Berry Books

I enjoyed filling in the blanks, including pictures and giving it to my friend of 18 years. We decided to start a tradition and exchange it every Christmas. I cannot wait to read the memories that she has recalled.

i bought this book for my friend when she moved to kentucky. the girlfriends keepsake book really makes you reflect on friendship and it's genuine beauty. a great gift for a high school grad. beautiful inspirational quotes about friendship and heartwarming short stories.

This was the perfect gift for my best friend. I wanted to give her something special for being my maid of honor at my wedding, and this was perfect. She loved it, as much as I loved preparing it for her. It truly was a great way to show her how much I appreciate her and love our friendship.

I purchased this book for my best friend. She loved it. Every year we celebrate our first day meeting and take it out on our anniversary to reflect on our lives together!

This book is a wonderful gift for your best girlfriend at any age! My girlfriend of 15 years gave me this book as a gift two months ago, and she and I are still having fun collecting old pictures and recalling fond memories of our friendship. I love it!

I'm delighted at all the attention NOW being paid to Fanny Kemble. I was in an acting class at the Pasadena Playhouse in 1948 when the teacher asked one of us to write a nineteenth century play, since there were few to choose for our acting class. So I stumbled across her name in "All This and Heaven, Too" and wrote a drama about her life on the plantation and all the slavery conditions. Now, I'm 81, and books are piling up about her. I got my information from a FIRST EDITION of this "Journal" which my grandfather had acquired soon after it appeared, around the Civil War. It kept England from joining the Confederate side.

Fanny Kemble Butler was a remarkable woman. In a time, circumstance, and place which precluded her following her life's dream, she settled down into marriage with Pierce Butler, who had adamantly and ardently pursued her hand. She left a very successful career as an actress and gave up, for a time and at her husband's request, her ambition and even her beliefs. She strove to make this marriage work and to "save her husband's soul," when she discovered, after the marriage, the actual source of her husband's family's income, the rice plantations that lay in Georgia. They had two children together before she finally persuaded him to allow her to visit his Georgia rice plantations, where hundreds of negro slaves labored to support the family's wealthy lifestyle in New England. Fanny's heartfelt pleas to free the negroes not only fell on her husband's deaf ears, but he eventually forbade her to even tell him of their plight, and even went so far as to forbid her to continue the practice of helping out in their infirmary. Still, the slaves of her husband's two plantations temporarily benefitted from her visit, which must have been like a ray of light in a very dark existence. The stories speak for themselves, and Fanny makes it her duty to record every one in the slaves' own voices. This book affected me deeply, especially when I read of Fanny's eventual unhappy divorce from her husband, whom she still loved, and her enforced separation from her children. Scholarly reading for every student of the nineteenth century, in the subjects of enslavement, the plight of married women, and general attitudes toward women and slavery by men in power and the common people.

I came across Fanny Kemble during a chance visit to a Georgia plantation on the Altamaha River, near Butler Island, where Fanny wrote her journal. An acclaimed Shakespearean actress born into a theatrical family, she had been touring America with her father when she met Pierce Butler, a wealthy member of Philadelphia society with possessions in the South. He courted her with such persistence that she finally agreed to give up her career and marry him. (Needless to say, Philadelphia society did not smile upon the union.) After the birth of two daughters, she persuaded Pierce to take her and the children to Butler Island, where she learned firsthand about the source of the family's wealth: hundreds of slaves worked in the rice paddies on Butler Island and in the cotton fields on St. Simon's Island, where the prized long-fiber Sea Island cotton was grown.

Fanny had been in contact with New England abolitionists and was well aware of the slave problem; but she was unprepared for the appalling conditions she found in the slave quarters, in the fields, and especially in the infirmary. She prevailed on her husband to mitigate the harsh rules imposed by the overseer, procured blankets for the infirmary and sewing material for the women; taught them to make clothes and take care of their babies; and even tried to teach some of them to read - which was, of course, frowned upon. She found that some of the slaves were skilled craftsmen and suggested that they should be paid for their work like any artisan.

An accomplished horsewoman and energetic walker, she also learned to row a boat so she could explore, unchaperoned, the coastal waterways. Her unconventional, spirited life style drew reprimands from her husband, but earned her the respect and admiration of the slaves.

