Nebraska Books

This book is about the expulsion of the Germans after the Second World War, whose impacts still last in the present of the 21st century. In this book, the effects of the decisions of the Allies at the Potsdam conference are described in a detailed way as well as the tragedy of these decisions. In a very good documented and researched as well as extensive manner, the author characterize the problem of the expulsion which based on the decisions of the "well-regulated and human" resettlement of 16 million German and led to one of the biggest postwar period crimes in which more then 2 million German lost their lives.
Alfred M. de Zayas is able to illustrate in an objective way the facts of the holocaust on the German independent of any ideology and without putting the blame on so. nor looking for excuses so that a dark but fast forgotten chapter of the 2nd World War will bear in remembrance. This topic is most times tabu for German. A lot of German still suffering ( physically and psycological) from that history and they fear to be considered as a NAZI if mentioned that issue but it is necessary to deal with that subject and to accomplish comprehension which is useful for underlining the efforts for peace.
This book prompt me to do some research on that subject but also to other related documentations of the 2nd World War among other things of de Zayas. He gave me understanding but also the impulsion to get closer to that topic. This book is a must to understand the German history completely and to be able to deal with that. The first German version of that book was published in 1977 under the title: Die Anglo-Amerikaner und die Vertreibung der Deutschen, Vorgeschichte, Verlauf, Folgen.

This book is about the expulsion of the Germans after the Second World War, whose impacts still last in the present of the 21st century. In this book, the effects of the decisions of the Allies at the Potsdam conference are described in a detailed way as well as the tragedy of these decisions. In a very good documented and researched as well as extensive manner, the author characterize the problem of the expulsion which based on the decisions of the "well-regulated and human" resettlement of 16 million German and led to one of the biggest postwar period crimes in which more then 2 million German lost their lives.
Alfred M. de Zayas is able to illustrate in an objective way the facts of the holocaust on the German independent of any ideology and without putting the blame on so. nor looking for excuses so that a dark but fast forgotten chapter of the 2nd World War will bear in remembrance. This topic is most times taboo but it is necessary to deal with that subject and to accomplish comprehension which is useful for underlining the efforts for peace.
This book prompt me to do some research on that subject but also to other related documentations of the 2nd World War among other things of de Zayas. He gave me understanding but also the impulsion to get closer to that topic. This book is a must to understand the German history completely and to be able to deal with that. The first German version of that book was published in 1977 under the title: Die Anglo-Amerikaner und die Vertreibung der Deutschen, Vorgeschichte, Verlauf, Folgen.

Abraham Lincoln once said that "history is an agreed upon set of lies": I believe every word. The atrocities that were committed by the Allies to helpless civilians should never be forgotten and should be included in modern textbooks, lest we be damned to repeat such ethnic cleansing. Let us see history for what it is, not what others wish us to believe. I applaud Mr. De Zayas for having the intestinal fortitude to step forward and offer this intriguing account of the horrors of revenge.

It's very difficult to find much information, especially accurate information, on these expulsions. This book is a very responsible portrayal. Of course the Germans in a way brought this nightmare on themselves, but its hard to really justify the hypocricy and historical distortions of the Poles and Russians. I wonder whether these border adjustments can stand the light, now being allowed, after 45 years of Russian occupation? The current dysfunction of these regions begs for German investment, dispite the ambivalence of the current residents. At least this book brings to light, for those few who have read it, the hypocrisy of the allies.

Abraham Lincoln once said that "history is an agreed upon set of lies": I believe every word. The atrocities that were committed by the Allies to helpless civilians should never be forgotten and should be included in modern textbooks, lest we be damned to repeat such ethnic cleansing. Let us see history for what it is, not what others wish us to believe. I applaud Mr. De Zayas for having the intestinal fortitude to step forward and offer this intriguing account of the horrors of revenge.

