My daughter and I discovered this book when she was young and it quickly became our favorite. The illustrations draw the reader into a magical world and the poetic style assures that the words will be remembered forever. My daughter is 25 now and we still look for nights when "the sky is like lace and it's going to be perfectly bimulous". It saddens me that this book is out of print. Every child should be able to read it.

This book should be brought back into print right away! I am fortunate enough to own a copy, but when I looked it up to buy a copy for a friend, I was saddened to find it out of print. This is definitely one of the top 3 children's books ever written that is generally unknown to the public. This is very sad, as every child should grow up reading this book! I was enchanted with it in my childhood, and still am. I could not wait until I could share this gem with my own children. My 3-year-old son now loves it as well. The fanciful storyline leads children into a wonderful land that is part real, part fantasy. The illustrations are magical. The words are wonderful...they add to the imagination of the story in a wonderfully lyrical way. An example: "the trees are aslant at the midnight end of the garden..." and even the recurring theme of a "bimulous night when the sky is like lace." Please, someone, re-print this amazing book! On nights when "the sky is like lace," my son now points out, "Look mommy...it's bimulous!" No child should be without this captivating, enchanting picture book.

When the Sky is Like Lace by Elinor Lander Horwitz should absolutely be reissued. I can't believe that it is out of print. A friend is having a baby shower and out of the hundred books my two year old loves to hear, this is an absolute favorite. We regularly read him my husband's copy from childhood and I wanted to be able to share this with my friend's child. The story is fabulous, fanciful, rhythmic, and utterly beyond my imagination. The drawings are so deeply rooted to the story that they seem to move as you read along (such as when the trees "eucalyptus" or when the sky is "bimulous"). I am so grateful to my mother-in-law for tucking this book away for all those years. Please please someone reissue this book so more children can relish the fantastic images and situations it creates for us. Much gratitude to the author for her tremendous gift that she shared with us back in 1975 and that I will continue to extend to other children as my son and his friends grow.

I had heard about the books from a friend at work, and got three for Christmas (Woman's soul, Woman's soul II, and Mother's soul). I don't normally enjoy reading but could not put the books down, in a matter of a week, I read two of them. They are absolutely wonderful. The Chicken Soup for the Mother's soul, WOW, what a book! It's awesome, and the stories touch the heart. Some of them even bring tears to my eyes. I recommend these books to anyone and am forwarding the Mother's soul book onto my mother.

For years I have wanted to read the Chicken Soup series, but finances being limited, I had to wait until my mother bought me Chicken Soup for the Mothers Soul. What a tremendous delight.....I fully intended to only read a story a day so that it would last a while, but within 24 hours I had consumed every story in the book. My heart feels lighter and my thoughts began to look on my life as a mother and how my children percieve me. It makes you want to strive for the ultimate goal....to be a mother remembered with love and admiration. I am a fan of Chicken Soup for life.

This book is GREAT...As a mother of an 10 & 12 yr olds, this book makes me realize how thankful I am to have kids. Any Mom will understand & enjoy these stories. They made me laugh and they made me cry. This is my 1st Chicken Soup book, my daughter has one also, now we have started a " book collection " that our family will enjoy reading together for years to come. Take the time to enjoy a GREAT selection of books.

This was a funny story about a boy and his dog. It all started when Henry Huggins found a lost dog outside of the drugstore one day after buying some ice cream. After a complicated ride on the bus, Henry gets the dog home and his mom says he can keep him. Henry names the dog Ribsy. The two have many adventures in the year they are together. This includes winning a dog show, and getting their picture in a newspaper. Unfortunately it is this very picture that leads the dogs original owner back to the dog.

I liked this book because I thought it was very funny. One particular part of the book has everyone fall to the floor and unable to get up because of some apples a lady dropped when the dog got loose. Henry makes a great buy at the pet store and brings home two guppies that quickly multiply. Before he knows it he has hundreds of baby guppies.

My favorite part of the story is when the original owner tracks them down with the help of the newspaper picture, and wants his dog back. They decide to let the dog choose who he wants to go with. Henry and the stranger stand back and each call to the dog. To Henry's surprise the dogs name is Dizzy. After what seemed like forever to the boys, Ribsy chooses Henry.

My 9-year-old son wasn't an avid or enthusiastic reader, and when it came time for his first book report, my husband and I panicked. We were afraid we'd never find a book that sparked his interest enough to want to read through to the end.

