scribepub's reviews
497 reviews

Tickner’s sensitive portrayal of the woman at the heart of his story is a powerful refutation of an inhuman system that doomed generations of single mothers (described as ‘of low intelligence if not actually retarded’ by doctors) and their children (the so-called ‘clean slates’) to the unimaginable misery of forced adoptions. Hundreds and thousands of families were touched by these policies. This moving memoir tells the exceptional story of one of them. FOUR STARS
Julia Taylor, Books+Publishing

An emotional and deeply personal account of the complexity of family and the need to understand your origins. A great Australian story, which leaves the reader feeling positive about the triumph of humanity.
Anthony Albanese

This book confronts aspects of our shared historical past, some of which are horrible and shameful. I wept in parts. I felt sad and angry in other parts. But this book is also about happiness and hope. It is a story all Australians should read.
Professor Mick Dodson, AM

Magnificently moving. You won’t be able to put it down. A testament to a mother’s love – and a son’s — full of heart, truth, and power. The final pages will break you.
Nikki Gemmell

Ten Doors Down is an intelligent and readable account of one man's attempt to reconnect with his birth family ... To read of this journey is truly a privilege.
Penelope Cottier, Canberra Times

An emotional journey with an insider’s insights into the political and cultural world of late 20th-century Australia.
Michael Madigan, Courier Mail

Ten Doors Down is a memoir on the significance of a mother’s care and the power of familial love ... Ten Doors Down is an emotional and deeply personal story, and Tickner’s insights into family are moving and uplifting.
Georgia Brough, ArtsHub

An epic, emotionally challenging, but ultimately heartwarming story about the power of familial bonds, love and life’s strange coincidences.
Rowan Cowley, The Senior

Optimistic and uplifting … a moving story, and told with economy and great focus.
Debra Adelaide, The Age

Ten Doors Down is [Robert Tickner’s] best book.
Alex Mitchell, Come the Revolution

This highly personal political memoir tells a heart-wrenching story of genealogical discovery and relationship formation ... At its core, Ten Doors Down is concerned above all with the nature of childhood itself. Reflecting on the reprehensible history of forced adoption in Australia, Tickner confronts many problematic historical assumptions about the nature and rights of a newborn child.
Josh Black, Australian Book Review

In An Unconventional Wife, Mary Hoban has given us an inconvenient heroine: a woman hobbled by her times, champing at the bit, going nowhere but telling us everything. Pieced together through impeccable research and told with all the urgency and intrigue of a soap opera, the story of Julia Sorell demands recognition of — and respect for — a woman who would otherwise be lost to history. Utterly charming.
Clare Wright

An exceptional exercise in factual delving and a feat of imaginative sympathy.
Gideon Haigh

A magisterial work of biography, utterly assured in research and style. This compelling and moving book reanimates the lost life of Julia Sorell Arnold, a spirited, independent woman in an age when women were expected to be quiet. With deep insight and empathy Hoban brings to life Julia and Tom’s troublesome marriage. Their passionate but fractious relationship speaks directly to the irascible relations between women and men in our own divisive times. This book is a remarkable achievement by an expert and gifted biographer.
Rod Jones

Hoban has uncovered the story of a woman, admired by many friends and family, who refused to bow to the customs of the day, spoke her mind when others would have kept quiet and stayed true to her faith ... a remarkable life that needed to be told.
Barry Reynolds, Herald Sun

An Unconventional Wife is superbly written, and skilfully draws on a number of diverse sources, compensating for a lamented lack – an intimate diary kept by Julia herself. Mary Hoban has got to the kernel of this story, since she has correctly conceived it as an exercise in the recuperation of women’s history.
Jim Davidson, Australian Book Review

An Unconventional Wife, Mary Hoban’s elegant biography of Julia Sorrell Arnold, who was born in Tasmania in 1826 and died in England 61 years later, challenges traditional notions of biography, examining a woman other writers might have ignored ... An Unconventional Wife performs a worthy act of recovery in lucid prose, revealing an intelligent woman caught up in the struggles and limitations of her time.
David Mason, Weekend Australian

Mary Hoban has bypassed poets and thinkers, churchmen and colonial administrators to create a spirited biography of the ‘‘unknown woman’’, as she calls Julia Sorell Arnold.
Brenda Niall, Sydney Morning Herald

Hoban portrays her as an independently-minded woman at a time when women were expected to conform to their husband’s views.
Andrea Ripper, Courier Mail