I prefer this text to those in the anthologies primarily because the notes are on the same page as the text. I don't think the background to the play via the introduction is quite as thorough as it could be - the Oxford being more complete I think in that regard - but his notes are helpful and his history of production, though short, is revealing. I tend to side with those that attribute this play to Middleton, but who knows? The play itself is a wonderful mixture of the melodramatic revenge plot with a quite comic over-view of the world in which it takes place.

PreShakespeare, but a lot of fun to read! I enjoyed it very much--- has to do with a man who is carrying around a murdered girlfriend for almost ten years-- he is planning revenge on the king...

This dark tragi-comedy resonates with the dramatic potential of Hamlet, but and edge particular to Jacobean Drama. A play which is still relevant today (many students related it to "The Godfather"), and brimming with cinematic violence, lust, deception, vengence, and, with all this, communicated through beautiful poetry.

Brian Gibbons, editor of the New Mermaids second edition (1991), describes The Revenger's Tragedy (1607) as a minor masterpiece. Judged against contemporaneous revenge plays like Hamlet and King Lear (and even Titus Andronicus), the term 'minor' certainly does not imply inferior. Minor or not, I agree with the four previous reviewers: The Revenger's Tragedy deserves five stars. Also, it is much easier reading than most Elizabethan and Jacobean plays.

Despite its title, The Revenger's Tragedy is no more bloody than Thomas Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy (fifteen years earlier) and it is certainly not as insanely gruesome and brutal as Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus (1594). No dismemberments and no cannibalism. Bloody, yes. But not excessively so.

Nonetheless, we learn of a murder, a rape leading to a suicide, and yet another aggressive seduction (or rape, if need be) that is in the planning stage. So ends Act 1. Revenge and mayhem follow.

The plot is not unduly complex. Vindice desires revenge for the poisoning death of his betrothed, Gloriana, by the lustful, aging Duke. Vindice also indirectly blames the Duke for his father's death, though "he died of discontent, the nobleman's consumption". Vindice is perhaps obsessive; he has retained Gloriana's skull and sometimes speaks directly to her.

In disguise he provokes discord between his enemies and leads them to plot against each other. (This ruse reminds me of Malevole's subterfuge in John Marston's play, The Malcontent.) A poisoned skull, a mistaken execution, and a murderous banquet highlight the later acts. The play concludes with an ironic twist, possibly added as a moral lesson, or simply to surprise the audience.

Hats off to either Cyril Tourneur or Thomas Middleton, or whoever may have authored this fascinating revenge play.

Update July, 2007: I recently encountered reference to this lesser known play in a murder mystery. Cecil Day-Lewis, Poet Laureate from 1968 until his death in 1972, wrote sophisticated mysteries under the pseudonym Nicholas Blake from the mid-1930s to the early 1960s. Thou Shell of Death (1936) is a revenge murder patterned on The Revenger's Tragedy. In the first scene Vindice speaking to the skull of his dead mistress says: "My study's ornament, thou shell of death, Once the bright face of my betrothed lady ...."

OK. The jury has more or less decided that "The Revenger's Tragedy" is not by Cyril Tourneur after all, but by Thomas Middleton. This is on strictly scholarly grounds. Either way, it scarcely matters, as this play is strictly sui generis. It's like nothing else either Tourneur or Middleton ever wrote.

The best way to think of it is as standing in a relation to the classic Jacobean and Elizabethan tragedies of Kyd, Shakespeare, Webster and Middleton sort of like the way Quentin Tarantino's early films stand in relation to previous Hollywood classics. Whoever wrote this, they were Taking The P*ss. The play starts in next-to-top gear, and accelerates into warp speed fairly quickly. Few other plays of the era (this is roughly contemporaneous with "King Lear", to give you an idea) are so ruthlessly efficient. The basic plot is put in motion by two brothers, Vindice and Hippolito, who are a bit cheesed off because the egregious Duke (of wherever) killed Vindice's wife cause she wouldn't put out. From here proceeds a bizarre and increasingly unlikely series of revenges, climaxing in a frankly chortlesome mass slaying. Vindice is the juiciest role - a bit like Shakespeare's Richard III, he guides the audience through the action, but with far greater economy and far less wrangling of conscience, not that Crookback Dick is noted for his remorse.

