This book was assigned to read over the summer before 7th grade. I was SO glad, because I had read the first book of the two, So Far From The Bamboo Grove, which I finished in a day, and it was such a captivating novel. My Brother, My Sister, and I is the sequel to the first book, where Yoko Kawashima, her sister, and her mother all flee from Korea due to World War I events. In this book, Yoko, her sister Ko, and her brother move to a hospital when Ko is injured. Then the siblings are accused of arson, theft, and murder, and have to put the pieces of the puzzle back together to figure out who actually committed these crimes. I finished this 226 page book in two days, because I just could not put it down! This is a great and intruiging true story for readers of all ages.

I have already made a five-star review of So Far from the Bamboo Grove, and this book just takes the cake. I've read good, sad, books, but I've never liked them. BUt this book makes me feel so with the characters and you really get into the book. It is about a girl, her sister and her brother trying to survive on the streets. Yoko gets teased at school, their house burned down, and they are accused of arson and murder. It is a great book, and I urge you to read it.

'So far from the bamboo grove' is a must-read before this sequel. Both books are sad, touching and many emotions held within. My eyes became misty at the end of 'My brother, my sister and I'. I was touched, moved, the instant the book ended, recounting all that had happened to the Kawashimas. I encourage everyone to read this wonderful biography.

Kevin Henkes has written some wonderful books but Juilus steals my passion for reading. Everytime I read this story and act out Lilly's intolerable personality towards her baby brother Julius my students go wild. They especially love the part when Lilly is bending over the crib telling Julius the wrong order of the ABC's and 123's. I plan on buying all of Kevin Henkes books. I already have Chester's Way, Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse, Shelia Rae the Brave, Chrysanthemum, A Weekend With Wendell, and Jessica. He is a great author and his books exhibit his talent.

My entire family absolutely loves this book. It is a great read-aloud story that children happily listen to time after time. We call it "Max, the Baby of the World," after my youngest child. I bought extra copies and passed them on to relatives who have gone on to do the same. It is a timeless story of sibling rivalry and love.

As an educator, this book is one of the best. My kids and I both find this book excellent for children who are going through the changes of a new sibling. I read this book every year and my students always love it! The illustrations are simple, but expressive. A definte buy for the elementary school library!

This book is a must read, I purchased an additional copy to share with my sister. Like myself, my sister has found so many similarities to her own life experiences. The book is very inspirational, this author will have a very successful future. Looking forward to her next.

Reading "In My Sister's Shoes" was like devouring a meal I've been craving all of my life! I find myself reading it over and over again! I don't believe that there is ANYONE, male or female, that cannot relate to this book. I can't wait to read more from this new author!

In My Sister's Shoes is not just another self-help book. It touches on real life situations that every woman has experienced in one way or another. The selections let you know that someone else has walked in your shoes; it gives another way of looking at your situation; most of all it lets you know that there is always hope. The recommended songs, reading passages, and scriptures add life to the content of each selection. This book is a worthy addition to anyone's collection--women and men!

I received a review copy of My Brother's Keeper and read it in two days. A well written novel about domestic violence and how it affects the family. The author shows how a once happy family can become an abused one. It's about forgiveness,but you can't release the pain and be happy and at peace until you do.My emotions went from being sad, angry, happy and holding my breath. I felt sorry for the abuser at the end. I'm recommending this novel to my book club.

I just finished this novel and I loved it. I am already looking forward to more books by this author that I could read. It is hard to believe that this is her first novel. I honestly could not put it down. She is an excellent writer and I wish that she had another book already completed so that I could jump into another one. "My Brother's Keeper" makes you feel the characters......I could relate to the relationship between Aja and Charles...She hit some really good points in this novel....it is just an excellent book......

I just finished reading My Brother's Keeper by Reshonda Tate Billingsley and I must say I am impressed. For a first time author, Reshonda did an excellent job. The characters were so real and many of the issues really hit home. These were people that you see everyday or may even be friends with. I love how Reshonda explored the thoughts and feelings of each character. The climax was one that I never expected to happen. The book held my attention the entire way through. I read the book in one day!

