Minnesota Books

I so love Teresa McClain-Watson's writing, I've read all of her books including Plenty Good Room. I first read "Surviving Mr. Right" and enjoyed it so much (such wit and humor) that I immediately looked for another by her. When I found "Loose Lips", I was at first skeptical because reading the summary, it didn't sound that interesting but LORD was I wrong!! Thankfully. Of all of her characters, Ben and Josie had me the most enthralled! I absolutely love them. Ben is beyond sexy and Josie just pure cracks me up. But I can identify with her too. The conflict between the two (personality, age, interests, etc.) makes for thrilling reading and I couldn't put the book down. I've read both "Loose Lips" and "What We Did For Love" at least five times over already and I'll continue to do so. I never get tired of Ben and Josie. Please Mrs. Watson, bring on some more. We readers need it!

Oh My Goodness. I must say, when I picked this book up at the store I only bought it because it was the sequel to "Loose Lips". Now that I have read it, I WANT ANOTHER SEQUEL. I am so estatic to have read a book, gotten to the last page and I want to read more! The relationship between Ben & Josie is so turbulent, yet and still they are unable to give up because they are so in love with each other. They both grow a lot in this book and I want to continue to experience their growth as a couple. I want to know how the Vegas episode goes (I don't want to give the book away), I want to know how life continues for these two people. I want to know how Ben & Josie grow together. I want to know how Ben handles himself now that Josie has developed into the woman he knew she could, & the woman he wanted to see & he now has the desperate need, desire & love for her that she once openly expressed for him. I want to see Josie strong, driven, purposeful & confident in herself & their relationship. I want to hear more about Scotty & see their comraderie again. I want to see Ben smile more often & experience life as he never knew he could now that he has the woman he doesn't want to live without.

This is the best sequel ever!! It doesn't overshadow its predecessor but instead compliments it perfectly. If you want to lose yourself in a book, get sad, get angry, get happy & experience written suspence, then read this book. If you don't want to enjoy those things..read it anyway. I promise you will not be dissapointed.

This followup book will keep you wanting more!! I totally enjoyed Loose Lips and actually loved What We Did even more. Josie is growing up and it was fullfilling to see the tables turned with a jealous Ben. I am actually reading this book again now that Josie and I have finally understood the depth of Ben's love. Some slight continuation errors but overall, just Awesome!! To the Author: Please let there be another book, this story is NOT finished, not by a long shot!!

I am totally addicted to these two people in these books. I have read each of them back to back for as long as I have had these books..please, please, please write a sequel so that I can know what happened to Ben & Josie. I want to follow them to the end of thier lives.

I am a prolific reader and will not waste my time or energy on a book if it isn't good. My thought process is that life's too short and there are too many other good books to waste my time on just one. I hated for this book to end. This book touched my heart as few have when dealing with love. You felt Josie's love....kind of made me want myself a Ben. He's the strong, silient type. Won't pass this book on to others as I have with other books. I'm keeping this one to read again...I NEVER DO THAT!

I bought this book at the suggestion of a Homeschool Curriculum and my son and I love it. It goes through the alphabet and isn't too distracting.

This book is a must read for any young child- even an infant. The black and white pencil drawings are intricate and soft, and though my son is older, he was drawn right into the illustrations. The copy that we checked out came with an audiotape, with accompanying music which is printed in the book on the last page, with the words. The book itself it very rhythmical and lends itself to be sung by a child even without the music. I found a few grammatical (punctuation) errors (Scholastic 1990 edition), which tripped me up as I read along, but not having another printing to compare to, I didn't let that determine the star quality of this book. I can almost remember it being read to me as a child, and I would read it to anyone who would sit and listen.

What a lovely book for young children. ABC Bunny creatively displays the alphabet in story form. In the little bunny's many encounters with other critters it lays the groundwork for a great nature study. There is a cute little song for children who like to sing as well as be read to! The illustrations are enticing and full of action. Written in a very original way to introduce the alphabet to young children, I hope that this book will soon be back in print so that we can continue to share it with others.

