Festivals Books

Wonderful book for children, I used this as part of a "children's church" lesson and all age groups loved it!

This is a beautful story. This story teaches us how a farmer changes a pumpkin into a aweome sight just like Jesus changes us when we accpet his love. It was beauful illustrated with bible verses at the bottom of every page. I used this book when I taught Sunday School. My children love the pictures. This is a great book!!!!!

What a wonderful way to bring out the "budding artist" in little ones. Creativity needs to be nourished and encouraged and Lyle's book allows a child to freely express their own interpretation as they illustrate the pages. It also provides a venue for quality time shared. I thought the story was well written and I hope Lyle has more books "in the making".

This book is one of the best children's books I have ever read. The really fun part is that the child who is reading the book can become part of it by drawing in their own pictures. This book is a good book for a child who loves to draw. This is an wonderful book!!

This is the best telling of the Puirim story that I have come across for children. The narrative is very close to the original, but what makes the book wonderful are the illustrations which are fantastic. They are so vivid that my children (aged 4 and 6) love the book and ask for it again and again, even when Purim is nowhere in sight. The pictures also conjure up images of a time long ago which helps to give the children a sense of a far away time. I have used the book in a service for children for 4 -8 year olds at an Orthodox synagogue and even those who generally protest at being there are spellbound. Highly recommended.

We have had this book for a number of years and each of my three children has loved it. The pictures are beautiful and include details that can be used to interest children in the stories (such as animals that always appear on the same page with the characters with which they are associated). The story is quite close to the original.

This is a wonderful little book!
Instill common sense in your self and children. Bring back memories to your Grandfather and Grandmother. This is a wonderful little collection! It is my understanding that these are from the little words of Wisdom that Johnny Gruelle had published in the paper. Simply fantastic!
I got 2 - one to keep and one to share!

Do you love Coffee Table Books and/or Raggedy Ann? Well this is THE BOOK. A must have for Raggedy Collectors! Absolutely charming book featuring original Gruelle Artwork and selected phases. This is one of the best Raggedy books published lately. Just beautiful. Get one for yourself and one to share.

The BEST book of Christmas Carols, for both adults and children. The verses are clearly printed, easy to read. The music is included. The accompanying stories and pictures are delightful. We have one for each child!

I bought this book 7 years ago when my son was in preschool. We have used it every advent and Christmas since, especially when caroling with our church. The pictures are along the same line as the other Real Mother Goose books, and the words and music, including several verses to each song are included. i plan on ordering more copies, since the one we have is falling apart, and each child would like their own copy to use and keep.

It was only in acknowledging her mortality - in confronting it directly, and most intimately: in absorbing into her life, not only the certain knowledge that she would die, but the various uncertainties of the limbo time - that she was able to live fully, and achieve the most complete expression of her life, and of the depth and fastness of her bond with us, with all mortal beings.

For me this is because her book written on the edge of death is so charged with life, with the affirmation of all that is most holy and most central in life, and most to be treasured.

At some point in the progress of her illness, Deborah came to understand that her predicament was at once an opportunity: that this limbo time had never been described, exhaustively, before: that it was a territory still partly undiscovered, not yet fully known, or absorbed into human experience, hovering, beyond her ken, like an unknown continent; and that, now, she had the chance - even the good fortune - to venture into it with her eyes fully open, with all her receptors alert. Every moment was precious, not only because there were so few of them, but because they contained this experience which might be conveyed to others, who might pass through the same place.

It became her habitat: this in-between area where there were no certainties, no securities.

Throughout the book the reader can feel her adapting to her new territory. She was equipped to do so: she had the vision, the mind, the will and the heart, to keep herself open to whatever came; to see, clearly, without prejudice; to sustain her attention without remission, without falling under the spell of a dogma; and to convey all this, with moving eloquence, in part because she was so gifted a writer, and partly because she was motivated to do so.

She wanted to help others, and she wanted to see, and speak the truth, of her condition. She realized that, in this limbo time, it was in being true to herself that she could be of the most help to us.


Jack McMichael Martin

Read this book as fast as possible to experience the brilliant highlights and the thoughtful shadows of the "limbo time" and then go back and read it again--essay by essay. Use each essay as a meditation on living. Deborah Cumming's essays are not your typical cancer book. People who are not dying of cancer do themselves a disservice by leaving this book on the shelf. We are all living and dying every day.

Deborah's observations about her experiences, when she felt well after treatment and before decline, can be applied to anyone. How often do we feel stuck in our lives? How often do we wonder what is important? How much should we pay attention to other people's opinions? Can we chart our own course? Do we want to?

There is humor in this book and wonderful juxtaposition. One of the first quotations is from a nautical chart: "the prudent mariner will not rely solely on any single aid to navigation..." Most healthy people in our modern, stress-filled time, do not take the time to exercise or relax, let alone take the time to contemplate the meaning in their lives. Deborah's words give us that opportunity: "Balance is awareness, confidence, and--yes--belief. Belief that balance matters and that it can be achieved."

