5 comments about Pancakes For Supper.

1. Pancakes For Supper is a delightful book. The illustrating is excellent and most of the fun of this retelling of an old story. My kids love this book and never fail to laugh at the illustrations. As they'd say, "It's an owner, Dad!"



2. Isaacs, A. (2006). Pancakes for supper. New York: Scholastic Press
   
   Synopsis: Based on Helen Bannerman's (2003) folktale, The Story of Little Black Sambo, Anne Issacs puts her own twist on this amusing story. Toby is a pioneer girl riding on the back of her Ma and Pa's wagon when suddenly they hit a bump that sends Toby flying high into the air. When she lands with a bound, she is presented one by one of several animals that would like to create menace for Toby. In an effort to appease each animal, Toby offers each of them an article of clothing. The animals find hilarity in these pieces of clothing and go away feeling they are each "the grandest beast, west or east". Readers find each animal's reaction hilarious and ridiculously funny. In Bannerman's tale, the tigers melt into butter. However, in Isaacs' version, the animals' melted form is absorbed by the maple tree which produces the sweetest tasting maple syrup thanks to an exuberant woodpecker. Toby and her family have quite a feast and continue their journey westward with full bellies and big smiles.
   
   Evaluation: Anne Isaacs and Mark Teague pair up to make quite an amazing twist on Bannerman's (2003) original tale. Readers are drawn into this story by its lyrical language, purposeful rhythm, and fantastic illustrations. It is quite a treat! Teague's brightly colored oil paintings mimic 1930's American cinematic pop art. His vivid illustrations and imagination capture Toby's quick wit and the animals' boastful swaggering pride. The energetic illustrations are a perfect match to the bouncy and lyrically written text. The New England forest landscape with its indigenous North American animals and Toby's plucky song about her clothing, do not make this story an instant classical tall tale. However, Isaacs gives this classic tale a new and spirited heroine.
   
   Reference:
   Bannerman, H. (2003). The story of little black sambo. New York: Handprint Books



3. I believe the poor review of one reviewer was based on a misunderstanding of the story. It's a tall tale that relies on hyperbole for its humor and charm. Very young children won't get it, and may be frightened by the scary animals. It takes just a bit of the sophistication, say, of a fifth grader and above, to appreciate a tall tale.



4. This book is essentially a retelling of Helen Bannerman's story Little Sambo. Isaacs' protagonist is a girl who is bumped out of her parent's wagon, flies through the air, and lands near an assortment of wild animals. Threatened by being eaten, Toby offers her blue coat to the wolf, yellow sweater to the cougar, boots to the skunk, brown dress to the porcupine, and orange mittens to the bear. The animals race around a maple tree, similar to the tigers with Sambo, and blend into the tree making maple syrup. Toby reunites with her parents, and they enjoy a dinner feast of pancakes with maple syrup. Continuing the parallel with Sambo, Papa eats 27 pancakes, Mama eats 55, and Toby eats 169, since she was so hungry.
   
   I thought the writing was a bit wordy made the story plod a bit. The illustrations are very colorful and illustrate the action of the story well. Although many professional reviews are quite positive, I would rank this book as an optional purchase.



5. I thought that this was a cleverly written and beautifully illustrated tall tale. Children older than 5 years and most adults will enjoy reading this book, and my kids did. The animals in this book are not scary, they are exaggerated. I would have to respectfully disagree with the reader who thought that this was the" worst book" they've ever read. I believe that this person completely missed the fact that this book is a tall tale. A tall tale is "an improbable (unusual or incredible or fanciful) story" by definition. It just takes a little imagination.

No comments about Rhode Island State Map.

5 comments about A Fever in Salem: A New Interpretation of the New England Witch Trials.

1. While she has a compelling argument, one based on sensationalism, her thesis fails to illustrate why the hysteria found in Salem did not occur in other communities that were afflicted with same microbiological phenomena. This monograph makes many assumptions and more often than not her arguments seem predetermined. The amatuer reader will enjoy her writing, but academic historians will be disappointed.



2. Laurie Carlson had a theory about Salem and supported it using an ambivalence for fact that you might experience gossiping with friends over a beer at Chili's. What a disappointment because it could have been interesting. Where do I start?

