Gifts from our Grandmothers is truly a gift to all readers. The stories are diverse, some funny, some touching, some even bring a tear to your eye. I love that the stories reflect different backgrounds and ethnic groups.It was nice to read stories from different age contributors. There a children who share their grandmother's love and adult women who take us back to another time. Wonderful treat - thank you Carol Dovi.

This book is a true celebration of the grandmother...it includes uplifting, loving and sometimes funny first-hand accounts of grandmother/granddaughter relationships from women of all ages, races and backgrounds. Very well put together and a great gift for grandmothers, mothers and grandchildren..

The stories in Gifts from Our Grandmothers put a smile on my face and warmed my heart.The love and sharing only Granny can give comes across on each page. It allows me a chance to honor and recognize my Grandma Nellie with more than just my immediate family.

This book contains a catchy, rhyming poem and colorful full-page illustration for each of the English monarchs. Like the best children's literature, it is as much fun for the adult to read as for the child to hear. And not just for children--I found its jingles helpful in cramming for college English history exams!

Last night on Jeopardy!, someone flubbed a question re the Stuart dynasty. If they had only been exposed to this book, they would have remembered instantly: "James and Charles, Charles and James. They all looked well in picture frames." Another contestant did not know Cromwell's title. Farjeon fans would have recalled: "Lord protect us from Protectors." A unique, valuable, and fun book.

My first introduction to this wonderful book with a poem for each of England's monarchs was as a child in the early 50s. I loved it then (George was the king), and learned all the poems by heart. My children found it just as pleasing, and by the time these American youngsters were six they too could recite a poem for all the English kings and queens. As young adults, they are now arguing who will get to KEEP this much-read and much-loved book. How I wish I could find another copy!

I loved each poem. It has made it easier to remember who did what and remember the order of the English Monarchs. I think every American child should get the opportunity to learn these enchanting poems. As an adult, I enjoy the black and white characature each poem represents. This book is a must for any home that loves England, history and literature.

Loaded with interesting and unusual information about birds, this is a wonderful book for busy birders. It can be read from beginning to end (A to Z) or opened to any page; read for two minutes or an hour; and you will never lose your place! It will make a wonderful gift for your bird watching friends.

The enthusiasm of EH Stickney's writing is infectious. Her book is extremely readable, and is sure to put many a smile on your face as you peruse her entries on the common and not-so-common of our feathered friends. "A Little Bird" is an excellent compendium of fact and folklore that readily distills for the reader those tidbits that are likely to be of most interest. While packed with information, it is not a book that will bog you down. It opened new windows for me (someone who's been interested in birds all his life), but it also would be an excellent way to introduce inquisitive young minds to the world of ornithology. I recommend it highly.

Very informative and interesting history and mythology of the bird world

Write a sequel to Lost Horizon? What hubris, what presumption! Just who do you guys think you are? Then I read it. It's wonderful. When James Hilton ordains that you leave Shangri-LA, you understand that you will never find it again. But Cooney and Altieri work their hermetic arts, and as you inch your way around the narrow ledge, hugging the rock like a lover, you pause to catch your breath, the mists below slowly clear, and there it is! I think Hilton would have been honored, and enchanted. How can this book be out of print? To Ms. Cooney and Mr. Altieri, Thank you.

Read it. It's a great novel and highly worthy as a sequel. This book left me in the same dreamy state as the original. Thought provoking about Tibet and the state of the world for any socially conscious person.

Sequel. Ugh. What a horrible word. Most of them should never be born, or if they are, they should be left on a hillside to die of exposure. There ought to be a different word to describe SHANGRI-LA--THE RETURN TO THE WORLD OF LOST HORIZON by Eleanor Cooney and Daniel Altieri (Wm. Morrow, 1996). It is in fact the sequel to James Hilton's classic, but without the irrelevance and loss of tumescence you've learned to expect. It actually needed to be written.

LOST HORIZON leaves you dangling deliciously. Forget about the movie version--it was good, but they took huge liberties with the plot of Hilton's tightly constructed work. Most notably, the movie shows the hero, Hugh Conway, arriving back in Shangri-La to the accompaniment of a swelling chorus and heavenly beams of light. It was the era of happy endings in movies, so they stuck one on. But the book--ah, the book is very different indeed.