This was really a great book. It had a interesting plot. It lagged only once when Frances,the oldest,did something for her job requering going on the streets. I thought it was page turrning when the children were being seperated. I liked the fact that the charicters were going through such in intence situation that i could never relate. I will warn you that I think the book "stops short". I wouldn't let that stop you from reading it. Infact I read it in the car dispite the fact it made me car sick. I recomened this to anyone who likes books on slavery or the west. I congradulate Joan Lowery Nixion on a job well done!

I thought that A FAMILY APART was a really good book. It helped me to understand what a poor teenager's life was like in the mid 1800's. The story was mainly about a thirteen year old girl named Frances, who lived with her mother and five siblings in New York. After Frances' father died, the family lived in poverty. The mother worked at all hours of the day to support her family. Therefore,she never had time to properly care for her six children, so she sent them on an orphan train to St. Joseph's, Missouri to live with farm families who could feed them and care for them. The children were very upset to leave their mother. They were upset because they would be separated from their brothers and sisters also. Frances did however get placed in a home with her six year old brother, Petey. Frances learned to cope with, and love her new family. Frances had some very exciting adventures while she was living with her new family in Missouri. This book helps the reader understand love, sacrifice and trust. If I were you, I'd sacrifice a little bit of time to read A FAMILY APART.

I thought that this novel was extremely well written. I actually did some research about orphan trains and I could tell that Nixon didn't just dream up the orphan train riders lifestyles. I think that Frances Mary Kelly (the main character) was very lucky to have a mother and a shelter. Most poor children at that time didn't have parents or a shelter. Until Charles Loring Brace founded the Children's Aid Society in 1853, children were living on the streets making their living as pick-pockets. He established the orphan trains to send homeless children west to find new families. In my educated opinion, I think that this book is great for a historical fiction report and also a good curl-up-with kind of book.

The name of this book is The Boys Start the War/ The Girls Get Even by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor. This book is a really good book. The Hatford boys are playing tricks on their new neighbors the Malloy girls. Now the Malloys girls are really mad and have to get back at them. The Malloy girls are Eddie (whose real name is Edith Ann but hates it) 11 years old, Beth who is ten and Caroline who is eight, but is in third grade. The Hatford boy's names and ages are Josh and Jake who are 11 (they are twins.), Wally is nine and Peter who is seven. The Hatford boys and the Malloy girls are playing tons of tricks on each other. To find out what happens read The Boys Start the War/ The Girls Get Even.

In this fast-moving, funny book which is two in one, the Hatford boys try to get the Malloy girls to move back where they came from. Their friends, the Bensons, moved away and the Malloys moved in to their house. In The Boys Start the War, the boys and girls start pulling pranks on each other, each one more hilarious than the next! In The Girls Get Even, the two families try to outdo each other in Halloween costumes, until a surprising turn of events happen! This book is great!

The Boys Start the War; The Girls Get Even

I especially like these books since it was the type of book that has a boys vs. girls sort of thing, also with revenge in it and I happen to really like books like that. These books are about the Hatford boys vs. the Malloy girls. It all started when the Hatford boys, Josh, Jake, Wally, and Peter, best friends, moved out and the Malloy sister moved into their house in stead of boys like the Hatford boys thought it would be. The Malloy sisters are Caroline, Beth and Edith Ann (or as she preferred it in the book, Eddie). The pranks and tricks on each other started when the Hatford boys decided that by making the girls so miserable they'd want to go back to where they came from, Ohio. However the boys didn't think that the girls would get revenge on the Hatford boys prank on them. So, begins the war. Then in the second book, since these two books are put into one, it goes on about more tricks, pranks, and ways of getting revenge on each other. Some of the tricks are when the Malloy girls take their revenge against the Hatford boys, when Caroline Malloy got to be a queen in a play the fourth grade were having, and Wally Hatford was her footman. Then a plot was formed, for Halloween night, and it was in store for the Malloy girls from the Hatford boys. I thought that all these pranks that were done, were really funny, and some you can even consider doing yourself, if you want to get revenge or even somebody! I found this book absolutely hilarious, and full of life. I would recommend this books towards everyone, but especially those who like books that are girls vs. boys, or ones with revenge, or books that are funny. To rate this book, I give it a perfect five stars.

