I just read this book last night. It tells the story of the death and resurrection of Jesus through the eyes of Peter. It opens at the last supper (he didn't know it was the last) and draws the reader into the events at a gut-level but appropriate way for children. I've told my children the easter story before, but the emotion and drama here make it clearer. The outstanding illustrations illuminate the story even more fully. I encourage you to buy it and make it an easter tradition at your house.

Another vulnerably honest, poetic, daily-living tool from the Wangerin pen... this time, however, delight in hearing from both Wangerins. My husband and I were looking for some help in learning how to pray together (I longed to overcome my awkwardness with praying aloud), and in one of those on-our-knees moments, found this to be just the tender nudge we needed. In a candid style that seems to characterize both Thanne and Walter, the prayers will assuredly give voice to a spectrum of painful and joyous times in the life of a Christian couple. It is a dynamic reference allowing a couple to find easily a prayer language of their own and includes suggestions for private retreat, litanies, and devotions to enrich any married couple seeking to grow together in Christ. The moving Foreward nearly stands alone, but we plan to pair PRAYERBOOK with AS FOR ME AND MY HOUSE for wedding gifts.

I enjoyed using this little book during this past Advent and Christmas. Walter Wangerin Jr. has used his wonderful gift writing to give us a series of daily meditations that are a great help in focusing the mind, heart and imagination of the reader on the deepest significance of Christmas. We follow the events of the first Christmas from with scripture accompanied by short writings, poetry and prayer. Wangerin's writing varies between dramatization, exposition and application of the Christmas story to our lives. If you relax and let the author and the Holy Spirit have their way, the book will help you break through the confusion and frenzied cultural activity that often accompany Advent and touch the deeper meaning of the season. It doesn't drop you after Christmas Day but carries you through the 12 days of Christmas, gently releasing you at the beginning of Epiphany. It will leave you feeling like you've been there: at the Manger and help you go and live out the significance of Christ's coming to us in your own life.

I highly recommend this book, I thought it was even more effective than Wangerin's similar--and also very good--book for Lent and Easter, "Reliving the Passion".

A heartwarm story about Christmas. A nice story that shows the happy and unhappy parts about life with a little Christmas magic (an Angel). It looks at not just inner city life but family life and love.

I was very impressed by this work. I have read many of Wangerin's publications and have enjoyed them, and Dr. Portfleet's work helps me to enjoy and understand them more.

Swallowing The Golden Stone: Stories And Essays by Walter Wangerin, Jr. is a superbly presented selection of fanciful and fascinating fairy tales and poems suitable for reading to children and by young adults. Enhancing this wondrous collection are some very thoughtful essays and comments upon these treasured classic stories. Swallowing The Golden Stone is comparable to the best of the Brothers Grimm, the tales of Hans Christian Anderson, the stories of C.S. Lewis, or the writings of Frank L. Baum and very highly recommended for family, school, and community fairytale and folktale collections.

I read this in hardcover when it first came out, because after reading just two chapters, I knew this large book would be likeable and easy to get through. I was wanting to learn about the bible, but other books about it seemed to be very serious and/or daunting, and since it is, obviously a lot of information, I was put off by something which promised to be a chore instead of a pleasure-filled learning experience. The bible is obviously a very important book, and I really wanted to read it, but until this "novel", I was faced with publications that seemed to be alot of work to get through. This one, however, proved to be extremely accessible, and for its length, a very quick read, due to the fact that Mr. Wangerin takes admittedly interesting material to begin with, and weaves it into a very approachable "novel". Although I have to admit that it wasn't overly literate, it was very readable and was a great place to get a very absorbing large picture of the bible. I was very thankful for this book, as I now know what is being discussed when people talk about certain stories of the bible, and can add to the discussion.

If you're wondering whether you should pick this book up, just do it. It's fabulous.I heard Walter Wangerin speak at a conference and was spellbound by his intoxicating story-telling. Still,the book intimidated me, so I waited two weeks to buy it. When I did, I started it and could not put it down. I've read the Bible all my life--now I understand it with a depth I never knew existed, thanks to Wangerin's brilliant,inspirational story-telling. The chapters on Christ's crucifixion alone make this a wise purchase. Get it! I think you'll be amazed at how clear the message of the Bible really is.

Not being an expert of the Bible, I was skeptical about reading this book and getting the fact mixed up with the fiction. I have therefore made its reading companion an actual Bible. I'm only about halfway through the "novel", but I do not feel I am reading a blasphemus work. The Bible helps to se what is The Word and what is "enhanced". Basically much of what is fictionalized may have been true, but God didn't go into so much detail when he wrote the Bible. At first, I felt cheated that parts of the Bible were left out, but now I see that the author is telling a story of a family, following the line of succession to Jesus Christ. If you like this book, I recommend reading The Robe, by John Radziewicz, another could-have-happend-this-way novel about the cricifixion and resurection.

I've been collecting children's Christmas books for years, but this is one of the most beautiful and original ones I have ever seen. Religious Christmas books don't have a lot of variety in the story, of course. They tell about the birth of Jesus and no matter how beautiful the story is, everyone tells it pretty much the same way. The only thing that usually distinguishes one nativity book from another is the quality of the illustrations.