Thank goodness for Henry Huggins. This story is simply adorable, and I was delighted to see my son laugh out loud as he read the book. After he finished a chaper, he'd run and tell me what new mess Henry and his lovable scoundrel of a dog, Ribsy, had gotten themselves into. In fact, I actually caught my son reading the book on his own, with no prodding from me or his father.

This book was published in 1950 and so my son did have a few questions about why things were so inexpensive in the story, but other than that, "Henry Huggins" is not dated at all and the story is just entertaining now as it was in the 1950s.

I am so thankful that I purchased this book and that it not only kept my son's interest but helped him realize that books could be fun. This story should be a great first "chapter book" for any child who is ready to move past picture books.

My all-time favorite book is HENRY HUGGINS. I am a 34-year old mother of 2 boys who are too young to read the book by themselves and not interested in sitting through a book with very few pictures. However, I have been eager to share this wholesome story with them. So, this book on CD was perfect!! I play it in the car and I don't hear a sound out of them for miles--they are so engrossed in the story and don't want to miss a word. (great for long trips!) They love Henry's adventures & his crazy dog, Ribsy. Neil Patrick Harris does the most fantastic job reading this wonderful story. His voice changes so much for each character that you would swear it was more than one person reading the story. From Mrs. Huggins to Mr. Pennycuff, the pet shop owner, Neil Patrick Harris keeps us entertained with his impersonations of the characters. I love this CD set. I'm thrilled to be able to share Beverly Cleary's timeless stories with my children and I know they will love them just as much when they actually learn how to read! I hope they have Neil Patrick Harris record the other Henry Huggins books too. Super job!!

This is a lovely story about the unique mother-son bond. As the mother of two boys, as different as night and day, I can relate to the conflict the children present to the mother of "Whom do you love the most." The mother's response is wise and patient and inspires in me the desire to see my sons as individuals whose qualities complement and enhance each other. I highly recommend this book to other members of the "mother of two sons" club!

Two little boys competing for their mother's affection learn that their mother can love them both differently and jointly to make a love yet stronger and more beautiful. This book would be a wonderful shower gift for a mother having a second child. The clever answers of this loving mom offer inspiration for the questions our children ask us, "Who do you love best, Mom?"

I finally found a book about a mother with two boys! I mentioned to my sister-in-law how competitive my boys are for my praise and love. She suggested I buy this book. I bought it from Amazon and think it is wonderful. To be honest, I really bought the book for myself, as a reminder and example of how to bring out the best in each of my children. I have already thought of which of my boys will be "blue" and which will be "red"! They think the book is a great read, but I can't wait to save it for them for when they get older and can appreciate the meaning even more!

When I was in elementary school I hated math. Perhaps I would have had a different experience if Barbara Pearl's Math in Motion program had been available. Fortunately for kids today, Math in Motion can help make this often-unapproachable subject fun.

Barbara Pearl uses the ancient art of Japanese origami (paper folding) to demonstrate such fundamental mathematical concepts as number sense, patterns, fractions, angles, congruence, symmetry, spatial relationships, and polygons--all potential stumbling blocks for children learning math. The beauty of this approach is that the learning is embedded in fun projects.

Ms. Pearl also relates the exercises to language arts, social studies and science. These may be the only math exercises that kids are reluctant to end.

This is not a do it yourself book for kids. It is aimed at parents who want to participate in their children's learning and at teachers who are looking for innovative and creative ideas for the classroom. The projects range from simple enough for kindergartners to challenging enough for junior high.

An intuitive understanding of basic mathematical concepts is critical for all kids entering today's technical society. Math in Motion can be an invaluable tool in helping kids make it.

Charles B. Kreitzberg, Ph.D.

CEO, Cognetics Corporation

Until I saw Barbara Pearl's book, my only brush with origami had been making paper airplanes and launching them out the 2nd floor window of my math class. Math was my least favorite subject, as it is for my son Benjy, a brilliant 9th grader with a blind spot for numbers, but not for their importance. We have been working hard together, and in this effort, "Math in Motion" has been a great panacea. Even though it is meant for grades K-8, Benjy delved into it with an enthusiasm previously reserved for Shakespeare comedies and Stephen King novels. What works for him is the opportunity this book offers to combine 2- and 3-dimensional thinking, explore basic and advanced concepts, and integrate mathematical and non-math subjects. What works for me is a chance to relate closely with my son in new and unexpected ways, and the rare pleasure afforded a parent in seeing his child's joy and satisfaction as his horizons widen and his understanding deepens. Among the countless guides and self-help books available in bookstores and catalogs today,"Math in Motion" is a unique, one-of-a-kind contribution.

