Doreen Rapport Freedom River; Illustration by Bryan Collier
14pp. ISBN 0-7868-0350-9.-ISBN 0-7868-1229-X (pbk.).-ISBN 0-7868-229-0 (lib.bdg.)
(Intermediate)

Freedom River is a true story, about getting from Kentucky to the free state Ohio. John Parker a former slave, and now a businessman of Ripely Ohio. John then helps a couple and their child escape being slaves to freedom. The freeing of these salves is taken place through out the year. Both the author and the illustrator work wonderfully together to make this book seem real. The text clearly goes along with the pictures. The illustration is remarkable, the pictures look like photographs. Bryan Collier uses a different technique for his illustrations, it looks as if the pictures are pieces of a puzzle arranged together. As you begin to read this book look closely at the faces of the people, you will see wavy lines, these lines represent the Ohio River. The color schemes really put things in perspective also, they are realistic colors. Through out this book, Doreen Rapport uses short phrases to describe the event that is taking place: Run. Run, Row. Row, Listen. Listen, Wait. Wait, Closer. Louder, Crawl. Crawl. This gives the reader insight to what is going on in the picture by just two word phrases. Another author that does this same technique is Under the Quilt of Night by Deborah Hopkinson. The ending of this story is really surprising, I but when thought about it makes sense. This book is just not about the freeing of slaves, but it is about doing what is right in life, helping others out. I recommend this book to adults and children in the intermediate level. An interesting addition to the end of the story is a historical note which explains in great detail about the life of John Parker.

In the book, A Freedom River, the writing of Doreen Rappaport along with the illustrations of Bryan Collier together create a stunning retelling of one particular trip on the Underground Railroad. This is the story of a slave family escaping from the slave state of Kentucky to the free state of Ohio.
The book's uniqueness lies not in its topic, but rather in the characters. John Parker, this true story's hero, was not only a conductor on the Underground Railroad, but also an accomplished businessman from Ripley, Ohio. He was born a slave and worked to buy his freedom. He owned his own foundry, and employed both black and white individuals from both Ohio and Kentucky. He helped to make this book unique because he is not a well known conductor, but his impact on the Underground Railroad was just as great. It is said that he helped over 900 slaves escape to freedom during his lifetime.
A Freedom River draws the reader into the experience of the Underground Railroad. It masterfully pulls forth every imaginable emotion, as the characters must make choices that may end in the separation of families, death or freedom. The pace of the book along with large, bold directives, such as RUN, CRAWL, and LISTEN, create a feeling of breathlessness, much as if the reader too, were running for freedom.
The illustrations work hand in hand with the written word in order to create the overall experience of the book. The multi-textured collages with realistic faces add emotion and dept to the story. Wavy lives found throughout the illustrations deeply symbolize the river and its importance in the search for freedom.
This is a beautiful book and worthy of a rating of more than five stars. It could be successfully used with children from 1st to 6th grade. It is an excellent book for introducing and further understanding the Underground Railroad.

Before the Civil War, Kentucky was a slave state. But just 1000 feet across the Ohio River, Ohio was a free state. John Parker, was as a conductor on the Underground Railroad and helped hundreds of slaves cross that river to freedom. John was a unique individual, an ex-slave who learned to read and write and was able to buy his freedom and a successful Ohio businessman who employed both black and white workers. But he never forgot his slave roots and the terrible pain of being separated from his mother and sold when he was eight years old. Because of this, he risked and devoted his own life to helping slaves escape to safety in Ohio. Freedom River tells the story of one of John Parker's trips to Kentucky to rescue a family of three..... Doreen Rappaport has written a powerful and inspiring story of the courage and determination of one man to right the wrongs of slavery. Her eloquent text makes John Parker and this story come alive and is complimented by Bryan Collier's vivid illustrations that add a real sense of drama and urgency. Perfect for children 8-12, Freedom River is a wonderful introduction to the Underground Railroad and includes historical notes to enhance the story and augment discussion.

The book was extemely intresting in everyway. I think I would recommend it to anyone who wishes to "think" more about the world around them.

An interesting look at a world through the eyes of a character who functions as a Deus ex Machina. I enjoyed it.

The eponymous traveller winds his way through a strange and bizarre world, maybe of the future, maybe of the past, 'tidying up' the chaotic beings he finds there - imprisoning capricious and vicious elementals, punishing the wicked and granting the wishes of the high- and low- born.

.. but none of the recipients of the wishes get *exactly* what they want ...

