· The book is reader friendly.

The format is simple and easy to read. This hard cover book consists of 15 chapters totaling 182 pages. You don't need a dictionary to look up words because the authors don't talk over your head. Instead, the language is clear and straightforward. Even the setup of the chapters is interesting.

Throughout the book, Chip and Joanna alternate telling their story. While Joanna's part is in darker type, Chip's part is in a lighter type. At the same time, view pictures of the couple on their wedding day, Chip in his glory days, Joanna as a little girl, the dogs that landed Chip in jail, and more.

· It holds your attention.

Moreover, the book is a page turner. Once you begin reading you don't want to put it down. Like the show, the book is entertaining. You keep wondering what's next.

· Discover the story behind the glory.

Chip and Joanna give you the whole scoop. They leave nothing out. You learn about their backgrounds, their families, how they started dating, how they started flipping homes, and how they landed a television show. You unearth how Chip started buying and renting homes to college students while he was still a student. You find out that Joanna, who is a journalism major interned in New York under Dan Rather; Joanna thought she was headed to the big apple after graduation. Likewise, Chip was being groomed to be a professional baseball player. At length, you'll ascertain the significance of magnolias.

· See what happens when you follow your heart.

The thing that touched me most was reading in black and white how everything boiled down to them following their hearts, which meant following God. Joanna worked in her father's automotive shop. She mentioned that she always kept notepads where she doodled and sketched ideas. Although Chip trained diligently to be a professional baseball player, he knew his heart was in business. He had an entrepreneurial spirit.

· Appreciate the respect that Chip and Joanna have for each other.

Better yet, appreciate the love and respect that Chip and Joanna have for each other. It's real and it's special. Why? We live in a day when people avoid marriage and disrespect the sanctity of it. Here, you see the power of their union and how they have built a solid family and business because of it.

· Uncover the importance of keeping first things first.

Before the hit show Fixer Upper came along, Joanna had other successes. Nevertheless, if she felt they interfered with being the mom she really wanted to be or reduced her time with the children, she dropped them like a hot potato. Walking away is easy when something is not working out, but Joanna walked away from enterprises that were flourishing. Like me, you will begin to see what seems to be a pattern. If she followed God's lead, He honored her obedience by blessing whatever she set her hand to do.

· Get inspired to live your dream.

All in all, this book will inspire you to live your dream. As I always say, you only live this life once. The Magnolia Story nudges you to go for it.

Susan Teton Campbell has experienced quite a ride as she has sought answers to food-related health issues that plague millions of Americans, and now she offers those answers and loads of practical and inspirational advice in the pages of her new book Eating as a Spiritual Practice: Discover Your Purpose While Nourishing Your Body, Mind, and Soul.

Think of Eating as a Spiritual Practice as a two-for-one deal. First, you get the incredible story of Susan’s life journey, and then you get a plethora of delicious and healthy recipes. But perhaps most importantly, mixed throughout those two sections is tons of good advice and eye-opening information about the value of proper nutrition and the dangers of processed and junk foods.

Susan’s journey to becoming focused on what we eat really began when she realized her son’s body had an intolerance to sugar and how, despite her best efforts, when that got out of control, it also left him open to addiction to far worse substances. Susan set out on a lifelong mission to discover how to reverse her son’s health issues, and in the process, she became aware of the severe malnutrition so many of us experience because of the packaged, processed foods we eat.

Rather than just read about nutrition and change her and her son’s diets, Susan got heavily involved in revolutionizing people’s relationships to food. She participated in retreats and spiritual organizations that believed in cultivating both the body and the soul. One organization she became involved with was EarthSave International, founded by John Robbins, the author of Diet for a New America. Part of her involvement with this group was heading up a program to try to get healthier food served in schools. Soon Susan was visiting principals and making them lunches, and she was discovering the café-style lunch menus in our school districts practice the exact opposite of the good nutrition the schools’ health classes preach.

