Races Books

In the 1950's and 60's black people in the U.S. were trying to get voting rights and the right to be able to go to public school. The book Belle Teal is a historical fiction by Anne M. Martin.
This story is about a girl named Belle Teal. She is in the 5th grade and she is going to school in the 1960's when blacks were newly allowed into the public schools. Three of her new classmates are black. Some of her white classmates disapprove of the blacks in their school. There is even a protest outside the school. Belle Teal and the black boy become friends and even though she is made fun of she still sticks by her new friend. Many times this gets her in trouble with her fellow classmates.
I felt this book was very good. It was very descriptive so it was easy to visualize. I think this book will definately be considered a classic. When I started to read this book I could not put it down.
This book is very moving and when you read it you feel as if you are standing right next to the characters. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes (or loves) history. I consider this my favorite book.

Author: Ann M. Martin
# of pages: 215
Publisher and Publication date: Scholastic Paperbacks-September 2001
ISBN: 0439098238
Price: $15.95


Imagine being a little girl that doesn't have very many friends, until someone new moves to her town. If you like books that give good detail and you could picture yourself there, then this is the book for you. In this book they teach you something, it gives you a message.

To begin this book has a great message. The message is you can't judge someone by the way someone else judges someone. Second, it makes you actually feel like it's something that's really happening. It describes things good and brings the characters to life. All in all it makes you feel like your really there. It gives really descriptive detail.

This book kind of reminds me of my life, because I don't really have that many friends. The family in this book is modern when it comes to having money, and mine is the same. This book is so good, because you feel like you could just jump into it, and go right along with the story.

People who don't really like a lot of action in a book, should read this book. Girls would mostly like this book. My friend Danielle Bolin had just checked out this book, and I told her that it was a really good book. I said" so how did you like the book?" and she replied "it was very interesting and I really liked it!" The age that would like it best would range from about 9 to 13. Females would like it best rather than males. Boys that are into games, action, and things like that would probably not like this book.

What sticks out to me the most is that Belle Teal doesn't care what people think about her or her friends, and the message. You should read this book. So remember if you like books with good descriptive detail, then this is the book for you.

This book is about Hattie Owen, an average 11 year old girl. She struggles through the secrets in her life. Like her Uncle Adam that has a mental illness. And because of him she gains and loses friends. Adam is soon to bring out the streghth in her. I am a very picky reader and it is hard for me to love any books but "Harry Potter." But this book was great and I hope others read and like it too.

This was a very moving book about a young girl who is growing up in a time when African Americans were first starting to go to the school that the white children go to in America. The plot tells about Belle Teal who starts school in the Fall and expects everything to be the same as the years before she had attended Cocker Elementry School. When saying this, I mean having the same best friend, taking the same bus everyday, having the same life at home. However, this all changes when she steps onto the school bus and finds Vanessa, a girl who thinks she's better than everyone else, and later when she goes into school and finds a colored boy in her classroom. Also, her grandmother is getting older and is slowly losing her memory. All of these events show Belle Teal about growing up and dealing with conflicts along the way. Belle starts out as a child and finishes as a young adult. This was an excellant and touching read to young to middle readers.

I read this book with my mother and we both enjoyed the book alot, because it was a touching peice about a girl who lives with her mother and grandmother. Other charcters in the book is a rich mean girl but the reason she is mean is because her mother was dead then there is a black boy named Darel, and Darl and Belle become friends. I liked it alot and i enjoyed it with my mom It is interasting and controdersial.

Blue, by Joyce Hostetter is a magnificent book that made me think about life and its challenges in the 1940's. This piece of historical fiction, copyright and published in 2006, is inspiring and factual. It tells a great story while illustrating life during WW2 including the polio epidemic, segregation, and life for families whose fathers were in combat. Main character, Ann Fay lives in North Carolina where a polio epidemic has just hit. Her father is away fighting Hitler and she is home being "the man of the house." When the epidemic scoops up her younger brother her life becomes a whirlwind of emotion. Ann Fay's bravery and maturity are never ending when the polio forbids her from being near family friends. I would give this novel four out of five stars, because it attracts the reader and bestows upon them empathy for the characters. Anyone who is interested in polio or its effects would enjoy this excellent book. Also, many who enjoyed Small Steps: The Year I got Polio, by Peg Kehret would fancy this book. They both inform the reader about polio and paint a picture of the characters and their life.

