I Books

My grandson (22 months) laughs when this is read and at the same time has learned the names of various musical instruments

This book is a trip ! I teach Music K-2 and all the children loved this book. The best part about Shy Fellow is that it's a great teaching tool in terms of all different musical instruments swallowed. The children were amused, curious and interested with every page!
Music Teachers: I highly recommend this book !!

This is a great book to use introduce instruments to young students. Has some very funny rhymes for young ones. A great companion book to I know an Old Woman... A must for music teachers. Can be used as a major part of the lesson. Even would be great to leave for sub to read and show pictures of the instruments.

This book is delicious! A parody on the song, " I know an old Lady who Swallowed a Fly", "I know a Shy Fellow Who Swallowed a Cello" is funnier and delightfully illustrated. I purchased it because I am a music educator, and I highly recommend it for children from ages 3 to 100, but only if they have active imaginations.

The kids in my class loved singing along. I read/sang it with my K-3 music students. They all know the tune and enjoyed this variation. I used it to introduce various instruments and as a memory test for the kids. Cute pictures, well written. Just be ready to explain the word "bellow."

The sign of a truly good children's book: fabulous illustrations, fun and interesting to read, parent-friendly, time-less. Every time I pull out this book, my 14-month gathers up all her stuffed cat toys and we read it together. There are lots of opportunities in the book to use different voices to bring the cats to life. This is one of our favorite books and will have a special place on our bookshelf for years to come. I think even dog people would like this book.

Great book for any cat lover

author of "Hobo Finds A Home"

My daughter checked this book out at school.
She loved it so much, and hated to return it to the library, so I ordered it for her for Christmas.
What a great story about liking cats with awesome illustrations to go with it.
I highly recommend it for anyone, cat lovers or not!

I concur with the consensus on here. Like the other Kimberly, I checked this book out for my 2 year old daughter at our local library. After 4 renewals from the library, I had to get this one.

The artwork is fabulous and the rhyming text is easy for a young one to memorize. Our daughter now "reads" the book to us reciting "Sing a little ditty, cats!" A must for cat lovers as it shows how much personality cats truly have.

We also love the opening page which has a list of colorful characters such as Lord Buttons, Pickles Jones, and Nacho Grande. We have to pick out which cartoon kitties look like our two real ones.

Loads of fun for your little one! Highly recommend!

The author and artist of this work must indeed like cats as there are hundreds(?) of drawings of these fury little creatures in this work. This is certainly a book that I would add to my young child's library as the pictures are endless, and surprisingly all different. The colors are great and the artist, Pamela Paparone, has done a wonderful job with her subject. You can read this book with your child over and over again, and each time, both you, and your child, will see something new with each reading. The text goes well with the art. The colors are quite eye catching as the entire layout of the book. Recommend this one quite highly.

I bought this book shortly after it came out and felt an immediate connection to the author. Cindy writes from the heart. She gives a small section of information about what brought her from failed business to failed business (and yes, failed marriage too) to finally realize, by trial and error what she was missing from the formula.

She provides solid overviews of how to plan out the start up of a new business and shares the reasons that many businesses she tried failed and gives suggestions on what to do to avoid buying before thinking things through.

An entire section of her book gives step by step tutorials with many photos that clearly and simply make the production of personalized items like t-shirts, mousepads, puzzles, and all sorts of heat transfer personalized or custom made products. She even had a section on refillling cartridges even though she said it's really tough and didn't really recommend refilling.

I found every thing she wrote to be truthful and apparently from the heart of someone who's been down the road that many of us are now going down.

She stresses planning and asking questions and also gives her email address and invites all who have the book to write her for additional support when there are questions that come up later. I've written with her about what printer models are the ones to buy since they keep changing and she has been very helpful and nice in her emails.

I read what the person said in a review just now about how there was no information that would help them start and run a business. I don't know if that person read the right book or what. I found this book very helpful, motivational, and extremely informative.

If you're looking for a book about how to start a business and run it on a day to day basis with things like accounting or taxes, this isn't it. What this is, is a book that will teach you how to make personalized items and troubleshoot when things go wrong. It has a glossary that gives most of the terminology used with transfers and puts everything in plain, easy to understand English. I've read it several times because it always seems to bring me new information each time.

