Allen Books

Artistic American Girls are sure to be engaged in this spiral bound book. From ways to change up your lettering, to paper capers,top secret, writing from the road,super stationary, and even getting in your last word. Cartoon notebook instruction makes the book even more fun.

This book is filled with great ideas!!! Not only cool, unique ways to wright words, but there are new ways to wright in secret codes beyond pig laten, fun borders and signatures for letter-wrighting, et cetera. This delightful book for girls ages 8-12 also has awesome ways to wright from the road, and some tips I used for scrapbooking, too! I totally recommend it!

if you are one of those girls that when they're bored they like to draw, paint,invent envelopes, and find out the different kinds of I dots you can make, this book is for you. This book has an explosion of imagination and creativity I liked it vey much is HIGHLY recommended

i have this book and letter art and i use them together to make magnets and bookmarks to sell. i even helped a friends mom write names on waterbottles for their basketball team!

I loved this Book. Its filled with so many great ideas. It kept me entertained for hours. I would recommend this book for any one that llikes Art. I'm American But I live in Spain and I.ve introduced American Girl to all my Spainish Friends And they liked this American Girl book the most. You will not regret getting this book.

Timely! Fundraising on the internet is the next level of fundraising for non-profits, and this is an excellent way to get started!

A fantastic collection of resources! Warwick, Hart, and Allen brought together an amazing array of experts to assemble a practical, hands-on book full of interesting case examples. As an application service provider working almost exclusively with non-profits, we found the book particularly useful as a source book for guidelines and best practices. Our clients who have read the book were enthusiastic about everything from the specific strategies to the fundraising tips.

This is an all-encompassing, basic guide that makes fundraising on the Internet accessible to the most inexperienced nonprofits but gives insightful advice to veterans. I wholeheartedly recommend the book and plan to make this required reading for our customers and employees.

If the events of Sept. 11th proved anything it is that fundraising via the Internet has come of age. Witness the incredible success of online fundraising by many of the nation's top relief agencies. Now, nonprofits across America are saying not if they will adopt on an online fundraising presence but how fast they can tap into this new technology in ways that meet an agency's needs but stay within their budget constraints. Fundraising on the Internet, 2nd Edition, could not have come out at a more opportune time. As the editor of a weekly on-line email newsletter directed at nonprofits throughout Arizona and the Southwest I was particularly impressed with the chapters on recruiting and renewing donors online. I can always stand to learn more about effective recruiting and promotion techniques to build an even bigger sense of community between our donors who, as the book carefully explains, are much more likely to open an email or click on a website before calling us or responding to a survey they receive in the mail. At almost 300 pages this book is a bargain. The authors do not shy away from providing any number of resources that can help a nonprofit create an Internet presence or expand upon whatever success they have already achieved with their online constituents. The book also includes 4 case studies and a number of resources including such important topics as ethical online fundraising standards and practices and how to use the Internet to both promote and manage donor advised funds. I heartily recommend this book. The authors have spent considerable time and energy to provide a definitive text on this most important subject.

This collaborative effort is well-written, fast-paced, and extremely up-to-date. Each chapter is on a different aspect of Internet fundraising, written by a different author. Speaking from personal experience, this book has been extremely possible in our own business of helping nonprofits raise funds online. We recommend it to any nonprofit who wants to take advantage of the net.

Very useful for organizations working with an interactive agency to imporve their efforts on the web...

"Once again, Mariette Pathy Allen does it-- as an advocate for transgender rights and understanding about the world of transgender (TG) people through her often daring, always respectful and empowering camera lens. Her words add the necessary spice to make this a savory meal that lasts in your very soul. As a photojournalist she is known worldwide for her remarkable ability to capture in photos the inner and outer landscapes of the TG experience. Poignant, moving, funny, celebratory, provocative, revolutionary, these are some words to describe her art and her impact globally.
Her photos fill the pages of this beautiful book, along with thought-provoking essays, poems, personal stories and essays of advocacy against violence and intolerance toward persons of TG experience by well respected spokespersons including the "Transgender Menace" founder, Riki Wilchins, Jamison Green and Allen herself. If you want to take an insider's walk into Transgenderism, this book will expand your mind and open your spirit."

