Siblings Books

Gaia doesn't know what to think as soon as she agrees with one of the Moore twins that the other is Loki, the other retracts it and gives her evidence of the contrary. So when Oliver once again puts evidence against her father Gaia just accepts it. So when Oliver offers her a fear treatment to reverse the 'fear serum' her father gave her as a child Gaia is all for it. Only she isn't just feeling fear she is terrified and going crazy. Ed doesn't know what to think of her. Her father rescues her from Loki and leaves her with Natasha and Titiana whom Gaia doesn't trust at all so she leaves and wonders around New York City like a mad woman having visions of all the people she's seen die being killed again. The one vision that gives her the most trouble is Josh. She saw him die and now in her visions there are three of him and it is inconsistent with her other visions. Now they are terrifying her and she doesn't know the difference between what's real and what's not.

Even though her father and uncle are twins, Gaia has always had the ability to tell the two of them apart. Not anymore. For her father and uncle are no longer different people. They've finally morphed into one evil person. Both of them have the same plan: to destroy Gaia, and use her as nothing but a lab experiment. Fine, well they can have each other, because Gaia isn't taking this lying down. But when Loki injects a powerful medicine into Gaia's system, that's the exact way she must take it, because now she's plagued with psychotic episodes. Ones that are making her see dead people, and bringing back her friends who have passed away, making her suffer through their torturous deaths over and over again. Gaia can't seem to figure out what's wrong with her. All she knows, is that she must put her finger on it quickly, otherwise she'll be in a padded room wearing a straight-jacket, and she'll never get to reveal her true feelings for Ed, or figure out what the two new strangers in her life: Natasha and Tatiana - people claiming that they are related to her mother, but Gaia doesn't trust them.

Francine Pascal has come up with many twists and turns throughout the FEARLESS series, but none have keept my attention as much as the sickness in TWINS. Pascal has woven psychotic episodes into this tale, making Gaia even stranger than before, and even makes her have a few moments where she actually has "fear." However, it is the developing relationship between Ed and Gaia that is sure to please longtime readers. Yes, TWINS features a lot of one-on-one interaction between the two "friends," and adds quite a cliff-hanger at the end to see where their relationship will go. Without a doubt, TWINS is one of the most enjoyable FEARLESS book in the series thus far, complete with clones, psychotic episodes, and a dash of romance, that will keep readers reading long into the night.

Erika Sorocco
Book Review Columnist for The Community Bugle Newspaper

ok, i always knew that ed and gaia were meant for each other...and now i am just overwelmed with the connection between them. ed was always there for her. so, if you love ed and gaia together as much as i do...you will absolutely LOVE this book. #19 is definately the best i have read of this series so far and it will leave you completely satisfied. although, there is a little bit of a cliffhanger. hehehe.

I have just finished the number 19 book and have immediatley started to read 20 but i can't understand how Gaia can change her feelings like that so quickly. I mean Gaia was suppose to be in love with Sam... rite. I just think that it is a bit to quick a change, Sam and Gaia were meant to be together and although he was killed it still think Ed cant change those feelings very easily. Email me ClaireLouise504@msn.com if u wana talk about this. I an a bit confused on this subject.

gaia has grown up not knowing fear. so when her uncle loki gives
her the opportunity to learn fear through an injection that his
scientists have been working on, she jumps at the opportunity. my
will gaia never learn not to trust everything at face value? uncle loki has his own sinister plans and they are as usual no good for gaia. this book is not one of the better ones of the series. i think pascal has run out of ideals and keeps going around in circles. this series needs some new life to it desperately.

After several years of being on "the pill", I was sick of the side effects. We had purchased "Your Fertility Signals" years ago, but had not read the book in it's entirety. Four months ago I read the book and shared varying parts with my husband, who was eary of seeking alternatives, however after both of us learned to participate in monitoring my fertility signals he bought in to the program! We recently completed our fourth month of pregnancy free naturally!

This is the first book I read on the subject and it remains my favorite. It is sensitively written, attractively laid out, and full of illustrations. Can be read in one sitting and makes the woman's cycle easy to understand. A lot of basic information on hormones, fertility problems, and practical strategies. Also how nursing, contraceptive pills, and menopause can affect the cycle. Those who wish for more detail can go to a more comprehensive book such as "Taking Charge of Your Fertility," but "Your Fertility Signals" is a good, easily-read, basic manual. I especially liked the clear, easy-to-use charts included for tracking your cycle.

