Lifestyle Books

As a collector of children's illustrated books, I am in constant search
of books that have their locales in European countries. Other than
Great Britain, Paris and Venice (and Germany, if you include fairy tales), these not easy to find. It is amazing how much easier it is to
find books placed in Africa or Asia and Central America than it is in
much of Europe.

This delightful little book fits the bill to a tee." It has a charming
story written in the form of letters from a grandmother to her granddaughter. She writes about the events in her small mountain village. The architecture is quaint and could be from a much earlier
time but the overhead power lines and the clothes on the line are giveaways that we are in relatively modern times.

Grandmother talks about the pets and the farm animals and the festivals
and the weather - all those things that are not only chatty between
the two of them but informative in explaining a way of life in the
mountains. A truly wonderful book.

If you like this sort of book, I also recommend a Bell for Ursli, another
book translated into English with a Swiss setting.

We first visited Törbel, over Vispertal, in 1/87, while skiing nearby. Complete Walliser Bergdorf, perhaps once the most beautiful in Europe (terribly ugly new church, though), with farmers wearing red bandanas carrying milk jugs through snow-covered dirt streets and feeding the cows that lived in the stables beneath the log houses.

Years later when we saw 'Lieber Alex' (the original German version) in a bookstore in Augsburg we immediately bought it and read it often to our son Hans, then a few years old. He loved it, and so did we. We returned (with two young sons) to Törbel in 7/95, carrying the book under one arm and looking for scenes that might lead us to Bruno's house. Leaving out the details, which are wonderful, let me just say that this beautifully-written book reflects reality. Bruno really exists and is the last fulltime farmer in Törbel. And the author, who is a fantastic artist, lives with him.

This book is a heart-warming, couragous story. I found myself smiling and by the end, shedding a few tears! What a great story about life, relationships, feelings and more. A must read for anyone!!

The thing about cancer is that only a person who has it knows how hard it really is to take care of the problem. It's not like you get to pick if you have it or not, it just happens.

In the book DEFIANCE a boy about 11 years old finds another lump on his side, He gets real scared, trust me if I had cancer and I found a lump on my side I would be worried too.

The one big mistake someone with cancer can do is not tell anyone and let it get worse. I know how hard it must be for the parents because they worry all the time. My grandma has lung cancer, and she dosn't even smoke. It's real hard to just leave them alone but you have to learn to and that is what this whole book is all about really, he wants his mom to leave him alone about his problem but is comes back and he just doesn't want to go through it agian. I wouldn't want to eather.

Toby meets someone who helps him make the right choices in the end so he soesn't make dumb ones, like not getting the treatment he needs for his cancer. he just wishes he could be a normal kid and that is what put this book together, the choices he made, and how he made them.

I found this book to be an easy read. The author gets to the point in explaining how to detoxify your lifestyle and why it is important. He explains it in simple terms anyone can understand. This book is a good beginning to start a healthy lifestyle.

Dr. Caras simplifies and puts into words what our healthcare and educational system cannot. This book makes it easy for the average american to understand how to make their life healthier and happier for the long haul.

Simply stated, every newly diagnosed diabetic should read and would substantially benefit from "The Diabetes Lifestyle Book" which is the collaborative work of clinical psychologist Jennifer A. Gregg (Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, San Jose State University, San Jose, California), Glenn M. Callaghan (Professor of Psychology, San Jose State University), and Steven C. Hayes (University of Nevada Foundation Professor of Psychology, University of Nevada, Reno). The life-style changes that a diabetes diagnosis compels is often daunting and very difficult to sustain until and unless the diabetics are able to face their fears, voice their concerns, and maintain the changes in their diets, activity levels, and medical services required for a long and healthy life. The psychology, the motivation, the mental management techniques that must go along with changes in diet, medication schedules, and exercise programs are fundamental and precisely the 'how to' information and inspiration provided by "The Diabetes Lifestyle Book". No personal diabetes reading list or community library Health & Medicine reference collection should be without a copy of "The Diabetes Lifestyle Book".

This book has the potential to be a life changer for people with diabetes.
It teaches Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) principles to help people with diabetes come to grips with all the emotions involved with living with diabetes. There's also a lot of good information about the condition itself.

I highly recommend this book. I was already familiar with ACT before I read it, but the author does a fine job of teaching some basic ACT concepts. If you're a diabetic, please buy this book! Thank you.

This is darling book with a great message for a young child. The little dog learns how to get the sheep to follow his directions by using good manners.

EASY TO READ. ADORABLE ILLUSTRATIONS. ALL AROUND CUTE BOOK FOR ALL KIDS!
MY GREAT-GRANDDAUGHTER WHO IS FOUR YEARS OLD LOVED THIS ONE!

This book is my favorite of the whole series. It brings things to a nice close. You find out that Anders really does care about his stepsister, (they don't seem like steps after a while) Kate. He actually cries when he thinks she might be dead! A big deal for Anders! It also promises a relationship, that is more than just friendship, between Erik and Kate. When they're older, that is. For now it just is a sweet friendship. The mystery is awesome too. What I have come to expect from Mrs. Johnson's books.

My name is Holly Joy Tammaru. I'm 11 years old. This is the best book of the series! I really enjoyed reading about Kate and her horses Windsong and Breeza. It is really interesting how Kate discovers the mystery about her two horses. After you read the part about the barnfire you just have to find out if Windsong really died or if she escaped.What really surprised me was how Anders turned out to be so nice afterall. Mrs. Johnson you did a great job on this book!It was so exciting that I couldn't put it down. Too bad this is the last book of the series!