By the end, the stage is littered with bodies, and Vindice and Hippolito cheerfully go off to execution, with barely a qualm in sight. This is truly the most cynical and the funniest of all Jacobean tragedies. Whoever wrote it, be it Cyril or Tom, was thinking along the same lines Howard Hawks was on when he (Hawks) turned "Rio Bravo" from a Western into a chamber comedy. It's all thoroughly reprehensible, and great fun. You want depth, try John Webster.

There aren't many four-hundred-year-old plays that I laugh aloud at whilst reading, but this is one of them. Pace the opinion below, it couldn't have less to do with Jonson's careful layering of reality if it tried. It's a brisk, bleak, savage cartoon. Full marks, whoever you were.

Black Elk Speaks

I ordered the book for my friend Kayla. When I found out that she was writing a paper on American Indians, I insisted she read what I feel is one of the most amazing insights into a facet of the mind they, the American Indians know well; that of the Medicine Man, their Shaman. Black Elk Speaks opened my mind to a world I knew of only in reading other books on sages that have entered realities unknown to most of us, sages from other parts of the world. Our culture generally discourages any practice that helps an individual get beyond the mental confines of the world we know. In this book, we read about a people, in this case one man, that makes it his and their life-style or "Way" where the exception in the norm.

Robert Yanasak

These are the original records of a series of interviews about spiritual awakening that resulted in the classic book "Black Elk Speaks." When Black Elk describes his vision, it is the most beautiful, the most profound assessment of human experience that I have ever encountered. Black Elk speaks in the language and symbols of his culture, so a reader who has knowledge of his way of life will better understand what he was trying to convey.

I felt this book was a constant page turner. If your interested in native american literature this is a wonderful book to have in your collection. Find a quiet place burn some sage and cedar and begin your journey with the sixth grandfather.

This book is the most powerful book I have ever read. Black Elk exudes a spiritual connection that is unparalleled. He also was a man of service. He speaks with a poetic sense of the world that has been killed by science, rationalism and money lust. If we could recover the spiritual sense, this indigenous way of being, that this man had the world would be rich. This book is better than the book "Black Elk Speaks" by Neihardt, because Demallie publishes the interviews verbatim (Neihardt's influence is limited), he provides many footnotes and writes a 100 page introduction and biography on Black Elk using material not contained in the interviews. Demallie also discusses issues that arise from what Black Elk says.

In reading this book on Black Elk Speaks I was overwhelmed. It seemed like the book was meant to land into my hands. When I began to read this novel, I understood. My feelings about vision quests, and soaring with the creators helpers has been an enlightenment to me for being here. I see things that I read in Black Elk Speaks and I understand. I understand what it is like to want to save the people and to have this heaviness come over you when they don't understand you. I have heard your message and I understand.

I especially admire the sections "Twenty Coping Strategies" and "The New Life of the Caregiver and Its Rewards". She is so wise, although she doesn't always acknowledge that other demenitia pateints may not have the same problems. Wish I'd found this book during my husband's illness! I quote it often in my own book, "Voices of Alzheimer's."

This book helps those of us new to dealing with a family member with Alzheimers's. It helps identify odd behaviors as expected and helps give caregiver tips for dealing with the affected family member.

For any family going through this heart-wrenching disease with all of it's struggles, this book should be mandatory reading. I have found, as a daughter of an Alzheimer victim, that people are afraid to ask you about your loved one, because they don't know how to react. Lela Shanks is to be admired for her enlightenment of this disease. This book should be handed out to any family upon the diagnosis of Alzheimers.

