Youth Books

This book was beautifully written description of opening the heart to receive wisdom offered by life. It describes a transformation from a fearful state of mind to one of acceptance during the transition from employment to retirement.

This is a quiet little book, it's not about raging, "...against the dying of the light," nor does he take the tone that "aging is not for sissies." He accepts that life has a beginning and an end and that he is closer to the end. He cherishes the irony in being in a class with small children who will be guides for him as he learns to paint in the Chinese style. Along with learning how to paint he opens his eyes to a way of teaching that had been inimical to him in his life as an educator. He finds joy in learning and his book is a joy to read.

This wonderful book details the author's struggle with loss, both the closure of a program he had created and his own mortality. He wanders into the Joseph Fine Art School, hoping to learn how to paint. It turns out to be a school of Chinese painting, and Herb Kohl finds himself in the beginner's class with 6 year olds as his fellow students. He details his struggles to paint a monkey, accept his role as student rather than teacher, and learn about the culture behind the paintings he is doing. Comfort comes from these activities, loss recedes with time, and joy blossoms. This lovely story is essential reading for anyone who is having or has had loss or fears mortality.

Let it go. This true story reemphasizes the need to surrender to God those things we cannot control, and how God can do a great work in our lives when we do that. Arranged in a picture book format that even small children can understand.

A clear, simple, compelling, true story that will lead a thinking Christian reader to challenging conclusions about where the anger comes from in his or her life.

I don't want to spoil the story--the conclusion follows so naturally in the story line. However, I would heartily recommend this book for any Christian struggling with anger. Once I had read a borrowed copy, I chased down a used copy.

This is the anonymous true story of an American in Dutch New Guinea and his attempt to grow pineapples. He is thwarted in his attempt by both cultural differences and his own stubbornness and anger. After buying 100 pineapple plants and paying to have them planted he is rewarded with years of fighting with the natives. They see no problem with helping themselves to his pineapples, much to his chagrin.

At times hilarious, this book has a sobering conclusion in which he learns how to deal with the problem in a way that is acceptable to both him and the locals. Although ostensibly a book on "how to conquer anger" it goes far beyond that to deal with all of the emotions of a cross-cultural setting.

Great book, I read it for a Chicano Studies class but I enjoyed every moment of it. A good memoir for anyone interested in the daily life experiences of Chicanas in the U.S.

Beautifully told story of a young Mexican-American girl growing up in El Paso in the 1940s. Ms. Lopez-Stafford shares her recollections of her barrio and all it's colorful characters.

The author titles her story "A Place in El Paso." Nevertheless, any of the following titles, "A Place in My Heart," "A Place in the Sun," "A Place in my Life," would had been appropriate as well. To the careful reader the story will bloom like a flower in his or her heart and soul.

Even though the characters, the places, and the events are necessary to complete the gestalt of the story, the characters, and the events are not restricted to any particular place or to anyone in particular. It can happen anywhere to anyone.

The careful reader will examine the story "A Place in El Paso" by looking below the surface, below the gestalt of the story in order to reach the nuances of Gloria's coming of age and survival. Moreover, the grammatical structure of the story is, symbolically speaking, a ticket for the reader to shadow, follow, and observe her life, and in doing so experience her innocence and get involved in the vicissitudes in Gloria's existence. The reader will witness and feel not only the tragic sad and heartbreaking moments in her existence, but the events that made her strong to endure the various disappointments and disillusionments while trying to find the right place in her life.

I highly recommend this book whether you are Anglo, Black, Hispanic, and so forth; this story can very well be your story as well.

I was amazed.I Hope you will be successful in all aspects of your life and,,,,,

I guess there is a caterpillar in all of us but lucky are the ones who discover the goodness of life within themselves and try to share it with others like the young author of this wonderful book.

Mandana- You are soo talented! I can't believe you wrote this book! It's so good!

Rob Hand's now classic Planets in Youth provides insight into the charts of children and adults alike. This was the first book I consulted on astrology, and I still refer to it regularly when I'm having trouble finding the positive side of a difficult aspect. Hand's treatment of the birth chart should be a lesson to us all: that it is a map for personal growth, and even the difficult aspects can find a positive outlet. If I could have only one book on astrology, this would be it. Hand's clarity, accuracy, and inspired writing make this book a must have for all ages.

