If you've ever wondered why an alcoholic can't just quit drinking, this book will go a long way toward helping you understand the struggle. I am not an alcoholic, however I have been acquainted with several people over the years who went through treatment for various addictions. Though I had sympathy, I never understood the amount of determination and will power required to conquer these demons. Les Forsgren's book graphically illustrates the consequences of alcoholism. It is heartfelt, but not mushy. Serious, but not dry. In fact, I enjoyed it as much for the wonderful turns of phrase and unique usage of words as much as the message itself. I recommend He's Been There, Too for anyone who enjoys biographies, true life stories, knows someone going through treatment, or going through treatment themselves. You never know when the advice contained might come in handy.

This book has a definite quality. It evokes pathos without soliciting pity. Well written, obviously truthful, it extends a hand shake of hope for alcoholics who may think life is hopeless.

I read this book because it was recommended to me as an excellent reference on addiction written by a man who "has been there". I wanted to learn more about the feelings and thoughts that are associated with being an addict.

I was struck with how much honesty, strength and generosity shine through the author's words, although pain and struggle occupy every page.

I commend the author for taking up the challenge of shedding light on this very personal tragedy.

I hope that it will move other alcoholics toward their own sobriety.

As a book editor I read a lot a material, but few manuscripts engage me as personally and powerfully as The TRUTH Principle has. Leslie's desire to help others live a life of spiritual and emotional maturity is both genuine and practical. The tools she offers are realistic. In my opinion they will, if diligently applied, lead people from all walks of life to personal growth. Change is never easy, and Leslie doesn't attempt to make it so. Nevertheless, her down-to-earth honesty and straightforwardness lends the process rare clarity. I've read the book three times and am far from perfect in applying the principles to my own life! Still, in my own lifelong walk toward maturity, I am more hopeful and believe I have more understanding than I did before reading the book. I highly recommend it.

I devoured this book in 2 nights. My spirit craved for the truth that was so simply put in this book. The reading is easy but the meaning is deep. I could not put this book down until I was finished. I am going through a second time so I can really make the TRUTH principle a part of my life. Leslie shares personal examples from her own life along with those of others to really show how our faulty thinking, negative behaviors, and idols of our heart really do push God to the side and cause us more suffering. This is a must read for those who yearn to feel the presence of God and grow closer to him.

As I started to read Leslie's book "The Truth Principle", I couldn't put it down. I read it from cover to cover, until early in the morning. Here was a book that taught Biblical truths in simple terms I could understand with practical applications I could relate to. It was written for me, a book to show me how to get what I knew in my head down into my heart, so real change could occur in my life. This book is without a doubt the best book I've read on spiritual growth. It is what it says it is on the front cover - a life changing model for spiritual growth. Leslie models for the reader how to understand why you respond to trouble and trials the way you do; how to identify and get rid of the idols that hinder change and finally how to discover the truth in God's word, so that your heart will respond and thus draw you closer to God, so you can practice God's presence in your life. Leslie's honest and her willingness to share her journey to spiritual growth with us is refreshing.

" Little one, whoever you are, wherever you are, there are little ones just like you all over the world." This very simple opening starts a paean to the universality of the human experience. As humans we experience sadness and joy, tears and laughter, and it is these common experiences that unite all people for "their words may be very different from yours. But inside, their hearts are just like yours."

Staub's illustrations seem to underscore this message. Diverse people, lands, and languages are presented in a folk art style with surrealistic touches. Our guide through these pages is a man in a "cloud" suit who carries four children of different races as they view people all over the world. But what unifies the poem, beside the guide, is that each of the pictures is placed in a hand-carved frame with encased gems. It feels like we are looking at pictures of someone's family. That the human race is a family is also underscored with these framed pictures. This would be an excellent book for teaching tolerance and understanding of others.

What better way to begin teaching your child how to be a citizen of the world than by sharing this book with her? Though recommended for ages 4 - 8, it is my 17 month old's favorite book. The illustrations are colorful and enchanting, the text rhythmic and clear. The story is simple, yet profound:"love is the same, pain is the same, joy is the same, blood is the same..." "Whoever you are, whoever they are, all over the world."

I loved this book and plan to give it to everybody I know when they have a new baby. It is, as the other reviews say, a book about how all children in the world, regardless of where they live and their culture, are fundamentally the same -- they smile the same, cry the same, laugh the same, hurt the same. And it is a book that anyone can give their child regardless of their race, gender, nationality, etc., because it is so beautifully inclusive of many cultures. And I like it that the angelic figure who guides us through the book is a beautifully illustrated African man in a suit and hat. I think it's a wonderful book to welcome a child into the world. Definitely a keeper that the child will pass on to his or her children. I just bought 3 more copies today for two new babies and one to keep on hand for the next one who comes along! My other favorite new baby book is On The Day You Were Born, also wonderful for children of any race, gender, nationality, etc. because of it's inclusive language and artwork.

