Boyd Books

We have really enjoyed reading this book with a six year old. She keeps asking for it by name.
It is nicely written and follows the life of a stray dog to a new home. It is a great way to teach a child about taking care of pets and rescue. The illustrations add to the wording to create the story.
In addition, proceeds from the book help with animal rescue.

I found this book not only entertaining, but well written and informative.
The story surrounds the life of a dog adopted from a shelter. It is uniquely written from the dog's perspective which is captured quite insightfully by the author. Although Boyd Friend's life is whimsical, at times, it is also truthful regarding what an animal may endure when being transitioned from a shelter situation to a loving family. It's a must read for children (and adults!) who are considering making an animal a part of the family. The book also includes important information on animal rescue.

I was really charmed by this book. I bought it for my young children to have more good Catholic literature around, and this was an excellent addition. The illustrations are very charming, full of color and life and the book is beautiful just for this aspect alone. I was a little hesitant about the younger monk "wishing the older would die", but it sounded worse in the review than it read in the book, and it was something that was easily explained by the rest of the story. Has some excellent morals to the story, and I would highly recommend it to add to your library for your Catholic family. An excellent book that encourages the Catholic faith and shows it in a good light.

Kids ages 6 and older will relish this story of a monastery which makes applesauce to make ends meet, helped by the careful attendance of Brother Bartholomew to the apple grove. His aging is causing him to be forgetful and to not mend the fence which helps guard the apples, so when the younger Brother Stephen enters the monastery and covets the task, convinced he can do better, the elderly Brother faces a big challenge. Will God continue to provide, as he believes?

This book is a collection of plans from state agricultural extension services across the U.S.. Plans are presented for fences, cabins, barns, animal feeding stations, milking stations, shearing stations, green houses, cold frames, sheds, outhouses, cisterns, smokehouses, picnic tables and saw horses. Plus a whole lot more.
The only word of caution is that quite a few of the large structures are geared to the state of origin. For example, the guest house is designed for Florida. The roof as presented will never withstand snow loads in Vermont. Likewise foundation depths; designs from Maryland will need to be extended below the frostline in colder climes. Otherwise, an incredible amount of good, useable information is presented along with several novel design approaches such as the reinforced concrete fence or the pasture drag made from old car tires.
This is one of my most prized and most used books. Highly recommended.

Excellent source for building ideas from fences to cabins. The plans are concise and very detailed. Highly recommend for the do it yourself person!

I have read eight of the Markby/Mitchell series. I would place this one in the top three. The suspenseful plot builds at a wonderful pace and the full mystery is not solved until the last page. This series is glorious either in book form or in audio when the magnificent Judith Bond reads. Granger's books place you square in the middle of an English village and you don't leave it until the final pages.

This was my first (but definitely not my last) experience with Meredith and Markby. I completely enjoyed this story, and my only complaint was that the style was so easy to read I was through the book long before I was ready for it to end. I felt like a child following a trail of jelly beans as the clues and red herrings turned up. Just an awfully lot of fun with a couple of sharp plot turns in the end that sends you into worlds of thought and conjecture when you lay the book down finished. I highly recommend it.

This book gave me a lot of inside information and history surrounding the development of Inuit print making at Cape Dorset. It contains many color plates of the art work and information and photos of the most famous artists. I really enjoyed reading it.

This is by far the best book on Cape Dorset artists and art I have ever seen and I have a colection of over 100 books. A must have and well worth the price.

Kids left alone are raided by hungry Civil War soldiers but the eldest cleverly uses berry juice to make everyone look like they have a really wretched case of the measles. The ruse works, and the supplies and children are left alone. This one cries out for the readers to finish up by making their own sweet berry pie!

Author/illustrator Karen B. Winnick's original picturebook, Cassie's Sweet Berry Pie: A Civil War Story is the tale of a young girl during the American civil war. Her father is away fighting in the army, and her mother works in the hospital tending to wounded soldiers. When Union troops raid her house for supplies, she must come up with a clever ploy to protect her family's food store, proving that huckleberries can be used for more than sweet pies! The gentle color artwork perfectly complements this tale about resourcefulness - not to mention help from the most unlikely places.

The author knows her setting, small town Missouri, early 1900's. She also knows children and school relationships. I found her characterization and description captivating. Charlotte, known as Sissy by her loving family, is consistently crafted as the unpopular girl seeking to be accepted by the in- group, a classic problem. Her relationship with her kind brother and again with Jesse, her unwilling friend who has come on the orphan train to find a home, shows her sensitive goodness of heart. Sissy's mother is real. The story takes a menacing turn when secrets are revealed about the orphan girl, Jesse. What follows is a girl's unfailing love of a friend and complete honesty. I found myself choking up as I read Sissy's words, "You don't have to understand people to love them," and from then to the complete ending, my throat was tight with unspent tears. This book is a must for teens who feel deeply, and are trying to untangle their lives.

Charlotte's Choice is a story that deals tastefully with an on-going evil. The gently unfolding plot keeps the reader turning pages as home-town girl Charlotte Matthews reluctantly becomes friends with newcomer/orphan Jesse Irwin. Jesse thrives on the acceptance and love surrounding her in Charlotte's family circle. Yet her past--anything-goes survival on the streets of New York--sets a stage where Jesse chooses to relive that past rather than jeopardize the stability of the Matthews family.
Charlotte's simple understanding of life is shattered when Jesse becomes victimized by a cruel man. Eventually, Charlotte must choose whether or not to betray her best friend's confidence.
As the jacket cover denotes, "The story's unflinching ending, which is neither entirely tragic nor entirely happy, deepens the credibility, power, and contemporary relevance of CHARLOTTE'S CHOICE."

I found it very difficult to put down after reading the first few pages. So touched, ordered one for each of my Children and my Husband.

Can't put it down. It comes straight from the author's heart & soul. I paired it with the CD. They make a great pair.

I am a new fifth grade teacher responsible for teaching the 2nd half of VA Studies to all the 5th graders at my school. I am excited to use the Vital Virginians as a resource to meet the Standards of Learning. I am happy to have a fun, engaging resource combing all the required famous Virginians in one place! I just wish I could convince my principal to order a class set of all the appropriate Chester Comix books!

These comics are enjoyed by our entire family. Our 10 year old son can't seem to put them down as the illustrations and content are clever and entertaining. We love how Bently Boyd brings history to life in a fun, creative and easy reading style. After my son is finished reading he can't wait to share what he read with the entire family. We have acquired the entire set of Chester Comix with Content Series and love them all. These make a GREAT gift for anyone of any age or even for teachers as they are an awesome learning tool. A gift that keeps giving. This is a definate must have for the entire family. ENJOY!

Child of Dandelions is a heart-rending story of Sabine - a teenager living in Uganda. Nanji's storytelling is pure and Sabine's (mis)adventure is full of the sights and sounds of Uganda in the 1970s when Idi Amin ordered the expulsion of some 80,000 Indians.
Nanji - a children's book author has made an impressive debut into the Young Adult genre with her new book!

Wow. Highly recommended. My grade 7 and 8 students were thoroughly engaged with this book. One of them was so inspired that she is visiting Africa this summer with her family.

A very rich story that illustrates a historical period that has been completely overlooked in the West. It is especially successful in touching issues of class, race and nationhood.

Despite the violence and chaos that this tragedy created, I love how Nanji tells the story without issuing judgment.

This book also helped my students understand life in Africa, which is something we don't come across much in our curriculum.

A must read.