Pea Books

i liked the book. It was funny. my favorite thing were the bubbled
words on what the characters were thinking.

I got this book to introduce my 4 year old daughter to the concept of chapter books. She loves it and feels like a "big girl".

This is my favorite book from my childhood! My mother read it to my sister and I when we were little. When I had kids she passed it on to me, and I plan on passing it on to my kids when they have children of their own.

The illustrations in this book fascinated me as a child and they still do today! Children are attracted to the illustrations and, as a result, are drawn into the story. They want to read it over and over again!

The lessons in this book are truly timeless and they are important lessons that all children need to learn. Be thankful for what you have and share your time, your skills, your money, or your pies with those that are less fortunate than yourself!!!

This book is excellent to read to students around the time of Thanksgiving to teach them to be thankful for all they have because there are always people who are less fortunate than them--just like in the story!

Wright and Zoby do a great job of explaining the history, culture, and lifestyle of the Pea Island Life Saving Station surfmen. If you have been to Pea Island, Hatteras Island, or the lower Outer Banks of North Carolina you may notice there are very few African Americans. The acceptance that might be there today was obviously not as prevalent in the 1890's.

FIRE ON THE BEACH provides a glimpse into the culture and the struggle of these brave men. Their gallant actions, in the rescue of the victims of the U.S.S. Huron and E.S. Newman, are described in amazing detail. If you travel to the Outer Banks, be sure to visit the Chicamacomico Lifesaving Station and museum (in Rodanthe on Hatteras Island). It will help readers understand the lifesaving station, the rescue methods employed, and the sacrifices made by the United States Life-saving Service surfmen all along the eastern shore.

The book purports to tell the story of Richard Etheridge but the first third is about "Wilds African Brigade," a black brigade that committed murder, arson, looting and the hostage taking of white women in Tidewater North Carolina and Virginia in October and December 1863.
On its return to base in Portsmouth Virginia Brigadier General Wild was relieved of command and the brigade disbanded.

The story of Richard Etheridge is fascinating and inspiring. It is unfortunate that its telling here is tedious and uneven.

Faced with several days of enforced inactivity as Hurricane Isabel bore down upon Baltimore, what I needed was a good book with which to pass the hours. There on my shelf was Fire on the Beach, purchased several months ago but set aside for just such a circumstance. As the wind howled around my apartment and rain slashed at my windows, I settled in to read.
Authors Wright and Zoby have written a thrilling account about the American Life Saving Service (ALSS), predecessor to the U.S. Coast Guard. Their focus is on the life of Richard Etheridge, born into slavery, a soldier in the Union Army during the Civil War, and later, leader of a courageous crew of lifesavers at Pea Island's Station 17 on the Outer Banks.
Richard Etheridge, probably the son of a white "Banker," raised and educated as part of his family, obtained his freedom fighting with the North Carolina Colored Volunteers (NCCV), under infamous Colonel Edward A. Wild. After the war, the scandel-ridden ALSS was reorganized and Etheridge was appointed Keeper of the station at Pea Island; the only black man to command a station up to that point. Etheridge was, indeed, a "man among men," risking his life time and again, driving his 6-member crew of surfmen to rescue sailors and passengers off unfortunate ships driven ashore by storms at least as furious as the one threatening Maryland on this day.
Here is a tale of daring exploits during an obscure time in American history; of courageous men of color fighting steep breakers and raging surf over shallow shoals while saving stranded survivors of doomed vessels before the deadly sea could claim them.
A fascinating account. Some might say it's black history. But it's more than that. It's about raw courage; about bravery against a treacherous enemy - the sea at its worst. Etheridge and his crew were black, but first and foremost, they were real men who willingly risked their lives daily for others.
I heartily recommend this work as an eye-opening account of a time along the Outer Banks before storms were tracked with high-tech equipment, and as a gripping tale guaranteed to hold your interest.

This history of the Pea Island Lifesavers is beautifully written so that the story captivates from start to finish. In fact, I wasn't sure that this was my kind of book, but the early, vivid description of the dangerous coast and the duties of the men who walked the Outer Banks looking for shipwrecks hour after hour convinced me that I had to read the whole book. Clearly well researched, this book taught me a great deal about the Civil War and U.S. maritime history but, more importantly, explored the humanity in our country's history. It takes saavy authors to recognize that the real beginning of the Pea Island Lifesaving Station begins not with its inception but with the lives of the men, namely Richard Etheridge, who served there. Because of the emphasis on people and place, the book reads quite like a novel and, therefore, can be appreciated by a wide audience. Fire on the Beach deserves to be read, for it demonstrates that history must be revealed and retold with all its contradictions, complications, and individuals.

