When I was a little girl, one of my favorite past-times was eating ice cream made the old-
fashioned way-hand-cranked by Daddy. He used only the finest ingredients like real cream,
sugar, and fresh strawberries. We were blissfully unaware of fat grams. Thank goodness
laughter isn't fattening, or I would be several sizes larger having devoured Through the Rocky
Road and Into the Rainbow Sherbert by quintessential Christian comedienne, Laura Jensen
Walker. She writes the old-fashioned way, using only the finest ingredients like humor,
creativity, and wit. But just as rock salt is necessary for congealing ice cream, Walker adds
generous scoops of pathos that pave life's rocky roads with depth and honesty. She openly
writes about pain-the untimely deaths of her father and brother, rejection at the altar by her
fiancé, her masectomy, and brush with contemplated suicide. Yet Laura is a survivor. She has
received the rocks life dishes out with an upturned spoon and open heart-with courage, and
confidence in the God who controls it all. Because of the bitter, she appreciates life's sweetness
all the more. Because of the rain, she savors the rainbows.
-Lynn D. Morrissey, author of Seasons of a Woman's Heart & speaker

I like short reads. I wrote a short read. Through the Rocky Road is a delicious collection of short reads about joy, hope, disappointment, learning, love, sadness and laughter. It's one of those keep-by-the-side-of-the-bed books you can pick up, enjoy a portion, then go on with your day digesting its message. The author shares true stories and reveals her humanness in a way that anyone can relate to. This is not an advice book but one of gentle, encouraging navigation through the rocky roads of life.

With warmth, humor, and real experience, Laura Jensen Walker tugs at your heart and invites you to think about your own life with her stories. As the best of teachers do, this author shares meaningful life learnings without preaching or lecturing. You can turn to any chapter of this book for inspiration, but you'll find yourself wanting to read it from cover to cover. Walker encourages us to discover the best for ourselves from any situation, a strategy that teaches optimism, builds faith, and encourages hope. Do your friends a favor; don't just loan them your copy, buy them one of their own!

The stories in War Torn are riveting and capture the will and determination of women journalists to have equal access to cover the war. But they also bring Saigon and Vietnam in the 60s and 70 alive to anyone too young to remember. I applaud these women for making the Vietnam war accessible to a generation who grew up after the war.
War Torn leave the reader happy and sad but thoroughly enchanted. For anyone who is a history buff, a traveler planning to visit Vietnam or simply a lover of great tales, I highly recommend this book.

I don't know much about Vietnam, but I was drawn to the book by the sad and thoughtful face on the cover. My highest praise to these women. They brought the Vietnam war alive to someone who was not even born at its conclusion. The stories are beautiful, sad, funny and touching. My thanks to the authors for putting such a wonderful piece of writing and important part of history down on paper.

WAR TORN is a brilliant and riveting collection of essays by the handful of smart and courageous women who actually went to the battlefields in Asia to report on the Vietnamese War. For everyone who served in the war or had loved ones who did, for those of us who lived through these events at home, and for younger readers who have no sense of this history, this compelling book reveals these critical years from a perspective most of us never knew existed. The stories of these nine brave women will capture your minds and break your heart a bit. A thorougly uplifting and informative book with stories you've never heard before.

I found this book after I got a bought computer with WP and Quattro Pro on it. I love it! It's perfect for a newbie like me who wasn't even sure how to start the program. I was surprised to see how much information the book had about working with tables and graphics and setting up a mail merge. I even learned how to keep all my names and addresses in address books and then use them in a mail merge. I plan to create my own cards and holiday greeting letters and send them out to my friends and family with a mail merge.

I don't know much about spreadsheets, but since I got Quattro Pro for free, I thought I might learn how to use it for my family's budget. The book has three bonus chapters that got me up and running in no time. There is a great section in the book that explains where to go for more help. I found the newsgroups and a great place called WordPerfect Universe where I can go to ask questions when I get stuck.

The book is easy to read and there are lots of illustrations to help you follow along. I've gained a lot of confidence in just a few weeks. I highly recommend this book to new users who want to get up and running quickly, but who also want to learn how to use some of the "advanced" features.

This is a very simplistic way to learn this program, if you can read and follow directions, you will love this!

When I bought a new computer recently, I was glad to see WordPerfect and Quattro Pro offered by the manufacturer for a change, but I hadn't used the programs since early versions for Windows. So, I picked up this book to get up to speed and I couldn't be more pleased.

