The third installment of Living Voices of the Past is another wonderful history lesson!

Hilda Faunce leaves her comfortable Seattle, Washington, home to journey to the Southwest and the Navajo reservation with her husband in 1914. While one may think that everybody had cars back then, the Faunce's made their way in the manner of the original pioneers: by wagon.

Hilda's journey is not so much a journal of her trip as it is her life on the reservation between 1914 and 1918. Hilda's writings are indeed an historical eye-opener.

First, there is the problem with the language; then the protocol; and the normal daily variances of two races trying to live side-by-side. Cultural diversity may be a late-twentieth-century term, but the fact is that many in America were already experiencing this phenomenon.

The entire journal is mesmerizing; Hilda uses very descriptive language to convey the sights and sounds of the unusual customs and landscapes that she encounters that transfers the listener to reservation life during the second decade of the twentieth century.

Two aspects were particularly telling of a different culture: contending with a white-man initiated illness and the onset of World War I.

The Navajo's were forced to face and contend with small pox, a deadly disease they had never known until the white man arrived. Many of Hilda's new friends died, devastating the young woman.

Newspapers were a rarity and treat on the reservation, so Hilda did not know much of what was going on outside her and her husband's little trading post. While the world was trying to blow itself to smithereens, the Faunce's and the Indians were trying to make a living by mainly trading...especially furs and foods.

Desert Wife is an important historical document that from which we can all learn tolerance and the need to just get along!

Ably narrated by Jane Merrifield-Beecher, Desert Wife is the story of Hilda Faunce and her life as a trader's wife on the Navajo reservation before the outbreak of World War I. Hilda faced challenging experiences as she came from Seattle, Washington to live in the bleakness of the southwest desert, learning the Navajo language, and acclimating to an alien territory and a strange new world. Hilda presents the interaction between Navajos and whites in their trading practices and how the Navajo coped with sicknesses transmitted from the white man. She touches on the sweetness of Navajo singing, the misconception of war when they had to register at For Defiance, and a great deal more. Desert Wife is the product of Hilda's four years of reservation life and learning to appreciate the cultural differences between the Navajo world and her own background. Desert Wife is highly recommended listening for students of Native American studies, the twentieth century American west, and Women's studies.

As an avid reader of first-person accounts of the lives of women in the early West, I would call this one of the finest I've seen. It's an absorbing tale of a woman's adjustment to the bleak and initially terrifying emptiness of the desert Southwest where her husband sets up an Indian trading post at the time of World War I. She comes to love the place and to appreciate the culture and manners of her Indian neighbors, which at first seem so alien to her. Hilda Faunce gives us a fascinating direct view of the interaction of Indians and whites, which is only the more interesting from our current vantage point 85 years later. I was struck by her simple, straightforward, but eloquent writing style as well as by her courage and receptiveness in facing a very challenging experience. I felt as if I'd entered her world, and was sorry to leave when the book was over.

My partner and myself are doing the programme and have less than a week left. So far I can see and feel a difference. I sleep better, can think clearly, am a lot fitter and feel better about life in general. I suffered from a lot of headaches for about 2 weeks at the start and felt tired for the first week but this was explained in the book. Then things just went from better to even better. We'll continue to do a lot of the things in the future, like cutting out caffeine completely, having hot water and lemon first thing in the morning, exercise each day. The detox programme also got me looking at what is actually in the foods we buy.
However, before you undertake the detox programme, I recommend that you do a bit of planning of what you will have to do and what you will have for meals for the first week, so that when you start the programme you will have the best chance of sticking to it.

I decided to give the DETOX another go, after trying it for a maximum of 4 days about two years ago. I completed the 30 day detox about 3 weeks ago with the help of a colleague and it was the best feeling my body has ever experienced in a long time. I have totally given up smoking - a lot easier when on the detox programme as the cravings stop within the first week. I have also cut back on my consumption of meat and think twice about eating the wrong type of foods. I still have the cold showers in the mornings - a brilliant way to "wake up" and start every day with lemon and hot water. In fact, my other colleagues are going to do the detox next month - so not only does it show on the inside - it must also show on the outside! All I can say is "Give it a go" - you'll love the result!

I was diagnosed with yuppie flu and was tired all day long, even though I tried to sleep at least 12 hours a day. Eventually I was booked off sick and slept for six weeks. Every Friday evening I had to go to hospital for injections. My muscles ached and got stiff, even though I didn't excercise, because my doctor advised me not to walk more than 500 kilometres a day. Eventually I was told that they could do nothing more for me and that the virus had to work itself out. Then I discovered this book. After six weeks I had lost 12lbs and slept only three hours a night, because I was bursting with energy. I was cured! Every now and then when I have a relapse, I go one the diet again for two weeks and I'm well again. This book is truly something you can't live without, well I can't.