I received this book as a gift. It opened my mind and my heart. It is an amazing book. I bought two more books and gave them to friends with the caveat that if the book touched their hearts, they should buy a book and give it to a person of their choosing. They loved the book as much as I did and I think you will too.

Red Boot's for Christmas is amazing book, that tells the true meaning of Christmas. It is very easy for children to understand and get the true meaning of what is going on.
It is about a poor woman who pleades with a shoe maker to make her grandaughter a pair of shoes for Christmas because she has none. The shoe maker refuses to do it, then changes his mind because of events that occur through out the book. The book also has beautiful illustrations in it , that keep you fixed on the pages

This beautifully illustrated children's book tells the tale of a cobbler waiting for a very special Christmas present. It has all the aspects of a great children's story--a poor little girl with no shoes who lives with her poor Grandmother, a rich Mayor and his spoiled daughter, a picturesque village filled with loving people, and a disgruntled cobbler angry at everybody's happiness. This book is espically good at telling the wonderful story of Christmas and Christ's birth. This book is a great reinforcement of the ideas found in the movie.

I am buying my second copy because the first one finally wore out after many car trips. I gave this to my 2 year old when she had croup and had to go to the hospital. She decorated her oxygen tent over and over with the stickers! She continued to read and play with it in the car for several months after.

Being a big Rolie fan anyway, my daughter (2 years old) was so excited to get her new sticker book. She has had it for over a month now and still has plenty of stickers to place throughout the book, which is a big plus for a 2-year old. I highly recommend this product to anyone who likes Rolie and who likes their child to have a lot of fun with stickers. I know my daughter (and myself) enjoying playing "stickers."

I found this book to be a wonderful teaching tool. It opens the minds and hearts of children to the Spirit of God. It allows children to understand biblical concept of hearing from God in their spirt. This book opens the doorway to many wonderful opportunities for teaching the children about the Spirit of God and how our obedience to Him is really a blessing for us. I read this book to our Sunday School class and they loved it. After reading this story it was very easy to explain to the children about hearing from God. I hope there will be more books coming on this topic. The Author did a great job of taking a difficult concept and putting it kid terms. Well done! Vanessa Tranquill, Grace Church

Nothing you have not given away will ever be really yours. Most adults, even Christian adults, have difficulty with this concept, and yet Locklear has made the point in a way that even the youngest children can understand and grasp-as can parents who read them this story. Parents who are striving to raise their children to avoid the temptation of materialism in this, the most material culture in the world will find this charming book a solid step in the right direction. The author, having been involved in youth ministry for more than 10 years, is both gifted and well experienced in presenting important concepts to children, and it shows in this highly recommended book.

This book is a wonderful story and the illustrations were absolutely beautiful! The artist really captured the feeling of the story. I highly for young and old!

Most people only know the well-loved story of Rudolph either through the Johnny Marks song or the popular 1964 TV special. However, not many people know that Rudolph was created by a Montgomery Wards employee named Robert May, who also wrote two sequels to the original story. Surprisingly, this sequel, Rudolph Shines Again, was the only other Rudolph story published during his lifetime, apart from the posthumous sequel, Rudolph's Second Christmas. But this episode in the Rudolph story goes the furthest in allowing us to see Rudolph examine his character thoroughly and discover who he really is as a reindeer.

This Rudolph story tugs at the heartstrings more than the previous two books at the beginning, because of how Rudolph feels for his sufferings amongst his reindeer companions who are so fed up with how Santa Claus always finds favour with him and not with them. Luckily, this heart-tugging does not go overboard because we learn that even though Rudolph loses his nose, he remembers that he has forgotten himself in thinking selfishly about it. It is there that we see a bit more character development in him and the story picks up its momentum of its own. Rudolph's willingness to find the two lost rabbits shows the heart he has for others, with shades of his adventures in the Second Christmas episode, and his selfless spirit of charity, and he still retains his inimitable character even when he realises he has regained his nose and does not need to elate over it with his emotions. The story is written with the same rhyming couplets that made the original Rudolph story so fresh, with many ingenous rhyming twists and felicitous touches in the story-telling, and with the resolution this finds at the end of all the three stories, this makes the perfect conclusion to the three Rudolph stories of Robert L. May.

In conclusion, I feel prepared to say that this Rudolph story is as good as the other two, but does more in character development by allowing us readers to follow how Rudolph examines his real character while allowing his heart to glow as brightly as before. My one wish now is that it would be perfect and great if the three Robert May Rudolph stories were published in one book as a continuous Rudolph saga, and that reading the three individual episodes in this story will allow everyone to guide their sleighs to greater self-worth and self-esteem in a soul-stirring story.