The pictures in this book are great fun--Trina Schart Hyman skillfully captures the atmosphere of each season with a complexity of familiar objects, including the small details that always make her work a joy to wander into. The poetry, however, was not as good as I had expected. The poems lacked internal unity, resembling a list of separate events that never transitioned well enough into each other to evoke the desired image (of that particular month). There were occasional gems--phrases that stood out like holidays in an otherwise unspectacular "year." For example, "January" begins with these lines:

"The days are short,/ The sun a spark/ Hung thin between/ The dark and dark."

And the first two stanzas of "June":

"The sun is rich/ And gladly pays/ In golden hours,/ Silver days,/

And long green weeks/ That never end./ School's out. The time/ Is ours to spend."

Among several other noteworthy passages, my favorite of all is this one from "March":

"The mud smells happy/ On our shoes."

Read it for the gems, not for a unified sense of the season, and you'll be rewarded. But then again, the pictures are reward enough!

Today, many children only know about poetry from Dr. Seuss. A Child's Calendar is a rich introduction to the imagery of poetry that has entranced all who listen since the days of wandering story tellers and shamen. In this volume, classic New England situations and events are beautifully illustrated in warm, heavily inked water colors showing beautiful brown and pink faces amid nature's wonders. Although no one would buy this volume solely for the poetry, the resulting book of illustrated verses makes for the raw material for a garden of happy memories tended by reading to your child (or grandchild) and listening while she or he learns to read to you.

Each month is featured, beginning with January, with a brief poem and two beautiful illustrations spread over two pages. The illustrations are clearly well deserving of the Caldecott Honor.

I found some of the imagery particularly meaningful, and these lines are included below:

January -- "The sun a spark/Hung thin between/The dark and dark."

February -- "And snapping, snipping/Scissors run/To cut out hearts."

March -- "The timid earth/Decides to thaw."

April -- "All things renew./All things begin."

May -- "And Daddy may/Get out his hoe/To plant tomatoes/In a row."

June -- "In golden hours,/Silver days."

July -- "Bang-bang! Ka-boom!"

August -- "The pavement wears/Popsicle stains."

September -- "The breezes taste of apple peel."

October -- "Frost bites the lawn."

November -- "The ground is hard,/As hard as stone."

December -- "We were fat penguins,/Warm and stiff."

The subjects of sun, earth, plants, animals, and change recur in almost each poem.

One of the charms of this book is that it makes the harsh weather interesting and appealing, helping a child understand the balanced nature of the year and his or her role in that balance. For someone who lives in a warm climate year round this book will seem very magical.

After you have finished enjoying the book, I suggest that you and your child partner discuss other cycles that she or he has noticed. You could talk about the daily cycle of the sun, the monthly cycle of the moon, the twice daily tides, or even three meals a day. Young people often have trouble developing a perception of context for what is going on around them. This book and your discussions can help. You will also encourage someone who may want to write some poetry. If so, why not start with January and describe what is happening where you live?

See and hear the most in the beauty around you! Capture it for others to enjoy!

Updike creates a poem and word picture that accurately and wonderfully describes each month of the year. His short, simple poems are packed full of words and imagines that conjure up seasons and holidays, emotions and activities throughout the year. Hyman's illustrations are an added bonus, as she brings each month to life through the eyes of a family and their friends. I highly recommend this one -- it's beautiful

It greatly disturbs me that there are modern Christians who still believe that Serious and Severe Brain disorders such as bipolar disorder are the result of sin. John MacArther attempts to drag christians back into the dark ages where demons, spells, and witchcraft exists. Considering that there is more scientific support for Brain disorders than there is for A.I.D.S. I wonder where he gets off by saying that there is no biological support for Bipolar Disorder. P.E.T. scans now reconfirm to the average person what Doctors have believed for years; Bipolar Disorder is the result of a Chemical imbalance involving at least three Nurotransmitters. Considering that John MacArthur has ZERO experience in the medicine field, I find it odd that he claims to know more than doctors who have trained all of their life. I think that it is a shame that Christians like John have found sadistic pleasure in tormenting the seriously ill. "What you do unto the least of my servants you do even unto me"----Jesus Christ.

