Great somewhat Christian book. Silver is like every 12 year old girl (i know being one myself)except without the makeup and boys outlook (yes finally!). All Silver wants is a dog I remember before I got one wanting one soooo bad!. Won't tell the end but loved it anyway!!!!!!

My daughter Kristen loved reading this book. We even purchased a copy from the publisher to give to Kristen last Christmas. Kristen would love to write to Linda High about Hound Heaven. Does the author have an e-mail address? Or, if Linda High reads this message could you please contact Kristen at mygirlkns@aol.com. Thank you.

I think Rose is like a barbie & as for Dud, he is part of the interesting part of the story. Silver is the one who makes the story seem real. Without Silver I don't think I whould have read the whole story.Linda, you are a excelent writer. I love this book. I am buying this book.I love it. Most books don't seem as real as you make them sound. Jennifer -10

"Once a man felt a stirring in his heart, an itching to roam. And he felt pinched for space. He knew the stars of Maine. He knew the blaze of fall leaves burning New Hampshire hills. Still, he longed to know the endless prairie. The Sierra with snow. "Gather your neccessaries, " Pa said one day. "We're going West." So begins Tony Johnston's engrossing narrative of a New England family's journey, across the wide prairies and desert sand, west to the Sierra mountains and what will become their new home. His straightforward text is filled with drama, history and emotion as the family faces the many challenges of traveling months by covered wagon, losing their cow and chickens in rain swollen rivers, feeling the threat from wild animals and Native Americans trying to hold on to their land, struggling with hunger and thirst as food and water run out, and death. Ted Lewin's powerfully evocative illustrations of sunfilled fields, dark and ominous nights, a buffalo stampede, and the red and golden sunrise over the Sierras brings the story to life. Together word and art transport the reader back in time and takes you on the arduous journey of a lifetime. Perfect for youngsters 7-10, Sunsets Of The West is an inspiring story of the many trials, hope, bravery, and finally triumph. "The family built a house and tilled a patch of land. Then they planted the seeds. And the seeds grew tall. Sometimes they remembered the stars of Maine. Sometimes they recalled the blaze of fall leaves on New Hampshire hills. But they had seen the endless prairie. The Sierra with snow. Their hearts were at rest. They knew the sunsets of the West."

Tony Johnston opens his saga of a pioneer family trekking westward with an apt quotation from Louis L'Amour's "The Quick and the Dead," "Many have died, Suzanna, but more will come. There are always people who hope, who wish, who dream."

Hope, wish and dream is precisely what this family does as they reluctantly say farewell to the familiar in New Hampshire, and set out for the unknown. As explained in a reader's note, it would take a family a full month to travel by covered wagon from New England to Missouri, the spot where wagon trains set out for the West.

Their journey would begin in mid-May after the worst of winter and when prairie grass had grown tall enough to feed their livestock. If good fortune shone on them their entire trip would last six or seven months. One had to be hardy to endure such a passage.

They took only their necessities and a few items that they loved. Joyful times occurred when they joined other families around an evening campfire. Danger lay in wait for them with wild animals and Indians. A broken wheel was a disaster; death a companion. Still they soldiered on until at last they reached the land of their dreams.

Ted Lewin's glowing full-page illustrations add a luster to this story of our forefathers.

- Gail Cooke

This beatiful book subtly helps children see the importance of historical buildings (in this case, barns) and the need to preserve our past. A father and son preserve boards from barns which are too beaten down to restore. During a break in their barn-saving work, the father tells his son, "We'll recyle the whole barn...this barn will live for another hundred years, in a hundreddifferent places." Americans just now seem to bewaking up to what Europeans have known for centuries -- we must preserve our past in order tohave a sense of who we are. This book teacheschildren that lesson. (You might also want to share the video, "Madeline and the New House", with your kids. In it, Madeline convinces the owner of her home to restore it rather than tear it down.)

My first grader brought this book home for her accelrated reading assignment and was immediately drawn to the colors used. After reading each page she studied the artwork and observed how well it depicted what she had just read. The illustrations truly reinforce the content of the book which is not only informative but wonderfully written. The interaction between the grandfather and granddaughter is warming. The gentle manner in which he allows his granddaughter to help and experience the art of beekeeping is a lesson in love, patience and trust. A great example of how two people of different generations can relate and of how the relationship between grandparents and grandchildren can truly be. Amidst all the interaction the reader learns a wealth about beekeeping. It's a delightful book for the eye, the ear, the imagination, the mind and the heart.

