U Books

What motivated our American forefathers to take up arms against each other? Jack Maples has given us a story where confronting this question doesn't boil down to a simple argument for one ideology over another. This book gave me a better appreciation of the role individual, personal motivations played in the minds of men who fought this war. I'm also convinced the richness of detail in historical accuracy lent a depth to the storytelling that made for very satisfying reading - even for someone with only passing interest in the Civil War. Towards the end of the story, as Caleb returns to Gettysburg for a reunion with his rebel unit, one can't help but be moved by the scene. A good read and a powerful story.

Reconstructed Yankee is a novel set during the civil war, and it follows one man's struggle to live and find his place in a hostile world. Caleb Parker is one of 257,000 free persons of color living in the Confederacy; when war breaks out, he and his best friend enlist in the Union militia, yet Yankee atrocities force them to change sides and fight for the Confederacy. After the war, Caleb encounters extreme discrimination in reconstructed North Carolina; he takes his family to New York, hoping to find more tolerance, yet racism and segregation persist, leading him to ponder whether the bloody Civil War accomplished anything good at all. A harrowing and thought provoking insight into individual and societal failings and legacies.

A new edition of Reconstructed Yankee now is available. The hardcover ISBN is 1-59411-087-5; the softcover ISBN is 1-59411-088-3. Please enter the applicable ISBN under a "Books" search to locate this product.

As a native Tennessean, I was captivated by the well-researched and well-written descriptions of people and places throughout the South. The characters and situations were very much like people that my grandparents had heard about from their relatives and talked about as I grew up. Descriptions of the battles were authentic-and a good reminder that war, even when fought at a distance, is still horrible and painful.

This was not a fast read-I savored every word and look forward to Jack Maples' next offering.

This book is an easy-to-read novel that deals with the Civil War. It is quite informative and very interesting. By reading this book, I was able to have a whole new perspective and outlook on the Civil War. This book is one of the great ones!!! Definitely pick it up..

Remarkably useful book. Rarely does a day go by when i don't use these tools to improve the quality of my life. In minutes I can go from feeling stuck to having loads of free attention and appreciation. Imagine a course like this offered as part of our education, as children and adults.

As an Avatar Master, I have used the ReSurfacing book over and over again in the past six years, both personally and with students. The results are always fast and effective. The exercises are seemingly simple, yet can produce such profound, deep and lasting results. This book is a treasure that you can refer to each day to clear away whatever feels like it's in the way. The exercises can be done solo or with a guide. This book and Harry Palmer's Living Deliberately book are the foundation of Avatar. This book is a beautiful gift to humanity.

The old wisdom that says the simplest answer is the best is proven once again by this book. The exercises here may look simple at first reading but actually doing them and spending time taking them to depth produces amazing results.

I'm reminded of the value of practicing scales for building professional musical skills. Rather than providing esoteric or mystical instructions, Harry Palmer provides practical exercises that empower you to take control of your life.

I've used the exercises in this book over several years and still find them more effective than anything else I've tried.

A few weeks ago I did the resurfacing workshop which involves working through this book. The results have been amazing. I feel more in control of my life now and able to apply myself to the things I need to be doing. The exercises seemed to awaken something inside me. It is a strange feeling which I've never had before. I guess what makes these techniques powerful is that they don't impose any ideas on you. You come up with the answers yourself. I find anything that I come up with myself is always more powerful than anything anyone esle tells me.
If, despite all the self-help books you read, you still find that you are unable to achieve what you want, do this course is for you!

Prior to doing the exercises in ReSurfacing on an Avatar course, I'd read every book on consciousness, philosophy, self-help, and metaphysics I could get my hands on. Nothing - and I mean NOTHING - opened the door to exploring my own consciousness the way these books did. It will amaze and inspire you! Get this book along with Living Deliberately (also by Harry Palmer) and you're on your way to the most inspiring adventure you'll ever take. After you read them run, don't walk, to sign up for the next course you can find!

As a white middle class generation x'er, I knew nothing of the Black Panthers or Huey Newton that was based on personal knowledge or experience. What I had heard was that they were radical, dangerous, and hated white folks. That seemed overly simplistic, so I decided to look into the black power movement for myself. Of all the books I read on the movement (Malcolm, Eldridge Cleaver, SNCC, Soledad Brother, etc...), Revolutionary Suicide was the best.

