My mother bought a copy of this title for me to give to her future grandchild. I was so inspired by it, that I want to give it to all of my friends now. This book has delightful drawings and a wonderful message. This book is fun to read as an adult and a child. It is so important that children and adults are surrounded by positive messages like the one this book has to offer. I recommend it for everyone!

The positive messages of this book are complemented by the terrific illustrations. A very simple yet important text as it teaches little ones to like themselves. The main character is one very upbeat pig. My son enjoys and laughs at the illustrations. The text provides fodder for conversation. Not too heavy in a figurative or literal way, this book is small enough to warrant a place on every small child's bookshelf. You may also want to check out Ms. Carlson's other books as they are all terrific. Highly recommended!

A great way for preschoolers to repair their fragile sense of self and self-respect. Any child should be able to absorb these positive message to repeat to themselves when they feel down.

As someone who has followed the stages of several couples from the moment
they found out they couldn't have children to the healthy births of two for
each couple, through 'in vitro fertilization', I found this book to be
poignant, funny, and tearful. This easy read novel provides life lessons for
everyone in fortitude. The characters are wonderfully drawn and every reader
will recognize grandma Hannah in his or her own family. The author has
successfully tackled a very touchy subject and made the struggles of
infertility understandable to those who have always taken for granted the
simple act of conception.

With pleasure I write a review for "My Little One" by Nancy Rechtman. Rechtman has penned an outstanding novel tackling a not so funny topic (infertility) making it understandable and even humorous. As a woman who went through years of infertility concerns I applaude this author for writing about this devastating condition woman can suffer with. The thing needed during this depressing time in life is humor and "My Little One" is absolutely hysterical throughout and yet, poignant and heart wrenching, too. A true talent can professionally and effectively blend humor and tragedy and this author definitely can, and does it well. Two thumbs up!

I thoroughly enjoyed My Little One. I got so involved with wanting to know what would happen next I finished it in two days. I would love to know what happens next. Does Hanna get to meet any great grandchildren and how there lives turn out. It doesn't matter if you have had infertility problems or not the book was great.

i first read this book in the 4th grade, long ago, i have re-read it many many times and still love the story... is a very touching story with a happy ending, i have read it to many of my nephews and nieces............this is my favorite book in the whole world... and i have read many....

I will be 50 years old next month and my sister just turned 60. Whenever we talk on the phone, we still discuss this book and how much we loved it. Sadly, our copy was lost about 30 years ago.

I'll never forget when the nasty little girl got the ammonia spashed in her eyes!

I read this book about 45 years ago and still remember how much
I loved it. It is a beautiful story, whose ideas, relationships, themes, opinions, and manner of writing not too dated (like Rebecca of Sunybrook farm) ... about 2 little girls whose only real desire is a loving family ... but more like Lucy Maud Montgomery's "Anne of Green Gables", the Stratton-Porter books like "Girl of the Limberlost" or Frances Hodgson Burnett's "The Secret Garden". For slightly younger children (to read to
Kindergartner's and up). GET THIS BACK IN PRINT!!! Betty Macdonald also wrote humorous adult books .. I think "The Egg and I" was made into a very funny move about a city couple taking up
farming (with Fred McMurray and Claudet Colbert? ... pre-dating "Green Acres").

I got this book when I was twelve. I knew I had to improve my manners yet I didn't want to go to to a school for etiquette. This book teaches girls the fundmentals of having good manners (i.e. first impressions, body language, house guests, nosy questions, etc. ) without being fussy and too prudish. They have quizzes that you can take to test your etiquette when it comes to hosting parties, the outdoors and how to deal with horrible house guests. The book is divided into chapters that put you in compromising positions where your manners can make or break you. They cover absolutely everything you could possibly think of; traveling in a foreign country, how to write the perfect party invitation, how to act in public, everything. They even have solutions on how not to interrupt people when they are talking and how not to bore people when you're initiating a conversation and how to address unmarried women, married women and young girls (i.e. Mrs. Ms. or Miss?) Since reading the book, I am no longer intimidated by how to act at a wedding, funeral, at a friends house, a fancy dinner or even meeting presidents and royalty. I even know how to make the perfect curtsy since reading "Oops!: The Manners Guide for Girls".

Before reading this book, I was a girl who's manners TOTALLY stunk! My mom kept on giving me tips and even tried bribes for me to improve them. Let me tell you, after reading this book, I learned tons and tons and my mom was REALLY happy about my improvement in manners; and not only did I learn -like I always do after reading American Girl books- but I used what I learned, and I felt a lot better and I had a lot more self-confidence and people were always commenting me on what GREAT manners I have. Anyway this book tells you how to act in weddings, funerals, at the dinner table, and lots more! This book is really helpful with its quizzes;not to mention its illustrations. "Oops! The Manners Guide for Girls" is for girls who want their manners to totally shine in every way! :)

Manners are what help us deal gracefully with new and unexpected situations. This book uses colorful illustrations and an informal, conversational style to painlessly teach girls how to get through life's little bumps with poise and style.

