5 comments about A Journey to the New World: The Diary of Remember Patience Whipple, Mayflower, 1620 (Dear America Series).

1. Remember Patience Whipple is a pilgrim child on the Mayflower. When Remember comes ashore, things get tough. Lots of people are dying, including a member of her family, and it's harder still when her best friend has to go back to Holland. I first saw the movie version of this book, and I just had to read it. After a slow beginning, it gets better and better. This is not quite as good as the other "Dear America" books that I have enjoyed--but like the other books, this one made me feel as though I was back in the past with the characters.



2. A wonderful beginning to the Dear America Series. Remember Patience Whipple better known as Mem is a twelve year old girl on the Mayflower with her parents and little sister Blessing. Set up in a diary form Mem writes about the voyage, her new friend Hummy and her experiences on the Mayflower and the first couple months at Plymouth Rock. She meets one of the Native Americans Squanto, experiences losing her new friend Hummy, her mother's illness and death, and her father's remarriage. Kathryn Lasky made Mem such a delightful and wonderful girl and paints a vivid picture of life on the Mayflower and at Plymouth Rock.



3. My daughter is studying the pilgrims in school and will not put this book down. She is a good reader, but this is the first book that has her engaged. I think she enjoys the fact that the events really could or did happen. I think she is reading it and feels like she is almost the character. She told me to find her more historical fiction.



4. This is a very good look at early pilgrim life, or at least as good a one as is likely to make its way into popular children's literature. The pilgrims' penchant for grave robbing is toned down (a 'mound' of earth is dug up, with no mention that the mound is a freshly dug grave) and the Native Americans are treated as fairly as could be hoped for in a book that attempts to see them through a little English girl's eyes (she envies their ability to swim and admires their herbal remedies which end up saving several pilgrim lives).
   
   This is a good addition to the Dear America series, though I found it to be slightly less compelling than the Oregon Trail diary. The crossing over is described fairly blandly, though to be fair is probably accurate - the passengers weren't often allowed to be ondeck and underfoot. Similarly, the construction of the colony seems to move as a blur, but the author is handicapped (as so many of the Dear America books are) by the fact that the girl in question would not have been allowed to participate in a meaningful manner in these activities simply because she is a girl. None of this makes the book less worthy of reading, and is just mentioned here as a caution to not set expectations too high for action/adventure.
   
   It is worth noting to parents: Something like 17+ pilgrims die in this book, including one baby who dies almost immediately after childbirth, and a close member of the diary writer's family. The diary accurately reflects the growing numbness of the author, with entries like "Dear [diary], Four more people died today. Yours, Mem." While I felt this made for a realistic portrayal, it is possible that a very small child may find this distressing.



5. These Diary stories were some of my favorite books when I was younger. Now that I have grown up I still enjoy reading them. They are awesome books to do book reports on. This story was especially well written. I enjoyed reading about mems life in a new world

3 comments about Insiders' Guide to South Dakota's Black Hills and Badlands, 4th (Insiders' Guide Series).

1. We are planning a trip to the Badlands and Black Hills in September. Insider's Guide provides a wealth of information and I'm finding it a valuable asset. Combined with info from the internet, we will have a well organized trip with knowledge of this area's history.



2. We just got back from a week-long trip to the Black Hills using this guidebook, and while it was better than nothing, and the information was generally correct, it was very hard to use. Instead of being arranged by location, the attractions are arranged by category, with each category subdivided yet again. And the index is no use, since they're not indexed by location. This means that if you're sitting in your motel in (say) Deadwood, and wondering what to do in town, you literally have to thumb through the entire book to figure out! Very frustrating. And the book lacks detailed maps where they are needed (the Deadwood-Lead area, where the roads are rather confusing, or the area around Keystone, Mt. Rushmore, and Crazy Horse). The maps mention the Mickelson Trail, but it's not in the index, and we didn't find out what it was until we were actually there (hint: it's not a scenic highway). And the book needs to be more emphatic about the need to stay away from this whole region in early August because of the motorcycle madness.



3. We just returned from over a week in the Badlands and Black Hills. Although this book had a lot of very useful information, I hated searching through it. Everything is divided into its own category: hotels, restaurants, activities, etc. So when we were in one place for a day or two, we had to search through different sections to find all of the info for that one place. Even worse, each section is divided out by Northern Hills, Central Hills, etc. or by the type of food you're looking for. There was no central location to find all of the restaurants in Deadwood, for example. Apart from that, I found most of the info to be correct and useful. A few of the entry fees were higher in reality, but my biggest problem was with the book's organization. It was a great vacation, and I had a hard time coming home...

3 comments about Wallpaper City Guide: New York (Wallpaper City Guide New York).