San Celina Police Chief Gabriel Ortiz is going to become a grandfather. Rookie police officer Bliss Girard became pregnant after making love with Gabriel's son Sam. Bliss is part of the close knit, prestigious and powerful ranching clan, the Browns. Gabe, Benni, and Sam are invited to the ranch to celebrate the upcoming nuptials. Also invited is Sam's beautiful mother. At the party, Benni senses an undercurrent of unease that ends with someone killing a Brown family member.

Transplanted Texan Ford Hudson is assigned as the investigation officer. He expects civilian Benni to help him solve the case, but she resists the lure because Gabe hates her getting involved in a homicide case. Still Benni cannot help but start sleuthing, which places her in the line of fire.

SEVEN SISTERS is a powerfully moving drama that will be award winning Earlene Fowler's breakout book if justice is served. Benni is shown in a different light than in her previous novels as she struggles with feelings of jealousy and inadequacy whenever Gabe's ex-wife appears. The competition between Hudson and Benni for top investigative dog is like a heavyweight title fight, this adding to the fun and the sense of knowing the star better. SEVEN SISTERS is much deeper and more complex than the previous Harper stories, earning it a special place on the keeper shelf that contains the other six books.

Harriet Klausner

Earlene Fowler's mysteries keep getting better and better. Seven Sisters is a wonderful story. I could not put the book down. The characters jump off the page as you read the book. Reading the Benni Harper books is as much fun as when I was a child reading Nancy Drew. The characters and stories are different of course, but the fun is the same! I also love to see what Ms. Fowler writes in each of her book's acknowledgments. She always gives credit where credit is due, and that is to our Lord, Jesus. He has given her a wonderful gift of story telling and she uses it to His glory!

This is the seventh book in the Benni Harper mystery series and takes place in San Celina, California.

Benni Harper the curator of the local folk art museum and her husband Police Chief Gabe Ortiz seem to have worked out a lot of their earlier marital problems when Sam, Gabe's son tells them that his girlfriend Bliss is pregnant. Bliss, happens to be a member of the very wealthy and influential Brown family.

Both families seem to rally around the young couple and even Gabe's beautiful ex-wife appears for the first time in this series. At a party celebrating Bliss and Sam's engagement, a Brown relative is found murdered. Benni tries not to become involved in the case, but is forced into helping by Ford Hudson the officer in charge of the homicide investigation.

This interesting story is a little darker than the other mysteries that Benni had been involved with and takes us into the tangled web of old family secrets and the truth about the seven sisters.

Contrary to what one reviewer wrote, this is not the *only* book on parenting you should read. I'd recommend Faber and Maslish's other books, How to Talk so Kids will Listen..., and How to Talk so Kids Can Learn... I give this book four stars, simply because I've given the others five stars each, and I wanted to show that you should perhaps read these books first.

I found this one in the library, somewhat desperate at a time when my two-year old was regularly trying to pinch and scratch my newborn baby. What to do? It felt awful. I clutched Siblings Without Rivalry to me like a lifebuoy.

Did it help? Emphatically, yes! There is tons of helpful material here, especially the stuff about helping children to express their feelings appropriately, and the advice to treat children uniquely rather than equally. I was worried that the authors might just rehash what they said in How to Talk so Kids Will Listen..., but they don't. The format is familiar - case studies, cartoons etc, as is the general approach to life, but the content is a real development.

I have to admit that some of the book is less relevant when one of the siblings in question is still a young baby. But I'm glad I read it when I did. I'll be coming back to it in the future.