I had already gone through the very tedious process of studying NFP from the huge study manual in order to learn about my fertility signals. I ended up adapting the information I had gathered from the huge behemoth NFP manual and several other NFP resources and coming up with what worked best for me. It turns out I was using the Fetility Awareness Method (which this book teaches) without even knowing it. If only I had found this simple little volume first!! :) It is a great way to review and has simple drawings to help certain things stick in your mind. My husband and I used FAM for 9 months to avoid pregnancy, and then used it to achieve pregnancy in only 2 cycles. We are now 7 months pregnant. I would highly recommend this volume to anyone who cannot afford to take an NFP course outside the home and doesn't have the wherewithall the read the several hundred page NFP study manual.

This book is so well written and explains very clearly through detailed description and diagrams everything you need to know about mucous. Sounds odd, but if she didn't have such good diagrams I don't know if I would have quite understood what she meant. For the first time in my 35+ years I am understanding my body better than ever and YES, I can actually tell when I'm ovulating now, simply through tracking changes in the mucous as the author recommends. I definitely recommend this book to women who both want or do NOT want to conceive.
June 2004 UPDATE: I'm pregnant now for the 2nd time - unfortunately I miscarried in February. I conceived both times in months that I was careful to follow the fertility signals especially the physical signs of ovulation (i.e "strings" - read the book, you'll know what I mean!) I'm a believer!

I recommended this book to a good friend of mine who'd been struggling to conceive (she has a very irregular cycle); it worked for her and has since worked for several of her friends, too. Interestingly enough, a friend recommended the book to me in the first place, as well!

The information is basic, and the author doesn't write in a complicated manner. I think someone with a sixth-grade education could read the book and use it effectively. Which is good - regardless of our educational backgrounds, I think every woman should know how her body works. There are more 'complex' versions out there, and classes etc. as well - which can also be helpful in addition to this book. But the single most helpful option I found, was Winstein's book. I continue to recommend it to friends who are struggling to get pregnant, and to friends who are looking for other options for family planning.

I used the book for natural family planning, so that I did not have to use chemical or artificial birth control options; when we were ready to start a family, we succeeded the very first month.

I have every confidence that this book will be informative, regardless of whether the purchaser is hoping to avoid or embrace pregnancy. I think Winstein had to walk a fine line while writing this book, in terms of religious issues etc. and managed to do so in a way which allowed her book to be unbiased, open, and helpful regardless of what the readers' backgrounds or goals might be.

Review written by product buyer's 13 year old daughter

This is a book that I and anyone who loves action, adventure, drama, and suspence will love! The very first page drops you right in the middle of the action, and it just gets better and better from there! If there were an award for 'best book for starting an action series', this would win by a landslide! You'll meet new charators to like, new charactors to hate, and new kinds of danger you wouldn't believe would fit into one book! This book is definetly one of my favorites! Buy it and enjoy!

P.S. A book that follows up from the end of this book is #4 The Lazarus Plot (another great book!)

In Franklin Dixon's Hardy Boy's "Dead on Target", Frank "The good looking blonde haired blue-eyed older brother", and Joe "The black haired brown eyed younger brother", and their close freinds are in the mall in their hometown of Bayport on the East coast around lunch. Iola (one of the friends) gets upset and goes back to the car in the parking lot and gets in. Frank and Joe are on their way out to the car when it blows up with Iola in it! This creates a huge mystery which Faranklin Dixon's books are known for. This becomes a huge mystery leading to an overseas Terrorist group who is trying to scare Fenton Hardy (Frank and Joe's dad and one of the worlds greatest detectives) off their case. The bomb was meant for his kids but killed Iola. The two boys, who are great detectives themselves, vow to solve the case.
The case leads them to Europe fighting an international terroist group who are trained experts. Dodging death and putting themselves in danger for others they quickly close in on the terrorists with help from the FBI and other agencies. But the real problem is in Baypot.
My feelings about the book are that it is great! The author uses a fast pace to keep the reader intrested in the book. His books are identical to the Nacy Drew mystery books in that the main characters are teenagers.

I am a die hard Hardy Boys fan and this is definatly one of the better of the group. I recommend any of the books for lite reading and a break from reality. A key note of advise though, I read a lot of the reviews complaining that these are unrealistic. Yes they are but in my opinion there is always enough reality in the world from the moment you wake up a little break every now and then is nice.