Susan also bares her soul in these pages as she discusses her own many efforts to eat right and overcome temptation, and hardest of all, how she learned to set boundaries and let go with her son, Aaron, when he refused to play by the rules or do what was best for him, but instead spiraled down into years of addiction. Ultimately, the journey made Susan stronger because her son provided lessons she desperately needed to learn about herself and his situation fueled her motivation to help others. At one point, Susan describes how she found herself judging people for what they ate, and then she came to a deep realization:

“From that moment on, my work became sharing, rather than having an agenda that required others to change. I had learned with Aaron that I could not change him, nor did having an agenda to do so empower him or myself. So a new me evolved-one that would simply share what I knew to be true for me. The profundity of this shift and how much lighter I felt are beyond my capacity to put into words, but they changed me, softened me.”

Susan went on to teach cooking classes and constantly got requests to write a cookbook, but she didn’t want to write just a cookbook-she wanted to share her philosophy and deep understanding about our relationship to food and its very sacredness. The result: Eating as a Spiritual Practice, a book that does not try to sell us on a specific diet, or tell us we need to pray over our food. Instead, it’s a book filled with common sense, a back-to-the-basics approach, and a reminder to think about what we are putting into our mouths and the effects it will have on our bodies. As Susan states in the book’s introduction:

“[Y]ou will be inspired to look at food, your body, your life, and the Earth in a new light-a light full of purpose, gratitude, and promise. Why? Because it is absolutely vital that we all become a part of creating a just and sustainable food system for ourselves, our children, and the state of our air, water, and soil. The deeper motivation, which is alive in me and many others I know, is, at its core, spiritual. Perhaps, like me, you are a spiritual seeker with a dietary practice that stretches far beyond the table.”

Susan makes it clear that we can no longer eat healthy food as part of a temporary diet or merely to lose weight. It must become a part of our daily practice just like exercising or brushing our teeth. It must be integrated as a daily discipline in our lives that is “fueled by love and respect.”

Instead of counting calories or trying to reduce our portions, we need to focus on making nurturing choices that not only heal and maintain our bodies but also nourish our spirits. Our body and soul’s abilities to function to their fullest are deeply tied to what we eat, and it’s time for us to pay attention to that connection and do everything we can to nourish all aspects of ourselves. Susan has learned how to do that, and in these pages, she’ll help you learn to do the same.

The summary of Cracks in the Sidewalk hardly do it justice and when I found out it was based on a true story, that made it even more meaningful to me. This was truly a great story filled with all the heartache and happiness real life has to offer and it was so brilliantly told that I couldn’t help but be moved to tears.

Cracks in the Sidewalk peaked my curiosity from the word go. As Claire explained her desire for a large family I found myself immediately drawn to her. As an only child myself, I completely understand the desire to surround one’s self with children and dreams of grandchildren. My heart broke when she received the news that she would only have one child. I could only imagine Claire’s incredible joy when she was blessed with three lovely grandchildren.

I actually stopped reading Cracks in the Sidewalk when Claire’s daughter began having troubles with her pregnancy. I am 31 weeks pregnant myself and the details of Crosby’s writing and how the characters feel so real just hit too close to home. I was able to put the book down but I still couldn’t put the characters out of my mind. It reminded me of a close friendship, you can go quite a long time without talking to someone but they are so embedded in your heart you can’t let them go. That’s how I felt about Claire and her family. I worked through the tears and went back to reading.

I feel like Claire is more than a character in a book; she feels more like a close friend or neighbor. I would describe her as one of the strongest women I know. I can’t imagine slowly losing your daughter and then losing your grandchildren as well. Her resilience is remarkable and her spirit is something that will stick in my mind forever.

Cracks in the Sidewalk is the third book I’ve read by Bette Lee Crosby and I must say she does a great job bringing out the spirit of each character. I finished the last chapter sobbing and I wasn’t sure if I was crying for joy or because my heart was broken. I do know I hold each character in my heart as if I had been part of the story. What a touching work by Crosby and I recommend this book to anyone who has ever loved or longed for a child.

INTRODUCTION:

Children fall into the beautiful habit of reading books right after they read a couple of Enid Blyton’s Famous Five. It’s not the case every time for everyone. But taking into account of my personal experience, I fell in love with books right after reading my first ever Enid Blyton’s novel “Five Go Off To Camp”. I started to read books right from my childhood, but I tell you this book rekindled my long lost flair to read or maybe I realized that I was born to read books.

