Ironically, it was my daughter who told me about this book. A lab student from the University read it to her 2nd grade class and Ingrid was immediately besotted. I am the one who usually recommends books to this first year teacher! When she began her year of teaching back in August, the first gift I gave her was my beloved THANK YOU, MR. FALKER, my favorite Polacco book. I wanted her to know how important a teacher is in the life of her students. I still think of Eleanor Mills, my sixth grade teacher many, many decades ago!
Anyway, MR. LINCOLN'S WAY is one of six Polacco books that I gave to my daughter for her birthday. It is the touching story of an African American Principal and how he cares so much for his students that he goes out of his way to reach 'the problem child.' "Mean Gene" (who is white) is the school bully; he terrorizes the children, especially those who are different because of their race or nationality. Mr. Lincoln discovers that Gene is passionate about birds and gives him a project--filling the school atrium with birds. Gene ends up having a complete personality change which is even noticed by his teachers. The key to this story is Principal Lincoln who takes the time to discover why Gene acts out--a cruel, racist father. As teachers, we sometimes have students who are 'unlovable' and we never take the time to think why: Did this child have breakfast? Is he even loved? Is he beaten at home? I think if we spent more time learning about our student's backgrounds, we could touch more lives.

I liked the book because it was showing people that it doesn't matter what color you are or what heritage you came from, everyone is the same.

In Patricia Polacco's "Mr. Lincoln's Way," she shows the power of teachers and administrators to reach even the most unreachable kids. Typically for Polacco, she weaves magic with her illustrations and makes the story intriguing as well.

"Mean Gene" is the bully of the school, the one who has been taught to hate anyone different from himself. But Gene has also been taught, by his grandfather, to identify and love birds. He knows everything about birds, from the types of trees they like to nest in to the kind of food they need to eat. Mr. Lincoln latches onto this talent and nurtures it, asking Gene to be in charge of figuring out what should go into the school's atrium. As Gene eventually blossoms, so do the ducks who live in the atrium--and as he helps herd the ducklings towards the pond, so is he led by Mr. Lincoln towards greater understanding and tolerance.

This is a lovely book for just about any age. Younger kids can just enjoy the pictures, while older kids may want to discuss the idea of prejudice and consequences for actions. It's a treat to see a black principal with a whole culturally diverse student body, too. Highly recommended.

I read this when I was a kid and to this day I still enjoy these books. There are parts in these books that make me laugh. It's neat the way Dawn and Jason (who is a RIOT of a character--you'll love him) work together. Dawn put on her disguise and sets out to look for her friend Emily's lost ring. She wears her cowboy boots--yes, very good disguise! Very inconspicuous, right? NOT! O-well, she's just a kid. I remember doing dumb things like one time me and my sister and one of her friends decided we were going to go let some neighborhood boys have it since they always threw rocks at us. Well we loaded up our wagon and they got in and I pulled it over there and we attacked the boys with buckets of mud we'd put together! They started to chase us and I tried to run with the wagon and they tipped it over and what a disaster! We were so prepared for battle!

This book is about a girl named Dawn and a boy named Jason who try to find a blue ring with a crack in the stone. I think this book is very good because I like stones. I like the characters in the book because they are always trying to solve a mystery.

I liked this book because there were some funny parts in it. One day A kid named Emily lost her birthday Ring. The whole class thinks her friend Dawn took it because she took her unicorn last time. To prove she didn't do it she was going to find the ring.

This is a great story!! It is a story about the Kimball kids. They work all year long to buy a stove for their Mother. Hester has to work all summer at her Aunt's terrible hotel. So she can earn enough money for the stove that costs $27.00. Big surprises happened when I least expected them. I loved the story the whole time I read it. I felt like I was there. But can they get all the money before christmas? Read and find out.It is neat how she bases her characters on real people. Lots of the stuff that happens in the book really happened! And the book also shows what you can do if you work together. If you like this book, try Beatty's Melinda Takes a Hand,and Turn Homeward Hannalee. They are all great books.

