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Without succumbing to ambiguous metaphors or descriptive processes, Dr. Kaner and his co-authors capture the nuts and bolts of relevant, useful facilitation skills. In clear, understandable language, he makes the concepts of this book available to newbies and the experienced alike. His diamond of group dynamics and linear diagram of the gradients of agreement are common sense approaches that allow groups to understand themselves. I have both used and recommended this book to hundreds of my peers as well as clients in many social sectors.

I am a project manager that works closely with various stakeholders for solutions to business solutions and IT solutions. Many times I found it extremely hard to have people focus on needs instead of their wants. By using the different methods alternatively, it is relatively easy for me to explore what people's interests are, instead of what they want.

In mentoring Project Managers, Agile Coaches, and Scrum Masters about the need to be facilitative, objective, and team-oriented, I have always recommended this book as a MUST READ. In fact, this book changed my work in the technical world of software development. Through Sam Kaner's very clear view of what good facilitators do to help teams move through the "Groan Zone", I found great depth in exercises and techniques for drawing out the true wisdom of software teams. The result is that I have relied upon these brainstorming, prioritizing, conflict management, and other divergence/convergence practices for creating great software organizations worldwide. It was a great resource for my own book Collaboration Explained: Facilitation Skills for Software Project Leaders (The Agile Software Development Series). And, as I continue to conduct training in agile team work or help organizations adopt a very participatory decision style for software development teams, I always recommend Kaner's book. Its approach and conviction around team power also plays wonderfully into the Lean concepts of "Empower the team" and "Amplify Learning". Facilitative leaders in software really can empower their teams and amplify their learning following Kaner's advice. Buy it!

This book is a key resource for me when designing a facilitation session. It is a much depended on resource that has guided me through some challengeing situations. The section on Building Sustainable Agreements is full of wonderful techniques to help groups meet their goals. I have to mention the "Gradients of Agreement", this is an amazing tool for gaining group consensus. The Dynamics of Group Decision making is foundational knowledge for any facilitator. When I talk to groups about this they can really relate to the "Groan Zone".

Regardless of your role, after reading The Facilitator's Guide your perspective on how to get the most out of group participation will be changed forever. Never again do you have to walk into a meeting unsure of what will be accomplished or whether the outcomes will be met. Using the tools provided (i.e. creating effective agendas, chartwriting, building sustainable agreements, and meeting closure), along with understanding how to apply the principles and values of participatory decision-making (i.e. full participation, mutual understanding, inclusive solutions, and shared responsibility) will completely energize both you and those you are working with. The material within this book is foundational to my own consulting practice, and clients rave about its usefulness, ease-of-understanding, and immediate application to their current situation. Regardless of what group dynamic you are dealing with, this book offers solid, effective, and transforming methods to re-vitalize the situation. After reading this book, words such as collaboration and partnering will take on new meaning in actionable ways. I cannot recommend this book highly enough to those within organizations wanting to more effectively involve and engage their employees.

Katherine A. Hart, EdD, Principal Consultant of KA Hart & Associates, BAodn Board Member, and ODN member

This book was very helpful and comforting. I lost my "Best Friend" which happen to be my Mom!! I felt I wasn't a lone going through is grieving processes. Even thu her passing has been over a year I understand now that even thu it may be a year it many take many more years to except and that is okay!! She is ALWAYS with me. Except & listen to signs 'cause they do reach out to US from beyond.. :)

I am still in the process of reading this book. I am enjoying it and the unique way it came about. It is a group of stories from different women. Every crayon in the box has contributed to this book. Red, yellow, black, white, rich, poor, middle class, etc.

I have had different "things" happen since my mother died and truly feel they are "things" she has sent to console and reassure me that I will be okay and that she is okay.

I plan to write the author with my experiences, since my mother's death, as she collects them and hopes to put together another book someday in the near future.

If you believe in psychics, mediums, and see things "outside of the box" this book is for you.

A very intersting book relating experiences women have had after the death of their mother.

A friend told me to read this book shortly after I lost my dear mother to breast cancer. It is full of inspiring, wonderful true stories of women who lost their mothers and had signs of them being near them after passing. The most wonderful thing happened to me after I finished this book a couple of weeks after my mothers funeral. I was going to church every morning at 7 a.m. for mass every day on my way to work after she died. One morning I was sitting in my usual pew in front of the Blessed Mother statue waiting for service to begin....I looked down as I knelt to pray at the pew seat in front of me and there was a feather! It was over 3 inches long - I looked everywhere else around me - no other feathers but the one right in front of me. I believe this was a sign from my mother. Please read this book - your mother is still with you...you will always be together.

