Somehow Anna captures that peculiar feeling of knowing that your hometown is special and unique. This memoir reads like the best kind of novel - absorbing, enlightening and believable, never trite or sentimental. Reading this book to my kids was a great experience - they really got how things were in the "olden days": the day-to-day realities of living without electricity and indoor plumbing and the timeless importance of family and community.

For those of us born during the Great Depression of the 30's or World War 2, Anna's tales show us one small town in Middle America as our parents and grandparents experienced it. The poignant--and sometimes, comical--details of family and community life are recounted in the context of events on the national and international stage. My mother was Anna's friend, classmate, and neighbor. As she read each chapter, she exclaimed again and again, "She got it exactly right!"

I like this story because I think people everwhere should read it.This story is about a blizzard. This story was good. People should learn to work together

Yes maam they should read this book because they might want to read about blizzards. I liked to read it because I like to know about blizzards.I liked it because they are playing Simon Says.

Thomasina Eliot, an old school friend, is virtually the only human contact Anna Ball has; Anna is nosy, and rather abrasive.
After receiving some of Anna's things for storage while she changed jobs (no forwarding address until Anna knew if it would work out), Thomasina is getting worried after the silence stretches to a few months. She feels responsible, since there's no one else to look out for Anna or care, and engages Miss Silver to trace her and find out if she's all right.

Miss Silver, through ingenuity and some social connections that the police didn't have, manages to extract some useful information from Miss Ball's last (hypocondriac) employer and her household, and with the help of Inspector Abbot, traces Anna to her last known address: a 'mother's help' at Deepe House, Deep End, Ledshire. Over Abbot's protests (Anna's predescessor drowned, Anna is missing) Miss Silver steps back into governess mode and goes undercover, taking the job at Deepe House. (The Craddocks, or really, Mr. Craddock, have tried to rename it Harmony, while establishing an arts/crafts colony, but the new name really didn't take.)

Reading the Miss Silver series, you might get a false impression that they're all similar; far from it. Each book does have at least one set of lovers who are in difficulties of some kind, and who revere her afterwards as a guardian angel (one view of her sitting room in this book stresses all the Victorian-framed photos of young couples and their children). They're generally similar enough in flavor that if you like one, you'll like them all; nice cozy English mysteries.

Seeing Miss Silver in the Craddock household is satisfying. Mr. Craddock, the stepfather, is a pompous fool full of high-flown theories about the right to do exactly what you want, and applying it to the kids (unless they get in the way). The kids actually behave like normal kids running wild, with a mother whose health is breaking down under stress, instead of being written as midget adults. Oh, and if you don't have a sense of humor about health food and 'tea' that tastes like hay, you may be offended by this book.

I love Miss Silver. She sees through the wicked and the good with equal acumen, helps the helpless, and gets her knitting done.

A young girl who is looking for a lost friend, and an artists' colony that may or may not be what it seems make a fine place to display a set of characters. I especially like the talkative weavers.

In this book, we get to see Miss Silver, the former governess, acting as--a governess!

I only came to read this book after I was hunting for informaiton on VATER Syndrome also known as VACTERLS Association. You see I desperately needed any informaiton on this subject when MY son was born with this two years ago.
VATER/VACTERLS is uncommon, but more common than we think. Loizeaux's book is a sad yet wonderful story of the life of his daughter Anna. He tells of his daughter's medical difficulties and just how strong she was in facing her obstacles. I enjoyed this book and recomend it highly.

I read this book over 5 years ago and I still recommend it to people. It is the true story of Anna Loizeaux's short (5 month) life, told by her father with heartbreaking, uplifting honesty. I don't remember all of the details anymore, but I remember my amazement at the love the author conveyed through his words and his memories. Now that I am a parent (I was not when I first read the book), I think this book gave me a glimpse of the power, the fierceness, of parental love.

