Anne Books

Likable, talented characters learn to get along in the first stage of their quest to stop a planetary civil war. Elements of fantasy and science fiction and ideas about tolerance and spirituality add interesting layers to a fun twist-at-every-turn plot. Looking forward to the next book!

Well, I'm 75 and I don't often take the chance to live 60 years younger - and for hours at a time. "The Chalice of Life" provided that and I'm grateful. The questors were remarkably charming, self-aware, focussed and generally engaging. Sometimes I put it down and turned to more "mature" (darker) stuff and then was able to re-emerse in the remarkable group created here. I understand parents who are grateful for its pervasive spiritual quality. I responded to it as well. I intend to keep posted on their move to the next portal. charles tucker
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Everything I liked about Harry Potter I liked about this book. Habie is so funny, there's a big talking kitty, a sword that wants to wipe out evil even more than the knight who carries it, and the romance is sweet. Plus I liked seeing and hearing quotes from different places like Native American tribes. The plot is exciting, I liked the puzzle of them putting the chalice together and healing the dragons, and I laughed a lot because the characters are so good. You should read this book.

I found this book to be a real page turner, an engrossing, imaginative adventure, a fine bit of storytelling. It's set in a universe all its own that is highly developed, many-faceted and internally consistent, with many different cultures and many races of sentient creatures; but somehow none of that gets in the way of the story.

It contains elements of many of my favorite movies, books, and TV series: Lord of the Rings (obviously!), Narnia, Star Trek, Star Wars, Dr. Who, Quantum Leap, etc. but all blended seamlessly into a style all its own. This is a great antidote to the hard-edged, doomsday, horrible things happen and then everybody dies sort of nihilism that I often run into. Instead it's filled with heart, compassion, optimism, and humor. It also has more depth that most of the fantasy that I've seen: it has a clear moral center and a rich underpinning of spirituality.

Doomed planets, magic portals to different worlds, ancient treasures from ancient ruins, a noble night, a magical bard, a lovable little thief, a giant talking cat, a lost king, a magic talking sword, dragons, sorcerers, spells, laser blasters, magic gems: what's not to like?!

WOW! The Chalice of Life is a book for any one who likes inventive fantasy. The author has created new worlds and creatures with a touch of science fiction and deep spiritual exploration. I highly recommend this book. I could have used an appendix that described the characters but by the end the seven crusaders felt like family. Obviously this is a series and I can't wait to read the rest.

This book is so simple to read and once you start you don't want to put it down. The first few pages make you want to run out to the grocery store and hit the produce isle. It honestly makes you change your entire way of thinking when it comes to eating. You'll want that fruit salad rather than the candy bar. It's just such' a GREAT and easy to read and so easy to absorb book! Everyone is getting one for christmas!

Happy eating-

This book has been a great help to me! It's taught me the right way to eat-more fruits and vegetables-without being hungry or bored. I've lost 12 pounds, have more energy and my mind seems sharper!

This book is wonderful and exciting to read, it has changed the way I look at my plate. It has started me on a hhuge blueberry kick that has improved my health. If you are into a healthy life style you need this book.

I see Dr. Nadeau for assistance in my weight loss & I use his book as my guide when he is not available for answering my questions. It is an awesome book. I am losing weight with excersizes he has recommended for me & the diet he has worked out for me personally. You will not be disappointed in purchasing this book.

A friend told me about this book and how much the concepts when applied, had helped her feel so much better - and healthier! I have been following the ideas for around 4 weeks now and couldn't agree more. Even though my goal was not to lose weight, I've lost 10 pounds just by eating better - according to color! And believe it or not, I feel better as well. Buy this book and a bright highlighter. You'll soon be marking your favorite brightly colored foods - and then filling your grocery cart with them. Well written, easy to understand and chock full of references - it simply makes sense.

It is now 5 months later since I first reviewed this book and I've loaned out my copy to several people - all are experiencing similar results as I have. I continue to eat "by color", my weight has stayed off, I can't remember when I was last sick and what was merely a good book has become a terrific reference book. If you forget what particular benefits a certain color food has - simply look it up - layed out clearly in the book - by color of course!

NOTE: It is now January 2007 and I continue to eat according to "colors". My weight has stayed off, I was not sick even one day in 2006 and every week I fill up a plastic container (for work snacks) filled with vegetable color!

Thank you very much for the fast and friendly service. Would recommend to others and buy again from you myself. Thank You.