I have given this book to about four of my friends whose mothers have died. It is a compilation of stories from women of all walks of life who have experienced some sort of "visit" or sign from their mothers after their mothers have passed on. It is so interesting and so comforting. It expresses what many of my friends have experienced but hadn't been talking about. Are these visits coincidences or are we living in a dream here and the world after this is the real world? It gave me great comfort and hope when my mom died, and I continue to hear from her in so many ways.. strange bird visits.. dog visits, dreams.. I cannot recommend this book enough to anyone who has lost a mother, whether they were on good terms or bad. I will continue to order this book and share it with my friends. Thanks for reading!

after WWII. Hegi is one the most lyric fiction writers going today. This collection centers on the people and their stories in the small German town of Burgdorf in the years following WWII and how the towns people coped with loss, scandal, illness and dark secrets. This book is a suitable companion to the more ambitious Stones From The River. Recommended.

I thoroughly enjoyed this narrative of life as seen through the eyes of a young girl growing up in a village exhibiting the usual fanfare of deplorable, uplifting, and unremarkable events.

Hegi's writing style suits her subject perfectly. She can say more with three carefully chosen and placed words than most can in ten. Her grasp of human nature in all its facets gives the reader the option of simply enjoying the entertaining storytelling or to delve deeper and discover the more esoteric aspects of cause and effect that propel our lives.

When in the mood for an overall uplifting, realistic read I suggest picking up this book. I finished the last page with regret but a feeling of having expanded myself in a most positive way. This isn't a "gooey" feel good book, at times you will want to cry, laugh, shout in anger, and yell in frustration.

Wonderfully written but generally morbid. I loved Stones and immediately again appreciated Hegi's incredible writing ability. Like Stones, the environment in which the stories take place is grey and depressing. Some of the stories are very uplifting but most are about horrible things that happen to regular people. The only reason the repetition of this type of story makes sense to me is that at a certain age these are the types of things kids focus on.

The term "hard to describe" comes to mind after reading the final page and closing the book of these wondrous, sad, lovable, heroic set of stories.

As the main character, Hanna, plays out the highs and lows of her tragic life, Ursula Hegi writes from her heart of how difficult was the reconstruction of life for most Europeans after World War II.

I was totally hypnotized by the magic of this novel.

My mind wandered to stories I had heard.
The suffering and hardships which had been spoken of by "real" people lingered in my psyche until now and will do so forever.

I am totally mesmerized by the strength of those who have encountered a crisis of any kind.

Thank you, Ms Hegi, for this beautiful account of an all too common tale.

-Yvonne Bornstein, Author, Eleven Days Of Hell - My True Story Of Kidnapping, Terror, Torture and Historic FBI and KGB Rescue

Ursula Hegi uses her usual hypnotic prose in this book, which flows like the water in the rivers that she loves, even as fast as 8 kilometers per hour like the Rhein. The stories continue to flow seamlessly, through her whole book. Yes, "stories," as even though the book is a novel, it is composed of chapters, which are in fact free standing stories in and of themselves. All the stories are narrated by her protagonist, but each story could be lifted out of the book, and be self-contained.

Her subject of each story is unique, and yet it is all mixed with her wondrous elucidation of the struggles, feelings and progression of the German people in `reconstruction' after the World War II. The people left, in so many country towns of Germany, in the aftermath of the war. These people were only trying to live; before, during and after the war. They were not part of the political maelstrom we call National Socialism. Their lives were very much more simple than that, and they did suffer quite terribly, yet they stoically went on, as people have proved in every corner of the globe, that this is what human beings do. They pick up what is left and go on.

Hegi does not concentrate on the effects of the war, they are coincident with the life that is found in post-World War II Germany. Hegi concentrates upon the life of her protagonist, a very smart and very sensitive young lady, from age 7 through about 14, as she grows up in this environment. The problems that she encounters though are the normal problems that all people encounter in every environment. Only the backdrop has to do with where they are and what the landscape is like. Hegi pays attention to that, but not overly, it is the people that are her subject: from Love to Death, from teenage pregnancy to sexual child abuse, from amputation to neural disease, these are the things that Hegi speaks about, and how they affect her narrator as she grows up in the midst of it. As she grows up in life, perhaps wherever she might be.

