I Books

Charlie has to look after his little sister and give her dinner. Unfortunately, Lola is a very picky eater, and we have to sit through the entire list of things she won't eat. ESPECIALLY not tomatoes.

So he decides to "play a good trick on her" and tell her that all these foods she "won't eat" are really *different* and exotic foods that she's sure to love. (Are you sure you don't want these green drops? I'll eat them, then, they're very rare!)

Predictably (to us grown-ups), she gobbles all these foods up, and then turns the table on her brother by asking for the tomatoes (These? Are you sure you want THESE?) declaring that they're "moonsquirters" and saying "You didn't think they were tomatoes, did you Charlie?"

What's interesting is that this technique is actually recommended for both child and adult picky eaters. Oh, not the trickery, but the use of pleasant sounding names to make foods sound appealing. (And really, Lola wasn't tricked at all, was she?)

Cute illustrations and clever text. May not change the mind of a dedicated vegetable-hater, but they'll enjoy it.

I love this book. It is so cute and even convinces my three-year old to eat foods she doesn't want to!

This book should be read by fussy readers everywhere -- and I have a few adults I know who belong in that category!

The illustrations are delightful, showing pictures of the food against interesting textures and colors. This book will have a positive effect on the fussiest eater.

Funny, heartwarming and highly recommended!

I got this for my daughter, who absolutely adores Charlie and Lola and simply loves the TV episode that complements this book. The sparse text and colorful pictures made reading less intimidating for her, and for a paperback, the book is very sturdy and well put-together. Great book - I definitely recommend!

Simply and directly written, Steve's experience is one that every busy or driven person should read. Steve does not dwell on how he died so much as how we should live, more fully and personally, slower and deeper.

This is an inside look into eternity, first hand. It helped me understand many facets of my own spiritual journey and experiences.

The title should be a better match for the book's content. I bought the book expecting to read about the author's death experience only to find that topic touched on very briefly. Most of the time is devoted to lessons he learned as a result of that occurrence. He gives some very solid, practical advice about putting one's house in order before death. It is a great kindness to surviving family members. I also like the advice he gives on writing out goals in a prayerful way.

One common epiphany people going through such experiences usually share is a focus on doing things to please God. Building a name for one's self in this life or accumulating wealth lose their attraction. Another realization than comes about is the need to invest time in relationships.

Sjogren talks about filling his mind with positive motivational material. People tried to tempt him to have a bad attitude toward medical people whose negligence and lack of professionalism resulted in permanent negative consequences for him, but he refused to do so. An additional lesson he said he learned was to be a receiver. He notes, "Generous people are creative and energetic."

This is an excellant book about the meaning of life, and the encouragement to live a life to the fullest. I was not disappointed in the quality of the book; it's a fine read for those not already acquanted with "life after life" experiences. However, the title and Jacket suggest the book will be primarily about the dying and the immediate recovering experience. Instead, I found this book to be more of an evangelical inspiration book. If that's what the reader wants, this is a good one.

I can relate to a lot of this book. We don't always know why things happen, bad things that is, and god doesn't always take away the pain. I guess part of me wanted to see the opposite. I felt somewhat disappointed in the end, but also encouraged ,that this man marches on and now cherishes every moment of life.

Product is a great book if you want to learn about Mercy and Grace.
I would recommend this to everyone.

A very good start to any day...Max has a way with words that reach down deep...Get a copy.. you won't be sorry!

This is an excellent inspirational daily devotional reading by Max Lucado. He speaks directly to you and always manages to inspire me.

I searched for a book that would give me the necessary words to start my day right and this is truly it. I like to do a short meditation before I leave the house each morning and this fits the bill just right. I'm always amazed how often the daily reading seems to talk directly to me.

I recommend this book to everyone! I have had this book by my side everyday for the past 3 years and I can tell you this is a fantastic start to the day. It is filled with inspiration, love, hope... Even on a bad day, I'm able to smile and find hope through the words of Max Lucado. I also recommend In the Eye of the Storm and When God Whispers your name, both written by Max Lucado.

This book is so good. I couldn't put it down. I've read it over 10 times and burst into tears everytime. I recommend this book to everyone!

i loved this book. normally i read books and i end up putting them down.but this one is exactly the type of book that i love. its breath taking, romantic, the type of book a girl would read and read over and over again. this book sends a message that stays in your head forever and ever! if you go to a library and you find this book, i highly recommend reading it. it is a great book that at any time the oppertunity to read it should never be turnd down.
ashley .s.

