Powell Books

Michele Baker's writing style makes Sandpaper Sisters both a comfortable and captivating read. The experiences and observations shared from Dr. Baker's immersion research with women susbstance addicts 'hits home' and enables the reader to feel the pains and gains of her study group.

Individuals who are not aware of the grip illicit drugs have on users will gain a deeper understanding of this social problem that many people do not fully comprehend. Sandpaper Sisters presents one form of successful rehabilitation treatment from faith-based sources. Lessons that can be learned from Dr. Baker's research should be utilized to facilitate substance-abuse rehabilitative care in private and public sector programs.

Terry E. Sirois, Ph.D.
The Strategy Center, Annapolis, MD

Reading Sandpaper Sisters opened my eyes to what really goes on in a faith-based residential substance abuse treatment program for women. If you or someone you know struggles with the problem of addiction, I recommend Sandpaper Sisters, which captures the voices of women "on the streets", during, and after recovery. Sandpaper Sisters is about the success stories of former addicts helped through a residential faith-based treatment program, the first of its kind in the U.S. and the model for others.

What makes the program successful, according to these women? Resident Jade observes that, "With the secular programs there's not a family, a community. The atmosphere of the secular program is, you gotta get your life together and that's that......There is no bonding. Not like here.This atmosphere is a family atmosphere."
Another resident, Africa, "says it's important to have street knowledge to counsel effectively: 'I was in a lot of secular programs with counselors who did not have street experience. I knew they couldn't help me.' "

Faith has a mysterious power to transform. The author, Dr. Michele McKnight Baker, lived with former addicts who described themselves as changed people.

King Whitney Jr.'s observation about change applies: "Change has a considerable psychological impact on the human mind. To the fearful it is threatening because it means that things may get worse. To the hopeful it is encouraging because things may get better. To the confident it is inspiring because the challenge exists to make things better".

Reading Sandpaper Sisters encouraged and inspired me because in it I found addicts who gained hope and confidence, were able to change, and went on to become community builders. Miracles do happen!

This is a fantastic book for anyone raising a middle schooler. I have shared parts of it with my daughter to help her see that it is not just her mother who remembers those tough times.

The life changes that are happening now, happen to everyone, and she is not the Lone Ranger living in a life where everyone else is Miss Wonderful and Miss Perfect. It is something we all deal with and she'll make it just fine.

Rebecca's focus was on both God and my kids, reminding me that God loves her even more than me and that I can trust him with her and reminding me that I can't relive my life in her life. I'm to be a guide, an encourager, and a prayer warrior.

Anyway, inspiring and encouraging book for anyone to read.

Straight forward, at times funny, and always informative, Rebecca Ingram Powell does an excellent job of providing practical advice on how to address this "Season of Change" for middle schoolers.

This book is a very easy read. I read it in 3 sittings. It doesn't overwhelm with lots of mumbo-jumbo, but provides real answers, as well as scriptural insight to those stressful middle school years. Excerpts from "expert" interviews provide extra depth to what she is saying.

If you wake up feeling less than enthusiastic about facing your middle schooler, this is the book that will lead you to Parent Your Middle Schooler with Passion and Purpose.

I enjoyed it very much and highly recommend it.

Powell's writing reminds me of Janet Evanovich's books--fast and snappy with characters I wish lived in my neighborhood. I liked Randa, but I loved Brax. Please bring him back in another book. Thanks, too, for the charming Old South setting. Hope you have another out soon. Gerri, Wilmington, NC

Fabulous story. Brought New Orleans alive for me. Great Mystery, Excellent Love Story. Hated to see it end.

This was a gift to us for our 20th anniversary. At first only I read it, but my husband finally gave in to his curiosity and picked it up. We followed the advice and tried out the suggested exercises. We are both re-discovering flames that had long since been put out by raising the kids, paying the bills..yadda. I now allow (encourage0 my husband to be a MAN through whatever way he wishes to express it and feel more free to express my feminine powers and desires. This, after numerous visits to therapists and countles Self-help books. This book is a sleeper, open your mind to the possibilities and let Mr. Powell's wisdom guide you toward your greatness as he has done with us.

MR.POWELL OFFERS GREAT INCITE AND AN INCREDIBLE APPROACH TO MONOGAMOUS LOVE MAKING...A CONCISE GUIDE TO SPICE UP YOUR LOVE LIFE THROUGH SPIRITUALITY AND CREATIVITY. A MUST FOR ANY COMMITTED RELATIONSHIP....HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

John Powell explains in a simple way reasons why we behave the way we behave.
He has several excellent and well-explained real life examples of how real people have been shaped to further simplify his excellent points.
These examples remind me of how Dale Carnegie wrote about people in different situation and how that affected them.
The book is also filled with useful hints (gems) one can use in real life.
After reading this book I got a new way to look at criticism making it possible to use twice as much feedback!
Who do you think will tell you of your most important weakness?
The one who loves you or the one who does not like you?
Does it hurt to listen to the person that does not like you if he has the most valued point?
John Powell explains how to take care of criticism much better than I do.
Welcome to enlightening reading you will not regret you have laid your eyes on!

