This book, Keep the Fiath, is a relly good book. It will start with someone and stop, then start again with someone else. You don't stop thinking about the other person.It draws you into the book. I would recomend rerading this book. I started with book four and read five and six also. The book is about young people who have problems like we have today. Other books like this are Lurlene McDaniel books. Her books deal with people and things today. Keep the Faith, is a book that i would rate a five being the highest. the author did a great job of writing the book. I would recomend it to anyone who liked books of romance and of things that we deal with today. this is a really great book to read.

You should total read all the clearwater crossing books they deal with everything from lossing a friend to being in love. TRUST ME IT WAS A GREAT BOOK!!!!!!! SO READ THEM ALL!!!

this book was great, i love all of them. they deal with such real things. they are all pretty emotional for me. i started this series after it came out so im behind on reading the books, but the next books seem to all different people to portray the characters? does anyone know why? i mean i loved the characters they started out with.

Title:Little Town at the Crossroads Author:Maria D. Wilkes Little Town at the Crossroads is a great book for grades 3-6. I recommend this book because I enjoyed and I couldn't put it down. Children and adults alike will love this book.

During the first book, Caroline was portrayed as a little girl who tried desperately to help her mother all that she could after the death of her father. Now, Caroline's gained a little vibrance, as she still tries to help Mother, but also wants to have fine and pretty dresses, instead of the hand-me-downs from older sister Martha. I love this book through-and-through, and I'm sure that you will too!

This book is very good. You can really get interasted. Caroline Quiner, the main character in this book, along with her two older brothers, Joseph and Henry, her older sister, Martha, her younger sister, Eliza, her younger brother, Thomas, and her mother, Charlotte, have a lot of great times in this book. Caroline and her family open a Christmas trunk from grandma and grandpa Tucker sent from Boston. (They are mother's parents.) They also get ready for their neighbor Ms. Stodderd's maple frolic. This book is excellent!

As a Registered Nurse as well as a contributor to this beautiful book, I have found Angels of Mercy to be so special. I have lived so many of the experiences spoken of in this inspiring collection of stories both professionally and personally. I would like to thank Laura Lagana for her devotion and dedication to this project and encourage anyone who needs an inspiring book to read this. God Bless.

I salute Laura Lagana for her timely efforts in producing this book. Now more than ever, during the nursing shortage, nurses need to be reminded of the contribution that they make and feel their caring efforts are not in vain. This collection of stories is a valuable asset to the nursing community as well as the consumer. It includes real-life stories of events and emotions that were experienced by nurses, families, and friends. Nurses need to read this book to remind themselves of the power of their caring and to share in the feedback from the stories that validate their practice and encourage them to continue their selfless dedication to a demanding profession. Consumers need to read this book to get a first-hand look at just what nursing is, what nurses do, and feel the power of it's impact on the lives of those nurses care for through these touching stories. Laura Lagana did a superb job at providing a cross section of stories that touch the heart and foster healing. I encourage everyone to read this book and/or show your support of nursing by giving this book as a gift to a nurse. THANK YOU Laura!

The stories in this book share the true emotions of everyday caregivers. If you are a caregiver, or have received care, this book is a must read. Enjoy it again and again, the love and service reflected in each story will not leave you disappointed.

Laura Sabin Riley has truly touched my life with her wonderful book. It got me through my first year as a SAHM. Her insight is right on target and she makes you feel like she is your new best friend. I would DEFINITELY recommend this book to other moms! I promise, you won't want to put it down!

I've read alot of devotional books over the past twelve years as a mother. This is one, if not, THE best. Laura packs each day full of encouragment--I truly felt refreshed after reading each days thoughts and challenges.

You won't be disappointed in this book, and it won't collect dust . You'll be using it far to often and then passing it along to another mother you love.

You know how toddlers and preschoolers often have a favorite blanket or plush toy that they use as a comforter? That's what I want to do with the pages of this book: Wrap them around me until I feel better.

Laura Sabin Riley has crafted a meaningful book of spiritual simplicity for busy women and maxed out moms. The easy-to-read devotionals remind me daily not just of how important motherhood is, but also how important my relationship to God is! Each is contained on a single page and consists of a relevant Scripture, a real-life example from Laura's own life and a short but honest prayer. No where is there a condeming word or pointing finger. Every where, there is a brief brush with grace -- just enough to make me feel that a really good friend has patted my hand and told me that yes, the orange juice will come out of the car upholstery and no, these intense days of parenting won't last forever.

All Mothers Are Working Mothers is divided into twelve sections (one for each month) that address "home-is-my-workplace" issues. I especially like November's theme: "Job Security -- What Do You Mean I'm Not Replaceable If I Decide to Quit?" If you're a mom, get this book. If you know a mom, get this book for her. The benefits of reading it could literally be felt for generations to come.

