I am not saying this because my mom wrote this book, but I read it, and it is amazing! The detail, and story line are fantastic!

Lee Walmsley's novel "Light Sister, Dark Sister" is one of the best books that I've read in a very long time. Every line is poetry and contains inspiration in each word. Grey's stuggle to find herself matches the fight that many teenagers face daily the world over and all of the concepts seem to be crafted for the reader. In short, this book is a beautiful document of the American family and the quiet lies that siblings hold.

One of the greatest books I have ever read. The Celtic Myths folklore, myths, songs ect. just added to what would be a brilliant story on it's own. I have always been a great fan of Jane Yolen's but this is the best of her work I have ever read. It is definetly a must read. It is so good it should take you four hours tops.

This book grabbed my attention and kept hold of it until the very last pages. After being thrown to the "wolves",by her own mother, I read eagerly to see how Johnnie was going to survive. She started learning how the world really works. It was interesting to see her thoughts and actions evolved from being a 'good Christian girl' to an 'entrepreneur'. That is how the world works and she definitely was learning how to work it! I like how the majority of the characters all had something to do with each other. Also, I enjoyed trying to figure out how each one was going to affect the other one. Finally, the only disappointment of book is that there was not a sequel for me to start reading immediately after I finished the last page of this book.

This is a great book! It was diffidently a page-turner. When Johnnie's mother sold her virginity to Earl Shamus, I thought, "what can this child do". However, Johnnie turns the table on everyone and made a bad situation work to her advantage. The plot thickens when Johnnie's mother becomes jealous of her daughter's "success" and decides to take matters into her on hands. The results from Johnnie's mother scheming could almost be describe as a race war. I highly recommend Little Girl Lost by Keith Lee Johnson and hope you will enjoy his book.

"An amazing debut for both: Keith Lee Johnson is an author you will remember. Johnnie Wise is a character you will not forget.
"Little Girl Lost is a must on your list of books to read." This thrilling novel is filled with sex, malice, murder and mayhem. It is a page turner you hate to see end and worth losing sleep over.

LOOKING FOR PA is a wonderful story that will capture the attention of young readers from the opening pages. A brother and sister, Jacob, 11 and Jessie, 8, are distraught, as they watch their father depart to fight with the Confederate forces. The unexpected death of their mother becomes a compelling reason for the two children to set off to locate their father. As the two travel by foot, accompanied by their pet goat, pig, and cat, they encounter some frightening obstacles, several fascinating people, and many disappointments. The satisfying conclusion will make all young readers feel proud, as they witness Jacob's and Jessie's tenacity, as they adapt and solve problems through the worst of times. The author, Geraldine Lee Susi, successfully combines the story of a desperate search with historical information and interesting details about the Civil War. The book provides many opportunities for children to gain insight into the issues and emotional turmoil surrounding this very difficult period in our history.

I am a Loudoun County 4th grade teacher. Three years ago I was looking for a novel to read to my class that would characterize the Piedmont Region of Virginia! I was fortunate to find the charming, historical fiction book, "Looking for Pa" by Geraldine Susi. Mrs.Susi's writing is vivid, descriptive, and a wonderful example of great writing for her young readers. Reading this novel is always a highlight in my school year. My students beg me to read this book each day! In 4th grade we have a great deal of Social Studies material to teach in a school year (Jamestown-present day). Unfortunately, I don't have the luxury of spending a great deal of time teaching the Civil War. By reading this novel during my Language Arts time, I can spend a more in depth time on this period of history. Through this story she is able to present a vast knowlege of the Civil War Battle at Bull Run and the Piedmont region of Virginia. You feel like you are traveling along with this brother and sister caravan on their journey to find their Pa who is fighting for the Confederate Army. This novel gives my students an opportunity to internalize this period in history. I am so happy that my school ordered this novel as one of our 4th grade novel sets. I also highly recommend the teacher's guide that accompanies this book. Mrs. Susi, who is a retired reading teacher from Fairfax County, Virginia, has done a marvelous job suggesting various activities which stress vocabulary and reading comprehension. I can't wait to read Mrs.Susi's upcoming book. I am sure the sequal will be equally as exciting and educating as the first novel. Susie Geurin, Sterling Elementary School.

"Looking for Pa" is a wonderful historical fiction book that brings the Civil War to life for readers young and old. As a Language Arts and Social Studies teacher candidate, I have found multiple uses for Jeri Susi's book. She raises issues of the early Civil War in Virginia in a subtle way that allows excellent thinking and discussion opportunities for 4th grade through high school students. Well worth the price and highly recommended for pure entertainment. Superior maps and illustrations greatly enhance the dialogue rich text.

