Virginia Books

The Night Befoe Cat-Mas is a treasure for anyone who shares their life with a feline companion. It is beautifully illustrated, and the narrative is enjoyable.

This book is a take off of "The Night before Christmas" and is as dear as can be. A Purr..fect stocking stuffer for your friends who love felines.

This is an adorable parody of the story The Night Before Christmas. The illustrations are great, and the book is small enough to fit in your pocket. Not only that, it comes with a little charm that you can put on a bracelet.

This is a must read for any cat lover.

this is the kind of book that should be mandatory in classrooms !
the world as it is...

The photos of this book have the technical excellence of Ansel Adams pictures (except they are not B+W). But they are not vistas of pristine, pretty National parks that Adams shot; here the hand of man is all too present.

Beahan and McPhee have eloquently captured both our enmeshment with nature, and Her attempts to hold fast. Photos so beautiful you catch your breath.

The Comtesse de Segur wrote these stories at 58 years old in the late 1800's. They certainly still hold up today. My mother grew up reading a first edition printed in the US in 1921. She read it to me and when she passed away she left the same book to me. I have read it to my children and hope to read it to my grandchildren soon.
READ THIS BOOK, it is wonderful!

I first read this book when I was 12 years old. I read the portuguese version because I bought it in Brazil.
The stories are absolutely enchanting and have a rare quality that certain books have where you get completely captivated by the characters and their adventures.
I read it over and over throughout my teenage years and as an adult I have been reading it on Christmas to my daughters. It is a great gift to have such an inspirational book in our family.

Actually, I own the original hardcover edition of this book-published in the early 1920's or so.
It should be a collector's item, because the stories were very well done-very rich and descriptive. The moral tone is also very interesting-with definite rewards for good and kind behaviour {and also for bad and cruel}. Worth getting-especially if they have the original illustrations-very beautiful, in the orginal!
I will undoubtably be buying a copy for my nieces, since my copy is rather delicate-but I do want them to read and love these stories, as I have.

Just as the reviewer before me, this is absolutely one of my all time favorite books! I am currently reading it for the 4th time in about 8 years. Each time I read it I find something different that strikes me. It is a beautifully written book, each word carefully chosen for maximum impact. It is a nostalgic read that will make you long for the simpler, but not uncomplicated, times of the past. Buy this book and enjoy it many times throughout the years to come! Mrs. Dabney will become like an old friend...

this is simply put, a wonderful honest read. this is one of my all time favorite books. i am currently reading it for the third time in about 8 years. it is a pleasure to read EACH time. i know that this will not be my last time in reading it!

A beautfiul, poignant memoir of growing up in a less-than-perfect family (who didn't? But how many of us will admit it?) in a now vanished America (the rural South of the pre-World War II years). Dabney's clear-eyed reflections on her childhood memories will strike a chord with anyone who has looked back at their youth across the experience of years. This is no sweetly sentimental reminiscing; Dabney pulls few punches when relating her parents strengths and their failings, as well as her own sometimes less-than-lovable younger self. The pitfalls and prejudices of life in segregated Virginia are clearly spelled out, also. Yet, this is a poetic, moving book, delighting in the slower pace and rich detail of a life lived close to the soil and the seasons, with much beauty to enrich the spirit of an artistic person like the author. Painful episodes like the difficult marriage and premature death of her beautiful older sister are disclosed with grace and sympathy. As the author herself states, this is a book that truly took a lifetime to write, and every page sings with truth, beauty, and the joy and pain of life!

This is the 1st in a trilogy. I highly enjoyed it. The heroine is a workaholic doctor. The hero is a devoted single father. His adorable son suffered a terrible accident that left him burned. The heroine takes a strong interest in his case and his father. Lovely story. Highly recommended. Can't wait for Sean's story!

Virginia Kantra is now on my autobuy list because of this book. She creates a hero that is everything a man should be... passionate, strong, family oriented. In Kate she creates a woman driven to suceed, her work his her life. Reading Patrick and Kate story is touching. I look forward to more stories by this talented author.

Kantra's first book came out just a few months ago to terrific reviews. Her second book lives up to the first. It opens with one of the most emotionally evocative scenes I've ever read in any book. Kate Sinclair is a plastic surgeon preparing to leave town for specialized study in burn reconstruction. Patrick MacNeill is the father of an infant burned in the auto accident that killed Patrick's wife, and the empathy between father and son affects Kate deeply. When she returns five years later, family is still the only thing Patrick allows himself to care about. Kate has her own obsession with medicine but somehow Patrick and his bright little boy worm their way into her heart. This is, plain and simple, a beautiful story and a great read.

I have participated as a living history first person interpreter for over 6 years, and have been a visitor at many living history sites across the country. I am also the period costume coordinator for a living history site. I have seen first hand many effective and ineffective presentations.

While reading and searching for textbooks for our upcoming "Dame School" program for young ladies at our site, I came across this book. Since the text is clear and written to be interesting as well as educational,I have chosen it as a textbook for our "school". I believe our young students will be able to relate well to the book, and that we will be able to use this book to guide them to more effectual presentations. I also highly recommend it for adults.

