Parties Books

Cecily Mary Barker is unparalleled in her portrayals of the tiny magic people. All these beautiful "pop-up" books are treasures to be enjoyed decade after decade. My grandchildren and I love them and my youngest, who has just reached the Age of Doubt, told me she will believe in them forever and ever. I certainly still do. They are wonder-filled.

When Mel, Lola, and Reuben are sent to the medievals where there is a kid called Stephen trying to get to Jeresalim with thousands of other kids, a De Winter man comes and offers them a "free ride to Jeresalim" buit they are actually planning to sell them as slaves. Then, against the Agency's wishes, Mel, Lola and Reuben dive into the future where bad-boy Brice, Mel's fallen-angel worst enemy is posing as good guy dave to protect his little brother, Dom, who has re-invented the time machine. Only,Dom wants to send his evil rellies (the de winters) into the future. Its awesome. I read it like five times and its still amazing!

This book is a must-have for anyone who would like to have people over more often but think they *can't* for whatever reason (the house is too messy, not big enough, not nice enough, I can't cook, I don't know what to say/do, etc.).

This is a simple living book that reminds us the emphasis of entertaining should be building friendships and community with each other. One of the best chapters is the one on marking life events (like illness and death). Maggie shows us how to gently reach out to each other during times of grief and uncertainty.

This is a practical and useful book with lots of specific ideas for various situations, checklists, and even suggested menus. It's a great reminder that welcoming people into our home should be FUN, not a torturous nightmare.

This is a really fun book for kids and parents to share together. The book revolves around Allie finding something she can give her family members at a get-together. She and her mom find a no-bake recipe for cookies that is perfect! Although never plainly stated, the focus here is on the importance of family in our lives. Everyone brings something to the get-together and Allie wants to show her love in the same way. Another plus for this book...the use of a REAL multiracial, multigenerational family.

THIS BOOK IS A VERY GOOD INSIGHT INTO PRE -WAR CZECHOSLOVAKIA,THE ONLY DEMOCRACY IN CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE AT THE END OF THE 1930s.IT SHOWS SOMEWHAT WHY THAT COUNTRY WAS ABLE TO RETAIN A DEMOCRACY IN POOR CIRCUMSTANCES WHILE ITS NEIGHBOURS WERE NOT ,THOUGH SVEHLAs SKILFUL LEADERSHIP WAS NOT THE ONLY REASON.HE WAS MORE IMPORTANT THAN MOST OF HIS BETTER KNOWN COLLEAGUES,SUCH BENES.

Twenty years after he left the U.S. Senate and 17 years after his death, many people have forgotten Idaho's Frank Church. In his day, Church was a nationally recognized U.S. Senator. In this book, Bill Hall looks back at one of the milestones of Church's career, his late campaign for President in 1976 in which he won five primaries and caucuses.

For those who like politics, this book will take you behind the scenes of Chuuch's Senate office and campaign structure. Hall worked for Church in '76, and he recalls in detail the hopes, dreams, egos, conflicts, ambition, and exhaustion that are a part of any bid for the nation's highest office.

Besides Church, interesting figures explored in the book are his wife and great supporter, Bethine, longtime friend and political aide Carl Burke, and his Senate chief of staff, Verda Barnes, one of the most powerful women on Capitol Hill during that time.

We are fortunate that the Frank Church campaign is documented as it has been here.

"Franklin Celebrates" is a Franklin TV Storybook based on "Franklin Migrates," a story from the sixth season of the show. (Hasn't yet aired in the United States as of the time of the posting of this review, but will air soon.) In this story, Franklin receives an invitation to a party for a holiday he's never heard of before.

Goose sends Franklin an invitation for a Migration Eve party. Franklin doesn't know anything about the holiday, but is excited to be invited to a party. He asks Mr. Owl about the holiday, but when Mr. Owl tells him that there will be special foods and a special dance, Franklin is kind of scared to go to the party. However, when his Mom says that she's counting him to deliver a blueberry pie to the party, it seems there's no way. Franklin goes to the party and shares in a very special event, one that both he and Goose will remember.

This is one of the strongest stories from the sixth season of the show and it makes for a great book. The characters and general look in the book is that of the TV show, but there are nice visual details and illustrations as well. Naturally, some things are left out or changed a bit, but they really did a good job on this one.

In this story Franklin decides and tells his friends that he's going to have his birthday at an amusement park. When he tells his parents, he finds out that if he's going to have it at the amusement park they can only afford to let him take one friend. Faced with this option, Franklin comes up with a creative solution so he can celebrate his birthday with all his friends and have just as much fun as if they went to an amusement park.

I think this is one of the best beacon street girls books yet. but the thing i like the best is that it tackles the difficult issue of alcohol. the book portrays drinking as a bad, disgusting idea and has several pages in the back that show what really happens to teenagers who drink. plus, the story line is interesting and i couldn't stop reading!

Bernard Moss of the Institue of European Studies at the University of London and author of several works on French history has called this book "the best history" of the socialists during the 1980s (see p. 140, footnote 3 of Moss's article in Martin Schain (ed.), A Century of Organized Labor in France) while Jean Charlot of the University of Paris has declared it to be one of the half dozen most important books on the history of French socialism in the twentieth century (see his review in the July 1993 issue of French Studies).