My sister spoke very early and her first words were "I'm telling mommy!" From the moment she arrived home from the hospital, we were locked in mortal combat. Our rivalry finally ended when I left home at 18. We are now good friends, but I wish that my parents had read this book during our childhood. Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish, authors of "How to Talk so Kids Will Listen and Listen So Kids Will Talk", share years of experience gained through their own parenting trials and through those of the thousands of parents who have attended their workshops. Their aim is to teach parents the skills and techniques necessary to redirect rivalry into cooperation. Topics such as teaching parents to stop treating their children equally instead of uniquely, helping children express their angry feelings acceptably, motivating children to solve their own problems, and handling fighting are expertly covered. This best-selling book puts the reader right into the middle of a fictional workshop, sitting with other frustrated parents, asking questions and working out solutions. Each chapter begins with questions aimed at helping parents to understand and acknowledge the feelings behind a common problem. The book then describes the communication skills necessary to defuse the rivalry and gain cooperation instead of arguments. Theory is put into practice in cartoon form. A problem is presented in a cartoon, which shows the "typical" way an untrained parent would respond, and then the way the problem could be resolved using the new techniques the authors teach. The last chapter of the book explores ways in which we can mend fences and renew our relationships with our own adult siblings. Several poignant stories illustrate that it is never too late to learn effective communication skills. I found this book useful for parents of only children, since the skills presented are as useful for dealing with one child as for many. For parents of two or more children, this is a MUST READ

I am in love with this book. When my second child was first
born, I read the first chapter or two of this book and found it
very useful for dealing with my older child's jealous behavior.
Now that my second is 1 1/2 and the two children are playing
together and having so many conflicts, I picked the book back
up and read it from cover to cover. There are so many helpful
anecdotes. The book has given me words to handle so many
frustrating situations. It is one of my favorite
books on child-raising!

Rena's Promise is the beautifully told story of two remarkable young women in their early twenties who endure and survive nearly three and one half years as prisoners of the Nazis in Auschwitz and Ravensbruck. The love that Rena has for her younger sister, Danka, sustains her and helps her to endure the atrocities and indignities forced upon them on a daily basis by the Nazis.

During the time they are prisoners, Rena never once forgets the promise to her mother to take care of her younger sister. There are numerous times when Rena unhesitatingly gives up her daily crust of bread in exchange for medicine or a much needed salve for Danka. And at times when Rena is able to "organize" an extra tidbit of food such as a tiny piece of potato peeling, she meticulously divides it and without exception shares it with her beloved sister.

Although Rena is the stronger of the two sisters, Danka's strength emerges during the death march when Rena becomes so weak she cannot stand and walk

Rena's Promise is the beautifully told story of two remarkable young women in their early twenties who endure and survive nearly three and one half years as prisoners of the Nazis in Auschwitz and Ravensbruck. The love that Rena has for her younger sister, Danka, sustains her and helps her to endure the atrocities and indignities forced upon them on a daily basis by the Nazis. During the time they are prisoners, Rena never once forgets the promise to her mother to take care of her younger sister. There are numerous times when Rena unhesitatingly gives up her daily crust of bread in exchange for medicine or a much needed salve for Danka. And at times when Rena is able to "organize" an extra tidbit of food such as a tiny piece of potato peeling, she meticulously divides it and without exception shares it with her beloved sister. Although Rena is the stronger of the two sisters, Danka's strength emerges during the death march when Rena becomes so weak she cannot stand and walk without assistance. Danka refuses to leave her and with the help of a friend, they support Rena until she regains sufficient strength to walk. In the mist of thousands of starving prisoners when a crust of bread could mean the difference of life or death, Rena retained both dignity and honesty. She was once chosen unanimously by more than a hundred women prisoners with whom she worked to divide ten Red Cross packages of food that miraculously made their way into Rena's block. Numerous footnotes are provided by Rena's freelance co-author which helps the reader to place the events of Rena's story into the sequential order of previously documented facts of the Holocaust. Rena's Promise is a testimony of how the love for her sister gave her the will to go on and how something so simple as the offering by a Nazi of a rag to clean her beaten and bloody face was viewed as a great act compassion.

