The Sasos have written a terrific guide for parents wading through the muddy waters of raising teens. As a high school guidance counselor, I have recommended this book to many parents, and have had great response both from the parents and their teens. A great way to narrow down the point of conversation with your teen and make some mutually agreeable progress. Teens feel respected by the way this book characterizes their needs. Parents feel supported in their need to find common ground with their teens. I highly recommend this book to anyone who works with teens.

If you want to know something about raising teens, read this book! Patt and Steve Saso have written a wise and perceptive guide for parents who are trying to maintain loving and vital relationships with their teen-aged children. As a teacher of high-school students for the past 15 years, I have been asked to read and evaluate dozens of books which attempt to "explain" the behavior of adolescents or provide a means of "controlling" what they do. The Sasos have made it clear that these attempts will always fail because they miss the point. With many examples gleaned from long experience, they show convincingly that our task as parents and teachers is not to control but, rather, to do the sometimes painful work of building solid relationships with young persons based on respect and nurtured over time with love and care. There is no other way. For the honesty and truth in this book, I thank them.

Steve and Patt Saso have focused on the work that parents need to do, both within themselves and with their teens, to approach parenting of teens with effectiveness and compassion. Drawing on widespread experience with teens and family life, the Sasos identify the lessons and gifts that parents can uniquely offer their children. Their suggestions are both practical and profound. As a father of four, ages 7-14, this book helped me remember how much I want the best for my kids and what I need to do to make that happen. This book's primary value is that it does not depend on changing the teenager, nor does it collapse into putting all of the responsibility (and guilt!) on the parent; rather, it's about changing the relationship. Parents of children of all ages will be encouraged by the Sasos' insights. This book makes for a greatly appreciated gift.

This book consists of fourteen poems about different insects. Each poem is written in two parts and must be read aloud to be truly appreciated. The two parts fit together, and when performed aloud, have a rhythmical sound. Having children act out the poems as they read them would be a great way to incorporate dance and creative movement. I would recommend this book for all teachers and parents who want to get children excited about poetry.

Here are fourteen poems about, of all things, bugs. Some may wonder at the subject matter; some may be disgusted. By the time you're done reading them, however, I'm sure you'll no longer feel that way.

Speaking of fireflies, book lice, and honeybees, Fleischman shows the unique perspective of each. At times his poems are hilarious, with the worker ant complaining in time to the languid satisfaction of the queen; some are poignant enough to touch your heart and make you think twice about that caterpillar you shuddered at the other day.

What makes these poems truly wonderful, however, is the fact that they are "for two voices". For full effect, they *must* be read aloud by two people, sometimes in chorus, sometimes speaking alone, and other times echoing each other. In such a manner, the already-delightful poetry becomes alive.

I think everyone should read these great poems! I am in middle school and I took a drama speech class. For one of the speeches me and my friend did a poem in here about bees. Everyone loved it and was laughing. If you need to find a two person poem or any cute poem at all you should get this book.

This book was a real eye-opener for me. As someone who has a great interest in usability issues, I was surpirsed how little I knew about accessibility. To be honest, I suspect the most web designers/programmers are in the same boat. How often do we construct sites taking into account users with visual deficiencies? Not very often I suspect. And shame on us, because as this book shows it's not difficult.

It may even be a legal requirement, as we see from the chapters that explain the legal issues in not provide an accessible site - it could be very expensive. These legal issues may scare some site designers, but in reality it's the moral issue that's at stake. We should be ashamed for excluding, or making it difficult for, people access to sites when they can't use the standard browsers.

Buy this book now - it's enlightening.

I came into this book with some experience of commercial web programming and a knowledge of H.C.I, so I realised that it is important to make information on the web accessible to all, but had little idea on where to start. In the first pages I learnt something new about alt text for images, and realised that this book was going to teach me a lot of essential things about making web sites accessible!

It starts with an insight into the legal area of accessibility and moves on to look at common myths such as having a text only alternative to a site. Then it shows you how you can present your content, navigation and data input in the most assessable way, and then shows you ways on how you test your site, making sure everyone can enjoy your online efforts!