A VERY HELPFUL ASPECT:

Though “Five Go Off To Camp” is the 7th book in the Famous Five series, Ms.Blyton makes it a point to present a vivid description of the main characters which prevents the new readers from going blank.

THE FAMOUS FIVE:

The adventure opens up when the four children Julian, Dick, Anne, their cousin Georgina and her dog Timothy decide to spend their the summer holidays all on their own to camp in the moorlands. To their disappointment their parents appoint Professor Luffy, an insect researcher as their caretaker.

THE SUDDEN TURN OF EVENTS:

As they reach the moors and settle down all their disappointments wear away as they easily get along with the professor and start to enjoy the atmosphere of the moorlands.Whereever they go they find themselves indulged in mysteries but little did they realize that these beautiful moors hold the deadliest of the mysteries ever solved by them.

THE PICTURIZATION OF THE MAIN CHARACTERS:

Though in their preteens they are depicted as highly responsible, witty, brave and well behaved children which makes them famous and loved by all.Their dog,Timmy, as they call it,plays an important role in the process of unlocking every mystery they get into.

THE BEGINNING OF THE ADVENTURE:

During their stay in the moorlands they befriend a farm boy named Jock who shows them around the moors. One day while playing near a deserted tunnel at the end of the moorlands they are confronted by a one-legged old man named “Wooden legged Sam”, who scares them with terrifying stories of spook trains which comes out of the deserted tunnel every night and disappears into thin air. He threatens them and asks them to stay away from the haunted place. But the Famous Five were not the children who loved to stay away from trouble. This small piece of information triggers the thirst of an adventure among the kids and they decide to spend the rest of the holidays in unfolding the mysterious events of the less habitated moorlands.

THE SPECIAL DESCRIPTION:

One of the most important thing to be noted while reading this book is about the beautiful description of the delicacies the four children have each day. The way the author describes it can salivate you even though the menu is just bacon and eggs.

CONCLUSION:

The whole book captivates the readers as if they are enchanted by the spell cast by the 4 children and their dog and makes us feel that we are part the Famous Five in the moorlands unlocking the mystery.

Everything rises and falls on leadership. The fate of our country in the coming years will be determined by jobs and small / medium sized businesses. To run these organizations effectively, leadership is needed. Orrin and Chris do an excellent job profiling the five stages of leadership.

Why is this important to me?

I don’t want to waste your time and I want you to get actionable information from this summary. With that said, there are a couple of components that I want to point out as it relates to influence. Leaders sell the difference between their vision and today’s reality. If the vision is compelling and the leader has character and integrity, people will follow.

People need to be hone-able, honorable and hungry to become leaders. Leadership takes effort. I can personally tell you that leading people is not easy. I am also a beginning leader with a lot to learn. To gain mind share of people, you have to influence them and compel them to the cause.

Launching a Leadership Revolution discusses 5 levels of influence on the leadership staircase. For the sake of time, I will profile each part in summary. Leadership can be like herding cats because people are different. To that end, it is the goal of the leader to unite people toward the common cause.

1. Learning – Continuous learning is required now for any field especially leading. You have to be committed to learning every day. This needs to be a habit. You cannot influence people in mass if you are not willing to take the hits and do the work. Learning leads to better performance and enlightenment. Without it, you cannot lead. The world is to sophisticated today for ignorance. You need to be a lifelong learner.

2. Performance – It is not the number of hours you put into an endeavor but the effort you put into the hours. Leaders have to perform. NFL Coaches have a three year life span. If they do not perform and create a winning team, they are fired. People expect performance and want to follow winners. Everybody remembers Muhammad Ali and George Forman. Do you remember Ernie Shavers or Jerry Quarry? These two fighters were good but they were not the champions. There are a couple of keys to performance: 1. 80/20 Rule – focus on what matters and discard what doesn’t and 2. Parkinson’s Law – Focuses on effectiveness and states that a task swells to its allotted time table. Shorten the deadlines on tasks and they will get done. In college, how many of you finished term papers in the last week before they were due? This is Parkinson’s Law in its negative affect. The term paper could be done in one week instead of 15 weeks.