An illuminating portrait of a Victorian wife and mother who was rescued from silence ... A sparkling biography and cultural history.
Kirkus Review

This is a wonderful story, told with great clarity. There is compassion too, and you can only imagine that the author is taking great pains to suppress her own anger at the way Victorian society was expected to behave, whether in distant Tasmania or academic Oxford or backwater Dublin. The reader is caught between sympathy for Julia and admiration for her insistence on her dignity.
Frank O’Shea, Tinteán

This is an absorbing book, one I could not put down ... She writes well and fluently, and her prose is a pleasure to read.
Alison Alexander, Tasmanian Historical Research Association’s Papers and Proceedings

Julia’s story is expertly told by Hoban … Through this biography, Hoban challenges the conventional narrative of Julia’s life that positions her as the difficult wife of the sophisticated and scholarly Tom Arnold. She has provided readers with another side to the story, where Julia’s own thoughts and feelings become the focus, and thus reveal a far more complicated picture of their marriage and herself than biographies of Arnold deliver … a page-turning account of an incredible woman.
Hannah Viney, Eras Journal, Monash University

Expertly told … well-researched … Hoban’s writing is engaging. She expertly draws the reader in to Julia’s story and, rather than a dry catalogue of facts, the reader is presented with a page-turning account of an incredible woman.
Hannah Viney, Eras Journal, Monash University

A warm, beautifully illustrated celebration of community and culture, including simple recipes from around the world.
The Bookseller

The world’s cuisines are brought together with some well-considered pencil strokes – a book for adults to drool over, as well as children.
Amy Bryant, The Telegraph

The book provides a fantastic tour of international cuisine and there is a lot to talk about in each apartment … An enchanting book that can be used in different ways.
Early Years Educator

What a delightful and unique cookbook for kids! … The illustrations are charming and colourful, and the recipes are delicious … This easy cookbook comes highly recommended for foodies of all ages. The food will taste even better when shared with family and friends!
Angela Crocombe, Readings

Part biography of an apartment block’s inhabitants, part children’s recipe book, each highly evocative illustration depicts a different resident or family in their kitchen preparing a dish ... the book is a wonderful celebration of multiculturalism and food bringing people together. It’s also a unique way to encourage independent readers who are would-be cooks.
Imogen Carter, The Guardian

This delightfully illustrated children’s cookbook offers a global menu of dishes to share with friends, family, and neighbours … Combining simple, fresh flavours with recipes from around the world, this book will nourish and inspire budding cooks while whetting the appetites of their more experienced helpers.
Susie Q, Susie’s Reviews and Giveaways

Every page in this book has detailed illustrations with simple recipes that the children can follow. It would be such fun to help the young ones to cook this food that comes from different places around the world. FOUR STARS
Good Reading

Lunch at 10 Pomegranate Street is bound to be a favourite in every child’s house, giving, as it does, ten recipes for delicious food to cook and share. It’s a beautifully illustrated book and the pleasure starts immediately you open the cover ... The deep, soft colours, the wonderful faces and rooms, are so detailed and interesting, it’s almost as if each picture is just waiting to be walked into ... A book to be kept.
Gwen Grant, Armadillo

This eye-catching, mouth-watering cookbook beautifully evokes the joy of food and its power to unite.
Frances Atkinson, Sydney Morning Herald

Delightful.
Child Magazine

Beautifully illustrated ... Lunch at 10 Pomegranate Street is not just a cookbook, however, and tells a charming, simple picture story perfect for bedtime with little ones ... Ultimately, the book is about breaking bread with friends to build strong communities.
Camille Smith, The Weekly Times

In this board book, Melbourne-based artist and illustrator Alice Lindstrom uses her stunning cut-paper style of illustration to introduce the tradition of egg decoration across a number of cultures around the world … Beautiful Eggs is a unique and engaging gift idea that celebrates family, art and tradition and will be a cherished addition to any child’s Easter celebrations.
Jacqui Davies, Books+Publishing

Stunning ... a perfect gift and educational craft resource.
Amie Sabadin, Kids’ Book Review

Beautiful ... A book for the whole family.
Child

Full of insight into human character, von Hippel’s book provides a stimulating program for measuring success without material yardsticks.
Kirkus

