No matter how many times I read "Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge" by Julie Vivas, this book never fails to touch something deep inside my heart. It's about a little boy who lives next to a retirement home and his friendship with the people who live there. We get to see these elderly people in a little boy's eyes. And the thoughtful illustrations by Mem Fox show us quite clearly. (I love the illustrations) The touching and simple relationship between Wilfred Gordon and Miss Nancy is poignant to the core. Wilfred Gordon's desire to revive Miss Nancy's lost memory is sweet and absolutely delightful. It's a great story to share with children about memories and Alzheimer's disease. The world seems a much friendlier place through a child's eyes. Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge is a fantastic book for all ages!

Title: Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge
Author: Mem Fox
Favorite Characters: Mrs. Jordan, Mr. Hosking, Mr. Tippett, Miss. Mitchell, and Mr. Drysdale

Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge was a curious little boy who loved the old people that lived right next to him, especially Miss. Nancy. In the story, Gordon finds out that Miss. Nancy has lost her memory. There is a slight problem, though, he doesn't know what a memory is! He asks everyone what a memory is and everyone gives him a different answer.
After everyone's different answers, Gordon goes out to look for Miss. Nancy's memory. Gordon ends up bring a box with a football, a puppet, a medal, a shell, and a warm egg to Miss. Nancy. What does this all have to do with her memory? Find out by reading the book...

I really like this book. I read it today for the second time, but I remember it from when I was younger. This story has siplicity for young children and a wonderful story line for any age. I am going to get this book for my children when I grow up and hopefully my little sister will read it some day.

Danish Proverbs is now back in print. This new edition has revised color on the cover, but still features the drawing of Hans Christian Andersen's Little Mermaid as immortalized in bronze by the sculptor Edvard Eriksen.

In hand calligraphy on archival paper by master calligrapher Esther Feske, these short, bright sayings become words to relate to in their reference to: Sage Observations, Experience Speaks, Worldly Goods, Hearth and Home, Eating and Drinking, Children, Heart and Soul, Friends and Neighbors, War and Peace, Law and Government, Animal Observations, Wise Advice, and Wry Comments.

Line drawings by Esther Feske illustrate scenes of historic importance in Denmark beginning with the Jelly Stone of 980 A.D. Early writing (runes) on the stone inspired some of the character type-designs used in the book. Other illustrations are: Viking ships, Viking burial grounds, and other scenes drawn from photographs taken by Penfield Publisher Joan Liffring-Zug Bourret during a tour of the Scandinavian countries.

Julie Jensen McDonald, whose ancestry is Danish, says of her selections of proverbs for this book, "'My grandmother used to say' prefaces many of the proverbs in my mind. May you also find what your 'grandmother used to say' and more.

This book is a beautiful addition to personal collections, as well as a thoughtful gift.

"That which is unsaid may be spoken, but the spoken cannot be unsaid."

This book contains more than 100 recipes-from Racine's famous Danish kringles to the famous open-faced sandwiches. There are great fruit soups and the well-known frikadeller (Danish meat-ball) recipes.

Julie Jensen McDonald is noted for her novels about Danish immigrants in America, published by Iowa State University Press. This is her first cookbook.

The cover of this book shows a young woman in Solvang, California in Danish costume. Solvang is a major tourist attraction in America, first settled by the Danes from Iowa. The back cover depicts two charming children in Danish costumes holding a kringle at the O&H Danish Bakery in Racine, Wisconsin. Racine is America's largest Danish community with over 40,000 people of Danish heritage living there.

Recipes come from fabulous Danish cooks in Iowa, California, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Nebraska, all states with Danish populations. Special coverage is given to Dana College in Blair, Nebraska and to Grand View College in Des Moines, Iowa.

The 16 page color section of the book contains photographs of Danish foods, the street scenes and people of Solvang and works by Danish artists such as Christian Petersen at Iowa State University, Ames, and the Mount Rushmore sculpture by Gutzon Borglum.

A work of art! full-color cover of German folk art and reproductions of wood blocks by Albert Durer from the Nuremberg Chronicle, 1943. It is a treasure of art and wisdom. This book is a beautiful addition to personal collections, as well as a thoughtful gift.

Examples of German proverbs:

"We hang minor thieves and tip our hats to major ones."

"Revenge is a meal that must be eaten cold."

"Death is the poor man's doctor."

"He who believes easily is easily deceived."

"Sweet song has betrayed many."

"Remorse is lust's dessert."

"Sweet wine makes sour vinegar."

"Grant Wood and Little Sister Nan draws Nan Wood Graham out of the larger tapestry of Wood's life and gives definition to her loyal support of her brother and her own achievements. She was a pathfinder whose contributions extend into areas that cannot be easily measured." writes Mary Bennett, Special Collections Coordinator for the State Historical Society of Iowa.