This is an excellent book full of practical and biblical instruction on parenting. As are most of MacArthur's books, Successful Christian Parenting is full of biblical exposition. MacArthur focuses on general principles of parenting, rather than getting entangled in specific lists of dos and donts. He rightly understands parenting to be a simple, yet weighty task: that of teaching our children to know God, obey His Word, and trust in Christ. This is a very gospel centered book, with clear direction on how to share the gospel with children. There is a strong emphasis on instilling into our children biblical wisdom for life. I also like MacArthur's balanced teaching on child discipline. The final two chapters focus on the father's and mother's roles, and beautifully unfold God's pattern for marriage which is based on mutual submission and love. This book is not encumbered with psychology or legalism, which makes it quite refreshing. MacArthur's comments on psychological disorders, referenced in another review, comprise a very small portion of this book. While I am not trained in medicine or psychology, my own exposure to psychology in college left me thinking that it was a far less exact science than psychologists want to let on. I don't think MacArthur is far off the mark.

An excellent presentation of the unchanging truths and principles that God gave us for not only raising children but for living all of life. MacArthur doesn't rest on the human wisdom found in theories and methods that change with time, place and people. This is a wonderful teaching tool to use alongside Scripture as an individual or in a class.

I first read this book at a time when we were going through severe side effects from medicating my 7yr old son for ADD. I felt drawn to this book because it offered hope and alternatives to the medication route. However, having read the book I found that Dr. Breeding jumped to conclusions that were not well founded either through his own research or through the literature. His agenda in the book is clearly to dissuade readers from ever using medication for ADD again. Clearly, there is an abuse of ADD medication in the U.S. and for taking a stand against this I definitely applaud Dr. Breeding.

However, having read this book it clearly is an example of 'throwing the baby out with the bath water'. There are many children for whom medication makes a real difference in their lives. Why treat a chemical inbalance in the brain any different from another medical condition? We could equally well argue that any health problems we experience should be handled without medication.

We all agree that the wildest colts may make the best horses, but in real life, those wild colts MUST be tamed. If left to run wild they will most certainly NOT make the best horses. They must be trained and guided in love and consistency.

If medication enables our children to learn and be trained to develop into responsible and well-balanced adults, then I think we should be extremely careful before entirely disregarding the possible benefits of using medication.

In closing though, I still believe that Dr. Breeding's warning about overmedicating too many kids is an important one. Let's just be careful NOT to throw the baby out with the bathwater! If you read this book - please do so with an open yet critical mind!

I thought Dr. Breeding's book was outstanding, because anyone dealing a child who is labeled a problem/disabled/special education would find comfort and understanding reading this selection. Appropriately dealing with situations that involve children who are considered a problem is a very daunting job if you do not know what you are doing. This book clearly describes and defines the problems that labeled children face in America.

Dr. Breeding has a style of writing which is easy to comphrehend, because he does an excellent job at explaining the topics he presents. For example, he doesn't just claim "drugging children is harmful." He provides a full and complete explanation of why parents should look at other options outside of medication for their children. So often parents are pushed, bullied, and shoved into the easy way to resolve problems with children, and end up paying greatly at a latter date. If you want an open and honest insight Dr. Breeding's book is a page turner.

I was impressed with Dr. Breeding's anti drugging stance, because almost every child I have ever seen be placed on medication perform poorly socially, academically, and emotionally in the long run. Even the few that do demonstrate excellence academically end up latter on with either a drug problem or taking even more drugs to focus. I appreciate a doctor's willingness to just tell the truth.

This book also highlights the important aspect of becoming a better parent, because it is much easier or more successful to parent children when you actually understand them. I think most parents find frustration with thier childre, because they do not understand, therefore, do not know how to effectively respond.

To date, I have now read a lot of writings by Dr. Breeding, and I find him to have a superior grasp of children's behavior. Typically I've resented any mental health professionals, but I like and trust Dr. Breeding. His website is a valuable source of information also for any parent or even teacher searching for the truth and understanding.

I praise Dr. Breeding in his quest to inform the parents of children who are subjects of an abused educational system. I found this book enlightening and would recommend it to all who would like to know the truth about ADHD.

I'll make it short. This book has been a great resource for me. I think it's wrong for people to write a review if they have apparently never read it. It covers so many different philosophies (Montessori,...) not just Waldorf.

