"Home" by Thomas Locker was a real joy to read. The way he blends the painting and the poem together is beautiful. I especially enjoyed the second poem and the picture with it. I could almost feel as if I were walking below the mountains. I would recommend this as a wonderful book.

This children's book is a look back in time at the annual 'industry' of ice cutting, and how one youngster helped out, day and night, to cut ice for the coming summer. The story is factual and gripping, told by the youngster learning this man's work. The illustrations are wonderful. For children who ask "what was it like when you were young, Grandma" and are astonished at all the things we didn't have then and now take for granted, this story will be very appealing.

A beautifully illustrated and narrated work for both children and adults. It captures a wonderful aspect of the Catskill mountains in the Hudson Valley of New York. My mother is a member of the 3500 Club, a club with hikes the 35 peaks over 3500 feet in the Catskills. She is eager to take her first grandchild,my daughter, along. This book is a wonderful way for them to begin sharing the wilderness together. Thomas Locker has painted places that you can acutually visit. A map is included in the book so you can adventure to all of the picturesque spots he writes about so dearly. A great gift for anyone who loves the outdoors. It makes it especially meaningful if the giver and the givee can share the adventure together.

I have every single book by Mr. Locker and wait anxiously for each new one! Mr. Locker is one of the greatest Hudson Valley artists of all time. If you have not seen his work in person, then the books are the next best thing. His work is outstanding! Congrats, Mr. Locker, and keep the books coming!

A sparkle of verses sets off the stately paintings, month by month - with a New Years verse for good measure. Short enough to hold a child's attention, but lovely for adults also. Paintings are specific to the cycle of seasons in the Hudson River Valley, USA.

This is more a beautiful poem than a story book. With it's short and sweet wording you feel like you can hear the sounds, feel the breeze, and smell the scents surrounding the waterfall as if you are there. And with the beautiful full page illustrations, you are there! What serenity! I highly recommend this book and not only for children.

The illistration of this book is as good as it gets. The artwork is detailed and life like. I found not only did it draw my eye to it, but my 4 and 7 yr olds as well. The story is simple, but wonderful. It draws you to the place it describes. I was competely taken by it's illistration. It is about a grandfather who takes his grandsons on a trip to find where the river beings. What I also found about this book, is that although it has fairly simple words, it threw in some ones that are proably new to children of this age. It gave me an opportunity to teach new words like "meandnered lazily". I enjoyed the book as much as my children did and I am ready to find more books by this wonderful author and illistrator. I give it my highest rating!

This book is beautifully illustrated and deals with a little known incident in American history. I think it's great! I bought a copy for my niece and soon I'm going to have to buy one for myself! If you want children to understand that there's much more to history than the "safe" version they've been fed in school this book is great!

This masterful telling of how a group of farmers banded together to secure the land that that been promised them for several generations is a little told story about New York State history. As a native New Yorker (from the mainland, not manhattan), I was thoroughly captivated by Thomas Locker's superb illustrations. I also liked reading about places I am familiar with.

Hannah is the narrator and central figure of this story. She is the daughter of a farmer and lives in a mostly male household. She has a chance to show her mettle when she sounds the horn and helps the farmers, who fight at night in disguise to secure the land that is rightfully theirs.

At the end of the story, Hannah is rewarded with a beautiful blue calico dress.

Hannah is absolutely adorable and has a lot of savvy. She's a very appealing character and her bravery has helped girls to feel better about themselves and their abilities. She is truly a literary gem. Thomas Locker's illustrations are masterpieces in and of themselves. This book should be back in print because it is such a gem.

Well, first this is a great book. The illustrations a terrific and Thomas also used Candace Christiansen as a "model" for the book. Next I would like to say hello to Amanda, my sister, who practically lives with Candace and Thomas, and also someone who really does live with Candace and Thomas, Chris Karl. And also hi to Kate from the band Project Kate who is Candace's daughter, along with Chris Karl. Kate, you are awesome! Amanda and Chris, and Candace and Thomas, you are too!

This book teaches a lot abou morals. Just becuase someone is alittle different from everyone else, doesn't mean they should be treated badly. Everyone is different in their own seperate way. Some people just show and others hide their feelings. People have differences, and no one is the same. Some of us just have to learn to accept it. And some have to realize we all are the same in some ways to.

The ugly duckling is a duck who is the same as everyone else, yet is also different. He just wants to be accepted. He doesn't know how to make people like him. People were not accepting him becuase he was not good enough. Everyone seems to be 'not good enough' at one time or another. Yet other people do not realize this.

I like this book because it explains how life goes. Some people aren't accepted because of their looks, other epople jsut need to learn to accept people for who they are. Not what they are not. You need to learn to look past the "bad" qualities and see the good qualities.

Our class liked it when the ugly duckling turned into a swan. Everyone learned that it doesn't matter if you don't look like everyone else. You should like who you are. We learned about the differences between swans and ducks. Our class learned that when you are young you have to learn about a lot of different things. We think that kids could learn about different things from reading this story such as animals, other stories to read, and feelings.

Like most parents, you want your child's home library to include standard fairy tales. Jerry Pinkney's "The Ugly Duckling" combines incredibly detailed ilustrations with a nice balance of both strong and muted colors AND a wonderful re-telling of the generations-old standard tale. In this verson, however, people are woven into the story in a way that I haven't seen before, and I like that very much. It's easy to see why this book was selected as a 1999 Caldecott Honor Book. Pinkney's a very gifted illustrator, and he really has to be given credit for his well-constructed text as well as the gorgeous pictures. Authors who write and then illustrate their own stories are somewhat rare, and as an adult, I appreciate the incredible mix of talent and hard work this represents. My children, of course, just love the pictures; they'll grow to appreciate good writing as they get older.

This book is about a man who runs away from his father because the father does nothing but yell at him. This book is one of my favorites, even though I gave it a four, because it had a lot of action and it made me want to keep reading. Although I still think that the orignal was one of the better ones that have been written.

The book "Rip Van Winkle" is about a guy named Rip and his father, Dame, who thinks that Rip can never do anything right. Dame is always yelling at Rip. Dame really got mad when Rip sold part of the family property, so he went away for awhile and met some strangers and started to drink quite a lot of beer. You have to read the book to find out what happens next.

Several of these other reviews are for a different version of this story. The one I am reviewing is an "All Aboard Reading" version. It is definitely written for beginning readers (1st-3rd grade)

This version is a good introduction to the classic Washington Irving story. I do not like the way Rip's wife yells at him to get to work or how Rip is only "maybe...a little" sad when we finds out that his wife has died after his long sleep. Neither Rip nor his wife were the most exemplary characters! :-)

Still, that is the way the story was written and can be a good launch into a talk about character.