This book is a must have! It is the most reassuring, child affirming book that I have read on homeschooling. Whenever I have doubts about what I am doing as a homeschool Mum, I turn to Nacy's book to give me the ressurance that I need. This book shows you what kids are capable of when left to follow their instincts. Nancy's honesty is refreshing and the reader is left feeling like a friend of the family.

An honest, well written assesment of what children are capable of achieving on their own without any coercion or interference from the adults in their lives. It thoughtfully explains how children, left to their own devices, are capable of learning about what ever subject they chose inspite of what some professional educators would have you think.

Nancy Wallace's book has been in print for almost 10 years now, and there have been dozens of homeschooling books since - how-to's, diatribes, anthologies, talk with the experts, etc. - but there is no book which is more respectful of the intellgience and in-born learning quests of children. Almost uniquely, she looks at "homeschooling" (a label which does not do justice to the book) from the perspective of the children themselves, rather than from that of overanxious, or overeager, parents. Belongs in every home library dealing with "alternative education".

This book is really really good. Instead of a 5 star rating it deserves a 10 star rating. I could not put this book down. It was so bad that my reading teacher had to yell at me to pay attention and stop reading.I read this book in one day because I could not put it down. It was like my eyes were glued to the pages. My friend was doing a book report and she needed a book, she never ever reads so i was like just take this one and she finished it in one day also! The whole collection of Nancy Drew's book are like this, they are all really good,at least a 4.5 rating for all of them.I have only 30 books of the collection and I am still going, I am trying to finish the whole series, Carolyn Keene won't let you down, when it comes to a good book.Ths book is really, really good and i have nothing bad to say about it! Now since my friend read "The Clue of the leaning Chimney," she has asked her mom to get the rest of the collection. This book has action,laughs,thrillers, and much much more. Anyone who reads this review should believe me and get this 5 star rating book!

When I first read this book I couldn't put it down.It was sointeresting and excitable.All the time I couldn't wait to read whatwould happen next.I would encourage anyone who is interested in mysteries and detective novels to read this book, as this is one of the best book I have ever read.

When i first read this book i could't put it down.It was so interesting and excitable.All the time i couldn't wait ti read what would happen next.I would encourage anyone ho was interested in mysteries and detective novels should read this book as this is the best book.

Employers are continually concerned about competing with each other to hire and hold the best employees they can find. Sometimes this competition becomes a frenzy, since the best people-qualified, experienced-are in high demand. It's essential, to compete well, to become an Employer of Choice. Ahlrichs, in her preface, observes that employers of choice "know that their 'choice' status is a significant achievement attained through consistent application of comprehensive strategies and tactics, as well as top-bottom organizational responsibility for retention.

This book is divided into three important sections: the big picture, recruiting, and retention. In Part One, How Employers of Choice are Winning the Talent Wars, the three chapters focus on Learning from Employers of Choice, Employer of Choice Foundation Strategies, and Building and Communicating a Top Employer Reputation. These writings present a good overview and insight into how Employers of Choice are operating. The orientation is to understand what these companies are doing, rather than a how-to approach. There is a lot to learn here.

The second part, Creative Strategies for Recruiting Top Talent, offers the readers four chapters, starting with How Employers of Choice are Redesigning Recruitment. The next chapter, Only You Will Do, has a little more instructional tone, but still primarily takes a third person view. This chapter concludes with a helpful Orientation Checklist. Chapter 6, Surfing for Recruiting Results Online does provide a healthy amount of how-to. While this field is changing almost daily, there is a lot of value here for the reader. Plenty of website domains are included. The last chapter in this section, Finding New Hires in Unlikely Places, is filled with good ideas. Here I felt a lot more of the how-to I was looking for.

The third section is entitled Comprehensive Strategies for Retaining Top Performers. Here the chapters are titled Understanding Why Employees Leave; Managing and Leading for Retention; Retrain, Develop, and Profit; and New Compensation and Benefits Strategies. There is a lot of value in these chapters-lots of ideas and perspectives. An exit interview guide will be helpful to those companies that have not taken advantage of this tool. The author seems to really hit her stride in providing ideas for readers in this section. The same holds for her conclusion, Becoming an Employer of Choice.

The book is well-written, filled with valuable information for the reader. The solid chapters are supplemented with a good resource guide and an index. I'd recommend this book for company owners, senior executives, and human resource professionals. As an ethical reviewer, I must share with you that I am co-author of "How to Become an Employer of Choice," a competing title in the same field. With that perspective, I would be quite comfortable recommending my clients read "Competing for Talent" as a supplement to my book.

An easily understood, quickly assimilated read. I read the entire 200-page book at one sitting, and shared ideas with the co-owners of my company right away. Usually, business management textbooks are full of jargon. Competing for talent is in plain english, and can be applied immediately.

This book offers "heads up" competitive intelligence that will work for any company or organization that wants to attract and retain a high quality workforce. I have seen bits and pieces of this information as we have worked with our own corporate culture. Having "Competing for Talent" in my hands five years ago would have saved us a great deal of research.