Back to this book though it is extremly exciting and is the start of a whole new begining in the Hardy Boys books. This mystery throws out all the cute nice points of the hardcovers. Another word of caution the hard covers are a lot tamer than these do to the era they were written in.

What a hotshot book.Although at the beginning I felt sad as I read on I was hooked.The Bullet plants a bomb in the Hardy car and Iola is killed.Joe and Frank track him down I do not want to tell you more because it would be iresponsible.

"Dead on Target" was the beginning of a new era for the Hardy Boys. This is the first volume of the new (in 1991) series "The Hardy Boys Casefiles", and it is a more adult and action packed series than the original series. This is never more evident than the first two pages of the book. Whereas the original series (started in 1927 and it is still running today) would have various plots by criminals, nobody ever seemed to get killed or nothing too serious would ever happen, but "Dead on Target" opens with the killing of Joe Hardy's girlfriend (and sister of good friend Chet) Iola Morton. For a series that has been known for its lack of actual murders of any on screen character, this was a shocking and explosive (no pun intended as it was by a bomb that killed Iola) moment. It marked the different direction that the Casefiles would take the reader, as well as the Hardys, on.

A car bomb was the cause of death for Iola Morton. Frank and Joe, as well as Iola and Frank's girlfriend Callie Shaw, were at the mall preparing for a political rally. Iola ends up returning to the Hardys' car to pick up more campaign materials when it explodes, killing her. Joe blames himself because his flirting with another girl made Iola mad and this is what led her to be at the car by herself. At the funeral, "Dead on Target" takes another twist by introducing the character of The Grey Man. The Grey Man is a member of a secret government organization called "The Network". "The Network" believes that an international group of terrorists, "The Assassins", were responsible for Iola's death and are planning something big for the political rally the following week.

The rest of the novel finds Frank and Joe traveling to London, fighting several members of the Assassins, being in the midst of gun battles and defusing a bomb. "Dead on Target" is fast paced with a tighter story than what is found through most of the original series. For fans of the Hardy Boys, "Dead on Target" is likely to be a favorite. It is not for the purists of the series, though. This book takes the brothers down a different timeline than we find in the main series. Since the main series continued to be published at the same time as the Casefiles, these books (Casefiles) are either set at a later date than the continuing series or is part of some alternative timeline since Iola is still alive in the main series.

"Dead on Target" has more violence than the "classic" Hardy Boys, but this is a very interesting story, even if it is a bit far fetched. For the first time, terrorism and murder have been introduced to Bayport and the Casefiles bring the reader a new style of story with the Hardys. As an introduction to the Casefiles as well as a new episode in the lives of the Hardys, this is a good place to start. Fifteen years after first reading this book it remains a fun read.

-Joe Sherry

Narrated in first-person by 12-year-old Livy Two Weems, Gentle's Holler tells the story of the Weems family living in the Maggie Valley area of the Smoky Mountains in the 1960s. With money hard to come by and 11 mouths to feed, the Weems don't have much. Daddy is a musician and has been trying to sell a banjo hit for years, and with nine children, Mamma is worn out. And what's more, there's something terribly wrong with three-year-old Gentle's vision. Livy Two comes up with a plan to train their dachshund Uncle Hazard to be a seeing eye dog and to teach Gentle how to read braille. But when tragedy strikes, the family struggles to survive and stay together.

From the very beginning of the book, you can hear Livy Two's voice and know instantly that she's spunky, smart, kind, and a bit loquacious. This voice carries through the book, and there were moments throughout when I laughed out loud, as I did here:

"I may come from a big family, but I already know I don't want children. I want my own house all to myself in the holler, and I swear I won't fill it with nothing but banjo music and vases of mountain laurel and plenty of food. My nieces and nephews will be allowed to visit on Saturday from one to two. I want a homemade rocking chair and a granny quilt on the bed and a rug from Persia on the floor. I wouldn't mind a fancy refrigerator or, even better, a record player like other regular folks have, and I would play me all kinds of music from Patsy Cline to Mozart." (pp. 54-55)

I found myself liking Livy Two and caring about what happened to this family, and Kerry Madden never lets the readers forget the poverty that surrounds the family. They're hungry. Livy Two often feels guilty and ashamed for sneaking an extra bite of cornbread, and her older brother Emmett, is angry at their father for letting them starve. They are unable to take Gentle to the doctor to get her eyes examined. When Daddy brings the dog, Uncle Hazard, home, Mama is furious because they now have another mouth to feed.