Shlomo Shyovitz, AIA, Architect and Urban Designer (M.Arch.UD, Harvard, 1977)shlomo_shyovitz@gensler.com

The content of this book was rich with so many ideas.
It can be used as a springbooard for numerous
hands-on activities--great for kids of all ages, full of
practical and fun concrete methods to demonstrate
abstract concepts especially for specail education
students. The multicultural expericence integrates
a variety of prosocial behaviors that supports
how other cultures contribute to our society.

I found this book by accident in the local library one year, and I read it to my two daughters. We cherished it for the two weeks we had it, and read it every night it seemed. None of us tired of it. The next year, we did the same thing, and by now I have finally had the good sense to purchase one. This edition has beautiful pictures, better than another one I've seen. The story is so cozy and precious that it warms your heart. It's sure to become a tradition with your family as well. Buy this book and love it! It whispers of Christmases past and yet is timeless in its story of a little girl longing for that special doll under the tree. The story is filled with miracles, just like Christmas. In our world today, there is nothing more settling and reassuring than reading a wonderful tale to our children.

Holly is a doll who wants a little girl for Christmas -- it is her fondest wish. Ivy is a little girl who wishes for a grandmother for Christmas. Everyone has left St. Agnes's Orphanage for the holidays and she is lonely, so she decides to find her mythical grandmother. Mrs. Jones feels that Christmas needs children. "Couldn't we have a little girl?" she asks. But Mr. Jones thinks she's daft. Add a sympathetic boy and a villainous toy owl and you have a page-turner.

Rumor Godden is the author of many fine and classic books for adults like THIS HOUSE OF BREDE and THE GREENGAGE SUMMER. Her rich and sumptuous writing guides stories full of delightful characters and, in the case of HOLLY AND IVY, little twists to the tale to surprise the reader.

If you're shy about reading "kiddie lit" for fun because you're an adult, find a child to read this to. And no matter what age -- teens will love the whimsy in the story as much as smaller children.

The illustrator is Barbara Cooney, a Caldecott Medal winner who has illustrated over a hundred books. She has captured the characters, setting and holiday appeal of the story in colorful pictures on every page.

Don't wait for Christmas! This is a story -- and a book -- for all seasons.

This is a perfect book for reading aloud to a grade school child...but my junior high school daughter still loves it as well. It is a charmingly written tale of the twists of fate that unite orphan girl Ivy with the Christmas doll Holly in the nick of time. The genius of Rumer Godden is that she writes it in a way that the adult reading the story enjoys it fully as much as the child listening. Barbara Cooney's illustrations look exactly the way the story looks in one's imagination. When I first went looking for a hardcover version of this book it was very hard to find, so order this one now. Your kids will treasure it in their library.

I have read many books out loud to my K-3 students, but I have never seen them so enraptured! They LOVE Junie B.! Junie's observations on life are always hilarious, and Barbara Park should be commended. My class can't get enough of these books. I have recommended them to many teachers, and everyone loves them. I highly reccommend this book to any elementary school teacher. Your kids will love all the Junie B. Jones books!!!

This latest Junie B. Jones book is just as funny as the others. Each of these books is the same, but different, and just as comforting for kids as Murder She Wrote used to be for adults on Sunday. In this one, Junie has a traumatic break-up with Ricardo, her mother treats her like a baby, her aunt has the gall to select her only as alternate flower girl and Junie finds a rival in the person of Bo. You can dress Junie up but you can't take her out! She causes havoc at the wedding and can only act a perfect lady for so long at the reception. I don't know if Hollywood has discovered this series but it's a gem. My nephew is going into 5th grade but he still loves these books. We had the privilege to meet Ms. Park at a local book fair and she is just as generous and funny as her books would make you believe.

We read Junie B. for a children's book club my 5 year old daughter is in. Almost a Flower Girl was the first one we read and is our favorite still (after reading three or four now). This book is hilarious - I laugh as much as she does. It is easy to make it fun (I read Junie's words with a different voice - not something I usually do but so easy with these books). In between all the funny stuff, there are good points brought up (at one point Junie B. wishes on a star for the flower girl to get sick or hurt so Junie B. can step in. Her mother makes her wish a new wish. It was a great lead in for my daughter and I to discuss how to handle situations when someone else gets something you want.) This is a great book to read to 5 or 6 year old girls especially. Nothing scary (mine is in a phase where much scares her that never used to). Buy Junie B. Jones is (almost) a Flower Girl! You will love it!

