Offlake

In a public place, with tears in my eyes and a lump in my throat I whispered the prayer " Father I am sobered by this reality. Please help me grow in my management calling. I promise to be a better manager from this day forward".

The Burden Of Freedom explains that too many people use past oppression to remain mired in hatred and irresponsibility today. The spirit of oppression has specific telltale effects on individuals, communities, and nations. These are identified by Myles Munroe as a hatred for work, laziness, fear, low self-esteem, selfishness, lack of creativity, low initiative, and distrust of those in authority. To break free from these self-replicating cycles of oppression there must be a mental transformation. Paradoxically, freedom requires the need to impose control on self, require more responsibility than slavery, and the decision to accept a destiny of freedom, recognizing the process and discipline that personal and political freedom require. Simply put, The Burden Of Freedom should be available to every citizen and on the shelves of every high-school, college, and community library in the country.

My Children loved this book! Each Zoo Flake is so clever. My kids couldn't wait to make their own! I had to help my four year old with the folding and cutting, but the older kids did great on their own. They have asked if this could be "a Christmas thing" we do every year.

In this enchanting book, the author has created "zoo flakes," or paper snowflakes cut into animal kaleidoscope shapes, for each letter of the alphabet. What time and patience this process must have taken! These are not crude cutouts of rough animal shapes, but highly detailed silhouettes of unicorns, foxes (foxen?), and more. I encourage you to click on the book cover picture above so you can enlarge it and get a glimpse of the animal shapes shown on the cover. Great as an alphabet book for kids or a fun book for adults to look through -- it would be a unique conversation piece on a coffee table. It also includes directions at the end for making zoo flakes.

This is the fourth Greg Matthew's book that I have read and once again he delivers the goods. In The Gold Flake Hydrant we once again meet Burris Weems the protaganist of Little Red Rooster. Yes Burris is back and he is fully recovered from his suicide attempt. In this book we find Burris once again searching for answers until he stumbles across a paranoid schizophrenic named Lennie The Loop living in his home town of Buford. Burris is convinced that Lennie holds the truth inside him and decides to track him down to the automobile junkyard where Lennie lives. This book offers more satirical and witty observations about life from Burris who incidently is still talking into his Sony tape recorder. Buy this book. You won't be disappointed. Greg Matthews is also back living now in Australia. Welcome home Greg!!!

The best Wildlife and Fisheries book that I have EVER read. A superb resource for the Wildlife professional or student.

It has been nearly a decade since the first foreign NGO was permitted to begin famine relief operations in the DPRK. Since then the NGOs have had not only a significant humanitarian impact but a political one as well. This timely volume is filled with penetrating insights into the complex interplay between the DPRK, the NGOs, and the NGOs' home governments, and is essential reading for anyone interested in understanding the Korean peninsula today.

This is a superb book.

The book brings history to life as it clearly and cleverly recounts a demanding and difficult time in Mormon and US history. It weaves together the social, political, and spiritual themes in an easy to read and engaging way. It offers remarkable insights on how religion and politics co-mingle. It brings to life Senator Smoot and his demanding role as senator and religious leader. It offers insights into the operations of the Mormon church as it dealt with a sensitive and important issue. It offers insights into the political process at the turn of the Century and how political processes are shaped by individuals. Dr. Flake has a unique ability to bring history to life and to help us learn from this history. This book is academically credible and yet easy to access.

I haven't read a juvenile fiction book in quite some time but the voice of the narrator is what made me want to read Begging for Change. It's the story of Raspberry, a young girl who is going through much adversity that involves her family and friends. I think Raspberry is a character that kids or grownups can understand. She is emotional - mad, happy, afraid, shy, indignant, jealous, and everything in between. She's not perfect, she's real and that's a wonderful attribute to find in fiction. If you enjoy reading about young people and want to understand how they think and where they are coming from in terms of friendships, family, loyalty, and justice, you might enjoy reading Begging for Change.

BEGGING FOR CHANGE is the highly anticipated sequel to Sharon G. Flake's Money Hungry. This book picks up the story of Raspberry Hill a girl who is obsessed with money, because of the security it brings her. Determined not to be homeless again, Raspberry is the budding entrepreneur, doing anything legal to obtain money. In this book, she finds that although money can bring about security, it cannot ensure happiness.