As a sexologist, gender coach, and gender ID advocate, I can speak to the power of Mariette Pathy Allen's contributions ---they are honestly life altering. She can spin the right words and capture the essence of personhood like no one else. If you want to gain insight about the world of TG, this book is it. I love it. I love her. I[...].to learn more about this important contribution. She and her amazing photographic works are the essence of personal empowerment. Don't miss this book.

I already knew something of the subject, but the personal stories opinions and essays provided an extraordinary context for Pathy Allen's wonderful images and I learned a great deal. It is also beautifully produced.

this book avoids being sensationalistic and instead shows a very real portrait of what different transgendered lives and experiences look like. the histories of the subjects are particularly moving and personal. i'd recomend this book for anyone interested in gender studies or portrait photography. if, however, you're looking for a sesational and exploitative book of "trannies" than you might want to pass this one up.

I feel Mariette Pathy Allen has made a real difference in the way non gender variant people view gender variant people. She has recorded something wonderful in her book "Gender Frontiers". This book captures the hues and shadows of the humanity of gender variant people. Her book depicts the joy and struggle of being alive with a difference most of humanity is either unaware of or skeptical about. Gender Frontier is a truly an amazing work created by an amazing person. A must read for all those who are gender variant or know someone who is.

-Renee Simousek
Madison Area Transgender Association

Without Mariette Pathy Allen's art and activism, the transgender movement would not be the vital force that it is today. It's that simple. If you care enough about the provocative subject of gender to have found your way to this page, this book belongs in your library. Enjoy!

Veronica Vera
Miss Vera's Academy

Memoirs are the current hot genre. Often they depend on one big event for their oomph, or they putter along in a very interior manner. Penny Allen, a radical bohemian filmmaker now living in Paris, caretook a horse ranch in eastern Oregon, which would provide enough gist for most memoirist's mills. Perhaps Allen is lucky, perhaps she draws intense people and events to her, perhaps her filmmaker's gaze sees and frames life as most of us do not--certainly most of us wouldn't have emerged with such an amazing quilt of interlocking stories. Thoreau observed that most people lead lives of quiet desperation, and Allen's time on the high desert proves no exception. She finds these desperate lives and recounts them brilliantly, but after the regular weird folks come the hardcore character actors: the cult of Rajneeshpuram, the Vietnam vet "on patrol," the ghost, and more. With the constitution of a war journalist, she never averts her eyes, and she is willing to tell us exactly what she saw. --Hollis Taylor, Sydney, Australia

A GEOGRAPHY OF SAINTS is as strikingly contradictory as the contemporary West. Penny Allen's diary-like account is freewheeling and contemplative, sweet and acerbic, tender and tough. It is a bravely public and intensely personal modern memoir which reveals that even in Paradise - especially in Paradise, perhaps - smugness begets arrogance and arrogance begets abuse. This is not, however, a cynical book. Ultimately, it affirms the cyclical nature of pettiness and largesse, love and loss, life and death, yielding an unsentimental, hard-won awareness that sad endings can be fresh starts.

Penny Allen's memoir, A Geography of Saints, tells of a year in the life of two lovers who take a job caretaking a horse ranch on the eastern side of the Cascades in Oregon. What kept me turning the pages were her luminous and economical imagery and controlled tone, reminiscent of Annie Proulx. She maintains balance between several story lines involving struggles she and her lover have with clear-cutting, losing control of irrigation water, and with their inner landscapes. She handles sex and violence in vivid but restrained prose that left me in awe of the mare Coco, the Vietnam vet in the woods Buckner, the pedophile victim Billy, and Penny and her lover Peter. Allen's level stare takes us in concrete ways through an amazing collection of Western concerns over drying-up towns, weird newcomers to the high desert, and care for the land. An amazing book.

Set in a vivid and dramatic landscape, this memoir tells a story filled with honesty, humor, and courage. Allen observes with a keen eye. She takes on one of the great challenges for a writer, giving us not just the surface of the moments of a relationship but the deep undercurrents, both real and imagined, and succeeds with a grace that seems effortless. Allen's inner journey blends perfectly with the wild spaces, the free spirited horses, and the quirky human world, which is at once familiar, weird, and sobering.

Allen is an engaging guide and companion. We can only hope she shares more of her journey with us.

