Kate Jackson Books

The reason that scientists don't know much about the reptiles and amphibians of the Congo, we learn in Kate Jackson's gripping Mean and Lowly Things is because it's a very difficult place to live and most scientists would rather work in places less remote. As a new Ph.D., Kate Jackson doesn't have much of a choice; she can go to the Congo and find snakes on her own, or she can play second, third, or fourth fiddle to some other researcher in a place with running water. Choosing the road less traveled seems to have made all the difference because Jackson turns out to be made of exactly the mettle needed for surviving in climates of perpetual damp, heat, bureaucracy, poverty, and, oh yeah, maggots, biting ants, malaria, sleeping sickness, foot long millipedes and of, course, cobras.

Reminiscent of Raymond Ditmar's very out of print Snake Hunter's Holiday Jackson plunges into the submerged and remote forests of the Congo with a resolve and story telling ability that keep readers on the edge of their seats. Whether cheering along as she captures venomous snakes, or cringing as she describes discovering that maggots are growing under her skin, either way, it's a gripping and enjoyable book that makes you appreciate those people for who intentionally choose the difficult path, try harder when things seem hopeless, and persevere.

"Mean and Lowly Things" is a phenomenal account of the trials and tribulations of herpetological field work in one of the most remote places of the world. Jackson tells her story of collecting amphibians and reptiles in the swamp forests of the Northern Congo without bias and in a way that highlights and accentuates the reasons why someone would long to camp in a secluded swamp forest to catch these creatures. "Mean and Lowly" gives down-to-Earth and easily accessible insight into the little-known area of herpetological field work. Jackson shows exactly how mundane things such as drinking water and dry clothes can be hard to come by in the field, yet how tenacity, passion and curiosity can overcome just about any seemingly insurmountable odd. From impossible government bureaucracies and maggots that grow in your skin, to traditional village customs and published scientific data, "Mean and Lowly" truly covers everything one has to deal with as a scientist in the field in an easy and enjoyable read meant for anyone. It is a wonderful and tantalizing book filled with stories that will make you want to leave for the rain forest tomorrow.

Mean and Lowly Things is a gripping firsthand account of Kate Jackson's adventures as a herpetological fieldworker in the Congo. While the book provides the reader with scientific detail it's written in a style which brings the experience of conducting field research vividly to life, and as such it mirrors the best travel literature. Keen observations of culture and life are balanced by frank description of the frustrations, fears and feelings of inadequacy which all travelers undergo when venturing to the fringes of the map.

It becomes obvious within the first few pages that Jackson passionately believes in the epigram from Aristotle that opens the book: "To understand the world, we must understand mean and lowly things." Every page of the book breathes the excitement of discovery and the wonders of the forest, and she returns again and again to the message that there is indeed great value in studying toads and snakes.

The opening chapters deal with Jackson's early years of study and work in museum collections, which provides a fascinating insight into the world of hard science with a personal angle. But we really get into the meat when she finally organizes her own expedition to a remote field camp deep in the African Congo. The skills needed on such a venture weren't taught in graduate school. They were simply things that had to be figured out for oneself through a process of trial and error. And when dealing with venomous snakes, errors can be costly. We travel with her as she learns the ropes on a trip marred by civil war, cultural barriers, and a medical evacuation due to raging infection caused by a scraped leg that came into contact with contaminated swamp water. Despite this experience, she comes away with "an altogether irrational longing to return."

Jackson goes back to the Congo for two more expeditions, which are also described in the book. Her focus is on the work and on the phenomenon that she observes, and in that sense, as well as in the way she brushes aside discomfort and understates real dangers, her writing style takes one back to the great 18th and 19th century explorers who first described Africa's mysterious interior. In camp she slept beneath a patched orange tarpaulin on a simple groundsheet, covered in a mosquito net: a situation that caused her Bantu guide to quit because the living conditions were too harsh. The inedible food prepared by her cook - bland manioc which tasted like "a cross between a chunk of wood and an overcooked potato", and soup made with smoked fish which was often half rotten and infested with maggots - caused her to lose 10 pounds in the course of 5 weeks. And then there were the seemingly insurmountable cultural barriers.