But despite this, it's evident that the family loves each other, and I was impressed with the way Kerry Madden was able to depict the love and tenderness that existed among this family. On one occasion, the tapping of a woodpecker inspires Daddy to pick up his banjo and start playing. Soon all of the children are singing and dancing, and Livy Two proclaims, "Sometimes our house is filled with so much love and happiness that a body can't hardly stand it." (p. 59)

On another occasion, Livy Two, overhears her sister Louise, trying to teach Gentle the colors through her senses,

"Pretty soon, I hear Louise carrying Gentle through the edge of the woods, telling her all about color. 'Now Gentle, eat this blueberry and you'll understand the color blue. Azure, sapphire, navy, and indigo. That's other names for blue.'" (88)


Gentle's Holler is a book about love, hardship, and hope. Livy Two teaches us to dream big and to never give up when faced with bad news. But she also teaches us to enjoy life regardless of how much or how little you have.

Gentle's Holler was my introduction to the Weems family. Totally enjoyable! Although the book is listed under youth fiction, I (well past youth) found the book absolutely delightful.

Kerry Madden tells a beautiful story in "Gentle's Holler." While on the surface it seems a simple story, it unfolds with a quiet power that resonates with the reader. Although it is written for young people, it held this older reader from first word to the last. And I will pass it on to my young friends and family, recommended highly.

In Gentle's Holler Kerry Madden deftly portrays the difficult lives of this family of ten without losing the musical voice of the 12-year-old heroine. As readers see "Livy Two" grow through her new perceptions of her parents, her older siblings and her blind baby sister, they can experience many wondrous complexities of family dynamics. It's a great read in the tradition of Betsy Byars. Readers who enjoy Gentle's Holler might also enjoy Danger, Long Division, in which a modern Maryland latch-key kid discovers that she has what it takes to help her baby brother who has special needs.

In GENTLE'S HOLLER, Kerry Madden introduced young readers to Olivia (better known as Livy Two) Weems, a twelve-year-old with a passion for books and music. Livy has eight siblings of various ages and tempermants, a sweet mama, and a starry-eyed daddy. Money's tight - Daddy's music fills the heart and ears more than it fills the pocketbook - but the Weems make do, and their household is always bursting with family, love, and music. Livy Two also sings and plays music, often writing songs about the struggles her family has faced and the hardships they've overcome. The story is set in 1960s North Carolina, a beautiful backdrop for this artistic and energetic family.

As the tale progresses, Livy Two watches carefully over Gentle, the next-to-youngest one in the family, who has always had difficulty with her eyes. Meanwhile, the eldest son, Emmett, looks beyond the holler and fixes his eyes on Ghost Town in the Sky, a new place on the top of a mountain where he might be able to get a job. Livy Two's trips to the lending library truck connect her with another kind soul, Miss Attickson, who encourages Livy's voracious appetite for novels and poetry.

GENTLE'S HOLLER is the first in The Maggie Valley Trilogy. The second book, LOUISIANA'S SONG, is just as precious as the first book. I can't wait to read JESSIE'S MOUNTAIN, the final book in the trilogy. This series will be loved by kids and families who enjoyed the All-of-a-Kind Family books by Sidney Taylor, The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall, and Cheaper by the Dozen and Belles on Their Toes by Frank B. Gilbreth and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey.

Karen Hancock has continued her excellent "Legends of the Guardian-King" series with this 2nd book in the series. Her characters are fully formed. They have real problems, real joys, real misgivings about why things happen. Through out the book we see the main character dealing with the "how" and "why" questions about the events in his life. Is God there? Does He really care? Is life just a meaningless journey to death? Ms. Hancock handles all of these questions in a manner that will give encouragement and new hope to those who experience similar issues in our 'real' world. Each book is a treasure, so open one and become wealthy!

Overall, this book is MUCH better then the first in the series. The Author still has a tendancy to make me speed read through long winded descriptions but most of the time the story held my interest. I actually started to like the chara's more in this story.