The "Nickel-Plated Beauty" is one of three companion books by Patricia Beatty set on the Pacific coast of southwest Washington State at the turn of the 20th century. The other titles are "O the Red-Rose Tree," and "Sarah and Me and the Lady from the Sea." When recommending them to students in our elementary school library (in Washington State), I compare them "The Little House on the Prairie" series, by Laura Ingalls Wilder. In my opinion they are written as well.

After reading these books years ago, I took my family on a vacation to the Long Beach (Washington) penninsula where the stories are set and we were able to locate many of the landmarks mentioned in the books. There is the ring of historical accuracy, as well as the cold wet climate of this region.

For any students looking for historical fiction from a locale not usually written about, these books are to be recommended. They should appeal to fourth grade students and above.

All three of these titles were recommended reading by the Washington State Centennial committee in 1989. I still think they're wonderful and so do the students willing to give them a try!

I was a child when I read this book.Just a little while ago, I wanted to recommend it to one of my nieces, so I checked it out of the library to see whether it was as good as I remembered.It was!

Beatty's tale of seven spirited pioneer kids who hatch a plan to earn money for a brand-new stove has suspense, humor and affection. You're turning the pages eagerly until the very end, wondering whether they'll be able to come up with the money for the stove before the hard-headed general store manager sells it to somebody else.

Young readers will love the spectacle of kids taking charge and making things happen -- while keeping everything a surprise for their parents.

As for the big payoff scene when Mom and Dad are presented with the stove on Christmas morning, well, it doesn't get much better than that. Worth seeking out, for sure.

Great reading on those quiet Sunday evenings. The historical perspectives and timelines are the best part; really helps you understand the progression of literature as we know it. The Norton series (western literature) was used often in highschool for me, but I had quite narrow historical perspectives back then; this book has helped change that. I would also recommend Glimpes of World History by J. Nehru. Though it can be at times tedious, it is good accompaniment to this Norton anthology.

This book is very fascinating to read if you're insterested in early Greek and Roman culture. The many stories and translations make the reading easy and fun. I would recommend this book to anyone!

This book has it all! This is the GREATEST collection of books ever printed!

This no-nonsense book is filled with practical, useful information. I highly recommend this book to all parents of hard of hearing children.

As the parent of two hard of hearing children, I have read my share of books about deafness. This is one of the best.

Amazon says the book is out of print, but I checked with the publisher ...and they say they have just reprinted it and it should be available soon.

A very worthwhile book. I had a chance to reread your book this summer and I found myself learning even more the second time around.(Actually the third time if you count the manuscript.) I always knew your life was not easy but I didn't know just how difficult it has been. You have not only coped beautifully but managed to produce a very worthwhile work out of all your difficulties that will benefit others. Congratulations. I'm lucky to be your older sister. Your book is so easy to read, even the technical parts. I think it should be required reading for everyone in the education field. I loved the way you interspersed it with pictures. I have always been amazed at how you taught Reid to talk. You done great SIS!

"Not Deaf Enough" (the title is devastating in itself,can be read on at least two levels. The first is obvious. The author, mother of a child with hearing deficiencies, gives the reader an account and the benefit of her and her famly's experiences with the system proved deficient. The advice is practical and focussed and comes from an intelligent, tenacious, loving, resourceful and articulate woman. Candlish pulls no punches and does not pussyfoot around the problem. If you are fortunate enough not to have had a major challnege of this sort in your family, then read the book from the perspective of someone who felt that the outside world should get a return on her and her family's investment. With any luck, this book will inspire others to give help and support to others less fortunate. There should be more books written such as this written so clearly. A third level, of course, is that the book is also a character sketch of someone who is playing the hand that she has been dealt without whining and without asking for a new deal.