This book was a gift from a friend of mine -- one who knows me well and knows that just looking at the recipes would give me pleasure. I enjoy reading this book as much as I enjoy the eating the treats created by the recipes. I'm not much of a chef, and I think these recipes are understandable and easy to follow -- and the "Mom Tips" are handy. I highly recommend this book and will give it as gifts to my friends in the future. It is a must have for any chocolate lover.

This is a GREAT book for chocaholics. Because every recipe deals with chocolate, it is easy to page through and find a recipe that matches the ingredients you have on hand whenever you need a fix. Most of the recipes are quick and very easy, and the authors offer helpful tips along the way. An excellent gift for anyone who likes chocolate.

I throughly enjoyed reading Kevin's introduction to each section. He should write comedy for TV shows. It would be a major improvement over what these shows spill out.

This book gives us a peak in to the life of a very interesting, talented woman. She actually has time to ride her horse with her dogs running along beside. She has great adventures, thanks to a horse, Clifford, with a spunky personality. I think any animal lover will enjoy this book very much. References to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan are pretty interesting, also.

This is a story about a horse that has a mind of his own, another horse who is perfect, and one who isn't so right in the head. Clifford of Drummond Island is a great book. Clifford is a chestnut colored Morgan colt who is raised using "clicker training" a technique used on dogs. With clicker training Clifford learns various tricks including learning how to fetch a cone. Clifford wins the hearts of everyone on Drummond Island, especially Mrs. Bailey's dad. This a great book for horse lovers and non-horse lovers alike!

Nancy Bailey has written a wonderful book, for animal-lovers of all ages, about Clifford, her Morgan horse with TOO much personality. Her evocative and descriptive prose takes the reader on a journey to Drummond Island, Michigan, and encounters with family members, islanders, birds, dogs, "fudgies," and of course Clifford himself. By the end of the book, I felt that I had known all of the characters myself!

This book gives an excellent overview of what it takes to build a barn, from choosing the type, to preparing the gound, to hiring sub-contractors. Althought the plans can hardly be said to be "complete," they do give a good idea of how different barn styles go together. You'll still need someone knowlegeable in buidling to help you in the actual construction. The plans include several innovative barn types and shapes. I particulary liked the circular barn with a jumping/training track on the perimeter, the stalls inside that and the "aisle" in the center.

Great resource for providing solutions on roof pitch, stall size, layouts, light, storage, etc. Also helpful in determining storage requirements for hay, compost, & farm equipment.

As an architect I pick up this book whenever I need inspiration. If you're planning to design or build a stable, you'll find yourself using this book again and again. It's a countrywide survey of creative designs for equestrian buildings. The buildings are presented with plans, photos and concise descriptions.

It is a shame this work is out of print. I really enjoyed it. It is deeper than most of Bond's work, with more thought-provoking material, but not so thick that it is tiresome

I randomly picked this book off a library shelf as something to help a boring afternoon pass by, and was surprised at how enthralling it was. I was surprised to learn this title was out of print, because the colorful palette of characters and their problems are so thought provoking that I wished to own the book myself. Nancy Bond introduces the two families of the Ibbetsons and the Prines who are forced together when the divorced Prine mother Valerie maries the widowed Ibbetson father Edward. Their children must accept eachother and they all must learn how to get along as a family, parents included. But that is not the point of the book, that is merely one of the layers that this book takes you to. Valerie is an archaeologist who is excavating the ruins of a Roman fort on Hadrian's Wall in the Northumbria region of England, and that is why all of the family must move to Wintergap, a gloomy house built in the harsh climate of northern Britain. Penelope, the only Ibbetson daughter is the main character, and she is the first to sense the dark history of the house. I could go into deep details through the multiple layered plot leading to a horrible accident but that would ruin the story. The suspense makes you keep reading to find out how everything turns out. The most interesting part of the story in my opinion is the friendship that forms between Penelope and a local farmer boy whose family has been feuding with the previous residents of Wintergap, where Penelope lives, and despite her families warnings to stay away from the troublesome Robsons, Penelope must learn how to bring back together the divided land, and somehow make amends. This is a must read for children ages thirteen through adult as it is thought provoking, suspenseful and full of historical accuracy and astonishing details, but because of some minor language issues I wouldn't reccomend it for children under thirteen.

One of the best books I have ever read--about a feud in Northumbira ending in disaster, and Penelope (the main character) learning a valuable lesson about good and evil.

Nancy Drew comes face-to-face with a menacing robot! No, it's not science fiction--but this is an unsual entry in the mystery series. All the old friends appear, solving the mystery of an eerily constructed house and its more mysterious, vanishing owner. The twists and turns are both physical and mental, challenging anyone who enters the ominous house and all the puzzles it has--and is.

Nancy really has to have a gallon of ideas to solve this mystery. I think that the house is very neat, but very crazy. I never knew what was going to happen. This should be one of the top ten Nancy Drew books.

I have no clue why but this book so has to be my favorite Nancy Drew. It really leads up to an unsuspecting ending which so keeps you in suspense for like the whole book. I totally reccommend it to anyone looking for a good book.

