Henry Cloud and John Townsend'a books are revolutionary in the authors' abilities to connect with their readers. All of the previous literature on boundaries, keeping safe in relationships, understanding the core of what hooks an individual into a dysfunctional relationship, as well as the healing process, pales in comparison with their powerful works. I highly recommend and give their books to all my clients, family and friends! I applaud Amazon.com for offering these books and encourage others to order through the website. Other Cloud and Townsend titles I highly recommend are: Boundaries; Boundaries With Kids; Safe People; Changes That Heal.

I thought I had the best Mom in the world...she always seemed to do the right thing! Then, I lost her when I turned 30 years old. All of a sudden, I had no one to turn to for advice. I knew I wasn't communicating well with my three girls ages 10, 14 and 15 years and I needed to know what to do to increase our communication skills. I attended a book review of The Mom Factor and was amazed to find out that just because I always did what Mom expected didn't necessarily mean that I had a right to expect my own children to be just like me. I was able to discover that I am the way I am because of the way I was mothered. I still believe that Mom was the best Mom that she could be but none of us are perfect! This book has helped me to discover that there are certain things that I have done as a mother that will affect my girls for the rest of their lives. I also am able to catch myself when I find that I am responding to them in such a way that will not be good for them in the long run. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is a mother, who will become a mother or who has a mother! You will soon discover some interesting facts about why you are the way you are

If you love Victorian illustration you will be in heaven with this terrific book. It is a treasury of over 100 Victorian era verses set up in sections about Childhood Years, Sprites and Goblins, Rules for Growing Up, Absurdities, and the World of Nature. The illustrations are full color and just as charming as you could possibly wish. The quality of the paper, printing, cover, and dustjacket are all top-notch. There are interesting margin notations that give the history and background of the verses and pictures. Here's a parting thought from the book. "Ride, ride the carousel, Reach for the golden ring, Never to finish, But begin again. Life is a circular thing."

I found this book a little different from other children's books of verse. It is a book of victorian verses that teach children of good manners, and others that are just plain amusing. Some of the verses are cumulative, which means a new line is added with each verse, such as "the little old lady who swallowed a fly" which are good for helping children understand the progression of the story, as well as helping them to learn to read because the words are repetitive. I also found interesting the notes on the side of the page that gives a little history behind the verse. The pictures in this book are beautiful and look as if they come straight from a victorian scrapbook. I think this is an excellent book!

I truly wish I had this book in my hands during the time I was raising my three children. Being divorced, remarried, having
an asthmatic child, one that had epilepsy, and one that dealt with extreme anger,this would have been a God sent.

Written in a simple, yet concise way, this book deals with many of the problems that
parents face each day with their children.
Be it fears, eating and sleeping problems, social behavior, or more serious topics, they are covered in this book.

I feel this work should be in every home.
It will calm your fears and help you to recognize when you do need to seek help.
A very good read, with practical help that
all parents will embrace.

Collaboratively written by clinical psychologists and educators Rita Sommers-Flanagan and John Sommers-Flanagan, Problem Child Or Quirky Kid? is a straightforward, parent-friendly, "common sense" introduction and guide to the nature of significant childhood problems in terms of what is normal and what is not. Problem Child Or Quirky Kid? deftly addresses such issues as hyperactivity, childhood trauma, disobedience, suicidal tendencies, alcohol and drug use, chronic anger, socially crippling shyness, radical mood swings, and more. Thoroughly researched and offering solid, reliable information, Problem Child Or Quirky Kid? is very highly recommended for concerned parents who find their children exhibiting what seem to be unusual, detrimental, or worrisome behaviors.

This book has helped me more than any other book I have read related to recovery from childhood wounds. My addiction to books led me to read hundreds of books on recovery issues (especially when I was going through my own discovery phase of recovery from childhood physical, psychological, emotional and sexual wounds,including just about every book on shame ever written (I admire John Bradshaw's work as well). I highly recommend this book to all of the ladies that I sponsor in recovery and I have purchased a copy of it for my counselor who has a love of books as well. I have not seen anything like this book. Reading through the material related to each of the 12 "shaming messages" increased my awareness 10 fold and helped me to identify with the core beliefs that I held about myself for so long. God bless Dr. Wilson! Phenomenal book!

This is an excellent book. It is not just for academics. It is for everyone. This is a book that gives insight, understanding, and strength to it's readers. Read this book. Your worth it!

This book is a hit in our house. Sometimes, in a mad panic, we've had to unshelf the entire bookshelf to find it. It's THAT popular. A funny story, cleverly done, and co'mon, look at that price! You won't be disappointed to find out Sarah is secretly planning...

If you haven't seen this humorously witty book, do yourself and your children a favor and check it out! I started smiling on the first page, commiserating with Sarah's problem with her tardy folks, chuckled at her back-firing solution, and "Ahhhh"ed at the heartwarmingly lovely ending.

I have read this book and it is a very practical guide to healing of relationships of all kinds. The author focuses on fathers and their children with stories from his own experience. It would be a valuable addition to any library.

I'm enjoying the book "Velvet & Steel". The personalized stories and practical information make for interesting reading and challenging teachings. It is a valuable resource for any home.