3. Leading – “To serve is to rule” – Leaders know that they have to serve others to get the job done. Selfish egotistical leaders will typically be stuck in positional leadership which is the lowest rung on the leadership ladder. Lee Iacocca was a good leader but not a great leader. He lost his focus and started focusing on his ego after the Chrysler turnaround. His focus became too “I centered”. To be a great leader, you need to be humble and have the collective put ahead of yourself. If you look at truly great leaders you will see this trait – Mother Teresa, Mahatma Gandhi and George Washington.

4. Developing Leaders – Developing other leaders is the real key multiplier effect. Having great people who lead allows organizations to scale. In business, this is the difference between being self-employed and owning a business that does not require your full attention. Do you have a local dentist? Typically what you see at these practices are very successful people that do all the work. They make an excellent living but cannot scale beyond a certain point because THEY can only do so much work and there are only so many hours in a day. Contrast this to Warren Buffett. Warren owns several businesses and does not run any of them. He buys them with excellent management and leadership in place. He provides additional leadership and capital to expand the business and scale. That is one benefit of developing leaders.

5. Developing Leaders who develop leaders – This is the holy grail of leadership. Orrin gives a great example in the book. Christianity is 2000 years old and it is primarily that way because of the Apostle Paul. His ability to develop leaders who developed leaders was un-parallel in history.

Launching a Leadership Revolution is a good book that is worth the time to study. Orrin and Chris do a good job of profiling the key aspects of influence and leadership.

I hope you have found this short video summary useful. The key to any new idea is to work it into your daily routine until it becomes habit. Habits form in as little as 21 days. One thing you can take away from this book is learning. The major ingredient to get your leadership skills off the ground is to learn. Make it a daily habit to read a few pages, watch educational videos and tap into associations outside your comfort zone.

Dr. Deepak Chopra has written an interesting fictional story about a man named Adam and his quest for the perfect swing. Through Adams story, Dr. Chopra illustrates the insightful parallels between golf and life. There are seven important lessons anyone playing golf should think about. The book is a great read and you’ll find it hard to put down once you start.

I wasn’t expecting much when I first picked up this book that was bought by someone else in the house. I thought it would be pretty boring because of the title, “golf for enlightenment”. However as soon as I started reading it I found it hard to put it down.

The story is a about a man named Adam, a guy who is obsessed about golf but walks off the course in a bad mood. A situation that most of us can relate to. That’s the reason why this book is really enjoyable, because we can relate to it as Adam is a typical golfer.

‘A New Way to Play’ and ‘Master of the Game’

There are actually two chapters before this, and a foreword by Jesper Parnevik. The chapters are titled “A New Way to Play” and “Master of the Game”. In the first chapter, Dr Copra addresses golf in spiritual terms, which is something that hasn’t been done before or is very rare. As he is himself a golfer, he talks about needing the sensations going through your body just before you hit the ball to be just right as that will determine where the ball will go and that “clear perception” is needed to master the game of golf. Dr Chopra also discusses the need for creativity in golf due to different lies you might get and the many situations you find yourself in while playing. He also mentions that you don’t need to be a “metaphysical bent” to read the book but any golfer can read it and benefit.

Deepak rightly says that the self shouldn’t be forgotten while playing because the self is all important in golf. He proposes a method where you forget about being technically perfect because you lose an element of yourself.(Unless of course it comes naturally to you or you start when you’re young). He talks about his experiences while playing his rounds and how he goes about it. He relates his golf experiences to life extremely well and in an easy to understand manner.

Typical Golfer

Introducing Adam Seaver, a golfer from the Boston Metro Area. He is introduced while playing a frustrating round with his friends. He can hear his friends laughing at him. At this point he gets really mad and just swipes at the ball, slicing it into the rough. When he gets to his muddy ball, he’s far from his friends, it’s drizzling, dark and he’s in a pine covered area like a forest. A voice says “You are going to be a master of the game”. The stranger tells Adam to meet him the following day at a weird location.

The Lessons

What follows is seven brilliant chapters titled, “Be of One Mind”, “Let the Swing Happen”,”Find the Now and You’ll Find the Shot”, “Play from Your Heart to the Hole”, “Winning is Passion with Detachment”, “The Ball Knows Everything”, “Let the Game Play You” and then the Epilogue – “Leela”.

