Projects Books

"Ceramic Bead Jewelry" is a "how to make ceramic beads" book, but I didn't get it because I'm planning to make any beads. I got it more as an inspiration book. It has beautiful photography and layout, and I like looking at the pictures of the finished pieces. Jennifer Heynen, author and artist, has a bold graphic style that is very appealing.

Can I get a YAY! for the first ceramic beadmaking book to hit the market?! Jennifer has written an elegant book on the basics of making beads from clay. A must have for the crafter who likes to try everything!

This book will make you want to start a project today. Really great instructions, great pictures.

Very well written, great pictures, and lots of step by step. I had worked with other mediums before but not ceramic beads. Jennifer takes you step by step and is very easy to follow. I've made over 100 beads and pendants so far. Some weren't successful, but that's not Jennifer's fault. Some shortcuts you just can't take! Wonderful book, especially if you've been curious. Ceramic beads are easy, but time consuming. Very worth it!

I am not a ceramic bead maker, but after reading Jennifer Heynen's book I feel like I want to go out and get myself a kiln and a hunk of clay and start making snakes and balls and just getting my hands dirty just like when I was a kid! I had the good fortune to actually meet Jennifer at a jewelry workshop right before her book came out. I bought it because I was curious, and now I really want to test my luck with making these beautiful beads. Jennifer is obviously very accomplished in her art, and loves what she does. Her colors and designs are fresh and funky and as colorful as her personality. I am impressed by the writing that makes something so technical seem within the grasp of someone like me who has never worked in this medium before. I have also ordered beads from Jangles and can attest to their quality and beauty. If you seek something new to add to your jewlery designing repertoire, or if you just love beautiful design books, then Ceramic Bead Jewelry is for you!

I live in a very small apartment so I can't collect books, but this is one I will keep. Easy to follow directions and nice projects. Detailed information on how to make projects that are more complicated like dying fabrics. I received the book and made two projects over the weekend and have plans for a couple of more. This book is inspiring, well written, and COLORFUL! A must have, you won't be disappointed.

This is a wonderful book! Kristin Nicholas has taken embroidery to a new level with her colors and designs. Her instructions and diagrams are well displayed for even the novice at embroidery. I have been sewing for years and I can't wait to get started. Not your gramma's embroidery for sure. Love this book!

The projects are so well explained in word and picture...hand drawn by he auhor artist: indeed the whole book is a work of art in itself. Every page a gem of color and inspiration and just plain fun! See page 172 for a fabulous project for oneself or a birthday party activity. This book is like a smile: everyone should have one......Claudia Birkeland

I must have 7 bookshelves of sewing/stitchery/needlework books and from among those this book rates an A+++. I *love* the "hand" of wool and she offers many ideas, photos, and clear, inspirational guidelines.

I stitch alone, I stitch in several styles, and I often stitch with a 13 year old granddaughter and we both found several ideas we plan to adapt and/or copy. By next Christmas we'll probably have created over 80% of our gifts, all from this book.

The author's writing is gracious and clear and leads me back to reading her words again and again. There's more to this than just "directions" but the directions are terrific as well.....even a 13 year old can attest to that.

HIGHLY recommended!

Embroidery projects usually focus on clothing, but they can be used to personalize a home, too - as embroiderer Kristin Nicholas demonstrates in COLORFUL STITCHERY: 65 HOT EMBROIDERY PROJECTS TO PERSONALIZE YOUR HOME. From dragonflies on pillows to lap blankets, egg cozies, and more, these colorful embroidery projects lend to gift-giving as much as home embellishment. Each comes with a full-page picture and easy details on fabric choice, notions and stitches.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who knows a male for whom they would like to make beautiful crocheted sweaters, vests, caps, etc.

The designs are beautiful, and instructions easy to follow.

Gone are the days when Crochet = clunky or ugly clothing for men. Drew has proven that we CAN crochet beautiful men's clothing!

I just got my copy of Drew Emborsky's _The Crochet Dude's Designs for
Guys_ (Lark Books, 2008) that I pre-ordered from Amazon.com. Great job,
Drew!

It really is the first book I've seen that has crochet designs for guys
that I'll actually make. It has a good variety of projects, and there's a
nice range of project skill levels, from beginner to challenging. I think
it's sure to become a classic.

