This is a must for anyone suffering a tragic loss. This book honestly portrays the depths and range of emotions and events felt when the author suffered the untimely loss of her husband in a clear, concise, unique, and heart-throbbing manner. The profound and life-changing impact of this story is immeasurable. Others will be cleansed and comforted by their ability to relate vividly and intimately with the massive effort involved with healing fom a great loss.

I'm not giving away the ending by saying Ms. Winter emerges from her personal tragedy healed, centered and strong. The book itself gives that away...at nearly every turn of the page, you catch a glimpse of Ms. Winter's bright, confident smile from her photo on the back flap. No matter which dark moment you've just read, there she appears, smiling back at you, as if to say YOU can come through your grief, too.

Whatever loss or tragedy may have befallen you, I hope you'll find a quiet, comfortable spot to read this honest and compelling personal odyssey. Ms. Winter is not some pontificating PhD, but a fellow human who managed to rise above the pit of overwhelming despair. As you read her magnificently written daily entries, and perfectly selected quotes, you realize you are not alone. You begin to comprehend a bigger picture. And you draw comfort and strength from her own healing.

Please give this book to a loved one or friend who is struggling with personal loss. And if that person is you, come share the light at the end of the tunnel with Aurora Winter.

Aurora Winter has captured with amazing honesty, accuracy and love, the feelings and process that will bring you back to hope, inspiration and life. Anyone who has experienced love and or a loss will find a comrad in Ms. Winter, her insight and compassion in "Struggling and Soaring with Angels" conveys the longest and quickest journey to the truth, a trip worth taking.

Right from the start this book is one of those that just feels good in the hand. A thin aesthetically pleasing little volume it has a red satin ribbon to mark your place and a brightly colored huge red heart invites you inside from the front cover. The text is a love poem by the great Carl Sandburg that has never before been published. The pictures are by Anita Lobel and they are filled with glad, warm-hearted images and colors.
A young man goes to "where the aurora borealises grow" and brings home a beautiful speciman for his true love's birthday. The enchanting swirls of color actually do quite well at depicting the essence of the aurora borealis and its mysterious, magical light show. I know, because the northern lights were swirling in the skies over my home just a few nights ago and Lobel captured the feeling just perfectly.
We follow the young man's struggle to find and bring the aurora borealis to his love and we believe that his feelings are so strong that he really can do anything for his love that he sets his heart on doing. He offers to bring her more aurora borealises or even a rainbow if she would like. This poetical man is letting her know that he will always work hard for her and struggle through life with her which is something a young woman may hope for, but this clever man has found a beautiful and romantic way to say it. His sensitivity to her need for beauty and abundance is the endearing point of the colorful promises he makes in this story.
I treasure this book and I think it makes a wonderful gift for anyone you love, especially yourself.

I'm an avid reader of all sorts of novels. I've read 'em with thousands of pages, but none of them have ever moved me as much as this little book did. Both the poem and the illustration have a magical, enchanting quality to them. Buy it for yourself or as a gift. It's well worth the money.

This book is so amazing that when i picked it up in the store and started reading it, i began to cry right there in the shop. i've never experienced that sort of thing in before. i bouth the book right there on the spot with money i had ear-marked for something else. It is just a really simple, really beautiful poem about love with wonderful illustrations. It makes a beautiful present for a child or even a sweetheart.

This novel reminds a bit of Damascus by Richard Beard since they both tell the events of a single day with some play between real time and imagined time. But unlike Beard's novel which rockets back and forth between past and present reimagined and possible meetings between two specific characters, Mallon uses multiple characters who eventually all cross paths in one climactic moment as Scott Carpenter is being rescued from the ocean after his successful orbit of the Earth in Aurora 7. There are interesting and bizarre historical coincidences peppered throughout the novel like the Civil War reconnaissance balloon Intrepid that flew in May 1862, 100 years before a Navy ship similarly named that recovered Carpenter. I mostly enjoyed how Mallon used the actual transcript of Carpenter's communication with NASA technicians as a framework for the storyline the takes place on Earth. This novel is thoroughly imaginative and filled with a love of humanity, the need for adventure and, most importantly, a respect for the bonds between parent and child. I read this to see if I would truly like Mallon after reading reviews of Two Moons. Now I'm set for his latest and I expect it to be just as good, if not better.

What a great book! Aurora 7 follows a young boy as he skips school on the day of Scott Carpenter's Mercury flight, wanders into New York City (where everyone is watching the flight on a giant Grand Central Station monitor), and has a fateful, miraculous meeting with his dad. Somehow, Carpenter's almost getting lost in space (he nearly didn't make it down) and the boy's fate get intertwinned. A soulful, gentle book.

This children's book is about a five-year-old Mexican girl and her first posada (a Christmas festival in Mexico) and her first Christmas piñata. Children have always loved the story and also have used the book to learn more about the culture and life of another country. "Nine Days to Christmas" is highly recommended. Aurora Labastida was the librarian for children's books in Mexico City and she cowrote this story with Marie Ets who was the illustrator. The book won the 1960 Caldecott Medal for best illustration in a children's book.

