Also, the pictures in this book are excellent and are much more detailed than the ones that I was able to take. They make a great addition to my visual explanations of my trip.

I would recommend this book if either you are going to Barcelona, or have been there. But I would also think that it would be good for someone who is just interested in architecture or the history of someone who changed the face of Barcelona permanently.

The arrival of her cousin Leopold and his intriguing Armenian friend Aram brings Edith back to life. The two young men, having just returned from an archeological dig in Iraq, challenge her to think about the world beyond southwestern Australia. They fascinate her with tales of the places they've traveled and the worlds they have seen. With Aram, Edith shares a special attraction and, after he and Leopold leave, she finds out that she is pregnant with his child. With new confidence, Edith decides to keep the baby and, after her son Jim is born, the two set off on a journey to find Aram.

Her love and longing for Aram, a man she hardly knows in any conventional sense, take Edith and her son from their isolated home to Soviet-ruled Armenia and then to the Middle East before returning to Australia. This journey brings her closer to Leopold and makes her more aware of her own needs and desires. It instills in Jim a sense of Armenian identity, as well as a wanderlust similar to that of Leopold and his father.

All of London's characters seem lonely. They come together under often dramatic or dangerous circumstances and then share the ordinary details and events of their lives. Despite the subtext of espionage, war and world affairs, this is a quiet novel as shy as Edith but still as bold. London's subdued tone belays the strong emotions of the characters, the urgency of Edith's need to find Aram and the drama of the story. The loneliness of the characters manifests in passionate relationships and these relationships compose much of the novel.

Edith's restlessness drives the plot, but the friendship and adventures of Aram and Leopold underscore the action. Their relationship parallels that of the mythical Gilgamesh and Enkidu. But by the end of the novel, Edith, Leopold and Jim are all like Gilgamesh, living life as best they can in the absence of Aram, their Enkidu. When he grows up, Jack becomes a figure like Edith, journeying far, with the assistance of Leopold, to search out the legacy of Aram.

The pace of GILGAMESH is slow, sometimes drowsy, but the novel is well written, a uniquely told yet classically understood take on the themes of friendship, longing and journeying. While no knowledge of the myth of Gilgamesh is required to understand, appreciate or enjoy the novel, it would certainly enhance the reading. Spinning from a myth of universal themes, London has created a novel just as evocative and universal.

Like Gilgamesh, Edith must leave home, test herself, love and lose much in order to learn her true strength and worth. Like Gilgamesh, she comes home weary and wise. And the reader, invested in the brutally real lives of Edith and Jim, gains much from this emotional and honest tale.

--- Reviewed by Sarah Rachel Egelman

Your child will learn how dogs are fun to play with, and how some things aren't quite as scary as they might first appear.

The colorful, warm drawings have endured through the years, and will help bring a smile to your face.

I fully recommend "Go Away, Dog."

Anthony Trendl

"This was a library book I checked out for Lisa when she was 4 and 1/2 years old. She loved it so much she kept putting off taking it back and one day 'could never find it again'. Later, she told me she hid it and by then I had paid the library for it. Her most favorite book then and for a long time."

I cherish my copy of Go Away Dog and am buying the new version for good friend's baby shower.

Not only is it a funny story, but the artwork is great, too. The all-animal band & their friends have a down-homey, folksie kind of feel to them-I was sort of reminded of an informal music jam among friends. For example, the Bear and his buddies are wearing rolled-up-sleeve flannel shirts, over-alls, and work boots, like Jerry & the band sittin' around and pickin' at home...

The other animals are a hoot, too, especially the little scurrying critters in the background. Your child will have a fun time picking out the little guys as they react to the main events up on stage. This is one of my faves!

It's been 18 years since I read this book to my daughter. Of all the books I used to read her, this one is the one I remember best. The story is funny, and the pictures are interesting for a small child at bedtime. I've often wondered if it were still in publication, and I'm glad to see it is. Try it out on your child, and perhaps it'll create a similar memory for you!

Since leaving Pennsylvania for a farm in Covington, North Carolina, the adventuresome triumvirate has survived fire, a duplicitous suitor, a failed business, greedy land developers, and annual invasions of ladybugs.

It is now 1999 and the Y2K scare is approaching. But, the greatest challenges facing the ladies involve their hearts as woes beset family and friends.

Hannah's estranged daughter, Laura, has been seriously injured in a hurricane, a storm that killed the man she loved. The young woman Hannah describes as "hard to handle, rebellious," is invited to recuperate at the farm. Covered with scars, her leg in a cast, sedated for the journey, Laura arrives. She is in physical pain, and emotionally bereft.

In addition, Laura finds much at the farm irritating; "...the creak of the porch floor under the ladies' rocking chairs, the minuscule bathroom that forced her to leave the door ajar with her toes out in the hall."

