Vermont Books

This book was very useful. However, it doesn't cover each state in depth, so if you are just visiting one state, you might look for a more comprehensive guide for that state.

This man spent 40 years finding out the actual practical uses of Apple cider vinegar, honey and Lugo's Iodine. It can't get any easier or cheaper than this to become and stay healthy.
You can argue that people might get better because they believe something willhelp them. You can't say the same for animals! From cows, to chickens, from minks, to hunting dogs and of course for us humans there is nothing easier to do for good health for our selves and our children!
This book and it's sequel: Folk Medicine and Arthritis, give you an insite on the way our bodies work on the inside, in the blood and cells. You will learn more abou how we work and function than most doctors can (or will) tell you!
Great book!!!!!

Jason Berger pimped this book mercilessly while teaching 5th-8th grade history in Burlington-area VT during its initial publication. As one of his former students, I can safely assert that Mr. Berger has every confidence that this book represents a new frontier in the literary world. While he was unable to inform his students of the exact nature of the book (we had to wait until we were 18), it did sound mighty interesting, and reportedly contained a good quantity of violent imagery and strong sexual content. These are excellent qualities in any novel, but are especially appreciated when coming from one whose job it is to educate the youth of America. Bravo, Mr. Berger! If you're reading this, sir, you should know that I still haven't read it, but I turn 18 in a month and am practically dying with anticipation.

Azarian has a wonderful "primitive" style that belies her technical mastery of woodblock printmaking. A feast for the eyes. Book itself is well made.

John Elder, in this Credo Series book, intertwines observations of his three loves of - literature, nature and his family - into a celebration of life itself.

The book's title marks the moment between winter and spring when the tree frogs commence croaking, warning of the last maple tree sap good for distilling into syrup. The Credo Series offers contemporary American writers an opportunity to discuss the fluid and subtle issues of a world in constant change. Elder offers a message of hope; a hope grounded his lineage, literature and the land; how he found balance building a sugarhouse with his sons in the Vermont Woods.

My favorite essay in the collection is "Starting with the Psalms: A Reader's History" where he weaves memories of the 23rd Psalm into a discussion of John Milton's Paradise Lost with a little Annie Dillard, Robert Frost and Gary Snyder thrown in to season the discussion. Grounded in his experience as a professor and writer living in the Green Mountains of Vermont, Elder connects literature with the landscape that inspired it.

Elder is a treasure; a man who seamlessly weaves the dots of his existence into a portrait that honors his observations of his place on earth.

FROM ANOTHER ANGLE is for teachers and parents--brothers, sisters, aunts, and uncles--for any person who knows and loves a child--for anyone invested in helping that child reach his or her full potential as an ethical, creative, intellectual, spiritual, physical being. Pat Carini's compassionate vision of how we might begin to understand and teach our children shines through this collection on the Prospect School and the process of "Descriptive Review."

Margaret Himley has done an exceptional job of editing the volume, juxtaposing detailed descriptions of children and their learning styles with illuminating essays on the guiding philosophies of Prospect's processes.

The Descriptive Review of a Child is based on phenomenology, on the belief that all possible facets of human experience are valuable and important, worthy of inquiry and respectful contemplation. As Margaret Himley says, "Through description the person becomes more visible and real education begins, and it is, finally, this *taproot value of the person* that characterizes Prospect's particular ethical stance and that gives meaning to the descriptive processes. It is the ethical insistence on the hard work necessary to accord others--*all others*--the status of person, with all the complexity, capability, range of emotions and desires, and possibilities that we know ourselves to have."

Indeed, the actual Descriptive Reviews of Three Children--Gabriel, Victoria, and Nile--are at the heart of this remarable volume. Pat Carini and her Prospect colleagues believe curiosity is the core of all passionate learning. Students who are given the opportunity to pursue their natural interests are more inclined to take risks, to challenge themselves to work well beyond the expectations for their ages and grade levels."....

This thoughtful, cyclical work is the core of Prospect processes, a means of discovery that is neither singular nor static. In her lucid essay on the value of "Oral Inquiry," Margaret Himley reminds us that language must remain fluid, that we must resist the tendency of words to "fix" ideas in our minds or to "explain" things in terms too reductive to be helpful. By participating in dialogues with others, by pooling information, we keep ourselves alert and flexible, willing to interrogate our own biases and perceptions, able to see and celebrate the unique spirits and the limitless potential of our children, our parents, our friends, ourselves. The joyful work of description is an explosive affirmation of life itself, the never-ending miracle of creation.

For twenty-six years, the work of Pat Carini and her colleagues at the Prospect School in North Bennington, Vermont transformed the lives of children and their families. Though the school closed in 1991 when the fragile financial base finally gave way, the work at Prospect continues, and the bold vision of Pat Carini continues to fire the imaginations of all who have ears to hear, voices to describe and encourage, hands to help, and minds to remain forever open and alive and curious. We cannot love our children unless we know them; we cannot nuture their unique interests and gifts unless we allow ourselves to watch them with absolute attention and wonder. Teachers and parents who visit the Prospect School, who read Carini's and Himley's work, who embrace the difficult and rewarding endeavor of Descriptive Review, will be forever changed. There is great hope in this--for all of us.

