Summertime in the Big Woods (My First Little House)

Book Description

Summer is here!

The warm days of summer have arrived, and that means Laura gets to spend fun-filled days outdoors!

The winter is finally over, and now it is summertime! Laura and Mary are busy all day helping Ma in the garden and playing outside. RenÉe Graef’s enchanting full-color illustrations, inspired by Garth Williams’ classic artwork, bring Laura and her family lovingly to life in this sixth title in the My First Little House book series, picture books adapted from Laura Ingalls Wilder’s beloved storybooks.The winter is finally over, and now it is summertime! Laura and Mary are busy all day helping Ma in the garden and playing outside. RenÉe Graef’s enchanting full-color illustrations, inspired by Garth Williams’ classic artwork, bring Laura and her family lovingly to life in this sixth title in the My First Little House book series, picture books adapted from Laura Ingalls Wilder’s beloved storybooks.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent choice for pre-readers.......2007-07-21

My daughters love the colorful, cheerful pictures. This series captures the charm of Prairie Life without being too complicated for little ones to follow. - It's a great intro to the original series!

Wonderful books.......2007-03-10

If you like Little House on the Prairie you will really like this series. The books are simply written with a wholesome story about how life was a long time ago. The illustrator is magnificent. The pictures are colorful and have nice detail.

Average customer rating:

Very well written.
5 plus stars
great book here
Summertime and the living is easy
melissa1007

Thimble Summer
Elizabeth Enright
Manufacturer: Yearling
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0440486815
Release Date: 1987-07-01

Book Description

When Garnet finds a silver thimble in the sand by the river, she is sure it’s magical. But is it magical enough to help her pig, Timmy, win a blue ribbon on Fair Day?

Customer Reviews:

Very well written........2007-04-19

This is a book that, while written in the late thirties, possesses a timeless quality. The imagery is sublime, especially in the useage of simile and metaphor. The story is uncomplicated, like life in the midwest countryside, but uniquely eventful at the same time. It is a lovely book, and very well written.

5 plus stars.......2006-05-04

This is my very favorite book for young girls. First and most importantly, it is really fun to read. I can just picture an 8-year-old girl reading this during summer vacation. After reading this book, how could a kid not fall in love with reading books for recreation? It is loaded with thrilling adventure. Even though the main character is a girl, she is not a "girly girl" at all. She is an outdoor farm girl who loves nature and has an active curiosity about the world around her. The characters are lovely, and lovingly portrayed. The sketches of Garnet's pesky younger brother, restless older brother, mother and father stressed out by trying to make a farm work at the end of the depression and drought, her friend Citronella, and the people of Garnet's farm community are amazing writing and enjoyable, educational reading. There are many interesting stories about people who Garnet meets during her beautiful and exciting summer. Citronella's grandmother tells a story about growing up as a settler which is not just interesting because it is about pioneer life, meeting Indians, and her childhood adventures, it may also encourage young readers to find out about their own grandparent's stories. The account of the family firing limestone to build a new barn is fascinating, and the family meets and adopts a wonderful boy who they encounter while spending the night minding the kiln. His story really brings home the realities of the depression, when adults and children travelled the rails and backroads of America to find work and food. The contrast between Garnet, who loves the land, her older brother, who has seen the stress his father goes through to wring his living from it and wants to get away, and the young hobo who has experienced the wider world and loves the steadiness and bounty of the farm are deeper elements to the story. The story of farm life, weather, and nature is wonderful, and I am sure many, many children have fallen in love with nature and reading from this classic book.

great book here.......2004-10-10

this book is a great book
it deserves its newberry medal. not to many people are intrested in the title,but the inside is great. once you read it you wont want to put it down. it holds fantastic description and events. its amusing because its fun imagining what its like to be Garnet. this is the best book i've read in years.

Summertime and the living is easy.......2004-03-14

The Newbery Award winning books of the 1930s went through an interesting phase that was never again to be repeated. Starting with "Caddie Woodlawn" (1935), continuing with "Roller Skates" (1936), and capitulating with the delightful "Thimble Summer" (1938) these books all followed spunky independent females with little to no regard for the traditional roles women had always carried. But while "Caddie" and "Roller Skates" were period pieces that ultimately ended with the girls giving in to society's restraints, "Thimble Summer" trumps this trend. In it, we have a farm girl named Garnet who has a load of exciting summer adventures and who ends her tale wearing sailor pants doing hand stands over and over again in a pasture.

