Chester Racoon and his mother prepare for Chester's first "night" at school. He is a little apprehensive, and, of course, he wants to stay home with his mom. Mrs. Racoon shares a secret with Chester called the Kissing Hand. She kisses Chester's palm and tells him to put it to his cheek when he begins to feel lonely at school. This book makes a great gift for a child entering school or going to camp for the first time, or for any occasion where a child will be temporarily separated from home and loved ones. It can also be used to help a child through the death of a parent or special loved one, and for children placed in foster families and residential facilities. For teachers, this book would be super to read the first day of school. It could also lead up to wonderful science, social studies, and reading/writing activities.

Poor little Chester, the racoon, it's time for him to go off to school and he doesn't want to leave his mother. Mother knows that Chester will love school once he gets there. There'll be new friends to meet, new toys to play with, new books to read and even a new swing to swing on. So she tells him a special secret about the "kissing hand". She takes his little hand, spreads the fingers and places a kiss right in the middle of his palm. Now when he feels lonely and needs a little love from home, he can press his hand against his cheek and know his mother's love will be with him. And, before he scampers off to school, he gives his mother the kissing hand too, so that she won't miss him too much, while he's away..... Audrey Penn has written a sweet, endearing story to help little ones face those scary feelings on their first days of separation. Her gentle text is complimented by expressive, detailed illustrations and together will let youngsters know that they're not alone out there in the world. The Kissing Hand is the perfect bedtime story, pre-schoolers will want to read again and again and makes a wonderful addition to all home libraries.

Chester is about to start school and he's terribly nervous. In a single, calming gesture, his Mom helps him feel loved and secure by kissing the center of his hand. She reminds Chester that her love is always right there and if he should feel frightened or scared or lonely he should simply hold the hand to his cheek and he will feel her love.
We read it just before our son began kindergarten on September 5, 2001 for several days in a row. Although he had been attending Day Care since birth, this was still a new experience for him and he was naturally nervous. So now, each morning we kiss his palm and send him off on the bus. It's a wonderful new ritual.
September 11, 2001 began a tremendously difficult time in our country. Our children are 4 and 5, and we have been reading this nearly every night since then. A friend's daughter was having terrible nightmares and great fears about not seeing her Daddy (he's a Police Officer currently assigned to Ground Zero). We lent them the book to read to her. Her Mom now tells me she is sleeping soundly as long as she has been kissed in the palm of her hand.
Sweet Dreams, America and the world.

Jean Giono's inspiring story of the "man who planted trees" reached me some days ago as a birthday gift from my two sons.They thought it an appropriate gift for me probably because I am now engaged in an effort to grow trees in some land which I bought as a barren waste land. I found the book extremely inspiring.The interesting thing is that there indeed are unsung heroes and heroines in many parts of the world who do do such inspiring work without thought of reward.Some months back I read in Indian newspapers about a poor couple in the Karnatak state of India who decided to plant trees to assuage their sorrow in being childless.As they had no land of their own they decided to plant trees on the roadside.And ended up with magnificent avenue trees on miles and miles of the road near their village. There still seems to be hope for mankind!

"The Man Who Planted Trees" is a wonderful short story about the fictional life of a man who singlehandedly restores a valley to life by becoming the Johnny Appleseed of Trees. More importantly, its about a man who, having suffered the loss of his wwife and only child, chooses to live a simple life in anonymous service with little but his own resources and his love for trees. The short-term effect is almost unnoticeable; long-term its staggering.

The wood engravings that accompany the text stand out and mirror the book's theme of asutere simplicity quite beautifully. Its a wonderful book for children, nature enthusiasts, gardeners and those looking for hope that follwoing one's heart and living out of love, rather than fear, can ultimately make a difference.

This is a wonderful read. It makes a great bedtime story and it is also beautiful (the wood carvings) and inspiring. This is good for people tired of reading what is wrong with the environment. The Man Who Planted Trees is kind of like a sophisticated Lorax book. Anyway, buy this book and enjoy it!

This book carried me WAY beyond the story line, using the questionable character of Lewis Moon as transportation. The well-meaning Quarriers were as lost and out of place in the jungle as the natives would have been if you dropped them off somewhere between 42nd Street and Central Park. And the death of the innocent child is a sacrifice to that ignorance.

