Vermont Books

After Aidan's father tragically dies in an auto accident, he and his mother move to his grandmother's farm in Vermont. He just knows it's going to be hard going here. There will be long, boring days and certainly no one his age around. His grandmother Memere gives him a copy of Homer's THE ODYSSEY telling him it's a book that will help. Then his Uncle Danny (his father's brother) asks him if he would be willing to help out on his farm, and reluctantly he agrees --- after all, he can make some money and it's better than watching his mother mope around.

While all this is happening he can't help but notice how his grandmother leaves for a little walk into the nearby forest every night. She seems to come back refreshed and at ease with the world. When he follows her he is totally taken aback as he watches from his hiding place and sees strange people gathering around her:

...They were virtually silent as they drew closer, with only the faintest rustling of the grass to betray their presence. They crept forward with slow, shy movements, like wild animals unsure of their surroundings, ready to flee at a moment's notice. Strangest of all, there was an indefinite quality to them all, a washed-out element --- as if they'd been left out in the rain too long --- that seemed to blur the edges of their movement.

To his horror he discovers that the figures are ghosts and that they come each night to feed from a small birdbath in which Memere has mixed a few drops of her blood with water. This absolutely goes against everything Aidan has ever believed:

"This is ridiculous, Memere. Ghosts are just in stories and cheesy horror movies. They don't really exist."
"That's right, Aidan. Yet --- here they are," she said.

It is not long before Aidan accepts these strange happenings and sees the possibility that he might even be able to contact his father through the "shades." Although his grandmother warns him against this, he secretly continues until one day he sees a ghostly young boy and begins to think that his father is trying to communicate with him --- or is this his grief out of control?

Meanwhile, Aidan's mother is developing a relationship with Donny. She is also able to get a job for the coming school year teaching English; though deeply grieved, she moves ahead. Aidan, however, is not ready to accept either the relationship or the other things in his life that seem to have gone out of control. His determination to speak with his father becomes even stronger and leads him into a precarious situation.

Through a series of disappointments and overwhelming griefs, Aidan starts to see the connections of all that is happening in his life. His journey is not, after all, so unlike that of Ulysses. These experiences are softened by the strong support of his grandmother and the other loving adults in his life. By the end of the book Aidan realizes how important his family is and the meaningfulness of his grandmother's wise book selection.

David Stahler Jr. has written a book that deals with both the heartbreak of grief and the peace of acceptance. His characters fight against their realities but are ultimately pulled together through grief and love. Teens definitely will find this to be a chilling ghost tale as well as a moving story.

--- Reviewed by Sally M. Tibbetts

With "Gemini," Michael Burns has introduced himself to the world as an author whose breadth of imagination and depth of perception is without compare. Novels are all about character, and the characters with which Burns presents us are as vivid and as emotionally complex and believable as is possible in fiction. We love the characters for their good points, hate them for their flaws, blame them for the consequences of their actions and sympathize with them for their circumstances. Most importantly, however, is that these character's provide us with insight into what it means to be living in the world we do. The novel opens our minds to the realities of day to day life that we never seem to examine, and, in doing so, sheds light on what we all value and despise, and probes into the reasons why we do. I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in how we as humans live and interract with each other and anyone who understands what it is to suffer and deal with suffering.

There's a story told about a Buddhist monk who could look into your eyes and see your grandmother's soul. The collaboration between author Howard Frank Mosher and photographer John M. Miller, called "Granite & Cedar: The People and the Land of Vermont's Northeast Kingdom" gives the common reader a chance for a similar view. This remarkable book gives a profound opportunity to see into and beyond the familiar of "home."
"Granite & Cedar" is set in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom; the black and white photographs (most taken between 1971 and 1976) represent a simpler time when the region was a world unto itself. Then the Interstate rolled through, and it was suddenly easier to have second homes here. Long-time residents could come and go with ease, and the world of the Northeast Kingdom changed. Patterns of life shifted, and familiar traditions suddenly reappeared as people, places and ways that were different.
Mosher's haunting story of Aunt Jane Hubbell weaves through the photographs like hand washed thread turning into fine lace. The story opens in 1965 as the plans for the Interstate are introduced. Aunt Jane has fierce stubbornness and loyalty to family, both living and dead. Will she stand up to the engineers at the public hearing for the highway, or will she back down in deference to her 78 years and ancestors lying at rest? How will she be remembered?
We see the time-worn buildings standing tall beside symbols of an emerging era of rapid obsolescence; we see wool jackets and spruce boards holding their ground to synthetic fleece and vinyl siding; we see men and women whose lives and ways are somehow very familiar although today - they are gone.
We see into a place and time well used by those who lived off the land and were shaped by it and who like Aunt Jane were, above all, practical. Mosher and Miller have unwrapped the gift we thought unique to the legendary monk.
For those with connections to the Northeast Kingdom "Granite & Cedar" will be tenderly familiar. And yet strictly regional, this book is not. For those who only know Vermont's fringe from a distance, the connection to home will prevail.
"Granite & Cedar" is Mosher and Miller at their best.