The book I read is called Dawn Rochelle 4 novels. Its by Lurlene McDaniel. The book has many up and downs, and emotional. There are also some funny times, and romantic. Dawn Rochelle is thirteen when she is going threw the best times in her life. She popular, pretty, and just made the cheerleading squad. Till she finds out she has to get a check up.
"Dawn, you have cancer." The doctor tells her calmly.
They have her go threw chemotherapy till they can get the right blood type to get a bone marrow transplant. Her brothers the closes match, but he suppose to get married and his fiancée thinks its going to ruin the wedding plans.
When Dawns in the hospital she gets a roommate that ends up being her best friend threw out the book. The doctor recommends a camp for them both to go to. But Sandys not able to go because shes stuck in a difference hospital during the summer cause she ends up getting even worse threw out the book.
At camp Dawn meets two new friends. They make everything better for the whole summer and they do funny pranks on the directors and have romantic times by the fires with the one she thinks shes in love with. Days go by and camps over with.
You'll have to read the book to find out what else happens. Overall I would recommend this book because it's an engaging book.

In Lurelene McDaniel's Dawn Rochelle's four novels it is a heart wrenching book. As you are reading you want to keep reading more and more and you do not want to let your book down. This book is filled with life lessons to be learned. The book is about Dawn Rochelle who has found out that she has cancer. Now, only does she have to face death in the face, but also has to learn how to adjust to the outside world after recovering. She has to learn how to deal with death and losing the people she holds dearest. After she recovers she feels as though she is an pariah. Everyone treats her differently just because she has the disease. She has a different point of view on life now. She can see what truly matters in life over just the teenage things. This is a very easy book to read not overly pedantic

wow! i couldn't put the book down. i've read one and i read the books within half of a school day. even though i'm not going through what she's going through...cancer wise...i can relate to what she was saying. i burst into tears. i'm so touched by the relationship with her brother and her. i could just see everything. i loved it! i can't wait to read some more. i've heard great stuff about this author and everyone's been right so far. thanks.

This story is about David, a boy who has spent most of his life in concentration camps of Eastern Europe. When he is given a chance to escape, he does so with the expectation that he will be caught and returned to the camps at any moment. Eventually, he accepts that he has finally gained his freedom. His journey to this realization and beyond is one of enlightenment and revelation as he discovers the things about the world and its inhabitants that he never knew before. Most touching are his prayers to God for help to get through his the various trials that come his way. This book made me appreciate all that I have and I think it will have the same effect on anyone who reads it. Highly recommended.

An amazing story from the 'inner world' of a lost boy. When one wants to feel its heart touched? than read it!

The movie was wonderful and the book was even better, filling in details the movie had to leave out. I especially was touched by his growth in faith that was absent in the movie. A wonderful book for young people to develop character, but for adults as well. I was a little disappointed in the abrupt ending.

I Am David shows the horror of a country without freedom and what living in a country that holds no love for freedom for all men, shows what is done to men and children "they" find subversive. David is a special child given the strength to trek through difficulities and the unknown looking for what he knows in his heart to be something "lost" and so much better. Even though this is a book aimed for the primary younger crowd, this grandma couldn't put the book down until young David experienced the bad and good from those that journeyed with him in his search.

"I Am David" by Anne Holm depicts years of the tragic concentration camps. A young boy with no parents, in a concentration camp, has to escape or die trying. David meets an older women that is very kind to him. As David asks the older women about some books people are carrying around. The older women explains the book. David realizes the author of this book is his mother, who he thought was killed when they were separated to go to concentration camps. David and his mother are soon reunited at once. this is a good book, I think this it is a god page turner because this book will keep you guessing; what will happen next? Who is he going to meet next? I don't recommend this book to a 13 year old, I would recommend book to 11-12 year olds because it would be more thrilling ate that age. this book is a page turner but I thought it wasn't very exciting. If you are someone who loves happy endings then this would be a great book for you.

yeas the most popular book on sir winston but mistakes are in it and volume three will appear after a 20 years break .

The finest biography of Churchill (and one of the best biographies of anyone else) ever written. Manchester is unequaled in providing a balanced, thorough and readable product. Only down side is that he died before completing the third and final book on Churchill.

This is a very good analysis of Churchill, a thorough and colorfull portrait of a man I consider to be the greatest man of the 20th century. I have only two complaints, first I would have liked to have known more about his life with his wife and children. I also would have liked to have known what he thought of the Lusitania sinking. Not only does Manchester say nothing about Churchill's role in this business but the word Lusitania is not mentioned at all in nearly 2000 pages. Very strange. The letters of Churchill point out the chivalrousness and romantic nature that the public has not seen. All in all - very good and well worth a good read.