I received this book as a gift from a long-time friend about a year after my Father was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. This book made me laugh, cry and get angry, but most of all it became a companion during the long, hard care of my Father. Mrs. Shanks gives the patient and caregiver humanity. She includes tips for care and really lets the caregiver know what to expect in dealing with this terrible disease. Of all the books I have read dealing with Alzheimer's this is clearly the best!

I strongly encourage anyone facing any type of involvement with an Alzheimer's patient to read this book. Anyone who knows the author could tell you that she is the type of person who is honest and straightforward. This book is a mirror image of her personality. There are practical solutions to the day to day trials of dealing with an Alzheimer's patient as well as an overwhelming sense of love and acceptance for the entire situation. The book also deals with the importance of support for caregivers. The best thing you can do to support yourself or anyone involved with an Alzheimer's patient is to love them. The second best thing you can do is to educate everyone involved. Start with this book and it will open your eyes and your heart in ways you never thought possible.

This book is a wonderful for all who are inspired to serve their own churches, a biography of Bishop Harold Jones of South Dakota, the trials and trbulations of a man making a name for himself within the Episcopal church, still leaves a lasting impression on clergy that knew this wonderful man, a man who can wonderfully sing lakota hymns ( told to me by a priest i know, who knew him well) and preach the gospel with great reverence. Bishop Jones is still talk of the South Dakota Episcopal Diocese now and the future, a role model for all who takes compassion, people and God as a way of life.

I am an Episcopalian Christian and a native of the state of Montana. As such, I was unable to finish "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" (Dee Brown) because of what is sometimes called white guilt. I did finish Cochran's book,"Dakota Cross Bearer." In fact, I could hardly put it down.

Some may prefer "Bury My Heart" over Mary Cochran's book, because of Brown's righteous and radical anger, absent from Cochran's voice.

Like Brown's account, this story speaks sorrowfully of the shameful history of betrayal of Native Americans, even by the church. It touched me deeply because it recounts the the open-mindedness of many Lakotah people toward the god of the Europeans who were displacing, impoverishing, and trying to stamp out the cultures of tribes throughout the west. While many missionaries in this account had benevolent intentions, the fruit of their labors was a mixed blessing at best.

Mary and her husband, The Rt. Rev. David Cochran (former bishop in the Dakotas) were entrusted with the story of the Lakotah people and prejudice in the church from Bishop Harold Jones' point of view. His lack of rancor in living through many insults and challenges is a powerful witness to the best in the Christian faith tradition, and even more so, the best in his tribal traditions. The picture of life on the Lakotah reservations during the early 20th century was fascinating. For example, Lakota women took the lead consistently in raising the funds necessary to start new churches. They had almost no money and were phenomenally ingenious!

I will never stop grieving what happened to the native peoples of the west as my people invaded their homeland. Bishop Jones' spirit will help me live with it.

Dakota Cross-Bearer: The Life And World Of A Native American Bishop is the biography of Harold S. Jones, a Dakota Indian born in 1909, who joined the Episcopal Church and rose in its ranks to become the first Native American bishop of a Christian church. Offering key insights into twentieth-century missionary activity among Native American communities, revealing instances of dispute and discrimination amid the Episcopal Church, as well as the demands of clerical training and the relocation in service of the institution, Dakota Cross-Bearer offers a view like no other into the life of an unusual but no less dedicated man of the cloth and faith.

What a find this book is!!! Having spent time this summer working on the Pine Ridge Reservation among the Lakota, I was thrilled to read a book containing not only historical facts, but "real life" detail. The joy, humor, sorrow, endurance, and faithfulness of this man of God (and those whose lives entwined with his) truly touched me. This book may be sucessfully used for historical, theological, sociological, or devotional purposes. Make sure to read and reread Fr. Deloria's (Tipi Sapa) testimony concerning Jesus, several times. It is the most compelling witness I have ever heard. It is no wonder that the little one, who listened to this wise man speak, grew up to be a Bishop.