The tale of "Thimble Summer" begins when Garnet finds a silver thimble in a nearby dried lakebed. According to Garner, the summer's wonderful aspects only take place after this key event. Her father receives a loan from the government allowing him to build a new barn. Her family meets and virtually adopts an adorable homeless boy. Garnet shows her favorite pig at the state fair and wins a blue ribbon. All these events are told with a marvelous simplicity and a real sense of being there with Garnet. From the very first page of this book, you notice the author's excellent writing style. About the heat of the summer Enright writes, "It was like being inside of a drum. The sky like a bright skin was stretched tight above the valley, and the earth too, was tight and hard with heat". You're in safe hands with this writer. Don't believe me? Here's another wonderful descriptive passage. "Her shoes hurt her; and with aching feet and her bundle and empty pocketbook she felt like an old, old woman coming home from seeing grandchildren who didn't love her".

But observe this book within its 1938 context. Here's a girl that does a boy's chores. We never see her darn socks or cook, though she's often seen working in the fields. She's nine or so, so she doesn't go about falling in love (not even with the adorable homeless boy). She wears pants most of the time, is never badgered by either parent to be more feminine and (the coup de grace) at the end of the story she plans to someday have a farm of her own. Fabulous. Then there are those wonderful little details about the past. Kids reading this book may not get the references to G-men, Zeppelin shaped balloons, or the running boards of cars. Fortunately these spots of the past are either
self-evident or mercilessly scant.

Is the book flawless then? Almost. There are a couple tiny flaws here and there. The line drawings accompanying the text (drawn by the author herself) are magnificent. Unfortunately, there's one time they belie the text. If you've a child who's overweight in any way, this may not be the best book to show them. While Garnet's best female friend Citronella is continually called "fat", in the book's pictures she's the most average kid you've ever seen (compared to the waiflike Garnet, of course). Any child with body image problems is going to see the pictures, read the text, and come up with some pretty heart-wrenching conclusions. If Garnet is normal then... You get the picture.

I don't really understand why kids don't know this book better. Anyone who's ever wanted to live on a farm in the country would enjoy it. Anyone who's ever wanted to hitchhike like Garnet, spend a night in a library, or swim rivers on their own would like it. It's a pip, this one. It's got moxie. Don't forgo the pleasures of "Thimble Summer" simply because it's old. You'll be missing out on more than you could have possibly imagined.

melissa1007.......2002-04-03

When I was a little girl, one of the chapters in this book appeared in a volume of the Childcraft Books. The chapter was "Locked In" where the girls have to spend the night in the library. I absolutely loved the story but it wasn't until I was an adult and had daughters of my own the I found this book and was able to read the whole thing to my children. The book is timeless even though it is set in a much simpler time. I highly recommend it to children and adults alike!!!

Average customer rating:

Captivating and evocative; superb description
Very similar to Rosamunde Pilcher
A Summer in the Country
Highly recommend....
A book length therapy session

A Summer in the Country
Marcia Willett
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Paperbacks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0312997159
Release Date: 2004-06-01

Book Description

Marcia Willett’s previous novel, A Week in Winter, her first to be published in the United States, received a rousing welcome from readers and reviewers alike. Her new novel, A Summer in the Country, introduces an equally beguiling cast of characters whose lives become intricately entwined at Foxhole, a charming and cozy country house on the wild edges of the Devon moors.

Brigid Foster has inherited Foxhole from her father, and has created two guest cottages, which she rents during the holidays to tourists. Brigid’s delight at welcoming Louise Parry, one of her regular summer visitors, is tempered by the irritating presence of Brigid’s monumentally judgmental mother, Frummie. Having abandoned Foxhole (and Brigid) forty years earlier, Frummie makes no secret of her disdain for the glorious natural splendor of her surroundings, nor of her preference for Brigid’s flightly but fabulous half-sister, Jemima. Jemima, meanwhile, has problems of her own.

When a stranger begins lurking in the isolated byways of the lonely countryside, Brigid turns to her oddly elusive father-in-law for comfort and protection. But both Brigid and Louise Parry are hiding certain essential facts, and each woman’s fragile sense of haven and security is threatened by disclosure. A Summer in the Country is the story of the enduring, but often painful love that exists between mothers and daughters, fathers and sons, and husbands and wives. It describes with exquisite sensitivity and tenderness the precarious journey each of us undertakes as one generation makes way for the next, as each indelible and priceless relationship grows, changes, blossoms, or dies. Marcia Willett writes novels that will last.