It's good to see this offbeat little classic back in print. John Collier is perhaps better known for his short stories, but this first novel was an exquisitely funny satire. It tells the story of Emily, a chimpanzee who pines for a certain Englishman, Mr. Fatigay, while he teaches school in Africa. When Fatigay returns to England, he takes the friendly chimp with him as a companion, for he realizes that she is clever... though he has no idea that the silent chimp is able to read and to recite literature in her head, nor that she loves him. Emily is handed over to Mr. Fatigay's human girlfriend in England, who will tolerate no rival of any sort and treats her new servant shabbily. Still, Emily finds time to dress up and sneak out to London and the British Museum Reading room (where she is taken for a fascinating woman of mystery!) among other absurd adventures. Though the book is lighthearted, we do feel for its protagonist and her hidden love. Collier has a keen eye for the petty foibles of humankind, and of course the big joke is that the chimp is more intelligent and sensitive than any human here. The premise is somewhat outrageous, but the good writing allows us to suspend disbelief and go along for a ride filled with subtle giggles and wicked belly laughs.

I totally agree with the previous reviewer. "His Monkey Wife" is a tour-de-force of English light humorous fiction on the order of "The Canterville Ghost" or "Three Men And A Boat"; as fantasy or literary pastiche it rates with "Orlando." And as Eva Brann emphasizes in her introduction, no heroine of English literature since Jane Eyre can match Emily for moral sensitivity, wit, grace, and spirit. Any woman who's lost her heart to some unworthy Mr. Fatigay and suffered nobly for it will love Emily and recognize her as a sister, if not a biological cousin.

If this is not a lost treasure, I don't know what is. "His Monkey Wife" is exceptionally unique and delightful to read. I found myself identifying with and empathising with Emily (the "chimp") and rooting for her throughout.

In December of 1917, Mabel Dodge Sterne and her husband, artist Maurice Sterne, made their way up to Taos in an unforgettable journey up the rural road. Mabel immediately connected spiritually and emotionally with Taos and was drawn to find a place to stay. "Edge of Taos Desert" is the story of her personal transformation during her first year in Taos. In many ways, this book is an insightful commentary on Santa Fe and Taos in 1918. Mabel's description of the physical and cultural environment is vivid. She describes the Mexicans bringing in wood by burro to sell as well the first time she saw an Indian. Careful readers will discern the conflicts and prejudices between the Pueblo people, the Mexicans, and the more newly arrived Anglos. She provides many priceless early observations of the region that may best be understood by readers who have some knowledge of New Mexico history and culture. However, understanding Mabel's history may provide more information about the significance of this book.

Mabel Dodge Luhan grew up in a wealthy family that left her emotionally bankrupt. She spent years of her adult life looking for the fulfillment of her emptiness. She was a renaissance woman in Italy, and then a salon hostess in New York, hosting conversations with some of the brightest minds of her time. She was a radical modernist looking for a solution to the American ills brought on by the Industrial Revolution. "Edge of Taos Desert" is the most important autobiographical chapter in her life because, in the Pueblo people, she believed that she had found a solution to both her emotional emptiness and America's discontentment. Her role in the future became to draw artists to Taos to write about and paint the people, the place, and the culture in order that it might be saved and that, we, as Americans might also save ourselves with what we'd learned.

She had a messianic vision of utopia with the Victorian belief that a woman's role was to support others. She found her own voice, though, in writing her autobiographies and several other books. "Edge of Taos Desert" is a beautifully written literary piece. She journeys through with strong social and cultural observations and a bold confidence and irreverence that allows her to see what a white woman of her time would not have been allowed to see. By August of 1918, her third husband (Sterne) has returned to New York, and she enters the door of being one of the most infamous Taoseno's in that town's history with a poignant and personal tale to tell.

This book is a rare jem. The writing is of unparralled beauty and perception. Mabel Dodge Lujan describes her arrival in Taos, New Mexico in l9l7. Lujan has come from New York city where she was a wealthy socialite involved in various art and political/psychological cicles (She was the former lover of John Reed who was portrayed by Warren Beatty in the movie Reds). She has come to Taos to reunite with her husband, the artist Maurice Stearn. However, almost imediately she finds that the town of Taos, and especially the Indians of the neighboring pueblo, are awakening the depths of her in a sublime and inevitable way. She describes how this process of conversion from a relatively shallow person (though an earnest seeker of truth), to one who begins to understand and feel the life beyond herself is catalyzed by the Indian Tony Lujan, whom she later marries. The story is really a spiritual one, but never described as such. Rather one only feels the utter humility of this women in the face of a way of life that increasingly draws her to it while also drawing her to the depth of herself. Her descriptions of the Indian life of the pueblo must be some of the finest ever crafted about native Americans.

