Issues Books

Are you ready to go to the Netherlands where bicycal riding, canal site seeing, and tulips are done almost all year long? Do you want to know the real story? Know what's happening with Cicily's family. Join me into a world where the Netherlands are the best place to be!

This is the best book ever! It taught me a lot about Holland, and I learned a LOT of dutch. Now I can speak a little of a different language!

The sequel to The Diary of Melanie Martin is just as charming and rings with the same truthful voice, as Melanie records the ups and downs of a vacation in Holland with her family and best friend. Melanie is reading the Diary of Anne Frank on this trip, and this historic diary lends a thoughtful note to Melanie's own diary, which includes dealing with the threat of the cancer which has infected her best friend's mom. With the heroine's observations as witty as ever, Melanie Martin Goes Dutch will delight young readers as they experience both van Gogh paintings and topless beaches through Melanie's eyes.

Wishing you could take a trip this summer? The title of this book just makes me smile. Melanie's mother has a grant to study Van Gogh in Amsterdam for the summer and the whole family gets to go along. Melanie's diary of their trip is a fun read. Travel disasters such as lost luggage, an annoying little brother, and a fight with her best friend are not what she imagined her vacation would be like. Melanie is reading Anne Frank: the diary of a young girl. As events unfold on their trip Melanie finds herself empathizing with Anne. Her visit to the Secret Annex is very poignant.

I loved "hearing" the Dutch phrases (complete with pronunciation,)smelling the food and seeing the sights through the eyes of a character who is the same age I was when I lived there. This is a very funny book. The presence of Anne in the background of the story gives the story a sweetness beyond the humor.

When you open this book, you will find yourself peeking into the private diary of Melanie Martin, a ten year old girl living in New York with her mom, dad and Matt the Bratt (aka little brother!). Her mom is an art teacher who teaches her kids to appreciate art, and she loves when they do, even if its only because it includes naked people or blood scenes!
The story starts when summer vacation has just got out, and our girl Mel is getting bored. She and her mom do puzzles. It is one utterly boring day when Melanie's mom gets a phone call telling her that she's got the grant (for her teaching) and they're going to Amster Amster Dam Dam Dam!
They barely get this news before it is discovered that Cecily's mom (Cecily is Melanie's best friend) has got breast cancer.
Mel's mom invites Cecily on the trip and Melanie is overjoyed!
They all leave together for Amsterdam. They all expirience lots of adventures including lost luggage, a topless beach, LOTS of museums and a HUGE argument.
Mel thinks Cecily is getting way too much attention so they silently fight.
Will the fight turn this best-friend bliss into a bummer summer?
Read and find out!
Melanie Martin Goes Dutch is a great book that plenty of kids can empathize with - even grown-ups too!
I hope everyone will enjoy this book as much as I have, including Carol Weston's other fantastic books!
3 cheers, two thumbs up, plus five WHOLE stars as well!

The fifth graders had just come back from their tour of the middle school they will be attending next year when I asked for volunteers to read this book. The book was a hit with the girls, although the a few boys read it because of the format. The girls wanted to hear about middle school...the joys and the sorrows. The coverage of the different topics: dad killed by drunk driver, single parent mom, rebellious older brother, kind grampa, and mom getting remarried, interested the readers at different levels. The girls were particularly excited about the format....little text but a lot of information. Good book for light reading. Good book to use when talking about and experimenting with differing formats.

I purchased this book for my 5th grade sister who abhors reading. She fights any book any tries to place in front of her. I first heard about this book at a Young Adult Literature Conference for teachers and librarians. It sounded interesting, so I purchased it from Amazon and had it shipped to my sister. She loved the book! She shared it with her teacher and class, too. I highly recommend this book for middle school reluctant readers. It's full of pictures and graphics to help hold the attention of all readers.

This just in: Middle school is HARD. It's bad enough that you have to deal with changing classrooms, let alone changing for P.E. in the locker room in front of classmates. You have to navigate your way between classes and through the cafeteria without losing your cool or your lunch. You have more schoolwork and homework to do than you did in elementary school. Your moods may suddenly shift, and your friends, siblings, and parents might suddenly seem like foreign life forms.

Middle School is Worse Than Meatloaf: A Year Told Through Stuff by Jennifer L. Holm, with artwork and illustrations by Elicia Castaldi, is a unique look at one girl's seventh grade experience. It relays all of the fears and concerns of a typical middle school student, but in a very cool format. It really is told through Ginny's stuff: her to-do lists (she likes scratching out tasks as she completes them), her tests and essays, notes to and from her mom, her grandfather, and her teachers, her older brother's hand-drawn comics, even her report cards and bank statements (she makes money baby-sitting, then spends it and ends up with the same balance every month).

