Big Books

Jim McCormick...his preaching, his theology, his person, and his ministry have had a profound impact on my life. So I have to confess at the outset in reviewing his book Does It Look and Sound Like Jesus?, I am biased. I am convinced that he is one of the best preachers and teachers among us today.

This collection of sermons is classic McCormick preaching. It is the kind of proclamation that nourished me as a young adult and opened the door for me to respond to God's call to ministry. It is the kind of preaching that has challenged congregations and individuals across 50 years to follow Jesus more faithfully. It is the kind of preaching that sets a standard of excellence and continues to call me to hone my skills as a preacher and teacher.

When Jim writes and preaches, it is clear, concise, consistent, and contextual. He does not muddy the waters. He says what he means to say, and before he writes it or speaks it, he carefully considers his words. Each word, each phrase, is intended to carry with it deep meaning and to move the listener/reader closer to a central point. Above all, Jim is consistent in his preaching. It is not just that he works diligently each time he preaches, seeking to give God the best he has to offer, but also that his theology is consistent from week to week, month-to-month, year to year. I learned the framework for studying, preaching, and thinking theologically from listening to Jim preach. Finally, it is fitting and appropriate that the subtitle of this collection is: "Sermons from Big Canoe Chapel." Jim's sermons have broad appeal, but they are always grounded in the reality of his context. When he writes or preaches, it is with eyes, ears, and heart tuned into the spirit of the congregation where he serves.

I am biased, but I am also convinced that had I not known Jim for these many years and picked up this book, I would still be thankful for the chance to read the Word of God proclaimed. And I would be challenged to a more faithful life of service. The only thing better than being able to read this collection of Jim's preaching is to be in worship to hear him. I commend this book to any who would seek to know God more fully and to follow Jesus more faithfully.

For almost 5 years, Sylvia and I have been asking again and again, "Does it, do we, look and sound like Jesus." It is indeed an intriguing question with which Dr. James McCormick confronts us weekly in his sermons at Big Canoe Chapel, Big Canoe, GA, and now in his mindful book entitled "Does It Look and Sound Like Jesus?" And we necessarily pause to consider and to answer that simple yet profound question. And weekly, and now, thanks to his new book, at all times, Jim McCormick helps us to look at God, at life, at our relationships, and ask that important question, for it is in answering that question with a "yes" that we best become what God has always intended for us to be.

Master theologian and respected teacher, Jim preaches sermons that lead us to the conclusion that our God is a loving God, who has created a wonderful world, and has brought into being humankind, and has pronounced humankind good. Far too often we overlook that "goodness" of God. But Jim captures that so well in his sermon, "If We Had Known It Was You," when he writes, "Somewhere we have misplaced the concept of the worth and dignity of every human life....As the sons and daughters of the one Father, we are all brothers and sisters, and we are intended by God...to act like a family" (p. 63). And family, in its truest sense, has as its base God's love.

That is Jim's good word for us. Maxie Dunnam says, in his introduction to this book, what most of us, and I especially as a minister, are constantly thinking: "I wish I had said that." Jim writes it, preaches it, and lives it. What better recommendation!