William Manchester is a tremendous writer. A man like Churchill deserved to have his biography writted by a writer as gifted as him.
I highly recommend this book to anyone wanting, not only to learn much about the great man Churchill, but also to have their mind expanded and stretched by excellent literature like this. There are not many people writing like this today, sadly enough.
This is not an easy read, in fact most people will do well to have a dictionary near by - but it is worth it. Drink deeply and you will learn so much more than you would have thought possible about the world from the late 19th century up through WWII.
Drink it up! 6 stars.

This fully lives up to its reputation as perhaps the best biography ever written. Manchester does a peerless, masterful job filling in the background colors and giving a complete picture of Churchill from a young man into his early fifties. As Manchester emphasizes, this background was essentially the decline and fall of the British Empire and the aristocracy who ran it. Manchester's main point, that Churchill was a Victorian who also lived in the twentieth century, is brilliantly made. Churchill himself is presented in all his perplexing, influriating splendor: an impetuous, charming, ambitious genius who all too often jumped out of the plane without a parachute. If you wish to know why he was rejected by the British people at the polls just after his greatest triumph (and job done) this fascinating volume of his early triumphs and memorable failures is indispensible (answer: they needed his boistrous energy in war but they didn't trust him in peace

Jamie is a normal 17-year-old girl. Well, not completely. Her dad is dead, and her mom is a big-time lawyer. The only real friend she has is Webb, her sort-of boyfriend. But, he's off backpacking in Europe, and Jamie has to follow her mother to Chicago, where a HUGE trial is going on.

Jamie does NOT want to be there. She would much rather be with Webb. In fact, she wants to be with him so much, she starts to daydream about him while riding a rented bicycle down the streets of busy Chicago. But this isn't any normal daydream. She feels like she is really at the beach, with Webb. She can smell the salty air, and feel Webb's hands as they braid her hair. HONK!! Jamie is jolted out of her daydream, right into a moving car! Could Jamie really space out that much? Why did her daydream feel so real? And why does everyone stare at her whenever she comes out of one? Is she really talking out loud to Webb? Shouldn't he be in Europe? What at first seems so innocent, just like a few daydreams, turns out to be more sinster then Jamie, or anyone, could ever imagine.

This has got to be one of the most spectacular books out there. The characters are handled so well, and the plot is nothing short of stupendous. You have to read this book at least twice to catch all the clues dropped in by the author. I recommend this book to everyone!

Excellent. It starts off slow, but as you progress it gets better and better. It surprised me at the end, that something that seemed so unimportant became such a big plot point. Very surprising ending. This book is recommended for teen readers.

Julie Reece Deaver's The Night I Disappeared was a great fictional book. She has a lot of imagination, which makes this book very interesting.

It tells about a girl, Jamie Tessman, who just left her hometown in California to go with her mother to Chicago on a business trip. Her mother is a successful and famous attorney. Everyone knows Jamie for that, but She is way different from her mother. Her father died when she was young, and ever since then she hasn't fit in anywhere... except when she is with her, sort-of boyfriend, Webb. They are so perfect together and she could be with him forever, until she finds out that he has never really been there for her at all. With the help of her new (and only) friend Morgan and Morgan's aunt she discovers a secret that has been keeping her separate from the rest of the world. She starts seeing things in Chicago, and she starts to think that she is slowly becoming crazy. When she finally gets the help she needs, she has to choose between Webb and reality.

At first when I started reading this book I didn't quite understand but then I learned that the whole point of the story was for Jamie to overcome her fears. I felt like I was with her through every step of the way, and every time she got just a little bit closer to reality. I thought this was a great book and really enjoyed reading it. I will never forget this book.

I love this kind of book, and I had to read this for school, so I was happy! This is one of the best books i have ever read. Its a heart warming story about a girl and and horrible night. I LOVED THIS BOOK!!!

The Night I Disappeared is mostly about a normal teenage girl named Jamie. But really Jamie isn't normal at all or had a normal life.
Jamie's mom is a lawyer that is non stop. Her mom gets all the publicity a famous person does just on a court case. Well Jamie's mother has to go live in Chicago to do a famous murder trail. When stress is put on Jamie because she misses her friends and boyfriend everything gets out of control.
Jamie starts to have dreams or `clips' in her mind about her boyfriend Web. Soon the dreams become a hassle for her. Her mom very concerned about her healthy, she sends her to a physiatrist. Jamie went ahead and agreed so it wouldn't put even more stress on her because of the case. When Jamie soon finds out things her life, her family is hit like a bolt of light hitting the earth. Jamie soon finds out that her life isn't what she thought it was.
I really liked this book because it has a twist in it. It leaves you stunned because people's lives can be like that. It leaves you sitting on the edge of your seat. You can also make so many comparisons and you can understand what Jamie has to go through.
My dislikes are how the book goes back and forth from her dreams and her real life because it can confuse you. Other than that I wouldn't say anything else bad about it.
I would recommend this book to any person. A person who really loves mystery or Rebecca Davis books would also enjoy this
I hope you enjoyed this review and go out and check and read this book. I will defiantly leave you stunned.