The Social Leap is a rollicking tour through humanity’s evolutionary past, and William von Hippel is the consummate tour guide. With equal parts wisdom, humor, authority, and charm, von Hippel shows how our past explains the present and why our well-being rests on an understanding of how our minds evolved.
Roy Baumeister, New York Times bestselling author of Willpower

The Social Leap is one of the best books I have read in years. Its examination of the evolutionary roots of modern human behavior is both profound and revelatory. Seamlessly weaving captivating stories, rich science, and beautiful prose, von Hippel offers an unparalleled glimpse into the lives of our ancestors and, thereby, into our selves.
Sonja Lyubomirsky, New York Times bestselling author of The How of Happiness

This book is for everybody. Everybody, that is, who has a shred of curiosity about how we came to become human. von Hippel’s panoramic view prompts us to ask ourselves: what do we wish to do with the miracle that we are now here?
Mahzarin R. Banaji, Richard Clarke Cabot Professor of Social Ethics, Department of Psychology, Harvard University

The Social Leap is a rollicking tour through humanity’s evolutionary past, and Bill von Hippel is the consummate tour guide. With equal parts wisdom, humour, authority, and charm, von Hippel shows how our past explains the present and why our well-being rests on an understanding of how our minds evolved.
Adam Alter, bestselling author of Drunk Tank Pink and Irresistible

William von Hippel has compiled a highly original and enjoyable account of human evolution and its inextricable relationship with our psychology.
Robin Osborne, GPSpeak

The Social Leap is a rollicking tour through humanity’s evolutionary past, and William von Hippel is the consummate tour guide. With equal parts wisdom, humour, authority, and charm, von Hippel shows how our past explains the present and why our wellbeing rests on an understanding of how our minds evolved.
Adam Alter, New York Times/i> bestselling author of Drunk Tank Pink and Irresistible

If you have even an ounce of interest in the therapeutic process, or in the conundrum of being human, you must read this book. It is wise, warm, smart and funny, and Lori Gottlieb is exceedingly good company.
Susan Cain, New York Times bestselling author of Quiet

Shrinks, they’re just like us — at least in Maybe You Should Talk to Someone, the heartfelt memoir by therapist Lori Gottlieb. Warm, funny, and engaging (no poker-faced clinician here), Gottlieb not only gives us an unvarnished look at her patients’ lives, but also her own. The result is the most relatable portrait of a therapist I've yet encountered.
Susannah Cahalan, New York Times bestselling author of Brain on Fire

Maybe You Should Talk to Someone is funny, hopeful, wise, and engrossing — all at the same time. Lori Gottlieb takes us inside the most intimate of encounters as both clinician and patient and leaves us with a surprisingly fresh understanding of ourselves, one another, and the human condition. This is a daring, delightful, and transformative book.
Arianna Huffington, founder of Huffington Post and founder and CEO of Thrive Global

I’ve been reading books about psychotherapy for over a half century, but never have I encountered a book like Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: so bold and brassy, so packed with good stories, so honest, deep and riveting. I intended to read a chapter or two but ended up reading and relishing every word.
Irvin Yalom MD, author of Love’s Executioner, and Other Tales of Pyschotherapy, and Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry at Stanford University

Here are some people who might benefit from Lori Gottlieb’s illuminating new book: Therapists, people who have been in therapy, people who have been in relationships, people who have experienced emotions. In other words, everyone. Lori’s story is funny, enlightening, and radically honest. It merits far more than 50 minutes of your time.
A.J. Jacobs, New York Times bestselling author of The Year of Living Biblically

This book is so insightful, and compassionate, and rich, and taught me a lot about myself. I was sucked right in to these vivid, funny, illuminating stories of humans trying to climb their way out of hiding, overcome self-defeating habits, and wake up to their own strength. Gottlieb has captured something profound about the struggle, and the miracle, of human connection.
Sarah Hepola, New York Times bestselling author of Blackout

With wisdom and humanity, Lori Gottlieb invites us into her consulting room, and her therapist’s. There, readers will share in one of the best-kept secrets of being a clinician: when we bear witness to change, we also change, and when we are present as others find meaning in their lives, we also discover more in our own.
Lisa Damour, PH.D. New York Times bestselling author of Untangled

Maybe You Should Talk to Someone is ingenious, inspiring, tender, and funny. Lori Gottlieb bravely takes her readers on a guided tour into the self, showing us the therapeutic process from both sides of the couch — as both therapist and patient. I cheered for her breakthroughs, as if they were my own! This is the best book I've ever read about the life-changing possibilities of talk therapy.
Amy Dickinson, “Ask Amy” advice columnist and New York Times bestselling author of Strangers Tend to Tell Me Things

