The Traveler's Gift: Seven Decisions that Determine Personal Success

Book Description

Much like the best-selling books by Og Mandino, this unique narrative is a blend of entertaining fiction, allegory, and inspiration. Storyteller Andy Andrews gives a front-row seat for one man's journey of a lifetime. David Ponder has lost his job and the will to live. When he is supernaturally selected to travel through time, he visits historical figures such as Abraham Lincoln, King Solomon, and Anne Frank. Each visit yields a Decision for Success that will one day impact the entire world.

Customer Reviews:

Won't quickly forget this book..........2007-09-15

My boss at work knows that I devour books, and dropped this one off at my desk a short time back... The Traveler's Gift: Seven Decisions that Determine Personal Success by Andy Andrews. I read it straight through yesterday (it's short), and the first thing I'm doing after this review is ordering my own copy. This is a book I'll not quickly forget...

"Gift" is a personal improvement book that's written in story form, similar in nature to a parable. The main character, David Ponder, is 46 and has hit rock bottom (or so he thinks). Deep in debt, fired from a menial job, and concerned over a sick child, he considers taking his own life so that the family can collect on the insurance policy. As he comes to after the car wreck, he finds himself transported back in time, into the office of Harry S. Truman during the Potsdam conference. Truman is the only person who can see him, and Ponder's appearance was expected. Truman's job is to present Ponder with a written "decision", a statement that David must internalize and live out. Once the paper is read, Ponder is moved on to the next person and time. This time travel happens seven times, giving David 7 pieces of wisdom that will change his life if he lets them. Before he's brought back to reality, he's offered a glimpse of the future of his home town, a future that was possible with the seven decisions that Ponder internalized then shared with the world.

The cynical reader will likely see this as a bunch of happy talk fluff that isn't realistic. But I would counter that it's more realistic than most other philosophies and self-help books you'll ever read. The people used in the story are perfect matches for each of the learning points, and you realize that a single decision *can* have consequences that reverberate down through history and time. And the people who make the decisions are often ordinary individuals like you and me. The only difference is that they *made* the decision rather than accept the status quo.

The path to success isn't easy, but it's a matter of decisions you make on a day-to-day basis. Andrews captures this truth in a style reminiscent of Og Mandino's writings. I loved this book, and will be revisiting it on a regular basis...

Great Reading for the Dentist's Office.......2007-09-11

This book was given to me as a birthday gift, so it's not my normal reading fare, even though I do like self-help books. The story here is hokey: a guy (David Ponder, can you begin to see the symbolism yet?) is down on his luck, just lost his job; he has no money, a beater for a car, and sick kid; he just wants to end it all. (Can you feel the cliches coming?) Well, as his car spins out of control on a slippery bridge, he goes on adventure in which different (real) historical figures (like Abraham Lincoln or Anne Frank) each give him a message about living successfully.

Why do self-help books always have 7 messages? Anyway, the messages are helpful reminders of living the good life, stuff that probably wouldn't hurt anyone to be reminded of: Remember the buck stops with you; be a person of action, happiness is a choice, that sort of thing. There are no startling revelations, and the book and its messages struck me as self-evident and simplistic. One of the real advantages of the book is that it is short. So, if you are ever stuck in an airport, doctor's office, or somewhere else with poor reading material and you need to kill a little time, you might even enjoy it. Recommended reading by "Good Morning America" if that means anything to you.

I like this book so much; I keep giving my copy away. .......2007-08-29

There is no new knowledge in this book, and there was perhaps a little literary license taken with the historical vignettes; however if the overall objective was to communicate a series of points on how to take control of your life, then Andy succeeded.

The seven things that you need to do to change your life are: Take personal responsibility, Educate Yourself, Be a Person of Action, Make decisions and move forward, Choose Happiness, Forgive others, Persevere without exception.

I can't see any argument that any of these actions, done individually, will help you improve your life. We've all been told these or very similar things since before grade school.

Andy uses an old and quite effective teaching technique. He wraps the information in a story. And Andy is a great storyteller. So while there is no new information in this book, the information is presented in fresh and efficient manner.

I received a gift..............2007-07-14

I was given a gift about 12 months ago, the audio CDs of the Traveler's Gift, and have listened to them countless number of times since. I loved the story so much, I decided to purchase the book to compliment the audio CDs. The Traveler's Gift is profound and thought provoking. The messages are clear if you choose to see them. This story has changed, and continues to change, the way I see myself and my role in this world. If you're asking yourself 'why me?' then read this book.

Reminder that Attitude and Thoughts Change Everything.......2007-07-03

I've been on a reading frenzy lately because I've been in a funk and needed to snap out of it. I had been allowing my mood to let circumstances stop my progress toward my dreams. Then I picked up this book my brother had highly recommended well over a year ago. I had bought it immediately on Amazon.com and then put it on my shelf. Last night I read it. Andy Andrews, thanks for the research on 7 great human beings. Thanks for taking the time to inspire me and I'm sure countless others. You did a great job of waking me up. The buck DOES stop here. No matter how dire our circumstances, we still have the choice of what to do right now, in the midst of it, and that decision will affect our future and the future of others. This book gives 7 secrets to living the life you always dreamed of but kept missing out on. We all have a purpose. Isn't it time we lived it and stopped letting other people and other things give us excuses for anything less than greatness?

Average customer rating:

Creepy and Comforting?
Moving Novel About Love and Loss
All Over The Place
Terrible writing
Sad and pointless

The Lovely Bones: A Novel
Alice Sebold
Manufacturer: Little, Brown and Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0316666343

Amazon.com

Alice Sebold's haunting and heartbreaking debut novel, The Lovely Bones, unfolds from heaven, where "life is a perpetual yesterday" and where Susie narrates and keeps watch over her grieving family and friends, as well as her brazen killer and the sad detective working on her case. As Sebold fashions it, everyone has his or her own version of heaven. Susie's resembles the athletic fields and landscape of a suburban high school: a heaven of her "simplest dreams," where "there were no teachers.... We never had to go inside except for art class.... The boys did not pinch our backsides or tell us we smelled; our textbooks were Seventeen and Glamour and Vogue."