   [1] All her research was done using books written in the 20th century. She is (sadly) unknowingly swayed by the biases of those 20th century authors. She wrongly accepts their judgements as fact, which annoyed me immensely. [2] She accepts outlandish courtroom pranks as genuine physical ailments. Why? Even by her own description, the 'fever' that was present in the colony subscribed to far more uncontrollable symptoms than repeating the words of the accused 'in chorus'. [3] She would have benefitted from reading documents from the period. Her understanding of the period is academic and lacks any genuine understanding of the events that unfolded. [4] The sentence that finally made me stop reading? "The first arrivals at Plymouth had been delighted to discover that the Indian population had already been wiped out by an epidemic... [any 3rd grader can tell you there were Indians in Plymouth]" an epidemic which she credits to the French in Nova Scotia, despite the fact that Europeans had been fishing the waters up and down the coastline for years and had even established outposts along the coast long before the puritans arrived in Plymouth. Sigh. [5] Please don't read this book.




3. I happened to appreciate the author's view of what witchcraft really may have been. As a survivor of encephalitis (HSE), I know first hand that your personality changes overnight (or, right after you wake up). Most doctors today can't diagnose encephalitis so I can just imagine what brain-damaged people must have been perceived as back then. Than you for opening others' eyes.



4. Being a survivor I could definately understand what Laurie Winn Carlson was saying. I just more people could. Encephalitis is a strange illness, right, Laurie? Why did you even write this book? Are you a survivor? I run an email support group (if anyone is interested go to:



5. The author's hypothesis is simple enough: The frightening "fits" of accusers during the 1692 Salem witchcraft crisis were caused by an outbreak of encephalitis lethargica, a neurological disorder popularized in Oliver Sacks' 1973 book Awakenings. (A film version starring Robin Williams and Robert De Nero was released in 1990.)
   
   As a former cell biologist, I'm well-disposed to considering microorganisms and disease as the moving force of history. (See Hans Zinsser's classic, Rats, Lice, and History: being a study in biography, which, after twelve preliminary chapters indispensable for the preparation of the lay reader, deals with the life history of typhus fever.) In this case however, the author fails to make the case.
   
   There were a few things that prejudiced me against this book: publication by a small house (Ivan R. Dee); description of the author as an "independent scholar," somehow implying other scholars aren't; a noticeable disdain for the entire field of psychology; and, inclusion of material that is at best tangential, at worst, irrelevant. For example, there is an afterword titled Satanic Possession and Christian Beliefs outlining how to differentiate between mental illness and demonic possession. The mere possibility that there is any reality to demonic possession is antithetical to the author's hypothesis. Chapter Seven, Alternate Outcomes, recounts experiences in New Hampshire a half century after the Salem witchcraft crisis to predict how the Salem crisis might have gone. A much better example would have been the similar crisis in Stamford Connecticut that was concurrent with that in Salem. (See Richard Godbeer's Escaping Salem: the other witch hunt of 1692.)
   
   Encephalitis lethargica is a rare neurological disorder that appeared at about the same time as the 1918 influenza pandemic. Unlike influenza which is caused by a virus, the definitive cause of encephalitis lethargica is unknown. It might even be an immunological consequence of influenza. It's symptoms are varied and vague: high fever, headache, double vision, delayed physical and mental response, lethargy, coma (in acute cases), abnormal eye movements, upper body weakness, muscular pains, tremors, neck rigidity, and behavioral changes including psychosis. (See National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.)
   
   Like Linnda Caporeal (Ergotism: The Satan Loosed in Salem?) , Carlson tries to shoehorn symptoms like "abnormal eye movements" and "psychoses" into a physical cause. A great deal of her argument is comparing experiences reported by accusers and their observers against possible symptoms for encephalitis lethargica. In many cases, commitment to "proving" her hypothesis ignores obvious, more mundane explanations. For example, descriptions of symptoms like "some suffered only a mild affliction, perhaps a heavy weight on their chests and legs while in bed, which left them momentarily paralyzed," or "people felt sudden weights on their chests at night so that they could not breathe ... complained about weight on their chests while in bed at night, an inability to speak," are well-known descriptions of the common experience called "sleep paralysis." They do not require special explanation.
   