What I love about this book is the explanation behind it. Not only does it show you the practices, it backs them up with clear and concise reasons on why these techniques can make your web site easy to use for anyone, including those who may have disabilities. It is a major eye opener and it will be a book that sits on my desk day in, day out, whilst I program web sites. I can't recommend it highly enough, and it is an absolute must read for all those who program on the web and those who use the web to display and gather information."

Web usability has become a big [and important] topic in web design these days. Thankfully, its lesser-known sibling, web accessibility for disabled users, is now coming into its own right as a necessary design skill.

Constructing Accessible Web Sites will be extremely useful to the nuts-and-bolts people who actually design and code sites, but, as importantly (if not moreso), it gives an excellent overview of current laws and standards for the higher-ups who authorize and budget for site design. The chapter on organizational strategies for accessibility is a must-read for anyone who has any responsibilities regarding web design, implementation, or retrofitting sites to meet legal (and moral) obligations for accessibility.

The book is loaded with code samples, screen shots, and useful commentary on why things don't work for those with disabilites, and how to fix them so they work better for everyone. Particularly useful is a scorecard comparing authoring and design tools' accessibility authoring functionality and compliance with standards (Section 508, WCAG).

If you are involved in the design, creation, or maintenance of web sites, and you have clients -- and that would be just about every site, whether your site is an intranet, extranet, or public Internet site -- you really need this book. You owe it to yourself to own this book and make your life -- and the lives of web users with disabilities -- much, much easier. Highly recommended.

Hari Kumar's father made every effort to ensure his son would grow up to become the perfect Anglo-Indian executive. Hari was raised in England and was attended by a governess and later a tutor. He attended Chillingborough a top school known for its production of British Civil Servants. Eventually, Hari was to return to India to work for the Indian Civil Service. Unfortunately, external forces disrupted his life and although he returned to India, it was not in the circumstances his father had planned. THE JEWEL IN THE CROWN is the story of Hari's life.

THE JEWEL IN THE CROWN is Book I in the series written by Paul Scott known as the Raj Quartet. JEWEL is a complete novel, but it also lays the groundwork for the three other books in the series. The later books elaborate the story laid out in Book 1. Although Hari is absent from large sections of the text in Books 2-4, he is the main character from the beginning to the end. He is the invisible presence who haunts the other characters. He may symbolize India, but As Daphne Manners says in her journal, he is his own simile.

JEWEL takes place in 1942, mostly in India. Hari's story is a composite developed from many viewpoints--court depositions, recorded hearing proceedings, journals, and the personal remembrances of those who him. The narrator piecing the story together appears to be a writer or reporter describing the so-called Mayapore riots of 1942 and their aftermath in the years following. Pandit Baba, an Indian scholar, says in a Book 2 that the word "riot" is a misnomer. The English say it was a riot but the Indians say it was a lawful protest by a people who had suffered outrage and wanted Independance.

The Raj Quartet reminds me of Jane Austin's novels --especially her later books MANSFIELD PARK and EMMA. Like Austin, Scott has a keen understanding of human nature. His characterizations of Harry and Daphne are flawless. He builds them one fine layer at a time until the reader is convinced they must have been "real" people. Scott also describes an historical place and the people who lived in it with what the reader can only believe is verismilitude. Like Austin, Scott brings an exquisite sense of timing to his storyline. The near misses and plot twists leave the reader breathless. And,like Austin, Scott's sense of irony is so deftly incorporated one can only wonder at the various possible interpretations of the text.

JEWEL like India is difficult to understand. Scott has written his book in English, and as Hari Kumar's father said, English is a beautiful language but "it cannot be called truthful because its subtleties are infinite. It is the language of a people who have probably earned their reputation for perfidy."

I truly envy the reader who yet has to come across The Raj Quartet by Paul Scott. The four books are absolutely fantastic. Beginning with "The Jewel in the Crown" one sets out on a journey through the British Empire's last years of rule in India, and it is one magical trip. Scott portrays a group of people through the books, some main and some minor characters, but all are described vividly and distinctly, and it is nearly impossible to stop reading and follow these characters' destinies.

