Simmons Reviews

Pump Up The Power - Get The Life You Want

Published in Paperback by Diligence Publishing Company (2007-05-15)

Author: Rebecca Simmons

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Keeping focused

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Review Date: 2007-09-10

Looking at one's life introspectively, one always needs focus and guidance to get where you need to be. Rebecca has a wonderful set of ideas and mantras that can help you push yourself a bit harder every day, to love yourself a bit more, and to believe in yourself.

Despite my not being a very spiritual person, this book contains wonderful information to find within yourself the best person you can be. If this can't pump you up... I'm not sure what will.

Looking for motivation, courage, a better life ?

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Review Date: 2007-07-17

I'm 66 years old, read a lot of books, listen to a lot of speakers, been to a lot of church services.
I don't hear, see, or think, too many new and untried ideas.

I read Rebecca Simmons "Pump Up The Power" get the Life you want, because I respect and like her stand on many issues.
I will reread , Pump Up The Power , and use it as a go to source when I need "Pumping Up."

Rebecca Simmons has taken tried and true ways of changing habits, walking in faith, and being devoted to good and right, applied them to her own life to get the life she wanted.

She has written this book as a guide to finding your purpose in life and a light to brighten your path on that journey.

I love the book she has written, full of old ways in a new light, from someone who has lived life both ways, her way, and the right way.
Written from her heart to touch your heart.

I especially like the "power nuggets" she offers up at the end of each chapter.

Honest, uplifting and powerful !

Thank you Rebecca Simmons~~~outstanding work.

Bea Kunz
Sage Hill Farms
Petersburg, Tn. 37144

Pump Up The Power - Get The Life You Want

Quack, Daisy, QUACK!

Published in Hardcover by Little, Brown Young Readers (2002-03-01)

Author: Jane Simmons

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Perfect for preschoolers

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Review Date: 2002-08-27

One in a series of stories about Daisy the little duck, Quack, Daisy, Quack is a story of what happens when Daisy gets separated from her Mama during an outing at the pond. This is a softly painted picture book even younger preschoolers like to read along to. Readers get a sense of how scared Daisy feels when she realizes she can�t find Mama, and will cheer Daisy on when she finally quacks loud enough to call Mama�s attention over all the noise of the rest of the ducks in the pond. At the end of the story, we see Daisy and baby brother Pip back in the family garden taking a nap near Mama and Aunt Lily. Preschoolers will enjoy the many opportunities to shout and quack like noisy ducks, and will love quacking a loud �Mama!� during the story. I especially like how Daisy is able to solve the problem of losing Mama by herself and how we see how comforted she is when she�s back home safe and sound. The quirky, goofy little duckling is very endearing and seems to epitomize every preschooler�s desire to wander off from time to time.

5 Stars for Daisy!

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2005-02-10

Two young ducks tend to scare away their playmates with their loud quacking. One day, they visit a noisy duck pond where their loud voices are finally put to good use.

The simple text and almost Impressionist illustrations combine to form a delightful Springtime story. Children will like the fact that loud voices are appreciated, and adults will like the loving relationships between the ducklings and their elders.

Rab and his friends (Sesame booklets)

Published in Unknown Binding by Parker B. Simmons Co. Inc (1900)

Author: John Brown

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RAB and Friends

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Review Date: 2008-09-09

Book delivered in high quality, received within a few days of placing the order. Excellent service.

I recommend this book to everyone!

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2002-10-06

John Brown, a Scottish physician, wrote this moving story in 1858. In it, Brown harks back to his childhood, and his first meeting of the great mastiff Rab. They maintain their friendship for some six years, until Rab's owner, James Noble, brings his wife to the medical school where Brown is studying. Ailie Noble is suffering from breast cancer, and the Surgeon-Master of the school decides to operate. It is 1830, a time before anesthetics and antibiotics.

I don't normally say such things, but I do not believe that it is possible to read this heart-rending story with dry eyes. Dr. John Brown is mainly remembered for this slim book, and it is easy to see why it has survived. The author wrote a book that is highly informative about that earlier and more primitive time, and is also touching at the very core of humanity. This is a wonderful book, one that is often recommended to dog-lovers, and one that I recommend to everyone!