The concept is executed wonderfully. Holm and Castaldi have given Ginny a definite life and personality, just through her stuff. Castaldi's artwork is beautiful. News clippings, greetings cards, and store receipts all look authentic. It brought to mind The Baby-Sitters Club Chain Letter book from many years ago. Though the BSC book actually had letters you could unfold, cards you could open, and other trinkets readers could keep, I liked that Middle School was all right here on the page, so nothing could get torn or out of place.

Every single thing written, drawn, or otherwise included on the page is a part of the story. When Ginny dyes her hair against her mom's wishes, we see the receipt from the store where she bought the dye and other items, then the receipt from the hair salon where Ginny's mother takes her to fix her hair. When her mother remarries, a newspaper clipping describes the affair. When Ginny's older brother gets in trouble, he draws her comic strips to show what he did and to express his remorse. The comics are rendered by Holm's real-life brother, Matthew, who also works with her on the fun graphic novel series Babymouse.

A complete story is told here, just through one girl's stuff. Not only is this contemporary and appealing to kids currently in middle school, but it won't feel dated in five years because it is based on fairly timeless themes. It's not about having stuff - meaning it's not about the desire to have material items - but rather it's what your stuff says about you.

If you haven't seen this book, please go find it. Get Holm's previous works while you're at it!

Jennifer L. Holm's MIDDLE SCHOOL IS WORSE THAN MEATLOAF is an exceptionally fun book for middle school readers and tells of Ginny, who has ten items on her to-do list for seventh grade. Unfortunately she keeps getting in trouble - none of which is on her list - and her fun story is told in a series of color facing pages of notes and experiences along with memos and easy eye-catching illustrations.

As I scrabbled through my purse to find the receipt the other day, the flotsam and jetsam of my life floated out too. There was a post-it note with a phone number I needed, a receipt for the dog's visit to the vet, a class schedule, a flash drive and various other artifacts and odd bits of life that really do tell the story of my daily existence.

As I picked up Jennifer Holm's book, Middle School Is Worse Than Meatloaf: A Year Told Through Stuff and began to read, my purse's contents flashed through my mind. Using notes, programs, hair salon receipts, report cards, post-it notes, greeting cards and newspaper clippings, Holm tells us the story of Ginny Davis.

As the school year begins, Ginny thinks the worst thing she is facing in seventh grade is the cafeteria meatloaf. By reading her instant messages to friends and teacher comments on school papers we begin learn about her family. We learn that she loves ballet and hopes her mother will remarry. We understand that her older brother is having problems and makes his family's life difficult. When her mom remarries, Ginny could not be happier but when her stepfather makes an unfortunate mistake, it puts her into an emotional and academic tail spin as her family life gets crazier.

I do not want to give away too much of this story because the humor and emotion build with each artifact on the page and it would not be fair to the story to spoil the surprises. I became deeply involved in this story and when I saw the image of Ginny's ballet recital program, I gasped.

Jennifer Holm has a gift for creating characters that readers care deeply about. May Amelia, Penny, Babymouse and now Ginny are girls that stay with me even after I finish their stories.

Elicia Castaldi has created the look and feel of real items in an actual scrapbook. She has designed and positioned each item so the story flows naturally. Matt Holm has an illustrator-cameo, contributing some cartoon panels dealing with Ginny's brother.

This novel is very very accessible for readers of all levels and strengths. I would start waving copies of this book ASAP at reading specialists and teachers. Since the story is told in short bursts of information, it would build reading confidence and help readers "see" the story in their imagination as it plays out.

This is a sweet story, cleverly told, that will find an eager audience. Get it on the shelf and stand back. This is going to be a hit.

My son and I were talking about this book today. It is about love and it's about pain and it's about how tears melt us and make us soft enough to be open to love. It always makes me cry--not because the bird dies but because the mountain is so touched it gushes a stream. It's a great book for people of any age! We are all like the mountain at different points in life. I'm a teacher so I also look at this book as a great entre for teaching how the earth changes and about the interaction between the land and animals. I've read this book to both my sons (who are now 10 and 14) many, many times and I've also read it to plenty of students. It's a beautiful book.

This wonderful book is not well known. I found it by accident and fell in love with it. To this day it still makes me cry. More children should be read this story. It is a beautiful story of hope and love. The hope that you will find love. It is great reading and has wonderful illustrations.
The book is more advanced and younger children may have a hard time reading it. But if ever you get the chance to read it to your children, I highly reccommend you do so. Alice McLerran is a fantastic storyteller, who makes the characters come to life.

This was a wonderful story as most reviewers have stated. It is a book choice on our pre-schools Raising a Reader program. It did, however, upset my [...] to the point of tears when the bird dies. She referred to it as the "dying" book every time she saw it. I heard similar comments from other parents at pre-school as well.