I give this book as a gift to all my expectant and new mother friends. It has chapters on child development, imagination and play, health, and education all from an integrated, holistic perspective. It is filled with beautiful color photographs and illustrations, practical advice and how-to information on making toys, children's games to play, etc. As a student of Waldorf Education, I recommend this book to all parents of young children who are interested in learning more about the Waldorf philosophy. Helpfully, the author of the chapter on education compares different educational philosophies including Rudolf Steiner (Waldorf), Piaget, John Dewey, Maria Montessori and others. A valuable and enlightening resource -- highly recommended.

First, readers of these reviews should be aware that Dan Dugan has made a profession of his near-fanatical opposition to Waldorf education. If he had read this book, he would have found that it integrates many educational perspectives, including Montessori, Paul Goodman, Carl Rogers, Robert Cole, John Holt, Rahima Baldwin, parent-teacher coops, home-schooling, etc. One of the contributors to the book is the editor of the Educational Review.

In my opinion this book is exquisitely designed, full of heart, and manifestly dedicated to opening a ground where adults and children can meet and learn from each other.

I found the advice impractical in the home setting. I would not recommend this book for parents or teachers. Perhaps those in the clinical setting would find it helpful.

This text finally provides tools and strategies that I can, as a parent, become an expert at using. I just wish the publisher would print more of them at a quicker pace so that my friends could pick up copies. Great book! -ms

For parents and concerned friends and relatives of anxious children, Dr. Dacey and Dr. Fiore have co-authored the definitive guide for dealing with anxious children. As a parent, and now a grandparent, I highly recommend this informative, reassuring and inspiring book.

Although the book is very colorful and has many articles that can help people use the knowledge in everyday life, the chapters (divided into life stages) are very sketchy and have very little new knowledge for college-aged students.

I found the book to be a wonderful resource, and it is filled with an abundance of significant information. The book also presents a great understanding of lifespan development and articulates the knowledge in a clear way. College students should find it an easy read, along with many nice pictures and helpful tables.

This book describes the very essence of life in a definite and distinctive way. There are no underlying factors or confusing verbage. The reader can simply investigate a topic of interest while receiving the information in its complete totality.

The format of this book is simply wonderful. Santrock does an excellent job in allowing the reader to not only expand upon early life-span development . . . But he also introduces the reader to the various theories that helped shaped life-span development. In this book you learn of Vygotsky, Erickson, and Piaget and many, many others.

I personally found this book to be of great help during my graduate studies. It provided me with practically everything that I needed on the subject of "development" and was a #1 source of reference in all practicums and papers.

I am exceedingly happy that this book has renewed another edition and look forward to adding this updated version to my already sprawling collection.

The book delves into some very important issues, but skips over much of the biographical stuff and early memories I was hoping for. Over 50 pages of this already short book are just a listing of his previously published articles. In this case, the cover of the book is just a little bit misleading.

LA Times 7/22/01 "Nichols is a God-forsaken mountain of American conflict, spriritual doubt, political duality and gender confusion. Like a pioneer, he keeps lighting out the territory ahead of the rest, gets lost in the desert and comes up the hills....This memoir, this credo, reveals a tender, overprotected rich kid growing up on 600 Long Island acres that had been in his family since the 1700s....Some time after college, his best friends took off for Guatemala, dragged him down for a visit and politicized the hell out of him. That was 1964, and he was 24. It was the best thing and the worst thing that could have happened to John Nichols."

Colorado Springs Independent 7/5/01 "Nichols is a masterful storyteller, full of the humor that springs from honesty, and this is one of those books you begin to wish would not end after you've read the first 10 pages."

The title of this text is the best part of the book. Feuerstein's thesis is that in order to help Down Syndrome ("DS") children, the almost banal expression "Accept me [him] as I am [he is]" is definitely not the way to go. Instead, the idea is to challenge the retarded child in a manner that does not set out pre-established limits. Feurstein et al base their cognitive theories on the basic premise of the ability to modify. Chapter 2 is an excellent discussion of the two opposing schools of thought in connection with retarded children: (a) the passive-acceptant ("PA") approach versus Feuerstein's active-modification ("AM") theory. As the name implies, the PA approach is one based on a passive acceptance of the child's handicap, and a well-meaning and even loving desire not to set what at first would seem like unattainable goals. In fact, there are few (if any) expectations for the handicapped person. They arise from well-meaning people that would like to shelter the DS child from a cruel and uncaring world by making sure that he is educated only with other DS children and that only very modest expectations can be held as to cognitive development.

