The other evening I descended my stairs to find my husband snuggled on the couch with a picture book and my 3 year old son, reading. This is not unusual. What was unusual was that my thirteen year old daughter sat with them listening intently as well. The book, not surprisingly, was Louisa May and Mr. Thoreaus Flute.
It is a well woven story of inspiration and the search for authentic self. The illustrations have a distinctly natural appeal that defers to the passion of Thoreau very well. They absorbed my youngest. The story and the words are engaging and inspiring enough for my eldest, a big fan of Little Women. It is a lovely book to share with your young creatives.

If you're looking for a picture book that handles the topic of racism tenderly for young children, then SISTER ANNE'S HANDS is an excellent choice indeed!

Seven-year-old Anna Zabrocky is excited about her first day in the second grade. She is also very curious about her new teacher, Sister Anne, an African-American nun. Anna has never encountered a black person up close and personal before. Therefore, she feels a little uncertain and nervous as she avoids Sister Anne's gentle touch of welcome on the first day of school. Soon all of Anna's apprehensions vanish as her classroom comes alive. Sister Anne's warmth and gentleness engages them in learning new things, sharing wonderful stories and telling hearty jokes. Just when everything feels perfect for the new school year, someone hurls a paper airplane that sails by Sister Anne's head and hits the blackboard. On its wings were written some very hurtful things. Not only did this cruel act bring a great deal of pain to Sister Anne's eyes, but a sense of guilt comes upon Anna as though she had crafted the paper airplane herself. It is how Sister Anne chooses to take this painful moment and turn it into a teachable moment that makes this book so great. By the close of the school year, it is obvious that the strength and courage of this teacher changes the lives of her students forever.

The lyrical movement of the text along with the dream like illustrations of a classroom and library from the 1960's enhances this story that much more. This is truly a beautiful book!

This book made me cry, every time I read it. I remember going to school with "penguins" as teachers, and the horrible bigotry happening in the schools. The pictures are breath-taking, and the words are powerful. I bought it for the parochical school my children go to. If you buy one book for your 3-8 grader, buy this one.

Sister Anne teaches her young students not only their math and reading, but important lessons in justice, dedication, and love. The text reflects the simple, concrete experiences of a child while suggesting how these experiences gently deepen the young narrator's understanding. The lovely illustrations are slightly muted in tone, appropriately giving the book the look of a memory recalled. Outstanding in every way.

Lorbiecki takes a great and fascinating subject, the Dakota images of Minnesota frontier soldier-and-artist Seth Eastman, and creates a dense, clouded picture of his situation and motives. Eastman's images are so strong, they could almost speak for themselves with careful assistance. Instead the text reads at an annoying mid-level: not clear enough for a young reader, yet oversimplified (some description of historic figures are plainly inaccurate) in content and concept for an advanced reader. It leaves one asking "Who is this book intended for?"

Reviewed by Tyler Crogg; excerpts included: "Fortunately for us, Eastman captured in a series of watercolor and oil paintings the final decades of the Eastern Dakota tribe as an independent, self-sustaining nation in the Minnesota Territory... His works compete with the best ethnographic treatises for their particular detailing of American Indian culture. Lorbiecki, an award-winning children's book writer. . ., has presented the dual story of the Dakota people and the Army officer/artist who portrayed them, in a balanced and detailed style. The text mainly focuses on Eastman's relationship with the Dakota Nation and kin ... and his steady rise to prominence as a first-rate artist of the American frontier and Dakota Nation. Lorbiecki has judiciously spiced the text with Eastman's notes and Dakota oral histories....In Eastman's perspective, the Dakota were not just subjects for his canvas, but relations, friends, humans struggling to survive year to year. The selection of Eastman's works in this book documents the everyday essentials of life: women gathering wild rice, men hunting and ice-fishing, ceremonial dances, funeral and wedding rites. In this sense, Eastman is a Vermeer among American artists of indigenous peoples; he found beauty and meaning in the unnoticed and common acts of life .... The best test of a children's book is whether adults are entertained and informed as well. This is one of those books. An addition of a glossary and pronunciation guide for some of the Dakota terms and names would have been helpful, but overall, Lorbiecki's writing is precise. She handles complex historical topics, like the growing dependence of the Dakota on Anglo-American merchandise, and the regional Dakota-Ojibwe conflicts with clarity, and without oversimplification. Her portrayal of Eastman is honest. As a New Englander, he was not pleased with being so far from the artistic centers of New York and Boston, but he used his time at Fort Snelling to improve his talents and understand Dakota culture as well as any Anglo-American could. Lorbiecki will hopefully keep investigating and writing on historical, ethnic and environmental subjects she has covered in her past books. Her scholarship and style hold as much detail as one of Eastman's watercolors. PAINTING THE DAKOTA recreates a fascinating portrait of early Minnesota history, its original inhabitants and the man who painted their world."

This is an insightful book, aimed at a broad readership. With clear prose and striking paintings, it places Seth Eastman in context as an artist, by emphasizing his pioneering work painting "ordinary" Dakota men and women (rather than focusing on Native American leaders as Catlin and others had done). The author too focuses on everyday Dakota life, expertly using Eastman's paintings of sugaring time, traveling, etc. to emphasize points made in the text. I highly recommend this book.

As someone who is intimately familiar with the work of Aldo Leopold I was quite diappointed with this book. Although there are no glaring inaccuracies with the biography there is one obvious problem with it. A far far superior treatment of Leopold's life and work has already been written. Curt Meine's book "Aldo Leopold: His Life and Work" is such a better treatment of both Leopold's 'life and work' that Lorbiecki's book never needed to be written. "A Fierce Green Fire" is a superficial treatment of one of the most, if not the most, profound thinkers of our time and cannot hold a candle to Meine's book. If Leopold enthusiasts really want to learn about Aldo Leopold I would suggest Meine's book--don't cheat yourself.

I've been a long-time fan of Leopold's A Sand County Almanac. In reading it again recently, however, I realized how little I knew about Leopold's background. Lorbiecki's biography is a well-written introduction to one of the great 'fathers' of conservation.

Leopold's career truly ran the gamut, from foresty to public relations to writing to academia. But beyond his work life, Lorbiecki illustrates the importance family played for Leopold, both in shaping his values from childhood, and in the devotion he later showed to his wife and children.

I'd strongly recommend that anyone interested in Leopold, and more generally in the history of American land and game conservation, to give A Fierce Green Fire a try.

I don't agree with review #1. As a long time Leopold reader and having read Curt Meine's book, I think this treatment of Leopold is great for an introduction to the great man's life and work. This is the kind of book which makes you think about how you live, and what you can contribute to the greater good. Not an encyclopedia on Leopold, but a great intro.

While most monographs focus on raising an architect to that of a deity, the story of Rapson remains quite simply a story. Along with the drawings, buildings, and furniture which made Rapson famous (which is well displayed), a timeline of Rapson's professional and personal life allows the reader to gain more insight as to some of the formitive forces of his designs. As any purveyor or architecture may know, design is quite interdisciplinary, and often design descisions are based on firmly rooted 'everyday-life' ideals and experience, not solely as a spark of genious to the gifted few. This book reflects not only the genioius of Rapson's work, but also the real life story which had an equally profound impact.

I originally chose this book because I had just finished Zlata's Diary: A Child's Life in Sarajevo and I wanted to make a comparison. I felt very sad for Nadja. I enjoyed the book alot mainly because it was close to home. My father and his family were from Yugoslavia. I had heard many terrible stories from them about war and they would be so very close to how Nadja explained the fear of war closing in. I especially feel I have always taken for granted the everyday life I have. I hope Nadja has a better future!