This is the first diet book I have read that I really feel I can do it. It teaches you a new way of eating that is healthy, but good and the same time. This is something I plan on continuing the rest of my life. She explained everything wonderfully. I would recommend this book to anyone who is having trouble losing weight. I have accually bought the book for friends who wanted help with weight. She also provides tons of quick and easy recipes you will love. This will be the last diet book you ever buy!

I hate the idea that being thin is healthy. Just because you are thin doesn't mean you are healthy. That said I wanted to say that I really enjoyed this book! I read it in two days, it usually takes me a month or so to read diet books. Diet books are so boring! This isn't really a diet book but a motivating to be healthy book!
The ideas behind the book are so simple, to lose weight and to maintain that weight. There are tips in here that seem so obvious but we tend to forget, we beat ourselves up and then start the process all over again.

This book is a great sequel to Anne Fletcher's previous book, Thin for Life on eating healthy and losing weight. While I recommend reading Thin for Life first for a lot of great tips on motivation and long-term strategies, Eating Thin for Life has inspiring stories from people who lost weight and a number of strategies as well.

The best aspects of this book are its recipes. It has a short section with suggestions of quick, balanced meals and snacks of set calorie value that you can put together with little to no cooking. Additionally, it has a longer section containing tons of recipes of all kinds - salads, main dishes, breakfasts, quick breads, desserts, etc. The recipes are surprisingly delicious and satisfying for how healthy they are, and I've already learned new cooking techniques for creating healthier recipes of my own. This book has helped me make a permanent switch to a better lifestyle and lose weight in the process!

If you are a life-long yo-yo dieter like me, this is a book that will give you hope for your future efforts in the weight loss struggle. Anne Fletcher has provided helpful weight loss and maintenance tips and strategies from the "masters"...those folks who have lost weight and kept it off for years. It's a "must read" for anyone who is tired of the weight loss merry-go-round. Very encouraging!

Words can not express the impact this teaching has had on me. I spent 11 years in counseling with no clear answers only knowing, "all my issues." I had no real healing only feelings of inadequacy. This teaching has transformed my life and strengthened my faith. Anne Hovell Dew has brought together a model for healing and transformation that works. It is not a matter of knowing our issues but having the healing power of our Lord into the circumstances and situations for healing and transformation. I will be forever grateful and pray that God will continue to bless you and annoint Anne for his service.

Anne Dew's remarkable book owes some allegiance to the work of John Bradshaw, who is generously credited in "Emotional Transformation." Before Bradshaw, W. Hugh Missildine, MD, was, arguably, the first mental health professional to connect child-developed influences to adult behavior. Missildine, a practicing psychiatrist before becoming a professor at the Ohio State University College of Medicine, also referenced religion, and did so years before Bradshaw and Dew.

In "Your Inner Child of the Past," Missildine's seminal 1963 work, for example, he referenced St. Paul: `"When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child, but when I became a man, I put away childish things."' Missildine's translation: "While you can make a serious and sincere effort to be responsible and mature, you cannot manage the feelings and actions of your `child of the past' by putting them away. They are part of you and must be accepted before you can give your attention to your mature goals."

All of this leads to Anne Dew, who has added considerably to the works of Missildine and Bradshaw, in effect, extending and opening the earlier concepts. Chock-a-block full of examples, "Emotional Transformation" is a great read.

Dew has mastered the genogram, and ties its provocative family-of-origin mapping-a charted way of discovering the why of one's self, all the way down to the inner child-and to the resulting problems and reactivity of adulthood. You may not feel that you have such difficulties, but Dew's book will make you a believer, and, in its pages, you will almost discover self truths.

. While the book is Christian-centered, Dew offers enough in the way of insights and general information to satisfy any curious and intelligent intellect, Christian or not. If you want to discover some of your own truths, Emotional Transformation is where to begin.

Felicity Finch, Ph.D.

Emotional Transformation is a wonderful book that marries the basics of spiritual inner healing principles as taught by the founders of Elijah House, John and Paula Sandford, with the understanding of human behavioral issues. The book takes the reader on a journey starting with the recognition of their own issues, working back through the past looking for the roots of those issues and then applying forgiveness and repentance to accomplish the healing needed in the heart. Anne has stayed true to the biblical truths of the spiritual laws that are taught at Elijah House, while teaching her reader how to appropriate the work of healing prayer in their own hearts. Although this is not a substitute for personal prayer ministry, the workbook format allows the reader to understand how God works to heal and restore His wounded children and learn ways to identify and pray through bitter root judgments and inner vows. It teaches in a simple step by step manner, how a person can look for the spiritual root causes of the "bad fruit" they experience in their lives and use that revelation to pray for healing. Anne addresses issues that are relevant to our society today, including eating disorders, family relationships, illegitimacy, adoption and control, all the while, directing the reader back to the Lord Jesus as their healer. She uses examples that are easily understood and relevant to society today.

