Boyd Books

This review is based on reading parts 1-4 of The Shenandoah Spy.
Francis Hamit, best known as a journalist, has a good grasp of historical fiction. His writing is solidly based on the true story of Belle Boyd, including bits of dialogue taken from historical accounts. What makes this good historical fiction is that fact that he is able to fill in the "known" with the "believable" in terms of actions and dialogue, filling in the gaps and fleshing out the characters. Some may criticize him for political incorrectness in his use of dialect for the African-American characters. I found it to be within reason for the time and the period, and his portrayal of them as having intelligence and their own lives and agendas, even under the burden of slavery, is something noteworthy.

Author Francis Hamit tries new age technology to bring readers a lost art--or perhaps, just an old art rediscovered; serialized novels. His downloaded novel comes in many parts; the story continues on past where I have already read to and it seems to have a life that will go on for many more parts. The novel is titled "The Shenandoah Spy". It can be downloaded for only 49 cents a part on Amazon.

The basic story is based on the life of a real southern spy named Belle Boyd. She became famous for her work with the Confederate Secret Service. She was only 17 years old and a beautiful young woman when in 1861 her whole life would change when her home was invaded by the Union Army. Drunken and unruly soldiers with no disciple pick the wrong house and the wrong women to tangle with. She defends her home and protects her mother.

The real facts and the fictional imagination of the author are interwoven throughout the story. The author takes us along as the family moves to Front Royal. Trying to serve the Confederacy in some meaningful way; Belle volunteers to become a nurse. She becomes ill and ends up quitting and takes up being a courier. Eventually she hooks up with the Confederate Secret Service along with another woman Antonia Ford.

She trains and then is given a mission where she disguises herself as a missionary. She thus officially begins her new career as a spy. The story gets more involved from this point forward but certainly entertaining.

The writing is truly gifted and the author is inventive with how he uses real and fictional dialogs and narrative of people and events. I honestly do not know Civil War history well enough to know one from the other. But I would bet that the author has researched much deeper into this period then one might realize. He captures this place and time in our history. To me it was a very satisfying reading. I think I even learned something about that war new.

The author does something else rather rare in that he truly captures the female energy of the lead character Belle. He has fleshed her character out so that she has power, intelligence, sex appeal and cunningness. He also gives us a good supporting cast of characters.

For those who like the Civil War or just good adventure stories then this is a book worth downloading. It has a little of everything to offer the reader. For this type of genre and this kind of media download--I give it a Five Star Rating for serialized e-book downloads; could be a great way to spend your time at the airport with your lap top.

...Southerners who didn't necessarily support the Successionists.

In all the discussion about the Civil War, the state of affairs on border regionsscarcely garners a mention. I got to questioning (myself [for now], of course), were those who had lived in border states -- separating Union from the Confederacy -- either *more* or *less* staunch in their abolitionist or non-abolitionist views?

I don't know how to answer that other than to say that reading author Hamit's story certainly got me thinking about the alternatives...to be explored further, thanks to this scribe.

I have totally fallen for the character of Belle. I can totally identify with how stymied she felt in her orderly Southern society -- thanks to the convincing nature of the writer's lines. Hamit's description of her storied beauty got me swooning a tad myself -- that's always a good thing!

I imagine some of the characters alluded to in this introductory three-chaptered tale will be discussed in future parts of "The Shenandoah Spy?" (I've noticed parts 2, 3, & 4 are available as well, goodie!) I'd like to know more about them.

For instance, I was steeled by the courage of Eliza -- liked her "sass" in that final line of hers towards the end of Part 1(e.g. "A Rebel lady!") -- and would like to see more of her in the coming chapters. Remains to be seen -- but I love the possibilities.

My, oh my...the breadth of his tale! What I'm getting at, is it's a well-researched and captivating piece of work. I'm going to hold off my further review until I've had a chance to read parts 2 through 4, which I've bought in between my typing out this review, if the truth MUST be told.

Very nice going, Francis. This Short rocked and worked its necessary magic. You pulled me in and didn't let go.

Regards from Prague.

I love the great variety of projects this book offers - from the elegant centerpieces to the decorated photo albums and beaded jewelry. Heidi Boyd provides clear, detailed instructions on how to easily create classic-looking gifts and decorations for your special day. The "Simply Beautiful" series has inspired me to be more creative than I ever thought I could be!

Weddings was very helpful for me. I will be getting married in the near future and the crafts and projects in the book gave me some wonderful ideas and they are just broad enough to give you the ability to make them more personalized. So easy to follow and ideas that are actually useful for a wedding!

