Girls Books

I bought this book for my little nieces, whom I watch during the week.

They love the book, mostly for personal reasons - I carry the baby, ELIZABETI carries her baby; our baby is Eva, THE DOLL is Eva - but I love the book just because it's a very sweet story.

It has simple enough wording, only a few sentences per two-page spread, that it can be read easily to a young child, only two years or so... and it has a deep enough story that it will be enjoyed by an older child as well.

There's only one part of the book that strikes me as strange, and that's at the very end. Elizabeti's mother thinks to herself that Elizabeti will be a good mother when she grows up... and then we're told that Eva (the doll/rock) thinks so too. The style of the book is so realistic that it's a strange note, because, of course, dolls and rocks don't think. But I can always edit or skip that line, so it's not a problem.

The entire Elizabeti series is outstanding. All the characters depicted are gentle, caring, and loving to each other as they go about their daily business. When Mama has a new baby, Elizabeti wants a baby of her own -- and so the rock Eva becomes her baby. The illustrations are very nice and support the text.

This is such a tender book! It appeals to the youngest, even a two-year old brother learning to adjust to a new baby sister. Mother and son found relief and coping skills in this sweet, simple book.

My 6 year old daughter and I loved the book. I read her the story and then went outside to do last minute yard work. After I was through, I came back in the house. To my surpise, my daughter was sitting on the couch, and in her lap was a rock that was swaddled in a kitchen towel. That was so neat to have her pass up her toy box and find pleasure in a simple thing.

As the mother of two young girls, I have read hundreds of picture books. "Elizabeti's Doll" is, in my opinion, a rarity: a book for children whose characters and plot are unique, compelling and satisfying, all within a handful of words on a few pages. This book is what literature should be for adults and kids.

Elizabeti is a completely endearing character, who reminds adults and children that childhood has its special joys, and high among those is the ability to involve the entire family in a fantasy world of the child's own making. Elizabeti turns a rock into the family's new baby, whom everyone loves and cherishes right along with her. It's a story about what is best in all of us.

Powerful is the word that comes to mind. The writing, the plot and the dialogue. The character of Carrie is as different from me as night and day and yet when she needed to be strong she totally came through for herself. I didn't agree with many of the choices she made yet by the end of the novel I was rooting for her like she was a best friend.

The husband is truly irredeemable and I am glad to say I have not in my lifetime been around anyone so domineering, condescending, insufferable and without self-awareness. In fact, his whole life revolved around him, he can't grasp why everyone around him wasn't focused at all times on his needs. Loathsome. The author does a terrific job of making him so real that you hope never to cross paths with him.

I absolutely adored Val. I could totally see why Carrie was drawn to her. I loved the way Val was written as so very strong and unique yet not without flaws.

This is a book that will stay with you forever.

I was quite disappointed in this book - it was the first fiction of its kind I have ever read and sadly it lived up to all the negative stereotypes. The husband character in the book is such a cardboard-cut out villian the lesbian lover is a virtual saint. However the author has a real talent for making sex scenes erotic. Definitely a book for flicking through ...

Katherine has done it again, with her usual finesse, she's brought characters to life with writing so clear and descriptive it was as if I had been scooped up by some force and surreally planted in the midst of the events of EMERGENCE. I am in awe! I only wish there were some sort of epilogue, to give me some sense of closure to Val and Carrie's relationship, and especially to the evil that befalls Paul (Carrie's ex-husband). No complaints; just wishes. Truly remarkable!!

I began reading Katherine V Forrest's mystery novels and I hate to admit... but I wasn't terribly impressed. Yet so many of my friends said she was one of their favorite authors. So I finally picked up "An Emergence of Green" and now she is also one of my favorite authors.
This is a wonderfully touching story of how the friendship between two women blossom into something more. I highly recommend this book to anyone, gay or straight.
It reads very fast, and I was on the edge of my seat through many chapters not wanting to wait to find out what happens next. The setting is a bit dated, but the story refreshing. You won't be disappointed

