I read "Strong Stuff" straight through, urged forward by the compelling diverse stories of mothers, some of whom I identified with out of my own experiences and some for whom I felt awe and humility for dealing with challenges greater than I had ever faced. Ms. Moore let the power and dignity of the individuals' voices remain strong and alive in delivering their stories to the reader. If mothering is challenging, step-mothering is even more so, I believe, and as I made up what "mothering" was "supposed to be" in parenting a lovely stepdauther, I wish I had had these stories to guide me along. I gave a copy to my goddaughter who just graduated with a degree in community development; she immediately ordered copies for her colleagues in a regional women's development program, saying it was the best resource of its kind she had seen. For studying, for savoring, for reconsidering one's own mother experience, "Strong Stuff" is not to be missed!

STRONG STUFF is to be read slowly so the stories and advice within can be savored and contemplated. In their stories mothers let slip simple but powerful nuggets of parenting wisdom. For me, the advice of Louise Callahn (Affirmation section, pg398) offers some of the best in the book..."I will never say 'no' if I can say 'yes' ". This hint may seem simple but so often we jump to 'no' without a thought. The variety of the women's backgrounds is impressive. Each of us will find some of our parenting experiences and predicaments here. I highly recommend this book for new mothers who are wondering what they got themselves into. STRONG STUFF is a wonderful source for women traveling the tricky terrain of mothering.

What a wonderful book! Though I am a man and so unable to stake a claim to mothering, I have a mother, I work with mothers, I have friends and family who are mothers, we all work to understand our own mothers and the tremendous influence they have in our lives, and mothering is more than a little like fathering. What is of greater common interest than parenting?

Moore has done a great job preserving the voice of each participant in her book. There is no fluff here, just the genuine personal stories that make for fascinating reading. Many of these stories I have read more than once, and I anticipate picking up this book again and again over time.

I highly recommend Strong Stuff to thoughtful readers. If you can't stretch and grow a bit by reading these mothers' stories, you must be mighty big already!

One day, while skimming the shelves of the Young Adult section of the Library, I ran across 3 books. I noticed that they were from the same Author of "Anne of GreenGables" and I had truly loved those books, so I decided to get these new, mysterious books that I had never heard of. "Emily of NewMoon" "Emily Climbs" and "Emily's Quest". I got home, jumped on my bed, and began reading. Looking up, I noticed I had finished 1/2 the book, and that a couple of hours had passed. I bought all 3 of them here, and I am SO happy that I did. I really don't know what more I can say, I just LOVE these books more than ANY possesion that I have. And that isn't a joke! They inspired me, and I have read EVERY other book of LLM's, but still, my favorites are the "Emily" series. I really hope that you buy this book, it's SO worth it. I read them over and over and over. and when I open the book, I know exactly where I am, and then I can't put it down! I LOVE LOVE LOVE THEM!

Emily of New Moon is starry, poignant, and captivating. Orphaned Emily Byrd Starr comes to New Moon lonely and friendless, to live with her Mother's relations, the Murrays.

The Murrays are not willing to take her in, but are proud and consider it their duty to bring Emily up, as she is a member of their clan. Her Aunt Elizabeth brings her the New Moon, and is cold and harsh and stern. But her sweet Aunt Laura, and kindly Cousin Jimmy provide Emily with support.

In Emily's imagination, loyal friends Ilse Burnley, Teddy Kent and Perry Miller, as well as her passionate love of writing, Emily finds hope and friendliness in her new World.

Emily is often compared to Anne of Green Gables, but they hold their differances. Anne is all liveliness and hot temper and sweetness; Emily is vivid, both light and dark, with enough mystery in her to allure.

This book is beautifully written and delicate, full of subtle wit and humour, and wonderful complexity as it describes Emily's adventures while living at New Moon. Emily is spirited and charming and ambitious, and the Emily series portray a unique child developing into womanhood.

I read this book simply because it was written by L. M. Montgomery. I became a devoted fan of hers since I have read the 'Anne' books. I really love them a great deal and Emily of New Moon is just as tempting as them. I didn't think I could love it as much as I do with the 'Anne' books. I spot the difference and similarity between Emily and Anne. Anne is more mature while Emily more childlike. They both adore writing but Emily loves it better. Anne is more stubborn and fanciful. Anne led a happier existence in Green Gables. Emily was contented to live in New Moon, though, but in a way different from Anne. She had a stern Aunt Elizabeth, who loved her but just locked the love for her niece up inside. Her adventures were very very funny and amusing too. L. M. Montgomery made the other characters in the story very lovable. And each of them had their own characteristics. The story gets more and more gripping towards the end. I could't help reading it till I finished the whole story. It is a story which makes you feel delighted and young and energetic. And I am going to read the rest of this series---Emily climbs and Emily's quest and other books written by L. M. Montgomery

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.