The Lovely Bones works as an odd yet affecting coming-of-age story. Susie struggles to accept her death while still clinging to the lost world of the living, following her family's dramas over the years like an episode of My So-Called Afterlife. Her family disintegrates in their grief: her father becomes determined to find her killer, her mother withdraws, her little brother Buckley attempts to make sense of the new hole in his family, and her younger sister Lindsey moves through the milestone events of her teenage and young adult years with Susie riding spiritual shotgun. Random acts and missed opportunities run throughout the book--Susie recalls her sole kiss with a boy on Earth as "like an accident--a beautiful gasoline rainbow." Though sentimental at times, The Lovely Bones is a moving exploration of loss and mourning that ultimately puts its faith in the living and that is made even more powerful by a cast of convincing characters. Sebold orchestrates a big finish, and though things tend to wrap up a little too well for everyone in the end, one can only imagine (or hope) that heaven is indeed a place filled with such happy endings. --Brad Thomas Parsons

Book Description

On her way home from school on a snowy December day in 1973, 14-year-old Susie Salmon ("like the fish") is lured into a makeshift underground den in a cornfield and brutally raped and murdered, the latest victim of a serial killer--the man she knew as her neighbor, Mr. Harvey. Alice Sebold's haunting and heartbreaking debut novel, The Lovely Bones, unfolds from heaven, where "life is a perpetual yesterday" and where Susie narrates and keeps watch over her grieving family and friends, as well as her brazen killer and the sad detective working on her case. As Sebold fashions it, everyone has his or her own version of heaven. Susie's resembles the athletic fields and landscape of a suburban high school: a heaven of her "simplest dreams," where "there were no teachers.... We never had to go inside except for art class.... The boys did not pinch our backsides or tell us we smelled; our textbooks were Seventeen and Glamour and Vogue." The Lovely Bones works as an odd yet affecting coming-of-age story. Susie struggles to accept her death while still clinging to the lost world of the living, following her family's dramas over the years like an episode of My So-Called Afterlife.Her family disintegrates in their grief: her father becomes determined to find her killer, her mother withdraws, her little brother Buckley attempts to make sense of the new hole in his family, and her younger sister Lindsey moves through the milestone events of her teenage and young adult years with Susie riding spiritual shotgun. Random acts and missed opportunities run throughout the book--Susie recalls her sole kiss with a boy on Earth as "like an accident--a beautiful gasoline rainbow." Though sentimental at times, The Lovely Bones is a moving exploration of loss and mourning that ultimately puts its faith in the living and that is made even more powerful by a cast of convincing characters. Sebold orchestrates a big finish, and though things tend to wrap up a little too well for everyone in the end, one can only imagine (or hope) that heaven is indeed a place filled with such happy endings. --Brad Thomas Parsons

Download Description

This edition of the New York Times best-seller and a Good Morning America "Read This" Book Club pick contains features available only in the electronic version! Included in this eBook edition are a Reading Group Guide, an exclusive interview with the author, and "The Oddity of Suburbia," Alice Sebold's comments on growing up in the suburbs of "Nowhere U.S.A." When we first meet 14-year-old Susie Salmon, she is already in heaven. This was before milk carton photos and public service announcements, she tells us; back in 1973, when Susie mysteriously disappeared, people still believed these things didn't happen. In the sweet, untroubled voice of a precocious teenage girl, Susie relates the awful events of her death and her own adjustment to the strange new place she finds herself. (It looks a lot like her school playground, with the good kind of swing set.) With love, longing, and a growing understanding, Susie watches her family as they cope with their grief-her father embarks on a search for the killer, her sister undertakes a feat of amazing daring, her little brother builds a fort in her honor-and begin the difficult process of healing. In the hands of a brilliant new novelist, and through the eyes of her winning young heroine, this story of seemingly unbearable tragedy is transformed into a suspenseful, touching, even funny novel about family, memory, love, heaven, and living.

Customer Reviews:

Creepy and Comforting?.......2007-09-29

Everyone else is right. Th book is great in the beginning. It contains some odd scenes that are unnecessary and hurt, more than help, the story's momentum and punch. The author tried to wrap up too many loose ends too quickly in the end, and I felt so dissappointed that a book I really enjoyed and that had so much potential ended so poorly. However, I so enjoyed the beginning, that I got over the ending.

The aspect that I think I most enjoyed about the plot of this book, was that the main mystery was solved very close to the begnning.
You do not feel suspense waiting to find out "who did it?" The author tells you who did it right away. Then you don't feel suspense waiting to see when one of the other characters will figure it out, because another character figures it out right away. You feel suspense waiting to see when others will believe and if the murdered will ever get caught. Very non-traditional suspense.

I really appreciate books that make me FEEL. Good, bad, hapy, sad, scared,or totally creeped out. I just enjoy having my emotions provoked by a good book. This book made me feel every one of those things. I laughed and cried, sometimes one right after the other. I definitely felt completely creeped out and oddly comforted really close together. That's why this book is a winner.

This book will make you think. If you don't like to feel sad, or uncomfortable, this book is not for you. If you appreciate emotion and creativity, you will enjoy this different book. I look forward to the movie, hoping they don't massacre the story.

Moving Novel About Love and Loss.......2007-09-19

After fourteen year old Susie Salmon is raped and murdered, she goes to heaven where she is able to look down at her family and friends and the rest of the world. As she is adjusting to life in heaven and making friends there, she is also watching her family deal with her disappearance. She watches as both her parents struggle to accept the fact that she is gone and the affect it has on their marriage; she watches her younger sister Lindsay grow and become stronger as a person; and she watches her little brother Buckley, who is too young to understand what is going on. She also watches her friends Ray Singh and Ruth Connors, as they grow closer after Susie's death. As Susie watches her family and friends grow older and mature, she begins to realize how much she has lost and longs for one more chance for life on earth.

"The Lovely Bones" is a sad, moving, and at times odd novel. Extremely well written by Alice Sebold, it is told in the first person by Susie. This unique perspective means that we not only have insight into what Susie was like as a person, but who her killer was and how frustrating it is for her to not only watch the killer stalk other victims (including someone close to Susie) but watch the police try and find her body and determine who her killer is and prove it. Her ability to look down from heaven to see her family and others (and somehow be privy to their thoughts) adds poignancy to the novel, as each of her family members and friends struggle to cope with their loss in their own private ways. It is heartbreaking to read about how Susie's disappearance and the inability of the police to find her body affects her parents marriage, and how Susie begins to realize she didn't know them, especially her mother, all that well. It's equally heartbreaking to see Susie watch her sister Lindsay grow up and experience things that Susie never will, especially falling in love and having sex for the first time. Sebold makes the characters so believable that at times I wanted to hug them and say "I'm sorry" and at other times I wanted to shake them and make them aware of how their actions were hurting others. Although the book is sad, it's not as depressing as I thought it would be and there are some humorous moments in the book, mostly with Susie's Grandma Lynn. While I thought "The Lovely Bones" was well written for the most part, there was a truly odd section towards the end that felt out of place in the book.

