This rather large format book has been out of print for some time. However, its one of the best of its kind. It presents a wealth of detailed photographs of operational life within the Legion's units. Those colour plates follow each step in the recruiting, training and operational deployment process for a legionnaire. The author had the full support of the (normally quite secretive) Legion in preparing this pictorial history. That level of support shows up in the quality and scope of this book. Beyond the book's pictorial focus, its editorial content and Legion history material provides an overall balance to the work.

My 4 year old loves this behind the scenes look at a typical day at a baseball game. Featuring Oriole Park at Camden Yards, the photos are beautiful and the text explains all of the activity that takes place before, during and after the game. Topics include the work of the groundskeepers, vendors, players, police officers, sportswriters, scorekeepers, and the people who run the audio/visual equipment. The book is also informative for adults, too. Of course, the fact that we have been to many games at the "Yard" gives us a personal interest. The layout and the photos are good for pre-readers and the text is challenging enough for intermediate readers. A definite must for the baseball fan in the family!

Rabbi Orkand, and his wife, Joyce, an elementary school teacher, write on a level that will be enjoyed, and understood by children. Generations should share this book.

What makes "The Gathering Storm 1787-1829" so compelling is that it is about the period in American history where slavery was not in the forefront of American politics. I was thinking about what I thought I knew about this period, and it was basically that after the Federal Constitution institutionalized slavery several generations went by before the Missouri Compromise and the Nat Turner rebellion made slavery the national issue. Of course, this was a naive reduction of American history on my part, which is corrected by Mary Sisson's informative fifth volume in the Milestones in Black American History series. "The Gathering Storm" covers the period from the framing of the Constitution in 1787 to David Walker's "Appeal" of 1829, which urged slaves to revolt and kill their masters. This division allows the next volume in the series to cover the period from the Nat Turner revolt to the Fugitive Slave Law.

"The Gathering Storm" provides unforgettable details about what slavery was like during these four decades when the number of slaves in the United States tripled. Sisson fills this volume with fascinating details about this period: in 1790 New Jersey and Pennsylvania each had more slaves than Tennessee, while in 1829 Cincinnati, Ohio began enforcing an 1804 statue requiring free blacks to post a $500 bond before settling in the city. There are other examples of laws clearly intended to preserve the institution of slavery, such as those forbidding Quakers from buying slaves that they obviously intended to free. But Sisson is also able to put these facts into context by focusing on two significant developments that had immense ramifications. First, the invention of the cotton gin by Eli Whitney spurred the growth of slave-worked plantations that expanded slavery further west in the South. Second, the successful slave result that resulted in the formation of the independent nation of Haiti. Because of the fear of a slave uprising in the United States, abolitionists were able to get a federal ban on the importation of slaves, which had huge consequences for how slaves were treated and valued in the South.

Sisson also presents a series of compelling historical figures, such as Richard Allen, founder of the Free African Society and of the first independent black church in America; merchant-seaman Paul Cuffe and editor John Russwurm, two of the chief proponents of the colonization movement which sought to resettle free American blacks in West Africa; mathematician Benjamin Banneker who surveyed the land for the District of Columbia and produced a series of almanacs; Gabriel Prosser and Denmark Vesey, who planned slave uprisings that unsettled the South; Vincent Oge and Francois-Dominique Toussaint-Louverture, leaders of the slave revolt that created Haiti; and David Walker, the firebrand who advocated violent revolt or predicated the nation would face a bloody civil war. When the volume ends with the Missouri Compromise and Walker's inflammatory "Appeal," it is clear the Civil War is inevitable.

Young students will have an excellent understanding of both the practice and politics of slavery after reading "The Gathering Storm, 1787-1829." I have not been working through the 16 volumes of the Milestones in Black American History series in order, but this is one of the best volumes in this excellent series, which covers the black experience from Ancient Egypt to the present. Although slavery would continue in the United States until the end of the Civil War, it underwent some significant changes through this period. Sisson does a superb job of organizing this material and making this case.

After his mother dies, Travis Fisher travels to the Midwest town of Haute Montagne to live with his Aunt Liza Burack and her husband Creath. It is the Great Depression and jobs are hard to come by so Travis works for Creath at his ice plant. The Baracks have a strange but beautiful boarder named Anna living in their attic and Travis is attracted to her even though she sleeps with Creath.

Travis starts dating Nancy Wilcox who wants to help Anna escape from Creath. Anna begs Travis to take Anna to a safe place before she starts changing. With Nancy's help he succeeds, but also glimpses Anna in her other form and knows she is not human. He leaves and Nancy watches over Anna until she completes the change. Anna is also waiting for her other half before she can return to her home world, but Haute Montagne is on the verge of exploding and Travis, Nancy, Anna and her other half could get caught in the middle of vigilante justice.

A HIDDEN PLACE is a fascinating work of fantasy starring two misfits who see themselves through an alien's myopic eyes. Nancy's easy acceptance of Anna's origins and Travis's rejection of her is a reflection of the lives they lived up to this point. Anna is a complex character who can see the beauty in humanity, which is the reason Nancy is so willing to help her. Travis is also a complicated person running from a past he can't accept and a future he doesn't believe in unless he makes peace with the mother he both loved and hated.

Harriet Klausner

I really enjoyed this book it is a great way to learn about the hertitage that my grandparent lived in and some history of the area

This book covers the handling, breaking and schooling of young horses. In a very easy to understand layout. This book contains some very good concepts and different approaches in the scholing of young horses. (It really helped me)

This book was lots of fun. It has colorful and pretty stickers, with interesting facts about horses. It even has extra stickers to decorate your own title page!

This book was excellent! It gave me many monologues to perform for contest and I got great marks for using Fontaine's book. I reccomend this book to anyone that is involved in Speech,Theater, or any other organization that might involve performances! I am still wondering the biography of this author though.If anyone knows log on to Ask Jeeves Answer Point and please share the information!

Barbara Willard's If All the Swords in England, first published in 1961, makes a happy comeback in this quality paperback edition by Bethlehem Books.

The drama unfolds during the turbulent years of the argument between King Henry II Plantagenet and Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, concerning juridical authority in church matters.

After the tragic deaths of their parents, brothers Simon and Edmund Audemer are separated. Edmund becomes a page in the court of King Henry II, while Simon becomes a scribe in the household of Thomas Becket.

Willard's use of the literary device of the two brothers allows the reader a "first-hand" glimpse into both the characters of Thomas Becket and Henry II as well as into the climate of the times.

The book is full of exciting episodes (including a miracle), and interesting characters. Barbara Willard's If All the Swords in England presents a timeless story of courage and conscience. It is also an excellent introduction to the heavier Becket by Anouilh and T.S. Eliot's Murder in the Cathedral. Grades 5-7.