"The Mountain that Loved a Bird" is a magnificent picture book for all ages. A copy of it was loaned to me by a long-time school teacher whose opinion I respect, and yesterday, as my mother and I were making a long drive to see my grandmother, my mother read the book aloud to me. The soothing cadence of the writing added to the depth and magic of this most meaningful of parables.

The story is, indeed, about a mountain who comes to love a little bird named Joy. Joy, too, loves this mountain, and although she cannot live on the barren slopes of the mountain, where nothing grows, she promises to visit every year. How the grace and love of the bird comes to connect this mountain with its own beauty is, for me, a very meaningful part of this story. And too, the story is about how sometimes we love so very much, our hearts break with sorrow when we are separated from our loved ones. Most gently, "The Mountain that Loved a Bird" reaches into the hearts of readers and explores the nature of love. And most beautifully, the story offers a great and healing hope.

Half-way through my mother's reading of this book on that long drive, she stopped reading for a moment. I knew her eyes had filled with tears, as had mine. In this short time, we had come to love the mountain and the bird, and had come to see these characters within ourselves. This, to me, is a sign of a great work of art. I recommend this book on the highest possible terms. I recommend this book to parents who want to soothe their children with a soft and melodic cadence; I recommend this book to teachers who want to share how healing stories can be. I also recommend this book to those who are strong in the face of difficulty, and who sometimes secretly wish for solace. This book offers solace, comfort and hope to readers of all ages. The Little Prince, Zen Shorts (Caldecott Honor Book).

I bought this book because of the title as a gift for a neighbor child who enjoys watching birds at the feeder between our houses. When it arrived from Amazon, I read through it to ensure it was the right kind of book to give as a gift. It was moving and beautiful. Having recently lost my father, the message of loss and acceptance was bittersweet and definitely drew my tears, making me wonder if it would be an inappropriate gift. But reading this as a child could be the kind of early preparation that could make it easier for people to accept great loss (as well as smaller disappointments) later in life. I remember gaining that kind of value as a child from books like "The Velveteen Rabbit." If that kind of message is something you'd like to expose your kids to gently, this is a wonderful book for that purpose.

More than that, though, it's beautifully illustrated, and the repetition within the story seems like a comforting device for many children.

Have your children or students ever told you what they want for Christmas and after hearing it you internally cringe at the thought of them actually receiving it? Well, in `My Penguin Osbert' one little boy's Christmas wish becomes reality and its funny to see who ends up cringing...

Elizabeth Cody Kimmel tells the story of Joe, a classic case of Christmas-gifts-ignored-syndrome, who decides that he is going to help Santa get his gift absolutely correct this Christmas season. You see, Joe wants a penguin, a REAL penguin; he has to be exactly 10 inches tall, with a black and white coat, a yellow beak, a beating heart, and a name tag that reads "Osbert". And when Christmas rolls around he actually gets one.

H. B. Lewis' colorful illustrations will have you and your kids roaring with laughter as Joe's elated face gets more worried and worried by the pages. Very soon Joe begins to realize that taking care of a real penguin is quite a mission, especially if you would rather open the rests of you presents on Christmas morning than play in the very cold snow outside, or would prefer eating chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast and not creamed herring, or think that ice cream makes a great dessert but is not a good substitute for Play-Dough. In the end, Joe and Osbert's friendship will continue but in separate houses, after Joe takes Osbert to the penguin section of the city Zoo and Osbert falls in love with the idea of living there. The only question remains... has Joe learned his lesson about being careful what you wish for?

Maybe not, but who does...

This story is sweet - charming illustrations. On a larger scope, it can spark discussions about the responsibilities of owning a pet - it's not all fun and games. Nice for the winter season in general without being just a holiday book.

What a cute little book! My husband likes reading it to my son because he thinks it's funny, and my son likes it because he loves the pictures! Such a great addition to our sons book collection!

Despite the fact that this book has a young child writting lettrs to Santa, it is now February and we are still reading it! My son has hundreds of books and this is his favorite of all of them!

We read and discuss the lessons that are learned. My little one (he is 2) now knows that he has to take care of the people and animals he loves and not always do what HE wants.

We can not wait for more books by this wonderful author!

This picture book has a lot going for it: the story is about a penguin, if your child likes penguins then Osbert's story is a place for them to start reading. The story line is simple enough to glue a [...] to the page, yet magical enough to keep an [...] interested.

Osbert is a classic penguin, full of mischief and naive energy. He is a lovable character.

Elizabeth Cody Kimmel writes with a consistent style. It is a great little book that's sure to please parents and pre-reader age children.

The illustrations and art direction by H.B. Lewis are very nice indeed, in some instances truly wonderful. This is a book that will stay in your child's library for a long, long time.

Awesome pictures taken form high up in the sky. One can find unique views that are beyond imagination. Also included necessary information regarding NASA expeditions.