"The Lovely Bones" is a moving novel about love and loss.

All Over The Place.......2007-08-29

I had heard great things about this book so decided to read it. I agree with a lot of the other reviews that say it started out really great and then fizzled out. I think the storyline was all over the place, and I couldn't understand what the point was, other than just to be a fly on the wall in the lives of Susie's family. I was also not happy with the bodily possession (a bit much in my opinion) or the weak ending. I think the concept was interesting, and I think I would have liked it better if it kept the same energy it had in the beginning. I did enjoy the fact that it was based in the Philadelphia suburbs, as I am familiar with that area.

Terrible writing.......2007-08-27

I couldn't finish reading this book after getting about 150 pages in. This turned out to be a fortunate decision. My wife tells me it got worse and worse. I'm shocked at how well-recieved it was... The writing is sloppy, we're given no descriptions of the characters, and the storyline makes you groan with its cliches. What really annoyed me were the incredibly strained metaphors tossed around, dice in a Yatzee game of literature, spinning like Disneyland teapots in the cosmos of ludicrousness. This was one gem: "leaden weights had been tied by anesthesia to the four corners of his consciousness".

Sad and pointless.......2007-08-24

I'm sorry to say it... I really wanted to like this book... but I didn't! In fact, I was quite stunned to discover how disappointing and unproductive this book is, considering the number of people who have read it. I read it on a recommendation from a friend whose book recommendations I usually agree with. Unfortunately, I wish I had gone with my gut instinct and put the book down after getting nowhere in the first 100 pages. Instead, I kept reading just to get through it. I really disliked this book! I'm not a book snob, but I like a book to be somewhat believable if the author is attempting to depict a real life scenario ie: a family's coping with the death of thier murdered child. The whole thing, start to finish, was so contained, so picture-perfect, so annoying!!!

It's funny, the person who recommended the book to me said the hardest part of the book was the first chapter because of the grisly details of poor Susie's death. I disagree. Though I am not a fan of horror or even CSI shows... I at least found the first chapters suspenseful and engaging... I cannot say that for the rest of the novel!

The concept of the narrator being in heaven is definitely an interesting one, but the story she tells is so contrived and meandering and really uninspired that her perspective hardly seems special.

I think this novel has the ability to be interesting or possibly helpful to someone who has had to deal with the death of a close family member because it so plainly shows that a family falls apart around such a loss and that this is sort of a natural process. But beyond that situation... I'm sorry, I would not recommend this book.

Good Morning, Gorillas (Magic Tree House #26)

Average customer rating:

MY BOY LOVES READING IT
Good Mornig Gorillas
My son has enjoyed all 26 of this series so far!
Wonder-full!
Good Morning Gorillas

Good Morning, Gorillas (Magic Tree House #26)
Mary Pope Osborne
Manufacturer: Random House Books for Young Readers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0375806148
Release Date: 2002-07-23

Book Description

The Magic Tree House whisks Jack and Annie off to the mountains of Africa. There they run into a huge mountain gorilla! At first they don’t know whether they should shake hands or turn tail. But the ominous-looking creature turns out to be surprisingly gentle. Not only that, the gorilla may be able to help them learn their next bit of magic, which Morgan has challenged them to do.

Customer Reviews:

MY BOY LOVES READING IT.......2007-01-07

My 1st grader hates to put it down, he would rather read Magic Tree House books, than play video games. He even reads them to his class and explains the story for show and tell. In his kindergarten class the teacher would also let him read the Magic Tree House books out loud, not to give her a break, but to promote reading out loud. Great books!

Good Mornig Gorillas.......2006-12-15

Good Morning gorillas
Good Morning Gorillas is by Mary Pope Osborne. In this magic tree house book, the main Characters are Jack and Annie is in the rain forest. This book is about jack and Annie meeting a little gorilla who leads them to his family and becoming close friends. What I think the author is saying is you can become friends with animals. I can't tell my favorite part because it's the end and I don't want to give away the ending. But even though it was sad I loved it. I think it would be a good book for people who love animals.
-Michelle, 9

My son has enjoyed all 26 of this series so far!.......2006-12-03

I am not sure what else my 6 yrs old son has stayed with for so long! We read a chapter every night at bedtime. He looks forward to it every night. He has enjoyed very book and he gets excited for the next one. We are up to #26 now and he shows no sign of losing interest!

He has learned about earthquakes, Roman empire, Shakespeare, Indians, American Revolutionary war, etc.

Excellent series...entertaining and educational.

Wonder-full!.......2006-11-10

This whole series is absolutely "the best" ! In our family, children under eight have loved listening to each of them as read-alouds, and as they get older, they've devoured them again while reading on their own. Each one is a guaranteed hit as a birthday or holiday gift too.

Good Morning Gorillas.......2006-02-28

Gorillas in the Mountains of Africa!

Good Morning Gorillas by Mary Pope Osborne is an adventurous animal fiction story. The two main characters are Jack who takes notes wherever he goes and Annie who is very adventurous in finding new friends and clues. Jack and Annie travel in the magic tree house to go to the jungle in the mountains of Africa. They are going to Africa to save gorillas from extinction. I liked this book because it is an exciting story about Jack and Annie's encounter with huge gorillas. It is a very brave and nice thing to save the gorillas because they are an endangered species. I recommend this book for all children ages nine and up. You can learn about gorillas and their suprising gentle nature. I give this book a rating of 4 out of 5.

Five Good Minutes: 100 Morning Practices To Help You Stay Calm & Focused All Day Long

Average customer rating:

great read
Take five mnutes to get this book!
Five Good Minutes in the Morning
Great Way to Start the Day - Or Any Other Moment
Five Great Minutes

Five Good Minutes: 100 Morning Practices To Help You Stay Calm & Focused All Day Long
Jeffrey, M.D. Brantley , Wendy Millstine , and Wendy-O Matik
Manufacturer: New Harbinger Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1572244143

Amazon.com

Feeling overwhelmed on a daily basis is no fun for anyone, but changing your mindset requires time that just doesn't exist. Or does it? Five Good Minutes claims time can be found, and backs up that claim with 100 simple exercises that help get your day off to a better start. Dr. Jeffrey Brantley (Calming Your Anxious Mind) has created easy ways of modifying things you already do every day--like taking a shower--into moments that combine grateful awareness with deep relaxation.

Most of the exercises begin with what the author calls "breathing mindfully", and learning that technique is the only item in the book that might take more than five minutes. The nine-step instructions for a basic form of meditation are easy to follow, but could take a little practice if you're a newcomer to such techniques. You're also encouraged to use other techniques you're already familiar with that create a similar feeling of calm centeredness.