Ann Fay is the man of the family since her father has gone off to the war in Europe. Mama's hands are full with the twins and little brother Bobby. Then Bobby comes down with polio and is sent to the hospital where Mama stays with him. After Bobby dies Mama is not herself and Ann Fay takes on the role of mother to the twins and Mama. With help from her neighbor, Junior, she is able to cope. When she comes down with polio, Mama snaps out of her grief. There is so much packed into the pages but nothing seems to want for it. This is a poignant look at a difficult time but so very well written. A fifth grade student of mine said it best, "This is the best book I've ever read." For those who have read Peg Kehret's Small Steps, try this one.

Ann Fay Honeycutt is only thirteen, but she's already the man of the house. This is thanks to her daddy leaving to fight in the war against Hitler and leaving his blue overalls for Ann Fay to fill.

Trying to keep the wisteria she loves from choking the vegetable garden she's been charged to tend is nearly a full-time job, and that's without counting the extra work of taking care of her baby brother and twin sisters.

Ann Fay thinks these will be her greatest challenges while her daddy is off at war. But then a polio epidemic hits their hometown of Hickory, North Carolina, and Ann Fay learns what real challenge is.

This is a remarkable story of courage and of a spirit that cannot be broken. The flowing language this author uses is just gorgeous, and the voice of Ann Fay is as unique as they come. I stayed up late to read the next chapter and then the next -- one of the highest compliments I can give a book.

Reviewed by: Julie M. Prince

I don't know if this book has won any of the children's literature prizes.But it should!
The tough,funny,true-to-the-South characters, make this a heart tangling story of a young girl's toughness in the face of her father's absence in World War II, the terrifying polio epidemic that sweeps over her home town and her first heart-to-heart sense of what segregation has done to girls just like her, except that they are black.
The story is beautifully written giving a sense of the red clay, the wisteria and the natural environment. Research notes look extensive, but this story reads to the heart.

Ah, historical fiction. Though it was the bane of my youth, in my old age I'm finding the subject infinitely more interesting that I ever did as an actual kid. I was always the child who'd rather eyeball the latest Anne McCaffery rather than choke down an Elizabeth George Speare. Now I almost look forward to delights like "Blue". Especially when they have covers as engaging as this one. Evoking more than a few "To Kill a Mockingbird" feelings through its cover art, Joyce Moyer Hostetter brings us a tale of racism, polio, and war. It's also a story of love, sheer will, and small acts of heroism. And though I'd some problems with Hostetter's methods, this is one of the best-researched thoroughly engaging tales of 1944-45 you'll find this year.

Ann Fay Honeycutt's father's going to war. It's 1944 and American troops are constantly shipping out. Before he leaves, Ann Fay's daddy hands her a pair of overalls and informs his eldest daughter that she's going to have to be the man of the house while he's gone. Ann Fay feels up to the job, taking care of her siblings and tending the family's garden in her dad's absence. Unfortunately, there's a polio epidemic in this part of North Carolina and before anyone knows it the dread disease grabs ahold of Ann Fay's little brother Bobby. Now Ann Fay has to deal with a horribly depressed mother and twin little sisters all in the midst of remaining under a quarantine. When Ann Fay herself comes down with polio, however, she makes the acquaintance of a colored girl and begins to accept what has happened to her with a kind of grace.

