Thomas Books

Thomas Henderson tells it straight up . If you want to know how a man can right himself after falling from grace then you need to read this book . From the top of the mountain , fame , money , prestige , all pro line backer with the Cowboys to a destitute , strung out crack head . Want to learn how this man dealt with his demons ? He takes one day at a time , just like the rest of us . But Thomas makes a pledge to take one day at a time " sober " . It's an option , you gotta suit up every day !

God bless you Thomas . Keep fighting the good fight

I Really enjoyed reading In Control, Years ago I read Thomas's other book Out of Control and while I enjoyed it also. This one is different -- his first one told how he got sober, but this new one tells HOW TO STAY SOBER!!! While he tells us how to stay sober he also entertains the heck out of the reader. It is a book I am going to find myself rereading every couple years or so, and there are not very many books that are like that for me.

This book really made me re-think about my sobriety.Thomas Henderson helped me understand better about the 12-steps.About being able to better my life while dealing with my addictions.I really recommend this book for anybody who is going through a recovery process or knows somebody who is,to help them understand what that person is going through in their head.

This book is the straightforward, easy to read, incredible story of one mans trip to hell and back. Cowboy fans and anyone interested in reading a testimony to the human spirit will enjoy In Control. It is also an excellent heads-up to anyone thinking of dabbling in the world of alcohol and drugs. For those who can identify with Thomases plight, it is an excellent companion to the Big Book of A.A. For those who cant, let it serve as a warning to any who think addiction is a problem "other people" have to worry about.

I just spent the weekend reading this book and couldn't put it down.

Thomas Henderson has written a book about addiction and recovery, but his message is actually a universal statement of how to identify challenges, find solutions, produce results and to live a more meaningful life. I think its message has meaning to everyone.

If you (or a family member, friend, or associate) is challenged by addiction, you will learn and find inspiration.

If you are concerned about public policy issues and the burdens of our criminal justice system, you should read this book to understand more about addiction as a foundational problem that produces crime and recidivism.

If you are the leader of a company, of your household, of your kids, or of your peers, this book has important messages that can help you look at problems differently, consider new solutions, and to make better decisions.

While the narrative involves the recovery of Thomas Henderson, reading this book will help you be a more effective CEO, a better parent, or a more enlightened leader. Every thinking adult should read this book.

What I as a man like most about this book is that Gary is humble enough to admit that he himself had to overcome the same typical male responses and insensitivity to women that nearly all men do. That makes me relieved that it's not just me, and gives me a lot of encouragement.


Lee Liebner, author/singer of As You Go, an inspirational gift book/song-on-CD/scrapbook-journal for young people leaving home to enter the world.

This book should be required reading for every married person - male and female. It's a quick read - written well - enjoyable and greatly informative. There's a ton of wisdom packed in its pages. My husband and I just read it and we've been together 11 years - it's truly helping us get back to where we used to be - the love of each others lives!! It will bless your life - it will also help you with your children. This book teaches you how to love unconditionally through commitment and kindness. It is a MUST READ!!

My husband and I read this book while we were engaged. It truly helped to prepare us for the love life in marriage that comes after the lovey-dovey stage is over. I have given this book to many engaged couples as well as seasoned couples who are having rocky times because marriage can be hard in the first, second, fifth, seventh years...

This is a classic book. If you are looking for some good information to build a life upon, this is a great book to start with.

If you are facing problems in your marriage, order this book and then look at The Man of Her Dreams The Woman of His! and The Man of Her Dreams The Woman of His 2 - Livin' It and Lovin' It! (Volume 2)

Blessings to you!

Joel and Kathy

Gary Smalley has written several outstanding books on building and maintaining a strong marriage. He has certainly earned the reputation of being someone at the forefront of marriage advice. Unfortunately, I do not find this book, LOVE IS A DECISION, to be anywhere near his best work. Here, Smalley teams with co-author John Trent. The work is good, and there is certainly some great advice here for both newlyweds and long term spouses alike, but I find this book to be difficult at times. What I mean is, I've read this book 3 times now. It is only just over 200 pages. Usually, a book of that size I would tear through in one or two days, but it always a week or more to read this one.