   The author is sometimes overreaching, if not plain wrong. For example, page 46 states:
   
   [Midwives] were present in Salem and in colonial settlements, but there are no references to individuals or their families seeking them out for assistance in combating an epidemic. .... Some women who were tried as witches had performed as midwives, but they were not tried for any offense connected with their vocation.
   
   Both Mary Beth Norton's In the Devil's Snare, and Richard Godbeer's Escaping Salem report midwives did indeed serve as a kind of "nurse practitioner:"
   
   Women like [midwife] Sarah Bates emerged as experts from those communities of mutual care, their skills endorsed by the experience and gratitude of their neighbors rather than university degrees or formal apprenticeship. Goody Bates had a finely honed instinct for discerning what ailed a sick neighbor and was widely respected for her abilities.
   
   But what's missing from A Fever in Salem is epidemiology. This is most evident in the "touch test" used to "prove" an accused was indeed a witch. An accuser would fall into a fit - and usually faint - at the mere sight of an accused witch. If the accuser revived at the touch of the accused, it "proved" the accused was a witch. Biological epidemics are not so easily turned on and off.
   
   In some ways, A Fever in Salem is an example of cognitive dissonance. The author continually tries to extend her hypothesis, and thereby add validity, but at each step the exercise backfires. For example, a map reprinted from Robin Briggs' Witches & Neighbors: the social and cultural context of European witchcraft, shows areas of heavy, moderate, or light "persecution or important witch-hunts." Not surprisingly, dark centers spread into moderate, then lighter areas. Two pages after, a different map, with a four-fold change in scale, shows bird migration patterns. The author's conclusion?
   
   ... we see how closely they match up. Birds migrating from sub-equatorial western Africa fly directly over these areas as they head north each spring ... Migratory birds may have brought disease from western Africa to Europe, where a virus in their blood was extracted by arboviral mosquitoes who then fed on peasants and villagers.
   
   Not only do they not match up closely (to my eyes), eight pages later Carlson suggests the vector might have been ticks.
   
   In all, weighed in the balance, and found wanting. I would not recommend this book.

1 comments about Getaways for Gourmets in the Northeast.

1. This is the 2nd edition of her book and I just found out there is a new edition dated Feb., 2000, which I plan to buy immediately. An excellent starting point - this book will save you a lot of research time when planning a trip and will help you immediately pinpoint the best dining and accomodation choices. It's one of the first books I turn to when planning a trip or where to eat and has given me ideas for other trips (e.g. Brandywine Valley and Wilmington). The writeups are accurate and give a sense of the foods and surroundings. My only criticism is that the photography could be better. But then, the reader can always follow up by visiting an establishment's web site (if they have one).

5 comments about A Gathering Place (Cape Light, Book 3).

1. I have really enjoyed reading this series. The authors have done a good job of writing to stimulate my imagination! They keep me engrossed to the very end. I cannot wait for the next one if there is going to be one?



2. I have truly enjoyed reading the Cape Light Series. I really hope the authors continue the series, as I would love to read more abotu the town and people of Cape Light. The authors have done a wonderful job of making you feel like you are part of the town, and make the characters so interesting. I look forward to the next book.



3. I have read all three books in the series, and the books do pull you in. You get attached to the characters and want to read more about them. You feel like you live in the village of Cape Light and know all the people personally. I'm looking forward to the next book.



4. I absolutely love the "Cape Light" series. As far as I'm concerned, Thomas Kinkade can't write them quickly enough! I'm actually starting "A New Leaf" today - it finally arrived! This is a wonderful series of books about the Christian spirit, love of family and friends, and the way people in a small town pull together. I love these books and will recommend them to everyone! :)



5. Thomas Kinkade has given us a new series to look forward to that is
   comparable to Jan Karon's Mitford books. If you liked them, you are
   bound to fall in love with the characters in this New England town.

1 comments about Chinese in Boston, 1870-1965 (Images of America: Massachusetts).

1. It gives a good account of the Chinese imigrants that settled in Boston early on. The pictorial essay depicts how difficult it was to assimilate into American way of life. Considering the scarcity of old photos, the author has done a good job of accumulating historical photos.