The exercises are arranged in broad categories like "peaceful awareness" and "growing wiser and kinder", allowing you to follow along through the book or skip around to the most appealing ones. Each one--from giving yourself a quick foot massage and a hug to paying special attention to your first sip of tea or coffee in the morning--is aimed at creating a short moment of peace and happiness in your otherwise frantic day. And hopefully you'll find that the five-minute exercise creates a lasting feeling of well-being that allows you to reconnect with the joy hiding in your busy schedule. Jill Lightner

Book Description

What difference can five minutes make in the crazy, nonstop course of a sixteen-hour day? For people feeling overwhelmed with responsibility, bored with the same tired routine, or frustrated about how to create meaning in their lives, a little time well spent can lead to extraordinary changes. This book shows readers how to dramatically improve their lives in just a few moments each day. The concept is powerfully simple: Readers take the time each morning to be fully present, to set a clear intention for themselves, and to really engage in any of 100 fun and easy-to-follow practices. Soon they will discover that amazing things can happen in just five minutes.

The book provides guided imagery, relaxation, mindfulness, and meditation practices-fun activities that relieve stress and create meaning and purpose in the reader's day. These practices help readers feel good, get motivated, and become inspired to change their lives for the better. Over time, these activities become guideposts readers will return to throughout the day, providing energy and inspiration when they need them most. In other words, the time readers of this book take for themselves in the morning might just be the five good minutes that change their lives.

Customer Reviews:

great read.......2007-08-16

I love this book. It offers great ways to stay calm & focused in just five minutes.

Take five mnutes to get this book!.......2007-05-31

Can five minutes make a difference in your life?

The answer is a resounding YES, according to authors
Jeffrey Brantley and Wendy Millstone in FIVE GOOD
MINUTES IN THE MORNING (see also Section 2)--a most
informative book that is filled with suggestions on what
can be accomplished in such a brief period of time.

To begin with, you should start with mindful breathing and
follow that with mindful listening . . . you are then ready
to act wholeheartedly, in which you do something with
all your attention and energy.

The authors give you a choice of 100 different practices, any
and/or all of which can be used to get your day off to a
great start . . . some of them may some basic, but methinks
if you actually tried to implement at least some of them,
you couldn't find a better way to begin start your day.

Or in certain instances, end it as was the case with the
following exercise that I've already started to put to good use:

If you inherited the worry wart gene, then you're well versed
in the mental ruminations that can plague a quiet night at home.
You worry about the strange ticking noise that the car started
making. You worry about an awkward conversation you had
with your boss. You may find yourself on a hamster wheel of
worries, running in circles but not making any forward progress
at all.

The following practice will help you stop spinning your wheels
and let go of those bothersome thoughts.

1. Begin by making a mental or written list of all your worries,
large or small, rational or far-fetched.

2. Visualize or find a small wastepaper basket or box in
which you can stash your worries.

3. Imagine tearing off each individual concern or fear and tossing
it into your storage bin. If you've made a written list, go ahead
and actually do this.

4. Say these words out loud: "I am letting go of these
nagging thoughts. Some are important and some are not.
But right now, I am reclaiming my right to enjoy life, live
fully, and feel safe and secure tonight."

Today, let me add one more exercise to the aforementioned
100; i.e., take the time today to get your own copy of FIVE
GOOD MINUTES . . . this slight investment will pay itself
back many times over.

Five Good Minutes in the Morning.......2007-05-13

The product arrived on time and in the c0ondition advertised.

Great Way to Start the Day - Or Any Other Moment.......2006-07-13

The power in this book isn't necessarily in the DOING of the exercises but the contemplation of these little activities. I find that picking the book up when I've got a moment and reading one or two of the exercises gives me ample pause and brings on the results at which the suggested activity aims. I can say that DOING the exercise does make the result more intense or satisfying but benefits can be had by simply taking a moment to think about the suggestion at hand. In any case, I recommend this easy to follow and effective manual to living a more peaceful and peaceable life. I suppose any book which has at its' heart such worthy objectives as living more peacefully can't be bad! It certainly worked for The Bible.

Five Great Minutes.......2006-04-04

Five Good Minutes is a brilliant little book. It's compact so I can take it everywhere, and the meditations are very useful for daily life. Depending on my need/mood, I flip through to find a helpful meditation and then do it. I have had night anxiety for years. The relaxation meditation has helped me calm down before bed each night, alleviating stress and worry in order to fall asleep. I am grateful to have found this great little book!

Magic Tree House Collection Volume 7: Books 25-28: #25 Stage Fright on a Summer Night; #26 Good Morning, Gorillas; #27 Thanksgiving on Thursday; #28 High Tide in Hawaii (Magic Tree House Collection)

Average customer rating:

Love these stories
Higher numbered books are longer
Why only 4 books
Why only 4?

Magic Tree House Collection Volume 7: Books 25-28: #25 Stage Fright on a Summer Night; #26 Good Morning, Gorillas; #27 Thanksgiving on Thursday; #28 High Tide in Hawaii (Magic Tree House Collection)

Manufacturer: Listening Library (Audio)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: 0739338765
Release Date: 2007-03-13

Book Description

Stage Fright on a Summer Night
The show must go on! That's what Jack and Annie learn when the Magic Tree House whisks them back to Elizabethan England. There they meet William Shakespeare who’s having a hard time with some of the actors in his latest show. Are Jack and Annie ready to make a big entrance? Or will it be curtains for Shakespeare?

Good Morning, Gorillas
Gentle giants or giant monsters? That's the question Jack and Annie have about gorillas when the Magic Tree House sweeps them to the mountains of Africa. There they meet a group of amazing and sometimes frightening gorillas. Will the gorillas be able to teach him some special magic?

Thanksgiving on Thursday
It’s a time for giving thanks when the Magic Tree House whisks Jack and Annie back to 1621 on the first Thanksgiving Day. The Pilgrims ask them to help get things ready. But Jack and Annie don't know how to do anything the Pilgrim way. Will they ruin the holiday forever? Or will the feast go on?"

High Tide in Hawaii
Catch the wave! That's what Jack and Annie do when the Magic Tree House whisks them back to a Hawaiian island of long ago. They learn how to surf and have a great time - until strange things start happening. Jack and Annie soon discover the cause: A tidal wave is headed their way! Can they help save their new friends in time?

Customer Reviews:

Love these stories.......2007-08-25

My son loves these stories and he learns a little about each destination. The only problem I have with the books is that proper sentence structure is not always used. Did the editors not notice? These books are for beginner readers, so it is confusing to them not to have proper "subject/verb" sentence structure.