I must say, I certainly agree with the premise and foundational message of the book. So much so that I teach it as an integral part of my marriage coaching. Love is a decision. Oh, I know, it doesn't start out that way so much, but that is why our divorce rate is so high today. When we first meet someone, our attraction is emotional. We see qualities about a person that attract us causing an emotional bond to develop. However, usually somewhere between 1 and 3 years into living under the same roof as husband and wife, those characteristics that we once found attractive now are often like fingernails on a chalkboard.

We must keep in mind that we humans are static creatures, not dynamic. We are ever changing and when we build our relationships on characteristics, we don't realize the strain we are putting on our relationships, because, in time, our characteristics will change. Our interests will change. Our physical qualities will change. Even our opinions will change. Like the old saying, "a man in his twenties who is not liberal has no heart, but a man in his thirties who is not conservative has no brain". The point is, we all change. When we base our relationship on characteristics, we are basing it on something that will be much different down the road.

You see, at some point during the first few years of marriage, we lose our emotional attraction and we must find a new path to marital bliss. This is found through our decision to love that person, despite the fact that they are no longer the same person we fell in love with. That is the premise of the book here and Smalley and Trent do site some viable guidelines to that end, but for me, the book falls short.

I'm not one who normally puts down one book to tout another, but in this case, many people reading this review might find their marriage in a dire situation. Therefore, if you do find yourself in a marriage that seems to have lost its love, I would recommend first reading "Marriage Fitness" by Mort Fertel. It covers the same principles, and does it a more usable fashion.

Pastor Monty Rainey

I enjoyed the family saga that is portrayed in the novel but that is as far as it goes. The novel is not at all historically accurate in that in the 1940's the characters speak of African American's as "blacks" and speak of racism. These terms were NOT used in 1940 America. Blacks were called negroes and nigras. So the book does not get 5 stars since it does not ring true historically. Also, introducing Martin Luther King at a civil rights rally as a young man in 1940 Mississippi is also highly inaccurate. I doubt that there were civil rights rallies in 1940. So based on the lack of historical accuracy and inaccurate speech patterns in this book, I can not give this novel more than 3 stars. Read it for the interesting family story but nothing more.

Amethyst Noble is locked in a court battle with her son who thinks that, at age 93, she is too old to live alone in her house. While waiting for the court date, Amethyst spends time with her namesake, her great-granddaughter, and begins telling her stories about her life and the lives of those who came before her in the Noble family. Woven into the family story is the story of the Noble's relationship with a black family who were first slaves and then co-workers. Also important in the story is an amethyst heart which is passed down from generation to generation. This is the first book of Penelope Stokes that I have read, but it won't be the last. She is a delightful Christian writer who knows how to write a story with a good message.

I am a stokes fan, I own every novel she has written and with this one she has done it again, you will not regret reading this one! I loved it.

I have read Penelope Stokes' Circle of Grace book from the library. I checked the author on her official website and I was impressed by her education and writing skills and style. After that, I start to buy books which she has authored. I have purchased The Amethyst Heart and The Amber Photograph and will intend to buy the rest of her books.
First, the title of this book is touchy...amethyst which is a spiritual stone. Secondly, she puts bible verses and passages that are applicable to the lines in her story which makes it a more enjoyable read. Then in this book, there are touches of civil war issues and racism which are intriguing subjects and as her words flow, the reader will feel that he or she is being mentally taken to this imaginative world and being a witness to this story. I think this is one of her best, if not her best written story judging from the 3 books that Ms. Stokes authored that I have read.
Would I recommend it to every reader? Absolutely, because I believe in her style and her prose is written very adequately and consistent to her very excellent writing gift and talent.

I have recently discovered Ms. Stokes books and "The Amethyst Heart" is my favorite. After purchasing a few of her books, I decided to use my local library to continue with her collection. Now I need to purchase "The Amethyst Heart" so I can highlight various sentences and thoughts for future reference. This book was a very enjoyable, inspirational novel that I look forward to owning and reading again.

