This book is a family favorite. Children can identify with the kitten who worries that his misdeeds will cut off his mother's love, while parents reading the book are rewarded with some sly illustrations over which they can have an adult laugh, a rare quality in preschool bookland.

Above all, the book provides an opportunity for parents to reassure their own occasionally naughty offspring of their unconditional love. Our family culture would be poorer without this book in our lives; I'm grateful that it was available to us.

I have 3 children - ages 3,6 and 8. "The Way Mothers Are" is one of our favorite books. I strongly recommend it everyone.

this is defiantely one of the best childrens books ever written. it answers all the questions of "why this or why that" children always ask. if you have a little child or knows someone who does, i wuold strongly urge you to buy it as a bed time story, even a prenatal story. BUY IT NOW! you wont be disappointed

I admit to being surprised by this book, knowing that it was the first effort from a former journalist. (I have found that most writers coming from the worlds of journalism or academia lack the ability to communicate on the same level as those of us outside of the twin ivory towers.) But here is an utterly delightful, at times moving, history of one of the most unique languages on the planet. Part history, part memoir, part dictionary and phrasebook, this book could not have been put together with greater love and craft. I especially loved the frequent garnishment of Yiddish proverbs and "Sprichworte" throughout the narrative.

Some additional thoughts:

1. Especially moving to me are the chapters on the early history of Yiddish in Germany and the nations of Eastern Europe. One of the great tragedies of history is the unique and fateful relationship between the German people and the Jews. Born linguistically from German, Yiddish took on a life of its own in the kitchens and shtetls of the Jews. The author's account of the manner in which moderate Jews turned their backs on Yiddish in Germany in the 18th and 19th centuries is an ironic chapter in the history of Germano-Judaic relations. (I have in my possession a German translation of the Tanakh published in Berlin in 1876, which I read now with a more wiser understanding.)

2. Having both lived in Germany for two years and studied Hebrew on the University level, I can understand much of written and spoken Yiddish.

3. For those who believe in the literal fulfillment of prophetic statements in the Tanakh, the gradual disappearance of Yiddish as a primary spoken language makes absolute sense, as the Jews are restored to their ancient homelands accompanied by the simultaneos "restoration of all things." Though it may fade as a spoken tongue, I for one hope that the rich literary tradition of Yiddish never fades.

Yiddish: A Nation of Words is the kind of book you don't want to put down once you've started. Weinstein has the perfect touch for getting across the facts about this almost lost language, neither weighing the reader down with the terrible sadness of the story nor degrading the story with humorous cliches. The research the book is based on is thorough and trustworthy. You will learn a lot about the Jewish diaspora, about Europe and the Middle East, about America in the last century--and enjoy doing it. Anyone from an immigrant family is going to resonate to the pressures that eventually saw the end of American Yiddish--and to the wisdom that is still preserved in the words.

Jeanne Guillemin
Cambridge

A wonderful book, engaging, humorous, warm, and moving, that tells the compelling story of a culture's survival against all odds. The Jewish people, living at the edge of other cultures and nations, kept itself alive through a shared language full of wit, wisdom, irony, compassion, and spiritual resonance. Yiddish: A Nation of Words is less about a religion than it is about the way any group or ethnic culture finds its deep identity, and its common strength, in the bond of words. The book is full of proverbs and bits of poetry--you get a real feel for the language, its sly shrug of humorous resignation, and its emotional pathos. The book also has portraits of unforgettable characters--people like Eliezer Perlman, who turned himself into Ben Yehuda, the architect of modern Hebrew; Esther Frumkin, a Yiddish activist who tangled with Communist Russia; Peretz Markish, the 'heartthrob Yiddish poet'; and Isaac Bashevis Singer, Nobel laureate. Even the Holocaust is dealt with in a way that salvages meaning and hope from the ashes. Weinstein tells her stories with heart and humor -- a great read, that makes you laugh and cry at the same time, and teaches ways of living in a world of threat and change.

