Environmentalist, ecologist, naturalist, and writer Jean Craighead George, the Rachel Carson for children, will win her audiences once again with this story. The plot revolves around Tony Isidoro, a young biologist who is bent on solving the mystery of the death of his hometown's feathered mascot, Cock Robin. As he uncovers assorted clues strung throughout the town--chemical activity, sudden loss of frogs and birds--Tony must try to convince his naive neighbors that not just one thing is responsible for the bird's death, but many imbalances in the town's ecosystem, which everyone is convinced is the cleanest around. Since it's an eco-mystery, the story is grippingly told in the style of a crime investigation. From the beginning you want to know Who Really Killed Cock Robin: "Cock Robin lay on his back with his feet in the air. . .It was seven minutes past six A.M. on the twenty-fourth day of May. He was dead." There are endless possiblities for the cause of the bird's death, and at times it's a bit unrealistic when Tony immediately dismisses some types of poisons and investigates others. Younger kids may have no idea what DDT, PCB, and 2,4,5-T are, though the author does try to explain them. However, the story, the dedication--"To sunshine, clear water, and sparkling skies and to the kids who are cleaning up the Earth"--and Ms. George's supportive Author's Note in the new paperback version will surely inspire kids to clean up their environment and veer away from the use of harmful, chemical-containing products. If one enjoys this Eco-Mystery, check out the others in the series--THE CASE OF THE MISSING CUTTHROATS; THE FIRE BUG CONNECTION; and THE MISSING 'GATOR OF GUMBO LIMBO. Don't forget Jean Craighead George's eighty or so other remarkable stories--the Julie of the Wolves books, the My Side of the Mountain trilogy, the One Day series. . .the list goes on and on. Each book will deepen readers' respect for nature and our beautiful but threatened planet.

Very well written, not so deep so that kids can't understand it. It is unique in that it doesn't lecture or preach, like many ecological books.

In 1969, the prestigious nature writer Jean Craighead George authored a series of thirteen books, each one focusing on a different season and an animal who survived during that time, all over the country. The books were called THE THIRTEEN MOONS and featured THE MOON OF THE ALLIGATOR, BEAR, CHICKAREE, DEER, FOX PUPS, MOLE, MONARCH BUTTERFLY, MOUNTAIN LION, OWL, SALAMANDER, WILD PIG, WINTER BIRD, and GRAY WOLVES (see my review of these books under THE MOON OF THE OWLS). These books featured simple black-and-white illustrations and went out of print. Two decades later in 1992 they made a comeback with lavish color illustrations, though they retained their poetic wording and intriguing subjects. But then the Thirteen Moons again went out of print. Now, to avid nature lovers' and readers' delight, they are back! The thirteen hardcover books have been compressed into four paperback ones, each one containing three or four stories about different animals, along with a few of the more recent color illustrations. The titles have changed; instead of the Thirteen Moons the series is now, perhaps slightly less majestically, Seasons of the Moon. AUTUMN MOON is the first to be released and features the MOON OF THE. . .DEER, ALLIGATORS, and GRAY WOLVES in their entirety. These outstanding stories pitting wild animals against the elements of nature are unforgettable. The descriptions are lively and very authentic. You can really see the young spike buck as he flees from the hurricane of September, feel the October humidity of the Everglades with the Florida alligator, and feel the chill in the air as the gray wolves trek through Alaska searching for food in snowy November. As for the illustrations, only a small portion of the ones from the reprinted 1992 versions are reproduced, and these hardly do the beautiful paintings any justice. Still, they do add to the stories, and it's nice that they were included. After reading AUTUMN MOON, be sure to read WINTER MOON, and SPRING and SUMMER MOON will be released in February of 2002. Ms. George has written nearly 80 other books for young readers. But the fineness of her nature writing is demonstrated in this amazing series.

In this book, one begins to understand the long history of scandals in the family of Britain's monarchs. Elizabeth II's 'annus horribilis' is not an isolated event but an on-going saga of sexual high jinx and jealousies that have been a part of the British royal family for centuries.

Unlike their German cousins, the British people have an equally long-standing tradition of lampooning and laughing at the follies of their monarchs. Tabloid journalism was alive and well as far back as the early days of the House of Hanover.