The New England Soup Factory cookbook is fantastic. I tried the Split Pea soup and it was so delicious - restaurant quality. I was so excited to serve it to my husband. He loved it! The recipes are easy to follow. I even resurrected my immersion blender. I highly recommend this book.

This was a great book, not for the waistline, but certainly for the tastebuds.

I love the recipes in this book...The clam chowder is fantistic with a different flavor of tarragon. I would recommend this book to anyone.

Great reading and even better cooking. If you are an afcianado of cold soup's this is your cookbook. Interesting and inventive.

I haven't tried many of the recipes in the book yet, but so far so good! I picked the book based on all the other positive reviews, and from what I have seen so far they are very accurate. Almost all the recipes in the book look very appealing and I suspect the ones that don't appeal to me probably would to someone else (we all have our favorite or less then favorite ingredients!) The ones I have tried are delicious and I have a long list of other ones to try. I just finished making the spinach, feta cheese, and toasted pine nut soup. I was actually making it to have around the house for lunches this week but I tasted a bit when I finished and I'm just going to have to have it for dinner now! Yum! So far I have found everything very easy to make and the ingredients are easy to find with out a hassle at the grocery store. Its also been easy to make small changes to the recipes to make a few of them a little healthier. (I'm trying to do the Mediterranean diet thing, whole grains, lots of veggies, light on the meat, heavy creams, etc.) For example the soup I just made called for cream. I ended up just leaving it out because it was already a great texture and very tasty already. But I think the recipe would have been great with the cream or with half or whatever. Anyhow, if you like soup this one is worth buying!

I hardly ever read fiction, but this one intrigued me. I heard it was life-changing for many readers, but since my life was in a ministry transition as it is, I simply related. It's about life, stuff and purpose. It asks questions we all need to find answers for. It made me laugh and cry. It made me more ready to serve the sick, not just hang out with the healthy. I liked the title and it made for a relaxing summer read.

Lisa Samson has quickly become one of my all-time favorite authors. In this book, Heather, the main character, is a well-to-do shopaholic with a terrific kid and married to a handsome surgeon who is nuts about her. She lives in a house that most people only dream of, furnished with the best of everything. On the surface, life is grand. But are all the `things' merely anesthetic for a pain too deep to be faced? In order to find the peace to move ahead, she must confront her own shameful past. To do that, she finds help from some unlikely sources - among them a nun, and a couple of ancient Quaker women.

Quaker Summer is one of those books that captivates you so deeply and draws you into the story so masterfully that you can't put it down. It changed the way I think - about a lot of things. It's beautifully written, and full of so much wisdom I wanted to grab my highlighter as I read. I challenge you to read this book and not come away changed. It's never preachy (I detest preachy books), but the message is powerful and profound. Samson spins a wonderful tale with strength and skill.

I thought it was an excellent book for our book club as it had many thought provoking episodes to recall.

This book is among the best I've ever read! Samson's characters are real, down to their doubts and spending habits. This book is not only entertaining, it is convicting. If you want a book that will open your eyes and change your life, read this one!

Heather Curridge is going crazy; at least that is what her husband Jace, son Will and her friends seem to think. And at times Heather thinks so too.

On the outside Heather seems to have it all, a loving doctor husband, a great fifteen year old son, a house by the lake and things, possessions but all of a sudden Heather starts questioning why she puts her husband through all her spending, spending, spending. Up till now she's justified it well saying she likes to help people but really it's just a way to move up to more, more, and more and the big question as to why she needs so much.. Jace tries to work hard to pay for it all but he's wearing down and wants to go back to his life's dream which he feels he can't tell Heather about.

Than one night Heather crashes her big Suburban on the way home from yet another St Matthews' dinner for the private school she insisted Will attend, and makes her way to the home of Annie and Liza ninety some year old sisters. Heather finds being with them having a calming effect upon her as well as questioning her walk with God.

While Jace is out of town and Will stays with his grandparents Heather spends a few weeks with the ladies who are Quakers, and comes in close contact with an inner city nun and the people living there. Heather begins to come to terms with so many things her past, her dad, the possessions and the rat race of life.