This is one of the few resources that equip new parents with a "lesson plan" for interacting in positive, productive, and, most importantly, fun ways. Not all of us, after all, can recall the nursery rhymes, songs, and games we played as an infant! This resource helps bring back the once familiar and introduces new ones as well. In an age that pushes us to produce independent little "baby einsteins," it is refreshing to have the voice of a respected pediatrician call us to action for just plain fun time, interacting one-on-one with our instinctively interdependent, social babies.

When you shake this "book style" play pack, you can hear the musical rattle inside. The rattle helps a baby to acquire a mature grip which later will help in writing. In fact, this "book" opens up to reveal a number of fun activities for you and your baby. The three foam toys are covered in various materials. The surface, color, shape and sound of each block will fascinate and amuse. The Music tape (Mozart Beethoven, Handel, Vivaldi and Bach) will help to stimulate the part of your baby's brain that is responsible for math, logic, concentration and speech.

There is a cute wall banner which will help your newborn baby to stimulate recognition and memory. It is not something your child could play with as it is just made out of paper and could easily tear. It is just a very small item and could be put up on the wall so you could point to images of a cat or pig and say the sound each animal makes. The mobile is easy to assemble and must also be kept out of the babies reach. If placed 8-10 inches above the crib, it will help to stimulate vision from birth.

I turned over a smiley face on a piece of cardboard and found myself, well..looking at me :). It is a mirror you can hold above our baby's face so she can study her reflection and begin to develop a sense of self. Because various types of play will encourage your child to develop in different ways, there is a set of "48 game cards." Each card encourages all aspects of a baby's development. Every card shows a fun activity. Fun and familiar rhymes like "This little Piggy" are fun and help a child to be more aware of their feet.

The included "Baby's Skill Book" is just wonderful as it presents hundreds of easy ways to encourage your baby's month-by-month progress throughout the first year. A "golden hour" time clock shows the games and activities that will be particularly good at various stages of development. During the wakeful times, you can help to promote his innate desires to communicate and play.

All I have to say is..."How did parents survive without all this information in the past?" Dr. Miriam sure has it all organized for the new mom and dad.

What an excellent idea! This pack contains all the essential items and topics required for the growth and development of your young baby. It is especially suitable for first - time parents who are bombarded with so much information on how to ensure the stimulation and development of their baby and dont know where to start. I found it very simple to use and also quite exciting and could not wait to introduce a new topic, excercise or toy. My husband was thrilled with this find of ours and he really enjoyed being able to contribute to our son's learning experience through stimulation and play.

"...a valuable contribution because of its wide compass and unfamiliar examples..." (British Society for Developmental Biology)

"Patterns of covariation permeate the study of evolution and development. This book provides a badly needed fresh look at these patterns, and does so in a reasonable and balanced way. It critiques the excessive simplicities of past approaches (such as that all developmental evolution is heterochrony) and provides constructive suggestions for improving them." --Michael L. McKinney, Director, Environmental Studies Program and Professor of Geological Sciences and Ecology/Evolutionary Biology, University of Tennessee

"The book certainly lives up to its title: it not only provides new data and analyses for classical and novel examples of heterochrony, but also suggests alternative interpretations or ways to describe evolutionary changes. The strongest point of the book is the serious attempt made by most of the authors to incorporate an explicit phylogenetic analysis." --David H. A. Fitch, New York University

I was recently in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and someone mentioned Miriam Toews as a good writer from the area. I really enjoyed the characters in this book: the eccentric mayor Hosea Funk, the young mother Knute Corea-McCloud and the wonderful mutt named Bill Quinn. The characters make bad, petty, heroic and hilarious decisions, but the writer is ultimately a friendly narrator who gets us to care and want to keep reading right to the end.

I recently read Miriam Toews' "Swing Low", which is a memoir of her father. I picked up Boy of Good Breeding because I loved her writing style, which is casual, simple, and honest. Immediately, the characters grabbed me, and I could not put the book down. The people, who reflect real people - as I discovered as a result of reading the memoir - are beautifully portrayed, and their curious idiosynchracies made me chuckle. It's just a fun book, which is a pleasure to read, that leaves you with a good feeling.

