The Crossroad (Amish Country Crossroads #2)

Book Description

A Captivating Tale Set in the Heart of Amish Country!

After the dramatic conclusion to his discovery of a long-lost postcard, journalist Philip Bradley simply cannot forget the Amish people he met while on assignment in Pennsylvania particularly Rachel Yoder and her young daughter, Annie. Rachel's cheerful outlook, in spite of her blindness, and her appealing, uncomplicated lifestyle beckon Philip amid the high-paced existence of his New York career.

Philip's newfound knowledge of the true reason for Rachel's loss of sight spurs him on to uncover what he can about the possibility for a cure. In Lancaster County, Rachel has her own ideas about the way her vision might be restored, and it doesn't include the local healer and his black box. Now, Rachel firmly believes the God she serves is the only One who can grant her sight, but as the memories of the trauma she suffered begin to resurface, Rachel questions whether she can bear the agonizing road to recovery.

Drawn back to Lancaster County over the Christmas holidays, Philip struggles with the vast gulf separating him from the beautiful Plain woman. Rachel has suffered unbearable heartache; will his growing affection for her only bring more of the same? Or must Philip and Rachel sacrifice a future together for the sake of all they know and love?

Customer Reviews:

The Crossroad .......2007-08-23

This was a great book well written. I could not put it down I read the whole book in one day. I Love Beverly Lewis books. I had read one and I am hooked I am now in the process of trying to get all of her books to read.

Sequel to the postcard.......2005-09-09

The sequel of the Post Card. From an ordinary post card to a life of two people who are from different worlds. Read to see how they are brought together.

A fitting end indeed.......2005-05-14

This book is the perfect sequel (and conclusion) to the story of Rachel Yoder and Philip Bradley.
It left no end untied, no strings hanging, and basically ended on a very high note.
What more can I say? Read it!

Blindness Mended by Love.......2004-10-31

An amazing read and a real page turner. Philip has to return to New York and the hustle and the bustle. Rachel learning to cope with her blindness and her mother's urging to visit with the local healer and his black box.

Philip while home begins to research about Rachel's self-inflicted blindness and how to bring her eyesight back.

He returns to Lancaster county for Christmas to see if he can help Rachel regain her sight. And to see if the feelings he has for her are reciprocated. Trying to bridge the gap that has separated them is no easy task but Philip is willing to try anything. Among the people he tries to live but finds it very hard.

Rachel's parents aren't much help either. Trying to keep their daughter safe from outsiders they practically shun him.

Philip and Rachel are relucent to see where these feelings could lead them and unsure of how their two worlds could mesh together. Neither share with each other what is in their hearts. Until a visit with a friend shows Philip that he need to tell Rachel everything he feels for her.

Very enjoyable read.......2002-11-17

This pair of books about a traditional Amish family and a modern man was an enjoyable read.(The Postcard and The Crossroads) Lots of human interest, a little mystery, and insight into another culture.

The Postcard/The Crossroads/Sanctuary (Amish Country Crossroads 1-3)

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Just Introduced to Beverly Lewis novels
What A Book!

The Postcard/The Crossroads/Sanctuary (Amish Country Crossroads 1-3)
Beverly Lewis , and David Lewis
Manufacturer: Bethany House Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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The Sunroom

ASIN: 0764201867
Release Date: 2005-10-01

Book Description

The lives and love of Philip Bradley and Rachel Yoder captivate readers again in this 3-in-1 edition of the popular series featuring The Postcard, The Crossroad, and Sanctuary.

Customer Reviews:

Just Introduced to Beverly Lewis novels.......2007-08-06

I received this book as a gift some time ago & put off reading it, thinking it was geared more toward female readers than male readers. I suppose that's true, but it doesn't matter much. I started reading The Postcard & finished within a few days. Now I have started reading The Crossroads at first to see what happens to the main characters next. This book is a good read, not even close to what I imagined it would be!

What A Book!.......2007-01-19

This was another one of her terrific books.She always writes in such a way that you can't wait to read the next one. Nadia Rehmani-writer of Sharper Than A Two Edged Sword-that can be found right her also on Amazon.