Having read VINCENT VAN GOGH AND THE PAINTERS OF THE PETIT BOULEVARD, I regret I did not get to the exhibt in Saint Louis or Frankfurt where it closed in September 2001. This lovely book was created as an exhibition catalogue, but one does not need to have seen the exhibition to benefit from reading the informative essays or looking at copies of beautiful works by Van Gogh, Gauguin and other memebers of the self-styled "Petit Boulevard" artists group.

Essays on topics related to the subject are preceded by text written by the editor and exhibit curator, Cornelia Homberg, ("Vincent van Gogh's Avant-Garde Strategies"). Homberg suggests the 'petit boulevard' was both an avant garde artistic movement following the Impressionists and an actual commercial location in Paris at the end of the 19th Century. The Exhibit featured works by members of the avant garde group (Van Gogh, Gauguin, Seurat, Signac, Pissaro, Toulous-Latrec, Anquetin, Bernard and others "petit" artists).

Homberg challenges the notion that Vincent van Gogh always worked alone and that his art was a "one-off" as other critics have suggested. She says Van Gogh was a member of an artists colony located in the vicinity rue Lepic where he lived with his brother Theo (Montmartre area), that he may have coined the phrase "Petit Boulevard" (he discussed it with Theo in their letters following his removal to Arles), and he saw himself as a leader of this innovative group (which he hoped to bring to Arles as a "brotherhood" of artists).

In his essay entitled "The Cultural Geography of the Petit Boulevard" Richard Thomas describes the material dimensions of the place and time within which the "petit boulevard" artists worked. He describes the "off-off-Broadway/Bourbon Street" atmosphere of the bohemian artistic community -- a proletarian territory dominated by factories, caberets, taverns, le circque, brothels, and other down scale establishments (Chat Noir, Molin Rouge) where 'decadent iconograpy' was born. He says artists such as Toulouse Latrec, Steinlin, Willith, and others developed commercial prints depicting this mileau.

In the third essay, Elizabeth Childs describes the escape of Gauguin and Seurat to Pont Aven and Van Gogh to Arles following their Paris adventures. Here the artists hoped to reconnect with the timeless cycles of nature and leave the crass, commercial, class-ridden city behind. Childs says once Gauguin reached Pont Aven, the Celtic Catholic nature of Brittany spurred Gauguin to develop a medieval stain-glass cloisonnist style of art. She contrasts Gauguin's work with Van Gogh's 'rural' art which he based on a love of Japanese prints (by Hiroshege and others) and what he fancied to be Japanese culture, as well as the Barbizon style which included Daumier and Millet. In the last essay, John House discusses landscapes by Van Gogh (who influenced by his Dutch predecessor Rembrandt and the French Millet) as well as other artists of the period including Gauguin.

The book is filled beautiful reproductions of the paintings and other works included in the Exhibit (prints and photographs of the various items of art, the people involved, and the places they lived and worked). Sadly, one would have to do quite a bit of traveling to recapitulate the Exhibit, and then the synergistic effect would be missing. On the other hand, the book is a solid testament to the art that followed Impressionism. Although I had seen many of the paintings in their home museums (National Gallery, Chicago Art Institute, D'Orsay, Van Gogh Museum, etc.) I had not seen some of the works in private hands, nor the photographs of the period. This book is a valuable addition to my collection.

The Impressionist movement never really impressed me until I went and experienced this exhibit. This book is a great companion to the exhibit, going into much greater detail than the audio tour did, but can be equally appreciated (as a stand alone art history text) if you couldn't make it to St. Louis. I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking for information on some of the lesser known impressionists (those of the Petit Boulevard), as well as information on this brief period in van Gogh's life.

What a subtle, beautiful, thought-provoking book. Indispensible for understanding how teenage pregnancy shapes the lives of young people. Offers a poignant view of a variety of American teens facing parenthood, of different classes, different races, different religions and regions. Would be particularly valuable for high-school researchers, or as a complement to drier, more statistical or policy-oriented analyses.

The photographs are fantastic and will capture your heart and mind. The pictures communicate in a way words never could. You will feel like you know and understand these young mothers.

This book gives you excellent insight into the mind of a child and the needs of a child. This book is an effective training tool for any youth worker, minister, or parent. I you are serious about ministering to youth get this book. You will love it and the author speaks with Godly wisdom.

First of all, my parents are a little backwards. Most mom's accept their gay son while the father has a lot of difficulty with it. Well, my dad was okay with my sexuality within a few days, my mom was a different story.

When I first came out to my mom, she didn't know what to say. I told her that if she has any questions to talk to me. I was completly open and ready to talk about it. All she could say was that she had all there words swimming around in her head, but she didn't know what to do with them. So, I knew she need some literature. I couldn't find any book worth giving to her. Then I found this tape. I listened to it to see if it was worth it. It was. I sent it to her and then she finally knew what she wanted to say. Since then, we've have lots of long conversations about almost everything, gay or straight (mostly gay).

I got this tape because I knew that my mom didn't have the time to sit down and read a book. The only time when she wasn't doing anything and still had energy was during the drive to and from work. Also, with a book, she didn't like having gay literature lying around for anyone to find - it made her uncomfortable. So, I got her the tape so she could play it while she drives in complete privacy and comfort.

It worked. As a result of this tape, the relationship between my mom and I has become stronger and more like it used to be when parents don't have to worry about their child's sexuality.