I have had Robert Hands' PLANETS IN YOUTH in my astrological library since it came out (1977)and I think it is a must for every parent. PLANETS IN YOUTH covers each planet, sign, the major aspects and houses in the horoscope in an exceedingly well organized format. Each chapter addresses one planet and a glyph representing the subject matter of each chapter occupies a shaded space on the edge of each page for easy reference. Unlike most basic astrology books, PLANETS IN YOUTH is dedicated to describing placements in a child's chart from a psychological perspective. Hand's writing is gentle and positive so that the text could be understood by a child (10 years old or above) and certainly by a sensitive lay adult. Yet the insights and accuracy he brings to the table are by no means unsophisticated. I am a mother who has practiced astrology as an avocation for 25 years, and I have referred to this book many times for its perspective. I have done charts for mothers who know nothing of astrology, and recommended this book as a companion. This is not a book that relies on generalizations, and the reader will have to either have a chart to refer to or have someone prepare an explanation of which planet and placements to look up in the book, which is what I do when I recommend the book. However, with that caveat, the book is a must for any parent who seeks insight into a child (and for any adult who seeks a psychological insight into his/herself).

Written by the world's greatest living astrologer, this book is actually my favorite basic astrology reference. It's a "cookbook" -- i.e., a crutch to use for beginning astrologers before they get this all permanently situated in their own brains. But for its purpose, it is absolutely divine. Hand is without equal in technical skill and, surprisingly, his interpretations are uncannily precise and on the mark, as if he were also psychic. He wrote these Planet Series books while Saturn was transitting his third house, no doubt giving him the discipline to achieve something so tedious yet important. I've always enjoyed learning in the simple, delightful way that children learn. This book is written to describe the effects of the signs, planets and houses in the birth charts of children, but I'll guarantee you, it fits every adult you've ever known as well. Perhaps we are all always Little Children trying to spell God, as Dion Fortune has said. I recommend this book, with a warm smile, to all my astrology students!

God's Word is our only real help in circumstances that teens face. My Granddaughter loved her copy and tells me she uses it often. Every young person should have a personal copy.

Excellent book. Rather than trying to think of something to pray or how to say it, this book makes praying so much easier.

I recieved this book from a lady in my church when I was about 15 years old (I'm now 27). I have to say that this book was my source of help and guidance when there were no one else to talk to. It is direct,to the point and single out some of the major concerns and areas needed to be talked about in a teens life. I now use the book to help the youths I minister to by purchasing them in quantities of 4-10 at a time and giving them out as gifts. I recomend it for any teen, or young adult.

I did not grow up in the 1950's (1970's/80's) nor did I grow up in Kansas City, although I lived there for two years. I randomly picked up this book and thought it was excellent. I don't think you need to have any connection to Kansas City or grow up in the time period covered to enjoy this book. I still read it every now and then; it is very good.

Once I began the book I never put it down. Bruce lived five blocks away from me in the same era. I especially remember Shortcake and Roy Beatty. They were friends of mine too. Bruce's recollection of Frank's restaurant was poignant although I didn't remember the dirt, just the heavenly(?) taste of a tenderloin sandwich. As to Old man Pierce, I too was chased from the premises, albeit not for the same reasons. My home was across from Scarrit grade school. Bruce no doubt played baseball there too. I do remember Lykins Square where we played the kids from "south of Independence Avenue" on many occasion, probably losing more than we won. This was a great step back to my own childhood. NE grad 1954.

This memoir of growing up in Kansas City in the 1950s is much more than nostalgia. It is an evocation of the importance of baseball in a young person's life, the ambitions of youth, and the impact of family, friends and neighbors. The characters are wonderful, and the whole book is beautifully written. It's a good read, humorous and poignant.

I only know how to make puppets. I made a few and tried them in the children's church I help teach and it just worked so well. Decided that we needed to learn more about puppets so found this book on internet and ordered. It has really taught me a lot about puppetry and am in the process of starting a teen puppet team. What a blessing. I know how to make puppets but the Lord knows how to teach and has provided one tool I can use through this book. Appreciate your prompt delivery.

This book is a great, complete reference to help build, grow and maintain a puppet ministry group. The authors write with conviction and experience suitable to their topic. There are sections that help beginners and advanced puppeteers as well as leaders who need the information to direct other to excel. They really know their stuff!!

When I was asked in 1997 to be director of puppet ministries at a local church, I knew nothing about directing a puppet ministry.

After having read "Puppets: Ministry Magic" I was able to tackle my task of director of puppet ministries.

This is an excellent resource book for those working with young adults. It's worth the price.

It's certainly a fabulous resource book for interesting, innovative reading that is well organized and informative,...