I was very taken by this wonderful real-life novel. Even if the reality level is relatively high, the author manages to turn it into something that transcends the documentary, the journalistic. By mixing many atfirst sight totally unrelated elements, in the end it turns out to be a novel about spirituality in daily life, or about how to see meaning in it.
The location of the American North-West is much more than just an
impressive backdrop. The scenery in the broadest sense of the word, including the population, is subject and metaphor at the same time.
Penny Allen seems to focus on the "outside" of things, but interprets the "inside". All elements come together towards the very end, not only in a literary way, but in the way things sometimes do, in real life.

I read this book with a lot of pleasure and satisfaction. It is
introspective, but at the same time describes mundane and sometimes gruesome events that happen in the real world. And it's funny, if you share the author's sense of humor.

How We Got Over: Testimonies of Faith, Hope, and Courage is a collection of inspirational testimonies from a motley of Africans of the Diaspora, from as near as Atlanta, Georgia to as far as South Africa. Proceeds from the book support AIDS orphans in Southern Africa. The testimonials are broken down in four categories: faith, hope, courage and listening to our elders.

I gave this compilation a 4.0 rating mainly for lack of testimonial diversity. The book reads more like a devotional guide without a daily prayer and recommended reading section. McDonald has presented some nice testimonies that can encourage anyone seeking guidance.

Although I applaud the editors' effort in pulling these testimonials together, this book could have a greater use than what it has now. The editors could have made sure that each testimony was crisp and tight enough to be to the point. Sometimes I found myself speed-reading to get to the heart of the testimony.

My favorite excerpt from this book was written by Lorenzo Robertson, best selling author and co-executive director of Operation Hope, a nonprofit AIDS service organization in Tampa, FLA:

Hearing the doctor say, "You've got AIDS," changed my life forever...I am not mad-I'm a miracle.

This book is great for gifts, light reading and church groups. My mother enjoyed the testimonies as well as I, and I know others will, too. Buy this book to support the AIDS effort and to serve as a supplement to your bible study.

Dee Stewart
R.E.A.L. Reviewers

It was Oprah who once said, "Everyone has a story."

In Scripture we read that faith is the substance of things hoped for, evidence of things unseen. Faith, hope and courage are central to our existence and thriving, not just surviving. How We Got Over: Testimonies of Faith, Hope and Courage are inspiring, spirit filled vignettes written by men and women who have overcome challenging situations in life through their faith in God (and with the grace of God). Each vignette is written with clarity and affirms the power of the "I AM" that is ever present, always seeing and always knowing in each of our lives regardless of apparent circumstances or obstacles if only we recognize and yield to it. How We Got Over is filled with life changing and powerful stories that will fuel and/or restore a rock solid faith in God that lies within you and me at all times.

Much like the Bible, you can turn to any page and find the right words that will quicken your spirit and resonate with your soul. Each of the stories in How We Got Over are short and to the point yet so good they could stand alone and it's hard to pick a favorite.

Makes a perfect gift for someone, anyone, going through and on the verge of giving up or giving in: The weary; the discouraged, the broken-hearted, broke financially, bankrupt in love or broke in spirit all needing a testimony- a human living story of what God did in another person's life. How We Got Over will equip you to keep the faith, stay encouraged and remind you of God's goodness and faithfulness. Highly recommended!

Reviewed by Marina W. and Azure G. for www.goodgirlbookclubonline.com

I highly recommend this book, which is a true source of inspiration and courage. I loaned it to my daughter to read and now we both have to sneak it from each other to read.
When I purchased my copy I should have gotten two or more. One for her, one that is solely mine and one to share with friends and other family members. Each story is a personal one and gives one hope in their own personal struggle. This book is a second Bible for my household. It is full of hope, love and wisdom. "How We Got Over" is a must have for every personal library!

Trevy A. McDonald and Bettye J. Allen lend their editing talents in How We Got Over: Testimonies of Faith, Hope and Courage. For years African-Americans have endured racism, hardship and inequality but have managed to overcome through their faith in God. While reading How We Got Over, I was reminded of my frequent conversations with elder men and women as they shared personal anecdotes. It is these same experiences of our ancestors and forefathers that have given us faith, hope, courage and the wisdom to prevail over such obstacles in present day.

How We Got Over contains over sixty stories of encouragement from various contributors. "Testimonies of Faith," examines this basic but necessary principle needed in our daily lives. We are reminded that faith without works is dead as contributors share their near death experiences, examples of hostile working environments, brush with breast cancer and economic hardships while remaining steadfast in their convictions. In "Hope," a family copes with the birth and subsequent loss of baby girl Megan due to a condition called Premature Rupture of the Membranes. Through Megan's passing, family and friends were reunited and faith is made whole. In the section titled "Courage," contributor Lorenzo C. Robertson's story, I Aint Mad at God, reflects on the day he was diagnosed with AIDS. This devastating news altered Robertson's view of life, enabling him to live with vigor and has empowered him to give back to the community as an administrator for an AIDS service organization.

