this book by kristen joy pratt was a great book. well it all started when a little group called waitt club paid her to come to are school so she did and she told us how she maid the boook. well then she read the bookto all the stundents at hawthorn. i think we all loved it and she even signed are books.

My fourteen-month-old has no patience for books with lots of words, so this book is perfect for her. Every two pages there is one word and a vividly colored illustration. The pictures really interest her. On one page Olaf and Venus play in a fountain (even shoppers need a break), and my daughter got very excited when we saw a large fountain at a shopping mall so I think she made the connection! Lots of fun to read over and over and over again.

I found this book immensely helpful since I was switching from Frontpage to GoLive. GoLive is definitely "industrial strength" and the paradigm of this program is significantly different from Frontpage. This book really helped me understand the logic of the GoLive program. There is a reason for all the pallettes, toolbars and the way the program is laid out. This book really facilitated a painless process in understanding the program...which is absolutely essential in order to take advantage of all the great features of GoLive. The explanation of metatags and how they are used in search engines is very helpful and everything you need to know to easily build them into your site is explained in the book. I definitely recommend Sams Teach Yourself Adobe GoLive 5 for beginners to intermediate professionals...I would consider myself an intermediate website builder.

I've read several GoLove books to get a handle on the basics of this exceptional application. GoLive In 24 Hours is the best. It's easy to understand. Puts first things first. And gives one enough information to springboard into creating some pretty compelling web designs. I recommend it highly.

This is the best Go Live 6 book I have read. It is clear, concise, and get's you up and running quickly. I would reccomend it to anyone!

There are some fine times in Gunning for Ho. My personal favorites are "A Lovely Day..." and the wonderfully mystic and deep "Stonehands..." This gives a glimpse into the author's not wanting to take responsibility for anything too heavy, though he certainly has and will in the future. It's like a fairy tale dream that can't come true. However the story has real merit and is wonderful.

The characters and stories are real and tragic. The Cat in the Cage horrified me. Here the writer actually got in touch with his sensitive more human side and touched me greatly.

However through the book, there is a distance between the author and his characters. As though he doesn't want to get too close. This is so blatant, I found myself not caring very much for them either.

More heart, more soul, more empathy, should be employed in this man's work. It goes without saying he is a superb writer. He simply needs to open himself up to his characters and likewise, he needs to open his characters up as well.

That sort of cutting off of emotions, is part of military training and being in a war, I suppose. But that war is over. A larger focus on the depth of emotion for writer and characters is what is needed.

Despite having been born in the latter years of the Vietnam War, and not having read deeply in the field, I am confident this collection of six short stories and a novella by a former Green Beret, is destined to be a classic of Vietnam War fiction. Destined because they resound with the truth--and aren't really concerned with making any political statement. Barnes's stories tell you about the young men who went off to war in an alien landscape, and how they--and those they left behind--were transformed forever. The first three stories are thematically joined by strong surreal elements that speak to the wider confusion and disorientation felt by many who served. More like Kafka than Conrad. The fourth and fifth stories are more straightforward tales of aftermath and picking up the pieces. I found the novella ("Tunnel Rat") to be somewhat more elusive than the stories, and less forceful. It may take a re-reading or two to really get at it. The final (and title) story is a direct descendant of Heart of Darkness, and succeeds in spite of traveling that well-worn path. As a whole, this collection is a testament to the humanity of the men who went to Vietnam.

H. Lee Barnes' collection of stories, Gunning For Ho, need not be looked at as just "Vietnam stories", rather they are stories of the soul, of man, of morality, and of America, uniquely America. This is a writer who doesn't shy away from wit or horror (often in the same paragraph, the same sentence) when describing the wars we fight with ourselves and the wars we fight with the enemy. A powerful, moving reminder that what matters is often not what is written on the page, but what we as readers take with us, to last a lifetime. Nothing short of brilliant.