Rev. Lamar Helms
Associate Chaplain
Big Canoe Chapel

While listening to Dr. Jim McCormick's sermons, which I've done for most of the Sundays he's preached at Big Canoe Chapel, I've often wanted to press the replay button, so to speak, and listen again to what he's said and let some especially cogent thought play around in my mind and thoroughly sink in.
But, now, even better, I have his book of selected sermons and I can sit there in my reading chair, as I did recently, and wallow around all I want examining the wisdom of his words.
In his sermon, "Follow Me," one of the book's selections, he tells how Jesus said it wouldn't be easy, but that it would lead to abundant and eternal life. And then he asks, "How do we know when it is God? How do we know how we should act?
"The answer," he says, "always comes back, `Does it look and sound like Jesus?'"
It is a threshold question and a recurring theme in his classes and sermons. And, as the author writes in the book's introduction, the question is on target, and thus it became the title given to his book.
"Does It Look and Sound Like Jesus? Sermons from Big Canoe Chapel" was published recently to coincide with the Chapel's 30th anniversary celebration.
Big Canoe Chapel is a multi-denominational congregation in the community of Big Canoe located in the foothills of North Georgia's Appalachian Mountains, about an hours drive from Atlanta.
The 166-page soft back book includes 25 sermons preached during his five years as Senior Chaplain. Many of the titles are unique and grab your attention, such as "I Never Promised You a Rose Garden," "Vanilla, Chocolate and Strawberry" and "What to do with Yesterday."
The foreword was written by the chancellor of Asbury Theological Seminary, Maxie D. Dunnam, a friend of nearly 50 years. They shared the same seminary experience, he writes, and were young preachers together in Mississippi.
The Asbury chancellor aptly describes Dr. McCormick as a master preacher. About preaching, he writes that it's more than a mechanical exercise. It's about communication and reaching the hearts and minds of a congregation.
And Jim McCormick has done just that - certainly from the pulpit of Big Canoe Chapel and now in his book, "Does It Look and Sound Like Jesus," he will surely reach the hearts and minds of its readers.

I have had the privilege of hearing Dr. Jim McCormick preach at Big Canoe Chapel for the past five years. His preaching and teaching skills have helped steadily incease our membership since he came out of retirement to take on the responsibilities of pastoring our multi-denominational congregation. While I consider my listening skills to be fairly well-honed, I realized after reading these previously-heard sermons that there is so much more to be learned! Based on scripture and peppered with lyrics, story and poetry, the sermons in this collection help the reader think through many important life decisions. The seemingly simple title-question of the book, does it look and sound like Jesus, helps the reader think through everyday challenges in light of how God might want us to choose, based on the examples given to us in the life of Jesus. This ia a great chair-side or bed-side volume filled with inspirational, instructional and meaningful messages.

Tori Lou and her dad Bill Vancil were able to take a serious diagnosis of Bill's prostate cancer and mount a fight, including using a new technology not available nationwide. (Proton radiation therapy.)

Their fight included an amazing cross country trip, chronicled in this book and it reads like an adventure tale while giving some hope and some vital information to prostate cancer sufferers.

Prostate cancer is relatively common, yet slower growing than some cancers, especially in older men. There are a variety of screens for this cancer, and some innovative treatments. But even though there is much hope, the journey to healing is always an uphill fight, and the Vancils tell a dramatic story. Vancil, as a seasoned broadcaster and owner of radio stations, knows how to tell a good story with drama, humor and horror, too. This is a very "feeling" book with something that may resonate with you or someone you know. Recommended reading for human interest and definitely for cancer patients.

This interesting work features two odysseys. One, a cross-country trip by the author, Bill Vancil, from Madison, WI to Loma Linda, CA, to seek treatment for prostate cancer, using proton radiation therapy through Loma Linda University Center. Two, a long trip back home to Madison with his young daughter, who had flown out to join him after the start of his therapy.

One issue that piqued my interest in this volume: the author is from my home town in Illinois. He worked in Peoria and the Quad Cities, and many of the little details from his earlier life resonate with me, because of similar experiences.

The first odyssey features his efforts to determine the best way to fight his cancer. This included a tussle with his insurance company, which was loathe to pay for "experimental" therapy. It details the surgery demanded by the insurance company as it considered whether or not to pay for some/all of his treatment. It provides detail on the proton therapy, with enough information about the mechanics of the process to enlighten the reader. Here, too, his book is an advertisement for tests for prostate cancer and, in that sense, does a valuable service.

The second odyssey, as noted above, is the time in California with his daughter and their trip back to Madison. Kind of a nice relationship is detailed between father and daughter. She improved her skateboarding, learned to surf, developed a friendship with Sebastian (a "big dog," although the term big dog is used several different ways in this book), and became friends with other kids. Then, when his treatment was completed, father and daughter drove up the coast, through Big Sur. Then (following a trip I once took) Interstate 80 to the Midwest. They stayed each night at places such as Reno, Wendover (Utah), Cheyenne, and Lincoln (Nebraska). Finally, Madison.