Customer Reviews:

Captivating and evocative; superb description.......2006-07-18

I've read several of Marcia Willett's books and very much enjoy them--this one is, thus far, my favorite. She defines her characters wonderfully well and the passages describing the countryside are superb.

Very similar to Rosamunde Pilcher.......2006-01-15

Perhaps even better. Well written and thought out story with an interesting intertwining of lives. The characters are very real. A very enjoyable read.

A Summer in the Country.......2005-07-07

I just love Marcia Willett. This was the first book of hers that I read and was impressed with the way she drew her characters. You live their lives for the short while the book lasts and you relive it afterwards. I thought it was most enjoyable and can't wait to read her others.

Highly recommend...........2004-09-19

I happened across Marcia Willett and this novel at a Barnes & Noble store. Saw Rosamonde Pilcher's name on the cover and it caught my eye. I miss her British writing a lot.
But I was very pleased with both this author and the story. She captured the English countryside perfectly and her characters...I hated to leave them at the end of the story. I highly recommend this book....great women's fiction. And I'm now about finished with "A Week in Winter".....which is just as enjoyable. Willett has perfectly crafted characters and I feel I'm back in England.

A book length therapy session.......2004-08-29

I bought this book while delayed in the airport figuring it'd be a throw away since I don't make good decisions amidst airline debacles. It was a bit confusing at the beginning since there are quite a few characters and their names are a bit wacky. The author being English served up a lot of unfamiliar names and expressions for things too.

Let me tell ya, once into it I could not put it down. But I did because it's one of those books that you never want to end. I say it was one long therapy session because the experiences were ones that many of my friends or I have lived and the author did such a great job of helping everyone come to grips with their lives and the decisions they made. They all helped each other do this and I learned so much that helped me personally. I would love to quote some lines here but IMO it would ruin your discovering all this for yourself.

I think the absolute best part was that everyone got a second chance. I don't know about you, but my second chances have been sorely lacking. There was a happy ending for everyone.

I've started reading A Week In Winter and it promises to be just as much fun and insightful as this one. Now that I'm familiar with her writing style and the English words and expressions, it's easy reading.

If you want enjoyment and a bit of therapy, this is a good read.

Guenevere, Queen of the Summer Country (Guenevere Novels)

Average customer rating:

Enjoyed the book immensely
Not worth reading
A Great Read
Incredible read
Not your mother's King Arthur

Guenevere, Queen of the Summer Country (Guenevere Novels)
Rosalind Miles
Manufacturer: Three Rivers Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0609806505
Release Date: 2000-07-11

Amazon.com

This is the first part of a trilogy chronicling the life of Queen Guenevere. Beginning with the young King Arthur who is preparing for the war that will unite Britain, the book recounts the marriage of Guenevere and Arthur, the growth of Arthur's court, and Guenevere's adulterous affair with Lancelot.

Although told mainly from Guenevere's point of view, this is a truly epic narrative, encompassing pageantry, political intrigue, war, and the conflict between the old pagan religion and Christianity. At times earthy, sensual, and violent, it is a powerful romantic drama firmly rooted in historical Britain, a modern yet traditional retelling of the stories given definitive form in the first four books of Thomas Malory's Le Morte D'Arthur.

The characters are grippingly evoked as realistic, living, and breathing human beings rather than simple archetypes, yet the writing is effortlessly lyrical, with the elegant flow of folktale. In emotional depth, Guenevere is comparable to Parke Godwin's fine Arthurian romance, Firelord.

This title is Rosalind Miles's 17th book. She is the author of the highly praised I, Elizabeth and The Women's History of the World. In 1990, she won the Network Award for outstanding achievement in the field of writing, and the same year she was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. --Gary S. Dalkin, Amazon.co.uk

Book Description

Last in a line of proud queens elected to rule the fertile lands of the West, true owner of the legendary Round Table, guardian of the Great Goddess herself . . . a woman whose story has never been told -- until now.