Hegi writes modern day literature. It is worthy of the classification, and will endure the test of time. All readers who enjoy wonderfully written contemporary literature should not miss the opportunity to indulge themselves in Hegi's book.

Frog and Toad where helpachful to eatchather.There storys where creatav.I like Frog best.He teaches Toad alot of things.Frog and Toad spend all year together.

Frog and Toad All Year continues in the delightful and thoughtful tradition of Arnold Lobel's books. It has stories for each season and as always they are deceptively simple but actually full of love, truth, good values, and humour. My daughter's, 3 and 5, love them.

Frog And Toad All Year


Hi, if you are a fan of Arnold Lobel's books, and you have not read Frog And Toad All Year, then you might want to read it.

If you like ice cream, then you should read page's 30-42. It is about Frog and Toad sitting by a pond Frog wishing for something sweet like ice cream. Toad thinks that is a great idea, so he gets some but before he can make it back it melts. They both go and get more ice cream. But instead of going back, they sit under a tree by the store. I like this chapter is because of the ice cream melting.

I liked this book because of the lessons like the lesson in chapter Ice Cream and the lesson is never travel with ice cream on a hot summer day.

If you are scared of being alone, well, you might pick Frog and Toad All Year by Arnold Lobel. Find out if Toad will ever learn how to be alone.

In the beginning, Toad was so nervous to be alone in the sled. So Frog was behind him. There was a big bump and Frog fell out. Toad was still on the sled. And he went by himself all the way to the bottom. Toad learned that being alone is not that bad, and you don't have to be scared.

If you like this book you might pick others in the series. There is Frog and Toad are Friends and Days with Frog and Toad.

I was at a wedding where the minister was a very good friend of both the bride and the groom. When it came to the part of the service where the minister imparts words of wisdom, he started to read the Frog and Toad story of "The Surprise." It is all about how one October when the leaves had fallen from the trees Frog decides to go to Toad's house to surprise his friend by raking up all the leaves on his lawn and Toad decides to go to Frog's house and do the same thing. The minister read the story, showing the surprised groom the pictures, and when he finished the story he explained how it was all about thinking of somebody else before you think of yourself. All I was thinking is that I have to get my hands on this story.

"The Surprise" is the fourth of the five stories that make up "Frog and Toad All Year," a Level 2 (Reading with help) "I Can Read Book." The stories begin and end with winter, starting off with "Down the Hill" as the two friends go sledding and end with "Christmas Eve." In between Toad finds that Spring is waiting around "The Corner" and buys some "Ice Cream" cones for he and his friend to enjoy, before it is time to rake the leaves. Lobel's stories have an exquisite simplicity that should really resonant with young readers. I know that frogs and toads are both amphibians, but I had to look up the biological differences: toads have brown skin that is dry and leathery because of convergent adaptation to drier climates and environments than frogs. So there is a reason why frogs are green and toads are brown. What that means to kids is not evidence of convergent adaptation, but rather than Frog and Toad are alike and yet different. In the end what is most important is that they are friends. Whether you think of yourself as a frog or a toad, you still need a friend and friendship is what these stories are all about.

"Frog and Toad All Year" was originally published in 1976, the fourth of Lobel's collections of stories about these characters. It follows "[[Frog and Toad Are Friends" (1970), "Frog and Toad Together" (1971), and comes before "Days with Frog and Toad." Each has five stories and if I think this one is the best it may just be because it was the first one I happened to read. If you have the soundtrack to "A Year with Frog and Toad," the musical adapted from Lobel's charming stories, you will find that three of these stories end up in Act II. "The Surprise" becomes "He'll Never Know," "Down the Hill" retains its title, and "Christmas Eve" becomes "Merry Almost Christmas." I mention all this because once your young reader reads one of these books they are going to want to read the rest, and when they find out that there are only four books you might need something else to keep them happy and the musical is out there to be enjoyed as well.

All I can say is that I am disappointed with this book.

We're expecting our third child and I picked up this book because I liked the title. I figured almost two years worth of information in one book would be nice since we already kind of know about preganacy and the baby's first year. I wouldn't have to read too much with my busy schedule and maybe get one or two good tips I didn't get before. Was I wrong!

This book is not thin, total 317 pages. And yet, it reads so easy and fast (even considering my first language is not English). As I was reading this book, I was amazed how much information this book is packed with! This book covers not only the generic facts on how your baby grows, but also suggests what you can do as parent(s). It also has many wonderful photos.