From "Please" and "Thank You" to the proper protocol for having tea with the Queen, this little book covers the bases well, including topics as diverse as table manners, good behavior in the outdoors and Internet safety.

The chapters are punctuated by fun quizzes that teach by example, posing questions in real life situations. The book also offers sections of questions (and answers) about difficult social situations faced by kids every day.

This book appears to be written for girls ages 8 to 12, but it has a lot to offer for everyone. I suggest reading a section a day together as a family. The situations described in the book lend themselves well to laughter and discussion. Besides, who among us parents has perfect manners in all situations? Wouldn't YOU be just a teensy bit nervous having tea with the Queen? -- Scott Loban

This book is extraordinary if I do say so myself! Cary Henderson is my grandfather. He was diagnosed with AD soon after I was born. I have no memory of him not having it. It has gotten so bad no that a I feel like he is living, but not really here all the way. He is holding on, though. The pictures taken by Nancy Andrews are artistic and creative-wonderfully displayed. My grandma and aunt have put so much work and time in this book and it has really paid off. I am proud of them and think it's great that people can put themselves in someone's shoes that has AD. This book is interesting and will keep your attention until it's over. I reccomend this book to anyone.

This book gave me some small insight into what my grandmother, who has alzheimers, must be going through. From the description of why he's afraid of the dark to the small joys of daily life and unquestioning company of his dog, Smith-Henderson has given a treasure to those of us baffled by this disease. My aunt is now using the book for a project in medical school, and I am encouraging my family to read it, so they might also have an idea of what people with alzheimer's face daily.

I have worked in nursing homes with Alzheimer's patients and received excellent staff training in relating to these people. But nothing equals the insights into the feelings so powerfully shared by Mr. Henderson. I'm giving it to a friend whose spouse has just been diagnosed and will recommend it to professionals still in the caregiving field.

My very first book by this author nearly put me off entirely - by the blurb on the back cover. It was a while before I could bring myself to pick it up and to go beyond the first two pages. Be warned - do not make the same mistake that I did. The blurb does not do justice to the story, and in fact gets several details wrong.

Some spoilers follow but first a general warning: the story is not about the young actress who discovers the murder, but about her rescuer Mr Beecham Bryce and a Lady Jemima Vale who is an amateurish artist, in all senses of that word. And no - Lady Jemima's art skills play no part in the story, except to permit her to appreciate the greater aristic skills of others.

The story is not about murder and intrigue, although those do play some part in the story, in forcing Lady Jemima to remove to the house of a well-known rake, and the intrigue elements become crucial at one point very late in the story. However, the love story itself is not dependent on the murder nor on the intrigue, except in permitting the author to bring the couple together at the beginning. So, if you are looking for a book full of a hero and heroine (and villains) dashing about the countryside, you will be disappointed. And yes, there is a villain (more than one, actually) but the real villain's identity comes as a surprise.

I won't tell you too much about the rest of the story, for fear of spoiling other discoveries for you. Once I got past the first four or five pages, I found myself engrossed in the book - rooting for the hero and heroine alike, and hoping sincerely that the hero, in particular, would be able to actually read the heroine's mind. [The misunderstanding that temporarily separates them is entirely believable - in that it is a problem of miscommunication, rather than of unnecessary pride or some external agent]. The real surprise is the ending. Once the murder and the intrigue have been resolved, the hero and heroine do not fall into each other's arms. They must still learn to communicate better, and for once, the heroine is the one taking steps to end the misunderstanding by swallowing her own pride at being rejected.

It has a good plot, a hero who is not a nobleman (and is rather unconventional), a far-from-missish but not waspish heroine, and some interesting and finely drawn secondary characters. This is not a book to read for wit and humor (although there is a good-natured tone in the story), nor one for pathos and tears.

Read this for a good story about a relationship that builds around, and even despite, a mystery. More precisely, there are several mysteries - Who is the murderer? What was the murderer doing in the area? Is Jemima right in her suspicions about Beecham?. And there is lots of other suspense created by such small things as a cart going the wrong way, but I will leave it to you to find out what happens.

Despite some improbabilities, this is still one of the best Regencies I have read this year.

I've now read a number of Nancy Butler's novels and, thus far, this one is the very best. A story of a mature woman and a rake with a sad and bad past is always a pleasurable plot for me. But this one was certainly one of the finest I've read and put me in mind of Heyer's Venetia and her beloved Damerel.