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Another Brookmyre delight

Country of the Blind
Christopher Brookmyre
Manufacturer: Abacus
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0349109303

Book Description

British critics have compared Christopher Brookmyre's writing to the "sassy, nasty, fast style of the Americans Elmore Leonard and Carl Hiaasen" (The Guardian) and called his work "perpetually in-your-face ... irreverent and stylish" (The Times). Now he returns with another cracked gem of a comic thriller: Country of the Blind. This time, hard-bitten investigative journalist Jack Parlabane -- hero of Brookmyre's award-winning novel Quite Ugly One Morning-finds himself up to his eyeballs in murder, mayhem, and political intrigue when conservative tabloid media mogul Roland Voss is discovered at his country estate with his throat slit and his wife and bodyguards killed. The police have arrested four men fleeing the scene, but for Parlabane it all doesn't add up and he suspects the fix is in ... unless he can get to the bottom of things before everybody else. Packed with Brookmyre's distinctive collection of wacked-out characters and fueled by his trademark hell-for-leather pacing, Country of the Blind is a tart "tartan noir" that will leave you breathless with suspense -- if you're not asphyxiated by convulsions of laughter first. "A high-octane political thriller doused in stinging satire." -- The Sunday Times (London)

Customer Reviews:

Another Brookmyre delight.......2002-01-18

True to the left-of-center credentials of its author, Christopher Brookmyre, `Country of the Blind' takes multiple swipes at right wing businessmen and government ministers who, according to the story, arrange a violent murder and cover-up, eventually raising the wrath of improbable superhero, crusading journalist Jack Parlabane.

Though far from supporting left-wing politics myself (or any `wing' for that matter), I still found myself cheering the good guys and booing the baddies. As with other Brookmyre novels, `Country of the Blind' had me hooked from the first pages where his description of a young lawyer's first clients (Mrs McGrotty) had me in hysterics. Having kicked off to such a great start the story kept up the pace and was as memorable as this author's other novels. The style of writing is very 90s Scotland and includes many pointed comments on the right wing government of 1980s England. Most of these comments aren't entirely original but will reassure the likely leftish, middle-class audience that they have a liberal-minded fellow-traveller who is also quite cross about what went on. Sadly, as comedian Alexei Sayle memorably pointed out, you can't change the world with the lyrics of a pop song - you have to do the dance as well !

Amazon.com

In the Country of the Blind is a tense, complex, exciting conspiracy thriller, highly recommended to all fans of suspense fiction, secret history, alternate history, and science fiction.

In the 19th century, the British scientist Charles Babbage designed an "analytical engine," a working computer that was never built--or so the world believes. Sarah Beaumont, an ex-reporter and real estate developer, is investigating a Victorian-era Denver property when she finds an ancient analytical engine. Sarah investigates her astonishing discovery and finds herself pursued by a secret society that has used Babbage computers to develop a new science, cliology, which allows its practitioners to predict history--and to control history for its own purposes. And it will stop at nothing to preserve its secret mastery of human destiny.

Michael Flynn is one of best and most interesting of the modern hard-SF writers, combining rigorous extrapolation with skilled prose and strong characterization. In the Country of the Blind is his first novel, but it was somewhat overlooked when it appeared in 1990, perhaps because it debuted as a paperback original. Now Tor has reissued the book in hardcover, the format it deserves. This edition has been slightly revised, and it includes, as an afterword, Flynn's essay "An Introduction to Cliology," which plausibly explains the intriguing science the author has created in this novel.

Readers of Isaac Asimov's Foundation series are probably wondering how Flynn's cliology relates to Asimov's psychohistory. Flynn is clearly aware of Asimov's science of history, but takes cliology far in its own fascinating directions. Foundation fans should check out In the Country of the Blind. --Cynthia Ward

Book Description

Revised for its first hardcover appearance, Michael Flynns first SF novel. Set primarily in the present, with flashbacks to the 1800s, this book concerns a small group of idealists who manage to develop mathematical models that chart the likely course of future events. Soon they are working to alter historys course to their liking and by the 1990s they are the secret masters of the world. Originally published in the 1980s as a paperback original, Michael Flynns first novel has been updated for this edition, which also features as a new appendix, his article, originally published in Analog, about the novels underlying ideas.

Customer Reviews:

Good Idea; Writing Average; 3.5 stars.......2007-07-12

Flynn's first novel is based on a good idea. Suppose a real scientific theory of history is possible? Suppose the scientific theory of history had been discovered, not once, but several times in the first half of the 19th century? Flynn constructs a contemporary adventure story around ths idea. Competently written, this is an above average read. The plot is clever though too busy. Characterization and quality of writing are average.