Alice Street Editions has released a new edition of this 1986 novel by author Katherine V. Forrest, originally published by Naiad Press. If you read this novel long ago, it is worth the purchase price just to read the foreword from the author and the afterword written by Victoria A. Brownworth. But the book is worth rereading for its own merits.
Set in 1984 in Los Angeles against the backdrop of the Olympics and the presidential campaign involving the first (and only) woman candidate for vice president, the novel is not dated at all by this, nor is it dated by its subject matter. It is as fresh and nuanced and topical as if it had been written today.
The point is made in the afterword that Ms. Forrest writes about lesbians for lesbians. In this novel, among the first in a new genre of lesbian fiction, Ms. Forrest carefully and skillfully presents the male character, the antagonist, as fully drawn and as sympathetically as one could, a man trapped by his upbringing and his past and the social mores of his time. One may not feel sympathy for him, given the inevitable and violent denouement, but we can certainly understand him.
In fact, a reader might even begin to feel less sympathy and more impatient with the main character Carolyn Blake than perhaps might be expected. She is a trophy wife, married at nineteen to a man ten years older who is already well established in his corporate career track. She sublimates her own education and career to his, leaving jobs to move with his transfers, seemingly accepting without question that her career is less important. A friendship with the woman next door, Val Hunter, a divorced artist with a son, allows Carolyn, and the reader, to begin to draw comparisons.
One of the most interesting things about this novel is how close we get to all three main characters. We see Val through Carolyn's admiring eyes and growing affection, and also through Paul's growing resentment and jealousy as he comes to understand she is his rival. We see Carolyn both through her husband's idealistic view as a possession of which he inordinately proud, and as Val comes to know her, a vibrant woman who has spent far too much time acquiescing to Paul's idea of the perfect wife. Carolyn struggles to continue to believe her husband's possessiveness is a product of his impoverished childhood, the early loss of his mother, and his love for her, which she believes is genuine. Val sees a grown man who is domineering and arrogant in his presumptive male superiority. She instinctively feels there is something infantile about Paul's need for Carolyn, and Carolyn herself often refers to her husband as a little boy. Once she thought of this as an endearing trait, but she begins to feel his need to have her with him as clinging, suffocating, and ultimately controlling.
The tug of war that ensues between husband and friend for the heart and mind of Carolyn Blake slowly escalates as the sexual tension and awareness between the two women increases.
For those who haven't read this book before, a few words of caution. The nature of sex itself is at the heart of this novel. There are no pulled punches here. Ms. Forrest is not shy about delineating the intimate sexual details of a marriage and, exquisitely, the sexual and very sensual relationship between the two women. Nor does she back away from the same attention to the excruciating unraveling of Paul Blake and his eventual recourse to violence as the familiar world he has created starts to crumble.
I once had the pleasure of meeting Ms. Forrest, and found myself peppered with questions about this book, then yet to be released by Alice Street. On the eve of the release of her thirteenth book, the eighth in the Kate Delafield detective series, she wanted to know about a book she had written almost twenty years ago, as nervous as a first time author. Perhaps recalling the critical reviews of many years ago, she asked whether the main character, Carolyn Blake, was too weak.
The answer then and now is an emphatic no. Many women may recognize themselves in Carolyn, guided by the accepted precepts of her time, who believed that in placing their husbands' lives and careers first, they were perhaps doing the hard work often assigned women, that of balancing the cementing of family and home against their own sometimes unspoken desires; to be a woman meant doing what had to be done, and then doing more, if one wanted to also have a career. It takes some time for Carolyn Blake to realize her own needs and to leave behind the conventions to which she adhered but in which she found no rewards for her loyalty, no comfort or room for herself.
The afterword properly places this novel, and Katherine V. Forrest's body of work, firmly in the history of a genre she helped to create, both as an author of great skill, and as senior editor at Naiad Press for ten years.

My granddaughter, Emily, has been a flower girl twice. She is 6 and learning to read. I bought this book to encourage her to read. She loves it!

Great way to introduce a little girl to being a flower girl. My three-year-old loves the story and now is very excited to be in her uncle's wedding.

Item came in good condition. It will be a perfect gift for my soon to be flower girl!

I bought this book for my 4 year old daughter who is going to be the flower girl in my sister-in-law's wedding. I wanted to be sure she understood what was going to happen that day, and what she'd be doing. This book was a wonderful way to explain the process in a way she definitely understood. She loves reading this book, and we read it every night. I love that it also mentions the ring bearer that "Emily" meets at the wedding, as my daughter will not be meeting the ring bearer until the wedding either. My daughter loves to point out the "real life" versions of each character throughout the book, and even though she doesn't know the ring bearer, we found out his name and she points him out in the book as well (so we're hoping that will keep her from getting as shy when she meets him the day before the wedding!). I considered many of the other flower girl books Amazon has to offer, but I am so glad I chose this one--it had everything I was hoping for!