Nancy Kress makes it seem effortless. Her inspired plotting, characters and imagination remind me of Robert Silverberg in his prime. The only other author currently writing that is comparable in depth and quality is, perhaps, Patricia Anthony.

Crossfire tells the story of an intergalactic ark that carries a number of wealthy volunteers to an unsettled Earth-like planet. Jake Holman,the president of the venture, is the smooth talking negotiator of the group that manages to arrange co-operation among a widely diverse population with different agendas for wanting to settle a new world. Most believe that Earth is on its last legs.

The planet that's been surveyed appears to have no life and the habitat is well suited to humans. There's one catch; after arriving they discover that there is intelligent life of sorts. A number of villages inhabited by what they call the Furs. There are three different groups, though: One appears docile and, upon examination, appears to have some sort of uniform brain damage; the second is unusually aggressive and attacks one group of settlers; the third appears to be chronically drugged but it's not clear by what. A number of clues indicate that the planet may be a "giant petri dish" and other aliens have some vast, poorly understood experiment going on.

Just when things couldn't get any worse an alien ship is detected entering the star system and will be in orbit in less than 36 hours.

Kress manages to create convincing characters with vastly different agendas. She also conveys the complex moral and ethical decisions facing these colonists. There are a number of minor flaws; Jake Holman is too reminiscent of Lyle Kaufman a character from Kress' Probability series. Still, there is just enough of a measured difference to make his character interesting and more than a carbon copy of the other character. The dark past haunting Holman that Kress keeps hinting at gives added gravity to the character and his actions.

The conclusion of the book isn't as smooth as expected. That's no surprise, however, as Crossfire, like Proability, was designed as a single, giant novel split into three volumes (at least that's what rumor has it as being). The second volume will be particularly interesting as it will resolve a number of conflicts and awkward situations that could leave humanity stranded in the crossfire of intergalatic war.

Keep writing Nancy, you're doing a heck of a job.

This book has a great plot, characters that are interesting and well-developed, well-presented ethical and philosophical dilemmas - in short good science fiction plus good writing. Highly recommended.

Nancy Kress' style captivates me to the point that I am quite willing to overlook her shortcomings. I'll mention them though, just to get them out of the way: I found the beginning a bit rough, keeping track of a lot of characters all introduced at the same time. And there were occasional repetitions noticeable, and rather awkward foreshadowing.

These are each very minor flaws though, and don't interfere with a thoroughly enjoyable read.

Plotwise, we have a private company in the 23rd century building a spaceshp and ferrying 6,000 very rich people from a dying Earth to their new planet, Greentrees. These 6000 represent quite diverse groups and ideologies. There's a tribe of Cheyennes wanting to take up a traditional mode of life; 1000 Chinese and 1000 New Quakers each seeking separate ways of leading simpler and quieter lifestyles; a major charcter's extended family of ecologically obsessed scientists; a deposed Arabic royal family, along with a few other various assorted rich & eccentric individuals.

The challenges and difficulties of setting up a world with such large and diversified groups is well handled by the author. Further complication ensue with the discovery of aliens already living in villages and with the approach of a spaceship bearing a very different species approaching.

The core of the novel and its primary fascination come from the parts where humans and aliens work to avoid mistakes like those made on first contact. However, the stories & agendas of the various characters are also fascinating. At times, one might fear trite & ho-hum subplots such as the friction between the New Quaker doctor and his rebellious daughter, or the Corporation leader with a deep dark secret in his past, and yet we feel deeply enough for those involved that we are concerned with how each works out his and her challenges.

Having been away from science- reading for a long while, disenchanted with the depressing view of the future and the emphasis on hard science prevalent in the genre, I found this to be a refreshing, enjoyable return.

I think that I would recomend Nanci Kincaid's nove., Crossing Blood to anyone who likes reading or learning about the 60's. I didn't like it as much as I thought I would because I had a different idea of what the book would be about. I imagined it to be more about thewhole civil rights movement, with protests, and Martin Luther King, but it wasn't. It was about a girl who falls in love with a black boy, a neighbor, who at first doesn't really pay any attention to her. Towards the end, he likes her, and they become a couple in the last chapter.

Nancy Kincaid draws you into her novel with vivid passages and dialogue that will have you laughing out loud.

Her main character Lucy embodies all emotions of the 60's south with an understanding wise beyond her years. It takes you from her mothers' idealistic naiveté to her stepfathers' racial undercurrents and her forbidden crush on Skippy the colored boy from next door.

This novel touches on important social issues without being preachy, yet managing to entertain you all the way. Crossing Blood is important reading and if I were a high school teacher it would be required reading.

This book is an ideal "read" for the person who loves Southern tales that inspire, reminisce, and entertain. The characters are colorful and realistic, to be sure, but for me the best part of Crossing Blood is the beautiful and unique way that Nanci Kincaid tells her story. As an English teacher who reads all the time, I can confidently place this novel in the top ten of my all-time favorites.