This book appears to be an unedited compilation of the author's notes; she often contradicts herself and provides factually wrong information. There is an occasional nugget of useful information, but the author is so untrustworthy due to her sloppiness that I would recommend a few pages of Cosmo over this book.

This is the most senseless piece of book I have ever read. I saw Ms. Patterson on "Vibe" and she could barely even talk, she sounded so illiterate and ghetto, she even looked the part. She couldn't even pronounce the word sensual. I read this book about 3 yrs ago and thought it was vulgar and tasteless. Ms. Patterson has told the WHOLE world that she can't even keep her own husband from cheating on her. Imagine that she is SOOO much woman and has SOOO much money and yet her husband was SOOO unfulfilled!! Let's just say I wouldn't even give her book or advice the time or day. The proof is in the pudding that she obviously doesn't know what she's talking about. I wouldn't have even given this book a rating of 1 star, but there was no rating for a (-) negative range.

I enjoyed all three versions of this book. I have each of them. I bought the unedited copy, the hard back and the paperback. I can see where some people don't get it. The book is probaly too deep for the lady in Louisianna who wrote the bad review. I've been invited to at least eighteen girls nights out and this book was always the topic of conversation. Women just can't seem to put it down. You know why, because it tells the truth about what real women really want to know. So for all the closed minded, inhibited and negative people who can't open their minds...I say get a life. This book has been passed around at my office and no one ever wants to give it back. We love it and will read it again and again and again. Thanks. Oh by the way I saw Ella on Vibe too, and I didn't get the impression that she couldn't talk. There was a group of us watching and we felt that she helped inform us. If you don't have naything nice to say don't say anything.

These books are only helpful for the Professional Development tests. If you are taking Elementary Comprehension or other tests related to teaching speciality there is absolutely nothing on the market that one can purchase to assist them. I have taken the Elementary Comprehensive 04 exam 4 times and have failed all of them. I will be taking it again on Nov 23, 2002. Hopefully I will pass this time. Don't waste time or money - Believe me when I say there is absolutely nothing out there jlclark@thegateway.net (Georgetown TX)

I used the Barron's study guide to prepare for the EXCET and found that it's discussion of the competencies was beneficial. It's examples and explanations of the correct choices helped to develop skills in eliminating the wrong answers. Many times there are two choices that look good and you need to pick the correct response. This books helps you prepare to do that. It's worth the money to have this book!

BARRON'S How to Prepare for the ExCET Professional Development Tests is a great way to get a feel for what to expect on the ExCET. It has a diagnostic test you can take to discover your strengths and weaknesses. This allows you to focus more of your study time on your weaker areas. It also contains practice tests. I recommend this book to anyone preparing to take the ExCET for Professional Development. WARNING: If you are seeking certification by examination only, make sure you study the test for your CONTENT AREA. This is a separate test and helpful hints can be downloaded from the Texas Education Agency website. Good Luck!

it is a ver interesting book with lot's of swearin

I thought this book was excellent. I read it a few years ago after reading the first book, "Black Sand and Gold". Having spent 13 winters (and counting) in Interior Alaska (where it often hits 40-below or colder), I could appreciate the author's descriptions of her family's day-to-day struggle to survive in this harsh land.

I'm not sure where the "Reader from Japan" saw "lots of swearin'"--I don't recall any.

"She Said Yes" is a good book. It is about an unusual experience with a normal person who thinks nothing can happen to her daughter. Then the unthinkable to her happens. This is an inspirational book and it tells you to do what you feel is right. If you do this you should have no regrets. This book was a very interesting experience because the author is a normal person.

George Ella has written an interesting tome (700+ pages) in dedication to and in defense of the 18th century poet, hymnist, and close friend of John Newton - William Cowper (pronounced "COO-PER"). I say "in defense of" because apparently biographers and historians both inside as well as outside the confessing Church have grossly misunderstood and in some cases even slandered the man. William Cowper (author of such hymns as "There is a Fountain Filled with Blood") is notoriously known for his lifelong struggle with believing God had cast him out of his fold, as well as for his suicide attempt (which contrary to popular opinion was attempted prior to his conversion, not after). Sadly, most of his friends, such as John Newton, were unable to understand how a man of such deep faith and love for Christ could possess such violent inner turmoil. One result of so many people's inability to come to grips with such paradoxes in Cowper's heart and life has been for historians and biographers to place the blame on his Calvinist convictions. This is one of the many myths that Ella intended to correct.