Excellent story and photographs of a real little boy's life in the rain forest. Particularly useful for teachers to integrate science, social studies, even a math component, as students may calculate the amount of sap needed for a 90 pound ball of rubber, etc. I also liked the facing pages of historical information. For younger children, the focus can simply be on Antonio's own story. Older students may read more details of the historical struggle to gain economic independence and preserve the forest. The historical background and the dangers of daily life are recounted in a matter-of-fact manner, giving a realistic and yet over all positive view of the lives of people who are conserving the beauty of the forest and their way of life. I am delighted to find this book is still available! A colleague who searched for it typed "Rainforest" as one word, and found nothing. "Antonio's Rain Forest" really is something. I highly recommend it.

Antonio's Rain Forest is an outstanding contribution to anyschool or community library collection on nature, ecology, and livingin the Amazon rainforest for young readers. Beautiful photographs by Edward Parker showcase this picturebook adaptation of Anna Lewington's original text. Children are informed of the economic value and history of the rainforest and its rubber plantations as 8 year old Antonio Jose describes the life and work of his family who make a simple living from their surroundings. Portuguese words are provided with pronunciation guides. Highly recommended.

I was first drawn to this book because of the gorgeous cover, but I soon learned that the inside is as good as the outside. The author uses lush descriptions so you feel like you are in the book with the characters. When you read this book you will be transported to a magical island where the tropical trees are lush and green and the air is hot, wet, heavy, and full of exotic scents. The sun always beats down and the ocean is a vivid turquoise. The plot is certainly fresh with twists and turns and a wonderful ending! What characters will you meet? You'll just have to read it! I read this book for the first time several years ago, and I still love to read it, even though I am now 16.

Even though I am 15 years old, this has to be my absolute favourite book. It is filled with great imagination and adventure. I recommend it to anyone who needs something happy and adventurous to read.

This is a unpretentuous book, not glamorous or fit for the coffee table, but it contains wonderful recipes and information. This was a significant book long before Sicilian cooking was 'discovered' by the the Martha Stewart cult....

This book is excellent if you are looking for recipes that your Sicilian Grandmother or mother made at home....recipes are easy to read and follow. Especially enjoyed the little stories just before some of the recipes explaining the history of that particular dish.

A debut novel by Mary Anna Evans, this is wonderful mystery set in the panhandle of North Florida. Faye Longchamp is, at heart, an archeologist. However, she is driven to illegal digging to save Joyeuse, her ancestral home. While engaging in this activity, Faye, with her companion Joe (yum, yum!), uncover a body on one of the nearby islands. When they go back to examine it, the body had disappeared. Why? Who else knew?

Meanwhile, at the respectable dig where Faye is assisting a former professor, two of the students left on the island overnight disappear.

What is happening in Faye's quiet corner of the world? How could she keep Joyeuse? How could she keep Joyeuse hidden???
Who else was digging illegally?

I loved this book, and cannot wait for the next installment. I was pleasantly surprised with Ms. Evans first novel, and I continue to look forward to Faye's next adventure.

Off the coast of the Florida Panhandle lay the Last Isles and on Joyeuse lies the antebellum mansion belonging to Faye Longchamp. It is badly in need of repairs but Faye barely can pay taxes and the last thing she wants is lose the home that has been in her family for generations. She earns the money to pay the taxes by illegally digging up artifacts on her land and the National Wild Refuge and selling them to collectors whom don't care about the source.

Faye also works on an archeological dig on nearby Seagreen Island when two students in the group disappear. On a hunch, Faye starts digging and finds the two bodies, both shot to death. The dig is closed and Faye looks for artifacts on Water Island when she comes under attack by a man she thought was a friend and his partner who are digging up priceless Clovis artifacts. When she digs up the body of a young debutante who disappeared many years ago she comes to the attention a killer who intends to make Faye his fourth victim.

Faye is biracial and doesn't feel as if there is a place for her in mainstream society, which is why she is determined to hold on too her land, the only place she believes she belongs. She doesn't realize she has two killers who want her dead before she discovers and reveals their secrets. ARTIFACTS is an exciting and colorful amateur sleuth novel that is rich in atmosphere giving the reader a picture of what it takes to live in an island culture.