The Raven League

Published in Hardcover by Razorbill (2006-04-20)

Authors: Bill McCay and Alex Simmons

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Mr. Holmes would definitely approve!

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Review Date: 2006-06-09

Young fans of historical fiction and of mysteries alike should find much to appreciate in this fast-paced, suspenseful novel. The jargon and atmospheric touches from the seedy East End of Victorian London are just right. The four resourceful young heroes (one female) are not stereotypes, but three-dimensional characters who find strength in unity. They pursue thugs from whom most of their elders would run away at the earliest opportunity. This book would make a terrific family-friendly motion picture. I'm looking forward to the sequel!

Deeply satisfying

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Review Date: 2006-05-19

I am a serious Sherlockian and very critical of most pastiches and parodies, so I was surprised to enjoy this book so much. The authors have managed to create a Holmes and Watson that do not insult our memories of the original tales at the same time that they evoke a realistic Victorian London. The youngsters who form the Raven League are believable kids who would be good company for a juvenile reader - if I were still teaching school, I'd be recommending this volume left and right. I hope there will be more to come.

Riverfall

Published in Paperback by Salmon Poetry (2005-10-31)

Author: Simmons B. Buntin

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A Sweet Balance

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Review Date: 2008-09-17

Buntin's poetry has a seductive music that sweeps you right into the poems. The poems in Riverfall are both lyric and narrative, and provide that sweet balance of tension and story, with moments of grace and quiet. His metaphors are particularly powerful and surprising: "the limp crucifix/of a tangled skate." Each poem unfolds into a new landscape, while at the same time creating a collage of images that help us see our world in a fresh way. This book stays under the wing of the heart, long after you've finished reading.

A highly recommended read for poets and students of nature alike

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Review Date: 2006-04-03

Simmons B. Buntin diligently presents Riverfall as a showcase of his poetic skills, and his true appreciation of the beauty in nature that is always surrounding him. Readers will feel contentment while reading Riverfall, as Buntin poetically gives back to nature a beautiful thanks for its beautiful being. A highly recommended read for poets and students of nature alike, Riverfall is sure to delight its readers no matter which genre preference they might have. If A Spider Can: She spills her golden silk against the wind:/miles of drifting line//are free until, latching the broken reeds,/she is anchored. Perhaps the delicate//spider will catch a black fly, or a moth./Perhaps midge or brown darter.//But in that chaotic beauty of web, the light/geometry of thread and wind,//there is more. she eyes the red-winged/blackbird. Her silver orbs focus on belted//kingfisher. She dances madly/on thoughts of gallinule.//Beyond the sawgrass a boy leans/against the wind as his kite climbs://if the golden twine is long enough/perhaps he can tangle a gull.//Perhaps he'll snare the arcing jest.

Sandstorm

Published in Paperback by CyPress Publications (2006-10-01)

Author: Ted Simmons

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Thrilling Adventure

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Review Date: 2007-06-05

"Sandstorm," by Ted Simmons, is a page-turning adventure that should be taught in schools across the country. Besides being a classic coming-of-age story, "Sandstorm" gives insight into the different cultures and classes of society in Kuwait.

The novel is set against the backdrop of Saddaam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait in 1990. The protagonist is Jeff Connors, an American teen whose father works for an oil company in Kuwait. Through a series of errors, the boy is left behind during evacuation. Intelligent, resourceful, and fortunate enough to have some loyal Kuwaiti friends, Jeff makes his own way out of the country. On his journey, he witnesses the violence and brutality of the invaders, dodges gunfire and border patrols, faces certain death in the desert if he can't find water, and must come to terms with the death of a friend who tried to help him.

The boy's uneasy relationship with his father is explored in the novel as well. Jeff rebels against and yet struggles to win the respect of his father, an age-old dilemma that teens will relate to.

Highly recommended reading. We all need to better understand the Middle East today.

