This book provides tons of great ideas for activities for your preschooler. I am a stay at home mom using these ideas to keep my kids busy. The book is organized by themes. Each theme has songs, fingerplays, arts/crafts, play ideas, science subjects, etc. to tie into that subject. You can do as little or as much of it as you want. It also provides a list of story books to accompany each theme. It's well thought out and organized.

I'm a daycare provider and I've recently bought this book and now I can't live with out it! It's a Great book to own!

This is the best Early Childhood book I own! In addition to what others have mentioned, some of the aspects I particularly appreciate are:

~Resources
every source is documented, giving unending
possibilities to pursue

~Books!
at the end of each unit is a list of books
relevant to the topic

~Webbing
each unit begins with a flowchart, listing
many aspects or branches of the main theme.
(This is a tremendous help in beginning to
think through how to personalize the units)

~INTERACTIVE Bulletin Boards
while the bulletin boards are a bit repetitive
(similar concepts for all the boards, but the
objects involved change with the themes), kids
tend to pay more attention to these
Interactive boards than to traditional ones.

Probably before you were born, the bookmobile would stop off at our school and I looked forward to reading "Freddy" books. I enjoyed all of his adventures and friends (Jinx had a few adventures of his own). Now those books are collector's items and rarely show up in used book stores. As much as I miss the originals he is back and just as ornery as ever. One Day I hope the earlier one will get republished. In the mean time Even thought these books are geared towards young ones, they still can hold the attention of old codgers.

Kurt wise does a good job of illustrating and for those that have never reads Freddy you have a great mystery ahead of you.

This may well be the best of the Freddy books written by Walter R. Brooks (its only competition is Freddy the Magician). Children and adults alike will find this one of the most fun books they've ever read. I can still remember the delicious chills I felt when reading this book at twelve, and still enjoy reading it today. As usual, Freddy gets into trouble trying to help friends -- Mr. Camphor to get rid of his aunts and an innkeeper whose hotel is haunted.

My first encouner with Freddy the pig left me feeling like I had just found Tut's tomb. His stories are loaded with treasures-wit, well-developed characters, and clear evidence that Brooks understood and RESPECTED children's intellect and character. Two foretrotters Up!!

This is a brilliant, provocative, intriguing, challenging, energising (literally!) book!

What was the best thing for me?

His concept of the Detached Control Achievement patterns (That's me!)

Other great things?

Clarity around how to GET my Life Purpose (two years of Landmark Forum training did not get me to GET that!).

We get more of what we measure (so measure what you want improved)

That I have a "powerful drive to learn" and all the behaviour/thoughts which go with that.

I look at the world through my own eyes, not those of others. No wonder when I ask people about me, what they see is so different from what I see myself! Powerful insights for me here.

And that I need to envision at least 10 years ahead (last year I created a goal of being "Alive, Alert and Active on my 100th birthday" so I've been thinking along the Right lines.)

It's amazing how my perspective changed when I thought in terms of having another 45 years of life to map out and plan!

This is not just a book - it is a working manual for driving through life on maximum revs!

Breaking the is truly a life-changing book for me. Just another self-help book, I thought. It turned out to be unlike any other self-help book that I've ever read.

How is this book different? This is not a book that made me feel good, but never managed to change anything about me, leaving me feel more powerless than before. The authors, Kurt and Patricia Wright, actually manage to engage into a relationship with me, never leaving me off the hook. On the contrary, sometimes I found them to be so inquisitive and personal I put the book down or feel uncomfortable with their questions.

It is indeed the questions that are life changing. I never really new how to ask questions of myself and others that actually improve things. You know how in our conversations and thoughts we so often focus on what's wrong and trying to fix that? And how it never really gets us anywhere? Breaking the Rules is about that, about asking right, empowering questions. About learning to recognize your already existing strength and to build on those so we can all reach a state of effortless high performance.

After reading this book I can never look at myself the same way again. It's like that image where you could at first only see the old lady, unable to see that there was also a young lady in there. Once you see the young lady you can never "unsee" her.

If you are ready for looking at what's right in your own life and the lives of those around you, whether in your personal relationships or in business, you've found your book.

