Related Subjects: Author Index Reviews Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223
Book reviews for "Altabe,_Joan_B." sorted by average review score:

Macburnie King in Soulmates: A Novel to End World Hunger (Ballard, John Henry, Soul to Soul Series,)
Published in Hardcover by World Service Authority (September, 1998)
Authors: John Henry Ballard, Roseanne Litzenger, and Joan Ellen
Amazon base price: $16.95
Average review score:

Review from KLIATT
This is an adventure novel featuring MacBurnie King, an American teenager, on a life-changing journey to India. It combines a worthy message with a gripping story and appealing characters. MacBurnie persuades her class to adopt an Indian child through an agency to end world hunger, and for months she and the class exchange letters and photos with a woman named Lori working with this little boy and others like him in the Indian countryside. Then a letter from Lori comes saying that the little boy is no longer with them and they don't know where he is. This spurs MacBurnie to travel to India herself to find the little boy. From here the novel is a fast-moving adventure for MacBurnie and the reader to see first the wealth and sophistication of Indian urban life, then the unbelievable poverty of village life, with its lack of medical services, flood and drought, suffering and death. To see this from the viewpoint of the courageous and compassionate MacBurnie helps readers get some notion of the meaning of hunger and suffering in the context of a completely different culture than their own. There is enough adventure and romance to please the most reluctant reader. This novel is introduced by Mother Teresa and The Gandhi Foundation, and celebrities such as Nelson Mandela, Coretta Scott King, and Janet Jackson praise the series in the first pages, along with endorsements by such organizations as YWCA, UNICEF and Save the Children. Attached to this novel is a nonfiction work entitled India Revealed: The True Roots of Hinduism and Our World's Largest Democracy, filled with b/w photos related to India and encyclopedia-type entries on many aspects of Indian culture.

Claire Rosser, Editor KLIATT


Maggie Too
Published in Paperback by Dell Pub Co (August, 1987)
Author: Joan Lowery Nixon
Amazon base price: $2.50
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Good start in a trilogy that makes me wish there were more
Margaret Ledoux is 12 years old, has straight brown hair, and is 20 pounds overweight. Her beautiful mother died when she was only two. Her father is a famous film director. Margaret has been in one boarding school after another because she keeps getting into trouble. She hates her latest school and everyone there.

If Margaret thought her life stank like week-old gym socks, it gets worse in the first chapter. Daddy is getting married again to a beautiful starlet named Kiki. Kiki doesn't want to live in their old house with all the memories of Margaret's mother, so it's going to be sold. Worse, Kiki doesn't think she can be a mother to a 12 year-old, so Margaret is being sent to Houston to live with her mother's mother for the summer.

Margaret doesn't want to meet Kiki. She's so upset that she can't get away fast enough even if she hasn't seen her Grandma since she was too young to remember her.

Grandma is nice and younger looking than Margaret expected. Grandma is hoping they'll have a nice, quiet summer together, getting to know each other. It doesn't work out that way, of course.

The first night, a neighbor and her two little kids come over because a guy with a gun is at their house. They're staying with Grandma awhile. The guy with the gun makes the news. That brings Uncle Dennis with an enormous hairball on legs called Flowerpot [no joke] because he wants Grandma to be protected. The "guard" dog turns out to be good for big, slobbery licks and tearing around the house.

Aunt Janet is all upset because her husband is very busy being a doctor and can't read her mind, so she uses the news as an excuse to come over with a burglar alarm and her two kids. Now Margaret has to share her room with little cousin Debbie, who can hog a bed worse than a cat. Her brother, Jason, is no angel either.

Aunt Sharon isn't upset with her husband, but she's worried about Grandma, too, so *she* comes to add to noise and crowding.
The aunts and uncle want Grandma to sell her house and move into a secure apartment. Grandma doesn't want to. They won't listen.

Margaret isn't used to this. She's got to get away. One of the local radio stations is having a contest for a dream vacation at the beach. Margaret buys over 200 post cards and fills them out to enter that contest. Meanwhile, the jerk with gun is out on bail......