Having never owned any of Alan Lee's LOTR artwork before, I bought this collection on the advice I had found in many places online. Needless to say, I was not disappointed.
It is true what is said about Lee's visual mastery of Tolkien's words. The images are often much like what I pictured from the books . . . even Gollum.

My only issue was with the scenes chosen to be depicted in the collection. Three of the six are from Mordor (Gates of Mordor, Gorbag & Shagrat, and from the foot of Mount Doom), the artwork of which is not at all bad, but it is repetitive, when there is so much more. I'm most anticipatory to find Lee's depiction of the Ents somewhere. ^_^

The paper quality is good & thick, and the posters come in a glossy protective folder with information on the artist, text bits that were the basis for the paintings, etc.

Tolkien's 'The Lord of the Rings' is the first fantasy ' science fiction book I have ever read. It is hands down the best. No one writes with such prose and detail as Tolkien does. Granted, it does not have as much magical pyrotechnics as other fantasy books out there, but it makes up for that in a well-structured plot and the resourcefulness of the characters involved. The magic that does happen in the book is spectacular and well worth the wait. Tolkien's battle scenes are excellent. He unfolds the story as it happens. There are no chapters that begin with 'Ten years later'' rather the story progresses in real-time. No wonder many people think that this work is the greatest of the 20th century.

As a collector of Tolkien artwork, I must say that Lee's paintings of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings are some of the best in circulation (or out). This poster set is one more addition to a venerable stack of Lee artwork. If you're a Tolkien fan, this is a must!

This book was beautifully and passionately written. It is a love story unique and philosophical. Do we choose our own fates? Alvina will tell you.

Just like SISTER CARRIE, THE LOST GIRL is about a young woman searching for her place in the world. Meaning, floucing from one man to another, flirting, playing, getting engaged then dashing away for fun. And just like JEANNIE GERHARDT, this old man gets herself in trouble.

But the most fascinating part of this book is it's glimps into her background. How she was brought up in a wealthy and rich household, only to try out different occupations against her father's wishes, then ends up as a lower classed female in life. Very tragic.

I recently got done reading this wonderful, yet forgotten novel of Lawrence's. Truly compelling in it's intricate details of a young woman trying to find herself. Literally. She goes on the 'universal' self journey and discovers that she was lost and finally finds her identity and sensuality in the man she loves. D.H. Lawrence has a wonderful way of not wrapping up the ending in a nice,neat little package. As always, Lawrence is the ultimate man of mystery, sensual needs and desires. A "must read" for those who love to read Lawrence and for those who never have!

Besides being one of those - Why haven't I heard of this story before? - adventure stories, this book offers a great opportunity to further enhance the Yellowstone experience.

I read this book while staying in a ranch outside Yellowstone National Park. As luck would have it, our first day of "touring" the park via automobile closely paralleled Truman's path, and I managed to read this story aloud to the kids later that night, in front of a big cast iron stove, while Clark's Fork gurgled 30 feet from the door. I'm not sure if it was the story or the setting, but they were captivated! They were able to tie Truman's adventures in with many of the places we had been earlier that day, and it gave them an entirely different perspective of the park. In addition to bringing the book to life (again - what a story!), it contributed immensely to their appreciation of Truman's ordeal, the magnitude of the park and the wilderness that lies 100 yards off the main roads... Highly recommended.

Knowing the history of the exploration of this magnificent park makes me even more anxious to visit this beautiful country. After reading this book, when I visit YSNP, I will focus on a time long ago, when all the modern conveniences were not there. It is a great book to have read to get some of the background knowledge of this area, before you go out and explore yourself!

Today, being lost in Yellowstone National Park is as simple as turning on the wrong road after you lost your complimentary map or you can not locate the restroom in the Old Faithful complex. For Truman Everts, being lost in Yellowstone was a struggle between life and death. Everts's account details his 1870 adventure in Yellowstone after finding himself separated from his travelling companions. The separation began Everts's thirty-seven day struggle for survival in a pre-developed Yellowstone in which Everts had to find what little food and shelter he could just to survive. Readers will find this account to be a real-life struggle for survival reminiscent of Jack London's fictional work. The editor, Lee Whittlesey, does a superb job of editing Everts's story by providing the reader with additional information and the historical background of the book. The work is also illustrated with many early day photographs of Yellowstone which provides an stunning visual account of early-day Yellowstone National Park. This book will be appreciated by anyone looking for an exciting true-life adventure story as well as historians of the American West. People who have been "lost" recently in Yellowstone will also appreciate the book, even if their modern-day adventure pales in comparison to Evert's

This is a great book for anyone who is interested in plantation homes. It has over 80 wonderful photographs, and tells the story of each home shown. There are even two or three victorian style homes, built in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Very interesting and informative. I would recommend this book to anyone, wether your buying it for the information or the photographs!

the book has lovely photos and briefly tells about each home. It would have been nice if there were more photos of the interior of homes. But the book has beautiful photography and is overall: GREAT!