One aspect of the book that I appreciated was that it made portrayed Cowper as a full and complex human being. Ella reproduces countless letters as well as quotes from Cowper's poems that, along with secondary sources and Ella's commentary, give the reader a solid sense of the poet's inner and outer life. I found that in this sense, the book was wonderful to read. So often, we assume that our heroes of faith are much different from us - that they are somehow immune to the barbs and arrows of the Fall, that they do not struggle with things like doubt, depression, and seasons when they do not experience the love of Christ in their hearts. Knowing that such a man as William Cowper was alive and was not immune to such throes in his life was definitely encouraging to read.

Ella's affection for Cowper is obvious. He seems to love and understand his subject so well, that at times I got the distinct impression that Ella felt every slanderous statement made against Cowper as though they were directed at himself! For such a sensitive and maligned man as Cowper, it is invaluable that his biographer be someone like Ella who writes more like a compassionate and forgiving friend than as a cold and detached scholar.

Another interesting part of the book had to do with Cowper's role in First Great Awakening. Cowper was, at the time that George Whitefield, John Wesley and Jonathan Edwards were preaching in America and England, becoming a popular poet in the English-speaking world. Cowper's passion in life was primarily to see Christ glorified in the world and for people to come to believe in Him. Though he was not a preacher, Cowper nevertheless longed to use his gifts and calling to contribute to the continual spread of the gospel. Ella argues, along with other historians, that Cowper's long poem "The Task" (a highly evangelistic poem) was so popular that it was more influential in the spreading of the gospel than any of the efforts by other prominent preachers of that time. Cowper preached the gospel to men and women who would have never dared set foot into a church.

Yet despite all this, there were some parts to the book that I found lacking. One of the main criticisms I had about the book was Ella's bad habit of becoming "preachy" when trying to apply Cowper's opinoins about culture to 20th century problems. For instance, when recounting Cowper's views on education, Ella tended to use Cowper's views as a platform to express his own frustration with our current educational system in the English-speaking world. Though I probably agreed with some of his criticisms themselves, I found his habit of interjecting his own opinions and criticisms somewhat annoying. It gave the impression that Cowper would've simply parroted his criticisms were he living amongst us today. So often, people claim to possess secret insight into how a previous thinker would feel on current problems. The PCA (Presbyterian Church of America) has been going through this recently with its discussion on what the Westminster Divines thought about the length of the six days of creation - whether they were normal 24-hour days or not. Removing men from their historical context and forcing them to have an opinion on our culture seems misguided, for it does not give them the opportunity of examining our problems, complete with a whole set of nuances and complexities, afresh. More than likely, the differences between two seemingly similar situations spanning history and culture are too great to simply compare in that way. This is not to say the dead cannot or should not comment on the present, but that we must also recognize the differences, and not just the similarities, between the two periods. Ella's habit of interrupting his discussion of Cowper with his opinions about 20th century culture was slightly annoying, but not so much as to devalue the book as a whole. All in all, I found the book incredibly interesting, and I recommend it to anyone.

This book (which is actually "The Wondersmith and His Son"), which is a collection of old Irish folk-tales about a man, known as the Gubbaun Saor, who could do wonderous things, and his daughter and adopted son, was a 1926 Newbery Honor book (i.e., a runner-up to the Medal winner) for best contribution to American children's literature.

By the time I finished this overly long (382 pages) mystery, I was thoroughly irritated with the authors for their unfortunate bait-and-switch approach. The Thurlos start off with a potentially interesting main character, FBI agent Navajo Ella Clah, in the naturally attractive Southwest setting. All too soon, however, the nasty, lurid plot repeatedly lurches unevenly between violent physical confrontations and Ella's immature interior monologues -- with timeouts for her brother's allegedly tradition medicine protective rituals. In addition, as another reviewer has noted, the dialogue too often is unnatural, even donwright unlikely. Even more unfortunate is the sensational presentation of the darker aspects of some traditional Navajo beliefs.

