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Book reviews for "Smith,_Doris_Buchanan" sorted by average review score:

Dreams and Drummers
Published in Hardcover by Ty Crowell Co (October, 1987)
Author: Doris Buchanan Smith
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FOR EVERY TEENAGE GIRL WITH A DREAM
How sad that this book is out of print. This was one of my favorite books as a teenager; I must have checked it out of our school library a hundred times! Now that I am a "grown-up" teaching teenagers, I appreciate this book even more. I was lucky enough to get an out-of-print copy, which I read and re-read as soon as I received it. For every intelligent teenage girl who has ever felt alone, out of place, or out of touch, this book is like a look in the mirror. The protagonist, Stephanie, is a unique and wonderful character, full of questions about life, relationships, prejudice, independence, and the future. The book addresses many relevant issues for young adults. I highly recommend it!


The Pennywhistle Tree
Published in Hardcover by Putnam Pub Group Juv (October, 1991)
Authors: Doris Buchanan Smith and Leslie Bowman
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All Sheltie lovers should have this book
A wonderfully cute book. Jonathon and his blue merle sheltie. All Sheltie lovers should have this book in their library!


A Taste of Blackberries
Published in Hardcover by Ty Crowell Co (June, 1973)
Authors: Doris Buchanan Smith and Charles Robinson
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Was it all a dream ?
This book was about two friends who liked to pick blackberries and play together. They tried to talk with each other through a cup on a string, and they learned how to use flashlight codes. Then Jamie was stung by a bee and died. His friend started thinking it all was a dream. He stopped eating and stopped sleeping. I liked this book because it reminded me of my Poppop and when he died. I was a baby and I was not happy. Now I still ask questions about him. My Mom and Dad answer most of my questions. The narrator of this story asked a lot of questions like I did.

A Taste Of Blackberries
A taste Of Blackberries is a sad but good book. I like the book very much! If I could give it a percent I would give it a 100%. I like to read and out of all the books i have read this is one of the very best. A Taste Of Blackberries one of a lot of chapter books I liked and would like to read one or two more times. If my mom or dad gtt me this book i would read it so many times I could remember it by heart.it is a sad book because jamie gets stung and dies and if that happened to one of my firends I would do the same stuff mady in a differnt way but I hope that dose not happen to any of my firends.I liked A Taste Blackberries and I will probably read it some more.

A book you can't forget
I read this book over 20 years ago, when it first came out. I was in the third grade. I can still remember sitting in my house, on my front porch, carrying this book around with me and finishing it as soon as possible. Jamie was the kind of kid we all knew and sometimes didn't like. We may have even wished something bad would happen to him as we read the story. But when it does, we are taken aback, and just can't believe that he will never play another trick again. The descriptions of picking and eating the blackberries, of attending Jamie's funeral, of eating food that still tastes good even after Jamie's death, are so very vivid to me today, 26 years later. This book is such a classic. I'm so glad you continue to offer it.


When the Cheering Stopped: The Last Years of Woodrow Wilson
Published in Paperback by William Morrow & Co (September, 1971)
Authors: Gene Smith, Eugene O. Smith, and Doris Buchanan Smith
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Interesting
The strange thing about reading history books written before one was born (in this case 1964) is that that biases are all different. This book laments the collapse of the League of Nations and Woodrow Wilson. Ten years later, no one would dare write about American intervention in the world stage in quite so laudatory tones. Issues that bother modern historians such as the unconstitutional incarceration of Eugene Debs, race riots, Wilson's racism including anti-German hysteria, the Imperialism of the other League Nations as well as the anti-sedition laws get swept under the rug.

Despite the bias, this is an amazingly personal look at a man who tried to sell a great plan to the United States only to be disappointed by Congress and the American people. It discusses his illness, his lack of willingness to compromise, his ineffectiveness as a leader. It also goes into great details about his wife's role in keeping the administration afloat, although it portrays her as a vindictive shrew. There's some interesting information about his daughters (true to WASP fasion, one of his daughters tried on several strange religions before taking off to India and dying of dysentry in the 40s).

While some of the material is lacking (see first paragraph) and while the enemies of America's involvement in the League are portrayed in a rather sinister fashion, this is still an excellent read and introduction to the post-WWI history.

a classic tragedy
this is a facinating period of history and the story of a man who was very disillusioned at the end of his life. Due to the stroke wilson did not understand what was actually happening to him. it is hard not to weep for him and not to feel admiration for his widow. a very personal piece of world history that was not explained in my college studies. i knew about his stroke and the bitterness he felt, but this book helped me to experience how it felt.

Excellent research, sympathetic treatment
I picked this book up for $1, and would recommend it at thirty times that amount to anyone who loves history or biography. I was vaguely aware of Wilson's life and work, but after reading this book I feel as if I knew the man personally. Well-done, mostly fair, very human -- I cried more than once.