Save yourself the money and take this book out from the library. I only liked 2 or 3 of the ideas and to me that's not worth $15. About half of the book contains jewelry making instructions. I also wouldn't call it "projects to personalize your wedding" I would call it "projects on a budget." If you are looking for ways to save money by making standard wedding necessities on your own then I recommend this book to you. But if you are looking for unique ideas for personalizing your wedding this is not the book for you.

boyd takes you back in time and presents the texas revolution on a daily historical basis, fascinating.

I am a first year vet student at the University of Georgia and this book has saved me. Our texts are written in a strict medical language, but Pasquini makes all of that makes sense. This book is a God-send in anatomy lab! The clinical correlations provided as the anatomy is learned, as well as the humorous cartoons really help in learning the basics.

This book is useful only if you can find what you're looking for, which is quite difficult. I am a 1st year vet student at Ohio State and, while this book had useful information in in that helped a lot, it was very difficult to find what I was looking for, and most of the time I found nothing. The diagrams leave a little to be desired also.

Holbrook, Sara. 2002. Wham! It's a Poetry Jam: Discovering Performance Poetry. Honesdale, PA: Wordsong Publishing. ISBN 1569379885.

"Show the world that poetry was never meant to simply lie quietly on the page, any more than kids were meant to sit quietly in their seats to read it." With this closing line Holbrook encourages teachers and librarians to try out the exercises outlined in this work to get kids up and performing poems from favorite poets and their own creations. The author includes her own poetry in this work to demonstrate performance poetry and include tips and advice to adults and kids on how best to perform certain works.

The format of this work lends itself to adults wanting to include performance poetry and poetry jams in their classrooms or programs. Each poem is paired with explanations on how best to perform the poem out loud, alone or with a group. The instructions are included at the beginning and end of each poem, and additional cues are highlighted in colored boxes of various shapes on each page. The author includes open ended questions to encourage children to think about how the poem sounds when performed with different tones and emotions and ways to include movement in the performance. Each page of cues, instructions and poems give teachers ample information on not only performing the poem offered but also encouraging children to want to perform. The work begins with poems suited to more than one voice to give children the safety of performing as a group. Holbrook then moves on to solo performances and how to instill the courage in children to give this a try.

The most useful chapter for adults working with children is "Get Ready to Wham: A Word (or Two) About Contests. This chapter provides useful information in hosting a poetry jam that would be a contest between performers. Holbrook includes instructions for who can participate, how to keep score, who the judges should be, the rules to follow, who is in charge of the contest, and other information to ensure a smooth and fun poetry jam for all contestants. The inclusion of this chapter is clearly helpful to beginners in the poetry jam field.

Holbrook's enthusiasm for the subject comes through loud and clear. Unfortunately, her chipper tone and dramatic phrasing could turn some young teens off. This book is best suited for teaching adults. There are a lot of good solid pieces of advice, instruction, and tips in this short work for teachers and librarians. From the use of stage space to the tone, rhythm and emotion behind the words to the volume and strength of the voice, Holbrook offers the right information to inspire adults to give performance poetry a try in the classroom or library programs.

Her daughter is my teacher and we did an activity at the end of the year with this book. It really is top quality. Very Good!

Of course, I am not advocating robbery, but all of the books that I put on my shelves by Sara disappear. This book will be another of those. I teach high school English to 9th graders and her books have broad appeal with my struggling readers and to my honor students. She speaks to the adolescent in all of them including me. It, however, is a great book for teachers to use to begin working on the art of performance poetry and poetry slams with your students. So if you are not afraid of a little noise, enthusiasm and excitement in your class then Wham ---get your own copy to jam with Sara and your students!

If you're confused about terms you find when dealing with the world of media, then the Writer's Encyclopedia can be helpful. Trying to read the book from cover to cover is like reading a dictionary (not recommended, but I did it anyway), but you will learn plenty of new facts you may not have known otherwise. For instance, a cutline is the text that accompanies a picture. A frontispiece is the page immediately preceding the title page illustrating the book's major theme or subject. And a peg is an angle that a nonfiction writer uses to develop an article. All good stuff.

Since this was published in 1996, there are plenty of outdated entries for computer technology. Compuserve isn't the leading dialup internet provider any more. :-) But many of the terms and entries are still applicable. A solid book for budding writers.

"Writer's Encyclopedia" is a must for any writer who's questions go unanswered for lack of someone who KNOWS. The people at Writer's Digest know what they're talking about, and the dictionary style referencing is perfect. This book is like having a professional right there beside you whenever you need them.

If you are a want-to-be writer, this is the next book you should buy.

I didn't discover this jewel until late in my career, but it is THE comprehensive reference book for self-publishers, free-lancers, or anyone that wants to give the publishing world a serious run for its money.

The value of the book lies in its definitions of all things publishing.

* It defines the key words used in the modern writing world (it's nice to know the differences in the various editors so that you can target the right one for a query or proposal).

