Burke Books

Hmong Milestones is an excellent introduction to the various roles the Hmong played in Vietnam War. Omoto's work is a necessary overview and resource for anyone, both seasoned experts and casual readers, interested in one of the darkest chapters of American history.

Excellent book for the young adult reader. As a teacher of mulitcultural studies, I highly recommend this book as required reading. The author puts the Hmong experiences in America into perspective. One cannot but have a great respect for these individuals and all that they accomplished.

I first was introduced to "Hoofprints: A Goal Setting Journal for Young Riders" when my daughter took one of Anastasia Burke's goal setting workshops. The workshop was really fun and got my daughter very excited about the challenges facing her in the coming year. She wanted to rise through the Pony Club ratings, but she also had a lot of other things going on, including cheerleading and a boyfriend. "Hoofprints" really helped her gain focus. It's also great for teaching kids how to appreciate the people in their lives who are helping them with horsback riding, from parents to coaches, to their horses. It also is great for creating better communication and parnerships between coaches and students. My daughter's coach is using "Hoofprints" books with all her students and it's really making a difference, not just in their riding, but in school and other areas. I'm really glad we have this. OH yes, I almost forgot. One of the really fun aspects of this book is the stickers in the back, which the kids are to use after completing each written exercise. There is also a scrapbook section, and the second half of the book has 52 goal setting worksheets, where the kids can create a goal with their instructor for each lesson. Referring back to these worksheets during practice has increased my daughter's focus during practice times.

After reading the book Hoofprints: A Goal Setting Journal for Young Riders I couldn't help but think that if young people mastered the Keys to a Good Riding Goal in Chapter 3, they had a blueprint for a successful life. The plan for goal setting, broken down into being S-M-A-R-T, or specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timed, is an invaluable tool for anyone, and can be applied to all kinds of life situations. Burke offers a way of achieving the dreams of a young rider in an entertaining and enjoyable format. Not only is this a terrific tool for young people, but a way to enhance and strengthen the communication skills between teens and the adults in their lives. If you are looking for a solid practical book that is fun, lively and chock full of real life examples, this is not to be missed!

This book has valueable insight for those who lead whether in a secular career or in the ministry. It has offered words of wisdom to both myself and my husband, neither of us are in the ministry but have hectic daily schedules due to jobs that require a lot of leadership abilities. Easy to read and apply to your life.

I have read many leadership books, business books and christian living books. It doesn't matter what profession you are in, please get this book. It will give you more peace, joy, and more time for what is most important in your life. I cannot write a review good enough because this book is on the same level with any leadership book that has ever been written. I didn't say that right, this is the "best" book that I have ever read. Thank you Dr. and Pastor Burke. I pray that God bless you more then you and your family and your work can imagine. I love you and please continue your "Excellent Leadership to the World".

I gave one of my most treasured books away yesterday to a precious lady, who is suffering horrendous pain constantly with no doctor being able to help and they don't even no what is causing the pain. It was this book "How to Meditate God's Word." I have referred to it a number of times. It is one of a few "absolutely cannot live without" books that I had. It has helped and blessed me so many times.

I just read the book on How to Meditate God's Word. What a blessing! It was written with simplicity. It was something that I could understand and refer back to time and time again. What insight!

This is a end user book for sure. I didnt' waste anytime when this book was received, it was put directly to work.

Great little book for knowing how to utilize the Lotus Notes software.

Excellent tool to learn all about the ins and outs of Lotus Notes. The beginning of each chapter provides a summary to further explain the function's use.
Regarding delivery, it arrived earlier than expected. :)

Praising the Power of Books REVIEWED BY Barbara Hass Sunday, January 30, 2000

In this digital age, a book about the joys of reading sounds quaint, even anachronistic. But sheer pleasure is timeless, and ``I Hear America Reading'' is a celebration of books and the profound effect they have on our lives. It began as a simple letter to The Chronicle. Burlingame High School teacher Jim Burke was looking for ways to inspire the students in his English class. He invited people to describe their own reading experiences, and hundreds of responses poured in from the Bay Area and around the world.

Full of humor and pathos -- some even touched by tragedy -- these letters tell of worlds opening up, lives resurrected and new paths chosen. The writers are teachers and explorers, immigrants and students, convicts and counselors. What they have in common is faith in the power of books, and tremendous gratitude for the gift of reading.

