Children's Books

I cannot give this book a high enough review. If you want a gentle (albeit slow and steady) approach to encouraging your child to sleep through the night this is the book for you. Many of the ideas Elizabeth Pantley describes in the book I have implemented for my 18 month old daughter and they have all worked beautifully. She was a nighttime nurser and cosleeper. She still sleeps in my bed but we no longer nurse at night. I am getting the sleep I need and it was done without any tears! I love the author's gentle philosophy, this book has been a true blessing to my family and I highly recommend it!

Quoting reviewer Oleanna, 'Forty-four volunteer test families around the world, of varied configurations, read her (Pantley's) initial manuscript and followed Pantley's directions, reporting back to let her "peek into their naptime and bedtime routines, problems and successes," and 245 families completed extensive sleep surveys.'

I was one of the *lucky* families that completed that extensive sleep survey--and it was indeed *very* involved--but what a wonderful opportunity to 'help' other parents! The survey recorded more than *just* sleep issues, and it's my understanding that parents from myriad parenting styles were surveyed. So, the book is a collection of differences delivered in a cohesive, concise manner.

Ms. Pantley is thorough, professional and incredibly friendly. I feel honored that my son, daughter, husband and I were a part of her 'data.' I cherish this book, not just because we were a minuscule part of her database, but because the information within the book is solid.

Thanks Ms. Pantley!
Cheers!

How could I have parented for 4 years and never really understood the sleep of my child. She slept with me for the first several years and then I was stumped. I had another baby, a husband, and 2 cats plus my toddler and myself fighting for space in our king-sized bed. Why was she so wound up at 9pm? AHA! She should have been getting ready for bed at the first signs of tired- at SIX THIRTY! After reading this book, we have such a healthy sleep routine at our house. She knows what to expect and is never forced to cry. She sleeps in until the same time as when she was going to bed hours later. She needed those extra few hours. A must have for sleep-deprived parents!

this was a great help to us when we changed my son's sleeping habit and we were a mess about it before reading this book!

I'm the mother of almost 2 y.o. twins and a 6 month old - all girls.
Every night was a struggle, every morning was a nightmare. We used to think that we probably putting our twins to bed too early, because they were jumping in their beds for hour and a half after, and screaming when we tried to put their pajamas on and change their diapers. Than they would wake up unhappy and irritable in the morning. I was blaming on "terrible twos". During the day - same thing, endless temper tantrums, we where unable to leave the playground without wrestling and screaming, than we tried to get them tired so they'd sleep well for the day-time nap, and they simply wouldn't fall a sleep and so on... I was just wondering what's wrong with my toddlers, who used to be the happiest babies. I only had to read one chapter, related to our situation, to change everything that we did and it worked immediately. I was actually shocked by how my terrible toddlers all of the sudden turned back in to my happy babies, that I've been missing so much! I now know, that their ideal bed time is at 7 - 7:30 pm, not 9:00 as we used to think, that we have to avoid them getting too tired past their nap time which turned to be an hour earlier than we thought before... as simple as that. And we where thinking totally apposite, because they wouldn't fall a sleep and we thought that they are not too tired or it's too early for them and we even thought that they are done with their day naps. Oh my poor babies, I'm so sorry that I didn't read this book sooner.

In my opinion this is the best children's book ever written and illustrated. I have 3 copies of it because I am so paranoid of it getting lost or worn out. I loved it as a kids and my kids love it. Its worth what ever price it goes for.

This was a favorite when I was a child- my 3 year old discovered it at Grandmas and although it is a pretty long book, she is totally mesmerized when we read it. I would love to buy a copy of this book- I will when I find it! The illustrations are just totally lovely and you just feel happy looking at the children. The story is all over but it really is just like a child's day.

This is such a great book for imagination. My younger sister and I would read this over and over and over again and then read it again! I now read it to my son and he loves it. He's 3 yrs old and loves to make believe as I read it to him. I highly recommend this book!