Dr. Kaplan's writing is sincere without being condensating. My biggest fear in life was having to quit sugar, and his argument is logical and clear....sugar is addictive and destructive. He illustrates that he doesn't keep sugar in his house, if he doesn't, then why not me??? I have balloned up and down 15-20 lbs. every year like a roller coaster and each time i lose weight it's because I quit sugar, and as soon as I go back, the weight magically appears. Nothing has ever convinced me of my eating disorder than this book. Low carbs as well, and mucho salads. Carbs are a big culprit as well. Kaplan is a happy medium between Fit for Life and Dr. Atkins, both programs which go rather extreme.

This user-friendly guide to weight loss and healthful living is a wonderful read. Delightful anecdotes pepper this healthy stew, as Dr. Kaplan relates fascinating tales of guiding the country's wealthy and glamorous, as well as the everday reader, to fitter, healthier lives. The book may not get you famous, but it will take the inches off and put the smiles on. My smaller waist and increased self image are the proof. The chapters on alternative medicine were particularly useful, guiding the reader through the maze of alternative remedies and making sense of the myriad cures.

I bought 2 of these coloring books for my girls(Ages 4 & 6) While the girls are under the target age of this coloring book, they still love it. Its 400 pages are filled with a very nice variety of coloring and activity pages. The drawings to color are very good quality. There is a range of activities: crosswords, connect-the-numbers, word games, recipes, matching, crafts, and drawing activities (to name just what I've seen so far in the book.) This is a great book at a great price and has kept my girls quiet & busy for a few hours already. I hope the publishers will come out with more cartoon coloring books of this quality & activity variety.

If you love Holly Hobbie this great big coloring book is fantastic! Shows Holly Hobbie and all her friends! A wonderful gift idea for girls of all ages!!! Great to share with your friends; had to come back for more!

This book captures the fun, adventure, silliness, and spontaneity of a family drive. Outside every major city, throughout the country--and I mean today, not "yesteryear"--there are so many riches to be explored! This book captures them. And kids love such outings into the natural world: woods, streams, small towns, farm animals, funky vernacular buildings and stores. Young or old, you'll be swept along in the poetry of this book, along the winding roads...
A lovely read-aloud, that also welcomes older readers who will find themselves thinking of their own landscapes.
Love the illustrations. Burckhardt's images remind me of banners from state fairs--they're timeless and innocent and beautiful.

I learned the hard way there's a difference between rustic and rural. I lived for a blissful 18 months on the edge of Pennsylvania's Amish country, as hilly and bucolic as an Andrew Wyeth landscape, peopled by artisans, Quakers, and that quaint throwback, the gentleman farmer.

A move to central Florida revealed the sparse reality for most of rural America -- endless, flat vistas dotted with factory farms, rusting double-wides and the ubiquitous Wal-Mart, a purgatory of sameness and palpable despondence.

Fortunately, Rosen's jaunt takes us to that first America, still found in states as varied as New Hampshire or North Carolina, where swift changes in landscape and pace make for a true escape.

Rosen has crafted a travelogue narrated by a kid, and it's a joyful Sunday drive to nowhere in particular, and everyplace special. Rosen's gift for language could elevate a fortune cookie to the sublime, and what could've been merely a chattery boy in a car becomes at times a prose poem, rich with imagery and wordplay.

Rosen's one of those rare authors who can write convincingly with a kids' voice, remaining true to the inconsistencies and verbal shortcuts kids take without sounding cutesy.

Nor do we get shortchanged by the story itself; it's a sophisticated piece of description as we wind through the country, stopping along the way, getting acquainted with the boy's family and surroundings, but not once does he stretch our belief in the loquacious narrator.

Burckhardt's illustrations are crackled acrylics done on boards, and look like antique shop signs you might buy at an antique stand by the side of a country road.

My daughter loved this book. She enjoyed how Steve turns trash into treasure. She laughed out loud at his silly creations. I like the fact that the book promotes recycling.

Her fifth birthday is coming up and I am have been asked to read her favorite book to her class at school for her birthday. I asked my daughter what her favorite book is and she picked The Dumpster Diver. Interestingly, we don't own this book, but we checked it out from the library about a year ago. She still remembers this book as her favorite!

Inspired by Kerry Wade, an artist who takes old skis and turns them into chairs, Janet S. Wong crafted this colorful (thanks to illustrator David Roberts) story about Steve the electrician, also known as The Dumpster Diver. Every month, Steven dons his special dumpster diving suit, dives right in to the big trash bin, and counts on three young friends to assist him: one turns on the faucet, another keeps the hose from getting tangled up, and the other aims the nozzle at all of the nasty bugs and spiders that evacuate the dumpster in the wake of Steve's invasion - and then at Steve once he emerges from the dumpster. They turn "junk" into all kinds of neat toys, gizmos, and furniture.

Lest you think otherwise, the book doesn't really encourage young children to follow in Steve's dumpster-diving footsteps. In fact, Steve ends up sustaining an injury from this little hobby of his. The real point of the story, I believe, is to pass along the idea that you can have fun by turning materials you might normally throw away or just have lying around the house somewhere into useful, fun things. In other words, one man's trash can be another man's treasure.

This is a fairly large and colorful little book that young children should really enjoy - probably little boys more than little girls. Parents would do well to talk to their children about the story, though, not only because it could lead to some fun adventures that the parents can share with the child but also because you really don't want to come home from a hard day's work to find little Johnny sitting there surrounded by a bunch of broken toys and other junk he's collected from the neighbors.