Shepard Books

This book is a must for anyone that enjoys fine crafted beer.

WOMEN'S RELIGIONS IN THE GRECO-ROMAN WORLD: A SOURCEBOOK by Ross Shepard Kraemer is a revision of her 1988 work MAENADS, MARTYRS, MATRONS, MONASTICS but it could not have come at a better time. The interest in women's spirituality of all sorts has blossomed since the inception of the first version.
This book is divided up into six section dealing with different aspects of women's religion in the Greco-Roman World: Observances, Rituals, and Festivals; Researching Real Women: Documents to, from, and by Women; Religious Office; New Religious Affiliation and Conversion; Holy, Pious and Exemplary Women; and The Feminine Divine. Each section has an introduction and Kraemer is not hesitant in explaining the current thoughts and controversies in the scholarly world. She is also very forthcoming about her own changes in opinion since 1988. I really enjoyed her honesty. Each text also contained a bibliography of its own so if one is interested in a particular text or subject matter more information will be easy to find. I was more interested in the Pagan subject matter, but the material on women in Judaism and Christianity (including Gnostic) is just as fascinating. The last section was by far my favorite for what it said about the ideas of the feminine divine in all the religious spheres.
This book will be of significant interest to those involved in women's studies, women's spirituality, the ancient world of the Greco-Romans, as well as those interested in the cultural change and exchange between the world of the Pagan, the Jews and the Christians.

(First published in 1961 by Max Parrish & Co.)

Grades 1-4

Arctic conditions exist even at the top of the Himalayas which lie near the Equator. It is little wonder then that the high peaks of the Arctic and Antartic mountain ranges should be the coldest places on earth.

This extreme cold brings with it problems for the animals that inhabit the regions of ice and snow. The author reveals how nature helps them to survive. She tells of the lined overcoats and snowshoes which the animals need to enable them to live and move about, of how some animals stay above ground in winter whereas others are forced to go underground, of how soft snow becomes solid iceberg and why fish prefer cold waters to warm.

Vividly illustrated by the Isotype method.

I first came across this wonderful book at the public library, and was so moved by the beautiful story & lovely illustrations, I bought two copies: one for our home library, and one to donate to my children's elementary school library. It's a great book!

I only ever saw this book once in my life, and I did not have the money to buy it at the time. This has been a source of great sorrow to me ever since. Rare, hard to find, but well worth the effort to own. A beautifully produced collection of illustrations and sketches by the world renowned illustrator, Ernest H. Shepard, of Winnie the Pooh and The Wind in the Willows fame. To my mind no illustrator has ever come close to Shepard for his purity of line and motion. His work exudes emotion and charm. Other illustrators such as A.B. Frost and William Donahey share many of the fine technical aspects of Shepard's work, but they lack the beautiful simplicity of his illustration. With a few gestures Shepard captures a sense of time and place, environment and animated life. His work is never in risk of becoming an artifact or symbol. Like the Pooh sketch book, this collection gives you a new understanding of a true artistic master. Illustration often takes a backseat to fine art, yet Shepard shows the same mastery of his medium that Whistler showed. Only the lines that are needed are used, nothing wasted, nothing extra. Knowing when to stop drawing becomes almost as important as knowing what to draw. Anyone interested in illustration, art or drawing should own this book. As a fan I am grateful that this book exists, even though I do not own it. It is a great treasure to be hunted down and passed on from generation to generation.

Now, I glad to tell you something. When I was a very young I don't know winnie the pooh. And after years has gone I begined to reading the story name Winnie the pooh and then I know I love this book very much. I think its fun and have a very story of pooh's friend.

For those who are fascinated by American girls going to boarding school in Switzerland, this one cannot be missed. 16 year old Elise leaves the NY suburbs for a year which her parents hope will "jolt her out" of a cotton wool existence. However, it is the friendship Elise makes that result in a very special year.

I believe that a narrator can really make an audio book and Flo Gibson does such a fabulous job of the voices of the characters in "The Wind in the Willows". This is one of my son's all time favorite books and audio books. I highly recommend it.

The Wind in the Willows is a children's novel by Kenneth Grahame, and was originally published in 1908. It concerns the doings of four anthropomorphized creatures: Mole, Rat, Badger and Toad. Most of the book involves their day-to-day activities, and there is very little plot to speak of.

The book is quite often tediously slow. No character other than Toad does anything remotely interesting or anything approximating an "adventure". Most of the book involves Mole and Rat puttering around their happy but excruciatingly mundane lives. Those chapters which involve Toad are slightly more interesting. The last chapter of the book has the makings of a full-blown action scene, but Grahame breezes through it in astonishingly short order. The characters are moderately interesting, but three out of the four protagonists are irritatingly melodramatic in their behavior.