Christy award winning author Lisa Samson does an amazing job with Quaker Summer, her first novel with WestBow but her nineteenth overall. A definite 5 plus wow factor as you'll find yourself within the pages of this page turner that you won't be able to put down. The story unwinds and is so real you'll think you are Heather or she's your best friend, an awesome character we all can relate to.

Voted 2007's Women of Faith's Novel of the Year tells you how amazing this book is ( Women of Faith is an organization dedicated to encouraging women of all ages to grow in faith and spiritual maturity with Christ ). There is even a reading group guide in the back of the book as this book would be perfect for reading groups. You'll love the mixture of everyday life with the Bible and how each section ties in with the Beatles such as "Fool on the Hill" and "the Long and Winding Road", even if you don't know who the Beatles are you'll catch the comparison. Actually the style of writing puts the reader in mind of the writings of Erma Bombeck, an awesome writer of the seventies. A must read for adult women, especially those who question life and God. So come on an amazing journey and give this book a chance, listen to God and your heart it will really set you free!

Last year I met, quite out of the blue, a gifted shamanic practitioner in my own locale who has taken me under her wing (and has not requested a single penny from me for doing so). This was a catalyst event which has prompted my own "second cocooning," a concept explained in "Soulcraft" that I now understand. So much about this book has provided me vital context for understanding my current stage of life and showed me the next couple of steps that I need to take from here.

Some might be tempted to dismiss Soulcraft as "fluffy New Age tripe," but I hope you won't make that mistake. Plotkin doesn't blow sweetness and light up anyone's butt. The journey to soul is not an easy one, and no one--no teacher, no seer, no guru--can make the journey for you. This book encourages you to do the *necessary and difficult* work of finding your own soul, your own vision, your own task--it's important not only for you, but for the way we all live on this earth. Not only that, this book gives you some real-world strategies and activities for how to actually do that.

I am reminded of Jesus saying in the gospels, "what does it profit a man to gain the world but lose his soul?" This book provides some context for understanding what's happening as you lose the world in order to gain your soul. While we ultimately make this inward and downward journey alone, on another level we're not really alone--others have gone before us (and some examples are given in the book), and the presence of Spirit is in all and around all.

My thanks are given gratefully to Bill Plotkin for birthing this book into the world.

One thing, though: I appreciated Plotkin's brief statement in the book that we should not be appropriating culturally from native peoples--but then he quoted Harley Swift Deer in the book, someone who is reputedly/reportedly a "plastic shaman." That was a disappointment, but overall the book is still worth five stars.

I read this book as part of a course in personality. This book gives you the definitions and differences between spirit and soul, and how a journey to know the soul can be a road less travelled. It is an amazing insight into the state of coming to know one's soul and the difficult road that must be taken to get there. The author also gives many examples of his participants vision quests and how they can relate to psychological issues in one's life. This book should be read by all humans. We have all lost our connection with nature and through this book we might be able to regain that relationship

The inhabitants of our alienated modern society--and those suffering globally from its negative influences--are desperate for meaning. Self-Help books abound beyond belief. People of all ages, especially in the workplace and corporate world, live lives of such "quiet desperation," as Thoreau wrote, that they can barely discern even the surface they're skating on, much less the depths that lay beneath. Young people worldwide fall into depression, crime, or the false promise of fundamentalism and fanaticism, sacrificing themselves for--what? Surely not our shared humanity.

Bill Plotkin's SOULCRAFT is, I believe, at last, the "definitive" self-help guide, one so profound that it has the capacity, for those open to it, to help reshape our entire vision of the world--and restore to ourselves a fulfilling home within it.

I write this as a cultural anthropologist, author and lecturer who has himself sorted his way through any number of methods to a more balanced, centered life. Plotkin draws from traditional and Jungian psychology, the deep wisdom of the natural world (one of the richest sources of meaning which we have almost succeeded in destroying), and from a wealth of knowledge about traditional cultural practices the world over that provide ancient keys to holistic living. Plotkin draws out the essence of all this and spins it into a welcoming web, each strand another guiding rope hung with tools to empower one on a perilous and promising journey to center.

