United States Books

My son and I really enjoyed this story, and we have the paperback at home. His first grade teacher had been looking in bookstores for this book and couldn't find it, so we ordered it for her. We ordered the library binding, which is sturdier for all the little hands it will be held by! This book has good historical value, and the basic content is accurate, without scaring the children. It's the best "Jack and Annie" book!

I purchased this book in order to replace a damaged one. The transaction was smooth and the price was great!

Magic Tree House has done it again!! Jack and Annie are in for the adventure of their lives when they climb aboard the Titanic!! An unsinkable ship that hits an iceberg. What will Jack and Annie do when they dicover that the Titanic needed twice as many life boats as it had on deck?Jack and Annie find themselves just as sad as so many passengers when they realize that people could have survived if the people who planned the voyage had thought ahead. This is an amazing story that I couldn't stop reading! Women and children were put into the lifeboats first becuase men were brave and cared about their lives. More than 1,500 people lost their lives. Everything was explained clearly so that you don't get confused. After this tragedy, laws were made so that all ships would have enough life boats for all of its passengers and an INternational Ice Patrol was formed so that ships could be warned about severe ice conditions. In 1985 a scienctist named Dr. Robert Ballard discovered the ship under water. I reccommend this book to everyone that I know!!

Here is a summery of this book. There is two kids and they were playing in the woods when they found a tree house. So the kids decided to see in side. So read this book to find out what happens to the kids. The way I found out about this book is because my mom told me to read a book when I was in 5th grade. So I heard about this wonderful series of books. I would love to recommend you to read this book. Who can read this book you ask! Anybody can read this book. If they like to explore then you should read this book.

What did I like this book you ask! The thing I liked was the characters because they are young and they don't know what was going on. They are always getting in trouble and they don't know why they are in trouble. I also like the action in this book. There are so many parts. I don't know how to explain. There are some parts I don't like is the length of the book. It is to short.

I loved this book a lot because it is nice and cool. I really think you should read this book. So read this book.

My 1st grader hates to put it down, he would rather read Magic Tree House books, than play video games. He even reads them to his class and explains the story for show and tell. In his kindergarten class the teacher would also let him read the Magic Tree House books out loud, not to give her a break, but to promote reading out loud. Great books!

It was shipped to me within 2 days, great service and great product.

I had to read this book for one of my Woman's Studies classes at Western Illinois University. I think this is a must read book for everyone (especially those who are in recovery or have been convicted of a violent crime of this nature). It is a bit graphic and I don't recomend that anyone under high school age read it. I had to set it down a couple of times due to that, but, it was nessessary to truely understand Ms. Raine's story. You don't truely understand what someone goes though after rape without going through it yourself.

A friend loaned this book to me but it is likely a book I will never forget. Nancy Venable Raine tells her important story in a very accessible way. As a nurse who took care of rape victims in the middle 80's and now a school nurse, I am aware that the secret of abuse and assault reverberates in too many lives. And while I would never say that my experiences as a young nurse were equivalent to those of my patients, I vividly remember hearing my victim-patients stories and identifying with them. Many of my victim-patients were not that different from me--young, single, living alone. During that time, I _usually_ slept with the lights on because I wanted to try to be able to identify my perpetrator, if that ever happened to me.

Raine shows us her story, how it echoes in her life. Coming back from and integrating the experience in life is not, cannot be easy but one cannot help but feel she is one of the minority of individuals who gets the needed help to do so.

Now, in year 2007, I was acutely aware that at times Raine paired the rape experience and the torture experience. It is a source of sadness to me that we, as a nation, are perpetuating that experience for so many. There is something profound about her description of the rape victim as a container for her perpetrator's anger. And that is far from the only profound idea.

Having also read "Lucky" by Alice Sebold, I would say they are both very important books but this book is a far better glimpse into the recovery aspect.

"Throw away the lights, the definitions
And say of what you see in the dark" - Wallace Stevens

"Speech is civilization itself. The word . . . preserves contact - it is silence which isolates." - Thomas Mann

Following her rape, this author became a completely different person, a person who lived "with sudden fear the way others live with cancer. The fear was always there." It took seven years before she could begin writing about her experience. She states that the anniversary of her rape "was more significant than my own birthday, and yet there was only silence . . . I had become, the one who marked her anniversaries in silence . . . Could I celebrate my survival in silence and alone? Not according to Webster's, which defines the verb "to celebrate" this way: "to perform (a sacrament or solemn ceremony) publicly and with appropriate rites" . . . It pained my family and friends to remember. To acknowledge my experience might bring up what they hoped I had forgotten . . . for me to remind them that I had not forgotten seemed unkind, even cruel, because I knew they needed to believe I had. Our rite was, therefore, silence."