Nice idea ruined by terrible writing.......2007-03-05

I really wanted to like this book, as the cliology idea was very promising. Unfortunately, the writing was so bad, I had to put it down. A big problem is Sarah, our expert real estate developer/reporter/hacker/survivalist hero. In the words of one of the other characters, she "seem[s] to know more things about more things than anybody else I've ever met". (Yes the dialog is that bad - and when Flynn attempts dialects, it is cringingly bad) Sarah is equally at ease discussing the "field of fire" in a gun battle and who was the Lucasian Professor at Cambridge in the early 1800's. Her "I'm a driven poor black woman from the South Side of Chicago" story is too thin to make her plausible and grows tiresome very quickly.

Also, the author isn't afraid to use improbable coincidences to drive the story forward. Much of the first 80 pages feels like an episode of a 1-hour TV mystery, where time constraints force the back story to be hurriedly injected in a flurry of awkward exposition. Meanwhile, characterization suffers - some editing for balance here would have been useful.

Again, the cliology idea is a great one - unfortunately, Flynn doesn't provide a worthy vehicle to present it.

painful.......2006-12-14

This novel has the worst dialog for a leading character
that I have ever read. I know it must be a challenge for
a middle aged white male author to write as a black newspaper woman, but no character could possibly speak and/or respond to the situations she finds herself in, as Flynn has this character do. Also what is it with Flynn's writing about computers and/or the Internet? What is a "boot on button"?
Is "spyder" supposed to be a web crawler or "spider"?
How does one use the internet to log onto a "police blotter"? Had Flynn ever seen a computer when he wrote this?
His description of a internet "worm" was also very amusing.
His 'Cliology' sounds awfully reminiscent of Asimov's psycho- history, although I will give him the benefit of the doubt.
The idea he was espousing seemed interesting, but, at least
at the time this book was written, the characterization was just too silly - actually embarrassing.
Perhaps this was Flynns' first novel, and his woodenness was
attributable to inexperience, as I have read several of his short stories in many editions of the "Year's Best Science Fiction" and they were uniformly excellent.
I guess I am just getting sick of buying novels that I can
only tolerate for about the first quarter of the book and then tossing them aside because the dialog of the characters is so blatantly unnatural.

An interesting idea but a stale story........2005-08-05

The idea of clioligy was very interesting and certainly this makes the book worhtwhile to some extent, but the characters are unreasonable and silly in places. For instance the poor woman overcome by lust when she had the game won.(No I don't remember their names...started witha G though...) The clioligy is just window dressing to a poor spy novel. I was hoping to see characters working over a long term trying to influence history and really exploring the possibilities. I'd probably try something else if I was looking for a good sci fi read. However,I will keep my copy for the clioligy appendix. Interesting idea.

Takes the reader in too many directions........2005-03-15

An intriguing idea: a conspiratorial science known as "cliology" where the future is predicted by complicated mathematical formulas (on a 19th century device, no less!). Now which way will cliologists go? For instance, will they use their skills merely to prepare for the future, or profit from it, or to try to change it. Or, as here, will competing groups of cliologists have different agendas. Add to the mix an attractive "super woman," Sarah Beaumont, with her many exceptional skills and dogged pursuit of the truth, and you pretty much get the gist of "In the Country of the Blind," a fast paced, page turning novel.

The problem is that Michael Flynn tries to do too much with the material he has to work with. So many plots and sub-plots are introduced that I began to feel overwhelmed by the whole thing and often needed to turn back pages in order to follow all the characters. Ultimately as well, I kept being reminded of all those financial analysts, who, no doubt, feel a certain ability to predict the future, and have largely been proven to be no better at it than the rest of us.

I recommend this book to fans of both the science fiction and conspiracy thriller genres who have no trouble suspending disbelief. And, as mentioned by several reviewers, if this subject is of interest to you, try the superior "Foundation" trilogy by the great Isaac Asimov.

The Country of the Blind and Other Science-Fiction Stories

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A Cautionary Tale
Short stories that have lost none of their appeal
What The Country of the Blind Really Means
In My Opinion
Great stories ruined by editor

The Country of the Blind and Other Science-Fiction Stories
H. G. Wells
Manufacturer: Dover Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0486295699

Book Description

Six entertaining short stories from the foremost science fiction writer of his time. Includes "The Star," a gripping tale about a massive celestial object hurtling towards the Earth, as well as "The New Accelerator," "The Remarkable Case of Davidson's Eyes," "Under the Knife," and 2 more.