Astronaut Jay Apt, with the help of geographer Justin Wilkinson and climatologist Michael Helfert, has assembled a book full of pictures of Earth taken from orbit. These photographs were chosen from over a 145,000 that are available from the NASA photographic library and focus on many different aspects of our planet's geology and climate. The large coffee table style format and the high quality of the reproductions allows this book bring out the stunning features of our home and is welcome addition to anyone who is interested in space photography, especially since most of the book is photographs and very little text.

The book is divided into sections covering each continent, the Pacific Ocean and the aurora. To show the range of Earth's geology and climate, each section highlights the major geological features found in each region and if appropriate mankind's influence. To further emphasis to geological diversity of the planet, occasional surface photographs that correspond to an orbital photograph are also included. For example, in the section on Africa, there are photos of the Nile, Nile cities, the Sahara desert, various coastline features and cloud formations. The only portions of the Earth not covered are the North and South Poles, since the shuttle does not fly over these regions. There is also one extremely interesting two page map spread which shows the location of each one of the 268,000 photographs taken by the astronauts.

This book is one of my favorite space photography books and I look at it often and each time that I do I always notice something different. This is a great book and well worth the price.

Shuttle astronaut Jay Apt, together with scientists Michael Helfert and Justin Wilkinson, has put together a wonderful book of photographs under the auspices of National Geographic, Orbit. These are all photographs taken by astronauts from the space shuttle while in orbit (with a few exceptions, historically significant photographs from moon circlings and early trips into space). Photography, interestingly enough, is never really scheduled as a shuttle activity, but rather done 'in between' the other assignments. The photographs included in this book do not come from special 'space' cameras, but rather from regular hand-held, off-the-shelf cameras that astronauts took with them.

The shuttle offers a unique platform for photography, to say the least. It has 11 different windows, and as the shuttle orbits in what one might consider an upside-down position, the windows and cargo-bay with doors open are almost always facing the earth. Astronauts take lots of film with them, and record many phenomena. This book is divided geographically, by earth region: Africa, Europe and the Middle East, Asia, the Pacific, Middle and South America, and North America. There is also a special section on the Aurora, with dazzling photographs of things that look right out of Star Trek!

The images include daytime and nighttime views, calm views and stormy views. One can see hurricanes and cyclones from high above, stretching their entire lengths across great portions of the globe. One can see the difference lighting makes in an urban area at night, the way terrain and human-engineering connect, and how much of the world seems to remain unspoilt when viewed from a distance of even a few hundred miles away.

This is a remarkable book, full of glorious photographs of the 'home world', a great coffee-table book, a great gift, and a great guide of inspiration for younger readers who might be interested in science, geography, or even becoming an astronaut.

Truely a magnificent piece of work to wiew the wonder of God's creation leaves you in awe of the beauty of the Earth. I pick it up regularly, for maximum enjoyment choose times where you are not rushed so you can drink in the superb pictures. A book no household can afford to be without.

The book is published by National Geographic, so it goes without saying that the quality of the photographs is superb. But to look at this collection of space-born images is to never see the earth in the same way again. All the contintents and oceans are covered and even the Aurora is documented. The astronauts who took these photographs are some of the luckiest men and women on (or off) the earth, and this book will show you why.

Despite all that man has done to harm the environment, many of the photographs give you an eerie sense of what it might've been like to look down on the earth thousands of years ago, seeing only a beautiful collection of shapes, colors and clouds. Some pictures of the African desert and its coastline will leave you breathless.

A wonderful collection that beats satellite imagery any day of the week.

I bought this book from Amazon for my granddaughter. A perfect book to give your granddaughter for her to cherish and remember you by.

I bought this book for my six year old granddaughter. We have read it at least three times and she has found at least three pennies while we were together. She understands the concept. Now, when I find a penny, I think of her. Because we live 300 miles apart, it gives us a special bond.

This book was recommended to me by a friend. Once I heard the contents of the book I knew I had to have it. For those Grandmas who have grandaughters it is a MUST HAVE!!! I got a canning jar to go along with the book from my friend.(You will understand after you read the book) I can't get through the book without crying. It is a beautiful short story abot the love a grandma has for her granddaughter.

Although this book is about a little girl and her grandmother, I bought it for my grandsons. (Only thing that would be better would be IF there was a coordinating book written about a "boy" and "his grandmother". But, before I could send it to my grandsons, I had a close friend whose mother passed away. My friend has a daughter and will really miss her grandmother, so, I decided to give it to my friends daughter so now each time she finds a penny, she will know that "Grandma Loves Her". GREAT BOOK!!!

