I am an Elementary School Librarian and I LOVE this calendar! It has great illustrations from many well-loved children's books. I also like that it notes the birthdays of authors and illustrators. This calendar is a great resource for librarians and teachers. Also, it's a lot of fun with bright and beautiful illustrations for anyone! The calendar grid is also a nice size with plenty of room to note appointments or whatever.

This is a great book. YOU MUST buy the second one two if you buy the first one because it leaves you hanging. I haven't read the second one but I am dying to know what happens next. If your interested about the civil war you'll like it. Also if you like the Ladd Family adventures also buy Lee Roddy you'll love this new exciting series.

This is a beautifully produced collection of essays and images that provides an overview of the role of postcards in the transformation of indigenous cultures under European-American rule. While conveying the romantic fascination of exotic places for the Western consumer, the book also addresses the underlying issues of arrogance and exploitation by the rulers towards their indigenous subjects. This book is an excellent introduction and overview of an emerging area of historical and anthropological study.

I had vainly considered myself to be fairly knowledgable about current American writers until that beautiful Sunday morning of 7 September 97 when I turned to the Book World section of my Washington Post and read an essay written by a septuagenarian author named Mary Lee Settle. She told it like it is, revealing how the literary marketplace of modern-day America has slid into a disgraceful period of not publishing unless it has a virtual guarantee of profit. Their business theory: only young writers can bring us a long stream of profit. I read her personal revelations with interest, likening them to my own experiences. For I, decades ago, had four hardcover trade books published by three different,notable publishers, and now - after a hiatus self-imposed in order to make myself financially secure - was finding it difficult to get published again. My age?

"Who is this woman?" I asked myself. "Her statements," I know, "are nothing but the truths. She tells it like it is. How refreshing!"

Then, on the subsequent Sunday, I was joyriding around on the net, accessed Amazon.com, and saw that this lady who was apparently considered "over-the-hill" had 39 - yes, 39! - books listed.

How could I not have read her? "I must correct my deficiencies," I told my deficiencies," I told myself. So, I scanned up-and-down, perusing the titles of her 39 entries. So many made the decision hard. Probably because I am, as she, a native Virginian and had just returned from a short vacation exploring the back roads of West Virginia, I chose her "Know Nothing" - a book billed as a novel that is a history of the western part of the State of Virginia, just prior to the Civil War and that land subsequently becoming the State of West Virginia.

I found it to be more than a history. I marveled at its rare eloquence; the conversations of Blacks with Blacks, Blacks with white people, and white people about Blacks. The vernacular and patois were perfect. Except, true to the actual;ity of that era, the term 'Black' was never used. It had not been invented at that time. It was always 'nigger' - a designation then, of itself, mot bearing any rancor or disrespect.

Soon, I was in love again. I saw that there existed out there, somewhere in the netherland of authors personally undiscovered, a will-o'the wosp who eluded me. She piqued my imagination. She of the intriguingly-beguiling persona - a mature person of the same generation as I, who had been blessed with the gift of verbally portraying people and events as they really were. I must meet her, I thought. She lives in Charlottesville, only about a 2-hour drive from my home in Fairfax.

Then, after the impetuosity of initial fascination wore off, I realized I am still in love with love. It would be best for us to never meet. What if a faux pas were to burst my bubble? I have found that the older one gets the more he or she needs a visionary shelter, a person who serves as an icon of one's dreams. That is the raison d'etre' of writers; to be the untouchable cloud in a heaven of imagination.

I recommend this vintage book to any and all, especially the current generation of "people of color."

Virginia Lee Burton es mejor conocida por sus clasicos (BUENAS NOCHES LUNA, MIKE MULLIGAN), pero LA CASITA es de la misma calidad. Con un bonito ritmo y dibujos old-fashioned pero de buenos colores, mi hijo le encanta este libro. Empecemos a leer LA CASITA cuando tenia 2 anos--2 anos despues, le fascina todavia. Este libro ofrece lecciones del pasar del tiempo, estaciones y de la historia--todo por los "ojos" de una casita en el campo que ya se convierte en una ciudad. Si tu muchacho esta enamorado con coches y trenes, LA CASITA esta lleno de imagenes de tranportacion historica. Le recomendo esta traduccion excelente para ninos de 2-5 anos.

Basically well written and excellently researched , this book offers insights on the critical battles of the Civil War in western Virginia during the Spring of 1864, a subject usually not covered in detail. The details provided and the sequence presented on military operations give a very useful overview of strategy and tactics in this area in 1864. Richard Duncan, the author, details the unsuccessful attempts by General Hunter's army to live off the land which contrasts with Sherman's success in Georgia. While Sherman's effect on the civilian population is well known, the harsh treatment of civilians in the Shenandoah Valley is not as widely covered in print; and Richard Duncan's account provides much useful information and references on the subject of the Union Army's relationship with the area's civilians. The importance of the campaigns in the Shenandoah Valley during the Spring of 1894 should not be ignored. Had General Hunter been successful, the Civil War

may have ended six months earlier. This book well describes Grant's strategy, Lee and Davis responses and the numerous mistakes made by both armies. Making this account enjoyable, is the inclusion of brief biographical sketches of the field officers involved before discussing each operation.

The book suffers from a lack of good and sufficient maps. The maps provided do little to support the text. Critically needed are maps on individual battles. This is especially true of Chapter 2, The Dublin Raid, where maps are provided only on Crook's and Averell's routes to and from Dublin; however, maps on some of the raid's engagements/battles would greatly enhance the text. In addition, maps are badly needed for the engagements fought near Lynchburg. However, both the professional historian and the Civil War buff, would do well to read this work.

This was a very enlightning book about the Lees history. Some very fascinating stories about the lees and their roots

This book is absolutely fabulous! It reads extremely well to preschoolers and possibly younger children as well. Even though earth science has progressed since this book's first ptinting, it is still a great introduction to the concepts of space and time; Earth and the Universe; and mankind in Earth's history.

Also, the illustration's are beautiful! My 3yr. old is as fascinated by the pictures as he is by the story!

I read this book and "The Little House" when I was a child and it has been a wonderful experience to share these books with my son!

this book approaches death of a child in a family and how the family deals with not only the death but the stress associated with this life event

So many treasury compilations are not as good as the original stories they include. Many times when a treasury is published the illustrations are badly cropped or omitted, or scrunched onto a page with text. Sometimes the text is abridged. Fortunately for us, this is not the case in this wonderful treasury of four of the gifted Virgina Lee Burton's best loved stories. All four stories are presented in their entirety, in full sized format just like the original books. Each story can be read individually and enjoyed as if it is a separate book. Nothing has been left out or crowded together. This treasury of classics includes Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel, published in 1939, The Little House, published in 1942, Katy and the Big Snow, published in 1943, and Maybelle the Cable Car, published in 1952. All of Burton's beloved books have charming, colorful illustrations and storylines that honor a simple way of life. They celebrate characters who adapt to changes with determination and a positive attitude without being preachy. They are fun-filled and interesting to children.
The book also contains a short but enlightening biography of Virgina Lee Burton.
This is definitely a five star book and deserves to be a part of every child's storytime. Don't miss it!