I bought this for my daughter, who is getting married in six months. I especially enjoyed reliving my own wedding day, and am happy to be able to share my memories as she plans her wedding. I think this will make a wonderful keepsake for any mother and daughter.

My mother gave this to me on my wedding day and I can't think of a gift I cherish more. Filled with her own personal stories of our relationship, her own wedding, and her feelings of my wedding it is a gift I can't wait to give to my own daughter someday. If you're looking for a gift for you daughter, this is it. Something she'll thank you for forever.

I ordered this little book on a whim (the beautiful artwork on the cover first attracted me)and it turned out to be a treasure. Usually a fast reader, I made myself read only one story a day to make it last longer. Gardening is hard work and when you are feeling up to your ears in bugs and weeds, it helps to share the delights of a fellow gardener who also knows how hard it all is but who can remind you why you do it - for the special joy of watching the flowers bloom at last and the animals play in your little piece of paradise. I had a wonderful time imagining myself in his garden and I think I will be a bit more sensitive to the happenings in my own garden in the future. This would make a great gift for birthday, get well, etc.

It is possible to live the kind of life you want, but first, you must know what you want, decide how you are going to get there, and then do it. This man did just that, and this book describes what he found.

Here's Franklin with his friends in FRANKLIN GOES TO DAY CAMP. It's an excellent way to introduce kids to the idea of day camp and to the concept of journaling. There are word games and puzzles, a maze, and a board game, all surrounded by beautiful, bright illustrations. It's also good for a child who's sick or stuck indoors on a rainy day. I suggest using a pencil on the puzzles so you can erase and do them again. Or cover the page with plastic and write on that. The affordable book works on several levels: story, journal, games.

This book was great! My 6 and 7 year olds loved it. I liked how it was set up as a journal, that Franklin kept each day he went to camp. This was something my children could relate to because they kept and write in journals at school. My children especially enjoyed doing the activities that went along with Franklin's camp activities. The book is very well thought out and my help alleviate some camp anxieties your child my have.

This is a very touching book. It shows emotions of what happens when a close friend moves away. Frankin takes it out on everybody. But in the end his father figures out that it was Otter's moving that upset Franklin. His father told him how they can still stay in contact with each other. Franklin sent Otter a puzzle that he made.

Franklin, our favorite little turtle, struggles through the day after his good friend Otter moves away. Everything seems to go wrong until he finally has a relieving talk with dad and realizes that he hasn't really lost his buddy, but that their relationship simlpy has to take on a new dimension. This is yet another greatly illustrated, wonderful book in the Franklin series, which helps teach life's lessons and morals to our young ones.

My daughter loved this story as did I as the emphasis on Valentine's Day was about friendship and taking a day and celebrating friendships. As Franklin lost all of his Valentine's in the mud and didn't have any for his friends, he couldn't believe they still wanted to give him their cards and letters. He realized that friends like you for who you are and not what you can give them. As a parent, if feel this is one lesson that your kids can't learn too often.

My daughter loved this story of Frankin making his own Valentine's for his friends at school and losing them in a puddle in his hurry to get to the bus. He becomes upset and can't believe, even though he doesn't have cards to give to them, they still want him to have the ones they've made. In the end, Frankin decides to make "Friendship Day" the day after Valentine's Day with cards he's made and carefully put in his bag. It just teaches a great lesson of how nice people can be and how to appreciate the friends you have.

FROM DISTANT DAYS : Myths, Tales, and Poetry of Ancient Mesopotamia. Translated by Benjamin R. Foster. 438 pp. Bethseda, Maryland : CDL Press, 1995. ISBN 1-883053-09-9 (pbk.)

I currently have three anthologies of Sumerian-Akkadian literature on my shelves: Stephanie Dalley's 'Myths from Mesopotamia' (1989), Thorkild Jacobsen's 'The Harps That Once' (1987), and the present book. All three are by specialists and are designed for the general reader; all, within the limits of their shared conventional viewpoint, are excellent; and anyone with a serious interest in this remote and fascinating literature will want to have all three.