Jemima Vale - mature, intelligent and strong is missing something in her life - love, true companionship and (unbeknownst to her) sexual fulfilment. She meets, through the subplot of intrique and espionage, Mr Beecham Bryce - rake, reprobate, fallen angel with a hardened heart. Of course, in this sort of scenario, the H/H are never quite what they seem. Jemima is wise and caring but eager to love a man who, superficially at any rate, appears to be totally inappropriate. Bryce is a man who has willfully brought on his own downfall yet retains strong family ties and yearns to find love and completion with Jemima, a woman who proves to be his true "other half".

This is a tightly plotted story with wholly believable characters (and some brilliant secondary characters) and the story is enlivened by some of the wittiest dialague I have read in a regency novel for a very long time. Just one tiny example:

Jemima looked up at the sky, assessing the position of the sun. "I see that it is past noon. And that your innuendoes have returned, right on schedule."

Bryce's mouth drew up into a crooked grin. "I don't flatter before lunchtime; innuendo I can furnish round the clock."

Butler handles her mature heroine and flawed hero with great skill and gusto in this novel. Both are characters who come bursting to life for the reader. It's definitely a keeper and it's made me realise it is time to re-read Heyer's "Venetia" again. Very highly recommended for its plot, characters, dialogue and high levels of emotion and sexual tension.

Nancy Butler has a way of making her rakes interesting. This is not an easy thing to do since a regency rake cannot be too bad lest the reader dislike him, yet if he has no bad behaviors...how can he be called a rake. Bryce, finds himself very interested in Jemima (although she disapproves of him) and does his best to lure her in only to find himself genuinely liking her and finding himself concerned about her. Jemima also finds that Bryce is a more complex person than she imagined and begins to review some of the decisions or nondecisions she has made in her life so far. The relationship developes at a nice pace and both characters undergo a lot of self-reflection as they fall in love. I also like the way that humor binds these two together...nothing is more sexy than couples that can laugh together as well as the other good stuff.

This is a great book for (food) gardeners and for people who have some land available to them. Although there are suggestions for "nooks and crannies" in your house, most of those ideas sound like ideas for older (draftier) homes.

The suggestions for building your own working root cellar are clear, with illustrations to help you plan. There are lists of things that keep well and under what conditions to keep them. The authors even list certain varieties of (for instance) apples that keep better than others. There's a month-by-month plan of what could be coming out of your garden, going into the root cellar, and what could be canned or frozen. If you have a large garden, this is an incredibly useful book.

However, those of us with smaller modern homes, smaller yards, and smaller, less heavily-producing gardens will be a little disappointed. As I read this, I came to the conclusion that it would be pretty darned difficult to have a root cellar on our property, because we don't have a useable cool north corner to put one in. Not impossible, mind you, it would just take a lot more effort, planning, and money to build it.

I recommend this book highly for people who raise substantial amounts of their own produce. This book will really extend your harvest. With imagination and a little time and effort, you can have a root cellar that keeps your family in fresh food you grew all year long.

This book is an excellent guide if you're interested in self-sufficiency. It gives the exact storage recommendations for a good number of fruits and vegetables, including which fruits and vegetables shouldn't be stored too close together.

Ok - so, "You gotta get this book" isn't entirely correct grammar! All I can say is - get the darn book! It's easy to read, comforting, inexpensive, a-pass-me-down-book, etceterea. I have it, read it, shared it with friends - and will NOT part with it. I also don't have a root cellar as of yet. ...but I will. Now - its time for you to say, "hey, I like what I see here - so why not get it - it's not expensive and look what I will reap from it". So there. Now you have it. Go for it. Just buy it. You'll love it and for the low price of $xx.xx its worth it (ok, so a Ron Popeil look-a-like I ain't, but hey!) Want a personalized endorsement for this book? ...

For anyone out there who is Sicilian/American, this is a great cook book. The author's stories are great. Brings back memories about what your grandpa might have said. I'm going to make the "Ricotta Pie" (recipe in book) for the holidays this year to keep up the tradition of our wonderful heritage. I enjoyed reading through this cookbook as much as I enjoyed the recipes in it.

The recipes comprising Sicilian Gentleman's Cookbook were gleaned from the author's Sicilian background and provide over 150 dishes from pasta dishes combining meats and vegetables with stews, sauces, and soups. All come embellished not with color photos, but with the author's insights into Sicilian culture and culinary styles.

Back in print--at last--is "The Sicilian Gentleman's Cookbook," which Don Baratta originally self-published back in the 1980s. It's a very personal effort, an hommage to his late father, who was born in the little town of Mussomeli in central Sicily and who came to the U.S. in 1905. The elder Baratta was a man of strong opinions; for example, he didn't consider many mainland Italians to be Italians at all or, as he put it, "anything north of Palermo is Swiss." The younger Baratta minces no words either, and often in this book he and his father combine delightfully: "Cauliflower is a much-hated vegetable in this country [the U.S.], yet it need not be so. It is usually boiled and accompanied by small groans. A non-Italian guest once watched with interest the respect my father paid this detested food. Her curiosity broke down her ancient reservations, and she tried a piece. The result was near-disbelief in the lively flavor. The Old Man flatly pointed out (indifferent to the insult he offered the poor girl's family), 'If it had been prepared correctly, you would have always liked it!' So much for polite chatter. He remained unrepentant all his life."