Although one's search begins with an alphabetized listing, the main body of this thesaurus (its original concept) is organized by category. This means that to find a synonym for e.g., "trouble", you will not simply be presented a list all the possible meanings of the word but you can choose your search depending upon the sense you are looking for. If you mean "annoyance" you will be sent one place for synonyms (nouns, verbs, adj, adv); if your meaning is more "presume upon" you will be sent somewhere else. In the case of "trouble" there are about a dozen places to go in the thesaurus depending upon the subtlety of meaning you are looking for. If you are a writer, this reference work is a sine qua non. Look no further than here for the best thesaurus in the world.

These days it's tempting to believe that you can do without a printed thesaurus. Thesauri are available on the web and there are even thesauri built into word processors. But these are pale substitutes for Roget's sixth edition.

It is much more comprehensive than other Thesauri, but it is still very easy to use. The index in the back contains an alphabetical list of words, and with each, an associated list of finer-grained definitions. For example, suppose you want to describe someone as "mopey" but that word doesn't seem quite right. When you look it up in the index you'll find "sullen" "glum" and "unsociable." Obviously, these have somewhat different characters. Next to each there is a reference to an entry to synonyms organized by category (instead of alphabetically). These lists make up the bulk of the book. Thus, the entry for "sullen" will lead you to a list of words similar in meaning to "sullen," and so on.

What makes this thesaurus easy to use is that the index at the back of the book is complete, so you seldom if ever have the experience of trying to look up a word and then find that it's not there, so you have to try to think of a synonym yourself to gain entry to the thesaurus. Second, there are 330,000 words in the listing of synonyms by category. Considering that the average college student's vocabulary is 60-80,000 words, this thesaurus should satisfy you.

One final note: if you really hate to shell out the money for this book, at least consider getting a used copy of the 5th edition, which came out in the early 90's and it still servicable.

As others have already stated, with this thesaurus you can find the word you're looking for simply by looking under the concept. For instance, say you're writing a piece and at that particular moment you can't think of the best word so you write "clear cut" just to get the idea onto the page. Later, when you're editing your piece, you see "clear cut" and still your mental thesaurus fails you. So, you take this book, look up "clear cut" (which is in there) and sure enough, it points you to a series or related concepts and synonyms. *Wonderful* is all I can say. When one can write in a rough draft "set straight" and look up those words in a thesaurus and find a fitting replacement, all that can be said is ... this writer's tool deserves the highest praise.

I loved this book. The characters were believeable. The romance was just the right touch. I usually stay away from something so "cheesy" as a love at "first sight story" but this book might just change my mind. I thoroughly enjoyed the story and the author had just the right touch with the whole step-family issue. It was a beautiful and touching tale that makes me believe that true love is truly possible.

Amazon thought I would like this book because of recommendations of other books I like. I thought so too and purchased it because I thought the synopsis sounded intriguing, as I'm a hopeless romantic, although I'm not a big believer in love at first sight.

This book hooked me right from the start. One of those reads that you don't want to put down and know that if you keep on reading you'll be finished with it and become despondent that the story is over.

If I thought too much about the implausibility of Maggy and Conor's meeting, the relationship that ensues and of finding and knowing your soulmate all within a weekend in Atlantic City, Barbara Bretton refutes every negative thought I have about that. She makes the impossible (at least to me) probable with deft writing and believable characters. Combine that with family problems and work issues, it's a story that basically boils down to grabbing those second chances and running.

I thoroughly enjoyed all the characters and cried so that I had to put the book down for the final chapters, dry my eyes and refocus.

This is the type of book I savored long after I put it down.

A wonderfull fast paced story, makes you believe in love at first site and gives hope that all passion is not gone from the world! I read it in one day will read it again. The problems with divorce and getting the children to accept someone new is really touching and the way it is done is brilliant. As for the fast moving romance, what woman wouldnt be in bed with this man in 24 hours!

