Anna's story begins in early Nazi Germany, and ends in Canada, a land of new hope for her and her family. This is a beautiful story about a disabled and misunderstood child overcoming her own self-hatred and the scorn of her family. From Anna's point of view, the reader learns about facist Germany, the Depression, the complexity of family-love, the challenge and rewards of language, the terrors and miracles of school, and the "meaning of Christmas." This book made a real difference to me as a child, and has continued to influence me as an adult.

"From Anna" tells the story of a young German girl whose family moves to Canada.Anna and her family learn about physical handicaps,financial problems and cultural differences as they settle into their new home.Most of all,though,they learn about love - a love that overflows at Christmas into a gift - a gift from Anna. I read this book more than twelve years ago,as an eight-year-old in a school library in St.John's,Canada.My family,like Anna's,had just moved to Canada(from India),and I was learning to cope.Like Anna,I too had to wear glasses and struggled with the same feelings of insecurity.Even today,I will never forget how I identified with Joan Little's book.I just hope that this tale will touch the hearts of many more readers.

When I went to my public library a couple of days ago, I never imagined that I would come across two of the best books ever written by a very talented author. 'From Anna' and 'Listen for the Singing' touched me deeply, in a way that no other book has had the ability to do. Although it's language is simple and the style is nothing too out of the ordinary, Jean Little was able to use easy words in a very good way.

The last time 'From Anna' was borrowed was early 1997. Most of us would most probably never take a second glance at the book -- that is, if we judged a book by it's cover. However, if one takes the time to read deeper and look beyond the cover, they will find that they have stumbled across an extraordinary book.

The story starts off with a young 9-year-old Anna Solden, nicknamed 'Awkward Anna' by her older siblings. Anna is indeed very clumsy and klutzy, hence the nickname. When she hears her family is moving from German to Canada, Anna is devastated. She can't learn German; how will she ever cope with English?! But shortly after her arrival in Canada, Thanks to Dr Franz Schumacher and his discovery that Anna has a severe vision disability, Anna receives a pair of glasses, which bring forth a world she never knew -- a world where words and letters aren't masses of grey blur, a world where numbers stay on the page and where the everything is clear and bright.

Anna is sent to a special sight-saving class in order to repair the damage done to her eyes and salvage as much of the remaining ones. There, she learns things about herself -- she CAN have friends, she IS skilled and most of all, she has confidence. Her friends and teacher, Miss Williams, see a whole new Anna devloping as the year draws to a end. A new Anna very different from the old one. And with their help and support, she finally learns to confront her family with secrets that they never knew.

A truly touching and moving story with a very fitting ending. Get this book, enjoy it and read the second one -- 'Listen for the Singing', which is just as good, if not better! A definite book I would recommend with two thumbs up!

My two and a half-year-old niece has gone Boo and Baa crazy, and requests the Boo and Baa stories several times daily. She makes up little songs about Boo and Baa, and refers to them even when she's not reading the books. I think the appeal is that the stories are about things young children can relate to, and often have experience of, and the hapless sheep find the world as surprising as little ones often do. They may not know why things happen the way they do, but have fun anyway. Also, Boo and Baa are a boy and girl, and they are portrayed as equals. Both are enterprising, both can get a little scared or apprehensive, and they are not slotted into doing "boy things" and "girl things" respectively, but both can do everything, as opposed to many other children's books. This series is a great choice for young readers!

My three year old son loves vacuums. This little book is perfect. You can't go wrong buying it!

I bought this book for my son when he was 2 because he was infatuated with vacuum cleaners. It is a very cute book about two sheep who decide to clean their house. They have some mishaps along the way, but they get the job done. If your child loves vacuums, this book is a must-have. It is one of a very few children's books that mentions the vacuum cleaner! It is a cute book even for the non-vacuum-lover!

... Long before [my daughter] was born I discovered the wonderful books by the two Swedish women Lena Anderson and Christina Bjørk. They have made several books together, one of them is Linneas Almanac.

Linnea is a little girl we meet in several of their books, and in this one we follow her for a year, taking part in all her garden activities. There are 12 chapters in the book, one for each month. And in the first one, January, we meet her feeding the winter birds. We also get to know her best friend, an old man named Blomkvist. We already know both Linnea and Blomkvist quite well, visiting Monet's Garden together with them.(Another book by the same women)

In February Linnea shows us what is happening under the snow during the winter months, in March we can start planting, and then every months comes and goes, each with a new activity.

The paintings are simple, charming and filled with life. Linnea is a girl easy to love, and it is easy to follow her activities following the text and the illustrations. We use this book all year round, and discover old and new treasures every year...

Linnea is delightful and fun and exhuberant. She has energy and zest for life that is wonderfully contagious. Her almanac introduces the calendar year through the exploration of nature. Her happy, enchanting, written voice is a motivator for children like no other. This is a book for learning and loving life and nature --- again and again and again. I never tire of Linnea; her appeal is universal. The only thing that would be better is if she was a real person!