The main story through which everything evolves is the love affair between a somewhat awkward English woman and a British top-school educated Indian, who has trouble finding his place in an India he does not know. Their relationship is looked upon with disgust, above all from the Police Inspector Merrick, one of the other leading characters through the four books. Merrick also has a soft spot for the English woman, Ms Manners, and is outraged and humiliated by the fact that she would prefer this Indian, Hari Kumar. His anger is naturally strengthened by Kumar's superior education and upbringing, his speaking English with a received pronuciation whereas Merrick himself has a working-class background he desperately tries to hide.

But this is only one of the stories that the books describe; there are many different characters and families that interact somewhat, we leap forward and backward, some people meet each other, some don't -but it is all beautifully tied together to the backdrop of the political instability that would eventually lead to the end of British rule. The books give, apart from superb story-telling and interesting characters, a profound lesson in modern history in this part of the world. Scott is very objective and as a reader you develop both warm and resentful feelings to the British and the Indians alike. A superb read deeply recommended.

Perhaps one of the greatest and sadly unsung works of 20th Century Fiction, Paul Scott's Raj Quartet begins with the startling JEWEL IN THE CROWN, the heartbreaking story of young Daphne Manners, an idealistic English nurse living in Mayapore, India, where she meets and falls controversially in love with the British-educated, Indian born Hari Kumar. When Daphne is raped, the innocent Hari is blamed in a set up by the villainous Ronald Merrick. A searing indictment of the Raj's cruel presence in war-time India, this novel is a stunningly powerful read.

I first read this book when I was 7 years old in the 1970s. I still love it to this day. The characters jump off the page and take you back to the 1940s, a different time and world.

When I was a kid in the late 60's and early 70's, I read all eight books in the J.R. Tunis series in his Dodgers series. Anyone who gets into the series MUST start with this one. Roy Tucker is an integral part in nearly all the books ("Young Razzle" being the exception), and "The Kid From Tomkinsville" introduces him along with the other characters. While some of the dialogue is of the "gee whiz" variety, the book and series are excellent. I'm so glad they were re-released, and I now have all of them. Now, I want to get a Dodgers replica jersey with the name "Tucker" above the number 34. Any kid between 9 and 90 who reads this book will know why.

When I was in junior high, I was addicted to reading juvenile sports fiction. Shortly after beginning seventh grade, I went to the alphabetical beginning of the fiction section in the school library and began moving down the alphabet. As I went, I examined the books and read all that were sports related. In a little over two years, I had read every sports fiction book in the collection. Of all those books, the Kid From Tomkinsville was one of the most memorable.
While the background of the 1940's made the presentation difficult for someone in their early teens in the 1960’s, the descriptions of baseball more than made up for it. Roy Tucker is the title character and an excellent pitcher. However, immediately after one of his best games, he slips and cracks his pitching elbow. This finishes him as a pitcher and the main theme becomes his quest to come back as an outfielder.
He is initially very effective and believes success is assured. However, he soon begins to struggle and doubts creep in. The description of all of this is a combination of one of the best baseball stories as well as one of triumph as a combination of talent, hard work and persistence lead to his success. I still remember the scene where his manager comes to his room and tells him the problem is that he is playing for himself and not for his team.
John Tunis is one of the best writers of sports fiction that has ever lived. He makes baseball exciting, even when all the action is taking place off the field. While our society has moved on to a point quite different from the time period of the story, baseball is still a game where strategy, preparation and dedication can triumph over athletic ability. That has not changed, and the descriptions in this book will continue to keep the attention of baseball fans for decades to come.

I thought STIGMATA was good but this story is utterly spellbinding! This is the best book I've read in the past 10 years, the competition doesn't even come close. This is what a horror thriller is meant to be!

I've read a lot of horror thrillers but none of this caliber! Paul Masters proves he's successor to the throne with this book. What a concept, great job, Paul! I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves to be terrified!