Like so many other ships, the USS Portland was one of the unsung heroes of the War. Author William Thomas Generous Jr. did extensive research yet correctly focused on the men, both swabbies and officers, as the real story within the facts. Personal experiences are interwoven with the larger story of battles and the War and sometimes with more personal analysis and opinion than many may think warranted, especially given the forcefulness at times. However, the reader will undoubtedly become attached to ship and crew alike as they progress further and further into the book. By the end, you want more, always the mark of a good book.
Steven Bustin, Author: Humble Heroes, How The USS Nashville CL43 Fought WWII Humble Heroes: How the USS Nashville CL43 Fought WWII

My grandfather TK Erickson served as a five inch gun "talker" on the USS Portland in world war two. He died in New Mexico about 15 years ago, and I've missed hearing his stories. In remembrance of him, I built a working radio controlled model of the USS Portland, but was never able to find any books about the ship.

When I ran across this book, I immediately had to purchase it. The book is a high quality, and it provides a true account of each battle star earned by the crew of the Sweet Pea. From the pre-war years when Portland escorted FDR on the USS Houston, to the final battles in the Pacific War, and finally the big Navy day celebration in Portland, Maine, this book lays it all out. My grandfather gave me a newspaper clipping from Navy day in Maine, and it was so cool to read more about that event, which obviously meant so much to the crew.

Like any other book about historical events, this one is not perfect, but regardless this book is a treasure as one of the few books about one of the most significant ships of the US Pacific Fleet in world war two.

A great book I cant say enough about it. When I came to the last page I was sorry the book ended.I wish there were more books like this.

"Sweet Pea at War" is seriously flawed. The author, William Generous, really knows very little about naval warfare of the period, with the result that his interpretations of events are misleadingly wrong. I'll give two examples:
1) Generous obviously has looked into the Portland's battle reports, but he does not have the knowledge level to interprete them correctly. In one, the commanding officer included a number of technical commentaries and complaints and suggestions from various crew members. Generous goes into a psychological rant about how this shows that the commanding officer was insecure, and how this reflected on his poor leadership style and why he was disliked by the crew, and on and on and on. Obviously he has not read other battle reports; if he had, he would have found that it was standard procedure for crew comments to be included in the reports, ver batim, when they were available. There are reports of AA actions that include the comments down to the seaman second firing 20mm guns. COs were instructed to sit their troops down and get written after-action reports from anyone with something to contribute - often not done because of circumstances, but still a required process. Thus Generous ends up trashing the reputation of an officer because he did not understand the procedures for naval after-action reports.
2) In one action Portland was off-axis from the line of approach of a Japanese air attack on a carrier. The Portland gunnery officer decided to put up a fixed barrage over the CV to deter / interfere with Japanese dive bombers. In the after-action report he claims that the barrage worked very well, and recommends that all CV escort ships follow the procedure. Generous then spends some ink telling the readers how this shows that the particular gunnery officer was so innovative and forward thinking and contributing to the advance of the art of AAA. This was, in fact, not the case. Barrage AA fire was an early technique borne of the lack of a good director. With the advent of the US mk 37, and good fuse setters, tracked fire was possible and more effective than barrage. The gunnery officer's "innovative thinking" was actually regressive. Generous does not know this; in addition, later in the history, when the Portland's gunnery officer again uses the barrage technique, and it fails, he is silent about this, ignoring the event, likely because it would undermine his previously-made case. Either we have a case where Generous picks out and highlights facts that support his positions and ignores those that do not, or Generous simply did not recognize that the later incident shattered his previously-made argument. In either case, we have a situation where the author really does not understand what he is commenting upon, something like reading a high-school paper on quantum theory.
There is lots of dross like that scattered throughout: Generous' analysis of Midway is sophomoric, and he continually makes editorial comments on things that just are not so, such as his statement that the .50 cal AA guns on the ship were replaced because they were "flimsy."
Given all that, you have to recognize what is available in this book. You are not buying Generous' expertice, obviously; you are buying the story of the ship, and the tales related by the crewmembers, **their** views and anecdotes and histories, along with the occasional direct quote from action reports, if one can assume that Generous quoted accurately, such as ammunition expenditure or AA aircraft kill claims.
From that approach, "Sweet Pea at War" is a worthwhile acquisition if you are savvy enough in naval warfare to separate the good from the bad, or if you are just looking for an interesting read on WW II in a cruiser mostly from the enlisted point of view. This book would be a worthwhile read for someone expert in naval warfare and the Pacific campaigns, but I would not recommend quoting the author on anything else, and I would not
recommend it as a casual read for anyone not an expert in the field.
Dr. Alan D. Zimm CDR USN (ret).