Mr. Bean's farm animals are very intelligent. They can read and some can write.A pig named Freddy gets the idea from a sparrow to migrate.He,a cow,a dog,a horse,two spiders,two ducks,and a cat all migrate to Florida for the Winter they have an exciting trip there and an exciting trip back to New York they meet the President and alligators and much, much, more.This book is full of adventure and humor.I recommend it to everyone. There are other Freddy books such as Freddy the Detactive,Freddy and the Bean Home News,Freddy and the Space Ship.

The first of a series of books about Freddy. Tired of long, hard winters, the animals on the Bean Farm in upstate New York decide to go to Florida for the winter. The animals encounter burglars, outwit a group of hungry alligators, and discover buried treasure before returning to their home

How many New Yorkers years for the warmth of Florida during winter? Snow birds? Such are the yearnings of Freddy adn the other barn animals. They leave their farm and start on the trek just as many New Yorkers do down I-95.....but with less adventures.
it is wonderful to have the Freddy books being reprinted for in freddy and his friends we can all see ourselves. Besides, they are just plain fun.
PS. I could be moving to Florida.....

I find it hard to comment on the Freddy books because they've been a part of my life since I was in second grade: they're not something I can judge; they're something I judge everything else by.

That being said, I think this is one of the best of the Freddy books. Brooks does a marvelous job of combining humor, drama (the courtroom scene with Jinx is worthy of the best of Perry Mason!), and splendid characters. If you like gentle humor and a fun read, this is a book for you.

Many rears ago the local library was too far to walk to so a book buss would bring them to our school. I milled offer the shelves and found a series of intriguing stories. It was the Freddy the pig series. I enjoyed many hours reading about Freddy's adventures with his pal Jinx. Then for years he just disappeared from view. No one ever heard of him. I combed the used bookstores and still no one heard of him. Then one day he returned. Today I am rediscovering Freddy. Not only are there new adventures but the originals ar being republished.
This is the best book to start with; it explains how Freddy became a detective, which he uses, in subsequent adventures. After reading a book on Sherlock Holmes he decides he can be a pretty good detective and recruits friends in the process.
The stories are intriguing in them selves. However underlying the story are several real life concepts for one to work out as what's the matter with going to jail if you get fed and do not have to work? What do you do when the judge has already made up his mind befor the trial? I especially like the way he browbeats the pore little rabbit during his interrogation. One forgets how intimidating it could be.
Well you will enjou this story as freddy must fingure out what happened to a childs toy train and what diabolical plot it is used in.

Freddy the Detective was the first hard bound book that my son Jonathan ever read (age 9-10). Later he went on to read all of Shakespeare's 37 plays as a teen ager. This can happen to your children if you introduce them to the Freddy series. "Detective" is especially interesting to boys who may not like to read that much. And it is excellent for adults also since there are many levels of understanding in all of the Freddy books (all 26 of them).

One time when my husband was on a business trip, my child, who at the time, was about 6 years old, came down for breakfast. When I asked him what he wanted for breakfast, he replied very nonchalantly, "an icecream sundae." I'm sure he was watching me out of the corner of his eye, to see what i'd do.Very matter- of -factly, I said, "Sure.What do you want on it?" We then proceeded to have icecream sundaes for breakfast, and I'm positive that my son will remember that day forever. In fact, whenever he has a friend sleep over, (he's now 11) he frequently tells his friends that "I'm the mother who serves icecream for breakfast" - and I'd venture to say that I've now gained a reputation among his friends as "the icecream lady" - - and we do have a lot of sleep-overs!! I love Leslie Levine's new book, and the concept behind it. Life certainly presents numerous opportunities to be taken seriously... and if we can allow ourselves to indulge in pleasure, just for the sake of being frivilous...perhaps we'll even live longer!

Gosh, I love this book. I wish I'd had its lovely, practical wisdom to use in answering all the people who've ever said to me, "Would you lighten up?" Now I know how. And it's fun. (This is also a BEAUTIFUL book -- terrific gift for Mother's Day, birthdays, best friends, uptight bosses, etc.)

Leslie Levine has given us a reason to cheer: we don't have to follow the rules and do exactly what we're supposed to all the time. When you're running around, doing errands, keeping track of jobs and kids and house and pets, driving back and forth to the dentist, the post office, and the cleaners--you NEED this book to make you smile and remember what life is really all about!

True love does exist. But in this book, Eric and Leslie point to the author of true love, Jesus Christ, as the source of their incredible love story. Honest and open in its display of how God moved in their lives to bring them a relationship based upon love of the deepest kind, Eric and Leslie reveal the joy, pain and ultimate satisfaction of searching for God's will in their lives above their personal desires. You'll laugh, you'll weep and you'll cheer as you see that true love is not dead!