I didn't expect this book to be so good. It's remarkable, wise, and soul awakening. Concepts such as all stress is self-induced, that all criticism is self-revealing, that every moment has total perfection, are mind stretching, liberating, and empowering. This is a classic book. I'm going to get copies for people I care about. Read it.

Kurt has done an excellent job in expressing his poetry. I enjoyed it very much. What really impressed me best was the fact that I found Kurt Lehovec was a important scientific figure from the 1940's to the 1960's and a professor at the University of Southern California in the 1970's. (I looked up this information over the Internet.) Kurt, good luck with your book and best wishes with life. Michael

Hi Kurt,
My name is Kim Lee Rodesney /Hradency/. My ancestry is Frenstat,
Moravia. I too am a poet but don't have anything published...
I just wanted to tell you that I read some of your poetry and it is absolutely some of the most heartfelt and beautiful I have ever read! It really tugged at my heartstrings and moved me deeply. Thank you so much for sharing your incredible talent!

I am well aware that writing a poems is only one part of the story, but writing a hundred great love poems is the other one. Not everyone has Kurt Lehovec's tallent to touch our souls. His book is for all generations.

Our whole family thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was written by a 13-year-old, which gave it interesting insights, yet was extremely well written. We read it aloud during a recent 1,000 mile trip and were inspired by Amy's courage and dedication. The ending was truly inspirational. It's a great book to give to any teenager (my 13-year-old daughter did most of the reading) to inspire them to have goals and reach out to achieve them. Highly recommended!

I got this book for Christmas last year, and I have to say that I enjoyed it immensely!! Amy tell story after [interresting, funny, heartwarming] story, and the spririt of adventure in this books inspires the readers to "reach really high" themselves!! After reading of Amy's accomplishment, I too wanted to get out and DO something!!

i am not yet finished w/ my american adventure but it is the most ^ lifting book my dream was to go on an "american adventure" and this summer my family is going to try to get on the road . and my goal is to record everyting and write a book about it. thats when i found my american adventure i was so excited that there was a book about somthing similar dream that i could read about!!! thanks amy,jon,emily,and kurt

amor a ti mismo y superacion personal..
Cuando terminas de leerlo, TE SIENTES ORO PURO...Y la verdad, es que todos los somos, solo hay que pulirlo con un buen libro como este

DE AUTO ESTIMA, QUE TE ENSEÑA A VALORARTE A TI MISMO COMO LO QUE ERES: ORO PURO !
De verdad, te enseña a aquilatarte en lo que vales y te DEMUESTRA QUE VALES MUCHISIMO..
Sin auto estima, no llega uno a ninguna parte...Y este te la aumenta ESCANDALOSAMENTE !

And when you read this book, you hit gold..
Because it gives us good reasons to cerify that WE ARE PURE GOLD !

I bought this book at the advice of a friend and was not disappointed. Wolff is a thoughtful and articulate writer, and this book has plenty of recording artists that I was not aware of. It is arranged in chronological historical chapters, which show the progression of country music to the present. Interesting write-ups on all the major artists, and plenty of information on musicians you probably won't have heard of.

Love this book, just stumbled on it a few weeks ago, and can't put it down. I've been listening to country and loving it since I was a little girl, and this thing keeps turning me on to more music I want to go out and buy. Cool bio's on the artists and a great section on the seventies outlaw artists.

An essential addition to your music library - whether you're a country novice or expert. The author has meticulously researched and written about country music in a well-organized chronological format that allows the reader to fully grasp the roots and progression of this music genre. The book includes biographies of country artists (those who are well-known, as well as some forgotten gems), discographies, reviews, and essays which fit the music into a broader social and historical perspective.

Great purchase - one of the best music reference books I own. Also check out the companion guide - 100 Essential CD's. Some interesting picks.

I'm a history professor who's teaching a course on Dracula next semester. I've already ordered Florescu's Prince of Many Faces and McNally's In Search of Dracula as required reading. I've attempted to read everything in English on Dracula.