Now I have a low down-home-folksy-goodness-mixed-with-hopeful-wisdom tolerance. It's why I'll never be able to join in with my children's librarian brethren in loving books like, "Ida B" by Katherine Hannigan or anything by Joan Bauer. And for a minute there, "Blue", had me seriously worried. There are occasional moments that gave me real pause. Imogene, the African-American girl Ann Fay befriends, has a section on "God's bottle collection" that teeters on the edge of preciousness. And I never could quite get used to Hostetter's choice of having Ann Fay's narration written in a kind of southern dialogue. Sometimes she'll be talking in the past tense but put a word in the present (ex: "... ever since his daddy's heart give out a few years ago"). But by and large the book's emotional impact is true and packs a wallop. I won't give anything away plotwise, but there's a moment on Ann Fay's porch when she's watching a fly land and take off that positively wrings the stuffing out of you. For a moment I wondered if this book would be classified by some kids as "depressing". But for all the sad moments in the tale there are just as many cheery or upbeat ones. Of course, this isn't a happy-go-lucky tale of how great it was to be alive in 1944. There were problems and "Blue" takes them all into account. As for North Carolina 1940s colloquialism, it's hard to find phrases any more authentic than, "Your momma always said I spit you right out of my mouth".

And boy, oh boy, you have NEVER seen polio better represented than it is here. I've always had a vague sense of what the disease did to you. I knew you could lose the use of your legs, just as FDR did. What I never considered was how painful that process could be. It's just awful. And Hostetter's well-researched encapsulation of the treatments for it are enough to make your blood run cold. Having recently read Gary Paulsen's fictional biography, "The Legend of Bass Reeves", which didn't have any bibliographic information whatsoever, you can imagine my delight when I came to the end of "Blue" and found all kinds of fascinating facts. There's an Author's Note that separates the truth in this story from the fiction. There's a list of books about polio, books about FDR, books about WWII, videos on the subjects, and novels for kids that's so in-depth and pleasant, I've little doubt that teachers everywhere will be creating luscious lesson plans out of Hostetter's hard work.

And Hostetter isn't just talented at factual information. She knows how to write a good scene and pull together a host of thematic ideas. In many ways this book is about how unpleasant it is to have to make the cross from childhood into adulthood. Between her mother's incapacitating depression, her brother's illness, having to look after her sisters, her father overseas fighting a war, and the quarantine placed on her by her neighbors, Ann Fay has to be the resident adult. It sounds fun when your dad, leaving, hands you a pair of overalls and tells you to be the man of the house. It's not so fun having to do adult chores and having adult worries when you're only thirteen. This thought really coalesces when Ann Fay is facing a patch of particularly gruesome wisteria head on. Until now wisteria has always been her friend. She has a little hideaway in the midst of its roots she calls Wisteria Mansion. Now it's threatening her victory garden and she has to fight it as hard as her father did. "Wisteria used to make me feel nothing but happy. But suddenly I saw why it put my daddy in such a blue mood. I hadn't wanted to see it his way. I wanted to think of it only as the beautiful wall to my mansion. I wanted to hang on to sunny days with sweet purple petals raining down on me and Peggy Sue". This, better than anything, is the tragedy of what happens to Ann Fay. She hits adulthood head-on and can't afford to look back.

To be blunt, I think Hostetter was doing just fine without bringing the issue of racism into the forefront of her story on page 121. When Imogene suddenly pops into the tale, her presence is fine, but it felt like the story was suddenly switching gears. Now the growing up too fast tale was turning into a tale of Southern racism... sorta. I mean, let's examine the facts here. Ann Fay is a lower income resident of North Carolina in 1944 and she has absolutely no opinions on the African-Americans she's seen all her life? Her parents have never expressed any opinions one way or another? It took a bit of stretching of my credulity to get around that particular thought. Not that Hostetter doesn't cover her bases well. Ann Fay's father isn't exactly receptive to the idea of his daughter hanging out with a colored girl when they're both well again. I'm not saying she doesn't do a fine job with that particular storyline. It just seems extraneous. Like a sudden feeling of "Oh! I should be talking about racism too!", kinda deal. It was a tale that didn't fit in with Ann Fay's previous struggles.

Well, there's strength and weakness to "Blue", but I'm just pointing out the small things that bugged me because the good things were so strong. Hostetter's got a mess of talent at her disposal, and I certainly hope that alongside her previous book, "Best Friends Forever", she continues to write up a storm. This is one of the finer titles of the year, no question. Well-researched, well-written, and certainly bound to be well-loved. Problematic in the best possible ways.