I enjoyed Emotional Transformation and appreciated the ease with which Anne was able to address the prayer ministry process as well as teach the readers to hear their own heart. I recommend this book to people who are looking for healing in their lives; and to other prayer ministers as a good tool to familiarize people with this kind of work.

This book will start you on a journey of healing that has at its end, a closer walk with your Heavenly Father and healthier relationships with friends and family. If you let the Lord heal the wounds in your heart through the gifts of forgiveness and repentance, you will indeed be transformed by His grace and His love.

Trying to describe Anne Dew's new book "Emotional Transformation" is a pleasure. "Emotional Transformation" is a true contribution to the literature of emotional and spiritual healing. Anne combines an excellent knowledge of family systems theory with well-defined concepts of spiritual healing.

All are presented in a lucid, easy to read style that leads the reader through steps which can tease out and bring to light unhealed areas of early conflict and its effect on present day functioning in every aspect of life. Anne then reveals application techniques to the believer, which take Christ's promises of healing and make them real.

As one who is both a practitioner, and a recipient of God's healing light through Anne, I can attest to the fact that the system works and that all Anne writes here is true. It is laid out for the prepared reader in manual form leading to much deepened understanding and facilitating a Christ-centered, Christ-empowered way of healing in anyone who is ready and willing to hear.

The writer is an experienced, well-trained psychotherapist in her own right and her training in the theories of man and the power of Christ are evident throughout the book. To anyone who wishes to embark on a faith-based journey into the use of Christ's promised power, "All I have done you can do and more," the book is a clear, lucid compendium on healing emotional pain.

What an insightful book! Anne has such a wonderful humor in dealing with life's most serious problems and hurts. This book should be read by everyone--- married, single and old, but especially young. For those newly engaged or pre-engaged couples, this is a book that must be read and worked through. Counselors and pastors of all denominations could use this effectively as a primary pre-marital counseling book! Anne's book will be in our libraries for constant review and as a gift to others. All of us have relationship issues whether we are married or not. This will help many come to grips with who they are and why they do, say and react the way they do. The book gives us not only the knowledge ,but also a way of receiving healing that is needed.

Deborah Hopkinson is an engaging author, and is herself a prolific writer of *convincing* reviews. Her story about Fannie Farmer is a favorite of mine & tops a list of holiday gift amusements.

In the proper Bostonian household of the Charles Shaw family, Fannie Farmer was hired as a "mother's helper", more specifically a cook. Mrs. Shaw expects a 2nd child; daughter Marcia is 'put out' by being supplanted by someone who will prepare food & do many things Marcia feels she does *extremely well* - - like polishing lamp chimneys. This lively child, quite capable of getting herself into many scrapes, soon converts to admiration for Fannie & her cooking. The story is divided like a menu *from Soup to Nuts* and includes Fannie's trademark *precise measurements* in the recipe for griddle cakes, a BONUS bound to please all readers.

The 1896 edition of the Fannie's[ASIN:0517186780 1896 Boston Cooking-School Cookbook] played an important role in my childhood. One of Fannie's *hints* incorporated in Nancy Carpenter's hilarious illustrations is: "The mixing & baking of cake requires more care and judgement than any other branch of cookery." Happily, my mother took this to heart and became famous for her F. Farmer chocolate cakes.

Children will discover all sorts of historical objects in the illustrations - - these will doubtless elicit giggles as well as questions and tummy rumbles. Nancy Carpenter has made pen & ink sketches that are oh-so-cleverly *collaged* with period engravings on a computer, then printed and hand colored. Ingenious as well as educational, the pages also have a quaint and comical look. The match-ups of text & illustrations are thoroughly entertaining even when readers are not familiar with the name of Fannie Farmer. I love this book and hope Hopkinson&Carpenter team up again, and soon.

Reviewer McHAIKU says, "Thank goodness Fannie Farmer's cookbook was revered in our 1930's household" but WHERE in the double-spread of impossibly impressive desserts that decorate the "Fifth Course" is Fannie's (& my mother's) prize chocolate cake?