The illustrations in this book are nice, although nothing spectacular. But Walter Wangerin has found a unique way of telling the story. He has Mary tell the child Jesus (he looks about six or seven) about how he was born. It's a wonderful approach because every child loves to hear about the day he or she was born, and this gives them a strong identification with Jesus, and creates a touching sense of the warm relationship between Mary and her son that is usually missing from nativity stories. Her emphasis in telling the story is on all the love he was given at birth Ñ from God, from Mary and Joseph, from the angels, and from shepherds and kings.

The other unique quality of this book is that throughout the story, in subtle ways (but directly enough so that my six-year-old was aware of it) the author reminds you that Jesus will die. Mary tells the birth story to Jesus to comfort him when he is treated cruelly by other children (and she seems well aware that this will not be the last time he is treated horribly), and in the final illustration, Joseph is teaching Jesus some carpentry skills and we see Jesus joining two pieces of wood together in the shape of a cross. It is a sad undertone, one you don't usually find in Christmas books (and one many parents may prefer to avoid at Christmas time). But the context is this: at his birth, God and the world gave Jesus love, and through his death he returned that love. At Christmas, we usually focus on the joy not the sorrow, but I found this book very moving, and so did my daughter. We have dozens of Christmas books in the house, but over the past few weeks she's been asking for this one almost every day.

This book is quite wonderful. My kids loved it! The illustrations are very nice and the story of the first Christmas is well told. Entertaining for both parents and kids. The glimpse into the life of Jesus as a small boy is very well done, especially considering that we know nothing of his childhood from the Scriptures, except for his birth and the story of when he was thought lost but was in the temple. The story brings Mary and Jesus and even Josheph alive for the reader.

I have read this story to my three children and we all love it! It brings you back to the time Jesus was born and how Mary and Joseph felt about becoming parents to the Son of God. It is unlike any other Christmas book we have read. The illustrations are also remarkable. We think it is a "must have book" for everyone's library.

This book was recommended to us by several friends and my mother, so we bought and read it. I would have been happier had I borrowed it from the library and not spent the money. It has some good common-sense suggestions to keep a relationship working, but nothing earth-shattering. The only things I found really helpful were the triangular model of relationships and the chapter on ebb and flow. Other than that, if you've taken Psychology 101 this book has nothing new for you. Also, I was very disappointed in the workbooks. The book makes you feel like you are missing out if you don't stop every few paragraphs to do an exercise in the workbook, but the workbook is exceptionally lame and consists mostly of empty lines and questions that are obvious to the reader anyway-- definitely not worth $14 extra. If you want a really fantastic marriage book, try "I Pledge You My Troth" by James Olthuis, if you can find it.

I just finished this book. I thought it was great! It contains very practical usefull information on 'real' realationships and how-to's. I did not however, as the title implies (saving your marriage BEFORE it starts), feel like most of the advise given was for pre-married people. As a Christian, some of the examples given, were not for someone in just a dating situation. I would love to read a book by the Parrotts that was exclusively for singles...

Having counseled many couples in 20 years of pastoral ministry, I have read several books on marital, interpersonal relationships. The authors present sound principles that are easy for persons to understand and to apply. I had a few older favorites I would recommend to couples until reading this book -- now I have a new favorite to share instead!

One of the unique, most admirable qualities of this work is that it is very helpful to persons regardless of their marital status. A single individual will find it helpful for insight during dating. A person who is engaged will find it helpful in identifying issues that are sure to arise within marriage. A newlywed will find it helpful in responding to the major adjustments of sharing his/her life with another person. A person who has been married for several years will find it helpful in understanding how a marriage deepens and grows over the course of time.

I strongly recommend this book to anyone wanting to enhance the relationship with his/her "significant other." The Parrotts also have video tapes available to use in a seminar or as part of pre-marital or post-marital counseling. This book is definitely one to own!

"The Book of the Dun Cow" is easily the best fantasy book ever written, beating out even such great classics as "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Chronicles of Narnia."

Walter Wangerin Jr., a minister, uses animals to tell a tale of good versus evil. Unlike Animal Farm it does not carry a political message; rather, this is a spiritual one. It is well worth it to read and discover the essence of the greatest and most dangerous war there ever was--the war between Chaunticleer the rooster and Wyrm the serpent, which symbolizes the real war humans wage every day in the battle of good versus evil.

If you read just one book this year, this should be the one.

THE BOOK OF THE DUN COW is a highly entertaining, yet serious thought provoking novel that uses animals instead of people to tell about the universal battle between good and evil that continues to this day. Though the characters of the book are animals, the story is more allegorical, like C.S. Lewis' CHRONICLES OF NARNIA rather than satirical like George Orwell's ANIMAL FARM. The characterization is deep and the actions believable. The book is full of Christian symbolism and dives deep into issues of faith. Yet, with all the multi-layers and profound meaning, the book is never weighed down by it's depth and proves to be a page-turning, great story that is hard to put down.

The book of the Dun Cow is an AMAZING book! Its poetic language is completely and totally wonderful. Character establishment is big in this book, and the end is thought provoking, and makes you realize that evil still lives (and that there's a sequel!). Take messages from peoms (within the book) and relate it to the story for the real essence of it. A sample:

Rue (she said) protection,

Rooster's crow confusion,

And one more thing to end the deed,

A dog with no illusion.