The Simple Life is an outstanding book that reminds you of the importance of simplicity in life. There is no way I could give justice to Charles Wagner in this review, for the eloquent way in which he desrcibes a way of life that trascends the years and is worth working towards.

"Southern Women's Writing" is the most comprehensive collection of works by Southern women that has ever hit the shelves!

Saint Catherine of Siena wanted too be a hermiet at the age of six! This book is a book you should read before reading Saint Rose. I,ve read both and they should be bought together.

My daughter and I love this book! The text is simple, there are not a lot of words - but, the feeling and meaning behind every word is so obvious! We love the simple message of finding courage in yourself. The illustrations are adorable - we fell in love with Lizzy just from the front cover!
I read this book with my 5 year old. As I said, it is a simple read, but as my daughter begins to read herself, this book will stay on the bookshelf for quite awhile! If you aren't overly anxious to introduce the concept of fear (of the dark, of falling down, of spiders, etc.) then this wouldn't be the book for you and your young child. But, if you already deal with these fears in your family - then you will find it a fun and encouraging book!

Lizzy is afraid of all the things kids tend to be afraid of, so my daughter really identifies with her. Skunk is a puppet -- a transitional object -- and my daughter understands that sometimes you feel braver when you have a "stuffy" to hold.

I love this book for what it says about relationships. You may rely on a friend, spouse, etc. for everything. But when the going gets tough, sometimes you have to be the strong one, as Lizzy discovers when skunk gets lost.

The pictures in this book are beautiful, and it's just the right length for a bedtime story.

My son and I love this book! The story has a terriffic message for kids about overcoming your fears and reinforces that although it can be scary , life is wonderful.

The main idea of this book is to teach the reader that it is impolite to forget your manners.

If you are a teacher, this is definitely a book you will want to read to your class. It can be used to teach vocabulary in context and teach your students what it means to have manners, follow rules, and why it is impolite to forget your manners. The illustrations are hilarious and will definitely keep their attention and have them laughing to no end.

After reading this delightful book to my 3 year old granddaughter, the next evening we went to a restaurant for dinner. Annie behaved abominably. Correcting her repeatedly, I finaly said in desparation, " Annie, what is the matter with you?" She replied, "Gramma, I think I lost my manners." She loves the book and that is the best review.

This book, instead of the preachy, sweet moral lesson so many books on good manners are, is a very funny romp through town as Mary Louise sets off in search of her manners. Great fun -- kids will find it very funny.

This book is similar in message to Suzuki's earlier book, "Nurtured by love". Suzuki-humanist and philosopher is more evident here than in that other book. Praise from the parent, developing child's concentration and setting fun tasks that can be accomplished are some of advises on rearing children. Suzuki strongly believes that the real education is at home and therefore advocates for parents' self-reflecting: you reap what you saw, therefore you should strive to be a fine person yourself to raise fine children.

As in "Nurtured by love", some of the life philosophy sounds a bit out of place: "act quickly on what you think", while an excellent advice, should have been tied in with the rest of the book. The same goes for other maxims, such as "do not cheat yourself". Both "Nurtured by Love" and "Ability Development" suffer from the lack of directed studies and critical analysis of much that Suzuki postulates. Intuitively though, his theories sound very appealing, while the great optimism and love for children shine through the imperfections of the books.

The book reads like a somewhat watered-down version of "Nurtured by Love", which I would recommend instead of this one.

I read this book thinking it would give me information about my son starting Suzuki violin. Instead, it spoke only briefly about music lessons, and quite a bit about parenting and nuturing children. I loved Sukuki's thoughts about how important it is to be a good role model for your child. So many parents forget this. This book is easy to read in a weekend. I have gone back to it numerous times. I recommend it to every parent.

Touching, a great learning trip for me as a Suzuki teacher and parent. Good to read again and again.

Not an easy read, and not something you can pick up, put down, read a few pages and come back to a day or two later. Ms. Bang has a unique voice and way with words -- you need to read a few of the poems before you get a sense of what's going on, and then you need to go back and reread what you've already done before you can continue. Even with concentrated reading and re-reading, I felt that I was getting only brief glimpses of Louise and her world. But the glimpses are often beautiful, and after a while they start to cohere into patterns of images, feelings, atmospheres, the outline of a narrative. There are enough exquisite turns of phrase ("His mouth was the yes that was wished on") to make the journey worthwhile, as it seems to be for Louise and her companions, even if the destination is obscure.

I really enjoy this book. Why do I like it? The language is sufficiently varied and sparkling and occasionally--every three poems or so--hits absolutely dead on, knocking out my wind. That's a pretty good ratio because I work out and don't easily get winded.
I think that Ms. Bang's found a decent form for her this go-round, seeing as when poems 'get all weird' a lot of readers just say, "Phew, what is this? Hey writer open a window and talk to healthy human beings fer crying out loud." But having a speaker--neurotic, stricken by love (that soon-to-be addition to the DSM-V) saying or thinking all that stuff--it just makes for a better story and the reader can get a handle on sympathetic literary characters. All that stuff coming directly from the persona of the poet, on the other hand, just makes me feel like I'm eavesdropping on a mutterer.
Berryman, toward whom Ms. Bang has suitably mixed feelings but owes a debt, Berryman found all that out after getting into Shakespeare's plays so much, in my humble opinion.
This is a terrific book and it is a book and not just a bunch of poems.