The journey of Lewis Moon away from civilization into the native life represents two things--a retreat from the sophistication of a society to which he did not seem to belong, and a search for an ultimate truth. As he penetrates further and further into the jungle, he comes closer and closer to the heart of life itself, and closer ultimately to death. This story is a mystery to which you have to write your own ending, and I dearly loved reading it!

I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the juxtaposition of humor and tragedy, and the complicated contradictions of the human spirit

This book is the comparison of Missionaries Vs. Mercenaries and is charactered by peopled with ethnic groups who also come from the same sort to conflict: Jews and American Indians in the land of the Amazon. Kind of a "If religion doesn't work, shoot the bastards," and "women like being ravaged by animals." This is not a book for the weak stomached, or the self righteous. This is a book for people who want to tear the face off of reality. This is a great, honest and sad book. It is a requiem for indigenous people around the world, maybe for you

One theme I found to be particularly compelling in this book which has not been directly explored in the reviews currently posted is the search for identity which seemingly each character in this novel is engaged. Lewis Moon, a man who existes on the fringe of the dominant culture of the US, longs for validation in the culture of his ancestors, a culture which is tragically unavailable. The missionaries, Protestant and Catholic alike, seek identity and validation in the people they seek to convert, including the endless "conversion" of their own families. The other characters have their own identity issues. The most compelling of these searches, to my mind, was that of Lewis Moon who, without any feeling of loyalty to any culture available to him, seeks identity in an indiginous culture not yet eradicated by the dominant Chilean culture of European origin. (Perhaps he thinks he can help them avoid the fate of the culture of his ancestors.) The novel explores each character's basis for self-perception and what they do when their basic assumptions about their role in the world are challenged. What does it mean to be an American? What does it mean to be an American who has had his citizenship revoked? What does it mean to have faith? What if the dogma of your denomination appears to produce results that seem "un-Christlike?" What does it mean to indentify as a member of an indigineous people? What does that mean when you are among members of another indiginous people? All these questions (and there are many more) posed in the book have lead me to a better perception of who I am and why I think so. One of the best books I've had the pleasure to have read.

As a child growing up at the palace, Jarred was servant, companion, and only friend to the young prince, Endon. And as a teenager, Jarred was the only one who suspected the truth behind the sudden deaths of the king and queen. But Endon, now king, ignored Jarred's warnings, and allowed his advisors to banish Jarred. Several years later, Jarred discovers his worst fears were all true - Endon's closest advisor was a traitor, orchestrating behind the king's back the takeover by the evil Shadow Lord of the kingdom of Deltora. With Jarred's help, Endon and his wife, who is pregnant with the heir to the throne, flee, with Jarred vowing to someday return them to their rightful throne. Years later, on his sixteenth birthday, Jarred's son Lief learns the task to free Deltora from the Shadow Lord's power has fallen into his hands. Now it's up to one young boy to save an entire world. Is Lief strong enough for the enormous task that lies ahead? This book was the thrilling beginning to an eight-part fantasy saga. I can't wait to read the rest of the books in the series.

The Forests of Silence

The Forests of Silence is a good book. It is worth your time to read. This is an adventure book and it also has lots of action. An example of this is when Lief fights the evil knight and the knight has him under his power. Fourth to sixth grade boys and people who like adventures would like this book.

The Forests of Silence takes place during medieval times in a city called Del. Del is the capital of a country called Deltora. Del is a big city with a beautiful palace in the center.

The main characters are Lief, a young boy whose dad was a friend of the prince, and Barda, Leif's companion. Lief and Barda go on a quest together.

On a five star scale with five being the best book I would give The Forests of Silence five stars. I would really recommend reading The Forests of Silence.

The first bit of the book is spent seeing what happened to the newly crowned king, Endon, and his friend, Jarred. As Jarred discovers the truth about the Belt of Deltora, can he tell Endon in time?
Later, you read about Jarred's son, Lief, who takes the Belt of Deltora with all of the gems stripped away, and must go get them back. He starts off with one companion, a supposed begger, Barda, and meets another in the first challenge: the dreaded Forests of Silence. They find a warrior, Gorl, who is guarding the Lilies of Life. They learn his secret, and finally gain the first gem. The topaz.