My daughter has now read through Volume 5 of the series. She really enjoyed the "Diary of a Wimpy Kid", so I ran upon the Bone series when looking for other graphic novels. She enjoys the humor and has shared the books with her friends.

The only drawback off this TPB is its length - this comics is simplistic so you go through the book fast. But the story is great, characters are engaging and you have to wait for the next volume.
Note - this edition is colored and is really beautiful. Can't imaging it in any other quality.

This volume of the Bone adventures picks up where the first one left off, and is equally fun and interesting. It would be hard not to love the Bone series, with the wonderful characters and humorous situations. This is great stuff, and I highly recommend it to graphic novel lovers.

Again my son loves the Bone Series and it helps encourage him to read because he enjoys the books so much.

Wow! There is something truly amazing about the images and words of "Bone". At heart, it's a fairy tale, but one that appeals to the child in the adult and the adult in the child.

CHICKEN SUNDAY is another one of my favorite Polacco books. This is a fabulous and emotionally touching story of an interracial friendship and the children's journey of love and service. Young Patricia (who has written another great episode about her rich and colorful life) and her two best friends Stewart and Winston (who happen to be black) want to buy the boy's gramma (Eula Mae) a hat that she has wanted but could not afford to buy. Since the death of her beloved babushka, Eula Mae also serves as Patricia's surrogate grandmother. The children witness an act of racism on the hat shop owned by the Holocaust survivor Mr. Kodinski. They were going to ask Kodinski for a job to raise the money to buy Eula Mae her favorite hat. Mr. Kodinski sees the children and assumes that they are responsible for the act of violence. Ultimately, the children redeem themselves by making Pysanky eggs for Mr. Kodinski to sell in his store. He tells them the story of his life and then gives the trio the hat. Naturally Eula Mae is thrilled.

CHICKEN SUNDAY is named after the chicken dinner that Eula Mae feed the children every Sunday after Church. This is another multi-cultural book teaching children that it is okay to have friendships with people who are different. Incidentally, Patricia remains close to these boys to this very day. It also exposes children to different types of racism. This book has a wonderful lesson for children and adults.

Although they are innocent, some young children make ammends for the harm done to a Holocaust survivor (the old man has the unmistakable tatoo on his forearm). You must purchase the Scholastic book on cassette for an even more motivating storytime (complete with music).

Poignancy, humour, and detail are hallmarks of Polacco's books...and Chicken Sunday shines in all of these. Our girls (5 & 7)loved it so much that they asked for it to be read again as soon as we got to the end. All the telling things of a child's world, including being unfairly accused, secret hidey holes, and longing to show an adult how much they love them, are there. In addition there is a wonderful richness to the language, with images such as "a voice like deep thunder and slow rain".

Chicken Sunday is a touching story of friendship and family. Patrica Polacco writes of a childhood recollection. Patricia and two of her childhood friends set out to raise money to buy the beloved Miss Eula an Easter bonnet as a "thank you" for her wonderful Sunday chicken dinners. The three children need to deal with trying to prove their innocence to Mr. Kodinsky and Miss Eula after being wrongly accused of throwing eggs at Mr. Kodinsky's store. The children decide to make Pysanky eggs and hope Mr. Kodinsky will let the children sell the eggs at the hat store. The reader can definitely feel the love between Patricia, the boys and Miss Eula. The realistic drawings and colors are a great addition to this already enjoyable story. Readers of all ages will truly enjoy this book.

This book speaks volumes . . . especially how a life can be changed forever through a simple act of love and kindness. It seemed that Miss Eula was a beautiful person who just loved and cared for everyone around her by continually demonstrating the true principles of faith, hope, and love.

This book truly emphasizes those things that matter most: a faith in God, a loving family, and good friends.

Chicken Sunday was not only heart-warming and touching, but to me it clearly stated the importance of allowing that little "light" within our hearts to shine no matter what!

This book is an excellent educational tool, and can be easily used in various thematic units such as: family and friends.

I have always enjoyed Patricia Polacco books and will continue to read them to my loved ones and classes for many, many years to come!