Kids might have seen the Fannie Farmer Cookbook in the kitchen but never known that Fannie Farmer was a real person. This is an obviously fictionalized story, but it does include some actual quotes from Farmer's early cookbook. Nancy Carpenter's illustrations combine Victorian clip art with her own drawings. Not a biography, but a fun introduction to the name of Fannie Farmer and a story about how a young girl gains confidence in the kitchen.

This is a delightful children's book that will appeal to adults, too. It's historical fiction about the real Fannie Farmer. The illustrations are warm and humorous. If your kids like to cook, this is the book for you!

I read recently, in an interview, that the author attributes inspiration for the book to being in excellent health. Said having quit all forms of caffeine freed the mind for more creativity. I say amen to that as I too am free with a little help from my friends at www.s oycoffee.com. They have an excellent coffee sub called s o y f e e that I simply adore. Made from soy that you brew like coffee, it's simply a godsend. I want to thank the author for writing a really great book.

Hopkinson has written a clever picture book incorporating tasty recipes, but take the details of Fannie Farmer's life with a grain of salt. Hopkinson has altered the facts to serve her story.

Farmer's first cookbook was an update of a cookbook, written by one of her predecessors at the Boston Cooking School, which already incorporated precise measurement using standard measuring cups and spoons. Farmer's contribution was "level" measurement (as suggested by Marcia) and kitchen-testing of all the recipes by the school's students and faculty.

Read "Fannie in the Kitchen" to your child as an introduction to Fannie Farmer. Then read "Perfection Salad" by Laura Shapiro to learn the true story.

I am an educator who likes to use historical fiction with elementary students. Students love the story of FANNIE IN THE KITCHEN, and we have also used the book to talk about how cooking has changed over the years. I bring in old kitchen utensils from antique stores to show them. (Many kids can't identify a sifter, to say nothing of a butter mold! And when was the last time you saw a doughnut cutter??) We also use the book as a jumping off point to talk about math and measurements.

Although this is clearly a humourous, fictionalized take-off on a footnote to history, students and I also enjoy talking about how young Marcia must adjust to change, as her mother has a new baby. The way the illustrator depicts the developing relationship between Marcia and Fannie is delightful.

As the author note states, Fannie Farmer was one of the first to recommend precise measurements in cooking. What a fun way for kids to be introduced to this 19th century figure

very clear instructions with lots of pictures. text is large font and easy to read. purchased for my 11 year old daughter. She enjoyed it, though she hasn't tried to actually make any hair wraps yet.

This is exaclty what you would expect frm a klutz book. Easy to follow concise instructions. Easy instructions and easy to do are not the same thing, this is a very time consuming activity. It takes a bit to get the hang of it and then a good little bit of time to do the entire wrap. Granted my girls have very, very long hair. If the idea looks fun to you then you will like the book.

This was a present for 10 year old grandchild and she loved it.

I have read this book and although I have not done a hair wrap yet, I am a hairdresser and can tell that the directions are very easy to follow and the pictures are great of the finished product. I am very happy that I ordered this book, I would recommend this book.

I am a girl (...), and this book is great! I learned how to do many designs! I now have my own hair wrap business and do hair wraps at craft fairs! I also have the Quick Wrap from Conair. I make over 20$ a day doing hair wraps! it is great!

I loved this book and highly recommend it to anyone. I found myself savoring each sentence like a fine wine or a juicy steak out on a stump in front of one of my favorite author's cabins in the Adirondacks. This is one of Anne's best works! Finely written, passionate, insightful, and full of interesting stories. The photographs were superb. I'm so glad she wrote it. I've even referenced it in a couple of my environmental science texts as a great book to read to learn more about the plight of tropics and the world's wildlife.

Anne LaBastille has done it again. Whether you're searching for Quetzals in Guatemala, helping to develope a new National Park, or just listening to the surf pound the shores of the Dominican Republic you'll love following Anne on her newest adventure.

If you've never read one of Anne LaBastille's books Treat Yourself! From Woodswoman to Jaguar Totem you will experience hours of entertainment as you follow the much-awarded wildlife ecologist on her many adventures.

Anne LaBastille's ninth book, Jaguar Totem, was intended to convert readers into caring and compassionate conservationists. She succeeds admirably through clear, descriptive and fascinating prose that instantly transports readers to exotic, rare locales such as Guatemala, Anegada, and Brazil. Her stories bring readers into strange new worlds full of drama, tragedy, heroism, and suspense.