This is the second book in Patricia Kennealy-Morrison's Celtic science fiction. The series started with "The Grey Hawk's Feather" which introduces you to all the famous characters, Merlyn, Arthur, Ygrawn, Uther, Gweniver, and the somewhat passed over, in other tales, Taliesin. In this particular telling Taliesin, the greatest bard ever known to Keltia, narrates in bardic style the story of his friend and fostern Arthur. Morrison does away with the more annoying parts of Arthurian legend, Lancelot for one, and concentrates on a very different telling of the tale in space upon a planet far away. The second book encompasses the arrival of Arthur and his army on Tarra, the home of Ederyn the then traitorous "King" of Kelts, through Arthur's eventual victory over Ederyn, (I don't think I'm giving too much of the story away), and his leaving of Keltia to visit far off worlds as well as his eventual return. The truth of Talyn's mother is finally revealed, with shocking implications.

Now, just let me say, I LOVE THIS SERIES! I especially love the character of Taliesin. He is my favorite from all of Morrison's books and possibly from any others I have ever read. His voice is exceptionally distinctive in the telling and very consistent. He is a very unassuming character, terrified out of his wits most of the time and sure that everyone knows it, yet is completely honest about this fact. I love the style of these books too. The prose is perhaps a bit cumbersome when you first begin reading but it is defiantly an epic tale, every event fraught with dan from now 'till nevermass, and all the characters with the seeds of greatness in them, Arthur most of all. I love this particular universe because it is so imaginative, Celtic legend mixed with sciencficiton in a successful blending.

Now, the Kirkus reviewer has a point when he says that Patricia Kennealy-Morrison has a "general air of self-importance". He hits the nail right on the head. She is continually prating on the virtues of the Kelts. How they are so much more evolved than "other societies I could name" in that they have magical arts, no rape, varying marriage laws, and women are considered equals. It is an attitude hard to avoid throughout her books, but this is the only detraction I will make and, you will admit, not a very serious one.

Patricia continues the great storytelling of the previous books of the Keltiad in this novel. We are transported first person to the land of arthur (for a twist this land is outer space) and told Arthur's life story through the eyes of his bard and close friend Taliesan. This book moved me to tears at some points. The love and friendship bonds that the book builds are remarkable! I couldn't put it down.

If you have read the Copper Crown and its counterparts you will be intrigued when you discover that the writing style is completely different from the first triology. This is writen in first rather than third person. It is rare that an author has such talent as to switch styles. The style change means that you will never tire of the Keltiad. Instead of boresdom you will find love for the lore as past history links all the books together.

I have highly enjoyed all of the books in this series, and I also agree with the above reviewer that there are some inaccuracies in the Kirkus review that lead one to believe that the reviewer did not give it his or her full attention. In all, if you love fantasy, Celtic myth or Arthurian legend these books are well worth a read.

This book is both engrossing and poignant, as it tells the story of a Medicine Woman and her tribe of outcasts and misfits, and their struggles to live a simple, but spiritual, life in the "Old West". It's been a long time since I've read a book that connected me so strongly with its characters; who became life-like as the story unfolded. In addition, my eyes were opened to the possibility of what life in the "Old West" might have been like for anyone other than a white man. Its message of courage, strength, hope and endurance is a timeless one that serves as a reminder of the enduring quality of the human spirit.

I read this book years ago, and am glad to see it is being reissued. I loaned my copy out to one too many friends, and am pleased to know I can order a new copy . A MUST read for anyone interested in the history of what (may have) really happened in the West.

This book is an amazing and powerful story about women and the Native American Culture. Anyone wanting to read a positive up-lifting story about women should read this incredible book! I have shared this book with many of my friends who have in turn shared it with their friends. A definite must read!

This book provides an excellent framework for thinking through the process of changing and enahancing total rewards. It takes a broader perspective on rewards and compensation and hits the key components of a successful reward strategy right on the head! I would recommend this book to HR professionals and senior leaders interested in driving real and effective change in the way your organization rewards its associates. Well done!

In today's increasingly competitive employment market, compensation is a powerful part of the package used to attract and hold top talent. Although recent research has confirmed that money is not as dominant a factor as it has been in the past, there is no denying that the Almighty Dollar still plays a central role.

If compensation is not designed properly, an organization could be dangerously vulnerable to attack from the raiding recruiters who do know how to do it right. Thus, pay plans become a vital defense as well as a powerful attracting offensive tool. The problem is that many employers, including human resource professionals, don't have a sufficient understanding of how-and why-to pay people appropriately.