Harriet Klausner

From the moment you see the acknowledgements of this book citing previous publication in The Paris Review, Best American Poetry , The Denver Quarterly, Sulfur, and more, you have a clear indication that Anna Rabinowitz is a serious, high caliber poet worth reading. Her poems don't disappoint. Her opening poem, "Blow the Dome," is an ABC-darium that foretells the vibrant, unexpected and effective language and images of the poems in the rest of the book: "Language in the language of the language, movement as the speech that does not lie."

From the start, we see that unlike so many contemporary poets who spend pages and pages contemplating their navels (and who knows what other private parts) Rabinowitz is clearly interested in language, thought, and intellect, rather than in simply re-hashing her own emotional baggage.

Not that her work doesn't have emotional impact. "Fragile Dialectics" is an almost frighteningly chilling view of aging. "Two women finger the fans of their cards. The blonde's bones soften at the bast of her spine...the redheads skull is inlaid with a metal plate the size of a three-by-five index card." Her "Confession" is clean and startling. "Anatomy Lab" is clinical, yet somehow moving. And her poems about art, artists, and creating show that she is an artist herself, fully capable of not only understanding, but conveying the artistic process.

The centerpiece of the book, a long piece called "Dislocations" is an at times emotionally harrowing, at times journalistically removed, and consistently insightful chronicle of the author's visit to post WWII eastern Europe, including family remembrances, and visits to concentration camps. "Crawl into our eyes. They hoard what we remember," intones her Greek (Jewish?) chorus of 6 million dead.

This is not poetry for the faint of heart. And it certainly isn't poetry of the "roses are red," Hallmark card-loving crowd. These poems make you think, feel, and yes, sometimes work. But in the end, it's all worth it - to hear the intelligent voice of an accomplished poet who is unafraid to expose her own emotions, explore the artistic process, and delve into intellectual issues that make us all think.

Anna Rabinowitz, like Duchamps Nude Descending a Staircase, in her poem "Descent" is a woman who "troops down to step out."

So many beauties in this ambitious, accomplished, lyrical collection. The mind is limber and so are the lines: "...ships in a black storm, / vocabularies churning at sea..." There's wit galore, as in "Golem Recipe ... Yields one servant YHWH" and a mordant survey of past and present "time when history ferments in bruised casks..." Not a painter of small canvases, Rabinowitz takes an unsparing look at the way we (too often) live now, "...slave to the common habit / humans have, though companionable, of living out only the personal story." But her own concerns are large and her gifts glorious, delivering us back into a world in which "Against all odds, and past their prime, lychnis, astilbe, lythrum pitch fresh bloom headlong into pale gardens..." Highly recommended!

I really enjoyed reading this book because it was funny and had lots of rhymes. The characters were interesting and it was amazing to see a turtle survive when he had been living as a pet and travels with an alligator. The descriptions of the places Bartleby sees is very imaginative . I especially enjoyed the part when he was trying to save the duck eggs and when they hatched they thought Bartleby was a duck also. I was glad that it ended happy but it leaves you wondering about the rest of the journey. Perhaps there can be a sequel here?

Bartleby of the Mighty Mississippi was a great book. The characters such as Mother Wak and Bartleby were perfect for the mood of the story and were well described. It was exciting from start to finish and is a great story for anyone of any age. The characters ranges from extremly funny (like the peeper Zip who alway speaks in ryhme) to really creapy (like the alagator Seezer), and at times and Bartleby's wit and quick thinking save him or his friends. I loved it! I have read almost all of Phyllis Shalant's books and this one by far is the best. For those who have read the other books by her this one is a must anf for those who are new to the author will love to start with the one. The suspense can almost kill you sometimes and force you to keep on turing page after page. You'll never want to put this book down! Read this book now!!