I am grateful for Generous' contribution of the details of the USS Portland and all the officers and men who served onboard her from launching to decommissioning. He is deserves praise for the efforts made to insure that those stories would not be lost to history. If he had just concentrated on this great task, I would have had no problem with his work. But he was not content with this. He seems to have taken this opportunity to project himself as a great naval tactician and analyst. It was bad enough that he proved himself nothing more than an amateur, but he did this at the expense of some great naval figures of the war. I, personally, cannot tolerate those who attempt to promote themselves at the expense of others, especially when facts are not properly researched or left out to accomplish this goal. His treatment of Rear Admiral Daniel J. Callaghan, the Officer in Tactical Command (OTC) of the task force that met the Japanese at the First Naval Battle of Guadalcanal ("Night Cruiser Action") is the most blatant example of this. Generous seems to have had a grudge against this fine officer, who lived and died in the best of United States Navy tradition. He states that Callaghan "never had a major sea command before" taking on this task. It just so happens that he commanded the heavy cruiser USS San Francisco (a more prestigious command than that of the Portland) for a year before being promoted to admiral and being taken by the newly appointed Commander-in-Chief South Pacific Area. Admiral Ghormley had his choice of many who were senior to Callaghan, but chose him because of his competence. I would choose an admiral's evaluation for ability and competence over any academic historian of the following century. If, as Generous maintains, Ghormley was also as much a failure as he was, he would have sought out as his chief of staff one who he felt made up for what he lacked. Generous proved completely ignorant of the tactical situation that enveloped the days before this battle. He praised Rear Admiral Scott (well deserved) for his ability to train the ships in his force prior to his victory at the Battle of Cape Esperance. Generous leaves out the fact that Scott had weeks to accomplish this. He neglects to inform his readers that Callaghan only knew of his task and the ships that would be at his disposal the day of the battle. Escorting the supply ships and providing protection for them left him with no time to train or even meet with the commanders of all of his ships to discuss the strategy that would be employed. This was typical of the situations that confronted our forces at that time. While Generous again comes down on Callaghan for the placement of his ships, real naval analysis has never been able to come to such a conclusive conclusion. Generous, is so intent on destroying Callaghan's reputation that he also leaves out that he was killed in that action as a result of his not staying in the battle-hardened command and control station. He, as many other brave officers felt that they could not maintain proper perspective of the battle within an area that so restricted their observation. He died because he put his supreme duty before his personal safety. Generous exhibits such contempt for Callaghan that he even uses his receiving the Medal of Honor as a means of getting in a final stab. This is hardly what makes a competent writer of military history. Only his treatment of the crew of the Portland keeps it out of my trash can.
At the very introduction of the book I became concerned for what might follow when Generous admits that he had never even heard of the USS Portland until two years before he wrote the introduction. I knew then that the writer would not be of the caliber that normally writes on naval history subjects. Anyone who had not heard of the Portland could not have known much of the war in the Pacific. The rest of the book only supported my fears. I began to feel that I was not reading well researched material but what had been gleaned from interviews from crewmembers. This really comes out when the ship did not get a battle star for its one-ship raid on Tarawa in October 1942. He makes a major point of this at the event and then ends the book with a reminder of this neglect on the part of the Navy. Add this to his repeated effort to convince his readers that the turning point of the war was when the Portland played its most important role (where he blasts Admiral Callaghan) instead of the Battle of Midway. Both of those seem to be supported mainly from the tactical viewpoint of most sailors. There is nothing wrong with a crew seeing things as they do and judging events and their treatment from the perspective of themselves. But when a historian takes the same view, he misleads his readers if they are looking for the facts. He seems to think that a war's turning point is a tactical rather than a strategic event. This extends to the incident at Tarawa where Admiral Tisdale forces a cease fire before the captain wanted to. It is right for a captain to want to continue an engagement. But an admiral has a bigger picture of what the goals of whole operation encompasses. For Generous to imply cowardliness on the part of Admiral Tisdale is, once again, irresponsible.
After reading the first hundred pages, I reverted to just reading sections that talked about the ship and crew. By that time Generous had lost all credibility with me. By doing so, I enjoyed much of the remainder. As I said at the beginning, Generous is to be commended for his treatment of the ship and crew.

When I picked up Jason Akley's Sweet Pea and the Bumblebee I couldn't help wondering about the ambiguity of the book's target audience, as the language and concepts are certainly not accessible to the 9-12 year old age group, where it has been classified by Amazon.

Furthermore, the characters are not memorable nor do they jump off the page in a way that enters the hearts of young readers-something that is essential in writing a book addressed to children.

