This simple, yet intricate tale of a cat named Charlie and Anderson can help children of divorced parents relate to life. In it a cat has two homes, two set of owners and one big family that loves him a lot. He doesn't mind having to visit between them and he gets different kinds of love shown him at each house. So it makes him extra special. The two little girls who discover their cat actually has another home he visits during the day, slowly realize that although their parents live in separate houses still love them the same as if they did live together. It's straight forward approach and fuzzy, cuddly cat makes this book a unique approach to talking to your children about divorce. I recommend it highly being a divorced parent of a cat lover.

Two families that live on opposite sides of the woods think they "own" a cat. One calls him Charlie, one calls him Anderson. Just like the two sisters that live on one side of the woods, Charlie has two homes where he is loved very much. This is a great way to explain that just because two households are very different the love can be just as strong in both.

I work ( volunteer)at a library and O stumbled upon this book and my boyfriends name is Charlie Anderson so I read it! I thought it was soo cute!!! I recommend this book to every one named Charlie Anderson and other people too!

I originally bought this book for some older friends of mine. I ended up reading it all the way through before giving it to them. The stories touched all of my emotions and reminded me of my wonderful grandparents as well(my grandparents raised my sisters and I thru much of our childhood). This is a great book for anyone and everyone-don't pass it up.

Readers who haven't received a recent dose of "Chicken Soup for the Soul," shame on you. In "Chicken Soup for the Golden Soul," Mark Victor Hansen, Jack Canfield, Barbara Chesser, Amy Seeger and Paul Meyer present us with one of the best of the series.

I say it is a must-read for anyone on either side of 60. It is a timeless, energized, enthusiastic, motivational book written with golden years in mind, but filled with stories all can enjoy. Will be a great holiday gift for lots of folks on your list.

When I am a old lady I shall wear purple........ Remember that poem. Author unknown to me. When reading this book, I cried, laughed, remembered and decided to live for the moment. Life is such a joy, and this book made me remember that.It is a must for all of us old goldies. A great gift for one to take for every occasion....birthday, shut-ins, loved ones and etc.

My First Chicken Soup book that I have read, and this was simply excellent. I laughed, cried, and it brought back all my childhood memories.

I purchased this book as a gift for each of my four sisters, as well as one for myself. The stories are so perfectly suited to the relationship between sisters -- good, bad, and ugly! In many stories we found ourselves.

Laugh, cry, get mad, enjoy! You'll do all of these when you read this book. It's a wonderful gift for yourself as well as your sister!!

these book is really one of my favourite , i really recommend it for sisters it show me how special and lucky a person is to have a sis ,and i specially recommend it to busy people because it will let them think again about the time they spend with there sis .

Child Safe covers virtually every area of child safety and all age groups in an easy-to-read, approachable style. Written by an emergency room physician, it is filled with common and not-so-common hazards and ways to prevent the calamities that can result from these dangers. The information is sobering, but indispensible, for parents, caregivers, and relatives. We gave copies to both sets of grandparents so that they would understand how much more we know since they raised their children, and to give them a resource for learning how to make their own homes "child safe." This kind of information can be received much better by a mother-in-law, for example, when it comes from an "expert."

Dr. Mark Brandenburg--man or medical prophet? BOTH! As this book proves, Dr. Brandenburg is quite simply the Dr. Spock for the 21st Century. With hypnotic prose and horrifying cautionary tales, Dr. Brandenburg has crafted the parents bible for the millenium. This man is truly what doctors should be- a leader, father figure, and saint in surgical garb. God bless Dr. Brandenburg. I plan to journey to Tulsa to personally ask for Dr. Brandenburg's blessing. The holy power of this modern day mystic cannot be overestimated. His scalpel is guided from above. Read this book EVERYDAY.

When it comes to keeping children safe, there is no limit to the amount of information that parents can receive.

At first glance, you may think that "Child Safe" is just another book about child safety hazards. But you'll be pleasantly surprised. From the moment you begin reading, you'll discover the wonderful gift that Dr. Mark Brandenburg has shared - a gift of simple, yet effective preventive measures you can take to help protect your children.