This is an unpretentious book, telling a simple story. But a story that works at two levels of odyssey. . . .

It's not often that you find a person who turns a negative into a positive, and in more ways than one. That's what Bill Vancil did and that's one of the things that makes this book so appealing.

Many people confronting a potentially fatal medical problem would be inclined to ask "Why me?" But, not Bill Vancil. Faced with prostate cancer, he immediately researched potential cures for his condition. Not only did he succeed in conquering the cancer through a little known solution - proton radiation therapy - but Bill rediscovered his own humanity and spirituality in the process.

Don't Fear the Big Dogs is a meaningful and educational book everyone should read; it examines the second highest cancer related man-killer that men need to know about. It also is a moving story of bonding between a 63-year-old father and his 13-year-old daughter. Tori Lou's inspiration is apparent in the spirit of the author's description of their adventure together.

During six weeks in California and the trip home to Wisconsin, Bill and Tori Lou marveled at the world around them and discovered the world within them. The remarkable bonding of an older dad and a teenager ascending into adolescence is the soul of the book. At the heart of the book is an important message to men and their families facing the challenge of prostate cancer. By reading and re-reading Bill's inspiring story I am moved to conclude there are no coincidences.

Don't Fear The Big Dogs is the very personal story of executive vice-president and part-owner of five radio stations Bill Vancil, who was diagnosed with prostate cancer in January 2004. His determination to overcome the attack on his body marks this remarkable, can-do memoir, which also informs the reader of a scientifically advanced option to treat prostate cancer - a procedure called proton radiation therapy, offered at only a few places in America. Told in plain terms, Don't Fear The Big Dogs is filled cover to cover with personal inspiration, drive, and dedication.

This book was very informative. I enjoyed the book because I constantly seek for a better understanding of the largemouth bass. At times it got to be repetitive. The book did not have a good flow and seemed to jump around on topics. Overall if you want to know more about giant largemouth bass, it would be worth the time.

Doug Hannon is the most well thought out big bass master today. His holistic approach to bass fishing is logical and explained from the basses view, not a human's. Doug and Bill Murphy are the 2 pillars of the big bass community. This is definitely one of the must have books for your bass fishing library.

I learned more reading this in the winter than I did fishing for the last 5 years.This book gives you common sense approaches to bass behavior that a person usually passes over in his mind.This gives you the fine details of big bass behaviors and how to address them.Excellent book.

This book gives anyone insight that is not usually the first or even second thought about big bass behavior and ways to catch them.Doug opened my eyes on questions that are asked by fisherman with common sense solutions. I recommend this to all bass fisherman as a way to improve your fishing even in the off season.

IF YOU ARE A DOXIE FAN THIS IS THE BOOK FOR YOU!!! IT'S TRULY RIGHT ON TARGET!
GREAT PHOTOGRAPHS AND WONDERFUL TEXT.

This little book is BIG on laughs for anyone who owns a Doxie or who loves dogs in general. Excellent photography and true-to-life snipets of what the famous Doxie's are all about. Great reading for all ages. Highly recommended.

How can you go wrong with a photographic book about dachshunds?
Author Melissa Sovet has captured the long and short of the spirited breed. There are photos of doxies with bling, doxies being naughty, as well as doxies being charioted by working dogs.

If you love doxies you need this book!

If you love Dachshunds or know anyone that does, this is the book to get or give as a gift! The pictures are absolutley adorable and funny - puppies, different colors, different poses, costumes - very sweet!
The text, written as a "doxie" describes the dog very accurately and uses several quotes in just the right places.
A great book for "Doxie" lovers and a great little "pick me up" book for anyone else!

Cute counting book with colorful illustrations. Gives 3 sets of numbers and asks 3 questions in each "section." Better than average. I would recommend this one for K and 1st grade, as well as teachers and parents.

Finally...a counting book! My 4 yr old is resisting learning to count. This book is great. He asks to read to it! The pictures are colorful and it can be used to teach basic math because there are questions on each page that involve either counting each item (42 quacks) or using addition or multiplication.