I recommend this book to anyone who asks me how I got into doing this business.

She is very good about specifics and how to's. The best part is sending the forums address for issues. Wonderful resource in an everchanging market area.

I got this book so I could learn about T-shirt printing and sublimation.

Lots of great info on regular transfer printing on fabric, but not as much info on sublimation as I was hoping for.

A lot of good advice on running a T-shirt business and tips for attracting customers and keeping them by producing a quality product.

Haven't finished yet, but this is an inspiring book with great info.

After years of experimenting for great results I finally figured out most of the things in this book. However, I STILL learned a few tricks from Cindy. If this book had been available I could have saved hundreds of dollars in failed experiments. Well worth the small investment cost for this book for those serious in perusing this craft/art.

What a story, Entertaining and thoughtful. Gives a snapshot of Nashville as seen by a West coast person. Great splashes of humor, Wonderful photography.

Wonderful! Reading this book was an adventurous experience by itself, very real. Nashville seems like a very romantic, historic place. I feel like visiting it right away. Very nice photographs!! Loved it!!

This reads very easy -- like a rather funny travelogue / description of Nashville sent to you by one of your literary friends. Complete with pictures and personal experiences from the point of view of an Asian Indian immigrant.

This is an excellent book to learn about Nashville from the eyes of a new comer. good photography, excellent choice of words. absolutely loved it!!

I loved the symbolism in snow flakes! Very moving! The book is full of humor, and yet is very literary. As others have said, the author uses photography to accentuate his writing, very impressive!

He says things in a way that gives the average person the courage to say what needs to be said.
From Barb M.

Warm fuzzies. I have to agree that this entire book says what many people would like to say but can't put it in words. My favorite is page 56 "My Music". I come from a very musical family, so this really gave warm fuzzies. And, I love the last line. I can imagine my daughter's fiancee reading this to her - because, her name is "Melody".

"I Need To Know" is a great little book. It takes you deep into the real definition of relationship and true love. For a guy like me, who struggles to find the right words, this book really hits the mark. I am truly committed to my relationship, and this book has helped me find the right words and ideas to share with my spouse. Many times, we simply read it to each other, which then generate a lot of great conversations that we would otherwise get lost in our busy lives.
This is a great book and should be shared by all who seek to nurture and grow in love and relationships. By the way, my wife and I will be celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary this year... we love each other dearly and we are setting our sights on 50!

With "I Need You to Know" Mr. Saylor invites the reader to uncomplicate the love relationship by exploring and expressing the most basic, yet most important of human emotions. This book is a journey of the heart. There is something here for everyone.

I loved the book I Need You to Know!

The book is an in depth, emotionally touching expression of the strongest human emotion, and the ideal level of communication in which we all aspire to reach in order to express that which is hidden, untapped or merely the lack of being unable to communicate the treasures that lie within the heart.

The gentle and tender expression of H.Thomas Saylor's poems have a way of melting the heart and is a refreshing fragrance of purity, truth and hope that transcends this expression.

Thank you H.Thomas Saylor for your gift from the heart!

This book is a MUST read for all who are single or in a committed relationship. It gives insight and direction in how to have a deeper, more meaningful relationship by communicating.

Terri's book is an excellent source in understandig the detached employee and how to motivate positive changes.

Real life tools to heal real life problems in business! What a great way to begin your future at work! Read this book, take the disengagement test and begin performing at your highest level of effectiveness at work!

I have purchased a number of these and sent them to my best clients. It is rare to find a book that succinctly states what most of my clients and colleagues deal with every day...the virus of disengagement. Terri has created a great framework to deal with the issue. Some of the real gems in the book have to do with debunking some of our time honored management behaviors. Take, for example, how we spend all of our time dealing with our problem employees, working with them, trying desperately to motivate them, while we pay little attention to our top performers. No wonder we have turnover.

Great book, Terri, can't wait to see what you come up with next!

As an employer of many, this book certainly hit home.

It is a must-read for employers of any sized company, because what we really look for is the engaged employee.

