"Chicken soup for the Prioner's Soul" was the answer to my prayers. After reading your book, I joined Toastmasters to develop my skills as a speaker. Your book opened my eyes and heart to my desire to be a professional speaker. It has also opened a lot of doors for me. It is so amazing that being in jail, I was led to your book, which has led to so many wonderful and helpful people. If everyone could accept people as unconditionally as you and the people in your book have accepted me, our world would be a much better place.

"Chicken Soup for the Prisoner's Soul" has been a favorite of participants in the Kairos HORIZON, faith-based residential program at Tomoka Correctional Institution near Daytona Beach, Florida. "It makes you think," one of the inmates in this maximum security prison responded, "and we need that." A local ministry provided copies for each of the 128 men in the faith dorm at Christmas last year.
As the program coordinator, I've noticed that the stories never fail to touch our volunteers, too, whether they are written by an inmate, an inmate's family, a volunteer, warden or correctional officer. By the end of the book, the whole experience of incarceration can be seen from a new and fuller perspective, one that offers hope.

As an educator in a state correctional facility, I am always looking for reading material that can interest and inspire. As a human being struggling with the difficulties of my own little life, working with human being beings who for many reasons are going through the very difficult life experience of incarceration has assisted me in my own soul growth and the awareness of the one soul by which we are all connected.
Reading "Chicken Soup for the Prisoner's Soul" before I read it in class with my adult incarcerated students aided that development. I bought copies of the book for my students to read in class. Each student practiced his story. Then read it to the class. We have had many soul-stirring discussions.
I have never been the victim of a violent crime. I feel very much for victims and their families. The sections of the book that moved me to reflect on forgiveness were the ones telling about the forgiveness of the victim's family member for the perpetrator. I have trouble forgiving small slights. To read about the forgiveness of a violent crime that led to a taken life...well, I am still working on that. We live. We think. We change. This book encourages new thoughts to enter my mind and new changes in awareness of the soul.

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.

my mom bought me this a few christmas's ago. I wasnt really a diary type person so I figured I wouldnt like it. But one day when I was bored, I opened it up and looked and realized what I had been missing. this is definitly a great book for teenagers. Its not just a blank journal, it gives you lots of interesting ideas to write about and asks questions that make you think. I love writing in it if I'm bored. And it's big so it wont get used up fast. Also, even though there are sections, you dont have to do each one in order, you can just skip around if you want. the sections are similar to the ones in the chicken soup for the teenage soul books. and for some of the questions, they give alot of space to just write whatever you want. I especially liked the section where your friends, boyfriend, etc. could write to you and the part where you can put your pictures. I highly recommend this journal! its great! I hope they come out with a second one

Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul: Journal, was one of the most moving books I have read. It's directed towards adolescents, and deals with issues every adolescent girl faces. It's a blend of stories, quotes, poems, and spaces to write your thoughts. This book has many different sections such as: family, love and kindness, learning lessons, and though stuff. My favorite section, however, is "loving yourself". This book gave me a chance to deal with issues and see that I'm not the only girl whom faces such issues. Chicken Soup is a book that I am able to pick up at any time if I need some inspiration on a situation, or some reassurance. Other issues helpful to me were on drinking, self-esteem, eating disorders, and how to deal with my past. The best part about this book is that a lot of it is compiled with texts written by teenage authors. There are spaces for friends to write about you, and spaces for you to express how you feel about certain things. Chicken Soup allowed me to realize I was not the only girl who had experienced some of the feelings that I did. After reading this book I knew I wasn't alone! I do highly reccomend this book to any teenage girl. Adolescence is a hard time to get through, and many girls need inspiration. You do not have to read the book cover to cover; you can pick it up any time and read whatever section you desire.

Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul: Journal, was one of the most moving books I have read. It is directed towards adolescents, and deals with issues every adolescent girl faces. It's a blend of stories, quotes, poems, and spaces to write your thoughts. This book has many different sections such as: family, learning lessons, love and kindness, and tough stuff. My favorite section, however, is "loving yourself". This book gave me a chance to deal with issues and see that I am not the only girl whom faces such issues. Chicken Soup is a book that I am able to pick up and at any time if I need some inspiration, help, or reassurance. Other issues helpful to me were on drinking, self-esteem, eating disorders, and how to deal with my past. Another good part about this book is that a lot of it is compiled with texts written by teenage authors. There are spaces for friends to write about you, and spaces for you to express how you feel on certain issues. Chicken Soup allowed me to realize I was not the only girl who had experienced some of the feelings I did. After reading this book I knew I wasn't alone! I do highly recommend this book to any teenage girl. Adolescence is a hard time to get through, and many girls need inspiration. You do not have to read the book cover to cover; you can pick it up any time and read whatever section you desire.