Higher numbered books are longer.......2007-07-17

I have the audio CD versions of every story 1-24 and 29-32. I can tell you that the stories 29-32 are much longer than any of the books in the first few sets.

For example, books 17-24 have a total play time of almost exactly 5 hours compared with books 29-32 with a total story time just over 5 hours. So, you get 50% less "books", but the same story reading time.

I am just purchasing this set 25-28 now, and I do not yet know the running time of these stories. But.. you should evaluate the hours of audio enjoyment, not just the number of books when making your comparisons. Perhaps Amazon will add this information to the details, or perhaps I just missed it.

Why only 4 books.......2007-06-01

I agree with the other comment 100%. I am dissapointed at such a blatent marketing ploy to charge more money for less content. Done in the best "bait and switch", new and (not) improved tradition. I'll buy it for the same reason, but it is frustrating.

Why only 4?.......2007-03-23

Why are there only 4 stories on this set for nearly the same price as 8 on the previous three audio CD releases? I'll buy it because my daughter loves them, but I can't say I'm thrilled with paying only $2 less for half the content.

Average customer rating:

Must Buy this
GREAT BOOK!
Shawn Patrick Williams , Author of ,
Cambiará tu vida espiritual
I really give it a zero

Good Morning, Holy Spirit
Benny Hinn
Manufacturer: Thomas Nelson
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0785261265

Book Description

Good Morning, Holy Spirit burst on the scene over a decade ago and immediately topped the best-seller lists and redefined the way people thought about their own relationship with the Holy Spirit. Now, in this revised and updated edition, Pastor Benny Hinn shares the same insights and truths that God has taught him through the years, as well as the impact they have had on those around him. Beginning with a dramatic encounter, the book unveils Hinn's uncommon journey to an understanding of and fellowship with the Holy Spirit. Complete with a study and discussion guide for individual or group use, Good Morning, Holy Spirit will lead readers to discover:

Customer Reviews:

Must Buy this.......2007-09-27

Excellent read. Are you wanting intimacy with God. Benny Hinn shares his story and releases instruction to help you in what you can do to encounter the pressence of God.

GREAT BOOK!.......2007-09-27

This is a GREAT book and very well written. You'll love this book it gives amazing information on the Geatness of the Holy Spirit and it is really an eye opener to the knowledge of the Holy Spirit. I would recommend that everyone read this book. It is the most amazing book I have ever read.

Shawn Patrick Williams , Author of , .......2007-09-09

This book gives a great look at the person of the Holy Spirit. Coming from a background of being set free from drug addiction and the occult, I feel it is most important to have a deep knowledge of the Holy Spirits workings in your life. Most Christian never understand all that He is too them. The spirit world is very real. People need to understand that, but even more, they need to know the power and fullness of having a real friendship with the Holy Spirit. Benny Hinn gives a great picture of this. In my book, Warring With The Word", I talk about this shift in my life. I go from knowing demon spirits, to the Holy Spirits power in my life. This book was a huge help for me. [...] Warring With The WordBeyond The Darkness

Cambiará tu vida espiritual.......2007-09-09

Como cristiano, éste libro cambiará la forma en que percibes al Espíritu Santo en tu vida! Comprenderás su rol en nuestras vidas e impactará la forma en que oras y lees la Palabra.

Si deseas dirección, intimidad y una comprensión más profunda de nuestro Dios tripartito, debes leer éste libro.

I really give it a zero.......2007-08-16

There is heretical theology in this book. God Jehovah is three in one and one in three. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit. There are not 9 persons in the Godhead as this book claims. I had both his books on the Holy Spirit and trashed them in the garbage. By the reviews here praising it, I think a lot of people need some discernment and a course in theology. Maybe, though, they didn't even read the book. I did and have sworn off Mr. Hinn's writings as worrisome, having to watch every sentence to see if I agree with what he says. I don't have the time.

Average customer rating:

From interest to anger
An Entertaining and Unique Piece of Art
Great narrative
A great book
An enjoyable but shallow read

Life of Pi
Yann Martel
Manufacturer: Harcourt
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0151008116

Amazon.com

Yann Martel's imaginative and unforgettable Life of Pi is a magical reading experience, an endless blue expanse of storytelling about adventure, survival, and ultimately, faith. The precocious son of a zookeeper, 16-year-old Pi Patel is raised in Pondicherry, India, where he tries on various faiths for size, attracting "religions the way a dog attracts fleas." Planning a move to Canada, his father packs up the family and their menagerie and they hitch a ride on an enormous freighter. After a harrowing shipwreck, Pi finds himself adrift in the Pacific Ocean, trapped on a 26-foot lifeboat with a wounded zebra, a spotted hyena, a seasick orangutan, and a 450-pound Bengal tiger named Richard Parker ("His head was the size and color of the lifebuoy, with teeth"). It sounds like a colorful setup, but these wild beasts don't burst into song as if co-starring in an anthropomorphized Disney feature. After much gore and infighting, Pi and Richard Parker remain the boat's sole passengers, drifting for 227 days through shark-infested waters while fighting hunger, the elements, and an overactive imagination. In rich, hallucinatory passages, Pi recounts the harrowing journey as the days blur together, elegantly cataloging the endless passage of time and his struggles to survive: "It is pointless to say that this or that night was the worst of my life. I have so many bad nights to choose from that I've made none the champion."

An award winner in Canada, Life of Pi, Yann Martel's second novel, should prove to be a breakout book in the U.S. At one point in his journey, Pi recounts, "My greatest wish--other than salvation--was to have a book. A long book with a never-ending story. One that I could read again and again, with new eyes and fresh understanding each time." It's safe to say that the fabulous, fablelike Life of Pi is such a book. --Brad Thomas Parsons

Book Description

Winner of the 2002 Man Booker Prize for Fiction

Pi Patel is an unusual boy. The son of a zookeeper, he has an encyclopedic knowledge of animal behavior, a fervent love of stories, and practices not only his native Hinduism, but also Christianity and Islam. When Pi is sixteen, his family emigrates from India to North America aboard a Japanese cargo ship, along with their zoo animals bound for new homes.
The ship sinks. Pi finds himself alone in a lifeboat, his only companions a hyena, an orangutan, a wounded zebra, and Richard Parker, a 450-pound Bengal tiger. Soon the tiger has dispatched all but Pi, whose fear, knowledge, and cunning allow him to coexist with Richard Parker for 227 days lost at sea. When they finally reach the coast of Mexico, Richard Parker flees to the jungle, never to be seen again. The Japanese authorities who interrogate Pi refuse to believe his story and press him to tell them "the truth." After hours of coercion, Pi tells a second story, a story much less fantastical, much more conventional-but is it more true?
Life of Pi is at once a realistic, rousing adventure and a meta-tale of survival that explores the redemptive power of storytelling and the transformative nature of fiction. It's a story, as one character puts it, to make you believe in God.