The journal she kept on Butler Island gives a lively account of her daily routine. For those who imagine the lives of southern plantation owners along the lines of Hollywood movies, this book provides a healthy dose of reality. With an outsider's keen and critical eye, she chronicled her own involvement in a dark chapter of American history. She did not publish the journal until 1863, when she was divorced from Pierce and had returned to England. It came out just before the battle of Gettysburg and may have influenced public opinion in England which had been drifting toward favoring the South.
Today, the Butler plantation no longer exists; but neighboring "Hofwyl" gives a visitor a fairly good impression of what plantation life may have been like before and after the Civil War.

I purchased this book from Amazon in September but just managed to finish it this weekend. Why the delay? The book is a hard and melancholic read. In page after page Fanny Kemble narrates the abomination and sheer evil of slavery. We are introduced to folks who pious in their ways and beliefs show absolutely no compassion or outrage towards sanctioned barbarism. There is the case of one little girl who cannot conceive or imagine the notion that she can be a free woman. Then there is the sanctimonious Mr. Butler who is supposed to be a "good massa" to the chattel that is his property. I cannot begin to chronicle the innumerable injustices done to fellow humans.

But then in the midst of this filth there is a bright shinning light. That light is Fanny. This brave and intellignet lady fought against big odds to somewhat improve the plight of the slaves on her husband's plantation. Often not taken seriously, or worse treated condescendingly, Fanny nevertheless kept at it.

The first five chapters are a delight to read. They narrate her journey to the plantation along with her experiences at stops along the way. But from then on be prepared for a long sad book. This is an important book that deserves your attention. The next time I visit one of those beautiful antebellum mansions with the aroma of magnolia's in the air I will remember the cost of human lives wasted. I will remember Fanny.

Imagine that you are an educated, early-19th century British woman who marries a cultured, wealthy, charming Philadelphia bluestocking and lives a happy and refined life and has two daughters and THEN you learn that your husband's great wealth, passed down through generations, comes from several slave plantations in Georgia. Next imagine that your husband, who wants to check out his property, takes you and the girls to Georgia for a few months. The trip to Georgia is, to the modern eye, a nightmare, but I think it probably represents the travel experience of the time. This journey, however, is as nothing compared to the 4 or so months spent on the various Butler plantations.

This book is not so much a journal, per se, as a collection of letters Fanny wrote to her friend Margaret, describing the land, customs, food, daily life, etc., of the plantations. But above all what Fanny reports on is slavery. She is horrified at what she sees all around her, and with the eye of a documentary filmmaker she records what she learns and experiences---the work in the fields, the diet, the family structure, the economics of the plantation system, the clothing, the illnesses and injuries, the medical care, the conversations, the rewards and punishments. Fanny can't escape from her belief that the Butler slaves are human beings, and the slaves, responding to the tiniest drop of Fanny's kindness in their great ocean of misery, quickly come to believe she is an angel sent by God.

Fanny's letters fueled the flames of the antislavery movement both in the U.S. and in England. Articulate and highly descriptive, her writings were widely published.

This is a can't-put-it-down book--------even if you think you know all about the evils of slavery. Highly, highly recommended.

Want to grow fruit trees but don't think you have the space? Like to try new vegetable varieties but never remember where you planted them? Kids want to start a garden of their own but you don't want to give up the space? Movable Harvests has your answers to all these dilemmas. There are tips on creating the perfect potting mix and picking the right container as well as basic crop growing instructions. Pest control is addressed on a by-vegetable basis and is split between cultural and chemical controls. Movable Harvests has good ideas for all sorts of crops from fruits and berries to salad greens and root vegetables. You can grow ANYTHING in a container. A final, although short, chapter provides instructions on indoor farming including how to grow your own dwarf banana tree.

I have found this book a wonderful starting point for vegetable gardening in containers. It has chapters on proper containers, soil mixes, all natural ways to deal with pests, fertilizing options, and many helpful suggestions, even has a section for growing indoors. I originally checked it out at the library, and have found it so helpful that I am ordering my own copy!

