Vacations Books

Jacqueline Davies' THE HOUSE TAKES A VACATION receives Lee White's drawings and tells of a house who decides it wants to take a holiday, too, when its owners go on vacation. The only problem is - different parts of the house want different things, so it can't decide on where to go. What happens when one part decides to go just where it wishes? Lots of fun!

This is an excellent book to read to your class after a basic introduction for punctuation. It is very well written and extremely funny with creative language. I loved it for my 5th grade class!

This book rolls along on one hilarious word play after another. After the Petersons leave for vacation, their house decides it wants to take a holiday, too, but not before a squabble with the different parts of the house. The sunporch wants to head for the beach, but the basement refuses "to rise to the occasion." Lee White's delicious color pencil sketches show the house finally setting off, with the front door leading the way! The adventures of this vacationing house shouldn't be miss for those who love well-written, and beautifully illustrated picture books.

Residents of Pinehurst get loads of houseguests (translation:golfers). This book is full of practical advice on providing acomfortable environment for the guests without giving up the host's home comforts. I loved it! Bring on the guests!

I enjoyed reading this book and found many suggestions offered by the authors reassuring, that certain things I am doing as a Hostess are okay and quite acceptable! Good meal suggestions. I particularly liked the fact that they included some vegetarian receipes.

This book is a real lifesaver! I'm rather a hermit and unused to hosting houseguests, and I've got a bunch of them coming for an extended stay soon. I was a mass of insecurities about accommodations, meals, and entertainment, but after reading this book I feel so much better. It's all there, and the advice is so easygoing and practical that I kept finding myself saying "Of course!" The book is divided into two main parts, Care and Feeding, as its subtitle indicates. My cooking repertoire being rather limited, I'm now practicing some of the "Easy Does It" recipes in the Feeding section, and the ones I've tried are great. Thanks to Kimball and Schneider, obviously veterans of long experience, I hope to come through this houseguests experience in style!

How to Draw a Radish: And Other Fun Things to Do at Work
How to Draw a Cup of Coffee and Other Fun Ideas for Home & Garden
How to Draw a Clam: A Wonderful Vacation Planner
All three books, by Joy Sikorski

I have owned these three wonderful books since the late nineties & have re-visited them many times.

In the field of what I would like to term as 'deliberate doodling', I consider these three books to be the best in the genre. Unlike the common doodles, which seem whimsical, 'deliberate doodling' involves some form of structure & purpose. I am very impressed by what the author has done in the three fun books of hers.

All three fun books are spiral bound, each with almost two hundred pages of inspirational doodling techniques, on top of various other discovery games & paper crafts for professional & personal entertainment. Each is sturdily constructed with two pockets for special projects, organised with ten card-board dividers & yet small enough to fit into your briefcase.

From my personal perspective, they are wonderful toys for grow-ups: playful, instructive & absolutely worthwhile!

The author has actually written another similar book, entitled 'Squeaky Chalk : And Other Fun Things to Draw (And Do) When There's Nothing to Do!' but for some strange reasons, I did not lay my hands on it.

For the benefit of readers, let me share this personal experience of mine: I have combined the 'deliberate doodling' techniques from Joy with the 'rapid viz' techniques from Kurt Hanks, & integrated them into the 'private writing' processes as formulated by Mark Levy in his wonderful book, 'Accidental Genius: Revolutionize Your Thinking Through Private Writing .'

I use what I often like to term as my 'scratch pad', the type artists use, foolscape size, spiral-bound, 100 pages per pad, 100 gms weight, in conjuction with a multi-colour/multi-utility pen from Rotring. At one point in time, (for about 3 years) I used the Bienfang spring-bound note/sketch pads until the only local supplier went out of business unexpectedly.

On many occasions, I have astonished myself by being able to wrestle with the valuable business & life insights from my own seemingly disparate "private writing"/'deliberate doodling'/'rapid viz' pages. The doodles & illustrations often add a perceptive visual dimension to my seemingly random thoughts on paper. My scratch pad is always a visual smorgasbord of relatively heavy text, mystical doodles & logical illustrations (thanks & no thanks to my engineering training!). I have translated many of my valuable insights into pragmatic projects. One of the sideline projects is writing reviews on amazon website.

To all readers: If you really want to use both sides of your powerful brain to generate valuable insights, I can guarantee that these three books can drive your imagination engine into hyper-speed mode.

Have you ever lately read a book which makes you smile? Take this.Read this and see you in the mirror.Even when you feel you are still in frown, you will see a :) there!

Once again Joy has written another great art book for people of all ages! it makes a great gift or just a fun read! i have been reading her books for years and still love the creativity she puts into them! Read it for your self and see what you think!

Are you tired of dry matter of-fact reading when it comes to homesteading or related books? This book is easy to read, informative, and yet funny. The author has a great sense of humor, but at the same time give practical information on what to look for when buying a place in the country. The book discusses first, whether or not a move to the country is your ideal dream. He then describes places to avoid moving to, and what to expect once you have moved. The book has important information on demographics, states with watertables, high crime states, eco-zones, etc.. The book is very useful and the author gives information from bureaus to write to in order to get further information on a particular state you are considering moving to. Overall, I highly recoomend this book, it won't show you how to milk a cow, but it is a very useful tool in starting your search for the ideal country property of your dreams.

