This book is jam-packed with thoughtful advice for teachers who are teaching about adolescence. As someone who teaches adolescent development in a pre-service teacher education program, I have found it a rich source of ideas for approaches and strategies. I highly recommend it.

This book is perfect for anyone who owns a home--especially and older home. From the first chapter, which describes in detail how to strip a room down to its bare bones, to others which describe how to make repairs to staircases, wallpaper around arches and other obstacles, lay flooring, etc., this book is packed with information and step by step instructions. Each chapter is divided into different tasks (for instance, the chapter on refinishing a hardwood floor separates out the tasks of sanding, repairing cracks, replacing a damaged board, and others), and each task is summarized with an approximate skill level, working time, and tools needed.

Great book.

The book is succinct and doesn't mince words.

iwould like advice for recipes for vegetarian thanksgiving dinne

This book places an outline of world history in an attractive format. There are color maps and illustrations to accompany the highlights of different time periods. There are sections about languages, rulers, politics, agriculture, inventions, and more. A time chart with specific dates runs along the right hand page. Following the section about the twentieth century is a world time chart. On this chart, the dates run down the left and the names of the continents are across the top. This allows you, at a glance, to compare what was happening around the world. This atlas contains a glossary, index of maps, and general index as further study aids. An outstanding addition to home or class libraries.

Walter Inglis Anderson was that rarest of humans, a true visionary, so much so that the word "vision" weakly captures the fiery luminescence of his drawings, watercolors, and paintings. The works photographed and discussed in this book are perfect examples. Largely unheralded in his lifetime and for many years after his death in 1965, Anderson's work deserves more caring and careful studies like this. Co-published by the University Press of Mississippi and the Walter Anderson Museum of Art, this book presents astounding photographs as well as insightful commentary on the murals Anderson painted on rolls and sheets of paper as well as on the walls of the Ocean Springs Community Center and his cottage near Shearwater Pottery in Ocean Springs. This book is a must for all lovers of the ineffable, mystical qualities of seeing.

William Mayne writes in a spare and poetic style, which may take some getting used to, but which I believe truly reflects the workings of a child's mind. The story here is of of two young English girls who find a strange boy near their village. The village witch informs them that the boy will only stay a year and a day. At the end of that time, the boy is gone, but he will stay in the heart of the family forever.

This is a beautifully designed small volume, nicely illustrated, from a wonderful series of books.

Kurt Vonnegut's "Welcome to the Monkey House" was more than just a book of short stories, it was a work of art. Mr. Vonnegut creates a perfect blend of comedy, drama, action and suspense. He has a certain way of having tons of detail but not so much that it bores you. You feel as much a part of the story as the characters. One of the stories, "Epicac," takes place when the first super computer is created. One night, a man stays late and talks about his love life with the machine. The computer has great solutions for him that work out for the man. Then, the computer burns out trying to figure out why he can't be loved. Another story, "Welcome to the Monkey House," takes place when the population is so massive that sex is outlawed. When a man refuses to take his hormonal pills, the police look for him. He then kidnaps a girl and takes her to a hidden place where he has sex with her. It changes the woman's feelings in the process. This is a great book for any reader. I was hesitant as many when about to embark on reading it but don't regret it at all. I suspect many who read it will also have a problem putting it down as i did.

From the wonderous humanity of EPICAC, the computer who loved a girl, to the simply yet imaginatively told story of "Thomas Edison's Shaggy Dog", to the black American soldier's relationship with a certain displaced person ("D.P.") to the title story's grim view of the future population (see also "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow", the last story in the collection), Vonnegut surprises with his humor, and then delivers a knockout punch with his pathos. *SPOILER* The story about the boy who cannot tell his parents that he didn't get in the School, and "The Kid Noone Could Handle" *END* Is the "fifty-year man" the real "Deer in the Woods"? One of my favorite stories has always been "More Stately Mansions" about the woman who yearns for a more perfect abode as collected and clipped from many home decorating magazines. The realism of his stories is kind of spooky sometimes. His prose writing is amazing--a master of the quick turn of phrase, the one-sentence description that reads like a book, the presence behind the prose somehow is able to make complex, profound ideas more simple, and vice versa. I first read this volume in 1974 on airplanes and while traveling to Africa at the age of 12. Some of it escaped me then, but by now I think I get it. And I recommend it highly!

Don't bi-pass "Welcome to the Monkey House" just because it's a short story collection. Next to "Slaughterhouse 5", this is easily the most necessary Vonnegut book to own. Here, he sets free both his imagination AND his senses of humor and adventure to come up with some of the best short works published in this century. Just look at this list: "Harrison Bergeron", "Thomas Edison's Dog", a truly hysterical piece on assisted suicide and a truly suspenceful piece on a game of chess played with real people. Most of these styles have since, of course,been copied to death. But has anyone really cut as deep or as precisely into the public consciousness as did Vonnegut here? One wishes he would have continued writing short stories, at least occasionally, and we could have more collections as diverse, entertaining, and thought provoking as this is. By itself, though, "Monkey House" is one residency to make sure you visit

Master storyteller and social critic, Charles Dickens, turns this social treatise on shortcomings of Victorian society into an entertaining and heartwarming Christmas ghost story which has charmed generations and become an icon of Christmas traditions. Who, in the Western world has not heard, "Bah, Humbug!" And who can forget the now almost hackneyed line of Tiny Tim, "God bless us, every one!" or his cheerfully poignant observation, that he did not mind the stares of strangers in church, for he might thus serve as a reminder of He who made the lame, walk and the blind, see. Several movie versions: musical, animated, updated, or standard; as well as stage productions (I recall the Cleveland Playhouse and McCarter Theatre`s with fondess.) have brought the wonderful characterizations to the screen, as well as to life. This story of the redemption of the bitter and spiritually poor miser, and the book itself; however, is a timeless treasure whose richness, like Mrs Cratchit`s Christmas pudding, is one that no production can hope to fully capture.