I am a Gardening Idiot. I like growing things, but I have no idea why some of my plants thrive and some of them drop dead. I decided it would be easier to isolate some of the variables (I play a scientician during the work week) if I grew more things in containers, particularly since I am now getting into more exotic fruits and berries that actually cost real money. The trouble, of course, is that there is a bewildering array of containers and conditions for people like me to choose from.

This book was recommended by someone on the Internet as a great source of information on soil, placement, containers, and cultivars (varieties of a given plant -- don't laugh, I didn't know what it meant) that are best suited for container gardens. For example -- dwarf fig trees are fiction. You can, however, restrain a fig tree's growth. You just don't feed and water it as much, and you put it in a big pot. (Eventually I suspect that you will have to either kill it or move it outside, but I'm not there yet)

My biggest relief is that the book showed me how to meet the somewhat stringent preferences of the Mara des Bois strawberries that I'm growing this season. I didn't realize that strawberry planters are shaped the way they are so that the plants can share the soil (which you feed from the top with organic matter, i.e. compost). The net benefit (which I assume people have known for decades) is that you can manage the soil for a dozen or so plants at once, since their roots are close together and the pH/moisture is pretty much the same for all of them. There are more complicated ways to achieve this (eg. the Earthbox design), but they don't seem to work any better for what I am doing. So the book saved me some needless spend, too.

I paid $3 for this book. If I got as much value out of every $3 I spent, I would be an incredibly happy guy. Even after perusing all the books at the local library (and the Los Angeles Public Library is *immense*), I still think this book delivered for me. I would have paid 5 times as much if I'd seen it in a bookstore, and I would not have regretted it for a second.

Great information and extremely clear guidance for a very reasonable price.

This is the only book I have found that covers growing vegetables in containers. It is a good start. It provides just enough information about the all important-soil recipes, companion plants, container sizes & types, watering, pests, fertilizers and suitable crops. It's not a big book, which is why I can't give it my highest rating. I am still looking for something more in depth and with more personal experiences, ergo the reason for my web site LinLu's Container Gardening -

This book is short, but it packs quite a punch. It contains many photos which are useful in diagnosing diseases, etc. This is a great starting point for the beginning urban gardener (like me) who is attempting to make the most of limited space. The authors keep keep things short, sweet, and to the point. If you're wondering what sorts of containers to use, how deep you should plant various seeds, what varieties thrive best in containers, etc., this is a great place to start. At the very least, it's a nice reference book to have on hand for for the urban gardener.

This is an excellent introductory text designed for a first course in statistics. It covers all the topics that are typically in a first course. However, all other texts at this level take the frequentist approach to inference. A few may have sections that introduce Bayesian ideas but the Bayesian approach is a paradigm for statistical inference and as such the approach should be incorporated in all statistical topics. Berry shows that this can be done without the student having to know calculus. To understand Bayesian methods the student mainly has to know that posterior probability = likelihood x prior probability. Berry provides a good list of references for those who want to pursue more advanced topics.
This book is unique. It demonstrate that statistics can be taught from the Bayesian approach in the very beginnning. This is much like what Noether did when he wrote an introductory text in statistics taking a strict nonparametric approach.

The text is loaded with exercises and the exposition is very clear. There are many useful and entertaining diagrams. Many examples are taken from real medical problems. Medicine is an area in which Berry has done a great deal of consulting and his experience shows in his examples. This should be the text to turn to if you want an introduction to the subject. If you know the basics and want more advanced treatment go to the references mentioned in Berry's preface.

This book completely fulfills its goals, one of which is not to be a definitive reference book. It provides a friendly, entertaining introduction into statistics from a Bayesian perspective.

It is not too useful for people beyond college level. Not as a reference book.

This is an excellent introductory text designed for a first course in statistics. It covers all the topics that are typically in a first course. However, all other texts at this level take the frequentist approach to inference. A few may have sections that introduce Bayesian ideas but the Bayesian approach is a paradigm for statistical inference and as such the approach should be incorporated in all statistical topics. Berry shows that this can be done without the student having to know calculus. To understand Bayesian methods the student mainly has to know that posterior probability = likelihood x prior probability. Berry provides a good list of references for those who want to pursue more advanced topics.

This book is unique. It demonstrate that statistics can be taught from the Bayesian approach in the very beginnning. This is much like what Noether did when he wrote an introductory text in statistics taking a strict nonparametric approach.

