Florida Books

Every recipe that I have tried from this cookbook is great! All the appetizers are delicious, try That Jr. League Pesto Mold in the appetizers and you can make this into 2 small molds out of one recipe. The Lemonade Cake in the Children's section is the perfect take anywhere cake! The Black Bean Salsa incredible! Or if you need a fast and easy appetizer, try the Crab & Caper Dip you actually bake it IN the bread! Great history of Gainesville, FL, too! Fantastic Cookbook!

Every recipe in this book is very good. Most (almost all) recipes are very easy to make and looks like you worked a long time on them. The Pesto Mold on page 20 is easy to make and everyone will ask for the recipe. The sausage snacks on page 30 are a nice change to meatballs. Pesto tortilla snacks are very easy and great tasting also. The pumpkin chocolate chip muffins and fruity muffins make great gifts around the holidays. The Parmesan Caesar salad is a salad a I make all the time. All the potato dishes are great tasting; the squash casserole is the best I have every had. The sweet potatoes are great (even if you don't like sweet potatoes. I could go on. This cookbook has a nice feature with the children's section. I have used this book so much and bought so many as gifts.

This is a wonderful book. It is full of great recipes that are not only good, but easy to prepare. I highly recommend it!

I have tried many of the recipes in this book and like 99% of them, so do my family and my friends. My favorites include; Frogmore Pickled Shrimp, Swamp Chili, Okra and Tomatoes, Pasta with Shrimp, Lemon and tomoatoes and many more than I should probably list. The book is well laid out (easy to follow), ingredients are easy to find and the serving suggestion are on target. Try this book. You'll like it.

This book is great. Everything I cook from it is a hit with family and friends. Try the Frogmore Pickled Shrimp in the appetizer section if you cook for the pleasure of receiving compliments. It is simply best shrimp appetizer you'll ever make.

Everything was as advertised. I am pleased with my product, and will shop here again.

These two authors have a list of credits to impress anyone. I suppose in some ways they could, therefore, sit back on their laurels and allow their reputations to sell their work. But not so! I could not find one single underwater image in this book which was not of the highest standard. From photographs of Divers and Sharks right down to the finest macro-photography, this is a book to show all budding underwater photographers how it should be done.

That said, this is not a book about photographs - it is a guide to the Marine Life of the Caribbean, Bahamas and Florida. "What do you mean the Caribbean, Bahamas AND Florida - surely it's all the Caribbean" I hear some people say. But they're the sort of people who think whales are just big fish.

For those who are confused, the Bahamas are in the Atlantic Ocean and Florida is in the Gulf of Mexico. So, having sorted that out, we now understand (and appreciate!) the accuracy of the title.

Resembling something like a colourful version of a telephone directory, this book is packed with factual and accurate information laid out in a way that will not disappoint anyone who buys it. If you like "technical" it's here but if you like "technical made easy to understand" - it's also here.

Whilst I could have done without that photo of the diver hugging the Shark (picky, picky I know), this still remains an altogether excellent book and almost the only one you will need on your next trip south.

NM

This is my latest addition to my "diving book collection". I am a recent diving convert (the very best sport ever), and find myself reading this book constantly (more looking at the pics I suppose, which are gorgeous!). If you are looking for a fantastic book to invest in...LOOK NO FURTHER...BUY IT, YOU WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED!!!

I'm a scuba instructor, and have spent years looking for the perfect book to use in fish identification and underwater naturalist courses. When I found this book, I stopped looking! It is the perfect combination,and makes everything understandable to the beginner, yet still informative to us old pros! The photo tips also come in very handy in teaching photography and videography... no Caribbean diver can afford not to have this book... I mean it!

A well written, informative, easy to understand book. Not only do you receive a reference guide, you get biology lessons, photo tips, and great overviews of reef systems. This book is perfect for scuba divers!

Entertaining as well as chanllenging. Something I'll keep going back to for fun.

I bought this book for my 11 year old nephew and he was so absorbed in it he almost finished all the puzzles in 2 days. He's a pretty smart kid and loves to challenge himself, so it was the perfect gift. He said some were tougher than others, but he got help from the whole family and it turned out to be a fun family event.