Many readers know Anne LaBastille's Woodswoman, which details her Walden-like existence in the Adirondack Mountains. Jaguar Totem is a very different world, full of peoples with divergent agendas, with different animals, and with stunning new experiences. An example of the latter is the "miracle of horizontal precipitation" or sideways-blown water at Volcan Baru in Panama which adds as much as 20 inches to the annual moisture to downstream humans and animals who rely on it. An equally surprising example was found in the Dominican Republic. There, while tracking manatees, she was shown how manatees drink fresh water from underwater "boils." Fresh water bubbles up from the sea floor some 20 to 40 feet from shore. Anne swam down and filled an empty bottle with fresh water from one of these "boils."

Her writings are informative, as when she notes that most of Amazonia is "literally a desert covered with trees." Unlike soil in the U.S. midwest corn belt, nutrients in the tropical rain forest reside in the vegetation itself. It's the foliage that is fertile!

Firsthand, LaBastille learns from the native peoples themselves that the overarching problem is population. As hard as LaBastille works to save parks, she was told, "Saving a park like Manu (in Peru) is like trying to cure cancer with an aspirin. As long as the world population increases, we'll have more and more trouble protecting bits of rain forest from people who need farmland or rangeland for food and fiber."

Updates to her stories tell readers what happened after LaBastille returned to the Adirondacks. The updates add the perspective of time and context, informing readers what they came to care about.

The final page of "Afterthoughts" tells readers what they can do to save the natural resources and beauty of our earth. Most are unlikely to have the courage or capability to try to duplicate what she did, but can console themselves that they can do something, such as donating to conservation groups or putting up bluebird boxes. They should read LaBastille's books to learn what they missed!

I have been privileged to participate in Dr. LaBASTILLE'S Writer's Workshops for the past ten years. Her works from Woodswoman to Jaguar Totem have brought our family much reading pleasure. As an Ecologist, Dr. LaBastille takes you on several journeys that enlighten the reader to what it means to spend time alone in her cabin in the wilds of the Adirondacks, where she relates to her enviornment. She is an intellectual with indepth perception about the woods she knows so well and all the ingredients that make up Mother Nature. She travels nationally and internationally and is well known in her field of endeavor. And, in addition possesses much skill in photography and lectures about her works. Jaguar Totem is an excellent read and I was proud to add this book to my collection of Dr. LaBASTILLE'S LITERARY accomplishments. Her work is important to the present generation and generations to come.

A book of challenging feeling between the lovely couple Maryann, a sensitive girl
and the-have-to-be-with-your-girl Logan are having to `' cool their relationship
for wail'' because Maryann thinks their spending TO MUCH time together. One of
another Ann Marten realistic fiction Baby Sitters Club series book.


by C. Koenig

Mary Anne Likes Logan, But Logan Is Taking Over Her Life. Finally Something Terrible Happens. I Reccomend Bringing Tissues When You Read This Book. But Read It!

It's sad mary anne and logan ended it here, but the book was beautifully written. As you read about the dates Mary Anne was on and how she was describing each environment, you feel like you're there with her. Especially the parts where she goes ice skating with Logan, and when he surprises her with a Valentine's Day dinner with presents after sometime of "cooling off" the relationship. They end up breaking up in the end because Mary Anne feels as though he is controlling and wants things his own way all the time. But will they ever get back together? You'll have to read the next Mary Anne book in the series to figure it out!

Looking back on my youth and teenage years, I used to read BSC religiously. I have all the books that were made from the time I was in 5th grade, up until I graduated high school a few years ago. When I first read Mary-ann vs. Logan, I was shocked because I really didn't think that they'd really do it. I was heartbroken, and happy at the same time. I found this book the other day in a box while I was moving, and in the front flap of the book I marked off each time I read it, and I had marked it a total of 15 times, so that's how good the book was! I recommend it to any BSC fan.

Mary anne wants to break up with Logan because he is taking over his life. For example, they will go out to a movie, the n Logan chooses the movie for them. There is also a part in which Logan becomes rude to Mary Anne.