Congratulations, Drew! When can we expect a sequel ?

I love this book. Lots of wonderful ideas for guys, even a couple of ideas for me. There is a nice range of sweater styles and a good mix of beginner, intermediate and experience levels available.

My DH looked through the book for a potential sweater and I was a little nervous about it. Was he simply being polite? Would he wince at the idea of my making him a sweater? No, he said he definitely saw potential. Whew. He seemed to linger over the "Stock Sweater" (a classic buttoned sweater vest) a little longer than the rest, so we'll see. It's defiantly his style.

I recommend this book for both guys who crochet and those who enjoy crocheting for the guys in their lives.

I'm more of a knitter than a crocheter, but there are plenty of small and big projects that I'm comfortable doing here. I got the book for ideas for my husband, but I already know that I'm going to start with the MP3 player "music sock" and the "head banded", then practice harder stitches with the three "Autowipen" car cleaning cloths. I believe that I'll be able to go back to this book for many years to come!

I'm just delighted by this book and can't wait to crochet nearly everything in it. I've already started my first EVER sweater (Weekend Turtleneck) and am feeling brave and cautiously optimistic. The book is well written, the projects are well photographed, and the writing is clear and easy to read. Thank you so much Drew - you are a true inspiration!

Ah, EMS sold these for a short stint in the early 90s (1992 or so). This was such a great book for the beginning experimenter, in fact some topics have stuck in my mind and helped me on science topics i'll tackle later in life...e.g. noone in my AP chem class knew what 'agar' was!

I am 20 years old now and I still remember when I got this book and read it for the first time. It made science so cool and was a great way to show kids how science can be cool. I actually just found this book in a big stack and decided to look it up on Amazon. GREAT to hear they still sell it. I recommend this book to every kid!

Similar to a few other reviewers, I loved this book when I was a kid. This is a book I would recommend to any parent or child. I have nothing but fond memories of this book. I hadn't seen this book in years and I still remember being introduced to many fascinating subjects from this book.

Good experiments and examples. Amazing gadgets inside. Very well written for kids. Lot of real fun and educative time. A must for kids interesting on science.

Like another reviewer, I recently found this on my shelf and was curious to see whether it was in print. I'm 22 now and must've been around 8 when I got it.

I'm in University now, studying software engineering, and I have to say that this book really spurred my interest in science. It comes with so many cool things, a magnet, agar, diffraction grating, and a fresnel lens.

Highly recommend this to parents, aunts, and uncles looking for an awesome gift for a youngster in the family. The kid won't be disappointed once they get into it after expecting an action figure or video game.

I found this book to be really helpful when I started using FCP. Everything was written in a manner that was easy to understand, it also contains everything you can do with the program. The instructions include editing, tools usage, transitions, capturing, etc...The book is thorough and the author isn't boring, which is great since there's a lot to remember!

This book is well organized and easy for folks new to FCP. It has the basics and some advanced features. I had to learn FCP quickly as I was responsible for making my son's varsity basketball highlights video. The book covered file organization, how to insert video and stills into the timeline, add audio, make special scenes of B&W to color, slow motion, transitions, credits, and export the movie. The video was a hit. It was very gratifying to see the kids and parents reaction.

Clear, precise and comprehensive. I found the exercises and tutorials well-conceived and appropriately entertaining. This text and DVD companion (tutorials) made learning a software, especially one as technically complex as FCP, a wonderful experience.

I was editing with FCP in under a week with the help of this book!

I used to think the Apple training books were the best, but the HOT (Hands On Training) books, especially those authored by Larry Jordan, are even better. Mr. Jordan explains everything with such ease that it put other authors to shame. And the graphic design and layout of the book, coupled with the use of color in just the right places and a very legible typeface, makes reading these books a joy. Yeah, that's right...a joy to read a 'how-to' book. Who would have thought?

I'd give this 6 stars if I could, just to send a signal to other 'how-to' authors and publishers that this is HOW IT'S DONE.

Summary: A fine companion for the beginner or intermediate Final Cut Pro 5 user.