What a lovely, mesmerizing book! Not only did I share some warm moments with my father while he read this aloud, but it kept me busy just staring at the pages. The illustrations are wonderful. The story is classic: old-fashioned yet captures the hearts and imaginations of children today. Please reprint this book! I have a copy that I've been sharing with my own children, but I'd like to have another just for myself and my memories.

This is probably my favorite children's book of all time, whenever I find a hardcover I buy it for a gift. The pictures have something for everyone to relate to, boys, girls, and many cultures. They are intricate and involved. You can literally get lost in them, not at all like the lame plastic mass-produced books with crappy illustrations they sell today.

This was a very good book. It helped my daughter and I better understand what was going on in the NICU and with my grandson and why things are done a certain way. It lets you know the criteria that your baby needs to meet before he or she can come home. It also talked about Kangaroo Care, which the NICU my grandson was in, never metioned until we brought up the subject.

The down side was alot of the book also pretained problems with multiple births,so we could skip alot of pages that didn't pretain to us.

All in All I would recommend this book to preemie parents.

Pros: great information about what to expect, comprehensive data on outcomes and risks, talks about all stages (antepartum, delivery, NICU, early childhood, etc).

Con: 578 pages!!! And every chapter repeated some information from other chapters. The foreward suggests reading only the chapter that relates to you, and warns you against reading the whole book, but what a dumb suggestion - Of course I want to know everything! So I read the whole book, which repeats itself about 30%. For nervous fathers-to-be (and mothers too), reading almost 600 pages to get 200 pages worth of information is not worth it. My wife read the Dr Sears "Preemie" book (much shorter) while I read this one and she liked it. I was worried I wouldn't even get a chance to finish it before the baby came, which just piled on more stress - just know what you are getting in to when you buy this book.

If I had to make a recommendation - FIRST read one of the shorter books, if it doesn't answer what you want to know, THEN buy this monstrosity.

This is an excellent resource - especially if you know that you are going to have a premature baby or if you purchase it while your little one is still in the NICU. It explains all of the possibilities in Q&A format, split up into sections. It will explain in more detail what the doctors may be telling you about your baby.

I thought this book was great! My mom bought this book for me after my son was born at 29 weeks. There is a lot of information that does not pertain to everyone, but it is very easy to skip through to what does pertain to your situation. It is very informative and explained things in detail when the doctors didn't have time to explain everything as thoroughly.

When our baby was born at 25 weeks, and 1 lb. 14 oz., we were overwhelmed. My pregnancy was normal; there were no anticipated complications. Nothing really prepares you for what it's like to have a baby so small, and the roller coaster of events that follows. Luckily, someone gave us this book. We were able to understand the terminology our baby's doctors were using, the surgeries, the prognoses, and the possibilities--even the optimistic outcomes. The book is well-organized, and easy to read for the layperson. It was an essential guide for us. I would highly recommend it for anyone with a preemie who has the questions, fears, and hope that come with having a baby who has special health needs.

Primarily Lori Schiller and Amanda Bennett, but also Lori's family, Dr. Doller et al did an excellent work to open the window to the rest of us, socially acepted as "sane", to have a view into the mechanics of an actually "crazy" mind. I hadn't read a book like that for a long time, not a single sentence in this book is fluff! There is also an excellent movie in this book
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Lori, sweetheart, you are brave!!! Not only for fighting your sickness to a manageable state yourself, but also for being bravely honest to narrate your inner world despite "the voices"
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My son, also in his teens, started acting very weird and I thought he was just a spoiled brat, till my wife pointed out to me the obvious; "he wasn't OK" and he started to talk about "voices" and very similar things.
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I didn't really know what to do (he came from overseas to live with me, so I basically didn't know him). I fell like I had gone to a foreign country and would see signs I could not really comprehend. Lori helped me understand things better. I found clear answers to some very concrete questions I had myself about clinical craze
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Thank you Lori Schiller
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I loved this book's depiction of mental illness and have re-read it several times. I am going to push a question that has been alluded to in past reviews. This book was published 11 years ago. Does anyone have any updates as to how Lori has been doing since then? Thank you very much.

