This is the best PNW plant and animal identification book on the market (and I have lot of such i.d. books). Lots of really good color pictures and detailed b/w's. Informative text on life history/cycles. Good index and well-organized. Great for helping children get going on school projects (the Latin names are there, but the text is plain English, flows well, and provides information that interests ordinary persons of all ages who enjoy the out-of-doors). Would make a nice gift for someone new to the area or otherwise interested in the topic.

I fell in love with wild plants at the tender age of 11 when I went to camp with my 5th grade class. We did plant identification and I became intrigued by all the wonderful plants in the NW. WHen I got home I poured through my mom's copy of this book. I had been seeing it on our coffee table since I was like a tot! I fell in love with plants. This book has beautiful color pics of all kinds of wonderful plants and animals. It's awesome!

This engaging and colorful account of the history of U.S. food regulation provides excellent perspective for better understanding the recent spate of high-profile, food regulation trade disputes between the U.S.and Europe, and within Europe, such as the "Banana Wars", "British Beef", and "Genetically modified corn" incidents. A must-read for anyone who who has interest in the unique nature and psychology of government actions in dealing with issues around "our daily bread". This book appears to have been subjected to a very rigorous "peer review" and I expect it will become a classic reference work.

a brillant, insightful exposition of a fascinating subject -- a must read for historians and all persons interested in government regulation.

Very well researched, very readable. I bought the book originally because I was interested in the period, and was glad I did.

This is one of the most well-researched books on the Federal period of our country that has been written. It has become the "bible" of anyone interested in this turbulent period of our nation's history. If you want to know anything about the settlement of the Northwest Territory, this is the book to read. It has a lot of historical detail in it, but it is still a very readable book. I use it for reference all of the time, living is one of the historical towns mentioned in the book

Often, history is written in broad sweep narratives that can be static and boring to the reader. Although William Seale wrote more than 1,000 pages on the history of the White House, you can be assured that there is nothing static or boring about these volumes. He displays an understanding of the fact that history is about the human drama of real people facing real predicaments, and it's poignance is found in how they react to those predicaments.

Whereas a history book will tell you that the British burned the White House in 1814, Seale tells us what was happening on the DAY the British marched into town. The hundred sentry guards who were supposed to defend the White House were gone, and they could easily have taken on the battalion of 150 British soldiers who marched in the mud down Pennsylvania Avenue, walked around the White House like tourists, ate Dolley Madison's dinner, and then torched the White House with precision. Then there is the even more dramatic moment when Lincoln looked out across the Potomac into Virginia to see the flags of the Confederacy flying, knowing that soon the capital would be surrounded if Maryland seceded from the Union.

The book is a perfect match of comedy and drama with stories ranging from the infestation of rats in the basement to a presidential love story that rivals "The American President," and in places describes a house that you would never imagine to be destined as the symbol of the most powerful nation on earth.

William Seale has put together an excellent historical perspective of the history of the White House, including it's construction, reconstruction, and many renovations. The book also recounts the evolution of Washington, D.C. relative to it's relationship with the White House and it's occupants.

Along with describing the physical structure and it's many evolutions, Seale has managed to include a significant amount of history relative to the occupants of the White House, including their personal and political lives. This provides the reader with a good feel for life in the White House. Additionally, most will learn a significant amount about presidents who we simply know by name but not much else.

Overall, I would highly recommend this book to those most interested in american history. Although it includes two volumes, the book is such an interesting read that it is hard to put it down.

I liked the book a lot because i think that Jean was trying to inform people about what can happen in real life. It's sad because nobody hardly cared that Rider was missing except his family. The story has a great ending to it. I would like to read more of Jean Thesman's books.

It first started off boring then it got to the exciting part and I thought that it was the best book Jean Thesman had made!!!!!!!1

A must-read, must-have for anyone interested in effective presentation of oral histories. Awesome for library research and as a personal coffee table book. I couldn't put it down.

Very moving, intimate personal portraits of the lives of 71 Chinese Americans who talk about the very harsh era before World War II, when discrimination and poverty were prevalent. A few of the photo portraits and stories are memorable, quite touching. Immensely readable throughout.