One River was one of the best books I have read in quite some time. As a Ph.D student in Botany, I was inspired by the accounts of Shultes, Plowman and Davis' journeys to the Amazon seeking tropical plants and learning from the people who have been using them for generations.. Davis has a rare ability to mix technical science writing with a deep knowledge of history, culture, and politics and make it flow into a coherent narrative. Any student of ecology, evolution, (especially of plants) will love this book as will people with an interest in the cultures and history of the Amazon basin.

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Take one vast, timeless rain forest. Season with sacred plants. Add thousands of Indians and one intrepid explorer. Cook at tropical temperature for 12 years. The astonishing and tasty result is Wade Davis' ONE RIVER.

In the late 1930's, Harvard ethnobotanist Richard Evans Schultes was responsible for major scientific breakthroughs regarding plant hallucinogens in Mexico. His next field assignment, to identify botanical sources of the deadly arrow poison, curare, immersed Schultes in the savage beauty of the Colombian rain forest and its indigenous Indian cultures. Totally captivated, Schultes remained there for the next 12 years.

This true story of Schultes' explorations is compelling, and he's a guide we gladly follow. Quietly heroic, Schultes thinks nothing of paddling thousands of miles down uncharted rivers, navigating white-water rapids that bend his boat in half, stepping on poisonous snakes, and contracting near-fatal tropical diseases. All the Indians he encounters accept him with alacrity, and within a few hours he is often half-naked, painted and feathered, ingesting sacred plants, singing and dancing with his new friends until the dawn. Not exactly what one expects from a politically ultra-conservative Harvard academician.

Like lianas in the jungle, ONE RIVER's many stories intertwine: the travels of Schultes' predecessor, Richard Spruce, whose spirit infused his own; the rise and fall of the ancient Inca Empire; Schultes' crucial impact on the development of wild rubber during the rubber crisis of World War II; adventurous field research on coca, the "divine leaf of immortality," by Schultes' students, author Wade Davis and Timothy Plowman; and the historic role Schultes played in launching the psychedelic revolution of the 60's.

As we wade deeper and deeper into the Amazon, magical efflorescences delight us: a legendary Blue Orchid; "river dolphins"; an ancient Inca city shaped like a puma; the Kogi tribe, who believe the sun weaves existence, like a cloth, on the loom of the earth. And in the shadows we confront the atrocities committed against the Indians on the rubber plantations of El Encanto ("the Enchantment").

Rich and vibrant, meticulously researched, ONE RIVER is a brilliant amalgam of natural science, history, anthropology, and one hell of an adventure story.

In the same way the Indians trace their lineage from the original Anaconda, or from the Son of the Sun, Wade Davis traces the ethnobotanical lineage of the teacher he reveres and the irreplaceable friend he has lost -- from Richard Spruce to Richard Evans Schultes to Timothy Plowman. Although, modestly, he fails to acknowledge his own position in the sacred lineage, we know better. Thousands of years ago an Inca ruler created a city embodying a puma. And Wade Davis wrote a book that's an Amazonian rain forest.

This is one of the best natural history and history of science an culture books I have ever read. I started this after reading another scintillating science book by David Quammen "Song of the Dodo" which I have since read again with great pleasure but "One River" forms a link between science and culture that was untouched in Quammen's tale of A.R. Wallace. The curious link is that Wallace started his journey's as a collector in the Amazon and covered some of the ground that Davis retraced.

Davis does a marvelous job of melding his and Schultes adventures in interlocking chapters. The tale of the mission to secure a supply of rubber during the war and the subsequent loss of the incredible genetic library that Schultes founded and was subsequently destroyed by bureaucratic bumbling is classic and tragic.

A wonderful read, highly recommended.

This was definitely one of the best fantasy books I have ever read. "Dealing with Dragons" is about a princess named Cimorene. (The book is written in a third-person view.) She is not as pretty as her sisters, but she's not as dumb either. Cimorene is very bored with life as a "proper" princess-she doesn't want to learn how to scream as she gets carried off by some creature or another. She wants to lead a more exciting life. The last straw comes when her parents try to make her marry a prince who she doesn't even love. She gets her way when she comes upon a group of dragons, among them being the polite female dragon named Kazul. She becomes the dragon's princess, and soon becomes caught in the conspiracy of some unfriendly wizards. This book is a fantasy story, but it also has humor in it, so it's good to read if you're looking for a light book. The characters are very pleasant, and humerous, and I was absorbed into the story. I reccommend this book for people who like fantasy, but who don't want anything too heavy. This book changes a lot from beginning to end, in terms of meeting characters, getting to know characters, and solving problems. There are three other books, all sequels, that are in this series: "Searching for Dragons," "Calling on Dragons," and "Talking to Dragons." If you like fantasy and some comedy, you'll like this book!