Eric and Leslie do it again. Somehow they can use their love story over and over again and it brings home totally different points. After reading this book I fell more in love with Jesus than ever before. I actually have realized the importance of it. When you are so involved with Him, you feel the need for no one else, but also, if a future spouse is waiting for you, you want him to be like Jesus, so naturally its only logical to conclude that he is looking for the same. This book is just phenomenal, it also includes song lyrics that Eric and Leslie have written at the ends of chapters from their CD "Heavenly Perspective." The CD is a must have!! It's their best one! Their songs are like personal prayers put to music. There is nothing proud about them; they give God every ounce of credit for everything in their lives. This book, like all their others, is not a guide to successful dating or anything of the sort, just their beautiful story.

WHEN DREAMS COME TRUE is the autobiographical story of Eric and Leslie Ludy, authors of WHEN GOD WRITES YOUR LOVE STORY. If you read WGWYLS then you got a taste of what the Ludy's tale was like. It's expanded upon greatly here and it turns out that their story is worth reading in its entirety.

WHEN DREAMS COME TRUE follows the lives of Eric and Leslie from childhood through marriage, in first-person point of view but from both of their perspectives. What the Ludy's are trying to accomplish in relating their past is to keep alive the dream of a real, pure love story for those who might think it is all a myth. Eric and Leslie were raised in the church but both made some bad relationship choices in their teen years. Leslie relates that because of her mistakes she thought the dream of finding a Godly mate (her "knight") was no longer possible. But, of course, there's a happy ending. Because both of them got serious with the Lord and began to seek after Him wholly God began to move in their lives. Individually they had made the choice to give Him total control of everything, including their love life. And that's where things began to look up.

WHEN DREAMS COME TRUE, then, is a powerful testimony to what can happen if you put God first in your life -- your whole life. The Ludy's are a powerful example of just how much more beautiful one's own personal love story can be when it's told by the Maker Himself, rather than in our own feeble ways. Their philosophy on this subject is better related in WHEN GOD WRITES YOUR LOVE STORY (I recommend picking it up), but there's something fascinating and lovely about reading through their whole experience and seeing the hand of God upon their lives. Not only was I touched by the read but inspired in my walk as well -- to strive harder for the things which they did in theirs.

If you're desiring to let the Lord show you a better way in your relationships, or if you are in a place where you feel like it's no longer possible for something this good to happen for you then this is a book you need to read. Everyone will have a different story, but I believe that things ultimately can be just as amazing as they were for the Ludy's if we let the same Author take control of ours. For the Christian single, you can't do much better than the Ludy's books. FIVE STARS.

This book spawned both a feature movie (Rex Harrison played the dashing Captain)and a television show in the 70's. Finally, after many years of wanting to read the book, I found it on Amazon.com. It was well worth the wait!!

Although the romance is tame by today's standards, it is a sweet love story about a young widow (Lucy) who finds a ghostly companion (Capt Gregg) in a sea-side cottage.

They begin as friends and as the years pass, grow to love each other, but both know it is a hopeless relationship.

The Captain helps Lucy maintain her freedom from a domineering mother-in-law, by helping her write a book about his life. It's rousing success! However, because of the book Lucy meets another man--a living man, and the Captain begins to realize that he must allow Lucy to fall in love and get on with her life.

The romance proves to be a disaster for Lucy, and the Captain, feeling responsible, fades out of her life--but not forever...

After you read the book--go rent the movie. This is one story I wish they would update and do a remake!

I really enjoyed this book, and have read it twice already. It's a very touching love story. A widow moves into and old Sea Captain's house and she is confronted my his ghost. It is a very beautiful and tender love story. Captain Daniel Gregg is a real commanding as well as romantic ghost. Lucy Muir, the young widow grows to love him instead of fear him. I sincerly think it is one of the best love stories ever written.

This is a must read. It's a decent romance story, at the same time full of passion. There's never a dull moment and it is alwsy each page, captivating, romantic, and interesting.

Since the 1960s I have read The Ghost And Mrs. Muir well
over ten times and, having stumbled across the admiring reviews
herein, will start reading it again tomorrow. It is a wondrous
amalgam of fantasy and reality, of the yearning for romance and
the painful gaining of maturity. I am a fifty-five year old male
upset to usually find Leslie's novel categorized as "romance" fiction.
Her world followed Jane Austen's by over two hundred
years, but Leslie's novel has much of the wit and merit of Emma
or Pride and Prejudice.

I loved the book and if your thinking about buying it go for it.However if you haven't read Bunnicula and Howliday Inn your really missing out on some great books and you should get those too!

Bunnicula is a vampire bunny and he is on the loose. The Monroes, the family who owns Bunnicula, really don't have a clue about his escape. Bunnicula's pals Harold, Chester, and Howie are there to track him down in order to stop disaster. Chester has a theory that if Bunnicula bites the vegetables in everyone's garden they will turn into vampire vegetables and then attack the town. The message to the readers relays that ones mind can jump to many conclusions from the simple to the bazaar. Chester's idea of what may happen is defiantly leaning towards the bazaar. I like Celery Stalks at Midnight because the author told the story using animals which creates a hilarious picture in my mind.I recommend this book to all ages because of the animals and the mysterious happenings.

This is the best Bunnicula book written. I have read the whole series and this is the best!