Something Grahame has done well is vividly depict the charms of nature and the English countryside. But sometimes he does this too vividly, particularly at the beginnings of chapters, where the reader is often faced with page after page of nothing but description.

The Wind in the Willows is not without its charms, but it isn't particularly interesting.

We actually chose this book for our summer book club. It is really different reading it as an adult and for yourself. It was great fun!
It is amazing how you can see yourself in most of the characters. Do you know people who you see in the different animals?
We had a wonderful discussion.

Before you order, note that the Signet Classics paperback version is quite small (about 4" x 6.5") with small font and small drawings. Nice for traveling light, I suppose, but I wish that, instead, I'd purchased a more attractive and easier to read-aloud version to share with my kids.

While Grahame's The Wind in the Willows may have been written for children, it mimics and speaks to adults, as well. The characters in his "low fantasy" story, though animal in name, physical description, and dwelling habitats, portray many of the same foibles and flaws as those represented by human beings.
Mr. Toad, for example, is not only wealthy and pretentious, but spoiled, haughty, self-serving, and thoughtless. He takes his truest friends for granted, and things nothing of thievery or dealing underhandedly to accomplish his selfish wants. For toad, Mr. Toad, like some people we encounter, has no real material needs, but has wants that seldom satisfy him for more than a moment.
Mr. Toad's friends, Old Badger, Water Rat, and Mole also have personalities that mirror that of adult humans. Perhaps Grahame intended to reach children at an age when they are teachable and impress upon them manners and sensibilities that will guide their interpersonal relationships as they grow.
Though the poetically beautiful settings of the story are present in the "real world," the magical occurrences of motorcar-driving frogs, gondola-sailing rats, and suit-wearing badgers, make this fantastical story entertaining, particular for children, who possess a vivid imagination that is oftentimes stifled by everyday pressures in the world of grown-ups.
Both children and adults can identify with the personalities of Grahame's imaginary characters, and there are age-old lessons taught in this story that are often present in mythology and even Biblical teachings. There is even a God-like character in the book, called The Piper, who brings the seasons and protects the animals.
The morals taught in the story are satisfying, in that, in the end, Mr. Toad is a changed man, er, frog, in that he has learned to appreciate the value of true friendship accept his good fortune with humility. Through his animal characters, Grahame represents the bad in human nature made good, while entertaining us with comedic situations that--if they didn't involve such fantastical creatures--could be considered realistic.

This story is good.I love bebe's jokes. Mark was worried about everething. I love wackey story's. I bet I will love all.

Do you like funny stories? Do you like stories with cows? Well if you said yes then you should read Wayside School Is Falling Down by Louis Sachar. There are lots of characters in this book. For example, Benjamin Nushmet, he is a new student at Wayside school and says his name is "Mark Miller". Another person is Miss.Jewls. Miss.Jewles is a fun teacher,whoose classroom is o rge top of Wayside school. There arer lots of other people to. You should read Wayside School Is Falling Down because it is very funny and has a lot of stories! (The chapters are stories, that take place in Wayside school.) I liked this book beacuse it was really funny! My favorite chapter was the last chapter because the school was filled with cows!! So you should read Wayside School Is Falling Down!

This book is about a school with a teacher who is not very smart at all. She says things like "It matters what is on the inside" but what she means is wearing expensive underwear. The kids love her because class is very easy. One teacher is on the 19th floor, but there is no 19th floor. This book made me laugh because school is usually serious and this was just really funny. I would recommmend this book to kids who don't like school because it might make them relax and see that school can be funny too. JG

Do you like funny stories about school? How about books on zany teachers? If your answer is "yes" then this is totally the book for you! With 30 wacky stories, Wayside School is Falling Down, by Louis Sacher, is one of those `hard-to-put-down' books. The story all starts when the architect who built the school built it with 30 classrooms on top of each other instead of side-by-side. If you think that's a weird beginning, try imagining a teacher teaching her class to make pickles, a girl who saves a boy's life by pulling him in through a 30th story window by the girl's pigtails, and a class where nobody is weird because nobody's normal! With fantasy as its genre, Wayside School is Falling Down not only includes all those and more, but is a great book for comedy-lovers of all ages!

Wayside school isn't like other schools. Wayside school is 30 stories high. Mrs. Jewls classroom is on the 30th story. Weird things happen in that school. Like when Sharie brought a hobo for show tell. Or Mark Miller the new kid, whose real name is Benjamin Nushmutt but after Mrs. Jewls introduced him as Mark Miller he's been to afraid to tell anybody his real name. And there's a lot more wacky sideways stories about the kids in wayside school waiting discover.