Annie Sullivan, Helen Keller's teacher and lifelong friend, tells her own story for middle grade to high school readers in this fictionalized autobiography. Each chapter begins with an excerpt from Sullivan's letters to Sophia Hopkins, a mentor and friend (as well as housemother) from Perkins Institute for the Blind. Annie was sent to serve the Keller family after her own hero journey from Tewksbury orphanage to Perkins, half blind most of the time. While the story will be familiar to anyone who has seen The Miracle Worker with Patty Duke and Ann Bancroft, the details of Sullivan's first teaching job, counter pointed by details from her personal history (sent to the almshouse, the ensuing loss of a brother, her blindness, her trepidation hidden carefully from the Kellers about not being able to help Helen at all) will ring true. The courage and determination of a young woman triumphs in the face of family reluctance and interference which made her efforts to teach Helen Keller the "true meaning" behind the fingerspelled words very difficult. Annie's emphasis on civilized behavior despite disability is remarkable in our own "anything goes" world where comportment has fallen into the world of archaic concepts. The author's afterword is perhaps the heart of the book, telling the story concisely of how 20-year-old Sullivan broke through Helen's shell in a month, and for the next fifty years accompanied her on the incredible journey into the wider world. 11 photographs, an extensive bibliography including books, articles, films and videos plus online resources will help readers continue inquiry if they desire. A two-page chronology of events is also included. The cover includes Braille rendition of the title and subtitle.

While most people have at least heard of Helen Keller, few know much about her teacher, the dedicated and passionate Annie Sullivan. Sarah Miller's MISS SPITFIRE may change that. The novel gives a fictionalized but well-researched narrative, in Annie's own voice, of the first month Annie spent with Helen. Her struggle to reach this wild, blind, and deaf child and overcome the obstacles presented by Helen's family makes a riveting read.

Miller delves deeply into her subject, letting readers in on Annie's early life through memories and flashbacks--of her abusive father, of the horrible years she spent at a state almshouse, and of the better but still difficult years in a school for the blind. Readers will find it easier to sympathize with and relate to her loneliness and longing for affection. It's wonderful to see the parts of her personality that had long been considered flaws--her stubbornness, her fierce temper--become assets in dealing with Helen. More than just a historical figure, in MISS SPITFIRE Annie Sullivan becomes a fully realized human being.

It's clear from the novel that Annie's success didn't come easily. It details every setback and every triumph, no matter how minor, until readers will be racing through the pages waiting to see how she will finally break through to Helen. They may be a little disappointed to discover that the novel ends shortly after that major breakthrough, wishing to read on and continue the journey with Annie. A sequel would certainly be welcome!

MISS SPITFIRE is everything a historical novel should be--richly imagined, true to its period, and providing an engaging story that will feel completely relevant to modern readers.

Reviewed by: Lynn Crow

I love this book! When I first read it, I was reminded of reading the play, The Miracle Worker. Ms. Miller has written a wonderful book for children about Annie Sullivan, the teacher who helped Helen Keller connect to the world. I have shared the book with my students and other teachers. Some of my students have commented that they never knew about Annie Sullivan, and how important she was to Helen's education.

"My heart is singing for joy this morning."
-Anne Sullivan to Sophia Hopkins, March 1887

So begins one of the chapters in Sarah Miller's debut novel Miss Spitfire: Reaching Helen Keller, and her quote from Annie Sullivan describes just how I felt when I finished this magical book.

Last spring, I issued an invitation to authors of historical fiction, to send me information about their books for a presentation I'm doing this fall at the New York State Reading Association Conference. I heard from wonderful writers -- some whose works I knew and some who were new to me. But one title REALLY caught my eye: Miss Spitfire by Sarah Miller. First, it got my attention because the titles of our books are so similar(Mine is called SPITFIRE). When I opened it up to start reading, it got my attention in another way -- a sweep-you-away-in-the-story kind of way.

Miss Spitfire: Reaching Helen Keller tells the story of Annie Sullivan, the young woman who battled beliefs of the time and fought with every ounce of energy she had to give Helen Keller the gift of language. Sarah Miller tells the story in Annie's voice -- and tells it with a passion that speaks to the depth of her research and her pure love for this historical figure. Miss Spitfire not only tells the story we see in The Miracle Worker -- the story of Annie's time with Helen -- but also plunges into Annie Sullivan's past, and in doing so, provides a deeper understanding of the commitment and determination that led to her success.

The portrayals of Annie's emotional, psychological, and physical struggles with Helen were so vivid that I found myself reading with my brow furrowed in determined solidarity with Annie as she plunked Helen back into her seat at the dining room table for the tenth time. Truly, Annie had to be a spitfire to survive this monumental challenge when she was little more than a girl herself.