This book is very good at giving hints on how to engage visitors in conversations useful in imparting stories of the site one is working, as well as methods to diffuse potential problems. It presents varied types of sites which were reviewed by the author, and gives good examples of what is effective and what is not. This book also discusses class distinctions and first person interpretations of difficult and traumatic events and activities of the past, such as slavery. To give a well rounded view of history, first person interpreters can't just present the rosy side of life!

The extensive listing of living history sites which is in the back section of the book would be very useful to persons who are considering the hobby or profession of first person interpretation.

Television, movies, computers, even video games have changed the way we look at history. Recently written books on history are now in a style that gives the reader a greater understanding of what our founding father's and 19th century pioneer's daily lives were like.
Everything, it seems, is three dimensional today. Try visiting an American History museum - it's not your father's museum, that's for sure!
In her book, "Past Into Present," Ms. Roth just about covers every aspect of presenting history in all its glory and gore by using the process known as 1st person. First person brings the folks from the distant past back to life by having a re-enactor or a museum docent dress in period clothing, doing a job or a chore from the past, and speaking as if they actually ARE that long-dead person, alive again, here to share their knowlegde of times gone by. I, myself, impose a 1st person technique for my civilian impression in the 21st Michigan Civil War reenactors, and I must say that "Past into Present" truly helped me understand the importance of what I am representing while doing my impression. Through her book Ms. Roth also helped me see the pros and cons of being a 1st person living historian as well - how to stay in character, for instance, without jumping back and forth between first and third person.
From what I have seen at some re-enactments - and even at a museum - some living historians do not give the past the justice it deserves. They are the ones who should own this book as well. I've learned to give the reverence these folks from the past that we are emulating the respect they so deserve.
The writer can get a bit wordy (so can I, can't you tell?) but if you are one who is a bit more passionate about the past and would rather get deeper involved in history than the average person, then I would suggest you taking a gander at this book and read how you can become one from the past into the present at your next reenactment.

As a new recruit in the growing international army of Civil War reenactors, I was anxious to evolve past the usual march-and-shoot mass maneuvers into effective first-person interaction with spectators. But having never even seen a living-history interpreter, I wasn't sure what to do. Then I found Ms. Roth's delightful book on the internet! She interviewed scores of experienced interpreters at the best living-history museums in the United States and Canada to find out how they hook -- and keep -- the interests of their visitors. The result is some imaginative out-of-the-box approaches that make visitors think they're being entertained instead of educated! The fun that the interpreters obviously have with their roles is infectious -- I could hardly wait to try it! This is a MUST read for anyone who's ever thought of going to a historical reinactment as either a participant or a spectator.

Like Donna M. Fenske, who also rated this text, I had purchased many expensive Pharm Texts before buying the 1st edition of this text. At the time I was a PA-C Student at Stanford School of Medicine and this was the best text for successful completion of the program and certification as a PA-C. I am about to take my re-cert (PANRE) and will buy the second edtion. It is straight forward, no fluff and to the point. I think, at my suggestion, this is the current textbook for Pharm at my Alma Mater.... as it Should be! Thank you Virginia and Andrew, well done!

Pharmacotherapeutic for Advanced Practice: A Practical Approach by Arcangelo & Peterson is an excellent resource book with in depth descriptions of medications, herbal products and their uses, as well as dosages, including information on adverse reactions and drug interactions. An excellent resource!

I just completed my Family Nurse Practitioner Program. I have purchased several EXPENSIVE pharmacology books over the past three years, all which made the pharm complicated and difficult to understand. This book is the best, easy to carry and easy to read. The cover is wimpy so am going to take it to a graphics place and have a binder put on it so it does not fall apart.

Phoebe Clappsaddle and the Tumbleweed Gang.
Dainty, darling Phoebe Clappsaddle combines Southern manners with roping rattlesnakes.
The Tumbleweed Gang drift into town and try to ruin Phoebe's flame-thrower chili and sabotage her bronco-riding. Their worst embarrassment is losing to a GIRL. Phoebe realizes these bad guys need to learn some manners, not to mention reading, writing, and arithmetic. She entices them with her hot biscuits, prickly pear marmalade and chili. But she insists they wash up for supper.
Burping in public and picking teeth with a cactus needle are a sharp contrast to Phoebe's curtsying and blowing kisses to the crowd
Being a fifth generation Houstonian and a descendant of the real Phoebe Clappsaddle gives Melanie Chrismer the edge on demonstrating roping tricks with her pink lasso.
Virginia Roeder's spirited, clever drawings of the sashaying Phoebe and her detailed illustrations offer much to study. Readers can't resist even the evil, smirking Clilfford, Elmo and Eustace, who blew into town one day like a tumbleweed and got caught on a fence. Even the horses have unique expressions.
Author Melanie Chrismer and artist Virginia Roeder are members of the Houston Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators.

Phoebe is well-mannered, feminine, and nice to everybody,
nasty Tumbleweeds and all animals included, but she is most definitely not a sissy. Sure, this is a great book for girls, but I'll bet even the little boys will love it!