James Baldwin is a tortured soul. He pours his whole soul onto every page. This makes him one of America's greatest writers. His word pictures take you into the church, on a picnic, into a country farm house and into the lives of all his characters. Long Live James Baldwin. In our hearts.

James Baldwin is one of the best writers
of all time. This semi-autobiographical
collection of short stories about different
male protagonists going to meet "the man"
which is different in every story is one
of the best story collections of all time.

Even today, after reading it, I could see
where there was a lesson to be learned from
each story. I wish James Baldwin was still
alive so I could tell him how much I love his
work. If you don't read anything else by James
Baldwin (although Giovanni's Room, Tell me how
long the train's been gone and Another Country
are also brilliant) read this, particularly Sonny's Blues.

The first story I read in this was "Sonny's Blues" and I realized there was more to it than just a story- and that the blues is more than just b5ths but a greater understanding of life - highly recommended.

James Baldwin is known primarily for his essays and his first two novels ("Go Tell It on the Mountain" and "Giovanni's Room"), but I often tell readers that the place to start is with his first story collection, "Going to Meet the Man." Baldwin's short fiction is more straightforward and accessible than are his essays (which are indeed excellent); each of the eight stories presents a different aspect of Baldwin's worldview; and unlike his early novels, where racism is treated as one aspect in the lives of characters, several of these stories confront the "racial issue" full on.

Baldwin's short fiction may be easier to read, but it does not avoid uncomfortable truths. In fact, some of Baldwin's most heated writing can be found in this volume, which was first published in 1965. It contains work written over a 20-year-period, including "Previous Condition," the first piece of fiction he ever published (in Commentary Magazine in 1948). A fledgling actor is torn between the black world of Harlem ("perfectly in his element, in his place, as the saying goes") and the white neighborhoods downtown. He stays at a friend's apartment in lower Manhattan, but has to hide from the landlord and leave the building at odd hours to avoid being seen by the other residents ("Why don't you go uptown, where you belong?").

Each of the other stories is unforgettable in its own way, but my two favorites open and close the volume. "The Rockpile" is an early (yet different) version of an episode in "Go Tell It on the Mountain"; two of Baldwin's strengths are his ability to capture the memories of youth and to present the complexities of family life. The incendiary title story that ends the volume depicts a white police officer whose racial attitudes were formed by a lynching he witnessed as a child. Baldwin pits the very real horror of the police brutality experienced by a young man who attempts to register to vote against the officer's wholly imagined fear of the oversexed black stereotype.

This last story--indeed, much of Baldwin's later fiction--has been criticized (by biographer James Campbell, for example) for lacking "a neutrality which Baldwin was finding harder than ever to maintain" and an unwillingness to "concede that somewhere, somehow, this corrupted man might incorporate genuine goodness." Such comments seem unfair on two counts: the actions of some racists, while "pitiable," are still beyond redemption or "goodness," and (more to the point) I don't agree that it's a storyteller's responsibility to make lemonade out of every lemon.

So ignore the critics who argue that Baldwin's fiction lost its shine as he grew older and more cynical and less "neutral," and pick up this excellent collection of stories. I think you'll find that their bluntness and honesty and gritty realism make up for whatever stylistic faults the critics might point to.

I am slowly understanding why Mr. Baldwin elected to leave the United States for more than a decade in the 1940s and 1950s. He apparently is on record as saying that he needed to flee because his anger was going to destroy him if he did not seek a respite from American injustice.

Upon reading this collection, I think I am really beginning to understand what must have been going through his mind. Read "Previous Condition" where a young African American man keeps being thrown out of hotels and denied jobs simply because of the color of his skin. There is nowhere he can go without meeting the hostile glances and conspiratorial whispers of people on the street simply because of his skin color. And there is a moment where it all came into focus for me, standing in the kitchen of his Jewish friend's Jules' apartment. And I quote:

"Oh," I cried, "I know you think I'm making it dramatic, that I'm paranoiac and just inventing trouble! Maybe I think so sometimes, how can I tell? You get so used to being hit you find you're always waiting for it. Oh, I know, you're Jewish, you get kicked around, too, but you can walk into a bar and nobody knows you're Jewish and if you go looking for job you'll get a better job than mine!" (78)

It is deeply disturbing to think that a person has the suspicion and rage of the world cocked against their temple, but that was how it was (and still is). I have read much about the Civil Rights struggle and as a Jew myself, have listened to many stories from members of my family about prejudice but these stories, they uncover something. After seeing what happened in New Orleans with Katrina and listening to the empty discussions of "good schools", No Child Left Behind and test score mania, it opens your eyes to the fact that performance, optimism and opportunity are perceptions that, when absent, can ruin lives in ways that are hard to qualify.