What an eye opening book this is! Some have criticized this book and its story because the author is educated, white and determined (as if educated white people never find themselves homeless). That misses the whole point. During the course of this book, Shepard injures himself working as a mover. He endures a roommate who freely barrows his vehicle. He gets sick. Etc. It's not easy for him to move out of the shelter and build up a savings account. He never says it is.

There's many parallels we can draw to our own lives even if we've never been homeless and only know people who've been homeless only from volunteering at a shelter or wherever. After all, statistically, most of us are only a few months from the street if we run into a streak of bad luck and lose our jobs. Shepard doesn't waste time sitting around feeling sorry for himself. He chooses to avoid the trap of day labor and handouts.

This book gets you thinking about what is and isn't important and also how best to help your fellow man.

As a volunteer for a homeless shelter I interact with displaced people of all walks of life. Adam saw what I see and what all of America should know. Yes, there are many hustlers out there dodging rent, child support and the law by living in shelters but there are others who truly want out but are not sure how to go about it. I agree with a previous reviewer that Scratch Beginnings should be required reading in high school if not before. Order a copy for yourself and for a spoiled teenager today.

I can't agree more with Adam W. Shepard on the value of attitude, determination, hard work and thrift. But Adam is not a prose write and his final conclusions seem significantly at odds with his experience and the self-reliance theme that dominates the narrative. One wants to blame his editors for the lame conclusions in the final chapters but Mr. Shepard probably has to own up to them.

I hope Mr. Shepard has a good run on the lecture circuit talking to high school students, missions, social workers, ministers and others about his experience. I definitely recommend this book as a Christmas holiday read for my children.

I'm proud to say that being frugal, being driven and being disciplined all paid off. My husband is retired and I'm a stay-at-home mom. Some people may say that we got lucky. Others may say that we came from roots or education that gave us an upper hand. I'm not going to debate how we got to where we are but rather point to the book, Scratch Beginnings, that shows that passion, hard work and determination open doors for people in all walks of life.

While he could have pursued a higher degree through traditional schooling, Adam Shepard opted to hit the streets and see where it took him. Using his real name, but a fabricated background, he ventured to Charleston, South Carolina with nothing but the clothes on his back, a journal, a sleeping bag and $25. His goal was to see if it would be possible to get $2500 in the bank, a car and a furnished living space within one year.

The book chronicles his time in a homeless shelter - and we're talking months not nights - along with his attempt to find suitable work. Never did he divulge that he was a college graduate, so he took whatever work he could find. While his work ethic and his attitude were what kept him employed, the book provides examples of how different approaches to the same environment and work land people in different places.

I found this book to be very honest and interesting, reading it whenever I had the opportunity. Adam lived the life of a homeless person and showed that getting out from underneath is possible. The story revitalized my conservative opinions about whether or not the government should be responsible for the welfare of the less motivated. (Note that I didn't say less fortunate.) The only problem that I had with this book was when I reached the epilogue. The author stood on a soapbox and took a very liberal stance to what he felt the government should do. It was completely the opposite of what I had taken from the experience. I literally could only read a few paragraphs of the epilogue at a time before huffing and throwing the book down in disgust. Thankfully, I managed through it (a few paragraphs at a time) and got to the part where he says that more neighborhood heroes are needed to set good examples. People who are fighting their way out need to show other people it's possible. Programs like Big Brother/Big Sister are out there and have positive results. It isn't necessarily about raising taxes as much as raising the bar on attitudes.

This is an inspirational book that shows that there are always options in life.

This book will change your outlook on the homeless. Some homeless are just down on their luck and need a hand - other homeless won't be getting off the streets any time soon. The real problem is, there's no way to tell the difference - so if you want to help the first variety, you have to help the second as well. If reading this book doesn't move you to volunteer your time or money at a homeless shelter, you have no heart.

Adam claims not to be an author, and apparently before this book he wasn't - but he is now. As another reviewer said, I'll buy this guy's next book.

Adam's discovery that it's not the job, but how well you do the job that counts in life - is years ahead of a lot of people I know and will serve him well (as well as his readers who learn this from his book).

A couple of reviewers criticize him for not being genuinely poor - but to his credit he does a good job of acknowledging the benefit of having people in his life who encouraged him and planted the seed of ambition in him. He seems to realize that this encouragement in and of itself is a priceless gift - a gift which helps a person over the rough spots in their lives.

Good book - keep up the good work.