You will not be disappointed by this book. Conrad knows how to entertain and intrigue you without confusing you. You get a total of 80 mysteries for you to solve. Each one more interesting than the previous one. You deal with murderers, thieves, kidnappers, as well as rebel forces. Match your wits against them and see if you can beat them at their own game. Go ahead and buy it, you'll be glad you did.

80 Whodunits, most 2-3 pages in length. 350 pages in total. GREAT book for the car, train, or when you just need to pass a few minutes. These mini-mysteries are challenging and clever. In the event that you try your best and still can't figure out 'whodunit', the solutions are in the back of the book. I have read this book cover to cover several times in the two years that I have had it, and I STILL find it enjoyable, despite remembering the endings to most of them.

The only drawback to this book (and I would imagine this is a trend that runs through the entire "Little Giant Book of..." series) is that the spine of the book is glued and cracks after a while, causing some pages to become loose and the book gets hard to hold onto, depending on where the spine crease develops. Despite that, this is a worthwhile purchase. I intend to purchase myself a new copy and send mine in a care package to a friend in the Armed Forces who is currently stationed in Iraq. Due to it's size and price, this would make an excellent care package item.

This is a great book. I am a math teacher always looking for resources to motivate Junior High and High School students. The students couldn't get enough of these mysteries. I wish there were about a dozen more of them. Fantastic work.

Being both a history buff and having grown up and lived in Miami for 20 years, I could certainly appreciate the spirit of this book. Miami is currently synonymous in popular media and culture with clubs and partying, sexy people and celebrities, and hip shops (even though this image is more descriptive of Miami Beach and South Beach rather than the city of Miami itself). Despite it being a relatively young city, though, it is still rich in its own history and thankfully this book goes beyond the present glossy, superficial party image of the city and transports the reader back to a simpler and more wholesome time. This is Miami how its founders and earliest residents knew it. Most of the "before" pictures date from the 20's and 30's, and it is really fascinating to see how things have changed. As I said, I grew up in Miami and there are places shown in the book that I never even knew existed, such as the Scottish Rite Masonic Temple and the Coral Gables Rock House. I am glad that the author explores not only downtown Miami and Miami Beach, but devotes pages of photos to other neighborhoods around Miami such as Coral Gables, Coconut Grove, Little Havana, and even Opa Locka and Hialeah (being a Hialeah native myself, I would have liked to see more than just the one picture of the racetrack, but that is my own personal bias). While the book is certainly complete, I feel maybe too many pages were devoted to certain places, such as Coral Gables and Coconut Grove for example, and perhaps some of that coverage could have been reduced and made room for other places to be shown. I am glad that the author explores little known places familiar to residents and not just the touristy areas that visitors would know, but on the other hand, some of these are a little too obscure and I would have also liked to have seen what was in some of those touristy areas, such as Bayside, the zoo, major malls, etc. Just because of those little complaints I give the book four stars, but if you don't care about these, then this might as well be 5 stars and it is still a highly recommended book.

Having grown up in Miami, I found the book particularly interesting. The pictures were excellent. I thought the captions could have been a bit more informative.

Execellent book - highly recommended, but get down here and see for yourself - what's happening to the Miami is magical and really a golden opportunity for all. Over the next few years Miami's Skyline will be transformed as builders and investors seek billions in pre-construction investments to turn the city into a the epicenter of the region.


http://realestate.1stmiami.com

If you have lived in Miami or have an affinity toward Miami, this is a must-have book. Few people in Miami like Arva Moore Parks have taken the time to document the City's rich history as the fastest-growing metropolis in the United States over the last 100 years. The "then and now" photos offer splendid matches, with interesting and informative historical notes in the caption. Great coffee-table book too!

I was born and reared in Miami, the fourth generation of my Pioneer South Florida family. I was delighted with this book, it brought back so many memories.

The old photographs are gems, and the descriptions well written and informative. I enjoyed the "then" pictures with the "now", in some instances they are almost unbelievable, the Coconut Grove Womens Club little Club House which I went to frequently is a good example, long may it survive!