Dr. Greene covers physical stuff such as nutrition, but also covers how you act and think may affect your baby. He also covers in detail how the baby develops - very informative and I had to read several passages to my husband. His respect and love for the life also can be felt throughout the book which also increased my own respect, awe, wonder, and love for our third baby.

I love to read and I've skimmed through many books on pregnancy, but this one is the best one and I am reading this thoroughly. This is like an all the best books on pregnancy and first year combined in one!

Although I read this book late in my pregnancy, I would recommend it to any expecting parents! I thought that his insight was more direct (and aligned to my own personal philosophies) than most expectant 'mom' books. Dr. Greene's other book, Raising Baby Green (my personal favorite), encouraged me to pick up this one, and I feel as though many moms and dads have a lot to learn from his experience as both father and pediatrician. Every question from should I eat organic to which diapers to use are covered- don't miss out on this book (it would also make a great shower or congratulations gift!)

My wife and I recently were blessed with the birth of our first child. Being new parents we often have felt overwhelmed and extremely inexperienced. Dr. Greene's book has proven informative and comforting in those moments when we needed a little helpful advice. "From First Kicks to First Steps" is easy and fun to read, and is a great resource for anyone with a little one at home or on the way.

Dr. Greene has put together a remarkable guideline that takes expecting couple from pregnancy through toddlerhood. Much like his award-winning children's health website, DrGreene.com, he does this in an engaging style with well-researched information.

Expectant mothers (and fathers) should look no further. This book is destined to be the "must-have" book for parents-to-be.

Daniel Z. Sands, MD, MPH
Assistant Clinical Professor, Harvard Medical School

As a 4th grade teacher, I am always looking for books to incorporate into my Earth Day unit. This is my new favorite.

Gaia Girls Enter the Earth tells the story of Elizabeth, a 4th grade girl who lives on a family farm that is in danger of being taken over by a factory farm operation to raise and slaughter 7,000 pigs a day. Elizabeth learns of powers she has to help save her own and surrounding farms, while readers learn about the environmental impact of factory farms. The message is powerful and not preachy, and is embedded in a story that will make you long to start growing your own garden and appreciate the natural world around you. The story is wonderfully vivid and suspenseful.

As a 30 year old I was hooked by this book geared towards a younger crowd. I love reading good YA and this is up there on my list. It wasn't preachy and had some great characters who were well rounded. I am totally hooked and can't wait to read the rest of the series. :)

Thank you thank you thank you to the author, illustrator and publishers of this book!!! My daughter is 10 years old and absolutely loves it. She loves to read but can be very picky about books! We happened to be at the Boston Museum of Science when the author was there and my daughter had to have a signed copy after talking to Lee Welles for a few minutes. We are very eco-concerned and I am glad to see a book that really relates to this generations problems and the fact that they really do need to start getting involved and getting there friends involved in fixing the situation NOW!!! SO again THANK YOU!!! I truly believe that this book may help a lot of young adults step up and make a difference!

My daughter (age 11) just loved the book. She felt it was very suspenseful and can't wait til she reads the next one. In this book, Harmony Farms creates a town disagreement in Avon by changing everyone's opinions on farming. Elizabeth's special powers help her when she needs them the most. Great book and keep up the good work, Lee Welles!

Elizabeth Angier is a fourth-grader who lives on a farm. She helps her parents weed the large vegetable garden, dye skeins of wool from their sheep, arrange wildflowers into bouquets to be sold at the farmers' market, and water the saplings that landscapers buy. Will, the high school boy from the dairy farm over the hill, comes over to help her dad on occasion. Elizabeth loves everything about growing up on the farm that has been in her father's family for many generations. But all this threatens to change: a company that runs "CAFO" (Concentrated Feeding Animal Organizations) pig farms arrives to woo struggling farmers into selling their farms and taking jobs with the large corporation. As Elizabeth's parents desperately research the effects of existing CAFO's on a community's air, water, commerce, and quality of life, Elizabeth herself discovers her own connection to the earth and the powers that gives her. Gaia, the spirit of the Earth, appears to her as an otter, and begins to teach her.

That's just a brief synopsis of Gaia Girls: Enter the Earth, recent winner of the 2006 National Outdoor Book Award, children's division. Although this is a fantastical novel that author Lee Welles has written for children ("ages 9 and up"), many parts of the story ring true for communities like ours. Gaia Girls: Enter the Earth takes place on a farm in upstate New York, near the Finger Lakes. Much of it reads like home, the beauty as well as the struggles.