Some people are great writers, and other people are great therapists. Lori Gottlieb is, astoundingly, both. Maybe You Should Talk to Someone is about the wonder of being human: how none of us is immune from struggle, and how we can grow into ourselves and escape our emotional prisons. Rarely have I read a book that challenged me to see myself in an entirely new light, and was at the same time laugh-out-loud funny and utterly absorbing.
Katie Couric, award-winning journalist and New York Times bestselling author of The Best Advice I Ever Got

Gottlieb is an utterly compelling narrator: funny, probing, savvy, vulnerable. She pays attention to the small stuff — the box of tissues and the Legos in the carpet — as she honours the more expansive mysteries of our wild, aching hearts.
Leslie Jamison, author of Recovering: Intoxication and its Aftermath

Saturated with self-awareness and compassion, this is an irresistibly addictive tour of the human condition. STARRED REVIEW
Kirkus

Therapists play a special and invaluable role in the lives of the 30 million Americans who attend sessions, but have you ever wondered where they go when they need to talk to someone? Veteran psychotherapist and New York Times best-selling author Lori Gottlieb shares a candid and remarkably relatable account of what it means to be a therapist who also goes to therapy, and what this can teach us about the universality of our questions and anxieties.
Thrive Global, ‘10 Books We Can’t Wait to Read in 2019’

A dishy romp, an eavesdropper’s guilty pleasure … provocative and entertaining … Gottlieb gives us more than a voyeuristic look at other people's problems (including her own). She shows us the value of therapy.
Susan Sheehan, The Washington Post

Candid and deeply personal, this is a book about being both patient and clinician, and one that offers hope to us all.
Sarah Shaffi, Stylist Magazine’s ‘Your Guide to 2019’s Best Non-Fiction Books’

What makes this book a joy to read is that it offers a wise and witty meld of the author’s personal insights and clinical observations plus bite-sized nuggets of psychology without ever lecturing or boring the reader ... For those who are skeptical, fearful or turned off by the idea of the talking cure, this fly-on-the-wall view of the subject just might convince you that therapy is remarkably worthwhile ... For self-help aficionados, there is wisdom galore on topics such as the drivers and inhibitors of psychological transformation, managing loss and grief, discovering meaning in life and work ... And for therapists, there is the chance to sit back and take note of how another clinician applies her skills to conjure up the magic of effective therapy ... A talented and highly accomplished writer, Gottlieb’s insecurities and chronic internal conflicts may surprise some readers. The fact that she doesn’t hold back talking about her suffering is what makes this book so powerful ... a most satisfying and illuminating read for psychotherapy patients, their therapists, and all the rest of us.
Karen R. Koenig, New York Journal of Books

An irresistibly candid and addicting memoir ... [Gottlieb’s] book does feel deeply, almost creepily, voyeuristic ... In showing us how patients reveal just a part of their selves, [Gottlieb] gives us a dizzily satisfying collage of narratives, a kind of ensemble soap opera set in the already soap operatic world of Los Angeles ... Gottlieb can be judgmental and obsessive, but she’s authentic, even raw, about herself and her patients.
Alex Kuczynski, The New York Times Book Review

She combines journalism and therapy, most notably in her ‘Dear Therapist’ advice column for the Atlantic, which itself somewhat makes the argument for therapy based on the fact that the questions are often far too complicated ever to be answered in the span of one response, though Gottlieb does her best ... There’s something satisfyingly voyeuristic and intimate about getting to listen in on anyone else’s therapy, a feeling Gottlieb amplifies by contextualising what is actually happening in each session from a more clinical perspective. She does this by gently and constantly explaining to the reader what exactly therapists are trying to do with their patients, sharing language and frameworks ... It’s strange to see Gottlieb, a therapist herself, seemingly imply that someone can be too ‘together’ to benefit from talking to someone. And yet, I’m glad she grapples with this. Watching her come to the realisation that the process has things to offer her beyond a quick solution is a lesson in and of itself.
Susan Matthews, Slate

Gottlieb plunges further into the psychological depths as she discloses how therapists keep each other honest ... Some readers will know Gottlieb from her many TV appearances or her ‘Dear Therapist’ column, but even for the uninitiated-to-Gottlieb, it won’t take long to settle in with this compelling read.
Joan Curbow, Booklist