It starts with a group of British gents in a men's club talking about Conway, a likable but peculiar chap, and how one of them discovered him quite by chance in a hospital in Canton suffering from amnesia. Then we learn that his memory abruptly returned on board a liner bound for San Francisco, that he jumped ship in Honolulu and was never seen again. The middle part of the book is a flashback: Conway's story of being benignly abducted along with three other people into Shangri-La, meeting the two-hundred-year-old lama, finding himself annointed as his successor, and then having to make a decision of Hamlet-like proportions: stay or go. He goes. Dreadful things happened to him after he left, evidently, so that he wound up ill and amnesic in a hospital. Then he got his memory back and jumped ship--to try, we presume, to find his way back to his lost paradise. And that's the last we hear of him. The final words of the book echo down hauntingly over sixty years: "Do you think he will ever find it?"

The authors of SHANGRI-LA dip into that poignant mystery with respect, precision and imagination. Their account of what happened to Conway during his disastrous journey out of the hidden valley in the high Himalayas, how he lost his memory, and what happened to him after he got it back is uncannily Hilton-esque and fits with the unanswered questions in the original like the parts of a fine watch. This account, in turn, is part of a highly relevant story about the brutal Chinese occupation of Tibet in the 1960s, the real-life fulfillment of disaster prophesized by Hilton through his fictional character Father Perrault.

Tibet is still under the heel of China, and SHANGRI-LA teaches the reader some of the harsh facts while delivering a taut tale of suspense, intrigue, romance and mystery. Suffice it to say that there's a rapacious Chinese General who's got hold of a series of ancient riddles that put him on the trail of the hidden valley. A really good villain is the heart and soul of a thriller, and this guy is full of the complexities and contradictions that satisfy our appetites. And instead of crudely killing him off, the authors reward him for his villainy with a highly eerie anti-Shangri-La that makes you think of some sort of hell out of Oriental mythology with Rod Serling as a consultant.

SHANGRI-LA pays tribute to Hilton not just in its integrity, form and careful attention to the original--it leaves us with unanswered questions of its own, of the same poignant proportions. And here's a little tidbit to tantalize you: it's told from the point of view of a woman. I wouldn't mind a sequel to the sequel.

I loved this wonderful "little" book with a lot of BIG statements to make about life, love, spirit and society! Dr. Hooks has the insight, humor and wisdom to give us an honest look at ourselves and our society. You can't help but read each statement and say a spirited "mmm hmm!" because of the truth contained therein! This book is a wonderful gift for those you love, including yourself! I highly recommend this book and anxiously anticipate future "Somefolks" books! Thanks for sharing your gift Dr. Hooks!

"Some Folks" reminds me to keep life simple! We're all just TOO serious sometimes....this is one of those little books you keep nearby and refer to when you need time to reflect or simply enjoy the quiet.....and it's a great gift for any occasion! My favorite line: "Some folks touch others with their spirit and don't worry about leaving an impression.".......well I'll say an "Amen!" to that!

This book provides a way to link your thoughts with the past, present, and think about the future. You can sit down and choose statements and have discussion with family and friends. Talking about life issues is a method of getting to know yourself and others. A must for whole spirit, mind, and body development.

I guess this is the same story as the other reviews - I loved this book when I was a young girl and checked it out of the library several times. I recently purchased a used version of the book and enjoyed it all over again - more than 30 years after I first read it. Eleanor Cameron's style lets your imagination run away but in a believable way. I recommend this book for young and formerly young people everywhere.

I have thought of this book often ever since I first read it as a child. I couldn't remember the name nor the author but knew it immediately when I came across it recently at the library. I agree with the previous review, Cameron's writing is mystical yet natural. I reread it and was instantly taken to that otherwordly realm full of shadows and possibilities, a place where the natural world and the fantasy world coexist. All of Cameron's books are written with a richness and beauty that challenge the young reader while entertaining her. I recommend any of Cameron's books most enthusiastically.

I fell in love with this book in the fourth grade and still read it periodically. Superstition and magic play a part in this story of a young girl searching for her place in the world. This is not really a fantasy; the plot is very down-to-earth, but Cameron's writing has a mystical feel to it that delights without creating over-imaginative horrors. Excellent for 4th and 5th grade readers, but interesting enough for older readers as well. Definitely a book to remember.

This is a stunningly handsome volume; The effort combines scholarly research and an extremely valuable photographic record of many imoportant sites in Crete. The aerial photos are one-of a-kind.

Invaluable for both scholar and Minoan enthusiast. Contains large color photos and drawn plans of major excavations on Crete. Comprhensive tabular commentary by original or current excavator. Low altitude balloon platform provides highly detailed representations.