Mary E. Cochran presents the story of Harold S. Jones, who in 1921 became the first American Indian bishop of the Episcopal Church. While much of Jones's narrative is in the third person, whenever possible editor Cochran allowed Jones to present his story "in his own words." Raymond A. Bucko and Martin Brokenleg's introduction does a good job of contextualizing Jones's story. The volume sheds considerable light on missionary activities among American Indians in the 20th century and offers welcome documentation of the complex interactions between Christian missionaries and Native peoples of the Plains. Choice, vol 28, no. 7 (March 2001).

I read this book early in the mornings before the newspaper arrived. I found myself getting up earlier and earlier each day so I could read more. I saw myself many times. I thought I was unique; however, after reading this book, I realized that I was just like other Husker fans. I started following the Huskers in the mid 50's. I have had season tickets since the 70's sometime. Thank you for such an entertaining book.

This book is great key to understanding the mind of a true Husker fan. If you grew up in Nebraska, you share an unspoken bond with the football program. One sport, and one sport only, dominates the airwaves, broadcasts, and conversation all across the state. Steve does a phenomenal job in describing his feelings, thoughts and emotions of growing up in Nebraska with football evrywhere you look.
When reading this book, you get an understanding of what it is like to be a Nebraskan, and why we have such a passion for football. The book helps make you understand why it much more than just a game, it is a way of life. Nowhere in the nation, does one team serve as the lifeforce for an entire people. Growing up in Nebraska, I have experienced and shared the same feelings and emotions. Husker football has been an emotional rollercoaster from the disappointing close calls of missed 2 point conversions and field goals that cost national championships, to the nail biter games with Oklahoma on Thansgiving, to a 60-3 record over 5 years with 3 national titles. Nebraska football means so much more than can be imagined to its fans and the residents of the great state of Nebraska. Steve lets you into the life of a Nebraskan growing up and becoming a Husker fan more and more along the way.

Steve Smith is a gifted writer and he has captured his love of the Huskers in this witty narrative. I simply could not put this book down. Mr. Smith's true gift is his ability to translate the emotions of a die-hard fan-the very definition of fanatical-into a character set that leaves the reader both relating to, and endeared by his love and devotion for Nebraska Football. This book isn't just for Huskers; every sports fan will enjoy its insight and humor.

If you ever wondered what draws Husker fans to Lincoln on Saturdays in the fall, author Steve Smith lays it all out in this book. It is a humorous but honest look from one fan's perspective about the passion surrounding the draw of Husker football. Husker fans will immediately relate to this book. College football fans reading it will say to themselves "Aha! That's why they're so crazy!".

I wouldn't call this a 'fan' book as much as I'd call it a personal search by author Steve Smith trying to understand his love, passion, and fanaticism for Husker football. That search leads through his life starting with his first Husker game - a Nebraska 50-0 win over Iowa on September 20th, 1980 - to the firing of Frank Solich and the initial season of Bill Callahan. It's a journey that many of us have taken, coming from small town Nebraska to attend the University in Lincoln, where we would have expected, as Smith states "like countless hicks from the sticks, I assumed everyone in Lincoln wore Husker gear all the time".

Smith's writing is always entertaining, even when he's being brutally honest about Nebraska, saying things that we all know to be true but would never say out loud. You establish a personal relationship with him as he shares his life centered around Husker football. I thoroughly enjoyed this book as many of the memories related by Smith are similar to my own. Steve Smith has lived a mirror of my life due to our shared obsession with Husker football and coming from small-town Nebraska.

Forever Red is an excellent Husker fan book and would make a great present for any college football fan.

I highly reccommend this book to all Cornhusker fans! Mr. Smith knows his Big Red football and understands the devotion they inspire because he is such a faithful fan himself. He accurately and humorously portrays what it means to be a Nebraska fan through the good, bad, and the ugly.

I truly enjoyed reading the book and learning of my Aunt Alma's point of view. I have grown up hearing of Pretty Shield and truly am blessed with having an aunt that shares her story and pictures.

