This is a compelling story of how fame affects a very nuclear family. A mother and young son start a children's television show, and when the boy becomes a teenager he stars in his own series which develops a huge cult-like fan base. It has another great father character (typical of Johnston's books) who tries to realize his own dreams. But the more nerdy mother who literally and figuratively runs the show is another unforgettable character, and a study in how good intentions can do more damage than good. And the son is realistically written as being torn between what he wants for his father, his mother and himself. The fanatic following of the family's fame is at times over the top, but the real story is what goes on inside their increasingly secluded home.

This is the spiritual autobiography of a man who inherited the tradition of the famed peoples of the Caucasus Mountains. His search led him to encounters with many remarkable individuals and awakened in him a variety of mystical experiences. Through the telling of his life story he reveals much of the ancient knowledge of the Caucasian people, the secret training of the Bektashi dervishes, a search for buried Ottoman treasure, and his own reconcillation with Christianity and the West.

Wow! There is more practical learning available per ounce of these books than *any* other music books I have seen. I had to take my time, but I sure learned a lot! Unbelievably inexpensive for what you get, too!

Book #1 is all about rhythm, and starts with whole and quarter notes. One chapter I particularly liked was the one on how to be a conductor. It was both fun and helped me feel the rhythm better. There are practice sections or "workshops" at the end of each chapter, and many of the examples are Christian songs.

All three books follow the same meritous style. Book 2 walks you through composing a melody, and book 3 crowns it all with techniques for creating harmony!

Excellent! I highly recommend these books. For me, it was time and money very well spent!

This multi-volume set of Ibsen's work, edited and compiled by Chicago/Evanston author Rick Davis is a little masterpiece.

The new adaptations are marvelous, and Mr. Davis' commentaries show us how Ibsen is a master crafsperson, and how his work may be best contrasted with Strindberg -- who is anything but a master editor and foundation layer.

I think Mr. Davis shows us how important precision and planning can be to the writing process. Therefore I think this book is a must have for screenwriters, as well as fiction-writers -- not to mention playrights.

In Ice Age Giants Of The South, Judy Cutchins and Ginny Johnston offer a superbly presented and illustrated survey of the fossil record of the large animals the lived during the Ice ages which began some 1.8 million years ago and ended about ten thousand years ago. From saber-toothed cats, dire wolves sand woolly mammoths, to mastodons, giant sloths and armadillos. Of special interest is the illustrated and informative sections on land bridges between continents, caves and sinkholes, ancient grasslands, the role of teeth in paleontological excavations, and what finally happened to those "giants of the ice age". The splendidly illustrated text is further enhanced for young readers with a glossary, a list of scientific names, and an index.

All of the For Better or For Worse books can help you find humor in tough situations. I'm not saying that you should use them as child rearing guides, but hey, loosen up a little.

I recently read this book for my Modern Literature class. I think this book capture the attention from the teenagers people because the characters are young people. I rate this book five stars because i really liked and i think is a good book to read and understand. The story of the book is very realistic because many young people are shy and think that they are not attractive for have a partner, and in this book that the author Norma Johnston wrote we can see that sometimes we have to make some changes in our personal look and we can see the beautiful every person are. I recommend you to read this book.

Janet Johnston is one of the most careful and thoughtful researchers in the field of family law. "In the Name of the Child" is a compilation of all of her collected wisdom dealing with high conflict and other families who find themselves in the courts. The best kernel for me, however, was her description of the "ideal family court", a model closely tracking with the one we have developed for the state of Oregon.

When most kids skip school they don't get shipped off to a Residential School where they are treated less than human and have to learn quickly to get a long. From the opening sentence you are hooked as the boys armed with slingshots decide not to waste the day in school but go hunting instead. Trouble brews and soon the Indian agent shows up to take little Basil away to Spanish - a small town on the North Shore north of Manitoulin Island. The only problem is the Indian agent - (heartless white men who loved to play God) wanted a "pay" load and up and took the five year old sister of Basil too. Nobody got to say yes or no it was a done deal.To say this book is all serious - well it isn't. Humour comes through again and again these are surviors here people - not victims. Basil was gratefull for the education he got and where it lead him but the out come always depends on the person. What would challenge one person who drive someone else to the edge and over it. The boys rise to the challenge of chicken farming at the school - collecting eggs they'll never get to eat. A page turner for sure, take a closer look at Canada's dirty little secert that is just now being dealt with in court. A follow up list is in the back of the book to tell you what happened to these boys. Excellent read not to be missed

Over the past couple years, many people have gone out of their way to comment to me that Inside A Freight Train is one of their children's favorite books. The children get very excited when they see real cars that look like the ones in their book. The best review I've ever had, however, was from my two youngest children. Each of them discovered the book on their own (at about the age of two) while going through the books on their shelf. I'll never forget the look on my son's face as he proudly brought the book to me, wanting me to read it to him. Of course, he had no idea that I had written and illustrated it. Ever since that day, the train book has been his number one favorite book and he still has no idea that his mother had anything to do with it. (The only problem is that he finds brand new copies sometimes (waiting to be mailed out to someone) and thinks that these are his books,too!) The artwork is very straighforward because I have found that that is what young children prefer. All of the backgrounds are real places. Some of these places are here in central Pennsylvania. I actually climbed down into a tank car at a train junk yard to get pictures of the heating pipes. The lack of variety in composition (cars are all seen from the side) was due to the preference of the editor.