An excellent mystery set in north central FL's Gainesville area. The author uses references to a lot of real places which anyone who has even a limited exposure with Micanopy or Gainesville will recognize. The plot moves quickly while intricately weaving suspense and diversity of characters through to a surprise ending. Be sure to follow up this read with her second book entitled Murder at Wakulla Springs. The main character is the same along with several others that are often referred to from this her first novel. While not a sequel to the first book, the knowledge from having read the first book is most helpful in broadening your scope as the second book moves in locale to NW Florida'a panhandle.

One certainly does not have to live the North Florida to enjoy this new book! Anyone interested in mystery, ecology,and theater will thoroughly enjoy this first novel by MD Abrams. One who enjoys trying their hand at solving a cleverly written story will find this book a great read. The expertise of the writer in the areas of the environment of North Florida and in theater will want the second book in what, hopefully, will become a series.

In this first novel, which will hopefully become a series, north Florida author M.D. Abrams has demonstrated how much more the mystery novel can be than just a " who done it ." An intriguing murder with a satisfying solution is only the beginning of the reader's pleasure. This author did her homework, and she weaves fascinating descriptions of the unique Payne's Prairie, raises the ethical and practical issues of preserving the environment amid commercial development, and takes us behind the scenes in the diverse worlds of community theatre and gritty police work...all the while deftly paralleling her story with Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard. The many elements of the complex plot come together like the strands of a seamless basket woven by the native Americans who once peopled the prairie. Harry Potter fans aren't the only ones who will be waiting for more.

What can I say about "Murder on the Prairie"? It hooked me early on, and kept me going right up to the end. Was that a clue, or was it a herring? And what will Lorelei do to save herself, her friends, and her beloved prairie?

M.D. Abrams has written a book that kept me entertained, but that also worked my brain -- I learned things I didn't know about a fragile ecosystem, and I re-learned things I'd forgotten (HOW long ago did I read Chekhov?!?). I can't wait for whatever the author throws at me and Lorelei next!

I started reading the book on the way to the airport yesterday morning and did not put it down at either airport, on the plane, on the train and every spare moment during the day, until I finished it at home! Coming back on the el train from the airport around 10 PM, I got so engrossed that I forgot to get off in the Loop and found myself on the way back to the airport!
The book is marvelous! The plot is exciting and educational; the characters are well drawn and engaging; the story line is complex and moves along at a good pace; lots of imagery and detail to make the persons and places come alive; the characters are multi-dimensional and sometimes a bit ambiguous, which makes them more interesting. All in all--a very satisfying "read."
Can't wait to read the author's next book.

I've been using this guide in Southern Africa for the last 6 years, and it's never let me down. Great book for those traveling to the region, but keep in mind that most guides at the wildlife parks will already have a copy, so you could save the weight and space in your luggage.

Have not actually been to southern Africa yet, but plan to do so next summer. I have been an avid birder for 3 decades, and it looks like the format of this book will be very useful for my trip.

this is the best bird guide for birds of the region. I have carefully looked over others on the market.

Excellent book with very good graphics and organization. Just what is needed to confirm your observations or identify your sightings.

Now in a fully revised eighth edition, Newman's Birds Of Southern Africa is a field guide to 125 species of Southern African birds illustrated throughout with realistic full-color artwork. Each species has an entry with a map indicating their distribution, their common and scientific name, a brief paragraph with a basic physical description and notes on distinguishing characteristics, and a gorgeous, realistic color illustration. A revised introduction teaches the reader step-by-step how to use the guide to quickly identify avian species, and a glossary, index and birdwatching checklist round out this first-class resource. A treat for bird lovers due to the top-quality artistry alone, as well as being a quintessential identification guide, Newman's Birds Of Southern Africa is enthusiastically recommended for amateur birdwatchers and professional biologists alike.

This book is for anyone that wants to escape to his or her youth. It is a great book for a weekend. Cuddle yourself on a feather mattress, with a goose down comforter snuggled around you. Lying your head on a feather pillow that is covered with a soft cotton pillowcase. Are you in heaven? No! You are in the South in the 1950's. You will awake when it is all over. There has to be more to come. Dear Author is there?

