Shepard Books

The adventures led by Mary Poppins are always warm and bright without a speck of evil or darkness, and make me smile. With her, the most far-away things such as the sky, cloud, moon, and stars are drawn nearer, just in front of me, and all turned into some warm and friendly ones. In this book, Mary Poppins introduces me to some lonly Stars who love herbs in a Midsummer's Eve and then to the Man-in-the-Moon who always awake and watch on things, surrounded by stacks of deserted but still lovely stuffs. After the trips with her, you(as well as I) may find yourselves(I really do!) seeing the herb pots and thinking the Stars, or drinking a cup of hot coccoa and being sorry for the Man-in-the-Moon who can't indulge himself with even a cup of soothing drink that will make him sleepy. Mary Poppins is the One and Only who can make us like this !

When adults forget their childhood pals, daydreamers make foolish wishes and the wind blows unusually strong, it always leads to something quite out of the ordinary -- that is, whenever Mary Poppins is around.

In this, the final Mary Poppins book that P.L. Travers gave us before her death at age 90, we share the five Banks' childrens' adventures. Besides Jane and Michael, who were in the classic Disney movie, there are also toddler twins John and Barbara and infant Annabel.

A big departure from the Disney flick is Mary Poppins herself. Here, she is not the smiling, syrupy sweet nanny that young Julie Andrews portrayed; rather, the book's title character is strict, stern, often sarcastic and very taken with herself. Her strong personality makes her a unique storybook character and readers will find this Mary Poppins more of an enigma. Which, frankly, makes for better stories.

Everything in this book is G-rated but not preachy. Travers gives her young readers many fascinating, but never frightening, fantasy situations. Or are they real? Jane and Michael can never quite tell. The lines between what's real and what's not always blur around Mary Poppins.

This book is a series of unrelated chapters, self-contained stories, all dealing with the same main characters. Nothing is ever as it seems in the nursery of No. 17 Cherry Tree Lane -- or in the nearby park.

On a hot summer's day, Mary Poppins tells the children a tale of a hobo who was an angel in disguise, shedding his rags and growing wings as he flies away.

In another chapter, Michael, upset that he's caught a cold, finds that some days when everything seems to be going all right, it's actually going all wrong. He's taught a valuable lesson on a planet full of cats.

Later in the book, the children find messages on falling leaves. And witness a delightful, but not frightening, Halloween shadow dance in the park.

The nanny's magical cousin, Mr. Mo, is introduced. Jane finds the little toy figures she's created and destroyed do have lives of their own.

Around Mary Poppins, adults -- including favorites such as Admiral Boom, Miss Lark and her two dogs Andrew and Willoughby, the Bird Woman and Bert -- are caught off balance. Zookeepers, policemen and taxi drivers react to a flurry of frenzied events. Characters pop out of storybooks, out of Jane's mind, and off ceramic bookends. Lions and unicorns and even Indian chiefs prance through the park.

We are taken to worlds that exist between the blades of grass in the lawn, and up in the sky, to where felines and children disappear. There are traffic snarls, wedding breakfasts and birthday parties. And through it all, stalks Mary Poppins, with not a hair out of place. In very short order, characters get what they deserve, if not what they expect, and things are set right.

How does she do it? No one knows. Mary Poppins, you see, never, ever explains. But, she always entertains. Have some fun in the park with this magical nanny.

The author has taken a simple concept for a story and made it something special! It is interesting and imaginative to get into the creative mind of this little pig. Some of the text is repetitive, hence 4 stars, but the animation is truly excellent! My 5-year-old actually laughed out loud at some of the scenes! There is a lot to look at to hold a child's interest. This is a good book to read with your child or for a beginning reader. I recommend it as a good addition to your child's library!

The book "The Millonth Egg" by Bernice Myers is a great book. I think it is a wonderful book for childern because it will inhance their imagination. There are very colorful pictures and also very detailed pictures. It also seems that you could relate some of the chickens to real people. I really enjoyed this book when I was a kid.

An adventure/love story about a hippo (Mimi) and a mouse (Gustuv)who are captured by pirates and the tale of their daring escape. My son really likes this one and the story is nice and pictures are good. I personally just have a hard time getting past the hippo-mouse love connection - but apparently true love can conquer all.

Mrs. Fitz's Flamingos is an engaging read for the younger bunch. It helps children understand that seniors need friends, too. Mrs. Fitz has a great memory of her trip and finds that a plastic flamingo makes her feel better; so, she saves to buy two flamingos every week. The rest of the story is fabulous. It introduces a child to the value of saving and buying a little when you have it versus buying a lot and owing for it. A great short read.

Charming story of love and murder in the stacks. Being a librarian I always enjoy mysteries set in libraries, especially when true love wins out.

The thing that made me buy this book after getting it from the library was the charm and complexity of the illustrations. They seem to suggest that the world is an infinitely interesting and involving place, and to encourage exploration of both geography and imagination. I wish that poster sized versions of the illustrations were available! I'd have one framed.

The Mystery of the McGilley Mansion by Florence Laughlin is a great mystery book for children of all ages. It's about two kids, Tod and Susan who's parents are going on a trip and they are staying with Mrs. McGilley, the old mysterious lady who lives in the three-story mansion. During their stay she tells the kids stories about people that are always trying to steal her treasure. They are anxious to find it, and eventually they do except its not open. They ask Mrs. McGilley and she tells them that she doesn't know what's in it and that she won't open it until she needs to.
The thing I liked most was that I could never figure out what was going to happen next. What I didn't like was how it jumped from one thing to another quickly because it was sort of hard to think and understand each part of the story. My favorite character was Tod because he was always trying figure everything out and get in the middle of it.The part in the story that meant something to me was when Tod put his hand out to help Mrs. McGilley when she was in trouble in the water. It shows that he has the courage to help someone that is in trouble, especially an older lady.
What I would say about this book to someone else is that it's a great book and it keeps you on your feet to find out what's going to happen next. One question I have after reading this book is why Mrs. McGilley never opened the treasure, even though she never needed it, it would still be cool to open it. I would recommend this book because it keeps you wondering what is going to happen next.

Unlike most people who read this book, I did not read "The Ecological Indian" (TEI) before reading this book. At first glance, I thought this book would bash the TEI.

PROS: The book presents varied perspectives on TEI. The analysis is dispassionate and academic. The arguments are reasoned and calm, which is refreshing since many people who disagree with TEI are extremely emotional about the subject. I loved that they gave the author of TEI a part of the book to address the objections; that's quite fair and helps the discussion.

CONS: A bit too academic at times.

CONCLUSION: I found the arguments against the TEI not incredibly convincing. I thought I would come away with a bunch of strong counter-arguments against TEI and instead found myself agreeing with the general thesis of TEI (even if there are some small holes in it that this book addresses).

And I have still not read TEI.