This book is a wonderful way to determine why we behave the way we do. It explains why our childhood molds our adult behavior and how we can change our attitude as a result of realizing who we are and how we got there.

Nate Powell creates some of the most incredible comics I've ever encountered. The visual style shifts almost as quickly as the teenaged characters' moods, but never becomes random or incoherent. Some lines flow like Jules Feiffer's scrawl, others jolt down the page in angular tracks that remind me of Sam Keith. Some pages feel light and breezy; other times, broad, dense blacks make even night air feel as dense as a tombstone.

A comic really stands on its writing, though, no matter how good the art is. Powell presents some of the finest comic writing around. The scripts bring to life the trials and occasional small triumphs of life as a teen or an adult just starting out. That time of life often rides on emotion rather than reason. He renders that whirl and confusion accurately, something that linear plotting and familiar visual angles just can't do. If graphic novels correspond to literary prose, then Powell's work comes closer to poetry in many ways.

Written reviews have no way to capture the look of this book, and its feel simlpy has to be experienced first-hand. Powell became one of my favorite comic artists the moment I first saw his work. This volume cements his reputation as one of the finest creators working today.

-- wiredweird

PS: This volume includes "It Disappears," which has been published as separately.

Sounds of your Name is a graphic novel anthology of black-and-white zine and comic stories by punk band player Nate Powell. Featuring dark, gritty artwork, dialogue that turns on a dime from casual to deadly serious, and sequences that are likewise drift from day-in-the-life to tense to shockingly explosive, the stories in Sounds of Your Name captivate with underground fervor. From the hard life of an alley cat who longs for the comforts of domesticity, to the simultaneously grim and spiritual insights of a war veteran, to the rites of passage from childhood to adulthood, Sounds of Your Name is undeniably a "thinking man's comic" from cover to cover. An avant-garde collection especially recommended for anyone interested in taking the pulse of the underground comix scene.

This is one of the most beautiful books of John Powell, filled with personal stories from his busy and fruitful life. Indeed, he is a master storyteller. One can feel and move along with him in his little stories. Sixty-five of such fascinating stories make up this book and naturally they cover his entire life. It is these and similar stories that made him an endearing preacher. Most of them forced me to sit back, reflect and relate to my own stories. "What comes from the heart, touches the heart". Thank you, John for this wonderful gift.

I found John Powell's previous books most enlightening and enjoyable but this one especially captured my heart because I feel like I now know him as a person. He shared his experiences with their successes and those that seemed not so successful. I was deeply touched and cried when I read the last story, The Ninth Inning. Thank you Fr. John for all your stories and most of all for sharing your heart.

This book is well written for either the beginer, or someone looking to expand their usage of dowsing devices and pendulums. Not limited to a narrow target audience, most anyone would find the information both useful and entertaining. I have used the information and improved my skills and understanding by a great margin. Some one "confiscated" my first copy, so I am buying another!

I'm now 19, but when I was about 10, my grandma started getting me interested in metaphysical studies (I've always had a passion for logic and science). I bought this book via metaphysical catalogue at about 13 years of age. I have to say that it, and the principles, idiology and techniques it held have impacted my life to date. It is one of the best written, as far as easily capturing attention, and the techniques it teaches are methodical, eclectic, and profoundly successful. My step siblings and friends always found it a game to try to challenge me and see if it could really work (we'd play games like hide the objects under any number of cups and then I'd use the pendulum to divine which object would be under which cup -- with fantastic success). It helped me find many lost things. There're outlined principles I didn't follow, however, that affected the accuracy, and I feel it would be beneficial to divulge them here. When asking your psyche questions for the pendulum to respond, keep your mind clear of influence in the result -- concentrate only on the question. The second is don't constantly ask the same question over and over again until you get a satisfactory answer, as it'll most likely be swayed to your own desire rather than the actual answer.

Don't overlook this excellent study in a sea of New Age books.
Each topic (William Blake and Zen to name two) is discussed with a rare clarity and wisdom.

It's a shame this book is no longer in print, because it's a wonderful book and I rather wish more people could read it.

A wonderful book for everyone who decorates to have on their coffee table. This book features how to display collections, take flea market finds and uses them in an imaginative and creative way. What a wonderful way to decorate using tattered treasures that have the gift of a story with each piece displayed in your home. This author really has tremendous vision in her tattered treasures, whether they are family heirlooms or found at a flea market. This is a must have book!!!

Vintage fabric, architectural refuse, wood chairs, china, glass, containers, photos frames, metal work, lamps, shells embellish homes' visual universe with color, shape and a sense of human interaction. The background of our lives and human relationships are recorded in the objects we create, handle, use daily. That history charms and warms our homes and Tattered Treasures celebrates the broken pieces for their evocation of people and times past. Full page photos of chips, dings, warped and loved mementos. A book to reminisce by. Enjoy.