1. Wallpaper Magazine --- the bible of all that is cutting edge in international design/fashion/travel/interiors --- is celebrating its 10th birthday.
   
   And how better to show off its grown-up status --- at ten, a magazine is old enough to drink and smoke and Lord knows what else --- than by rolling out a slew of travel guides that are exactly as hip as the magazine?
   
   These make no effort to be complete. They're 100+ pages. Paperback. Smallish: 6" by 4". With photos that sometimes fill two pages.
   
   In other words, these are not travel guides for first-time travelers. (You want a primer --- start with a guide like Fodor's.) These books are a whole other game. Indeed, they're so of the moment that they probably need to be junked and massively revised every year or two --- the cutting edge has a way of cutting the throats of hip restaurants and shops. And the thing about architecture is that there's always more of it, and the new stuff is (or so the media would have it) just a bit more exciting than last year's.
   
   To judge these guides, I selected a city I know well (Paris) and the city that's been home for most of my life (New York). Talk about surprising! No, make that mind-blowing.
   
   Wallpaper's Paris Guide doesn't fall for the lie that the city never changes. It sees "constant, if sometimes, gentle, upheaval." Yes --- if you are 25 years old and have spent quantity time haunting the chic arrondissements. If, like me, you have a family and plunk yourself down in the 6th or 7th, this guide is a revelation.
   
   I loved the cheek of this praise of the Marais: "These streets...are as near as Paris gets to signs of life on a Sunday." I was happily surprised to learn that Sacre-Coeur was "built as a monument to failure" (in the Franco-Prussian War). But after that...everything was new. I was especially agog at the hotels --- the photos are so exquisite they're hotel-porn. Who could afford these rooms? Why did I know so few of them?
   
   For that matter, I'd heard of half the restaurants, none of the clubs, few of the buildings. Shopping? Spas? Getaways? Zip. Zip. Zip. It got so that I frowned when I came across a recommendation for a known entity --- like Joel Robuchon's Atelier. Clearly, Joel's super-expensive, no-reservations eatery must be on the way out.
   
   Wallpaper's New York Guide was equally full of surprises. I live uptown --- clearly, everything worth seeing or doing is way downtown. (Though it was bracing to see the Paris Theatre, at 5th Avenue and 58th Street, listed as the city's best art-movie cinema.) I've never heard of the beautiful Matsuri Restaurant (in the Maritime Hotel), or Thor, or Public, or Odea, or En, or Morimoto. And that's just the tip of my iceberg of ignorance.
   
   But here's the thing: Nowhere in these guides do I get the feeling that the writer is sneering at me. Or, that if I go to these places, the proprietors will look at my preppy blazer and graying hair and frantically look for a velvet rope to bar me. The exclusionary factor here is money --- bargains are not a Wallpaper priority.
   
   But, hey, you're on a vacation. A little splurge won't kill you. And if you cherry-pick the suggestions in these guides, you're sure to have an adventure you can share with the folks back home. But you'll have to excuse me now --- I'm off to visit New York



2. It's a good City Guide, Good places to visit and a better syntesis of new york best places to go.



3. The publishers are kidding, right? I was so disappointed in this book. I recently moved to NYC and was hoping to find some places to visit that I might not have thought of.
   
   If I had several hundred dollars to spend on dinner or a designer frock, or access to private health clubs, spas, and pricey hotels, I might have been in luck.
   
   Also, a big chunk of the book is devoted to places well outside of NYC, so "city guide" is a bit of a misnomer.
   
   I took one look through this book (page by meager page), and dumped it in the garbage.

3 comments about Best Hikes With Kids: Western Washington & the Cascades (Best Hikes with Kids).

1. I have purchased several copies of this book, everytime a new edition comes out actually. I can't believe I am the first to review it. If you are a parent and you are new to hiking with kids in the western Washington region this will probably be the only book you need. It is superbly written, with great details on the hike itself,knowing ahead of time what difficulty level you are facing is a must in my opinion, as well as directions on how to find the trail head, tips and tricks to hiking with your children in a way that you will all enjoy it and so much more. I highly reccomend this book, you will not be disapointed.



2. It is the most accurate rated hiking book I've owned (I have alot) and most used I would also say its an accurate place to start if your out of shape the ratings are realistic you dont feel like your regretting it half way threw the hike You finish without feeling like the only thing you lost is a few pounds (not your mind or breath) your kids arent whinning and are ready for the next one!!!!



3. this book helped us find great hikes for kids from the day it arrived. strongly recommended.

5 comments about Roadside Geology of Northern and Central California.