I gave this book to my flower girl. Her mother thought it was a good idea because it she had a lot of questions. The flower girl did not say another word about it though -- she liked the memory book I got her much better: When I Was a Flower Girl. I was glad I got the book because it was cute but there is probably something better out there.

This book has a lot of great info in it. I enjoyed reading it and found a lot of it to be new information.

The obvious strength of this book as a history of the development of Anorexia Nervosa comes from its unbiased approach. As a historian, the author has walked brilliantly the fine line between simply retelling the past and critically evaluating it. (Sometimes stupid ideas need to be called stupid ideas!) It is essential reading for anyone with an interest in eating disorders or nutrition.

The subtle strength of this book is its format for discussing disease development in a social and political context. Anyone interested in disease etiology beyond simply the biochemical approach should also read this book, as a guide to how to put disease in a realistic context.

Brilliant all round!

This book was very well done.

I had previously read a book like it called "From Fasting Saints to Anorexic Girls" which was written in the manner of a stuffy academic. At first I was afraid this book might turn out to be the same but thankfully I read the reviews on it and decided to give it a try.

I would recommend this book to anyone with an eating disorder or interested in the history of the relationship between women and their bodies.

This book was totally absorbing. I didn't want to put it down. Who would have thought that such a terrible disease would have its origin in the Medievel church, as women starved themselves for their beliefs and to become (as they believed) holy. But, like most things under the sun, it's all been done before, so there really shouldn't be any surprise that self-starvation has a very long history.

I really enjoyed the histories of the individual "fasting girls." And Ms. Brumberg's description of the Victorian middle class was priceless and eye opening, considering how that era is so romantizied by a lot of us today.

The book revealed so much about how culture (present and past) shapes our opinions of ourselves, especially us women. Reading the book brought out my anger that society and culture expect women to have "perfect" bodies..."perfect" everything, and the pressure that is on us, both as teenagers and adults.

I recommend this book to anyone who would like to know more about anorexia nervosa and its history. There is a great deal of fascinating information. Just keep your dictionary handy to look up all the medical terms Brumberg quotes (and for some of her own words as well). My only disappointment in the book was that it ended too abruptly. Her book had me hooked, and then, finally, it had to end. I think there is a great deal more to be said about this disease, and I hope that she keeps up with the history and maybe writes another volume. Kudos to you, Ms. Brumberg. Very well done.

I never knew there was a history of girls refusing to eat. This book starts all the way back from Midevial times up until the 1980's, when the book was written. I found it extremely fascinating. I would reccommend this book to anyone with an eating disorder, people who are into psychology or history, or just if you are looking for a great non-fiction book. Do not pass this one up!

I loved this book and thought that it provided great insight into the world of struggling young girls. It emphasized a great importance to providing a listening ear to young women who might not have someone special in their lives to talk with.

In this book it was clear that making a connection with the one you are mentoring is both the most challenging and the most rewarding part of being a mentor. Overall I thought that this book was fantastic and I would most definitely recommend it to another mentor.

I had the oppourtunity to hear Pegine speak on mentoirng and leadership. WOW! She was amazing. If she comes to your town go to hear her. I wanted to learn more so I brought the book.

I have two nieces. After reading the book found myself thinking about activities I can be doing with them. She writes in a easy to read manner that woke me up. I learned about myself. I am going to do for myself things that I never did. Open myself up to new experiences.

This book is wonderful. I highly recommend it.

A terrific easy to read book that opened my eyes to the challenges girls face. More importantly though I learned skills that I can use with my grandaughters and nieces. A great gift for women.... and men.

I received this book as a gift from my sister in law. It was so powerful!! I have two nieces and didn't realize that simple steps can reap such incredible benefits. I highly reccomend "For All Our Daughters" It is a great gift!! I was glad to receive it!