But all of that discomfort and frustration is eclipsed by the wonders of discovery and by the thrill of the chase. It's a message of life lived passionately, with purpose, and to the fullest. All of us could benefit from that.

Kate Jackson is an incredibly gifted writer. "Mean and Lowly Things" blends the best of science, travel, and memoir writing with charm and humor. The story of her three expeditions to the Congo -- and of her lifelong passion for snakes and other "lowly" creatures -- is compelling reading. My first copy of this book has already been stolen by a relative who couldn't put it down after reading a few pages, so I've just ordered another!

I cannot say enough about these books...my kids have enjoyed them now for 4 years... and every little friend that comes over loves them too. We got three of them as a gift (animals, bugs, and sea life)and they have gotten more use than any other activity books we've ever received. Older and younger kids read/look at them together too since some animals are easier to find and some are very challenging (big kids can read while little kids find too). Great activity for kids by themselves or with parents!!!

WOW! This is one of those books that screams for attention! The illustrations are incredibly detailed and intense! We've used this book to learn geography - the locations of the animals and my oldest daughter taught herself how to read by searching for the animals in this book!

Use this book for the relunctant reader....it is definitely a book that will enhance a parent and child relationship - if the parent and child search together!

ENJOY!

...you just can't get over,once you've read her work you want to know everything there is to know about her!

book arrived in a timely manner...it is an excellent book...very informative on how to keep an health

Take all of Deborah Wiles books, triple the humor, enjoyment and pathos quotients...and you have the pleasure you will experience in reading AURORA COUNTY ALL-STARS. Wiles takes a quantum leap forward, not only portraying the mythical South of her previous books, but in acknowledging some of the realities of the here-and-now-South. With appearances of characters from her previous novels, as well as introducing us to compelling new ones, a Deborah Wiles novel is like coming home and having a glass of "sweet tea" on the front porch with old friends. Having devoured this novel in one big gulp(like the other Wiles books),I am already looking forward to her next "trip home."

Deb Wiles is one of those children's book authors that can touch your soul, warm your heart, and teach you a lesson all at the same time. This story takes place in Hallelujah Mississippi, like "Love, Ruby Lavender" and "Each Little Bird that Sings." However, although the main characters from previous stories each make appearances, it is House Jackson, a young boy who is the focus here.
House is a boy who loves baseball and in addition hides a secret he shares with only his father about a mysterious man. In addition, Ms. Wiles deals with discrimination without being too heavy handed about it. As always the names of her characters have hidden meanings and references so see if you can catch them. I also learned that Walt Whitman, poet extraordinaire, was a huge fan of baseball. Who knew...
As a librarian and a lover of children's literature I strongly recommend this books for all readers 8 years old and up. Ms. Wiles offers a story that will suck you in while challenging you to think about all that is going on.

Idolizing an author, any author, does no one any good. The reader who expects only pearls of infinite wisdom to drop from the fingertips of their self-appointed god too soon finds that most writers are only human in the end. Usually, though, it is their humanity that is their finest quality anyway. I was pretty sure thought that as I read through Deborah Wiles', "The Aurora County All-Stars", it wasn't my adoration of her previous novel Each Little Bird That Sings that made my pleasure of this latest one so difficult. I've read enough favorite authors to know that every book is a new challenge. Under normal circumstances, and with every book she writes, Wiles walks a fine line between wisdom and a kind of risky indulgence. You can get away with a lot in a children's book in terms of theme and adult references (in this case, Walt Whitman) just as long as the title hangs together successfully as a whole. I have never idolized Ms. Wiles, and so I tell you now that my disappointment with "Aurora County" springs not out of a sense of betrayal or disillusionment. I'm just sorry that this title didn't have the verve and flow it so desperately needed to retain the interest of the reader. There is much to love here, but it has been hidden behind some truly unfortunate pacing.