A TERRIFIC BOOK FOR YOUNG CHILDREN!!!! THIS LOVELY LITTLE BOOK TELLS THE STORY OF A BUNNY FINDING ITS WAY HOME AFTER IT WAS RUDELY AWAKENED BY AN, QUOTE, "APPLE, BIG AND RED". IT MEETS UP WITH A FROG, A, QUOTE, "KITTEN, CATNIP CRAZY" AND A LIZARD. THE BOOK CAN BE ENJOYED BY ALL, 1-YEAR-OLDS THROUGH 100-YEAR-OLDS. IN SOME EDITIONS, IT ALSO HAS A NICE LITTLE SONG. HERE IS A LITTLE SOMETHING FROM THE BOOK:

A FOR APPLE, BIG AND RED
B FOR BUNNY, SNUG ABED
C FOR CRASH, D FOR DASH,
E FOR ELSEWHERE IN A FLASH
F FOR FROG, HE'S FAT AND FUNNY
"LOOKS LIKE RAIN" HE SAYS TO BUNNY
G FOR GAIL, H FOR HAIL
HIPPETY-HOP GOES BUNNY'S TAIL
I FOR INSECTS HER AND THERE,
J FOR JAY WITH JAUNTY AIR
K FOR KITTEN, CATNIP CRAZY
L FOR LIZARD LOOK HOW LAZY........
Y FOR YOU, TAKE ONE LAST LOOK,
Z FOR ZERO. CLOSE THE BOOK!

A small book on the alphabet which tells a story in rhyme of a bunny going home. It was a 1934 Newbery Honor book (i.e., runner-up to the Medal winner) for best contribution to American children's literature. Wanda Gág (1893-1946) was a well-known illustrator and writer of children's books.

this book is illustrated beautifully and reads with a smooth flow. good for a bedtime story or any time.

I first discovered Betsy Bowen's art in her woodblock illustrations for The Troll with No Heart in His Body and was really impressed with her work. This is a beautiful book, the illustrations truly give the feeling of time and place. I love the idea of moving through the seasons along with the alphabet. When you get to the end you just naturally want to go around again!

Living in the north woods of Idaho, we have many of the same experiences in the course of the year as told about in Antler, Bear, Canoe. I'm giving this book as a gift to a friend's little girl to help her remember life in the woods (she's a city girl now) and look forward to visits to her family's cabin, where she still just might find antlers, bears and canoes . . .

I have known Betsy Bowen since she was very young. I was her babysitter! She came from a very creative family. The House on the cover of her book used to be ours. It's a wonderful representation of life where she lives. You can only appreciate it if you've been there. The book gives you a new way to look at the alphabet and the seasons of the year. It brings new energy to life and the seasons!

This delightful book is an amazing look at life in the North Woods. Bowen's woodcuts are a treat for the adult reader as well as the child. A family treasure.

This is a wonderful book for children of all ages. Each letter of the alphabet is explained using an item, memory or happening from life in the north woods; for example, the letter N stands for Northern Lights. As the book progresses from A to Z so do the seasons of the year- they too progress from winter to spring to summer to fall and back to winter. The illustrations are taken from original woodcuts and are beautiful in their own right. This has always been one of our favorite books to both read and give as gifts.

It was handy to have along to check tracks or droppings. Nicely written and easy to read.

I liked this book a lot. The author has a knack for choosing to present facts that are interesting. Made me want to get out into the woods.

'Nuff said. The rating-stars do not apply, as I have not seen the book, and am not likely to until I can find out more on its content. *-(

This is a great field guide to all the creatures you might encounter on a canoe trip in the North Woods. It is very succinct, yet written in an interesting prose, with about 2 to 3 pages dedicated to each animal, fish, or insect it describes. We consider it an essential part of the gear we take on all our canoe trips up North. You will not be disappointed in this book. Great for all ages.

An excellent overview of wildlife of the Northern Minnesota area. There are interesting and informative descriptions of everything from birds to insects to fish. The scope of the book is so broad that only a few of each type of creature can be listed, but he has chosen the ones, such as loons, herons, and otters, that are so special to the North woods. Highly recommended.

As the daughter of a semi-country doctor, I grew up with the experience of having a father who always seemed to be on call. Dr. Macdonald's anthology of cases was an excellent read, and after the first story I immediately called my mom to share it with her. We both had a laugh over it, and I am going to recommend that she buy it, along with my 2 older sisters. I enjoyed reading the stories, and they are set up such that you can read for as long or as short a time as you want. A must-buy for any child or spouse of a physician!

I thought this book was excellent. I thoroughly enjoyed this book... you'll laugh out loud and you'll cry as you see everything through the eyes of one rural Minnesota doctor. I'm couldn't wait until his second one came out! Read it!!

A Country Doctor's Casebook: Tales From The North Woods is an anthology of autobiographical stories by Dr. Roger A. MacDonald, a physician who has served the people living in a remote region of northern Minnesota during the years after World War II. Vignettes of sickness, compassion, feuds, dangers, births and deaths make A Country Doctor's Casebook unforgettable and very highly recommended reading.

