A BOY'S BEST FRIEND takes place in Montreal. Will is turning seven years old and has asked his mother and her partner, Jeanne, for a dog for the past four years. Unfortunately, he has asthma. To his surprise he is given a stuffed dog which he cherishes because he is able to sleep with it, take it to the park to meet other dogs, take it on the school bus, and hide it in his school locker. While at school he is teased by some "bullies" and his dog is thrown up a tree. Miraculously, the dog falls in his arms after he has called to it. His mom and Jeanne are surprised to hear what happens and repeat what Will has heard many times before, "Everyone is different. When you don't mind your difference it stops being a problem and becomes your distinction." The story has a lot of text and is most appropriate for children ages five and older. The illustrations, hand colored black and white photographs, depict wonderful scenes of home life, i.e. eating dinner, trips to the park and bedtime rituals. His family structure is explained and visually depicted, but not a negative aspect of the story. We get a glimpse of what school life is like for Will as he encounters the school bullies, an experience many children perhaps can relate to. Also familiar to many children is the frustration of living with asthma. Will is unable to join in a school ritual of running around the room while the others sing happy birthday to him, he is teased because he cannot play ball and towards the end is coughing and running out of breath after his interactions with the bullies. Unfortunately, asthma is not explained or discussed in a way that will help others understand what it is or why he has it and Will is depicted as a sad and lonely child because of asthma.

Business Plans that Work is an intelligent, common sense approach to business that has a simple thesis; level headed philosophy, and a well structured organization. Written by a business consultant (and former art teacher--perhaps this helps the lack of turgid written prose), this book focuses on the theme that YOUR business brainstorm can only be envisioned and planned by you, simply because you are the one who has come up with the vision, enthusiasm, and interest to begin a particular business in the first place. Gilmann eschews the idea that consultants know best when it comes to developing a business plan. Sort of the philosophy that you are probably the best person to trust in investing your own money--since it's YOUR money, after all. The book is clearly written but not condescending to people new to business and tries to encourage the reader that business is not a mysterious enterprise, but rather a pursuit thatrequires foresight and planning, with, of course,initial inspiration. Her explanations of line by line items of business plans are quite clear, and she presents sample business plans that are good models (although iterating that all business plans are unique). She pays ample but not obsessive space to the importance of Internet issues, and encourages the reader who does write a plan to be blend he right amoung of rationale and enthusiasm in the text of one's plan. She also draws quite nicely on personal experience from childhood to adulthood, which creates a comfortable trusting relationship between reader & writer. I stood in my local large bookstore branch, flipping through about 10 books on the subject, and this one just seemed to have the right user-friendly balance that made me feel comfortable reading it

Igi (Inger Birgitte) Heitman is a researcher at the univeristy of Oslo. She's trying to link psychology to chaos theory, but after her father dies in a hit-and-run accident she finds herself following up his last job as a private investigator. She hopes to find the truth about his death, but instead is drawn into the lives of an increasing number of people, all somehow connected to Siv Underland, the missing woman at the centre of her father's final case.

Apart from enjoying this thriller for its story, I got a real feel for what it would be like to live in Oslo in winter. Brrr! This book has been understandably compared to "Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow", for both its chilly setting and its intriguing narrative.

For those traveling to the Virgin Islands, or other parts of the Caribbean, this book might be what your kids are looking for. The settings are all real places, and the bits of history and legend tucked inside a pretty decent story will give children say ages 8-11 lots of cool things to think about in the islands.

"Caribbean Capers" actually is two self-standing stories in one, with shared locales and characters. There is nothing we found that could be considered inappropriate for children, and the writing and plot seem right for readers.

But don't take my word for it. Here's what our daughter had to say about "Caribbean Capers" (though I really, really don't like the term "pre-teen"):

A well written story, that describes that characters with detail, and great description, sucks you into the story, and makes it so that it is like you're actually in the story.

During the first summer, Buzz, (a pre-teen boy that lives in St. John, with his Father) teaches Brian (also a pre-teen boy that came to St. John on a vacation) about boats, as a mystery starts to unravel, and as they go along, the boys learn about courage, trust, and not too judge too quickly about other people especially just about how they look. But who stole all the boat motors?

In the second story, Brian comes back for another exciting trip to the Virgin Islands, but when a mysterious boy named Eric who comes from a country called Ergrea, is hiding on the Crystal Blue yacht, it looks like another mystery that needs solving. Eric was almost kidnapped by his body guard, he escaped, but will he be able to escape again?

Think Scooby Doo mysteries, but in a good way. The book reads well, and would be appropriate for a few hour plane ride from the U.S.' East coast to a vacation in the Caribbean.