"Child Safe" is full of facts and safety information that is categorized into easy-to-read sections. You'll learn about the numerous safety hazards that exist for your children, as well as find a list of product recalls. Also included is a list of Child Safety Resources.

I particularly enjoyed the many personal comments and opinions made by Dr. Brandenburg throughout the book, which he supports with his experiences as an emergency room physician. His writing style is that of a close friend - direct, friendly, and easy-to-understand.

My ParenTime highly recommends "Child Safe" to parents and anyone concerned about children. Not only is it well-written and easy-to-read, you'll find it a wonderful guide that will be referred to often.

Eric Marks has offered us a rich framework of information-age paradigms to complement the secular world of strategic thinking.

A wonderful parallel is drawn between the organic nature of the corporation and the darwinian theory of survival. The author demonstrates that while thinking might be organic or hollistic, the IT organization lacks woefully behind due to its structure and the lack of generative planning that accompanies regular business chaos.

The book makes a conscious effort to stop at theory and frameworks, hopefully to be continued with a plan to action and tools for the implementation in subsequent publications.

I found "Business Darwinism" to be a no-nonsense, intelligently written evolution of information. The reading experience is educating, and at the same time, entertaining. It's a compendium of fascinating, and important events that shaped our current day information systems models. The Darwin, and other evolution analogies that the author selected, as well as the attention-grabbing timelines and events makes for an interesting read. He very nicely positions the IT importance intelligently at the center of the corporate model without overstated importance, and supports it with well-built logic as to why it works. The appeal of the book is that anyone, hanging on to any position on the corporate flagpole will find it both interesting and educational, as it helps him or her understand the core value of information at the business level, without all the technogibberish.

I found "Business Darwinism" to be a no-nonsense, intelligently written evolution of information. The reading experience is educating, and at the same time, entertaining. It's a compendium of fascinating, and important events that shaped our current day information systems models. The Darwin, and other evolution analogies that the author selected, as well as the attention-grabbing timelines and events makes for an interesting read. He very nicely positions the IT importance intelligently at the center of the corporate model without overstated importance, and supports it with well-built logic as to why it works. The appeal of the book is that anyone, hanging onto any position on the corporate flagpole will find it both interesting and educational, as it helps him or her understand the core value of information at the business level, without all the technogibberish.

Great doggy tales (and tails) for Christmas. Hounds and murder, a great way to spend the holidays. A great gift for the mystery-animal lover...or for yourself!

This collection of Christmas themed canine tales was filled with favorite and new authors for me. I loved Leslie O'Kane's contribution, as well as those by Patricia Guiver and other well known authors of dog mysteries. There were several unfamiliar authors and their stories were just as good. Each short story is very well crafted. I have to say my favorite story was by Virginia Lanier, her JoBeth Siddons series of Bloodhound mysteries has always been one of my favorites.

CANINE CHRISTMAS is a Christmas mystery anthology and each mystery includes one or more canines.

I have always said a presenter or editor could not go wrong with an anthology. But when the anthology takes on a special subject such as this one I feel it makes even more entertaining. CANINE CHRISTMAS has a wonderful variety of authors such as, Parnell Hall, whose story "Clicker Training" leads the way; Virginia Lanier who treats us with another story involving her bloodhounds; H. Robert Perry writes a 'tongue in cheek' (at least that's how I took it) mystery called the "Toy Pincher," which I found it quite humorous; Mark Graham's serious story "Fencing Crib" brought some emotions out of me; Jeffrey Marks offers us a hard-to-solve whodunit in "Yellow Snow; Deborah Adams writes a very funny story about a Psycho Santa and his elves and there's more! After reading each one I am quite sure anyone who reads CANINE CHRISTMAS will find a favorite among the many tails... I mean tales.

Note: Holiday mysteries are a treat to read, especially during the Christmas season, but mind you if you stick to enjoying them only one month out of the year, you will miss out on the many, many holiday reads that have been offered in the past and will be offered in the future. For myself, I have found reading holiday books can be just as magically all year around.

Wonderful stories, not only feel good stories, but some actual miracles! I cried, I smiled. I read this book one or two at a time at bedtime. The short stories would be nice to read at the table on Shabbat. I agree with another reviewer, you don't have to be Jewish to enjoy this book!