Of the three, Dalley's is the most 'technical' translation, in the sense that it has far more extensive footnotes, and that it wisely prefers to retain original terms such as "Kurnugi" (page 155), instead of offering essentially misleading equivalents such as "Netherworld" (Foster, page 78) or "Hades" (Jacobsen, page 207 ff). Her translations also seem to me to be the most vigorous, but that's just a personal feeling, and all three of these tranlations are wonderfully readable.

Foster tells us that the present book is "a selection, rearrangement, and abridgement of 'Before the Muses, An Anthology of Akkadian Literature' (Bethseda, MD : CDL Press, 1993)" (page vii). His substantial anthology is organized as follows : 1. Gods and Their Deeds; 2. Kings and Their Deeds; 3. Divine Speech; 4. Hymns and Prayers; 5. Sorrow and Suffering; 6. Love and Sex; 7. Stories and Humor; 8. Wisdom; 9. Magic Spells.

As is the case with the Dalley and Jacobsen anthologies, all texts have been provided with their own brief introductions, and all gaps and losses of text in the original tablets have been indicated in the translations, though Foster's texts are much more lightly annotated. His book opens with a short 8-page Introduction, and is rounded out with a Glossary of Proper Names, but lacks both a Bibliography and an Index.

The book has clearly been designed as a reader's edition, with minimal impedimenta in the way of notes and so on that might interfere with the reader's enjoyment of the texts. Foster tells us that those who want to learn more about these texts, or to read further in Akkadian Literature, should consult his much fuller 2-volume work, 'Before the Muses.'

The book is well-printed on excellent paper in a large clear font that might have been a bit heavier, is bound in glossy wrappers, and has one of those abominable glued spines that crack when opened. I wonder what happened to stitching?

Here, as a brief example of Foster's style, are the opening lines of his 'When Ishtar [i.e., Inanna] Went to the Netherworld,' with my obliques added to indicate line breaks :

"To the netherworld, land of n[o return], / Ishtar, daughter of Sin, [set] her mind. / Indeed, the daughter of Sin did set her mind / To the gloomy house, seat of the ne[therworld], / To the house which none leaves who enters, / To the road whose journey has no return, / To the house whose entrants are bereft of light..." (page 78).

Those with access to the Dalley and Jacobsen will find it interesting to compare Foster's version with theirs. His rhythms seem a little more stately and relaxed, a little less vigorous, and he seems less sparing of words. But, as I've indicated, all three books, though differing in flavor, are intensely readable, and we should be grateful to Professors Dalley, Jacobsen, and Foster, for the enormous labors which must have gone into them.

What I said in my review of Jacobsen applies equally here. The limits of Foster's book are the limits of the official point-of-view. Within these limits his book becomes a labor of love, a wonderfully readable literary treatment of some of the world's most ancient, fascinating and beautiful literature by a noted authority, and one that can be strongly recommended to all sensitive readers.

Readers, however, shouldn't take Foster as gospel but as something vastly more interesting, since what Ishtar/Inanna may well have been visiting was not the "Netherworld" but the mines of Africa. But to understand this you'll have to read linguist and scholar Zechariah Sitchin's 'The 12th Planet.' Only he provides a framework in which all becomes intelligible.

This has just about everything, although, as the author notes in his preface, this is an abridgment of an earlier work, Before the Muses: Anthology of Akkadian Literature. The selections are arranged by type, beginning with myths and epics--the Enuma Elish and a composite Akkadian flood story--and working its way through deeds of kings, hymns, prayers, proverbs, magic spells, elegies and celebrations. There is also some satire--a land deed drawn up for birds and a curse against a bleating goat.

Foster provides an introduction to each piece, and to sections of the longer pieces. There are gaps in most narratives, and Foster notes them. He also provides footnotes explaining the more obscure points and allusions, as well as some issues with translations. At points, it is less than a leisurely read, but Foster seems determined to present the material in plain but telling language.