Although I consider myself sympathetic to environmental activists, I am leary of being lumped in with folks who wear hemp and eat vegetarian because it's trendy. In sitting down to read Gaia Girls, I was a little afraid that the story would be heavy-handed on earth goddesses but skim over the true difficulties of living environmentally-aware. I am pleased to report I couldn't have been more wrong. "Three Oaks Farm" is an organic farm, but Welles makes it clear that this makes the Angier family and their products unusual for their community. They need to be very creative to be successful: they advertise their organic produce to upscale restaurants, who pre-order from the farm. Another way they make money is by selling many different products: wool, vegetables, flowers, young trees, honey. Though Elizabeth and her parents feel they live a happy life in a corner of paradise, Welles doesn't flinch from showing how fragile that existence is, and how much work it takes to maintain it.

Welles' writing is strong. At the beginning, I was reminded of Charlotte's Web. As I continued to read Gaia Girls, I realized I was in the middle of a wonderful new literary phenomenon. I see this book, and the series to follow, touching many as it touched me. Enter the Earth reminded me of environmental issues and earth science facts that I already know about, but made me feel more attached to them. Without being preachy, Gaia Girls helps the reader see the science behind farming methods that are good for the earth, and how it is healthy for the people who live there and those of us who eat the food grown there. With Elizabeth, we can connect to the farm, as she and the farm connect to the earth. I raced through the book, loved the story, and can't wait for more.

Author of "Hobo Finds A Home" and editor of "A Predatory Heart"

I purchased this book as a refresher course in German, and have found it both useful and charming. The organization of the book is very logical, the artwork is charming, and all in all, it is a bit like an actual visit to Germany. Well worth the money.

I bought this book a few months ago, I speak German already, I only needed help writing it.

The Dover books are some of the best to use when learning a new language. I bought the French version of this book a few years ago when brushing up on my high school French. So when the time came that I had finally decided to start learning the German language, this was the first book that I bought. I like the fact that this book is good for both beginners and intermediate learners. The book is a bit dated, but the basis of the book for teaching the language comes through. I would highly recommend this book for anyone who is beginning the German language.

I have spent 3 months studying this book and am now reading 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear but in the original German text. I of course need a dictionary to do so but that is all I need to enjoy the novel without any trouble.
There is a Japanese maxim that says `practice beats theory' and this book is an excellent example of it, although as such one needs a little patience to finish it.

Patience in any case is what one needs to learn any foreign language and the numerous illustrations of the book are then one of its strengths to help one sustain the patience.
A movie critic once said a good movie is one that does not age. I believe this applies to illustrations as well. In fact, those in this book do not appear old at all, despite the fact that they must predate the year of my birth of 1954. They are as expressive as they are alive.

The many photographs in this book on the other hand do look old, what they depict as well as themselves. One of them even fails to convey the depth, which however only contributes to the overall charm that they possess. Some of them even appear magical to me, for example the one entitled WO DIE ZEIT STILL STEHT or NATIONALTRACHT.

Pictures however are not the only strength of this book.
It develops a consistent story around a pair of families, their introduction, their relation and their interaction, in a manner that encourages continuous reading.
Furthermore, this basic thread is interspersed with numerous funny short stories and even poems. They serve their purpose very well; they do make one laugh and they do make one appreciate the language the book is teaching.

I read every single page of this book and did all the exercises. If you follow my example, you should be able to be reading normal German books in three months.
This is such a fine book.

It's a simple, well thought out book that makes the reader learn through examples. The benefit is that it's not all memorization that you forget after 3 days of not studying it. Another good thing is that all parts of the lessons are separated in 3 : 1 line in german, 1 line in pseudo-english that makes you prononce the sentence in german and 1 line that is the translation.

Overall great book.

i actually bought this book for my wifes birthday. it was an idea from my mom, since she found out how big an animal lover my wife (and I) are. i started to read the first chapter before i wrapped it up, and knew right away it would be a tear jerker. all in all, i bought this book because a portion of the proceeds go to Angels Gate. that is terrific for lots of animals out there, and my wife loved the idea of giving something back. if you even like animals, you should get this book. i pray every day now that more people in the world will follow Susan Marino's idea.

Once you open the book, you can't put it down. My husband picked it up to
read the first couple of pages and did not put it down till he was done.
I did the same. Since I did some volunteer work at Angel's Gate during the summer, I was really able to connect with some of the animals and was able to see how much they are loved and cared for.