Feuerstein's AM approach, on the other hand, is not any less "loving" than the PA approach, but it does not accept the handicap (physical or mental) as some sort of fatalistic impediment to growth and development. Instead, he proposes that the handicaps (and some much more severe than DS) can be modified and some can be overcome, and that a lack of challenging goals and hard work can easily become self-fulfilling prophesy in terms of growth for children with limitations. Handicapped children need to be fully integrated with "normal" children as the only way to obtain excellence in achieving these goals. This is similar to the "conductive education" theory which does not accept the physical condition of the individual as setting unsurpassable barriers to functional change (cf. Dr. Petö in Budapest, and his successor, Dr. Maria Hari). Crucial to the AM approach is the active involvement not only of the educator/mediator but also of the retarded child. The goal of modifying the handicap involves hard work that should not be carried out on behalf of, or for the child, but instead with and through him. In essence, AM is not a patronizing approach. Feurstein et al demonstrate that DS children and others with low IQs should not "wither away in institutions." These children are "neither hopeless nor helpless, and certainly not deserving of society's disparagement or pity." Children with intelligence limitations can lead "rich, active, joyous, and even independent lives as contributors to society." Ultimately, that attitude shows more true caring than one which gives up before trying.

Despite what seem like very good ideas and concepts, Feuerstein promises in the early chapters much more than he delivers in this text. The book is full of unnecessary jargon, placed into acronyms to make it even more unreadable, focusing too much on the "what" without the "how" or the "why" of changes experimented by DS patients. One can take the jargon at the beginning (such as the "PA" and "AM" cited above). However, it gets thicker and in a completely gratuitous manner with expressions like "Structural Cognitive Modifiability" ("SCM") where "change" or "adaptability" would have fitted as well, "Mediated Learning Experience" ("MLE") instead of a simpler "interactive education," the rather insane acronym of "FRIWAFTT" (!) where the author offers the "helpful" saying: "Fools rush in where angels fear to tread," which might have been acceptable if it didn't stand for concepts that do not need acronyms, such as "feelings," "revenues," "ignorance," "waste" and other such terms. The confusing jargon gets worse with "LPAD" which stands for "Learning Potential Assessment Device" "IE" for "Instructional Enrichment" and others. Chapter 12, the one on Instrumental Enrichment, is perhaps the chapter that most promises to get into the "how" of changes detected by the authors in dealing with DS patients. However, it does not accomplish that either. Instead, the chapter is full of examples of the tools used without getting, in any given example, into the how/why and in-depth reasoning process that takes a previously handicapped person to someone who indeed is able to excel.

The other aspect of Feuerstein's book that is very unconvincing is the manner that he (or "they," as several authors collaborated on the book) describes an apparently hopeless case, and after throwing in some of the jargon in the paragraph above, these people become model citizens and are able to function at previously unimaginable levels. I would not have minded the "boasting" if they had actually explained with detail how something like "IE" or "LPAD" worked instead of saying simply that these tools worked. In that sense, it is a text that lacks a rigorous scientific method, or even a strictly clinical method. I came away from reading this book as if it had been some tantalizing publicity for something to be fully revealed at another later stage. And perhaps that is all the book aimed to do, since the author has indeed published more recent books and articles which perhaps better address these issues.

Having said the above, I would also say that the book is worth it just because of it's very clever subtitle, and because of a conceptual approach in the early chapters that encourages an active rather than a passive attitude toward DS, and in fact, any learning disability. It is all too easy to abandon hope under the patronizingly compassionate "let's accept him as he is." However, Feuerstein makes a convincing case for taking an active role, and in a persistent and even stubborn way, for finding some way to get through ("mediate") from a cognitive perspective.

This was the first book that I read by this researcher, after reading a small article in a magazine. Feurerstein clearly explains how a learning disability is self referencing. The disability usually induces an environment which offers less opportunities to learn and so the individual learns less,and as a result his environment becomes even less generous. Feurerstein offers strategies for parents and educators to counteract this tendency of the disability to imbed itself. It gives clear names for the cognitive functions which are the tools of thinking, and shows how parents and educators can train themselves to become aware of these behaviours or the lack of them. The diagnostic procedures look not for an average of abilities but for areas of strength and weakness and most importantly for potential to learn in any area. Building upon strength rather than supporting weakness is the basic idea. Feurerstein exposes the dangers of overeliance on concrete aids for students who have difficulty reasoning abstractly. Instead he suggests that they should be taught to reason abstractly, and then shows us how. Some of the language in this book is offputting for the non-academic person and some of the things described may be confronting.