As Gottlieb’s patients proceed (often painfully) through their sessions, so does Gottlieb with her new therapist, Wendell. And we get to listen in through this unusual combination of memoir, self-help guide and therapy primer ... warm, approachable and funny — a pleasure to read ... As we watch Gottlieb and her patients learn to tell the rest of their own stories and move beyond their pain, we find some surprising insights and even a bit of wisdom.
Sarah McCraw Crow, Bookpage

With startling wisdom and humour, Gottlieb invites us into her world as both clinician and patient, examining the truths and fictions we tell ourselves and others ... Maybe You Should Talk To Someone is revolutionary in its candour, offering a deeply personal yet universal tour of our hearts and minds and providing the rarest of gifts: a boldly revealing portrait of what it means to be human, and a disarmingly funny and illuminating account of our own mysterious lives and our power to transform them.
Bookreporter

An addictive book that’s part Oliver Sacks and part Nora Ephron. Prepare to be riveted.
People Magazine, Book of the Week

Reading it is like one long therapy session — and may be the gentle nudge you need to start seeing a therapist again IRL.
Hello Giggles

Entirely reframes the way we think about psychotherapy … Movingly depicts our collective longing for lasting connection.
Entertainment Weekly

A psychotherapist and advice columnist at The Atlantic shows us what it’s like to be on both sides of the couch with doses of heartwarming humour and invaluable, tell-it-like-it-is wisdom.
O, The Oprah Magazine

A delightful, fascinating dive into human behavior and idiosyncrasies, habits and defenses, fears and blind spots: hers, her patients’, yours and mine.
Chicago Tribune

This relatable memoir reminds us that many of our struggles are universal and just plain human.
Real Simple

A no-holds-barred look at how therapy works.
Parade

A fascinating, funny behind-the-scenes look at what happens when people — even shrinks themselves — ‘break open,’ with the help of a therapist.
Shondaland

In her memoir, bestselling author, columnist, and therapist Lori Gottlieb explores her own issues — and discovers just how similar they are to the problems of her clients.
Bustle

Who could resist watching a therapist grapple with the same questions her patients have been asking her for years? Gottlieb, who writes the Atlantic’s “Dear Therapist” column, brings searing honesty to her search for answers.
Bethanne Patrick, The Washington Post, The 10 books to read in April

In prose that’s conversational and funny yet deeply insightful, psychologist Lori Gottlieb is here to remind us that our therapists are people, too.
Refinery29

[Maybe You Should Talk to Someone] explores the ups and downs of life with humour and grace.
BookBub.com

Both poignant and laugh-out-loud funny, [Gottlieb] reveals how our stories form the core of our lives.
Orange County Register

In her compassionate and emotionally generous new book, Gottlieb … pulls back the curtain of a therapist’s world … The result is a humane and empathetic exploration of six disparate characters struggling to take control of their lives as they journey back to happiness.
ALA’s Public Libraries Online

[A] smart, hilarious, insightful book. Lori Gottlieb will have you laughing and crying as she breaks down the problems of her patients, her therapist and herself.
Patch.com

Reads like a novel and reveals what really happens on both sides of the couch.
Men’s Health

A hugely entertaining memoir about a therapist in therapy.
Kerri Sackville, Sunday Age

A rare and candid insight into a profession that is conventionally bound with rules and secrecy. Told with charm and compassion, vulnerability and humour, it’s also the story of an incredible relationship between two therapists and a disarmingly funny and illuminating account of our own mysterious inner lives, as well as our power to transform them.
Sunraysia Daily

Heartwarming and upbeat, this memoir demystifies therapy and celebrates the human spirit.
Shelf Awareness

A sparkling and sometimes moving account of her work as a psychotherapist, with the twist that she is in therapy herself ... For someone considering but hesitant to enter therapy, Gottlieb’s thoughtful and compassionate work will calm anxieties about the process; for experienced therapists, it will provide an abundance of insights into their own work.
Publishers Weekly

A source of inspiration.
Cherlynn Low, Yahoo Finance

A great read for anyone interested in mental health, humanity and empathy.
Jen Saulnier, Mirage News

It‘s incredibly open, honest, and there are insights Gottlieb comes to acknowledge in the pages that will resonate with you deeply.
Jess Campbell, GQ