Make no mistake--this book is not psycho-babble and or self-help pablum. It is not an instant solution; it is a challenging way to open yourself up to an ever-widening world through which, with courage and commitment, you will continue to journey the rest of your life.

There may be some who think the notion of "soul-crafting" is uncomfortably "New Age" (I feared so at first). If so then this is a work that synthesizes everything good and wise that emerged from the wild and ecstatic upheavals of the late `60s, filtered over decades through Plotkin's formal social-psychological training, shaped by his rigorous, wide-ranging scholarship, and brought finally to fruition through the power of his personal experience and heartfelt vision.

And now his newest book has appeared: "Nature and the Human Soul: Cultivating Wholeness and Community in a Fragmented World." I just ordered mine from Amazon and got it immediately. After what Plotkin has just given me in the earlier book, I can only imagine what this book, described as a culminating life's work, can offer me. I can't wait to read it. --Jud Newborn, Ph.D., author, "Sophie Scholl and the White Rose."

I recently picked up this book for the second time - the first was about 3 years ago. It resonates deeply at a core level and, I believe, will do the same for anyone who is standing at the edge. Need a push? Read this book.

Lou

If you've never been on a wilderness rite-of-passage before this book offers insight into the practice. Plotkin blends psychospiritual insight on every page. This book is a primer for the ancient practice of the Vision Quest and within this rubric offers a detailed account of the process.

Like Plotkin notes, a wilderness journey into the mysteries of the soul is not a place for the weak of heart. You need to be put together pretty well before answering this call. But the rewards are life-changing.

As metaphor, in the middle ages, gold merchents used a touchstone to determine the value of any gold brought to them by rubbing the gold onto the stone which then produced a certain color to validate the worth of the gold.

A wilderness quest for the purpose of seeking a vision is a touchstone experience. It takes one deep into the raw and untamed soul before its conditioning, conformity, and domestication by culture. In western society, we have forgotten and lost meaningful rites of passage and this loss has created a social fabric of fear based individuals.

Plotkin is well versed in the process of depth psychology and the underworld passage such an undertaking opens in the psyche of those who embrak off from familar shores. Seeking depth, change, and transformation in one's life is difficult and filled with danager. The passage of the threshold expereince is an invitation to risk all for the sake of authenticity and peronal transformation that can lead to a new way of being-in-the-wolrd.

If you think you can sit in a wild place, alone, without food and little water for four days and nights, for the sake of spirit bringing a vision into your life, this book is a necessary guide. Be warned that you may come back (re-incorporation) a different person then the one you left behind at your quest circle. But, for those who pass this threshold, life may also take on a new and profound awareness...

I connected right away with Gwen and Hal and their children. One of the things I enjoyed was the fact that some of the story centered around Iowa City, Iowa and the university there. A place where we spent six wonderful years visiting our kids. But that aside, I could easily identify in some way with many of the characters. Every family has the dysfunctional Joyce, the overachieving Holly, the trying to prove herself Amy etc.

On those long summer nights in Minnesota, the reader could become a part of the Legend famiy. From getting the feel of sleeping there during a summer storm, sitting around the campfire, and the simple decor of the cabins, we in some way long to be a part of that simple no frills kind of vacation.

Jack and Amy, our two lovers, connected instantly, but for the sake of the family, put their emotions on hold. Their relationship is sweet and brief, but on that, they build a strong and sure love. While a fair amount of time is spent dealing with the problems of the other characters, the attraction of Jack and Amy is the main thrust of the book. I only wish that we had been let to experience more than their one brief, intimate encounter at the lake. Still though, maybe that innocence is what makes the book so special. In that one aspect, much is left to our recommendation.

I would for sure keep this book to read again, as well and look for other Seidel titles.

Seidel writes skillfully and her books are always absorbing. However, her characters always sound like they're psychoanalyzing themselves and this gets quite exhausting to the reader. Too many points of view are represented, and I always feel like I need to escape from all their problems! Yet I am always eager to read each new book despite my conviction that Ms. Seidel takes her characters a bit too seriously.