I have been blessed not only to read this book but to have met the author. She is both fascinating in person and in printed word, and her story is enlightening, educational, and entertaining. If you have any interest in Native American history, you'll be glad you read this book.

I truly enjoyed this book. It was written in plain language and seemed very personable to me. It is a true story about Alma's life growing up on the Crow Indian Reservation in Montana and how she was deeply influenced by her grandmother Pretty Shield who taught Alma the old ways...she was a grandmother's grandchild. Pretty Shield was pretty smart I think. She had an appreciation for the natural world not seen too much anymore in our modern lives. I found these "old ways" interesting. This has influenced Alma for sure and she is able to reconcile this as well as the hardships of life with her deep Christian beliefs. God Bless you too Alma!

Grandmother's Grandchild,Alma Snell, shares memories of one of the first recorded Female Indian Elders..Pretty Shield. Pretty Shield was written about in the 1930's when women were too often overlooked. Pretty Shield saw the buffalo leave and the reservations begin. Alma shares the experience of making the transition to Reservation life with Pretty Shield by her side. This book is a refreshing and deeply personal life story that manages to state facts without undertones of judgement. BEAUTIFUL! READ IT!

A wonderful book! While much of the poverty and oppression of Indian people is painful to read, one can see the wonderful connections between families in Ms. Snell's book. The love and care for Indian children by extended families is probably one of the greatest reasons the Indian people and traditions have survived. We in the "dominate culture" could learn much to change the disintigration of American families by learning more about Native American people.

Gratefully Yours is an excellent book! The author is Jane Buchanan. The author's words flow very nicely and it makes me feel like I am living the story.
This book is about an orphan. Her name is Hattie. She has no one to love. My favorite scene is when she goes on a train to see if she would get adopted. Hattie is very brave, quiet, calm, and most of all open-minded. The theme of this book is wait and see what truly is. This book is meant for someone who likes sad books but with GREAT endings! I won't tell you the ending because that is for me to know and you to find out!!!! The author writes so well. I just wanted to stay up all night to finish it. The book is good for all ages 10 and older. Once you have read this book you will truly be thankful. Hattie has been though so much but she is still holding up. The genre of this book is realistic fiction.

I loved the book! It was soooooo exciting! It is about a girl named Hattie who was an orphan and eventually got adopted by a farmer whose wife was sick. I think everyone should read this book. Some parts may be sad though.

This is a good book about a girl who traveled on the Orphan Train. Hattie found a home with the Jensens and made friends with the cat, Cloud. But she has problems with kids who don't like orphans and some of her friends being mistreated. To find out how it ends, read the book!

I had to read this book for my Children's Literature class (I'm going to be an elementary teacher) and I loved it. I will definately use it in my classroom. It's a great way to introduce or review my Orphan Train unit :)

The book Gratefully Yours brings the thoughts of a stubborn New York City tenement orphan into the wide and open prairie of Nebraska. This books main character, Hattie, is charming and loving. She learns the jobs of a farm girl, and keeps her knowledge from New York. I give this book 4 stars because of a suprise ending that I didn't like, but some people might.

I loved this book so much that over the course of the 2 days I was reading it (couldn't put it down, also didn't want to finish it) I read excerpts of it outloud to people in my apt, a restaurant, a bar, and even a Chase bank. Since finishing it I have recommended it to friends, parents friends, hair stylists, and dentists alike and I recommend it to you. I haven't enjoyed a book as much as this in a long time.

This book is so friggin funny that it aggravated an old war wound from all the laughing I did. It's like some painfully intimate HBO screenplay where no taboo goes un-turned.

Wise beyond her years, Rachel Shukert's Have You No Shame? is at once a calm testament of long-since, learned from experiences and an ecstatic, orgasmic and immediate confession of a twenty-something. Her stories are vivid, emotional and hilarious. She came from Omaha to conquer the world. Have You No Shame? is great start. BRAVO!