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They were very strange to his eyes, and indeed the whole aspect of that valley became, as he regarded it, queerer and more unfamiliar. The greater part of its surface was lush green meadow, starred with many beautiful flowers, irrigated with extraordinary care, and bearing evidence of systematic cropping piece by piece. High up and ringing the valley about was a wall, and what appeared to be a circumferential water channel, from which the little trickles of water that fed the meadow plants came, and on the higher slopes above this flocks of llamas cropped the scanty herbage.

Customer Reviews:

A Cautionary Tale.......2006-02-01

HG Wells has few peers as science fiction writer. He was both prolific writer and one of great quality. Although his works are now about a century old, they still resonate with the modern reader.

"The Country of the Blind" is one of Wells's less well known works. It is yet to have Hollywood set loose on it. Yet, despite being less well known, it is a marvelous short story.

Here we are introduced to a village where all its inhabitants are literally blind. Sight means nothing to them. Day and night are only of difference due to temperature. Houses have no windows. When there is nothing to see, what purpose does a window serve?

Into this sightless world stumbles an outsider who can see with perfect vision. Surely in the country of the blind, the one eyed man is king? Not so! The locals deem him to be mad. Sight? How can this have any meaning in the country of the blind?

While the story is a very good yarn, it has a deeper meaning that is of very great relevance in today's world. The blind of the tale have there own explanations for how their world was created and what are its limits. The sighted man is a fool. He is also a threat. How similar is this to the world in which we live where the religiously zealous amongst have their own tales of creation and there own explanations that have no intrinsic scientific coherence. Wells was making a cautionary tale. In the country of the blind, we often find the blind leading the blind.

Short stories that have lost none of their appeal.......2004-04-07

The modern fame of H. G. Wells is largely due to the film adaptations of his longer stories. ?War of the Worlds?, ?The Invisible Man? and ?The Time Machine? have all been made into successful movies. The famous radio broadcast of ?The War of the Worlds? will always remain a legend in the history of mass media. However, Wells also wrote many short stories and six of the best appear in this collection.
Martin Gardner wrote a short introduction to each of the stories, explaining some of the story line as well as some of the science and historical backdrop of the story. In no case does he give away too much of the plot and since the stories were written over a century ago, the historical context would prove helpful to many readers.
The stories are excellent; ?The Country of the Blind? is one of the best short stories ever written. The premise is that there is an isolated valley where all inhabitants are blind from birth due to a genetic defect. However, they have adapted very well to their environment, working at night, needing no light in their dwellings and possessing extremely acute hearing. A sighted man from the outside literally falls off a snow-covered mountain into their valley, and immediately believes that he will dominate, citing the old adage, ?In the country of the blind the one-eyed man is King.? Since none of the inhabitants has any knowledge of sight, his explanations of what it is like to see is gibberish to them. To them, he is a fool who cannot even do the simplest of tasks.
The second story is ?The Star?, where a rogue planet collides with Neptune. They merge, the energy of the collision causes them to glow like a star and their changed orbit takes them close to Earth, creating fire and destruction. Third in the list is ?The New Accelerator? about a potion that causes a person to have their worldview accelerated so that they operate at a rate much faster than everyone else. Star Trek fans will recognize this as the basis for ?Wink of An Eye?, an episode in the original series. The fourth story is ?The Remarkable Case of Davidson?s Eyes? where a lightening strike shifts the line of sight of a man from his current location to a point on the antipodal position on the other side of the Earth. ?Under the Knife? is an out-of-body experience, where a man under chloroform anesthesia believes he has died on the operating table. His mind is apparently outside his body and he ?watches? himself die as his physician tries to save him. The final story is ?The Queer Story of Brownlow?s Newspaper?, where a man receives a paper from exactly forty years in the future. The account of his reading the paper is another case of predicting the future, and Wells turns out to be better than most. He predicts the collapse of the Soviet Union, although he was twenty years too early.
These stories have held up very well, largely due to their human themes. They are billed as science fiction, but ?The Country of the Blind? and ?Under the Knife? are about humans reacting to unusual circumstances and it is hard to think of them as science fiction. ?The Queer Story of Brownlow?s Newspaper? is speculation about future events, most of which are social and political. ?The Star? is basically an apocalyptic tale and ?The Remarkable Case of Davidson?s Eyes? deals with clairvoyance. ?Wink of an Eye? is the only story that I would consider true science fiction.
H. G. Wells was a good writer, but the fame of his movies tends to make him under appreciated by modern readers. These stories show him at his best, telling stories that have lost none of their appeal a century after they were written.

