I hated reading growing up but when I was confined to my bed in forth grade, my mother bought me the entire sereies. I developed a love for reading and sometimes would stay up half the night just to read "one more chapter". This series is great. It taught me about loving others and other great lessons from the BIble. I have these books on my shelf just waiting for my daughter to read when she is old enough.

I first read this book, as well as the whole series, back when I was a kid in the 80s. I would highly recomend this book/series for any preteen girl. There is a good mix of suspence along with Biblical principals. This book is a good reminder that God loves everyone, even the kids that no one wants. They are not beyond His care. It also shows the power of prayer and the fact that nothing is impossible for God. This is an excellent book/series.

With over 500 pages of delectable dishes,this book is sure to fill a large space on my kitchen book shelf. It contains many of the recipes for foods I experienced as a child. It is well written and, unlike most cookbooks, conveys a warm sense of nostalgia though charming pen & ink illustrations. A family cookbook written with love.

This should be in everyone's kitchen, right next to the Betty Crocker and Better Homes and Gardens cookbooks. I'm giving this to everyone for Christmas this year, and I'm giving it as a standard wedding present from here on. There are recipes in here that you will not find anywhere else, unless you have your great-great-great grandmother's recipe collection, and even then, I bet it's not as complete as this book.

I have been a Hilda Van Stockum fan since elementary school. I loved the Mitchell series, especially "Canadian Summer." This is vintage Van Stockum -- rich, realistic characters one can recognize, sympathize with and love. One's heart goes out to little Catherine, the pre-schooler who feels upstaged by her twin brothers and taken for granted by an impersonal caregiver. One laughs with Peter and Patsy, who seem more like twins than siblings 2 years apart and I like the way they formed their own unit. Joan brought a voice of "youthful maturity" which certainly brought a smile to my face. This is really a wonderful book. I'm glad I have it. (I was lucky that it was available when my town library was having a book sale a few years ago. This book is a timeless classic).

Friendly Gables is the third and final book in the Mitchell family series. I loved this book because all the children are sweet, kind, and loving, to their siblings. Twins have just been born, making eight Mitchell children. The nurse, who helps Mrs. Mitchell, presents a challenge to the six other Mitchell children, by being difficult to get along with. The children create a hide-out in the attic called Homework, to escape the nurse, Miss Thorpe. The Mitchells have much fun and adventure during the month following the twin's birth.

I am not a parent, but a horse crazy adult, and I found this to be one of the most practical, informative, and entertaining books on horse ownership and all that goes with it that I have ever read. It is a crying shame it has gone out of print, as this book belongs on the bookshelves of anyone who is contemplating first time horse ownership, be it for their child or themselves. FIVE STARS!!!!!

Most informative book I have seen on horses and in every day language, peppered with entertaining real life stories & examples. Great for the parent who knows nothing. I now feel like an expert. THIS BOOK SHOULD NOT BE OUT OF PRINT!!!!!!!!!!!!! IT IS WONDERFUL.

For those who know her society of partners: Erza Pound, Aldington, DH Lawerence; this book begins with her relationship of the first. Amongst her eccentric family, and bisexual classmate, HD presents a poetic sketch of her coming of age which is contrasted between her erratic hang-ups. Sometime sounding like Stein, other times Kerouac, Hilda plays with earthy metaphors which derives from her early years in the Imagist movement. Nevertheless, there was more to HD than being the Imagist's main figure; what went beyond is in this book.

This book was written by Seattle poet Jesse Bernstein. It rules

Rarely is a friendship between two women as tested as that between Hilda and Pearl, the two sensitive and scarred sisters-in-law in the novel that bears their name. Novelist Alice Mattison has summoned her considerable talents and created a series of characters and conflicts so real and so intense that it is easy to forget the beauty of her narrative. "Hilda and Pearl" is a masterful work, one which reminds us of the beauty of friendship, the imperative of memory and the possibilities of forgiveness. Set in the grim repressive atmosphere of McCarthyism, with skillful flashbacks to earlier decades and pivotal events, the novel traces the resiliency of the human heart when bruised by betrayal, confusion and loss.

The two featured protagonists develop a profound friendship, one rooted not only in the circumstance of marrying brothers, but nurtured by respect, need and fear. Hilda and Pearl mutually confront interrelated conflicts, weighty enough that most friendships would wither and die, and emerge with their integrity and sense of self intact. This is no easy task, as the women not only must face reciprocal recrimination but observe their husbands' relationship fracture as well. Burdened by a restive child and unsettled by a husband whose career is threatened by a witch-hunt mentality, Hilda searches for a sense of peace and place, elusive and ephemeral. Physically dissimilar, Pearl, whose long blonde hair and manifest physicality distinguish her, faces life without confidence or structure. If Hilda is acutely analytical, Pearl is intuitive and accepting. Hilda' sense of history contrasts with Pearl's ahistoric approach to life.