Radical Change is the product of insight and intuition about today's young adults and their involvement with literature. It presents a new way of looking at literature and understanding books that differ sharply from traditional expectations. Eliza T. Dresang clearly spent a lot of time and hard work to make this document as informative as possible. One of the main ideas of the book, I believe, is that it is possible to teach about (and learn about) literature without utilizing customs. Not only does Dresang approach many aspects of literature, but she also takes a look at the Internet and technology. As stated in the pre-publication comments, "This book is a comprehensive guide to the finest technology-related literature for youth- for anyone who is involved with the new digital era."

If you want to know what this book is about, read the other reviews, which do a decent job of summarizing the contents. I'll focus on what those other reviews don't tell you.

First, Eric Sams is a remarkable writer, a remarkable mind. His background is in music, and he has two breathtaking abilities: one is the ability to hold in his head large quantities of information, and the other, to sift through that information and spot patterns. In Shakespeare's writing he identifies recurring thoughts, metaphors, associations; he identifies word usages, turns of phrase, images, all of which, taken together, truly seem to be characteristic of Shakespeare and as unique as a fingerprint.

Second, he gives you perspective. If you browse in the works of Shakespeare professionals for long enough, you encounter all sorts of speculations about the conflicting texts, who wrote what, possible collaborators, and how this scene must have been written by somebody else, and this quarto must be "memorial reconstruction" -- the term they use to say that a couple of actors who once played those parts reconstructed the play from their own recollections and then filled in the blanks. These same academics dismiss plays like Edward III and Edmund Ironside as inferior to the works of "the canon" (works they all agree were written by Shakespeare): they couldn't possibly be Shakespeare, the academics say; they're all by "other writers." While academics make frequent references to these other, unknown playwrights, collaborators, and actor-writers, Eric Sams puts all such speculation into perspective. He clarifies two things: first, that there is no real evidence that these playwrights, collaborators, or actor-writers ever existed; they're convenient figments of the academic imagination. Second, these men who lived in and around London and were contemporaries of Shakespeare and writing plays -- these men numbered perhaps two dozen at most. And we already know the names of more than half of them. So if a play like Edward III contains those usages and images and comparisons and types of word play that seem unique to Shakespeare, well, you've got only a handful of possible unknowns to whom you can attribute such a play -- and all those peculiar images, usages, etc. It's not scientific certainty, but for circumstantial evidence, it's pretty telling and the best we're likely to get.

Most of the biographical works I've read are long on speculation and short on facts. Not so with this book. Facets of Shakespeare's life that are touched on and dismissed in other works are thoroughly explored here -- like Shakespeare's Catholic background, his legal experience, poaching, etc. And instead of speculative sentences that begin, "Young Will may have longed for..." or "... may have attended..." or "may have learned about..." -- Eric Sams delivers what facts we have. In one chapter he simply lists ALL of the significant documents from Shakespeare's lifetime (and just before and just after) and summarizes their contents for you. Boom. That's it. That's all there is.

What I never would have guessed from reading other works is that, in fact, it's quite a LOT. Sams speeds through a wealth of information, little clues here, little clues there that, when combined with patterns he uncovers in the plays themselves, form a remarkably coherent picture of Shakespeare.

This book is in large part an attack on the orthodox "Stratfordian" academic 'establishment'; not however from the point of view of someone claiming that a person other than William Shakespeare of Stratford Upon Avon wrote the works of Shakespeare (an impression which the cover picture and title might give at first glance). Rather, Eric Sams accepts that Shakespeare was Shakespeare, so to speak, but claims that the account of the writer's early life and literary development promulgated by 'orthodox" 20th Century British Shakespeare scholars is basically eroneous, and distorted by fashionable, unproved theories. His main claim is that Shakespeare started acting on, and writing for, the stage, much earlier than most modern academics allow, that he wrote plays (and perhaps pamphlets) other than the 'canonical' plays (i.e. those plays included in the First Folio of 1623, plus "Pericles"), and that he frequently revised or rewrote his own plays. In the first few chapters of the book Sams speculates on Shakespeare's early background and upbringing in Stratford. Sams sometimes brings in quotes from the plays to support his view of Shakespeare's early life, and this is perhaps a bit problematic, but on the whole his contentions are pretty convincing, and he persuasively argues that the oral traditions about Shakespeare should be taken seriously, and not simply dismissed as gossip or folk-tales. Sams' main bugbear is probably the 'memorial reconstruction' theory, which holds that the so-called "bad quartos" are the botched piratings of Shakespeare's plays by unscrupulous actors. Sams contends that there is absolutely no evidence for this theory, and instead favours the simpler and more convincing proposition that these "bad quartos" are in fact early versions of these plays by Shakespeare himself, which he later revised. There is much more in this book than I have mentioned above, and it is definitely well worth reading.