Neil Gaiman does it again! He takes Barbie, a marginal character in the "Doll's House" storyline and makes her into a 3 dimensional character. He also introduces some other great characters like Hazel, Foxglove, Clarissa, and my personal favorite in this volume, Wanda. After reading this tale, I was struck by how the characters matter so much in Sandman stories. How Neil cares about them so much that they keep popping up again and again in unlikely places. Even when someone mentions another person, I can tell that Neil has a character description written up for that person and they will appear in another story. Clarissa will appear again in "Kindly Ones", while Hazel and Foxglove are in both "Death" mini-series. (Also Foxglove is mentioned by another character in the "24 Hours" chapter in "Preludes and Nocturnes.")

That aside, "A Game of You" is probably the most personal story of the entire Sandman oeuvre. It's primarily the story of Barbie and her childhood dreams that become very real. The heart of the story is Barbie's relationship with Wanda which is both funny and touching. Dream doesn't appear much in this one, but the story is so good and the main characters so interesting that you won't mind at all.

No other volume of the magnificent Sandman series so perfectly captures the darkly magical essence as this one. Many people dislike it, and many will say that you should read other tales first, but for me personally, I think that if you like "A Game of You" then you will like all others, and if you dislike it, you probably will dislike many others as well. It is not as important to the story overall as some arcs, and the Sandman himself harldy interacts with the human characters until well into the story. Also absent are most of the Sandman's family, with Death being regelated to a cameo. However, this is what makes the issue so special. It uses the Sandman mileu to create a unique fantasy world of its own, one which uses archtypes to allow readers to identify with it and yet be startled around every turn. If the "death" of the world is not heartrending, then perhaps you lack the imagination that fuels such a world. Read this and enjoy.

In an age where almost all comics are aimed towards mass media entertainment, such as X MEN and the rest, it's refreshing to read comics with more depth and content to them. A Game Of You is one of my favorite books in the Sandman series. It showcases amazing characters, great storytelling, and a main character who is almost not in the book at all, which I enjoyed because the King of Dreams has always personally annoyed me with his pride and arrogance. However, on a lighter note, this book is amazing, but I would not recommend it as the first book for one to read in the Sandman series.

Although Bannatyne's history of Halloween contains useful material, especially covering the recent past, her work is marred by serious errors, mostly the result, I suspect, of an uncritical reading of her sources. She suggests, for example, that there was an actual cult of witches in the middle ages, a cult somehow linked to the druids, which is simply not true. A glance through her inadequate notes reveals good modern sources for folklore set side by side with works now hopelessly out of date. Bannatyne also consistently makes connections between Halloween and other folk traditions that are in no way supported by the evidence she presents. This may be, as a spokesman for the history channel suggests, "the best book on the history of halloween available today," but readers should be warned not to put too much stock in this endorsement.

this is an awesome book if you are looking for the whole history behind halloween and how it became an american holiday.This book is not for someone who is looking for a holiday read,but rather for someone who really wants to know the history behind this greatest of all holidays.I learned things about halloween that i never knew before,and being a real halloween nut, I thought i knew alot.You will learn the whole history behind halloween with this book,I enjoyed it greatly.

Bannatyne's book on Halloween is the best. Well-researched, absolutely packed with information and nuggets of fascinating lore on every page, yet the author eschews dry academic prose - it's like listening to an erudite friend explain his/her area of expertise. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to know more about such an interesting holiday. You really couldn't find a better, more comprehensive Halloween resource.

"Instant Emotional Healing" is one of the most important books that I have ever read. The book is well written and the techniques are easy to learn and use. I use the techniques in the book often, and am much more emotionally balanced and happy as a result. The techniques can be used for simple irritation and frustration to serious phobias and lifelong emotional problems. I highly recommend this book to anyone.

This is the best book on Accupressure for emotiona or EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques). Procedures are very well explained with lots of diagrams. Doing the balancing and Polarity Reversal techniques they have mentioned relaxes anybody. I was able to resolve couple of emotional issues very easily within minutes. This technique really works! You can also use it to improve your performance. Highly recommended.