Gamaliel Painter: Biography Of A Town Father is the story of how one adventurous pioneer transformed a cluster of log huts into a thriving village and one of Vermont's most influential towns. Gamaliel Painter, a man of forceful personality that combined daring, shrewdness and caution, arrived in Middlebury from Connecticut in the mid-eighteenth century. He took on many trades and professions including pioneer town founder, college founder, associate of Ethan Allen at the capture of Fort Ticonderoga, Captain of Artificers in the Continental Army, a two-fisted sheriff, judge, singer of Vermont's Declaration of Independence, legislator, surveyor, land speculator, industrialist, and toll-road tycoon. Biographer Storrs Lee has drawn upon a wealth of historical material to produce a vivid, lively, accurate, and impressive account of Gamaliel Patiner, a most remarkable and accomplished man who left a lasting imprint on Vermont's colonial and revolutionary history.

After Aidan's father tragically dies in an auto accident, he and his mother move to his grandmother's farm in Vermont. He just knows it's going to be hard going here. There will be long, boring days and certainly no one his age around. His grandmother Memere gives him a copy of Homer's THE ODYSSEY telling him it's a book that will help. Then his Uncle Danny (his father's brother) asks him if he would be willing to help out on his farm, and reluctantly he agrees --- after all, he can make some money and it's better than watching his mother mope around.

While all this is happening he can't help but notice how his grandmother leaves for a little walk into the nearby forest every night. She seems to come back refreshed and at ease with the world. When he follows her he is totally taken aback as he watches from his hiding place and sees strange people gathering around her:

...They were virtually silent as they drew closer, with only the faintest rustling of the grass to betray their presence. They crept forward with slow, shy movements, like wild animals unsure of their surroundings, ready to flee at a moment's notice. Strangest of all, there was an indefinite quality to them all, a washed-out element --- as if they'd been left out in the rain too long --- that seemed to blur the edges of their movement.

To his horror he discovers that the figures are ghosts and that they come each night to feed from a small birdbath in which Memere has mixed a few drops of her blood with water. This absolutely goes against everything Aidan has ever believed:

"This is ridiculous, Memere. Ghosts are just in stories and cheesy horror movies. They don't really exist."
"That's right, Aidan. Yet --- here they are," she said.

It is not long before Aidan accepts these strange happenings and sees the possibility that he might even be able to contact his father through the "shades." Although his grandmother warns him against this, he secretly continues until one day he sees a ghostly young boy and begins to think that his father is trying to communicate with him --- or is this his grief out of control?

Meanwhile, Aidan's mother is developing a relationship with Donny. She is also able to get a job for the coming school year teaching English; though deeply grieved, she moves ahead. Aidan, however, is not ready to accept either the relationship or the other things in his life that seem to have gone out of control. His determination to speak with his father becomes even stronger and leads him into a precarious situation.

Through a series of disappointments and overwhelming griefs, Aidan starts to see the connections of all that is happening in his life. His journey is not, after all, so unlike that of Ulysses. These experiences are softened by the strong support of his grandmother and the other loving adults in his life. By the end of the book Aidan realizes how important his family is and the meaningfulness of his grandmother's wise book selection.

David Stahler Jr. has written a book that deals with both the heartbreak of grief and the peace of acceptance. His characters fight against their realities but are ultimately pulled together through grief and love. Teens definitely will find this to be a chilling ghost tale as well as a moving story.

--- Reviewed by Sally M. Tibbetts

With "Gemini," Michael Burns has introduced himself to the world as an author whose breadth of imagination and depth of perception is without compare. Novels are all about character, and the characters with which Burns presents us are as vivid and as emotionally complex and believable as is possible in fiction. We love the characters for their good points, hate them for their flaws, blame them for the consequences of their actions and sympathize with them for their circumstances. Most importantly, however, is that these character's provide us with insight into what it means to be living in the world we do. The novel opens our minds to the realities of day to day life that we never seem to examine, and, in doing so, sheds light on what we all value and despise, and probes into the reasons why we do. I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in how we as humans live and interract with each other and anyone who understands what it is to suffer and deal with suffering.

There's a story told about a Buddhist monk who could look into your eyes and see your grandmother's soul. The collaboration between author Howard Frank Mosher and photographer John M. Miller, called "Granite & Cedar: The People and the Land of Vermont's Northeast Kingdom" gives the common reader a chance for a similar view. This remarkable book gives a profound opportunity to see into and beyond the familiar of "home."
"Granite & Cedar" is set in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom; the black and white photographs (most taken between 1971 and 1976) represent a simpler time when the region was a world unto itself. Then the Interstate rolled through, and it was suddenly easier to have second homes here. Long-time residents could come and go with ease, and the world of the Northeast Kingdom changed. Patterns of life shifted, and familiar traditions suddenly reappeared as people, places and ways that were different.
Mosher's haunting story of Aunt Jane Hubbell weaves through the photographs like hand washed thread turning into fine lace. The story opens in 1965 as the plans for the Interstate are introduced. Aunt Jane has fierce stubbornness and loyalty to family, both living and dead. Will she stand up to the engineers at the public hearing for the highway, or will she back down in deference to her 78 years and ancestors lying at rest? How will she be remembered?
We see the time-worn buildings standing tall beside symbols of an emerging era of rapid obsolescence; we see wool jackets and spruce boards holding their ground to synthetic fleece and vinyl siding; we see men and women whose lives and ways are somehow very familiar although today - they are gone.
We see into a place and time well used by those who lived off the land and were shaped by it and who like Aunt Jane were, above all, practical. Mosher and Miller have unwrapped the gift we thought unique to the legendary monk.
For those with connections to the Northeast Kingdom "Granite & Cedar" will be tenderly familiar. And yet strictly regional, this book is not. For those who only know Vermont's fringe from a distance, the connection to home will prevail.
"Granite & Cedar" is Mosher and Miller at their best.