I first saw this book in an ad in Grand magazine. I wasn't sure it would be good, but after receiving it this past Friday (Friday is "special day" at my house as my 2 young grandchildren spend that day with me every week.) I presented it to my little ones just before our naptime. I began reading it to them with both snuggled up on either side of me. They loved it! I had a choked up moment at the end of the book, but my babies didn't seem to notice they were so caught up in the story. I'm sure everytime they find a penny, they too will remember that their Mom-Mom loves them and I'm making them both a special Penny Love jar to hold all that love.
If you are a Grandmother of young grandchildren buy this book!

I will only mentioned a few aspects of the world of quantum mechanics and then if you get bored you can read the last part where I mention some aspects of the book.

Werner Heisenberg is one of the most important figures within the world of quantum mechanics. Since Max Planck discovered that electromagnetic energy could be emmited in quantized forms a series of new discoveries revolutionised the world of physics. Albert Einstein confirmed Plancks's discoveries and theorized that light was composed of discrete quanta. This discovery was just too strange. How can light behave as a wave and as a particle. You can see the double slit experiment and observe how light behave when one slit is open and when the two slits are open, just amazing.So it seems that dualistic thought can not be applied here. Is light particle or wave, the answer: BOTH!As Heisenberg says in the book: "that what we observe is not nature in itself but nature exposed to our method of questioning". Thus observer and observed are in some way connected and not separated as in cartesian-newtonian world.In the introduction is written clearly: "...the act of of measurement defines the thing being measured, or that the thing being measured and the thimg doing the measuring are inextricably interwined"
This is why there have been some analogies between this new physics and eastern traditions (like Fritjof Capra's Tao of Physics)like buddhism and the Indian philosopher Nagarjuna, founder of the Madhamyaka school that developed the concept of emptyness, that is, all phenomenon had no "self-nature" "or idependent origins", there is no such thing as Parmenide's Being.All is interconnected,like Indra's jewels in Hinduism there is no gap between the observer and the observed in the world of quantum physics. Quantum mechanics is more familiar with Heraclitus where Change is the main principle, Becoming and not Being.Particles are not "things" but are like Aristotle's potentia. Heisenberg tell us: "A quantum object, in itself, is neither one thing not the other. If you decide to measure a wave-like property, the thing you are observing will look like a wave. Measure a particle property (position or velocity), on the other hand, and you will see particle-like behaviour." Note that Heisenberg that one can measure position OR velocity, this is the pillar of the uncertainty principle. In Heisenberg's words: 2The better you measure the position of a particle, the less you can find out its velocity, and vice versa."
Thus, the first years of the 1920s was a turning point in the world of physics. The Copenhagen Interpretation established the principles of quantum mechanics, some of this are: The uncertainty principle, the Complementary Principle (wave-particle duality of light) and that the description of nature is probabilistic.
Now you can have a little clue about the book subtitle: "The revolution in modern science". Newtonian mechanics can' t be applied to the subatomic world.Thus, the view of nature as a Big, impersonal Machine and that it was a matter of time that "all mighty rational humanity" was to discover all its laws is far from true. Even Einstein was not happy with this group of physicians that were saying "there is no such thing called objectivity" "newtonian laws are like a fish in the desert". Einstein after the theory of special and general relativity spent much of his time lookink for a Theory of Everything (TOE), and in some isolated himself from this great discoveries being made in the field of quantum mechanics.
Today there is this String Theory or M Theory wandering arround, and could be the best candidate that will unify the 4 forces: Gravity, electromagnetism, strong and weak interaction. Time will tell...

About the book:

Heisenberg explains the developmet pf pshysics reviewing Thales, Anaximander, Anaximenes (the three Milesians)Heraclitus, Parmenides, Empedocles, Anaxagoras, Democritus, Leucippus, then a quntum leap to Descartes and Kant.
He explains relativity, space, time, the Copenhagen Interpretation, the limits of language to describe the quantum world, the role of scientists, his Nobel Lecture and much more.
I think it is not a difficult book, but don't expect to understand quantum mechanics, because if you do, you really didn't understand a thing about it. So forget about binary-aristotelic logic and start developing fuzzy logics to understand a lot of weird things.

If quantum mechanics and all of its philosophical implications tickles your fancy, BUY THIS BOOK! Heisenberg jumps off the pages with an eloquence long forgotten in our day.

This is an excellent work due in large part to Heisenberg's acumen both as a physicist and a philosopher. Unfortunately, even some of the great physicists have been somewhat shallow philosophers. For whatever reason(probably the fact that his father was a professor of classical studies), Heisenberg had a very good grasp of many philosophical viewpoints. He was able to mostly avoid the cartesian bifurcation that traps most physicists even to this day. He understood that much of the "trouble" with Quantum Mechanics was caused by our unwillingness to let go of the bad metaphysical assumptions that became implicit in classical physics. Overall, this is an excellent book for anyone who wants to understand the beauty of Quantum Mechanics with eyes wide open.