Rip Van Winkle is a story of an regular man that came in contact with some irregular people that would change his life forever. It all started out one day when Rip decided to go hunting with his dog. Up to this point in his search for freedom, he had lived a sleepy and uneventfull life with two kids and a wife. He was always trying to get out of work and find a way out of doing everything. One day he gets fed up with his life and finds himself out in the woods hunting;There he gets asked by a strange man to carry a keg to a nine pin party. Also during this party he ends up getting drunk and finds himself dosing off to sleep. When he finally wakes up he has a long white beard and twenty years older! He had fallen asleep for twenty years and found that he was now old, grey and still alive. At this point in the story he goes back to the village where he had lived for so long and finds that his wife and friends had all passed away and had left him. He also finds that his daughter got married and was raising a family. She sees him one day and recognizes him to be the man that was once her father. At this point in Rip's life, all he wants to do is settle down and he is satisified to become the village story teller to all who would hear his tales. This is a tale of suspense and just plain old good reading for all ages. It was written many years ago and could speak to all people of all ages and races. I would recomend this book to anyone from my Grandfather to the Queen of England.

Washington Irving's (1783-1859) claim to fame is as a pioneer of American fiction, and he is widely recognized as the "father of American literature." The book that especially propelled him to fame was "The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent." which contained his two most famous fantasy stories - "Rip Van Winkle" and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" - both of which are contained in this collection.

But it is not merely his ground-breaking efforts that garnered him literary recognition, because Irving's stories are at the same time characterized by charming and colourful prose befitting a skilled writer. The stories in this collection (the "Puffin Classics" series) are an excellent sampling of his craft. It's not always easy reading - in fact many of these stories would be too dense even for older children. His vocabulary is extensive, and sentences structure verbose and lengthy - a style rather unlike that employed by contemporary writers. But despite this, Irving demonstrates a wonderful command of the English language, and has the ability to create a vivid picture of his setting, characters and events. Particularly delightful is the attention he devotes to describing his characters. And yet his stories are far from mere character portraits - they are exciting and enchanting tales that make the reader eager to find out the outcome.

"Rip Van Winkle" has gained the status of a classic, and is familiar to most children, but likely few have read Irving's original. It breathes an authenticity and air not found in the contemporary abridged versions of the story. Irving presents his tale as the alleged discovered manuscript (complete with postscript) of the late Diedrich Knickerbocker. The delightful story of Rip Van Winkle - who fell asleep in the Catskill mountains after drinking a mysterious brew acquired from some strange little men, and then awoke 20 years later - will continue to please readers old and new. In the course of the story, Irving makes a profound social comment about the changes happening in his America. "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" is renowned for its chilling tale of the Headless Horseman, and is a Halloween favorite. Actually, however, it is much more than that. It is not so much a spooky tale of a legendary village ghost as it is a colourful tale about two rival suitors. Ichabod Crane is a simple school teacher who is in love with Katrina Van Tassel, and equally in love with the estates of her father, a wealthy Dutch farmer. His counter-part is the powerful local hero Bram Bones, whose affections for Katrina mirror those of Ichabod Crane, and who is determined to put an end to the affections of underdog Crane by a mysterious and elaborate trickery. As is evident also in his other stories, it is particularly fascinating how Irving exploits the supernatural superstitions of the popular mind to create a sense of mystery and fear, but himself gives a naturalist explanation that rises above such popular notions by explaining the supernatural with natural events.

Though lesser known, the other three stories in the "Puffin Classics" collection are equally enjoyable. "The Spectre Bridegroom" is one of the most fascinating tales in the collection. A young man is mistaken for a bridegroom and received into the castle of a wealthy baron as the husband of the baron's daughter. But before the marriage can be consummated, the bridegroom dashes off, and the baron's family hears shortly afterwards that he's been killed. But then who appears again except the bridegroom - or is it his ghost? - to steal his bride and vanish once more! In the end, it is a satisfying tale more of brilliant scheming than of ghosts - although the fearful superstitions of the general public about the supernatural play an important role in the effective execution of these schemes. "The Pride of the Village" is the tragic tale of a young lady whose heart pines in love for an army officer who has deserted her, only to die at his feet when he returns. "Mountjoy" is a wonderful study of an apparently incurable romantic, described by Irving as a "Castle-Builder". When Mr. Mountjoy discovers a delicate footprint on a sandy shore, his passion for metaphysics, creativity and romance leads him to dream up an imaginary beautiful young maiden, and he promptly fall passionately in love with the nymph of his dreams. The air castle he builds and its accompanying romanticism is crushed numerous times, even drowned, but each time is renewed and revived, just when it seems that "the cobweb romance I had been spinning" would be demolished completely. In the end Mr. Mountjoy meets the girl of his dreams, only to discover that his air castles need to be reshaped once more, and in the end, destroyed completely.