"I thought about Wittgenstein's observation that the limits of language are the limits of reality. Was rape off limits to our most distinctly human attribute - language? . . . I could no longer consent to silence."

Another friend and rape victim asked her, "How do I tell people who don't know, people who might become close friends? If I don't tell them, it makes it a secret, like something to be ashamed of. When I do tell them, they make it worse. They never ask me about it. It'a a part of me, part of who I am now, but they don't want to know about it. It's no-win. Just no-win."

"But silence has the rusty taste of shame. The words 'shut up' are the most terrible words I know. I cannot hear them without feeling cold to the bone. The man who raped me spat those words out over and over during the hours of my attack - when I screamed when I tried to talk him out of what he was doing, when I protested . . . The real shame, as I have learned, is to consent to them."

So she wrote an essay "Returns of the Day" in The New York Times Magazine in 1994. In response "Without exception, all of the letters from survivors described the isolation of the aftermath of rape, its life-altering transfromations."

"The victims of rape must carry their memories with them for the rest of their lives. They must not also carry the burden of silence and shame."

If you have friend or family member dealing with these issues (and the odds are that you do), here are other books that are also excellent on this and related topics, "Lucky" & "The Lovely Bones" by Alice Sebold, & "Siolence" edited by Susan McMaster - all written by women. Rape victims and victims of relationship violence and abuse often hide their experiences and the behaviors of their abusers, feeling ashamed for even being involved with the abusive patterns. All of these books suggest women become more free and mentally at ease when they realize there is nothing to be ashamed of about being victimized. And they suggest the causes of our silences and the things we hide probably deserve more attention, new perspectives, and reconsideration.

Ms. Raine describes the trauma and recovery of rape in clear and helpful terms and I appreciate the references to other works about rape recovery and feminism. Raine's AFTER SILENCE inspired me to read another landmark TRAUMA AND RECOVERY by Judith Herman, MD. It is hard to find books about rape recovery and people who can and will talk calmly, rationally, compassionately (or at all) about this subject. Raine's AFTER SILENCE should be required reading in high school for both boys and girls! Rape is so widespread that it should be addressed more often by family and friends; local, state, national, and world leaders; educators and news media. Raine also references I NEVER CALLED IT RAPE by Robin Morgan, another excellent source for raising awareness of the frequency and extent of rape in society. My own childhood incest and young adult rape were not known to my parents, siblings and doctors for decades even though the symptoms were so obvious that I was hospitalized for months. Can't praise Raine's work enough. My heartfelt gratitude goes out to Raine and all those who made her work possible. Healing may be slow in coming, but it does come, after the silence, with the help of authors like Raine.

I picked this book up in a used book store. Although I am not a huge fan of his music I picked the book thinking it may be interesting. I was actually surprised to find out how good this book was to read. DMX discloses so much of his personal life in this book. He is very candid and does an excellent job telling his life story from his passion for pitbulls to his problems with drugs.

There aren't many people who possess the energy and resilience that DMX has. He connects with his audience in ways beyond belief. I met him at a recent performance, was on stage with him the whole time, and was literally blown away. He is one of the greatest performers in the industry today and should be recognized as such. I appreciate his honesty in his book and in his life. What a great man!!

I just grabbed this book out of curiosity. I knew of DMX and his music but no fan. Wow, was I impressed. To be completely honest, I figured it wouldn't be so good because frankly, how good of a story can a ghetto playa bring to the table?
Well, a very good one in fact. My favorite part of it was that he didn't restrain himself from sounding intimate. He would describe how he was living with nothing and then he had bought a little bouncy ball and that was the shiznit! lol I love that. He appreciated the small things. He still had a heart and needed love no matter how roughed up he was. I got mad respect for him and I feel his story was genuine. DMX did not try to make the projects seem cool or anything. I had a picture the entire time reading it. Dark, gloomy, dirty streets and bad vibes. I recommend this book. Seriously, just read it with an open mind. WOW.