As I was reading this intelligent and provocative manuscript, I could not help think why this was not part of my undergraduate physics course. For anyone who wants to know how quantum physics came to be, this is certainly the book to read. I was completely surprised how many of the aspects of modern science we take for granted today would not be in the classroom if not for quantum physics. The linking to classical philosophy was equally stirring.

I am not sure that anyone truly appreciates the fundamentals of quantum physics. But, for someone who has done a great deal of reading on the topic and possesses an advanced degree in a relatively unrelated field (clinical psychology), this is a very readable book on Heisenberg's thinking related to quantum physics. For those who know anything about quantum physics, however, it cannot be overemphasized that this is, in fact, only one perspective on quantum physics (though, probably, the most accepted). Heisenberg was one of the originators (along with Wolfgang Pauli and, particulary, Niels Bohr) of the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum physics. For anyone interested in a more deep analysis of the thought that went along with the development of this incredibly groundbreaking thoery, I recommend this book highly!

My daughter and I read this book and we both truly enjoyed it. As a mother it helps reinforce the values we instill in our children to love themselves and be true to yourself and how God loves us all. My daughter enjoyed the story and the illustration and found it to have a wonderful message about confidence. I highly recommend this book.

Awesome! Awesome! Awesome! Princess Briana needs to be in the hands of EVERY child across the globe! Boy or girl!

Children today have so many issues with their appearance, body image, self-esteem and the list goes on. This story touches on each of these areas and children can easily identify with Princess Briana as she experiences these "growing pains" and realizes that she is beautiful just the way she is!

I applaud Yaba Baker on an amazingly written story! The art work is incredible! I just didn't want the story to end!

Every parent, teacher, and child should have this book on their shelf TODAY!

My daughter is in a predominately white school system and this book was perfect for her! It let her know that there is more than one standard of beauty and that you have to love yourself for who you are, braids (which she has) and all. Anytime she starts feeling slighted for not being the same as her classmates, I pull out this book and remind her of her INDIVIDUAL beauty. Loved it and would recommend it to everyone!

My daughter is an avid reader and she absolutely loved the book. She is 10 years old and felt that the book spoke directly to her. The illustrations are wonderful and the story is compelling. I would highly recommend this book to all parents of young girls.

For one-and-a-half years, I've facilitated a book club of African-American girls. We read two picture books by black authors each month. Among our selections have been award-winners and titles that have made recommended reading lists. Never has a book stimulated such discussion as Yaba Baker's Princess Briana.

The girls, many of whom attend predominantly white schools, could see themselves in what Princess Briana was going through. They talked about what it felt like to be one of the few girls of color. They cheered at the story's triumphant ending. After discussing the themes, they decorated foam crowns and wrote about the quality they love best about themselves.

We celebrated the lesson of the story in a princess parade. The girls strutted their stuff for their moms and then one by one shared their poems. It was beautiful to see them talk about the beauty of their brown skin, richness of their heritage and keenness of their minds. It was one of our best meetings yet.

Princess Briana is a special story. In a world that still struggles to embrace diverse standards of beauty, this book is like balm to the soul.

Simon writes wittily and intelligently about a number of subjects, all of which have been dramatized on the hugely popular television show "The X-Files." There have been other books about the show, episode guides and the like, but for my money this book is best.

I bought this as a bargain book but it is worth the full price! The author writes in a knowledgeable yet humourous style which makes absorption of the subject matter easy for non-scientists, and less than 40 pages into an information packed book I have learned such a lot already. I rated it 4 star because I would have liked to see a glossary at the back and colour photographs would have made a very interesting book moreso. For example, what do the sea slugs that prefer to try to eat each other before taking the alternative option of having sex look like? Other reviews here tell you that the book is based on science fact and fiction touched upon in the X-Files so I don't need to go there. Read it, learn, and laugh. There is nothing funnier than real life.

I love the X files and I'm a mixture of Mulder and Scully with regard to their beliefs. But after reading this book, I think I have become a scully!This book is so lucid and simple in its explanation of certain "paranormal" phenomenon. The author does a wondeful job combining biology and humour to explain to the lay person that not all things are paranormal and that if you do a little scientific research most of the things out there will make sense. All my knowledge on DNA, chromosomes, cancer comes from this book !Though she herself admits that not everything you see on the X files can be explained by science, most of the things that happen on a macro scale in the X files happen on a micro scale in real life. Genetic mutation is a reality, a virus surviving an cosmic travel is plausible, and so on. Finally, for those of you who are deceived by books written by the layperson/idiots/quacks, read this book and you will become fascinated as to what science has to offer.

Sexual tension aside, the coolest thing about this show seems to be the questions it poses about nature and science as we know it. And being a molecular biology student, I always get a kick out of shooting down the supposed theories that the show's characters spout out. It's hard sometimes to figure out if Chris Carter and the powers that be are really serious about certain phenomenons/ideas. This book clears it up nicely. Dr. Simon is completely knowledgeable about these topics and presents the information with much more gusto than your typical molecular biology textbook. I'd rather be tested on her book come final exams, but such is life! :)

I came upon this book at the house of a friend and couldn't put it down.