A new female chara is both good and bad. Madeleine is not a perfect Goddess but described as plain a number of times. PLAIN. I think God is proud of that. I have yet to read a novel (faith based or otherwise) where the main female chara is NOT descibed as beautiful. Although we do stray into stereotypical waters...I half expected a new girl to show up in this book or the next that might win Abramms heart. It seemed very Brother/sister to me. No actual chemistry was described until the last second, being rather predictable. I think I am just high maintence though, when it comes to love in stories. *sweatdrop*

The only other drawback is the ending. It feels as though it should have lasted longer.

Other qualities make up for the faults greatly. I was anxious through most of the the book to find out how Gillard would react to his return, along with every one else. After that, its the ball that makes you anxious, and then the monster, ect. We dont really get any relaxing time which is nice. It kept me reading!

I have enjoyed the whole Guardian King series by Karen Hancock more than any of the other contemporary Christian fantasy stories I have read over the last several years. Of the four books in the series, this is the one I keep coming back to read again and again. With the background and character development of the first book to build upon this one starts with a bang right in the first chapter. I like the way the author portrays the lead character in his role as king - not a king to be served by his people but one to serve and protect them no matter what the cost to himself. Our world has long been missing that kind of role model in a king figure.

Karen Hancock has a way of weaving a story with intrigue, a hint of romance, and life lessons that is amazing. I'm hoping to read a lot more from this author in the future.

How can I count the ways I love this book? I can hardly wait until the next in the series is released. Karen Hancock creates a wonderful world that I can get lost in. I read her books slowly so I can savor them. I know they will end all too soon. I love the allegory and hope that her book will make a difference in other people's lives, as it has in mine. I pray that more Christian fantasy authors like Karen will be raised up soon. I believe there is a great demand for them.

A friend of my Mom's gave me this to read when I was about 14. I was just in love with all the characters and didn't realize the story was a little mature for me. Luckily my Mom loved the book as well. I gave it to my 15 year old daughter last summer so it's 3 generational.

The characters are so beautifully defined, the story gentle yet dramatic, the scenery is as real as my own yard; it is just a perfect book. How sad Ms. Carleton never wrote another.

I was so hopeful Oprah Winfrey would discover this when she was doing her original book club!

This is one of my all-time favorite books. I am a librarian and have read many books. When I read the reviews already written, one I thought I must have done myself, and yet I didn't. I also read this book in the Readers Digest condensed book while a teenager, during a hot summer in the country in Oregon. I think I related so much to it because it was weather-wise, the same. Lazy summer days, reading. I read it again every summer for years and need to get back to it again. I agree, the people were very realistic, from Mathew the father, who as a teacher falls in love with a student, to Callie who falls into the situation she does, as a result? I think so. What a wonderful family story.

I have re-read this book probably more often than any other book in my adult life. The story unfolds in rural Missouri over the first two-thirds of the 20th century, but its themes and its allure are timeless: family, faith, rebellion, secrets, love, independence, and time. Matthew and Callie Soames raise four daughters: Jessica, Leonie, Mary Jo, and Mathy. The book tells their stories one lifetime at a time, starting with the oldest daughter, Jessica, who introduces us to her parents and siblings and their life growing up in the Ozarks. Then we meet Matthew, the father, whose inner life and story -- and whose foolish heart -- are a far cry from the stern schoolmaster who rules his home and his daughters' lives with an austere and lonely love. ("To his daughters as they grew up, Matthew Soames was God and the weather." His character has often reminded me of the father in Robert Hayden's poem "Those Winter Sundays.") Mathy, the youngest daughter, is the family's most vivid and most tragic character, a free spirit who flies a little too close to the sun. Leonie is her father's daughter, but also a child of her era, and through her Matthew is ultimately reconciled to Mathy.

But each lifetime is only a piece in the puzzle of the Soames family until Callie, the strong, understated matriarch, who keeps the hardest secret of all; not until her story is told do all the others finally come together into a whole portrait, even though each story before hers seemed whole enough on its own. The book's title comes from the flowers that bloom for one night a year in the Ozarks, when the family reunites to watch them bloom for such a short season. The last chapter of Callie's story, when she suddenly finds herself an old woman and the reader suddenly discovers that half a century has passed with the Soameses, is one of the most penetrating insights into aging that I have ever read.

