This is an absolute must buy. The story is totally delightful -- cat lovers, take notice! Lucy the cat migrates from the City to the country every week with her two big guys, and this story is about her (mis)adventures at their weekend party.

The fact that her big people are two men obviously in love and partnered is incidental to the story, which makes it almost unique (Anna O'Day and the O Ring is the only other one I can think of, and that story is pretty blah). The gay subtext is most amusing when one of the men is enamored of the adorable fireman who comes to rescue Lucy from one of her misadventures (while the other glares).

The illustratations are terrific! This book is on my holiday list to give to all kids in this age range.

Susan in Ann Arbor

Reviewed by Harriet L. Schwartz Recent news has confirmed that the battle over gay-related children's books in public libraries continues. Most recently, a Baptist minister in Texas attempted to keep "Heather Has Two Mommies" and "Daddy's Roommate" out of circulation by checking out and then buying the books, according to the Associated Press. However, publicity in the town's newspapers magnified local interest in the books, forcing the libraries to obtain extra copies. Soon, anti-gay advocate will have another book to battle when Alyson Wonderland releases "Lucy Goes to the Country"...a vividly illustrated book that follows the story of Lucy as she travels to the country with her "two Big Guys." Children will follow Lucy's funny encounters with birds, guests, and a dog, while adults will catch a second level of humor.

I thought no book about cats could equal May Sarton's marvelous "The Fur Person"...but I was wrong! Lucy is a rambunctious amber and white cat who lives in a New York apartment, which she shares with her two "Big Guys". The authors, the two "Big Guys" who are Lucy's family, paint a loving portrait of their favorite feline's adventures as she, in her dreaded red bag, goes to the Guys' country house for the weekend. Hilarious, charming, and beautifully illustrated, this book is a childrens' book but it'll appeal to anyone who loves cats, and appreciates loving families of all kinds. My partner and I just lost our 20 year old calico, Calliope, so this book was especially meaningful and touching for us! More of Lucy's adventures, please, Guys!

One of the only JFK books to concentrate on his foreign policy ideas. The preface starts with the editor saying his "memory has been poorly served." This is quite true, and this book reminds us that President Kennedy was a person with great vision, intelligence, and a firm grasp of how to confront the threats of the nuclear age responsibly.

I HAVE NOT READ YHIS BOOK, WONT TO MAKE SURE I WONT IT FIRST

The book "Johnny, We Hardly Knew Ye" by Kenneth O'Donnell and David Powers offers a wide variety of information about the life of John F. Kennedy. Focusing on his political life, with which they were deeply involved, the authors give a perspective on the life of President Kennedy that can't be matched by many others, for not many others knew him as well as they did. Unlike a normal, relatively boring biography, this collection of memories about their friend and president contains stories, personality, and detailed information as seen through the eyes of white house aides and friends. I highly recommend this book to learn more about Kennedy and to have a great time in the process.

I am fifteen years old. The reason that I read this book is because I hope one day to be involved in public life. I began this book knowing relatively nothing about Kennedy, except his assination and his line, "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." This book gives me information to quench my thirst for knowledge as well as inspire and provide me with information that I will be able to use in the future, which I am only aboe to dream of now.

I love this book and feel that it is a shame that this is out of print. I feel that it is atrocious to think of a person not even attempting to find a copy of this book or not reading it if they have it. To conclude, I feel that this book is well worth the read, and so much more.

If you want to read about Jack Kennedy and his dad, with a little more information about Joe Jr., then this is a book for you. Mr. Leamer never delivers the promise his title suggests. This is not to say the book fails to be interesting, but it paints a rather incomplete picture of the Kennedy history. He spends a great deal of time on Joe Sr, and goes through a fairly deep analysis of the relationship between Joe Jr. and John, but we se only fleeting glimpses of Ted as he runs for senate. We only see detail on Bobby when he becomes his brothers AG. We never see the depth of information on Bobby, who played such a significant part in JFK's life.

The book also fails to give a complete picture of any of the men by failing to explaing the relationship that occurred with Rose. We are shown that she tolerated her husband's indiscretions, but we see hardly any interplay with her sons at all. Any decent psychologist will tell you that you can't understand a man without understanding his relationship with his mother. We never see it at all.

Although I found the information delivered to be interesting, I also found it to be quite one-sided, as though it had been written by a strong fan. It gave a good amount of information into the events the Kennedy men lived (and died) through, yet left out much of the day to day information that would have filled out the image. Bottom line; interesting read, but not a detailed analysis...not by a long shot.