I would buy more books like this!

This is a wonderful book to use in patterning, multiplication, and creative thinking! I use the book in my classroom in so many ways, with children up to third grade! We read it, then make up our own "Math Riddles" to put into our own class book. Example, Three fish had four fins each, with eight dots on each fin. How many fish? How many fins? How many dots altogether?

This entertaining book is a good for young cildren to learn math. This book relates to math by giving math problams and then ask the child to answer them. This book can also help a child in their reading.
Even for an 8th grader like myself it is very interesting.

Believe it or not children's drawings end up looking much like Ed Emberley's. Line by line and shape by shape the Halloween related objects take form. Our other family favorite was Emberley's "Big Red Drawing Book". Absolutely love these books!

All of Emberley's books are wonderful. The Big Orange Drawing book specializes in things that are orange so a lot of it is Halloween themed. I loved working through these books as a child and still have some of the Halloween decorations I made from this book.

I am a 21 year-old artist. I forgot all about Ed Emberley until a couple of weeks ago. Emberley was my first artistic inspiration and I developed an interest in art through the direction of his variety of juvenile instructional books. I highly recommend these books to any children who express an interest in art. His series of books are EXTREMELY simply to understand and children at any age can grasp his artistic expertise.

This book is from a series of 4 books from Emberly are the easiest books on drawing there are, period. Anyone young or old can learn to draw some great critters and vehicles from these books. ANYONE! These are a great first step. All of his Big Color books are great, (They are a series, each named after a color). Famous for the easy way it shows you how to draw step by step, what appears to be a complex Haunted House, but it is simple when you do it his way. This book includes a number of fun ideas including robots, tiger, military ships, Halloween holiday drawings, and more. He even shows you how to make yours unique rather than a copy of his drawings. You can be the doodle hero of your classroom or office after using this book. He does it simply using very simple steps, lines, and basic shapes to start you off. My favorite in the series would be the Purple Book, because I am partial to the pirate ship instructions.

If you want to move up from here and learn the terminology of what you are doing, and really become an accomplished artist, the next step after these are the terrific books by "Jack Hamm".

If you just want to have some fun, get this book!

Every year as the holidays approached my daughter requested this book from the library. Ed Emberley's books are still the best books for easy step-by-step drawing instructions - simple lines and shapes accumulate into a satisfying whole. My son rarely picked up a drawing utensil, but he'd be down on the floor, right beside his sister drawing away - satisfied and rarely frustrated. Emberley's "Big Orange Book" also recieved a lot of use in our house around Halloween.

Ed's books on thumbprints...and simplier drawing books would probably be considered the *first* steps while i would consider this the *first and a half* step... there are more complex (more steps to some pictures) drawings... there are still pretty easy ones and if this isnt your shilds first book and they are at a stage where they are ready for something a bit more challenging this would be a good second line of art books.. it still is writtne in the same way and there are still easy easy things to draw BUT for those wishing to increase their skill/hardness level..there are pictures with more steps. the pictures are still broken down into easy to follow steps and it is STILL much easier and more understandable than most art books out there for kids... and there are so many things to choose from!

This book is from a series of 4 books from Emberly are the easiest books on drawing there are, period. Anyone young or old can learn to draw some great critters and vehicles from these books. ANYONE! All of his Big Color books are great, (They are a series, each named after a color). This one is famous for the easy way it shows you how to draw step by step, what appears to be a complex fire engine, but it is simple when you do it his way. THis book includes a number of fun ideas including Uncle Sam, police cars, ships and boats, Christmas holiday drawings. He even shows you how to make yours unique rather than a copy of his drawings. You can be the doodle hero of your classroom or office after using this book. He does it simply using very simple steps, lines, and basic shapes to start you off. My favorite in the series would be the Purple Book or the Green Book, then Orange, then the Red Book.

If you want to move up from here and learn the terminology of what you are doing, and really become an accomplished artist, the next step after these are the terrific books by Jack Hamm. If you just want to have some fun, get this book!

