Open

After a storm Miss Moody and her cat go collecting like they always do. But this time they find a bottle with the message do not open. They decide to ignore the warning and open it only to find a genie. Miss Moody wishes that the gene would turn into a mouse and her cat eats him up.
This is a wonderful story and I really enjoyed reading it. The details about the ocean and the smell of the salty air really put me right into the book. The author really does a good job of keeping the reader in suspense about what is in the bottle. I especially liked the ending when Miss Moody tricked the genie.
I think the author was trying to convey a message that said it is ok to be adventurous but be smart. It wasn't a very wise decision to ignore the message on the bottle, but everything worked out ok because she was smart about it.

This is an irresistible story. It's impressive how Turkle packs chills, excitement and a lesson in courage into so few pages. The pictures and text are bold, scary and reassuring all at once. We've borrowed it from the library repeatedly , over the course of three children and ten years. Now it's time to buy our own copy so one day the grandchildren can enjoy it, too!

I use this enchanting picture book at the end of my matter/liquid unit as a creative writing for my fourth graders and they love it! They all want to be the evil in the bottle or trap their teacher in the bottle! Even my reluctant writers love the chance to write to this book

I thought this was a refreshing look at some of the same character types you see in Lord of the Rings with the humor and wholesomeness of Harry Potter. Kept me turning pages when I got to the end, very exciting.

This novel definitely left me wanting more...in a good way. The blend of action, humor, and suspense really draws you in to the story and makes you care about the characters. I can't wait to share their next adventure.

Well, this book was a fun read. I like to have a break from reality and this book certainly hit the spot. Sometimes the fantasy world tries to be too serious, it's nice when a book like this comes along to add a little levity to a wonderful genre.

Almost everyone you meet is having trouble with a relationship, this book by Charles Swindoll is a wonderful tool to assist people to build better relationships.From my own person experience I have come to conclude that the larger part of relationship problems are caused by lack of communacation.In this book Charles talks about how to be open in a relationship and the value of trust not only in a personal relationship but also in the Church. A wonderful must read.

Swindoll's book is an excellent encouragement for us to drop our facade of religious piety and be the person God created you to be!

Among the important points Swindoll covers include:

1. Fellowship is biblical and healthy for us.
2. Essential ingredients for close fellowship.
3. How to maintain unity within the Body of Christ.
4. Reasons fellowship breaks down.
5. The church is a place where people are to be encouraged.
6. Ways to keep hope strong.
7. Positive aspects of accountability and characteristics to look for in accountability partners.
8. Inauthentic types of love.

Read the book and be encouraged to just be yourself and stop trying to impress others!

Our college youth group used this book to build the relationships we had with each other. We even build our mission statement from this book. Swindoll teaches the value of unity, trust, refuge, and hope within the church and with the people around us. A MUST!

If you're still unsure about whether you *want* to buy a house, then this is the book to help you make up your mind. It covers the basics of mortgages, to finding a house, to deciding between types of houses, i.e. condos/new/resale/fixer-upper/etc. It's a quick and easy read, nicely defined words, pictures, but for if you decide to buy a house/condo, or have already decided, then you definitely need something else.

This book is an excellent resource, especially for first-time home buyers. If you don't know much about real estate, this is a simple and easy tool to learn about it.

This book has really made a lot of decisions easier. It goes into details we didn't even think of. Highly recommended!!!

Great book on really being intentional in reaching the unchurched of your community. Paul Nixon gives some great practical staffing advice - areas such as hiring, etc... You can really sense the passion for seeing the church become the focal point of the community through these pages. If you feel called to be a "community" church - or a church FOR the community, this is a must read!

This book is incredible. The ideas that Nixon conveys are brilliant and challenging, yet written so that the reading is enjoyable and fun. You cannot help but have several "aha" moments as you turn the pages of this book.
Paul Nixon demonstrates how to give the church away to the community so that it becomes a focal point for community life. This engraves community outreach into the very being of the church. It creates an avenue (or even a freeway) to share Christ with the unchurched and reestablish a relationship with those who have not been to a church in some time.
Successful churches in the 2000's MUST Fling Open the Doors and establish a true relationship with their community. Nixon is right on. I highly recommend!

This is the wave of the future, a book that invites a church to be, not just for the membership, but for everyone. Any church that adopts this philosophy of ministry will be a 21st Century church.
Nixon writes in a clear, easy to understand way, modeling his teaching that the church must speak in language the unchurched person can comprehend.
One of the best books on church organization that I have ever read!

Discussion groups are an invaluable tool in distance learning and this book is a really useful guide to planning, implementing and managing them. If you follow the steps she outlines, it's hard to see how you could go wrong. If you're doing discussion groups - get it!

If you are a e-teaching or you are in the e-learning business, you must buy and read this book. This book explain the e-teaching work, how to moderate a online class without lose the control, how to train and monitoring a e-moderator,... talk about the important things in the success of the work of a e-teacher/e-moderator. I found this book very informative, I recomend it!.