after reading the Alladin Factor you wonder how many times will I have to hear, "Ask and you shall receive," before it sinks in? Jack and Mark are like the postal service; They Deliver. Within the synergy only these two create, is the key to acquiring what you desire - ASK! Rub the lamp and ask the genie who lives inside us all for the Courage to open your mouth. We used to say nothing bad can happen when you ask at the end of the day - If it's been a good day and you receive by asking, it just got Better; if you ask and don't receive, who cares it's been a good day anyway. If it's been a Bad day and you don't receive, don't beat yourself up, it's been a bad day. BUT, if it has been a bad day and you Do Receive - Shazamm! - you just changed the WHOLE DAY. And not only that day but the next day and the next - You have the POWER to Ask. Desire without Action is a Wish - Read this book to begin making your wishes come True. Way to Go, guys, Another W! inner -- Keep Smilin' Mike Redding

The Aladdin Factor has changed my life! Now I know why I have lived a life of mediocrity and low self esteem. This book can open your eyes to what is truly possible in your life. Regardless of your station in life, I believe this book will have a profound effect on how you relate to yourself and others.

Ever heard of "Ask and you shall receive?" Canfield and Hansen illustrate beautifully that this principle really works in all areas of our life - if we are willing to ask. So many times, we don't even try, we think it's impossible, we give up too soon. The principles of how to do the art of asking are interspersed with inspiring examples from real life people.

From the contents:

- The Five Barriers to Asking: Why we don't ask for what we want - Knowing how to ask, who to ask, what to ask for - Ask at home, at work, at school, the world, yourself, a higher power

After reading this book, I boldly asked where I would have been silent before. It is amazing how much you can create for yourself if you're willing to ask for it. I liked this a lot!

If you love your pet, you'll love this book. The stories capture how important pets are in our lives. My whole family has read it. I'm writing stories about my own pet with the help of a journaling book, THE BOOK OF MY PET. It's helping me capture my endearing animal's life in the way the Chicken Soup authors did.

I got the book as a Christmas gift and found myself transported to warm memories of pets, past, present and future. I found the book to be like looking in someone's emotional diary; sharing their most intimate, special moments of sharing their lives fully with a beloved pet. I bought ten copies of the book and gave it as a new millennium gift to all the pet lover's in my life and I'm prould to report that the praises, thank you's and high-fives keep coming my way. If you love your pets like family, and are tired of fiction or stories of gloom and doom, add this book to your shopping cart!

I love this book! I found myself laughing and crying through out the book. Two of my favorite stories were, "15 Minutes of Fame" and "Bedroom Secrets of Pets Revealed". I have 2 large dogs and 1 cat and can relate to both of these stories. It's nice to know that there are so many people in the world that give the gift of life and love to their animals. If you too are an animal lover, this is the book for you. I am sure you will relate to at least one of its many well written stories.

I bought the Landmark Thucydides because it was the only hardback edition I could find. I was pleasantly surprised because it happens to be the best modern edition available. The editor, Robert Strasser, set out to make the most authoritative book on Thucydides's History of the Peloponnesian War, and I believe he has succeeded brilliantly.

Strasser uses Richard Crawley's translation, apparently revised and updated. In any case the text is very good, though Thucydides syntax is sometimes complex and even a bit confusing. Strasser uses marginal notes besides each paragraph to summarize the events described in the text. The most valuable additions are the maps- there are maps every few pages, illustrating the geography described in the text as needed. Other welcome additions are a timeline, breaking down the events of the book according to date, appendices covering topics such as Athenian and Spartan government, trireme construction, land and naval warfare in ancient times, and even an essay on the monetary units and religious festivals used in the ancient world. There is also an introduction, discussing both the text and the author in detail and in the context of their time. There is also a full and complete index. If you want Thucydides, this is the book to buy!

Robert B. Strassler's edition of the famous Richard Crawley translation of Thucydides is a remarkable work, not only because of its intrinsic merit but also because it is quite simply unique. Mr. Strassler has provided the ultimate in critical apparatus, an exhaustive series of tools with which to understand and appreciate one of the great books of world civilisation. I have never seen anything like it. First of all, there is the index; if an index can be said to be a work of art, the Strassler index is a work of art in the way it organises and informs the text. Next there are the maps - dozens of them - not clumped together in the middle of the book or hidden away at the end, but strategically placed throughout the appropriate points in the text, right at the reader's fingertips when he or she needs them. The footnotes (yes footnotes, not those pesky and inconvenient endnotes!) would fill a small volume of their own and add immeasurably to one's understanding. And as if this were not enough, there are 11 appendices - short essays by prominent classical scholars on different aspects of the Greek world in the time of Thucydides, from "Athenian Government" and "Trireme Warfare" to "Religious Festivals" and "Classical Greek Currency." As far as I am concerned, the only problem with Mr. Strassler's edition is that is has made me greedy for more of the same - a similar edition of the Mahabharata, say, or Gibbon! Any takers?