I was lucky enough to take a class taught by Emily Jenkins, while at college. Back then, I thought she was a great teacher and talented writer and now a few years later, I see that I was absolutely not mistaken. This book was funny, clever, so creative and poignant, I can't imagine anyone not finding it completely engrossing and worth finishing in a day and a half(as I did.) I am definitely very much looking forward to Emily's next novel!!

you don't have to be an american to find this book funny, childhood is and international language, and Emily Jenkins successfully described 8 years old .. they are kids in size only but know a lot more than we think .. I loved the play .. thought it was hilarious .. she only did what was asked to do

I loved this book. It can take any reader back to their childhood to remember the little things that you so often forget. The story was original and easy to read. It was a real page turner!!

Deltora Quest 3:City Of the Rats is a pretty good book. Leif, Barda and Jasmine,venture again to find the opal,and meet the Ra Karchaz,Tom,some carnivore rats,and a giant snake named Reeah. It is a cool book,with a vairety of action and adventure.

Lief, Barda, and Jasmine have survived the treacherous Lake of Tears. Now, they must journey on to the City of the Rats, where the third gem of the Belt of Deltora is hidden. Along the way, they run into trouble and are captured by the inhabitants of a mysterious city called Noradz. In a place with so many strange rules and customs, it's only a matter of time before the three companions make a mistake and are punished. They escape and make their way out of the city, but ahead of them lies their goal - the horrifying City of the Rats. Long ago, the city was overrun by evil, and the few surviving inhabitants fled. Now, Lief, Barda, and Jasmine must survive the brutal onslaught of rats at the city's entrance, and if they make it through, they must face the horrible Guardian of the city. I reccomend this book to all readers who enjoyed the first two books in the Deltora Quest series.

It is a great book. It is a book about a magic world caLled Deltora where Lief, Jasman.and Barda fight monsters, and make friends and foes. Will they survive long enough to fight in the city of the rats? Will they find the ancient gem the Topaz?

"CAN THEY RESTORE THE BELT OF DELTORA"

This book is a knockout! My daughter loves the bright colors and candle cutouts. It's quickly become her favorite book and Hanukkah is still more than a month away! I highly recommend this beautiful book.

This book is unique and beautiful. The vivid colors are so striking against the black background. My children just love looking at the pictures and learning to count in Yiddish and Hebrew. A thoroughly enjoyable and striking book. I highly recommend it!

The bright colors and clear illustrations immediately attracted my two year old son. He flipped through the pages, identifying the numbers and pictures that he knew. As we read it together, I started to introduce the pictures that he was unfamiliar with, and some of the Hebrew and Yiddish words. As he grows, I can teach him more of the different languages, and read the Hannukah story with him. I think this is a beautiful book, one that my son will use and learn from for years to come.

I owned and read this book years ago, but it got ruined. I liked it a lot, because I've been looking for it for years. I recall that it had me on the edge of my chair. It's full of suspense, mystery, and the supernatural, and I'm hoping Amazon.com can find it for me so I get to read it again!

I am so delighted to see that other people have the same kind of memories about this book that I do. It is hard to pinpoint exactly why this book struck such a chord with me--but it did. I've reread this book as an adult, and I think one thing that made this book such a compelling read is that it is about a nine-year-old girl, but it is written from the point of view of an eighteen-year-old girl. This perspective allows the pre-adolescent reader for whom the book is intended to identify with the emotions and issues facing both children and young adults. After all, don't most twelve-year-olds feel like a child one moment, and then nearly grown up the next? Also, Jane-Emily deals with an astounding number of issues in more depth than you'd think possible in such a short book: death, fear of abandonment, romantic love, love between parent and child, friendship, and the classic battle between good and evil. I wouldn't argue that Jane-Emily is the best-written book for children I've ever come across. (It's good, not great, in that regard.) But for pre and early adolescent girls, this book is just a dead-on perfect hit. It really is magic.

I first read this book back in grade school, so many times I can't remember. I loved it! I hope that Amazon.com can find a copy so that I can share it with my nieces. I think of it every summer as I look at pansies or a reflecting ball in a garden.

Certified ColdFusion Developer Study Guide by Ben Forta, is a great book for learning/studying Cold Fusion. I have taken the CF Exam twice, and by reading this book, I boosted my score on the second exam by over 20 points. This is a cut-to-the-chase book that tells you what you need to know without all the fluff around it. Not only was the book helpful, but Ben Forta's CF Test Exam ... was also excellent to help in the learning of CF.

I just completed and passed the ColdFusion certification exam on June 23rd. I have been a CF developer for about 1.5 years. I have a pretty strong knowledge of the basics, but realized CF is very broad and that I definitely needed some sort of extra prep for the exam. So, I bought this book several weeks ago. However, I am an unrepentant procrastinator -- I waited till the day before the exam to start studying Ben's book. No matter. The text is so well written, that I could easily skim the material I was familiar with and focus on sections were my skills were weak. The end-of-chapter practice quizzes are challenging and are an excellent gauge of how you will perform on the real certification exam. My scores ended up being exactly the same -- 84!! It certainly helped me pass the exam and I'm sure it will remain handy as a quick reference guide. I highly recommend this book.