The Book:
Final Cut Pro (FCP) is a complex swiss army knife of an edit program and can be very intimidating to a beginner. There seems to be way too many layers, windows and other sharp objects on which to cut yourself. But once you appreciate its potential, you will put imovie in your old cigar box of treasures and only bring it out to share with the grandkids.

This book guides you through the maze with agility and style. The author, Larry Jordan, is an Apple Certified Trainer who specializes in FCP and DVD Studio Pro. He is a veteran producer, director, and editor of corporate and network programs. He prides himself as a teacher and it shows in the more than 70 step-by-step Final Cut tutorials and fourteen quicktime movies. He has refined his teaching in his workshops and takes pride in presenting the information in a friendly, organized manner. Larry seems to be one of those tireless types. I'll leave it at that.

The book is part of a H.O.T. (Hands On Training) series presented by publisher lynda.com/books. The founder, Lynda Weinman, a web graphics and design veteran, wrote the very first industry book on web design, Designing Web Graphics, way back in 1995.

"The best tip in the book is that FCP gives you lots of different ways to accomplish the same task... just learn the ones that make you productive so you can forget about how the tool works and concentrate on telling your stories."
Larry Jordan

The book's chapters walk you through the entire process, from organizing and editing to outputting your project. The title page of each chapter shows a table of exercises and a summary of what you'll learn. You follow along with each exercise with the FCP project files and media located on the companion DVD-ROM. Each chapter closes with a list of helpful keyboard shortcuts and a summary of what was covered.

Throughout the book are shaded boxes and pointers identifying features that are new to FCP 5, power tips, warnings, etc. The graphic design, layout, paper texture, etc., are all very pleasing and evoke the attention to detail found in every aspect of the book.

Also on the companion DVD are the fourteen movies of Larry talking us through various aspects FCP, including capturing media, filters and multi-clip editing. Each one is about fifteen minutes and all are helpful in grasping some of the more complex features of FCP. One of the movies I especially liked was Larry's demonstration of slip/slide and ripple/roll edit features. His description helps differentiate the tools and describes when to use each.

Even though there are brief exercises on bringing files into Soundtrack Pro and LiveType, the 478 page book deals only with FCP not the other applications found in Final Cut Suite.

This book is for beginner and intermediate users of FCP. It provides a solid foundation and fills in a lot of holes if you're self-taught. It is written as if you are attending one of Larry's classes, very conversational and punctuated with his opinions and personal preferences. If you like his style, you'll like the book.

I highly recommend Final Cut Pro 5 Hands-On Training to anyone wanting to learn Final Cut Pro.

PRO: Best book I've seen for beginning FCP training. A treasure.

CON: Who has time to go through it all, plus the movies. Just have to pace yourself.
NOTE: This is written my Jim Jewell and I'm posting it

I first read this story way back when it first came out -- long before Streisand turned it into a third-wave feminist polemic. (Which, by the way, upset the author, I.B. Singer, so much that he tries to stop production. Unfortunately, he did not have artistic control over the film rights to his story, and so this travesty of his work was produced and lives on in infamy.) Upon re-reading it, I still think it is about a transgender person, not a feminist.

The reviewer here who said that another reviewer "should be shot" (such violent intolerance!) for claiming that Yentl was transgender by making a reference to "even heaven makes mistakes" obviously did not read the book -- because that's word-for-word what Yentl's father tells her on page 8. The story also clearly states that Yentl has "the soul of a man." (page 8 also). So, I suggest ignoring those PC polemicists who are talking about the movie only, which is VERY DIFFERENT from the book, and has ITS OWN PAGE for reviews! (If you haven't read the book, why are you reviewing here in the first place?)

Singer was writing in the 1960s. He wrote respectfully of Jewish culture in this story. He did not mock it the way Streisand later did in her movie. The book has no barkers shouting "Story books for women, holy books for men," and as far as I know, nobody even did that in real life. The line is anti-Hasidic propaganda, as is much of the movie. Streisand's film is a comedy. Singer's story is serious drama.

In the book, When Yentl says, "I wasn't created for plucking feathers and chattering with females," (page 47) is she really speaking like a radical 20th-century feminist about social roles -- or is she speaking literally, on a mystical spiritual level? If she were merely objecting to "plucking feathers" (woman's work) why does she also object to "chattering with females" -- and why use the word "females," as if to stress this is about GENDER? I think she means that she was not created to be a woman, period, regardless of roles. She certainly does not object when her father tells her that she has a man's soul and that "even heaven makes mistakes."