My 5 year old daughter brought this book home from the library on Wednesday. Now, four days later she has memorized the whole book. The only way I can get her to agree to return the book to the library is that I am to purchase her own personal copy. My daughter loves being read to and is learning to read herself. She says that one day she wants to be an author and illustrator.

Dog is busy playing with the toys from his toy box--swinging with monkey, swimming with fish, jumping with rabbit, etc. The graphics in the book are fabulous. The simple themes are captured in big, bold brushstrokes in eye-catching colors. My almost two-year-old daughter loves this book and we read it several times a day. She kisses dog on nearly every page. This is also a great book for Dads to read with their little one since dog's favorite thing to do is "play with Daddy". I'm online looking for other books by this same author/illustrator. Other lesser known picture books I recommend for toddlers are Debi Gliori's "Are you there baby bear" and Caroline Uff's "Lulu's Busy Day". Happy reading!

My daughter..26 months old..loves this book. She loves the colors and the spotted puppy. click the button [Add to shopping cart] excellent choice !

With Dove Isabeau Jane Yolen has written a beautiful, powerful and evocative story. Indeed it's based on the Old Ballad Kemp Gwyne, but the author provides her own unique twist to it. And it's perfectly matched by Dennis Nolan's lovely watercolours.

Lovely Isabeau is loathed by her jealous stepmother, who casts a spell on her. Thus Isabeau is turned into a dragon. She is saved by her love Kemp Owain. And now Kemp Owain is turned into stone. Now Isabeau undertakes action, deviating from the usual fairy tale heroine and saves her love. But with her time as dragoness, her fiery spirit has emerged, and Kemp Owain loves her all the more for it and I as their reader too! Further there's a very interesting use of symbolism here, Mr. Nolan's illustrations show this perfectly.

This story and the beautiful pictures will delight youngsters. Older children and teens might like reading, along with it, the Old English poem, "Kemp Owyne" upon which it is based. I love it myself and I'm well above the age of discression!

I found this book in college and was enchanted all the same. A lifelong fan of sci-fi and fantasy, I loved the story as well as the illustrations. I plan on holding onto this book forever - and to share it with my own children and with the children of friends and family.

What a fabulous book!! Everyone in the family enjoys reading and hearing this book again and again. It is so full of fun and imagination. Read it and see...you won't be disappointed.

Our daughter has taken this book out of her pre-school library 5 weeks in a row. We all love the wonderful, lively illustrations. Most of all, we love the message -- different can be absolutely beautiful! With Mrs. Pennywort's encouragement, the especially talented Pauline can produce any egg she wants. A great story on all levels.

It has become a tradition in my home to read this book before painting our Easter eggs. The story and illustrations are so comical, colorful and exciting that we can't wait to turn the page and see what happens next. Then we pick our favorite egg. What fun! You won't be disappointed.

Jane Vennard's new book, Embracing the World: Praying for Justice and Peace is a touching response to the terror, fear and grief present in today's world. The book provides illustrations of the many ways that spirituality connects with the work of justice and peace, and helps us to discover the quiet activist within. Vennard's book emphasizes the relational aspects of prayer and the need to make room for God's guidance, action and grace in our hearts. It also helps us to understand the ways in which prayer draws us more completely into the world.

Jane Vennard's style is embracing and accessible. She has written a book that can speak to us differently at different times in our own lives or the world's history.

Embracing the World....Praying for Justice and Peace by Jane E. Vennard Jossey-Bass 2003

"Teach a course connecting spirituality with the work of justice and peace? When I have never ever marched, when I had never been involved in the civil rights movement, when I had lived abroad in the sixties and lacked awareness and inaction during a critical period of a nation's history, when I had never been on a mission to a poor country, never even spent Thanksgiving in a food line serving the homeless and the hungry? How could I teach a course and then turn the contents of the course into a book?"

A wise spiritual director set me straight," wrote the author. "You have many advantages. You are white, educated, economically comfortable. How can you use your gifts to serve God?"

As the author reflected on her own life, she discovered she HAD served God by praying and acting for justice and peace. What actions did Vennard find in her life that would promote peace and justice? She told of these actions in her lectures and later included in her book her own struggles to be a peaceful and just person. She taught about issues of sexual orientation, lessons which she experienced after her 38 year old ex-husband said he was gay. Her ministry in the Center for Women and Religion helped heal wounds of oppression for women. She began to see herself as a peace-maker among her family and friends.

In her lectures she included stories of stay-at-home moms who learned to solve family conflicts; young adults who spoke out against prejudice; teenagers protecting a youngster from a bully. Without too much delving, Vennard discovered activities in her own neighborhood. She found enough material for a course, and then opened up the prayer arena, relating examples of intercessory prayer, action prayers, prayers of renewal, transformation, and prayers of discernment.

