Ross Books

Behind Happy Faces is a very personal look at what happened to Ross Szabo when he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder his senior year in high school. The authors weave other stories into the message that, despite the stigma society attaches to mental health issues, help is out there and that with treatment, there is reason for great hope.

The authors don't sugarcoat their message though. While they point out statistics may show that "a large majority of people who seek help can see improvement in their symptoms," they must first be willing to ask for help.

Szabo and Hall have written this book as a guide for young adults. Yet, their work is valuable for those who love and work with young people. They touch on what I believe to be the most difficult issue and offer suggestions about how to get those young people to see the need for help. Common mental disorders like anxiety, depression, eating disorders, attention deficit disorder/attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and borderline personality disorder are discussed. And Szabo describes how in his case, he fell into substance abuse to self-medicate the pain of his illness as so many other people do.

Whether it's planning, maintenance, understanding the illness or adjusting one's lifestyle, the authors stress "you are not your disorder." They write: "The reason this distinction is important is because it casts a more positive outlook on your treatment. You'll start to think of your disorder as something you can manage, not something you're stuck with, or something that can't be help."

While this is a straightforward and realistic look at mental illness in young people, Szabo's story provides much encouragement. From the low point of wanting to take his own life, he has come to terms with his illness and has an understanding of what it takes to manage the bipolar disorder. The authors promise no easy answers but they do offer advice from the mental health community and Szabo's personal experience. Today, Szabo is Director of Youth Outreach for the National Mental Health Awareness Campaign and a popular campus speaker for CAMPUSPEAK, Inc. where he has reached thousands of young people. You might also catch him penning a post for the Huffington Post. He is a man with a mission after all.

Behind Happy Faces is a book that ought to be on the bookshelf of every high school and college counselor, adviser, teacher and administrator.

Clement Stone outlines the guiding prinicples necessary for true success. Building upon Napolean Hill's wisdom, Stone provides you with the Mental Thought Paterns required to achieve Health, Wealth, and Happiness. Although he uses somewhat outdated language, I recomend this audio for anyone wanting more out of life.

Liz and Ben are falling in love but each of them has a "best friend" who objects to losing the attention they've been used to receiving. The point of view of the story changes periodically from character to character, which creates humor and insight about how men and women view things differently. This is a nice commentary on personal growth and friendship, without taking itself too seriously.

Need to decorate your home or classroom or library as holidays roll around? This book is really a find for the parent or grandparent, teacher or librarian looking for ideas for cheap and easy to make, clever crafts for the holidays.The directions are clear and sequential, easy even for children to follow; most items used are either commonly found or very inexpensive to buy. The binder-like binding allows the book to stay open to the pages required. The steps in each process are colorfully illustrated, and the results are sure to bring comments from all who see your efforts. You'll wonder why you never thought of that!

The book is about Pippi Longstocking, a girl like no other. She lives all by herself with a horse and a monkey and is incredibly strong. She amazes her friends Tommy and Anita with the things she gets up to. She saves Tommy from a shark, wrestles the world's strongest man and plays tag with policemen.
I just love all of the funny adventures she gets up to in this book. The three chapter stories makes it fun for all ages and the extra story adds more fun in reading. It also has nice big text and easy to read words for younger readers.
This is definitely THE BEST OF PIPPI LONGSTOCKING!

(Review written by Jessica)

Lizzie Bingman is a girl of the 21st century - strong, confidant, courageous, outgoing. The only trouble is that she's in the early 1900's, a time when women were fighting for equal rights. Her fiascoes are hilarious, and one can greatly empathize with her situation. I strongly recommend this book to anyone with a sense of humor!

I think that the Graphic Library series is very helpful and I use them in my classroom. This one is about Betsy Ross and the creation of the American Flag. It makes clear that the only proof that Betsy Ross created the flag was an oral history told by her grandson. Who knows? It wouldn't be the first oral history to be true! Recommended.

The Our Presidents series put out by Spirit of America is one of the best introductions for young readers to the lives of the Presidents. The Our People series is the second installment of the Spirit of America collection and is a biographical series of famous historical figures, the events that shaped their lives, their accomplishments, and their impact on the nation. From that perspective it is interesting that the editors would devote a volume to the live of Betsy Ross, who has always been much more of a legendary figure than one whose story is part of the verifiable historical record. Vicky Franchino's position is this book is that many people believe Betsy Ross made the firs flag of the United States, and while no can prove this to be true, it is clear that she was a patriot woman who loved her country. At the end of this volume Franchino tells how the legend of Betsy Ross can be traced back to a speech given by her grandson three decades after she died; the accompanying Interesting Fact on that page points out that records show Betsy Ross was paid on May 29, 1777 for flags she made for the Pennsylvania Navy. Consequently, this book will confront young readers with the question of how historians know what is and what is not "true" when they decide what to put in a history book.

From the limited historical record, which indicates Betsy Ross was an excellent seamstress and a true patriot, Franchino tells the story of a young woman growing up during the American Revolution. The story of how George Washington showed Betsy Ross a sketch of a flag with thirteen red and white strips and a circle of white stars on a blue field that she then sewed together is well known to most people. What young readers will find interesting is the story of a young woman who became a widow two times before she turned 30. The life lived by Betsy Griscom Ross Ashburn Claypoole was not all that unusual for the times and even if she did not make the first American flag this would still be the fascinating story of an American woman who lived during the formative years in the history of the nation.

The book is illustrated with historical drawings and etchings, many of which have been colorized. There are informative sidebars on Flag Day, the Betsy Ross House, and Flying the Flag. In addition to the biographical details of the life of Betsy Ross the history of the flag is another key part of the book, which certainly meets the standards set by other Spirit of America volumes.

This is a quality book, easy to read considering the deep philosophical and wide conceptual ground it covers. If you have enjoyed Reason, Perrow or Dekker discussing human error then I think you will find considerable value in this book. Excellent arguments about ecological validity, root cause, Heinrich's legacy, taxonomies, distributed cognition, normal accidents, psychology of risk, and on and on. Ultimately more questions than answers, but this caused me to understand how to question a lot of the more superficial texts and methods, which may lead in interesting directions.

Not an introductory text, but an excellent addition to the field that really ties together many ideas in the safety of complex systems. Fully indexed with complete references.