Pegine Echevarria's For all Our Daughters: How Mentoring Helps Young Women and Girls Master the Art of Growing Up, is a clear step-by-step guide for women interested in helping young girls develop through childhood and adolescence. The book highlights 13 crises that virtually all girls must endure in modern times including teenage sex, contraception, pregnancy, smoking, drinking, depression, eating disorders, parental conflict, self-loathing, physical abuse, sexual pressure, and date rape. Echevarria outlines five areas that mentors must be sensitive to when guiding young girls through or around these crises:

1) Physical Development: Engage in some physical activity with your mentee. This will induce conversation about physical development and sexuality, while also fostering healthy body image and goal setting skills.

2) Intellectual development: Engage mentee in discussion of current political issues, art, travel, history, theater, and mathematics. Offer career advice, identify internships and support groups, and promote learning as a lifelong, enjoyable endeavor.

3) Emotional Development: Discuss emotional crises that mentee may experience or be experiencing. Encourage her to reach out for help when needed, identify healthy interchange, model beneficial "venting", and stress anger management.

4) Spiritual Development: Help mentee develop a sense of gratitude for friends, family, talents, gifts, and God. Encourage her to volunteer for worthy causes, take moments of silence, define her religion, establish her beliefs and values, and have faith.

5) Financial Accountability: Stress financial responsibility including: balancing a checkbook, starting a savings plan, opening an IRA, meeting with a financial planner, setting financial goals, making a monthly budget, getting appropriate insurance, knowing credit rating, giving to charity, and learning the art of negotiation.

These five major points are invaluable to any mentor. I especially valued the section on financial accountability, for in addition to its obvious objectives, this advice teaches independence, goal setting, and negotiating strategies. I feel these skills are most important in the maturation process.

The sole problem I had with the book was Echevarria's occasional pollyannishness about being a mentor. From her social work experience, Echevarria relates a story about a 14-year-old girl assigned to her, who came from drug-addled criminal parents that neglected the girl. Encouraging the waif to join her in building a collage of pictures cut from Seventeen magazine, Echevarria wins over the reluctant youth who is soon giggling and glue-covered, and opening herself up to her mentor. There is never a failed mentorship in the book or advice on how to cope with that possibility.

Nonetheless, Echevarria's book is an excellent primer for any mentor for it includes step-by-step lessons on how to counsel young people and creative ideas to build relationships of trust, openness and frank communication.

Wise words, good advice...the subtitle really sums up this book. Carol Weston has written an inspiring read for all girls. I recommend it! Julia DeVillers, author of Girlwise: How to Be Confident, Capable, Cool and In Control

When it is good (and beautifully written) advice is something you can never get enough of, and For Girls Only is proof. Weston combines her own always-accurate, thoughtful, and humorous words of wisdom with those of famous writers, philosophers, entertainers, politicians, and more. The result is a book which page by page offers truly inspiring quotes and passages to comfort any girl, at any stage of life.

I just finished reading this awesome book a few days ago, and immmediately sent the author a thank you email for what a great job she did! Not only did she do a great job of incorportating quotes from men and women, old and young, past and present, and all religions, but I came away feeling inspired and ready to take on the world! A perfect book for any girl!

Whenever I need inspiration or encouragement or a peptalk or just some sensible advice, I open this book to any page, read for a few minutes, and feel lighter and better. GREAT FOR ANY AGE!!! GET A COPY! You'll be glad you did!!!

I love how this book is full of excellent advice that I can read whenever I'm feeling confused or depressed. I am a big fan of Carol Weston's "Dear Carol" column in Girls' Life magazine (and also of her novels) so it's really cool to have her best advice in one book. She also quotes a ton of my favorite musicians, actors, and other writers. Basically, thanks to FOR GIRLS ONLY, even if I've already talked to my mom and best friend about a problem, I still have another place to go for good advice or just to get me motivated to get my work done or try to meet new people or whatever. FOR GIRLS ONLY is FOR YOU!!!

His first being Fighting Reuben Wolfe. Both are tight, crisp and strong. Both should be on your bookself if you love great, engaging stories with characters who jump off the page and plots that grip your heart, make you smile and leave you satisfied when you turn the last page.

I loved this book. It was a quick, easy read. A lovely story about a teenage boy becoming a man,discovering love and finding a comfortable place within his family and the world around him. I have enjoyed all Zusak's books and I am amazed that someone so young can write with such feeling and understanding.