This book is huge at 560 pgs; of course, i guess that's nothing compared to these past couple Harry Potters so perhaps i should just say, "substantial." It covers literally Woodhull's entire life (and a good deal of her sister's, Tennessee Claflin), as well as offering am in-depth view of the political and social climate at the time. It devotes a particular amount of time to the changing nuances of her "free love" doctrine and other participants in that movement (one which was, most certainly, ahead of its time--we don't generally think of Victorian times and Free Love in the same boat these days), and the Beecher-Tilton adultery trial.

I found the book to be facinating from a suffrage-history POV, contrasting events depicted/documented within with my memories of the "women's movement" from history classes. Goldsmith isn't afraid to throw stones (mostly by quoting their own less than tolerant words) at suffrage icons Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B Anthony, and others, in the course of depicting an unbiased view of the debate that raged for both women's and black men's suffrage at the time. She is both sympathetic to Victoria and Tennessee (she does a very good job in depicting the bizarre, abusive, nomadic carnival-like nature of their childhoods and family life while growing up), and willing to point out their flaws and transgressions (both women engaged in prostitution, blackmail, and other acts of "questionable ethics").

There's not as much focus on the Spiritualism movement, though the overview is thorough and the author depicts in great detail the ways in which Victoria and Tennessee were involved in it as trance speakers and predictors of the future, both from a very young age. She presents the oracles and visions and claims of spiritualists without passing judgement on them, though it's hard not to do so onesself as a modern skeptic reader--the descriptions of Victoria's frequent "possession" by spirit guides, particularly when speaking in public and in other stressful situations, coupled with her traumatic childhood, are reminiscent of depictions of modern dissociative identity disorders.

To read the book as a modern woman is somewhat horrific; one can't help but think along the lines of "what would I have done back then," when Anthony Comstock was arresting people for even discussing contraception and women were considered the property of their husbands. Goldsmith investigates a lot of related issues, giving brief synopses of cases of abortionists, midwives, spinsters-by-choice, servant-class mothers of illegitimate children who were imprisoned for "infanticide" when their babies died in childbirth...ugh. Horrible reading, but important.

All in all a facinating overview of activism, alternative spirituality, and the tumultuous political climate of post-civil-war America, centered around the life story of the country's first female Presidential candidate.

Goldsmith has done a real service with this book. It is more or less the history of the 19th-century women's suffrage movement, with special emphasis on the influence of Spiritualism and on the life of Victoria Woodhull (of whom I had never before heard, even though I regard myself as fairly well-versed in American history).

The book is full of fascinating characters and events, most of which are given unconscionably short shrift in our educational system. Goldsmith fleshes out the stories and personalities of many people who were previously just vague images in my mind, such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Henry Ward Beecher. It seems from this book that female suffrage could have occurred as much as 50 years earlier than it did, if it hadn't been for a couple of missteps on the part of the supporters of suffrage. For one thing, there was a bitter division among the suffragettes about whether the female right to vote should be part of the movement for enfranchising the recently freed slaves. Sadly, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, despite her many wonderful and even heroic contributions to the movement, comes across as an out-and-out racist on this issue, and probably damaged the very cause to which she devoted her life. Secondly, some of the foremost spokespeople for female suffrage got caught up in unrelated, controversial issues, and even in personal sexual scandals.

If you have an interest in American history, you may very well have the same reaction I did while reading this book. Almost every other page, I found myself exclaiming, "Hey, I didn't know that! How come that's not in any of the history books?"

The only reason I gave this book four stars instead of five is that I think the organization and focus could be a little better. The book isn't organized strictly chronologically, and it jumps from one character to another without apparent reason.

But there's just too much really good stuff here to give anything less than four stars, and I have no quarrel with those who have given it five. You won't often pick up a book written for a general audience and learn so many interesting facts that you probably didn't know.

What an absolute joy of a book. Goldsmith seems to have found the perfect centerof the femininist storm in Victoria Woodhull, an outspoken advocate of women's rights, free love, and spiritualism. The telling of her tale (and this book reads like a plotted novel) involves the inclusion of tales and talk from Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Henry Ward Beecher, President Ulysses S. Grant, Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt, and cameo appearances from a host of others (including the prudish New York City "in"fighter, Anthony Comstock). Much of the telling involves the infamous Tilton-Beecher scandal, a story whose recitation touches on much of the post-Civil War atmosphere of spiritualism,financial skullduggery, the new religious practices of revised Calvinism, and, of course, equal rights for women. This is a fascinating read and wonderfully written. You don't need to be a history buff to pick this up.