First off, Huey is the best writer of all the writers I read on the subject. That includes both the primary books and the secondary interpretive books written by historians. Huey's writing reflects his life philosophy, he lives for the people and therefore writes for the people. He doesn't seek to impress the reader with a fantastic grasp of the english language. He writes simply and matter-of-factly, much as a good journalist does. This to-the-point writing style more engrossing than any of the other books I read on the movement.

Second, Huey, unlike many other movement leaders, doesn't look to hog the glory for himself. He is very upfront about what he was responsible for and what he collaberated on with others. He passes the glory around liberally (some would say too much) to spread the power to the people.

Finally, this book will give you a primary understanding of who Huey P. Newton was and what he was really about. Did he hate white people? Did he advocate armed revolution? Was he a murderer and thug? Read it for yourself.

If you want to attempt to get into the mind of Huey Newton, then read this book. Reading his autobiography gave me a view of the Party I have never felt. This gave me an understanding of how and why the organization was started and also some insight on the life of Huey. You will defintely have a different view of the Party once you have read this. So read, read, read, and keep reading, and educate yourself about this incredible man and organization.

This book is one of the first and only unaltered accounts of the Black Panther Party by somebody who was in it. The book is in Huey's compassionate voice. This book dispells rumors about the BPP Huey set the record straight. This is my favorite book of all time its a book for the ages.

What can I say, that hasn't already been said? Huey P. Newton was a very complex individual, and I find myself reading a section over a second time to digest what was written. It's worth it no doubt. When you start to read this book, you will not be disappointed, Newton sheds light on even personal matters like falling in love, and views on family. This is great if you want specifics on Mr. Newton himself, and not just the BPP as a whole.

If you're going to study the Black Panther Party, you of course must check out a story of its preminent leader. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. He gave me an understanding what it meant to be a radical Black activist during the 60s and 70s. It meant that you had to be courageous, committed, and five steps ahead of the cops, the FBI, and informants.

Of course, now, this is Huey's account of the Party. While his is seriously important, the works of other Panthers and scholars who are now publishing works about the Panthers must also be studied. For now that I'm reading a biography on another Panther leader, Geronimo Pratt, I'm very interested in understanding more about the political split that took place in the BPP. Why did Huey expell Pratt from the Party? Why did Eldridge Cleaver turn out to be so reactionary? I look forward to reading other books on the Panthers to answer these and other questions.

This was my first introduction to Kent Nerburn and I was fascinated by this fellow Minnesotan who calls himself a guerilla theologian. Unlike some of Nerburn's work, this is a direct narrative. Yet it touches on profound issues for those of us who grew up in the 'Fifties and came of age in the 'Sixties. The paradox is that one must leave home to find Home, and this can only be found within the depths of one's soul. Nerburn's account of his California quest makes this point in a good story well told.

A great read -- one of those one sitting books.

Nerburn lives in Minnesota but in mid-life gets a hankering to re-explore the west coast he remembers from his college years.

Some similarities to "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance".

Makes me want to read some of the other things he's written.

Kent Nerburn's latest book is not only a road trip but a mind trip. It was a genuine pleasure to join Kent on his trek of re-discovery, and such are his descriptive and narrative talents, that the reader feels like a traveling companion -- as if Kent were telling you the story while you rode along in his car, or hoofed a trail beside him. His insights into American culture, human nature, and spirituality are keen and rewarding. This is a well-crafted book by an author who knows readers.

I read this book twice. It is either very confused or very brilliant. On the second reading I decided it was brilliant. This is a very penetrating analysis of some very big issues about what it means to be an American. Very poetic, too. Elusive and hard to categorize. Kind of travel, kind of cultural criticism. Weird religious overtones. This is a good writer, maybe a great one.

I just heard this author read in Ashland, Oregon. I did not know of him but his intelligence intrigued me so I bought the book. I think anyone who has ever relocated or contemplated a change in life should read this book. It is not only a wonderful read but a very profound examination of home and place. I will definitely recommend it to my most discriminating friends.

I love this book because Judy Martin does such a great job of making it easy. Her pattern pieces are precise and that makes for a perfect quilt when you finish. She incorporates stars in many of the patterns, and that is something I love too.

This book has so many ideas I almost don't know where to start. Good instruction and great pictures.

With so many colourful unit illustrations showing how to assemble the quilts accurately, and the templates the clearest I have come across. this a book for beginner and expert alike. A dream to read and inspirational to use. 10 out of 10.

This is an absolutely wonderful book as most of Judy Martin's are. So many ideas to us scraps from. Easy to understand. A favorite of mine.

