No, this is not about the strength of Chinese cuisine in the American Jewish community. It is about memory and metaphor. How do Jews and Chinese preserve and transmit their cultures. Should we begin to speak of Judeo-Confucian values rather than Judeo-Christian? What did Chinese culture do without the wrath of the god-inspired prophets? This is an original, thoughtful, poetic study from Wesleyan Professor of East Asian Studies Vera Schwarcz. In October 1979, Schwarcz, the daughter of Transylvanian Holocaust survivors, was studying in Beijing. It was Yom Kippur. Inside her dorm room, she was fasting and reading Wiesel's Les Chants des Morte." Outside, the authorities were closing the Democracy Wall. She was struck by the way both Jewish and Chinese cultures act to preserve and transmit fragments of cultural memories, in light of the powers that attempt to eradicate them, namely the Shoah and the Cultural Revolution. Amnesia is a relief from recollection. But both Jewish (if I forget thee..) and Chinese (If you lose the past, the will easily crumbles) cultures reward people for remembrance. This book enlightened me to the Judeo-Confucian tradition; the rabbi and the scholar; Halakha and Li; Rabbi Hillel and Confucius' disciple Mencius; the role of the Jewish prophets; and the lack of the socially just god in China with which one could fight imperial power. Did you know that the metaphoric poetry of Yehudah Amichai is used in China to remember Tiananmen Square? How do the concept of gesher (bridge) and kesher (tying knot) in the Midrash and Bratslaver-Hasidism compare to qiaoliang (bridge) and ren (endurance) and the writings of Yeng Shen? What can be learned from the midrash on god blessing Adam and Eve with the gift of amnesia and the Chinese tale of Old Lady Meng's Soup, which is a broth of amnesia? These are just a few of the questions she explores. I found this book fascinating.

The best way to describe all the books in this series is a "Best of Colored Pencil" but combined with a short how-to essay showing how each featured artist approached the painting. The approach of the book was simple. A group of artists were each given one of three landscape photos and then asked to create a colored pencil painting using the photo as a reference.

The variety of interpretations was inspiring. One entry particularly delighted me. One lady must have seen her landscape photo as a reminder of China or Japan. The resulting landscape she created from the photo took on a beautiful Oriental quality. Each artist listed the materials they used, the colors used and most had a few step-by-step thumbnail sized photos of the pictures in progress as well as the final painting in larger format. I most treasure it simply because the creative responses to something as simple as the same 3 photos lead to so many different results. Books like this are invaluable for helping to inspire creative ideas - especially if you're suffering from "blank page" syndrome. My one and only wish is that it had been longer...it's that good. All in all, a very worthwhile book to own.

Haviland did an excellent job, as she did in all of her fairytale books, to capture the culture and history of the country in her stories. She created a good interpretation of ancient fairytales from India. This book would be very useful in the classroom when learning about India and surrounding countries. It comes highly recommended.

I found this book to be well illustrated. And although not as comprehensive as i'd hoped, it is still the most complete guide I have found. Overall, I feel it is well above average--and I'm quite hard to please!

This book was like a high school course, without the distractions of school. It is the best GED prep book I've used so far.

The book HOME was a fabulous collaboration. It gave a great sence of the home from "Stoops", to "Under the Back Porch", to "Under the Bed, and even "A House of Flowers". My favorite poem was "The Refrigerator". It gave a very amusing veiw of what might go on in the refrigerator after we have all gone to bed. It has a nice Jazzy rhythm to it and is fun for kids of all ages. My favorite illustrations is that of Lane Smith that accompany the poem "Under the Bed". The pictures are slightly abstract. It makes you feel like you are really looking into the imagination of a child and see what is really going on. The dark background sets the feeling that you are floating through space, going into another world. I feel this book is not only for children for children to enjoy but also for us big kids out there.

This book should be on the reference shelf of every modern girl's library

An excellent primer to revitalizing Indigenous languages, from a scholar who clearly has spent a long time thinking about the pitfalls inherent to such a task.

This booklet includes copies of Dr. Mendelsohn's newsletter, "The People's Doctor," which answer common questions about the need for, and safety of, immunizations. The book was written in 1988, and he does spend much time discussing the DTP vaccine, which has been since been updated to the less harmful DTaP, but most of the information he gives is still applicable today. He cites research done in other countries and clarifies medical terminology for those of us who didn't attend medical school. If you're contemplating immunizing your child I would recommend that you read this book - it may change the way you view Western (American) medicine, and not for the better.

The Magic Porridge Pot is a pot that makes porridge when you ask it too, and stops when you ask it too. A little witch gave it to a poor young girl who took it home to her mother. They were never hungry again. But one day when the girl went for a walk, he mother was hungry and had some porridge. But she couldn't figure out how to stop it. So it just kept on going and going until it fill the house, the street, the town! Then the daughter came home and stopped the porridge. But at least they have enough to eat. I like this story when I was younger because i thought it would be so cool to have something magic. But then again, I wouldn't want porridge all over the place. So thats why this book was interesting to me.