I was looking at the interview with J.K. Rowling when I saw the sign 'What to Read After Harry Potter.' I immediately clicked on, eager to see what was recommended. And I saw this fantastic book. I began my journey into the kingdom of Linderwall last year. I gleefully followed Cimorene on her adventures as the Kazul's (a dragon's!) princess, and couldn't WAIT for more. But no matter how many book stores I looked in I couldn't find the rest of the series. So imagine my delight when I looked here. Dealing With Dragons is an incredible read. It has everything a book needs: excitement, adventure, a touch of romance, and a highly believable main character. Who can honestly say that they haven't felt the way Cimorene does: sick and tired of their life, in her case a boring life of a princess, with nothing better to do then 'lady-like activities'. So the princess sets out to stop being a princess, with a great outcome. Turning away princes who come save her? As if she needs saving! It's a wonderful twist on the fairy tales of weak princesses being captured by vicious dragons, and being saved by the big strong princes. Cimorene volunteers to be a dragon's princess; if anyone needs saving it's those princes who come to 'rescue' her. I definitely recommend this book to anyone and everyone. And the last thing I say is, "ENJOY!"

Cimorene isn't your everyday fairytale princess and Dealing with Dragons isn't your everyday fairytale, although you will recognize many allusions to them. Patricia Wrede tweaks the old-fashioned, well-known stories without getting embroiled in a politically correct mood-killer. The traditional characters retain their charm beginning with this first book of the Enchanted Forest Chronicles. With her trademark light touch, Wrede creates a charming world with wizards and dragons and knights, giving you details to make your imagination take flight.

And the places she takes your imagination! It all begins with a talking frog and an exasperated princess of Linderwall. Ever practical, Cimorene, plans her escape and decides she will be a dragon's princess. Adopted by Kazul as her Chief Cook and Librarian, Cimorene starts a whole new life filled with cherries jubilee, Latin, fire-proofing spells, challenging would-be rescuers, and intrigues for the dragon throne.

Cimorene is joined by other delicious characters, like the cool witch Morwen, allergy-prone Roxim, fellow dragon princess Alianora, and the pretentious Society of Wizards. The action is fast-paced and exciting, but what really makes these Chronicles memorable is Wrede's witty, smooth humor. She slips in tongue-in-cheek references to conventional fairy tales everywhere, from chapter headings to bit characters without drawing unnecessary attention to it. The plot also doesn't leave things unexplained. Wrede is a tight writer, accounting for all her details in the end. Dealing with Dragons is thoroughly satisfying, completely engrossing, and totally fun, as are the sequels. A must read, at any age, especially if you like whimsical fantasy with a touch of humor and a dose of common sense!

I am blessed to own some woodland in New England, and my forester recommended this book.

The author writes with the same love for the land that I have, but with much more knowledge. He really enjoys the wonderful details that exist in a forest, and he illuminates them with clear explanations of how the landscape has evolved. The general tone of the book is one of guided investigation for the curious, so there is a great deal of warmth in it.

I don't know how well it works for those who do not have a basic knowledge of trees. If you are not already familiar with the different kinds of tree, you may want a tree identification book too.

I can't give this book five stars because the illustrations were not as helpful as I would have liked. I wanted color and a better sense of the textures. Illustrations of indicator plants would have been a big bonus in the appendix, and I wish they had been provided.

For a more technical book, see Working with Your Woodland by Mollie Beattie. It contains more information and is geared to the landowner, but it doesn't have nearly as much soul. For example, Wessels' book describes stumps with a keen loving eye. They barely get a mention in Beattie's book, and their significance is lost.

Reading the Forested Landscape, A Natural History of New England, reminded me that many general biology students will wander through woodlands and prairie perhaps aware of molecular happenings and yet oblivious to what the landscape is saying. This book can add delight to an ordinary stroll through an overgrown pasture or a drive through what at first glance appears to be monotonous countryside. Deducing the past history of a landscape invites more detailed observations than casual hiking even if the landscape is far from New England. This thin volume contains original high quality etchings of different landscapes. Each etching is accompanied by a detailed interpretation of the history of the forest. Human additions to the landscapes are included as a natural and important part of the history. The strength of the book lies in the insights into the reasoning behind conclusions. This reasoning has allowed me to make some transitions to the semiarid portions of Texas where I spend most of my time. The history of New England is naturally and liberally integrated into the stories of the landscape. This is not a forced history/science link but a very natural and intriguing story that unfolds with each new etching. A glimpse into the future is provided in the last chapter, rounding out a wonderful view of landscapes.