She reaffirms this transgender identity on page 49, where Avigdor asks her, "Tell me the truth, are you a heretic?" Yentl answers, "God forbid!" Clearly, she believes in Orthodox Judaism and respects it, IN SPITE OF her personal dilemma. As their discussion continues: "... All Anshel's [Yentl's] explanations seemed to point to one thing: she had the soul of a man in a woman's body." How much plainer can you get?

But today, in the 2000s, being a female-to-male transgender person is no longer politically correct in the feminist movement. Since the days when Singer wrote this story, the radical feminists have trashed and reviled female-to-male (FTM) transgender people for being "politically incorrect" to the point that they (the feminists) simply cannot stomach the idea that THIS IS WHAT SINGER WAS WRITING ABOUT!!!!!

Yentl doesn't act like a feminist in the book. She doesn't go out campaigning for women's rights. On the other hand, she does enjoy cross-dressing: "On Sabbath afternoons, when her father slept, she would dress up in his trousers, his fringed garment, his silk coat, his skullcap, his velvet hat, and study her reflection in the mirror." (page 8) She also secretly smoked her father's pipe. These are not feminist behaviors, they are transvestite / transgender behaviors.

Yes, there were restrictions against women in the 1850s (which, by the way, is the time frame for this story. Keep in mind that gentile universities didn't accept women back then, either.) But that is NOT the reason that Yentl crosses over to live as a man. If she were merely a disgruntled woman wanting "male privilege," why did she choose to live as a man even after divorcing Hadass? In the Streisand movie she goes back to dressing as a woman and takes a ship to America where, presumably, she will be "free." But that scene IS NOT IN THE BOOK! In the book, she lives out her life as the man, Anshel. Exactly as an FTM transgender person would do.

Regarding the debate here about whether Yentl was a feminist or a transsexual, I weigh in on the transgender side -- for all the reasons other reviewers have already listed here, and which I have also discussed on my Hasidism FAQ website. So I won't reinvent the wheel in this review. I agree that the movie was definitely a feminist statement, but the book, well, that's another story altogether.

We should remember that before the movie, there was the stage play. It followed the book pretty closely, (which the movie did not!) and was very popular in lesbian and avant garde theaters. When I saw the play performed in the 1970s, Yentl was played as the Jewish version of a "butch" lesbian. (In terms of social roles, not machismo. The ideal Jewish male in the timeframe of this story was a scholar, not a redneck.) In the play, like in the book, Yentl remains living as the man Anshel in Eastern Europe. In the movie, Streisand changed this very important point and had Yentl revert to wearing women's clothes and then going to America.

So nu, what was the relationship between Yentl/Anshel and Avigdor? They were study partners -- chaverim in Hebrew -- a relationship that doesn't seem to exist outside of the Orthodox Jewish community, so here's some background. The Talmud is written in dialogue mode with different rabbis agreeing and disagreeing on various points of Jewish law and theology. Talmud is traditionally studied out loud, by two people hotly debating, going point-by-point over the discussions on the page together. In the traditional yeshiva world -- even today -- the schools are not co-ed. So naturally, your study partner is going to be the same sex as yourself. And very often, your study partner is also your very best friend. You not only sit together in school, you confide in each other, hang out together, encourage each other in life's struggles, etc. And this can be a very close relationship. But it's not sexual. It's male bonding. If Anshel had joined the army, then he and Avigdor would have been "buddies" who fought battles together.

Anshel loves Avigdor, yes. But as a study partner, not a lover. What Anshel misses in Avigdor when he changes study halls is not sexual attraction, it's their learning together. Nobody else in the yeshiva is as serious or as brilliant a student as Avigdor. Nobody else is an intellectual match for Anshel -- and so, he studies alone.