I highly recommend these stories but be prepared to become deeply uncomfortable because Baldwin had a powerful case to make about American hypocrisy and he makes it.

A compelling tale about a little explored area of art: the back door dealings of the players and how it affects artists. Already thoroughly familiar with Dial's, Holley's, and Arnett's tales, this was still a real page turner. Having some professional experience with one of the players that enters the story late, I can vouch that Dietz's description of the "character" is pretty accurate. It's a tough call as to what Arnett may be trying accomplish (it's all pretty gray), but he has helped bring American vernacular art to the forefront of the contemporary art scene. This is one of the best books about art written in the last few years.

What is art?- you really answered this question! Through the many people you probobly interviewed, you probobly learned this too!!! I just absolutly LOVE THIS BOOK AND I RECOMMEND IT TO PEOPLE OF AGES 10 AND UP!!!! You must have worked really, really hard!!! Good Book and Exelent work!!!!

I absolutely loved this book! I think that you must have put a lot of effort, work, and time into this masterpiece. Love the word usage and the story overall. I hope that you write more books.
Great Work!

Highly entertaining peek into the art world -- what is art? How do you find it and create a market for it?

The artists in The Last Folk Hero are charming people whose talent is brought to light by an unlikely character from Atlanta.

Well researched, well written and fun read.

Andrew Dietz brilliantly captures the layers of race relations, exploitation, white liberalism and the dynamics of individual egos. As Lonnie Holly captured in his piece "Mystery of the White in Me" (the artist and a photo of this piece are featured in the book), Dietz's exploration of the line between artist promotion and exploitation demonstrates that nothing is as black and white as it appears.

As a reader that knew little of the history and politics of folk art, it did take me a while to get drawn into the book (I was hampered by the fact that a house guest started reading my first copy and was so drawn in to the story that I let him take it with him), but once I got to the third chapter I could not put it down.

Andrew Winston's writing has almost an omniscient quality as he creates and inhabits these characters that dwell in his (and our) Chicago. With grace, he glides from one consciousness to the next, conveying each individual's moments of joy and suffering in vivid, penetrating language. Having set these fully realized and diverse characters in motion over a richly penned backdrop of the city, Winston spins together the stories as they take--greatly to his credit as a debut novelist--such natural shape. The result is this beautifully intricate yet intimate mosaic of Chicago stepping into the twenty-first century.

Of all the books I read this year, I'm happy to have made time for this one. The characters were engaging and their stories were carefully interwoven. The book reveals something insightful about Chicago and the people who live here.

Andrew Winston's brilliant freshman novel captivated me from the beginning. He creates an ensemble of characters whose lives engage and disengage throughout the first year of the millenium in Chicago. The city itself is an integral part of the story; Winston captures the essence of Chicago in his narrative. The characters, of various ages, races, socioeconomic status and sexual orientation, are vividly portrayed. Their tangled lives suck you in and make it difficult to put down the book. Winston's descriptive voice is masterful and lyrical. I truly found this book to be one of the best fictional works I've read in the past few years. Highly reccomended!

Andrew Winston so successfully captures the common threads of emotional and life dilemmas regardless of sex, race or relationships. Further, he skillfully weaves the crossing of the unsuspected paths of his characters, creating an interesting story -- one difficult to put down. Winston so deftly put into words thoughts and feelings I have had but failed to find the words for. While reading, I called my sister several times to read a passage to her until finally, I gave her a copy which she enjoyed as much as I.

Andrew Winston does a superb job with character development. Looped brings each person to life, vividly and realistically describes relationships and then masterfully connects all of the characters. I felt like a voyeur in the neighborhood and couldn't wait each night to see what transpired in the next section of the book.