This book is hands-down one of the most beautiful picture books on Louisiana's remaining plantation homes. While most are in exquisite condition, there are a very few which aren't. The short story of each plantation home is interesting and the photographs are gorgeous! It makes one want to go out, find a plantation home, buy it and restore it! The reader will be amazed at the wealth these planters accumulated, manifested in these awesome homes. Not all of the homes are huge antebelllum mansions, though. I personally found the Creole plantations wonderful examples of a simple albeit beautiful home. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves old homes, Southern architecture or photography in general.

So many book written for teens (particularly middle schoolers) miss the mark. Mr. Finkle's book hits home because he hasn't forgotten what it was like to be in the 8th grade. This book realistically covers the issues that most teens face: trying to live in a dysfunctional family, abuse, the blurred lines between reality and fantasy. This should be required reading for parents, so they can remember what their children are going through.

This is a thoughtful and thought provoking book that could offer middle schoolers a look at how one kid made it through the trials and tribulations of a difficult time in life while being part of an alcoholic home. It is entertaining, informative, and interesting for all ages, and could definitely be used to good effect in the classroom.

So many people say they wish they could forget their early teen years. This author remembers them clearly-the best and the worst of them-and skillfully blends the real life and vivid fantasies of his young hero.
This book does not idealize childhood-it recreates it. It's easy to forget that we are not listening to a teenage boy, living in his imagination, rather than he in ours.
(As a bonus, we're also treated to several of the author's clever cartoons.)

I was raised in Georgia and attended public school in Athens in the 60s and 70s. Even in a university town some 100 years after the Civil War there were people with embittered attitudes toward the North who saw themselves as citizens of a conquered country. This was surely due in part to Civil Rights legislation enforcing integration; and in part to that fable of Southern life, GONE WITH THE WIND. Most white Southerners know and many revile the name of William Tecumseh Sherman; not because they are ardent historians but because Margaret Mitchell and director Victor Fleming immortalized Sherman's burning of Atlanta on celluloid. In fact, although I hardly studied anything about the Civil War in public school, our class did take a 60-mile bus ride to watch GONE WITH THE WIND at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta. Although many years have passed, I have no reason to believe that today's young Georgians are any more informed about the actual history of their state; whether this is through official ignorance, shame, fear, or willful deceit I cannot say.

Lee Kennett's book, MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA goes a long way toward addressing this ignorance, and should be required reading for every Georgian. The book focuses on Sherman's North Georgia Campaign, the Battle of Atlanta and the March to the Sea as it affected the soldiers and civilians of both sides. His discussion of strategy is general and primarily about Sherman's decision to have his army forage off the land. Even this is included because of the consequence such forage had for the people involved--Kennett lays the blame of the Union atrocities at the feet of this decision, but takes care to point out the nature of such "atrocities", and that truly severe crimes other than the destruction of property was rather rare. Indeed, what makes Kennett's book so valuable is its evenness of tone regarding the issues and personalities. A Sherman biographer, he neither idolizes nor demonizes the General. Sherman, though not the main subject of this book, emerges as a recognizable and very human figure. Sherman's devotion to duty was horrifyingly single-minded--Kennett relates an incident in which 28 Union soldiers are too ill to travel, and Sherman left them in the care of a Confederate hospital in Milledgeville while he moved on with his troops: "'If they die, give them a decent burial,' Sherman said, 'if they live, send them to Andersonville [the prison in south Georgia where Union soldiers were held in appalling conditions to die in the thousands], if course,' Dr. Massey may have looked a bit nonplussed at this, for Sherman added: 'They are prisoners of war, what else can you do? If I had your men I would send them to prison.'" In another incident, Sherman refused to accept Union prisoners from Andersonville in a prisoner exchange because they were too ill or wounded to fight.