I can't recommend this book more highly. I have only been Web Developing for 8 months after falling into the job with a fluke departmental transfer. I trained on the job with the Allaire CD that came with the CF Application Server and read manuals. This is the first CF book that I didn't have to strain to understand. It made difficult concepts simple to a newbie like myself. I ended up not only passing the exam, but also made an 82% that now brings me to Advanced ColdFusion Certified status!!! It was a change they made last month where scores of 80% and above get extra recognition. This book not only was the reason I scored so high, but also was instrumental in pointing out fixes to a host of CF problems I was having in my daily coding. There were practice questions at the end of these chapters that were actually on the test with slight wording changes. I will say that there were about 3 questions on the test that were not covered at all in the book. So I would suggest supplemental study if you want to make a 90% or something.

Now it is time for me to go negotiate that raise!

Mike Arms

Advanced ColdFusion Professional

(P.S. I like the sound of that. You will too after your own name. So get this book, read once with a high lighter, read it again, then outline the chapters you are hazy on.)

I would have to say this is not one of the very best books I have ever read, but it was a good story. The little girl in the story wants Bellini, the world famous high-wire walker, to teach her how to walk the high wire, but after years of performing Bellini is afraid. The book is a great story to tell children and explain to them that they should never give up. When Mirette tries to walk on the high-wire she falls off a lot and struggles to keep her balance, but with all her ambition she keeps trying and trying. She never gives up. And when she wants to go with him to perform in front of people, he says she can't. But she doesn't give up hope. She still practices and practices and never gives up.
This story shows little children that if at first you don't succeed, get yourself up and try again and again until you do get it. Even if it does take an extra mile, the end result will be great if you try your hardest. ...

As the mother of a 6-year-old girl, IÕm always on the lookout for picture books with strong, intelligent and interesting female characters. This is one of the best. Mirette wants to learn to walk a tightrope. She falls over and over again, but never gives up trying, and finally becomes an expert. She is a great model of determination for young girls. But sheÕs more than that. The story is also about a once great tightrope walker, the man who first inspired Mirette, who has developed a fear of the wire. Mirette uses her own developing talent to help her teacher overcome his fear. The final illustration of the two of them reaching out to each other across the wire brings tears to my eyes every time. MiretteÕs determination, ambition, and compassion are inspiring. My daughter and I both adore this book.

How many children's books do you know where the girl (rather than a boy or an animal) saves the day by doing something heroic? Relatively few come to my mind. As the parent of two daughters, I was delighted to find this wonderful tale of 19th century entertainment fills that bill.

Ms. McCully had originally set out to write a biography of the famous tightrope walker Blondin, when she decided to write this book instead. The Mirette character is based on her own recollections of being a brave girl.

This book contains unusually high quality illustrations, even for a Caldecott Medal Winner (as the best illustrated children's book of 1993). The style shares a great deal with Toulouse-Lautrec but is more appealing because there is more subtlety and use of soft pastel shades. You will definitely feel like you've stepped through the looking glass into a world of entertainment in 1890's Paris.

The story opens to find Mirette helping her mother keep a boardinghouse for entertainers (traveling players for the theaters and music halls) called Gateau's. "Acrobats, jugglers, actors, and mimes from as far away as Moscow and New York" stayed and ate there. What a wonderful place for a child!

Mirette, unfortunately, had the not so exciting tasks of "washing linens, chopping leeks, paring potatoes, and mopping floors." She was "a good listener, too."

One day, Bellini (a retired high-wire walker) came to stay. "I am here for a rest." Soon, he had set up his wire in the back and was practicing. He refused to teach Mirette when she asked to learn. "Once you start, your feet are never happy again on the ground." She replied, "My feet are already unhappy on the ground." While he was away sometimes she would practice. After weeks of falls and problems, she could go across the whole wire. She showed him.

He responded. "Most give up. But you kept trying. Perhaps you have talent as well."

His key advice: "Never let your eyes stray." "Think only of the wire, and of crossing to the end."

When she says she'll never fall again, he warns her not to boast.

Later an agent from Astley's Hippodrome in London comes to Gateau's and recognizes Bellini. The agent recounts some of his many feats including crossing Niagara Falls on a 1000 foot wire in 10 minutes, and cooking an omelet on a stove of live coals on the way back. He had also toasted the crowd with champagne. Bellini had crossed the Alps on another occasion. Further, he had fired a cannon from the wire over the bullring in Barcelona, and crossed a flaming wire blind-folded in Naples. Ah! Oh exciting!

There's only one problem: He has lost his "nerves of an iceberg."

Encouraged by the agent, Bellini plans a comeback. He walks out on the wire and freezes. What next?

Mirette saves the day by reaching her hands out to him, and meeting him on the wire.

The book's final page shows a poster of Mirette and Bellini saying that they are wire walkers who do "stupendous feats." A little girl looks up at the poster.

As you can see, this is quite a good story, and works in Mirette's heroism in a natural way. The character development is quite good, and the historical context is interesting. Children often wonder what people did for entertainment before television.

As a parent, you may want to make a little addition to the story that, of course, Mirette's mother joined them in traveling around to do the act. Otherwise, this story could be incorrectly construed as encouraging young girls to go traveling around with grown men.

The great lesson in this book is focus. Where would that lesson help your child? Where would it help you?

Use your focus to live your most positive dreams!