The minor characters in this novel sparkle, too. One of my favorite scenes brought Helen together for a lesson with the Kellers' servant boy Percy. I felt like I was about to burst with pride right along with Annie when Helen began to turn from a student into a teacher, helping Percy with some of the letters. Mr. & Mrs. Keller, too, are painted with a tremendous depth of understanding. It would have been easy to portray Helen's parents as one-dimensional characters who got in the way of Annie's work, but instead, Sarah Miller helps us to see their complexity and feel some of their anguish at having a beautiful, broken child.

Early in the book, Annie tells Helen's mother why her lessons are so vital to Helen.

"Words, Mrs. Keller, words bridge the gap between two minds. Words are a miracle."

Indeed, they are. And Miss Spitfire will have you believing in that miracle all over again.

Authors that try to tackle any aspect of Helen Keller's life in a children's literary format are simultaneously blessed and cursed. On the one hand, talk about God's gift to authors. The emotional ups and downs of Helen's tale, the (dare I say) hope of her life, I mean she's a great historical character. Loads more interesting to a nine-year-old than your average everyday biographical figures. So there's that. On the other hand, none of this is a secret. As a result, my library's Helen Keller section of biographies is rivaled only by Martin Luther King Jr. So when I saw that someone had done a middle grade work of fiction regarding Helen and Annie Sullivan's early days, I hardly gave it a thought. Why read what we already know? I mean, if everyone knows a series of facts about someone, can there be any worthwhile reason to read yet ANOTHER story about her life and trials? The answer, as it happens, is yes. Debut author Sarah Miller shows us that even the most familiar story can become edge-of-your-seat gripping when the writing's cool and collected.

There's a reason this book is called "Miss Spitfire". Turns out, that was the nickname bestowed on Annie Sullivan when she attended the Perkins Institute for the Blind. Irish, alone in the world, half-blind, and with guts galore, Ms. Sullivan is terrified at the prospect of her very first job. She's being sent to work with one Helen Keller, a blind, deaf child. The hope is to work a "miracle" on her and teach her to bridge the gap between signing and the use of words. The task turns out to be more than she gambled for, however, when it appears that Helen has had the run of her household for years. Uncivilized, uncouth, and unrepentant, her wishy-washy parents have failed to discipline, thereby allowing Helen to always get what she wants. If Annie didn't see Helen coming, though, you can be darn certain that Helen didn't see Annie either. Now the battle between the two firebrands has begun and it's time to see whether or not the stubbornness of a child who has always had her way can compete with the stubbornness of a woman as tough and smart as Annie Sullivan.

The reason the Helen Keller story works is because Helen is hell on earth. She's not the angelic creature just waiting for a helping hand. No dewy-eyed, saintly personality-challenged naïf she. She's not Little Eva or Little Nell. No she was, to use my grandmother's phrase, a pistol. So for a book like this to work you need to really feel for Annie Sullivan. When Helen cracks her in the jaw with a hardheaded doll, you have to want to strangle the child with your own bare hands and not just Annie's. As an author, Miller's smart enough to know how to tease out the dramatic elements of this tale. Seeing Ms. Sullivan's background, you are all the more impressed at her restraint around Helen. Considering that the girl has enough crafty qualities to try the patience of a saint, and considering that Ms. Sullivan's own father was abusive, you would think such tendency towards violence might easily pass down from father to daughter. Instead, the opposite is true. She does not hit because she knows what it is like to be on the receiving end of a blow. I was very taken with the moral in this story that rules and order breed love. It is Annie's restraint and discipline that in the end manages to tease out that love.

Annie's loneliness and need almost becomes their own characters in this book. Right from the start we learn that "The loneliness in my heart is an old acquaintance." Yet Miller plays Annie as increasingly desperate for human affection. She constantly looks for love from Helen, even though the child has little to no interest in forming any kind of a relationship at first. And when a baby gives Annie a kiss (lunging at her, as the text says, "like a lecher"), the woman says that, "Warmth ripples down to my toes," and that she is "Woozy with pleasure." The writing here, as you can see, is good.

Technically I should probably have a copy of The Miracle Worker in front of me for reference. It would allow me to note whether or not the emotional beats in both the play and Helen's story are identical or not. Then again, maybe it's better this way. It's clear that "Miss Spitfire" is a story of Helen's teacher, not just Helen herself. I'm sure that if Miller had wanted to she could have written the book from Helen's point of view, but as far as I can tell that way lays only tears. Seeing Annie's past allows us to note how much she and her young pupil have in common. It's a clever motif. So clever, in fact, that I feel certain that the kids who read this story will have little difficulty getting inside of the mind of an adult. Sometimes there's a disconnect between the protagonist and the reader, particularly in children's novels, if the hero is fully grown. Here I have no qualms.

