Ever wonder what kind of tree you're looking at? If you're in Texas, you can't miss with this book.

The book includes a map of soil types (with its natural diversity, Texas could be a country in itself!) and follows it with general drawings of leaves. Compare the leaf you see to the drawings in the book and you're sent to a tree family. From there you simply find the tree from more detailed drawings and area maps. It's easy! I am now considered a tree guru.

What else? Look through the book and find which trees will do best in your area, their size and flowers, virtually everything the homeowner, naturalist, or budding naturalist needs or wants to know.

When hiking our many parks and wildscape areas, other naturalist books stay home. This book comes with me...it's great!

This is the book on which the Academy award winning movie was based. Listed as for "young adults," I still found it to be a delightful read for summer's train ride to work. The movie, by the way, is rather loyal to the book's story, but improves it in some areas. The book, though, gives the reader more background on Homer Smith (the protagonist) and the subtleties of his character. The author also better explains the reasons for Sister Marthe's obsession with building the church and her effect on the community. The writing flows smoothly and the author does not use the religious characters for proselytizing. I would recommend this book for any secular or non-secular reader of middle grade age and higher.

I'm not going to quote from the book, and I'm not going review this book by telling you who did what to whom. This is what I believe is the jist of this story:

When someone is expected to do something, this someone has an opportunity to be loved by people who sought his work. If the expectation is unreasonable, or highly unprobable to be fulfilled, then this is faith. One who does not disappoint faith is the one who achieves greatness.

This is the story of one such person.

There is a young legend developing on the west side of the mountains. It will, inevitably, grow with the years. Like all legends, it is composed of falsehood and fact. In this case, the truth is more compelling than the trappings of imagination with which it has been invested. The man who has become a legendary figure was, perhaps, of greater stature in simple reality than he will ever be in the oft-repeated, and expanded, tales which commemorate his deeds. Here, before the whole matter gets out of hand, is how it was...

His name was Homer Smith. -The Lilies of the Field

And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you- you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What will we eat?' or 'What will we drink?' or 'What will we wear?' For it is the gentiles who strive for all these things. But strive first for the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 'So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today's trouble is enough for today. -Matthew 6:28-34

It's maddening to see so many references to The Lilies of the Field, both book and movie, as "minor." Sure, it's a short book. Yes, the characters and situation are so idealized that it's nearly a fable. No, it does not accurately reflect the state of race relations in America in the early 1960s, nor at any other time anywhere, for that matter. But ask yourself this : how many books have you read in your life that actually made you feel more optimistic about the prospects of the species ? If it's really that easy to create sympathetic characters and write a story that uplifts the spirits, why haven't more authors written them ? Isn't it fair to conclude that the paucity of such stories, and the memorable nature of this one, indicate just how major an occurrence it is when one gets written ?

At any rate, hopefully everyone knows the tale, either from the great film or from a required reading in High School. As the opening lines above indicate, Homer Smith is a nearly mythological figure, a kind of John Henry, Paul Bunyan, or Shane. In an unlikely turn of events, this black Baptist former Army sergeant ends up helping some Catholic nuns, refugees from East Germany, to build a chapel in the New Mexico desert, despite a lack of help, tools, and materials.

Homer Smith brings an invaluable set of qualities to his task, chief among them : self confidence, self reliance, a puritan work ethic, and a healthy amount of pride. Mother Maria Marthe, the Teutonic leader of the tiny band of nuns, brings one great gift, faith :

Faith. It is a word for what is unreasonable. If a man believes in an unreasonable thing, that is faith.

Mother genuinely believes that God will provide, even that Homer has been sent by God, and that He will see to it that the chapel is built. The powerful combination of this mismatched pair's inner strengths serves as an inspiration to the entire community. Hispanic, Anglo, and Black; Catholic and Protestant; wealthy and poor; German, Mexican, and American; they come together to create a unique house of worship. And as the legend of Homer Smith grows in the desert, Mother Maria Marthe says of him :

'That is the chapel of Saint Benedict the Moor. ... That painting of the saint is the work of Sister Albertine. The model was a man named Schmidt who came to us under the direction of God. He built this chapel with his two hands under great difficulties. It is all from him.'

She pauses then and her voice drops. 'He was not of our faith, nor of our skin,' she says, 'but he was a man of greatness, of an utter devotion.'

Just as Homer's devotion to his task and Mother's faith give them a certain greatness, the aspirational beauty of this book gives it too a greatness that defies that parsimonious "minor" classification.

GRADE : A+

Very well done! The photos are excellent and clear. The information is concise and well written. 'Mo' Nielsen is well-respected in the field of Lepidoptera and has produced a publication worthy of his reputation. The only fault in editing I have found is a photo of a living butterfly misidentified as Edward's Hairstreak (it is actually the very similar Banded Hairstreak). A long-awaited work!

This book can definitely help the Michigan collector find and identify butterflies. Pictures of both the front and back of the butterfly are show for each species, and interesting variations (differences in male and female, hybrids) are shown as well. In addition, a map of the state divided into counties accompanies each butterfly, so you can figure out where that butterfly can be found. Finally, notes are given about the rarity of the butterfly--some have been recorded in Michigan only once, and others are considered strays. The great details given in this book have helped us correctly identify many butterflies that a more general guide to butterflies couldn't help us with. This book sets a high standard for all regional books on butterflies!

Although it has been several years since I read this collection, it went on my short list of about twenty books I'd like to own and purchase copies for family members. Nicely paced, imaginative, enjoyable stories. Paint a vivid picture of a time and place.

A well written guide to QE II's elaborate collection of precious stones. Comes complete with her family tree as a reference, which you may find handy to refer to as the author traces back how most of the pieces came to the Queen through her ancestors. Many pictures, however, there are almost as many of Queen Mary as there are of Queen Elizabeth II! I especially liked the way it was discussed how some older pieces have been taken apart, reset, and reconfigured to make them do duty in the 20th and 21st centuries. A very well researched book that any royal watcher will enjoy. I would love to see the author devote a publication to the jewelry (real and paste) of the late Princess of Wales.

"Surviving the Island of Grace" by Leslie Leyland Fields opens up a world for the reader that few see in such frank, unyielding literary light. The author's practiced instinct enables her to construct "Grace" out of exceptionally strong stuff. She weaves together the tapestry of her story as a youngster, young woman, wife and mother. These segments of her life take us from her rigorous New England childhood, through post-oil spill Alaska. The sturdy, sure-lined threads of learning, working and growing into marriage are blended skillfully into the workscape of the Alaska setnetter--a form of salmon fishing where the fish come to the net, rather than the net to the fish.
It is all here--and I mean all, the harsh, ugly griminess of living in a remote summer fish camp. There is also love, good fellowship, learning and above all else, faith. Leyland Fields is a person of deep religious conviction. Her faith appears, for the most part, in tasteful doses, even for a non-religious reader such as myself.
There are too many Alaska books by "hit and run" authors, who live up north a few years, then write a book or three. In "Grace" Leyland-Fields engraves all of her two-decades plus Alaska living on every one of its 330 pages. This book's most conspicuous literary achievement is the genuine, ardent authority of the narrator's voice.

Reads like a research paper for a masters degreee

This is a hard job for anyone. Why do these women whine about how difficult the situations were (are).

This is a well written book about fascinating women. I know many of the women Leslie writes about and all are perfectly illustrated by the rich text within the book. Good job!