One writer says books led her family to a life of multiple adventures. ``Writings of John Muir and Colin Fletcher sent us into the Sierra for a 40-day, 240-mile backpacking trip,'' she explains. ``National Geographic, Melville, Stevenson, Conrad, Bligh and Cook infected us with an itch to sail the world. Since we couldn't afford to buy a boat, we had to read plans and construction manuals so we could build one. Anduril, the 40-foot trimaran we built, has taken us on two circumnavigations.''

Other writers are new to this country, grappling with English as a second language but eloquent in their passion for reading. ``My life is not so hard like when I got to the USA,'' writes a student. ``Now the books are my friends, company, and they make me feel better when I'm sad or when I'm alone. This is how I feel about a book.'' Some people mention a volume or two that had a special impact on their lives, but one architect can't contain them all. After enthusing over everything from ``Little Women'' to ``A Gift From the Sea,'' she writes: ``I feel a bit like someone making an acceptance speech at the Oscars. I don't want to forget to thank someone important!'' She finally does stop herself and signs off, but her pure joy in reading pops up again in a delightful postscript: ``I just can't leave out Willa Cather's `Death Comes for the Archbishop,' a book I just read recently and loved!''

The letters are interspersed with beautiful excerpts from professional writers sharing their personal reading experiences. ``How astonishing the day individual letters lined up to become messages!'' writes poet-essayist Naomi Shihab Nye. ``Billboards unleashed their mysteries high above us. Signs on barbershops welcomed us to step inside. Lists at the laundromat instructed us about dyeing and lint. When I read the words `cream puff' for myself on the menu at the tea room where my grandma had taken me for a grown-up ladies lunch, tears rose in my eyes! The code was now mine!''

A wonderful part of ``I Hear America Reading'' comes at the end with a list. In fact, there are dozens of lists, all cleverly compiled for specific reading audiences. ``Ten Books for People Who Think the World Is Absurd'' is the first one (``The Basketball Diaries'' by Jim Carroll tops it); then there are such others as ``Ten Books to Read Aloud in the Car While Traveling,'' ``Ten Books a Teenage Boy Would Want to Read'' and ``Ten Books We Should All Read Before Childhood Ends.''

The lists, like the letters, make us want to step away from the computer screen and pick up a new book just for the joy of it. They remind us that reading is as alive and well as when we first discovered it.

San Rafael writer Barbara Hass specializes in education and family issues.

In our rush to teach children how to read, are we remembering to teach them to want to read? I Hear America Reading: Why We Read; What We Read by Jim Burke, addresses this important question about the value and power of reading for the individual and society. Some time ago, Burke who is a high school English teacher in California wrote a letter to the editor of the San Francisco Chronicle inviting the readers of that newspaper to write to his students about their experiences with books and reading . He was delighted when he returned to school the following week to he discover the first batch of what would eventually total four hundred letters. Those letters made a difference for his students who were inspired that so many people would take the time to write to them about the benefits of reading. Now fifty of the letters have been published in I Hear America Reading. Read the letters for personal inspiration about why reading makes such a difference in so many lives. Share the letters with your students by reading them aloud. Students will be encouraged to want to read since most of the letters tell a story of how reading and books shaped lives. This is a thoughtfully crafted book, special care has been taken to select letters that feature the writer's strong voice. In addition, inspirational quotations from famous people about the power of reading follow each letter. The book ends with an appendix that is a "List of Lists, booklists that list books of every type to tantalize the reader.

One of the best of the best. If you don't have it, you need it. Get it now!

Amazing reprinting of Burke's seminal work. Wonderful storytelling with photos and collages. Only 2000 were printed in this run, they will go fast.

Dr. Ward authors an excellent vision that translates the best of abstract educational-change theories into a concrete prescription to improve school facilities, student achievement, and fiscal efficiency. Improving Achievement in Low-Performing Schools is an excellent guide to turn a district that is culturally, academically, financially, and technologically bankrupt into a high-performance urban learning organization. The research based `key results' discussed in the book are concisely represented in checklists that may be immediately utilized by district and site administrators. The authors describe how urban school leaders can move beyond compliance to the realm of quality instruction and significantly more students being accepted into prestigious universities. In sum, this book should be required reading for all educational policymakers, school district administrators, and principals.