This book is one that has to be read just to see what people go through when they lose a pet. I never thought I would be the one that was so attached to a pet. But I did for 13 years. Then when it was time. I made sure everything was is place for a pet funeral and made a great headstone for him. He was a loyal friend and I miss him dearly. I know that there are Angels Gates in heaven.

Getting Lucky is for all of us who share our hearts and lives with our animals. This book will make you laugh and cry, sometimes both at once. Beautifully written, with humor,love and sadness that just pulls at your heart. You won't be able to put it down. Angel's Gate is truly a place where "Angels" go to be loved and let go. I dedicate this review to my own angel, Jakob M. who passed on only 1 year ago. I'm grateful that places like Angel's Gate exist and that there are people out there who know just how special these creatures are.

This book is awesome! I recently lost my beloved Black Lab, Molson, who was 11 years old. I felt like I was there with all the pets in this book. I wish I lived near Angel's Gate... I would be there to volunteer in a minute! How wonderful these people are to take on such a heartfelt approach to helping these precious animals. I found myself smiling from ear to ear throughout the whole story! A must for all animal lovers to read!

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 am very please with the service. The book came in just a few days and I will certainly use Amazon again for all my books.

I love this book!! I've bought multiple copies for all of my friends expecting their little angels!!

A beautiful book explaining God's gift of a gaurdian angel to each girl or boy born.

This book is a special reminder to any worrisome new parent, that their child will have a guardian angle to protect them whenever their parents are not there. I buy it each time a friend or family member has their first child, and it is a great gift.

The author, Debbie Gisonni, a fifteen-year veteran of the high-tech industry had it all. Then she lost her mother, father, sister and favorite aunt, all within four years. After four more years of ever-increasing success and responsibilities, Gisonni quit her job and spent some time soul-searching.

The end result is that she started Real Life Lessons; her own company devoted to making life easier and happier for women and became the goddess of happiness. With this book, she shows the rest of us how we are our own goddess of happiness and how we can be more happy.

Your journey to happiness begins with a quiz to determine your current level of bliss. Then, in very short, 1 or 2 page chapters, Gisonni shows you how to capture even more happiness for yourself. Each chapter ends with five ways to practice the chapter's lesson or skill and space for writing your own related affirmations.

Gisonni has some great suggestions for all of us. Much of it is what you've probably heard before, but she presents it in a straight-forward, simple, easy-to-incorporate way in just a few short pages. For example, in the chapter on Play, she shares with us how her husband encouraged her to swing in the park and she had a great time rekindling a childhood joy. Then, she encourages us to play--buy a hula hoop! Her "five ways to play" list includes revisiting your favorite childhood games and do one each week. For me, that would probably include swinging, lip-synching to The Partridge Family, climbing a tree, making mud pies, and jumping rope. I might need to train for a few months first!

The Goddess of Happiness has so many ideas for us: slow down, stop the noise, choose joy, lighten up, indulge, simplify, accept your life, be rich, ask for help and many more. I read through this book all at once first, and now I re-read chapters every day, sort of as happiness reminders. Because I know happiness is a choice, and yet, sometimes, life makes you forget for a minute. With this handy little guide, you can build your own happiness from the ground up, or renovate what you already have.

THE GODDESS OF HAPPINESS is a treasure...easy to read, inspirational and it constantly reminds me...that I am a Goddess with all my happiness right inside of me ready to share with those around me. This book is every bit as delightful as its author. Last fall, I had the pleasure of meeting Debbie! THE GODDESS OF HAPPINESS exudes her warm, charming and optimistic outlook on life. I bought this book for my two daughters and hope to gift it to all of my dear friends on their birthdays.

This book is trite, full of cliches, and has nothing new to offer an intelligent reader. If you seek inspiration in your daily life, check out "Living a Beautiful Life" by Alexandra Stoddard.

I'm a pretty cynical (but content) person in general and tend to pooh-pooh the "how to be happy" genre of books probably because of my gritty, punk rock past, but, darned if The Goddess of Happiness didn't help me get through a really heart-wrenching breakup. I'm forever grateful. Now, whenever I need a little lift, I simply open the book to any page and read a little bit. I haven't lost my edginess, but my heart's a little softer. Go figure.

Reading the Goddess of Happiness is like sipping chocolate in the morning. The texture of Debbie Gisonni's stories (you can almost see her writing with a smile) bring out the spirit of indulgence we feel and often submerge due to the pressures of the day. She'll show you how to enjoy chocolate without the guilt, how to get moving without a big exercise commitment, and how to count your blessings even when you face stumbling blocks. A quick read, a fast way to smile.