Pay People Right serves as a fine textbook for those who want to gain a deeper understanding of the right ways to reward employees financially for their contributions. As the authors observe in their preface, "Much of the popular literature on management and organizational change avoids issues of pay, perhaps because it's harder to address than many gentler and less powerful change tools the literature proposes. Changing pay requires patience and constant attention." They contend that compensation design-pay and other rewards-can influence worker performance to the extent that it can change a company's achievement and destiny. Zingheim and Schuster suggest that compensation is even more of a strategic tool than it has been in the past, particularly in these times of mergers and acquisitions, consolidations, and globalization

Organization

The book is well-organized for a read-through as well as for reference at a later date. The first chapter addresses Total Rewards and the Six Reward Principles. The principles begin with Create a Positive and Natural Reward Experience. The key is communication and education. The next principle is to align rewards with business goals to create a win-win partnership. People who work for the company add value, which should be rewarded.

We should ensure that everyone is a knowledgeable stakeholder in the overall success of the company. That's the third principle: Extend people's line of sight. The fourth principle is Integrate Rewards: move beyond total pay to include total rewards. Fifth, reward individual ongoing value with base pay. Evaluate competency, performance, and the employee's value in the marketplace. I like the sixth principle: reward results with variable pay-flexiblity, agility, responsiveness.

The authors emphasize the four components of total rewards: individual growth, compelling future, total pay, and positive workplace. It's not just the money. This comprehensive approach leads to a broader strategy.

The second chapter makes the business case for changing rewards, leading to chapter on integrating total pay. The chapter on measuring and managing performance completes the first section of the book, focusing on compensation being a vital part of performance management.

The second part of the book addresses a wide range of pay tools including base pay, short-term and long-term variable pay, and recognition and celebration. The discussion on infrastructure helps the reader understand the foundation of how compensation is designed.

Part III of Pay People Right addresses how rewards are used in several different situations. Readers learn how to reward teams, scarce talent, sales professionals, and executives. In this section the authors address how rewards are used in merger and acquisition situations and in the complicated world of globalization. Chapter 15 on Global Rewards is particularly valuable for employers concerned with compensating people from different countries doing different kinds of work under different conditions. The exploration of global talent as a specific focus was enlightening . . . and, importantly, current.

The book is practical in its approach. Theory is translated effectively into practice so the textbook becomes a useful handbook, as well. The index works-I checked a number of issues and questions of interest-to help the reader find specifics to answer questions and get the job done.

Everyone has an opinion on pay, but no one brings the depth of experience and level of insight to this subject the way these two authors do. Surveying the entire complex issue of how to pay people in a way that is fair and effective for the both the firm and the individual, Schuster and Zingheim have provided a practical road map that is easy for anyone to follow who really wants to "pay people right". If every manager in every company would read, digest, and act upon their advice much of the disfunction that plagues the workplace would be eliminated. A great book, and a great service to everyone.

My company where i am working wants to buy this book for all the managers, but i would like to know if you have available this book in spanish? I hope you can give me an answer asap... Many thanks!

Don't be deterred by the title. (Initially, I was.) It was probably selected for marketing purposes. Sharma and Moody know better than to claim that the system they propose (what they call "LeanSigma Transformation Process") is in all ways -- and will remain forever -- a "perfect engine" by which to achieve "profitable growth that serves all the constituents of an enterprise." Any system is only as effective as those involved within it. We all know how many perfect workers there are. What Sharma and Moody present in this volume is a cohesive, comprehensive, and cost-effective system by which to meet all manner of challenges by "building to order with fewer resources." Presumably they would be the first to point out that any such system, presented in a book, must be modified to accommodate the specific needs, interest, objectives, and resources of a given organization. Moreover, although the primary focus is on manufacturing, the principles are so sound that they can also be of substantial value to non-manufacturing enterprises such as those in retail merchandising, management consulting, banking, accounting, legal, insurance, and even advertising. All organizations need to improve cycle time and first-pass yield. Also, all organizations must do that with finite (sometimes severely limited) resources. Finally, all organizations most become (literally) obsessed with kaizen: constant improvement. Therefore, I highly recommend this book to decision-makers in all organizations (regardless of size or nature) but with the single caveat that appropriate modifications of the LeanSigma Transformation Process first be made.