Julie Jensen McDonald pieces together the spirit of the Wood family during the demanding and daring times of the 1920s and 30s, capturing the substance that nurtured the talent, resourcefulness, and fierce loyalty demonstrated by Nan Wood Graham until her death in 1990 at the age of ninety-one years. Intriguing and enchanting details, garnered from the vast collection of Grant Wood memorabilia now held by the Davenport Art Museum, and other sources, profile the woman behind the face in American Gothic. Nan tells how she was wooed by her brother into posing for the painting by a promise that no one would recognize her. As the Gothic couple became one of the most celebrated images in art history, she speaks candidly of the joy as well as the vulnerability of "celebrity," including the innumerable parodies which depict a wide range of social conditions.

Joan Liffring-Zug Bourret, Penfield Press publisher, presents a pictorial documentary along with a"Passages in Time" of the Wood family, and rare insights from friends, acquaintances and admirers of Nan and her brother Grant Wood.

Essays by friends and close associates reveal the extent of Nan Wood Graham's devotion to the memory of her brother and to the places where they spent their early years. Personal letters and other commentaries provide a view of her fondness for time and place: early years in Anamosa, Iowa, growing up in Cedar Rapids, the generosity of friends in the Amana Colonies in times of great need, and the support of friends and mentors in the Iowa City and Davenport areas. Nan was often cast as a "fierce guardian of the truths of her brother's life." The Epilogue "Myths About Grant Wood," based on several years of research with Nan and other sources by the late John Zug, presents some truths to dispel many of the myths that often accompany notoriety.

This book adds a dimension to the woman in American Gothic. At age eighty three, Nan said the painting saved her life from being drab. Even though she didn't think the "painted" lady looked anything like her when it was first displayed, she had now decided that: "We look a lot alike. She's really become me."

I never expected to be so enveloped into the story of 2 star crossed lovers who settle together in the Artic tundra of Greenland in the 1920's. The story is cleverly integrated around the Greenlandic culture and both build on one another to create a tale that will bring the adventurer in you to his feet and the human being in you to his knees.

The book gives not only a great insight into the lifestyle of the frozen north but also the limits of human emotion.

This award-winning, beautiful little book includes 101 Scandinavian proverbs designed in calligraphy. Printed on ivory acid-free paper, the ink used is blue and rust, colors favored by Scandinavian folk artists.

Scandinavian Proverbs won first place in the trade book division of a contest sponsored by the Chicago Women in Publishing Association.

Julie Jensen McDonald, the author, writes that the hours she spent in libraries to compile the book were "more like picking wild strawberries than serious research."

"That which is loved is always beautiful." -Norwegian

"God did not create hurry." -Finnish

"The twigs are rarely better than the trunk." -Icelandic

"Don't sail out farther than you can row back." -Danish

"A life without love is like a year without summer." -Swedish

Julie Jensen McDonald is the author of ten published books. Her mother's parents emigrated from Denmark in the 1880s, and her father came from Denmark when he was nineteen. Mrs. McDonald is also the author of the Penfield Press book, Definitely Danish: Denmark and Danish Americans.

Calligrapher Esther Faske, M.F.A. graduate of the University of Iowa, designed the book. The proverbs are reproduced in her calligraphic style. She lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Scottish Proverbs contains distillations of the Scottish experience in the form of proverbs that have evolved from that experience. Collected by Julie Jensen McDonald beginning with research for her novel The Heather and the Rose, these bits of folk wisdom are reproduced in hand calligraphy adapted to the styles of the seventh-century Insular Half-Unicals and tenth-century Anglo-Saxon Miniscule, both from the manuscript The Lindisfarne Gospels. Printed single-sided, each page is a work of art worthy of framing. Illustrations include the Scottish Lion, a celtic cross from Iona, a fictional clan badge from the family of Nessie, the Loch Ness monster, and on the cover, a Luckenbooth pin designed to win the heart of Mary Queen of Scots. The cover plaid is Black Stewart.

Julie Jensen McDonald, related by marriage to the great Clan Donald, is the author of more than a dozen published books, including novels, a biography and a volume of regional history. Esther Feske, calligrapher and graphic designer from ALbuquerque, New Mexico, relates to the family of Oglevie and was also the designer for Julie McDonald's prize-winning Scandinavian Proverbs.

This collection-sometimes rueful, other times philosophical, occasionally humorous and always practical- gives an insight to the people and their experience. Throughout this book are the words of Robert Burns, the immortal poet of Ayr, who wrote many a line that sounds like, and has become a proverb. His down-to-earth insights have been passed from generation to generation with the same enduring verity as the proverbs forged in the hearts of the Scots.