Summer's End was all I could have wished of a book. Not only because it took place largely in wonderful northern Minnesota, but because every character was so real, so "touchable." I'm sure Ms Seidel doesn't recall meeting me in Washington, D.C. in the early 1980's at a Romance Writer's convention in the Mayflower Hotel, but I never forgot her. She's not only a terrific writer. She's a really neat person. Thanks for Summer's End, Kathleen.

I have been a heavy-duty Kathleen fan since the first book of hers I picked up. Imagine my excitement at finding a new one... and my chagrin at finding it had been out for months! I believe that Kathleen is one of the most satisfying authors currently writing. I find her characters to be interesting and consistant, and I find the growth the main characters always experience to be reasonable and believable. I just can't figure out why her publisher doesn't apparently make any push to sell her books to people who have never heard of her! Everyone I have ever lent her books to loved them, and this one is no exception.

There are already 20 reviews, and I don't want to bore anyone, but I've loved KGS for years now. She writes romances with depth and feeling, and with lovely sentences. I don't know why she remains so underrated, and that's why I decided to add my review to the list - to convince the dabblers that this is a book worth investing in - I've kept all my KGS books, but this one, Summer's End, is especially light drenched. It's got wonderful side characters, with lots of interesting and real conflict between sisters and coping with family pain.

My only criticism is that we don't really get enough interaction between the lovers, we could have had a few more pages on them, but that is a minor quibble. You meet a whole host of characters that feel like friends and you don't want the book to end. Indeed I sincerely hope that she uses some of the other characters here in a new book or three - that's how close you felt to them.

Sweet Caroline is a very sweet read, in more ways than one. Rachel is a gifted author with the ability to bring her characters to life. I was able to relate to the financial struggles and the prayer battles Caroline experienced, and rooted for her to make the right decisions in her spiritual life. While I wasn't completely satisfied with the romantic element, I still enjoyed it and am now wondering if they'll be another book with Caroline at its center in the future.

Sweet Caroline is quite the book, and she is quite the person. She is a normal human being, in a normal life. Tough decisions need to be made, and only Christ knows if she is making the right choices. This book grips your heart and doesn't let it go. I love it from the heart-head-ear conversations to the screaming in my head what I thought she should do. :) This story of a girl in her late twenties growing up is something that anyone could benefit from reading. Caroline's situations remind me of...more Sweet Caroline is quite the book, and she is quite the person. She is a normal human being, in a normal life. Tough decisions need to be made, and only Christ knows if she is making the right choices. This book grips your heart and doesn't let it go. I love it from the heart-head-ear conversations to the screaming in my head what I thought she should do. :) This story of a girl in her late twenties growing up is something that anyone could benefit from reading. Caroline's situations remind me of some of Jane Austen's tales, where you really want it to end one way, but with more thought you want it how it is, and then you go back to the other. Over all this book was a comfy read and caused more giggles and grins that I care to admit. The whole cast of characters was a hoot and found a warm place in my heart. I cannot wait to read more through Love Starts with Elle. Rachel Hauck has a real winner here and I'm definitely putting her future books on my TBR lists.

I found Sweet Caroline to be a delightful and uplifting book. The main character, Caroline, was a selfless person. However, most of the characters were people who cared about others. The book shows how meaningful living in a small town is where people know each other and care for others. I recommend the book for women who know about or want to know about life in the South.

I found this book to be down to earth, realistic, funny and moving. I love a book that shows faith can be an everyday, natural, not always easy way of life. A great read. I look forward to reading more by Ms. Hauck.

I just finished reading Sweet Caroline and I'm not ready to let go of these characters! The plot had some unexpected twists in it which I thoroughly enjoyed. I struggled along with Caroline about her decisions between jobs and men. Very uplifting and real. I also appreciated that the conflicts came out of good things landing in her lap, though I guess you could argue that inheriting the cafe didn't start out a "good" thing. I loved that the town characters were by and far good people; our heroine was not surrounded by corrupt people. A refreshing difference. And the low-country setting, new to this California girl, was delightful.