"Braves loved maidens, and great battles with no names raged and chiefs walked like giants and breathed air that no man had ever breathed-all in my backyard." John Collier wrote and illustrated a book of poety. The book starts in a present day backyard and takes you back in time; letting you imagine all the things that probably took place in your backyard. Beautifully written and beautifully illustrated. The Backyard is just as much for adults as it is for children.

Possibly the single problem with the original version of "Convective Boiling and Condensation" by J.G. Collier was that it was getting too old. After the update made in the last versions with the work by J.R. Thome, the book has been renewed recovering the role of a fundamental textbook to be considered for both teaching and research. It is full of the best explanations you can find about several basic heat transfer mechanisms and provides precious suggestions for further reading and more in depth study. A nice book indeed.

A thrilling adventure! More thrilling even than all her other books combined!

Prospero, an eccentric wizard living in the Southern Kingdom, has begun to experience something new to him, fear. Nightmares visit him, unearthly shadows dance upon his walls, and dreadful apparitions accost him. When his friend, Roger Bacon, returns from England with shocking news about an eldritch book, he realizes that someone is gaining great power, and that someone wants Prospero dead. And so, Prospero and Roger set off on a quest to unravel the mystery and stop someone who may now be the most powerful wizard in the world.

This book contains one of the most wonderfully unique stories I have every read! It is gothic horror, but one where the protagonist is a wizard. Unlike the wizards presented in many stories however, Prospero often finds that his powers do not help him, and that he must confront the horrors or flee from them, the same as any other man. Through it all, the story portrays a gentle humor that makes it such wonderful reading.

I really enjoyed the black-and-white illustrations provided by Marilyn Fitschen (though this may be only in certain editions), their stark nature adds greatly to this suspense-filled story. I highly recommend this story to any fan of fantasy literature, or player of D&D!

John Bellairs is best known for his children's thrillers, but he also penned one of the best horror-fantasies ever written (a sadly neglected field, only ventured into by a few). My old paperback copy has a quite from Ursula Le Guin, stating that Bellairs "knows what wizardry is all about." Boy, is she right.

The book starts at the home of Prospero, a reclusive, good natured wizard with an obnoxious talking mirror and a lot of very tacky clutter. His friend Roger Bacon arrives at his home, only to find that sinister forces are creeping toward Prospero's home: an enormous moth that gives them a creepy feeling. Gray-cloaked figures lurking outside. A skeletal bird fluttering at the window.

Roger brings news about a strange book; Prospero realizes that there is an old enemy, Melichus, gaining power to destroy him. He and Roger set out on a hazardous journey across the geographically simple land, ruled by a rather unimpressive king, to find and unravel the mystery behind this strange growing force for evil.

More than once, Prospero and Roger will hit a dead end, be deceived by an evil illusion, or face the horrifying effects of their enemy. And the final battle in this book is unlike any battle of wizards ever seen before.

This book is very difficult to summarize, as some things simply don't click into place for a long time. It is, additionally, not a book that you can really skim. I read the book once, said "What?" on the last page, and had to go back and reread the climax.

This book lacks, in parts, the humor so necessary in Bellairs's books to keep the protagonists from going insane. Long stretches have nothing funny at all; we do have the irritating, singing magic mirror, the attack of the troll on the mini-boat, and the ridiculous rhyming spells that the wizards often utter: "Trying to find out if/(Hagiographically)/John of Jerusalem/liked almond paste..."

This book also defies fantasy cliches; the world that Prospero and Roger live in is very simple, not filled with dark fortresses and castles, but with ordinary villages connected by roads and woods. Evil, in Bellairs's world, is not something that sits on a throne and gives sadistic orders; it creeps into cracks and crevices and flits out at people. The "moth" scene manages to give an ordinary annoyance a feeling of horror; the scene where Prospero finds the innkeeper, and his subsequent escape are some of the most effectively creepy scenes I've ever read. He does so without gore or gimmicks; half the horror is not knowing what is conjured by Melichius.

Prospero is a quietly likeable character; his quirky house endears us to him, as does his reaction to the magic mirror. Roger is a little less defined, as the real him appears throughout a relatively small amount of the book. Other characters flit in and out.