I read The Kennedy Women a few years ago and found it to be one of the most impressive biographical works that I had ever encountered. I was most impressed with Leamer's ability to fully chart the lives of so many diverdse characters.

I eagerly awaited the Kennedy Men. If I had not read his previous work, this probably would have seemed better. I felt that the Kennedy Women had a broader scope dealing with a longer (and earlier!) time frame and more individuals. This started, really with Joe Kennedy and didn't focus on too many others. A very minor complaint, is that the Kennedy women had a comrehensive time line in the beginning. It would have been useful to include one here as well.

Otherwise, this is an extaordinarily well rearched volume. What I enjoyed most was the conversational approach taken by Leamer. It is a pleasure to read. I wish that the final chapter "Requiem for a President" was slightly more detailed, but this was a chance to learn not about invididuals, but about complex family relationships and bonds.

I am glad that I read it and look forward to volume 2!

The Kennedy Men: 1901-1963 By Laurence Leamer has been an appendage of mine since its release in mid-October. I literally could not put it down and when I finished, I lamented its ending. It was personal, like a friend, a wonderful place to go when I read it. I wanted more -- yes, even after reading 700-something pages.

Leamer put this family into context with grit and courage. The book does not mince words. He did not just give us the bad and the ugly; he also gave us the good. And even the bad and the ugly are in a context where the actions are understandable, unlike the Seymour Hirsch book, "The Dark Side of Camelot," where it was all seamy and skewed.

When Joe Kennedy had the lobotomy done on his daughter, Rosemary, one could understand his motives, even the hubris that made him do it. In his own way, he was being protective of her, but his suffering after the disastrous results that left her a mere shadow of her former self -- was some of Leamer's finest writing.

It was as if the author were inside Joe Kennedy's head and had become omnipotent. That is the part of the book that was the most tragic and deeply sorrowful. The fact that he never spoke of her again, and the rest of the family followed suit -- all parched by their unspeakable grief at her loss -- gave more insight into the human condition than I have ever seen in a book, bar none. I believe the lamentation today is still borne by the Kennedy family and that is the demon that drove Eunice to work so hard for the handicapped; she was doing penance for the entire family. This one section could be pulled out alone and made into a morality play; Albert Camus and the existentialists have nothing on Leamer here.

The dossier of facts in this book will stay with the reader, who will not be the same after reading the book. Your heart breaks for this family, what they suffered through -- even if much of the catastrophic consequences they endured were their fault. One can clearly see the motives.

Leamer is sans judgmental hostility. He doesn't lean on the Kennedys for their faults -- rather he puts them into this a historical frame of reference without blue-sky illusions.

Who knew how much John F. Kennedy suffered his entire life? His transition to adulthood was inevitably painful emotionally but also physically. He bore upon his frail shoulders the burden of his older brother's death. His drug habit, scary as it appeared, could also be understood in this book's context. Leamer neither softens nor sentimentalizes it. Kennedy's lifetime of pain makes the reader wince with a lump in their throat. One leaves the book admiring what he accomplished rather than judging him harshly. He was trying to find an even keel for himself. He was looking for an even playing field. One must remember, he was taking the injections wearing 1960s glasses. No one knew the dangers of amphetamines back then. They were the "smart" drug of the day.

I was rather surprised that Rose was as cavalier as she was toward the end, after Joe's stroke -- with cruel indulgence, showing him gowns she would wear to parties she attended without him. She appeared to enjoy her "last-laugh" status her continued health gave her.

Even more surprisingly, Rose was rather cruel to the children as they grew. She wrote letters to their schools but she never visited. She expected the children to be "little men" and "little women" from the time they were babies, another fragment in the mosaic of their shattered lives. To justify this shoddy behavior, she opined that she thought it was best if the children were not dependent on her.

This was one of the big surprises for me of the book: Rose's distance from the children. You were either with her or you were gone. Witness what happened to eldest daughter Kathleen, who died in a plane crash in Europe. She wasn't even brought back for burial, rather, she was buried in England. That fact will stick in one's craw. "Kick," as she was called, was divorced and having an affair, so she was banished, even in death.

Of course, affairs were de rigueur for the Kennedy men. I'm looking forward to Leamer's next volume and hope he explores the relationship of Bobby Kennedy with Jackie after Jack's death when both were .

Would I recommend this book? Absolutely. It's one of the truly great books I have ever read. Henry Kissinger once said of an argument, "It had the added advantage of being true." That is The Kennedy Men.