Customer Reviews:

From interest to anger.......2007-10-05

This book plays on the reader's gullibility. I was willing to believe up to the man eating island. Then I just got upset. Is this book supposed to help me find God or is it supposed to prove that I am gullible enough to believe in a "better" story? Where do you find 16 year old boys who spend pages philosophizing on tigers while their own life is in great danger? The Boy Scout in my enjoyed the survival story of Pi, but the amazement of survival becomes overshadowed by things that don't add up. It made me lose sight of the meaning of the story. Then part 3 comes along and I am more confused about which of two unbelievable stories I am supposed to believe. It reminds me of Jesus' parables where even his direct reports couldn't understand. It leaves me asking "Why?". Why don't you just give me a story that clearly supports your point?

An Entertaining and Unique Piece of Art.......2007-10-05

I literally just finished reading this book a few minutes ago, and the first thing I did was come to this site to see what others said about it. I think this is going to be one of those pieces that grows on me the further away I get from it, like how I felt about the movie American Beauty, which by the way turned out to be one of my favorite movies after all.

My first feeling after I was done with it was of shock, but the longer I sit here, thinking about it and reading the negative "1 star" reviews, the more I find myself defending and liking it. All the people that said it was "unbelievable" in their reviews need to seriously get a grip. This is a work of FICTION, and an interesting and entertaining one at that! When did we start berating artists for creating works that are unbelievable? So should we bad mouth the movie ET for depicting a boy flying around on his bike with an alien, or the Harry Potter series for assuming that there can actually be wizards and witches living amongst us in secret? Come on, those are some of the most beloved works in pop culture history, and they, like Life of Pi, are FICTON. Isn't that why we read and watch fiction? To be entertained with a good story and take our minds off of our mundane lives? Besides, that's exactly what Pi was trying to tell the Japanese men at the end....sometimes we all just need a good story to make us forget all the bad stuff that we have to endure in the real world. At least that's why I enjoy it.

With that being said, I thought the Life of Pi was a very entertaining read. Yann Martel does a great job of infusing his own brand of philosophical musings about God, country and family into a straight good old fashioned piece of adventure themed story telling. If you're squeamish or have a hard time dealing with violence and extreme situations, then you probably won't be able to get too into this book. I found myself grimacing a few times actually, but it's not worse than most of what you find on the Discovery Channel on any given afternoon. Also, if you don't enjoy a fluid, sometimes digressive, often ambling narrative and prefer the style of more straightforward prose such as that of Dean Koontz, then this might not interest you as well.

The only other book I've read recently that reminds me of this one is the very popular Cormac McCarthy Pulitzer Prize winner and Oprah Book Club selection, The Road. They both chronicle the journey of a boy (in The Road's case, a boy and his father) beating unbelievable odds and inconceivable circumstances to try and survive after a catastrophic event. Both are also written in a way that makes you feel as if you are experiencing the distress of the main characters, but in opposite ways. The Road has short, grammatically incorrect sentences that convey the urgency and erratic behavior of the parent and child on the run and trying to stay alive. In Life of Pi, the author sometimes rambles on in a nonsensical way, the same way your brain would function if you were suffering from hallucinations while nearing death on a lifeboat in the Pacific for over 200 days. I think that the authors' styles are what take both of the stories from just a couple of unremarkable novels you'd find in the discount bin, to truly memorable works of art.

In fact, I'm finding it very discomfiting that so many people gave it such bad reviews. I read through some of them, and I think the negative things they had to say about it says more about them than Martel's work. One review says they wish they were illiterate so they wouldn't have had to endure it and it made them vomit and want to scratch their skin off in the shower like a drug addict. Gee...I don't think I have to explain myself on that one. Others said it was boring, which makes me question our society's attention span more than anything because many of those same reviewers said they didn't even finish reading it. These same people are the ones that stopped watching the tv show Lost at the beginning of last season for the same reason. Well, if they would have just stuck around for a little while longer, in both cases, they would have been in for a pleasant surprise.

*Spoiler Alert in this Paragraph only*
Also, a common theme in the bad reviews was their distain for the ending. I thought that the ending was what really made the book something special. While anyone with half a brain would know that his original story had to have been false, whether he knew it or not since his delirium was quite advanced at some of his lowest points, the fact that he actually gives an alternate version of the story to the Japanese men, felt like a big payoff to me. I'm the kinda gal that likes to know what really happened...it helps me to bond with the characters and ultimately enjoy the story more in the end.

I was starting to get really upset with all the "1 star" reviews, until I did the math. A staggering 78% (as of today) gave it 4 or 5 stars which means they liked or loved it. Well, knowing that at least restored a little bit of my faith in the general public, because though it's not perfect nor the best thing I've ever read, it definitely doesn't deserve to be called horrible.

If you read a lot, like I do, and are looking for a unique story told in a distinctive style, and have an open mind, then definitely give this one a try.

Great narrative.......2007-10-01

Love all the literary elements in this story. I especially love that this story can evoke so much conversation at a book club which is why I had the pleasure of reading it. Highly recommended for a book club reading!!!

A great book.......2007-09-15

A great book- a story within a story, a story about stories, the stories we tell others and the stories we tell ourselves. The story of Pi's journey through the Pacific is told twice and the reader is left to wonder which is more accurate- but as with many "unreliable narrator" stories emotional truth trumps literal truth and the tiger may just be a metaphor for something else. Pi's final words about Richard Parker are haunting and the whole book is a fascinating meditation on the ever-stretching limits of human endurance.

An enjoyable but shallow read.......2007-09-14

I enjoyed reading this book like I've enjoyed watching James Bond movies; entertaining but shallow. That wouldn't be a problem if Martel wouldn't make such an outlandish claim as 'this story will make you believe in God' in the introduction. The book does start off in the right direction. Pi is introduced as an eclectic character who practices Hinduism, Christianity and Islam and lives a colorful life centered around a zoo. Martel certainly has a talent for descriptions, and this first part is all in all excellent. What is disappointing however is that after such a nice setup, we find out that it was all just an elaborate scheme to make the story of a boy lost at sea with a tiger on a boat somewhat believable. Most of the previously introduced characters are quickly forgotten as the narration centers on the harshness of life out at sea. Martel does a good job at suspending disbelief; but in switching the narrative he heads off in a completely different direction which he set up, which is talking about the relationship between truth and myth in religion.