What was the result? A timely bridge-building book which offers powerful personal stories and practical guidance for those seeking to bear witness as peacemakers in our day.

During this time of fear of terrorists and the threat of a major war that would be so devastating to many countries, it is difficult to remain hope filled. This book has helped me regain hope and be more aware that I can be a peacemaker in many ways. Reading it, I am reminded that many people doing small acts could change our world.

This was a wonderfully well-written love story. Miranda was a delight. And I just loved her little monkey, Chip. And she brought so much to Maude. I just knew Maude had to be made of sterner stuff than she protrayed at first. Now the story could have done without Gareth's sister. She was a horrible wretch. I think Ms. Feather could have invented a better character for his sister. Out of the series I must say this was by far the best one. Highly recommed!

This is my favorite and the best of the Charm Bracelet series. The twin Miranda is so clever and talented and possitively adorable. She is so different from her twin Maude who is withdrawn and silent....until. This was a very entertaining delightful story and I loved it. A keeper and definitely recommended reading, even if you don't read the other 2 books in the series. They are not sequels and I couldn't even understand the connection of the charms on the bracelet to each person. How did the ancient Swan end up in France so many years later?? How did the other charms end up in the hands of those involved?? Guess I missed something important somewhere.

The last of Jane Feather's charm bracelet trilogy, THE EMERALD SWAN, is a great romance novel. On the bloody night of St. Bartholomew's massacre in France, two twin infant girls are separated when their mother, a Hugenot named Elenor d'Albard, is killed by a Catholic mob. Years later, the Earl of Harcourt, Elenor's cousin, sees a female street performer who bears a striking resemblance to his cousin, Maude. The Earl offers the limber and talented Miranda a proposition to impersonate Maude in fear that the ailing Maude will refuse her station to marry the Duke of Roissy, who is in reality King Henry of Navarre and France. All-consuming love and passion flares up between the earl and Miranda, plunging them into peril as they precariously attempt to play out the deceptive charade in hopes that Queen Elizabeth and King Henry will remain blind to the switch.

I was completely fulfilled and satisfied with this last book in Jane Feather's trilogy. The plot of the book, which consists of twin sisters separated at birth, a handsome and elegant earl, a traveling troupe of performers, and a flamboyant monkey, makes this novel pure joy to experience. The author accurately depicts the strict mannerisms and protocol demanded of nobility in Queen Elizabeth I's court. She also beautifully portrays the love that blossoms between the earl and Miranda as something inevitable and intrinsic; it's almost as if they were born to this earth to love one another.

Every single one of the main characters was so well-written I felt as if I knew them personally: The Earl and Miranda, Maude and Imogen, even Miranda's cute pet monkey Chip who likes to remain in the room while the Earl and Miranda are making love. Even the chemistry between Maude and Henry is captivating.

Don't miss out on this great book. Many hours of romantic entertainment and fulfillment are in store for you if you buy and read this novel. (And as a last suggestion, if you loved this book, you might want to check out the French film "Queen Margot" as well.)

What a fun surprise you see when young Farmer Will put on his straw hat, take his toy horse Orsey, his cow Dow, his sheep Bah and his pig Wink-Wink out to stretch! And stretch they do, into full grown animals all ready to be perfect playmates any young child would love. Complete with animal noises to sound out loud, games Will plays including Hide-and-Seek to Ring-Around-the-Rosy, and ending in a nap, this is a great "tire-'em out and then quiet-'em down" pre-nap book for toddlers. All this is perfectly complimented with beautifully illustrated soft pastel and colored pencil drawings. Enjoyable.

I fell in love with this book, as did my son. It truely captures the wonderful imagination of a child and lets adults see into their world with them! The pictures are excellent. I highly reccomend it!

A young boys' imagination is explored in this creative and delightful picture book for preschoolers. Little Will loves to play with his toy farm animals. When he puts on a farmer's hat, he becomes "Farmer Will" - and all the toy animals become life-size and animated. Will feeds them, cavorts on the grass, and plays hide-and-seek with his friends (a horse, a cow, a sheep and a pig).

The author of "Mama Zooms" and "Baby Angels" returns with a successful follow-up, inspired by her own sons' love of toy farm animals. The gentle illustrations are done in pastels, creating a playful yet relaxed structure. The line-drawn pencils are light, not harsh, giving an extra dimension to the tender setting. Preschoolers will enjoy sounding out the animal noises. An extra treat is the nap Will takes at the end of the story, making "Farmer Will" a perfect book to read to a young one before their midday slumber.

As one who has a newfound interest for complexity science, I felt that this book gave me the keys to observing cities as examples of complex systems. I don't know whether Stockholm qualifies as a "great city" (concering its size), but I think what she writes applies well to what I have observed here. Being able to apply what Jacobs writes about to what I see every day has reinforced my understanding of complexity science.