This is a unique and beautiful book. Any person with interests in Psychiatry or Mental Health issues must read it. It's the first time I experienced what a schizophrenic felt first hand. A must-read!

Schiller writes grippingly and insightfully of her experience of schizophrenia including the "cold wet packs" of ice water soaked sheets used to restrain and calm her psychotic outbursts and her times in hospital "quiet rooms". The writing style is journalistic and factual when dealing with intense emotions and experiences. She is wonderfully descriptive in explaining the reality of her delusions and hallucinations, the experiences of pychotherapy, suicide attempts, cocaine use, psychiatric hospitals and half way houses. Eventually clozaril helped (with psychotherapy) to bring her back from the abyss of severely disabling schizophrenia. Her full diagnosis is "schizoaffective" disorder as her illness includes a bipolar disorder component. The accounts by Schiller, her family members, doctors and friends lend insight to the course of her disease especially as experienced by her family. I was particularly struck by her parents' progress from denial and resentment of both her diagnosis and her doctors to growing insight into schizophrenia and eventual recognition of the illness in their family history. While the multiple accounts make the narrative more difficult to follow they also add greatly to the story. Highly recommended!

The Quiet Room is a powerful account of a woman lost in her illness of schizophrenia. I was amazed at how the author, Lori, hid her hallucinations from people for so long before getting treatment. I found myself angry at her parents for denying her illness for so long and delaying treatment which she very much needed years before it was received.

It's also amazing that Lori made it through her experience of schizophrenia and was able to tell her story. During the worst of her illness, she was extremely suicidal at times and thought nothing of it (for example, playing a game of crossing the street again and again with her eyes closed and walkman blaring so she couldn't hear the cars). She could have easily died at those times and not come through to tell her story.

This book was very well written and made me feel for Lori. I couldn't put this down once I started. Although, I did give it a five star review and found it to be one of the most interesting books I've read, I don't necessarily recommend it to everyone.

At times this book was too well written, too many details and caused parts of the book to be triggering for me. I'm not schizophrenic (never have been), but I've been in hospitals for depression and other things. Lori's details of the "quiet room" (seclusion in the hospitals) and what happened to her when she was out of control in the hospitals was disturbing to me, as I've been in different "quiet rooms" in hospitals and I found myself remembering my own experiences and getting upset. Just because this was triggering for me, doesn't mean it will be for others. I'm just saying, you've been warned.

As triggering as this book was, it remains a five star for me. It was gripping, intense, real --just the way a book should be-- and I loved it. I liked the way the story was told through family members as well. It helps the reader see the perspectives of those who loved Lori. It shows how her illness affected others.

Overall, The Quiet Room is a sad book. But it's inspiring and uplifting at the end. If Lori can make it through the horrors of schizophrenia, we can make it through our day-to-day lives of work, school, and dilemmas. This book gave me hope.

All three of my children love this book at ages 8, 6 and 3. The moral is wonderful. Pictures and words are excellent. I would recommend this book to any parent wishing to teach children the importance of giving and not being greedy.

Written like a children's book in the form of a fable celebrating the joy of giving. Because of all the the quilt block designs, this book is of great interest to quilters along with the 2 quilting instruction books that have followed the book. However, I do think that children would enjoy the story. The illustrations are fabulous.

A colorful book that takes you into a kingdom of a king that is greedy with all his subjects. But, one subject will not let him have what he wants until he learns to give to others. The beautiful quilts that his subject makes are given away to all that need them but NOT to the King. This is a perfect book to read to children at the holiday time of giftgiving, so others can learn the "feel good" of being generous!

What an awesome book! The artwork was beautiful and so detailed - a real delight to peruse. I bought this book because I found one of the companion quilt pattern books at the Library. I ended up buying all the related books! This is a lovely "life lesson" story - can hardly wait for grandchildren to share it with. This book is for adults and for children.