When Anshel reveals to Avigdor that s/he is really the woman Yentl, Avigdor suggests that they could get married and still study together -- but Yentl/Anshel says no. S/he tells him that s/he is "neither one [sex] nor the other" and that s/he has "the soul of a man in the body of a woman." This teaches us that Yentl DID INDEED have a gender identity crisis. If she had just wanted to study Talmud, if she were in love with Avigdor, she could have married him and that would be that. But she chose instead to remain living as Anshel for the rest of her life, even without Avigdor. In other words, she chose loneliness and loss of friendship over going back to living as a woman -- a choice that many a real transsexual has also made.

Now, one issue that has not come up yet in the debate here is this: What exactly did I.B. Singer mean by "the SOUL of a man in the body of a woman?" Is this used figuratively, i.e., with "soul" meaning interests, ideas, disposition? Or did Singer mean it literally -- that the eternal soul of Yentl was male, trapped in a female body? If it was figurative, then why does Yentl's father explain it by telling her "even heaven makes mistakes?" I think it is meant literally -- that a male soul has incarnated in the female body named Yentl. Perhaps it was reincarnation (Singer did believe in that.) This was/is one explanation in kabbalah (Jewish mysticm) for what we now call, in scientific terms, "gender dysphoria."

When Singer was writing in the 1960s, "gender dysphoria" was assumed to be caused by a mismatch of social roles, such as a girl being raised as a tomboy. And that's how Singer portrayed Yentl, with her father teaching her "male" things. But even today, when women are free (in Western countries at least) to openly pursue any type of studies or career or lifestyle they want, there are STILL female-to-male (FTM) transsexuals who claim to have male souls trapped in female bodies. Many of them were NOT raised as tomboys, either. The issue for them is not social roles, it's gender identity.

Recent research seems to indicate that this inner conflict is caused by a difference in brain structure. (Nature, not nurture.) Apparently, there is a part of the brain that is hard-wired to "feel" male or female -- and if this is out of sync with the rest of the body, you have a transgendered person. Had Singer known this in his day, he might have focused less on Yentl's dislike of sewing and cooking (the so-called "women's work"), and more on her inner identity crisis about feeling male. But he was a man of his times and he used the literary devices available then. When he wrote this story in 1962, DNA had not even been discovered, and there were no MRI machines to map the activities of the living brain. He assumed (wrongly) that a Yentl became what s/he was because of how she was raised. 21st-century readers need to keep this in mind when they read this story.

The movie does attack the issues of feminism - albeit somewhat unrealistically. Yes, as one reviewer put, there are many restrictions on Chasidic women (and men!), but not necessarily in an oppressive manner. The laws of Judaism are really quite complex (and no I am not orthodox). Nevertheless, I believe the book is a story about s transsexual, Yentl (Anshel) who felt as though she were a man in a woman's body. Incidentally, she was brilliant and capable of the complex studies of the Talmud, but the book has very little to do with feminism or oppression of women.
Nevertheless, it is an excellent read, highly recommended. For the period on which it was written, Singer was very much ahead of his time in tackling such an issue.

There's quite a debate going on in these reviews, so let me return to the main point of these reviews and state that this is an excellent story and well worth reading. As others have pointed out, in adapting the book to a movie, Barbra STreisand made substantive changes in the story, changes that Singer himself did not approve of. It's definitely worth going back to the original text and reading the story as written.

The story is not only a moving tale of the bind a Jewish woman of late 19th or early 20th century Poland puts herself into in order to fulfill her need to study and learn, but a rich portrayal of both the joys and strictures of that society that is now gone (as are so many of Singer's stories). It helps to know something of Judaism to understand many of the references in the story but it is not critical to the reader's empathy with Yentl/Anshel's position.

And yes, the character as portrayed in the book is undoubtedly portrayed as what we would now call transgendered. It is not simply that Yentl wants to study Torah, because if that were the case she could marry Avigdor and continue to study with him; Avigdor offers her this option. She herself says she is not one or the other. I also love Singer's implied explanation for transgender identity as being that of a soul of one sex incarnated in the body of the other. It makes a deep kind of sense to me in both a spiritual and experiential way, and adds another dimension to this story.

This book is very short, really a novella, and is illustrated with interesting woodcuts that portray both moments from the story, and various Jewish ritual objects like spice boxes and the pointers used to read Torah scrolls. Do seek this book and other works of Singer's out, you won't regret it!