Readers used to the easy diet of modern fiction will find the pioneering work of Washington Irving rather tough to chew on. But those who delight in tasting words, biting on imaginative characters and settings, with a few sips of suspense and supernatural in the process, will discover that Washington Irving's stories are just the literary serving they are renowned to be: a classic. Irving won't please all children of the modern era. But children of literature who have acquired a fine literary taste will find that despite the heightened language of his time, Irving is still digestible and enjoyable.

If you were in Seattle in the 60s, reading the Helix hippy rag, hanging out at the Eiger and the P House, sitting on the Fringie Wall, smoking dope on Hippy Hill, protesting the war, blocking freeways, going to piano drops and pre-Woodstock rock festivals (Sky River), rooting for the Seattle Seven to get off, and whatnot (and you know what "whatnot"), then you *have* to read this book. Personally, I think Crowley spends too many pages recounting distant events on the national scene, to provide background for local events, I presume, but the remainder of the book, which gets down into the nitty gritty of what went on back then on the local Seattle scene, makes slugging through a few pages on the Chicago police riots at the 1968 Democratic Convention, for instance, well worth the effort. Still, others, who weren't around back then, may need the history lesson, I suppose.

This is one of the few books I read in a single evening. Having experienced many of these events first hand, I still lacked Crowley's historical perspective. As a teenager I didn't know that much about what I was protesting about. Crowley is a first-class writer, and as a local historian he has no peer. Everyone who lived in Seattle during the 60s should find this book of interest; in fact it is so well-written that anyone who enjoys good journalism will enjoy it. Highly recommended work.

The rough guides dc is great because it contains a lot of sophisticated information and stories. It has a couple lists and tours, I believe, as well as stories. The book includes material on museum collections. This is great because instead of carrying around and wasting so many maps fliers, etc. You have one book with all you need (including maps) in an intelligent format. This book contains hostels, and hotels...Right up my alley.

After (physically) examining a dozen or so different guides to D.C., this is the one we chose. As with all Rough Guides, it's light on photos and fluff and heavy on information. It told us what we needed to know to get to the monuments and other famous sights, but also steered us into some of the local neighborhoods for great, affordable food. This Rough Guide contained more history than most of their city guides -- great for the international visitor or the American who wants to know the stories behind the city. One caveat to families: there's not much "what to do with the kids" information.

"Sarah and Me and the Lady from the Sea," is part of a trilogy of excellent historical fiction books set on the Pacific coast of the Long Beach Penninsula in Washington State. The other titles are "O the Red Rose Tree," and "The Nickel-Plated Beauty." All three titles by Patricia Beatty take place in the same region, within a few years of each other at the turn of the 20th century. There are only a few common characters, so it doesn't really matter what order you read them in.

I like to compare these books to the Laura Ingalls Wilder titles. They were quite popular during our Washington State Centennial in 1989, and still get read by students who like historical fiction.

It's nice to see a review here by a student who says this is her favorite book. That says a lot. These titles are not on any "top ten" lists, but are certainly worth reading. Beatty has a knack for bringing an unknown part of history to life, and adding adventure, as well as accuarately describing the weather and locale of this region.

I recommend this book and the other two titles!

This is the best book i have ever read. I have asked my mom for it for Christmas. It is my favorite book and i read it in 5th grade and have been looking for it ever since. This is a great book for a book report seeing how it has one main character. It must not be very popular because it has 0 reveiws. It is about a girl (whos name i donot remember) whose family has some finacially bad problem due to a flood. They move to Washington for the summer. She meet a girl named Sarah who at first she despices but becomes friends with. They were riding on the beach when they find a lady who they found out was from Russia and had survived a terrible thunder storm on the ocean. This is a great book for preteens. like I said, it's my all time favorite book!