"The Moonflower Vine" contains as many tragedies as a family could normally expect in half a century, but not too many, and overall it is an affirming and empowering novel. But its saddest fact doesn't appear in the novel at all -- that Jetta Carleton, whose literary debut is a masterpiece, never wrote another book. "The Moonflower Vine" was an overnight sensation when it was published in 1962 -- a Literary Guild selection, and a Reader's Digest Condensed Book in 1963. But four decades later, Jetta Carleton and her book are nearly forgotten. Jetta Carleton Lyon lived a full and happy life, moving in 1970 to New Mexico, where she ran a small publishing company until her death in 1999. "The Moonflower Vine" was reprinted by Bantam in 1984, and by Buccaneer in 1995.

My grandmother collected Reader's Digest Condensed Books, and I discovered "The Moonflower Vine" as a child at her home years later (in the same volume with "The Shoes of the Fisherman" by Morris West). Soon afterward, I had to read the whole novel. A quarter century has passed, and I still can't pick it up without reading it again. And I never put it down without a catch in my throat.

I found this book in 1969 and have probably read it dozens of times. I actually wore out my first copy and was lucky enough to find a second. I love the way the stories intertwine, but you don't realize it until you read it the second time. I become a part of the Soames family each time I read it. Jetta Carlton may have only written one book, but it's a book not to be missed or forgotten.

Yes, it IS a "girls" book and yes, it IS a slowly paced book but, for all that, I found it to be utterly charming and the characters to be so real and wonderfully drawn. These aren't namby pamby,goody-two-shoes people but all too real with their faults and flaws, yet they are so thoroughly likeable that you'll want to read slowly.Matthew, a mainly self taught school teacher and Callie, his warm,intelligent, yet illiterate wife, raise their four daughters in a tiny farming community, with firm yet loving hands.It's almost a tragedy that this was M/s Carletons only book as she writes with such warmth and compassion for human weaknesses. It's a feel good book that I've just reread after buying and reading it in 1965...knew that I'd want to read it again one day!

I read this book to my students. But before I had read it myself, I shared it with my students. It was very emotional for me. (I have a cousin listed on the wall. His son was born about 4 months after he died. I could see my uncle walking his grandson there.) The book was a beautiful, moving tribute to all those who have given their lives in Vietnam.

Being a "baby boomer" from the Vietnam era, I think this book will help explain to my grandchildren about Grandpa and his war time. It is beautifully illustrated and tender. I wish I'd had this book when I went to see the Wall with an 8th-grade girl who made an etching of her Grandpa's name. It may not mean as much to anyone who hasn't been touched directly by the Vietnam war, but it touched my heart.

The Wall by Eve Bunting is an incredible story of remembering. It all starts when a little boy and his father visit the Vietnam War Memorial. The father, who wishes to find the name and remember the good times with him, takes a piece of paper and and pencil and traces the name off of the wall. The little boy, who just wishes his grandfather was there with him, sadly watches another little boy and his grandpa on a walk. This book about rememberance will make you sad until the very end. Eve Bunting does a great job setting the mood at the Vietnam War Memorial. I give this book a thumbs up and believe it's the best children's book ever. Read The Wall by Eve Bunting to find out what happens in the end.

Loosing a relative can be tough, especially if your close to them, or too young to ever experience or meet them. All you can do is wonder. The book The Wall by: Eve Bunting, is aobut a dad and his son that go and visit the Vietnam War Memorial in memory of the dad's father, or the son's grandfather that died in the Vietnam War. Eve Bunting describes what happens there from a child's point of view. It is very realistic, and makes you feel like you are really there.
This book not only teaches little kid's lessons, but is good for even adults. IT really took me back and made me think. It made me think of how valuable our lives really are, and when we die, who is really affected by it. Also, it taught me that loosing someone you love doesn't always have to be sad, especially if they have died fighting for what they believe in. So, if somebody you know died, think of the positive side. Reading this book may take you back, and let you think of why they were so special.

The Wall
by Eve Bunting
Illustrated by Ronald Himler

You should read this book because it's great and it's about someone you will remember and someone you love! The main Characters are the Dad, son, and an old man from war, and grandpa. Dad and his son are trying to find grandpa's name on the wall. The wall is in Washington D.C. They can't find their grandpa's name even though they keep looking up and down.
Dad and his son find grandpa's name! what do you think his name is? The book tells you a note and tells you where the wall is and it is in Washington D.C. it also tells you why the wall was made.
By reading this book you can learn to Keep doing your best, keep looking for what you want, and don't give up. Keep looking for what you love too! What do you love to find that you love so much? What I love to find is my family and my things I love. So if you love to find your family then read this book!!!!!!!!!!