Surprisingly, it is Amelia who makes the first breakthrough. Recalling the depression she felt when her husband died, she is able to establish a fragile bond with the young woman, eventually forging a friendship over bowls of coffee ice cream.

However, Amelia soon finds more to occupy her mind. Her recently found talent for photography proves to be more than a hobby when her work is selected for showing at a New York gallery.

Hannah is filled with anticipation after she is asked to be director of the Bella Maxwell Park and Preserve, gardens, hiking trails, campsites, museums, and "a living Indian village" to be established on the 700 acres of land saved from developers' strip malls.

It would seem that the ladies' lives are taking different paths as Grace receives a call from a dear friend, Brenda, who has just learned that her husband is terminally ill. As always, Grace finds a way to help.

To compound this concern, Grace is diagnosed with diabetes, a fact she resolutely denies, and she is worried about Lucy, a young friend. Officials suspect that Lucy may be an abuse victim. Grace also fears that her son, Roger, will be unfaithful to his longtime companion.

Sound like a soap opera? At times it is. Yet, it is an opera filled with sustaining values - friendship, loyalty, kindness, and love. Granted, there are times when one would like Grace's indignation to be expressed a bit more forcefully than wanting to "snatch back a bandanna" she has given or one is tempted to push Hannah into communicating with her daughter.

Yet once again Medlicott portrays Southern characters with precision and fondness, while decorating her tale with expressive descriptions of seasonal foliage. Fans will welcome From The Heart Of Covington, another year in the life of the ladies and one more reminder of all that glitters in golden years.

However, not all is perfect. Hannah's daughter Laura barely survived a hurricane that destroyed her boat home and left her severely injured mentally and physically. She moves in with the three elderly women while she struggles to recover. Grace learns she suffers from diabetes, but cannot yet cope with that knowledge. Amelia knows her troubles pale in comparison, but her new thirst for life is in jeopardy as she frets that no one seems to want her photos beyond her immediate friends.

Fans of the Covington novels will enjoy the third tale though in many ways it is repetitious of the previous plots in which the three women confront age with its problems by renewing their lives with so-called youthful undertakings. The story line is fun while providing the message that no one is old if their young at heart, clearly encouraging the audience to do not act as spectators as someone else's life flashes by. FROM THE HEART OF COVINGTON is a well written modern day novel that showcases Joan Medlicott's ability to dramatize people's plights while inspiring readers to live life filled with zest and to the fullest.

Harriet Klausner

The ladies took Laura in and surrounded her with love and warmth, teaching a lesson of triumph over the depths of despair following the death of a loved one. From The Ladies, Laura learned how to live again, even though she felt that her life was hopeless. She even became a vital part of Covington and the beautiful gardens being built by Hannah.

When Grace discovered that she was diabetic I felt her dismay, because she is a wonderful cook on whom everyone depends for social events. Then when Amelia had a New York display of her fabulous pictures, I was overjoyed for her. The characters in this book are so real that they become like old friends and I find myself worrying about them, laughing with them and anticipating their next adventure.

***** I have such happy times reading about the ongoing lives of Amelia, Hannah, and Grace, that I absolutely hated to finish this book. Many of the scenes are so descriptive and beautiful that this book not only entertains the reader with the adventures of The Ladies, but also pleases the senses with such beautiful visual images that I often read a passage twice just to picture the scene. Joan Medlicott is masterful with her use of personification and metaphors, and I can hardly wait for the next book about The Ladies. Please let there be another, because I miss them the minute I turn the last page. *****

Reviewed by Ruth Wilson.

In "Goldie's Fortune" they listen to the story of Goldie, a Depression era doll who has come to be repaired. While hearing the story of financial troubles during the Depression, the girls worry if Far Nana has enough money to buy them school supplies. They learn about another girl's brave sacrifice to help her family during the Depression, and try to think about how to bring up the subject of money with Far Nana.

Overall, I liked the story of Lila and Rose and I liked Goldie's story. The discomfort Rose and Lila felt in discussing money and their needs with their grandmother is one that many children may relate to within their own families.

In Goldie's story, there were some elements of suspended belief in this particular book that felt too unreal to be comfortable for me. At that point, it took some time to resell me on the rest of the book, but I was involved with the story once again before it ended. It was a good story about the changes that happened to many families during the depression and how a child might have felt about those changes.

The reading level on this book is for grade 3. I would not recommend it for readers under 6 years of age because the intertwining stories may be confusing. A paper doll is included with each book, which may be of interest to some readers.

The book is organized into broad categories of experience, and uses the womens' own words from letters and diaries to tell their stories. There are lots of thumbnail illustrations of shipboard life, too. All in all this is a fascinating peek at Victorian conventionality and how far women could go in stretching it while remaining firmly trussed within its bounds.