Raised in the tranquil beauty of the Summer Country, Princess Guenevere has led a charmed and contented life -- until the sudden, violent death of her mother, Queen Maire, leaves the Summer Country teetering on the brink of anarchy. Only the miraculous arrival of Arthur, heir to the Pendragon dynasty, allows Guenevere to claim her mother's throne. Smitten by the bold, sensuous princess, Arthur offers to marry her and unite their territories, allowing her to continue to reign in her own right. Their love match creates the largest and most powerful kingdom in the Isles. Yet even the glories of Camelot are not safe from the shadows of evil and revenge. Arthur is reunited with his long-lost half-sisters, Morgause and Morgan, princesses torn from their mother and their ancestral right by Arthur's father, the brutal and unscrupulous King Uther. Both daughters will avenge their suffering, but it is Morgan who strikes the deadliest blows, using her enchantments to destroy all Guenevere holds dear and to force Arthur to betray his Queen.

In the chaos that follows, Arthur dispatches a new knight to Guenevere, the young French prince Lancelot, never knowing that Lancelot's passion for the Queen, and hers for him, may be the love that spells ruin for Camelot.

Customer Reviews:

Enjoyed the book immensely.......2007-09-13

I enjoy historical fiction. I also enjoy different takes on the same stories one has always heard - Gregory Maguire's books are a good example. This book provides a different look at the traditional King Arthur story. While not quite the Mists of Avalon, what I enjoyed was the way the trilogy was written. Three different books looking at three different parts of the story was far more preferable than one really long book (Mists of Avalon). I would recommend the book to anyone looking for a strong heroine, historical fiction or just a different take on the story of King Arthur.

Not worth reading.......2007-02-26

I'd been wanting to read this book for a while. Finally picked it up yesterday, made it through almost 200 pages on the plane, and gave up. Maybe I've just been spoiled by The Mists of Avalon, which is one of the best books of fantasy I've ever read. Or maybe I was too fresh off reading one of the greatest books in all literature, The Grapes of Wrath, which I'd finished just a day before starting Guenevere. I just found this book immensely difficult to get through. I can't remember the last book I read where I had to force myself to turn the page to get on with the story. Arthur comes off as a silly little lovestruck frat-boy incapable of making up his own mind, and Guenevere is a simpering, ineffectual idiot. In general, the description of their evolution of their relationship is not believable. I didn't make it far enough along in the book to be able to relate more about other main characters, but from what I've read from other reviews, it doesn't look good for their portrayals either.

The prose is also, for the most part, insufferable. I found the descriptions of the characters' actions obvious, trite, and repetitive. It was also jarring to veer between rather graphic descriptions of Merlin's lustful thoughts to Guenevere's constant, Harlequin-y "Oh Arthur! My love, love, I love you." Gag.

In short, not recommended, unless you really have nothing else better to do.

A Great Read.......2006-10-04

This book was really entertaining. I got really engrossed in the storyline and cannot wait to read the sequel. I highly recommend it.

Incredible read.......2006-06-30

This book, even though fiction, accurately protrays the history of that time. The determined spread of Christians, by any means, and the undying love between a woman and her country. Everybody focuses on Arthur and his knights, no one bothers to look into or knows Gueneveres life, other than she's an adulterer. But Ms. Miles sheds her life into a new light, and while she can be whiny, this book protrays her as Arthurs and then Lancelots strength.

Not your mother's King Arthur.......2006-06-19

If you're looking for a radically realistic take on the King Arthur legend from the woman's perspective, I highly recommend this (and any) novel by Rosalind Miles. Her research is great and the books are never dry...they never get bogged down in minutiae. It is Camelot for the Sophisticated, and the story has a realistic view of sex and love in the Middle Ages. Miles is a scholar and an artist. Add this to your canon of "hip" Medieval literature along with "Mists of Avalon" and additional books by Kalgoridis and Maxwell.

Foxfire 3: Animal Care, Banjos and Dulcimers, Hide Tanning, Summer and Fall Wild Plant Foods, Butter Churns, Ginseng, and Still More Affairs of Plain

Average customer rating:

Foxfire 3: Animal Care, Banjos and Dulcimers, Hide Tanning, Summer and Fall Wild Plant Foods, Butter Churns, Ginseng, and Still More Affairs of Plain

Manufacturer: Doubleday
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0385022654

High Country Fall: A Deborah Knott Mystery

Average customer rating:

Good Read
Well done!
Gentle Suspense
Add this series to the Must-Read List if you haven't already
A Smooth Tale about Family, Love and Tribulations

High Country Fall: A Deborah Knott Mystery
Margaret Maron
Manufacturer: Mysterious Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0892968087

Book Description

Perennially popular Judge Deborah Knott returns in Margaret Maron's latest mystery in her award- winning series. With friends and family overreacting to her announcement that she plans to marry Sheriff's Deputy Dwight Bryant, Judge Deborah Knott gratefully seizes the opportunity to put a five-hour drive between herself and Colleton County when the Chief District Court Judge offers her a week on the bench in Cedar Gap. It is early autumn, leaves are turning, and summer residents are preparing to close up their mountain 'cabins' (palatial houses perched atop the most desirable locations) and return to their winter homes in Florida. But Deborah's peaceful break is disrupted when one Floridian is found murdered. He won't be going home, and Deborah won't be either-until she tracks down the killer.