I purchased this book, Green Mountain Troopers at a recent Conference. I have read it from cover to cover. The book was well researched and is excellent. It not only gives you the historical background, but it offers a young Criminal Justice Student writing about State Police organization will have a great reference book in the event he is interested in becoming a member of the Vermont State Police. Outstanding contribution by the Author to the Law Enforcement Community and the Reading Public. I enjoyed the read and recommend it highly.

This book is a collection of short essays that detail Mitchell's adventures with sheep and children on his farm in Vermont. Like many new Vermonters, Mitchell was an urban transplant, and upon arrival in Vermont, he didn't have a lot of the accumulated "country-sense" necessary for survival on the farm. Undaunted, Mitchell talked to his neighbors, read all he could, and slowly learned how to make a living off the land. In this book, Mitchell struggles to figure out the best way to raise kids-how to tell when they are ready to drive a tractor, or deal with life's passages in the sheep barn. He also spends a lot of time in the sheep barn, working out the guidelines for efficient animal husbandry and marketing his sheep products.

Mitchell's first book, Moving UpCountry, kept me in stitches for days, as I recalled such scenes as procuring fresh chickens for out-of-town visitors. There's nothing spectacularly funny like that in this book, but there are several points to ponder. In a story about deciding whether to collect a pile of skipping stones from a park to take back home to his own pond, Mitchell writes "having my own private supply of stones might make them hard to share. Could I gracefully stand by while visiting guests fired stone after stone from my pail out across the water?...Would I have to remind myself, each time I skipped a stone, that now I possessed one less stone to skip?" When he realized the work and worry a stone supply would cause him, he gave up the enterprise at once so that he could enjoy the immediate pleasure of skipping stones with his kids on the beach. Small lessons like these make up the measure of a truly educated person.

This book is guide to shrubs and woody vines commonly found in Vermont. It begins with a standard scientific key. Following this are entries for individual plants, organized by family. Each entry includes the common and Latin names for the plant, as well as descriptive notes useful for identification. Most (but not all) entries also include a black-and-white sketch of plant details. Originally published in 1909, a number of the Latin names have been changed over the years, and the book does not cover many recently introduced non-native plants. Nevertheless, with its focus on commonly occurring plants in Vermont, it is quite useful for identification of plants found in Vermont or neighboring regions.

This book is an excellent field book and reference for identifying the trees of Vermont (and other northeastern states). The authors begin with a description of general characteristics to focus on for tree identification, including leaf outlines, leaf tips, leaf margins, flower parts and shapes, and twig forms. They then include a brief description and model of how to use a key, which they follow with a detailed key for identification of trees in summer. Later in the book, they also provide keys for winter identification, and identification of cut wood or lumber. There is a section of black-and-white photographic plates for identification from bark and a section of drawings from microscopic sections to aid in identification of wood. End material includes a glossary and index.

Individual articles are provided for each common tree in Vermont. The articles include the scientific name, common names, and a page of black-and-white drawings to aid in identification. Each article also provides information about habit (form), leaves, flowers, fruit, winter buds, bark, and wood. The articles close with notes, which are general comments about the tree, its uses and folklore.

The key and drawings are exceptionally clear and easy to use. By providing keys for summer, winter, and wood, the authors have made this a comprehensive reference that can be used year-round.

If you're traveling our northeastern border (or even want to), you need this book. Populations are sparse in this region but artisans abound. You won't want to miss the opportunity to find the best. Easy to use and quite well illustrated.

Like the book My wife and I like going to new places for a weekend .

John Engels (professor of English at St. Michael's College and an award winning author of ten volumes of poetry) offers a impressively textured series of memorable poetic monologues in House And Garden in revelation and celebration of the thoughts of Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden (and beyond), and the process of establishing order through the naming of things - and feelings. Adam in the Graveyard: How cold it is,/that white sun smoking overhead,/powerful contours of snow//braiding, dividing/around the stones,/sheeting and rumpling as if//something were struggling/to break through./In this place//memory's no salvation,/there's no cause to wake/or trouble us, in this place love//has dwindled to fatigue/like winter gardens/discarded to this//whirl of dirt,/to these heaviest/of days, to this most durable//of our inclinations. John Engels' House And Garden is also available in hardcover.