5 comments about The Business of America: Tales from the Marketplace - American Enterprise from the Settling of New England to the Breakup of AT&T.

1. I so enjoyed this book I didn't want it to end. Please, Mr. Gordon, write another. My normal read is gory mystery thrillers, so this was quite a departure. I saw Mr. Gordon on C-Span and thought "The Business Of America" might be interesting. This book went far beyond interesting; it made the history of dull finance be as exciting as my normal gory thrillers!



2. I rank this book as a solid four star book. I didn't rank the book with a five star rating because it didn't cause me to have a "paradigm shift" or see the world from a different perspective. However, those interested in American History or economic history should thoroughly enjoy this book. I loved reading the book because Mr. Gordon's work clearly shows his in-depth knowledge of American history and his excellent storytelling capabilities.

   These 47 articles, gathered from Gordon's 10 years as an American Heritage columnist, cover the post-Revolutionary period through the 1950s. Each article is written, as the title portrays, from an American perspective. Mr. Gordon talks, for example, about the railroads and the characters behind them in the American boom but rarely does he specifically address who invented a product / technology, unless an American did. Additionally, I found that little attention was given to air conditioning, as it has impacted migration patterns dramatically in the U.S.

   ...




3. Ten years' worth of writing, these forty-seven essays capture illumuniating anecdotes about economic history, captured in the stories of people, ideas and moments in time. Booms and depressions, clever inventions and failed plans, tough competitors and grandoise government schemes all receive their due.

   There is the story of King Cotton and how the gin made it profitable. Gordon reports on the California Gold Rush, the first television syndication (that's how Desi Arnaz earns a cover picture on an economic history book), war economies, the decision to build the World Trade towers (an eerie story to read today), steamboat races, railroad competition and more, each in pithy, five-page synopses of major historic studies or records. Brief as they are, there is not always a full story, but the histories leave the read impressed and engaged.

   Gordon highlights well-known phrases, e.g., "The business of America is business," "The public be damned!" and explains how they came about (and the myths around same). Before we spoke of people "going postal", Gordon writes about the now-lapsed term, "postalization", another idea entirely.

   In "The American Game" he shows how baseball is unique in that it was a business and not just a sport from its early years. A strange business, yes, where today "semiserfdom" of ballplayers has produced average annual salaries of $2.38 million and an industry prone to "work stoppages" and seemingly on the brink of disaster.

   The better stories are of the visionaries who made and managed business in America, including the man who spent his personal fortune to make milk safe to drink for millions and the unsung heroes who saved businesses from failure. This is a good education for those who don't understand or who doubt the power of free markets, an idea whose time has come, or simply the American dream as it has been lived.




4. We love stories. Since the time human beings crawled out of caves, stories have been the way that we pack lots of information into a digestible package. John Steele Gordon is a great storyteller, and this book is full of great business stories.
   
   If your idea of the business book is the macroeconomics text that you slogged through when you were in college, the Business of America will come as a pleasant surprise. You'll find yourself engaged with the material and learning a lot about the history of American business and how business is done that you simply wouldn't get any other way.
   
   Gordon writes the "The Business of America" column for American Heritage Magazine, and the stories that he tells there are the stories he tells here. He has divided the books into several sections. There are stories of the early days of the American dream that focus on the first years of Europeans on this continent up through about the Civil War. Other sections are divided into topical areas, such as Farming and Food, Manufacturing and Mining, Transportation, Banking, the Business of War, Business and Government, Retailing and Real Estate, and the Telegraph, Telephone, and Television. The final section is called After Hours.
   
   Each of these sections includes several stories. There wasn't a single one of them where I didn't underline something or put an exclamation point in the margin, or write a note to myself. These stories are insightful, because Gordon understands the basics of how business works and the oddities of the human condition.
   
   There are several stories that deal with how technology, in this case the cotton gin and the sewing machine and the steam engine, transformed whole industries. Gordon backs up his stories with facts.
   