I have several books about Major Ray and his wife, but also my research includes the friends of his the giant Capt. Shields and his wife, they were my 3 time great grand parents. There relationship with Major Ray and his wife is a great story.

Leaving the comfort of her home, her family, and friends, 37-inch tall Jennie embarks on her journey with her newly wed husband, Major Ray. In FOR THE LOVE OF JENNIE readers experience a heart warming and tragic tale which captures all the human emotions as the main characters travel with Sells Brothers Circus, enduring stares, embarassment, and at times sneers from crowds, yet Jennie finds love, happiness, and lasting friendships among the circus family, with a special bond forming between Jennie and Major Ray and a giant and giantess, a friendship that turns into a life long commitment.

Despite her long hours in front of crowds, despite a body weakened by disease, despite her longing to be back home, Jennie with her most powerful weapon, her Bible, carves out a life with the man she most adores. When disaster strikes, the characters endure as they sail across the sea to strange lands where they meet Queen Liliuokalant, the last queen of Hawaii and learn the secrets of the Island, Molokai. Jennie and Major experience fear during civil unrest between native followers of the ruling King Malietoa and rebellious followers of the exhiled chief as their ship is docked in Samoa.

The book is heart warming and tragic and captures the late 1890's and early 1900's, an era when circuses were at their peak and Buffalo Bill was every boy's hero.--Publisher

I loved this book because I thought it was very interesting learning about the lives of Major and Jenny Ray. Major and Jenny were 36" and 37" inches tall and travelled with the Sells Brothers Circus. Jenny always carried her Bible. Major had always wanted a wife his size and when he found her he loved her and cared for her until she died. The part I liked best was Major building Jennie a house with beds, tables, chairs, and stairwells all her size. Laura Ford must have spent a long time writing this book. The collections of pictures and illistrations made this book better.

I am a female lightweight bodybuilder and fitness enthusiast. I really needed to learn more about low-fat/healthy cooking that my family would enjoy and eat. (I already know how to make the fattening stuff!) This book has wonderful recipes. The cheesecake is so good people don't believe it is low fat, the tuna dip is excellent for parties. I am really enjoying everything I have tried. I thought the use of fat-free products would be bland and not appealing at all, but I was very wrong. The recipes are very tasty. One drawback is that some of the recipes are confusing, ie. the cheesecake ingredient list calls for fat-free yogurt, then recipe states "to add lemon yogurt". So be sure to read the recipe entirely before shopping so you can be clear on what you really need to buy. Also, the nutritional information is not always accurate. (I plugged some of the recipes into a nutritional software program.) But it is a good book with great recipes nonetheless. I am buying it as gifts for all of my friends.

I am a new fitness competitor, and I had a hard time adjusting to the "off season". I didnt know how to eat, and how to cook! This book has become my staple. I have made soooo many recipes in here and have yet to be disappointed. The fact that she breaks down the macronutrients is wonderful for those of us that need to watch them closely! I even think it would be great for someone who wants to learn about a healthy lifestyle.
The banana fudge cake is wonderful!!!!!

Variety of recipes, easy (fast) prep time, and nutrition breakdowns for the recipes are the highlights that make A Taste...a worthy purchase

Hey madison finn fans!!! if you havent read this one yet, drag your mom or dad to the bookstore to get it. Caught In the Web is one of my favorite madison finn books. It is about when madison has a sleepover at fionas house and they think there is a ghost living there! Also, she is on the holloween dance comminttie and everything goes wrong. If you are a Madison Finn fan and havent read this one yet, READ IT!!

When Maddie is on the dance coommitee,her enemy Ivy [a.k.a. Posion Ivy] can be a real pain in the butt.Can Madison handle her bossyness???Meanwhile at Fiona's house things can get really spooky!Can Maddie hav a fun Halloween or will Poison Ivy ruin it???

Madison gets to be on the dance committee, but Ivy is also on the decorating team! Ivy causes disaster (obviously, she's the enemy!), and Madison is really stressed.

Meanwhile, Madison goes over Fiona's house, and gets a total scare! This is a really funny book!

Do I dare to give this book a less-than-glowing review? I am inclined to do so not because of the power and dignity of the people and the stories in the book--those speak for themselves. It was Palmer (the author) that bothered me. As I was reading the book, I could not help but feel that she was trying to manipulate me, tugging at heartstrings that needed no tug to be moved by these heartfelt stories. I felt a bit patronized by her. A good book (or movie, or whatever), if it moves me, should not make me feel the push; this one did, and it left me feeling the way people usually feel when they were pushed in a direction that they would have gone anyway--irritated.