What The Country of the Blind Really Means.......2002-12-15

A nontheist stumbles into a country so infested with godworship, that his claim to have a nonexistent sense called "reason," enabling him to see that their beliefs are falsifiable fairy tales, causes the inhabitants to assume that he is insane. When he falls for a female godworshipper, his need to belong prompts him to yield to their demand that he be surgically cured by having the organ responsible for his delusion, an organ that they do not have that he calls his "brain," amputated. At the last minute, he realizes that no woman or society is worth a lifetime of brainless conformity, and flees.

In My Opinion.......2000-03-09

In the story "The Country of the Blind" H.G. Wells manages to capture the dark side of humanity and place it in the metaphor of blindness. He does this well and his point is well made. By focusing on how the man thinks himself superior because he can see, Wells illistrates a point most of us can see as obvious. When he thinks it is his right to change thier way of life to his "better" way, I was reminded of all the cultures that have been changed or even wiped out by those who thought they were superior. Also, when Wells turns it around and shows the blind as thinking themselves superior it shows that even when we think we are not like the perfect man, we all are. The first pages dragged a bit, but the content and pace of the rest of the book made it well worth it!

Great stories ruined by editor.......1999-11-17

H.G. Wells is one of the finest writters of science fiction of all time, and these stories are no exception. Unfortunately, the editor of this volume makes this a book to be avoided. There are six stories in this book, and before each story is an introduction by the editor. In these introductions, which range from one paragraph to several pages, the editor not only ruins the story by revealing the ending, but he also explains the mistakes with the science that Wells uses in his stories. We are also given a list of the mistakes that Wells made in his predictions of the future. There would be nothing wrong with these introductions if they were in a book of essays and criticisms on H.G. Wells. But they aren't, and the average reader of this book will be one who has not read these stories before. It would be a much better idea to buy another collection of his stories. Then you could actually enjoy the stories by themselves, without feeling like someone is reading over your shoulder, pointing out what's wrong with the book. Although the stories: The New Accelerator, the Remarkable Case of Davidson's Eyes, Under the Knife, the Queer Story of Brownlow's Newspaper, and the title story are all excellent examples of H.G. Wells supreme story telling ability, they can, and should, be read in another book.

Average customer rating:

A masterpiece
An Appalachian ballad
How the music and its makers got that way
A Remarkable Story - A Great Read

Blind Singer Joe's Blues
Robert Love Taylor
Manufacturer: Southern Methodist University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0870745115

Book Description

Set in the first two decades of the twentieth century, mainly around Bristol, Virginia (which is partly in Tennessee), the novel focuses on Hannah Ruth Bayless, an untutored Appalachian singer with a beautiful voice; her handsome, thieving, backwoods husband, Dudley Crider; their child, Singer Joe, who is born blind and inherits his mother's gift; and Pink Miracle, a fiddler from Oklahoma, who falls in love with and later marries Hannah Ruth, taking her away from Bristol and her family and forming a musical partnership with her. Broodingly lyrical, the novel deals with faith, blindness, betrayal and trust, the tug of family versus selfhood, and the claims of music versus the claims of ordinary life.

Customer Reviews:

A masterpiece.......2007-05-23

I couldn't put this beautifully-crafted book down once I started it. Robert Love Taylor's masterful handling of perspective and dialogue, his insightful and sympathetic development of characters, and the precise perfection of the language throughout make this a rare gem. You won't find its match in evoking the feel of music. I loved it.

An Appalachian ballad.......2007-03-28

More truth in reviewing: I know the author too, and I knew he could make a fiddle sing like God's choir of spring-morning birds -- but I had no idea he could do the same thing with mere words of clay. Blind Singer Joe's Blues sings through hard-bitten characters and hard times; through soul-searching, generosity, orneriness and forgiveness; and through the greenbrier thicket of family ties.

Taylor eases the reader through viewpoint, time and place, just as a tune effortlessly weaves from chorus to verse and back again. The plot unfolds so sparely that you wonder at how he creates such a complex tapestry in such a small space.