I first heard of Miriam Toews (pronounced Taves) when an excerpt from "A Boy of Good Breeding" was read on CBC Radio One while I was traveling in Canada recently. I was captivated and wound up purchasing the book. The story centers on the zany characters who live in fictional Algren, Manitoba, which at 1,500 people is in the running for Canada's smallest town, and its eccentric mayor is intent on keeping it that way until Canada Day (July 1), for reasons which I won't go into to avoid spoiling your fun. Toews has a gift for making ordinary people and their failings (teenage motherhood, poverty, chronic depression) interesting and sympathetic, without drowning in sentimentality. I was so hooked by this book that I purchased and read "Summer of my Amazing Luck," which won a Manitoba award in 1996. It too was amusing, warm and thoroughly enjoyable

This is an excellent book for those who would like to learn more about the craft. Ms. Gorley is an excellent writer, teacher and the diretions/drawings are super helpful even for the novice.

She covers the basics and takes it from there. What is nice in additon to the lovely photographs are the drawings and sketches included.

Highly recommend this pulication for your doll making library.

This exciting book shows uncomplicated rag dolls a child can make and sophisticated dolls that will challenge experienced dollmakers -- and everything in between. Complete doll patterns including clothing. Tips, embellishments and secrets are shared by well-known dollmakers. Beautiful color photographs as well as clear drawings/black & white sketches. Among the 10 patterns given are Dirk,a flag-bearing American Revolutionary boy doll, the Princess Bride and Anne of Green Gables. If you're going to buy just one book on doll-making, this is the one to purchase. Great comprehensive book!

This book is one of the most complete for cloth doll making that I have found. Covers choosing the cloth, hair, faces, clothing, patterns, you name it. Anyone who loves cloth dollmaking needs to have this book. Excellent!!

I found this book to provide excellent supplemental info to the "DSM-IV-TR" itself. Written case studies, though no substitute for living, breathing subjects, actually provide a good deal of help in learning to apply the diagnoses in the "DSM-IV-TR". Highly recommended for anyone who wants to learn how to properly apply these diagnoses or learn more about psychiatry in general. I found it actually kind of fun. Avery Z. Conner, author of "Fevers of the Mind".

Well, never thought I would recommend a book like this one, but there has never BEEN a book quite like it. Recall once seeing a renowned Rorschacer examine vignettes like this manual does, and it was great. We enjoyed it, and learned from it.

My recent books read include "Exploration & Empire" by Goetzmann, a history of topography, so you know I enoy plain stuff.

Many of the sympton analyses in this book surprised me, but after careful thought, realized they were beneficial.

Was especially interested in "borderline" type stuff and the OCD sections which showed how OCD can be on both axis I and II.

This book taught me once again that while we all have personality "traits" only the mentally have a DSM number assigned to our excesses.

Was especially inspired by parts about "organic" dysfunctions, so you know it was inspirational. Have a friend with OPD (310.10 explosice type) and became more sensitive to the difficulty adjusting when you are not maladaptive to begin with.

Love to complain, but can't find anything to fault this book. Buy it, read it and if you don't have a place for it in your library, pass it on.

The Case Book was an optional selection for a psychopathology course I am currently enrolled in. I am glad I spent the money to get it because to a novice like myself, the vignettes are very helpful in understanding the arcane world of DSM IV-TR diagnosis.

This book is truly a "learning companion." Concepts and terminology are illustrated by real-life clinical situations, which can be enormously helpful for clinician and student alike to see how the DSM IV-TR plays out in the real world.

The New England Journal of Medicine said that this book is "educational and fun to read," and I would have to agree on both counts.

Get this book in print. I am a poet in the schools and share this book with all the teachers-- they are grateful and wonder why no one has mentioned it to them!

This is one of the best books ever written on young children, their language development and their stories and poems. It has been a real inspiration to me in my own work in related areas. Get it back into print, somebody!

I wish a new edition of this book would become available. Chukovsky has written an insightful, delightful book about children's capacity to use language and narration to craft meaning.

He transmits wonderful example's of the child's growing reasoning skills and never belittles the young learners. This book is academic and pleasure reading, quite a claim, I know, but accurate.