Conclusion

This book contains so much practical information that anyone can use, for life and for anything. It’s highly entertaining and once you start, you’ll just want to keep reading. For a golfer, it’s a must read. It’s something different from all the technical magazines out there and more entertaining as well.

This courageous book by Tom Horn & Cris Putnam is a groundbreaking work that goes into a deep investigation into the many secret societies, such as Skull & Bones, that are so prolific in our nation’s capital, the sewer of humanity. In this unnerving chronicle His focus is centered on the esoteric occult and their harrowing plot that holds an unbelievable secret they only want members to understand.

Deep State

Satanists and Masonic devotees are using a shadow government to battle Trump at every turn to slow down his agenda, marginalize any positive outcomes and manipulate our government through DC based secret societies in their insidious quest to set up a New World Order.

NWO

Tome Horn’s best work yet “Saboteurs” follows this quest that is on the great seal of America, points to a story told by John in the bigger than life book of revelation and the prophecies of Daniel that show this empire having a body of iron and feet of clay. These esoteric elites and their secret societies are conjuring up spells to bring about an order that the antichrist will rule. This sinister strongman will be called the grey champion and the power broker bankers and elite billionaires of Europe will back him at all costs.

Horn Investigates

Tom Horn shows the sinister plot to bring about deception that will be a great lie told at a time in the future that will advance their theory of a world government. They want their empire to have one world money, a one world religion, a one world dictator and a one world tax to support all of these sinister workings. This antichrist, who will be much like Hitler, will want all on the earth to have a mark on their body so they can buy and sell. In revelation it is called the mark of the beast.

Horn Shows

Horn says and I quote:

“This investigation addresses:

*The supernatural truth behind the Trump Derangement Syndrome

*How the federal bureaucracy is a tool of Deep State Occultists

*Shocking revelations about Satanism in the US Capitol from WikiLeaks

*What is in the Shadow Government two miles from the White House

*Obama, Alinsky, and a dedication to Lucifer

*Steve Bannon, the Fourth Turning, and The Grey Champion

*The Necronomicon and why ZENITH 2016 may have just been fulfilled

*Why Rabbis in Israel believe Donald Trump is paving way for Messiah

*Hidden truth about Pope Francis and Dr. Horn s next major prediction

*House of Cards, the Bohemian Grove, and the secret deal that was done

*Hilarion, witchcraft, the Babylon Working, and Spirit Cooking 2020

*And much more.”

Conclusion

For those that want to be in the know this investigative book “Saboteurs”gets to the bottom of the deep state and the great scheme they are trying to pull off. Horn gives his educated prediction on what he thinks will occur, who wins out, how it happens, why Trump will see what is coming, when these things will occur and his final conclusion on the swamp things.

I give this book a Five Star out of five rating for its timeliness, terrific insight, the focused reasoning on why this will soon be going down and why the world will be shocked on who the winner is. Absolutely a great piece of work!

Robert Doyel is worried about the babies born to single mothers – so worried, in fact, that he's written a book about the problem. His perspective is an unusual one: He spent 16 years as a Florida judge, mostly in family court, where he was involved in more than 15,000 restraining order cases, as well as thousands of dependency, custody, and paternity cases.

What worries him so much, he says, is that "there is no concerted effort anywhere even to report on the issue, let alone try to do something about it." His concerns about "the prevalence of unwed births and identifying the problems they cause" led him to write The Baby Mama Syndrome (Lake Cannon Press).

This book is an eye-opener, exploring the problem of these "fragile families" from multiple angles, including the problems of abuse, neglect, and violence. Social workers, teachers, physicians, nurses, and other professionals who deal with these children and their parents will be interested in the sheer size of the problem (1.6 million babies each year) and the demographic data in this book.

Doyel notes that the birthrate for teenagers has been creeping down for several years, but the numbers are still daunting: In 2014, just over a quarter of a million babies were born to girls 19 and under. There were 2771 births to girls under 15, and most of these young mothers were unmarried.

Despite the widespread assumption that most of these single mothers are black, statistics show that unmarried white mothers have the most babies, followed by Hispanics and then blacks.

His thoughtful and well-researched book makes an important contribution to the national discussion about these babies, their mothers, and what happens as the children grow up and – all too-often – repeat the syndrome. Three features of the book are especially impressive.