This book is a guide to understanding clues that explain the varied forest patterns of Central New England.

Each chapter focuses on a single form of disturbance - either man made or natural - that impacts the region's forests. The chapters focus on logging, pasture abandonment, fire, beaver activity, blow downs, forest blights, topography and substrate and their impact on the plants located near these disturbances.

Each chapter discusses the disturbance and then in a section entitled "A Look Back" the disturbance is related to the site's natural history. This new way of seeing a forest and its history adds to my walks in the woods. I feel a connection, a reverence, an enhancement and an inclusion that was not part of my previous walks. Although most of my hikes are in the Green Mountains of Vermont, I am convinced this process of reading the forest can be applied to any woodland in North America.

I happen to love fantasy books , though I only truely enjoy the ones that allow the characters to seep into you and you become them. For me this was one of those books that take you away and into the story Marian was a wonderful character that you never hear anything personal about but this told it from her . With this book, I have learned to see Marian more as Robin Hood's mate, not annoying female pest. Love the romance, intensity, and action.

I REALLY liked this book. In this story, Maid Marian is not some helpless damsel in distress, waiting for her knight in shining armor to rescue her. Instead she is a down-to-earth young girl who takes her life into her own hands, becomes a self-sufficient young woman, and learns to love.

Twists and turns, hate into romance, hardness into humor, a novella with all the key characterisitics to draw a hungry reader in. Especially with Maid Marian as a lead character, you wish there'd be a sequel. But no, this book stands on it's own pretty well, pretty darn well.

this book is sooooooooooooooo absorbing it'l have you reading this book in the middle of the night. the child of Cimorene and Mendanbar, Daystar has a quest he doesn't even know what to do. all he has is a sword that mysteriusly tingles whenever he touches it. On the way he meets a bad tempered, but realy funny and likable firewitch named Shiara,a very up-to-date lizard named Suz, a princess that is "waiting for my love to come and rescue me from this horrible beast"( a young harmless dragon that is looking for a princess to become his, well princess, he joins the party too,)" that will come and take me and eat me and ...." well you get the idea.The princess's "love" is realy a suprise and NOT what you would probably think he's like.They meet Morwen, Telemain the magician, Kazul the King of dragons,and the whole gang of wizards being melted from the 1&2&3 books. Highly recommended to anyone who can read or to anyone who can't read. A millon cheers for the enchanted forest series! YAY,YAY, YAY,YAY, YAY, YAY! BUY EM ALL AND YOU WON REGRET IT!

The book starts with 16-year-old Daystar living in a house just outside the Enchanted Forest with his mother, Cimorene. Cimorene was the main character in the first three books in the series, but Daystar is the main character in this one. They have lived a perfectly normal life for 16 years, with Cimorene teaching Daystar all he needs to know. Then one day a wizard comes to their house. Cimorene melts him! Then Cimorene sends Daystar out into the Enchanted Forest with only a sword. Cimorene tells him that he has a mission, but he doesn't know what it is!

Once in the Enchanted Forest, Daystar discovers something interesting: Everything leaves him alone except for wizards. Then he finds a fire-witch stuck in a clearing surrounded by a bad-tempered hedge that won't let her out. (Fire-witches have powerful magic and are immune to spells and fire.) When Daystar is with her, the hedge lets both of them out, but it won't let her (the fire-witch) out by herself!

He gains many companions other than the fire-witch along his journey, including a dragon, a magician (magicians are good, wizards are bad), and a cat. Daystar's mission comes to a great climax at the end. All in all, it is a great book.