* On the same note, do you know what "on spec" means? If you want to write in a free-lance mode, this is a rather important term; one that caused me a number of problems until I figured out what it meant.

* It provides descriptions and contact information for writers' organizations, and a number of submission samples and manuscript preparation guidelines.

* It is a literal plethora of information for the writer that wants to succeed.

If you have questions about the writing world, the answers are in this book.

Great little resource and idea book. Full of great and easy to make projects. Many of the supplies needed for the projects can be found at home.

This book is an incredible asset to any classroom. Thedirections are clear and concise and the full color pictures of theend result are great! I would highly recommend this book to any teacher in need of extra ideas!

Great little resource and idea book. Full of great and easy to make projects. Many of the supplies needed for the projects can be found at home.

This is a great craft book. Has a nice selection of mostly simple crafts to make with things you probably already have at home (especially if you are a crafter). We borrowed this from our local libary and made several things without a trip to the store to buy necessary items. I made crafts with kids ages 4 to 9.

Sara's poems are wonderful. They inspire, encourage, and move one to strive for excellence. This book is very organized and well written.

I wrote a longer review of Sara Holbrook's collection "Walking on the Boundaries of Change" which you might take a glance at. Much applies to this collection as well.

Holbrook writes poetry for young people in the 10-15 age range. As a teacher of 6th graders, I think they are a 'demographic group' that sometimes must feel invisilble. Not for lack of being marketed-at and sold-to, though. Invisible because they are always being asked to don the personae of either "child" or "teenager". Usually they are neither, and often they seem to find the cultural fit and expectations of these to be ill-matched to their inner lives. It is rare to find anything, books included, that fit comfortably. Holbrook's work fits.

One thing kids this age are, is poetic. Bad poets - often. Illiterate poets, sometimes. Poets disguised as musicians - frequently. But, because they are thinking, changing, thinking again and jumping, always, to a new vantage point - they are poets. Holbrook, who apparently started writing poems when her own children started growing up, connects to the poet in young people by connecting to the range and jump of their lives.

Unlike the other collection I reviewed, "Am I Naturally This Crazy" seems to be more directed toward younger young folks... somewhat more connected to the needs of 10-12 year-olds than those of 12-15's. This is perhaps a too-subtle distinction, since they are all boundary-crossers, but definitely my sense of the overall collection. It is not lightweight - she speaks to issues like divorce - but somewhat less complex, less abstract. Of course, since your typical 10-12 year-old will turn up as a 12-15 year-old, it couldn't hurt to own both!

If you are a teacher of young people this age, scatter your room with poetry such as this for the odd, quieter moment. If you are their parent, consider the same.

Ms. Caroli is an excellent historian, and an even better writer. She makes the lives of very commonplace women come alive, and it is a most enjoyable read!

Caroli provides an interesting overview of a position most Americans take for granted, about which they may hold very deep-seeded opinions they may not even realize. Her historical treatment provides the backdrop I would guess many people lack in drawing conclusions about contemporary first ladies, and this background is, and always would be, cogent.

I remember (with some regret) as a child remarking to my mother during the 1980 elections that Nancy Reagan was prettier than Rosalyn Carter. My mother replied, "Well, Reagan was a movie star! Don't draw your conclusions based on how they LOOK..." Now, 19 years later, I get the facts to back up my mother's admonition.

The book is only a gloss, not an in depth treatment, and Caroli states she's not trying to draw wide-ranging conclusions. The strength of the book comes in her setting forward a small written portrait of each woman and her times, giving the reader a good spring board for further study in areas of interest.

A favorite account was of Betty Ford's candor and refreshing attitude with the press. Through this book I developed a real interest in her and the work she did during her time in office. Even democratic friends say they remember her time in the White House as good years for the "office" of first lady.

I purchased this book for the daughter (third grader) of a friend. The young girl has shown a nice interest in summer science projects and computing. Computing goes nicely with the science of weather forecasting, so I thought this nicely illustrated account of an actual big storm that swept across much of the U.S. in 1982 would be good summer reading.

The reading level was posted as ages 4-8 but I would say 7-8, although the ample illustrations make it a book that ages 4-6 would enjoy with an adult reader.

I am a junior scientist, because I study whales and storms and what storms can do. And I am a junior ranger at Grand Canyon National Park. "The Big Storm" is the best book I have ever read, even better than "Baby Whale Rescue" by Caroline Arnold.

I have read "The Big Storm" and the dates it came in was March 31 through April 6, 1982. Storms can have very strong winds and in Nebraska the wind blew hard enough to pick up cow chips.

I liked this book so much because it showed where tornados were, and where the cold front was. The cold front extended from Mexico to Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, half of Colorado and all of California.

I think you should read this book if you are 6 to 65 years old.