THIS BOOK IS FOR HORSE-LOVERS!
With the Kentucky Derby on her mind Katie is stressed to the limit. She wants to the jockey of Willow King, her horse. She had been practicing but someone else has come into view. A jockey named Mark is new to the riding academy and wishes to ride Willow King in the Kentucky derby. Evryone thinks it is the best for everyone, but Katie has other plans.

This book was even better than Willow King and I didn't think that could be possible! It's realistic and is written by a real Jockey so it's no wonder I could feel my own feet in the irons. Katie Durham is a true hero who shows real mettle in this unputdownable novel.

This was a great book!! I absolutly loved it! I think that it deserves 5 stars more than any other book. It is about a girl named Katie who wants to take her horse Willow King to the Kentucky Derby and ride him in it. Katie is a girl thet was born with one leg shorter than the other. In the 1st book, Willow King is born with crooked legs and is going to be put down. But Katie knows how he feels and saves him and turns him into a race horse. Along the way (in the sequel) she meets a blind girl Camela and has to deal with Mark, the jockey who wants to ride Willow King in the derby. I also reccomend the 1st book, Willow King. I hope you read this book because it is a awesome, awesome book.

Arter reading the firse one about Willow King and Katie, I just had to read the second one and was not disapointed. After wiining the Futurity, Willow King is pointed to the Kentucky Derby. Katie dreams of becoming his jockey and riding him in the Derby. She works super hard and eventually, makes it to being a jockey. While in the mean time, meets Camela who is Cindy's cousin who is also blind. Together, they are able to learn a bit from the other.

This novel, sequel to the original story of Willow King, I strongly recommend to anyone interested in horses. It is the story of a young girl who comes from behind with her horse Willow King to go for a million dollars in the famous race at Belmont, the Kentucky Derby. It shares her feelings as she trains to be a jockey despite the discrimination and hard work involved on her way to the top. Despite everything, she works hard to achieve her goals while dealing with her uncertainty and strenuous training. I recommend this book and the original to everyone as a truly moving and heartwarming duo of the world of women jockeys.

This was one of my favorite books...and I loaned it to a "friend", who denied all knowledge of the loan... My heart bleeds. Please learn from me.

Please, I beg-of-you, reprint it! It is a riveting book to read but, you are not going to scalp me for $73.00 bucks...sorry.

It is a crying shame that this wonderful book appears to be VERY out of print. It answers all the questions any technologically curious person would have about the design of the systems, the testing, how mission control worked, what all those acronyms really mean, the geeky geniuses and tough managers that made the program succeed. it covers the surprising numbers of "glitches" that made every mission more dramatic than news reports led viewers to believe.

Could it be that author Murray followed up this gem with the controversial The Bell Curve, and the publishing establishment is reluctant to see him prosper? Or is there a less nefarious explanation?

There are also audio files, and lots of extra pictures not included in the book at their website, where you can also buy the book.

You can get more information at http://www.apollostory.com/

Amazon is now selling the 2004 edition (which no longer has the subtitle "The Race to the Moon"). Search on "Apollo" for title and "Murray" or "Cox" for author.

Perhaps the best general account of the lunar program, this history uses interviews and documents to reconstruct the stories of the people who participated in Apollo. Although published in 1989 and long out of print, "Apollo: The Race to the Moon" still stands out as the best popular book on the subject ever to appear.

Neither a warmed over account of the astronauts and their adventures on the Moon nor a large-format illustrated history--both of which are in abundance--this book seeks to understand the larger contact of Apollo by focusing on the massive technical and scientific infrastructure that made the trips to the Moon possible. Taking as its central characters not the astronauts but the managers and engineers who ran the program, this book by famed author and political lightning rod Charles Murray and Catherine Bly Cox is based extensively on interviews with the remaining actors of the endeavor. The authors spent considerable time talking to NASA officials, both active and retired, at the Johnson Space Center, the Marshall Space Flight Center, and the Kennedy Space Centers, as well as high level officials in Washington. In this book Murray and Cox reconstruct a non-scholarly account of Apollo that examines operational details of the program that have gone undiscussed in astronaut-centric works.