Ably edited by Mary Ann Burke, Improving Achievement In Low-Performing Schools: Key Results For School Leaders by academician Randolph E. Ward is a practical and professional guideline especially for teachers, and education professionals concerning innovative management practices to improve low performance in multi-stressed schools. Chapters focus upon how to improve student achievement in core subjects, creating safe, clean, and secure facilities, forging stronger links with parents and the community, raising the level of management effectiveness and accountability, and much more. Sample checklists illustrate the key principles outlined for dynamically improving the conditions and results of an educational institution.

From Website: http://www.frontstreetreviews.com/

I have just finished reading The Invisible Visitor, written by Lisa Burke and I wanted to make sure to write this review as soon as I was done. This book is extremely different from anything I have ever read, which makes it a little hard to review without giving too much away, but I wanted to write down my thoughts immediately.

In The Invisible Visitor, Burke never uses everyday, obvious plot lines or dialogue to make her points. This book is full of hidden meanings and deeper messages and you really need to focus on the storyline to understand what the main character is going through.

As women, we are taught, in many cases, that our lives should progress in certain ways. Meet a man, date a man, fall in love with the man, marry, have babies, buy a house and live happily ever after. Nothing else need matter. Except that, of course other things DO matter, many events in our lives end up touching us in a very subconscious manner - especially friendships and relationships that we create in our youth. What happens in our youth certainly plays a great part in who we become as adults and more specifically how we live our lives. Nora Maloney, our main character, finds herself suffering greatly for the sins of the past.

I found myself identifying with Nora Maloney on many levels, which made this book all the more interesting to me. Nora is no longer a young girl, she is lonely and depressed and cannot find the joy in her life. Somehow, her life is not going where she wants it to go. So she decides to end it all by taking "special" pills. She does not manage to kill herself (or does she?), but rather manages to find her guardian angel - who, some could argue, is nothing more than her subconscious finally pushing through the surface, yet, Cassock certainly seems real enough.

What follows is a spiritual journey for Nora, who apparently needs to learn each and every lesson the hard way. Cassock would not be my choice for a guardian angel - and he sometimes seems downright horrible (the scene with him eating human parts was really gross), yet I found hidden messages beyond the words on the page. A lesson to be learned in every life experience.

Through a hard journey of self-discovery, Nora finally realizes why she has been so unhappy and isolated for most of her life. I will not give it away here, but suffice it to say - I understand her completely - if I had lived with those feelings all of my adult life - I would have been a mess!

This novel is absolutely about hope and forgiveness and although it was weird at times, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Tina Avon
Front Street Reviews

I breathed a sigh of relief when I read this book. I had been reading some contemporary novels before I read it and had been disappointed in the quality of the writing. Then I read "The Invisible Visitor" and was finally able to enjoy some truly INTELLIGENT writing. The dialogue is so real and the characters are so interesting (especially the "guardian angel" - I love the way he talks!), it's exciting.
This was definitely the best book I've read in a long time. Go Lisa Burke! Write another one already!!

The Mom's Choice Awards® honors excellence in family-friendly media, products and services. An esteemed panel of judges includes education, media and other experts as well as parents, children, librarians, performing artists, producers, medical and business professionals, authors, scientists and others. A sampling of the panel members includes: Dr. Twila C. Liggett, Ten-time Emmy-winner, professor and founder of Reading Rainbow; Julie Aigner-Clark, Creator of Baby Einstein and The Safe Side Project; Jodee Blanco, New York Times Best-Selling Author; LeAnn Thieman, Motivational speaker and coauthor of seven Chicken Soup For The Soul books; Tara Paterson, Certified Parent Coach, and founder of The Just For Mom Foundation(tm) and the Mom's Choice Awards®. Parents and educators look for the Mom's Choice Awards® seal in selecting quality materials and products for children and families. This book has been honored by this distinguished award.

It's Christmas by Tina Burke
Oh the magic of Christmas traditions. The story is simple and each page illustrates a preparation for the holidays. For example, the text "There are things to do...." is accompanied by an illustration of a boy making Christmas cookies and "...and people to see" shows a girl on Santa's lap. Other activities are singing Carols, decorating, making presents, and waiting for Santa. Karen Woodworth-Roman, www.librarians.info