I laughed, I cried, I remembered. This is a great book, even if you are not Jewish. It contains a wonderful story about the present Pope. There is something for everyone.
Now, I am waiting for Chicken Soup For the Jewish Soul #2 and hopefully, #3.

So nu, it's about time we finally got "Chicken Soup for the JEWISH Soul" -- after all, didn't we Jews invent the chicken-soup-cure-all metaphor in the first place? And storytelling is such a big part of our culture, that there was no shortage of material. In fact, according to the intro to this book, one of the reason it took so long to edit is because there was SO MUCH material. Enough, I hope, to do a sequel or two.

I was delighted to find so many of my favorite contemporary stories included: Larry Trapp, the ex-KKK member who had a real change of heart; a prison inmate touched by a hug from the late Shlomo Carlebach; How Kirk Douglas re-connected with his Jewishness at the Western Wall; how Eddie Kantor started the March of Dimes; the heroism of Raoul Wallenberg; the good-hearted people of Billings, Montana, who took a stand against antisemitism, etc. Plus there are many, many new stories to touch the heart and soul. Ten stars!

This book is very interesting and you don't get bord reading the same thing over and over. You could read a lot of different stories. One of my favorite stories was about this girl that always got mad because her sister would always be able to go out with her friends. Then one day she got to go to an amusement park but she had to be back before 10:00pm. So they left the park at 10:30pm and they were scared that her dad would get mad at her so they were speeding in the freeway and the driver lost control of the car, so they got into a really bad car accident. Her head was cut open and she had to be hopitlized. for once her sister was glad they didn't let her go, but she was still very hurt because of what happend to her sister.

Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul: Letters is a collective book of responses to the first three novels of Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul. Each story is just as heart warming as the stories in the original book, but this time the stories are ones that occurred due to the previous books in the series. Each story delivers a heart felt lesson of an "oh well, I guess that my life isn't that bad after all, " or a "maybe I should change my life too". Many of the writers were going through times when they thought suicide was the best option or that there was no option at all, each writer then expressed their own reaction to the book and how their life was changed and put back on the right track. Within the contents of the book, I found some truly amazing and uplifting stories; one was about a girl suffering from the loss of her only sister and how each section of the book brought her to overcome her devastating reality. Another was about a girl who got copies of the book for the grieving students at Columbine. Each story was compelling, up lifting, and really let me see what living is all about.
On a scale from 1-10 I would give this book a 9, because of it's mysterious ways to make me feel better about my self or just put me in a better mood. One of the most important reasons to pick up this book is because it lets me know that no matter what I do I am not alone and that where ever I go, I can make a difference if I am compelled to help.

Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul: Letters is a collective book of responses to the first three novels of Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul. Each story is just as heart warming as the stories in the original book, but this time the stories are ones that occurred due to the previous books in the series. Each story delivers a heart felt lesson of an "oh well, I guess that my life isn't that bad after all, " or a "maybe I should change my life too". Many of the writers were going through times when they thought suicide was the best option or that there was no option at all, each writer then expressed their own reaction to the book and how their life was changed and put back on the right track. Within the contents of the book, I found some truly amazing and uplifting stories; one was about a girl suffering from the loss of her only sister and how each section of the book brought her to overcome her devastating reality. Another was about a girl who got copies of the book for the grieving students at Columbine. Each story was compelling, up lifting, and really let me see what living is all about.
On a scale from 1-10 I would give this book a 9, because of it's mysterious ways to make me feel better about my self or just put me in a better mood. One of the most important reasons to pick up this book is because it lets me know that no matter what I do I am not alone and that where ever I go, I can make a difference if I am compelled to help.

This book was recommended to me by a friend. I was skeptical about the practicality of the "minimal effort = maximum weight loss" plan that is stated on the cover. But this book is not about minimal effort or maximum weight loss. It's about a practical approach to developing and maintaining a lifestyle that will result in a heathier body. Isaacson and his co-authors provide details and specific guidelines for a simple, logical plan of diet and exercise that even I have been able to follow.

This book is different from any diet book I've ever read (and I've read them all). It emphasizes small changes for slow, long-term weight loss. This isn't a quick fix. Each week you add one small change to your eating - for example, in the first week, you're to drink 16oz of water every few hours. The second week you add another small diet or activity change and so on.