Old Mean-Man Boyd is dead, to begin with. House Jackson saw him die. Saw him draw his last breath on a warm summer morning and secretly called the ambulance to take the man away. On the one hand, this is good news. Now House can play more baseball and hope to beat the only other team around for miles on July 4th, the sole day of the year that they play. On the other hand, House grew close to the old man as he read to him. So close that he hasn't told anyone, not even his best friend Cleebo, about what he was doing all this time. Yet even as House is freed from his obligations to the newly deceased, a new threat is making the 4th of July game look near impossible. A pageant is to be scheduled for the same day and House's entire team has been signed up by their mamas to partake of twelve-year-old Frances Schotz's directorial debut. Now House must find out how to rescue his team from a fate worse than death, all the while unraveling the mystery of his deceased mom and her celebration of Walt Whitman's symphony true.

On a first read of this book I couldn't put my finger on the problem. What was it about this book that came so close to pleasing, then strayed? Why was Wiles failing to touch the heart of the reader? I examined the scenes, one by one, but it wasn't until I spoke with a colleague that everything fell into place. The heart of this problem lies in the first sentence of the author's Acknowledgments. "The characters in this book set up a clangor in my mind and heart a few weeks before I was invited to write a serial story for the Boston Globe, which is where this novel's seeds were planted." Suddenly everything fell into place. "Aurora County" proceeds at quite a nice clip until just about Chapter Five. Then, as House and his cohorts meet up with Finesse for the first time, the setting never changes until well past the end of chapter eight. With each of these chapters I found the action bogging down, the characters repeating themselves, and the story becoming increasingly repetitious. In a staged production this might be fine, but when you're reading a book for children you need your minor scenes to switch about a little. Particularly if they turn out to be of negligible importance within the full scheme of the book. It was odd, to be sure. Then I read the words "serial story" and everything was clear. I'm sure that changes must have been made between the selections of this tale published in the Boston Globe and the book we have before us. If so, this is a case of a writer loving an original work too well to give it the pruning necessary to make it into a children's book classic.

With Wiles' loquaciousness to deal with (I'm one to talk, I know) the rest of the book didn't quite pull together well enough to allow me to accept that a twelve-year-old Frances could say of House's symphony true, "I think it's what's left when all the noise stops, when you get quiet and listen for you own true heart." Or to think that the fight between House and his best friend Cleebo could arise violently out of almost nothing just for the sake of the story's arc. Cleebo betrays House because he feels that House betrays him first. Just the same, Cleebo's crime against his friend is so much worse than House's that reading it you're left incredulous and just a bit peeved when the two make up at the end. Friendships in children's novels are almost holy things, but I didn't see any divinity in House and Cleebo's love here.

Don't get me wrong. There were things I liked in the book as well. I imagine the character of House being played by a twelve-year-old Gary Cooper. House has the same good-hearted reticence as Cooper, complete with strong short sentences and a kind of basic decency you look for in an old-fashioned hero. Since Wiles' novels all seem to take place in a kind of no-time (an era when soap operas and small town baseball games exist within the same sphere) it makes sense that House's actions and mannerisms should conjure up the hero of a time past. Or maybe it's Cooper's portrayal of Lou Gehrig in The Pride of the Yankees that connects all these dots in my mind.

I also enjoyed how Wiles drew in such different dynamic elements as segregated ball teams and individual protests against an unjust world. I liked the author's slow reveal of House's relationship with Frances. Wiles teases it out so slowly and so well that you don't realize that the two even have a past behind their more infamous encounters until the novel is nearly at its end. There were elements and flickers of light evident in Wiles' work here. Clearly "The Aurora County All-Stars" was a labor of love on her part and clearly she worked at it. What falls flat are those moments that could have stood a bit of consolidation and refining without much loss or pain. Instead, the book ends up unexpectedly bloated. Adult Wiles fans will be able to push past these problems and love the lesson at the heart of the novel. For others, it will be a little more difficult to unfocus their eyes enough to see the book that could have been. I look forward to Deborah Wiles' next.