Never could have imagined what a rough life DMX had. He has truly defied all odds!

This book offers nothing positive at all. DMX lived a negative life and he speaks negative rap. He robbed people (mostly women) as a youngster. He robbed other kids by using his dog. He stole cars. He stole for the thrill and because he wanted nice things without working for them. And he didn't care who he stole from. He stole a chain from his friend (TQ). He would offer his home made tapes for sell to people, take their money and not give them anything. He promotes violence. He spent most of his life victimizing people in and out of jail. At one point in the later chapters and in one of his raps, he implies raping men in jail. He summarizes quickly what his jail time was like, he avoids going into alot of detail about those years. He's showing you the slice of his life that he wants to show.

He spends too much time on the earliest years of his life which are uninteresting. He doesn't really cover the parts of his life that most people are interested in. He doesn't talk much about the actual business of music. He doesn't talk about how his life changed with the music business success. He doesn't talk about how he grew as a person or what he learned from his incarcerations. Did he spend his time in jail doing anything positive? Or was his jail time just fighting people and rapping about it?

I do appreciate his talent, but not his messages. There were alot of DMX songs that I used to listen to. After reading this book, I see him more vividly now. I see him as a horrible person who I would want nothing to do with. He isn't a person that should be celebrated, he should be ashamed for the life he has led.

You shouldn't buy this book. You shouldn't even borrow it. It's a waste of time to read, there are much better, more positive things that you could be doing with your life.

Although I think it may be a bit advanced for my 9 yr. old, I'm still glad I purchased this book for my most recent book club choice. A gentle book that flows easily, and the characters change for the better in wonderful ways. The one thing that bugged me was Mrs. Shaw and her smelling salts. It almost seemed to me that Polly Milton was the better 'mother' to the Shaw family. All in all, this is truly a memorable classic.

This book started off a bit slow, but if you read more than a page or two at a time, I think you will like it. This story is about a girl from the country who goes to visit her cousins in New York. Polly's cousin, Fanny, and her friends find Polly "coutrified" and "old fashioned". Everyone falls in love with her because of her quiet manner along with the fact that she dresses and acts her age. Although their are multiple hardships along the way, you couldn't have wanted the book to end any other way. I recomend that you don't read the book until you are at least 11 or 12 because some of the wording is odd because it was writtedn so long ago. Happy Reading!

Alas. In my opinion, both "An Old-Fashioned Girl" and "Eight Cousins" audio versions would benefit by having a much younger narrator. Despite her long and illustrious career in audio, Flo Gibson is now too old to bring these novels to life. They are books about young girls, and they are obviously being read by a grandmother. Rather than illustrating the timeless quality of these fine books, an elderly reader makes the books simply sound old and out-of-date. What were the publishers thinking?---CaroJ11

An Old Fashioned Girl begins with a teenage girl, Polly who visits her cousins in the city. There, she realises that they are exactly the opposite of the old fashioned girl that she is, and this causes some distress on both sides. Being a modern woman, I expected that this book would be a wonderful read but the initial chapters where Polly was a teenager were hard to take in. Alcott created what she felt to be the "perfect" teenage model in Polly, but I found myself wishing that this "perfect teenage model" would loosen up a bit and do something for herself instead of serving everybody else, which was the "proper thing to do." Ironically, Alcott herself wrote in the book "excessive virtue doesn't last long ...except with little prigs in the goody storybooks." She should have taken herself more seriously because her main character came very close to becoming exactly that! Compared to other classics like Tom Sawyer, The Secret Garden and The Railway Children, the teenagers in the book were very unrealistic, I dare say even for that time. Alcott wrote too much of what she wanted children or teenagers to be, opposed what they actually were, which can get exasperating. However, that is less than half the book, which follows into young adulthood. In here the characters become more realistic, and Polly begins to be truly affected by her poverty and to long to be different. To avoid spoilers, it morphed from an exasperating read into a very good read. Overall, the valuable lessons in the book make it good addition to any collection, especially for children.

Do you ever feel like you are tied up in our times? Worrying too much about cell phones, fashions, and the latest whatevers? This book can set you straight. It gives you a peace of mind and fills you with simple pleasures.