The book begins with Raspberry's mother being assaulted by a young girl because she is trying to keep peace in her neighborhood. Raspberry is distraught, feels threatened, and as a result she steals money from her best friend, Zora. This causes a rift between the girls. Raspberry also begins to develop feelings for Sato, a boy from her school. She is faced with the dilemma of being in love without losing her entrepreneurial spirit. The book also introduces Raspberry's father, a homeless, crack addict. Although Raspberry loves her father, she has difficulties in "liking" him, especially when he steals her hard-earned money. She also deals with an identity crisis, wondering if she has inherited any of her father's ways.

Sharon G. Flake has done it again. Her latest book ties up loose ends from Money Hungry, but introduces new problems and situations. The recurring theme of the identity crisis, shown through Raspberry and her biracial friend, Mai, is one that children who read this book will readily relate to. I highly recommend this book for fans of Flake, and for children who may have difficulties accepting themselves or their parents.

Reviewed by Latoya Carter-Qawiyy
The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

Sharon Flake did it again! All her books are so interesting! I couldn't put 'Begging for Change' down! I read it in 2 days. I hope she keeps on writing...

I recently became interested a lot in Nature. Especially, being someone in the field of Computer Science, the computational aspect. And this book is by far one of my favourite among all the "How Nature Works" kind of books I've read.

This Computational Beauty of Nature (CBofN) covered a lot of topics. Ranged from brief introduction to Computation Theory, Fractals, Chaos, Complexity, Adaptation. (See the Table of Content for more details).

All topics are written in surprisingly clear and very understandable manner. With as little Math as possible. (From my opinion, these topics cannot be completely understood without Mathematics -- The Language of Nature). Therefore, it is also accessible to layperson.

This book does not, however, go so deep into each subject. (You won't expect it to do that with its less-than 500 pages, don't you? :-) Instead, it does give nice backgrounds, fundamental knowledge, and important ideas for each. So, if you are interesting in any of the subjects presented here, you can go on to the more specialized books on your own.

One of the nicest feature of this book, which can hardly be found in other text, is that the it does show how things work together, where and why. For example, natural phenomena like adaptation, evolution, computation, and some other things else related to each other. How can one view this from that perspective, and vice versa. etc.

One other nice feature of this book is, you can really play with almost all concepts using a number of computer programs. All the programs are downloadable (with source code, under GNU license) from the book's homepage. So, you can reproduce almost all the figures from the book.

However, for one thing, the homepage address given in the book, in the edition/printing I have is incorrect. Maybe MIT Press had changed the structure of their website or something...

...you can still search for it using your favourite web-search engine.

About the website, all the good things are there as well, including errata. (Of course, Perfect things are very rare in Nature... So, books with some errors are ok. The thing that matter is the authors know it/admit it and tell the readers or not).

Conclusion: If you want to understand "How Nature Works" from the computational point of view. If you interested in Chaos theory, Fractals and Complexity. Then, make no mistake, you can't go wrong with this one. (And, get the hardcover edition, because you will read it, read it, read it again, and keep refering to it. So the paperback edition probably can't endure that :-)

I want to give it more stars if I only could. This book will always get the highest rating possible from me wherever and whenever I review it.

Nature herself is so beautiful. So, it's time to get to know her, to learn about her and to understand her! And this book just did it, in such a way that can hardly be better!

Computing books are divided into immediate needs for professional life and spiritual food for enriching computing life. This book is the second type. Just by reading the preface, you get the sense of pure fun side of computing and the author's noble goal to bring this book to you. Some book's info will only last for a few months but this book will last for a long time in your computing life.

Every chapter is filled with inspiration. The author has carefully crafted a program for every chapter for you to enjoy. This reading and playing style fits the topic greatly. Although you will still see some math notations (some are hard to follow), I tried hard to follow and enjoy the beauty in the notation and mathematical side of the story.

If you go to the book's website, you can download the source code (including someone port the software to Java source code). I find the Java demo is better to run.

Flakes brings together some of the best science of the late 20th Century that will have tremendous impacts far into this century.