I got this book from the library and wasn't dissapointed. Judy Martin's books are always good. I found the patterns to be more contemporary than your traditional quilts. There are several quilts that have a "shadowing" background, which looks like the blocks are floating. It's not a book for beginners. These patterns are challenging.

Sand galore. Sand is very much in full force in this fantastic book.

After barely retrieving the opal from the City of the Rats, Lief, Barda and Jasmine head to the Shifting Sands. A fun read. Definitly aimed at kids. Great book for any adult to though.

A ausm book you will never put it down. Itis hart rasing.jed wilde or red jed

I thought the Shifting Sands was a good book but I think that they could have made it longer and make someone get poisened because then it would make the book more interesting. I thought that the book was very good.

After leaving the dreaded city of the rats, Lief, Barda and Jasmine cross barren wastelands to obtain supplies and food for their next destination.They find a busy town Rithmere and enter a fighting contest which they win.But even though they come out with jewels and riches they are kidnapped by the evil grey guards and taken to a secret hide-out, the hide-out of the adventuring Doom, and his resistence.There they are taken prisoner, will they ever be able to reach their next destination, the invincible and rather evil sands, the shifting sands?This book is a little dull and is losing the context the pre books had.It's still good!

Have you ever read a book that you had to have a mug of coffee beside you to read or you'd be put to sleep. With this book you'd better have a jar of sleeping pills beside because it is so captivating and action packed unless some brave knight in armor comes to rescue you you'll be reading it all night and fail the test you have in the morning. Okay, Okay it's not that interesting (or that long) but I nearly pulled a "C" average in Science because I was reading it instead of listening to old lady Atkins drone on, and on. Beleive me that is the preferred thing to do. If you buy this awesome book you won't be able to put it down for an hour. But pick an opurtune hour to be entertained by it if you care about your grade average...

This is a very readable, engaging, and concise look at the U.S. Civil war by Fletcher Pratt (1897-1956). This book first arrived in 1935, but don't worry about its antiquity. This is an excellent account of that tragic conflict, and you should enjoy it whether you are a Civil War buff or one with only a casual interest. Pratt concentrates heavily on the major battles and events, and tells the story of this bloody conflict in concise and readable detail. As one who has read superb in-depth accounts of specific campaigns or occurences by James McPherson and Bruce Catton, I'd recommend these two excellent authors for indepth reading. For a solid, concise, general history, Pratt has the ticket.

I have the new edition of this book, I bought it soon as I saw it sitting on a store shelf, despite already having 5 or 6 copies of the old pocketbook sized editions. I love this book. If you are going to read only one history of the civil war, make it this one. If you are going to spend the rest of your life reading histories of the civil war, start with this one.

It would take thousands of words to express the reasons I love this book. But somehow that wouldn't be appropriate. What I will say is this:

Bruce Canton could spend two pages discribing a muddy campaign, and you will come away knowing it was muddy and what a loggistical problem that was. Shelby Foote could spend a chapter on a muddy campaingn and you will come away knowing it was muddy and how much the troops complaigned about it and maybe a funny incident or two. Fletcher Pratt could spend a paragraph or two on that campaign, and when done you'll notice your leg's hurt. Why? Because you didn't want to get mud on your couch.

What can I say about this book? Well, how about in a lifetime of reading many books on the Civil War, both good and great, this one stands head and shoulders above them all. While more ink than the blood that was spilled has been used by many others to explain this terrible war, Pratt managed to capture the essence of the conflict in a short, brilliant book.
Pratt was a military historian of the first rank, but was also known for clever and exciting high fantasy stories. Perhaps it was this versatility that honed his storytelling ability to the sharp edge that we see here. While not missing a single important detail of politics, causes, battles, and personalities, he weaves an engrossing tale from start to finish, and creates a solidly researched history that is also a page-turner. This book is a joy to the student of the Civil War, but also appeals to those with no particular interest in that conflict, solely on the merit of Pratt's tight storytelling.
This book was written in 1935, and much new material on the Civil War has surfaced since then. Others, such as Shelby Foote, Bruce Catton and James McPherson have written much longer and more comprehensive works on the war that are excellent in their own right. Yet this little book still shines out as a gem among them. With its solid scholarship, sharp storytelling, and precise choice of details, it is the first rate Cliff Notes to the Civil War.

