This book can really capture your heart. Sal has just come home to live with her family, after living in a special boarding school, for people with Cerebal Palsey. She gets enrolled in a public school, and makes two best friends, Libby and Elsjie. Elsjie has a brother named Piet, who is also crippled, like Sal. If you like reading Jean Little's books, I reccomend her biography, "Little by Little" This book is a must read!

This is truly the best book featuring a character with cerebral palsy. Sarah (Sally) is the central character in this story. At 9, she has attended a school for children with physical challenges for the past five years. The Canadian province she lives in has no such school, so her parents arrange to have her admitted to the school in America.

Finally, a rehab center opens in her town. Sally's parents move closer to the center so Sally can live at home. Her father flies her back and works like a soldier helping Sally to feel integrated into her rather large family.

Sally has an older, bossy sister named Mindy, a brother close in age named Kent and a sister in kindergarten named Meg. She gets to know Meg because Meg was the sibling she spent the least amount of time with due to her years in America.

Sally's father is truly a rare gem. He is clearly a very intelligent and articulate man and he provides intelligent explanations for things. For example, when Sally, understandably fearful of starting out in public school asks why she was sent out of the country in the first place, her mother flares up. That was needless. Sally needed sympathy and a good explanation, which her father provided. He told her that at Meg's age, Sally could neither speak clearly nor feed herself; she could not walk; she could not dress herself. He summed it up nicely by saying that he thought she would want to do these things for herself. He was truly a delightful character.

Once enrolled in public school, Sally makes friends with classmates Jon and Elsje Jansen and another girl who immediately takes her under her wing. Sally learns that Elsje's brother Pieter had a heart condition that precluded him from attending school for a year. Nursed at home, Pieter nurses a grudge against his illness and insists on only speaking Dutch, thus further isolating himself. It is Sally, his sister and his friends who get Pieter to leave his self-imposed shell to help them with their dog training project.

This is a wonderful book that I have loved since I was a little girl. I even have a well loved copy. It is a real treasure.

I just finished reading my childhood copy to my 6 1/2 year old daughter. We both loved it. The family portrayal was lovely as well as the inisght into Sal and her struggles with fears and cerebral palsy. I am dissapointed the book is out of print and I cannot give it to others.

Blevins brings to light the somewhat obscure life of Sacajawea's son, Jean Baptiste Charbonneau, and weaves it into an enjoyable and meaningful novel. Charbonneau was half Indian and half white, which explains his dilemma of being torn between two worlds. Taken into custody by William Clark, Charbonneau begins his early education in both Protestant and Catholic schools in St. Louis, goes to Europe with Prince Paul of Wurttemberg for six years to continue his education and culture, comes back to St. Louis and then enters the fur trade. As the years go by, we see how he attempts to balance himself between the Indian and white man's world. Blevins' writing is very descriptive in detail, particulars and trivia of the present moment. It is as though he himself was there and lived it. I do not normally read fiction based on fact, but this is an exception to the rule.

This book is a fictional biography of Jean Baptiste Charbonneau, the son of Sacagawea and Toussaint Charbonneau. Very little is known of Jean Baptiste but Blevins imaginatively builds his novel around the small historical record. His characterization is plausible and enjoyable to read. It contains many vignettes that relate to events in the Fur Trade Era so interest is maintained. It is remarkable that Blevins was able to capture many insights into what it is like to be a half-breed. My Mother was Pawnee and my Dad was of Scottish extraction. I can vouch for some of the more contemplative passages in the novel that express Jean Baptiste's feelings regarding his special social status. For buckskinners, this is an important piece of literature that helps to fully express the society of the fur trade. For everyone else, it is just a good read.

This is a seemingly well-researched biography of one member of the famous expedition who didn't have any stories of his own to tell about it, since he was only 18 months old when his parents parted from Lewis and Clark. Certainly many have asked, "Whatever happened to "Pomp"? He seems to have been a loner; his parents allowed Captain Clark to become his mentor in St. Louis, where he was educated with other half-Indian boys. During his entire life he saw little of Sacagawea (who died when he was 8) or Toussaint Charbonneau, his father, who was a guide and trapper. In his travels, Jean Baptiste crossed paths with many of the famous explorers and shapers of the American West. I'm no longer a "young adult," but found the book very interesting.

A wonderful history lesson for young adults. This factual chronicle of the life of Sacajawea's son, Charbonneau, will dispel the myth that Clark (of Lewis & Clark) made good on his promise to his Indian guide, Sacajawea. He did provide an education and board and room, but little else. In spite of the prejudice this boy faced, he was able to succeed in life. The book is well-written, factual, and written without predjudice. I would recommend this for required reading in junior high school.

This book is very well done. While his edition of the Institutes is nowhere as good as the two volume edition by John T. McNeill,
Battles has an excellent grasp on the content of the institutes. He takes, in order, every book, section, and paragraph and explains the content of it in a concise way. The book is in outline form and can readily be used as a systematic theology--even though the institutes are not technically a systematic theology.

Margaret Sams has done it again. This wonderfully inspiring book tells the tale of women and their struggles during WWII. I highly recomend this touching book and Forbidden Family by Margaret Sams.

This is an excellent translation, very well researched and footnoted, with an extensive bibliography. The editing work is flawless. Every detail is well done, including good paragraph breaks for easy flow, good fonting, and quality binding. It makes the full depth of these important sermons available in a very readable format.

This is a book worth special ordering... Jean Gattâegno does an stunning job at analizing the man we know as Lewis Carroll. Every detail- nothing left unsaid- great format with tons of references- and it comes with line drawings and pictures. This book is for Lewis Carroll fanatics or people just wanting to learn about our famous Charles Dodgen.

