olds.

If you like stories with a delicious British flavour--like Wind in the Willows or The Hobbit--then you will definitely love these delightful picture books, in which Willow lives "on Paradise Farm, at the bottom of Appleby Downs".

Picked up this sweet and gentle holiday book last year to share with my then 7 year old daughter. We both LOVED it! Willow and his friend, Little Pig Pink live on quiet Paradise Farm where they celebrate a beautiful sweet and giving Christmas with friends and farm animals. Colorful darling pictures and whimsical scenes with farm animals in their holiday best are so fun. This is a quiet story with a calming effect, perfect for bedtime. Enjoy!

As a godfather, I've stared giving random editions of the Wind In The Willows...something classy from another era...a completely whole other level of ilustration and literary content...the mother of my God child thought it was a great idea and loves this first items and is looking forward to the future gifts...

Good reading skills or parental read-aloud assistance will be required for this chapter from Grahme's classic Wind In The Willows: it tells of friendship and a holiday homecoming as Mole transforms Mole End to a haven of earth and cheer. Hague's beautiful paintings embellish the spirited story.

Another charming story of Eve, the fairy, and her friendships among other cultures. This beautifully illustrated book gives children (and adults) a glimpse into the colorful imagery of winter holiday traditions across our globe. As in the other Eve stories, this book conveys a positive message about friendship and diversity.

Once again, i add my comments to our own book, to offer another look into what it offers the Holiday Season. We had no luck finding a happy, introductory book to the various holidays around this time of year. ("Mom, why do people say "Happy Holidays" - how many holidays are there?") There were a few (very few) good factual books about each holiday, and absolutely no storybooks that included each light holiday. The book explores Diwali, Hanukkah, St. Lucia's Day, Advent, Los Posadas, Kwanzaa, and Chinese (Asian) New Year - each holiday celebrating light and having a specific light object associated with it. We researched for over a year looking for a Islamic holiday to include, but to no avail. Rather than include it falsely, we explore Ramadan (which sometimes occurs in the winter) on our website: www.pappyholidays.com. Also on the website, you will find coloring pages for each of the holildays and other "Eve" resources for families, teachers and kids. We sincerely hope you enjoy the book and learn as much as we did through this lighthearted and light-filled book.

If you can never remember the words to the classic carol, this is a great book. It is wonderfully illustrated depicting two bears in the woods. Everyday they dance and move thru the 12 days of Christmas until they eventually marry. The pictures have all the classic characters in the song, ex. lords-a-leaping, swans-a-swimming etc. It will leave you singing all day, "And a partridge in a pear tree!" Great for reading aloud and getting into the holiday season.

Frances Tyrrell has created a beautiful Christmas book using the Twelve Days of Christmas song as her inspiration. The captions of the bear couple are endearing as they proceed through the courtship ritual and eventually marry. These are exquisite illustrations - delicately drawn and painted - and the whole captures the joy and celebration of the season - here, appropriately set in the North Woods. I love this book for its details (I'm constantly seeing new things in the pictures), its spirit and warmth. Highly, highly recommended.

Please email me at debi_0712@yahoo.com if you have a copy for sale! thanks.

Ashley has slipped her little secret and now her friend Lou has gone back in time! Lou has an amazing adventure in the 1960's as she attends Woodstock. Will her life ever be the same after this time-travel journey? I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in history or time-travel. It is very well written.

RECOMMENDATIONS FROM HONORABLE JOHN PRESCOTT, DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER OF UNITED KINGDOM AND OTHERS
Recommendation by Eric Chipps, Chipps Management Consultants
In today's world of international conflicts, religious strife, North and South disparities, terrorism, extremism and unilateralism, harmony renaissance is the only common value universal solution. The tide of Harmony Renaissance is inevitable. All present will become pioneers of Harmony Renaissance. Harmony advocates non-violence. Its' premises are tolerance, acceptance, respect, equity, patience and humility. As powerful as we are we will not have nobility and hope unless we practice humility. This is the new global awareness. Harmony is the conduit to facilitate multi-directional cultural flow not just from West to East and North to South. Harmony is the all-embracing unifying force for unity in diversity.

Dr. Fung has initiated the World Harmony Organization in North America and has already attracted interest and support. It is a growing influence in North America, Europe and China from important figures in academic and social circles, economics and politics, as well as a growing number of concerned citizens in many countries.

Clearly, the policies of confrontation currently contributing so much to world tensions are unproductive, as well as damaging to the progress of society. By developing the ancient Chinese promotion of harmony, the Organization hopes to become again the third pillar in supporting democracy and religious principle as the foundation of a more peaceful and productive world.

More information can be obtained from the Organization's website at WorldHarmonyorg.net which allows a measure of the extent to which harmony is increasingly an influence. You may also contribute opinion via WorldHarmonyforum.blogspot.com By his talk today, Dr. Fung hopes to generate recognition among influential people of the role that a young, dynamic America, endowed with resources should be advocating harmony renaissance.