THIS STORY OF JON CAPTURES YOUR ATTENTION FROM THE FIRST PAGE TO THE LAST. IN JONS' STRUGGLE FOR ACCEPTANCE FROM THE ELDERS AND HIS OBSESSION WITH GAINING PERFECTION WITHIN HIMSELF HE FAILS TO REALIZE THAT HIS TEAM MEMBERS HAVE FEELINGS AND NEEDS. HE PUSHES THEM BEYOND THE LIMITS OF THEIR ENDURANCE. ALSO HE FAILS TO REALIZE THE NEEDS OF THE FAMILY HE LEFT BEHIND TO GO TO A FAR AWAY PLACE FOR PEOPLE HE KNEW LITTLE ABOUT. BUT HIS JOURNEY TAKES HIM TO A PLACE HE SOON LEARNS HE DOESN'T WANT TO BE BUT CANNOT ESCAPE FROM. THIS IS TRULY ONE OF THE BEST CHRISTIAN MYSTERIES I HAVE EVER READ. THIS IS NOT A SCI-FI MYSTERY BUT A STORY WITH DEEP RELIGIOUS FIBERS WEAVING THROUGHOUT UNTIL THE VERY END.

Led by a friend, Jon decides to join the Temple. He has been attending church with his wife and children, but finds the Temple more to his liking. He wants his wife to join and bring the children, but she absolutely refuses. Eventually, the Elders of the Temple ask Jon to lead a missionary expedition to Haiti. Without a backward glance, Jon leaves his family so he can go and show the Elders how good he is. His children beg him to stay but he feels his calling is with the Temple.

Things do not go according to plan. The supplies the Elders promised don't arrive, the local people are less than welcoming and something strange is going on, but Jon can't quit trying because he wants the Elders to have a good impression of him. Because of his need for perfection, he pushes the others on the team mercilessly. Finally, the other missionaries quit speaking to him, the mail carrier refuses to take his letters to his wife and even small children ignore him as if he weren't there. What is going on? Jon even finds that his memory isn't what it should be. At last, out of the night comes a rescuer named Nod. Will he be able to help Jon?

Kate Jackson has written a sci-fi mystery that will keep you wondering from page one what is really happening to Jon. We follow his life and attempt to figure out why he would ignore the most precious aspects of his life and trade them for the blessings of total strangers. If you like the deeply mysterious, then this is a book for you.

Reviewed by alice Holman
of The RAWSISTAZ™ Reviewers

I purchase the book from Amazon.com and, found it to be an excellent book.It is the story of a man who has lost his way. He is unburdened by direction, conscience or fear in his search for who he is. He manages to find intrigue and, drama a long the way, especailly at the Grotto, a stone sanctuary with mysterious carvings in the rock. I felt as though I was on the journey with the characters. The author really capture the essence of the story. I would recommend it to anyone that loves to read. This is truly a suspense novel that is captivating, informative, and, inviting. It holds you captive within the pages of the book while you are unraveling the mystery.

Gave this series to a 6 and 9 year old last Fall. This is their favorite book. Educational, entertaining, and fun to find the "seach for" items. PLUS - they learned an incredible amount about Sea Life and Sea Animals - that they rememeber MONTHS later.Adults and children love this. Wonderful "hands on" book for kids!

The illustrations are fantastic and my son really loves to look for all the hidden objects (some of which are very hard to find). The text is really good also and we very highly recommend this whole series.

Now this one I really enjoyed. So beautifully written. I didn't know anything about it, hadn't even read the blurb, but someone recommended it and I ordered it and this jewel fell into my lap. Everyone in this book is 3 dimensional and complex, even the receptionist at the beauty salon who gets one line of dialog is a real person. And Jackson Brodie, who is the detetive and in most of the book, he's just wonderful. Easy to fall in love with, a decent man, struggling with difficult situations, trying to do the right thing. 3 cases fall into his lap, and this book follows him as he sorts them out. The crimes themselves were interesting, and I so felt for Theo, his pain and his resolution. I loved the Land sisters. I loved all the descriptions and characters in this book. I've found friends here and will return again.

This could be the start of a wonderful series, I've ordered the next one tout suite.

Case Histories follows detective, Jackson Brodie, as he investigates three different cases.

First there is the Land family. The Land's are a "normal", dysfunctional, suburban family until five year-old Olivia Land goes missing in the middle of the night. Years later two of Olivia's older sisters come across a puzzling clue to their sister's disappearance.

Brodie's second client is a lawyer whose favorite daughter is stabbed to death while working in his office. Her killer was never identified and Brodie is hired to finally track him down.