Have You No Shame? isn't merely laugh-out-loud funny. It's wake-up-your-significant-other-so-you-can-read-it-aloud funny, which is the highest order of funny. If Courtney Love were impregnated with the frozen sperm of S. J. Perelman, but gave the kid to Garrison Keillor to raise -- that kid just might be lucky enough to write like Rachel Shukert.

Shukert's book is a collection of essays about growing up Jewish in Omaha, Nebraska (mostly) -- but that description makes the book sound a lot squarer and more ordinary than it is. We're used to the idea of a male Jewish writer shpritzing caustically and candidly, like Philip Roth or Bruce Jay Friedman. We're used to the idea of a warts-and-all comic memoir that veers between the amusing and the horrifying, ala Augusten Burroughs or Tobias Wolff. But I can't think of another woman who has claimed the particular piece of literary terrain that Rachel Shukert makes her own. She's unabashedly sexual, unapologetically Jewish, and somehow keeps things three-dimensional and real instead of cartoonish and smutty. For instance, while her mordant observational wit spears her family as often as it does anyone else, they still come off as loveable and complex human beings. So does everyone in this hilarious, touching, memorable book.

This is the funniest book I've read in years, and captures my generation better than anything I've encountered to date. Rachel Shukert's hilarious Jewish family picks up where early Philip Roth left off. Her sense of humor is relentless, and her "experiences" make the David Sedaris prose that we were all so recently shocked by look tame by comparison. To top it all off, I found myself very attached to the leading lady, and totally heart broken at the book's conclusion.

This story shows a little of what it was like decades ago in the heartland. Great artwork too.

I grew up a voracious reader and somehow, I missed this gem of a book! We checked it out from the library and now must have it. Sandburg's writing is reminiscent of Dr. Suess in novel word usage and syntax and the story telling reminds me of NPR's A Prairie Home Companion. A great tall tale that enthralled my 6 year old twins and 4 year old and that I enjoyed reading WAY too much! Add to your collection!

When my mom read this book to my sister and me, it had already entertained young readers for about 50 years. How lucky were we that this story had been preserved for the purpose of delighting us to the very core of our young beings? The idea of a popcorn farm catching fire was thoroughly thought provoking for an already thought-filled pre-schooler.

When I recently purchased it for my own little girls, I must admit that I suffered a major disappointment. You see, the Huckabuck family has a pony faced daughter named, "Pony Pony Huckabuck." Unbeknownst to me (and in my honor) every single time that my mom read this book, that daughter became "Joanie Joanie Huckabuck." Now, I can't decide if I should be upset that Sandburg didn't really name one of his main characters for me, or that my mom re-named the "PONY FACED" child after me.

In any case, I highly recommend this book to any parent who would like to share a very interesting story, told with interesting language, with their children.

Carl Sandburg's Huckabuck Family will delight and charm children of every age with a story of family pride and optimism. When the Huckabucks Nebraska barn burns down and all their popcorn pops, they decide to go on the road and wait for a sign to tell them when to come back home. Each year they move to a new town and Papa finds a new job. The Huckabucks may have good luck, or bad, but they always have each other. David Small's illustrations add just the right touch to the story and are so detailed that even the farm animals have facial expressions. So, sit down and take a trip across the country and back with the Huckabucks. I promise, you won't be disappointed. This is a wonderful book the whole family can share.

This book is a satisfying follow-up to David Small's last twobooks, The Gardener & The Library. Though this is an old story its optimistic message suits Small's whimsical style beautifully. I'm thoroughly confused by the review in Kirkus that criticizes the repetitive nature of the names--this is part of Sandburg's poetic form--as well as the "pointless" nature of the Huckabuck family's travels, which is actually the whole point of the story. One must take a change in luck in stride, go out and find one's new fortune, and you may even find yourself back home having learned a thing or two. Cheers (& 5 stars) to the Huckabucks, Sandburg, and David Small.