Akley may have been on the right track when he employed word play and rhyming as it is obviously exciting to read and even more fun to write. Children delight in poetry and music, however, he forgot that writing a children's book requires minimalism, appropriate word choice, and an understanding as to how to hook and maintain the interest of the young reader.

Moreover, it is crucial, when authoring children's books, to have a full grasp as to what children in this age group like and don't like, what they can seize and what they are likely to rebuff. And if you are going to use poetry, you must not sacrifice the story for the sake of the rhyme. In other words, don't be sparing with the plot and the development of character by throwing in extra words just to make the rhyme work. The key to always bear in mind is that the story must come first; the rhyme secondary. Unfortunately, Sweet Pea and the Bumblebee ignored all of these important ingredients and the result was something way off the mark.

Having said all this, I decided to go one step further and find out what was Akley actually thinking when he wrote Sweet Pea and the Bumblebee. And as it turns out, Akley agreed with me that it is misleading to consider Sweet Pea and the Bumblebee a children's book, for as he stated, "it was his intention to write a children's story for adults, especially parents. I wanted to write something thought-provoking for parents to read to their children." Unfortunately, this was entirely disregarded in a preface that should have been included or on the book's back cover.

The heart of Sweet Pea and the Bumblebee focuses on two characters, the innocent Sweet Pea and the sage Bumblebee. Using these characters, Akley embraces in a most creative way the meaning of life and the role we play in our universe.

From the moment Sweet Pea is born and grows up she begins to question her existence. What is she? What is her life? To what purpose has she been placed on this earth? And just as she ponders these questions, Bumblebee appears in order to teach her to number her days and direct her to a heart of wisdom.

From here various philosophical questions are explored, for as pointed out, Sweet Pea has an open mind, she likes to ask questions and is receptive to suggestions.

Akley skillfully examines various themes that we should penetrate beneath their appearances and try seeking a deeper meaning such as social and environmental orders, fate, knowing thyself, time and space, love, order and chaos, choices we make, the brevity of life, the meaning of death, and other topics that will teach us that we are mere guests in this world and our time is precious.

Generously interspersed among the pages are the expressive beautiful images of Bobbi Switzer that have a lovely charm and playfulness. The book is beautifully designed with emphatic drawings of both Sweet Pea and Bumblebee with their bright colors contrasting against the snowy white pages of the story.

In the end, if we were to consider this an adult book with its sophisticated vocabulary and concepts, I would have to admit that it does have some merit in providing food for thought for possible philosophical discussions with children who are more sophisticated and who would probably be well into their teens.

Norm Goldman, Editor Bookpleasures

In reading Sweet Pea and the Bumblebee by Jason Akley, I was fascinated by the thought-provoking storyline. The creativity, intelligence, and intent of the author are all obvious as he uses the wisdom of Bumblebee to help Sweet Pea find the answer to "Who am I?" Sweet Pea, like most of us, eagerly seeks to learn the meaning and purpose of life. As she develops and progresses in her growth, her journey leads her to the answers she is seeking. Sweet Pea learns other truths along the way, including the fact that life is short and that one day she will die. Bumblebee tells her to, "Take heed when the gardener comes! For remember we're all here as guests." A parent reading to older children would hopefully exchange meaningful dialog in discussing various passages from the book. The full-color illustrations are wonderful and will certainly appeal to young pre-school children.

Although the purpose of this book is evident, the final product has several weak areas. As previously stated, I enjoyed the philosophical storyline; however, I am an adult. My young granddaughter found the pictures to be captivating, but the dialogue was beyond her understanding. Thus, simply put, the storyline and illustrations don't work together. Both have their good points, but they aren't a fit with one another. Small children love looking at books that are illustrated with bright, colorful pictures. Even picture books with short sentences that children can "practice" reading or have read to them will maintain their interest. Older children might find parts of the book stimulating but would, in my opinion, be embarrassed to check a picture book out of the library.

Using rhyme in children's books is always a good idea; however, when the rhyming words are often meshed together within long paragraphs, the rhyme is difficult to follow. Also, the rhyme has no meter and deprives readers of any pattern of rhythm that brings the sentences to life.

Sweet Pea and the Bumblebee has a sweet ending which both adults and children will love.

Sweet Pea and The Bumblebee is a well-written, poetic story about a flower finding herself and her life's meaning. As children's literature, Sweet Pea offers rhyming lessons that can be used throughout a person's lifetime. Sweet Pea and The Bumblebee is a must have for parents who enjoy reading to their children.