Make It Unanimous: How To Get All To Act As One
Published in Paperback by American Public Affairs And Publishing, Inc. (January, 1999)
Authors: Fred Stainken, Harry Hill, Joan Stoddard, and Barbara Anderson
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An amazing process to reach concensus and bypass imediments
The unanimity planning process is a unique way of making people act on a RATIONAL basis to solve societal problems. Normal human emotional stances(wanting to have my own way) are encouraged to bring out the underlying fears and concerns. Every person in the group is tactfully forced to join the discussions.The book describes successful applications in diverse situations.

I have successfully used this process three times. When faced with intractable positions of the regulatory agency and my staff, the unanimity process resulted in amzing concurrence on mission statements, goals and objectives. The frame work plan was very effectively implemented.

Any one faced with developing an IMPLEMENTABLE action plan (for improving education, economic development, water, waste water or solid waste management, telecommunications, siting facilities etc) should read this book if they want to avoid the usual and ever present pitfalls. It is also well written and easy to read.


Marblehead
Published in Textbook Binding by G K Hall & Co (June, 1979)
Author: Joan Thompson
Amazon base price: $11.95
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Enduring Images
I read this book as a 12 year old, and now, at 21, can still remember the characters. I loved this book. It's definitely a suggsetion for those who loved Anne of Green Gables and others of this genre for young women


Margarita (Signet Regency Romance)
Published in Paperback by Signet (July, 1992)
Author: Joan Wolf
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Warning, a very political Wolf..
Like A DIFFICULT TRUCE (full of Anglo-Irish relations at the turn of the century), this book is filled with the Venezuelan war for liberation - later to become a South American war for liberation under Simon Bolivar. Margarita, the heroine, is a cousin of Bolivar, and nearly all her family perish in the struggle. Furthermore, the fate of her country and her people are constantly in Margarita's thoughts. If you prefer a lighter book (without such real-life references) this might not be the Wolf, or indeed the book, for you.

The plot is not that complicated: the orphaned Margarita arrives in England to live with her maternal grandfather. He dies suddenly, leaving the new heir (his nephew of the half blood) to deal with his complicated estate and his granddaughter. The old earl has beggared his lands to build up a magnificent art collection, in part to revenge himself against his heir (whose parents he disliked), and perhaps in part for other reasons. At his death, the new earl Nicholas discovers that to gain possession of the art collection (and thus to obtain money to restore the family lands to good health), he must marry the young granddaughter. Margarita is penniless and has no other relations. She has no choice in the matter, if she is not to fall completely on the new earl's mercy. The couple are married almost immediately.

Herein lies the problem. In the past two years, Margarita has witnessed the deaths of all those she held dear - from her English-born mother and one of her four brothers in an earthquake to her remaining three brothers and father during the unsuccessful revolt against the Spanish government. She has witnessed the horrors of war close at hand, been transported to a different country (where she feels cold all the time) and then had her only remaining close relative die in a carriage accident. Her feelings and emotions are frozen; she simply feels numb. Furthermore, she realizes that the new earl, now her husband, did not want to marry her and sees her as an intruder. But they have a normal (read, physical) relationship for all that.

Her inability to respond physically or emotionally to her husband frustrates him. He returns to his mistress - one in the country, another in town. [It is not often that authors portray adulterous husbands as heroes]. Nicholas's own emotional development has been warped by his difficult childhood, during which his mother ran away with another man. Since then, he has provided for his mother but has refused to meet her. He will not acknowledge that he needs love or that he can need or love a woman.

Margarita eventually learns to respond to him, but only after she has given birth to their son. She realizes that she loves Nicholas, but he rejects that love - and turns to other women. At some point, Margarita realizes that he has been unfaithful to her, not just during her pregnancy but after the birth of their son. She is unable to cope with this knowledge, and with the fact that Nicholas can make sexual demands upon her. She runs away - taking her baby son - and finds refuge with Nicholas's mother...