Although this book is aimed at those teaching/facilitating in a distance learning setting, Salmon's advice and approaches are sound and right on target. The last third of the ook, "resources for e-moderators," is terrific for many online facilitation settings beyond distance ed, especially distance teams/workgroups, communities of practice etc. Some may find them a bit conservative for more free-wheeling social spaces and virtual communities. But her advice rings very true to me.

I particularly enjoyed the case studies and examples sprinkled throughout the book. I found myself nodding, taking notes and putting stickies in the book - a sign that this is a book I can come back to and use again and again. I plan to reference it in my next online facilitation course!

Nancy White

GOLF COURSES OF THE U.S. OPEN is a good book there is just not enough in it about the courses themselves. The book is focused on more of what happend during the tournaments at a certain venue. The captions are well written but hardly ever is the hole mentioned. You turn the page wondering what hole you have just gazed upon. The chapters are not long enough and lack detail. The book could be 50 pages longer. GRAND SLAM GOLF is a much better opption.

This book is a must for golf historians. It's a great reference and easy reading for just the average golfer. The chronological format is terrific as we all follow golf based upon our own age and era of interest.Its size and quality make it a great gift for any golfing household.

This is a very fine book. It covers the well known and unknown courses that have hosted our Open. Very comphrehensive, with some wonderful vintage photos. Highly recommended and a must for the collector.

When reading this book of poems, I could really relate to the authors emotions and could tell that she is a very talented lady. I see great things coming from her in the future and look forward to another book by her.

The poems in this book are an excellent portrayal of the entire spectrum of raw emotions. The reader really feels the joy, the betrayal, the glee, and the anger.

The author truly gives all of herself with her words. These poems hold nothing back, and the raw --dare I say, brutal-- emotion of her poetry is moving. I celebrate her courage to say the things that she has said in this book... it takes a truly brave individual to let a world see your soul. Moving. Heartwrenching. Brilliant.

This book is very informative, but as a Birthmother myself, I couldn't help but feel this book was more for those wishing to know more about Birth Parents. I highly suggest this book for social workers, and adoption professionals; also adoptive parents.

Still, I am glad I added this book to my collection; and will be adding more of Jim Gritter's book as well.

Though Gritter is not a birthparent, he certainly empathizes with us in a way that most adoption workers or triad members do not. He's right on target with how it FEELS to be a birthparent: marginalized, feared, misunderstood, and sometimes, even shamed. The book should be required reading for all adoptive parents, so that they know that first parents are regular people, pretty much just like them.

My favorite part of the book comes at the end, with the simple list of ways adoptive parents can honor and respect their child's birthparents. My least favorite part is the description of grief; parts of that chapter didn't strike me quite right. I think Gritter should have relied more on the words of those of us who have actually gone through the grief.

But he did listen as he was writing the book: I was fortunate enough to read this book in manuscript, and offered my suggestions on how this book could be even more "true to life." Other birthparents did the same, making this, I think, an essentially reliable guide to our feelings and desires.

In the end, the message is simple: both sets of parents love and want what's best for the child. And when both types of parents work together in a true open adoption, beautiful things can happen.

As an adoptive mom in an fully open adoption, I probably will never be able to completely identify with my daughter's birthmom. I think it is so important, though, for me to understand as much as I can about how it is for her. There are not a lot of role models on how to help your child maintain a healthy and appropriate relationship with her birthmother, and this book gave me tools and insights to support all of us in this life-long relationship. I'm excited to give a copy to her, as well.

Aldrich's thesis is that a Christian's life style will predispose the non-Christian to listen to this or her words and then, hopefully, they can be persuaded to accept Christ. This method of evangelism is different than confrontational evangelism where the Christian confronts another with the demands of the gospel

Studies have shown that Life Style Evangelism just doesn't work. Thomas Rainer's book, Effective Evangelistic Churches, demonstrated that few of these churches use Aldrich's methodology. Why? Because it is too easy to be nice- in order for people to come to know Christ they must be confronted with the gospel. Rainer demonstrates it is not necessary to spend months, if not years, building relationship with people before we share the gospel. Nevertheless, it is not without value and would be a valuable addition to your library.

Billie Graham is great. But if every person in America who claims to be a believer would follow the simple plan of Lifestyle Evangelism, and woo just one unsaved neighbor per year to Jesus, within TWO YEARS, everyone in America would be a believer! Carpenter? Bus driver? Nurse? YOUR JOB IS YOUR MINISTRY.... as Joe Aldrich demonstrates in his outstanding book. Another title might be, "Friendship Evangelism". IT WORKS!

The challenge of communicating the gospel across cultural barriers is difficult and intense. Will we retain our traditional methods along with mediocre results or will we let our minds expand with brand new "ancient" concepts? Aldrich does a fantastic job of outlining the differences between biblical truth and cultural tradition. His concepts of "eating meat and evangelizing", "practicing the presence in evangelism", and others challenge us to change our methods to minister to our culture without throwing out the main tenants of the message. This book is highly recommended to all who would reach their generation in the most effective fashion