Dr. MacDonald's book is a welcome remembrance to those who lived in Northern Minnesota in the 40's & 50's. His stories of survival (and sometimes not surviving) are very descriptive and detailed. When he tells of a trip through a swamp he carried his wife through to help a patient, you almost feel as though you are sloshing through the mud with him. His stories are NOT about heroics that he performed on helpless rural Minnesota residents, although he certainly could do that as well. They are about the heroics of those people he cared for. This story has it's humorous parts as well as parts that make you cry for the brave and futile attempts at life of his patients. I am grateful to Dr. MacDonald for this book, and I hope to see more from him in the future.

I got this book because I too come from Minnesota and work in health care, but once started on Dr. MacDonald's A Country Doctor's Casebook Tales from the North Woods, I was hooked. The author was what we would now refer to as a family practitioner who worked in a small rural community near Duluth from 1947 to 1980. His charming collection of stories is a delight to read, and I literally read the book from cover to cover over about three hours without putting it down. The tales of the doctor and his patients pull the reader through the pages without tricks of style, just the author's natural talent for telling a simple story: the life and death struggles of members of his community, the happiness of new lives begun, the suddenness of unexpected death, incredible courage in the face of adversity, acceptance of the setbacks of life, amusing vignettes of simple people living life among their neighbors.

FOR THOSE WRITING PAPERS in English, creative writing, journaling, journalism, history, and sociology, this would make a nice format to follow or a good bibliography entry. The author has used his own life experiences to create a history of his practice, community, and time.

If you have thought of exploring mosaics and want interesting and exciting new approaches and sound technique this book will do it.

The subtitle of this book is Dazzling Projects and Innovative Techniques and it certainly delivers! It's full of rich, vivid, full color photographs and instructions for interesting and creative projects, most of them 3-D. I was very excited to learn about epoxy putty and how to use it to create curved structures out of backer board or wire. A few of my favorite projects in this book: Snake-In-The-Grass, Gazing Face, and Reflecting Birdbath with View. Your garden will never be the same!

I've never written a review before but I felt compelled to spread the word about this book. It's incredible! Every design featured in this book is a masterpiece of creativity. After viewing the art, I can't wait to get started on a project of my own. And the best part is that each design in the book is explained out step-by-step from materials needed to simple techniques. As if that wasn't enough, the back of the book even has templates so you can recreate the exact design if you wish. For inspiration, you can't beat this book.

This is a great book for inspiring creative ideas for making outdoor mosaics. Well written, beautifully photographed, the book shows original problem solving techniques not found in other "how-to" mosaic book...particularly in the construction of 3-D objects. Ms MacKay is a talented writer and mosiac artist.

This book is a great read for aspiring mosaic artists and for beginners. The beautiful pictures show what is possible, the text is well written, and the "how-to" part is easy to follow.
This is a book for those who want to venture beyond the commonplace in mosaics.

Lena

Janet Ruell is a brainy and talented librarian from a provincial Minnesota backwater called Eldreth where, as she explains, because she has not married and she is nearing thirty, she is treated like a third class citizen and scorned or pitied by all. On a automobile vacation on a hot summer day she stops by a toutist camp and joins twenty or thirty strangers for a meal served on a porch. There she meets little Scottie, or "Cottie," as he calls himself, a charming toddler with a suspicious, yet magnetic father in tow. Janet's having one of those moments without which the plot could hardly begin, but she makes that existential leap of faith and takes off with father and son for another tourist camp, this one on the lake of the "Crying Sisters." It's an old Indian legend of two sisters who loved each other so deeply you can still hear them screaming and crying for each other across the eerie stillness of the night lake.

Janet's behavior is puzzling, especially since she knows hunky Dad had a revolver hidden among his things, but the plot of the book is a sort of rehash of Jane Eyre, with the man who calls himself "Steve Corbett" like a Clark Gable version of Rochester. Janet spends most of the book tending to little Cottie, disliking his father, and terrified as fellow guests at the motel start dying and disappearing at strange times of the night. What's great about the book is that, although Seeley is often compared to such HIBK queens as Mary Roberts Rinehart and Mignon G. Eberhart, she is actually much closer to a social realist, and her picture of this flybynight tourist trap, with its creepy denizens and downright hideous atmosphere, gives her a noir edge the others lack. Well, to be fair, they weren't interested in unearthing life among the lower strata of society, while Seeley is fascinated by the Erskine Caldwell lowlives who populate her best books. After making your way through the Grand Guignol horrors of THE CRYING SISTERS, one wonders why she isn't being anthologized by the Library of America in their CRIME NOVELS series. If the guy who wrote NIGHTMARE ALLEY is in there, why not Seeley? THE CRYING SISTERS is as gruesome and haunting as NIGHTMARE ALLEY, no, more so, but because it was written by a woman (perhaps especially a woman called "Mabel"), she has been relegated to obscurity and to specialist regional presses like this one.