The third case centers on a woman who wants to track down her niece who years earlier as a toddler witnessed her father's murder possibly at the hands of her mother.

While each mystery is compelling in its own right, it's Atkinson's writing that really takes center stage. Atkinson adroitly fleshes out each character's motivations. The reader really gets a sense of who the characters are. Each vignette is truly a character study of various personality types.

All the superlatives to Kate Atkinson for CASE HISTORIES ... however ... the emphasis on trashy sex and coarse language does nothing for this book and may keep it from becoming a true contemporary classic.

CASE HISTORIES is a novel about three murder mysteries erratically woven together. I bought the book at the recommendation of Stephen King. Yes, that Stephen King. In his column in Entertainment Weekly a couple of years ago, he named CASE HISTORIES as the best book of the year. Perhaps I read it during the wrong year.

The first few chapters of the novel introduce a new set of characters in each chapter, without tying them together -- haphazardly -- until much later. Their only connection seemingly being Jackson, a detective trying to solve each cold case crime. There were too many characters and names thrown at the reader to truly enjoy and get to know (or care about) any one of them. I recommend future readers grab a piece of paper and pen before sitting down to read CASE HISTORIES and draw family trees and connections so they know who's who and what time period they're in. It truly helped years ago when I read Truddi Chase's 100+ multiple personality account in When Rabbit Howls. Then again, that book held my interest.

As I started to get to know the characters a little bit, the author would end the chapter and start anew with different characters. By the time I got to a second chapter with characters introduced several chapters back, I had already forgotten what their story was and how each interacted with one another. After several chapters like this, I was discouraged. A friend of mine told me to "stick with it" because after she got through the muck, she got into the story much more. Sadly, I never reached that point. Like the 2007-2008 TV Season, I got interested in the new characters and then they were taken away from me (because of the writers' strike). I had to endure their absences and by the time they returned, I forgot why I liked them in the first place.

As for Kate Atkinson's writing, it was reminiscent of Ellen DeGeneres' comic rambling...without the comedy. The author went off on tangents at every possible moment, as if we were leaping from one person's thoughts to another's. There wasn't a specific point of view in the book, as if Atkinson couldn't decide whose viewpoint to use.

Another disappointment I found with Atkinson's writing is her account of the violence and murders. They were all written matter-of-factly. No drama, no suspense, no build-up. It was almost...textbook. This, too, made me unsympathetic toward the characters and their bonds with the victims. And when the mysteries were solved and truths revealed, they felt anticlimatic. The ideas were interesting, but they weren't fleshed out in the writing. The author mostly tells you what happened instead of showing it.

All in all, although this wasn't the worst book I've read, I was very disappointed after investing in 300 pages. After too long of disinterest, when you finally reach something of interest, you can't muster up the enthusiasm to enjoy it. By then, you already feel cheated by the writer.

"That's it?" Jackson [asked].
"No, of course it's not," Amelia said. "Now we have tea and cake."

I picked this up with the expectation of a guilty pleasure. I ended up feeling not so guilty, and the plot pleasure was more than questionable given the body count and panopticum of heavy subjects. Reminiscent of Jodi Picoult's pen, Kate Atkinson masters the balance between "genre" and more "literary" fiction, whatever they may be, with aplomb. The story catches onto you immediately, as does the next, and the one after that, all laid out like a fan. And therein lies the flaw.

Which of the time-shifted, loosely intertwined cases sparks your interest most may be a matter of taste. Since for me it was the first, the story of the Land sisters, the book went slowly but continuously downhill once they were out of sight. The human fates in the other cases, all ending up on private detective Jackson Brodie's desk, were all respectably well-contoured, they were just too many. Even Brodie himself, although incorporating many standard clichés--washed up in midlife-crisis, divorced, disillusioned--is a real character, designed with sympathy and a sense of humor. Atkinson could have kept both him and the reader busy with one good case like she started out to. Instead, overpopulating the scenery with numerous stories, multiplied by the characters involved, plus giving all of them a personal history may have been a bit too ambitious. It diminished the effect of mystery settings which, in and of themselves, were intriguing, but felt wrapped up somewhat sloppily in the end. A dissatisfying result for an otherwise captivating read.