Martel adds insult to injury in the last part of the book when he introduces an alternative account of Pi's time at sea. The alternate story itself is a great twist; what is terrible however is the following discussion between two minor characters in which the exact relationship between the two stories is detailed explicitly and completely seals off all other possible interpretations. Martel insults his reader by doing all the intellectual effort himself and spoon-feeding it to him. Pi first says that there is truth in all religions, and Martel says that his story will make you believe in God; then he gives two alternate explanations for Pi's time at sea, and asks which of the stories you like best. The reader has to brain-dead at that point not to connect the dots; but Martel does connect the dots, in EXPLICIT DETAIL. Never mind the fact that Martel's reflections on religion are about as profound as the ones of Paulo Coelho or as a self-help book; he butchers his whole story and insults the reader for the purpose of getting his simplistic point across.

I give it three stars nonetheless, because Martel does tell a thoroughly entertaining story. As a piece of pop litt, it succeeds; as a metaphysical reflection, it's a failure.

Thomas the Tank Engine: Good Morning Engines (Interactive Music Book) (Thomas the Tank Engine Interactive Music Book)

Average customer rating:

Grandson loves it!
Great For Small Children
great sound book

Thomas the Tank Engine: Good Morning Engines (Interactive Music Book) (Thomas the Tank Engine Interactive Music Book)
W. Awdry
Manufacturer: Publications International, Ltd.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Board book

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ASIN: 0785382828

Book Description

This story includes your child's favorite characters, colorful pictures, and seven sound buttons. Character voice and story sounds make this already exciting story even more fun to read.

Customer Reviews:

Grandson loves it!.......2006-01-15

Grandson, age 2 loves anything with that "cheeky" Thomas the Train. A quality book with great music - we never get tired of the songs.

Great For Small Children.......2005-04-22

Good Morning Engines is a Play-a-Sound book which features 7 sound buttons: Thomas, a rooster crowing, band music, Percy, ZZZZZZ's (sleeping sound), a ticking clock, and the sound of trains chugging on the track.

This is a glossy, board book with 8 pages that encourages children to push sound buttons at appropriate times in the story (indicated by a square symbol of the sound button). There is a royal parade on the Island of Sodor, but James has overslept! Thomas and Percy come to the rescue, but will the passengers get to the royal parade on time?

Note: the batteries for the sound buttons are replaceable, but you'll have to send in a check for $5.99. You'll then receive two sets of three replacement batteries, plus a free screwdriver and replacement screw. How long the initial batteries last depend on how much your child pushes them. My son has had this book for over a year, and the sound buttons are still going strong.

great sound book.......2004-11-20

My 2 1/2 yr-old boy loves the book. It's the right size for a toddler to hold and carry along. The pages are sturdy and the sounds are fun to listen to. I hope more in the same series are coming.

Average customer rating:

Issues with the details & character relationships
Glad I bought it off the bargain rack....
Usually I love Lee Smith's books
A bit of a disappointment
A Different Twist to an Old Plot

The Last Girls
Lee Smith
Manufacturer: A Shannon Ravenel Book
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1565124057
Release Date: 2003-01-02

Amazon.com

In the brisk and readable The Last Girls, acclaimed Southern writer Lee Smith reunites four college suitemates on a boat tour of the mighty Mississippi. Thirty-five years before, inspired by reading Twain's Huckleberry Finn in class (a detail not nearly revisited enough), the women floated down the same river on a manmade raft; now they are gathered at the request of their recently deceased ringleader's husband. The story unfolds through the eyes of each woman as the old friends weave college memories with their own dramas spanning the three decades since graduation. Harriet, Courtney, Catherine, and Anna come through muddily compared to their dead friend Baby. Even in death, Baby, a Sylvia Plath-like creature with voracious appetites for poetry, self-mutilation, and sex, nearly overwhelms her more reticent friends with past behaviors better suited to a mental institution than a dorm room. As the tour boat bobs along in the wake of these women's emotional crises, Smith offers up the contemporary female life experience, fivefold. At its heart, this is a book about how we never quite outgrow the past, even after plenty of chances to do otherwise. --Emily Russin

Book Description

On a beautiful June day in 1965, a dozen girls-classmates at a picturesque Blue Ridge women's college-launched their homemade raft (inspired by Huck Finn's) on a trip down the Mississippi. It's Girls A-Go-Go Down the Mississippi read the headline in the Paducah, Kentucky, paper.

Thirty-five years later, four of those "girls" reunite to cruise the river again. This time it's on the luxury steamboat, The Belle of Natchez, and there's no publicity. This time, when they reach New Orleans, they'll give the river the ashes of a fifth rafter-beautiful Margaret ("Baby") Ballou.

Revered for her powerful female characters, here Lee Smith tells a brilliantly authoritative story of how college pals who grew up in an era when they were still called "girls" have negotiated life as "women." Harriet Holding is a hesitant teacher who has never married (she can't explain why, even to herself). Courtney Gray struggles to step away from her Southern Living-style life. Catherine Wilson, a sculptor, is suffocating in her happy third marriage. Anna Todd is a world-famous romance novelist escaping her own tragedies through her fiction. And finally there is Baby, the girl they come to bury-along with their memories of her rebellions and betrayals.

THE LAST GIRLS is wonderful reading. It's also wonderfully revealing of women's lives-of the idea of romance, of the relevance of past to present, of memory and desire.

Customer Reviews:

Issues with the details & character relationships.......2007-08-17

I didn't really enjoy this book, even though I really wanted to. The story itself could have been so interesting, and I love the idea of the river as a metaphor for the women's lives. I gave it 2 stars for the concept.

BUT: I had real issues with the characters - many other reviewers shared my sentiments so I won't elaborate too much. Mostly, I couldn't figure out why they were friends. Why were Baby and Harriet so close other than that they happened to be roommates? What did they share besides the boyfriend Jeff? (Which was another whole piece of the story that I couldn't believe in at all - Harriet's weird love triangle with Baby and Jeff was pathetic to me, and caused me to not like Harriet or sympathize with her.)

There was never any resolution to the issue of Baby's family. There was shadowy, vague reference to possible abuse, incest, or something - but the subject was dropped and never brought up again. Had this part of the story been more developed, I would have been more interested in her character. In the end, she was still one-dimensional to me.