I think now we have all the Emberly drawing books and this one is far-and-away the toughest. Ed's son Michael, in particular, favors more complex drawings that will be harder for the youngsters to emulate, though older kids will probably appreciate the step-up after mastering the other books. (Even Ed's stuff largely seems tougher.)

Also, just so you know, this isn't a "red" drawing book like the green and orange: a wider variety of colors is used, and more subtly than in any of the other books, even the Animals book (which also uses color, but not to this degree).

I'd still recommend it, but more for 7 - 10 year olds.

Visiting the front lines of the grammar and usage wars with Bill Walsh is a pleasure for writers and readers alike. Like his previous work, Lapsing Into a Comma, this entertaining and enlightening book shows Walsh has got a great ear and a great sense of humor.

By Bill Marsano. What a jolly season for word-lovers this is, what with Lynn Truss's "Eats, Shoots, and Leaves" and this book by Bill Walsh coming along neck-and-neck and cheek-by-jowl. Walsh, who is the copy chief of the Washington Post, has written a far broader work than Truss's, with punctuation just one of the things covered (and usually very well covered). There's also grammar here and more important there is style.

The author of such a book sets himself up, always. Many readers will assume or claim that he's preaching perfection and will therefore fall upon tiny errors yelling nyah-nyah in spiteful disvalidation of his whole work, of his very right to speak at all. Sorry but, admirable as it may be, prefection eludes and always will (Lynn Truss's first error is in her subtitle!). Mark Twain said, of perfection in English grammar, "the thing just can't be done." So let's be willing to give a little, and even accept the odd contradiction.

That done, we find a pretty useful guide. It's mostly newspaper-oriented, but it's still a help to the ordinary writer and ordinary person struggling to commit a sentence and finding between the opening capital and the closing period a morass of weird plurals, nightmare collectives, number-of-the-verb, stylistic conventions, punctuational deadfalls and a lot of other horrors that make not ending with a preposition a treat (which taboo is, by the way, nonsense, as Walsh neatly explains). Walsh deals with most problems briskly and helpfully, and if you keep this book ever close to your heart it won't be long before you can toss off elegant vanity plates, bumperstickers and ransom notes without so much as a by-your-leave. And you will begin to enjoy doing so, because you won't be scared out of your wits half the time. (Most people dread writing as they dread public speaking.)

I am generally dubious of copy editors; I consider them a species of vermin that should be hunted for sport. But I will go a long way with Walsh because he clearly thinks about the language and tries to make intelligent, workable decisions that help reader and writer alike. (Most copy editors simply trot out their pet peeves and hobby-horses, salt with ignorance and prejudice, and then damage the writer's copy, the hideous effects invisible until the crime appears in print.)

I will unyieldingly dispute with him on two points, however. First, (free-lance) writers should absolutely not waste any time studying client magazines to learn their style. Magazines routinely pay writers poorly and abuse them in general; if they want their stylebooks followed, let the editors do some work for a change. (Editors don't have jobs. They have lunch.) Second, what's this foolishness about a ship being referred to as "it"?

That's an example of what offends me most about copy editors: their char-woman's mentality. Always trying to neaten up; emptying the ashtray every time the ash hits the glass; making you move so they can plump up the pillows. Busy, busy, busy! The net result of all this is damage to a language of which varioty is its chiefest glory. Referring to ships as feminine is a tradition many centuries old: it goes back to the Romans; it is established and understood; it is not to be dismissed by some petty tyrant with an itchy pencil. Maybe it's a question of political correctness. Maybe someone is pained because it excludes an entire sex (the male, I believe). Frankly I'm disinclined to believe that this will cause little boys everywhere to be discouranged from becoming ocean liners, but copy editors might very well fall for that.--Bill Marsano is a professional writer and editor.

I found myself laughing out loud as I read Bill Walsh's "The Elephant's of Style."

Reminiscent of "Woe is I" this title actually entertains as it enlightens. Some of Walsh's best lines were "Split infinitives are the chicken cacciatore of the English Language" and "Who died and left me in charge of the English language?"