Lots of nuggets to help prevent the employer from making mistakes in hiring, and also strategies for them to identify the warning signs of disengagement before it occurs.

I have an important disclaimer. I have known the author in a professional capacity for nearly five years. And I was never aware of the knowledge that she had to share with respect to engagement. In any business the key to success is a happy employee first. I believe this at my core. One cannot have satisfied customers without service providers that are engaged. We are lost as business operators without the commitment and professionalism of our frontline team members. The information contained between the covers of this well written and easy to implement tome has helped me to embrace my employee-centric approach to customer satisfaction to an even greater degree.

You owe it to yourself, your team, and your customers to read this one twice!

This has been the favorite book of our 15 month old daughter since we bought it 5 months ago. In addition to feeling the different textures of all the different "monsters", she especially loves looking and laughing at herself in the mirror on the last page. Her 22 month old cousin loved it so much that we bought him one for his birthday too. Guaranteed hit with little boys and girls.

My 8-month old has loved this book since we got it three months ago. He reaches out to touch the monsters and he loves the last page with the mirror. It costs a little more than other baby books but is definitely worth it.

We got this book for my son when he was 6 months old. He was absolutely fascinated with the red hair on the cover monster and with the sparkly texture on one of the other monsters.

He is 9 month now and loves the surprise of the monsters under the flaps. It been a great book that keeps his attention while I read it to him!

The pictures are cute and colorful and as an adult I find that it is fun to read this book to him.

We bought this for my daughter's first birthday. She immediately loved turning the flaps to find the monsters and pet all the different textures. It's been a couple of months now and it's still one of her favorite books! She sits and turns the pages on her own and loves kissing her reflection in the mirror at the end. A great book I'd recommend to anyone!

I bought this along with about 6 other books for my neice when she was just about a year or so. She has yet to put this one down! It's the perfect size for toddlers as well as very engaging. The premise of the book is that not only is it touch and feel but the toddler has to find where the monsters are hiding. For instance, one hides behind the couch, another under the table, and another in the bathroom cabinet. (My neice now checks all those places to see if her monster friends are hiding there :) Each montster also has a 'feel' soft and fuzzy, coarse, smooth, etc. They are also brightly colored so she works on her colors as well. Overall its a great book and I would highly recommend it.

Looking for things to do with my Mother who is in the realms of Alzheimer's Trying to tickle the mind with fun things. These books are great. I enjoy too.

I spy books are always fun and this book is great. I used it as an example for a photography class that I teach at our middle school. The students loved it

I saw the book "I Spy" in a house where I was visiting and had to have it for one of my grandchildren. I found the items they asked you to find, sometimes hard if not impossible for me to find. But I figured that my 10 year old grandson could handle it and find them.
I would recommend it to anyone.

I ran across this book (figuratively, not literally) in my dermatologist's waiting room. Thanks to a moderate wait, and a book of only forty pages, that are mainly photographs, I was able to get a good look at it. I had not before seen one of the I Spy books, of which there is a series, although I knew of the game, and had played it. I was impressed with the book, although I initially had reservations about where it would be of most use.

As to the book's features, it is forty pages of large, colorful photographs, most covering two pages, with a large collection of various items scattered across each picture. Each picture is accompanied by a short riddle or rhyming phrase, that tells you what to find in the picture with which it is paired. The objects could be just about anything small, with many being small children's toys, like marbles or little animal figurines. An example of a riddle or clue phrase is:

"I spy a snake, a three-letter word,
And flying underneath, a great white bird;
Nine gold stars, a blue tube of glitter,
One clay cat, and a six-legged critter."

The suggested age range is four to eight. While I did not have the time needed to adequately tackle the challenges, I will say that, for the one I focused on, it was indeed a challenge. I could not find the rabbit!

As to the physical qualities of the book, it is an over-sized hardcover, measuring 12.1 by 9.2 by 0.3 inches, which allows the pictures to be very large. The cover is glossy and thick, and the pages are not flimsy, all of which adds up to a forty-page book weighing well over one pound. Physically, the book should last quite a while, despite regular usage. That is a good thing, for a book aimed at young children, and also contributes to its suitability for doctor's waiting rooms.