1.Eric Sams' The Real Shakespeare constitutes a determined attempt to reconstruct the early part of the playwright's life. It shows Shakespeare not as a late developer but as an early starter who assiduously revised his work and who, in fact, was responsible for early dramas, including apparent source texts, not usually accepted as part of the conventional canon. Clearly the result of much work and contemplation of extant records and other details, The Real Shakespeare looks initially at biographical issues: a Roman Catholic Shakespeare leaves school, probably at the age of thirteen, to help with family farm chores, becomes involved (as a clerk) with the legal profession (hence the character of his hand-writing), marries Anne Hathaway (already pregnant), and departs soon after for London to escape the consequences (whipping, at the least) of poaching deer owned by the influential, anti-catholic Sir Thomas Lacy. In London, Sams asserts, Shakespeare makes his connection with the Shoreditch Theatre, working his way up the proverbial ladder as ostler, call-boy, prompter and soon becomes a Queen's Man far earlier than Schoenbaum et al. are inclined to allow (58). 2.Biographical issues, however, cannot be detached from literary matters (which particularly dominate the second part of the book), and Sams, in looking at the Bard's young life, also takes into account the work and comments of contemporaries (e.g., Marlowe, Greene, Nashe, Spenser, et al.), the Parnassus plays, and Willobie his Avisa (1594) before turning to the Sonnets, the association with the 3rd Earl of Southampton, and the problem of the dedication in the first edition. He then moves to a consideration of the "early style" and ascription of both the 1589 and 1603 (Q1) Hamlet to Shakespeare, as well as A Shrew (c.1588), The Troublesome Reign of King John (c.1588), the first part of the Contention...(1594), and The True Tragedies of Richard... (1595); also offered as possible candidates for canonical authority are Faire Em and Locrine (of which there is, indeed, pace Sams, p.166, a modern edition). Attention is also given to bad quartos and the matter of memorial reconstruction, source-plays, derivative plays, dating, "collaboration," so-called "stylometry," and handwriting (a script, Sams suggests, of a law clerk suggesting links to the hand of Edmund Ironside [c.1588]). Curiously, for this strongly argued book, which contends in a detailed way with the conclusions of much twentieth-century scholarship (references to contrary opinion are carefully included), there is no concluding chapter, and the reader is left to pull the threads together. However, by way of addendum, Sams provides a section headed "The Documents 1500-1594," 205 biographical details and citations in chronological order, which under-pin especially the reconstruction of the early (Schoenbaum's "lost") years; and a bibliography (with + and * marks denoting items which support or counter Sam's arguments). An index concludes the volume. 3.It is always important to review evidence for conventional knowledge, to challenge the validity of accepted views, and to suggest plausible solutions to bothersome problems. Yet, at times, the greater wisdom, unfortunately, lies in uncertainty, in being sure of what one can and cannot know, and in Shakespearean scholarship, the fields of speculation are rather broad. Given the available documentation, many readers will find some of Sams' arguments, while intriguing, still unconvincing and will prefer to rest with the more cautious approach of Schoenbaun, Vickers, Wells, and others. The academic community has not blindly or wilfully rejected solid evidence, and should not be reproached for what might appear, to some critics, to be tradition-bound precepts or unduly conservative empiricism. 4.Could Shakespeare have known about ostlers and law-clerks without being an ostler or a law-clerk? Probably? Did he write Locrine? Almost certainly not -- given the style, and if he did, why did he not revise it? If Shakespeare was the dedicated reviser Sams claims that he was, why did he not rework the questionable scenes in Titus and Pericles? Were all the source plays (e.g., King Lear and Famous Victories) really by Shakespeare? Doubt could enter here. Does revision necessarily or "normally" mean that the resulting work will manifest two separate styles? No, it does not; though the reference to the Brahms' piano trio (Op.8) on p.187 is interesting, it does not, I think sufficiently support the general point. And what is the difference between an "ordinary" reader of Shakespeare and other kinds of readers (105)? Is one to infer that academic readers and textual editors lose some sensitivity? 5.Certainly, Sams' The Real Shakespeare will shake the scholarly stage a little, which is not a bad thing. But I should guess that, when the tremors have subsided, many -- perhaps most -- of the props will be more or less where they were before and others, which would be nice to have -- some certainty about the early years, for instance -- will still be absent.