It's criminal that Ted Lewin's "Fair!" has only "limited availability." This book perfectly captures the sights, smells, and sounds of a fair. The NEW YORK TIMES named "Fair!" one of the best illustrated books of 1997, and that's right on the money.

Lewin apparently used a fair in Clearfield, Pennsylvania to do his paintings, but truly, this could be a fair anywhere in the United States. We see the roustabouts setting up rides, checking electrical connections, and hoisting enormous, lightbulb-laden ride signs high into the air. Sweat glistens, the sun beats down mercilessly, muscles strain--Lewin captures the physicality of the scene as though he were merely snapping a photograph. We then move on to the 4-H sheds, where youngsters prepare their sheep, cows, pigs, and goats for inspection. The sunlight streams in from outside, lighting the leaves on the trees to a glowing citrus green, and picking up the gleam on the cows' coats. Day moves inexorably into afternoon and then into night, complete with a luminous fireworks display and a walk along the midway.

Lewin's painting skill is nothing short of astonishing. These watercolors have all the richness and mood of the fair itself. We are fortunate that he has chosen such a multi-faceted subject with which to bedazzle his readers.

As an artist and a teacher I see many valuable qualities in this book. First of all there is the opportunity for young people to learn about an important endangered species, Mountain Gorillas. Then there are the exquisite, artistically inspiring watercolor illustrations - equal to the quality of P.J. Lynch (When Jessie Came Across The Sea). But most importantly to me, this magnificent book also gives guidance to children in pursuing a life long dream. It doesn't make it look easy and I can't say I would want to go to the Impenetrable Forest, but thanks to Ted and Betsy Lewin I don't have to. The authors had never seen anything but photos of dead Mountain Gorillas. They wanted to meet them alive, face to face. And they did. It's an amazing, exciting, true-life adventure that keeps you on the edge of your seat! It's better than Indiana Jones because it's real. The authors are wonderful examples of heroes that are clearly willing to do whatever it takes (and it takes a lot) to make their dreams come true.

This is a simple book which feels more like a storybook than a science book. This suits it very well to the age group it is aiming at. It is a gentle look at evolution, but because it is focused on only one animal, it can give more detail than a general book on evolution of this size. I really wish they had a series of these, each focusing on a different animal. I also liked the artwork and felt it fit well with the tone of the writing. Overall this was a hit in our family, and I often recommend it to others who are looking for evolution books for the preschool set. There are so few books for youngsters about evolution; it is a real shame. Most of us who want to expose our children to this from early on are pretty much stuck using everything that is available, whether it is particularly well done or not. This is a book I would use even if there were an abundance of books to choose from.

JUDY SCUPPERNONG is a gem of a book! It tells what happens to three girls in Fitzgerald, GA one summer in the middle of the 20th century when an outsider moves in and affects their lives. The story is unique, told in a series of poems but each poem can also stand alone. As the story moves along with the passage of summer, the girls encounter mysteries: who is Iola, what happened to Laddie, and what is making crystals grow in the glasshouse? As they unravel the mysteries, they also learn that things do not stay the same.

For any child who is interested in either animals or evolution, you couldn't choose a better gift than Jane Yolen's "The Originals." When so many children's books focus on kittens and puppies, what a treat to take a look at some lesser-known animals who have scarcely changed throughout millenia.

Ted Lewin's watercolor illustrations are up to his usual extraordinarily high standards. The animals look out at the reader solemnly, or engage in animal behavior without a second thought as to what the reader thinks. They range from mammals to birds to reptiles and all sorts of other beasties. It's a learning experience to read this wonderful book, and it's a treat to see how Yolen describes the animals in poetry. Yolen and Lewin have a simpatico herein that invites readers in and makes them want to stay.

Very highly recommended!

I think that this book is very informative on what we are doing to our environment. This book tells about Rachel Carson's life, family, career, and more. It tells about how she fought to keep our environment clean and safe for everyone. She warned people in her book, Silent Spring, which can also be found here on Amazon.com. Well, I cannot spoil this book! What I can tell you is that this is a great book which you should read.

You have to read this book!

Do you want to read a book that has a electionin it its very exciting. This book is very funny you would like it. It has a boy named Soup who is runing for president of his class. The other person runing is a popular girl. There are 14 boys and 14 girls.This book takes place in Vermont. Soup does some funny stuff to make people vote for him. I gave this book 4 stars because its very surprising.

This book was about a class that had two groups. The girls'group were the Amazons and the boy's group were the Apes in a one-room school. Norma Jean and Soup are running for school president. Rob doesn't know who to vote for. The book was interesting because Rob and Soup have a lot of adventures. I really liked it.