1. As an owner of the original 1975 edition, I was both impressed and dissapointed by the scope of this edition. In the expanded text, modern geologic theory is covered in plain-English in a manner that makes this a must-have for any geology student or enthusiast. An incredible amount of information lies within the covers in easy to digest segments.
   The new road maps themselves however suffer from trying to cover too many miles in too few pages. Compared to the 1st edition, the geologic "points of interest" are fewer and farther between and many notable geologic features are missed or ignored. (It's almost as if Alt and Hyndman rushed a couple of weekend trips along various highways while dictating notes as they whizzed by obvious rock formations.)
   Still, it's an excellent reference that does a credible job of covering a 100,000+ square mile area full of some of the most varied and complex geology on the planet.
   Good reading both at home and on the road and perfect by itself for the casually curious. Students, teachers and rockhounds will find it to be a valuable "companion book" to more detailed texts as this volume presents only "the big picture" as viewed from the roadside.



2. Begins with an accessible description of the major processes that worked to form the diverse and dramatic geology of Northern California. It is a good introductory discussion and introduces most of the concepts referred to in the rest of the book. The roadside guides identify appropriate points of interest and do a good job describing their significance. My only major complaint typifies each of the offerings in this series. The geologic maps (which I believe are the most helpful tool in Geologic synthesis) are in red, black and white are not very clear at all but there are a number of other helpful diagrams that make the text more readable. The text might be a bit of a slog for someone without a Geology background but would not be impossible and should be fairly accessible with just a little initiation. And, after all, Northern California's geology is too sublime for it to just be a bunch of rocks we drive by.



3. This is an updated version of the book and is an improvement over the previous one. It's intended for use by casual readers and does a very fine job of it.



4. This is definitely a good book. I have already taken it on a few road trips, and have had a good time learning about the geology of the area I was at. It has also been updated with more info about the bay area (compared to the older prints).



5. I've used this book many times over the years on trips up and down the state of California. Driving up interstate 5, it can turn an otherwise boring trip up the central valley into something actually fun. For example, the author explains that the low moutains that parallel much of I-5 to the west in the central and north valley are known as the Central Valley Sequence, and mark the subduction zone for the Pacific and north American plates. Very cool. I'd been driving by those mountains for twenty years before I brought Alt's book on one trip and discovered that.
   
   Clearly and concisely written, it's an interesting guide to the observable geological features of much of California. Although not for real rock hounds or petrologists, it still dispenses a great deal of interesting and useful information, and will be especially helpful to fans of natural history who lack formal training in geology but who want to learn something about it for their state.

2 comments about Frommer's Utah (Frommer's Complete).

1. Frommer's Utah was great! we spent the week after christmas skiing at Alta- rated one of the best by Frommer's and i'd have to agree. the second week of our trip we spent in moab, and the book gave great hiking, camping, and driving directions for canyonlands, arches, dead horse state park, natural bridges national monument, and monument valley. what a trip!!!



2. The book is very helpful, but does not have all the required details for a full trip. I had to do addtional research on the net.

5 comments about Weird N.J., Vol. 2: Your Travel Guide to New Jersey's Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets.

1. Loved WNJ #2, better than #1. More colorful photos and some follow-ups from previous editions/magazines.



2. FOR PEOPLE THAT HAVE LEFT THE STATE OF NEW JERSEY THIS IS AN INTERESTING LOOK BACK ALL THE PLACES THAT THEY HAVE EXPERIENCED AND ENJOYED.



3. Excellent! This book is as interesting and fun as all of the others. If this is your interest, you won't be disappointed.



4. Weird N.J. volume 2 is sadly disappointing and dull, especially compared to the perfection that was volume 1. Although the book has some of the wonderful positives of its series - the bright pictures, reader tales and experiences, it seems like with this volume they were a bit too hard pressed to find things with all that was crammed into 1. The book seems very rushed and the commentary on the entries does not seem nearly as lively as before, plus the site locations were fuzzy at times and the variety of sites very lacking. Pretty much just the same stories over and over. Thankfully I'm a speed reader - book was so dreadful I made a special trip to return it the day after purchase.



5. A great companion to the first volume of Weird NJ. There is a lot of debate amongst my friends as to which of the books is better and everyone seems to have their favorite. They are both very entertaining and original, without question, but for me #2 is the most enjoyable. Where #1 did an outstanding job of chronicling the more well known tales of NJ folklore and legends like the Jersey Devil and famous ghost stories, this book really delves deeper into the lesser known side of the state's uniquely weird and often disturbing side. The writing in this volume, while more sophisticated then the first volume, never loses its keen sense of wit or biting irony. Simply put, it is perhaps the most intelligent (without being highbrow) survey to date of the people, places and events that make the Garden State the ever-so-strange place that it is. Everyone who loves, or even those who love to hate, NJ should own this book!