The rich stories in How We Got Over, will support the AIDS pandemic in South Africa by offering awareness programs to women and shelter for the orphaned children infected with HIV/AIDS. These stories and more, some of spousal abuse and homelessness, are told by African-Americans who have turned trials into triumphs, disappointment into fulfillment and sorrow into joy. How We Got Over is overflowing with exemplifications that by faith, hope and courage, we are granted the wisdom and grace to persevere and succeed as people of color.

Reviewed by Nicki Lancaster
APOOO BookClub

Collaboratively compiled by Trevy A. McDonald and Bettye J. Allen, How We Got Over: Testimonies Of Faith, Hope, And Courage is a thoughtful and thought-provoking collection of Christian experiences, as well as testimonies of faith, hope, courage, and the wisdom of listening to one's elders. These brief yet poignant stories range in tone from sorrowful and reflective, to the profound and uplifting, and work together as a whole to reinforce the strength of the human spirit and the power of God's love within a Christian context.

In "Jim's Journey: A Wake Island Civilian POW's Story," LA Magnino has done a magnificent job of recounting her father Jim Allen's experiences as a Wake Island contract worker, defender, and prisoner of the Japanese.
Jim's story is but a microcosm of the men, civilians and military alike, galvanized by the Great Depression whose paths led them into one of the greatest sagas of WWII history.
Magnino's writing style is clear and rivals many of the other Wake Island stories I've read. She carefully negotiates her father's less than colloquial English to extract a tidy narrative. Maginio's work also reveals, to the credit of her father's skills of observation, many details of the Wake experience not previously documented by historical scholars.
While I would not consider "Jim's Journey" a necessarily scholarly work itself, it does remain an important contribution to the historical records of WWII.
REVIEW EVERY BOOK YOU READ, AUTHORS DESERVE THE OPINIONS OF ALL READERS!

I received this book for Christmas, autographed by the Author & Jim Allen from one of my daughters. The book is very well written and has lots of interesting photos and illustrations to complement and authenticate the story. It certainily gives those of us that were too young to fight or be involved in WW II a better insight of what transpired to our servicemen and civilians that were taken as POW's by the Japanese. The recoginition of the civilian POWs was a very long time in comming, which unfortunately happens all to frequently.

I would highly recommend this book for all.

It's interesting to see how a prisoner of war can recall with such detail, even though they may not have spoken of the ordeal in years... Magnino does a wonderful job of preserving Jim's memories... Especially interesting to those who know of Pearl Harbor, but not of other POWs and battles.

This is a very detailed and educational story. It's great to have a personal account to better understand the sometimes forgotten history of Japanese POW's during WWII.

Jim's Journey: A Wake Island Civilian POW's Story is the compelling, true-life account of James A. Allen and his survival of 1,354 days of imprisonment as a civilian prisoner of war after being captured by the Imperial Japanese navy in December 1941 when the Marine garrison on Wake Island was finally overwhelmed. Jim was held in Japanese POW camps in China, Korea, and Japan. In addition to his eye-witness account of life as a POW, Jim's Journey also relates what happened to him when he was finally liberated and returned to America. It would be thirty-seven years before the U.S. government would official recognize that Jim and other eligible civilian POWs for their contributions to the dramatic defense of Wake Island against insurmountable hostile forces. Jim's Journey is a welcome and much appreciated contribution to the history of POW experiences arising from World War II in the Pacific Theater.

Allen Wheelis who has written a series of extraordinary novels and professional psychiatric books, offers a moving, beautiful, and powerfully evocative memoir. Psychoanalysts, he says, know too much to hide behind self-decption and this astonishing book reveals the shape of a life seen straight, seen without distorting lenses.

It can be embarassing sometimes for a reader to hear about sexual desire-- particularly when it reveals so well that forbidden place men seem to know. Somehow, Wheelis avoids going overboard. At one point, he admits to the reader that if we like him, he has failed to truly reveal himself. Perhaps the reason I like him is that I am thankful. Usually male sexual desire is loaded-- we (as men) are either taught to embrace it (machismo) or chastise it. In this case I it was simply felt and explained.