"Once upon a time, in a gloomy castle on a lonely hill, where there were thirteen clocks that wouldn't go, there lived a cold, aggressive Duke, and his neice, the Princess Saralinda."

Well. that first line has just about everything you need to start off a fairy tale, doesn't it? And it only gets better from there.

The New York Review has just reissued Thurber's classic, paired with the illustrations by Marc Simont, with a new introduction by Neil Gaiman.
The 13 Clocks is as full of fairy tale as you can get, with a Princess, the evil Duke, and, of course, a Prince. But there's also a Golux, who seems wise, but who sometimes makes things up and is extremely forgetful, the 13 clocks, an old woman who cries jewels, and the Todal ("The Todal looks like a blop of glup. , , , It makes a sound like rabbits screaming, and smells of old, unopened rooms.")

The story, although it's exciting and scary and thrilling, isn't even the best part. No the best part, as far as I'm concerned is the words that make up the story itself and the poetical way Thurber weaves them together. It's not really poetry, yet, at the same time, it is. This story, like poems, uses those glittery, evocative, slippery wonderful words -- like "brambles and thorns and "bonged the gongs of a throng of frogs, all green and vivid on their lily pads." Words like "gleep" and "made of lip" and "impudence" and "savage clash of swords." -- that together imbue the tale with feeling and delight.
+

This is truly a wonderful story and one that simply begs to be read aloud.

Quirky, bizarre, creative, and thoroughly loveable. This is how I describe one of the strangest little fairy tales I've ever read. This is a story that is truly creative and original even as it borrows from classic fairy tale/horror themes.

I was astonished to receive the summer list from The New York Review Children Collection and to find this extraordinary book by James Thurber. It begins:

"Once upon a time, in a gloomy castle on a lonely hill, where there were thirteen clocks that wouldn't go, there lived a cold, aggressive Duke, and his niece, the Princess Saralinda. She was warm in every wind and weather, but he was always cold. His hands were as cold as his smile, and almost as cold as his heart. He wore gloves when he was asleep, and he wore gloves when he was awake, which made it difficult for him to pick up pins or coins or the kernels of nuts, or to tear the wings from nightingales."

Neil Gaiman's Introduction was so good and so loving I had to read more, and I found this entry from November 2001 on his blog:

"So I'm reading James Thurber's "The 13 Clocks" to my daughter right now.

"I mentioned the fun I was having reading the book to American friends, expecting a chorus of "yes, it was our favourite book as children" and got nothing but blank looks and people shifting uncomfortably in their chairs. [I would have shifted just as uncomfortably three weeks ago.] ...

"To my surprise, and to my dismay, I discovered that it's more or less out of print (there's a hardback that may be in print, but Amazon have it listed as unavailable and won't let you order it), and even the rare bookfinder services don't have any Ronald Searle illustrated copies. Which leaves me perfectly gobsmacked. I mean, it's one of the great kids' books of the last century. It may be the best thing Thurber ever wrote. It's certainly the most fun that anybody can have reading anything aloud (I'm doing the Duke as Peter Sellers doing Olivier doing Richard III, and the Golux as Marty Feldman). If I ever wrote something half as good I'd be over the moon. And it's out of print."

I suppose Gaiman's love letter must have led to this wonderful new edition and to his being chosen to write the Introduction. Whatever the facts, my deepest gratitude to NYRB and to Gaiman and to Marc Simont for the wonderful illustrations. This is a treasure for kids and for adults.

Robert C. Ross 2008

PS: M. Williams suggests in the Comments that The Thirteen Clocks on CD recited by Edward Woodward is superior to the versions recited by Lauren Bacall or Peter Ustinov. Thanks for the suggestion. B.

I had not heard of James Thurber (I'm not from Northern America :)) until one of my friends on a study abroad program brought this book to our apartment and we started reading it out loud to each other. I loved it so much that I've read it three times already. Thurber's playing with the language is so amazing, cute and fascinating that it makes you speak "his way" after you read the book. :) And all his ideas are wonderful! This all makes the book one of a kind, really.