Case Studies

This book offers many cases studies grouped in patterns: female rivals, fathers married to another woman, mothers married to another man, lesbian couples, and more – to name a few. There are also triangles, rectangles, and serial troublemakers. One chapter deals with a complex pattern that Doyel calls "Baby Mama and Boyfriend vs. Baby Daddy and Husband."

Reading through the permutations and complications creates a picture of the problem that mere data cannot provide – and also opens a window into the causes. "Baby mamas" threaten and attack rival women who have had multiple babies by the same "baby daddy." Married women and "baby mamas" battle over a "baby daddy" who has fathered their children.

Readers gradually become familiar with the reasons why these women keep having babies by men who won't marry or support them: Jealousy, poor impulse control, unrestrained sexuality, and an inability to get a grip on their lives and their futures. The real victims, of course, are their children.

Legal Issues

Doyel's second contribution to the "baby mama" discussion is his perspective as a judge. Laymen often think it's easy to make a judgment in cases of violence and abuse: Issue a restraining order. Put him (or her, or everyone involved) in jail.

Writing from years of experience on the bench, he exposes some of the legal complexities a judge must deal with. "As far as the law is concerned," he writes, "violence between two baby mamas or between two baby daddies is no different from violence between two strangers in a barroom brawl. That needs to change."

Restraining orders have complexities of their own. According to Doyel, "Too many times when there is mutual aggression, one of the aggressors seeks an injunction and then uses it as a sword, not a shield."

Mutual restraining orders seem to be called for, but they're prohibited in Florida (where he served as a judge) because of another potential problem: Judges might be tempted to employ them as a way to avoid having to making a judgment in a complicated domestic violence case. Result: A conundrum for a judge dealing with rival "baby mamas" fighting over the man who fathered their children.

One feature of these "baby mama" hearings is especially poignant: In his experience, Doyel says, the fathers rarely show up for hearings. Staying away from court, he says, keeps the women focused on each other rather than on their baby daddy's betrayal of both of them.

And then there are petitions, ex parte temporary injunctions, and other legal complexities – and the thinking processes judges use to hand down decisions in these "baby mama" cases. Doyel's jargon-free explanations of various legal issues make this book especially valuable for professionals who intervene in crises involving "baby mamas" and their children.

Taxpayers

The subtitle to Doyel's book makes it clear that the baby mama syndrome affects everyone : "Unwed Parents, Intimate Partners, Romantic Rivals, and the Rest of Us." Taxpayers pay medical bills, court costs, and other expenses for baby mamas and their children.

The most important victims, of course, are the children, who may be subjected to neglect, abuse, and violence. Even when there are no physical dangers, many of these children witness violent behavior between the adults who are supposed to serve as their role models.

"Cut off the money" is the battle cry of taxpayers who want single parents to take responsibility for the choices they have made. But two chapters in Doyel's book argue that the problem is not solved so easily.

In "Generations," he discusses what happens when children in "fragile families" grow up. "It is well documented," he says, "that sons of fathers who commit acts of domestic violence are likely to be batterers too." But the syndrome does not stop there. Studies show that child abuse, neglect, and baby mama rivalries also pass from generation to generation.

In his final chapter, "The Baby Mama Syndrome and the Rest of Us," Doyel discusses remedies, including prevention, sex education, and contraception. He has promised two more books that will expand upon these topics. Book two will focus on violence, and book three will discuss the fate of the children who grow up in these "fragile families."

The Baby Mama Syndrome is a readable and thought-provoking book. It will be particularly useful to professionals who deal with these "fragile families."

