Sweet without being saccharine, luscious illustration, an incredible book for kids and grown-ups about friendship, adventure, and longing. We've given a dozen of these this year.

It may be the Year of the Ox, but thanks to J. Patrick Lewis, The La-di-da Hare is the book of the year. A Mouse and a Bear set sail for the Island of Oh where they discover the Zsa-Zsa Gabor of Hares, with a two- carrot ring. She offers her guests Bermuda shorts, designer shades in an irresistible vacation spa. It is here that the Bear and the Mouse decide they will stay until pigs fly. On a more ontological level, it is the story of Eden after Adam. And what child--indeed what adult-- does not want to experience life like that: the abode of the La-di-da Hare, especially when delectable bagels and lox await us. That, and a virtual Zabar's of haute kosher cuisine. Susan G. Marceau

Following in the tradition of Yale's Cardiovascular Health Guide, the Harvard Medical School Family Health Guide, and the Johns Hopkins Medical Guide to Health After 50, the venerable Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons offers us this latest addition to the health-obsessed consumer craze for complete home medical references. As expected, this book offers only more of the same: a good name, a lot of pages, and a redundant course in layman's medicine. Given the sheer size and weight of the volume (lifting it is an exercise itself), you would expect the entries to have more detail and, well, more specialized terminology. The diagrams which accompany many of the chapters elicit more boredom than information (save for the psychiatric section's tables, which are rather good), and the overall organization of the book sacrifices content for accessibility. I've seen many home medical guides at the bookstore lately, and this one just doesn't stand out in particular. My honest recommendation is that you look past the University's illustrious name and opt instead for the MERCK MANUAL HOME EDITION (paperback version), which for its small size and affordable price is the best home medical guide for the entire family.

Very informative. I suffer from PVC's and try to get my hands on as much info as possible. I found this book to be very helpful in my understanding more on this condition.

The mythical status of Sacajawea is seductive indeed, and Diane Glancy attempts to fashion a novel that gives that myth a much needed rest, trying to get into the voice and experience of the "real" Sacajawea, but as always, language is the heart and soul of any recreation of historical voice, and here is where voice fails Glancy. The writing simply is not good enough. The second person narration makes the character a bit too literary, a bit to fashionable, leaving this reader bored by its simplistic syntax and unimaginative detail. Who knows what Sacajawea thought and dreamed! As Irish poet Eavan Boland suggests, one improvises when faced with this mystery. The improvisaiton here is uninspired. The fragments of journals from the expedition, rather than moving the novel along, impede its flow. This novel is considered experimental, I suppose, but the experiment fails. Why? Because the voice and language fail.