Having tried EVERYTHING (ie, traditional hypnotherapy, EMDR, psychotherapy, Xanax, yoga, etc.) to relieve my chronic anxiety attacks, I decided to give the book a try. I was very skeptical but am happy to report the techniques work.

I was so impressed, I did a phone consultation with Dr. Pratt to resolve some traumatic childhood issues. In just one treatment, I felt enormous relief from emotional baggage I'd been hauling around for 20 years!

Since reading One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest recently, it has rapidly become my favourite book. Kesey has managed to tell a story whilst making a complex political allegory, and that is incredibly refreshing. The characters are so vivid, both loveable and sometimes vile, and Kesey finds the balance between making their exploits humorous, and not patronising the patients of the asylum. McMurphy is a classic hero, but far more complex than most so-called Christ-like figures in literature. The Chief however steals the show for me. The writing during the time he tells how alcoholism is destroying his Father is incredibly moving. Using the Chief as the omnipresent narrator is a superb device employed by Kesey, as it allows a unique, personal and sometimes confusing insight into all the proceedings. Like all great literature, it makes you think, but does it with a unique sense of humour and character, and handles its heavy subject matter with ease: this is a simple read but devastatingly effective. The end of the book is both sad and yet also happy. That adjective sums up the book perfectly- happysad.

What is the world you see when you read this book? It may not be real, but that doesn't make it any less true. Here is a place where feelings become sensations and overpower the "real world". On the face of it, the action takes place in a lunatic asylum. It could just as well be our world. It's populated by a lot of characters that feel more sane than the keepers of the place. The maker of all the rules - the Big Nurse - is the scariest of all, in her confidence that this is entirely her world, run as she likes. Enter Randall Patrick Macmurphy. Rules? What rules? They don't exist as far as he's concerned. This world is just another to be moulded to his liking. Within a minute of his entry, he's run up against the Nurse. Every inmate sees something new about life- it's possible not to follow someone else's rules and live to tell the tale. The Nurse's world cracks up, bit by bit. R.P.Mcmurphy too realizes the extent to which it's possible to fall into the games life creates. This is one character you'll remember forever - and the lesson he preaches. All the inmates - you included - learn that the game is a game only as long as you know you're playing it. Get caught up and you're just a token on the board. Ken Kesey talks through Chief Bromden - an indian who plays at being deaf and dumb in an effort to run from the game. Grammar is an easy prey to the Chief's onrushing thoughts as he struggles to keep up with the speed of events around him. The prose sparkles with electricity as he "sees" his feelings and expresses them as events. Hostility in the air becomes a chill, and the sensation of death is falling into a furnace. This is a book that reads like walking through a "hall of crazy mirrors". You look back on yourself and don't know whether to laugh or cry.

This is an amazing book; I honestly wish that I would have read it long before I saw the movie. Try as I might, I still cannot help but picture Jack Nicholson and Louise Fletcher whenever McMurphy or Nurse Ratched were "on stage."

Much more complex than the movie, the novel works on many levels. The characters are gripping, and the psychological undertones amazing. I read this first in high school, again in college, and twice during adult life, and each time I see something new in it that I hadn't seen before. In short, it is a modern masterpiece.

The book is told from the Chief's viewpoint. Chief deeply troubled psychotic, and pulling this off is Kesey's tour-de-force. Every utterance of this schizophrenic character rings true as he moves from the "fog" of fear into the real world. Not only does this progression make the novel more interesting than the movie, it makes you question certain elements of the movie.

For instance, was Mac a savior, or simply a dangerous whacko? The movie points towards savior, but the savior interpretation is merely the interpretation of a troubled mind yearning to be free in the novel. The nurse, too, seems less intimidating when you move back from the Chief's interpretation of her. I imagine that she was more humane than his inner fears and the fog that stands between him and the world would allow him to see. Once this is understood, the characters of Mac and Big Nurse become less "cut and dried," and more real, more vital and much more ambiguous. And Kesey's true purpose seems to surface. The actual characters of Mac/ Big Nurse are not important; how they react on the Chief's psyche is.