I was born in 1955. I read this book as a teenager and it was tremendously exciting. I read the book again as an adult with children and again I fell in love with it. It has the same mastery of writeing, as To Kill a Mockingbird. It isn't the same type of story. But the scare is timeless.

The story is about a young woman who is a lone in the world without family. She is bright and intelligent and without any prospects for a family of her own. She meets a man with a charming child. He offers her a job takeing care of the boy while he pursues infomation on his long missing wife. During which time she poses as his wife. A long forgotten scandal is involved along with several tense moments as murder is uncovered and the suspicion that the man is involved in the unsolved deaths. Really great with a lot of suspense.

I loved this book, although at first I found it hard to accept the premise that a woman would just chuck a vacation for herself and go off to become a nanny. But it turned out to be an excellent story with a well-written and suspenseful plot. It also gives a nice sense of the society of the 1940's, when people did enjoy staying in tourist camps and life was simpler. The lurking evil is first rate, a couple of perfect red-herrings and fully developed characters make this a fun book for summer reading, especially if you like the Great Lakes.

If you've ever been to any of the old-time lake cabins in Minnesota, you'll feel like your there again when you read this classic 1940's mystery. The characters are perfect, and the setting, right down to the dirt and gravel paths to the lake, is so real you can almost see it. All Seeley's books have a real distinct 40's feel to them, so if you enjoy that, I'd say they're well worth your time.

A well-written mystery with many a twist in the plot. The characters are interesting and the book keeps you guessing until the very end.

This book was a funny, heartwarming tale - I loved it as an adult! It would make a great gift for adults and children!

It's 1943 and nine-year-old Isabelle Anderson lives with her mother, her two older sisters, Irma and Inez, her younger brother Ian, and her younger sister Ida in St. Paul, Minnesota. It has been one year since her father died and, ever since then, her life has been very different. Irma and Inez have boyfriends and her mother sold her father's filling station and got a job! But now her mother is always tired and not acting like herself anymore. She eventually becomes so tired that she sends Isabelle to live with Uncle Bernard and Aunt Jaye in Zumbrota, Minnesota. She also sends Irma and Inez to live with Uncle Edgar on a farm. That's when their new lives begin.

While living with her uncle and aunt, Isabelle slowly adjusts to life in a small town. Even though she has new friends and her aunt and uncle are nice to her, she wishes she could be home to help her mother do everything around the house. She wants to be part of a happy family again. Then she starts thinking of a way to get back home with her sisters and to the rest of her family. One day, she steals some money from her aunt and uncle's house and goes to the bus station. Guess what? Inez is there too! They both get on the train to go back home.

When they get back home, they discover that their mother is living in a new house with Mr. Colletti, the owner, and that she has sold their old house. Eventually she gets married to him and Isabelle slowly adjusts to him being her stepfather. Then one day, her mother finds out that she is going to have a baby by Christmas! Will Isabelle adjust to another change to her family? Will Irma come back home to her family?

This heartfelt book of a girl who must experience many changes to her family touched me, because I felt the same way when I had to move to a new house and when my little sister was born. If I would have been Isabelle, I would have come home to my mother too because I would have missed her very much. If you like heartfelt and touching books, read this one to find out if her wish to have one happy family again comes true.

--- (...)

In turns winsome, funny, and heart-wrenching, Dear Papa is a book of letters from Isobel to her dad, who "went to heaven," and her Aunt Izzy, her father's sister in California. We learn about Isobel's life in important moments, always through her particular lens on life. From being separated from her family when her mother can no longer cope with raising so many children and cleaning houses to support them, to being reunited when her mother (a Lutheran) marries a doctor (a Catholic), this is an observant, heartwarming book. Those of us who grew up in the Upper Midwest (a Lutheran) and married a gent (a Catholic) can most definitely identify with the words here. If you liked Jan Karon's Mitford books, or Lois Walfrid Johnson's Northwoods Adventures, or L.M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables, you'll enjoy Dear Papa.

Do YOU remember what it was like to be nine-years old? Can you remember what you were interested in, what your perspective was, what held your attention? Could you then write about it, in the voice of the child you once were?