James Thurber went to Bermuda to finish a book, and wrote The Thirteen Clocks instead. He says it was escapism and self-indulgence. If so, the world needs more self-indulgence, because this book is pure fun. It's a simple fairy tale, a book to be shared with a child. The water-color illustrations by Mark Simont are a perfect enhancement to the mood of the story.

The tale opens with an evil Duke in a gloomy castle--a Duke who is always cold. "We all have flaws," he says, "and mine is being wicked." (p. 114) The castle has thirteen clocks, all frozen at ten minutes to five. The lovely Princess Saralinda, "warm in every wind and weather," is the only warm thing in the castle and the Duke (her so-called uncle, though actually her kidnapper) purposefully thwarts all her suitors with tasks impossible to perform. When they have failed, he slits them from guggle to zatch and feeds them to the geese.

The Thirteen Clocks is built of standard fairy tale elements. A wandering minstrel who is really the youngest son of a king falls in love with Princess Saralinda and accepts a seemingly impossible test to win her hand. Assisted by a magical creature called Golux, he sets off to fulfill the test. Their progress is threatened by a number of unsavory characters; the Todal, for example, an agent of the devil sent to punish evil-doers for having done less evil than they should. Needless to say, all turns out well in the end.

The story itself may be standard, but the telling of it is typical Thurber wordplay. The Thirteen Clocks is not exactly poetry, but it begs to be read aloud for the rhythm, rhyme and alliteration. A particularly hectic passage from page 73 illustrates:

"The brambles and the thorns grew thick and thicker in a ticking thicket of bickering crickets. Farther along and stronger, bonged the gongs of a throng of frogs, green and vivid on their lily pads."

The quest complete, time unfrozen and the Princess won, the ecstatic couple ride toward the harbor. "The Princess Saralinda thought she saw, as people often think they see, on clear and windless days, the distant shining shores of Ever After. Your guess is quite as good as mine (there are a lot of things that shine) but I have always thought she did, and I will always think so."

I think so too, and if it takes a charming little book to remind me, then count me in.

Linda Bulger, 2008

Great children's book. It's a fun way to encourage and read with your child.

This books is wonderful! I am using it in small groups at work and the kids absolutely cannot get enough of this book. I bought all titles in the series! Great for paired reading among siblings, parents and children, and friends!

Our students really love all the books in this series. They frequently choose them to read to each other during free choice time. I would really recommend this book to other teachers as a great source for oral reading practice!

My seven year-old grandson introduced me to Mary Ann Hoberman's work. He loved reading to and with me. I'm a volunteer reading tutor and I use her books to teach first graders to read. They love it.

I highly recommend the books by Mary Ann Hoberman to excited kids about reading.

Judith Hays

I love Mary Anne Hoberman's "The Cozy Book", it is always a great bedtime story. So, when I found this title on Amazon, I couldn't resist. My son is 7 and enjoys reading, so this was perfect for us; he reads to me, I read to him, and we read the last verse together. The stories are cute and short, good if you only have a few minutes at the end of the day. The emphasis on reading is an added bonus.

As a mother of a 15 month old daughter, I was looking for a book that I could read to her that would teach her that she is connected to the universe. I believe that all of our energy combined is God (for a lack of a better word)...and this book says this beautifully. I think I would have loved this book as a child as much as I do as a mother. This is my new favorite children's book after reading it to my daughter for the first time today. I almost had tears in my eyes it is so wonderfully written. I'm looking forward to giving this book as a gift to other spiritual mommy's that I know. The illustrations are lovely and kept my daughters attention the whole time. I will be reading this to her very frequently.

This is a wonderful book. I have a four year old son who has owned this book since before he was three. He loves and understands it, probably more so than many adults. It is the favorite book for my husband and son to read together.

If you like this book you will love "Child of Fairy, Child of Earth". Both books have beautiful verse, illustrations and messages.

This book is beautifully inspiring and a needed aid in nuturing spirituality in children, I love it as much as my 3-year-old.

If you have a universal outlook on spirituality- you will love this book! My children beam after we read it. They feel special, loved, secure... all the things we want for our kids. There is not ONE THING scary or negative in this book. It voids the polarity idea. It is fantastic.

This is by far one of my most favorite children's books. "I am part of all I see, and all I see is part of me." Those first two pages sum it up.

The illustrations are warm, gentle, and beautiful. If you look closely you can see little elves and fairies hiding in the forest. My girls love to try and find them while we are reading.

I have given this book as a gift many times and it is always well received.

Thank you Chara for creating such a wonderful book for our evolving little ones (and their parents)!