The text is loaded with exercises and the exposition is very clear. There are many useful and entertaining diagrams. Many examples are taken from real medical problems. Medicine is an area in which Berry has done a great deal of consulting and his experience shows in his examples. This should be the text to turn to if you want an introduction to the subject. If you know the basics and want more advanced treatment go to the references mentioned in Berry's preface.

This is a truly clear and thoughtful introduction to Bayesian statistics.Nothing is taken for granted as the author leads you through examples and concepts. This was my first introduction to Bayesian statistics, and Berry makes it seem so much more reasonable and closer to real research/real life than the artifice involved in other approaches.

I can't recall the number of copies of this book that I have purchased. My own autographed copy remains a constant on my bedside table, doggeared, starred, and underlined. It is filled with the lovely, quiet poems of Wendell Berry, a true genius in the crafting of words. These poems, compiled over many years of Sunday walks (thus the Sabbath Poems), harken to the quieter side of life. The inevitable changing of seasons, places, and people. We all need a little space for thinking. Berry reminds us of who we are and why we're here. In a quiet way. Buy this book for yourself. Then order more copies for your friends.

Of himself, Wendell Berry says, "I am an amateur poet, working for the love of the work." My own reading tends not to poetry but to philosophy, physics, exegesis, and related works in which language serves quite differently. And yet, whether reading Aristotle or Wendell Berry, it is inescapable that words are ultimately only allegories for much larger ideas. Perhaps in poetry this fact is embraced and romanced while in philosophic and scientific work it is ever a 'problem' to be rather embroiled in. Well, I am an amateur critic, but if the poetry in this volume is the work of an "amateur poet" I say why bother with "professional" poetry? If in fact there is such a thing, what more could it offer?
Berry is a farmer, a tender of fields and flocks and fences. Of course he is also a highly regarded poet; a man of soil and art and meditation. In this collection his recurring themes include: The importance of honest labor and the importance of rest and contemplation, "the standing Sabbath of the woods" as he calls it; the nature and passing of time, the connectedness of ourselves to our histories and of matter to spirit. Recurring metaphors of light falling into darkness and light arising from darkness, of life fading into death and of life arising from death, have both material and spiritual meanings. . .

"His passing now has brought him up
Into a place not reached by road,

Beyond all history that he knows,
Where trees like great saints stand in time,
Eternal in their patience. Loss
Has rectified the songs that come

Into this columned room, and he
Only in silence, nothing in hand,
Comes here. A generosity
Is here by which the fallen stand." (1984, p65)

The author invites the reader to consider the verses here a few at a time, in moments of quiet and solitude, of "Sabbath rest," in the same manner in which the verses were created.

This book is a rarity of rarities -- quality poetry from a Christian perspective that any and all can enjoy. Though Berry's faith is evident, it is far from oppressive, and simply adds to the peace and quiet of the poems.

Peace and quiet describe them best. Called "Sabbath Poems", they are often the result of a restful walk through the woods, a time of reflection and enjoyment of "the given world". Themes through the book are love of nature (and God through nature), a growing disgust with the modern world, the presence and comfort of death and life, and his love for his wife.

Metrically, Berry's poetry is marked by the strength of his individual lines. Sometimes he rhymes; almost always there is an internal, even organic rhythm.

As this book spans 1979 -- 1997, it is also interesting to trace the progression of his poetry. His lines grow stronger as his poems grow simpler. And he is less afraid to venture out a bit -- while most of his poems are 15-20 lines unrhymed with internal rhythm, he tries on rhyming patterns, writes one or two line works, and even writes a 13 page praise of the pastoral life.

215 pages long is a good deal longer than most books of poetry that aren't "collections". My favorite poems are towards the end, if you're only going to read a few, read the ones from 1992 on.

Poems to quite your soul and spirit. Highly recommended.

A sample poem:

I go among the trees and sit still.

All my stirring becomes quiet

around me like circles on water.

My tasks lie in their places where I left them, asleep like cattle.

Then what is afraid of me comes

and lives a while in my sight.

What it fears in me leaves me,

and the fear of me leaves it.

It sings, and I hear its song.

Then what I am afraid of comes.

I live for a while in its sight.