Gottlieb’s book is perhaps the first I’ve read that explains the therapeutic process in no-nonsense terms while simultaneously giving hope to therapy skeptics like me who think real change through talk is elusive.
Judith Newman, The New York Times

Utterly brilliant and chilling — no matter how much you think you already know … Read it!
Naomi Klein, Author of This Changes Everything

Indispensable.
The Guardian

Political journalism at its best, an epic and terrifying story that grips the reader like a Stephen King thriller.
A.M. Homes, The Observer

A chilling book.
Times Higher Education

Persuasive, timely and necessary.
The New York Times

A triumph … Mayer has cut through the secrecy that these men have carefully cultivated … and given the world a full accounting of what had been a shadowy and largely unseen force.
New York Review of Books

Packed with revelations.
San Fransisco Chronicle

A must-read for those seeking to understand how Washington became a corporatocracy.
New Internationalist

Meticulously researched and elegantly written.
John Keane, Sydney Morning Herald

A terrifying insight into how 21st-century politics works.
George Monbiot, The Guardian

Meticulously, fascinatingly and horrifyingly explains how eccentric American billionaires hijacked our democracy.
Curtis Sittenfeld, The Observer

Deeply researched and studded with detail … Seems destined to rattle the Koch executive offices in Wichita as other investigations have not.
Washington Post

With such turmoil on the right wing of American politics, reading Dark Money is like reading the first chapter of what may be a great political page-turner.
Chicago Tribune

Jane Mayer … is, quite simply, one of the very few utterly invaluable journalists this country has.
Esquire

Dark Money is almost too good for its own good … [t]he story is so outrageous it should make any citizen want to go out and do something about it.
Los Angeles Review of Books

[A] comprehensive history … Stunning.
Salon

Mayer is … a writer whose reporting can leave a reader breathless … I urge you to read Dark Money.
Bill Moyers

[A]n extraordinarily well-documented account of the influential, interlocking organisations with innocuous names created by the Koch brothers.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The importance of Dark Money does not flow from any explosive new revelation, but from its scope and perspective … It is not easy to uncover the inner workings of an essentially secretive political establishment. Mayer has come as close to doing it as anyone is likely to come anytime soon.
Alan Ehrenhalt, The New York Times Book Review

Dark Money piles up facts and anecdotes to support its central thesis: the evasion by the very rich of any obligation to rise above self-interest and serve the public interest … The billionaires do all the mischief they can, and Jane Mayer, in this brave and resourceful book, has numbered their abuses with admirable pertinacity.
David Bromwich, The Nation

Mayer is one of the nation’s best investigative journalists, and she is writing in the muckraking tradition of Ida Tarbell. Readers who believe that money and politics make for a toxic brew will share Mayer’s anger, which animates every page of Dark Money.
Washington Independent Review of Books

[R]eaders are launched into a close examination of plastic — how it came to be, how it’s made and used, and how it has changed the world, for better and for worse. The book objectively presents the petroleum-based substance’s contributions to the field of medicine and to the accessibility of manufactured goods alongside its increasingly harsh toll on the environment ... Lee’s boldly coloured digital illustrations attractively and neatly chart out complex phenomena such as microplastics consumption. STARRED REVIEW
Publishers Weekly

Author Kim and illustrator Lee offer scenes to help kids digest the complex story of plastics ... [R]efreshingly, plastics recycling is not presented as a catchall solution for single-use plastics. Readers are encouraged to reduce single-use plastic consumption, to learn about innovative solutions from scientists and activists, and to acknowledge that eliminating plastics use is unlikely. Illustrations of people throughout show varied skin tones consistent with the bold style used by the illustrator.
Kirkus

[T]ake a brightly coloured look at plastic, starting with the story of bath toys set loose in the ocean. Even-handed and informative, the book details the many helpful uses of plastic, its damage to the environment, and the latest work in cleaning up, recycling, and reformulating plastics.
The Virginian-Pilot

This Korean import is more than the history and manufacture of plastic…[I]llustrations are done in simple, subdued tones that easily explain past and present history… [S]imply and expertly explains the pros and cons of plastic making it very useful in any class on environmentalism, climate change and recycling … A timely and important subject.
Youth Services Book Review

Plastic is one of the most celebrated and regrettable inventions that has become a presumed indispensable material throughout the world but at what cost? A thorough and highly engaging look at the history, facts and what do we do next with this long lasting material that has become increasingly abundant.
Jesica Sweedler-DeHart, Librarian Review, Neill Public Library