The Quiltmaker's Gift has meaning for all ages. The gentle, humorous telling of pomposity against true gift has life-long and life-bettering application. Buy multiple copies: it's the best gift ever!

I picked this book up at a Scholastic book fair ten years ago, when I was in the third grade, and I absolutely loved it. This series and the Animorph series were my group of friends far-and-away favorites. I recommend this book to any young readers - it is enthralling. If you want to get your kids into fantasy, get them this book!

I don't really like realistic fiction, as many mysteries are. My reading teacher is making us read mysteries now, and I only really like sci fi and fantasy. Now, I can read a fantasy and fit in the requirements for the book.
I haven't read these books yet, but i am sure I will love them based on the reviews. I loved books apparently like them such as Pendragon (by DJ MacHale) and Eragon (by Christopher Paolini).

I read the first book...forever ago...in my small local public library. I fell in love with it. Then, on a whim, I searched for it to see if any of the new books had come out. Strangely over the years, they had! I think I'm going to go order some of the used books since they are all long out of print.

I totally suggest the book to any young reader. ...

I have read the first four books recently, and I am in love with them! My favorite characters are Pixle and the Unicorns- they are wonderful! Dondar is my favorite world because of the Unicorns and Dragons, and I love all of the magical trials they go through. These books are sooo incredible, and everyone should read them!

When I first looked at this book I thought it would be strange but when I started to read it I was transported to another dimenion. I was amazed by the story and how it was described. The way he wrote it made it seem as if you were traveling along with them and fighting by their side. I highly recommend this book!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is the best book I have ever read. It is mainly about a half-naked boy who is a hero. The part I like the best is when the toilet and him fought. This is very cool book.

I love spending time with my grandson and this book is fun to read with him. I also love to hear my grandson laugh.He likes to read now and he takes the book to school for others to read.He likes all the Captain Underpants books.This is an excellent read...

Captain Underpants is a great epic novel series by Dav Pilkey.With his new book Captain Underpants and the Attack of the Talking toilets we discover his power against talking, eating, mad toilets. He uses cafeteria food and his underware.This book also has more flip-o-ramas than ever.The flip-o-ramas are filled with even more juicy underware fighting.Captain Underpants beats the talking toilets with underware and his extreme power.
George and Harold,the main characters,try to help Captain Underpants but just stir up more trouble.Captain Underpants not only has to worry about the evil talking toilets but also freeing George and Harold.Captain Underpants ended up winning the battle and freed George and Harold.Over all,Captain Underpants is an awesome fighter and awesome warrior.

My book review
What I'm writing for my book review is Captain Underpants. The reason why I'm writing Captain Underpants is because the book is funny and I want to share how the book was funny with the class.
In Dave Pikley's second adventurous book he talks about Captain Underpants and the attack of the talking toilets. Captain Underpants runs around in his underpants saving the world. I know, your wondering why he can't just do these things with his clothes on instead of doing it in his underpants. It was not his fault that he runs around like this.
The top-secret truth about captain underpants. There were two boys named Harold and George. In the book Harold and George are the narrators. Their principal (Mr. Krupp) was always mean to them. So Harold and George bought a hipno-ring that could hypnotize people. Here comes the funny part. Harold and George hypnotized Mr. Krupp! Then they turned him into Captain Underpants! Now whenever Captain Underpants hears a scream, he runs off and says "tralalaaaaaa!" Every time he does this Harold and George have to watch over him, then catch him.
The whole book is a comic book that Harold and George made to make fun of their principal. Harold and George are known around the whole school because of the pranks they pull. One time they put bubbles in the band instruments. Another time they glued everyone in the lower school to the auditorium seats, and another time they changed the words around on the school board to make it say come and see our hairy armpits.
Captain underpants is a funny book and I hope a lot of people read it.