A tasty tale to be read with a super sweet iced tea and the smell of homemade biscuits baking in the oven.

D.H. Eaton wrote a lively novel in an engaging style that keeps the reader eagerly flipping pages. The central character, a recently widowed Southern lady, recounts her youth as it relates to recipes in an old fundraising cookbook she finds at a used bookstore in Central Florida.

Do the characters from the narrator's past match the recipes they submitted? Read the book and judge for yourself. The accessible language, varied recipes, advertisements from the cookbook, and quaint drawings make "The Osceola Community Club" a delight to read.

Leslie Halpern, author of Reel Romance: The Lovers' Guide to the 100 Best Date Movies and Dreams on Film: The Cinematic Struggle Between Art and Science.

When I first heard about D. H. Eaton's novel, I thought it sounded like a fantastic idea. The novel wove stories of the residents of a small town by means of recipes culled from a cookbook. The narrator finds the book in a store that sells used books.

I'd met D. H. and through various conversations, felt quite a kinship with her. Our Southern upbringing coupled with the fact that we were both writers made for a broad stretch of common ground. She'd invited me to two different literary events, even featured some of my poetry at one of them. On both occasions, last minute problems with my younger child kept me from attending. My opinion of D. H. was based entirely on a social assessment. She's one of those women who has a natural grace about her. She has an energy that is contagious. She looks good in hats. And she is never, ever dull.

I had no idea what to expect of her novel, however. I'd never read anything she'd written. She'd been kind enough to send me a copy of her book. If the author is known to me, I try very hard to be objective, to look at the work with an even keener eye than I'd apply to the work of a stranger. Of late, I've been preoccupied with a manuscript deadline and other projects. But a few days ago, I was having my lunch and needed something to read. I read a few pages and was immediately put out with myself for picking the book up.

I found I could not put it down. In truth, I had too many things to do to get involved with a book, particularly a novel. But I was drawn into D.H. Eaton's novel in much the same way a bee is drawn to clover.

Within the pages of her book, an entire town comes alive. Each recipe in the fictitious cookbook is listed with the name of the contributor. Using the cookbook as a literary device is very effective. We see Charmaine Mosley's "Banana Salad" recipe, and the chapter it introduces relates the story of the Mosley family. In addition, each recipe builds into a composite whole that draws a picture of a culture, the Southern culture I knew and now recall with the same bittersweet emotions the narrator, Cassandra, carries to the end of the book.

I do not think it an accident, the choice of name for the heroine in the book. Cassandra, in some versions of ancient mythology, received the gift of prophecy from the god, Apollo. In Ms. Eaton's novel, Cassandra offers a historical account of Southern life that begins around 1958 and continues to the present, and within that account, the history of a small town, like so many, that, through growth and change, became quite a different place entirely. Just as the mythological Cassandra's warnings were ignored, so are the warnings of many, including the narrator in the novel, who caution that the culture we value will in time be lost.

As I read the book, each recipe, like the little cakes in Marcel Proust's Remembrance of Things Past, propelled me backwards, to my own upbringing and coming of age in a small Southern town. Food is a primary component in any culture, and using that as a means to move the plot works wonderfully.

D. H. Eaton writes in an unpretentious, staccato style that immediately engages the reader. As each family's story unfolds, there is a flavor of oral history-for what family below the Mason-Dixon line is without this exceptional legacy, from the poorest of us to the richest? She recreates a culture that put women on a pedestal and religion on the table, one that took care of its own, that tolerated those less fortunate and viewed the rich with a cynical eye. A sub-setting in the book is the front porch, that wonderful place where so many of us sat and took in summer evenings and stories spun by our elders, where philosophy and poetry were dispensed in plain language that shaped our hearts and values.

What strikes me about D. H. Eaton, besides her charming personality, besides her abundance of civic contributions to literature and history efforts, involves the fact that she is incredibly endowed with talent as a writer. The book deserves critical attention from serious quarters, and I certainly hope such attention will be given. For a writer to establish such a strong voice with a first novel is quite a feat.