Wow, this is horror at its best! This book has it all, thickly layered plots, sub plots, thrills, chills and a spine tingling frightening storyline. Everyone should read this book, can't imagine anything better in this genre.

Over the last 15 years I have been involved with organizations undergoing major change. For all of those years I have tried to discover why change, that appears so essential to these companies, fails most of the time. I have searched for years for a logical answer.

I happend to notice the title of this book at a donated book sale at our local library.... I picked it and others up and proceeded to add it to the pile of books I would some day scan. On a long business flight I started to read this book.

I could not stop. As the authors laid out their ideas I covered the pages with notes.

Finaly a logical explanation of why change, even obviously necessary change, fails. Even more the begining of a method on how to make it work.

Knowing the difference between first-order change, and second-order change can change your life! See if you can figure this out: "It obviously makes as difference whether we consider ourselves as pawns in a game whose rules we call reality or as players of the game who know that rules are 'real' only to the extent that we have created or accepted them, and that we can change them." This is pretty much what this book is about. And this, "When a person enters therapy, he is fully entrenched in a dilemma: what he wishes to attain has become all the more important and urgent ... and because of this urgency it is all the more important that no risk of falure be involved in the eventual action." Complex stuff. I read it once, and now I'm back to read it again. It's hard to absorb it all the first time even though you know you're reading some pretty radical stuff that you probably ought to be acting upon!

This is a great book on the mind. It shows us that we don't really need to know the mechanisms of things to make it work. Just like we don't have to know how a car works in order to drive it. The mind is the same way. Never mind the mechanisms it involves but if you do this and this, a person will do this and this. And surprisingly, although most of the suggestions are counterintuitive, most of the things discussed in the book actually work when we try it out on others. Try it and you will see! If you want to know why these things work, I'd suggest you read "Rhythm, Relationships, and Transcendence" by Toru Sato. It is a very insightful book about relationships and consciousness. If you get the message, you will know why the things suggested in Watzlawick's books actually work. Happy reading!

Through Barbara Park's wonderful writing, a boy struggles to help and understand his grandfather, Skelly, who is diagnosed with Alzheimers. From the point where Skelly is normal, to the point where he can't remember where his keys are, to the point where he can't do anything for himself.
Along the way, Park invents some delightfully quirky characters! Mrs. Russell, Skelly's nurse, was my favorite...

"'This stupid hat isn't even his, I bet! And even if it was his, there are a million ways it could have gotten to the edge of the water. Like the wind could have blown it. Or a dog might have carried it down there. Or---'
'OR A WHOOPING CRANE COULD HAVE FLOWN IT!' she shrieked.
I stopped jumping and just stood there. I mean, that's the whole trouble with Mrs. Russell. Just when you think that you may have made a connection, she goes and says something so freaky it scares you."
-The Graduation Of Jake Moon, by Barbara Park

One of the great moments! Hilarious and touching. You must read this book.

To parents: Has Alzheimer's touched your family yet? As we baby boomers and our parents age, it's more likely than not to do so. It's difficult enough to watch your own, once proud and independent parent struggle with this horrible illness (I know, I have), but how are you going to explain it to your children? Jake Moon's story is one that perhaps all families can use as a starting point for discussion. Jake's fears, frustrations, anger, and love for and about his grandfather, Skelly, are presented with honesty and a touch of humor in this important and perfect tale...

To the kids: Meet Jake Moon - a regular kid (just like you) who loves his family, but, Boy! They sure can be a pain sometimes (just like yours)! Especially his grandfather, Skelly, who USED to be so great to live with. Now that Skelly is sick, Jake has to babysit him. And Skelly does the most embarassing things all the time! How can Jake get on with being a regular kid with all this going on his life? The Graduation of Jake Moon is funny, truthful, and a story you will remember for a long, long time. Be prepared to root for both Jake and Skelly, because you'll love them both!

I had heard of Alzheimer's on the news but never read a novel about it until The Graduation of Jake Moon. When Jake's lively and heroic grandfather Skelly is diagnosed with Alzheimer's, it changes everything, though his mother says she will try to keep his life normal. At first it seems like nothing can harm Skelly, but bit by bit Jake's life is spun around, reversing the roles of grandfather and grandson. This is a read which will make you feel for those who live with Alzheimer's patients and the utter helplessness which accompanies it.

