Free and Appropriate Public Education (5th Edition), by Rud and Ann Turnbull, is the defining legal resource for all special education advocates.

The Turnbull's, who co-founded and co-direct the Beach Center on Families with Disability at the University of Kansas, take the cumbersome legal process that is special education and turn it into a powerful reader friendly guide to understanding special education advocacy. The book has three parts, Introduction to the Law, the six principles of IDEA, and enforcing the law. The 5th edition is updated to include the 1997 IDEA amendments.

The first part of the book places the special education struggle into an historical context, preparing the reader for the principles at the heart of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act [IDEA]. The Turnbull's tell the reader where the law comes from, why it is needed and explains its power in the special education process. The reader learns what law is and how to make it work for individual students. A reader who understands why IDEA was needed in the first place will be better armed to advocate for a free appropriate public education for all students. This historical framework alone makes the book invaluable.

The second part of the Turnbull's book focuses on the six principles of the IDEA: zero reject (including discipline); nondiscriminatory evaluation; appropriate education (including positive behavior support); least restrictive environment (access to general education); due process (including mediation); and parent participation. The Turnbull's leave no stone unturned in detailing what families of children with disabilities have a right to expect from school administrators and teachers. The first time reader is thoroughly educated to the law and children with disabilty. The return reader and practicing advocate is given sophisticated information directly applicable to specific issues. The Turnbulls color each prinicple with the ink of history and the script of practical reality.

Rud and Ann Turnbull's final section tells parents how to use the law to obtain a truly free appropriate education for children with special needs. They give the reader a straightforward, no nonsense discussion of how IDEA is enforced. The authors give equal emphasis to hardball legal mechanisms and emerging alternative dispute resolution practices. A parent or advocate who understands how the law really works is better able to weigh specific choices for specific children.

Free Appropriate Public Education includes comprehensive resources. This 400-page hard cover book includes the 1997 IDEA amendments; glossary; a table of important cases; and extensive excerpts from the three landmark educational rights cases.

This book is ideal for the parent who for whatever reason cannot take advantage of opportunities to attend or participate in special education trainings or conferences. It also is an invaluable resource to those parents and advocates who present training opportunities or direct advocacy to other parents and families. The book is easy to use to refresh one's understanding of specific concepts or procedures. Finally, Free and Appropriate Public Education constantly reminds its readers and users that IDEA belongs to the families and not to the schools. It is not unreasonable for families to ask that IDEA be followed. The Turnbull's have given families a brief case resource which lets them put reason into practice. We heartily recommend this book.

This book is a must have for regular education teachers, special education teachers and especially parents of children with any disability or who suspect their child has a disability. It is written with the wisdom, compassion, and insight that only a parent of a child with disabilities could muster.

This book is the LAW for special education and it clearly defines what should be happening in America's schools. I highly recommend it.

Whether you're a home grower or beginning a commercial/retail greenhouse you'll find this book to be one of the best tools at your disposal. The tabled information is clear, concise, consistantly conveyed, and very easy to understand. Information includes germination temperature, light requirements, grow-on conditions, days to finishing/sales, and much more. I have used this book as my sole reference for production and have had great success, even with the more difficult seeds to germinate.

"Winter Reckoning" is a solid piece of work from an author who is better known for her poetry. A tale of finding one's self on a new and brutal world, "Reckoning" combines a knowledge of sociology and anthropology with a deeply creative imagination, resulting in a tale both rich and compelling. ~ Anne W. Brennan (SorchaM@aol.com), Providence, RI, USA

In the land of the Saeditin, power and wealth are held through the matriarchal line with the head of the kingdom, the Saeket, always a woman. At eight years of age the heir to the throne, Rilsin Sae Becha sees her mother killed in a civil war that put a Saeket Melisin on the throne. The order went out that the disposed Sae Becha was to be put to death but she was murdered by an assassin before that order could be carried out.