It's hard to think of a literary work that has been filmed and staged in more imaginative variations than Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol"--there's the excellent George C. Scott version, the delightful Muppet version, the charming Mr. Magoo version, etc., etc. But ultimately true "Carol" lovers should go back to Dickens' original text, which remains a great read.

"Carol" tells the story of cold-hearted miser Ebenezer Scrooge, who despises the Christmas holiday and scorns all who celebrate it. But a visit from a series of supernatural beings forces him to reevaluate his attitude--and his life.

With this simple plot Dickens has created one of the enduring triumphs of world literature. It's a robust mix of humor, horror, and (most of all) hope, all leavened with a healthy dash of progressive social criticism. One thing I love about this book is that while it has a focus on a Christian holiday, Dickens puts forth a message that is truly universal; I can imagine this story resonating with people of any religious background, and also with more secular-oriented people.

This is a tale of greed, selfishness, regret, redemption, family, and community, and is enlivened by some of the most memorable characters ever created for English literature. Even if Dickens had never written another word, "A Christmas Carol" would still have, I believe, secured his place as one of the great figures of world literature.

Charles Dickens writes this story in such detail that you almost believe you have just enjoyed Christmas dinner at the Cratchits home. The characters have so much depth. The made for t.v. or movie screen renditions do not truly depict what Ebenezer Scrooge witnesses with the three spirits that causes such a change in his outlook on life. Such as Scrooge's emotions being quickened by the past heartache in his childhood; seeing how his bad choices caused the hardening of his heart and how deeply it cost him in the end; seeing what could have been his to enjoy and then thinking it could still be his with the Spirit of Christmas Present only to find out the future does not hold any love or joy for him by the Spirit of Christmas Yet to Come and instead his actions leave him robbed at death and no one left to grieve for him. Read the book to hear how this story was really written. Even if you have seen every Christmas Carol movie every made, the book will offer so many gold nuggets that you will think you are hearing it for the very first time. Pictures are beautifully detailed throughout the book. Excellent!!!

When I first began to read Lady Chatterley's Lover I thought it was going to be quite a chore. I'm used to flowery language and all that, but I just wasn't in the mood for what I anticipated to be a sex-charged love story. Much to my surprise I got MUCH more from this wonderful classic.

D.H. Lawrence makes some striking observations about the state of the social classes in post WWI England, as well as providing some good insights into tough individual decisions we make in regard to relationships. I had limited knowledge of the post-war subject beforehand, but I felt that I learned a great deal in the process of reading. At times the book seemed repetitive, as if Lawrence were beating me over the head with his message, sacrificing character and plot in the process, but after all was said and done I couldn't say that it was a bad book. It's a very insightful, multi-layered work and I'm very glad I read it. The fact that the book was widely banned from publication in its early days is just another tempting reason to read it although, by today's standards, what was so risqué then borders on the ridiculous for us now. As long as you remind yourself of the time period in which it was written you'll be just fine...the laughs and raised eyebrows in conjunction with more serious themes are a pleasant mix.

This novel is not the explicit sex book that you have been led to believe. instead it is a flawless masterpiece that tells the story of Charlotte, the sexually deprived wife of an invalid husband and her search for true love and sexual fulfillment. As a woman, I have no idea how Lawrence was able to delve into the female mind so thoroughly, but so he has done. This book is a compelling argument in favor of the belief that sexual attraction is certainly one of the most important aspects when we search for a mate-despite what snobbish types may say about how looks don't matter and good sex and attraction grows with time. Baloney! Charlotte's attraction to Mellors was immediate and we watch her life developing with breathless anticipation. Some may feel the ending is too cute and tidy, but knowing the characters as they are, you feel that it could not have ended any other way. A profound book, thoroughly readable, and shockingly modern for its time.

I did not read this book until ten years ago - age forty for those who count - and found it a brilliant work. It touched on every aspect of life in that era, using a difficult premise at the focus.

One reviewer called it 'sexist.' In that era, women were kept removed from the world, so men were the ones who made the initial contacts with reality and their sexuality. If Lawrence had written about that society in any other way, he would have been inaccurate. Lawrence shows the social conflict with both subtlety and brutality. Yet, Mellor IS a lover. There are sexual descriptions which are explicit, but within the coccoon of emotional bondings.

The way that Lawrence has essayed the class structure of England in that era is brave and accurate in all ways. He makes the posturing of the aristocracy both frivilous and full of assinine criteria at the same time he understands the willingness of those in power to offer their lives in the defense of the general welfare.

Lawrence notes again with unpleasant accuracy the detriments of an unchecked Industrial Revolution on the social structure of the time. He has Constance both witness these effects and suffer the olfactory damage.

This is a literary work which has an effect across the full spectrum of the possible. Finely drawn characters searching for a better way to survive their lives in a scenario that is rife with obstacles and unpleasantness. He has the touch of the finest artist working with the lightest gossamer and the blunt force of an ogre swinging a stone axe.

This was published in an abridged version because it was felt that the societal message it conveyed should be allowed to transit the draconian (by the less filtered standards of today) censorship of the era which DID focus on the sexual descriptions but could NOT stop the voice of social criticism any more than the same group could stop Dickens a few decades earlier.