His characters -- Hannah Ruth, Pink Miracle, Dudley Crider and his mama Pearlie, Mama Bayless, Emmett and Amelia Holt -- reveal themselves, their stations, their hopes and beliefs through their language, all of it sounding as true as a tuning fork, as when Dudley gives a piece of his mind to the toddler, Singer Joe: "We are Criders and don't have no fear, he told the boy, and he imagined some of O.T., some of Uncle Crockett and Uncle U.S., some of Daddy, some of himself, yes, and then all the Criders before them, grandaddies and grandmamas by the score, crowded up in Singer Joe's veins."

Religious passion and personal passion meet sorrow and self-denial and all of it makes up the blues that are the fabric of Singer Joe's life.

Start this book on Friday night; you'll want the weekend to finish it.

How the music and its makers got that way.......2007-03-27

Truth in reviewing: I am acquainted with the author, but haven't seen him in ages. Years ago he promised another novel with the old-time fiddler character Pink Miracle from his earlier book, THE LOST SISTER, and he has finally delivered. It is well worth the wait: it is highly readable and atmospheric, filled with memorable people. It's about souls who may seem kind of marginal in global and universal schemes but who find a way to be heard, to matter in the middle of it all.

Taylor has drawn on family history and legend out of his ancestral territory of Oklahoma and the mountains of eastern Tennessee for his past books. In this new work, in which he is at the top of his powers as a storyteller and fiction stylist, he looks at the early 20th century country folks who poured their lives into the songs that became the modern bluegrass, jazz and folk traditions. The jazz musician of the title and his blues are the legacy of the stories that flow together in this narrative, swirling around a restless songbird teenage mother who deserts him as well as everyone else in her life.

I confess to having been haphazardly acquainted with bluegrass music through occasional street festivals and local arts events. Coincidentally, as I was reading BLIND SINGER JOE'S BLUES, an Alison Krauss concert video was brought into the house. Listening and reading at the same time, I realized just how much Taylor's novel is alive with the music and explains how it got that way; and Krauss, well, she and bluegrass have a new fan.

A Remarkable Story - A Great Read.......2007-01-27

Blind Singer Joe's Blues is a novel set in the birthplace and time of modern American music. The complex and all-too human characters whose live play out against this backdrop are the musicians who create what we now call blues, rag-time and country music.

The author's deep knowledge of the music of that era is obvious throughout. It complements his ability to draw strong portraits of the characters and an engrossing story line.

I enjoyed this book immensely. Highly recommended.

The Country Of The Blind And Other Stories

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33 short stories of mixed quality

The Country Of The Blind And Other Stories
H. G. Wells
Manufacturer: Kessinger Publishing, LLC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Classics | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1419157876

Book Description

Your servant, said the man with the scar, bowing. "Funny case, wasn't it? Here was me, making a little fortune on that island, doing nothing for it neither, and them quite unable to give me notice. It often used to amuse me thinking over it while I was there. I did calculations of it--big--all over the blessed atoll in ornamental figuring."

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Customer Reviews:

33 short stories of mixed quality.......1998-08-02

COUNTRY OF THE BLIND is a collection of 33 short stories hand picked by H.G. Wells as his best. The stories were written first published between 1894 and 1906 in both magazines and other Wells' anthologies. Most of the stories are science fiction, though a few are not. Among my favorites were "The Stolen Bacillus," "The Lord of the Dynamos," "Under the Knife," "The Sea Raiders," "The Crystal Egg," "The Man Who Could Work Miracles," "The New Accelerator," "The Truth About Pyecraft," "The Magic Shop," "Empire of the Ants," and "Country of the Blind." "The Crystal Egg" and "The Magic Shop" both appear to have influenced Stephen King's NEEDFUL THINGS. Other stories were uninspired sleepers.

Reader's Digest Select Editions (2001) Running Blind; Dream Country; Shattered; a Certain Slant of Light (vol.2)

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Reader's Digest Select Editions (2001) Running Blind; Dream Country; Shattered; a Certain Slant of Light (vol.2)

Manufacturer: reader's digest
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000EGZDHA

Running Blind/ Dream Country/ Shattered/ a Certain Slant of Light (Reader's Digest Select Editons -2001, 254)

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Running Blind/ Dream Country/ Shattered/ a Certain Slant of Light (Reader's Digest Select Editons -2001, 254)

Manufacturer: Reader
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000EEH1XQ

Everyday Heroes: Extraordinary Dogs Among Us

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Heroes Indeed!
If you love dogs
Sherry's "Everyday Heroes" is splendid- cover to cover!
A wonderful and sensitive insight into some very special dog
A pleasure to read. Informative. Inspiring.