The IBS short story (but not the movie) certainly IS about a transsexual. Tha character, Yentle/Anshel, is a woman who wants to be a man, and the study of Talmud is a major part of it only because Singer used 19th-early Eastern Europe as a setting. While Yentl is briliant and enjoys studying the Talmud this is not why she gets into her situation. Rather it's a literary mechanism. Singer clearly describes Yentl as a man inside a woman's body, and the reason why Talmud is emphasized is because of the setting in an eastern european jewish community. That is what the most respected men did in that culture; in modern Israel, it would be piloting an F-16 in the air force.

Although Yentl had studied secretly with her father, there were things that she had been hiding even from him: while he slept on shabbat afternoons she would dress up in his clothing, and smoke his pipe. She had not one female friend, then on the morning after the night when Anshel had married Haddass, the parents of Haddass held of the bed sheet and saw the blood. Singer writes that "Anshel had found a way to deflower Haddass", and that Haddass being so innocent and in love with Anshel hadn't realized that what was supposed to happen had not happened. IN OTHER WORDS...something happened SEXUALLY between Yentl/Anshel and Haddass, such that Haddass' hymen ruptured. Singer leaves the precise mechanism to the imagination, but it stands to reason that it was not the spilling of wine on the sheet as occured in the movie. It the short story it is actual blood. It seems hard to imagine but keep in mind that it is a culture wherein young women might never be told much if anything about sex before their marriage, the expectation being that they would find out from their husbands. Moreover the marriage goes on for several months with Haddass believing that her marriage is within a standard deviation of the norm.

It's just not conceivable that Yentl/Anshel is doing this -being intimate with Haddass via petting or whatever for several months - because of a heterosexual attraction to Avigdor. Then finally when she reveals herself to him and he suggest that they (Avigdor and Yentl) marry she says it wouldn't be good and that she's "neither one [gender] nor the other". And so she continues dressing as a man. She does not take a ship to another country as in the movie which would have been the right thing to do had she wanted to live as a woman and study the Talmud. She could have done that in western europe or america, but in the book she didn't and went on living as a man.

Drama got added to my music teaching schedule this school year and I had no idea what to do! I've never had a drama class in my life! This book saved me. The projects are interesting, fun, and involve the whole class. Better than that, the book spells out specifically what to assign when, things to watch out for in terms of management, and how to deal with assessment. I've seen lots of books with general ideas, but this book walks through projects day at a time with information about each piece.

This book is a real lifesaver. I recommend it for anyone teaching drama, especially if you are new to the field or if it's not your specialty.

I've been teaching middle school theatre for 4 years, and this book gave me some great ideas to use in my classroom. I love the way she organizes the book into different theatre projects and the way she uses group projects to teach theatre concepts. It's a great way to get the students working together and she describes each unit with such detail that you're not left wondering how to implement her ideas. Since she's a middle school theatre teacher herself, her insight is extremely helpful. And yet, she doesn't ever say her way is the only way. I highly recommend this for any middle school teacher that would like creative ways to use theatre projects in the classroom.

Maureen Brady Johnson's Middle Mania series helps students and teachers explore and create theater in excting new ways.

The exercises are so ingenious that students will find themselves moving forward with projects that help them appreciate theater as the dynamic force it is.

As a playwright I have used Middle Mania to help jump start my writing and I highly recommend both Middle Mania and Middle Mania Two.

Maureen Brady Johnson is a playwright as well as an experienced teacher with a fabulously creative mind. Her ideas fairly explode off the page. I guarantee these projects will open new ways of thinking and new approaches to acting. "Middle Mania: Imaginative Theater Projects for Middle School Actors" is a gift! - Robin Rice Lichtig (playwright)

Maureen Brady Johnson's books Middle Mania: Imaginative Theater Projects for Middle School Actors and ASIN:1575253291 Middle Mania Volume Two are priceless! As a drama teacher, hired last fall to establish a new exploratory fine arts program, I needed practical hands-on ideas for 6th, 7th and 8th grade. For the first semester, I used the Bag of Puppets project for all three grades. The students loved the process, learned multiple skills from public speaking to scriptwriting and eventually performed their original puppet plays for the entire lower school. During the second semester the books again provided a wealth of practical project ideas. The students explored musical theater using the Rock 'n Roll Playwriting unit and songs by the Beatles. During our school library's month-long celebration of Dr. Seuss, the 8th grade used the ingenious "Musical Chairs" project to stage a readers theater performance. Each volume of Middle Mania contains detailed lesson plans as well as reproducible forms for student evaluation and reflection. I cannot imagine finding a more worthwhile teaching tool for years to come!