I think that anyone who writes children's poems or stories would take particular delight in reading this. He outlines 13 guidelines in writing for children that should save one from miscues and failures and speak straight to the hearts and minds of the child.

It is a little dated, mainly because Chukovsky wrote in 1960 in the midst of a Soviet regime. Yet, the truth and the passion still emerge. The respect that he has for children's capacity to learn should be the role model for each of us.

I sincerely recommend this book to you.

Excellent reading. Dr. Silliman brilliantly brings to light the world of four generations of women in her family. Not only has she presented excellent, affectionate, and enlightening portraits of these unique individuals, she gently teaches us about history, culture, and anthropology. The tales of these women reach from Calcutta through trade routes in Asia, Israel, London, and Jerusalem--ending up in Iowa. Best of all, these stories present the times and places through WOMEN's lives--these are stories that we do not hear in mainstream texts.

Silliman captures the essence of a forgotten group. She has taken a topic barely touched on and attempted to educate the world about it. In my opinion, she has succeeded, this would be one of the best books I have ever read. Buy it today!

Jael Silliman has written an excellent, scholarly book on the Jewish community in India. . Her descriptions of her family elders show her love and respect for them and yet she is sensitive and kind and most of all truthful and honest. As a member of the Baghdadi Jewish community she does not put down the other Jewish Communities in India to prove her community's superiority, as several Baghdadi writers have done. Instead, her excellent book builds bridges among these Indian Communities. Ms. Silliman has done her research and her writing style is a pleasure to read.I recommend this book wholeheartedly.
Samuel Daniel
Senior member of Bene Israel Community living in the USA.

This is a unique book that must be read by anyone interested in Jewish life in Poland before the Holocaust.

Jewish Roots In Poland is an incredible masterpiece, full of invaluable information and experiences for both the researcher in the quest for roots and the ordinary reader who wants to visit those roots. It has the careful and elaborate detail necessary for serious research and the beautifully rich illustration necessary for serious visualization and enjoyment. A portion of the book is devoted to explaining and listing exactly what material is available for the genealogist (professional or amateur) who is looking for family. Ms Weiner not only tells what is available and where it is located, but also details exactly how to access it. She has the help of those very experts who are in charge of the archives for these explanations. There are, in addition, illustrations of every kind of record that is available. This in itself - the consideration of the kinds of records that were kept and the various ways of keeping them - is a fascinating dimension. Another substantial segmented is devoted to the uniquest of travel literature. There are a number of pages devoted to each of the 28 cities now within the Polish border that had a pre-Holocaust population of 10,000 or more. For each city there is a remarkable collection of photographs: the city before the Holocaust and now, its synagogue(s), its cemeterie(s), its holocaust memorial. For each there is also a bibliography. The archival holdings in Poland are indexed by town and by repository. The contribution of a number of experts in the field enriches the text, and from beginning to end Ms Weiner's collection of photographs enriches the page. Marching up and down the outer edge of the appendix pages are more towns, cemeteries, archives and synagogues. This is a gift to the Jewish community - worth many times its price.

I just received the newly published book by Miriam Weiner, "Jewish Roots in Poland - Pages from the Past and Archival Inventories."

Upfront, I must say I am an unabashed admirer of Miriam Weiner, since before she "found" four generations of my KUSHNER family going back to the mid eighteenth century in Podolia. I had look forward to the publication of this book for a long time, expecting it to be something special because I know, from experience, just how amazing Miriam's level of detail can be. But, I honestly had no idea how wonderful and valuable the book would be in actuality. It is overwhelming.

First off, this is an incredible book for Poland researchers, wishing to retrieve archival documents for their ancestors who lived in Polish towns and cities. It lists, archive by archive, all the known archival holdings (of genealogical significance) - by type and time period, for each Polish town.

In addition, it offers a wonderful pictorial view of Jewish Poland at both the beginning and end of the 20th century. Especially fascinating were photos of the same place taken "now" and "then."

Even if one never visits an archive or intends to visit an archive, this book is a treasure! " After the first glance, it will probably not be relegated to the genealogy resource shelf of your library; more probably will spend time on the coffee table as well.The artistic detail and printing are exquisite