The book is meticulously referenced, much to my relief. There's an author's note, photographs of the characters and locations, books for further reading, a plethora of websites and videos to visit for further info, a timeline, and even a list of sources (print and online). Better still, Miller knows enough to point out the elements of her tale that jar with the narrative. At one point Annie sing-signs the words to the song "Bessie's Song to Her Doll", because they fit the situation so well. In her Author's Note, Miller is quick to point out that the poem was written some years later by Lewis Carroll and could not have been used as it is here. It just happens to fit the book well.

I did have some questions here and there. As I've said, you get the feeling that Miller was a stickler for historical accuracy. So much so that there is no cleaning up of the real Annie's references to the "little negro boy" who worked in the house. So it was interesting to me that at no point does Annie go about wearing dark glasses ala Anne Bancroft. I assume that this was a theatrical flourish in the stage production of Helen's story that didn't accurately occur at this point in time. I did wish for a mention of it somewhere in the book, though.

And I had some other confusions elsewhere. Miller's book never really clarifies how Annie got out of the almshouse and into the Perkins school for the blind. How was her way paid? We see a brief encounter between her and a man in charge of Perkins, but there's never a full explanation of how that led to her acceptance into the school. I had hoped that maybe the author's note in the back would offer some background, but the only mention of the incident is a cryptic sentence reading, "Annie enters Perkins Institutions for the Blind" without any attention paid to the "hows" behind the sentence.

For me, the book is summarized nicely in the real life quote taken from Anne Sullivan's letters to a Ms. Sophia Hopkins, appearing at the beginning of Chapter Six. "The greatest problem I shall have to solve is how to discipline and control her without breaking her spirit." In the solution we find the heart of the novel. I've read very little historical fiction this year that stayed with me. I like to think that Ms. Miller's book is one of the few worth keeping close at hand. A really enjoyable story.

I am an ancient programmer switching from C to .NET. I have read a lotta books in my time and this is the best presentation and layout of a book I have ever seen. Its easy to read. Content is great. I wish I had found it first in my conversion to .NET. I am so impressed that I am checking out the other Murach titles for something to buy.

I needed to learn ADO.NET for my job and this book was the best on the topic I read the entire book in about 3 weeks. Everything is explained wonderfully. I love how the examples are laid out on the right with explanations on the left. I also really found the program files extremely helpful. I opened each chapters program and followed right along with the book. All the examples are already created so that you can see how they work and even modify them.

I liked this book so much that I also bought the ASP.NET, SQL, and Visual Basic 2005...all topics I need to brush up on. As far as I can tell these other books follow the same great format.

From someone who thousands of dollars worth of technical and programming books...these are great even for beginners. However if you are not familiar with vb2005 get murach's visual basic 2005 to read first.

As with the other Murach Press books I have reviewed, this book is extremely readable. It shows step-by-step how to develop database applications with VB. NET 2005 and ADO.NET. This book is best suited to someone new to database development with Visual Studio 2005 but that has a passing familiarity with VB syntax. If you are unfamiliar with flow control statements and VB syntax, you might want to look at Murach's "Visual Basic 2005" book first. I highly recommend this book for entry to mid level developers.

ADO.NET is a huge and sometimes daunting topic to attempt to cover, but in traditional Murach fashion, this book has the capacity to make its reader an expert if read cover to cover. All of the important topics are coverered, including use of the base objects, data binding, typed vs. untyped data sets, and most importantly (in my opinion): use of object data sources.

The best part of Murach books (including this one), aside from the paired page layout, is that they make no assumption about the reader's skill level, and cover enough background on each topic to ensure that you will come away with a thorough understanding of not just what and how, but also why.

Both beginner and expert programmers alike will find this book extremely useful, and it's a great addition to the Murach family of programming reference and tutorial books.

I am a C# developer but when I started browsing this book I couldn't help it but to continue reading it. It is not only about the VB language itself, but instead, how to use it so solve software problems. It teaches how to better write software, best practices and approaches.
This book doesn't cover all the theory in the world about a topic. Also, not all topics. But it tells you how to use them and what to watch for.
I am glad to have read it.