The stories main character, Polly, we meet at the age of 14. She has come to stay with rich friends for a while. THey do everything so differently from she. The family has two daughters. One that is two years older than Polly called Fan, who cares for fashion, balls, and beaus. The author daughter is six and she is fixed onoo having her own way about everything. THe young man in the family Tom is a trouble maker, who no matter how hard he tries can't seem to stay out of trouble very long.

Polly is a gentle, kind, loving, caring, selfless, practical, and sensible girl. SHe becomes a great service to this family, touching each of them in a special way. She moves in the same town six years later and gives piano lessons. The family needs her more than ever and she helps them all in the end. This book has heart, romance, and realness to it that we can all relate to, rich or poor, young or old. It will make you feel warm fuzzies. Read on a rainy day underneath a flanel blanket!

The junior standard-bearer for civil rights during the era of segregation recounts his rise through those times toward his own national recognition. It's an intimate and introspective offering. It's a unique perspective.
After his Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, crashes, he self-imposes exile as an "invisible man" in New York working as a grant officer for a private charity:
(p398) "New York was just too big for me. I didn't feel as if I could get my hands around it. In the South, communities seemed comprehensible, manageable, workable. You could see where things started and ended. You could get a grasp of the place and the people, as well as their problems. And you could respond to those problems with solutions that might work...."
He always has the South on his mind where there remains "a spirit instilled by the civil rights movement that is still felt and remembered today, a spirit that was not and is not felt in the same way in the North. That, I believe, is the huge difference between the legacy of the civil rights movement in the North and the South. All the great battlegrounds of the civil rights movement were in the South. That fact is cherished and remembered by the people there." (p 208).
There is confusion in "Feel Angry with Me". The chapter describes the fall of Schwerner, Goodman, and Chaney. Their violent deaths in defense of the U.S. Constitution and the rule of law during Freedom Summer (1964) fixed the nation's eyes on racist brutality in Mississippi. The confusion is in character casting and mixing the ridiculous partying with his friend, actress, Shirley MacLaine and his virginity in the same chapter with the sublime. Here, especially, the book sacrifices continuity to rigid chronology.
In and out of church - and on both sides of the pulpit - his cast of characters is most colorful, including a prominent one (not MacLaine) today facing bizarre criminal charges. So many stories within the author's story could make for a better book than a strict chronology.
The author alludes to his motivation to influence the masses, (p 400) "I felt the spirit, the hand of the Lord, the power of the Bible -- all of those things -- but only when they flowed through the church and out into the streets. As long as God and His teachings were kept inside the wall of a sanctuary, as they were when I was young, the church meant next to nothing to me." Like a good, "whooping" preacher, he is, at times, poetic. It's some of his best stuff.
Congressman Lewis is no great hero, though he has a measure of both -- greatness of association to the movement he led until the times turned violent -- and heroism for holding to his sometimes politically incorrect beliefs, though not sufficiently incorrect for this reviewer. And his book is not great literature. It is his gift to us with an interest in non-violent social change.

Ever since I came to the U.S. I learned about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his philosophy of non-violence, I always wanted to learn more about the civil rights movement because of the way African American citizens overcame their obstacles in a non-violent way.


Walking with the wind is a memoir of the author John Lewis, the book begins at his home town where he was raised and learned the meaning of discrimination at an early age. The book describes his whole life how he was discriminated and how became involved with the movement, and how he later on became chair man of the SNCC.
The book also has a part where it only describes the life of John Lewis after the movement, what he does and what happens to all of his close friends, this is at the end of the book, but also talks about how he tries to become something important in U.S. politics.


My favorite part of the whole book is when John Lewis is watching the presidential elections of 1976, when he sees that Jimmy Carter was elected he begins to cry because like he says, he finally sees the hands that picked cotton, picking a president, he cries because he sees that all his hard work pays off, by the government counting the black vote.


The knowledge that John Lewis wants to pass down to readers is the struggle of all African American people to gain freedom and rights, he wants the new generation of people of color to know how much the old generation had to go through to gain all the freedom kids posses these days.


This book is boring, there is almost no action, it is mostly talking about politics, so do not read this book if you are not hooked by memoirs. It takes time to get into the good stuff, like for example, there are parts where the author describes the way police responded in a violent way to a non-violent protest, there are many occasions like this through out the whole book.

I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in learning more about the Civil Rights Movement. Lewis' broad range of experiences gives the reader a glimpse into nearly every facet of the 1960's part of the movement. However, it is also useful for the specific study of the Nashville student movement and the study of SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee).