By: Joe E. White

Rena's Promise is the beautifully told story of two remarkable young women in their early twenties who endure and survive nearly three and one half years as prisoners of the Nazis in Auschwitz and Ravensbruck. The love that Rena has for her younger sister, Danka, sustains her and helps her to endure the atrocities and indignities forced upon them on a daily basis by the Nazis.

During the time they are prisoners, Rena never once forgets the promise to her mother to take care of her younger sister. There are numerous times when Rena unhesitatingly gives up her daily crust of bread in exchange for medicine or a much needed salve for Danka. And at times when Rena is able to "organize" an extra tidbit of food such as a tiny piece of potato peeling, she meticulously divides it and without exception shares it with her beloved sister.

Although Rena is the stronger of the two sisters, Danka's strength emerges during the death march.

Do you think it's possible to fit two minds into one body? One mind fighting against the other for control over it? If you think that's interesting, then you'd love the book Haunted Sister by Lael Littke. Janine is an ordinary high school girl, until she gets into a terrible car accident with her boyfriend, Scott. Now she struggles against her twin sister's mind that has invaded her body. Janine, the normal, nice girl, lives in an everyday, common town. She goes to a regular high school, and lives in the average family-house. Ordinary girl she may be, but not until that day of the accident. Throughout the story, Janine is trying to recover from her accident physically as well as mentally. The cuts and bruises go away, but she has this haunting voice in her head that claims to be her twin sister, Lenore, who had drowned when they were young girls. Janine finds herself doing things she would have normally never done, for instance she begins to lie and steal. Janine's personality changes all throughout the book with the help of Lenore. She wants to be the goody-two-shoes she once was, but now that her sister has invaded her body, she has an unusual bad side to her. I enjoyed this book because the author didn't jump around at all. The story was one track and easy to follow. I also loved the tension between the two characters, Janine and Lenore. They sounded a lot like real sisters that bicker and fight over everything. One wants to be good, and the other is more of a mischievous type looking for adventure. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes conflicts within one person and enjoys a surprise ending!

The novel Haunted Sister is a wonderful book by Leal Littke. Haunted Sister is a novel about a girl named Janine and her boyfriend Scott getting in a car wreck. Janine goes to this misty place and sees her sister that had died in a drowning accident (she is in a coma when she goes to the misty place). When she wakes up she figures out that Lenore her sister that had died is in her body and can control her body parts, and speak to her. After the coma the doctor says that she can go home. So Janine does, and tell's William and William's friend Anna May about Lenore and how whenever she did something bad she would call herself Lenore. After Janine looks back through time about her sister and her together she finally finds out who she is.
In Haunted Sister Janine and Lenore are very interesting characters. Janine is very wise and is known as the "good," child. Lenore is very out going and is known as the "bad," child. Both Janine and Lenore are twins. But I like Janine when Lenore is in her body. The message that the author is giving out is that treat your sister, as you would want to be treated. What I liked most about the book was when it tells what Janine is seeing after the accident? What I liked least was when Janine was in the hospital and I just think that it was very boring, and it didn't really catch my attention. I was really satisfied with the ending because it's not what you expected.
I really liked the author's style because it was very interesting how she wrote it. The author tells what the reader needs to know with the details to make it very interesting. The vocabulary is very easy. And I really don't like how Leal Littke wrote what Lenore was saying because I couldn't really tell the difference if Lenore or Janine was saying it. I think that ages 10- 14 would enjoy this book, but any higher or lower they might not enjoy it. I really recommend this book because it is very suspenseful and you don't know what will happen next.

CEJ

Lael Littke is one of the greatest authors. I have read other books that are really good, but I really think that this book has beaten all of the other books I have read. This book is one of those books that you can't put down, its that good.