The long-suffering Queen Caroline does her duty to the best of her abilities-gently leading her arrogant and insecure husband, George II, into doing the right thing in spite of himself. But the need for a government, independent of the whims and follies of the monarch, is by now most evident. The evolution of power centered in the Prime Minister and Parliament, and the ability of the British people to not take their leaders too seriously, is the reason England ruled a mighty Empire while Germany floundered and fell in two world wars.

Jean Plaidy not only has a gift for making history easy to read, but easy to understand. This book should be read after "Queen in Waiting."

CLIFF HANGER is yet another remarkable picture book from the creative team of Jean Craighead George and Wendell Minor. Ms. George is a naturalist and Newbery Medal-winning author who has been captivating children with her 80+ nature stories, like JULIE OF THE WOLVES and MY SIDE OF THE MOUNTAIN, for the past 54 years. Mr. Minor is a one-of-a-kind artist who has created the covers for more than 2,000 works ranging from many different genres, and has illustrated many captivating picture books about animals and the wilderness. The two have collaborated on a number of books, including EVERGLADES, a beautiful story about conserving an important environment, ARCTIC SON, about a young boy's life on the tundra near Barrow, Alaska, and MORNING, NOON, AND NIGHT, describing the daily activities of wildlife extending from the East Coast to the West. Each book is written with a lyrical, absorbing text, with outstanding watercolor paintings depicting the words. CLIFF HANGER is the first in a series of adventure books for young readers (supposedly the age range is from 5-9, but I think this distinguished story would be appropriate for any age). In it, we are drawn into a world of rocky cliffs, majestic peaks and dramatic skies--the Teton Mountains of Wyoming. A storm is drawing near, filling the sky with ominous clouds, fierce lightning, and deep thunder. A boy, Axel, is upset to learn that his dog, Grits, is at the top of Cathedral Wall, a towering rock in the middle of the bad storm. Determined to rescue him before it's too late, Axel and his father hurry over to the huge cliff with their rock-climbing gear. Bravely Axel starts up the sheer, treacherous cliff. Will he make it to the top and be able to save Grits in time? The peril of Axel's climb and his descent are wonderfully captured by Mr. Minor's artwork. You feel like you're climbing alongside Axel with the elements raging around you, and as you head down to firm ground again, you fly through the air, the red walls of the cliff all around you. This vivid depiction comes from the author's and illustrator's observations of Ms. George's family, the adventurous Craigheads, rock-climbing in Wyoming. Unlike the other George/Minor books, the emphasis in CLIFF HANGER is not placed so strongly on conservation and wildlife, but more on a realistic adventure; however, a few traditional themes, like the exploration of an exciting new habitat (such as that found in their SNOW BEAR) or the special relationship between a kid and his canine friend (as you would find in another of Ms. George's picture books, NUTIK, THE WOLF PUP) are evident throughout the story. All in all, CLIFF HANGER is a great read, a fresh new entry into the picture book world, and I eagerly look forward to the publication of the rest of the series.

THE HOLE IN THE TREE, besides being a fascinating ecological story, is also a delightful picture book. It was written early in the half-century-long writing career of children's greatest nature writer, Jean Craighead George. Before she went on to write classics like JULIE OF THE WOLVES and today's books like the Ecological Mysteries, HOW TO TALK TO YOUR DOG, and the One Day in the. . .series, Ms. George turned out several books that she wrote and illustrated. Among them are the animal biographies she wrote with husband John George, like VULPES THE RED FOX and DIPPER OF COPPER CREEK. There was the enduring, Newbery Honor-winning MY SIDE OF THE MOUNTAIN, too. And there were her picture books, THE HOLE IN THE TREE and SNOW TRACKS. Apparently, SNOW TRACKS is not currently available on Amazon. It tells the cozy story of a forest full of animals who have adventures on a cold winter night, and a boy who follows their tracks. THE HOLE IN THE TREE is done in the same style. In it, a young boy and girl find a sanctuary under an old shady apple tree. So do a lot of wild things--woodpeckers, insects, raccoons--and the children, though they might think they are alone, soon have many neighbors in the hollow tree trunk. The pictures are lively and warm, penciled with great detail and close observation of natural behavior. The story, too, is detailed and thorough, helping explain the pictures with creative, understandable words. A carpenter bee, one of nature's most crafted homemakers, lays her eggs in the hole; a chickadee builds a nest; a raccoon hibernates; and the pictures offer a wonderful look into these otherwise hidden worlds. Sadly, this fine story of nature and ecology has been out of print for years. But Ms. George has written almost a hundred books on our spectacular natural world, and each one is enjoyable and fascinating.

