Even though I'm a sucker for unreliable characters, I didn't love this as much as I thought I might. I'm a fan of Twain so I did like it, but not as much as I thought.

It was hard to read the racial slurs. Twain certainly embodied that aspect of the era in this book.

Twain's colloquialisms and dialect are amazing and spot-on. I doubt there will be another like him.

Tristan promises his true love that he will go and find a star. Little does he know that not only are three witches after the star's heart to further their longevity, but four corrupt brothers also seek the star to claim their right to the throne of Stormhold.
Tristan follows his heart to the star, assuming he'll find a glittery ball of rock. What he finds surprises him, and takes him on a journey beyond, but in step with, his wildest dreams.

I saw the movie before knowing that this was a book, and I wish I had read the book first. There's a lot that the movie adds (from what little I remember), but both stories are still fantastic. Sometimes movies mess up the "flow" of a book in my mind, and flow is usually a strength of Gaiman. I'm chalking up the rough spots to seeing the movie first, but there were a few places where I had to remind myself what was happening. Now I need to read the book-with-pictures edition!! Nevertheless, Neil is awesome, and I hope that I can write like him someday. And become best friends.

Pairings: Gathering Blue;

Positive discipline is the idea of using class meetings and mutual respect to run a classroom.

I think several of the ideas used in this model are fantastic: the wheel of choice, encouraging teachers to understand why they react the way they do, and talking to children with respect. Most importantly, this book helped me realize that when I'm asking children what's happening and when we talk about choices we're making, I'm not messing up or giving too much freedom. I'm helping them feel valued and important. I feel children can feel valued and important even with reward/punishment methods. It also reminded me that children are very capable of solving their own problems, and even more so if they have a good guide who can help them make sense of emotions.

However, there are several aspects of positive discipline that won't work in my classroom scenario, especially since our day-to-day (extended care) begs a lot of flexibility and "thinking on feet" for activities and scheduling (and I'd be the only teacher using this model, which could be confusing for younger students). Most of my conflicts are specific to my classroom DNA, but the one I had the most conflict with was that reward/punishment models are damaging. Without getting into educational theories, I just respectfully disagree. The writers also said that many of their "puzzle pieces" could not be used in a reward/punishment environment––I also respectfully disagree here. I fully admit that I am not the best teacher, and maybe part of the problem is that I am not willing to give up power, one of the biggest struggles mentioned in this book. I'm willing to own that.

Again, I have no problem with those who use this program! I think teachers can still encourage students to make positive choices both with this method, and also while using a reward/punishment method. It all depends on the child and the school system. My needs call for handling situations in a different way than this book suggests, but I have been using several of these tactics, and they work.

I'd recommend this book for teachers who are dissatisfied with some manipulative aspects of teaching and authority. Positive discipline isn't a perfect system (and no system is) but there are some great ideas to glean from here.

The most practical and probably my favourite of the good and beautiful series.

NOTE: I write this as a Christian who was and is very against this movement.

I would skip this one. If you want to read something by Harris, read Not Even a Hint or Boy Meets Girl.

In short: it seems he was feeling guilty about his past and wrote a book bashing dating.

While Harris offers some great advice on purity and singleness, I feel that this book can be used as a step outside of reality. Courtship might work for some, but he offers no concrete examples of the interworkings or others' experiences in the book. How are you supposed to make this 'great switch that is awesome for your spirituality' when there aren't guidelines? His excuse "I can't tell you how to do it," is lame.

"Kissing dating goodbye" aside, he offers some good points. Thinking of each other as bros/sis in Christ is a good idea––I'm unsure if 13-14 year olds are ready for that thinking, though.

My real beef with him is his 'condemnation' of flirting. I still haven't figured out what is wrong with flirting? Flirting is great, important, and a fun way to make friends. There can even be healthy flirting in regular friendships, IMHO.

Anyway––I would skip this one.