This book on equine massage therapy was very clear and easy to understand. It pinpointed specific places to do specific exercises, and gave clear pictures of the anatomy you were dealing with. How to do the exercises, and how to improve your work with the horse in general, was very well explained, and made sense for someone who is not an expert.

Many 'experts' have attempted to interpret the Paleolithic images and forms found in underground passages and caves such as Lascaux, Altamira, and Chauvet. Known as Franco-Cantabrian, because 95 percent of cave art in the world lies in Southern France or the Iberian Peninsula, these works rank among the most mysterious. What were the artists thinking??

In THE SHAMANS OF PREHISTORY, Jean Clottes and David Lewis-Williams put forth their interpretation of the meaning of Paleolithic cave art. Clottes is currently investigating Chauvet and Lewis Williams is a professor of cognitive archeology affiliated with the University of Whitwatersrand in South Africa.

During the last Ice Age, Paleolithic humans gathered in the warmer parts of the European continent in what is today southern France and northern Portugal and Spain, along with large numbers of animals including horses, bison, deer, aurochs, and others. For some reason, these humans felt compelled to depict some of these animals in "parietal" or cave art. The discovery of this art has launched much speculation.

Early on, experts suggested that the cave art was "art for art's sake" (posited by anti-church scientists who could not accept any religious connection). Most recently, experts in Structuralism have suggested binary patterns underlie the meaning of the art, but these patterns are so general as to be unhelpful.

The most persistent interpretation of the art during the past 100 years has been that it was created in conjunction with sympathetic magic rituals used to increase the size of herds of animals hunters stalked. But this interpretation has many flaws. For one thing, the area surrounding the caves was brimming with game at the time the art was created. For another, many of the animals consumed by Paleolithic humans were not depicted (fish, birds, boars, for example). For another, horses outnumber other beasts pictured, and although they were sometimes consumed by humans, the bones left behind in various camp sites indicate horses were not at the top of the menu. Other problems with the "hunter" interpretation lie in the actual depiction of the animals-spears and arrows are often placed at odd angles for killing; animals are placed at odd angles for living or dying; animals appear to be more alive than dead; pregnant females are seldom shown--and last but not least, some of the animals are predators themselves. Naturalists that they were, Paleolithic folks certainly understood the source of baby animals and they certainly would not have wished to increase the numbers of their competitors.

Clottes and Lewis-Williams propose another interpretation of the cave art -- Shamanism. The term Shaman is taken from the Siberian word Tungus-the name of one who goes into a trance and has visions. All humans are capable of entering a trance or "altered state" and cultures around the world exhibit variations of Shamanism -- including many orthodox Western religions. Some enter a trance via drugs (wine, peyote, etc.), others engage in ritual behavior (chants, songs, and/or dancing). Shamanic trances produce out-of-body experiences involving various apparitions which may or may not be rendered into art forms.

I found the authors arguments concerning Shamanism persuasive and logical. The evidence they offer to support their thesis is excellent (many colorful photos). Their interpretation is helpful while not overreaching. Probably the most important aspect they stress is that while there is much diversity in cave art, a pattern is present. Best of all from my perspective, this thesis is gender and age neutral. Whatever Paleolithic humans did, women probably took part. This is a beautiful Abrams art book.

Have you ever wanted to go to Mars, another galaxy, or even another dimension? Then set your imagination free with A Wrinkle in Time. The protagonist, Meg Murry, and the antagonist, IT, know nothing of each other in the exposition, but they meet in the rising action. The conflict between them is that Meg is trying to find her father, but IT has him imprisoned. At one point while she is going to find him, something terrifying happens.
'The trees were lashed into a violent frenzy. Meg screamed and clutched at Calvin, and Mrs. Which's authoritative voice called out, "Qquiett chilldd."
Did a shadow fall across the moon, or did the moon simply go out, extinguished as abruptly and completely as a candle? There was still the sound of leaves, a terrified, terrifying rushing. All light was gone. Darkness was complete. Suddenly the wind was gone, and all sound. Meg felt that Calvin was being torn from her. When she reached for him, her fingers touched nothing.
She screamed out, "Charles!" and whether it was to help him or for him to help her, she did not know. The word was flung back down her throat and she choked on it.
She was completely alone.'
To find out what happens to Meg, you will have to read this book. First, you can get a brief preview of its exciting, unforgettable climax.
'With an immense effort she tried to breathe against the rhythm of IT. But IT's power was too strong. Each time she managed to take a breath out of rhythm an iron hand seemed to squeeze her heart and lungs.
Then she remembered that when they had been standing before the man with the red eyes, and the man with the red eyes had been intoning the multiplication table at them, Charles Wallace had fought against his power by shouting out nursery rhymes, and Calvin by the Gettysburg Address.
"Georgie, porgie, pudding and pie," she yelled. "Kissed the girls and made them cry."
That was no good. It was too easy for nursery rhymes to fall into the rhythm of IT.
She didn't know the Gettysburg Address. How did the Declaration of Independence begin? She had memorized it only that winter, not because she was required to at school, but simply because she liked it.
"We hold these truths to be self-evident!" she shouted, "that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."
As she cried out the words she felt a mind moving in on her own, felt IT seizing, squeezing her brain. Then she realized that Charles Wallace was speaking, or being spoken through by IT.
"But that's exactly what we have on Camazotz. Complete equality. Everybody exactly alike."'
To find out what happens to Meg and her friends in the exciting resolution, I recommend that you read this imaginative novel, A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeleine L'Engle.