Laura Acklen is a gifted teacher and writer. The book is well-organized, taking you through the process of getting things done, while introducing you to the incredible depth of WordPerfect - what a great word processor! Although geared to those new to WordPerfect, the book doesn't shy away from covering more advanced features, such as using graphics or templates, and goes beyond the "point here, click that" of many software books. The book is also fun without being silly.

I particularly appreciated the chapters covering Quattro Pro. They were just what I needed to get me going again with this great spreadsheet program. In two days, I was impressing our neighborhood group with tables and charts of neighborhood statistics.

I highly recommend this book to anyone new to WordPerfect and Quattro Pro or anyone, who like me, has come home to these programs with which I used to love to work. Cheers for Reveal Codes!

Okay first off I am 32...not that my age should exclude me from reading young peoples literature...but my point is this book was as exciting to me as it would be to a young reader. I saw on Laura Williams McCaffrey's website that she enjoyed the Lloyd ALexander books. They were some of my favorite fantasy as a youth. In my late youth, I now add Alia Waking to my list . The story of Alia took me to a new but believable world. The struggle between good and evil, right and wrong exists in both the vastness of this new world and amidst the personal relationships Laura Williams McCaffrey develops in her characters; characters of substance and complexity who are believable even as they develop their magic and special skills so foreign and "fantastic" to our world. The book took me on twists and turns with the various twists in both plot and subplot. Nothing is as it seems for Alia. Finding out how she deals with change and comes of age is told in an adventurous tale with sound moral and ethical undertones. I look forward to Laura William McCaffrey's next book...and perhaps Alia's next adventure?

This book grabbed me from the first page, and pulled me along excitedly through a series of plot twists and very believable character transformations. I couldn't put it down! By the end of 2 days my imagination was entwined with L.W. McCaffrey's vividly developed world, and I began my current and impatient wait for a sequel.
Alia Waking is full of strong characters and relevant social situations that deal honestly with personal loyalty, prejudice, self-esteem; and - on a larger level - war, bigotry and the politicizing of religion in a world not much different than ours. A fresh insightful story by a promising first-time author.

I was looking for a new fantasy novel and this sounded like a good read so I bought it and am thrilled that I did. You read and want to continue right through to the end. The characters are great and the story captivating, both on a " I want to escape into a different world " level and on a level that explores some pretty solid and beefy themes about making choices that are based on personal versus accepted social reasons. I would recommend this to anyone, it was very reminiscent of the early McKinley works ( a Knot in the grain and such ). You won't regret you bought it.

This was a "special find" for me. There has been a very special couple in my life & I was looking for a way to say thank you! My only child will be married this Saturday & she asked this wonderful man if he would give her away since her father is not a part of her life. Not only is he excitied, both he & his wife have been my support in planning the wedding & been there every step of the way!. They have been my very own Angels.

I have always loved the music that Alabama has produced over the years. "Angels Amoung Us" is one of their best. I've read the book now and find it just and moving and as heartrenching as the song. Tears fill my eyes in places and I know there are angels with us every day of our lives. Thanks to those who wrote the book and sang the song. It gives me hope and faith in every day.

Many years ago, when the song first came out, I was told about it, but could not find it. We had just lost a child at that time and the person felt it would mean something. Finding it this past week-end quite by chance I bought it immediatley. I've already read it several times and played the CD constantly. If your looking for "SOMETHING" and not sure what it is, this is it!! It is a very powerful book. Angels come in all shapes and sizes and do little or heroic things. Try it, you'll like it!

I was privileged to be able to attend a Dodge Poetry Festival workshop and work in a small group setting with Laura Boss for my instructor. I bought her book at the festival and was captivated by the touching, the humorous, the edgy and brilliant words that she conveyed so skillfully on paper. Being able to work under her supervision for that hour was a wonderful and inspiring experienced. She has enriched my own writing and given me a beautiful example of what terrific poetry really is. I'd urge anyone to buy this book, especially those living in New Jersey. She captures the very essence of the garden state and its inhabitants. Her life is woven so beautifully into the pages of this book that you feel you know so much about her by the time you are finished. I hope Laura reads this someday. I would reccomend this to anyone who has an appreciation for fine poetry, with a bit of wit and zest thrown in.

Boss's poetry is vibrant and immediate. Her work is instantly accesible, and with beautifully and candidly etched images of everyday life, she creatives immediate evokations that resonate beyond the page and into the memory. I received this collection and read it straight through in one sitting, though it was so powerful, I saved a few poems for later--an experience I didn't want to end. I've been re-reading and re-reading, aloud and silently. She captures the essence of New Jersey, such as in "New Jersey Diners." The works about her family are striking and unique in their honesty.