Customer Reviews:

Good Read.......2007-01-12

A really good read. Maron's Judge Knott is always interesting and and it is like visiting with an old friend.

Well done!.......2005-04-10

Maron's first book "Booklegger's Daughter" is still a standout for me, and I'd moved away from this series. But, while lighter than I usually read, although not really a cozy, I very much enjoyed this book. The character Deborah is a wonderful blend of southern gentility, contemporary independence and backwoods strength and survival that make this book well worth reading.

Gentle Suspense.......2005-03-06

I keep going back to Margaret Maron's Deborah Knott novels because I love the gentle suspense Maron offers us in these books. This time Deborah is giving serious thought to her promise to marry Dwight Bryant and gets a bit of a breather while filling in for a high country judge. (Thus HIGH COUNTRY FALL.) A couple of prominent citizens have died under mysterious circumstances and Deborah inadvertantly puts everything back where it's supposed to go.

Another super Deborah Knott novel for Margaret Maron. Keep them coming, please!

Add this series to the Must-Read List if you haven't already.......2005-01-14

I picked up this book on a whim, based on the simple cover graphics (a sugar maple leaf in four stages of autumn color), the setting (the North Carolina mountains) and the title (I like both mountains and autumn). What a good decision! I love reading mysteries, and this one meets every criteria I can think of to make a good, entertaining, and suspenseful read. Other reviewers have spoken about the plot, so I need not address it. Suffice it to say that Judge Deborah Knott is an independent woman of a sensible age who is intrigued by crime and murder even when she's not on her home turf. All of the characters here are believable and likable -- at least, at first -- and they talk like people do in real life. Maron's descriptions paint such complete scenes that I could picture the town of Cedar Gap fully: the streets, the businesses, the big MacMansions built by the Florida seasonals. I spent such an enjoyable time in Cedar Gap that I must go back and read the other nine Deborah Knott novels, in order. Perhaps by the time I'm caught up, another one will be waiting on the shelf...

A Smooth Tale about Family, Love and Tribulations.......2004-10-28

For me, the best mysteries are those that are more like fine novels than mysteries. The mystery just adds a little spice to the novel in those cases rather than being the center point of everything. Margaret Maron has succeeded in crossing that important line into being a novelist with this book. Her lead character, Judge Deborah Knott, continues to develop and surprise . . . even herself. If you have liked any of the books in the series, you will enjoy this one.

As the book opens, Deborah has reluctantly agreed to a marriage of convenience with her childhood friend and recent lover, Dwight Bryant, whom you have met in earlier books in the series. She's got the ring, but she's not excited about the prospects. It's all so unromantic! Not knowing what to do as well-wishing friends and relatives tell her, "I told you so," Deborah decides she needs time to herself.

It just so happens that a small county in the Smokies needs a substitute judge for a week on short notice. Deborah takes the opportunity to be by herself. This places her in the middle of a tony vacation community where comparing the prices of real estate and playing music are the main occupations. Happily, her twin cousins are going to visit while she stays at their parents' condo.

But everything is just a little off. The cousins aren't where they should be when they should be. The telephone is off the hook. Deborah finds herself feeling alone and abandoned. When a chance to socialize happens, she takes a chance to make some music . . . and finds herself in the middle of a local mystery. The mystery develops from several perspectives, including those of her as a judge and as an amateur detective. You won't have any trouble solving the mystery, but you'll enjoy reading how the story develops.

The book's overall theme is that favorite question of novelists: What's life really for? We don't often take time to think about it, but the characters in the book do. I hope you will follow their lead and do the same.

The book's main weakness is that Ms. Maron provides much too much background information so you'll be able to figure out the mystery, and this makes the story both bulky and too obvious at the same time.