It is a wonderful read and, to a non-scientist, an entertaining and clear look at some of the scientific mysteries of the universe.

This is a perfect book for a graduation present and for anyone with an interest in brain-sucking worms, aliens and mutating organisms. I recommend it highly.

As an African-American male who is a member of a predominantly white Evangelical mega-church, the title of this book jumped out at me, and that's why I was so eager to read it. I found the book to be very interesting, with many poignant history lessons, and I could definitely relate to the different prisms through which Christians from different racial backgrounds see God in our great country. Mr. Gilbreath does an excellent job, even using examples from his own life talking about the challenges, triumphs and setbacks in regard to racial-reconciliation. I wish many more people would read this book, because even though it is a touchy subject, I believe that Mr. Edward Gilbreath handles it with class and fairness and shows that he truly has a heart for reconciliation. I highly recommend this book to all Christians regardless of your racial or denominational background.

Everyone views the world along an angle of vision that affects both how he interprets the world and lives within it. That angle of vision itself is formed by, among other things, time and place and creed and culture, not to mention the postmodern troika of race, sex, and class. To understand why a person interprets the world the way he does, then, we must begin by understanding the person.

Edward Gilbreath is editor at large for Christianity Today and editor of Today's Christian. These are two mainstream evangelical publications, placing Gilbreath firmly in the evangelical camp. In America, evangelicals are predominantly white, but Gilbreath is black. That status as a black evangelical gives Gilbreath a unique angle of vision, which he writes about in Reconciliation Blues: A Black Evangelical's Inside View of White Christianity.

In a moving paragraph, Gilbreath describes "the loneliness of being 'the only black,' the frustration of being expected to represent your race but being stifled when you try, the hidden pain of being invited to the table but shut out from meaningful decisions about that table's future. These 'reconciliation blues' are about the despair of knowing that it's still business as usual, even in the friendly context of Christian fellowship and ministry."

Gilbreath's story is not unique. Although much of Reconciliation Blues is autobiographical, Gilbreath also writes about such pioneering black evangelicals as evangelist Tom Skinner, publisher Melvin Banks, and activist John Perkins, not to mention other lesser-known pastors and professionals. They trod (and continue to tread) a lonely road within evangelicalism's predominantly white subculture.

Historically, that subculture was not friendly to black demands for civil rights. White evangelicals sat out the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 60s. Or worse, they rooted against its heroes. Gilbreath tells the story of Dolphus Weary who, as a student at Los Angeles Baptist College (now The Master's College) heard white students laughing at the death of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Of course, that event is forty years in the past, and Gilbreath concedes that white evangelicals have made progress in their racial attitudes. But there are still blindspots. Gilbreath mentions the 2004 brouhaha over LifeWay Publisher's VBS curriculum, Rickshaw Rally, whose stereotyped artwork offended many evangelical Asians. Rather than admitting offense, LifeWay dug itself into a hole defending the curriculum.

For Gilbreath, as for many black evangelicalism, part of the problem with white evangelicals is institutional racism, defined by sociologist James Jones as "those established laws, customs, and practices which systematically reflect and produce racial inequities in American society."

Examples of this kind of racism include "the failures of public education (why are inner-city schools devoid of proper resources?), imbalances in our nation's criminal justice system (what's with the inordinate number of black males in prison?), and the inability of African Americans and other minorities to keep pace with their white counterparts (why do some banks charge higher rates on loans to African Americans and Latinos?)."

These examples of evangelical insensitivity and institutional racism raise political questions that make white evangelicals uncomfortable. Two of the more challenging chapters in the book are back-to-back chapters on politics: "Is Jesse Jackson an Evangelical?" and "God Is Not a Democrat or a Republican." Jackson is a lightning rod of controversy among conservative white evangelicals, both for his politics and for his personal indiscretions, but he is viewed with admiration by many in the black evangelical community for his social concern. Indeed, his heir apparent at Operation Push is a Bible-believing, black evangelical pastor named James Meeks. And while in the abstract many white evangelicals agree that God is not a partisan, they still have problems with the concrete practice of voting for Democrats that is so prevalent in the black evangelical community.

(Indeed, after reading Gilbreath, I began to wonder whether politics is a stalking horse for race in contemporary American culture. That is to say, I began to wonder how much of the tension between white and black evangelicals is due to political differences rather than racial ones.)