Wonderfully written. The characters are very well drawn out, especially Graceanne and her mother. The story is told from Graceanne's brother's perspective. Although many people in her life see Graceanne as being a misbehaving "problem" child, it is clear from the way she treats her siblings and friends that Graceanne is one of the most loving characters I have ever met. I was sorry that the book ended. I want to know more about what happens in their lives. I highly recommend this book.

Very true to life story of a fractured family. You will have a hard time putting it down.

Once I began reading this book, I couldn't stop thinking about it. I was anxious to get back to the story to find out what happened to these children, always hoping that some drastic event would change their lives for the better. The writing is so vivid that you can easily picture the settings and feel their pain. The ending leaves you haunted and wishing to go back and make it right for them. I highly recommend this book as one of the best that I have read.

The minute I finished this book I wanted to talk about it with someone. I wanted to explore the rich Missouri setting, the strong characters that are authentic and interesting, and the issues of racisim and child abuse that rage through this novel like the river that floods Graceanne's home town.

In a nutshell, Graceanne is a spirited highly intelligent child who is the sole recipient of her mother's violent abuse. She remains strong, witty and true to herself throughout the entire novel. I strongly disagree with a fellow reviewer who believes that Graceanne "got what she deserved" because she was such a willful and devilish child. I believe her antics, such as hiding out in the school's flooded basement for two days so that she could be "Champion for Eternity" in a game of hide-and-seek, was her way of not letting the abuse do her in. It was her way of preserving her soul.

At first I was really worried that the child-abuse scenes would be too vivid. I worried that they would be the central imagery of the story. They aren't. Whitney uses them just enough, and is detailed just enough, so that you know how sick the mother really is. The author often makes you laugh and smile at a small town childhood, and small town kids getting into small town mischief.

This is really a story of kids overcoming the hands that life has delt them. Charlie overcoming his club foot, Graceanne her abuse and Wanda the racism that plagued that era of American history. These kids perservere with such charm and such thoughtfulness. In the end you are cheering for them, and praying that happiness will follow them beyond the wire hanger beatings of their childhood.

This is a book that sticks with you. Read it.

What an amazing book! The soul-touching story, combined with some of the most incredibly natural, infectious humor since Mark Twain, makes this one of the most uplifting books I've read in recent years.

The main characters -- 9 year-old Charlie, the narrator, and 12 year-old Graceanne, his sister -- are immensely endearing and admirable. They are growing up -- along with their older sister, 16 year-old Kentucky -- living with their recently-divorced mother on the 'wrong side of the tracks' in a small town in northern Missouri in the early 1960s. Their dad isn't in the picture much -- an alcoholic soldier who beats their mother, he's sent packing early on in the story, and makes himself scarce after his exit.

The mother, Edie, would probably be diagnosed today as being neurotic or psychotic. In her never-ending struggle to 'keep up appearances', she constantly nags her kids about their manners, the company they keep, &c. On several occasions, she asks out loud 'What have I ever done to deserve such demon children?' She takes most of her frustrations with her life, along with her complete misunderstanding of her children, on the intelligent, precocious Graceanne. On several occasions, she beats her until she's bloody. It's easy to understand how the kids would come to see themselves as a burden to her -- if it weren't for their seemingly indestructable spirits.

Graceanne is a tough child with a reputation to match. Near the beginning of the book, Charlie (actually short for Charlemange, which should tell you MORE about their mother), who has a correctable club foot, is musing about being bullied by the other children in town. He dismisses worrying about the other kids with these thoughts about his sisters (from p.9): 'The two worst bullies in Cranepool's Landing were ALREADY exercising their license as family members to beat me silly -- "whale on you, young man" -- on a regular basis, leaving all other potential assailants the status of respectful, but backward, admirers of my sisters' originality and prowess.'

Graceanne has an IQ of 165 -- and Charlie's is a very respectable 139. The author gives these children -- especially Graceanne, acquired by Charlie possibly simply by being in her presence -- incredible voices. Graceanne's use of newly-absorbed vocabulary words doesn't come across as much as an attempt to show off as it does as a means of asserting her inteligence and individuality in an atmosphere that tends to crush it.