Having spent some time recently in Cambodia exploring the Angkor ruins, I looked forward to purchasing this new picture book by celebrated photographer Jon Ortner. I was not disappointed. The photographs literally come alive. The quality of the paper is extremely good; the colour reproduction and sharpness of the pictures are superb.

The author chose a broad selection of the ruins to be included in his coffee table size text. All the famous sites are included, as well as a number of the lesser known monuments. The essays written by experts in the field also added a lot of useful and interesting background information. Several maps also aid the reader in locating the ruins.

For those who have seen Angkor, this book is almost a must. I am certain the owner will refer to these awesome photographs time and time again to remind himself of the experience of viewing some of the most incredible architecture and art in the history of mankind.

Top quality photographs of one of the true wonders of the world in one of the few remaining truly exotic countries. The craftsmanship and presentation are top notch, but nothing short of making the trip in person is really satisfactory. Fortunately, the trip is relatively safe in these days when even domestic travel has its risks.

This was one of the first machine applique books I ever bought. We get Eleanor Burns TV show "Quilt in a Day" on Saturday mornings on a local PBS station. After watching some of the episodes relating to the "Applique in a Day" book I decided I just had to try it. If you are a hand appliquer and have never tried machine applique, buy this book. If you have never done any applique and the thought scares you to death, you really need to buy this book. Eleanor makes it so fast and simple that you will be wondering why you hesitated.

This book gives you lots of fun and easy to do techniques in the "lessons". It goes into detail about making simple dimensional flowers and machine embroidered stems with pearl cotton. (Tip: Besides embroidery floss and pearl cotton you can try thin ribbon for that stem technique. All of her instructions are step by step as if she were sitting right next to you.

She also shows you lots of ideas for making the finished appliqued quilt blocks into things other than quilts. Some of the things you can use the blocks for are: single and multiple block wall hangings, wedding gifts, tote bags, table runners, and pillow covers. The single block projects are great for those of us who like to finish a project quickly and go on to the next.

Even if you have never done any type of quilting or applique in your life this book will have you making and more importantly FINISHING projects in no time at all. Her directions are clear, with lots of charts, diagrams and pictures. Although the larger, multi-block projects will take longer than "a day" you will still be pleased to see how fast the blocks can be finished.

The highest rating that Amazon.com lists is a five but if I could, I'd have given this book a ten.

Eleanor Burns is my favorite author/teacher for quilting. I love each of her books that I own, but especially this one. Most of her sewing techniques are simple, but they are real time savers that I would never have thought of myself. Being a mother of seven, I'm always interested in saving time. "Applique in a Day" is different from many of her earlier books, so I was excited to buy it.

I have made three blocks from "Applique in a Day". The first one I chose to make was the grape vine wreath. I love purple, but the main reason I chose this block was the dimension. The grapes are made of yo-yo's, so they stick out from the background block. I also had fun with the twisty embroidered vines. I used to have a grape vine in my backyard and this block really reminds me of the fun we had picking, eating, and making jam from the grapes.

The next block I chose to make was the flower basket. Again, the dimension of the basket and flowers both give such interest to the block. The basket is shaped by making pleats and the small flowers are made from yo-yo's. The large flowers are rouched. This was my first attempt at this technique, so I wasn't sure if I would like it. Eleanor's instructions in the book make it very simple to do; she provides great directions, and helpful pictures. I was so pleased and the flowers look great!

The third block I chose to make was the Distlefink. I love this block for its European look. The tulips are very unusual, and the bird is beautiful. I especially like Eleanor's suggestion to use a pearl for the bird's eye. There is little embroidery, but it gives the picture just the right finish. In the book there are instructions for sewing the embroidery on the sewing machine.

The remaining blocks in this book are as striking as the three I have completed. Some of my other favorite blocks are the fruit basket and the holly wreath. I am eager to finish the entire quilt.

Through her analysis we learn about astrology, the exciting lives of those she writes about, and how the stars will determine events - fortunately or unfortunately for some. I've consulted with Ms. deJersey and she has offered not only her advice based on her readings, but also personal coaching. I appreciated both - I hope she writes another book!

This insightful book of how astrology helped in the lives of people who were significantly influenced and guided was a real pleasure to read. As a student of astrology I am grateful to read this important book written by a real, honest to God astrologer from the old school. I very much appreciated the way she invited me into her world and narrated events in her life. I loved the beautiful marriage of personal insights and factual astrological interpretations and facts. I am very very interested to know more about this author - is she still around, does she have a web-site, etc.