Theo Logos

I first read this book when I was about nine years old, having fished it out of my parents' bookcase to while away some idle hours. Eventually, I wore out its fragile binding and was left with a heap of pages until one day, on a visit to Washington DC, I was delighted to find a fresh copy in a second-hand bookstore. To this day, if I crave entertainment and inspiration, I take this book down from the shelf and open it at random. Whatever chapter - paragraph! - I choose is bound to shine.

Just how accurate or balanced Pratt's account of the Civil War is, I do not know. I have not read any other books about it. But he has made Grant, Lee, Lincoln, Stanton, Davis, McLellan, Hooker, Sherman, Sheridan, Bragg, Jackson, Stuart and dozens of others come alive for me.

Aged nine, I did not understand all the long words by any means. (What on earth was the "Dithyramb of Shiva", and what was an "Experiment in Tauromachy"?) But I loved them, and almost always figured out the meaning by the context.

In a way, Pratt made it possible for me to study history at university many years later. He inoculated me against the idea that history has to be boring, because I had such a stunning counter-example at the back of my mind. There are very few books of fiction that I have read that come anywhere near being so entertaining.

Anyone who hasn't read this book really ought to, if they have the slightest interest in military matters and delight in fine writing. Just one tip: if you can get hold of a hardback, it will last longer. The paperback gets fragile after a few readings, and the pages are apt to fall out unless you hold it very carefully.

This is, hands down, one of the best books on any topic I've ever read. Fletcher Pratt had a way with words that few equalled. But more important, he had a keen insight into the problem of getting us to understand the complexities of the events he discusses. After the fact, we often think that certain events were "inevitable" but Pratt does a wonderful job of showing us how contingent the Union victory was, even as late as Fall, 1864.

My favorite chapters are the early ones, where Pratt lays out the big picture of the war and discusses the lightning moves of diplomacy that kept Kentucky and Missouri in the Union and thereby gave the Union the strategic advantage. The Civil War was *the* time of decision for the USA--had things gone differently, our history and world history would have been very different. Pratt does a masterful job of bringing that to light.

I Just finished Slavery by Another Name. I had known about the black code for several years, but not the selling of free black people. I hate the Al Sharptons of the world or black people that defend criminals that blame their crime on racism. They disrespect all these ghosts of the past that suffered at the hands of brutal savage souls.

But one thing has changed for me: Although I never called anyone in my life a nigger, I thought it. After reading your book, I will never allow that thought to come to the surface again.

That photo of the man tied up on the ground felt his short life of suffering would have no meaning, but he was wrong, after 100 years we look at him and feel his pain and are influenced by his image forever. I wish I could embrace him and give him the love and respect every creature deserves.

I found this book to be very interesting but lacking in that there was no context provided for the problem. The author contends that in the period after the Civil War blacks were Re-Enslaved. He does a commendable job of showing how the black community was systematically stripped of its rights and abandoned by the government after the Civil War. He also does an exemplary job showing how abuses in the criminal justice system of the south allowed for blacks to be sentenced to virtual slavery.

Where the book fails though is in showing that this was an re-enslavement of civil war blacks. It ignores the wholesale black migration of blacks to the north in the years before and during WWI which would contradict the statements that blacks could be arrested for any crime an officer saw fit. The author ignores whites sentenced to similar terms in jail and conditions which was wide spread in the south. Worst of all, the book lacks any context. We are lead to believe that because it happened in these places, it happened everywhere.

A good book, just not a great one!

Excellent update to history that is rarely known. Should be in every school and public library.

Slavery By Another Name is painful to read. It is cleanly written, for the most part, but the continuation of virtual slavery in the US South that only began to recede with the advent of WW2 makes it grim slogging. But slog away, dear reader, because you need to know what is in this book, which , in my opinion, deserves and will receive a number of literary and historical awards this year.

This book is both profoundly factual, and at times, partially "un-factual," -- that is, reconstructed history. In instances where the ex-slaves could not speak for themselves, which were many, Mr. Blackmon deigns to speak for them himself. It is what can only be called "necessary historical extrapolation, in defense of the defenseless." Yet, somehow these noble stretches beyond the data do indeed conform to and confirm the same stories and results researched equally well by William B. Taylor in his "Down on Parchman Farm: The Great Prison in the Mississippi Delta," which covers the same period as this book does, but primarily from the Mississippi point of view rather than from Alabama's.

Altogether Blackmon taps into another important, under-reported yet very dark part of American history: The period of the Southern White "Redemption," after the freedman's Bureau had closed its tents down (literally) and moved back North, leaving the ex-slaves to fend for themselves for the next 100 years.

