Left on their own, the aardvarks almost destroy a mall during their quest for school supplies. Finally the bagel boy forces them to clean up their mess and put everything back. The last stop is for haircuts. After being permed and manicured, they bounce happily out of the mall promising/warning that they'll be back next year. These aardvarks make Arthur look like a stick-in-the-mud. However, they do manage to look contrite even as they are wearing the bagels they tried to hide among. Silliness reigns both in the rhyming text and watercolor illustrations that don't miss a detail of the mess.

Great springboard for discussions about equity, following your heart, and beleiving in yourself. Bessie is a woman who is just now getting her rightful place in history. This book would be a great addition to classroom career, aviation or reading center.

This is my current favorite gift to buy for baby christenings and showers. Its thoughts are profound, but accessible to all. I imagine that this is a book to be shared between parents and children for many years, even handed down to future generations. If you're looking for that special, meaningful gift that will last throughout childhood and beyond-- this is the one!

The editorial review explains a lot so I won't duplicate that content. Yes, this is a thanks to the Lord for all the creatures on the Earth, and the Earth itself. For those that have not yet read it, I want to tell you that it is not overly religious but instead is more of communicating the wonder and beauty of nature and our world. This would definitely appeal to environmentalists, one example being that one passage states the hunter and the hunted are "both the same" rather than the usual Catholic-religion idea that man rules over nature. The text rhymes and so has a singsong quality that children love. The book is large format with most pages having a large illustration spread across both pages. I love that on most of these pages there are 5-6 little cubes on the bottom with smaller illustrations that correspond very closely to the text. One example is "praise for brothers wind and air, serene or cloudy, foul or fair" the small illustrations are a windmill, a weathervane, a sailboat on white-capped waves, a boy holding a balloon in windy weather, clothes drying on the clothesline in the breeze, and a kite flying. I love these illustrations as they give the parent more to talk about and to teach new words (weathervane was one that my 3 year-old had not yet learned). This book is unlike most that are available. People are shown in many different skin tones and some are very obviously from non-American countries (India, Africa). The collage type illustrations are lovely and this illustration method is not commonly seen.

'Nuff said in the earlier reviews about the text portion...so on to the illustrations:

As an artist and homeschooling-mom I constantly look for ways to share the love of Things-Artistic with my child [and the children of homeschooling friends]. This volume goes to the top of my growing list of shining show-and-tell examples of "why you might want to become an 'Artist' when you grow up."

I contend that this book will please many, many more than simply those with a "preschool eye" as another reviewer noted. And for the individual who rated Felstead's work as "...dull, static, cluttered..." I suggest they've been watching way too much television!

I for one feel the artwork alone makes this a Must Have volume, and further suggest and contend that a serious study of it would make for a challenging and rewarding semester [or more] in the Fine Arts.

Patrice Stanton, Extremist Art

This attempt to extend a masterpiece of poetic philosophizing on matters a woman ponders at mid-life is a whiney and disappointing series of personal complaints in the self-congratulatory self-pity mode followed by trite self-help suggestions at the end of each chapter.

This is a wonderful midlife (or early life) book for women! Is it available in French?

Anne Johnson has given the reader a great gift. This book is an excellent companion for the journaling soul. Written with a warm, insightful and sensitive voice, not unlike Lindbergh's in Gift From the Sea.

This beautifully written book tells what it's like to grow up as one of the Lindbergh children. What otherwise was a most private family, Reeve opens the door to their New England home and lets us see the personal side of Charles and Anne. She writes honestly, though at times it must hurt, and does address the subject of the kidnapping head on. If you've ever had an interest in any facet of the Lindberghs' life, do not miss this important book.

I have nothing to add about this fascinating, well-written book. But I do want to urge people who have read Under A Wing, and other books about the Lindberghs, or by Anne Morrow Lindbergh, to also read Reeve's novel, The Names of Mountains. It provides another side of the story of this family. A fictionalized account of growing up Lindbergh, it provides insight into Reeve's experiences and her relationship with her mother, and the sorrows and joys they shared.

There can be no doubt that Reeve Lindbergh's memoir is the most touching book about that family that I have read. Through her eyes we go beyond the covers of other books and see what it really meant to be a Lindbergh.

They were almost a closed society onto themselves, yet they still experienced the same joys and sorrows as the rest of us. We find the man who was depised as an isolationist to be a concerned and loving father who read to his children.

We dine with the children at their grandmother's house and we soar above the Connecticut house on Saturdays. The famed aviator at the controls and a bored child in the rear seat.

After reading this book I felt very attached to this famous family. Being the same age as Reeve herself, my only knowledge of the Lindbergh's was the famous flight and the kidnapping as I read in history books. Now, after this book, I feel as though I have become part of them.

It can only be summed up in one word, wonderful.

I wanted to read easy-to-understand payers and verses to my 6-year old son, so I searched Amazon and reviewed many books on this subject. I was sold on this book's illustrations and was not disappointed on that score: The Illustrations are wonderful. However the "take a closer look" guide did not offer an opportunity to review the text or prayers themselves. The pictures alone piqued my son's interest and we bought the book. Unfortunately, many of the prayers are long and tedius, losing a younger child's interest within the first six lines. The text content is incongruent with the illustration's message of young, light-hearted, age-appropriate prayer. The attempt at multiculturalism and non-demonitionalism misses the point of delivering short, sweet, enjoyable verse suited for children; prayers that will encourage children to want to pray instead of associating prayer with tedium and boredom. The book review should have indicated an age-appropriate range. My son is a smart and attentive kid who loves to listen, but he grew quickly disappointed with and disintersted in the prose.

A wonderful book, and not just for children! Charming illustrations by several artists and 70 beautiful prayers from around the world. Anyone interested in spirituality should love this book.

This is a fabulous book that shares spiritual words from many worldwide religions and uses beautiful illustrations to accompany them! As a person who embraces different aspects of many religions, I found this to be a valuable resource for teaching my child. And after reading the book, you get a sense of how all religions are very similar and striving for the same things - peace and harmony with all that is around us and with our Higher Power.

A short but encompassing summary of Lindbergh's life. Unlike Berg's biography, it omits all but the most important details but gives an accurate overview. Well written and interesting.

Flying Free is a good book about some black avitors and aviatrics. It is good to learn about black history since it is about black flyers. It includes new flyers and black astronauts. It has some information on some black flyers clubs. I just wish it was longer and had more information and more pilots.

Anne Lindbergh, the daughter of Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh, has written a wryly humorous and, at times, sorrowful, look at everyday life with a unique perspective. I would recommend this slim volume of poetry with its eclectic mixture of subject matter. My personal favorite is about Noah on the ark, very clever and shrewd. Anne died at age 52, but her unusual take on everyday life is refreshing. I know she wrote many children's fantasy books but this is the first non-children's book I'm aware of. If poetry isn't your cup of tea, this won't make you a fan, but if you enjoy well-written poetry, pick up a copy of Local Vertical.