This book is a trek into memory and is one that is held together by two riveting and story-unifying scenes. It's scenes like these that keep the book still haunting my own memory two weeks after finishing it. The book, just like real life, is merely a cycle - a repetition of connected events.

Both scenes involve the author's dead friend, Jonathan Wright, once a professional photographer and mountaineer who was tragically killed by an unpredicted avalanche.

The author, Rick Ridgeway, is asked by Wright's daughter to take her back to the grave site of her father on the flanks of Minya Konka in "wild Tibet." While hiking the well-worn trail to Tengbocke Monastery, Ridgeway describes himself identifying the white-capped river chat on the banks of the Dudh Kosi. He is perhaps a few hundred yards of Asia Wright, the dead climber's daughter. Ridgeway is suddenly reminded of doing the same identification some twenty years earlier when Jonathan came upon Ridgeway at the river's edge. Back then, they together thumbed through the bird book until they indentified it as the same one they were looking at. Now years later, in almost the exact same spot, Asia Wright comes up the trail, and seeing Ridgeway squatting next to the river, stoops and says, "What are you looking at?" Dizzying deja-vu.

The second motif occurs at the end (don't read this if you don't want to know the surprise). Here, Ridgeway has found the grave site where twenty years before he had buried Jonathan after the fatal avalanche. He approaches the tumbled stones that still partially cover the body. He shifts a rock and sees the hair of his friend. Ridgeway reaches down and holds the strands between his fingers, rubbing them slowly and gently. Years before, Ridgeway had done the same right before Jonathan had died. Ridgeway held Jonathan in his arms. He remembers when he moved his fingers through his hair while Jonathan's lips changed color and suddenly his face paled and something "went out of him," and he died.

These scenes are lasting memories for Ridgeway. I connect with the author as he connects with his past. Below Another Sky is a touching account of an aging mountaineer with a rich heritage and valuable advice to those of us too timid to climb mountains and risk our lives.

I bought this book after reading Seven Summits which recounted Rick Ridgeway's involvement with Dick Bass's and Frank Well's attempt to be the first to bag the "seven summits".
This is a moving story of not only the loss of Rick Ridgeway's friend and climbing buddy in an avalanche in the himalayas where he also almost died but an account of his return voyage with the friend's twenty year old daughter to where the avalanche had occurred some 18 years before. It is a travel narrative, mountaineering book, great insights on Nepal and Tibet with interesting sidetrips through his memories, trips to Patagonia, being in a Panamanian jail when he was but twenty and what it taught him...etc. You have got to like this guy! A perfect read for the introspective armchair adventure traveller who loves Asia; which is the name of the twenty year old girl who finds her father's grave and her way in life on this trip.

This is the recounting of a trip Rick Ridgeway made with Asia Wright through the Himalayas enroute to searching for her father's grave. Her father was Jonathon Wright, who was killed in an avalanche on Minya Konka when she was an infant. Throughout the journey he tells her of her father's life as well as of his own past as a mountaineer and adventurer. This was a difficult book for me to get through, and it was some time before I could pick it up without my hands shaking. I didn't think it would have such an emotional impact on me, and I'm bemused to think that Jonathon can still affect people when he's been dead for twenty years. We knew Jonathon, and I remember vividly the shock of returning from a trip and receiving a telegram saying he'd been killed. Certainly we were familiar with death's capaciousness, but it was a classic case of, "Why him, of all people? Where's the meaning in this?" It's a curious experience to read a book twenty years later where someone asks those questions about the same person, but we've all known someone who died too soon.