What I fear in it leaves it,

And the fear of it leaves me.

It sings and I hear its song.

After days of labor,

mute in my costernations,

I hear my song at last,

and I sing it. As we sing,

The day turns, the trees move.

(if you'd like to discuss Berry's poetry, to disagree or agree with me, to recommend a poet I might enjoy, my e-mail is krischwe@whitman.edu)

This collection of poems connects Christianity to Nature. It is Berry's answer in Western traditions to the more ecocritical values of Eastern religion and philosophy. Berry's weekly journeys mediate on the mystical journey one embarks on in finding his or her community within the larger web of life on Earth as seasons unfold. With clarity and wisom, this work professes the beauty and reverence for Nature essential to ecology and community which is neglected at the brink of the twenty-first century. Berry's words, his imagery and description, come alive and touch the heart... and impart on us through each poem to beginning healing, and then to act...

"I go among trees and sit still" (p. 5) Wendell Berry writes in the first of his 124 "Sabbath Poems" collected here. Berry is a Kentucky farmer, a poet and novelist. For twenty years, while the church bell "calls in the town" (p. 9), he has instead spent his Sunday mornings walking "into the woods" (p. 9), meditating upon the world through his poetry. In the woods, "the dead leaves rotting on the ground,/ The live leaves in the air/ Are gathered in a single dance/ That turns them round and round" (p. 11). Amidst "a timbered choir" of "Great trees, outspreading and upright,/ Apostles of the living light," Berry walks "on radiance, amazed" (p. 83). "But a man/ is small before those who have stood so long," he writes. "He stands under them, looks up, sees, knows,/ and knows he does not know" (p. 89).

"The best reward in going to the woods," Berry writes in another poem, "Is being lost to other people, and/ Lost sometimes to myself" (p. 188). "These poems were written in silence, in solitude, mainly out of doors," Berry writes in the Preface to this book. "A reader will like them best, I think, who reads them in similar circumstances--at least in a quiet room" (p. xvii). "The poems," he explains, "are about moments when heart and mind are open and aware" (p. xviii). They are connected with themes of earth, family, peace and death.

G. Merritt

The Way of Ignorance is a plea for humility. Wendell Berry asks the simple question, "Can great power or great wealth be kind to small places?" and knows that the earnest believer-in-what-could-be will have to live with heartbreak. "By living as we do, in our ignorance and our pride, we are diminishing our world and the possibility of life." The purity of Berry's vision enables him to speak with a voice that is radical and simple. He restores us to our forgotten common sense. He opens our eyes to the beauty of small places and calls us to tend to their uncompromising complexities. He bids us hold tight to the irreplaceable.

Berry's plea for humility extends to all, from overly confident scientists and self-assured political leaders to the "many Christians who are exceedingly confident in their understanding of themselves in their faith." "When Jesus speaks of having life more abundantly . . . He is talking about a finite world that is infinitely holy, a world of time that is filled with life that is eternal. His offer of more abundant life, then, is not an invitation to declare ourselves as certified `Christians,' but rather to become conscious, consenting, and responsible participants in the one great life . . . To [this offer] we have chosen to respond with the economics of extinction." "Violence, in short, is the norm of our economic life and our national security. The line that connects the bombing of a civilian population to the mountain `removal' by strip-mining to the gullied and poisoned field to the clear-cut watershed to the tortured prisoner seems to run pretty straight."

In a time of arrogance and high-risk miscalculation, technological, economic and military overreaching, Berry is there to call us back - back to our senses. "If we find the consequences of our arrogant ignorance to be humbling, and we are humbled, then we have at hand the first fact of hope: We can change ourselves." I recommend The Way of Ignorance.

Wow! I am blown away again by Wendell Berry's thoughts and way of seeing the world. His ideas should be shouted from the rooftops. First of all, his writing conveys the strength of friendship. He respects and honors his friend, Wes Jackson, throughout the book and especially in the essay "The Way of Ignorance". I ordered the tape of this talk which he gave at Wes Jackson's Land Institute at the Prairie Festival in 2004.

There is so much of value in this book, but the other essay I would highly recommend is "Renewing Husbandry".

The best way to review Berry's work is to quote him.