John Lewis' memoir tells of his pivotal role in the civil rights movement as , literally, its most prominent "fall guy." John Lewis was physically at the forefront of the major civil rights events-getting beaten, arrested, and ultimately, prevailing in the struggle to desegregate the south. He was one of the original Freedom Riders as well as the first person across the Pettis Bridge in Selma. He explains all of his actions and ethics through a mirror of highly disciplined non-violence that leaves the reader in awe of his amazing achievements. In sum, this book is a "must-read" for anyone interested in the civil rights movement.

John Lewis's powerful and moving retelling of his journey through the
Civil Rights years, much of it in leadership positions, is a walk through
important American history. His clarity of purpose, values, honed by the
beatings and jailings of those years shine through it all. This personal
insight into events we read about in history makes it real, and makes us
admire the courage and persistence of people like John Lewis. In our present
times of struggle over issues of war, environment and economic fairness,
we need both a reminder of this historical struggle and a next generation
to press us to make changes, to make a difference. A must read for anyone
concerned about our present times.

Crimmon's book was heart-wrenching to read. The story of her husband's TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury) and the after effects of it on her life, his life and their daughter have to be read to be understood. I can't do it justice. She keeps a good sense of humor throughout the book but there is certainly an underlying cynical and bitter tone throughout. Not that I can blame her. It's real. It's life and a it ain't pretty. Personally, after reading this I literally wanted to make all my loved ones wear helmets each day after reading about the hell that TBI can put a family through.

We read this book for book club and we all loved it. Only now I understand what my cousin and his family have gone through after he had an bicycle accident and was in a coma for three days. The writer clearly describes the pain and anguish she and her daughter went through. I admire her absolute commitment to her husband and getting him back on his feet and back to a "regular" life. This is a great and informational book to read for everybody who comes into contact with a person with brain injury.

I found this account of a severe brain injury and the bumpy road to recovery very moving. I ask will there be more to Cathy and her husband's experiences
written as a memoir at some later date? Maybe not this book was published in September 2000. Worth the read!

I read this book in four nights, right before bed. I tore through it like no other memoir before. This book, for me, was like reading my own parents' memoir. My father suffered a TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury) when I was four/five years old. Of course, so much of what was available to the author's husband was simply not around 45 years ago. I understand so much more why my father acted the way he did for the remaining 16 years of his life. This book is powerful. It is honest, raw, intense, lighthearted at times, funny, sad, well written and easy to read (though the subject matter is quite painful at times)... an all around excellent book. I am so glad that I read it, and plan to keep this one.

An honest telling of head injury and what family will experience.

I was shocked at what her daughter, Kelly, was exposed to - I have since read that the author now regrets this. Rehab is NO PLACE for children - or an endless stream of friends. I am sad that her husband's privacy was taken away in order to project 'normalcy' or the authors belief in emotional honesty. She should have protected her husband and her daughter. THIS is the time when you close the door to the world outside and tend to your family - as best you can.

I feel for the author. How quickly the nurses/non-doctors put forth a 'professional opinion' about brain injury. As I often say: Everybody wants to be a doctor, nobody want to go to medical school. You have to see brain injury over a long span of time, which is years and decades. A nurse who sees them admitted and discharged knows next to nothing, unless personally affected.

The beginning of the story was confusing to me because the marriage had so little intimacy. The parents were 2 ships in the night and then they had a child. This little girl was utterly alone through a waking nightmare. I hope she finds the support that she will need as she grows up.

Eventually, the author acknowledges her lack of connection to husband and child and explains herself in a way that is somewhat satisfying.

I appreciate her honesty in the discussion on disinhibition. You can count on it happening and it's real hard to explain to people - especially when you have to.

Worth reading, though disturbing in ways the author may not have intended.

This book has many useful suggestions and shows a deep understanding of the challenges of caregiving for someone with dementia. It was comforting to read the short descriptions of situations and how to react to them. It made me less irritable with caring for my relative. I plan to get another copy to have available for when I meet other people who face the same issues.

A truly remarkable and instructional guide for care givers of people with dementia or alzheimers. So much of what was going on in my mother's life at this stage, began to make sense to me and I was better prepared to help her. Great book!