   For example, in the section called, "King Cotton," Gordon tells us: "Only five hundred thousand pounds of cotton were spun into thread - all by hand - in 1765. Twenty years later, sixteen million pounds were spun, by machine, and the price of cotton cloth had dropped from the caviar range to the mere smoked salmon bracket.
   
   That illustrated the effect of the power loom on the spinning of cotton, but later in the same chapter, Gordon comes up with another statistic and description to describe how Eli Whitney's cotton gin transformed the cotton industry still further. "Whitney's machine could be built in an hour or so by any competent carpenter and worked by a single laborer, increasing his productivity fully fifty times. In a stroke, Whitney had reduced the labor cost of ginning from the dominant component in the cost of cotton cloth to a mere triviality. And the cost of cotton cloth dropped, as a result, from the smoked salmon range to the fish and chips bracket."
   
   That's how of Gordon works and writes. He includes the stories and the statistics and the conclusions in a wonderful mix that delights, entertains, and informs.
   
   If you are a businessperson, this book is for you because you will learn about how others before you have faced some of the same challenges that you face. You'll learn about how the economic wheel tends to revolve and good times follow bad, and times of great change follow times of stagnation. You'll be a better and more effective businessperson after reading this book.
   
   This book is also for you if you think business is boring. Those of us who are in business know that it's endlessly fascinating and filled with things to learn, as well as with opportunities for profit. But the media as a whole tend to reduce business to the stock market and ignore the true human drama of what goes on. They miss some of the best stories, because they start from the assumption that the most interesting things in the world have to do with almost anything but business.
   
   That's a point that Gordon makes at some length in the chapter called, "No Respect." It opens with this line, "If Rodney Dangerfield weren't a comedian, he would probably be an executive. Executives don't get any respect, either."
   
   From there, Gordon goes on to point out that many famous inventors were not the people responsible for the changes in society brought about by their inventions. Alexander Graham Bell, invented the telephone, and has a giant entry in the Encyclopedia Britannica. But it washis father-in-law, Gardiner Greene Hubbart, who put together the system that became A T & T; and, not only made a lot of money for himself and Bell, but also changed the shape of the country.
   
   In that example and dozens of others throughout this book, Gordon shows us the romance that goes with the business of America.



5. This book details the heros and oddballs of American economic history and their various innovations and inventions that have shaped the development of America's economy over the history of our nation. From the man who invented the "Graham Cracker" to the founder of the Bank of Italy(Bank of America) the book illustrates what, and who, made this country great.
   This is one of the greatest books I have ever read, bar none. The only down-side is that when you finish it you'll feel depressed because it's over. But that's OK, you can just read it again!

2 comments about Away Happens.

1. This is a wonderful Yankee counterpart to Minnesota's Lake Wobegone! Life on a small island in the Penobscot Bay has its charms and challenges. Crossman's vignettes are humorous, insightful and poignant. A fun read.



2. I'm not even qualified to be from "away", as an occasional guest of an official "away" resident of Vinalhaven, Maine. But Phil's stories have added greatly to my appreciation of this special island, its people and institutions. I read his hilarious story about an improbable romance at the island dump shortly after returning from there, carefully recycling, cramming my small $1.50 bag of garbage and checking out the free clothes in the "bus".
   
   Unless you are lucky enough to be invited by a resident, you'll probably spend the night in Phil's tiny but comfortable motel, right in the heart of town and surrounded by the best lobster and crab you'll ever eat.
   
   Because the stories were written for several different outlets, the styles and length vary, and there are a few tiny clunkers, but there are also some brilliant phrases that make it all worthwhile. Commenting on some island septuagenarians that insist on golfing at least once per month year-round, he said that it was remarkable, "considering the latitude of the course and the longitude of the participants."
   
   Great fun. Just don't get too absorbed and miss the last ferry!

1 comments about The Berkshire Hills & Pioneer Valley of Western Massachusetts: An Explorer's Guide, Second Edition (Explorer's Guides).

1. This book is very informative (...but not that kind of "lonely planet") I came last year to study at UMass Amherst. I used this book to travel around the area... love it very much especially in dining and accomodation sections... .very good info for planning the trip :-)

No comments about Seacoast Region Atlas: New Hampshire Plus Kittery & York, Maine (Official Arrow Street Atlas).