They're difficult questions and Ridgeway does as credible a job of the philosophical answers as anyone can, with his acceptance of life and death, and change. However, his denouement at the end, that we should live each day as if it were our only one, felt flat. We've heard it before and it's been boiled done to a kitchen plaque cliché that I've always found irritating when it's not further explained. I don't think I'd plan on spending my only day on earth wondering if the roof should be redone this year or next and booking dental cleanings, as I'm doing today. My grudge with the cliché is that it seems to imply that we should regret whatever it is we've been doing up to now, rather than accepting that some days are simply going to be filled with the mundane details of living. It also holds an inherent suggestion that we should seek pleasure. But the kind of pleasure that makes life worth living is an elusive phantom and comes only after we've sought experience. Pain or regret may also result, regardless of our intentions. We have to embrace the experience regardless of outcome; if it's pleasurable, it's a bonus and we've earned it. Jonathon tried to focus on the experience rather than the goal or glory at the end, and I think that's what was meant in the book, but perhaps each of us sees it differently.

But Jonathon's effect on people was the result of more than what he did, it was the result of his personality, and Jonathon simply being Jonathon. We all affect the people we contact each day. Whether it's for good or ill is up to us. Partly because of his own innate goodness and partly because of his efforts, Jonathon had a positive effect on the people who know him. The lesson I would take from his life is that we could all have a similar impact if we made the effort to be nice - and I apologize for the lackluster word, but there it is - nice. The circumstances in which I first met him was one where egos could become inflated, inflamed, or deflated in an instant, and the silly posturing and puffy tempers certainly were a contrast to Jonathon's calmness. It's an odd thing, given that I didn't know him that well and it's been a long time, but I am still influenced by him and try (not always successfully!) to behave in difficult situations as he would have. Our lives do indeed affect others.

The book focuses on personalities, and that gives it a heart and poignancy which are often lacking in adventure stories. As for his journey with Asia Wright, it begins in Nepal, continues on to Mount Kailas, across the Chang Tang Plateau in Tibet, and ends at Asia's father's grave. The book is nicely-written and over-all the description is strong enough, although there were places where it lacked the vitality that would really bring an area to life for me. I will say (and this truly is surprising, since he recounts a fair number of disasters, not to mention numerous other assorted miseries) that Rick Ridgeway managed the impossible - he made mountain-climbing sound appealing even to me.

I really did not know what to expect when I bought this from Amazon, but I knew that my partner and I needed some help in planning our commitment ceremony and I didn't want to read the standard bridal magazines or wedding planners (they didn't exactly look like a great resource for two guys). This book was the perfect solution -- it covers all the issues and questions that a gay couple faces when planning a wedding from making the announcement to taking the honeymoon. Want to know what stores are gay-friendly with their registry services? Or where to go for a same-sex couple cake topper? Or suggestions for your vows? This book has it all. Beyond exceptional content, it is also well-written, well-designed, and is full of interesting and entertaining bits of trivia about gay marriage. The back of the book includes a thorough index of other off-line and on-line resources to help as well. A great resource.

This is a great book for anyone planning a committment ceremony -- gay, lesbian, bi, or straight. It contains great pratical information, which it delivers with an great, irreverent sense of humor. Lots of stories from other couples' searches for the perfect outfits, caterer, etc. This book helped my partner and I write our own ceremony and put on what several guests told us was the "most beautiful wedding I've ever been to."

My partner and I are planning a commitment ceremony -- (Why didn't somebody warn me about how much work this would be?!)-- and being two guys, albeit gay ones, we really didn't have any idea about what we were doing. We looked at several straight wedding guides and planners, but they weren't very helpful for planning an alternative wedding. We could have made it up from whole cloth, but we needed some idea of the basic do's and don'ts of a wedding. Finally, we found and purchased THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO LESBIAN AND GAY WEDDINGS. What a godsend! It takes you through the whole process from engagement to honeymoon and beyond, step by step with in depth descriptions, explanations, and alternatives to tradition. The authors present what might have been rather dry material in an engaging, entertaining manner that keeps it interesting and fun. I found myself reading sections that didn't really apply to us just for the heck of it. They liberally sprinkle personal anecdotes and first-hand experiences from gay and lesbian couples who have tied the knot throughout the book. An invaluable resource for anyone planning or even dreaming about a same-sex ceremony.