At first, I thought this book might be the kind that parents buy for their small children, their children initially love it, and, three weeks later, it will sit on a shelf, accompanied by a growing collection of dust bunnies. After looking it through and trying it out, I think I was wrong, and that the book will have sustainability. The level of difficulty is one key to that. In the first two-page collection, I was challenged to find eight objects. I found six fairly quickly, but then that darn rabbit kept eluding me! It was there, but it was a quick and sneaky little thing. I can imagine a parent using the book as a read-along, with a four-year-old, and the child will find the first four or five items, the parent-child tag-team will hunt down two more, and the remainder will have to wait until tomorrow. Those elusive items will eventually be found, and then you turn the page, and get to start over. There are also extra credit riddles at the end, which will further extend the book's attention-lifespan in the family. Meanwhile, the three-year-old will want to see what all the fuss is about, and so it goes. Also, given the separate puzzles throughout the book, it is very aptly fit for a waiting room.

The bottom line is that this is a good book for children, and I believe it will stand up to time, use, and the challenge of childhood attention spans.

My 2.5 year old son loves this. We make up our own stuff to spy and don't really use the riddles(yet). This is kind of similar to his earlier favorite book(My first word book) which I also recommend. They both have taught him many new words.

Human spirit observations in relation to potent generational situations are transformed through beautifully written prose that reverberate in my head long after the initial encounter. Szumowski's description of "the white church of their insides," when detailing a particular experience continues to accompany me, much like George Orwell's description of a Burmese man about to be hung, who had, "vague liquid eyes." The latter phrase was the catalyst for my own life writing, much as I expect phrases from, "I Want This World," to inspire others to reflection, admiration and profound satisfaction.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book of poetry. The poems were accessible, yet filled with rich insights from a complicated life.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book of poetry. The poems were accessible, yet filled with rich insights from a complicated life.

Fairy godmothers and guardian angels protect. They bring "their" loved ones into a safe world where only good things happen - or where bad things turn to good. In I Want this World, good and bad things happen - and are turned into poems. The perceptions that Margaret Szumowski brings takes the reader into a variety of worlds that are each real, sometimes painful, always vibrant, and often joyful. I once took a class on antiques. Our instructor told us that to recognize antiques, we had to remember everything we had ever seen. In I Want this World we see a master remember everything that has ever had an emotional effect on her. She is willing and happy to share these memories with us - to extend her experiences into our lives. Equally, she is able to weave her memories into an imaginary universe, to take from reality and make Ruby, a recurrent alternate voice in this book, emerge whole, with an emotional present and a tangible life.

I Want this World offers character and plot. When I read it, I worried that someone would try to make a movie of some of the poems. I have trouble with that. Poems are events and the images that make them up fill this collection. I envision the people with whom I am sharing the moment. The poems help me recognize them - not always as themselves, but in their qualities, motivations, pain, and joy. I see these people as they move throughout the book, sometimes starring in a stanza, a whole poem, or several poems, and in other cases having a supporting role. Some characters exist only as referred-to names. Each of these people lives in my imagination. The houses, roads, towns, rivers, beaches and markets that we visit are real and vital, too. These people continue to live outside the lines of the poem. Their world is mine to understand and visit.

Place is important to Margaret Szumowski. In I Want This World, she shares her travels to Africa, and a past and present Poland. She takes us to the banks of rivers, along hot dirt roads with dusty borders and to the American Southwest. She allows us to BE her for the moments of her poems. The sounds, the sights, the tastes and the rhythms of experience inform her verse, and we get to partake. We eat tomatoes, cabbage, coffee, bagels, pick apples, make applesauce, watch fruit crops ripen, value potatoes in new ways, learn about the birthright of mushroom knowledge.

She gives us the gifts of colors and textures, shows us light everywhere - in Poland, like a verbal Canaletto, in her own experience and in parental memory. Light happens in Africa, in West Texas, on Cape Cod, and in her childhood. She shares sweat, pain, helps us taste foods familiar and foreign. In "The Fish at Vista" beliefs sing throughout, taking us from experience to decision. The chosen path may not be everyone's. In "Take Any Light You Can" she shows us Race Point Beach on Cape Cod telling us about wind and light and strength. In that same poem (in fact, in that same stanza) she talks to her daughter. She reminds us that we move through time and space and light and that movement changes us and keeps us the same.

