Rising singing star Cait Gregory sacrificed everything to her dream. When she was eighteen her father threw her out on Christmas Eve because she didn't apply for college, but hid the applications in the attic. The rift has never healed between Cait and her father. Now her sister's on bed rest waiting for the birth of her first child, leaving Cait to fill her place as choir director. Without Cait, there won't be a Christmas pageant this year and ten-year-old Maddie Tremaine won't be able to the announcing angel.

Single father Ben Tremaine is also a Christmas Grinch. His mother walked out on Christmas Eve, leaving her husband and child to grieve on each return of the holiday. Now widowed, Ben cannot rely on anyone else to help his children celebrate. Worse, this year the temporary choir director makes the holidays even more difficult. She's poised on the brink of stardom, and wouldn't be able to offer him more than a brief affair. As a result, he finds himself acting the first class jerk in an effort to defend himself from her sparkling presence.

The magic of Christmas brings healing in SHENANDOAH CHRISTMAS. With a brilliance that matches the season, Lynnette Kent creates a lovely romance filled with the challenges of single parenthood and mismatched dreams. Add a couple of adorable children and SHENANDOAH CHRISTMAS becomes a memorable read. Gently touching, at times amusing, always heart felt, SHENANDOAH CHRISTMAS comes highly recommended.

Truly the "must have" guide to the areas around Hood River, OR. Known in the region to have the best mountain biking in the area, Hood River is becoming more than the windsurfing capitol of the States. The Single Track Anthology lists rides of different abilities, coded in the familiar symbols of ski areas. (green circles, beginners; blue squares, intermediates; and black diamonds, advanced). The ride descriptions are concise and accurate, and I especially like the elevation profiles provided with each ride. Directions to trailheads are easy to follow, and the maps of the trails are fine with the use of real topog maps available through the forest service. An added benefit to the book is a large number of sponsers and advertisers, some offering coupons or discounts at local businesses in Hood River. If you are heading toward Hood River, or anywhere near "The Gorge", pick up this book for it will undoubtedly aid you in your quest for the best that the area has to offer.

the book was a hoot! Alot of interesting stuff about the authors early liffe, and alot of kind of badboy/childish humor, but also alot of interesting behind the scenes stuff on how Hollywood works, and how the stunt business is to someone at the top of the game. Also an interesting perspective by someone being inside Arnold Schwarzeneggers camp for all those years. Gritty, sexy and funny. Very hip.

"The Story of Ford's Theater and the Death of Lincoln" really does focus on the assassination of the President has more photographs of Ford's Theater than it does specific history on the actual theater. Zachary Kent's narrative begins with the mortally wounded Lincoln being carried from Ford's Theater across the street to William Petersen's boardinghouse and then goes back in time to cover Lincoln's election and the Civil War, setting up what happened in the first two weeks of April 1865. Kent, who has been studying the Presidents and collecting items about America's leaders since he was a child, covers the assassination attempt in its entirety, from the plotting of the conspirators, to the assassination attempts on Lincoln and other leaders of the government, the death watch on the President, and the final fate of the conspirators. Warning: while there are contemporary photographs of Ford's Theater and the Petersen House, along with reproductions of broadsides and artwork of these events, there is also a photograph of the four conspirators hanging on the gallows. I have to question whether that particular photo was necessary to include in a book published by Children's Press for upper elementary students, especially since the book already has photographs of each of the conspirators and there are several photos of the four condemned on the gallows before the traps were released. This book is part of the "Cornerstones of Freedom" series, which covers events in American History from the Mayflower Compact to Apollo 11.

This is a brief, but good historic account of the Battle of Bull Run. There are simple illustrations in the book and Zachary Kent, the author mentions all of the main Confederate and Union officers who participated in the battle. He also explains how General Jackson received the nickname of Stonewall. I thought that the quotes from various soldiers were quite interesting. Those quotes reflected the personal thoughts and feelings that some of the men had experienced during the fighting.

This book gives a technical overview of the collotype process. Both historical and more up to date techniques are covered.The modern techniques range from professional to ones applicable by the amateur. In my eyes, the must-have book for anyone interested in collotype printmaking! The best I've read so far on the subject...