Caught in the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait

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Review Date: 2007-02-08

How many of us can say that we know much of anything about what it was like in Kuwait during the time period after Iraq invaded and before the Gulf War? Sandstorm is a look at this moment in history through the eyes of a typical American teenager, refreshingly naive, who ends up separated from his family when the troops reach Kuwait City.
This book is much more than an exciting adventure story, though it is certainly that. It is also a look at the event that started the American involvement in the Middle East after 1990. I think every young person, and frankly adults as well, should read this tale of survival and personal growth set in a vitally important backdrop.

Settler (Salmon Poetry)

Published in Paperback by Poolbeg Pr Ltd (1996-02-16)

Author: Janice Fitzpatrick-Simmons

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Settler

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Review Date: 2008-07-31

Reading Janice Fitzpatrick-Simmons' Settler I am reminded in more than one way of Paul Valery's remark that "It is my life that is surprised." For in these poems which chart the course of a tireless inward journey, we are made to feel how the fates still blow their inexorable winds, and our lives are driven toward terrors and joys, losses and restorations, that are beyond our powers to forestall or foretell..." Sherod Santos

'Joyous celebration is the keynote in this triumphal homage to nature, fertility, love, human tolerance, and Ireland. Without rejecting New England values this warm, wide-ranging journey back to origins enriches our sense of home, our appreciation of the Ulster land and sea-scape and our understanding of women. One cannot imagine, now, the barren poetic life of this island if the Settler had not chosen to stay.' Medbh McGuckian

About the Author

Janice Fitzpatrick-Simmons was born in 1954 and educated in the USA. She has her M.A. from The University of New Hampshire and was The Assistant Director of The Robert Frost Place. She was a long time resident of Northern Ireland and is now living in Donegal. She is the co-founder of The Poets' House and programme director for the M.A. in Creative Writing at The Poets' House. She is widely published with poems appearing in Stand, Force 10, Janus, Writing Women, Cuirt Journal, The Irish University Graduate Review, The New Orleans Review, Fortnight, US1, The University of California Review. She appears regularly in The Honest Ulsterman and Poetry Ireland. She has read at The Irish Festival in Brighton, The University of Antwerp, The University of Mons Hainault, Notre Dame University Brussels, The University of Delaware, Vermont College, Brown University Bookshop, Bracknell Arts Centre, Reading Festival, Lancaster University, Bewleys Dublin, Eigse na Cuige, Cork, Letterkenny Arts Centre, Wexford Arts Centre, Dundalk Arts Festival, The Crescent Arts Centre, Belfast, Queens University, Belfast etc.. She has one chap book and her second book Starting at Purgatory was published in 1999 by Salmon Poetry.

Strong collection on exile by an Irish-American poet

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Review Date: 1999-06-20

Janice Fitzpatrick Simmons is an American, by birth, now an Irish citizen by marriage. This is her second collection, which shows a remarkable growth in technical skill and content; a mature poet hitting her stride. Simmons focuses on feelings of exile from the land of her birth, and searches for her niche in the land she now calls home. Her poetry is lush with imagery, rooted in home and family, and rich with the geography of two countries. Her husband, the poet James Simmons, and their son, Ben, are prominent figures in her work. A third collection, Starting at Purgatory, will be published in July 1999.

Shock Therapy

Published in Paperback by Infinity Publishing (PA) (2001-11-24)

Author: Reese Simmons

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A Breath of Fresh Air

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Review Date: 2002-06-18

If you are looking for some original subject matter, and characters with truly relevant conflicts, then here is your book. Far from hum-drum, the stories in this book will stay on your mind for days. They are told from an unusually objective perspective, and provide insight into the life of humans, let alone Black Americans. Your time and money wouldn't be spent any better than buying and reading Shock Therapy. This book pays high dividends-- but it is not for the frail minded!

Profound, Enjoyable Reading

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2003-09-08

This book has all the elements of the best short stories-complex characters, unexpected, exhilarating plot twists, and subtle irony. From the very beginning, the introduction titled, "Why Shock Therapy", I was hooked and anxious to read on, as Simmons presented simple, but unconventional statements about the views he would reveal in his nine stories. His first statement, "...I believe that life at its best moment is a stinking dung heap," was indeed a 'jolt', awakening the reader to the stimulating and unusual worlds he is about to enter.