Shrapnel In the Heart is a book to be read by everyone no matter what generation they were born in. Shrapnel In The Heart is a book that has letters and rememberances left behind at the Vietnam War Memorial. Some of the letters tell the story about the people behind the letter. The stories are sad, but the courage of the men and women is a true inspiration. The people written about in this book were extrememly young (18, 19, 20) and it seems like they died in vain. But through their letters that were left behind it is easy to see that these young men knew their duty and refused to shirk from it. These men and women are true heroes.

I read this book for a college history course and until now have thought very little about war, military, or world politics. Young people today rarely understand or realize what goes with becoming a soldier. This book gives real images of the devastation war brings from the people who lived through the tragedy of losing their loved ones. It opens our eyes to things we just shouldn't close our eyes on.

This book, although not practical, is lovely and dreamy. Great for thumbing through on a weekend afternoon. The author has tapped into my psyche by fueling my dream of having a getaway cottage. We want a dreamy place not in Europe but close enough to home so that we can escape every weekend if we want to. Fortunately, that is possible in our part of the country where vacation homes are common. I've searched for vacation homes and cottage books, and the best are:
SECOND HOME. Rating: 10. This gorgeous coffee table book is also practical. Great houses, dreamy photos of locations, but the homes, which are in all styles from cabins in the woods to big family homes on the Atlantic, aren't out of reach. The book has tips on finding a location and that sort of thing as well as decorating. Nice resource list with internet sites for more information. Blends dreamy beauty with information.
THE CABIN. Rating: 6. Another pretty coffee table book. Not practical in any way but nice to look at. More of an architecture book than anything else.
COTTAGE STYLE. Rating: 8. All about decorating any home so it looks like a weekend cottkage. My decorating "bible."
ADIRONDACK STYLE. Rating: 5. Good pictures of homes and interiors. But it's limited to one rustic style, of course.

A gorgeous layout and project portraying the decoration of a homoe. I am a frustrated artist spending hours at home with my toddler looking at boaring walls. This book has inspired me to plan out a picture book on the walls before my baby does!

As stated in the book's introduction, the decoration of this
house does indeed capture the mood, spirit and colors of
Provence. Anyone looking for ideas or studies of trompe l'oeil
will totally enjoy the art on every page. I remember the
first time I saw the art of Fisher and Chappell in an old issue
of Country Living magazine. They artfully painted a garden
shed and it made the cover of the magazine. A story unfolds
as you go room to room in this house, the walls are the illustrations. French tiles, a mouse on garden tools, rabbits
in a hutch, windows to lavender fields, murals of glorious
Provencal landscapes, a broken plate on the floor, pearls on the stair steps, rose petals on a window sill: are they
real or painted? An excellent addition to a collection of
interior design books. You can't go wrong here. The resource
guide in the back features decorative sources, fabric and upholstery sources, garden catalogs and graphic designers.
Lots of garden pictures too as Nina Williams was the founding
editor of Country Living Gardener. From the kitchen to the
atelier, the boudoir to the foyer you will find inspiration!
Thumbs up!

I live 20 minutes away from where this tragic event occurred. I have lived in this area for over 30 years and just recently became aware that the lynching occurred. I decided to read the book when a friend of mine told me it was out - we had discussed the history of the event a few months earlier as he was raised in Walton County and knew of some of the people mentioned in the book. I have to say that the entire book was very disturbing to me. I cannot in any way imagine an entire community keeping quiet about what happened. I cannot imagine the hate that caused this tragedy. I cannot understand the fear instilled in the black population so that they did not even come forward with information. I am in a interracial marriage and it is amazing to me that a few decades ago this would've caused an uproar that may have lead to murder.
The book is a good one. It will keep you interested throughout. Of course I knew before starting how it would end up - no conclusions on who did it - I learned a great deal about what actually occurred and have drawn my own ideas about what happened and who may have been involved. Knowing the area added to the "enjoyment" for lack of a better word, of reading, but it is definitely not necessary.
I am glad I was disturbed while I read this book. I hope everyone who reads it is as well. Too bad we'll never know what really happened.

The term, "Fire in a Canebrake", is a phrase that Walton County, Georgia residents used to describe the sounds of the fatal gunshots that commenced the last mass lynching in America; it is also the title of Laura Wexler's historical account of the Moore's Ford lynching where four blacks were murdered in late July 1946. The novel painstakingly details the "who, what, when, where and why" of the horrific crime and is supported by interviews, FBI reports, and other detailed documentation.