Throughout the whole book I felt nothing but pain for this poor little boy; abused by his father, who grew into the adult victim of his elderly mother---a mother whose repressed sexual desires (due to her husbands illness) were directed toward her son. I cried for Allen the boy and Allen the man.

I am editor of the professional journal "Psychotherapy In Australia" and also a therapist. So I've read many many books on, by, and for therapy and therapists. Allen Wheelis' "The Listener" is utterly distinctive and forced me to confront myself about just how honest I have been with myself in my own life. It is also beautifully written. I've read this book three times now, ans gained more each time, and I've set off on a quest to read all his other books. Irvin Yalom has reviewed this book by asking if a more honest autobiography has ever been written. I have no fear in answering "No".

I've read many, many self-help books in my pursuit to resolve issues such as controlling food intake, poor social skills, negative self-image, and just simply how to manage what happens externally, so that I'm internally balanced. Then I read Wheelis's "How People Change". POW. What a great impact on me. And in that small book, I got a good glimpse into his life. I absolutely had to know more about him. But while reading Listener, I had to keep reminding myself that is not a self-help book. What I was thinking while reading, was how interesting it was to hear about his emotional challenges, the whole range of dilemma's he lived through. This book supplies a lot of very valuable lessons on how *not* to live life, in contrast to his People Change book. 1.) I will make absolutely sure I am emotionally available to my wife when I do find her and get married. LIke Wheelis, I've been over-analytical, but moreso than Wheelis, been very lonely,( full of meaningless short relationships where sex was pretty much it) 2.) Concerning his agony over not being able to sow his wild oates, not getting enough sex as a young man, this is something I used to dwell on. My attitude, as a Christian I've recently become, is, everytime I feel that heart-in-the-pit-of-my-stomach feeling when I see a beautiful woman with wonder what I'm missing out or how I'm suffering, this life as a human being is short and I'm running out of time to give as much as possible, not lust as much as possible. The lust you experience with one spouse is enough! No other sex is necessary. I wish that Wheelis could have replaced his thoughts of deprivation, during his life, with these sort of thoughts. I am not saying to be a Christian or even religious, but take *some* kind of spirtual approach and realize that a part of you never dies and just because you didn't experience as much sex as you wanted, doesn't mean you've officially blown a "chance". You are eternal, and there are joys ahead after this little margin of human existence, I'm convinced (yeah i guess I *am* asking you to a little religious), that make human lust very minor in comparison. I really felt for him and the pain he described. In an especially sexually-explicit segment of about two pages, he speaks for all men, in terms of our unfortunate hard-wiredness to want sex so bad and under any condition that we want. More than anything, this book will drive you right back to his How People Change book to re-read it and absorb it. ( If your inspirational book of choice is something else, then go re-read that again. I recommend the road less traveled)

This was different from most of the books we read. It's nice to include some non-fiction. My daughter wanted to read it 3 times in a row! She loved the danger of the crow because it was so dramatic compared to most kids' books - yet still not over the top scary. She likes to finish the sentences and guess what's wrong with each tail the skink tries. The activity is fun at the end and I think she'll enjoy it in a different way when she's older (using it like a real map with the letters and numbers). She's 3 yrs old. She likes to point to all the letters and sing the alphabet at the end and she loves finding the paw prints.

Grab your kids head to a reading ASAP! It's an interactive good time for both kids and adults. Janet, her husband Tom and daughter Laura make the book come alive.If you're lucky you'll get to play a part in the book. I was an (wise)owl.

This charming story is about Little Skink, a lizard, who's enjoying a nice peaceful day...that is, until she goes hunting for ants for breakfast. A hungry crow goes after Little Skink's distinctive blue tail. In order to save herself from becoming Crow's breakfast, Little Skink snaps off her blue tail. Her tail continues to wiggle, keeping Crow's attention. Little Skink uses the opportunity to save herself by hiding under a log.

Little Skink is sad about losing her tail, so she starts to wonder what it would be like to have a tail like one of the other animals in the forest. Every day, she imagines she has the tail of whatever animal walks by her. No tail is suitable, and she's sure she'll never find "just the right tail" to replace her lost bright blue one. The story ends on an upbeat note, sure to please the reader.