I am a history buff and my ancestors arrived in New Orleans as early as 1831. This book helped me to make sense of the social-religious stratification of New Orleans. Jews,protestants, Slaves, freemen, firemen, police etc all buried in separate areas if not separate cemetaries. I hope the city keeps up these important parts of their history for future generations. Ny dad was at one time the chauffeur for William Helis who had his tomb made like the acropolis and imported soil from Greece to rest on. Very well done and informaive book.

An excellent, detailed documentation of this very important part of New Orleans, past and present.

This book of Bible stories aimed at the very young is nicely illustrated and fairly well-written. However, it is far too short to be a "Bible" of choice for educating toddlers or those beginning to read. The choice of some of the stories included is questionable, particularly since context is lost. The Gospel stories included are especially inadequate, failing to do justice to the ministry and life of Jesus. Kids could certainly grasp more if given the opportunity to do so.

Looking over similar products on the market, it is quite difficult to find one that satisfies all the necessaries: theological accuracy, wording, sense of style, beautiful illustrations, and completeness. This book could have been a contender, but its lacks in that final requirement only make it good, rather than great.

My son was given this book on his 2nd birthday and has loved the stories and pictures. The Bible stories are vivid and the beautiful illustrations help keep his attention. I have used this book in my Sunday School class with children up to 6 years old. All of the children enjoyed it.

I would like to correct the lady reviewer of Waltham, Massachusetts who does equal disservice to Mme Vigee Le Brun and to the writer of 'The Exceptional Woman : Elisabeth Vigee Le Brun and the Cultural Politics of Art' in labelling the artist an "extremely uppity chick". The writer would also be the first to correct the reviewer's odd notion that she has rescued Mme Vigee Le Brun from oblivion. Elisabeth-Louise was not only the finest portraitist of her day, and generally acknowledged as such, despite early salon criticism - compare the charm of her double portrait of Therese-Elisabeth-Charlotte, Madame Royale with her brother the first Dauphin, with the pedestrian work by Drouais for example - but also a woman of letters. Her diary, which is also available, not only catalogues the people for whom she worked but describes them in a way that would summon them to life even did we not possess the canvasses she painted of them.

Her description of Marie-Antoinette and account of the Queen's sense of humour is touching; her account of being summoned to paint Mesdames Tantes - Louis XVI's rather spiteful spinster aunts Madame Victoire and Madame Adelaide - on their arrival in Rome - is also amusing. However, Elisabeth Louise was no feminist, nor would she have joined the camp had the movement existed at the time. She was fully aware of her talents and her charm, and felt not in the least disadvantaged by being a woman or of the judgements that this sometimes occasioned.

Ghastly phrases - 'extremely uppity chick' is one of the worst I have yet found in describing a late-eighteenth century woman - which betray a naievty and an atrocious lack of inscape can only harm the credibility of the feminist cause. I'll leave you with the words of my great grandmother, the first Englishwoman to be a Justice of the Peace, who on finding two suffragettes in her court, said, "My dears, you should realise, as I did long ago, that it is pointless campaigning for equality with a being who is manifestly our inferior in every way." Madame Vigee Le Brun realised this I am sure. I am sure too that she, like every woman confident of her femininity and unique value, would not stoop to generally denigrating men simply because they are men. Had she done so, we would have been deprived of so many of her magnificent portraits.

There is a very large collection of Mme Vigee Le Brun's works in the United States; the reviewer from Waltham can access it simply by typing 'Vigee Le Brun' into the search field on her computer.

Wandering goggle-eyed through Washington's National Gallery of art, I was arrested by the most lively, lush, *real*, and striking depiction of women in the whole gallery. Imagine my delight upon inspecting the plaque and discovering the artist was one of us! No wonder her subjects -- two rich French court ladies enjoying an afternoon in the garden with their children -- were not *objects*, as were the drab, blurred, unhappy-looking women in most male painter's work. Researching the artist, Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun, whom I had never heard of (but of course -- she was a *woman* artist!) I discovered Mary Sheriff had just published a book about her. I waited for the paperback and have ordered it, and can't wait to find out more. From what I can tell she was an extremely uppity chick, the best kind, and a survivor (usually a contradiction in terms in Elisabeth's day: she managed to scram out of France with her head and her money intact as the Revolution descended, although her buddy and patron Marie Antoinette fared less well, as we know.) Sounds like a great costume drama for Jane Campion, starring a strong, knowing, and savvy personality. Holly Hunter, Judy Davis have the strength. Elizabeth Shue has the look. Add Vigee-Lebrun to your collection of women who prevailed against the odds. Retrieve her from obscurity. Most of all: look at her work!