Excerpt from Jan 2007 speech by Hon. John Prescott, Deputy Prime Minister and First Secretary of State, United Kingdom:
There's been a great deal of talk about harmony in recent times. In fact, the academic, Francis Fung, has argued in his recent paper "Chinese Harmony Culture: Old and New - Promise for a Less Confrontational World" that China is witnessing a harmony renaissance.
He claims that great debates are happening today in China over whether Socialism with Chinese characteristics can be Socialism with harmony. And Fung maintains that China's harmony socialism will provide an alternative model, as the leading system of governance in the 21st Century.
Indeed, I note that in October the Chinese Communist Party launched a national campaign to build a more harmonious society. In doing so, China appears to be reaffirming its own rich cultural tradition of harmony.
And now, opening the Sheffield Confucius Institute, I reflect on the fact that this emphasis on harmony between man and nature is part of a tradition of Chinese thought going back 2,500 years. This tradition has, of course, evolved and changed over time."



Blog Response by Morgan Steacy

I have been reading professor Fung's letters and articles, posted to his blog site for the last week, and have become comlpetely enraptured by the hope of future possibility that they bring. Although there is nothing that I could do physically, as I am in Toronto, and the World Harmony Festival is taking place in San Francisco, if there were anything that I could do from home to volunteer my time over the summer months, I would be thrilled to be a part of something that I have been advocating myself for some time privately.
I am currently a student at York University in Toronto, Canada, studying East Asia focusing on China. My main area of concern lies squarely within your realm of thought insofar as ascertaining the facets of Chinese thought that may be able to ameliorate the social situation of my country and the world at large. I am certain that I would be able to contribute to your organisation with great success.
Please feel free to contact me by any means, and I look forward to being in touch.

Having identified the problem as being an inability to understand the varied needs and values of nations as they relate to the implementation of human rights, Fung goes on to suggest that it is the imminent Harmony Renaissance that could reveal the solutions. Harmony requires that people allow for the differences between cultures without passing judgement. It requires that people take the time to ask questions and make decisions after they have heard the answers.
The concept of ritual is instrumental to Confucianism and may lend itself well to this discussion. The tenet holds that in carrying out ritual properly one becomes a human being. The performance of ritual requires genuine interaction with another individual or individuals. If we were to think of every moment as being ritualised, we would be forced to connect to the other that we intend to judge rather than simply imposing our own standards upon the other on whom those standards have no bearing.
Excusing nations for all violations of human rights is certainly not what is being called for. Nor is Fung necessarily claiming that each nation should independently determine the degree to which human rights can be provided. Rather the importance of what Fung is claiming lies in the acknowledgement and acceptance of difference. The manner in which a country behaves is determined by its history, its geography, its current socio-economic make-up and intangible cultural traits. Without a profound understanding of all factors involved it is impossible to understand decisions made. It is with this outlook that modern leaders and citizens must enter the global-political realm and replace careless judgements with calculated decisions based in the growing tide of harmony.
Morgan Steacy, York University, Department of East Asian Study

Really funny Spongy stuff! Patrick goes and thinks that
he's valentine going to get the greatest ever and he does!
But it's funnier than that! He has to wait FOR HOURS at
the carnival and he gets..well PRETTY MADDD! Their are VERY
great pictres! Especially another brilliant and hilaourious and
HISTERICAL cartoon scene where Patrick thinks Spongebob
(his best friend) is trapped in a rock!
GREAT SPONGEHALICIOUS BOOK!
Very fun and well done!
Even if you'v already seen the episode it's still funny to read!
And of course I didn't give EVERYTHING away..just read it
yourself!

The colors in this book make my kids busy for hours on end! Parents, if you like me and need some time with your spouse then GET THIS BOOK!!! the words are very easy to learn and my kids love for me to read to them and gives us a chance to get together after a hard days work. If you havnt noticed that a lot of the books that are great and that are spongebob are by Mr. Terry Collins him self. I have had the pleasure of meeting this kind hearted man and now i have a signed copy of all my spongebob book colletion! if you have the means, i HIGHLY suggest you look up what else this very talented writer has done.

This book is perfect - for anyone who was born in 1984, that is. It's full of interesting tidbits of information. It's neat finding out what wild and strange things happened on the day you were born, or the day your friends were born, etc.

I really enjoyed this book. There is at least one event that occured on everyday of 1984.

Our family has enjoyed sharing this book with each other every Christmas for the past 10 years. We carefully pull our signed copy off the shelf 12 days before Christmas and read a chapter every night until Christmas arrives. The story is enchanting as it gently invokes themes such as selflessness, realizing the need and asking for forgiveness, the need to be loved and have someone or something to love, respect among all of God's creation, and sacrificial giving that renders true joy; bringing a wholly more authentic and heartwarming perception of Santa than the usual red suit and red nosed reindeer. Highly recommended!

Children of all ages will love this classic and original story. This is a good one!

I heard the British broadcaster Michael Freedland describe this as "a God-send as I sit through the otherwise unintelligible and protracted High Holyday services." How right he is! It brought all the prayers to life: their theology, meaning and purpose, literary and poetic structure, origin, allusions, history, biography of authors, etc. It also taught me the reason for all the things we do at this High Holyday period, the origin and development of the festival, home customs (it made everything so easy and enriched our home celebrations) and festival traditions around the world.

I wish this book had been around as I was growing up. It would have converted my reluctant visits to synagogue at this period into a fascinating and enriching experience, and would have deepened my attachment to Judaism.

Still, it's not too late. Order the book, quick!