Fortunately, mystery enthusiasts and fans of the Southwest can read one or all of Tony Hillerman's better crafted and much more culturally accurate novels! Happily he never victimizes nor insults the Dineh.

I read a lot of mysteries, including Hillerman, Michael McGarrity, James Doss, James Burke, but I could not finish Blackening Song. The plot was episodic, with events unrelated to each other and no rising arc of development. Characters' motivations were unconvincing and the characters seemed to undergo sudden and inexplicable personality changes. Dialogue was wooden, with Clah frequently asserting that her "special training" made her superior to others. Who talks like that? Clah also ricochets between trusting some characters and suspecting everyone, which was confusing. I've lived close to the Rez and did not find the authors'presentation of the area or culture convincing. You can pass on this one and wait for Hillerman or McGarrity's next book.

I was looking for a Hillerman-type book and I found it. This was a great book!! It only took me about 3 days to read because I couldn't put it down. This complements/competes very well with Hillerman's style. Loved it! Watch out Tony! :)

At the time I purchased this book I really was excited thinking that for once someone actually published a book that specifically talked about the lives and conditions of African based American women and children during the Civil War. As Holly Near would say, "imagine my surprise" and I am not talking about pirated women on a ship. I am a researcher desperately looking for specifics and I thought this book would be crucial to my research so I purchased it.

This book has a lot of history that you should have learned in high school about the civil war in general camouflaged with information from the US Sanitary Commission you may not have been able to come across in high school.

Based upon the preface, this book was supposed to focus on a text of history about black women's experiences during the civil war. In my honest opinion it is written for general history wanna-be buffs, and unconscious civil war almost scholars who do not know about the US Colored Troops or just haven't thought much about them, or only want limited information or knowledge.

I can not stress the importance of feminist, womanist and historical researchers not being able to call African, African-based American, and Women of Color and Culture's by their actual names out in historical text and not redundantly keep printing the same old history that a lot of us already know. If this does not seem to be an issue, then ask the author why she in fact is not able to give much credence to their real names. Can someone supply a muster roll of the women and children "contrabands and refugee's" who supposingly caused a lot of undocumented racket in the camps? Forbes writes in the preface, if women are the focus, the perspective belongs to white women," of which entire book mirrors.

Recommendation: before you purchase this book, request it through the Interlibrary loan system through your public or university library and save yourself some serious money. With the money you save, give to a charitable cause.

Purchasing this book made me face the risks associated with online book purchases. Forbes' subject of analysis seems to keep eluding her, and that pursuit comes across as the only continuing thread of the book. Early references to "the rhetoric of redemptive violence" quickly blurred into a discussion of "righteous violence," "natural right," Black "manliness" and agency. The point is not that these aren't worthy topics of discussion; to the contrary, they clearly have salience for Forbes. The problem is that Forbes spends so much time engaging in polemics that she fails to expose her analysis of these topics in a way that shows her readers what connections she'd like us to draw from them. And the continuing train of malapropisms and gavel-banging only served to distract this reader's attempt to forge the necessary connections. All to say, if I knew then (when I ordered the text) what I know now I would have used my library card instead of my credit card.

This alleged biography of Ella Fitzgerald is seriously flawed and not recommended. At its most basic, the book is simply not a serious biography written in a professional manner. For example, the author CONSTANTLY interupts the narrative to give the reader HIS opinions of each and every song she sings, her weight and even her wigs. Even the captions to the photos are annoying ("Still hiding her figure for Verve"..."Oh those awful wigs") This is not acceptable or serious writing for a biography. He also seemingly attempts to convince the reader that he knew Ella personally, sometimes referring to her (annoyingly) as "Miss Fitz." Another complaint: the author talks knowingly about live recorded concert albums leading the reader to believe he has some inside knowlege of a concert, when in reality he is simply relating what is on the actual album for everyone to hear. He also refers to others he supposedly interviewed by their first names ("Keeter" Betts, "Danny" Kaye). Was he really on a first name basis with these people? Of course, we don't know who he interviewed, or when he interviewed them, because there aren't any notes in the book to prove it. If you want a serious bio of the great singer, instead of this thing, I recommend the much-respected "Ella Fitzgerald" by Stuart Nicholson.