Robert Strassler has done a remarkable editing job with Thucydides' Peloponnesian War. He has included three key features which provide the reader much luxury:

One, he has provided maps throughout the text, to the extent of repetition, to ensure that textual geographic references are always accompanied, in close proximity, cartographically.

Two, he has provided paragraph summaries on the margin throughout the work so that a reader, who has put the edition down for any length of time, may refresh their memories quickly by reading as many of these one to two sentence summaries as necessary.

Three, as Thucydides provides his narrative in chronological order, he must often leave one narrative to begin another. Strassler has provided a thread to follow each narrative through to its' end by way of footnotes.

These editorial enhancements greatly enrich the reading experience and would be a welcome addition to any historical text.

Thucydides, himself, presents the reader with a narrative unromanticized, strictly adhering to the events of the Peloponnesian War. His work possesses many passages that rivet the reader, but also contains areas where the sheer and voluminous recitation of fact can render one foggy. This is not a book for the light-hearted, though Strassler's editorial enhancements make for a pleasurable experience. It is, in short, a classic which has been classically edited.

If your heartstrings don't stretch a bit in response to some story in Chicken Soup for the Gardener's Soul, you need to check your pulse. Then you need to go plant something...

Chicken Soup for the Gardener's Soul is a collection of 101 short stories and vignettes. Each piece is about three pages long, a format that is convenient for those of us who's free-time comes in little snippets. The stories share a common theme: Despair + a Garden + God's Grace = Wisdom and Peace.

Chicken Soup books seem to really polarize readers. A reader either really likes them and buy copies for all their friends, or dislikes them and would not buy one on a bet.

Let me assure the first type of reader that Chicken Soup for the Gardener's Soul is just as good the other Chicken Soup books. One of my concerns was that the quality of the writing would be inferior to the earlier books, that all the good material had already been skimmed. That concern was baseless. Evil is newsworthy because it is rare. Dignity, humanity, honesty and sacrifice ARE the human condition. There is no shortage of inspirational stories, just a shortage of publishers who think they are worthy of the readers' attention. Chicken Soup is still skimming the cream.

Book reviews are supposed to help the reader decide "Do I buy this book?" That is not much of an issue with this book. Chicken Soup addicts will buy this book. The question on the table is: "Do I buy this book for the cynical friend who thinks they are 'sappy', or 'maudlin'?" I think the answer is a qualified "Yes."

These stories do not strike a quick resonance with cynics. It is not because cynics have never felt despair. Rather, it is because cynics are afraid of the pain of revisiting those times. Cynics need to ease into these stories the way you might ease into a hot-tub. So buy them a copy and highlight a few stories like:

*A Veteran's Garden, page 25 "The Marines sent me overseas. But it took gardening to bring me home."

*Girls like Roses, page 109, "...twenty-four bucks! That's a lot of money. Even for a girl named Michelle."

*Brian, page 192, "Brian is seven. He's a dreamer and drives his teacher crazy. She is as stiff as taffy in December."

A MUST read for gardeners and non-gardeners alike! This has been my absolute favorite of all the Chicken Soup books so far. I think it will outsell all of the other books because gardeners and Chicken Soup fans tend to be of like spirit. Every story made me cry but yet left me feeling good, in true Chicken Soup style!!! Erma Bombeck and Nelson Mandela were a real treat.

Is 'extraordinary' a powerful enough word for this book?

On reading it, I almost couldn't believe that it was genuine...but no writer of fiction could have created something as extraordinary,(I've used the word again,) as this.

Klemperer was a Jew, who managed to survive the war living within Nazi Germany because he was married to a Christian woman & 'luckily' for us, he wrote EVERYTHING down. Every. Tiny. Detail.

A superbly intelligent & witty man. Sometimes these kinds of books are just fascinating as eye-witness accounts, but what's unusual about this, is the fact that this man could actually write AND SO well.

SO sad & frustrating that it wasn't published within his lifetime.

I can't say any more. I'll never be able to say enough.

Probably the most extraordinary eye-witness account about life in Nazi Germany available...NO!...that will EVER be available.

Definetely the most extraordinary, (yes, it IS the right word,) book I've personally EVER read.

I'm honoured in being able to recommend this to you.

Victor Klemperer is a spokesman. With characteristic German precision, he articulates the daily victimization and humiliation of the Jews by the Third Reich as it removes the privileges of citizenship one by one, from tram tickets to life itself. Each day becomes a surreal ritual of survival, finding food bereft of rations, hiding anything that might offend an uninvited Gestapo searching his home, speaking softly to discern the fate of those shipped to labor camps, trying to divine the future and to understand the past while utterly damning the present. Klemperer's testimony alone is worth our time, so that we may better understand how far we can stray from civilization.