Kennett's descriptions of Sherman's progress were very meaningful to me as a native of the state. Non-Georgians might get bogged down a bit in the geography, and this is one of the book's weaknesses, but a minor one. There are two maps included, but as neither shows a complete map of the state some readers might well be bewildered. The Andersonville prison played an important role as at least a potential target but appears on neither map. It was not liberated during Sherman's Georgia campaign, and had it been shown on the map its distance from Sherman's path would have been immediately clear. The only other flaw is the paucity of information on black Georgians and how the campaign affected them. Kennett addresses this, relating that most information on their situation is related by whites and is mostly stereotypical. He provides one touching conversation passed along from Joel Chandler Harris (author of the Uncle Remus/Brer Rabbit tales): "...an old black couple he found in a corner of fence, not far from the road Sherman's army had just passed: 'Who is that lying there?' asked Joe. 'It my old man, suh.' 'What is the matter with him?' 'He dead, suh, But bless God he died free.'"

Also extraordinary is the comradeship that grew between members of the opposing sides whenever contact was allowed. Animosity between combatants is expected, but over and over Kennett relates encounters between the two armies, or between Union soldiers and Southern civilians that are remarkable in that so many concerned seemed able to view their opposite number as a fellow human rather than an evil enemy. Southerners now know only the destruction Sherman's forces brought, emptying and burning Atlanta and many other towns; but at the time Sherman's actions were seen at least by some as a reasonable response to the Confederates' burning of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania.

MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA is full of fascinating information: North Georgia, mostly populated by poor white farmers who didn't own slaves, was largely loyalist and opposed succession; Governor Joe Brown (after the war a US Senator!) supported States' Rights to the extent that he clashed repeatedly with Confederate President Jefferson Davis; Sherman's forces faced the most opposition and most difficult fighting in primarily loyalist North Georgia; after the burning of Atlanta Sherman was able to move through Georgia with very little fighting at all; and rather than "bushwacking" Sherman's forces and provoking a fight with vastly superior forces, most Georgians preferred to let him move quickly through their land.

The Civil War buff, fans of War Histories and Southern History and Georgians in general will all find much of interest in Marching Through Georgia. My knowledge of my home state has been immeasurably improved, and I am looking forward to reading Kennett's biography, SHERMAN.

Lee Kennett is an excellent historian who combines exhaustive research with a splendid narrative pace in his "Marching Through Georgia."

This is not a book about Sherman's military campaign through the Peach State. The battles and maneuvers provide only the backdrop. The story is of the common soldiers who fought with and against Sherman and the citizens of Georgia who endured both armies during 1864.

The author makes heavy use of diaries and first person accounts. He focuses on several perspectives across the book: life in the trenches, on the battlefield, camp life, foraging, life on the March to the Sea, life in besieged and occupied Atlanta, and the life of Georgia's black and white citizens.

What is rendered is an exciting account of what these people experienced during these seminal months in their lives and the life of their country'. Kennett brings it all together as a story -- never falling into the trap of some authors of this genre of over repeating diary entries and accounts in a redundant attempt to be thorough. He achieves just the right mix of memoir and story to keep his book moving along at a good clip.

This book will fascinate and educate.

Lee Kennett is an excellent historian who combines exhaustive research with a splendid narrative pace in his "Marching Through Georgia."

This is not a book about Sherman's military campaign through the Peach State. The battles and maneuvers provide only the backdrop. The story is of the common soldiers who fought with and against Sherman and the citizens of Georgia who endured both armies during 1864.

The author makes heavy use of diaries and first person accounts. He focuses on several perspectives across the book: life in the trenches, on the battlefield, camp life, foraging, life on the March to the Sea, life in besieged and occupied Atlanta, and the life of Georgia's black and white citizens.

What is rendered is an exciting account of what these people experienced during these seminal months in their lives and the life of their country. Kennett brings it all together as a story -- never falling into the trap of some authors of this genre of over repeating diary entries and accounts in a redundant attempt to be thorough. He achieves just the right mix of memoir and story to keep his book moving along at a good clip.

This book will fascinate and educate.

It is a great book! Not your typical gangster suspense story. The book comes alive with the setting in NYC and characters. I had an image for each character in my mind. I could not put it down, what a great ending!

The story is tough and gritty, the protagonist is molded on the typical tough guy but you soon learn he is completely unique. The writing style and story will keep you intrigued. It is a timeless story that takes place in Brooklyn and Manhattan, an intense love story playing out in the midst of Little Odessa. Original and smart.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Although it took me a short while to adapt to the author's style, the story and the characters held my attention throughout. It's a story of loyalty, ambition, love and betrayal, seen through the eyes of a young man trying to make his way through the New York City underworld. It's one of those books that you want to power through so you can see how things turn out, but at the same time, you don't want it to end. Pick it up - you won't be disappointed. I only hope Anthony Lee's subsequent efforts can live up to my now-heightened expectations.