Anyone who opens its covers...children, teachers, parents... agrees that award winning MONARCH MAGIC is one of the best resources for Monarch Butterfly enthusiasts. The full color photographs are outstanding. The text was originally reviewed by the honored Dr. Lincoln Brower, the country's most well-known authority on monarch butterflies and habitat preservation. I highly recommend MONARCH MAGIC for classrooms everywhere! My students LOVE it!

My second grade students loved this book! They were thrilled to have an autographed copy. The activities were age appropriate and fun follow up activities to support our study of the Monarch's lifecycle. We took photos of our butterflies and the kids thought that we should submit them so Lynn Rosenblatt could have them for her next book. Thanks for the great resource.

Monarch Magic has served my early childhood classroom well! We have found the pictures to be very captivating for the young learners, the crafts are great and easily adaptable for young children. I highly recommend this book to educators, the students instantly became interested in nature and excited to find and learn more about monarchs.

I have been photographing a Monarch metamorphosis and looking at many books - this one is by far THE BEST!

I am an educator. Speaking professionally, this is a book both the child and parent cannot put down. The pictures are amazing and the projects are extremely well conceived and easily accomplished at home or in the classroom. The history and explanations provided are extremely comprehensive, yet very easy to understand. I highly recommend this book to students, parents, and teachers.

I bought this book for my 12 year old son, who somehow ended up interested in origami. He is with his grandparents for the week and he and his grandmother hauled out her scrapbooking supplies and spent an afternoon making one of the more complicated projects. The instructions are clear and the pictures are great. I definately recommend this book.

"The New Origami" is quite possibly the greatest beginner book there is... it has incredibly good diagrams and very clear text instructions to go along with each one... it's projects range from very basic to high intermediate (I don't think any other beginner book even attempts to take you as far as this one does). On a whim one day I picked up this book and "Brilliant Origami", having never done origami in the first place (aside from flapping birds and paper airplanes)... after completing "The New Origami" I was able to tackle even the hardest models in "Brilliant Origami" (which is an intermediate to advanced book if ever there was one). Since then I've collected many origami books (old to new, simple to complex), and I've yet to find another book that I'd recommend above "The New Origami" for someone wanting to get into the world of paper folding.

Fantastic book for the more experienced folder. The detailing of the models is exquisite!

i had only seen and tried very basic origami. the book, the new origami explores a lot of different possibilities with paper and also leaves the reader with a lot more to imagine. The instructions are simple and the models made are very fascinating.

The diagrams are extremely clear and the illustration of the hands position combined with the text, helps the creation of extraordinaary models. The Pterodont (seen in the cover) produces an amazing result. Just one advice: Use at least 9"x9" paper, so you can get the best effect from the claws. With a little patience and a few days, one can make a very cool mobile with pre-historic animals.

The writer of this book makes a serious effort to teach quilters to produce fabulous quilts. It is presented in a clear, concise manner. I recommend it for the beginner as well as the more exoerienced quilter.

This book has gorgeous quilts in it, especially the quilt interrupted. I would recommend this book.

I just started quilting 10 months ago, I had never sewn or quilted before that. I have now made 2 quilts from this book and am going to make more. I love this book! The directions are very clear and easy to understand and follow. There are smaller quilts and large quilts. You really can't go wrong with this book!

I have been dying to take a class on M'Liss Hawley quilts but don't like paying the price for the classes. I bought this book for the Quilt Interrupted pattern. Wow!!! All the projects are beautiful and its great the there are two or three versions of each quilt to spark every quilter's imagination.

Phenomenal Fat Quarter Quilts (c 2004) by M'liss Rae Hawley has a string of 5 star reviews. While this book has some traditional quilts, it focuses more on more contemporary artistic designs. Color choice varies accordingly. Looking to go beyond the tried and true? This book's for you! Designs and color choices are reminiscent of art displayed in a modern museum. This book stretches the creativity of the reader.