Karate Dancer
Published in Hardcover by Putnam Pub Group Juv (November, 1987)
Author: Doris Buchanan Smith
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My Letter to the Editor
My favorite part of Karate Dancer is when the ship destroyed the bridge because it had the most suspense at the beginning. It wasn't that sad at the end because none of the main characters died they only had minor bruises. I think that Keven should have disappeared for a few days instead of just one. I especially enjoyed when they where running and dodging the debrey from the bridge.

From the book I have learned that there is more than one way to get what you want. I have also learned that most of the time your not forced to do anything. Usually it's your choice of what you want to do. I also learned that your imagination can help you get over almost anything. While I was reading this book I thought that a good moral for the story is you have to work for what you want.

This story is similar to the event that happen in my life because I have lived through a disaster, and I have had to talk my way out of many situations. I have also thought up many imaginary creatures and some I have even put on paper. I also at times have a messy room. The ways that the events in this story were dissimilar to the events of my life because I don't practice karate, or draw for news paper. I also don't practice ballet. I have to clean my room, unlike the characters in the story. I also don't play pranks on people I dislike.

You could have made the story much better by putting more action into the story. You also could have told exactly what happened at both of the black belt tests. I also think more suspense would have made the book better. At the chapter where the bridge is destroyed you could have described it more but over the entire book was very good.


Salted Lemons
Published in School & Library Binding by Atheneum (October, 1984)
Author: Doris Buchanan Smith
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This was an exciting book!
I'd like to tell you two reasons why I like this book. First it was exciting but realistic. It had girls just like me. The setting was during World War II and I like learning about this war. I enjoyed this book. I would recomend this book to 4th and 5th graders.

Salted Lemons....
Salted Lemons is a very cool book. Darby is a young girl from Washington D.C. who moves to Atlanta, Georgia during the beginning of World War 2. One of the first friends she made there was Yoko, the girl across the street. Yoko introduces Darby to eating lemons with salt, the big sycamore tree in the back yard, and the basket swing where they sit reading the Bible. When summer ends, Darby has to go to school and finds it strange when her classmates don't pay any attention to planes flying overhead and they don't even act as if a war is going on! In Washington D.C., they had air raid drills every month, collected tin cans and string, and bought savings stamps at the end of the week. Here, they only pray at church for the lost soldiers. Darby really wants to be accepted by the other children, who consider her a "Yankee".

After a few days of school, the other people in her class notice her hanging out with Yoko and start to call her names until her father explained that Yoko was Japanese. Darby starts to become frightened of Yoko and her family and starts making exuses not to go play with her. Yoko finally explains that they are not spies, or the ememy. Yoko was born in Atlanta but her heritage is Japanese. They become fast friends again until the government decides to make all the Japanese move away.
The new girl who lives in the Yoko's house is convinced that the world is going to end and invites Darby to wait for it with her.

This book is so fun to read and some people can relate to the feelings of Darby's older sister, Kyla, who misses her friends
in D.C. I hope that anyone who reads it will like it as much as I did. My favorite part is the roller coaster in her neighbor's yard.


Voyages
Published in Hardcover by Kestrel Pr (October, 1989)
Author: Doris Buchanan Smith
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good...but lacking in detail
12-year-old Janessa Kessel, survivor of a horrible crime, lies in a hospital bed. The only things she can do to occupy her time is practice origami and think about how trapped she is.

Until she folds a little, brown paper boat...

What follows is Janessa's magical journey into Asgard, home of the Norse gods. She receives a golden Ring of Protection from Odin, the All-Father, confronts Giants and Elves, and has to outwit Loki, mischief-maker in Asgard.

Ms. Smith does a good job in creating a young female character who not only has to deal with her injuries; but also has to learn that it's okay to be angry and make demands (not just wait passively for the world to help you).

The only real shortcoming in the book was the lack of descriptive material concerning Asgard, Valhalla, and, especially, the Elves of Ivaldi (where Janessa has her big moment). We don't even know what the Elves actually look like, only that they live in a cave and wait for Loki to bring them things from the outside world. An extra fifty pages would have been ideal for readers to get a fuller picture of this alternate reality.

Quite pleasant.
Though not particularly enthralling or dramatic, this book is cute and perfect for when you want a real feel-good ending. Don't expect miracles; it's not a mushy everything's perfect by the last chapter ending either. It's just a satisfying and relatively quick read about a girl learning to trust herself and the world.


Best Girl
Published in Hardcover by Viking Press (March, 1993)
Author: Doris Buchanan Smith
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First Hard Times
Published in Paperback by Yearling Books (April, 1984)
Authors: Robert K. Smith and Doris Buchanan Smith
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Kelly's Creek
Published in Library Binding by HarperCollins Children's Books (September, 1989)
Authors: Doris Buchanan Smith and Alan Tiegreen
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