The most cold-blooded of the truths that he reveals is that the shaky white farms and plantations that managed to revive themselves in the aftermath of the Civil War, simply could not make it without black expertise. And here he does not mean just black manual labor, but more importantly, black farming and household management skills. As a result, of this white deficiency, and as is usual for the U.S. when it comes to race relations, the Southerners sought to re-enslave and re-colonize blacks by more novel and more interesting but equally brutal means: that is by legal and social fiat.

In almost every instance, these tactics had a patina of legalisms pasted over them (and the author spends too much examining them and churning them trying it seems to treat them as if they were legitimate defenses of all but indefensible practices) the overall effect was the same: that "Blacks had no legal protections whatsoever." Going through the legal motions was only a pretext for whites to continue doing what they had done during slavery and had planned to continue doing by any means necessary anyway, in order to continue "keeping blacks down" and re-enslaved.

While the book makes it seem that these tactic and stratagems for re-enslavement occurred only due to Southern industrial and domestic exigencies, hatred and mean-spirited chicanery, the author must be reminded that the brutal "Black Code Laws" upon which many of these pernicious Southern practices were patterned, began in the North before the Civil War, and were simply grafted on to the "redeemed southern way of life" as the new "Jim Crow" laws and practices.

I would have been much happier if the author had made an attempt to show the "all but linear (and very stable) connection" across time between the arrest and incarceration rates then -- which in Mississippi, Georgia, Alabama and Florida, constantly hovered around 25% -- and the almost exact NATIONAL rates today. This in my view (as well as that of a handful of sociologists) could not be only a mere coincident, but more likely due to deep structure social reasons and causes that did indeed grow out of America's culture of "structural racism," which inevitably, one way or another, gets mapped back to slavery.

The reasons for incarcerations then and now, are, of course different: Then, as the author so carefully elaborates, blacks were picked up and thrown in jail on almost any pretext whatsoever - from vagrancy to stealing a can of beans. Then, it was a conscious case of "coerced labor," pure and simple. Today it is due mostly to the Draconian and unfair 100 to 1 cocaine laws, and a host of other, mostly unconscious "race related social causes." The utter stability of these percentages in themselves, represents an untold story laying dormant in the subtext of American culture, all to itself.

Any excavation of American history this good, even with some limitations, cannot get less than five stars.

A friend gave me this book because I haven't been sleeping well lately. Since all that has happened in the world, it is so nice to find a book that can discuss tragedy and fear in such helpful and comforting manner. I highly recommend it.

This book has comforted me on nights when I just can't fall asleep. Although I still struggle somewhat with sleepless nights, it's nice to know there are others out there like me, and that it doesn't always have to be this way. It was comforting without lecturing me about my lifestyle or decisions, and was a good choice as an initial purchase to get me on the road to a full night's sleep.

"The Sleep Book, a bedside companion" is aptly named. From the cover and inside design, to the gentle color choice of the first page, to the easy flow of topics, this book is a comfort to have next to my bedside. The author is honest, humorous and compassionate, and peppers her own writing with a spectrum of quotes from all kinds of sources. Arranged in alphabetical order by topic (...imagination, pain, passion, ritual, try, yawn, zzzzz...), I haven't read it straight through. I open it up to a page and start reading, one thing leads to another and I find myself more relaxed. This book is easier than a cup of chamomile tea. Treat yourself or someone you love.

Aunt Laya author of the self help book for young adults, "You Don't Have to Learn Everything the Hard Way"

Unlike other 'self-help' or 'how to' books, THE SLEEP BOOK isn't preachy or patronizing. It just has practical information to teach me about, and help me to find, a good night's sleep. A refreshing take on an often frustrating task. I recommend it.

I came across this book in a bookstore right when I was complaining about my sleepless nights to my husband. The other books about sleep contained dated photos, charts and figures. We found "The Sleep Book" by Jody Grant-Gray, to be filled with entertaining information, and highly useful tips for sleep. The author seemed to understand why I wasn't sleeping! And then she told me how to get there. Useful, comforting, and entertaining. This book is a delight! My husband is happy I bought it, and that doesn't usually happen...

THIS SIMPLY LITTLE BOOK IS DIFFERENT & WE R GLAD WE HAVE IT! GREAT IDEA OF SHOWING HOW SOMETHING AS SMALL AS A SINGLE SNOWFLAKE CAN QUICKLY BECOME SO MUCH MORE!!!