This book is a valuable contribution to history, for it creates a metaphor for all the small, dusty towns throughout the sunbelt that fell on hard times when textile or lumber mills closed and the best and brightest left for big city job opportunities. For anyone doing research on life in the South in the decade after World War II, this novel is an incredible resource.

By the end of the novel, we have bonded to the families in Osceola in a manner that makes us sad the story is over. If we are Southern, we have journeyed to our own childhoods, and recalled the summers, the winter holidays, and the family reunions this author brings to life for us. And as a reader, we come to realize that the real character in the book is the very Southern village of Osceola. In a particularly poignant passage at the end of the book, the author writes:

"And don't forget Nanny Ellie's spices-her lighthearted expletives that mixed with her Confederate cooking smells and traveled from her kitchen outward, making us giggle, causing Mama to feign being shocked.
Nanny's kitchen. Impossible to duplicate. Impossible to recapture."

All I can say is, "Bless your heart, D.H. , you certainly did recapture that kitchen. And the one I grew up in as well. Most splendidly, I might add."

I've read many sensory stories in my time, but I can think of only two that made me hungry: "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and The Osceola Community Club. Remember all those delectable dishes in Irving's "Legend"? Those "heaped-up platters of cakes"! Those "dainty slapjacks, well buttered, and garnished with honey"!

Well, Darlene Eaton gives us equally tasty fare in The Osceola Community Club. "Hoppin' John," "Bird of Paradise," "Copper Pennies," "Sweet Potato Muggin," "Lazy Gal Brunswick Stew," "Poverty Chili"----just a few of the down-home delights in this novel! No, I won't give away any recipe. Read the book; enjoy the cooking and much more. This much more includes an extraordinary variety of story food served up by Cassandra Burquette, Eaton's main character/narrator.

In 2002 Cassandra arrives in Osceola, Florida, with a group of clubwomen for a day of antiquing. She barely recognizes this time-forgotten village where as a child she spent many hours visiting her grandmother Nanny Ellie and her cousin Della.

In "a hole of a bookstore," Cassandra finds Osceola's Favorite Foods Compiled by the Osceola Community Club, 1958. This "fundraiser of a cookbook" arouses memories of an unforgettable summer when Cassandra was 12 and felt her first womanly stirrings. As she relishes the cookbook, Cassandra also recalls later experiences, like her "Take Us Back" speech at the reunion of her 1964 high school class. Some of her memories stand alone as delightful stories like the "Civil Defense" tale (featured on the Fresh and Ripe page of this web site). Others sparkle as vignettes, like this one: 

"Christmas Eve morn. 1958. And colder 'n bare babies' butts hangin' downside in an outhouse. Granddaddy indulged my Nanny Ellie with the luxury of a nighttime burr pot beneath her bed. But the rest of us had to hustle our shivering butts to the outhouse, flashlight in hand, cold be damned. Don't never let anybody tell you it don't get cold in Florida. There's more to Florida than Miami Beach, folks. Wind could evermore rip snort up and down Nanny Ellie's hill, I'm here to testify...."

Eaton gives us Southern characters we've seen before and endows them with her own fresh vitality: For example, the no-nonsense grandmother, tough and straight-talking on the outside, loving and caring on the inside; the extra special childhood friend you told your secrets to; the stupid, self righteous preacher; admirable eccentrics; snooty girls; horny boys; gossipers; racist Christians; devious aristocrats; segregated blacks with deferential masks for whites; Atticus-Finch-like whites who defend the downtrodden; and others-all of whom give us vivid insights into small-town Florida of the 1950's.

On just about every page, Eaton puts a picture, drawing, or icon. These devices plus the recipes complement and underscore setting, characters, and action.

To my mind, the author's shining achievement is Cassandra Burquette. Perky, loquacious, sensitive, funny, keen, nostalgic, Cassandra shows traces of some of the most memorable women in Southern literature. Mostly, though, she is an original who galvanizes Eaton's vision of Osceola into a microcosm of the last days of the Old South.

Robert B. Gentry, Coeditor, www.writecorner.com

Ion Davidov is my favorite Bel Ami model. If you saw him in Lucky Lukas, you would understand. He is so lovely. While looking at these pictures I literally lost my breath. This boy is exquisite! I'll keep this book forever.