I also read the book with the hope to find out whether urban planning could serve as an analogy for software development. I think that it can, but I haven't thought about this enough to express the ways in which it's relevant. Jacobs writes that neighborhoods which have particular properties (short blocks, diversity of primary uses, etc.) will "work" -- that there are properties which, when present, almost guarantee that neighborhoods will thrive. I have a feeling that such properties exist for software development teams and the systems they develop; the question is what they are.

This book is one of those that stay with you, and influence your thinking in other areas.

City Planning, a dismal field dominated by craven kleptocrats, shifty real estate developers, sleazy lawyers and lazy desk jokey bureaucrats, gets a much needed upgrade here.

From the outset, Jane Jacobs makes it clear that this is an attack on City Planning as it's done by most city governments. It's almost Jeffersonian in its recommednations: teh cities that are the most livable are those which are the least planned by top-heavy, over-manageed bureaucracies.

Like all whose insigts are brilliant, Jacobs' observations and recommendations are deliberately distorted or totally ignored by those who are actively involved in "city planning" in nearly every American City.

THE ECONOMY OF CITIES and Jane Jacobs' writings generally, serve to illustrate the major problems for those with brilliant insights, sagacious advice, and great wisdom: the people who should be the prime audience are not interested.

The title of this book is slightly misleading, because the thesis of the book is that cities play an essential role in the process of economic development. Although its anecdotal style gives this book a disarmingly unsystematic appearance, this is a profound book. It is easily one of the most important books written during the 20th century. Economic development is something about which conventional marginal utility economics has very little to say. The Economy of Cities, therefore, fills a kind of void. It stands to conventional economics in much the same position as quantum physics stands to classical physics.

A simply wonderful book.

Lancelot Fletcher lrf@aya.yale.edu

This is a physically beautiful volume, medium sized and easy to hold while you have your arm around another person. The illustrations are unique and creative and accented with gold which adds to the magical ambiance. The pages have colorful decorated borders and the interesting use of silhouettes is striking. The text is true to the original tales while being melodious, fresh and inviting. Don't miss the enchanting picture of Cinderella that goes with this text, "She heard a fluttering as if all the leaves were unfurling at once, and the birds of the tree flew down carrying a silver dress and slippers that glittered like stars." Now isn't that a little better than Bibbity Bobbity Boo?

The artwork initially caught my eye with this book. Jane Ray's enchanting combination of watercolor, ink, and collage drew me in completely. The design is reminiscent of a beloved scrapbook, and it is truly beautiful. Text blocks and illustrations are bordered with gold accents, creating the illusion that they have been "mounted" on their exquisitely designed backgrounds. The colors are rich and the images range from simple silhouettes to intricately detailed landscapes and portraits.

Ray adds to the book's charm with her multicultural representations of characters. In addition to traditional (Caucasian) depictions, readers encounter a Black "Beauty," a Chinese "Aladdin," a Moroccan sorcerer, a henna-tattooed Indian princess, and a variety of other diverse characters. While the stories all hail from Western Europe, the illustrations and character portrayals add an element of multiculturalism and diversity.

Although many of the story titles are familiar, they are by no means ordinary or generic. Berlie Doherty has traced them back to their roots in order to maintain the original "essence" of the classic tales she has chosen. In a generation where many fairy tale classics have been altered and homogenized by the entertainment industry, Doherty's return to the original versions is both refreshing and pleasantly nostalgic. Fairy tale novices and veterans alike will be enchanted and intrigued.

This book has quickly become a valued treasure in my collection for its unique appeal and beauty. The text is candid and honest, incorporating elements of humor, sadness, joy, and more while still maintaining the original "magic" of the tales. A great book for yourself or as a gift - I highly recommend it!

As a longtime lover of Fairy tales, I've gotten rather picky about which picture book versions I pick up. And I wanted to buy this book the first time I flicked through it.

This one includes a variety of stories, all well known, from the obvious choices, like Cinderella and Beauty and the Beast, to Aladdin, and the Wild Swans. The stories are told well, though without any newness - these are familiar, comfortable stories.

Ah, but it wasn't the tellings of the stories which had me sold on this book. Jane Ray's illustrations are utterly beautiful. Normally, I am a fan of neo-renaissance illustrations - almost realistic, almost three dimensional, and full of elegant landscapes (See Kinuko Craft's work) The illustrations in this book are flat, far more stylized - but they're full of movement and feeling, and they look like they came from the best of medieval manuscripts. The touches of metallic gold only add to this impression. The full colour full page illustrations are also complemented by silhouette illustrations and border images along many other pages. This is inspired art, lovely to look on, and perfectly matches the feeling of fairy tale stories.