For as long as she's been writing (more than half a century now), Jean Craighead George has been studying the behavior of many animals that inhabit North America. Her research on gray wolves is obvious in JULIE OF THE WOLVES, winner of the prestigious Newbery Medal, and its sequels JULIE and JULIE'S WOLF PACK, in which wolf communication, which extends farther than its famous howl, is brought to light in a new way, combining science with firsthand experience. With the recent publication of the picture books HOW TO TALK TO YOUR DOG and HOW TO TALK TO YOUR CAT, adapted from this novel, Ms. George gives readers a new way to connect with their pets. HOW TO TALK TO YOUR ANIMALS is one of Ms. George's few adult novels, although all ages should be able to learn something from it. It was published in 1985 and is out of print. The book is definitely one of Ms. George's most fascinating. It delves into the world of animal communication in a very personal and enlightening way, showing the average person, without copious amounts of dry science, how to talk to the dog, cat, bird, and horse. In the first chapter she gives a preface and explains why she wrote the book. Then enters that wonderfully social and loyal animal, the dog. Ms. George writes about the dog as she does no other animal, as if she is eternally intrigued with its life. Those who have read JULIE'S WOLF PACK and HOW TO TALK TO YOUR DOG will know about alpha wolves, nose-sniffing, and play-bowing, but there's still much to be learned in this chapter. After the dog comes a much different creature, the independent cat. It's interesting to see how the cat's communication differs from the dog's. Cats are solitary, and if dog-lovers are frustrated with the seeming snobbiness of felines, they may be turned around with this chapter, as I was, and feel more connection with them after they learn the secrets of head-bumping, the various meows, and movements that can be used when talking to our whiskered friends. On to the birds, even different from dogs and cats in that they are not often domesticated. Besides discussing how to talk to your cockatiel or parrot, Ms. George gives insight into how wild birds like sparrows communicate. As a birder I learned some important information. The horse chapter is an interesting read even if you're not a horse owner or rider, and if you are, you'll learn lots of helpful tips. People usually don't give much credit to horses, they may think they don't talk and are boring, but as soon as you read this chapter, you'll be inspired to go out to the nearest farm and use the arm-around-the-neck move to signal friendship with a horse. In the last chapter, Ms. George discusses the controversial and mysterious subject of animal communication. Can animals talk? It's up to you to decide. I'm pretty sure this book, which is as funny and heartwarming as it is interesting, will help you come to a conclusion.

Jean Craighead George is one of the most prestigious and one of the best children's authors of this century. She is my personal favorite, for she has taught me to love and respect our natural world. Her life is just as captivating and interesting as her books, for she herself has experienced the worlds of Julie Miyax Kapugen and Sam Gribley, and that is how she writes so well about them. While this book is a little dated--Ms. George has written dozens more books since its publication--every reader who, like me, has come to adore her books will want to know more about the author's extraordinary life. From early childhood she has loved nature and animals, and in her long, productive life that love has never faded. Like Sam in MY SIDE OF THE MOUNTAIN, she ate wild foods and had pet birds. Grown up, she went to the North Slope of Alaska and communicated with those magnificent animals, wolves, like JULIE OF THE WOLVES. Before you read this book, it would be a good idea to read Ms. George's eighty or so others, so that you can truly be interested in this biography. I highly recommend this book for anyone, young or old, who loves and respects nature, animals, and the eloquent words of today's most distinguished and beloved children's nature writer.

Georges Simenon, that most prolific of writers, strikes literary gold once again with this charming "policier." Maigret finds a seemingly unimportant homeless man on the dark streets of Paris. The man and his story are more important than we think, however. The plot is intriguing, the character studies are astute, and the language is elegant. I highly recommend this short detective novel.

A easy read tale with the basic facts. A great book for kids with a fun side. Using it on a report as a source is great.

Though I haven't yet read all of Simenon's (possibly) one million novels, I can say that November is arguably the best non-Maigret book that he wrote. Simenon was a master of small-scale drama, and this book is no exception. All he gives us is a house, a daughter, mother, father, son and a maid. Of course, it wouldn't be Simenon if both the son and father weren't sleeping with the maid, and everyone else in the house knew it. This, of course, makes for the creepiness. This book is a good 10 on the CreepOmeter. I highly recommend it.