I have quoted often from the book and return to it frequently. One piece, an elegy for a woman who died in childbirth, has always moved me. It is told from the point of view of the dead woman. After remembering a happy life with her husband, she says that the day she went into labor, her face "grew overcast." Despite her pleas and the pleas of her husband to Belet-illi, the goddess of childbirth, "shrouded her face" She concludes:

[All... ] those days I was with my husband,

While I lived with him who was my lover,

Death was creeping stealthily into my bedroom,

It forced my from my house,

It cut me off from my lover,

It set my foot toward the land from which I shall not return.

I hold a master's degree in history and am particularly interested in Mormon and Western history. This is perhaps one of the best books I have ever read. This has been a research topic for the author for nearly twenty years, beginning as her doctoral dissertation entitled "Insanity and the Sweet Singer." Avery took great pains in researching this book, and delayed its publication until full disclosure of all works became available upon the death of David's final grandson. David was like a young prince, forced to live in the shadow of a famous father and older brother, both leaders of respective churches. Avery shows the slow descent into madness experienced by David Hyrum Smith as he tries to find his place. A disasterous mission to Salt Lake City to convert Mormons will be of interest to Mormons, Reorganized LDS members and readers in general. The look at the Elgin asylum is an fascinating topic for interested parties as well. You cannot go wrong with this book.

The book From Mission to Madness proves that mental illness can afflict even the posterity of the Prophets. David H. Smith, son of the famed Mormon prophet Joseph Smith, never lived to know his father; he missed the fatherly embrace by five months. Much to Brigham Young's dismay, David became affiliated with the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and was one of its most effective and revered missionaries. Mental illness overcame him, and he spent the last three decades of his life in a mental hospital. Avery performed wonderfully well in framing his life story, using personal and official RLDS church correspondence. I felt the heartache and pain that David's family experienced as they struggled, hoped and despaired. This book was so engaging that I actually read the entire book in less than two weeks (which, for me, is noteworthy when considering any non-fiction work over 100 pages). David Smith's life was replete with pathos and unfulfilled expectations (he was destined to take his father's place as Prophet). The book also adequately describes the perpetual tension that existed, and at times does currently exist, between the Utah and the RLDS Mormon churches. Even though Avery placed an inordinant emphasis on Smith's poetical works, I would recommend this book to all.

I read this as a Reader's Digest Condensed Book. It was very moving. It's one that stays with you. Like Mrs. Rossi, I have a wonderful marriage. I can't imagine being as strong as she was to survive such a tragic loss. She had to be carry on for her baby boy though. Since this true story ends in 1981, & I read it in 2002, it makes me wonder if Nancy Rossi remarried (how does one find another soulmate? I'd like to think it's possible to have another great love after being widowed so young.) I hope she had more children, and wonder what her son John (who must be 23 now) is doing. That's my only complaint with non-fiction -- if you were deeply moved by the "characters", it's frustrating to not know how their lives turned out.

A wonderful lovestory. Nice to read about a couple so in love. So inspiring how Mrs. Rossi dealt with her loss. The book somwhow prepared me for the loss of my mother in someway. I've often wondered how Mrs. Rossi and her son have done through the years. I've thought of them often, and hope they are well.

We have been married four years, and still keep this book on our nightstand. We often read it aloud to each other. It somehow makes everything clear for us.

We try to take time every weekend to stop and think about how we're doing in our marriage, and what we can do better. Reading each other a page or two from the hardback edition of this book has become an important part of this ritual.

Copious notes on what activities and attractions are available and of interest to kids and other family members. Only shortcoming is minimal references to restaurants and accommodations. Author selects top 10 day trip ideas for each island and they were dead on for our family of five.

It is very easy to find age appropriate activities for your children. The book is arranged in an easy to follow format which allows you to find special stops coming up as you drive. A great quick reference that we used many times a day while vacationing on Oahu.