Talking with Dragons is the last book of its series by Patricia R. wrede. Its about a 16 year old kid named Daystar that lives with his mother at the end of the Enchanted Forest. One day a wizard comes to there house and his mother meltes him and sends him off to find out what he is supposed t be doing with The Sword of the Sleeping King. On his jouny he encounters a talking golden lizard, two fire witches, a magitian, a witch, alot of wizards, 7 dwarfes, a Dragon, a princess, a knight, and a jelly type thing. My favorite part is when Daystar is fighting a evil fire witch and he uses his sword agianst her and she uses a spell and he describes how his arms feel like hot lead is melting over them.i love that part becuaze its fells like your watching the lead actually melt over his arms. the only bad part is that the name of the chapterbecuaze it gives away what happens in that chapter but besides that its one of the bast books iv'e ever read. I would give this book and the other three books(Dealing with Dragons, Serching for Dragons, and Calling on Dragons). I would only recommend this book if you have read the first three books (i give them ***** to).

I PICKED THIS BOOK UP AFTER SEEING CHIEF SHOEFOOT, GARY DAWSON AND MARK RITCHIE SPEAK AT OKLAHOMA STATE UNIVERSITY. SHOEFOOT WAS OBVIOUSLY QUITE INTELLIGENT. I DIDN'T UNDERSTAND AT THAT TIME WHY HE STRESSED OVER AND OVER THAT THE YANOMAMO ARE HUMAN, "JUST LIKE YOU." HE WAS INDIGNANT ABOUT THE WAY THEY HAVE BEEN PORTRAYED ON T.V. HE MADE IT CLEAR THAT THEY ARE NOT 'THE MISSING LINK' AS SOME ANTHROS HAVE ASSERTED. SHOEFOOT WAS FASCINATING AND SO IS THIS BOOK. A REAL EYE-OPENER ABOUT THE SPIRIT WORLD. IT MAKES ME WORRY FOR THE NEW-AGERS WHO ARE SEEKING THEIR OWN "SPIRIT GUIDES." IT IS A SURE INVITATION TO THE SAME MISERY THAT JUNGLEMAN DESCRIBES.

The 16,000 Yanomamo people are depicted as the most primitive, most violent, and most famous tribal society in the Amazon. Popularized by the most widely read book in the history of anthropology (*Yanomamo: The Fierce People*, by Napoleon Chagnon), these people are today suffering excruciating problems from gold miners and newly introduced diseases. Major debates have raged among anthropologists, and between anthropologists and missionaries, for 20 years over the "truth" of the Yanomamo culture. Do they live a wonderful life in a beautiful rain-forest Eden, as Chagnon implies in his 1992 book, *The Last Days of Eden*, or do they live in fear and misery as some missionaries say?

Perhaps we should ask that question to the Yanomamo themselves, rather than to the anthropologists or the missionaries. Who does speak for the Yanomamo, anyway? Here, for the first time, author Mark Richie allows the Yanomamo to speak for themselves to us. This is truly "a Yanomamo shaman's story," as the book's subtitle says. It is the autobiography of a Yanomamo shaman-chief named Jungleman. He, at least, is weary of his violent society, and fed-up with the anthropologists, too.

Anyone who thinks the Yanomamo culture is idyllic must be a male: The women live in chronic danger of gang-rapes, savage beatings by their husbands, and kidnapping. And men suffer one of the highest homicide rates in the world from the frequent raiding between villages. If you think it's a romantic way of life, why don't you try it?

Non-specialists in Amazonian anthropology may be skeptical of Jungleman's descriptions of the sexual customs of a European anthropologist who the Yanomamo call "Ass Handler." A.H. has lived with the Yanomamo for many years and, says Jungleman, makes a regular practice of forcibly sodomizing Yanomamo boys. Disbelievers may want to ask the opinion of any anthropologist specializing on the Amazon.

This is a gripping book to read: hard to put down, violent (some would say pornographic), and gut-wrenching. Students who have read the other ethnographies on the Yanomamo will recognize that this book has, above all, a ring of truth. New Age seekers will be fascinated by Jungleman's descriptions of the spirit world that shamans have found. Anthropology students will be shocked by Jungleman's insider view of the political internecine intrigues among anthropologists and between anthropologists and missionaries.

This book does a terrific job of telling the REAL story of the Yanomamo people. The fact that it is told by a Yanomamo shaman lends to the credibility of the book, as does the author's documentation.It was awesome to be able to finally conceptualize what I've believed all along; that the spirit world is very real. Ritchie does a wonderful job in not interjecting his own thoughts and bias into Jungleman's story. It was a moving and gripping tale of a people struggling with the ways they've known for so long and the ways they now wish to live.