Nuria Fernandez
Chicago

An extremely helpful book for those who are experiencing dementia and/or Alzheimer's with a loved one. You are not alone! And all those strange things that are happening are not out of the ordinary for the condition. This book covers the basics, and provides helpful suggestions for living with, caring for, and coping with dementia and your love one.

This is an excellent book. It is written in a warm and caring manner which is easy to understand. It is full of information not just for anyone dealing with a dementia patient, but for anybody who is caring for another person, (or who may think at some point they will). It covers subjects which apply to the caring of anyone who is ill and/or elderly, even if it is not dementia. I would recommend this book to anyone, before they are faced with the illness. I wish I'd read it sooner, but better late than never. Absolutely a great book, it should be in every library. I plan to buy 2 copies for my library, I will definitely NOT donate mine. I can't say enough good things about this book.

This book, now in its 4th edition, is absolutely one of the finest books that has been written regarding Alzheimer's Disease and the process of care giving. Full of detail about the disease, this book also takes it a step further, providing very practical information on care giving, making a home / care giving setting a safe place, and, frankly, providing suggestions for periodic care giving to the care giver. Throughout the several editions, I have come to recommend, loan, give, patients and care givers this book perhaps 50 times or more, and, every time I hear the same thing - "what a helpful, fantastic book!". Published by Johns Hopkins and holding a 95% 5 star rating on Amazon, it's unbeatable. it's 600 pages long. that might, at first blush, seem like a lot to read. none of us who give care to others can set aside 10 to 60 hours (depending on your reading speed) right away to read it all and made sense of it all. Take your time. It's not a race to get through it - it's a race to understand the contents - take your time and begin to put into practice an additional suggestion each day. This book is a labor of love and is worth the price, used, new, and way more (oh no - don't tell Johns Hopkins that or they'll start charging us a lot more!!). Best of luck, and be sure to find for yourself a support group in your community or on-line.

This is an excellent, fun book. My 2yr 7 month daughter mimics each of the animals. Its a lot of interactive fun!

I don't think I've ever quite understood the whole Eric Carle thing. Still, I have to hand it him that his paintins are incredible and the books are simple enough one can force a dozen school lessons from them. This particular one gives repetition to the "I can" phrase as kids imitate the movements of various animals--that's a fun side effect.

Our 20 month old and 3 year old boys love this Eric Carle gem. It combines beautiful pictures of animals with simple rhythmic text showing body parts and actions -- turning heads, bending necks, raising shoulders, arching backs and others. Best of all, it allows active participation by imitating what is on the page. We have purchased quite a few books but this one is magic.

My 18 month old son loves this book! He watched me do the movements as I read it and now he does them on his own when I read the book! Very cute and interactive.

In this book, various animals and children move parts of their body and encourage other children to do so.

Eric Carle is truly a master of this kind of text. Each spread follows the same repetitive structure - "I'm a $ANIMAL and I can $VERB my $BODYPART - can you? I can do it!" - which makes it very suitable both for young children learning to speak and older children figuring out how to read.

The only part I don't like is at the end, when the little boy says to his parrot (in a neat turnaround) "I am I, and I can wiggle my toe". It doesn't sound very idiomatic to me - I would say, in normal speech "I am me", or perhaps (in the form followed in the rest of the book) "I am a child" or "I am a person" or "I am a human".

This book is also, obviously good to encourage kids to move during a rainy-day storytime, or to let them move if they always are fidgeting during storytime.

My friend had this book and from the moment I laid eyes on it, I thought "I have to have one for myself" I am addicted to it. I read it every night. I can picture the finished recipes in my head, when I read them. The best thing that I love about the book is that it brings you back into history on when, who, and how the recipe was, first, created. If you love Louisiana food and the Louisiana way of life, you will be obsessed with it. Christina Laborde, Marksville, Louisiana.

Like it says its a Encyclopedia, theres a bit of history in the front that makes for great reading. The best part is the recipe's which are varied and very good. My Wife's a great cook and has well over a 100 cookbooks already but she uses this one quite often.

I purchased this book recently. It is very large and will not fit on many book shelves. Includes a great variety of recipes including many that you would probably classify as italian, german, or of other origin. Attractive pictures, and a large number of pages devoted to the history of cooking in Louisiana. I would not call it exhaustive, but it has a nice variety of recipes. I have only tried making the gumbo so far and would say that I prefer the recipe in Paul Prudhome's Louisiana Kitchen. If you could only buy one book, I would recommend the Prudhome cookbook over this one. I found the Prudhome recipies more appealing and the book is much less costly.