The new Saeket, Rilsin's cousin Sithli commutes the death sentence of the child and they grow up in the palace together as best friends. Rilsin pledges her loyalty to Sithli and becomes the first minister and leader of the army. Sithli is not a very good leader, alienating the commoners and allowing her people to be sold as slaves to the south. The land calls to Rilsin but if she answers that summons, she will plunge the country into another civil war and stands to lose all she holds dear.

THE SWORD OF THE LAND is a very entertaining fantasy featuring a heroine it is impossible to dislike. She is loyal to her cousin who she truly loves and tries to turn a blind eye to her excesses but she can't ignore the complaints of the people or her ties to the land. Court intrigue and battle scenes are only a small part of this novel as the author focuses her attention on the protagonist tugged in opposite directions by opposing forces demanding she choose between the moral high ground or her cousin's desires.

Harriet Klausner

I loved this book, and not since it is written by a friend. I felt the story was well written, the plot unpredictable and the characters interesting and entertaining. I loved the hunting cats, the matriarchy lineage, and the magic vs. invention theme. Get this book!!

If you're a fan of Tamora Pierce's Tortall books or Sherwood Smiths Wren or Mel stories, you're likely to enjoy this book. I've read so many fantasy novels now that couldn't meet my standards, but this book wove it's way in to my favorites.
A loyal and determined heroine, cool hunting cats, mysteries of who is friend and enemy, and a truelly engaging plot make this one of the most enjoyable stories I have read.
The readers are shown the feelings and intentions of many characters without the story straying much from Rilsin's point of view. It's written beautifully with the perfect amount of action and detail. Do not pass this by!

Is there not a conflict of interest when someone who is directly and/or indirectly profiting from a book publishes a glowing (but non-informational) review of the same book? The review dated July 13, 1999 and entitled, "The most hopeful thing ever on being an older adult!" (see below) includes an E-mail address--pmcdonne@ehs.org--which belongs to Sr. Pat McDonnell, CSJ, who is acknowledged as a contributor in the Introduction of this book. She is in the same community of sisters as the authors!