She is also a universally feared and respected softball player. Some of the parents of the other kids even suspect that she's a boy. From p.248: 'She could hit anything that came at her, and she'd slice the ball belt-high through the infield, so close to the player she was aiming at that most players couldn't possibly catch it. A couple of parents complained that Graceanne was trying to peel the skin off their kids; the ball would come so fast and so hard and so tight that the only sensible thing to do was to hit the dirt when they saw it coming...'

There are several notable events in the book -- which takes place over the course of a little over a single year, from April 1960 to July 1961. It is the time of the Kennedys and Camelot, of the boiling pot of race relations in American coming to a head, before Vietnam -- a time of innocence and discovery, tailor-made for an imagination and spirit like that possessed by this young heroine. After her parents' divorce, her mother is forced by economics to move her family to a 'bad' part of town. Graceanne becomes fast friends with Wanda, the young black girl who lives next door -- which brings out some revealing comments and feelings from her mother, showing her to be anything BUT the color-blind person she has professed to be.

There are some tender, poignant moments in the novel as well -- both between Graceanne and her friend Wanda and between the siblings. Little brothers at this age historically do not endear themselves to their sisters, or vice versa. Through the course of the book, Charlie wrestles with what he eventually recognizes as growing feelings of love for his sister. From p.275, he wonders about his feelings that are awakened by hearing Elvis' 'Love me tender': 'I wondered if I loved anyone tenderly. I knew I loved Mike the dog, who you couldn't sing an Elvis song to because he was an animal. And I looked around and saw Graceanne with her doll hair and her glasses and her soft skin and I thought maybe I loved her, who would laugh at me if I sang Elvis to her. It came as a big surprise to me that I loved my sister.'

The novel is filled with moments like these -- but the action sequences never become over-the-top or unbelievable, and the touching moments never become maudlin. The author transposes her vision of this story onto the page with an easy grace and eloquence, touched with humor and sympathy for these wonderful characters. This is a story that can be enjoyed by adult readers -- and indeed, I came away with the impression that it was written for them -- and intelligent young people as well. It's quite an achievement.

My Father, Leon Pickett, was the oldest living member of he Mighty Mites until April 2, 2008. I cherish this book, I cherish the wonderful memories.
Sarah (Pickett) McGarrahan

Really good book even if you are not a football fan.

I was at Baylor when Doak Walker starred for SMU. I am glad to learn much from this book about the reasons for Doak's success.

The book shows what one man can do to change the lives of others by learning to use what he has to the best of his--and their--abilities.

The book was fantastic. I had no idea that the Masonic Home was so tough. Miller, Cecil and Dot were my grandmother's sisters children. I knew about their situation when I was growing up but I had never even thought that Miller and Cecil were on one of the best highschool football teams ever.
It was so interesting that I read the whole book in the space of 2 days.

A must read for the truth about high school football in texas. Anyone that loves kids will fall in love with the orphans and the game that shaped their lives outside the walls. A historical picture of the passion for high scholl football that is still shared by Texans today. Read it and go watch a game because you will be hooked on high school football in texas.

I purchased this book for my father for Christmas--he's a huge football fan, played high school ball in Texas years after the depression. He'd never heard of the Mighty Mites, and, were it not for a review I heard on the radio, we may never have. Turns out, he has a lot of ties to the people in the book.

The book itself is well-written, easy to read historical and personal account of the coach, the home and the boys who lived there. We get background on some families, a real history of the coach and the real-life look at the way life was in the home. IT was not pretty, it was hard indeed, but these boys were given a chance to do something beyond the school's fence. Their coach taught them how to play football, but more importantly, how to be a team and how to be men. His love for the game and the boys jumps off the page and you can feel it in every move he makes, every sacrifice he makes for the school. It follows several years of the "Mighty Mites" team, from their inception to their ultimate conclusion.

This is a wonderful story of the human condition, of overcoming odds and expectations, and how one person can make a huge difference in the lives of others when he is truly committed. Football fan or not, this is a wonderful telling of the lives of some special kids and the man who led them.