Full of pictures of Bel Ami film star Ion Davidov.

Ion Davidov has got to be one of the most handsome Bel Ami models of all. These color images of him alone and with other Bel Ami models are beautifully done, and quite stunning. Ion knows how to react with the camera and display his inner and outer beauty in the fullest. These are relaxed very natural poses, and some are extremely erotic. Another great book in the Euros Edition Series. Of all the 17 books published in the Euros Series this is probably Number #1 on my list. A must for the collection!

Excellent photo book of Ion Davidov. Nicely toned and sculpted physique, photos are in a variety of settings showing Ion both alone and with other models. As with most of the Euros series there are no hardcore shots. Most shots are in color and well done. 4 Stars and highly recommended for any collector of Male Erotica.

This book has to be one of the best coffee table books of its kind. The photos are brilliant and bring the model(s) to life before your eyes. If you want great photos of the Bel Ami stars then this is a definate 'must have'.

I think it's one of the best action thrillers of the past year. Singerman takes his story around the world from the end of WWII to present, with an array of interesting characters all of whom will interlock with at least one other as the story builds to its exciting conclusion.

In 1945 a woman is murdered in Austria. Solomon Kessler picks up an album of concentration camp photos her killers sought. Fifty years later an Argentine assassin kills CID Special Agent Stan Erland. Erland's boss McKenzie Rockett and Angela Becker are on the case. Erland had also been investigating the execution style murder of psychic Leo Weiser who, it happens, was Soloman Kessler living under a new identity.

Angela, an ex-model who grew up wealthy, now a cop and part-time social worker who loves fast cars, is an all around great character. Rockett brings in Roland Troy, ex-homicide detective and martial arts pro with a complicated past to team up with Angela, and a great partnership is formed.

Leo's wife Justine tells Angela that Leo had recently spotted someone from his past. Before Angela knows it, the reader realizes Leo saw Novac DuCharme, a super rich white supremacist who was a sadistic concentration camp guard in 1945.

At the halfway point another force comes into the story, Chotoku Nakama a.k.a. Bassai, an Asian warlord who nursed Roland Troy to health after an incident in Viet Nam. An Iranian arms dealer comes to Bassai offering a shipment intended for DuCharme, and Bassai takes an action that lets Troy know he's around if he needs him.

After 280 pages the bang-bang pace suddenly drifts to something more serene. Troy goes back to Vermont. Then Leo's widow Justine reappears, and things start back up. It builds to an exciting conclusion, a little more violence than necessary, but overall a great action story tying past and present together in a well balanced, exciting finale.

Boynton Beach Fl. U.S.A. I couldn't put it down until I finished. The places and people kept me going from page to page. Good luck and lets see more of this type of stories soon.

TELL YOUR FRIENDS

This book is a must-read. One of the best I've come across this year, and I do read a lot. Singerman has a nice, easy style. This work is a page-turner. The story, the characters, and the locales are all believable. I'm hoping the wait for his next book won't be too long.

See story summary above.

I was hooked from page one! This book has everything I like. Suspense, thrills, international locales, and most of all a writing style that fits the story. Story includes old nazis mixed in with international business, psychics, and small town life in the florida swamps. Unusual characters and unique settings set this thrller apart from most others. One Problem though....The art and design of the cover was terrible. It made it look like a dime store mystery, when it was anything but. I truly am looking forward to Singerman's next novel.

Highly recommended.

Wow! I loved this book it had everything,suspense,romance and lots of action.From the very first chapter I was taken away to another world and I became Angela Becker. Philip Singerman drew me in and kept me there over the entire holiday. I relish a book that has the power to alter my life. Singerman must be a publishers dream. I hope he will be encouraged to make a series following Proof Positive.

I can't believe how close I came to missing out on this wonderful book. I checked it out of the library and started reading it the day it was due, thinking, "I'll give it a page, then it's outtahere." I paid the late fee. Ziegler has created in Annie Bartlett one of the most poignant, hilarious and beautifully crafted characters I have ever met and plunks her down in a setting so seductive, nostalgic and rich I can't wait to go back there to breathe underwater again, and experience Annie's imagined transformation into a mermaid. Not only did I buy this book for myself, but I'm buying it as gifts from now on. And to think I almost gave it back.

