Reminiscent of Jill Krementz's affecting How It Feels to Fight For Your Life (1989), here's a collection of first-person accounts and poetry by campers at the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp, founded by Paul Newman for seriously ill kids. The poetry program that inspired this book was conducted at the camp two years ago by then-Yale students Berger and Lithwick. After the camp session, the two spent time with each of seven kids in the kids' homes, inviting them to talk about their experiences of life, camp, and being sick (the seven, ranging in age from ages 8 to 17, suffer from various cancers, sickle cell anemia, amputations, and AIDS). It's not surprising that the accounts are moving; what is surprising is the quality of some of the insights and poetry. The children's subjects are sometimes whimsical: ``hair, hair, everywhere''; throwing-up competitions with a friend in the next hospital room; a wonderfully inventive fantasy (``My Transfusion Family'') by Tina Kenney about getting transfused with the qualities of the 40 people who've given this young poet their blood. There are also, of course, many more serious poems. Kenney, a 17-year-old cancer patient, contributes the most consistently striking writing, including (in addition to ``My Transfusion Family'') a meditation on the lonely time in the hospital when visitors have gone home, TVs go off, and patients are alone with their thoughts; and a eulogy to three dead friends whose radiance pervades the writer's life as the stars illuminate the night sky. And there are many other young authors here who speak and write with words and perceptions beyond their years. A remarkable book that uplifts much more than it saddens. (Forty color photos—not seen—by Robert Benson illustrate the children's camp experience and family life.)
Pub Date: June 26, 1992
ISBN: 0-316-09273-8
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1992
Hormones often upset the body's equilibrium, and Smith is here to bring back the balance. Smith has studied hormones for years, and her latest release is an encouraging summation of all her research. Her advice on how to contend with the maladies associated with hormonal change is square with the latest in medical understanding of hormonal activity (our old friends estrogen, progesterone, FSH, LH, thyroxin, etc.), and it’s all hopeful and elevating. She’s not a fan of hormone replacement therapy or supplements, preferring to address a woman’s new hormonal configuration with a combination of diet and psychological well-being. Her nutritional suggestions are of particular note: how to counter the stresses of menopause with specific dietary additions, including natural and fresh foods, fiber, calcium, water and how to turn down the hot-flash thermostat with phytoestrogens, a wide range of edibles including legumes, seeds, grains, garlic, fruits, vegetables and herbs. She also includes helpful tips for men about how to tender the right moves at the right time, ones that will make both parties happy.
Pub Date: Feb. 6, 1936
ISBN: 0310242185
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A helpful if arduous map for living a better life that certainly beats the alternative: giving up and dying.
With his health declining, McFarland took control and turned his life around.
At 52, the author was what has become your Standard American Male–obese, sedentary, hypertensive and in deep denial–when his doctor reported that he was a prime candidate for type-two diabetes. The good news is that he decided to do something about it. In frank language, he discusses his renewal strategy and the routines and behaviors for rebuilding his physical and mental health, finding balance and peace in the process. First he had to own up to his rotten condition, his blubber and sloth, and become conversant with his body’s cardiovascular needs, his metabolism, what comprises a healthy diet and his need for physical activity. Thus began his education in cholesterol, stress, midlife depression, the body mass index, blood analysis, high blood sugar and a host of other subjects–all of which he manages to convey in clarity and modest depth, despite his lack of professional training. He endeavored to use common sense in his eating and exercise, gradually creating a life script comprised of the seven Fs: Fitness (he provides a detailed, gradual program), Finding what is important in your life, having Faith in what you believe (discovering some spiritual support), eating the right Foods, time with Family, Friendships and having Fun. He consistently stresses the elemental need for self-respect; without it, he says, you won’t have the will to embark on what amounts to a complete lifestyle change.
A helpful if arduous map for living a better life that certainly beats the alternative: giving up and dying.Pub Date: Aug. 8, 2005
ISBN: 0-595-35496-3
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Jan. 26, 2011
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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