Vermont Books

If it were possible I would give this book ten stars. The anecdotes that Mr. Davis shares in this book should make even the most jaded soul laugh out loud. You see the best and worst of human nature dealt with in straight forward New England style

Kitty & Mr. Kipling is the cute story of a little girl who becomes enamored by the Kipling family, who have moved into her small Vermont town. The story is a great mix of fiction and historical facts on Rudyard Kipling's life during his time in Vermont. An entertaining story for kids (and adults!) along with some educational facts. I really enjoyed it and look forward to reading it to my children.

Everyone (parents of Learning Disabled, non-disabled, regular education and special education teachers) should read this book. Especially, if you are just starting out. This book describes how people learn in everyday english. It starts from when a child is born and how they begin to learn. And it shows you how you can teach students with learning disabilities (Yes, you the parent). When you finish this book -- you'll want to learn more about how to teach your LD, ADD, ADHD, etc. child. Also, it makes you realize how important language is to learning everyday. If you are interested in helping your child with his/her learning issues -- read this book. It maybe the key to what you need or a path to the next step.

If you love reading about real life happensing this is a great book. Consuelo Northrop Bailey was from Fairfield Vermont. She was born 10/10/1899 and died 09/09/1976. This book is a witty and charming account of a woman pioneering 20th century life in Vermont. Bailey says "I hope that I many reveal the character of the Vermont I dearly love and the spirit of Vermonters I have known. For what is really important is Vermont's glorious history, her rich traditions, her precious scenery which brings tears to the eyes of all who love her, everyday, common, honest people who unknowingly salted down the Vt way of life with a flavor peculiar only to the Green Mountains...." Long before the expression "woman's lib" came into use Mrs. Bailey was demonstrating woman's equality of mental ability and accomplishments. She was the 1st woman elected Lt. Governor of any state. She ran for office 24 times and won all 24. She was 1st woman Grand Juror of the City of Burlington 1925, 1st woman State's Attorney (2 terms), 1st woman admitted to practice before the US Supreme Court, 1st woman speaker of Vt House of Representatives, 1st woman to preside over both House and Senate of any state. She was a republican and elected to National Republican committee from the state of vt. She was the longest serving member of the party at the time. A great insight into life and conditions of her time. The book includes some black and white photographs.

I purchased this book as a gift for a close friend who just had a baby. She absolutely loved it and found the CD to be relaxing and soothing. I would highly recommend this book.

This book provides a great overview of steps local governments can take to reduce their contribution to climate change. The authors provide a number of examples of municipalities, including Portland, OR and Fort Collins, CO, that have taken steps to address climate change. In a time when one seemingly can't turn on a tv or open a newspaper without seeing dire mentions of global warming, this work takes a hopeful approach and demonstrates how even seemingly small actors can make meaningful contributions to combating this problem.
Highly recommended, especially for those working in local government policy.

This little book has everything you'd need to plan a hike along any part of the trail. Maps are not large, so you might want to get a USGS topo map of the section you want to hike.

I was so struck by this excellent piece of fiction that I hated for this unique book to come to its impacting close. The book was given to me by a Gold Star mother, that has literally become my mom after her son was killed in a helicopter crash in my unit in 1967. She is now 90 and we correspond very much. How she found this book about Vermont out in California is beyond me, but it was included in her last shipment of articles and artifacts about Gary's life, that she often sends on to me. There is much personal overlap in this book with my life, including my giving helicopter rides over Little Roundtop and hiking the Gettysburg battlefield in late afternoon hours after working there daily as an instructor pilot. I identified with Sam the carpenter/vet very much, as I have worked with wood and built many bluebird houses over the 14 years when I was doing that. I can't kill anything either, and have realized that fact several times over since the month I flew Huey gunships in Vietnam. I quit, and returned to flying "slicks," and continued gaining decorations for other tasks in my aviation unit. Those events are recorded in my book, Outlaws in Vietnam. My buddy Fred Stetson knows the Graffs and I would surely like to. This woman is an uncommon writer, and I look forward to her constructing more excellent novels as she did this one. Her prose is very descriptive and impacting; she knows what she is doing. My family has fought in every war the United States ever had, from the seige of Louisburg to Bunker Hill, on through the Civil War and both World Wars that followed in this past century, as well as Korea. I know the feeling of pausing at old graves, and stood at the "Angle" as Riley did and heard the moans of the dying Confederates as some others have also experienced. I have also been many places where Captain George Pickett served before his infamous "charge" that July 3, that was the highwater mark of the Confederacy. I had to lift my boots up from the grass there, where the blood flowed inches deep between the blades those many years ago. Uncanny to undergo.

I go back and reread this book every summer. The main surprise is that the author recalls her camp days as the happiest of her youth, and goes to lengths to avoid coming home or having her parents visit. Though she begins at a young age, she isn't homesick - and her descriptions of the camp make it clear why. The camp offers the more traditional activities, along with theater, and Indian lore, and Arthur takes us intimately through the camp's counselors, activities and physical layout. We're right beside her as she describes skinny dipping, taking a hayride, searching for the Klondike Stone (a camp legend), and we feel acutely the bittersweetness of the end-of-camp banquet which has given her "a permanent phobia about people being nice to me."

There is little cattiness or competition with her fellow campers, and though her days could hardly have been as unbrokenly idyllic as described here, we do believe, with her, that being a camper there "made her one of the blessed."

This book is a description of way the Nearings earned hard cash to sustain their homesteading project. When they first built their homestead in Vermont in the early 1930s, they thought they might make the cash income for purchasing things they couldn't grow on the farm by selling wood. However, they soon found themselves owners of a sugar maple bush, and the family who had been tapping the sap up until then showed them the ropes of the maple sugaring business. It wasn't long before they discovered that they could earn their annual cash needs during the six week sugaring season, leaving the rest of the year free to grow food, construct farm buildings, and write.

The book starts with a history of sugar making. Then it includes some how-to information (current as of the 1940s). This section includes chapters on maintenance of the sugar bush, equipment for sugaring, sap and weather, making sugar, making syrup, and marketing. The book closes with a section that describes some of the philosophy of the Nearing's homesteading project, especially those aspects related to maple sugaring. And in the end, there are a few recipes for using maple syrup.

Because of Scott Nearing's academic training and experience, the book has an academic flavor, and the chapters on the history of sugaring are quite well documented. The details in the book about sugaring aren't quite sufficient for rank newbies to take off and try to start their own sugaring operation- -if you want to know exact details about constructing a sugar shack or using an evaporator, it would be better to look for a more technical book with a recent publication date. The book's main value is for those who wish to learn more about how the Nearings put their thoughts about cash income and bread labor into action. With that in mind, the book is truly a classic, and well worth reading many times through.