3 Weeks ago I read The book Thief, loved it so much i ordered fighting ruben and getting the girl. Mr. Zusak is an amazing down to earth writer that I seem to keep craving more of. I'll be moving on to the messenger and waiting anxiously for whatever else he writes. Thanks for adding substance to my world.

Friday, I read "Fighting Reuben Wolf"...couldn't put it down. Saturday, I read "Getting"...do I need to say more? All I can say, in all truthfulness is: "Write more, Markus and write fast!"

Markus Zusak's GETTING THE GIRL, the sequel to FIGHTING RUBEN WOLFE, is a five star effort of YA fiction. The story centers on the life of Cameron Wolfe and his hunger, his desire to get a girl, "the" girl, the one who lives in the house up in Glebe he waits outside of. This coming of age story feels so fresh that I swear my eyes started sweating.

Like so many younger brothers, Cameron is trying to grow in the shadow of his brothers, and it's not working for him. Rubes gets all the girls, accomplishes all the heroics, and stands on his own in the world. Cameron can only "want" that. It takes Octavia, not the girl he thought he was waiting for, but the real thing, to enter his life by surprise and plant the seed of strength in Cameron that he didn't know he had soil for.

At first, Cameron's secret journal writings feel too advanced for the kid we meet, but he grows into them, or they grow into him. Either way, they work well to add a deeper level to this already emotionally complex novel. They reveal a maturity in Cameron that feels right when the end of the story comes around.

If our lives truly are made up of moments, as Cameron says they are, that those moments are the pieces of us, then this story is a piece worth carrying with you, one you'll want to applaud with your noble clapping hands. When the last raindrop has fallen, the question it's asking us might be -- "What moments make up that life of yours?"

Reviewed by Jonathan Stephens

This collection is a wonderful antidote to the mundane and thoroughly unimaginative work that plagues modern fiction. Ms. Richmond rises above the rest with her unique blend of characterization and skillful narrative, making her the first new writer worth your time since Alice Walker came upon the scene. Thanks to the publishers for getting this work to us.

Ms. Richmond's attention to detail makes me feel I know these women personally. She shows such depth of understanding that I wonder if these characters are based on people she knows. I look forward to her next book and believe that she will have great success in her career.

It was a delight to dive into a work by such a master craftsman. This is dazzling talent combined with experience, training, sensitivity, humor, and insight. If you want to see how it is supposed to be done, relax into this haunting collection of stories and experience a pro at work.

In this collection of short stories, Richmond braids tales with emotional tactility. Drawing the reader into her collection of recurring characters with deft storylines, Richmond creates vivid images based upon life and living in the modern South.

Short stories woven with the common thread of relationships, this book boasts a new delivery. A neoteric realm which captures it's reader spellbound. Eccentric tales loop, twisting into an explainable reality. Thoughtful, humorous, morose, challenging, this read never lets go. The threads of it's beginning pattern complect a tapestry by end. I was mesmerized by each tale; completely given over to the surreal quality that melded into perfect rhyme. It is not an easy read, but is life an easy road? Isn't the trip the joy? It is in this transmigration of spirit and pulp.

A beautiful work of art; that books could be displayed in museums, this would hang in reverence.

This is a read. This is a masterpiece of prose. This should be your next choice.

In a display of pluck and determined resistance to her kidnappers, Carrie McEdan becomes Girl-on-Fire, the name her Comanche captor, Blackhorse, gives her in the summer of 1874. It is Carrie's luck to be the manifestation of a dream and that enables her to survive, as does her openness to learning the language and custom of a new people.

Marked for marriage to her captor, she escapes that fate in the immediate present when he and the other warriors answer yet another call from Quanah Parker and head into battle that takes them from the band for several weeks. Most Comanche have succumbed to the white man's destruction of their native way of life and have gone onto the reservations, except for Quanah's group and a few other bands. During Blackhorse's absence, Carrie/Girl-on-Fire learns the ways of the people and immerses herself in the culture. In her own dream/vision, clues about her fate come to her that she has trouble discerning.

Vicki Hessel Werkley tells her tale with passion, honor and great sensitivity. This is the story of a survivor, not of misfortune but of great good fortune, in her experience among the people. Carrie learns new skills, respect for the women's role in her new setting, and a system of values and traditions she comes to respect. The reader is caught up in the romance and visions, just as the writer intended.