I really like the format it's in. All of the pages are laminated (to avoid those cooking accidents) and there are cute Scottish anecdotes and pictures throughout. It has recipes for every occassion, including drinks!

Encouraged by this cookbook, we bought a haggis at a shop in the Edinburgh airport. We transported this frozen cannonball home, cooked it according to directions and made the tatties and neeps as presented here.

We also bravely invited guests. As we plunged the knife into the heart (literally) of the haggis, its compact contours exploded into an amazing amount of what looked like steaming cooked chopped meat. It tasted divine, and there wasn't any left.

It's a good thing this cookbook has plastic-coated pages, because an exploding haggis could really damage a regular book. Of course Scottish cooking isn't just about haggis; there's a lot of salmon and many notable soups. I recommend the Dundee cake recipe. If you want to serve a fruit cake at Christmas that will delight and not disgust your guest, Dundee cake is for you.

Why the Scots can cook and the British cannot remains a mystery. But don't even think of making a haggis at home. One set of instructions I read had you put the lungs into a pot of boiling water and hang the trachea outside the pot, draining into a cup to collect...whatever. Stick with the salmon or cockaleekie and you will be all right.

Savory Scottish Recipes designed in the popular recipe-card file size Stocking Stuffer format. This series of books adds proverbs and tidbits of traditional lore to a full complement of recipes and illustrations.

Scotland is renowned the world over for ingredients culled from deep seas, coastline, moorlands, mountain meadows and streams, lochs, uplands, lowlands, and countryside. The language of the people lends an added gusto to the food. Thus, potatoes are "tatties," turnips are "neeps," and hash browns are "stovies." The author, who collected these recipes on her travels in Scotland, prefaces the work with a "Wee Glossary" of these flavorful terms.

One-hundred-forty pages include over seventy-five recipes for daily fare and festive celebrations. Notes include instructions for Robert Burns Night (January 25), when the "Ploughman Poet's" birth is celebrated by serving up the haggis-a liver-and-heart pudding encased in a sheep's stomach! The more conventional Scottish food represented includes delicious Shepherd's Pie, Scottish Farmhouse Eggs, Chicken Stovies, Baked Salmon Steaks, Drop Scones, Collops, Marmelade, Shortbread, Toffee, and Dundee Cake. Recipes for concoctions of Scottish "spirits" are also included.

McDonald writes that she "fell in love with" the Scottish people and the drama of their lives and surroundings. This volume clearly reflects that enchantment.

Excellent for personal collections, as well as a thoughtful gift and memento.

This is a very cute book.
It's more Danish-American than Danish, though, so if you're looking for a book about Denmark, this is not the one.
That said, it's nice, in its own way. Sweet, charming, full of stories of Midwestern grandmothers and such, as well as stories about Danish-American enclaves in the USA. There are some nice recipes, pretty much all of which are duplicated in the book "Dear Danish Recipes."
I was hoping for more insight into Denmark, but this is really more of a Danish-American immigrant thing. Good for what it is, and there's nothing wrong with that.

The blond girl on the cover is me! I just felt like adding that to the reviews!! I was 8 and I just happened to be up early and dressed in my costume(which my mother made for me). My mom buys them wherever we go. Happy reading!

Definitely Danish: Denmark and Danish Americans reflects the Danish-American experience of the over one-million Americans of Danish descent whose strong influence has helped shape Amereican identity.

Author Julie Jensen McDonald is noted for her novels about Danish immigrants in America as well as for her other Penfield Press titles which include Danish Proverbs and the popular cookbook Delectably Danish: Recipes and Reflections. Information from Julie and other contributors covers this ethnic group's influence on literature, dance, music, business, and various other aspects of society.

Ingred M. Christiansen of Brookline, Massachusetts. contributed articles about Danish Folk Dancing and Danish Folk Arts. Her mother, Marie Elisabeth Valborg Jorgensen at age 91, contributed memories of Christmas celebrations in Denmark in the early 1900s. Ingred is active in Scandinavian-American programs.

The food section includes traditional recipes (with the Danish names) savored by generations, including Racine, Wisconsin's O&H Bakery's famous kringle recipe. Holiday customs include a pattern for the interwoven paper hearts.

Artist Diane Heusinkveld's illustrations cover Danish-American artifacts, sites, events, costumes and people. Among these charming drawings are the Dagmar Cross, the Danish Windmill in Elk Horn, Iowa, "Kristus," Bertal Thorvaldsen's famous statue of Christ, and Gutzon Borglum's "Mount Rushmore" sculpture.

The colorful cover of this book shows two young girls in Danish costume enjoying a festival at Skovsoen, the Danish Village at Concordia Language Villages. The back cover has a picture of the white clapboard Danish Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church that is now part of the Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer in Grand Island, Nebraska.

This is a book concerning America's inheritance of the rich traditions, recipes and culture of the Danish people.