The illustrations are terrific. Full of energy and personality. But they and the characters of this book seem addressed at young children whereas the subject matter--Who am I? What is my purpose in life?--more appropriate to an older audience beyond cartoon characters in a nursery rhyme garden. Even the high school students I taught in Advanced Placement classes were uncomfortable with Socratic questioning and this book is talk, talk, talk. I applaud the author for tackling philosophic concepts but I think parents will find themselves with fidgety listeners anxious to move on to other books.

There are two things I found moving, however. One is Sweet Pea's awareness of how fleeting life is. Children may not be concerned with old age and death, but it's around them and worthy of open discussion. A second surprise is the last page where the story, Bobbi Switzer's warm illustrations, the author's new daughter and the reader's curiosity merge in a wonderfully celebratory moment. If the book is taken on its own terms, this is the payoff that makes it all worthwhile.

Regular rhyme sets up a pattern of syllables (whether accented or unaccented is another matter) and children's writers who are good at it, Dr. Seuss, for example, let that pattern dominate (even to the extent that the intellectual content may suffer). I was bothered by the rhyme here--mostly predictable, though occasionally clever--because its clumsy rhythms are jarring to the message that "beauty is symmetry." At best, the rhyme influences this author's word choice without imparting much playfulness or music.

Even when the book does work, how would you like to clarify intellectualizations to your kid such as, "All existence was suffering. Suffering was caused by desire. Being was also nothingness. How could it cease to inspire?" I don't understand that, much less know how I'd attempt to explain it to any of my own children under the age of thirty. But, thank you, Jason Akley, there are also gems among the rocks in your garden: "This is the self relating to itself. A strange and mysterious affair. Some define it as a simple inward focus. Others call it prayer." I am happy to have read those lines no matter what they do or do not mean to anyone younger.

If a person put a pea under a saddle blanket on a horse the cowboy would not feel it - the horse would and would soon be bucking or have a massive back ache. For this reason it is obvious that the author has no clue about riding or horses in general. Regardless, the story and illustrations are cute with bright colorful pictures and humorous faces on the characters.

The daughter of a wealthy Texas rancher, Farethee Well, uses a black-eyed pea to find her true love. This story is an excellent read-to-me book for children ages 4-9. The story is a parody of the fairy tale, Princess and the Pea. It is full of the language of the West and invites both boys and girls into the story for a lively tale.

Reviewed by Danielle Feliciano for Reader Views (7/08)

"Dragons and Garden Peas" had some promise in theory. The story of Max, an architect who is at the top of his game professionally, if not personally, is suddenly diagnosed with lung cancer. As expected, he faces a multitude of doctors, tests, treatment plans and surgeries to cure the cancer. In the midst of his treatment, he reconciles with his wife and takes a sail to Cape Cod to celebrate.

On this trip, Max's wife falls overboard and dies, leaving Max to inevitably find himself to be a murder suspect. His sole focus now is to gain his freedom and regain control of his life.

In reality, this book was disjointed and mostly unbelievable. The characters were one-dimensional and the ones that seemed to have a bit more depth were unlikable. I found Max to be pathetic and selfish and did not find a single connection between any of the characters in this book to ring true. The story jumped from present to past to present and changed points of view too often to keep up with. One minute Max is getting a devastating cancer diagnosis; the next minute he is falling in love with some woman he barely met. He was putting his focus and energy in things that made no sense.

To throw the murder aspect into this story seemed needless. At that point I started to really give up on the story of "Dragons and Garden Peas." I wanted to care about Max and what happened to him, but I never could. I was getting frustrated with how jumpy the story was and it never held my focus for long. Unfortunately, what could have been a wonderful story of a man's redemption of himself in the face of death turned out to be a book that was trying to tell too many stories at one time.

...a work of fiction that is desperately seeking a screenplay...the sea, shelter island, the cape, the view, the great pace of a solid thriller set in a very visual landscape...

I love this book for it's sweet and modern storyline and for it's whimsical, colorful pictures. I recommend this book for children of all ages!

This is a modern retelling of the traditional story. The princess's fate is not determinded by a little pea, but instead on the importance of being a strong woman. She runs away from the castle and accidentally runs into Prince Hector who is looking for a princess. I love how the independent princess wins her prince the real way.

Delightful! Deppe is a trained geneticist, and explains what equations are likely to govern the inheritance of vegetable traits. First and last, though, she describes vegetable breeding successes and failures - some have made it into your seed catalogues, some just make one neighborhood happy.

Breeding vegetables to thrive in your climate and on your palate suddenly sounds possible - given patience - and like a great way to increase, not just preserve, diversity of food crops.

I find the plot quite similar to Sly Fox and Red Hen and hence quite predictable. But I prefer the way this book is written: very simple and innocent. The pictures are colourful and cute too.