"The most forceful context of every habitat now is the industrial economy that is doing damage to all habitats. We can't preserve neighborliness or charity or peaceability or an ecological consciousness, or anything else worth preserving, at the same time that we maintain an earth-destroying economy. Nothing ultimately flourishes in our present economy but selfish aims, and these are often mutually contradictory. We have to have a sort of pity for the CEO of a polluting corporation who desires wealth, healthy children, and a vacation in the restorative purity of nature. And surely we have to extend the same pity to those whio are sure that "it takes a village to raise a child" but who forget that it takes a local culture and a local economy to raise a village."

And.
"Harmony between our human economy and the natural world-local adaption-is a perfection we will never finally achieve but must continously try for. There is never a finality to it because it involves living creatures who change. The soil has living creatures in it. It has live roots in it, perennial roots if it is lucky. If it is the soil of the right kind of farm, it has a farm family growing out of it."

The Way of Ignorance and Other Essays is an anthology of writings by cultural critic Wendell Berry - one of Smithsonian magazine's 35 People Who Made a Difference - about topics ranging from what freedom is really being discussed when one speaks of "free market" or "free enterprise", to the costs of so-called rugged individualism in a democratic commonwealth, to sharp-laced observations on the Kerry campaign, and much more. Written in plain terms, The Way of Ignorance takes a cold, hard look at the doubletalk and doublethink that saturates modern American airwaves, stripping them down to bare conundrums, all with a heavy dose of the author's practical evaluation. An enthusiastically recommended, thought-provoking cross-examination of modern society.

This book is disturbingly honest. The honesty oozes from the pages of these analytic and interpretative literary compositions. It's a bracing honesty that I am not always prepared for -- but have come to expect from this septuagenarian agrarian. In my favorite of these essays - "The Burden of the Gospels", Mr. Berry muses:

But what, for example, are we to make of Luke 14:26: "If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple." This contradicts not only the fifth commandment but Jesus' own instruction to "Love thy neighbor as thyself." It contradicts his obedience to his mother at the marriage in Cana of Galilee. It contradicts the concern he shows for the relatives of his friends and followers..."

And then with stunning clarity offers the following:
" We may say with some reason that such apparent difficulties might be resolved if we knew more, a further difficulty being that we don't know more. The Gospels, like all other written works, impose on their readers the burden of their incompleteness. However partial we may be to the doctrine of the true account or "realism," we must concede at last that reality is inconceivably great and any representation of it necessarily incomplete."

Wendell Berry has subtitled this essay "An unconfident reader"... I suggest that this sums up the whole of this collection of essays. Berry is unconfident as he reads the American landscape of theologizing, politics, commerce, conservation, and thought. Unconfident -- but as always, uncompromisingly honest in his reading. +Aaron K.

This collection of essays centers on the concept of accepting humankind's inevitable ignorance, as an antidote to deadly hubris. As Berry says, "Creatures who have armed themselves with the power of limitless destruction" must not pridefully embrace their limited knowledge. Instead, the "way of ignorance ... is to be careful, to know the limits and efficacy of our knowledge. It is to be humble, and to work on an appropriate scale."

Scale is a recurring theme here as Berry returns to the roots of his thinking in the realm of family farming. His essays touch on environmental destruction, factory farming, the weaknesses of the 'save the blank' movement. But also on The Gospels, the future of the Democratic party, and the value of husbandry in a materialistic world.

I always enjoy Berry's thoughts as I find him one of the clear, non-polarized voices out there. He speaks not just as a conservationist but as a working farmer, not just as a liberal but as a Christian. He points out the faults of the liberal movement as readily as he criticizes the corporate culture. I prefer his book-length work as i feel here he can only briefly touch on subjects. The collection also includes essays that feel a bit redundant or not of as much interest. Still his work here is also humble and to scale, and so the 180 pages can be quickly read and the best of the harvest pulled out for closer attention.

This is a great book to introduce or reinforce counting by fives up to 30 and back again. I like using it with my children because of the above average vocabulary and because it is a great springboard for other studies (Northern Lights, Artic, Ermines, discussion on new words) all while teaching math concepts. The illustrations are cute too. A great all-in-one book.