This guy is a psycho-boomer looney. His book serves best as kindling.

The New York Times called this book "astonishly cogent," and I agree. This is one of the most insightful and thought-provoking books I've ever read. Sadly, 30 years later almost nothing has changed. While the ACLU fights for the voting rights of convicted felons, a 17-year-old "child," no matter how sensible or informed, cannot cast a ballot in the United States. Millions of children are shipped off to school every day, where they are mostly taught to do as they're told (no matter how arbitrary or pointless) and above all, conform--lessons which will serve them all too well for decades to come. The transparency of Holt's writing should also be an example to authors everywhere. It is a tragedy that this book is out of print, and Holt no longer with us. The world desperately needs more like him.

This is my favorite book of the many Holt has written. It does not cover any aspects of learning/educational issues as do his other books. Instead it addresses the matter of looking at children as whole individuals who should be treated respectably, as any adult would want to be.

Our culture too readily encourages parents, and adults in general, to use their voice in a excessively authorative manner which only serves to bully and demean children. No one would want to be spoken to or treated in such a condensending manner. This book will open your eyes to the damage we are doing to our beloved kids when we accept the cultural standard way of parenting. Highly recommended!

This book of Boswell's is a fascinating history of an previously unknown and essentially overlooked piece of history -- the situation for children, and what happened to them should they become orphaned or abandoned. Boswell's particular period and geographic centre is in Europe of Late Antiquity to the Renaissance.

Beginning by looking at the ideal of family structure and responsibilities in the Roman Empire (the dominant model throughout the western world), Boswell proceeds through time periods to the Renaissance, examining literary and legal documents for narrative stories of children and caretakers, and for the general policy of church and state organisations toward care or neglect of such. One such narrative as example will serve to illustrate:

'...in Fresne (The Ash Tree) a married woman has maliciously spread the tale that the birth of twins means that the mother has slept with two men, and when she herself then bears twins, she must face an opprobrium of her own creation. She contemplates killing one, but--significantly--her companions dissuade her from this, arguing that it would be a sin. Abandonment, however, was not...'

The woman gives a child to her maid who then leaves it in a church -- while the story turns out badly, it is not due to the abandonment, which was considered in this High Middle Ages tale quite natural and proper.

Boswell's antipathy toward the Catholic church shows forth a bit in his interpretation (which may nonetheless be valid) with statements such as: 'Christianity may well have increased the rate of abandonment, both by insisting more rigidly than any other moral system on the absolute necessity of procreative purpose in all human sexual acts, and by providing, through churches and monasteries, regular and relatively humane modes of abandoning infants nearly everywhere on the continent.'

A wonderful glimpse into a shadowy world at the sidelines of history, yet one of crucial importance for those of us who live in a 'family values' historical period. If we do not know our past, how can we be sure of our present?

First, let me explain that I am not using this book in any class I teach(unlike the other 2 previous reviewers). I read this out of my own interest. Second, it is odd that only 2 prior reviews exist on this site, since I believe this to be an important book by the author of two well-known and controversial works about homosexuality and Christianity.
Third, allow me to rebut the negative review below. It is unclear how "college students" could fully evaluate Boswell's scholarship. While his numerous and lengthy footnotes can be a chore, his meticulous referencing of sources is admirable. And he quotes those sources in their ORIGINAL languages in many cases:Greek, Latin, Italian, Irish, Norse, Icelandic etc. How did the college students mentioned above possibly find his references "contradictory and wrong??"
In sum, this book is provocative and original. It would take scholars in the field of child history (granted a small field, if it indeed could be deemed one)an entire year to fully digest this tome and scrutinize its sources. Any thinking person interested in the evolution of human attitudes towards adoption, the protection and rearing of children, and child abuse MUST reckon with this marvelous work.

I assigned the text in my upper-division graduate and graduate courses, and students rave about it. They encounter a world they can hardly imagine, one where families and parents must make quite heinous (to the modern reader) decisions to abandon their children. Boswell documents the widespread character of the practice. I found the work quite well written and informative.