This is a great book to read to students as the first snowfall is coming down. I have older students in ESOL but they are learning English and often come from other countries so reading an easy book is can be interesting and meaningful to them. This is a beautiful book they can practice reading on their own later after I have read it to the class. Many of my beginning students have never seen snow before so it is mysterious and very interesting to them. They love it!

We (our two boys and ourselves) have checked this book out from the library countless times. It's about time we had a copy for ourselves AND that I send a copy to my NYC dwelling, 45 year old big brother who still believes in the magic of snow that all children know. The boy in this story reminds me of him.
An all time favorite. Perfect in its simplicity.

A perfect review would be like the painting "White on White" a blank to consider as a metaphor for snow, which really that's what the book is constructing- a paper representation of a first snowfall. And it would fit Shulevitz to leave a blank for "Snow" , I think he might "get it". As a teacher, I have several of his books and each has a particular quality I like to call "space" , they are creations of places that seem frozen and afar, a kind of wonder always over takes me as I read these books to kids. The reader becomes superfluous somehow. It's a very hard thing to find words for, his stories connect in another place, beyond text, "in place". In general if you are a teacher, as I am, working on the construct of "setting" with young children his books will allow you to focus on this in a way where internal image can be discussed. 1st graders after reading always tell me they can "go inside" his spaces and find a "reality. Lately I have spent a great deal of time thinking about reality. Going inside of writing and images and finding a "reality" is a unique construct to work to build with students. It is the heart of literature, unique to talk about with students and this author allows you to go to a "there" . And the there is not a there of this earth, it is a there of literary creation. Also as a teacher of children in a second language I notice they connect to these books. Really connect. With "SNOW" they had me read it twice and insisted on writing poems. Insisted.

As for "Snow" it is the telling of adult and child perspectives. In snow. When I grew up in West Virginia as flakes fell my brother and I would go out to see, to see if they were sticking, praying of course for their layering our world.Mum and Dad praying to be left in peace.Their world of inconvenience so much a part of having to deal with it in traveling to work. Here in the story a boy, who remains just a boy, just watches the flakes and listens to the adults predict the possibility of getting a blanket of snow. For my students who live coastal in CA with no possibility of snow, despite the current snap of cold killing our beautiful tropical plants, these children need to read of this wondrous time in order to experience it. That is such a thing for me to create for them. It invites a teacher sharing of experience. I cannot overstate the beauty of the illustrations as they show the snows arrival to this world, he is, page by page unfolding this, this place "somewhere" which by "reading" the images grows into an internal space place. Ah....he is so good.

Snow is a purity so many forget, humans need this. It places us in the world, stills our power, reminds of nature, is other worldly. It is trans formative. And this text goes to that place. Children know weather. It is real to them in a way I like to call naive understanding. They are feeling "SNOW" like poets..

When reading this book I always fold and cut snowflakes with the kids. This year no child had ever done this before in my room. Not a single one. There is a champion book of snowflake cutting patterns in a Scholastic book. It's remarkable to cut snowflakes with 1st graders, study the crystal forms from internet images, look inside this text to see the images in "Snow" of snowflakes, gentle, beautiful forms to grace the classroom windows. I really can't imagine not using this book it is that much a part of my program with 1st graders here in Oxnard at Hathaway......
Snow comes. It transforms. It is the silence and white blanket.Beautifully celebrated here in his book.

Everything goes together in this book. The illustrations are simple and evocative, the text is minimal, you need to read it with weight to convey the mood; the gray, unremarkable city populated with gray, unremarkable adults is uninspiring. A little boy sees one snowflake (yes, it's there, look hard) and gets excited. Not so the adults: 'grandfather with beard', 'man with hat', and 'woman with umbrella' brush him off. The city is still gray. WE are gray, but the boy believes and indeed the snowflakes keep coming until they begin to build up on the street and buildings. The boy and his Mother Goose companions get happier and the illustrations get brighter. The dour adults are driven indoors, the boy dances with delight. Imagination, enthusiasm, and hope have triumphed.
With few words and understated illustrations the book is amazingly alive!
My only reservation is that many of the pictures are rather too small for a story group to really appreciate from a distance. In order for the children to take note of the details (such as one lone snowflake) it is necessary to bring the pages down to each child for a closer look. This does bleak the reading flow. A few unfolding pages when applicable (as in "Papa, Please Get The Moon For Me")would go a long way to making this story more visual. Aside from that little quibble I think this is a delightful book for children.