I read this book to my friend's 6 year old son. Out of the two books I had for him to hear, he wanted me to read this one first because the animals on the cover caught his eye. All the pictures were entertaining as they followed along with this math story and led to a very colorful end - all the animals came to see the Northern Lights. While reading, we counted the number of animals that came each time and when I asked him how many would show up on the next page, he knew it'd be five more. We both learned what an "ermine" is for the first time. I think this was a really cute book and will read it to my future students.

The book Arctic Fives Arrive is an okay childrens book. It doesn't really make much sense in the beggining though. Childrens books don't have too though i guess. I didn't like the ending on it because i couldn't even understand what it was talking about. All in all though, the book to me would rank 3 out of 5 stars.

Children love this story which is a fun way to introduce the concepts of math (counting by fives), the arctic habitat, geography and natural phenomenon (the northern lights). As a teacher, I've used this book with three to six year olds. It is one of those rare books that lends itself beautifully to building several lessons around. It is easy to expand upon the books' concepts for the older children but the younger children love as well. It's simple but rhyming, poetic text and captivating art work make it a book that children ask to read again and agian.

A light hearted romanantic caper with comic overtones.
That is my description of Marica Evanick's books which I absolutely love. They are well written and something I would share with my mother and/or my daughter without any reservations. Her books are ageless and not written for the very young or for "Adults Only". This is a book you will want to hide in a corner (to keep from being bothered) and giggle over. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Dottie

I really loved this series. I can't wait til Marica Evanick comes out with another one. I bought "Catch of the Day" and had to buy all the rest in the series. I hope she comes out with more. Im already rereading them.

I like Christmas romances. There, I've said it. I love to curl up with a Christmas-themed romance next to the tree and read for hours.

This book is another set in Misty Harbor. The protagonist is Amber, a woman who moved in with her aunt in the sleepy town after the death of her young husband. Along comes an old friend, and there's a Christmas romance.

I got this book because I liked Christmas on Conrad Street so well. This story didn't disappoint me. It's simple, sweet, and enjoyable. If you like Christmas romances, you'll like this one too.

The only negative about the book is the atrocious editing and proofreading. Really terrible! This book should have been cleaned up a great deal before hitting the presses. Nonetheless, it's a good read.

From the back cover:

Seasons Greetings from Misty Harbour, Maine! The snowy coastal village is as pretty as a postcard, decked out for the holidays in its winter finery. It's the ideal place to celebrate a picture-perfect Christmas, as its hometown warmth melts the coldest of hearts...

Recently widowed Amber McAllister has left the hustle and bustle of Boston to help run her aunt's berry shop on Main Street. But the new ad campaign by Ian McNeal, her late husband's business partner, has made the store's jams and jellies the hottest gift in town. Amber is frazzled. Visions of unfulfilled orders dance in her head, until Ian comes to town to buy her out of the ad agency.

He falls instantly in love with Misty Harbor's quiet charm--and his long-time crush on Amber is rekindled. Ice skating and sledding together puts a twinkle in his eye--and makes Amber see the quiet, creative man in a whole new light. Though wrapped up in kisses, their fragile love is tainted by memories of her husband. Will ghosts of Christmas past haunt her Christmas present--and future?

And my review:

Well, I'm a sucker for Christmas romances, so I'll buy just about any book that fits the profile, whether I'm familiar with the author or not. And this was an author I'd tried only once before, when her Christmas novella A MISTY HARBOR CHRISTMAS was included in the LET IT SNOW anthology with Fern Michaels, amoung others. (you can see a pattern here about the Christmas-themed books, can't you? :) I hadn't been exactly in love with her work then, and A BERRY MERRY CHRISTMAS did nothing to change my mind.

I was looking forward to reading about a grieving widow finding love again (with her late husband's best friend and business partner, no less). What really captured me in the beginning was how the heroine had had a good marriage with her late husband, how she had truly loved him. Very few authors seem willing to tackle this theme in this way. Most of the time, they make the deceased spouse secretly a horrible person. I was looking forward to a break from this tradition.

But the author started to let me down after the halfway mark. The heroine began to realize that maybe her marriage hadn't been so great after all. Sigh. I've read this theme over and over. Why did the author had to change directions midstream? Why couldn't the heroine have loved her husband, but put him in the past and just moved on? Why did she have to suddenly no longer cherish his memory anymore, because she realized that he wasn't all that great? I felt that the author was afraid to have the heroine move on any other way, so she had to muddy up the heroine's first marriage in order to make that happen, and I felt very let-down.