I want to know where Bill Walsh was when I was being drilled in grammar back in school! First they started teaching kids phonics and blends using fun songs and hand motions and now this?! I missed out on all the fun!

I especially enjoyed the section entitled "The Lies Your English Teacher Told You: Big Myths of English Usage" (I actually wiped my brow at one point in that chapter.) His appendix, "The Curmudgeon's Stylebook" is a valuable addition as well.

Wonderful stuff, easy to remember and apply.... Excellent for those who got stuck in the "grammar rules" and "strict critiques" from the past.... Free up the negative through process and just get through to the mechanics in this user friendly guide. The index will take you straight to your area of interest and then read the rest just `cause its so darn fun...... oh, I wonder if it's against the rules to insert periods in a row like that?

Better refer to my copy of "Elephants of Style" now.....

Almost nothing is as boring as learning the rules of grammar.
The Elephants of Style, however, makes the subject humorous and easier to both read and learn about. The author uses great(and often funny ) examples to teach students about everything from parts of speech to plagarism. I would recommend this book to college freshman, English teachers, or anyone struggling with grammar.
Of course, grammar may never lose the title of "boringest of them all," but at least there is a little humor at the end of the tunnel.

I borrowed this book from the public library for my 3 year old daughter and after I returned it, she kept asking for the "flower book." The illustrations are beautiful and the concept is really nice.

We have a two-year-old daughter who picks this book out every day and every night to read. The illustrations are breathtaking. The story is simple but relevant; we follow every detail as the father and daughter walk the city street and ride the bus. We love to watch the daughter planting the flowers with her father; the mother coming home from school to see her birthday surprise. I have no doubt that this book will be with us for another generation or more (at least in our house). Thank you to the two wonderful artists who created such a special book.

I am a student teacher in a three year old preschool classroom. We recently planted mums outside our window, and afterwards read this story to the children. They loved the beautiful pictures and the contrast between the city flowerbox and our daycare garden.

my pre-school class found the book to be very exciting and could'nt wait for me to turn the next page.the bright colors of the cover and pages were so liking a good childrens book,that we planted a garden like described in the book.i have had parents ask where can they get this wonderful book for their own child. we really enjoyed it!this book described a family so close and loving,you can't help but smell the flowers and feel the love in that household.

As a child, this was one of my favorite books. I loved Margaret Wise Brown's simple singsong verse and Garth Williams' gentle, amusing illustrations. Over half a century and it stands the test of time and toddler. As a library assistant I just read it at storytime and all the little wigglers were kept at attention. As a grandmother I'd like to get new copies for all the new little people in my life. Alas, it's out of print. I'll order the used ones, but let's bring back this classic.

Kids even as young as first grade, can use this as a model for writing their OWN book. I LIKE....is the bones, and the lists and loosely rhymed examples are the flesh. And no matter whether a kid wants to write about cars or cuttlefish, they ought to end up with I LIKE PEOPLE...to keep the friendly book pattern intact.

The Friendly Book is the reprint of a "Big Little Golden Book" classic written by Margaret Wise Brown and illustrated by Garth Williams. Of special note is the way the alliterative, repetitive, and entertaining text of The Friendly Book is so useful in helping children ages 2 to 5 to simultaneously built vocabulary and reading skills. Also very highly recommended are two other newly reprinted Gold Books classics: K. & B. Jackson and Gustaf Tenggren's The Saggy Baggy Elephant (0375-825908, ...) and Tibor Gergely's The Great Big Fire Engine (0307103218,...).

I LOVED this book as a child. The pictures by Garth Williams are so lovingly rendered. I can recall each image with amazing detail (obviously I poured over this book often!).

Since it's been out of print, I would search used book stores - pawing through their inevitable stack of old Golden Books. I found one several years ago in college that I promptly sent to my then toddler sister. I continued to look for another copy to keep for my own children someday. Alas, to no avail.

Last year a treasury of Garth Williams illustrated books was released, and I promptly bought a copy for my 1-year old daughter. I'm thrilled that the original book has been re-released - better for small hands. I strongly recommend this book for young children (birth & up). You will not be disappointed!