The novel To Kill A Mockingbird revolves around a young girl named Jean Louise Finch who goes by the nicknamed "Scout". Scout experiences different events in her life that dramatically change her life. Scout and her brother Jem are being raised by their father, a lawyer named Atticus and a housekeeper named Calpumia in a small town in the south. At this point in time in the South racism and discriminations towards black was a big issue. The story begins when Scout is 6 years old, and her brother is about to enter the 5th grade. That summer Scout and her brother meet a young boy named Dill who comes from Mississippi to spend the summers there. They become fascinated with a man named "Boo" Radley, a man in his thirties who has not been seen outside of his home in years, mainly because of his suppressed upbringing. They have an impression of Mr. Radley as being this large ugly and evil man. Then comes the trial. Scout's father becomes a defense attorney for a black man, Tom Robinson, who is falsely accused of raping a white women. This has a big affect on Scout. During this trial she gets teased by friends because her father was helping this black man. Scout starts to see the racism that exist. During the trial Scout and her brother and close friend Dill witness the trial. Even though they are young they can see that Mr. Robinson is innocent. Even though Mr. Robinson's innocence was clear even in the eyes of kids, Mr. Robinson was still found guilty. Later in an attempt to escape, Mr. Robinson is shot dead. Scout is extremely disappointed at the verdict and even more at the death of Mr. Robinson and realizes the injustice that exist. Later in a cowardly attempt by the alleged rape victims father, tries to kill Scout and her brother in order to get even with her father for making him look back in court. This is when Mr. Radley makes an appearance again an stabs their attacker. Even though Mr. Radley kills a man he is not tried for murder because he was defending the Scout and her brother. Finally some justice. This gives Scout some hope that is a chance for improvement in this unjust world.

(Discussion of main themes in To Kill A Mockingbird)

There are many different themes present in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. The first theme which I will discuss is "Prejudice". The whole story revolved around the prejudice views of this Southern community. The whole reason why the trial was going on was because of people views towards blacks in the south. Since the alleged rape victim's father has such a prejudice view towards black, he is embarrassed that his daughter was actually flirting with a black man. To combat this he falsely accuses the innocent Robinson of rape. If it wasn't for the prejudice view which existed in the south the accusation would had never been brought against Mr. Robinson. These prejudice views in the south created a double standard of justice. With all the negative points that can be found in the story in respect to prejudice, there was a bright spot when it came to the prejudice issue. This "ray of light" came in the form of Scout's father Atticus. Atticus represented hope. Hope that good people still exist. Even in a society filled with hate. Atticus represented the hope that one day things can change

The "Prejudice" theme also ties in well with the title of the book "To Kill A Mocking Bird." In Chapter 10, Scout and Jem Finch get air rifles for Christmas. Scouts father tells her and her brother that it is a sin to kill a mockingbird because mockingbirds are harmless creatures who do nothing but sing for our enjoyment. In the story To Kill a Mockingbird Robinson is clearly the "Mocking Bird". He is a good man who has never harmed anyone and is figuratively and literally shot by society because of prejudice. The jurors sentence him to death not because he did anything wrong but because of prejudice. He is then later shot for trying to escape this unjust ruling. Mr. Robinson just like a mockingbird is shot for no reason at all.

The second theme which I will discuss is "coming of age". The "Coming of age" theme basically entails a character who evolves to a new level of self awareness through his or her experiences in life. This is clearly the case with Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird. An example of Scout's "coming of age" can be seen when she meets her friend Dill. Dill comes from a broken home and lives somewhere beyond Alabama. Scout who comes from a good home is awaken to the different quality of life that exist and is able to come to a conclusion that life exist beyond the world she knows. Through these experiences she grows more tolerant of others, learning how to "climb into another person's skin and walk around in it." On her first day of school she finds that just like with Dill there are both social and poor classes in society, some are respectable and others not. She also learns that her father is an extra-ordinary man, fighting for a Negro's rights in court. During the trial of Tom Robinson Scout learns about equality and inequality and finally about racial prejudice. By the final chapters of the novel, Scout goes to another "coming of age experience." She learns that good people can still suffer injustice. She realizes this when she see's Tom Robinson suffer injustice even though they did nothing to deserve it. She discover that the courts does not always result in justice. In the end after all of Scout's experiences and discoveries we get the sense that she will not follow the prejudice views which her society upholds. In the end Scout had matured and grown more as a kid, than many adults will do in there lifetime.