This is one of the most useful books that I own! I found it humorous, extremely well researched and answered all my questions about finding MY ideal country home

I have been planning a move to the country for a few years now and have collected a number of books. It was not until I got this book that my plans are beginning to solidify. It has a lot of very practical advice mixed in with humour that makes it a treasure on my bookshelf. It is a must for anyone who is planning that "back to the land" move

This is such a helpful book, I'm almost sorry it was written! This is *the* definitive guide to renting public cabins in southcentral Alaska. As an Alaskan who appreciates the availability of inexpensive cabins -- especially when B&Bs and hotels are $... nightly -- I must say I hope too many travelers don't catch on. Excellent and informative.

Andromeda Romano-Lax's How To Rent A Public Cabin In Southcentral Alaska is recommended for the rugged wilderness traveler: it tells hikers, kayakers, anglers and more how to locate and rent such cabins for very little money. While often bare-bones and lacking amenities, these cabins provide shelter and portals to the wilderness.

Few people who live outside of Alaska know about Alaska's wonderful public use cabins available for rent. This book explains how to enjoy some of the best Alaska has to offer (very inexpensively, by the way). A great resource for vacationing in Alaska.

Although I wouldn't want to sit next to Kate Williams on a plane, she was fun to read about. She ends up in the middle of a murder and fights her way out, physically and verbally. Quick, fun read. Great for the beach!

Kate Williams, a criminal defense attorney, is "encouraged" to take a vacation by her partner in their Chicago law firm. High-strung, overworked, and wound way too tight, Kate slices and dices everyone she meets beginning with a fellow passenger on the flight from Chicago to Tucson. With visions of two weeks of quiet at a dude ranch, Kate arrives at a sprawling complex decorated in 1950s lawn art. However, when she is taken to the one rustic cottage on the property, she envisions quiet walks through pine forests observing indigenous flora and fauna and viewing desert vistas. It's too bad that she witnesses the removal of the body of a murdered illegal immigrant.

There are two possible suspects: the people who run the Lazy ZZ Ranch or the handsome, enigmatic Chris McKay, a rancher on whose property the body was found. Kate, whose razor tongue never fails her, ends up recovering from injuries at McKay's home. While she is with McKay, Kate stumbles upon the body of another murdered immigrant. Is she safe with McKay? Will she be safe if she returns to the Lazy ZZ Ranch? Kate uses her analytical skills to figure out the mystery.

This first novel is hugely entertaining. Miss Bartness has a real gift for humor and dialog, and although Kate Williams is not the most sympathetic character, she is so funny, interesting and complex that you want her to kick butt. "How to Ruin a Vacation" is a quick, fun read.

How To Ruin a Vacation

Move over Janet Evanovich! This new mystery, by Becky Bartness, is fast paced and hysterically funny. Ms. Bartness draws on her real life experience as an attorney to create Kate Williams, the mystery's antagonistic protagonist. I have read all of Janet Evanovich's published mysteries, and love them. I'm glad I've found "How to Ruin a Vacation" so I can continue to feed my addiction to funny mysteries.

This was a cool book just like "June Dreams" & "August Magic" but I like the other two just a little more,because there was more stuff on the other two books but it still was cool.

The book is really a god onetha tlets you know whatis going on........

I read the first one and then I read this one, now I have to read the third one because I want to find out what happens

A great book! Packed full of great information for planning volunteer duty in Israel. I am planning my trip with a full understanding of the culture and facts of kibbutz lifestyle, all based on what I learned from the book. I highly recomend this book to any one planning on spending time in the middle east!

thinking about kibbutz? this is the book to get

gives a great overview on what to expect on any particular kibbutz you've been thinking about volunteering on.

Very nice rhyming story and excellent pictures -- my kids are preschool and have been to Mackinac Island, and they love this book. This book is a MUCH better story than other's about Mackinac Island such as "Step Up" and "Rascal Makes Mischief on Mackinac Island" which are both rather silly stories with poor illustrations.

The pictures are so cute and very well done. My favorite is of the Grand Hotel. Wonderful story too that teaches kids to follow their dreams. A must-have if you have children or if you collect children's books! :)

Cute kid's book especially if you've ever been to Mackinac Island. Good story.

We have just been introduced to this author by a friend and can hardly wait to read her next book. She is the most up and coming children's writer we have seen in a while. And we just love the pictures, the stories, the everything....this will probably be our new favorite Christmas present to give.

Silly, fun and happy read. Lots of bright and detailed illustrations. I found it on the American Book Sellers Association Kids Pick of the List for Spring 2001.

We just love this book!!

We were certainly able to relate to Miles Away from Home. We have a Golden Retriever and our family is just like Miles' family. Avila our dog, is always getting into trouble, too!! We love her just like we've become attached to Miles.

I read this book to my Grandchildren (ages 3 and 5) five times in a row. They loved it. Miles shows that you can make mistakes, but in the end he finally gets it right. The illustrations have bounce and zip.