Seen in this way, the novel traces one of Joseph Campbell's grand mythic themes: The liberation of the masculine psyche from the chaotic rubble of the mother dominated chaos (can you tell this interpretation is based on my college paper?). This journey, which Campbell describes in his "Hero With a Thousand Faces," is a man's major mission early in life. To be free, a male must liberate himself from the feminine and establish himself in the real world. Mythic literature the world over teems with this theme. A man's inability to liberate himself from this dark, restraining yet safe world is a major cause of many psychoses. Kesey has managed to bring that myth into the modern world, and the effects are just as amazing and relevant as the original myths were.

By the way, I received an "A+" on my college paper, which took the novel apart along these lines. I hope that a student here or there stumbles on this. There is ample room for exploration in this book that seems so simple on the outside, but so deep and complex the deeper you dig. This is, after all, the mark of a truly great work of art.

At the same time, don't let all this "noodling" ruin such a perfectly enjoyable book. [Noodling (v)- The cursed blessing of a liberal arts and science education. :-}]

My interest was peeked immediately. I would hurry so that Icould get back to the tender story. I enjoyed the quick way that the author brought me into a new scene. I don't enjoy long discriptive dialogue. I know that true love waits and sacrifices and grows stronger. I have always believed this to be true. It is important for people to know that there are many who stay in love and love grows stronger and better. Deep thoughts touched me and I will remember them and save them. I enjoyed evey minute and couldn't wait to get to the next book "The Lighthouse Keeper." The Last Valentine is a good book, interesting, captivating and with a good moral to it. We need this so much now. Life is good. Love is good. One man and woman - true to each other is very possible and wonderful. I loved this book.

i've read good books before, but this one is at the top of my list. it's a love story that occurs during world war II and the love endores through the end. many surprises, especially in the end. I was in tears as i was reading this book. very few books ending can do that for me.

I saw this book in a library afew years ago. I read the back and decided to give it a try. I could not put this book down. I wanted more each time I started a new chapter. The story line passing from the present to the past was great and you could visualize the scene. You could not help but love the characters he created and feel what they felt.
Everytime a friend asks for a book to read, I loan them my copy or just recommend the title.

I first read this book in 6th grade and I loved it then because it was sort of the image of who I wanted to be. I have read it so many times since then and I still love it. I am a violist and I hope to become professional after college, so this book means a lot to me. I also have a stand partner is Symphony who reminds me a lot of Lucas (only he talks a lot less). The only thing I didn't like about this book is that when you learn vibrato, you can't do it all of a sudden; you have to practice about a year before you get it.

_Minna_ is not your typical children's book. It has all of the elements that make up a good novel for its age group--a good plot and characters and emotions children can identify with--but it is much more. This is one of those books I term an "in-between book"; it is excellent for children who have graduated beyond reading simply for plot, but are not yet ready for adult books. This book is an excellent blending of good plot and character/thematical development. I don't limit my reccommendation to just children, however; I think it is an excellent story for anyone of any age to read and enjoy.

I ENJOYED THIS BOOK ALOT.IT CHANGED THE WAY I FELT ABOUT THINGS.I ESPECIALLY LIKED IT BECAUSE I LIKE MUSIC.IT TOLD OF HER REALASIONSHIP BETWEEN HER FAMILY AND FRIENDS.IT SEEMED AS IF MINNA NEEDED TO GET UP AND GO.EVER SINCE SHE MET LUCAS SHE LIKED HIM.MCGREW ALWAYS HUMMED,HER FATHER WORKED, AND HER MOTHER ALWAYS WROTE HER BOOKS AND NEVER SPENT ANY TIME WITH MINNA.IT'S A GREAT STORY ABOUT HOW MINNA PULLS THOUGH TO HAVE A GOOD AND HAPPY LIFE. WITH HER FAMILY AND FRIENDS.