Foster Books

Pretty great YA book!
Set in a near future where corporations work with the Ads-4-Life Council to ensure that every citzen is a productive consumer, Barrett is a freak- he was raised on an isolated compound by a 'cult' who rejected consumer society for a life of almost Amish spareness. When his uncle there dies, he must leave Simplicity for the Chattering World, where his condition as an advertising virgin makes him incredibly valuable to the marketers who study the psychology of persuasion- including his aunt, who heads the Ads-4-Life Council and is hoping for a major presidential appointment.
Taylor, Barrett's cousin has always had everything- but is she who she thinks she is?
An exciting story that leaves the reader with a heightened sense of awareness of how close we really are to this dystopia, and how far away simplicity truly is.

Having grown up in Gales Ferry, this book was very cool for me. Though I now live in Groton (the next town to the south) my parents still live in Gales Ferry. These are the most amazing books on town history I've ever read. It was so neat to see pictures of my elementary and high schools, and learn the history of the town I lived in for so long.

The pictures these books have are amazing. I've read the Groton book as well as some other surrounding towns, and the information these books possess is incredible. I highly recommend finding one of these books about your own town. They are so informative and interesting.

L e e l a n a u ... is a reflection of my 16+ years of living and wandering the peninsula. It is my proudest collection of images put together in a book. I am especially fortunate to have collaborated with writer Jerry Dennis who, in my mind, is one of the finest outdoor writers. Jerry grew up in the Leelanau region and offers a dozen essays that reflect this intimately.

The book is two in one ... the photographs stand alone and do not intentionally illustrate the essays and the essays are not written to explain the photographs. Folks pick up the book because of the imagery and later lose themselves in the essays.

I am adding some product information about this book because Amazon does not provide any:

"Legacy through the Lens provides an armchair tour of present day Mendham, New Jersey, documenting the evolution of the built environment in this small town. More than one hundred seventy photographs capture the best surviving architecture from early pre-Revolutionary settlement to the most modern elements of today's picturesque community. The text examines the importance of the architecture both as a reflection of local fortunes and taste, and as part of the larger story of America's settlement and development.

Through an understanding of the economic, social, and artistic statements made by the whole spectrum of America's architectural motifs, it is hoped that readers will be inspired to preserve and restore yesterday's and tomorrow's landmarks.

A beautiful addition to any book collection, Legacy through the Lens may also serve as an example for other communities wishing to inspire pride in, and restoration o their special heritage."

When I read the book jacket I wasn't sure how Downing would pull it off- Leonardo's hand, his actual hand!!! But it works! This is a delightful story about an unlikely family in extraordinary circumstances learning to trust and support eachother despite their own failings, mistakes and misjudgements! I'm a Young Adult Librarian who will happily recommend this to my teens!

This book explains in an organized, easy to understand way, the various aspects of foster care. This book is a valuable resource for foster children and adults who work with them, including foster parents. -Cynthia Miller Lovell, author of The Star: A story to help young children understand foster care, and Questions & Activities for The Star: A handbook for foster parents

Combines an overview of the whole conflict with the author's personal experiences covering the conflict. Free of the academic speak and political correctness which mars too many recent historical accounts.

I'm not exactly sure why I decided to order this book, but I'm definnitely glad I did. It's a scholarly exposition of Jesus' message in light of the written record and the times in which he lived. I tend to be skeptical of books and research on the so-called "historical Jesus" (such as the Jesus Seminar), partly because they seem to exalt factual accuracy over faith rather than melding them. I don't have a clear idea how to do that, but the author of this book did.

There's so much to like about this book. If you want to know what a pharisee did, or what it meant to be a carpenter in the Roman Empire 2000 years ago, this book tells you. If the Gospels give clear evidence of what Jesus did or thought, Kent explains why; if they didn't, he leaves the paradoxes unresolved. He's not interested in false reconciliations or idiosyncratic interpretations; everything is solid (or at least it seems that way to me). The book was originally published nearly a century ago, but most of it reads as if it just came out for the first time yesterday.

Kent was clearly a devout Christian, and his work must be read in that light. Other Christians, regardless of where they are on the spectrum of Christian faith, will value this book the most, for he speaks directly to them. But the book has a great deal to offer anyone who wants to understand Jesus' times and teachings. I don't agree with everything written in it (for one, Kent sees Jesus' message as more individualistic and less communitarian than I do), but that doesn't take away anything from the value of the book to me. I'm sure others will feel the same way.

Abandoned at birth, ten-year-old Billy Bunch has never had it easy. He's gone from orphanage to foster home, all to end up with Aunty May, in her tenth-floor council flat, and to be bullied by bigger kids at school. The only place where Billy feels loved, and truly at home and peace is in the wilderness by the canal. There, Billy finds a lovely water cygnet, and helps her to escape teenage tormentors; as well as a family of foxes, whom he tries to protect from danger. However, when the Mother is hit by a car, and three of the cubs are killed, Billy decides that he must run away with the last remaining cub, in order to protect him from death by man.

As an animal lover, I have read many books involving children and teenagers who love and protect animals, and LITTLE FOXES is on my list of the absolute best. Michael Morpurgo has created a wonderful story that tugs at your heartstrings, and will have the reader sympathizing both with Billy, and the last remaining fox cub. Not only is the story a work of wonderful fiction, but it also shows the reader some realities, including how hard it is to be a defenseless animal, as well as the horrors of being hunted by man. Overall, this is a wonderful new animal story for all ages that shows the bond between a young boy and the only friend he's ever had, a fox.

Erika Sorocco
Book Review Columnist for The Community Bugle Newspaper

A Little Princess follows the story of Sara Crewe, a young girl whose mother died when she was a baby and who has been sent to bording school. She has the finest clothes and toys and anything she wants but isn't spoiled (the story is a fairy tale, by the way). She imagines herself as a princess and wants to be kind wise and just. She does good deeds as her way of "scattering largess to the population." This results in her being the social butterfly of the bording school and earns her the animosity of its queen bee. All this changes in an instant when her fortune is lost and she becomes a scullery maid in the same boarding school. She works all day, sleeps in an unheated attic, and is underfed. She now imagines herself as a princess in disguise, and continues to try and do good deeds for anyone less fotunate. But now she has another identity too - a soldier, like her father, who must live on rations and bravely face each day.

I didn't find this book to be overly sappy and sentimental, but it got close to the borderline at times. There were plenty of discussions of dolls and lacey dresses and ribbons. I read this as an adult. I guess these are supposed to appeal to little girls who want to have a little princessy playground and so would love to read about ribbons, but I think descriptions of lace would have put me off as a child as well. Like I said, these only get borderline sappy, probably because Sara soon becomes penniless and enters the lower class. As a scullery maid she experiences hunger, phsychological abuse from the bording school mistress, and a grinding work schedule. This is not sugar coated for the children, but it isn't the focus either. The focus is on Sara's internal thoughts, her relationships with her few loyal student friends, and what she thinks of the neighbors and the new people she meets and things she sees. So even though there is all this poverty it is there as a setting and not because the author has an axe to grind. Even the ending is fairy tale, but partly bitter-sweet. Strangely enough, this book came across as realistic.

This is a children's book, but functions as a book for adults as well. For example, the estate agent's diplomacy in getting Sara hired by the bording school after she is found to be penniless has some subtlties that are going to be more real for older readers.

I recommend this book to all. It is a children's book that works for adults too. It skirts the border of sappy, but for me didn't cross over at any point. It was a good story that I read through quickly and did not get bored with or bogged down by.