This book is a rehash of the Gnosticism of Carl Jung (an early 20th-century psychology theorist (who was heavily dependent on the Occult, Alchemy, Astrology, Gnosticism, etc.) by two Catholic nuns who are neither psychologists nor theologians. They have "chosen Carl Jung's psychology because it is about the second half of life," and that is the limits of insight and scholarship that pervades this publication. It is a psychology that negates mainstream modern psychology and is not accepted by any modern scientific or medical field. Beginning with the Dedication Page that announces, "For many years we have been training others to facilitate Mid-Life Directions Workshops for Personal and Spiritual Growth and Long Life Directions Workshops for Personal and Spiritual Growth. They are an international group of outstanding professionals. We dedicate this book to these Mid-Life Directions Certified Consultants around the country and around the world." and ending on the last page reserved for seminar information, the book is further interspersed throughout with reports of seminar participants and their outcomes. Observing that in their seminars "most people have awful feelings of apathy, boredom, lethargy, disillusionment, bitter anxiety, anger and regret," the authors extrapolate that "we have come to believe that most people go through a crisis of negative feelings . . . ." and (by suggestion) need their seimnars too. "Carl Jung says, "(a phrase repeated all too often in this book) that "this is due to a loss of faith." It was this, the authors state, that inspired Jung to weave his whole system of pseudo-religious theory of the psyche modeled on the ancient pagan beliefs of Gnosticism, mythology, alchemy, astrology and psychoanalysis. That sets the Gnostic theme of this book--that finding Self through self-analysis leads one to the secret Jungian-Gnostic knowledge of God who is our essence. (What?) Thus, we are draggd down a long dead-end corridor of psycho-romantic theorizing with adjoining rooms full of pagan, Gnostic and New Age spiritualities, all rolling on waves of vague, undocumented, unexplained, self-serving speculations. The most blatant of these is: 1. WE ARE GOD--"an enfleshment of: the offspring of: an epiphany of: and the incarnatin of: God." The authors misinterpret the phrase from Genesis "made in the image and likeness of God" to mean that man's essence is God. However, Christianity's interpretation is that man is made TO the image of God by our capacity to know Him and love Him and His creation. We are God's creatures and that is how we are to relate to Him, whereas the original sin of Adam and Eve was that they wanted to BE God. 2. SELF IS WHERE GOD EXISTS. "The Kingdom of God is within you," it is argued, means that God is in your essence (as did the Gnostics), whereas the Church teaches that we have the Indewelling of God through Sanctifying Grace, but not as our essence. 3. SELF IS FOUNDTHROUGH PSYCHO- ANALYSIS. But Carl Jung is "not accepted by any scientific or medical field" according to Richard Knoll in his book, The Jung Cult. Psychoanalysis is rarely attempted today by psychiatrists, and, generally, it does not work; to some degree because many people simply are not candidates for that process. But while Jung taught that psychoanalysis is useful for "integration," even he never suggested that one should try to analyze himself, as do these authors. 4. WHEN WE FIND SELF, they say, WE FIND THE "GROUND OF OUR BEING," i.e., GOD. So, in this book finding God within the Self is the fulfillment of the "myths" of Creation, Incarnation and Resurrection. It is not explained why the authors refer to the mysteries as "myths." However, in an oddity for putative Catholic authors, the Crucifixion, the central mystery of Christianity, is never mentioned. 5. SIN IS MERELY THE OPPOSITE SIDE OF GOOD. In a posture suggestive of Manicheism, the authors explain sin as being the shadow side of something else that is good. Everything in the world, they elaborate, is in a polarity, a dualty, with something else. Accordingly, goodness is presented as the unification of the shadow with its opposite; even Christ is included as having a shadow. 6. ALL HUMANS SHARE IN A COLLECTIVE UNCONSCIOUS, UNIVERSAL MIND. The authors treat this as credible. In Jung's adoption of this quasi-scientific concept, Archetypes have been passed down to all humans and function much as instincts. The authors do not, of course, support the notion of its descent with any explanation, not even an incoherent one. 7. THE SACRED MYSTERIES OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION ARE REFERRED TO AS MYTHS! Jung and the authors interpret the Catholic mysteries as being meaningful ONLY because mythologies passed down to us through universal Archetypes provide those meanings. Without those Archetypes and myths, according to Jung and the authors, the sacred mysteries would have no meaning for us. 8. HOLINESS IS "WHOLENESS." In this book holiness is attained by man as he "integrates" his consciousness with his unconsciousness--when he "unifies" his opposites, thus becoming a "whole" person. 9. "BOTH JESUS AND BUDDHA PROVIDED IDENTICAL ADVICE ON LOVING . . . AND EXPERIENCING THE SACRED." ? Then, the authors provide that Buddha did that six centuries before Jesus! To further confirm this point, they recommend readers meditate on a "wonderful little book,"--Jesus and Buddha: the Parallel Savings--by the "celebrated Christian writer, Marcus Borg," (to whom Christ is a mere spirit-person) and, according to the authors, is a "non-exclusivist Christian." Terrific! How did God ever get himself into such a mess as to be in need of this book? I do not recommend it. It is nonsense.

This is a spirit filled book to keep by your side for a long life. Its a deceptively easy read that hits in a deep place. Stories make its insights real, powerful, practical. Over 40..50..60..70..? look no further if your enthusiasm for life and newness are flagging, Brennan and Brewi are right where its at. Don't miss this one!

This book was horrible. I was forced to use it in a mandatory brainwash...er, history course for school. The book essentially goes like this:

We settled Massachusetts, and the indians, blacks, gays and women were persecuted.

Then, we started a westward expansion which led to persecution for indians, blacks, gays, and women.

During the revolutionary war some white guys fought or something, but it is important to note that the indians, blacks, gays...

This book is a proselyting tool, a transparent piece of propaganda. I didn't convert.