By Tanashia C

Stick to the older version of this book. I wish who ever thinks it is okay to republishing books with inferior illustration would just STOP! Just because it's for children doesn't mean the pictures should be rendered so crudely.

This is the first book I ever bought with my own money: I was five years old and fell in love with the language. Now I am an English teacher in a high school and I use this text every year in our poetry unit. I've bought a copy for the bookshelf of every new baby I'm buying a gift for. No child should grow up without hearing this book read aloud by someone who loves them. It's just that good.

Expose yourself and loved ones to such delightful creative writing and beautiful illustrations! The combination stirs imaginations, inspires outdoor adventure, fosters the endless childhood fantasies still living inside us all while rendering reality, defining our need and value of HOME. My children range from 30 to 15 and this has ALWAYS been an ALL-TIME favorite of ours! My 4 grandsons deserve nothing less.. O:)

We just sold our home last week, and we're still searching for a new house to purchase. I guess that is why the words to this book (that I haven't read since childhood) popped into my mind. I loved this book, and hope to find one of the earlier versions to read to my own children. They will probably suggest that we forget the whole house thing and live in a tree!

Wasn't this a weekly reader book?

The best thing about this book is the original drawings done by Doris Burn. This new edition loses a lot of the magic and nostalgia that the original had.

I love the story, love the rhythm but the original is 100 times superior to this one.

I am adopting a 8 year old girl and she has a 3 year old sister that is being adopted by another family. She was so excited to give her little sister this book that she could read to her for her little sister's birthday. She wrote her a birthday song on the inside cover. It's really hard to find applicable gifts like this for our situation. I was very exited to find this book and my daughter loved it.

very cute book no big message here that we don't tell our children everyday but they can see the pictures of siblings having fun together and this will inspire them

My 3 year old daughter loves this book! We borrowed it from the library when her little sister was born and decided to buy it. Being a little sister myself, it's really cute and touching.

This book is absolutely darling! The pictures are adorable. I found it in a bookstore shortly after I had my second daughter. Since then, the two girls and I have loved reading it at bedtime! Now I'm looking forward to buying it for a friend of mine who's giving birth to her second daughter. I also thought the big brother little brother version was pretty cute.

This is a super photo story book. The exceptional photography highlights life in the eyes of sisters. We have 3 daughters so we can relate to many of the photos. The great photos allow you to "hear" the joy, frustration, excitement and fun that the sisters are experiencing. I highly recommend this book and "Big Brother, Little Brother" by the same author. Not only are they great kid books but many adults will find themselves reminiscing to their early days of sibling joy.

My 10 year old daughter loves all four of the Melanie Martin books. She cannot put them down. Not only is she entertained, but also has learned a few things about other countries. As a teacher, I highly recommend the Melanie Martin books. I sure hope Mrs. Weston keeps adding more to this series.
Melissa Lombardo

The Diary Of Melanie Martin is a book about a young girl called Melanie. She flies to Italy with her family on an airplane when she had never been out of the U.S.A. She loved the thought going to a foreign country, but things didn't turn out how she expected... I liked this book and all the characters in it. My favorite part of the book was when Melanie just went back home to the U.S.A. She had realized a lot about her family and learned some important values. Melanie inspired me to be nicer to my sibling, as she did in the book. I definitely recommend this book to anybody who has a sibling, or who has never been out of his or her country. In this book, she gives the lesson about trying new things and taking risks. I am sure that anybody who reads this book will learn some useful information about life! Enjoy!

Having traveled to Italy with my family when I was twelve, The Diary of Melanie Martin called back dozens of similar memories of all the museums which were endured with the promise of gelato and of the delicious food which Weston describes to mouth-watering perfection. Reading this book, I kept on wishing it had been around for my family vacation so that my brother and I could have played "Point out the Naked People" during our museum tours; now I can only wholeheartedly recommend it to every member of a family planning a trip to Italy or just looking for a funny and truthfully-written book too perfetto to be missed.

I read melanie martin, and it was sensational!!!!!!!!!!!!!!I wanted to learn about Italy, and she helped me learn about it. Read this book, and you'll wanna read the other three book too.

A must read with the monalisa, sistin chapel, and boots the cat. Also it has ton of poetry. The book makes your mouth water for more.