Maleeka as a character,is worth four dollars. Maleeka cost four dollars because of her attitude. Maleekas attitude cost two dollars and fifty cents because attitude turned out to be positive and negative,throughout the book.The price of Maleekas self-confidence cost fifty cents because she lets people bring her down when she is excited.The rest of the money illustrates how much maleekas personality cost maleeka's personality cost fifty cents because she doesen't like herself.She likes to be like other people.You should read this book The Skin I'm In to find out more about maleeka's life.

The book I read is "The Skin I'm In," by Sharon G. Flake. This book was about a girl named Malkee who grew up in the city. Malkee's father died when she was young, and since then, she has been very poor. She is not popular at school. Her mother makes her clothes and she doesn't like them. When she gets to school, she changes clothes with a girl named Charle, who she called Char.

Char is not a real friend to Malkee but she protects her when someone is bothering her. Malkee is also bossed around and made fun of by Char. Malkee wants to be accepted by her peers and she tries hard to fit in. Malkee also has problems with her teacher, Ms. Sanders, who is so mean to her and tries to get her into trouble everytime she gets a chance. Ms. Sanders is not the best teacher and most of the students don't like her. She also calls Malkee names and talks about her when it comes to learning.

I like this book because in some ways I can relate to Malkee's problems. This is a good book to read. I believe a girl who is about thirteen, like myself, would understand what Malkee is going through. While reading the book, I found similarities in my own life and I found it very interesting because it seems that we have shared some of the same experiences.

What I found to be sad in my reading was Ms. Sanders making fun of Malkee. I don't feel that Malkee or any person should be picked on by the teacher. Rather, the teacher should be more nice to her and respect her more often. Malkee really didn't do anything to be disrespected by Ms. Sanders.

One of my favorite parts of the book was when Malkee was happy and defended herself when a girl began talking badly about her. The girl also attacked Malkee, and was suspended. Malkee had to work in the school office with no pay as a result of the fight. I felt that this was fair punishment for both.

I recommended this book to a friend, and she liked it as well. This book is very entertaining and I look forward to reading more books by Flake.

Beauty is NOT Just Skin Deep

Maleeka Madison is an intelligent young girl who suffers from having a low self-esteem because of her extraordinarily dark skin tone and the homemade clothing that her mother forces her to wear. She is often ridiculed. To help cushion the brunt of the teasing of her peers, Maleeka befriends Charlese. Charlese is a popular girl and somewhat of a bully. She provides clothing and protection for Maleeka. In return Maleeka does the homework for Charlese and her friends.

Maleeka's life changes when Miss Saunders comes to teach at her school. Maleeka can relate to Miss Saunders because she is also teased due to her deformed face. Throughout the course of the novel Miss Saunders helps Maleeka make several realizations about who she is and who her true friends are.

THE SKIN I'M IN is an excellent book that explores issues of self-esteem and peer pressure. Sharon Flake has created a memorable cast of characters that many pre-adolescent girls can relate to. The book teaches the important lesson that looks are only skin deep and character is more important. This is a must read for young girls who suffer from low self-esteem and any one looking for an insightful and quick read.

Reviewed by Latoya Carter-Qawiyy of...

I loved Money Hungry because Sharon Flake really captures the way life is. This book isn't a fantasy, it's life for some people. This book really made me appreciate what I have. Since I'm 10 years old I know what it's like to have money. You don't have to borrow your mom's money to buy things. I felt that this is what Rasberry (the main character) liked. She also seemed to like being able to have the feeling that she wouldn't ever have to live on the streets or be hungry, again. I would definatly(SP?)reccomend this book to everyone. I also read the sequel to this book: Begging for Change.

Money Hungry is a very good book for teens to read when they love stories that involve real life and real things. I love this book because I can realate to it, and I can picture myself being Raspberry Hill (the main character). Raspberry seems like she will really go places, like all of us want to. This is a great book by Sharon Flake. I recommend it very highly.

I THOUGHT THAT THE BOOK MONEY HUNGRY WAS EXCELLENT ESPECIALLY FOR KIDS TO READ IF THEY ARE OR THEIR FAMILY IS STRUGGLING WITH MONEY PROBLEMS .

SO I WOULD DEFIENTELY(SP?) GIVE THIS BOOK TEN STAR AS THE BEST BUT U CAN ONLY GIVE UP TP 5 SO I GIVE IT A FIVE!!