Sharma and Moody carefully organize their excellent material within ten chapters. In the first, they suggest and then explain "A Better Way"; in the last, they shift their attention to "The Future." Throughout their book, they make effective use of the "journey" metaphor, correctly asserting that, once begun, the LeanSigma Transformation Process never ends. "This is a journey that concentrates the energy of an entire enterprise and focuses efforts to serve customers better, faster, with better quality products and responsiveness, ultimately leading to gains in market share." Several dozen mini-case studies (e.g. Maytag) demonstrate precisely HOW such objectives can be achieved. In the final chapter, Sharma and Moody offer these thoughts: "Keep the long-term perspective. This journey is part of a larger movement, just as kaizen breakthrough is the the enabler of LeanSigma Transformation, and Design for LeanSigma revolutionized process and product design for increased responsiveness and mass customization. [The current business circumstances worldwide] create a long-awaited window of opportunity, and it is our responsibility to be prepared, to have the best workers, the best tools, and the energetic leadership required because an opportunity like this comes only once in every hundred and fifty years."

Those who share my high regard for this book are urged to check out David Maister's Practice What You Preach, Michael Hammer's The Agenda, Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan's Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done, and James O'Toole's Leading Change.

This book contains clear and practical guidance that anyone can use to turn a company around. After applying examples from the book to our factory we increased productivity and lowered inventory within weeks! LeanSigma is the new road to manufacturing success.

Taking the best from lean and Six Sigma methodologies to create LeanSigma is a brilliant idea. The Perfect Engine gives innovative examples that are easy to apply to any environment and quickly transform an organization into a more responsive and agile enterprise.

This book is a must read for line managers and other supply chain managers who want to stay competitive in today's market.

In my opinion, Patricia Rice's "Must Be Magic" is a must read. The story is a charming one and whimsical one that is bound to engage. However, it is, I must own, not a perfect book, and has it's share of what I call 'plot niggles.'

For example, it takes forever for Dunstan to acknowledge that he needs help in trying to discover who actually murdered his faithless wife and to establish his innocence. His pigheadedness on this issue was a little trying. And I also found it very hard to believe that it took him so long to figure out that Leila and Lily were one and the same woman -- this was one plot gambit that did not really work for me. I think it would have made for far more interesting reading if both Dunstan and the reader got to see the 'two' different Leilas from the very beginning, so that we could all enjoy the contrast between the intelligent and vibrant Leila who was willing to work in the fields in order to realise her dreams, and the sultry drawing room Leila, who used her feminine charms to manipulate people and keep them at a distance.

I was also curious about certain circumstances surrounding the Malcolm family. The Malcolms are an old Scottish family, renowned for producing female children who happen to be gifted with certain magical abilities. The Malcolms are also renowned for making advantageous marriages that further the family's fortunes. And yet, while the inference is that nearly every single marriage seems to have been a happy one, none of the Malcolm women seem to have married for love -- save the heroine of "Merely Magic," Nininan. I really wished that Patricia Rice had gone into (a little) what these other Malcolm women must have felt or thought about the whole concept of love, and marriage without love. She does do this with the heroine of "Must Be Magic," Leila. But even then what we know is that Leila married in order to promote her family's interests, that her mother has some feeling of love and affection for her father, and that even she (Leila) feels leery about counseling her younger sisters to seek only love matches. I suppose what I'm trying to say is that I was curious as to why a family women with magical gifts would place advantageous marriages over love matches, and would have liked the authour to have delved into this matter a little more.