Anne Ylvisaker can, and does write with the perfect voice of a young girl from the 1940's, coping with the loss of her father, and the ensuing life in her family's house and various other homes following that loss. The series of letters that tell the story are by turns warm, sad, angry, hurt, funny, mischevious, warm, scheming and loving, and in every respect true to their time in history as well as the personality of young Isabelle.

While ostensibly a book for younger readers, "Dear Papa," reads well for all ages, and should be very attractive to readers who grew up during World War Two -- they will recognize this little girl, and will be transported back to a time where their perspectives match those of the book's narrator. (Try it sometime -- read a letter or two from this book to a woman from the WW2 generation -- they'll swear that the author also grew up during that period! Ha -- she did not...)

I *highly* recommend this book -- reading it (in one sitting!) gave the most pleasure I've had with a new work in a very long time.

I read this book in one sitting. Isabelle writes wonderful letters to her father, who recently passed away. Readers will find out how her mother and siblings cope, and what happens to Isabelle when she has to live with her aunt and uncle. Isabelle is warm and funny, the type of girl anyone would want for a friend. I've been buying this as a gift for pre-teens I know, and even adults who would have been young in that era. I hope Anne Ylvisaker writes many more books!

Seems very thourough... very excited to go test out the advice in the boundary waters!

This is a good place to start planning your trip. The author has actually been to almost all of the areas reviewed.

This book has given me the tools I need to plan my first wilderness canoe camping trip with my family. The maps and route recommendations have been particularly valuable. Its not the only piece of information I'll collect, but it is a great, comprehensive start.

Exploring The Boundary Waters: A Trip Planner And Guide To The BWCAW is a no-nonsense guide written especially for canoe enthusiasts with an interest in the one million acres of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Offering an overview of each entry point, meticulously detailed accountings of one hundred routes covering difficulty level as well as pros and cons, fifty-one maps showcasing major waterways, portages, and designated campsites, and much more, Exploring the Boundary Waters is the resource to consult before planning a canoe getaway in the BWCAW. Written by a frequent visitor and Boundary Waters expert Daniel Pauly with assistance from the U.S. Forest Service, the Minnesota DNR, and local outfitters, Exploring The Boundary Waters is a "must-have" resource on everything from obtaining a permit to maintaining the ecological integrity of the wilderness to planning one's route, discovering historic sites on one's trip, and much more. Highly recommended.

Very detailed and accurate route descriptions. Portage difficulty and lengths were helpful in planning for "trip newbees" we had on our recent trip. Many geologic points of interest usually missed were well described.

Inside Out: A Memoir Of Entering And Breaking Out Of A Minneapolis Political Cult is the true, compelling, and personal testimony of Alexandra Stein, an intelligent, sensible woman who was lured into a secretive and exploitative political cult called the O. A cautionary tale of corruption run rampant, the dangerous psychology of insulated groups, and the spiraling demands for money and more that cults and the psychopathic, sociopathic, charismatic leaders can exact from their unwitting members, Inside Out is a gripping read and a solid warning of the downside of human nature.

A haunting, splendidly written account of one person's plunge into a world of manipulation and brainwashing. Although the organization that Ms. Stein found herself entangled with is beyond the fringe of extreme, it leads one to realize how many so-called mainstream organizations employ some of the same tactics to subjugate their members. Her story illustrates what can happen to a person who desperately wants to belong -- at virtually any cost.

This superbly written book provides a look at a phenomenon not widely recognized; namely, that a cult can be created around a political ideology just as easily as around a religious belief system. In the case of the little-known organization to which Ms. Stein belonged, known simply as the "O", most group members did not even know who the leader was, as he communicated solely by written instructions to his followers. This demonstrates that cult dynamics can come into play even where the leader is not a charismatic figure in the usual sense of the word. Ms. Stein's gruelling ordeal, which began as an idealistic effort based on Marxist principles and ended in exhaustion and the discovery of a shocking crime, makes for a memorable read. Inside Out is a very useful addition to cult memoir literature from a talented writer.

I couldn't put this book down. So creepy! So close to home! A must-read for anyone who's lost a loved one to, or had personal experience with, a totalist organization -- religious, rightwing, sectarian leftist, "personal development," therapuetic, how-to-succeed, etc.

This is a terrific book! Once started, you'll not be able to put down this heart-rending account of ten years lost to a left-wing political cult. This beautifully written story could have happened to anyone who had a political conscience and grew up in the '60's. Although it is painful to read in parts, it is ultimately redemptive as the author finally finds her true self and her own voice.