My favorite story, "Brotherly Love", follows a young man, Veris, returning from college to his hometown, Philadelphia. Veris faces how much and how quickly he has changed from the impoverished, street-wise victimizer to the nonchalant, comfortable, college-student victim when he is accosted in the subway. The strong descriptions in this story, particularly the frightening places and people, brought the danger to life very vividly, to the point I was pulling for a character that I didn't start out liking. Simmons had a way with changing your loyalities toward the characters in all of his stories: altering your sympathies with important insights or compromising situations.

The idea that people are never who they appear to be is most interestingly exhibited in the stories "A Modern Day Abolitionist" and "Pavlovized". Without giving away an ingenious twist, the first story takes clever jabs at some prevalent views on race and gender through an array of characters at a buffet style restaurant with glimpses into each character's psyche. The second story presents background on a relevant character from the previous story in such a way that causes you to pause and think, "Wow! Life at its best moments IS a stinking dung heap."

Overall, the book is not only deep and provoking, but presented in an easygoing and insightful manner that makes you enjoy each stinging jolt of the therapy. It's definitely a book to pass on to others-you will to want to discuss it with friends.

Soul Sister's Diary

Published in Paperback by Per-Fect Words Publishing Company (2004-08-18)

Author: Cynthia Simmons; Crystal Johnson; Kathy Andrews

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Soul Sister's Diary

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Review Date: 2007-01-21

This book highlights an incredible journey of three sisters and their life's experiences. Collectively, they share their years of wisdom in which anyone can relate regardless of socioeconomic and racial divide. The poems, while entertaining, speak to experiences that we have all encountered at some point in our own lives. Everyone should have a copy of this book and use it as a spiritual uplift when you are ruminating those difficult situations in your personal life.

An Unforgettable Read

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2006-12-23

Soul Sister's Diary is sassy & wildly entertaining. These three women have done an incredible job of writing about normal, real life experiences, all the while making it funny, spirited and entertaining. The book is a real page-turner; No person's library should be without a copy. These ladies are truly gifted, we'll hear more from them - GUARANTEED. Stay tuned!

Southern Charms (Magical Love)

Published in Paperback by Jove (1999-06-01)

Author: Trana Mae Simmons

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no read better

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Review Date: 2002-11-05

There is no story better written for the book lover of love stories. I always read book after book and after the first few pages I couldn't remember what I read before, this story keeps the mind thinking about the story through the day even when your not reading it! I can't wait to read more from this wonderful writer, the book is very hard to put down. if you love happy love endings you will love this story! many nights in the bubble baths have been spent with this book!

An excellent otherworldly Americana romance

Helpful Votes: 2 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 1999-04-18

Fatima, a fairy godmother who enjoys interacting with humans, chooses 1890 Texas as the locale of her newest client, or should that be patient? Her chosen one is Ellie, who runs the ranch for her adopted family. Ellie does not believe in love and who could blame her with by the way she is used by her "mother" and "sister".

On her way to Texas, Fatima stopped in New York City and selected Shane Morgan as Ellie's soul mate. Shane has come to Texas to determine whether Ellie is a missing heiress as reported by the Pinkertons. Shane courts Ellie, but vows not to love her until he knows for certain that she is wealthy. Ellie refuses to believe in happily ever after and besides, the handsome easterner deserves a wife with family connections, not an orphan. For Cupid and his arrows, getting this duo together would be quite an accomplishment. However, Fatima figures she is better at the game of love and this couple is a piece of cake.

SOUTHERN CHARMS is an entertaining otherworldly historical romance that leaves readers believing in the magic of Fatima. The story line relocates Cinderella from her European cottage to late nineteenth century Texas. The lead protagonists are a fun twosome who cannot decide whether they want to be in love or not (as if they have a choice.) However, Fatima steals this tale, leaving readers pleading with Trana Mae Simmons to bring her back in a sequel.

Harriet Klausner

Simmons Books