As a child, this book open the world to me. Nine Days to Christmas lets children learn about and explore the traditions of Christmas in Mexico while capturing the thrill and confusion of early childhood. Thirty years after reading this book, I look forward to sharing the magic of Nine Days to Christmas with my own children.

This spectacular collection of Aurora Borealis photographs is absolutely breathtaking. Daryl Pederson and Calvin Hall have captured the essence of the mysterious wonders of the Northern Lights with their combined abilities. Having lived in Alaska we have long admired the rare talents of Mr Pederson. My husband and I own many of his prints and continue to enjoy them daily. We most definately will order some from this offering. This book is a must for everyone who appreciates the visual splenders displayed by the Aurora Borealis or just loves to look at georgeous photography.

I have read many of the books written by survivors of the Armenian genocide carried out by Turkey, and this is by far the best of them all. Aurora Mardigian (her name was subsequently changed by "Hollywood") was 14 when her story began, and what makes this book the best is also what makes it the worst: she gives many specific examples of how Turks murdered and tortured Armenians, told quite dispassionately but in no less horrifying terms.
I've already bought copies to give to my brother and sister, even at its high price, because it's worth every cent, and so that all will KNOW what the Armenian people went through at the hands of the still-denying Turks.
Those who don't know what Armenia and her people are about will also learn the true nature and identity of our wonderful culture, and all that it emcompassed both in early times as well as currently.

This book is truly interesting. It explains how an Armenian Genocide survivor's memoir was turned into a motion picture in 1919, a year or two after her arrival to the United States. The beginning of the book explains the whole movie production process, and even lists reviews given at the time of its showing. The movie apparently was very popular in 1919, however all copies of it seem to have been lost. However, the book has about 6 still photos from the movie. The bulk of the book is simply a reprint of Aurora Mardiganian's account of living through the Armenian Genocide. It is amazing, sad, sickening. This is an extremely excellent book for anyone knowing little about the Armenian Genocide, and an original and interesting one for those more familiar with the subject.

"In the far cold north lived Ulaq, the fox. Ulaq was a very curious fox." So begins "Ulaq and the Northern Lights," a wonderful picture book by Harriet Peck Taylor. Ulaq is intrigued by the shimmering lights that appear in the sky, so he asks the other Arctic animals what they are. Each animal--Wolf, Caribou, etc.--gives Ulaq a different answer that reflects the unique perspective of a particular species.

"Ulaq" is a fun book with excellent illustrations. The art has a surreal, glowing quality which captures the magnificence of the northern landscape. Each animal character is rendered with great charm. The curious Ulaq is a character to whom, I believe, many kids could relate! And an author's note at the end gives the scientific explanation behind the Northern Lights.

Ulaq, a curious fox, who is mesmerized by the magical aurora borealis asks several of his friends what they are. Each tells him their interpretation which is based on the many legends which surround this miraculous occurance. My four year old daughter loves this book. It sparks her interest both in the northern lights and in the idea that people interpret things very differently-a topic that we have later discussed in many instances. Furthermore, it encourages curiousity and the persuit of knowledge as well as introducing the concept of legend verses scientific fact (the scientific cause for the auroras is explained in the end notes). This book is the perfect balance of adventure, spirituality and education in a format which appeals to the young reader.

It is very gratifying to see Sparrow's translation of Boehme's "Morgenrote am Aufgang" in print again. Jacob Boehme, the shoemaker from Gorlitz whose life was forever altered by a visionary experience, captured the imagination of Emerson and other Transcendentalist writers. Boehme saw nature as a reflection/representation of God's plan, a concept which American thinkers found congenial to their intrinsically optimistic world-view. "Aurora" was most likely first introduced into the U.S. by German Pietists. The original is enormously difficult to translate (or even to comprehend) in German. Thus, the 19th century reader was probably just as thrilled to find a translation as we are lucky to have a reprint of the Sparrow edition.

So, you want to buy bandages? How about inventions only DaVinci could come up with? How about all those odds&ends that thieves need to escape? How about simple laborers tools. This is the book for you. This book adds MANY items that the D&D game lacked. A vial that restores hit points can be bought. Various clothing that improves AC that even a wizard & sorceror could wear is also here (Boom's Garden section).

Pick it up.

Usually your stuck trying to make some good equipment but with this book you got it all.

I do believe that this is the greatest thing you can have when playing AD&D. This book has everything you could imagine and USE in AD&D. Everything but the kitchen sink... and thats proabably in here too I just havent found it!

I read this book in one sitting. It's hilarious. The ensemble are all developed well and likable. Murphy's writing is funny, mean and sweet at the same time. He clearly loves the characters and I could see him writing the story laughing at his clever self. I loved the twists. The plot was VERY well constructed, and the ending is a nice, bittersweet surprise. This is a must read.

This was a delightful little read. I loved the characters. They were described so realistically I felt I knew them. It is so tightly written. Murphy doesn't waste a word, or his reader's time. I laughed out loud more than once. Saving Aurora is thoroughly enjoyable.

What can I say about Murphy's prose... mixing humor and serious topics in any novel is a tough assignment, and Murphy tackles the task with aplomb. He's clearly a writer with talent to spare.