Everyday Heroes: Extraordinary Dogs Among Us
Sherry Bennett Warshauer
Manufacturer: Howell Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Animal Care & Pets | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

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Amazon.com

In Everyday Heroes: Extraordinary Dogs Among Us, photographer Mary Bloom and author Sherry Bennett Warshauer tell the remarkable stories of service dogs who are guides, healers, therapists, and, in many cases, the bridge to a normal, fulfilling life for many patients and owners. Through the eyes of individuals and owners who have seen firsthand the effects of their special dogs, the reader experiences the many ways in which canines are able to make a difference in our lives. One of the most inspiring stories is of a dog named Guapo, whose sensitivity caused him to be removed from the Guide Dog program, but made him a perfect match for working with emotionally abused children. In fact, for a young boy dealing with his parents' messy divorce, Guapo was the link that allowed him to communicate his feelings. Guapo's head in the boy's lap and a lick on the cheek were the keys necessary for the boy to break down the protective wall he had created and, eventually, to help him understand his emotions. Accompanied by Bloom's stirring photographs, such heartwarming, uplifting stories make this collection perfect not only for animal lovers, but also for anyone who needs to be reminded of the power of compassion and friendship, whether the friend is a relative, a significant other, or a special canine. --Jennifer Pugh

Book Description

These are the stories of heartwarming experiences with dogs bred and raised by the Guiding Eyes for the Blind. This book will have great appeal to dog lovers and those interested in innovative ways to assist people with special needs. Its greatest appeal, however, will be the human interest in the lives that have been dramatically altered by these wonderful dogs. Sherry Bennett Warshauer, from White Plains, New York, has spent many years volunteering at the Guiding Eyes for the Blind Breeding Center. Everyday Heroes was shot as a photo essay by the talented professional photographer Mary Bloom. All of the author's profits are being donated to the Guiding Eyes for the Blind.

Customer Reviews:

Heroes Indeed!.......2000-12-12

I'm a sucker for stories about dogs, whether fiction or non-fiction. If you also fall into that category, you'll enjoy "Everyday Heroes." This short book consists of brief "biographies" of dogs who provide great service and love to their masters. All of the dogs in these true stories were raised by volunteers from a great organization called Guiding Eyes for the Blind. Some of the dogs are not quite suited to life as guide dogs, but are perfect for crime fighting work. All of these dogs are truly heroes in every sense of the word.

If you love dogs.......2000-06-06

I am a owner of a black lab and I got this book. I fell in love with it. The stores of these dogs and what they do to help touch so many lives. Please get this book and read. Some will make you cry.

Sherry's "Everyday Heroes" is splendid- cover to cover!.......1999-05-08

"Everyday Heroes" is filled with wonderful true stories of Guiding Eyes for the Blind's special creatures; those who have become successful guide dogs for the blind, and those who decided on a career change, be it drug sniffing, assistance, or therapy dogs. As the blind partner of a guide dog featured in the book (my second guide, Merlin, who has since passed away), I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to Sherry for including our story in this lovely book- it is truly a tribute to my faithful friend. Anyone who loves dogs exhibits a level of compassion which is sadly uncommon in our world today- read this book, and feel that compassion within its pages.

A wonderful and sensitive insight into some very special dog.......1998-10-13

Sherry Warshauer has written a wonderful book that gives a glimpse into the every day life of some extradonary dogs. She includes a wide range of uses of these specially trained animals from Guiding Dogs to drug and arson sniffing and special needs dogs. She also beautifully discribes the role of the puppy raisers as well. She has illustrated the very real need for these special creatures and made raising them even more meaningful for me and my family.

A pleasure to read. Informative. Inspiring........1998-08-29

Animal (and human) nature and behavior at its very best!

As "Assistance" and "Service" animals are becoming increasingly visible in the community, a heightened sense of public awareness is useful and valuable. Ms. Warshauer's beautifully-written narrative, along with lovely photographs by Mary Bloom and others, make Everday Heroes a book for both youth and adults.

I must add that the vignette about "Ramsey," the Guiding Eyes for the Blind dog guide who was raised by a family in New York City and is now "working" with a blind pianist in Jerusalsem, Israel, was of particular interest to me.

Without hesitation, I recommend Everyday Heroes to all who love dogs and believe in the strength of the human spirit.

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