On the other hand, however, "Must Be Magic" does indeed boast of possessing two very strong, memorable and engaging characters: Leila and Dunstan. When Leila's character was first introduced, I will admit that while I did feel for her because she felt so alienated and had such a low self esteem problem, I did not really take to her -- she was a little too manipulative for my taste. And while I understood why she used her beauty and her feminine allure to get things, I did not admire this trait in her at all. But as the novel progressed, so too did my sympathies for her grow. And in no time at all, I found myself rooting for her to find her hidden talents/magical gift, and to nab the man she believed was her soul mate. Leila, is the kind of full bodied multifaceted heroines that one wishes were more the norm rather than the exception. As for Dunstan, once I got past his foolish stubbornness and his tendency to glower all the time, there was much to admire and feel empathetic for. It's not every romance hero who as to deal with an alienated son, a murder rap and a strong-minded woman who's out to help you whether you want it or not!

Story-wise, things moved along smoothly enough while Leila and Dunstan were in the country, busy with their planting schemes and trying to thwart the machinations of Leila's nephew-in-law and his cohorts. Once the story moved to London, however, the book did loose its focus. There was a sudden addition in the cast as all sorts of Ives and Malcolm relatives came out of the woodwork in order to help Dunstan clear his name, and there even was a small subplot involving a certain Malcolm-Ives potential pairing -- probably the hinting of future Magic book at a later date. I, however, just wanted the mystery of who killed Duncan's wife to be cleared up --I already had my suspicions and wanted to know if I was right!

On the whole, "Must be Magic" was a truly fun read. It's not a book without flaws, but it was an enjoyable read nonetheless. and if you're looking for something little different, this should definitely satisfy.

Though her gifts are not magical, and in a family of witches that makes her ever so slightly the outcast all her life, Leila Staines makes her own magic with the perfumes she derives from flowers. To help her get her business going, she hires rouge and accused murderer Dunstan Ives, a member of a family that has long feuded with hers, to help her grow the best flowers. Though Dunstan is a farmer at heart, he desperately needs the money, so he agrees to grow useless flowers and work for a woman with three strikes against her already in his book, a lady, a beauty, and a Staines.

Enemies or not, they find themselves attracted beyond what they should be. Dunstan helps her in more ways than with her flowers, and eventually, using a ruse, Leila is able to make him see the true woman she is, and they succomb to their true feelings. Now, they have two quests, to make Leila a success, and to clear Dunstan of murdering his wife, if not for his own sake, for the sake of his son and the child Leila may carry. Pride will have to be put aside as he must use the powers of Leila's family to prevent his hanging and learn the truth.

***** If you shy from paranormals, do not be concerned that this is not a book for you. Witchery is only a minor aspect of this unusual novel. Leila is a refreshing heroine, as Ms. Rice's usually are, and Dunstan fits the gothic, brooding hero model. However, their unique role reversal is one that may appeal to the modern woman, with Leila being the one in power. It is also unusual to see a farmer as a hero of an English set story. The Staines family is delightful, and the scenes with Dunstan's son touching. Not the same old thing, this book will not in any way disappoint old or new fans of Ms. Rice. *****

Reviewed by Amanda Killgore.

All her life Lady Leila Staines has felt like an adopted outsider as the only member of the Malcolm women without any magical abilities. Even her hair is not the dark color that every other Malcolm female has. Still, she has done her part by marrying to improve the family fortune.

With her husband dead, she controls the Staines estate as long she lives and never remarries. Leila wants to grow flowers that she can convert into perfumes as she feels she has a nose for this business. However, she needs a land usage expert and turns to agronomist Dunstan Ives, though he is considered a wife killer and her own mother warned her that Ives males are bad news for Malcolm females. Reluctantly, the landless Dunstan accepts her offer though he wants nothing to do with any woman, but especially those bewitching Malcolms. However, he berates himself for desiring Leila and another lass who looks like her (because of his stereotyping he refuses to realize that his two dreams are one in the same) even as he struggles to learn whom killed his wife.

MUST BE MAGIC is an engaging historical romance that uses a pinch of witchcraft to spice up a tale with a rarely seen uniqueness. The story line mesmerizes the audience as Leila struggles with her "handicap" and her desire to belong while Malcolm battles between desire and not wanting to be burned again. Fans will believe that Patricia Rice must be magical as she spellbinds her audience with a one sitting fun novel.

Harriet Klausner