Ms. Werkley's meticulous research into the culture of the Numunuu people shows in this well-constructed story of a young white girl captured by a raiding party of warriors. Carrie must survive the shock and fear of her kidnapping and await rescue while assimilating herself into Comanche life. She finds that she has more in common than not with captors who quickly become friends. The addition of Numunuu language and grammar adds to the reader's enjoyment as well as being educational. Apparently written for young adults, but anyone can enjoy - and will. HIGHLY RECOMMEND.

As a Native American woman, I greatly appreciate this book for the way that it captures the flavor of Plains Indian women's lives in the pre-reservation days.

The story falls into two halves. The first half is about the capture by Comanche warriors of the main character, Carrie, from her homestead in Texas, and their journey over the Plains. That half of the book is a vividly and skillfully written adventure, but not outstandingly special as adventure stories go, other than having a brave female protagonist.

It is in the second half that the book shines. That is when Carrie is brought to the Comanche camp, an alien place to her at first, and chapter by chapter she starts to form relationships with the women of the camp and to become assimilated into the women's community.

Native American women's culture and women's community, of past or present, are given very little attention by novelists in general, and in this book in a few short chapters the life of Indian women of the Plains 150 years ago becomes vividly alive. This is a book I would highly recommend for Women's Studies classes and for anyone who is interested in experiencing the lives of women of another time and place. I would also not hesitate to recommend this book to other Indians, because even though the story happens through the point of view of an outsider observer, the Indian characters are flesh-and-blood human beings and it is obvious that the author actually talked to Indians to do her research, and didn't just read books.

Set during the 19th century events that brought an end to the Commanche way of life, the story opens and concludes with Carrie's dream of a great black horse with eyes of fire. An appropriate devise, as "the Commanches put great store in their dreams and visions and the messages they get from their spirits." Deftly written detail makes Carrie's adventure spring cinematically to life. Especially vivid is her attempted escape on horseback. Carrie's interior conversations, as she listens to the different voices within her, add depth to the story. She gradually comes to recognize that the ways of the Commanche, at first so different from anything she has known, are intrinsically closer to her own than those of the culture in which she has been raised. Like Danny, Carrie eventually finds herself caught between two worlds--immeasurably enriched by the joys and sufferings of both.
The helpful pronunciation guide at the front enables the reader to "hear" the Commanche being spoken. Anyone who has ever wondered what it would be like to live as a Native American in the old West will be enthralled by this book.

Girl-On-Fire is a quick-paced, exciting, well-researched book that'll make you stay inside reading on a beautiful Spring day! As personal (you feel you KNOW Carrie)and in-depth in the folkways of the pioneers as the "Little House on the Prairie" books, but with unexpected insights into Comanche lives and culture as well. A terrific story depicting the conflict of two cultures and the rare bridges that individuals can forge in spite of these differences. I found the end so wrenching, I couldn't imagine how Carrie could stand to make her decision!

I found this book extremely interesting it shows how a bond between friends can be held no matter what. foe example one of the 3 main charictors in this book (noelle) is a figure skater who has something wrong with her and even though she hides it from her friends the still stand by her even after she gets a guy (erin) had a thing for .. I think you can put yourself in any of these girls positions and thats what makes this book so good, the truth behind it.

I loved it. I couldn't help myself,and i practically read the whole thing in a day. I 've read other cherie bennett books, and i find a connection to Emma, Sam and Carrie in her sunset Island books, but i think GIrls In Love is way better. Its such a great book! there are so many different view points, so you're not really stuck in one perspective, as many books are, and well, it was a very well written book. if you like romance, and even if you don't, i think you'll like it. there are so many different things going on, and it is a book that is easily related to.

I loved the book! The characters were the best for me. The strange thing was they resembled my friends and I. Cherie Bennett gave them such realistic personalities, and used such perfect descriptive words, one can not help but feel sorry and happy for each, as though they were close friends or relatives. I espcially liked the cleanliness of the book. It had no impure thoughts or motives, contrary to popular love stories. I give this book a five star rating.

I loved this book. When I started reading it I couldn't put it down! I read it in two days. I wouldn't really reccommend this book to guys but it is a great romance novel for girls!!

I thougth it was the greatest book in the world it was the first love story or romance novel i ever read, though i wouldnt reccomend it for guys, it is like a mini- Dawsons Creek and Friends, I LOVED IT!!