I liked this book principally for the portrayal of Margarita, a very young and very sheltered 17 year old, pitchforked into a marriage with a stranger at a very difficult time in her life. The portrayal of the early years of their marriage is beautifully done, as is Margarita's slowly growing confidence and self-assurance (only after she has become a mother). I could also sympathize with Nicholas, as the young boy who rejected all love after his mother left him, and who tried to prove his independence by flagrant affairs - even though he hurt his wife in the process. [By the way, the blurb on the back is wrong as usual - Margarita's anger with her husband is expressed privately, not publicly and openly].

Reading this book is a nice contrast to a far more independent and self-assured heroine Juana Smith in Heyer's THE SPANISH BRIDE. While I confess to liking Juana far better, I do understand Margarita's position.


Maude Gonne: Ireland's Joan of Arc
Published in Paperback by Pandora Pr (June, 1990)
Author: Margaret Ward
Amazon base price: $16.95
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Average review score:

Fabulous, Inspiring Woman
This book was fantastic. I reccommend it to anyone interested in learning about Irish women's role in the fight for nationalism. Women's participation in politics is often overlooked, especially in Irish history. Learn about this incredible woman who did so much more than capture the heart of Willy Yeats-she was a true pioneer in women's political participation.


Medical-Surgical Nursing: Clinical Management for Continuity of Care
Published in Hardcover by W B Saunders (15 January, 1997)
Authors: Joyce M. Black, Esther Matassarin-Jacobs, Joan Luckmann, and Thomas Eoyang
Amazon base price: $80.00
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Absolutely an Excellent Resource!
I found this book to be a fantastic reference text for individuals involved in the medical field! It was very descriptive and informative on the applications in medical/surgical nursing. I would recommend it for not only Nurses who may be just entering the world of medical surgical nursing, but it should definately be considered as a text in every nursing school program.


Meditations for Self-Healing and Inner Power
Published in Audio Cassette by Hay House, Inc. (October, 1992)
Author: Joan, Ph.D. Borysenko
Amazon base price: $8.76
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Helpful Healing
I listened to this tape while I was recovering from a back injury. The meditation uses guided visualization and deep breathing to help focus on whatever part of your body suffers from pain. I found it very helpful - it decreased my pain and helped me calm down in general. I would recommend it to anyone with chronic pain or muscular injuries!


Meeting Community Needs With Job and Career Services (How-To-Do-It Manuals for Librarians, No 42)
Published in Paperback by Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc. (October, 1994)
Authors: Joan C. Durrance and Virginia H. Mathews
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Justification for Library Services for Children and Youth
This book consists of 12 well-written accounts by various authors about successful library services and programs for children and youth. The authors of each of the articles provide facts and examples of the differences that libraries have made for the people in the areas they serve. Read this book for two reasons: for the examples of positive contributions to cite whenever libraries and their services are being labeled as ineffective, and to be reminded why librarians do what we do for children and youth to make a difference.


Melissa Joan Hart (Real-Life Reader Biography Series)
Published in Library Binding by Mitchell Lane Publishers, Inc. (October, 2000)
Author: Ann Graham Gaines
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Definite must for any serious Melissa Joan Hart fan
I thought this book wouldn't be very good (as its not a biography written by Melissa herself), however, it has a lot of information that's very interesting about Melissa's career and family, some of which I did not already know.

This book is well written, concise and up to date. It could only be better than it is, if it was written in a few years time (after all Melissa's only 24) and it detailed more about her flourishing acting career and her recent venture into producing and/or directing Sabrina the Teenage Witch and other projects.

Melissa's works alongside her Mother, Paula Hart, who produces many films eg. Sabrina the Teenage Witch (tv series and 1996 film), Sabrina Downunder, Sabrina Goes to Rome, Two Came Back and Silencing Mary and two new projects, The Batchelor and the Bobby-Soxer and Backflash Blues which are produced by their production company, Hartbreak Films.

It would be nice to read about Melissa in a follow up book by this author when Melissa's in her thirty's, or read an auto-biography written by Melissa herself. I'd also like to see more merchandise become available eg. posters, calendars, sabrina tv series videos and dolls as well as an official website where we can contact Melissa at Hartbreak Films.

Thumbs up for a great book with an interesting topic.


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