The enduring love between parent and child is celebrated in distinctive, vintage-inspired style.
The Bookseller

Captivating neon illustrations add even more charm to this already delightful story. Under the Love Umbrella reminds children that comfort and love is ever-present, even when you are not near your family.
Evening Standard

A truly charming book little ones will adore.
Little London

This brightly illustrated picture book is a celebration of the enduring love that surrounds your children, wherever they are in the world. The families we meet represent the wonderful diversity that make our world what it is and show that there is nothing to fear from differences. It is also a reminder to children that love is around them, especially in times of worry or fear. This book is suitable for new parents and babies, as well as for children embarking on big changes and adventures, who may benefit from this lovely reminder of the permanence of love. A beautiful message to share with young children.
lovereading4kids

The illustrations are very bright and I like that they embrace a diverse range of families and relationships … I think we should all remember that we have a “love umbrella”.
Juno

Bright, expressive and featuring joyfully diverse illustration throughout, Under the Love Umbrella provides poetic reassurance that whatever happens, children will be protected and loved. Perfect for sharing at bedtime with cuddles.
Booktrust

A gorgeous book about the transformative power of family love in all its forms. Written in rhyming couplets, it reassures children that they are protected by an ‘umbrella’ of love wherever they go in the world and whatever they encounter … a truly beautiful book.
The Sun

I love it! I didn’t like anything the best — it’s all good. I like the illustrations. They are cool. I like the page with the umbrella made out of stars.
BENJAMIN (AGE 5), ANORAK

Scary shadows, friends that don't share, shyness, moving, and such everyday childhood issues as wet pants, a lost tooth, and a parent's rushing them. No worry can last under a love umbrella … Colpoys’ striking illustrations, which combine an earth palette with day-glo highlights, effectively show love umbrellas both imagined and real.
Kirkus Reviews

This is a book that has it all — a beautiful message with amazing illustrations ... The basic point of the story is that no matter what, whoever loves you will provide comfort and shelter to help you cope with distressing situations ... The illustrations provided by Allison Colpoys are nothing short of amazing. The background on the pages are mostly black or white and the colours used are vibrant red, orange, gold, and purple — almost to the point of being neon colours. The illustrations are detailed and children will love seeing all the little things hidden in the pages ... It is also a great tool to talk about feelings.
Kristin Guay, Youth Services Book Review

Readers follow four children through difficult times as the unnamed narrator describes the ‘love umbrella’ that is above each of them ... The four children — Joe, Brian, Grace, and Izzy — are racially diverse, as are their families, and are introduced opposite the title page, giving readers a mission: to count the umbrellas they find (no answer is revealed) ... Colpoys’ striking illustrations, which combine an earth palette with day-glo highlights, effectively show love umbrellas both imagined (stars in the sky, a cloud) and real (a beach umbrella, a rain umbrella, a sun shade).
Kirkus Reviews

This sweetly comforting story is recommended for general purchase and well suited to storytime.
Elizabeth Lovsin, Deerfield Public Library

A beautiful story of a parent’s love … A truly wonderful book for youngsters facing change and challenges, no matter how big or small.
Louise Weeks, Mum’s Grapevine

A sweet and beautifully illustrated book about love and family.
Baby Librarians

Contemporary yet classic-feeling illustrations, a simple and resonant message. Charming!
Jessica Peterson White, Bookseller Review, Content Book Store

Several of the most painful petards upon which people become hoisted during an unhappy childhood are neatly dispatched here by two cognitive therapists, who attack 11 common ‘lifetraps’ — destructive patterns that underlie a variety of emotional problems. Young and Klosko ably demonstrate how to deal with issues of abandonment, dependence, trust, social rejection, emotional deprivation, failure and vulnerability. They provide meaningful case histories, perceptive descriptions, diagnostic tests and a variety of nugget-sized, easily understood lists detailing the causes, danger signs and effects of negative impulses and actions, as well as ways to short-circuit them.
Publishers Weekly

Using illustrations from case studies, the authors describe each lifetrap, discuss its origins in childhood experience, and provide a questionnaire for self-assessment. They then offer a program for change using techniques ranging from experiential (getting in touch with your inner child) to cognitive (writing a ‘case’ against your lifetrap) and behavioural (identifying specific behaviours to be changed).
Library Journal