Gilbreath tells his story and provides challenging analysis, but throughout this book, his main concern is racial reconciliation among evangelicals. This was a prominent them among evangelicals in the 1990s. Promise Keepers made racial reconciliation one of its seven key promises. And white Pentecostal denominations (such as the Assemblies of God) disbanded the all-white Pentecostal Fellowship of North America and joined with black Pentecostals and others to form the multiracial Pentecostal and Charismatic Churches of North America in 1994 (the so-called "Memphis Miracle").

Unfortunately, racial reconciliation has fallen on hard times. The first sentence of Gilbreath's book is the sentiment of a black female friend of his: "I'm sick and tired of racial reconciliation." And the Epilogue of the book describes a November 2005 conference of dispirited racial reconciliation leaders, Gilbreath among them. Despite the history, heartache, and hard work, Gilbreath isn't giving up on the dream of reconciliation. "I think about Jesus' prayer for his followers, `that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you sent me' (John 17:21)."

As I said at the outset of this review, everyone has an angle of vision. Gilbreath has his, and I--white, Pentecostal, and politically conservative--have mine. But surely Jesus' angle of vision is the one that counts, the one that calls us to work through our differences to a higher unity based on our common life in him!

I've given up on racial reconciliation quite a few times. The first time was shortly after I discovered it due to my inability to sleep peacefully as I grappled with my newfound understanding of ethnocentrism. The second was when my Asian American husband and I left the segregated and monocultural Midwest for the more integrated and diverse landscape of the East Coast (where racism no longer exists, or so we thought...). The third was when the African American pastor of our mostly white urban church resigned, citing racial reasons as one of dynamics that shadowed his pastorate. The fourth and most recent was when we returned to rural Indiana to a landscape of, shall we say, far more (white) milk than (brown) honey. However, it gets a bit tricky to walk out completely on racial reconciliation when you're married to someone of another race.

Although I am white, I daily face racial issues through my children and husband. While I easily blend into the crowd, they never do, and I am regularly privileged to experience life through their eyes. In his book Reconciliation Blues: a Black Evangelical's View of Christianity (Intervarsity Press, 2006), Edward Gilbreath offers a similar gift. With painful honesty, he shares his experience of being an African American evangelical Christian in a white dominated church culture. Confronting the majority notion that racism in the church is not a pressing issue, Gilbreath observes that "something is still broken." He offers examples not only from his own life, but also from other African American Christians who struggle to interact with and trust white evangelicals.

While he concedes that the church has come a long way from the days of slavery, segregation and lynching, he still questions if we have come far enough, citing the lack of diversity in many Christian organization, and the white majority's unwillingness to genuninely submit to leaders from other cultures.

Gilbreath begins by describing his experience being the only black person in many evangelical Christian institutions and organizations. He speaks candidly of how he is often expected to speak for his entire race, and to `give in' to the white majority's unacknowledged ignorance of other cultures. "Many days the weight of it all leaves me exasperated," he writes. "Sometimes in the silent thumping of my heart, I am haunted by the thought that I will always carry the mantle alone - terrified by the realization that, on a daily basis, if I do not speak up to voice a nonwhite perspective, it will go unheard."

In addition to sharing about his personal experience, he offers portraits of other publically known black Christians such as Tom Skinner, Martin Luther King, Jr., and (gasp!) Jesse Jackson. Offering a fair treatment of each figure, he shows how their influence has both affected and been received by a white evangelical audience. He even explores how hot-button issues like political associations and cultural over-generalizations effect race relations within the church.

While a powerful read for those already in the throes of the reconciliation movement, I would also highly recommend Reconciliation Blues for those who have not yet entered. While the issue of racism - especially in the church - is never an easy one, Gilbreath addresses the issue much with gentleness and grace. His vulnerability is a sigh of relief for other nonwhite believers who share his experience of isolation, and a challenge to those of us who too often forget how much we have to learn.

Be afraid? Not really, I'm kidding! But, let there be no mistake that Edward Gilbreath has something significant to say, and you had better be willing to have your comfortable evangelical faith tested. From cover to cover, this was an excellent book! I was especially grateful that Gilbreath's perspective intentionally went beyond just black and white. It is time that every Christian of every color should get with God's program of multi-ethnic evangelism and discipleship.

As a tenured white Christian, I grew up in a very bigoted community, went to a bigoted school, and grew up thinking "white flight" was just the way it was. I was convinced that going to a church in a multiethnic community had solved many of my ill-conceived notions of race. Like Mr. Gilbreath writes in the first line of his book, "I am sick and tired of racial reconciliation," so was I. Or so I thought. As the chapters of the book unfolded, I found myself getting angrier and angrier at the perceived "stones" that Mr. Gilbreath was throwing at the "church." And then my heart broke. I finally understood the ignorance I had toward a community that was oppressed; that I, unknowingly, oppressed. As Christ longed for us to love our neighbors, that process begins with getting to know our neighbors. I strongly believe that all believers need to have the veil of ignorance lifted by this book, so that the discussion, (and healing) can then begin.