" the wind at Race Point is so strong,
it can lift a human from the ground,
and I want to be lifted in the wind.
You, too, my dancer.
I love to see you leap as if lifted by the wind."

She goes on to share with her own need for light, advising her daughter;

"One night in childhood I seized a flashlight and was punished.
Take a flashlight, a lantern, take any light you can."

She tells us in "Going Out to Greet Whatever Lives," how that same daughter as a young child caught fireflies, was a safe haven for small living creatures, and, swinging high at night, touched her toes to the moon.

In "Starry Night" we share space in all its connotations, and, again, light.

"stars magnified until we are thousands of years
closer to them than we have ever been before.

The whirling, spinning stars we ached for are
now close enough to burn us.

I did not know the cost,
night at its peak, excruciating light,
all of us humans, awake, awake."

Watch, also, her use of space on the page. Words flow through the pages of I Want this World carefully measured against the beige frame of paper. Again, the need for light - and the needs of light, come through to the reader.

Some poems, like "Under a Hazy Halfmoon," make us, along with Szumowski and her mother, wait for night vision to bring back the body's memory of how things were in childhood. Preparing to go down a remembered path in the dark, we find that;

"By daylight we wandered this forest
from the little tree house overlooking the river-
marsh birds and gold leaves-
it shook with our weight."

The poem on the page sparkles with lightness, with spaces between lines, between stanzas of varying lengths.

The poetry about her father moved me deeply. His travels through memory, his courage in finding something to come to in a new country, his comfort in comparing old to new and seeing value in each are great gifts. He shares with his grandson the joys of the stamp collector. The great thing is promise: "we promised never to lose, never to tear those stamps." There are promises to the reader, to the future and to the past.

Margaret Szumowski gives us the gift of her experience as it blends with her vision. I Want this World is our world and her world in a very short book. We visit throughout time and space with her, with her family and with her imagination.

A science fiction short story I read many years ago postulates a highly specialized world at war, where hospitalized soldiers are in comas. Some soldiers, though catatonic, manage to go to imagined pasts where poorly remembered knowledge combines with dreams. The commanding general wants to know more. An expert suggests that a poet would understand. Sadly, though, in that world, there are no poets left.

Today, perhaps more than ever, our poets need to be protected from this philistine reality. Let's start by preserving Margaret Szumowski.

This is a beautifully-written book of poetry that explores many aspects of human relationships. I am not an avid poetry reader and I loved it!

This is an excellent analysis of human behavior and the need to 'want to be good'. Mr. McKellar does a wonderful job of pinpointing behaviors and describing the process of evaluating it. This is a must read book!!!

If you are ready to go to the next level in life read this book.
This guy knows what he is talking about. Truly a life changing experience. A master craftsman working his craft. Great for anyone who's dreamed of doing better. Here's how to.

Kenneth gives me the motivation to achieve the goals I have set for myself. I Want to Be Good is an excellent book for anyone to read. The optimistic and energized outlook makes me feel that I can do anything I want to do in life. I can be "GOOD". Kenneth uses his wonderful sense of humor to get his point across. Definitely a book for people of any age.

A refreshing and honest view of an "extra"-ordinary man. His wisdom and wit, will have you in stitches! It is delightful to know that a man can be "good" and modest. This author needs more attention from the mass media. We will be hering, seeing, learning and being entertained by him much more. This book is easily read and undestood. More importantly it leaves you with his positive and poignant message! I would recommend this book to readers of all ages.

A refreshing and honest view of an "extra"-ordinary man. His wisdom and wit, will have you in stitches! It is delightful to know that a man can be "good" and modest. This author needs more attention from the mass media. We will be hering, seeing, learning and being entertained by him much more. This book is easily read and undestood. More importantly it leaves you with his positive and poignant message! I would recommend this book to readers of all ages.