But then Victor Klemperer is also a hero. As I read his diaries, I began to realize the bravery of his writing and of those who hid the pages for him. Klemperer's opinions of the Third Reich are explicit. Exposure would have ended his life immediately. I kept wondering whether I could ever do that, say, if the mayor declared Italians to be the Master Race and blue-eyed blonds were systematically searched, deported and killed. Would I care so much for posterity, and for the future of humanity, that I would dare to write what is right no matter the consequence, to expose evil in the midst of it, and perhaps to die for it? Victor did. Reading his diary is to honor that heroism.

But then Victor Klemperer is also a human being. He wrestles mightily with his German heritage, with his privileges by marriage to an Aryan, with his being alive while others disappeared. Through all the terror, he is still willing to seek out trust when mistrust is the word to live by. He is saddened by the devastating bombing of Dresden, not vengeful. When I expect his words to be filled with hatred, I am struck by their frequent ambivalence and even passion. Klemperer is a complex person, like most human beings, like you and me. This is a diary that confirms that, when ordinary people are put into extraordinary circumstances, they become extraordinary. As is this book.

This book was not as fascinating as the first volume but on reflection, when one realizes the tremendous risk he took in maintaining this diary, one must be chilled and grateful to Victor Klemperer. The book makes one realize how slow the war dragged on for people suffering under Hitler, and what seemed like fast-moving events to me as a boy living thru the war seemed an eternity to Klemperer. One can endure the awfulness of the life he led only because we know he survived. These volumes by Klemperer should be read by anyone who wants to know what daily life in Germany by a Jew was like.

Oh my gosh, how I loved this book. In third grade, I read it until the cover fell off! This unconventional fairy tale far surpassed other romantic tales in my mind. Banks shows images that are beautiful and incredibly imaginative. I would guide a girl aged around 8 to 14 to this book, depending on her reading ability, though the book is not terribly difficult. I consider this a classic and a must read for young girls. It's one of the first fairy tales where the heroine doesn't need (or particularly like) a prince coming to her rescue.

If you like fantasy stories or fairy tales, you'll like this book. Dakin, the main character, is 15 years old. She dreams about finding out the secrets of the farthest away mountain, so she decides to go and sneaks out of the house. On the way she meets interesting characters like trolls, gargoyles, and frogs. The journey is fun, but it's also a weird and dangerous journey filled with monsters and witches. Will Dakin accomplish her dreams? Read the book to find out.

The first chapter book I ever read was Matilda. The second was this one. This book truly got me started on fantasy and I never read anything else. I love to read and this book is still one of my favorites. I read this book when I first got it out of our elementary school library (which wasn't that big) Since most of the books were boring, I would get book out over and over again. That was in 3rd grade. I haven't read it in over 6 years, but the story still stands clearly in my mind and I can still remember what happens. I could never find this book until I found it on amazon, and it is really a great book. Read it!

Considering this is the author's first book, it was a pleasant read. It is your typical 'conversation' novel with a slight twist. If you are looking for an insightful, well developed, intricate plot, this may not be the book for you. If, however, you are seeking a good summer read with authentic dialogue, this book will satisfy. It reads like a movie, as was the author's intent. The characters mesh well with the storyline and one can almost hear their voices rising from the pages, from the low talking mafiosi to the most likely squeaky voice of Yumi. The information on Japan was accurate and insightful. For most readers, it will provide a brief glimpse of what Japan still is today; an egocentric, male dominated/female subservient culture. There are exceptions of course and the author uses Yumi to prove this point. An interesting book, the Button Men is to be recommended to all italophiles as well as to those looking for a fast paced quick read.

The Button Men is a fast, fun and exciting read...especially good for the "summer reading list" you might be putting together right now. The characters are memorable...the plot moves along quickly...and there's a great mix of eastern and western cultures. Being an Italian-American and having visited Japan 10 times, the book's story line caught my eye and I was not at all disappointed. Mr. Casale's character development is excellent....there's a good deal of suspense in the plot with just enough humor to carry the reader along. This is an enjoyable book and one that will teach you quite a bit about Japanese and Italian-American culture. Give it a try. You'll have fun.

While reading THE BUTTON MEN I could not help but think of my early years growing up on the upper east side of New York City.I can easily indentify with some of the characters that the author Victor Casale created in his novel. Obviously some research has gone into this exciting story of two cultures. I have known a few Saseeches'and characters such as Vinny Lucente and Fabio in my time.Different personalities but with the same goals to be Mafia people. I particularly liked the mission to Japan to free the Don's niece and their action packed adventure to achieve a successful conclusion. Matsuba, the Yakuza chief comes across quite scary and someone you do not cross up. Yumi the Yakuza "moll" is no slouch either.

It is great reading and you can almost see this in movie form. I'm sure readers will be entertained by the quick dialogue and the action that this novel brings forth