What I love about this approach is that there are no forbidden foods, and you choose how much you want to lose as well as the amount of time you'd like to take. For example, I want to lose 15 lbs. At first I decided to lose it in 12 weeks, but I found that if I choose 20 weeks, I'd be able to eat a little bit more each day, which means I will be more likely to successfully follow the plan to the end. I will update this review in 20 weeks and let you know if I followed through with it.

The worksheets make it easy and fun to ensure that you're sticking to the Equation - I think this is going to work for me.

UPDATE - I've been on this program for four weeks now and have lost 7 lbs - this doesn't sound too hot, but I have actually decreased my workouts. I used to work out 5-6 times per week, now I'm down to 3-4. For me, eating less is more important for weight loss than exercise, and this book helps me to do so w/ little effort.

Great book, easy to follow, and great reasults. You will love it.

Mark Doty is one of the finest poets of our time, writing eloquent, informed poems, essays, books, and musings about life and art. To read FIREBIRD: A MEMOIR almost breaches credibility, so stressful and trying was his childhood and youth. But perhaps, and probably, this is why he is able to write with such sensitivity today. FIREBIRD relates the coming of age of a chubby, nerdy, alienated, pre-gay, geeky kid who finds little solace in his family (a deeply disturbed alcoholic mother, a passive ne'er-do-well military type father, a sister headed for incarceration) yet manages to capture moments from this distorted childhood, like expressive dancing to Stravinsky's 'Firebird' and learning to paint from his mother, to head him toward the sucessful communicator he is today.

If this sounds a bit like a book you'd rather not endure, then think again. This is one of rare memoirs that reveals all the pain and learning that life offers to the sensitive mind and then shows how the body that holds that mind can rise from the ashes (phoenix/firebird) and behold a world of art, music, and write about it like few others. The book is immensely well written. There are comic moments, childlike reveries, imagination blooming among the atrocoties of discovery of what is adulthood that are related so clearly and eloquently that they beg to be re-read again and again. Example: "A life hurtles forward, tumbles out and ahead from these twin poles: firebird and revolver, diametrical opposites like the yes and no which rule the Ouija board: twin magnetic poles which cause a kind of gyroscopic spin, advancing the motion of my tale." and "All along, the firebird watches, patient in ashes, smoldering till the hour to flame. Just one dance teaches it to believe in the brightness to come. All it ever needed was a practice run, in preparation for someday's full emblazoning."

And with words like that this reader can only recommend this experience book to all who wonder whether they are of worth. Highly and joyously recommended!

FIREBIRD is one of those books that draws in the reader and holds his/her attention. The reader is at once morbidly fascinated and horrified by the author's life experiences. The author writes about his life without self-pity or a plea for sympathy. That he had the strength to survive all he has endured in the first half of his life is inpsirational. I am proud to have known Mark Doty for two brief school years in the late sixties. Thirty-five years later Mark Doty continues to impact my life.

For several years I had read favorable reviews of Mark Doty's work and wondered if this writer was "that Mark Doty"--the smartest boy in my junior high school, the one we voted "Most Likely to Succeed."

My curiosity got the better of me when Firebird was released, since it is autobiographical, and yes, it is that Mark Doty. Those junior high years were but a blip on the screen of Mark's life (chapter seven), but his memories and descriptions of the place and the same people I knew are spot on. This book, however, is so much more than a snippet of shared history. There is nothing I could say about this book that would accurately describe its impact on me--all of my words would be an understatement.

Mark Doty's work is fine art. His prose and the structure work beautifully together. This is not another package of self-pity in which the author is intentionally pulling up emotions. Yes, I cringed and felt outrage at some of the most uncomfortable parts, but the writer soothed me and reassured me that where there is art, there is a home, a place in the world--like that which Petula Clark sings about in "Downtown."

I am proud of and pleased for Mark Doty's outstanding literary achievements. I also thank him for having the courage to write this book. Many of us who are fortunate enough to have read it are grateful and forever changed through the experience of his work of art.

I recommend it to anyone who is gay, straight, or undecided.