Tooling Up!

A review of "Survey of Instructional Development Models", Gustafson & Branch, Eric Clearinghouse on Information & Technology, Syracuse University, 1997.

It's time to open your toolbox, organise and restock! The authors of this book liken Instructional Design models to the ID professional's 'tools', where one needs to have the 'right tool for the right job'. In order to do this, the authors offer a review of the historical trends in model development and a discussion of their roles and context in the marketplace- or should we say hardware store! To help you maintain your repertoire of tools, the authors present a matrix to help you classify the plethora of models available for use.

I enjoyed reading this book because I found it a great starting point and catalyst into the research of Instructional Design and development. It is presented clearly and concisely, without too much detail to get bogged down under, yet enough information to be used as a quick reference or to whet the appetite. I often found myself searching for the original publications about models, wanting more information and detail.

I compared Gustafson and Branch's matrix to one from Edmonds, Branch and Mukherjee(1). The approach from the latter appears more relevant for categorising the different levels of ID occurring in today's present context. However, the reader may struggle with the level of detail involved. I would suggest the Edwards et al. model should be studied once the reader is more familiar with the Instructional Design and development process. Gustafson and Branch's matrix stands as an easy to follow classification that helps to quickly determine the general context of a design and development process and find the relevant models to choose from- or vice versa. The authors also present examples of models in each classification which helps to clarify the application of the matrix.

The book finishes with a very interesting discussion of the scientific validation of models, how the instructional designer can use these models in the workplace and what the future may hold in the instructional development process.

Overall, despite this book being a how- to -of - how- tos, I would recommend it highly for students of instructional technology, as well as for those in the field needing a good source of reference in the use of instructional models. So get tooling!

(1) Edmonds, G., Branch, R., & Mukherjee, P. (1994). A conceptual framework for comparing instructional design models. Educational Technology Research and Development, 42(4), 55-62. (EJ 496 612)

Not as bold and daring as _Masks_ or the _Waiting Years_ it still shows Enchi's sure command of displaying the tensions between women and her scholar's knowledge of Japanese literature.

It is the simple tale of an Empress, Teishi, beautiful and serene, being displaced in the political machinations of Court. It is a simple story with complex characters surrounding this almost too perfect figure caught in the tides of politics. There is no great tension except in the personal thoughts of the characters because the doom is already known.

This book is geared more for the reader who is very aware of Japanese literature -- it's conventions, symbology and style. If you are a student of the literature than this novel has a greater resononance. Due to the fact that Enchi has done the modern thing of blurring the lines of truth and fantasy while remianing true to the voice of ancient literature, such as the _The Tale of Genji_.

Enchi in this piece has decided to give voice and greater depth to the Empress Teishi and show the power politics in Fujiwara Japan. She does this by intermixing "commentary" and translated text. It is a masterly feat in the Japanese to combine modern Japanese with the courtly language of 11th century Japan and show a deep knowledge of the Chinese and Japanese literature of that time.

Enchi provides more rounded male characters in this novel than in _Masks_ though they still do not come out very well. The best that can be said is that the men who love Teishi are ineffectual while the regent, her political enemy, are spiderlike in their machinations.

Overall, a fine work but for a better introduction to Enchi her novels _Masks_ and _The Waiting Years_ are better at exploring explicitly the heart of women in their desires and profound hates.

For the literature scholar it is a fine example of writing that is breaking convention and yet trying to remain within its rarified framework by playing between the lines of truth, fantasy and the observor/observed.

This is an edge-of-your-seat fantasy, adventure worth reading. The author kept me interested from begining to end. My daughter and I took turns reading the chapters to each other which helped bring the characters in the dimension of Kalindia to life. I strongly recommend this novel to the young and young at heart.

Although Carol Kent's intention was to write this book especially for women, I have found this book applicable for both men and women.

This book talks about the top ten slavish fears, as she put it, that each and every one of us probably has. Ms. Kent highlights the formation, the impacts, and the most important the cure of the fears.

I have recommended this book to my sister and my friends. Now I also want to recommend this book to all of you.