I understood Ian's reluctance to "move in" on what he saw as his best friend's territory, even if it had been almost two years since his death. But it didn't fit with the way he almost instantly pursued the heroine, or with the way he was willing to fall into bed with her. So he can sleep with her all he wants, but a serious relationship is out of the question? Okay....

Once these two fell into bed, I pretty much lost interest in the story. I kind of felt like the characters were just spinning their wheels without really getting anywhere. I want characters to grow and change over the course of the story, and that just wasn't happening here.

Also, this book is part of Marcia Evanick's "Misty Harbor" series, and I hadn't read any of the other linked books. So while the "small town" thing was pretty well done, I didn't know any of the characters that I probably would have recognized from previous books, and that might have something to do with my not really enjoying the book all that much.

I would only recommend this if you are already a fan of the author, and / or want to complete your "Misty Harbor" collection. Otherwise, I wouldn't recommend it.

We bought this in the children's section of our local bookstore, but the poetry in the book is aimed at a much broader audience. That's a plus for us -- it means I can read "Adventures of Isabel" and "It's Dark in Here" to the children and follow it up with "The Beautiful" and "A Prayer in Spring." The selections range from Silverstein to Blake to Frost to Wordsworth. All in all, they are well selected, both for their subject matter and their musicality. It's quickly becoming a family favorite.

This book of poems from all over is both intersting and fun to read. It has such a wonderful variety of sources from the Bible to African proverbs, Classic Poems to read aloud would be a wonderful book to have around for children. Especially the young ones whose minds are just developing.The magic, mystery, love and joy of these poems would be perfect for a family to read around a fire or you alone to read by yourself in the comfort of your own home. Poems are a great way to expand your thoughts and your mind in an intelligient way. This book is perfect for you if you love beautifully written words put together in the most professional of fashions.

This is a great selection of poems. James Berry is a poet and has a poet's ear for language. "To Be Read Aloud" is the key to the title. Open the book. Pick a poem and speak the words into the air. Read them to someone you love, young or old. Treat yourself to a poetry reading, by you, for you. This is not lightweight poetry; Yeats and Eliot are not your usual "Children's Poetry". There are classics that children love, such as "The Owl and the Pussycat," but it's not the second-rate poetry that is often pawned off on children who don't know better. If you would like your children to "know better" poetry, this anthology is full of first-rate examples.

I have given this book as a gift perhaps eight times now. It is without a doubt the most amazing collection of poetry...old and new, joyful and sad, silly and profound...that I have ever seen collected under one cover. I've taught English for 30 years and it still remains my favorite. It may appear to somehow be poems for children, but it is poetry for our entire lives. I love this book....

This book is light on instructions - just 3 pages, but HEAVY on patterns. That's because this technique is very easy to learn and do. After a few practice runs, you will be turning out beautiful collapsible baskets with ease. And with over 100 different designs there is a style for everyone. These baskets caught the public eye a couple of years ago, but they are still popular. If you want to make them for fun or profit, this is -the- book for patterns.

This book presents an ingenious, useful and impressive design concept for the woodworker. It is a central spiral cut collapsible basket supported in a frame that can be cut in countless designs.

These baskets are made from a single piece of ¾" hardwood. There are instructions for the bandsaw or scroll saw. Over 100 full page patterns are provided and the size can be adjusted by enlarging or reducing the pattern.

Patterns include farm & wild animals, dinosaurs, teddy bears, people, vehicles, buildings and traditional baskets. Many more designs could be easily adapted to the basic basket technique.

The baskets can be used as candy or trinket dishes and are wonderful with decorative floral arrangements. They collapse for storage or use as a trivet and make great gifts.

This book is good for its plans, I got good skills in my scroll saw with them, the designs are very creative, but I sometime think they are repetitive. I recommend this book for somebody want new ideas to their scroll saw

This book mostly consists of large patterns (not reduced) for cutting a flat piece of wood such that it forms a basket when turned on its side. Making such a basket requires skill and access to a jigsaw and bandsaw.