Wizardry in this book is more than incantations and walking around with a funny hat (which neither of the characters has). I liked the description of the final duel between good and evil; also the effect on a wizard's staff when the wizard dies. Bellairs's wizardry is not flashy or show-offy, but a serious practice.

This book is relatively short, only about 180 pages; some kids may be a bit confused by the complexity of it, though. However, this is a delightful read...

My initial reading of this book was when it first came out in paperback in 1978. This isn't by way of bragging, but simply to point out that it impressed me so much that I still have that very copy of the book, despite many relocations and resizings of my own library. For its time it was so unlike any other fantasy book that it made an immediate impression and has continued to do so to this very day.

Written with a deceiving simplicity that, no doubt, owes its origins to Bellairs' many successes as a writer of horror fiction for young adults, 'The Face in the Frost' is the tale of two wizards who must prevent the completion of a spell so awful it would bring the ruin of their world. When Prospero (not the one on the island) finds his comfy and peculiar home under siege by baleful magick he is alarmed. The appearance of his old friend and co-wizard Roger Bacon (the very one) only confirms that ominous portents are about. Faced with giant moths and a force of giant menacing shadows they make their escape, bent on finding the source of the problem.

In short order they realize that someone is in the process of activating a spell inscribed in a legendary tome. They must face illusion, traps, and even death trying to discover the identity of the book's new owner. And then, once the identity is known they must wrest the book from its keeper's grasp and bring it to destruction. In a trick unknown since Aristotle's Cave, Bellairs manages to fit this detailed and wide ranging quest into a novel of less than two hundred pages. For this accomplishment, if no other, Bellairs deserves a great deal of appreciation.

Bellairs characters are gem-like, as is the world in which they move. The tone of the narrative is quite humorous, with Prospero and Bacon getting much of the credit for keeping up a banter full of strange twists that seems to wander at will across time and place without any disastrous side effects. The narrative, in contrast, is quite chilling. Bellairs shows a fine ability to create suspense and horror without having enormous quantities of gore splattered over the pages. On several occasions I found myself unexpectedly spooked by what on the surface was comparative mild-mannered prose.

For all the time I've had this book I have always been surprised that I haven't come across more of Bellairs' work. It is only recently, thanks to the Internet, that I discovered that Bellairs was pre-eminently known as a writer of youthful fiction, and that he died prematurely. In retrospect, it is probably only a fortunate accident that 'The Face in the Frost' crossed over into adult fiction. It certainly could be read with great enjoyment by anyone who can cope with Bellairs clear but literate writing style. Lest I forget, the story is accompanied by many wonderful illustrations from the pen of Marilyn Fitschen, which the reader will find as pleasant as the story.

I recently stumbled across The Sleep of Stone in my local library and thought it looked interesting. My read of it turned out to be a predictable, but pleasant experience.

It is a very short novel about the origens of a local legend. The shortness makes it an enjoyable quick read and the legend, although influenced by various fairy tales, is fresh and captivating. The story is presented in a simple storytelling frame structure. An old man encounters a young couple in a local romantic grotto and ends up telling them the sadly romantic legend associated with it of a young couple from years before and of the creature whose consuming love of the young man tried to destroy them. It is a story sweetly told, but with a close eye to the deep emotions of the characters.

I found the actual tale of the Sleep of Stone to be the best part of the book. The frame story was cute, but it was distracting. It actually took me a few tries in starting the book because I couldn't get past that part. While the end part is good, the beginning part (which sets up the real story) is not very captivating.

The real strength of the book was the way as a reader I was able to empathize with the characters' emotions. The young love of the couple was evident, but most vivid were the feelings of the creature that tried to destroy that love. The creature's obsessive love of the young man completely consumed her. This burning desire pushes her to trick, murder, and unleash utter chaos at the young couple's wedding. The passion is so real, it is disturbing.

The book follows a typical plotline for a fairytale type story, but it still is a touching and enjoyable read. Pick it up for a short cozy evening and have fun.

The Sleep of Stone is marvelous. It's a simple story, but told with stunning beauty and depth. The atmosphere is dreamy and slightly surrealistic. This wonderful little treasure can be read on so many different levels-- The Sleep of Stone just goes to show that fantasy doesn't have to be of epic proportions to be excellent. This slim little volume touched me more than six or seven hundred pages of complex plots and myriad characters could have.

You have to read this book it was the best book ever to be written and one you simply just can't pass up. I rated it a ten only because there were no higher choices!!! There is just not enough words in the english dictionary to describe how wonderful a book this really was!!!