Irene Zeigler's "Rules of the Lake" is written with a clean, simple style which goes hand in hand with the subjects the author has chosen. More elaborate prose would spoil the rural nature of these stories, and Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings did something similar in "Cross Creek." But unlike Rawlings, Ms. Zeigler's narrative never becomes precious. It's a look into the past from a contemporary and adult perspective. The stories involve Annie, a preteen girl living on a lake in rural Florida. Annie watches her older sister, Leigh, experiencing adolescent angst, only to find herself suddenly facing it as well. Annie and Leigh's father is a central figure, equally charming and inept in both his relationships with his daughters and his various brainstorms which rarely amount to anything.

My favorite of the 13 stories is "The Raft," and its companion piece, "The Stranger." In these two tales, Ms. Ziegler fascinates her readers with a balance of power between the sexes. In "The Raft," Annie challenges a neighbor boy, Petey, to a swimming race. If she loses, she agrees to strip naked for him. Annie knows that she is more than capable of beating Petey, and so totally controls him. Yet she remains vulnerable to the siren song of compassion and sexual attraction. Ms. Zeigler creates a situation that is filled with feminine power, yet allows Aniie to give young Petey a thrill that's both visceral and vicarious at the same time. In "The Stranger," she subtly shifts the balance of power in Petey's favor. Now more mature, Petey is in far more control of Annie than in the previous story. But after a short time in her presence, she has a palpable impact. By the end of the story, they have a whole new relationship that's built on the foundation of the old and a promise for the future.

In its sensory details, Rules of the Lake recreates an earlier, largely undeveloped Central Florida. There's a backyard lake and an undiscovered natural spring. The pre-Disney tourist attractions are tacky. And in orange groves and the pleasures of fishing and walking barefoot, Irene's Ziegler's stories of childhood take the reader to a Florida that is now much harder to find. And, if that's all there was to the book, it would still be a pretty good read. But into this Florida Ziegler puts Annie Bartlett. To discover her is to rediscover the experience of being a child. Annie longs to be one of the popular girls with an ache that will make the reader relive terrible preadolescence. She longs to be loved by her father. She longs to understand adult mysteries that are as elusive as the shadows that swim in the backyard lake. And if the stories stopped there they'd be well worth reading. But of course there's more. The thread that holds together the stories and the images of Florida and Annie is the author's voice. It's a great voice. Sometimes it speaks in kid-real dialect and inner thoughts and sometimes it changes mid-sentence to deliver a zinger. Sometimes it's poetry. I saved my reading of Rules of the Lake for late evening just before sleep, and always closed the book with the "Ah!" of discovery.

I always know I've really enjoyed a book when I don't want it to end, as is the case with this book. I still want to know more about Annie's childhood and what happens to her as an adult. Ms. Ziegler's writing style is very real--she describes the tragedy and comedy of human nature in a down-to-Earth way. My very favorite story is about Annie's quest to become a Girl Scout. I laughed but also felt her pain. I hope Ms. Ziegler comes out with another book soon. I'll volunteer to be one of the first to read it. Thanks for taking me back to my own childhood.

I love this book.

When I finished it, I closed the book, took a deep breath, then opened it and read the prologue again: ("When my sister, Leigh, was in junior high and still enamored of Widow Lake, and I was in fourth grade and still enamored of Leigh...") I forced myself to put it down, and to wait a few days before reading it again. I am in the middle of my second reading as I write this.

Irene Ziegler has managed to bring to life the developing pre-adolescent Annie in such a delightful way. (One suspects that Ziegler was once a developing pre-adolescent girl herself, and that she was paying close attention to her feelings during that time.) She has a gift.

I normally read fast. But this book is a Slow Read. I felt the need to slow down, and to savor each sentence, each phrase, as I read it.

("Leigh?" I said through my tears. She drew near, her face close to mine. "Take me with you," I whispered, and in the single tear that moved in a slow, erratic path down her cheek, I saw my lonely, wounded self reflected.)

Thank you, Irene Ziegler. I love this book.