An excellent insight in the life of the Amish. Shows the simple but loving ways of these plain people. Being from the Amish myself, it is indeed quite honorable to these rare breed of people. Loved it! Would recommend highly.

Don't you suppose children ever wonder about Santa Claus as a child? What did he do when he was a little boy, and what brought him to be Santa Claus?

The vivid imagination of Linda Oatman High offers a thought provoking scenario that also teaches a lesson in kindness.

One Christmas Eve a very long time ago a young chimney sweep was happy to see his last chimney to clean. Nicholas is the boy's name and he is, of course, poor. His only protection against the cold is a raggedy coat. As he climbs into the sooty chimney the aroma of a holiday meal tempts him, and he hopes that someday Christmas Eve will also be joyful for him.

When the boy finishes his task he is both surprised and delighted when the home owner gives him two gifts. As Nicholas thanks him for his generosity the man simply replied, "Pass it on."

This Christmas story offers a truth to be remembered every day of the year - kindnesses grow as we pass them along to others.

- Gail Cooke

Written for children or young adults, this book addresses loss of a parent, an unknown past, and making sense of events leading to the present.

Lizzy is a sad, young adolescent who loves her father and barely tolerates her stepmother and half brother. She longs to know about her real mother and her own homeland roots. Liz's mother and father were shunned for leaving the Amish and there was little to no continuation of her heritage. Consequently, her father arranges for her to spend the summer with his mother who still is Amish and runs Zook's Nook.

During the trip back home to Pennsylvania, memories surface and father and daughter re-live their beginnings as a family, before the untimely death of Lizzie's mother in a car wreck when Liz was but an infant. Their first stop was a cafe which played a huge part in her parent's lives. Then there came a trip to see the "little pink house" which was gone. Despondent, they searched, found and purchased the gingerbread-porch and lightening rods.

When Liz ends up staying part of the summer with her Amish grandmother, she learns those people are very hard workers with precious little fun or freedom. They work hard for long hours 6 days a week. Discovering a telephone hidden safely for years in her grandmother's hay barn, Liz learns that even Amish elders (and kids) have skeletons in their closets and have to make amends for past wrongs.

As Liz spends time in the attic searching for her past, she finds articles and asks questions which lead her closer to her deceased mother. She eventually is privy to pictures and letters. Finally, her dad comes back and takes her on a little pilgrimage to the church where her parents were married and her mother's funeral was held. The church has been turned into a tourist shop.

After staying with her grandmother only three weeks, Liz gradually becomes aware of what is important and whom she can trust and love. Somehow, she bridges the past with the present and returns home with a different outlook on life with her stepmother, baby brother and their "shiny submarine trailer house" that is suddenly HOME.

Lizzie had the weight of the world on her little shoulders. A mother she knew little about, a stepmother who loved fake flowers instead of real ones, a gross baby brother, and a grandmother she thought was a saint.

To escape her worries, Lizzie decides to spend the entire summer at Grandma Zook's farm in Paradise, Pennsylvania working at the Zook Nook to earn a little pocket money and hoping to find out more about her real mother. She finds a few other secrets she hadn't been looking for either.

The rude awakening Lizzie got was that the Amish did things the old-fashioned way, getting up before the sun to do the farm chores and making the items for the Zook Nook. I got a good laugh when Lizze complained about the chicken stink in the coop and the organic sounds and smell of an impolite cow. I also laughed when she found out what scrapple was made of.

But, life on the farm wasn't all that awful, Lizzie also found out the missing pie pieces to the mystery of her mother. She also realized that, even though the Amish tried to live perfect lives according to the Church Order, they were still human and fallible, even Grandma Zook.

After six weeks with Grandma Zook, Lizzie didn't think her life was all that bad either. Now that she had been on the farm, things at home were like paradise.

It's unrealistic and untrue. Why does the author try to romanticize something so cruel and tragic? I grew up near Atlantic City and vacationed there every summer. Those diving horses were frightened to the point of defecating and urinating in the pool. The young women on those horses were not glamour queens but exploited for the greed of the horse owners. As a teacher, I will not support the introduction of this book in my classroom or school library.

Set in the summer of 1936, The Girl On The High-Diving Horse: An Adventure In Atlantic City by Linda Oatman High is the story of a young girl who sees the daily performance of another girl and her horse, diving from a tall platform to the delight of onlookers. Looking up at the girl on the high-diving horse, she wonders if she can ever share that much courage and adventure. Simple, almost photograph-style illustrations by Ted Lewin add a realistic touch to this charming story.