By Jordan

My eight-year-old loves this book, and I think it's hilarious myself. If fighting vicious toilets using underwear and cafeteria food sounds funny to you, you'll love this book.

This book does teach a certain amount of contempt for adults and suspicion of cafeteria food to children. In that sense maybe it's emblematic of our society. I have found it necessary to sit down with my son and explain that all of this is FICTION, and has nothing to do with the real world. Did that have any effect? I don't know. I suppose it's worth it to have him reading.

I LOVE Jan Brett's books! I buy them anytime I see them whether on sale, old ones on Amazon as remainders, or new.. They make great gifts. I have a backup of many to give to children, particularly my granddaughters. The illustrations in this one are so beautiful it is really a keepsake to save as well as enjoy. Give it as a gift and you will make some child very happy and a parent happy,too.

Beautiful illustrations reprinted from over 40 sources. All illustrations are credited on last page. Book measures 9"X11.5" Only down side was that the price changes by the day. One day it's almost $11 another it's $8.97. But that's just the way Amazon works; something to be aware of. (It's worked in my favor often while shopping at midnight--price suddenly went down!)

it's a classic, so of course you can't go wrong, but as far as the best one being out there... well, I'm sure there are much better illustrated ones out there than this one

I bought this for my grandchildren last Christmas. The wording is traditional, and the illustrations are wonderful! This has become a part of the Christmas Eve tradition at my daughter's house.

These illustrations are the best ever for The Night Before Christmas...Stunning even! A worthy heirloom Christmas Book. The illustrations cover both sides of the page for a large panoramic view seldom seen in other books...

I read this book in the summer between my 5th and 6th grade year and I absolutely loved it. I have always been into spooky stuff and ghost stories so this book was perfect for me! Very weelwritten with great characters and plot!

This book is so awesome, its my favorite book. Once you start reading you cant put it down! I love the time period of the early 1900s so this book was freat for that too. Its very interesting to read about Molly and Jared as they go back to the early 1900s as two different people. Its not one of those mystery books where you just have to wait until the end in order to just get the answer to the mystery. Instead, it is a continual answer being given away from the middle to the end.

This was a really good book but I assumed that it would be, after reading Paperquake (one of my top 10 favs.) However, i didn't feel drawn to Clementine during her chapters and the ending was sort of predictable. I think that the best part was when we found out that Clementine left her aunt when she was losing her baby and then happened to Molly's stepmother. A neat idea. Overall, it was a very good read and i would certainly recommend this book, as well as any others by Kathryn Reiss.

I first read this book I was in the 6th grade, and I recently bought it and read it again. I have to say, I liked it better the first time round. But that might have been because I was younger, and this book seems suited for the pre-teen, young teen audience.

The book I recently bought was different from when I read it in 6th grade--the cover was different, and I was disappointed because this edition seemed cheaply made--the cover was flimsy, and the binding wasn't very tight. Oh, well, that doesn't matter too much. Onto the story.

This is the story of Molly, who is extremely afraid of water and has had the same nightmare over and over for as long as long as she can remember. Then she meets Jared, her friend's cousin, and she has a strange urge to call him "Hob" and they both feel like they already know each other, even though they have never met before.

Molly goes to her friend's pool party, and Jared is there. When she won't get into the pool, he suddenly grabs her and throws her in the water. She sinks to the bottom and blacks out. Luckily Jared gives her mouth-to-mouth and she's ok. Molly decides to visit her dad and new stepmom in Maine for the summer, partly to recover from her scare. She is furious with Jared, and never wants to see him again.

When Molly arrives in the little town in Maine, strange things begin happening to her. She experiences something like flashbacks, except she is not herself--she is Clementine, a girl who lived in the same house as Molly's father with her uncle's family, a long time ago. Molly also realizes that the nightmares she has been experiencing are connected with Clementine and her house.