I then found Treptow. From the very first page he avoids the tendency to sensionalize Vlad III. He avoids using documents that are suspicious, like other historians. He tells us how he came to the conclusion that they are not trustworthy. He attemps to set Vlad's action within their proper context. When I finished the book, I knew that I had read the best biography on Dracula now in existence.

Having acquired a passing interest with the "real" Dracula, it was nice to find a detailed historical account more in the vein of academics than popular culture. If you have a causal interest in Vlad then this book will be more than you want to handle. But if you are ready to deal with an in-depth consideration of the Impaler, you cannot do better than this volume.

Kurt Treptow's Vlad III Dracula: The Life And Times Of The Historical Dracula is a superbly presented, meticulously researched biography of the 15th century Romanian aristocrat known to history as "Vlad the Impaler". Treptow draws upon all extant Romanian, Turkish, Russian, and German sources to reconstruct the history of a prince who, in his own lifetime, was acclaimed a dedicated national hero and an implacable, bloody, merciless, diabolical tyrant. The informative, definitive, "reader friendly" text is enhanced with a series of appendices offering translations of principal documents concerns the history of Vlad III Dracula. Vlad III Dracula is "must" reading for anyone seeking an accurate, history-based biography of a man whose life and accomplishments have become interwoven and obscured by myth, legend, and popularized fiction.

I have just finished reading Firewall. Although I live in Sweden, this is my first Mankell. Firewall has introduced me to this wonderful author. I have just ordered The Dogs of Riga.

There are two primary plot lines in Firewall--a potential crime and the personal life of Inspect Wallandar, the police lead on the case. Mankell's smooth writing allows the reader to keep pace with a detailed plot. The introduction of new characters into the story is always well timed, in that they continue to hold the reader's interest and are congruent with the the story line.

Inspecter Wallandar is a very human police inspector, struggling with loneliness, job anxiety, and retirement at some point in the future. His reflections on his personal relationships and career transcend both age and nationality.

The translation of this book from Swedish is appears to be seamless and is easy to understand with apparently no loss of local color. This is the first Inspector Wallandar book I have read, and is good enough to entice me to seek out the others.

The Italian traslation is always late and so I'd like to thank the english translator.
As to this new case, I think that perhaps it's the best. The level of suspense is very high and Wallander is wonderfully human. Like a real person that you have known for years.
Now I'm waiting for the 9th case, Pyramid.
Let's hope to read it this very year, 2003.

We typically don't write or receive personal letters anymore. That is just one of many reasons why this book, with the different life experiences Kurt and Gerda W. Klein had during the war, is so compelling. Imagine this 25 yr. old U.S. serviceman helping this young woman, who had grown from adolescence to adulthood on a Nazi death march, come to grips with who she is and what's to become of her. The book provides a first hand account and perspective through their letters to eachother, as the hopeful re-building of countries and lives is surrounding them. This is a must read, especially poignant in the tenuous world situation we all find ourselves in, post Sept. 11th. The fact that these two young people married and built a life together is a wonderful love story.

Just when you think that the world today is a cold/harsh place and people are uncaring, a story comes along to challenge your thinking. "The Hours After" is one such book. Gerda faced the ultimate horrors of the Holocaust and near death, losing family in the process.

When you are at the depths of misery with her, an angel by the name of Kurt comes along to rescue her and nurse her back to health. Ah, but all doesn't end so nice and neat in times of war. Instead of giving up on each other, they correspond back and forth until at long last they are finally reunited and then married. I went through a lot of tissues on this one.

Last year, I was fortunate enough to meet these two incredible people who by chance were signing copies of this book at a social studies conference. While observing them, you could just feel the love and warmth they exuded.

I RECOMMEND THIS BOOK TO EVERYONE. THE STORY OF GERDA SHOWS HOW THINGS CAN CHANGE SO FAST IN A SPLIT SECOND. THIS STORY IS A REMINDER HOW IN LIFE WE SHOULD NOT WASTE A MOMENT TO ENJOY IT WITH OUR FAMILIES. IT AMAZES ME HOW GERDA HAD SO MUCH COURAGE TO CONTINUE IN SITUATIONS THAT WERE SIMPY AWFUL.