A wonderful collection of enchanting, old fashioned stories to read aloud for the pre-school to about second grade age range. Excellent resource for teachers. I use this in my Waldorf classroom.

The work and family challenge: rethinking employment is a welcome publication for anybody who is a researcher in the area of work-family. Edited by Suzan and Jermey Lewis, the book is spilt in 3 parts. Part 1 deals with the context for change and puts employment and work/family issues within a european perspective. Chapter 2 by Peter Moss (Reconciling Employment and Family Responsibilities: A European Perspective) is of particular note. Moss provides an interesting an analysis of the way in which the EU and European memeber stated has approached the problem of reconciling work and home. Part 2 deals with policy and practice and presents work on the implementation of work-home policies. Of particular interest to me was chapter 4 (The Family Friendly Employer in Europe) and chapter 8 (Developing and Implementing policies: Midland Bank's Experience). Part 3 concerns barriers to the effectiveness of policies and strategies

First presented in the 1950s, yet just as relevant today, Forgotten Fires: Native Americans And The Transient Wilderness by Omer C. Stewart dispels the longstanding cultural myth that Native American communities had no impact on the natural environment surrounding them. Taking a close look at the effects Native American civilization had upon nature's ability to incorporate them into the ecosystem, with an especial eye toward how some regularly used fires to manage plant and animal communities through localized habitat burning, Forgotten Fires is a thoughtful study about mankind's true interaction with the environment, presenting straightforward facts instead of romanticized legend. This highly recommended edition for Native American Studies and Environmental History reference shelves and reading lists has been collaboratively edited by Henry T. Lewis and M. Kat Anderson for the contemporary reader.

Four Men went to War is a moving account of the experiences of four soldiers during World War Two. Each account gives us an opportunity to experience the war from a different side, giving us a feel of what it meant to be a German, an Italian, a Brit or an American during World War Two. The stories of the four men are all so diverse that it really turns out to be a unique and eloquent book. Get it, read it, it is superb.

Obviously you enjoy architecture or you wouldn't be thinking of reading a review of this book. Think no further, buy the book. Frank Furness has been overlooked way too long and this book shows why in pictures and a nice overview of text why this mans work, and what is left of it, should be escalated to the heights of the finest.

Examining the period of 1900 through 1955, Freedom To Play: We Made Our Own Fun presents the fond childhood memories of a variety of Canadians, and who learned to entertain themselves with improvised toys and games. From simple sports to crafting one's own radio to going sledding or on a school picnic, these enjoyable pastimes both preserve wonderful memories of the past and offer timeless alternatives to the blare of popular culture entertainment today. Compiled and edited by educator Norah L. Lewis (a member of the Canadian Childhood History Project), Freedom To Play is an original, scholarly, and highly recommended contribution to Canadian History reference collections and Canadian Popular Culture Studies reading lists.

"Freedom, Feminism, and the State" offers a history of early feminist writings and how they influence feminist scholars today. Author Wendy McElroy draws a distinction between early feminists who supported the principles of the American Revolution and later scholars who favor a more activist government. In the book, she demonstrates that the feminist movement began as a quest to rid women of governmental infringement upon their individual rights, but gradually evolved into apologetics for a more intrusive state.

McElroy defines feminism as the principle that every person - female and male - has moral jurisdiction over her own body. Laws that infringe upon this principle are unjust. When such laws are enacted on the basis of sex, then - and only then - do women become a political class who must respond. As a result, McElroy states that "As a political class, feminism is a response to the legal discrimination women have suffered from the state."

Contributor Rosalie Nichols points out that women's rights are the objective natural rights that belong to them based upon their status as rational beings. These include their rights to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Because women exist independently of men, their rights exist independently of men. Thus, the goal of the early feminist movement was to secure and guarantee women's objective natural rights.

McElroy asserts that throughout most of history, feminism has stood for this ideal. Early feminists believed that equality between the sexes meant equal treatment before the law and its institutions. Their goal was to be a part of society - not to remake it. They believed that women's freedom was a political concept - securing protections from unjust intrusions by the state. However, over time, some feminist scholars came to believe that existing laws and institutions were the source of women's problems, not the solution. They viewed equality as an economic concept rather than a political one. They are responsible for converting the feminist movement into what it is today.

McElroy draws a distinction between what she considers to be non-political, historical feminist literature and modern feminist literature that deals with politics. Like most scholarship from the Revolutionary and Civil War eras, historical feminist writings were highly individualistic in nature and called for women to stand up for their independence and liberation. Today's political material mostly calls for governments to impose regulatory regimes to solve women's problems.

McElroy begins her discussion of historical feminist literature by tracing its roots to the abolitionist movement. As many women were key contributors to efforts to free slaves, they became conscious of their own lack of rights and began to demand similar respect. However, many abolitionist men refused to support their cause. Even worse - some of them attempted to stifle it out of fear that it would undermine support for the campaign to end slavery. This led many early feminists to become suspicious of men and to strike out on their own.

Feminism advanced before the Civil War because it adopted abolitionist William Garrison's viewpoint of how institutions evolve. Garrison believed that revolutions must alter people's ideas about particular institutions before those institutions can be reformed. Combined with their belief that individuals should act according to their own conscious and be held accountable for their own actions, early feminists were prepared to change people's minds regarding women's status in society.

However, after the Civil War - and the exponential intrusion that the government made in the economic sphere in its wake - the feminist movement began to focus more on enfranchisement of women as its overriding goal. Unfortunately, this led some feminist scholars to sympathize with misguided popular crusades - such as eugenics and social purity reform - to achieve this goal.

McElroy provides a number of key essays to show how individualist feminist ideas evolved over time. Contributor Angela Grimke praises 19th Century women for not allowing men to fool them into thinking that society should have separate moral codes for women and men. Contributor Voltairine de Cleyre, another Civil-War era activist, laments women's (and men's) complacency toward the growth of their government after the War of 1812.

The highlight of the book is Lillian Harman's essay on the problems of contemporary marriage. She begins by discussing how society harms women in their efforts to build friendships with men: "Every expression of friendship which she gives is practically held to be an implied contract to further steps. A coldness and reserve in the attitude of men and women toward each other is the natural result of this condition - a reserve which is broken only by the impelling force of strong and unreasoning passion. This passion compels people to do that which they believe to be wrong, and so long as they believe it to be wrong, it is wrong for them. The result is that when the imperious passion is satisfied, remorse takes its place, and shame and misery ensue." Harman asserts that what both men and women need is the freedom to interact on their own terms: "I consider uniformity in mode of sexual relations as undesirable and impracticable as enforced uniformity in anything else...I do not want to spend my life converting the world to my method of existence. I want the world to have reason of its own, and use it."

"Freedom, Feminism, and the State" is an excellent introduction to the early women's movement. Individuals who read this book before reading other works by McElroy and her colleagues Christina Hoff Sommers, Joan Kennedy Taylor, and Cathy Young will better understand how these authors structure their arguments and why. More importantly, the book demonstrates that women have achieved extraordinary successes by protecting their interests from state infringement. As more and more contemporary feminists begin to understand this, these extraordinary gains will continue.

This book is soon to be back in print published by Wayland Children's books in the UK.

I love reading these books, and especially this one because Stacy feels the same way as I do about frogs! I highly recommend this book, and the whole series!

I collect fairy tales and folk tales for their illustration. This is the best book I've found for beautiful, intricate artwork