Jared comes to visit Molly in Maine, and tells her that he has been experiencing the same feelings, about a young man named Hob, who knew Clementine. Something tragic happened in this little town involving both Clementine and Hob, and Molly and Jared begin to piece together the clues, while finding that their feelings for each other have been growing stronger.

This is certainly one of the best scary books I have ever read. This book was given to me by a friend and it was the perfect choice. It was scary, but in perfect doeses, fast-paced and a definite page-turner. I really, really loved it! I highly. HIGHLY reccomned it to any one seeking a thrill!

Although I think it may be a bit advanced for my 9 yr. old, I'm still glad I purchased this book for my most recent book club choice. A gentle book that flows easily, and the characters change for the better in wonderful ways. The one thing that bugged me was Mrs. Shaw and her smelling salts. It almost seemed to me that Polly Milton was the better 'mother' to the Shaw family. All in all, this is truly a memorable classic.

This book started off a bit slow, but if you read more than a page or two at a time, I think you will like it. This story is about a girl from the country who goes to visit her cousins in New York. Polly's cousin, Fanny, and her friends find Polly "coutrified" and "old fashioned". Everyone falls in love with her because of her quiet manner along with the fact that she dresses and acts her age. Although their are multiple hardships along the way, you couldn't have wanted the book to end any other way. I recomend that you don't read the book until you are at least 11 or 12 because some of the wording is odd because it was writtedn so long ago. Happy Reading!

Alas. In my opinion, both "An Old-Fashioned Girl" and "Eight Cousins" audio versions would benefit by having a much younger narrator. Despite her long and illustrious career in audio, Flo Gibson is now too old to bring these novels to life. They are books about young girls, and they are obviously being read by a grandmother. Rather than illustrating the timeless quality of these fine books, an elderly reader makes the books simply sound old and out-of-date. What were the publishers thinking?---CaroJ11

An Old Fashioned Girl begins with a teenage girl, Polly who visits her cousins in the city. There, she realises that they are exactly the opposite of the old fashioned girl that she is, and this causes some distress on both sides. Being a modern woman, I expected that this book would be a wonderful read but the initial chapters where Polly was a teenager were hard to take in. Alcott created what she felt to be the "perfect" teenage model in Polly, but I found myself wishing that this "perfect teenage model" would loosen up a bit and do something for herself instead of serving everybody else, which was the "proper thing to do." Ironically, Alcott herself wrote in the book "excessive virtue doesn't last long ...except with little prigs in the goody storybooks." She should have taken herself more seriously because her main character came very close to becoming exactly that! Compared to other classics like Tom Sawyer, The Secret Garden and The Railway Children, the teenagers in the book were very unrealistic, I dare say even for that time. Alcott wrote too much of what she wanted children or teenagers to be, opposed what they actually were, which can get exasperating. However, that is less than half the book, which follows into young adulthood. In here the characters become more realistic, and Polly begins to be truly affected by her poverty and to long to be different. To avoid spoilers, it morphed from an exasperating read into a very good read. Overall, the valuable lessons in the book make it good addition to any collection, especially for children.

Do you ever feel like you are tied up in our times? Worrying too much about cell phones, fashions, and the latest whatevers? This book can set you straight. It gives you a peace of mind and fills you with simple pleasures.

The stories main character, Polly, we meet at the age of 14. She has come to stay with rich friends for a while. THey do everything so differently from she. The family has two daughters. One that is two years older than Polly called Fan, who cares for fashion, balls, and beaus. The author daughter is six and she is fixed onoo having her own way about everything. THe young man in the family Tom is a trouble maker, who no matter how hard he tries can't seem to stay out of trouble very long.

Polly is a gentle, kind, loving, caring, selfless, practical, and sensible girl. SHe becomes a great service to this family, touching each of them in a special way. She moves in the same town six years later and gives piano lessons. The family needs her more than ever and she helps them all in the end. This book has heart, romance, and realness to it that we can all relate to, rich or poor, young or old. It will make you feel warm fuzzies. Read on a rainy day underneath a flanel blanket!