This book is unbelievably impressive. After four years, I finally got my copy. This book is roughly 800 pgs. About 100+ are dedicated up front to the story of the seven nations that make up Cajun and Creole cuisine. I love this insightful info. Does it help you cook any better know, but if you like a little background info with your cookbooks, this over-achieves.

What I thoroughly enjoyed was the brief explanation of the difference between Cajun and Creole cuisines. It was only a couple of paragraphs, but I appreciated the plain English. (It's the little things that make me happy.)

The recipes, as expected, are voluminous and accommodate a range of skill sets. Each recipe has a short comment. I would've liked a little more information about the origin of the particular recipe, but I'm greedy like that. (For instance, are these Folse's recipes or a particular family's recipe, etc.) The recipes are organized into the following chapters:

-Roux, Stocks & Sauces
-Breakfast & Lunch
-Appetizers & Hors d'Oeurves
-Soups
-Salads
-Veggies
-Seafood
-Poultry
-Meat
-Wild Game
-Desserts
-Breads
-Dairy
-Beverages
-Festivals
-Plantations
-Holiday & Special Occasion Menus
-Lagniappe

Now here is why four instead of five stars: this is a definitive text (which should have earned a James Beard award), but the photography leaves a lot to be desired. There is a ton of it, but it is poorly lit. It and the graphic design of the book give the entire thing an `80s feel. This was first published in 2004! Although this is a classic reference on Southeastern Louisiana cuisine, the photography makes it feel slightly less than polished. With that said, it is still more than worth the cost of ownership.

In the past, I spoke about my love for Williams-Sonoma New Orleans: Authentic Recipes Celebrating The Foods Of the World (Williams-Sonoma Foods of the World). It is still a valid text because it is a great quick reference. The photography is drop-dead gorgeous. However, if you want comprehensive and in-depth, this encyclopedia is for you.

Thank you, John Folse, for this epic undertaking. Any other cookbook you purchase for this cuisine will simply be for collector's purposes. Trust me, you don't need anything else!

This is the most impressive book yet on cajun/ creole cooking. Outstanding in every way (except perhaps the cornbread, all of which had sugar in it, and grandma would whop him over the head with her iron skillet for THAT). Can't wait to cook from this.

The recipes, history, festivals, photos, and everything else make this HUGE book indeed an encyclopedia. Impressive that the Italian and German settlers to the state were included in the history and recipe tradition as well, as they generally seem to be left out.

I Say a Prayer for Me was an excellent book. I had actually purchased it locally about 2 years ago and had not gotten around to reading it until we were deciding which book to read next in by Sisterhood Ministries group. I suggested this book, and everyone including myself, could not believe what a great book it was. To read about Stanice's life and her struggles with what God would have her to do, was true testimony of how Faith can turn your life around. After we finished the book, I ordered additional copies from Amazon and gave them to my sisters as gifts, and they also raved about how good this book was and have since purchased additional copies and given them to their friends. Great work, Stanice!!!!

The writer gives the impression that you can overcome herion addiction just by praying and becoming a member of the 700 club.

Whew, what can one say after reading this book!?! To read this woman's stories of what she experienced and to see her now; only God can create such a transformation in one's life. I laughed and I cried as I read through the chapters. Some reminded me of my own experiences. This is a MUST read! If you are in need of any type of healing, it will definitely take place in the pages of this book.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Her life is an inspiration. She taught me to consider God in all things no matter how small I may think it is. Her story of her California trip was great and really taught me to witness to anyone and everyone. This was my selection for my bookclub and I was the toast of the day. We all enjoyed this one.

Not only was this book written as a testimony to show how GOD navigates our lives to help us know that we are loved it also shows that with faith all things are possible. This book is not only for those with drug or alcohol addictions but it is for those of us who suffer addictions of all kinds, it is for those of us who don't believe in ourselves, for those who have experienced hurt and also dished hurt out towards others. The lord spoke to me personally thru his vessel Stanice. Thank you for allowing your loving and gentle kindness to flow from this wonderful women who has allowed you to use her. I am and will always be in loving awe of your unconditional love.