The book's strength is in exploring what family, love and tribulations are all about . . . and how to deal with them. If any of those themes are favorite ones of yours, you won't mind the weaknesses in the mystery writing part of the novel.

Another strength is in capturing dialogue and internal self-talk in convincing and compelling ways. Ms. Maron has a finely tuned ear for the oral and mental word. Nice!

This is a nice, heart-warming story. I wish more authors could produce novels like this one.

Average customer rating:

Pioneer Story
Life After the Civil War
Help Needed
Pioneer Flavor After the Civil War
A good book of surviving a 'Grasshopper Summer'.

Grasshopper Summer
Ann Turner
Manufacturer: Aladdin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0689835221

Book Description

In 1874, eleven-year-old Sam White and his family are moving from Kentucky to the Dakota Territory. These hardy pioneers know it will be hard work, but they don't expect the devastating plague that comes like an unstoppable force to sweep away all their hopes for the future. They will cope.

But they will never forget this grasshopper summer.

Customer Reviews:

Pioneer Story.......2007-03-27

The year is 1874. Sam White is living in Kentucky with his parents, his little brother Billy, and their grandparents. The Civil War is over, but Sam's father and grandfather are still upset over the result. Sam's father, especially, is bothered by any reminder of it, such as the farm where they live, which was burned by the Yankees. He decides that he needs to get away from these reminders.

So, Sam's parents pack themselves and Sam and Billy into a wagon and they take off for the uninhabited West. They are moving toward the Dakota territories, where they have heard the land is great for growing crops and anyone can get rich.

Sam is unhappy about leaving, and frustrated with Billy, who has a sunny disposition and always seems to be in a good mood about whatever is happening. But as they move farther away into the unknown, Sam and Billy begin to get along better. When they do make it to Dakota, though, there is more trouble waiting for them.

I liked the detailed descriptions of life--how the family's wagon was packed, what the people ate, and how they built a house, among other things. I also liked how Sam's mother and father related to each other and to their boys. I didn't like Sam's overwhelming jealousy toward Billy. I thought he treated Billy unfairly because of it.

Life After the Civil War.......2005-05-12

Grasshopper Summer by Ann Turner is about Sam, a boy, who was quite happy where he was in Kentucky. Then his father decided to move the family west to start a new life in Dakota Territory. Sam's younger brother Billy was excited about the idea, but Sam hated it. Sam never thought of leaving his grandparents, and friends.
It was after the Civil War, and Sam's father was having a tough time without slaves so he decided to move his family to Dakota Territory. When Sam and his family had to move north his father wanted them to start getting used to not having slaves. Sam never thought of meeting people along the way. The family worked hard to make their dugout house. They worked through the weeks and gathered seed.
Sam started to see things a little differently and started to like the west. This book is good for people who like to read about survival after the Civil War.
Becca a 6th grader

Help Needed .......2005-03-10

A character from Grasshopper Summer by Anna Turner was Sam. Sam had some problems. One was that his family was moving. Then grasshoppers came and ate all their crops. Sam's friend wrote to George Washington for blankets and food. Sam wrote to his grandfather for the same reason.
They needed blankets so they could stay warm. They also had a shortage of blankets. So they could stay warm, because winter was coming soon. They needed food because grasshoppers came and ate most of their crops. They also could not grow crops because it was too late because of winter. They wrote to Washington and Sam's grandfather for some food and blankets. So they could survive winter, and they could stay healthy.
This book was better then I thought. I think this book was ok. This book was country related. So if you like country things you should read this book. Also remember never judge a book by its cover.
Danny a sixth grader

Pioneer Flavor After the Civil War.......2002-03-12

This book really captures the feeling of the times when pioneers thought moving westward would make them a profit. It helps the reader understand the trials and tribulations of moving westward. The killing of a colt to the grasshopper invasion real grips the reader. The charactes being approximately the age of a fifth or sixth grader really helps youngsters who read this book to make a personal connection. It also helps the reader understand the role of the father, mother, and children during the late 1800s. Furthermore, it shows them although slavery has ended, how many still felt the African American still had his place. From crossing the mighty Mississippi River, to going to the Dakota Terriotory, this book truly captures the time and events of an interesting period in American history.

A good book of surviving a 'Grasshopper Summer'........1998-10-14

Sam's father decides to take the family to Dakota Terrotory for a new life.But Sam hates the idea of leaving his friends,grandparents for a new life.The hard journey to Dakota Terrotory doesn't compare to the surprises that await Sam and his family.

