Birthdays Books

While the title is a bit misleading (Nick Cave's full career isn't covered), this book is an important document due to the lack of coverage that the Birthday Party have received since breaking up. Just as intense as Iggy & The Stooges, the Sex Pistols, or Joy Division, their music was chaotic, menacing, emotionally charged, and black-hearted. A great deal of information comes straight from band members and the author's attention to details concerning the songs is rewarding for fans and insightful for newcomers with adventurous tastes in music. A long overdue account of one of the great post-punk bands.

Best book I've found to teach children (and adults!) the joy of the process of art, as opposed to the final product!!! We've used this with our 4-year old twins to emphasize that art is your very own and it comes from the heart. This is a beautifully illustrated and heart-warming story! (Another V. Gorbachev winner is "Nicky and the Rainy Day".)

I love the illustrations in this book. They are filled with zany details and lots of insider views of shops owned by witches that made me laugh. Nicky is a little girl witchling who is about to celebrate her birthday but her cat is missing! As she searches the shops of lots of quirky older witches, readers can peek through little cut-out doors to see if they can spot the missing kitty. The story has a nice surprise ending and is a fun,imaginative romp with a make-believe witch. Not strictly speaking a Halloween story but would be a good one for that time of year.

Numerology is easy and fun with this book, which is the perfect gift for a hospitalized patient. Just think of the attention you'll get by analyzing the nurses' fortunes. You'll be so popular they won't want to let you leave. The book is tiny -- so no problem to carry it home -- and it won't wilt!

I love this book!! It is a terrific story that kids will love and be able to relate to---who hasn't wanted a puppy for their birthday??? And, it raises awareness about helping the animals that are out there. That is a plus! I love books that are fun and educational. My kids love this story!

We thoroughly enjoy "On This Day" and highly recommend it!

We use it nearly every day for our family devotions. We homeschool our three boys, age 10, 8, and 3. The historical timeline and birthdays are always quite interesting. My husband begins by giving us the events one at a time. The children and I try to guess the year in which they took place - LOADS of fun! This sometimes sparks a conversation about history we have learned together in school or how the events impacted the lives of their grandparents or great-grandparents. We do the same for birthdates of the famous people listed for that day.

We recently devised a "point system". If you guess a year EXACTLY, you get one point. The boys want the person with the most points to get an extra desert as a reward. Mom has yet to agree to these terms.

We then read the scripture of the day aloud and the corresponding short story from the book. These stories and quotes are little nuggets of gold! This is no warmed-over milk! There's real meat in this compilation of timely tales. We are able springboard from this devotional to dialogue with our boys about faith, what it means, and how to walk out that faith in their everyday lives.

After opening a million gifts during the holidays, this book was the first to be played with. If you like Dragon Tales this is a must have. This book is not one of those short stories with big font size words and one sentence on each page; it is a nice lengthy story that most children should enjoy. Highly recommend.

This festschrift honors the life of Jaroslav Pelikan. A historian of excellence to some, a hero to emulate to others, Prof Pelikan actually saw the printing of this collection before falling asleep in the Lord earlier this year (2006), several months after publication.

The most exciting, informative and challenging part of Orthodoxy and Western Culture is the short autobiographical note that Pelikan wrote for this publication. It is perhaps frustrating that he only allotted a mere 15 pages!! From his decision to annually read Goethe's Faust and memorization of Schiller to his extensive work in the Greek and Latin Fathers, Pelikan is a man to emulate. On the subject of his intriguing (and controversial) conversion to Orthodoxy, Pelikan devoted, sadly, two paragraphs. He explains, somewhat cryptically, that his life's work led him ultimately to this decision, and that it was much like "a pilot who kept circling the airport, looking for a way to land." The reader is left starving for more explanation.

The actual essays are varied: some are enlightening, some profound, and some down right embarrassing. I cite just a few examples.

Prof Andrew Louth begins the festschrift with a compelling essay entitled "Is Development of Doctrine a Valid Category for Orthodox Theology?" Louth challenges us with, "Scholarship inspired by the idea of development can produce a kind of hubris; as if we know more than they did..., whereas real scholarship is aware that, in fact, we know very much less than the Fathers did..." (p. 56).

Prof Anthony Ugolnik attempts, rather ineptly I think, to tie Pelikan's legacy to a bald-face relativistic version of "ahl al-kitab." He writes, "We are called to an interrelationship of three traditions - Christian, Jewish, Islamic... We have been called, in fact, the People of the Book" (p. 67). Ugolnik develops this tired (and obviously poorly understood) theme into blatantly un-Christian areas that have absolutely nothing to do with Pelikan.

John Anthony McGuckin writes what I would call a powerful orthodox introspection.
He laments the "loss of a strong and unbroken presence of an Orthodox aristocracy" which "fuelled the intellectual life and ecclesiastical vigor of the Church by its patronage and by its bloc influence" and "the destruction and impoverishment of Orthodox institutes of higher learning" (p.87).

Over all, Orthodoxy and Western Culture is a Christian intellectual's treat and a great tribute to Jaroslav Pelikan. As I mention above, the essays will vary in orthodoxy (no pun intended).

FINALLY!! a coloring book with exceptional illustrations in it. not the hacky ones you usually see that look like they were drawn by a monkey. the line quality is amazing. whoever illustrated this book should get all of the book illustration work there is out there!

As an elementary teacher and a parent, I've developed a collection of party planning books for kid's parties. This is the book I return to again and again for the best suggestions. There are so many creative ideas for decorations, menus, games and party favors. Some of my favorites include the Rainbow party (a big hit for toddlers!), the Firefighter party (including fun games involving squirting targets with a garden hose), and the Space party (where the favor bags are black bags poked with constellation holes and a flashlight!).