Linnea is a delightful young lady that finds gardening, nature and life in general interesting and waiting to be explored. She takes the reader young and old alike on a wonderful exploration of nature each month. Her story telling puts the reader in the mood to try the activities she discribes, while providing information and facts for use in the future. The illustrations put the reader into the story and show the finished product of the monthly activity.

I use Linnea's Almanac to introduce each month to my special education students, kindergarden to third grade and they love her. Linnea's adventues have peeked their interest in nature. They have put this interest to use by creating a Garden Learning Center just outside our classroom window, to share with the rest of the school.

Linnea's Window Garden and Monet's Garden in Giveny are also favorites and are used in the classroom. Working with plants and seed was fun after reading about the window garden and Monet has become a familiar artist to the students after reading about Linnea's visit to his garden.

Linnea's books make wonderful gifts for all ages young and old. I would suggest starting with Linnea's Almanac. It introduces the reader to Linnea in such a way that she is an instant friend. Plus, the illustrations are interesting and discriptive even for the non-reader. I have been Linnea's friend for almost five years and enjoy rereading about her again and again.

In this story the ever-lovable Boo and Baa are going to a birthday party. They are all dressed up, and prepare by wrapping the gift (trickier than you might think, resort to Plan B), and practicing dancing (not danger-free!). The simple story is on a level that quite young children can identify with, and it offers plenty of conversation material. The illustations are full of humour, while clean and simple for little ones to understand. A perfect series for the little ones in your life!

My son loves this book. He is two and requests it nightly! Boo and Baa are great characters that make him laugh aloud. When Boo gets dizzy from dancing and falls the the floor the facial expressions are priceless. The concept of a sheep birthday party is unique. Entertaining while educational in a subtle way. I highly recommend the entire series.

Daniel has a quiet life. He dind't have eny friends except
his mom,brother and dad.He and his family are good at art their are going to have a fair.Did Daniel do a good duck for the fair wish people like it?
I like this book because Daniel did a beutiful and funny duck.
I recomend this book for all the people who like art because is fun.

This is a great book to use when you help enhance your students' prediction skills. You could have the students guess what they think will happen next as you orally read the story. You could also have the students write their own ending and then read the book's ending to see if they guessed right or if they like their own ending better! I would use this in grades 1-3.

Linnea enjoyed Monet's garden so much, she decides to plant her own garden....inside... because she doesn't have land to garden outside! Linnea shows the reader her garden and then explains how the young reader can do the same thing. Linnea demonstrates everything the young gardener needs to know about growing a healthy, indoor garden. This book is a bequiling method of enticing children to develop a green thumb. Linnea is always fun and delightful!

This is a book about a girl named Linnea, the book is kind of like Linnea's garden journal because she is telling the reader what she did that day in her garden while explaining how you can plant those things too. It explains how to plant beans, avocado plants and lots more, It also tells you how to get rid of bugs, and it shows you different kinds of common bugs in gardens. This book really shows you that you don't need to have a big backyard to grow lots of plants. I really recomend this book

This is a book I have loved since I was a little girl. The main character was a gentle, quiet, thoughtful child who lives in Canada. She moves from an apartment to a house in another part of the town where her boisterous cousins, John (7), James (5), Jean (4) and Ann (3) join her. John is her male counterpart in that he, too, is quiet and serious. James, the funloving mischief maker provides comic relief and he, too, appears to be the male counterpart to Kate, the protagonist's friend and classmate.

The characters are all richly drawn and realistic and this book will delight all ages. I still love it.

I would LOVE to have a copy of this book for my two girls. I read it only once and still remember how I felt when I read it. IT MADE A LASTING IMPRESSION!!!

The Boo and Baa books are a delight! They have that incredible Scandinavian quality (think Ingmar Bergman) of restrained dignity. My children love Boo and Baa at Sea especially, for its sense of play. Each Hemingway-esque one liner is bound to bring a laugh. A great learn-to-read book.

This has to be the best cookbook for kids ever written. I remember loving this book as a young girl and checking it out of the library constantly. The reason that I liked it so much is because, not only does it give you recipies, but it also follows a storyline. I also loved this book because the recipies werent too complicated and actually WORKED, which was very important for me, the perfectionist 10 year old. This is an awesome book for any kid, boy or girl, and I guarantee that they will enjoy it as much as I did. I also recommend any of the other books written by Christina Bjork and Lena Anderson.

Good Night, Animals is a thoroughly enjoyable bedtime story about Bubble and Pearl, two young children who are sleeping in a tent outdoors at night for the first time. But strange noises from outside the tent attract their attention in this remarkable and humorous picture book written by Lena Arro and lovingly illustrated with gentle color artwork by Catarina Kruusval.