The third and final theme which I will discuss is "Justice". In the story To Kill a Mockingbird I feel, the author, Ms. Lee portrays true justice as being best seen through the eyes of the innocent. In the story Scout and her brother, being the innocent, can clearly see the injustice being done to Mr. Robinson. In contrary to Scout and her brother other people in society more specifically the older people in the town, the people who have lived through different experiences, become blinded when it comes to true justice. Or maybe they are not blinded but just choose to ignore it. This is clearly seen when they sentence an innocent man to death. This ignorance of justice can be blamed on the prejudice views which are present and eventually instilled in society in the south. So I feel that Harper Lee is connecting justice with innocence to a certain extent. In my opinion Harper Lee portrays justice as being easily detected. The reason I say this is even the young justice. The problem is society can instill beliefs that can act as a veil and blind the people from justice. The only way to uncover this veil is through people like Atticus who can pass his morality and nobility to the young and the "blinded"

(Would I recommend this book?)

I would definitely recommend people to read the book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. I found it to be an interesting and powerful book. I feel the book does a great job in portraying the extreme prejudice that existed in the south at that time. I feel this book makes a powerful statement on how justice can be altered through racism. I also think that the themes found in the book are themes which can still be found in our current society and that makes it the more interesting. You can even make a case that prejudice still has an effect in our legal system today. So if you are looking for a powerful book of "coming of age" and the battle for justice I would highly recommend To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.

Too many new authors believe that once their book is written the sales will just come pouring in and they will make a bundle. Sadly, this disillusionment is shattered when they receive a royalty check. The honest to goodness truth of the matter is that the writer’s work is only started when the book is released. Even the huge author names of today began by peddling their books out of the back of their car. Many big-name authors also began by self-publishing because no one recognized their talent. They did not start off their career with a huge bang. They did not have the money to afford publicists and big marketing firms when they started out and yet they are super successful now. Take heart from their examples.

Marketing, promoting and networking must be done every single day, for the life of the book, in balance with your other activities and obligations.

Many new authors feel their only way to success is through book signings and bookstores stocking their book. They are wrong. While in larger centers with good promotion a book signing event or book reading event may result in as much as a couple hundred one-time sales… most smaller venues can only expect less than 10 sales. Is this worth the 2 hours or more that you spend at the event? Not counting all the preparation, marketing the event, promotion materials, time taken from work and any displays that you have designed and possibly paid for ahead of time. These events do not pay authors to host an event so any sales they do have may not even cover the traveling costs, hotel cost, meals, parking or supplies – let alone the time they put into it. Nor do they usually result in long-term sales – sales are often only during the few days around the event.

Bookstores can only realistically stock less than 1% of the 3 million books available on the market. Their discount with the publisher/distributor is large. Authors are paid royalties only on what their publisher has received. So is all the time and effort going into attaining spots on bookstore shelves worth it?

While the markets above are valuable and important to any author – what authors need to do is think outside the box. Figure out where your efforts will bring the greatest results. Don’t expect immediate and overwhelming acceptance by the media or your audience. Marketing, networking and promoting are long-term efforts that will reap greater rewards as efforts continue.

Many authors live in tiny towns and hold down jobs or have physical limitations that prevent out-of-town promotions; much like ourselves. This can be overcome. Again, think outside the box, use the Internet and your contacts – and be persistent. Newspapers, libraries, and bookstores are only the most obvious markets and also are the most difficult to gain the attention of without a strong image because everyone is vying for their attention. Work on your image and get strong promotion materials that help you stand out among the hundred thousand or more new books released annually.

So develop a long-term marketing plan and stick with it for the full term of your contract with the publisher. The market plan will grow and change as time goes on. And keep good records so you can determine how you will go about marketing the next book.

I just wanted to mention here that some authors get overwhelmed by the immense amount of effort it takes to market a book. If we take one day, one step at a time we will find it is not so overwhelming. I find it works best to figure out what you will concentrate on this week and then set a goal for today. I do this nearly every day. It helps me keep a steady pace going, without taking on too much or too little.

Remember too, that efforts you are making today may not reap immediate results. You may have to hit a market several times before they pick up your proposal. For instance, some contacts from nearly a year ago are now resulting in promotions in their publications. So be patient and professional in all that you do. Again, keep records so that you can follow up.

Newsletters can be small but effective markets for your work. On average, they can range in size from 1000-17,000 readers or more. E-zines typically reach an audience larger than 5000. Get a few of them in one month and you are reaching a wide audience! You don’t need to be rich or famous or have a publicist if you are determined and able to commit effort every single day. (Do take some time for yourself, though!)