2 comments about Backroads of Arizona: Your Guide to Arizona's Most Scenic Backroad Adventures (Backroads of ...).

1. This book does a very good job of showing you Arizona from one end of the state to the other. It is nicely divided into sections of the state to help you find many good sites in each section of the state you may be traveling in. It has some of the most amazing color pictures in it. It also has some pretty good descriptions of these places too. The maps in the book are a little crude, but not that important anyway. You can find about all of these places on a highway map. I noticed a few places in this book that you have a hard time finding much information on from other sources. Like the most remote village in the lower 48, Supai (& Havasupai Falls) and many old and off the beaten path little towns with lots of history still standing (i.e. Cochise). The book also does a good job of showing you picture and giving you stories from the past. I would highly recommend this book for anyone traveling to Arizona, or even for those who want a nice coffee table book due to the wonderful pictures.



2. My sister and partner just purchased a Jeep and were thrilled to receive this book for Christmas. She says it is a fun guide and they will use it every week-end possible.

4 comments about Fodor's Las Vegas 2008 (Fodor's Gold Guides).

1. When I receive the fodor's (Los angeles, San Francisco and Las Vegas) I ordered month ago, I honestly didn't expercted to be so good, it has been an incredible help when planning my next vacations. Thanks for been such as good tool for us (internet buyers). Pao



2. I purchase guidebooks for two reasons: first, to have a handy resource guide I can use to for its maps, phone numbers, and addresses, and, second, for a chance to find overlooked, new, or hole-in-the-wall places to go that I might not think of or discover on my own.
   Fodor's 2008 guide does an okay job on both these points, but not exceptional. Perhaps Las Vegas just has too many hotels, restaurants, and other attractions for the guide to list even their most basic information, but it can be frustrating to look up a fairly well-known attraction (for a needed phone number and address) and not find it. It's less frustrating, but also less worthwhile, to sit back on the plane and flip through the guide looking for something new to do in a familiar place and not find anything ... and that happened, too.
   The guide hits many of the high points and does appear to try to spend time looking for a few "secret hideaways," but I think it does only an adequate job in each area. Perhaps the handy-but-somewhat-unnecessary gambler's guide could be shortened. Yes, the information there is cool and understandable, but there are dozens of better-written and easily available guides to gambling ... most of which can be found in the Las Vegas Airport or a casino gift shop. Maybe the guide could excise a few pages from the "around Las Vegas" sections, where it talks about attractions a good hour or two drive from the city. Still, those ARE things you aren't likely to find out about on your own. Maybe the guide simply needs to be longer.
   Anyway, I think the Fodor's Guide to Las Vegas is about as good a guide as I've seen ... but that's just not saying a lot.



3. I didn't like this book very much. The Fodors New York was very useful for me, so I decided to buy Fodors again for Las Vegas. The text style has changed. I guess Fodors is trying to be more hip and cool to attract readers from Lonely Planet and Rough Guides, but seems pathetic. The guide tells which hotel has the best groovy pool for you to see and been seen. Rubbish. And I must say that only some hotels are listed. I wanted to know their opinion about Signature by MGM Grand, cause it's very well quoted in Trip Advisor, but it's not mentioned. Well, it was very disappointing.



4. I have been visiting Vegas every year or two for about 20 years. I try to get as much new information as I can about it before I leave. Fodor's guide helped me considerably because it lets me know what's new so I can go right to it.
   I especially like the maps in the book. I'm going to take the pullout map with me.
   This book answered all my questions and answered them well.

5 comments about Rand Mcnally United States Wall Map (Classic Edition United States Wall Map).

1. This is a great map and I love the colors for decorative purposes. However, the scale is still surprisingly small, and there are very few cities listed. Even so, I would buy this map again.



2. I bought the world/us map package, with the idea to get them laminated for their protection. Only after I have sent them out to be laminated did i find the same maps here already laminated for $3 more than the ones I bought. Love the maps, just wish I'd seen the laminated ones before I spent $35 to get them laminated.



3. The map itself is fantastic, however it was packed in a tube that was too long so it arrived with both ends crunched up (having bounced from end to end in the mail - I guess!)



4. The map came very quickly and it is beautiful, with alot of detail. definately worthy of space on the wall. May want to laminate it, not sure.
   
   The colors are amazing and it has a very old-fashioned feeling even while offering extremely modern details. Love it!



5. This is a beautiful map. The colors are muted. Looks aged. I framed it and is looks great. It is a big map so, make sure this is the size you want. The one I bought was 50x32. I love it. C in Idaho