There's much more of the same in these pages, and plenty of recipes--many of them unusual and delightful (Sicilian cooking is ine of the richest and most varied cuisines in the Mediterranean basin). The pages are large, the type is clear, and there's only one recipe to a page. So whether you try the cauliflower recipes--or the cardoons or the meat and seafood dishes--you're in for a treat. Still, the best part of this book is the salty talk of two Sicilian gentlemen--the one who wrote it and the one who inspired it.

This is a mystery with a difference! Our heroine, Marie Lightfoot, is not a lawyer, police officer, private detective or journalist for starters. She is a best-selling True Crime novelist. What vistas this opens up for a series! She has every reason to be nosing around the crime scene, the courtroom, the witnesses and families of victims; and she has no boring boss to slow her down. She has a highly comfortable life style, easily explained. Marie has no background, so the reader is sure to exercise his/her own imagination. I have always felt Kinsey Mahone was far more effective before Sue Grafton hung a back story around her neck giving her a plethora or relatives and details about an ex-husband.

Marie switches from first person observation to chapters from her current manuscript with the lackluster title, "Anything To Be Together." It is the story of a charismatic minister convicted of beating his attractive wife to death, probably with the aid and assistance of his girlfriend. Rev. Wing is awaiting execution on Death Row. Ironically, the rector has received much local publicity in the past for his anti-death penalty activism. She has just completed the text, but feels dissatisfied with parts of it, particularly the lack of background and insights on the principal players.

The plot is excellent, complex with a labyrinth of twists and turns. There are a few attitudes that boggle my mind, but perhaps that is just me. Ms. Pickard is a fine writer and has created a thoroughly likeable heroine. A fine read.

Marie Lightfoot has been working on her latest true crime book for the past year. The two murders in her book seem to be solved, but now that her book is in the hands of her editor, she is beginning to think that all is not as it appears. The scene moves back and forth between Maire Lightfoot's book and her life as a writer. This, the second installment in the Lightfoot series, is very well written and as enjoyable as all of Pickard's books. Her characters are shown with all their warts and pimples. Some are quite likeable, others are easy to dislike. There are devious plot twists aplenty in this story and that is what makes Pickard one of my favorite authors. A very well put together story.

A mystery with many twists and turns that keep you intrigued and trying to guess who did it until the very end. A pastor, who has strongly opposed the death penalty is accused of killing his wife, and is sentenced to death himself. While writing the story on this crime, Lightfoot is having trouble putting all the pieces together, and gets in the middle of the crime. She discovers that the pastor was not the killer after all, and that the next person scheduled to be put to the death penalty is in fact innocent. Lightfoot discovers who the true murderer is, and nearly gets killed in the process, but in the end, it turns out that none of the facts that the police had uncovered were true and it is up to Lightfoot to set the record straight. Ring Of Truth is an original, intriguing mystery that sucks you in and doesn't let you go until the very end. I could not put this book down!

I think Scarabian Nights is a pretty good book. It's basically about Aunt Vesta's gift to Sabrina, an "Ushabti," a little doll kind of thing. Sabrina wishes she could go back in time with her friend Valerie since she's bored. But she really doesn't mean to wish that. But the Ushabti really takes her back in time with Valerie and Salem, her magical talking cat. Queen Bast, the ruler there, likes Salem, and says she wants to marry him. But then Sabrina finds out the chilling secret: She sees cats turned to stone on the walls of Queen Bast's kingdom. Queen Bast had turned all the cats she was about to marry into stone! What can she do to protect Salem and get out of Queen Bast's kingdom with Valerie and back home!? I'm not going to give away the ending, but I can tell you a series of adventures happen when Sabrina tries to save Salem and get them all back home!

This book sort of drags on in the middle of the book, but except for that, this book is so interesting I couldn't put it down!

This is one of my favorite Sabrina books! Sabrina, Salem, and Valerie go back to Ancient Egypt and the cat goddess Bast falls in love with Salem. They take away Sabrina's powers and she must find a mirror to get them back and save Salem. You should read it if you're a Sabrina fan.

I stopped reading the Sabrina series a while ago due to the last 5 or so books not been very good, but then I decided to give it one more chance and began my 25th Sabrina book "scarabian nights". I have to say that I was very impressed, I realy liked this one and was glad to see that Valarie was involved and its not about Sabrina and her family as that has got real old. I would go as far as saying this is one of the best Sabrina books, so read it! If you like it I also recomend "showdown at the mall", "Prizoner of cabin 13" and "sabrian goes to Rome". ENJOY!