Average customer rating:

More enchanting photography. More mediocre text.
...simply wonderful.
Disappointing!!!

Looking for the Summer

Manufacturer: Creative Publishing international
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1559718382

Book Description

World-renowned photographer Jim Brandenburg once again uses the hidden world of his beloved northern woods as the setting for a daunting artistic challenge. From June 21st to September 21st, Jim spent each day capturing the spirit of the Northern Minnesota wilderness through his camera. At the end of each day, Jim edited the day's shoot and picked the best shot to represent that day's adventure. The resulting book literally teems with life. It is filled with the color and action of a pristine natural world during its most energetic season of the year. It features all of Brandenburg's favorite subjects: wildlife and wildflowers, water and wide-open skies. As always, Jim brings the photojournalist's instinct for the critical moment to each photo. His is a style quite unlike any other nature or wildlife photographer. As was true of the best-selling Chased by the Light, Jim's exercise in photographic technique became something much, much more: a study in human perspective and vision. For, in addition to being a world-class photographer, Jim Brandenburg is a philosopher/poet. As any reader of his work knows, Jim's influences are broad: native American mythology; classical Japanese culture; and Zen Buddhism. Most of all, though, Jim has lived his life as a dedicated student of the natural world-of earth and sky, of water and wind, of plants and creatures. It is in the cyclical rhythms of the natural world that Jim discovers serenity and the meaning of life, and these lessons are conveyed brilliantly through the images and words married together in this book.

Customer Reviews:

More enchanting photography. More mediocre text........2005-01-05

I am perhaps one of Jim Brandenburg the Photographer's biggest fans. I am not such a fan, however, of Jim Brandenburg the author. But I will say this, his writing abilities have improved drastically from Brother Wolf, and he is after all, a photographer first and foremost.

The photography in Looking for the Summer has received a lot of flack because it does not, admittedly, conform to many of the norms we've come to expect in rank-and-file nature photography. When this set of photographs was published in National Geographic, the letters to the editors in the next edition railed on them for being overly saturated, too simplistic, and technically flawed.

Yet this refreshing break from overly trite and boring nature photography is exactly what I find so welcoming and enjoyable. Simply put, his photos are stunning! As a week-end shutter hack I find myself staring at every page in this, and all of his other works, and then trying to emulate his works in my own photography.

Keep it up, Jim! Can't wait for what ever you're next project might be.

...simply wonderful........2004-10-13

Are you tired of looking at the nature photographs that al look the same? Obviously so was Brandenburg. This book is such a welcome departure from the rules and guidelines that plague photographers, and leave us with bland, rehashed photos that lack any sort of spark. It is simply wonderful.

Disappointing!!!.......2004-01-18

Jim Brandenburg is clearly a highly talented photographer. Unfortunately, you would never know it from this book. There are several images which are interesting, but for the most part the images in this book are either compositionally uninteresting, technically flawed, or both. Without the Brandenburg name, this would never have been published.

Average customer rating:

One of my 3-year-old's favorite books

The Summer Noisy Book
Margaret Wise Brown
Manufacturer: Harpercollins Childrens Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Picture Books | Ages 4-8 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

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The Seashore Noisy Book

ASIN: 0060208554

Customer Reviews:

One of my 3-year-old's favorite books.......2002-12-01

My daughter loves this book. It's about a dog who takes a car trip to a farm and hears all kinds of noises. It's best when read with enthusiasm. My daughter likes to make the noises along with me or whoever is reading. The illustrations are bright and colorful and the text is large and easy to read, this will probably be one of the first books she can read on her own.

Front Range Descents: Spring and Summer Skiing and Snowboarding In Colorado's Front Range

Average customer rating:

Front Range Descents: Spring and Summer Skiing and Snowboarding In Colorado's Front Range
Ron Haddad , and Eileen Faughey
Manufacturer: Sigma Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0965041239

Book Description

Front Range Descents is more than a guidebook. It is a celebration of the spring skiing and snowboarding experience...velvety corn snow, sunny days, rushing streams, pine-scented breezes, wildlife and wildflowers.

75 Descents on 54 Peaks

* Choose from intermediate cruisers to expert descents.
* Each detailed route description will guide you from the trailhead to the summit and back.
* 29 color topo maps will make trip planning easy.
* 135 photos will inspire you to strap skis to your pack and head for the hills.

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