Also, I found some editing and detail issues to be distracting. The cultural details of the times were either incongruous to me, or lacking in color enough that I sometimes wondered what decade we were in. For example, in the scenes where Courtney is a young mother, there is reference to a red Jeep Cherokee as a family vehicle. That is so much a cultural icon of the late 80's and 90's that it made me wonder if I was interpreting the timing correctly. In the late 60's and early 70's, wouldn't it have been the classic station wagon? Admittedly, this is just one minor detail; but there were several things like this that made me wish the nostalgic details had been more descriptive and more carefully thought out, to give the reader a more vivid picture of the times. I think it was a missed opportunity that would have made the story more transporting to read.

Similarly, I found the names of some of the characters a bit untimely. I had a difficult time believing Harriet's mother (as she was described in the book: unconventional, a free spirit) would have named her Harriet in that day and age, as well as thinking Courtney's name was unlikely for her age. The two names don't seem of the same generation. And "Baby" was such a cliché to me that I was annoyed every time the name appeared in the book, which was of course, a lot. Again, a minor annoyance, but when there are many minor annoyances, a book can get frustrating!

In all, I liked the concept but wish it had played out differently. It wasn't a satisfying book to read, at least for me, a detail-oriented kind of girl.

Glad I bought it off the bargain rack...........2007-04-11

This wasn't a BAD book, I was able to finish it, but it definitely was not a page-turner that I was unable to put down. I generally like this type of storyline but this one didn't quite make the grade. I would have felt robbed if I had paid original full price for it, maybe even angry. I found myself wanting to finish it just so I could start something else.

Usually I love Lee Smith's books.......2006-10-30

but this one just seem half done. The characters were interesting and I wanted a better description. Somehow they weren't fleshed out. It was just not like Lee Smith's previous books.

But there were beautiful scenes, wonderful dialogue in places and I almost gasped at some things that seemed so familiar from my youth in the south.

It was however a disappointment.

A bit of a disappointment.......2006-03-14

To me, a successful novel means that I'm intrigued by the characters, interested in the story and maybe pushed a little by new ideas or knowledge I gain by reading it.
With that criteria in mind, this novel just wasn't more than a middling success. The characters were a bit muddled, racing between past and present situations, and always on the verge of another dramatic (as in soap opera) revelation. I never really cared about them.
The story was OK, but a grand epic of the lives of women it was not. It pales in comparison to something like Joy Luck Club.
Finally, I've read many other books that gave me a much stronger feeling of "being" in the South...Prince of Tides, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil both spring to mind.
So, overall I'd rate this as a mildly entertaining book, but nothing I'd recommend to a friend.

A Different Twist to an Old Plot.......2006-02-10

I don't know how many books I've read in the last few years about women of a certain age who reunite, in one form or another, to share their stories. It's become a wearisome cliche--but this time, it works.

Four women who attended a cloistered, sleepy Southern women's university in the 60s, but for whom "The Sixties" never existed, reunite on a trip down the Mississippi--a twist that I thought saved the book. Of course, like all novels of this genre, we learn these women's pasts as well as their current lives, and of course there are secrets and surprises galore. But somehow, due to the superior writing of Lee Smith and the graceful way in which she weaves the tales, it just works.

I very much enjoyed this novel, and came away, not with any strong feelings about the characters themselves, but with a strong desire to cruise the Mississippi! In a really interesting epilogue, Smith is "interviewed" about the book, and reveals that she herself took such a tour in her college days (as did the characters in the book) and experienced many of the things her fictional characters did. Maybe that's why the book seems so real.

This is a nice, easy, pleasant read, and I look forward to reading other books by Lee Smith.

Giving Thanks: A Native American Good Morning Message (Reading Rainbow Book)

Average customer rating:

Good, but not what I ecpected
Very Pleased
A truly wonderful book.
Perfect Way to Teach Gratitude
This book is AWESOME!

Giving Thanks: A Native American Good Morning Message (Reading Rainbow Book)
Jake Swamp
Manufacturer: Lee & Low Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1880000547

Customer Reviews:

Good, but not what I ecpected.......2006-11-11

Accourding to the reviews this is an excellent book, which I agree with. It is beautifull in illustration and story. But if you are christian this book is not for you. It glorifies the Indian beliefs, which is fine, but not for our family. So I had to make a trip to the postoffice to return it. None of the other reviews mention this, they just note that it is a very thankfull book. If you worship nature this is for you, if you worship Jesus this is not.

Very Pleased.......2005-11-11

This is a simple book to read through for younger children. Written by native Americans it is a "thanksgiving" book from their point of view, why native americans have always celebrated thanksgiving. It has no mention of pilgrams or not fully proven, overly romanticized stories as most thanksgivings are but simply a beautiful description of the season, the great harvest and respect for the world around them. A book of why the Native Americans Gave thanks during this beautiful season.

A truly wonderful book........2004-07-10

A simple but truly beautiful and wonderful book. To read with your children every morning and express thanks to the world, promoting connectedness and deep respect of all things. Teaching our children these important words will doubtlessly take us through these rough times and make the world as beautiful and peaceful as it was intended to be.

Perfect Way to Teach Gratitude.......2001-08-23

Anyone looking to teach the concept of Gratitude to children need look no further. "Giving Thanks" is the answer. The words, culled from the Thanksgiving Address (an ancient Iroquois message of gratitude still used today) simply, directly and eloquently give a roll-call of thanks from the Earth to the Sun and everything in-between. They evoke warm, inviting, even mythic images that I believe will delight most children. A personal, friendly face is put upon the elements that are usually looked at through the cold, impersonal microscope of science. The sun, moon, thunder and lightning, and even dead ancestors are transformed into Brother Sun, Grandmother Moon, Grandfather Thunder Beings and the Spirit Protectors, respectively.

The world is simply and beautifully explained not as a big, scary one, but a warm, familiar one in twenty short pages. Even children too young to read will benefit thanks to the bright, colorful painting-like artwork by Irwin Printup, Jr. Every page brilliantly shines with the face of Grandmother Moon and the haunting reassurance of the Spirit Protectors. Its a great gift for classrooms, birthdays, holidays or just to to teach this valuable virtue. Highly recommended!

This book is AWESOME!.......1999-11-10

I was blown away by this book and was proud to add it to my bookshelf. I am glad that publishers are letting REAL Native American writers and artists tell our own stories our own way. The Thanksgiving Address is a central component of Mohawk culture and I was proud to see this in the hands of my children. This and SKYWOMAN by Joanne Shenandoah, Douglas George, John Fadden and Dave Fadden have set a new standard in the publishing of Native American culture and art. Now, if only some publisher would accept the challenge to do the same with Native American history...(hint hint!)

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