By taking this approach Murray and Cox shift the history of Apollo to its most appropriate place. They recognize that the feat, as impressive as it was and as heroic as the astronauts truly were, was essentially an accomplishment of systems management. It was an endeavor that demonstrated both the technological and economic virtuosity of the United States and established national preeminence over rival nations--the primary goal of the program when first envisioned by the Kennedy administration in 1961.

Apollo was an enormous and complex undertaking, as Murray and Cox document with great skill, costing $25.4 billion with only the building of the Panama Canal rivaling the Apollo program's size as the largest non-military technological endeavor ever undertaken by the United States and only the Manhattan Project being comparable in a wartime setting.

Murray and Cox emphasize that Project Apollo was a triumph of management in meeting the enormously difficult systems engineering and technological integration requirements. James E. Webb, the NASA Administrator at the height of the program between 1961 and 1968, always contended that Apollo was much more a management exercise than anything else, and that the technological challenge, while sophisticated and impressive, was also within grasp. More difficult was ensuring that those technological skills were properly managed and used. Webb's contention was confirmed in spades by the success of Apollo. NASA leaders had to acquire and organize unprecedented resources to accomplish the task at hand.

There is a wonderful editorial in the November 1968 issue of "Science" magazine, the publication of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, which speaks to the management system that Murray and Cox bring to life in this book: "In terms of numbers of dollars or of men, NASA has not been our largest national undertaking, but in terms of complexity, rate of growth, and technological sophistication it has been unique....It may turn out that [the space program's] most valuable spin-off of all will be human rather than technological: better knowledge of how to plan, coordinate, and monitor the multitudinous and varied activities of the organizations required to accomplish great social undertakings."

If you want to understand the Apollo program, you must read and ponder this important book by Charles Murray and Catherine Bly Cox. I only wish it were still in print.

I bought this book because a friend of mine on met the author on the train while my friend was making a pilgrimage of her own to revisit her past. My friend is mentioned in the book,along with her daughter who accompanied her on this trip. This book gives great insight from the victims perspective.

Bashert is not easy reading. The author doesn't back away from painful discoveries or stand aloof emotionally: Andrea Simon is present on every page of her powerful and personal odyssey of discovery. In this book you get to know her, her family, their community, and their terrifying history. This book contains horrors and heroism. It is an important book for Jews and non-Jews alike. The inhumanities it chronicles remind us of why we must continue to stand against contemporay atrocities. Read this book. Share it with others. It isn't easy, but it is important. Ms. Simon writes of how profoundly she was affected by writing it. Reading it will do the same for you.

I can't imagine many non-Jews looking at Andrea Simon's book in a catalogue or a store and thinking they MUST have it, or that it would necessarily contain anything of value to them. After all, it's just a Jewish woman's search for her history, right? Wrong! It is a tender, and unsettling, story of a personal journey that turns historic. And it is a reminder of what can happen, and has happened, when we lose touch with our shared humanity. This is not an easy book to read but it is a compelling book- and it is a call to action. We must never forget, and we must never give up. Andrea Simon persevered on her journey, as did her grandmother (and many others) before her. So must we all.

This is one of the best holocaust memoirs I've ever read. Simon's account of the atrocities that were inflicted are woven through the horrific experiences that her own family suffered -- experiences that she learns on many steps of her journey. Beautifully written, expertly researched and told.

Bashert by Andrea Simon is not only a labor of love and a remarkable gift to those who came before and will follow, it is an important addition to Holocaust literature, describing events that may not have come to light before. The events are described in a very readable and personal form.

What makes this book especially moving is the way the author weaves her personal story into her search for historical fact. It is the author's personal involvement, warmth and humanity that draw the reader in and create a sense of personal involvement for the reader. We are not just reading history, but being taken along on the author's quest for knowledge and truth. We share her hunger to know what happened to her lost family.

For those with personal experience or knowledge of the Holocaust, this will add; for others it is a good place to start. It is a remarkable personal odyssey which will leave the reader affected and transformed.