Virginia Roeder's illustrations are priceless. They're clever, beautiful, and adorable; I'll enjoy looking at the pictures again and again, and reading the story over and over, too. I've cleared a place of honor on my bookshelf for Ms. Clappsaddle and the gang.

This book is a must for all the young cowpokes in the family. Phoebe's outstanding rodeo talents leave the Tumbleweed Gang in an uproar; their only hope...to get even! Of course Phoebe doesn't take this lying down, but she handles it like a true lady. Chrismer is genuinely gifted in use of Texas dialect. Her characters are fun and her tall tale outrageous. Phoebe Clappsaddle is a treasured addition to my family's bookshelf.

This little book provides the reader with a basic history of the Powatan starting with a bit prior to first contact with europeans (ironicly the Spanish) to Jamestown (proving ample insights into the minds of the cultures involved) to the modern age, including their experiences of the racial Jim Crow nonsence of the South. Nothing spectacular just the bare and basic facts. I did find the comparison of how the Powatans fared in comparison to the Tribes of New England most impressive.

Most informative and filling for the mind.

A good book to have for those interested in the region, or just the story of Jamestown and the beginning of America.

As the previous reviewer said, this book does a wonderful job examing the history of the Powhatana Confederation of Virgina through the past four centuries. Often forgotten about by the American public at large the Powhatans (actually several different Algonquian speaking Nations joined together into a single Confederacy) played a major role in US history almost from the beginning. Indeed, as the title suggests, Pocahontas herself was one of their most well known members.

Starting with an examination of pre-contact Powhatan life and culture, Rountree goes on to examine the first meetings between the Chickahominies and the Spanish conquistadors, early encounters with the British settlers, the Revolutionary War, the Civil War and Indian removal. Especially interesting are the last couple chapters which focus on Indian rights activism in the last century. The Powhatan (like any of the other First Nations) never went away and have had to struggle to gain their own reservation, and even federal recognition. The book ends with a wonderfully long and detailed bibliography.

This book really tells of their struggles and triumphs, and more than anything else I would say that this book gives a wonderful background for understanding where the peoples of the Powhatan Confederation have come from. Anyone with an interest in Native American studies should definately check out this book and the others in the Civilization of the American Indians series.

Being a descendant of the Wicocomico Indian Tribe, a chiefdom of the Powhatan Empire and a 7th great grandson of King William Taptico of the above tribe; Ms Rountree's book took me on a trip back into time and verified much of my previous research into my Native American Heritage.

This was a well written book on a subject that has been neglected for years. It discusses the terrible clash between Colonial America and the Powhatan Empire; a period that set the tone for the treatment of Native Americans in America for years to come and continues today. Considering the poor records that Colonial America maintained, Ms Rountree did an exceptional job in uncovering long lost information and at last brought to light the treatment the Powhatans received at the hands of Colonial America. The period of 1607 thru 1775 was the Powhatans "Wounded Knee". Ms Rountree did an excellent job in bringing to light much of the injustices done to the Powhatans.

For the Powhatan Empire researcher,this is a book that should be on your shelf.

Sanford writes a well-documented but accessible account of Jefferson's religious ideas. Other books on Jefferson's religion extract his ideas from his letters, papers, and speeches, but Sanford goes deeper, tracing the roots of Jefferson's ideas and the influence Enlightenment philosophers played in shaping his thinking. Sanford's book reveals how Jefferson's ideas about liberty, rights, and democracy sprang from his profound belief in God. Sanford's book also shows the contradictions and complexities of Jefferson's beliefs: that he loved Jesus's teachings even while doubting his divinity, that Jefferson attacked immaterialism in religion while believing in the afterlife, and that he contributed to and regularly attended churches while blasting the corruptions of the church and clergy on the Christian faith. I highly recommend this book to understand Jefferson's religious ideas, but to get historical context for the development of this ideas, I recommend as a companion book. "Sworn on the Altar of God" by Edwin Gaustad. Together the two books give a complete potrait of Jefferson's religious life.

This book is an excellent look at the deep roots of spirituality, not religion, of one of America's most important founders, Thomas Jefferson.

The book is both informative and very interesting. It's a great book to keep for future reference as well.

It points out that Jefferson, like many of America's key founders, was not a Christian, but was a Deist. That is, he believed in God based on reason and nature, not on the Bible, Torah or Koran or any other man made book.

This is a book that will stimulate your brain and cause you to expand your mind!

Robert L. Johnson

One of my favorite books that has helped challenge and shape my spiritual and philosophical outlooks on life. Sanford goes to great length explaining and detailing Thomas Jefferson's views on controversial topics such as the right and nature of Man, nature of God, separation of church and state, religious freedom, deism, Christianity, materialism, morality, and the afterlife. Sanford provides many citations, including Jefferson's personal letters, diaries, personal Jeffersonian Bible, and other primary sources. Sanford carefully places Jefferson's views in historical and cultural context, but yet there's no sugarcoating anything here. It's a great read and I recommend it for any open-minded and mature individual interested in learning about the beliefs that motivated Jefferson and our founding Fathers to create the US Constitituion and a free society.