This book tries to teach history without actually including any concrete information. It outlines general trends without emphasizing the historical facts on which the trends are based. While it's certainly important to recognize progressions in history, it's extremely difficult to learn about them based only on the text's vague, 50-page summaries, all of which fail to mention any form of historical evidence.

As a student, I found this book's approach to teaching history disastrous and mildly insulting. First of all, it fails to convey even the most cursory knowledge of history by shunning, at all costs, cruel Old Regime teaching methods that might require DATE memorization or familiarity with historical FACTS. With nothing to "Lock On" to, it's very hard to retain anything. Even worse, however, are the implications of the book's approach. I like History because I enjoy being able to look at a set of evidence and trying to figure out, based on otherwise stale information, what *actually* happened, what life was like. Somehow, I got the sense that by describing outright "what life was like," the book implies that to force students to learn INFORMATION is useless, that students are unable to think for themselves and interpret historical information with any accuracy.

I think I should comment, also, on one reviewer's dismissal of this book as "Nouveau History." I come close to BEING one of the "Tenured Radicals" this reviewer had so much disdain for, and I still hated this book. I would hate it if I were communist. There's so much wrong with it that to criticize it for its left-wing perspective is plain silly.

I would recommend "The American Promise," by James L. Rourke, Micheal P. Johnson, and a few others instead.

This book provides a balanced overview of U.S. History up to 1877. The treatment of social and cultural history is particularly stong. The prose is, for the most part, quite lively.

The title of this book is very misleading - it should have been Mid-Life CHRISTIAN Spirituality. While I have no qualms with an occasional quote from the Bible when it makes a point, this book was littered with biblical references that had little relevance other than to proselytize. In fact I was downright offended that a book geared toward people experiencing a mid-life crisis (and thus more vulnerable) would contain such a heavy Christian-only overtone. This book may interest Christians but since the book seems to take the stance of the fundamentalist or born again, the reader should be made aware of this before buying the book.

Simply put, this book is more about preaching a form of Christianity as a solution than a fair presentation of spirituality and mid-life. The description of the book, and the positive reviews were very misleading and the book itself very disappointing. The author should, not assume that Christianity is the answer to everyone's spiritual needs, for it certainly is not.

This book directly opposes the teachings of the Catholic Church and all orthodox Christianity! It is Gnostic. Boring, illogical and hard-to-follow, it is written in a third-grade style, presumably to accommodate that confused, vulnerable, unlettered populace who frequents money-making seminars hosted by "experts." Indeed, in this New Age milieu, Jung sells! For a comprehensive history and understanding of Carl Jung and his teachings, read Richard Noll, Ph.D., clinical psychologist and Post-doctoral Fellow in the History of Science at Harvard University. His two books are scholarly, detailed, logical and highly documented with primary sources. They are: "The Aryan Christ: The Secret Life of Carl Jung" and "The Jung Cullt: Origins of a Charismatic Movement." (Also, access "Yahoo" then "Carl Jung") Do not buy and, thus, support this New Age book. If you must, get it in the library under its former title: "Celebrate Mid-Life: Jungian Archetypes and Mid-Life Spirituallity." You see, the 1999 book is a reprint of the 1989 title, which quickly went out of print, and has been given a new chance by, of course, the Jung Society.

Even if you've very little understanding of Jung's ideas, you'll be able to follow this book. It's easy to read, interesting, and thought provoking. More important, it addresses some of the questions I've asked as I moved into my, uh, twilight years. Further, corroberation of the ideas put forth are drawn from a wide variety of sacred and secular texts.

The book is broken into four sections: The Life Cycle, The Shadow, The Child, and Emerging Wisdom. I quite enjoyed the "Reflective Exercises" at the end of each section that gave me a chance to think about, and integrate, what I'd just read.

And like anything that goes to the core of our own personal belief system, we should remember we can take the best and leave the rest. Me? I'm taking a lot away from this book!