Talking With Artists volume.3

This book is pretty interesting. It is about artists who share what they like to draw and about their lives. They are asked questions such as, "Do you have any kids or pets?" The illustrators show some of pictures that they drew when they were children. They also show how the children illustrators got their inspiration to draw.

I liked this book because it was neat to see how good some of the kids are at drawing and then to see them draw as they are older. Also that was cool it showed how to draw pictures in the back of the book. I recommend this book to people who are just stating to draw and people that want to read an interesting book.

I got this book at the library for my children, but I think I enjoyed it as much as they did! (I plan to buy a copy of my own!) Instead of a cool, impersonal presentation of artists and their work, this book provides a refreshingly personal view. The artists talk about their childhoods, how they spend their days (the answers are fun & honest!), their families, and best of all, they give us peeks inside their studios. I don't know about you, but I love seeing inside of an artist's private workspace! It's like a glimpse inside his/her mind.
The styles of the artists are very diverse and they use many different techniques that kids and adults alike would like to try out. I highly recommend this book!

I am an Elementary education major and had to view the video and compare it to the book for a lesson plan. I thought it accurately depicted a lot of things but was incorrect in a lot of other ways. It did bring the characters to life but left out some key scenes. Rontu in the movie was not one of the wild dogs from the island but was left by the Aleuts whereas in the book he was described as one of the wild dogs. Other than that I found it a bit slow and old fashioned. Overall I thought it was good and would use it with a class to view critically and to compare to the book.

If you like heart breaking,touching,and sad books,you should definitely read the Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell. It's about an Indian girl who gets separated from her family and is stranded on an island. Now she needs to survive.

Difficult challenges face Karana. For an example,she needs to find a way to hunt so she can eat. She makes a spear out of wood and carves a rock in a shape of a triangle and catches fish to eat. This book made me feel sad for kids who are orphans and who live on their own.

This book was so terrific the I read it in only two days! I would recommend this book to people of ages 8-150. And I think girls and boys would like this book because it is not too scary, it is just the perfect book to read. I read it, my mom read it,you should read it too.

I read the book "Island of the Blue Dolphin" The author is Scott O'Dell who won the Newbery Medal for this book in 1961. He has written so many kinds of books for teenagers and is one of the most popular authors for young people. In 1976 the Children's Literature Association named this riveting story one of the ten best American children's boos of the past two handred years. The story is about a twelve-year old American Indian girl,Karana. O'Dell wrote the real-life story of that litle Indian girl. One day a ship came to take the Indians off of the island, which looks like the blue dolphin. In all the excitement, they didn't make sure that everyone was on the ship. So they didn't notice that Karana's little brother wasn't on the ship. She jumped ship to stay with her little brother, who had been abandoned on the island, but he dided shourtly thereafter, adn she had to live alone on the island for 18 years. After that she had to wait a long time for them come back and get her. So she made weapons, built shelter, found good and fought wild dogs by herself,but also she made wonderful friend to talk with. She became a very strong person during those 18 years. This story written primarily for children. So if you like books about survival adn adventure read this book. It's a good book that touches your heart. I loved it!

I recommend this book to other readers between the ages of 8 to 13 year-old kids because the book talks about fun things like time travel and also is easy to read. Some of the words in the book are big, though.

Now, this is the third book called "The Secret of the Indian" & it is about Omri's friend Patrick who goes back in time to the Wild West.

Omri & his friend Patrick risk grownups' discovery of their secret when they attempt to help people in the dangerous world of the Old West.

Boone is real & he is a toy cowboy but Boone was mostly small & Patrick was big. On the cover of the book it has Boone laying down & Boone is big & Omri's friend Patrick is small & I think in Chapter 7 called "Patrick in Boone-land" Boone grew big & Patrick got small & it must have been texas.

The chapter titles I like are called 2. Modest Heroes, 5. Patrick goes back, 6. A New Insider, 7. Patrick in Boone-land, 10. A Rough Ride & chapter 13. Mr. Johnson smells a rat. This chapter called "Mr. Johnson smells a rat" makes me silly & he would say if he smelled the rat "Yuck. Ha, Ha, Ha!? & it is so funny.

This book reminds me of a videos called "Spongebob Squarepants: Nautical Nonsence", "Bonanza: The Return" & a Lonestar song called "When Cowboys didn't dance.

I enjoy this book when I would be in the wild west!

I loved it & enjoyed it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We checked out The Secret of the Indian on tape from our library and listened to it on a trip. All of us from the adults to the kids (14,8,6) were interested and excited about what would happen next. We have listened to each of the books and are now looking forward to the 5th story.