Wexler takes us back to the beginning when a black man, Roger Malcolm, stabs a white man, Barnett Hester, for allegedly having an affair with his common law wife, Dorothy. As Barnett lingers near death, Roger sits in jail counting his days left on earth. Eleven days later when Barnett recovers, Roger is then set free when his bail is posted by Loy Harrison, a wealthy landowner and landlord to George Dorsey (Dorothy's older brother) and his common law wife, Mae Murray. It is returning home from the jail that Roger, Dorothy, George, and Mae are dragged from Loy's car by an angry mob of white men and are murdered in cold blood. Loy claims he did not and could not recognize any of the attackers which was why his life was spared on that fateful day....and so the lying begins and never seems to end.

For years, the NAACP, FBI, Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI), and local law enforcement conduct their investigations, interrogations, and examinations only to arrive at no convictions. It is only in 1991, when an "eyewitness" steps forward to tell his story that there appears to be a slither of hope for justice. However, hope fades as holes and contradictions run rampant in his testimony as well; and unfortunately by the early 1990's all of the suspected perpetrators and potential corroborating witnesses are deceased. It appears that the leads had literally died out and one wonders if justice will ever be served.

The author does an excellent job of "peeling back the layers" to set the stage for the story and expertly blends in the national and state political agendas that influenced the course of events surrounding the lynching. By doing so, the reader understands the history of the rural Georgian townships where the story plays out, the role of the key witnesses including their family and criminal backgrounds, public displays of bigotry and drunkenness. She also shares the political tactics of the day used to deny blacks of their Civil Rights and protection under Federal law, numerous contradictions in the witness's statements/alibis/affidavits, and lack of follow-up and missed opportunities by law officials. The handling of the case by the investigators from beginning to end is totally unbelievable by today's standards, but what is moreso shocking is the blatant racism, hatred, and wantonness of the townsfolk toward an atrocity such as this.

This reader ran a myriad of emotions while reading the novel -- first, frustration in that no perpetrators were ever brought to justice and nor was anyone ever held accountable for these heinous crimes -- a fact that is unfortunately recurrent in so many lynching cases. Secondly, anger and sadness when reading about the intimidation and threats against local blacks as well as the breakdown and separation of the victim's families in the aftermath of the lynching. The murders only exacerbated their wretched existence as poor, undereducated sharecroppers. The author's skill in conveying their daily living conditions and lifestyle using census statistics and first hand accounts was outstanding and heartbreaking.

This book is a page-turner! Although Oprah, Dateline, and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution have covered this story, Wexler adds a twist: her words breathe life into the pages and add color to the black and white photos in the book; she presents the evidence in such a way to allow readers to draw their own conclusions. Hats off to Ms. Wexler for her perseverance and dedication to finding truth. Well done!

Phyllis
APOOO BookClub, The Nubian Circle Book Club

This book is an accurate and detailed historical account of The Morre's Ford Bridge Lynching that took place in Walton County, GA in 1946. For those of you doing the math that's only 57 years ago. Though certainly not the last recorded lynching, it was significant in that it eventually affected the political landscape of the country. The book combines the best of history, politics, race relations, slavery, and good old fashion detective work.

Laura Wexler is an author and researcher extraordinaire. Her talents are unmatched by anything I have read in recent times and certainly on par with American Literary Giants. Ms. Wexler's (a white woman) only shortcoming is that she fails to capture the anger a person of color could have brought to such events. Without saying anything more, yesterday afternoon I gave the book to my wife, by 11:00pm she had read 168 pages.

As you read be mindful of the following. Focus on the dates of those events, how relatively few years have passed between 1946 and 2003. For that matter think about the climate of America back in 1966. Only twenty years removed from the Morre's Ford Bridge lynching and unilaterally all whites would agree times were still overtly oppressive for blacks. With that, think about Affirmative Action and how 1966 represents one generation of blacks, still not fully removed from out right racist attitudes. I also want my friends to consider the prevailing attitude of whites in 1946 and how to this day, or at least 1997-1999 how those attitudes stood the test of time. Consider not just the rural, simplistic, racist cotton farmers, but the complex, covert, economic, and political powers of those white racists in place at the time. What do you think the power elite taught their children? If they taught their children their core values and belief system (which all good parents do), do you think those children (today's white leaders) would act upon their beliefs overtly or covertly? What struggles do you think Blacks might still face today?

As we STRUGGLE to understand and move past our differences, it is imperative that we recognize the RECENT history of overt racial oppression and the healing power of Affirmative Action. Growing up, Black men used the phrase "my brother" as a greeting. In that greeting we recognized not our biological sibling, nor our color, but more deeply our common struggle. To remove it from the vernacular and express it for what we were really trying to say, "my partner in struggle."

Your Brother,
habworks