Parallel to the two women's encounter with frayed trust and broken dreams, Nathan Levenson and Mike Lewis suffer a deterioration of their bond. Idealistic, patient and calm, Nathan ruefully observes his own demise after a brief association with communism in the 1930s. Reminding him of the futility of political change is his assimilation-bound brother, Mike, who changed his last name in order to further his own career. Angry, resolute and frustrated, Mike bears the full burden of betrayal, first by his wife and brother, then by his own broken dreams, and finally by his son, Simon.

Mattison advances the action of her novel through pivotal emotional explorations made by Hilda and Nathan's daughter, Frances. Her persistent inquiry about a hidden pair of shoes becomes the string which, when pulled, unravels the secrets of the two households. The author deftly interweaves Frances' coming-of-age with her parents descent into sorrow, recrimination and resolution.

There is no cheap grace in "Hilda and Pearl." Characters unflinchingly face the worst possible circumstances conspiring against loyalty, cohesion and trust. The sheer beauty of how a tested friendship emerges from the crucible of doubt, the generous spirit which animates the women's resiliency and the authentic notion of redemptive love make "Hilda and Pearl" not only worth reading, but worth remembering.

If your relationship with your best friend has survived rocky times, read this book; your experience of the love and friendship between women will be affirmed. If you want to remember the innoncence you had as a girl, read this book; Frances will let you visit with her childhood. This story is honestly told by the the unique voices of young Frances, who in her niavete fills in the holes of her family's story with her own childish fantasy, of her Aunt Pearl, who misplaces the intense love inside her, and of Hilda, Frances's mother, who teaches us that when love is stong enough, there is nothing that can't be forgiven. This is the story of a Jewish family, set in a New York City stuggling through the depression, grappling with Europe's facism, and touched by McCarthy's witch hunt for communists. Read this book; it is beautiful.

I really enjoyed the book Hilda. It is a true story, and interesting throughout. The author has done a great job of depicting the feeling of the times. I highly recommend it!

I read the story of Hilda's life with great interest and real pleasure. Biography is a difficult form because it can so easily become a simple recitation of facts, but Hilda's story comes alive in Semona Whitney's very capable hands. She is a good, clear writer with a nice sense of metaphor and plot. Hilda's difficulties as a handicapped child, her devotion to music, and her career as a concert pianist are all movingly portrayed. Because of the well-balanced progression of the narrative, Hilda's difficulties help us cherish the fullness and quiet joy she also experiences in her life. The contrast with the fate of Alma is particularly moving. The story is structured so as to seem like a well-plotted novel instead of a biography. Semona Whitney's lucid style and gift for dialogue and metaphor heighten the novelistic effect. Most of us are never able to comprehend the human stories of our parents and grandparents, but Semona Whitney has produced a wonderful legacy for her family and for other descendants of Swedish immigrants of the early 20th Century who settled in Minnesota or the Midwest.

Most holiday cookbooks are filled with recipes for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners. Surprisingly,Cooper's Holiday Traditions picks up where most leave off. I encourage readers to try my favorite picnic recipe--Carolina Cole Slaw. It's a zinger.

I am tired of magazines and cookbooks touting "new traditions" for your family that actually aren't fit for gophers to eat. This Holiday Traditions cookbook is going to be my recipe book for Christmas from now on, and I'm giving it to my sisters for Christmas presents this year. It will bring back fond memories of my grandmother's kitchen for my father, my sisters and my children. This cookbook belongs with your Better Homes and Gardens and Betty Crocker standards in the kitchen. It's going to be a classic.

Hilda Van Stockum was one of my favorite authors in elementary and middle school. My first book by this outstanding author was "The Winged Watchman," which was a historical look at a Dutch family during WWII. It was a lovely story replete with Dutch customs. "Pegeen" and the entire "Bantry Bay" series will not disappoint, either. The characters are lively, heart warming and full of fun and vigor. I am lucky in that I have several Hilda Van Stockum books as my library was having a sale some years ago. I have never read a bad Hilda Van Stockum -- there is no such thing. She is a keeper.

Pegeen is the third and final volume in Hilda van Stockum's delightful Bantry Bay series. Without a hint of pedantry or preachiness, all three books teach children virtues such as courage, self-sacrifice, and honesty. The whimsical and charming young heroine of the present volume gets into a few tight scrapes, learns to accept the blame for her own wrongdoings, and is rewarded in the end. I've read all three books to my three year old; he can listen to them for hours on end. They are quite appropriate for accomplished young readers ages ten to twelve. Pegeen can be read without any knowledge of the preceding volumes, but do your children (and yourself) a favor - buy all three; you will not be disappointed.

I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the meaning of statistics. Statistics is based on probability theory, which in turn is dependent on a very specific definition of 'probability'. As such, statistical interpretation should always reflect this definition. This book clarifies the meaning of probability and its impact on statistical reasoning.

It covers the 'grey area' of statistics, too often ignored in university texts.

This book is very easy to read and does not require much exposure to mathematical probability/statistics. The central ideas of the book are applied to 'practical' applications in Physics, which makes it even more interesting.

For the price, it is a great buy!

This outstanding presentation of the frequentist interpretation of probability should be read by all seeking an understanding of what a probability really =is=. One need not accept frequentism (and I do not) to profit greatly from this work.