Upon finishing Ms. Boss's recent book of poems, I found myself identifying with the lengths to which a woman will go to please the men in her life. Instead of bemoaning this situation, she seems to infuse her words with an an ironic twist which brings a smile rather than a frown to one's face. It is hope instead of despair that survives; Laughter instead of tears; reason rather than insanity. It is perspective, which is comforting in these most uncomfortable of times between men and women. There are no villains in her stories, only flawed human beings who don't always make the right decisions at the right time. They try and that's what counts. Her poetry will make you think and feel and find solace in how far we've come and yet, how much farther we need to go in the area of man/woman relationships. It is a challenge any reader will be prepared to do after reading her work.

This is truly a wonderful book!
This story is told by the little girl who is going to town with her mother for the morning.
She has a big green pocketbook, just like Mama's, but hers is empty and she can't find anything to put inside it.
Mama says "hurry", because the bus is coming, so the little girl brings her empty pocketbook along anyway.
During the course of the morning, she gathers many treasures and by the time the bus comes to return the girl and her mother home, her pocketbook is full.

The little girl's view of the world is refreshing and enchanting~
She observes that the cool marble walls in the bank smell like pennies~ And she is amazed that, at the drycleaners, the machine knows exactly where to stop for mama's suit.
This is a delightful book that moms and daughters will enjoy, but both boys and girls will like hearing it, and seeing the usual best from Candice Ransom and Felicia Bond's awesome pictures.

My 22 month old daughter loves to read this book with me! i think she likes that the main character is a big girl and she's spending the day with her mom- something my little one can really relate to!

This is a wonderful book for mothers to read to or with their daughters. A simple day of errands turns into something magical between them and a hand-me-down green pocketbook holds the key to a delightful day.

I love these books! As almost all of the other readers of these books have said, they are truly the most addicting things to read! I have every book in the series, including the Special Diaries one, except #17. There seems to be only one being sold on Amazon.com (as of today: Dec. 28, 2002), and it's [alot more than I can afford]. Being a teen, I don't have the money lying around, so if you have it used-let me know. I check Amazon.com a lot-please put it on the market!! Sounds crazy, but I need this book! You have no idea!!

I have read every book in this series of books and I am addicted. I'm even waiting for one of the first copies of number 20 in the series. I will DIE when the series ends. Please DON'T STOP and even when you have to, please write another exactly like it. The way that people can relate to the characters is scary. Out of all the series of books that I've ever read,this is the most addictive one yet. They are my favorite books in the book world. Thankyou for coming up with such amazing things for everyone to enjoy. And please don't stop writing.

Yours truly
.....

This book is about a girl name nicole.Who wants to be on the cheer team,but mary the cheer captain show nicole that she don`t like her by not letting her be on the team.nicole tries to keep her cool,but she want to give nicole a little of her own medicen, but nicole was to bussy thinking about the prom and what people think of her not makeing the team.so nicole tryed to talk to mary,but mary still didn`t let her be on the team.so nicole was about to take action.This book is very nice if you want to find out what happen pick it up from oakpark libary.

Levine's entertaining and quirky illustrations to the song "Wig!" by the B-52's are a perfect compliment. How else could a song that expresses so much pure fun translate into paper? Levine's book is surely a work of art. Especially if you don't have kids, you owe yourself this energetic spectacle for your library or coffee table. It's also a great gift for a B-52 fan.

This is a great book for boys and girls AND adults! If youre a B-52's fan and you have a kid, you MUST get this book - its a real scream! The illustrations are TOO FUNNY!

My 2-year-old loves this book and can recite many of the pages from memory. I wonder if we're warping her little mind or if future pre-school teachers will wonder why "bouffant" is part of her vocabulary, but figure it will all turn out for the best.

I am an avid reader of all types of literature and occasionally I come across a book I truly do not want to end and this is one of those stories. I found it a little hard to get into but once I started I too fell in love with the characters and the story line. Thank you Laura and I am looking forward to your next release.

This gorgeous books aptly reflects the beautiful soul of the author. She will be missed.

This book gave me a realization that I should never be unthankful and that I should appreciate everything that I have. Because compared to what this family had I would be considered a millionaire. A lot of the time we as a civilzation take our spoiled lives for granted just think for one day if our car didn't start and our money was stolen or our furnace in the middle of the winter shut down. We would be so lost. This is how this family had to live each and every day they had no car, they had to walk rain or shine, they barely had money to eat off of, they lived off of bread and tea, and they had to suffer through many cold nights because they didn't have enough money to buy a piece of coal. If this book doesn't make you appreciate the things you have I don't think anything will. I recommend this book to anyone.