Author Janet Halfmann's precise text makes this a fun story to read. Coupled with the outstanding illustrations by Laurie Allen Klein, the reader is provided with excellent visuals to see Little Skink in the assorted tails she sports while trying to find "just the right tail". This scientifically accurate book has a "For Creative Minds" section at the end of the story with a unique Footprint Map to help children recognize the distinct footprints of several animals, as well as a "Tail Matching" Activity to help the reader remember and correctly identify the tails of the animals portrayed in this story. As always, Sylvan Dell Publishing has printed a quality, beautiful, fun, and scientifically accurate book for children. Author Janet Halfmann's text urges children to think in a logical, creative way; add in the colorful, crisp images created by Laurie Allen Klein, this book is a sure bet to stimulate the minds of animal-loving children everywhere!
In addition, readers can find cross-curricular "Teaching Activities," an audio reading, child-friendly "Learning Links," and comprehension and math quizzes for free at www.SylvanDellPublishing.com

By: Gayle Jacobson-Huset
Assistant Editor
Stories for Children Magazine

A hungry crow tries to make Little Skink's Tail a meal. Little Skink tricks the crow by dropping her beautiful tail and hiding. Little Skink then imagines what she would look like with various types of tails of other animals in her woodland habitat. After considering how the other tails would look on her body, Little Skink discovers that her tail has grown back just the right size for a Skink!

The students in my fifth grade class had been creating their own story plots about an animal they had been researching. They included information about predator/prey relationships, habitats, ecosystems, behaviors and food needs. The students had done much thinking about a problem that their story's main character would need to confront.

When I read them, Little Skink's Tail by Janet Halfmann, the students were delighted. They recognized the plot
and enjoyed how the Little Skink imagined wearing other tails. The students thought it was "neat" how Janet Halfmann took factual science information and developed it into a "tale" touched by a bit of magic and wit.

Even though the students realized that the audience was most likely intended for 5-7 year olds, they felt the plot was interesting enough for older students. The students enjoyed the illustrations by Laurie Klein that extended their understanding of habitats and animal interrelationships. They also enjoyed the activities at the end and wanted to try them out.

As a teacher, I appreciated the clarity of the plot line, the accuracy of the information, and the simplicity of the theme. The story does not overwhelm the students with too much information, but highlights how a plot can be developed around one significant event.

Oh no, Little Skink's Tail is stolen! She is scared and sad. Can she get another tail? What kind of tail would she like next? A skunk's tail, a turtle's tail, an owl's tail? No tails she sees in the forest seems just right. Luckily, she is a lizard. Do you know how lizards get their tails? This book will tell you.
Author Janet Halfmann and Illustrator Laurie Allen Klein do a splendid job in telling this tale and in painting not only Little Skink, but also all of the forest and its inhabitants. Therefore, the young reader will learn all about a whole woodland habitat. One matching activity in the back goes further in explaining the uses of many other animal's tails, for instance a rabbit raises its cottontail to tell other rabbits about trouble ahead. This book is a terrific addition to a home or classroom, ages 5 - 8. Just think how wonderful a forest or lizard unit would be in a classroom. One can just see a diorama created by children based on the book!

I, and my book club, loved reading and discussing Clyde Rodgers' "Lives of Quiet Desperation". We especially like the way he developed his characters so well. By the end of the book, we felt we knew each character intimately, hating for the book to end! It is also a great love story.

He captured well the Arkansas Delta area in the 50's, their dialogue, the way they thought and reacted. He was able to portray accurately not only their hard times, sometimes hopelessness, warmth, their sense of community, their effort to take care of one another, especially during crises.

A whole other side to "Lives" that we enjoyed are his funny stories about the characters. We laughed a lot! We think Clyde Rodgers is a master story teller!

I heartily recomment "Lives of Quiet Desperation" by Clyde Rodgers, I hope he writes a sequel.

Excellent read! Entertaining with a "twist" of mystery!

What a great read! While reading this book, you will definitely put off scheduled tasks so that you may continue reading. You will not sit struggling to understand what is taking place, nor will you be confused after each chapter. Buy this book and you will definitely be satisfied. Plain and simple!

Tyler F. Dunegan
College Writing Supplemental Instructor
Arkansas Northeastern College

_Lives of Quiet Desperation_ will delight any reader who enjoys a good story, and, because it presents a highly detailed and accurate picture of a certain place and time, it will also prove interesting to students of Southern culture. Clyde Rodgers gives us a deeply moving, amusing, and life-affirming glimpse of an era that persists only in art and memory, that of the sharecropper South in the mid-twentieth century. This is the South just before it turned into America.
The narrator, whose voice resonates delightfully of Twain, achieves both a very natural tone and an inarguably poetic flair.
The highlight of this book is its masterful characterization, and the plot seems to flow inexorably out of the characters.
There is something about the Delta that, while ruthlessly real, insists on the possibility of magic. Rodgers acquiesces, offering supernatural twists of fate amid his very true-to-life descriptions of daily events on the Boland place.
The philosophy in _Lives_, filtered through the words of Uncle Sal, a wise old Ute Indian, is compelling to the flesh and blood, not merely to the mind. The recurrent themes of community and overwhelming sexual electricity create a bit of tension in places, as they often do in life, but the real story here is the great extent to which the two act in harmony, thanks to the love that infuses the sex.
This novel might explode some stereotypes of the Delta. Rodgers paints a portrait of a troubled but morally impeccable white planter from a family that has only recently earned its riches. Largely devoid of African-Americans, the story is set in the upper Arkansas Delta, land of Johnny Cash, an area not as much controlled by old money aristocrats as the central and southern portions of the Delta.

"Lives of Quiet Desperation," is a novel filled with intrigue, mystery, sex, murder, death, storms and heros.

Set in the Arkansas delta of the 1950's, read how families stick together, ones word is priceless, a wealthy land owner shows what good stock is and takes care of his workers.

As the lives of various families unwind and intertwine a reader will laugh, cry, have feelings of anger and love, and have your heart beat wildly in sexual anticipation.

Catlin, a full blooded Indian, Nora, a half breed, and Susan a girl from the Arkansas hills, are sexy without being pronographic. Though very different, all have a heart of gold.

Clyde Allen Rogers novel has a time and setting similar to John Grisham's, "A Painted House," but has characters with greater depth and quality.

Let yourself live the life of a southern sharecropper through this novel. You will not regret it.

A fabulous book, with so much to read and see, and LEARN! Gloria Allen is always thorough in her research. Wonderful!

Gloria Allen's "A Maryland Sampling" is much more than a book about needlework or samplers. In truth, it weaves multiple histories of young girls, the early days of female education in Maryland, families and tradition to create a fascinating picture that deserves to be told. Equally important, "A Maryland Sampling" details, to a greater extent than ever before, the embroidery work of young African-American girls in Baltimore and the teachers and schools that sought to give young girls of color an education equal to that of while children. Even if you're not a needleworker or sampler collector - and I am neither - "A Maryland Sampling" is a beautiful book with a beautiful story.

A former curator and then director of the Daughters of the American Revolution Museum in Washington, D.C., Gloria Seaman Allen brings to bear her considerable years of experience and expertise in "A Maryland Sampling: Girlhood Embroidery 1738-1860". A beautifully illustrated history of Maryland samplers and pictorial embroideries that were the instructed obligation of young girls who were thereby able to showcase their needlecraft skills and abilities. Now these samplers are highly prized among collectors and antiques dealers. Allen focuses specifically on Maryland and how needlework traditions from its 18th and early 19th century English, German, and French settlers were carried on down through the end of the American Civil War. A truly seminal work of painstaking scholarship, "A Maryland Sampling" is especially recommended as an addition to academic library American Cultural History reference collections, and to the attention of needlecrafters, as well as Americana collectors and dealer.

Dr. Allen is an excellent historian and this beautiful, informative book gives evidence to it. For anyone interested in the historical aspects of needlework of the Baltimore area, this is a must see and read book. The pictures are sharp and clear and the history of the girlhood embroideries is right on track.

THIS IS A WONDERFUL BOOK OF 384 PAGES, WITH MANY BEAUTIFUL PICTURES. IT DOCUMENTS MARYLAND SAMPLERS AND EMBROIDERIES. THE BOOK GOES IN DEPTH TELLING ABOUT THE SCHOOLS, TEACHERS AND THE PUPILS, INCLUDING THE AFRICAN AMERICAN COMMUNITY WHO CREATED THESE BEAUTIFUL WORKS OF ART.

VERY INTERESTING TO READ, AND A VALUABLE BOOK TO HAVE, FOR ANYONE INTERESTED IN SAMPLERS AND THEIR HISTORIES.