This is my 8th novel by Ms Vale Allen and I am planning to read them all if I live long enough. This was written in 1978, which may be among her very early works and I believe it is my very favorite. It is the stormridden saga of an unusual family, it is really the story of the baby, Glenn, the little sister who spends her life looking for true love. Her parents, Lisette and Ray, are a poet and a tv producer or star. They figure early on and produce these 3 very talented children but bow out rather quickly. All the characters in this book deserve their own book. The oldest daughter, Gaby, isn't very likeable but produces a wonderful son who goes on to do great things. Remember this was written in 1978 and Ms. Vale Allen had some good foresight in what Corey undertakes. Then there is Dana, the writer, very successful and worth knowing. He has some special problems which are fixed in the end. I guess they could be termed "fixed".. But, you can't help loving and identifying with Glenn, a gifted artist and a writer, who finds love after all even though things seem rough in the interim. I suspect Ms. Vale Allen is an artist in her own right as I have just finished Painted LIves in which art figures prominently. I wish I could write like this.

This book and Matters of the Heart are both set in England during the Second World War. They couldn't, however, be more different. That is not to say that Matters of the Heart is, in any way, an inferior book--rather, it's just profoundly, completely different. Memories (like Leftover Dreams) deals with a pair of sisters. But that's where the similarities end. Dealing with two generations of women and ably demonstrating how the "sins" of the mother are often visited on the child, the mother in this case is as much a victim of the times as she is of an oddly disaffected husband. I loved this book; it is one of my favorites. It covers a lot of time and a lot of territory (London, Switzerland, Toronto, Connecticut) and conveys a wonderful sense of time and place. Again, Allen avoids the convenient happy ending and goes for something far more honest--another example of a woman finding herself. No one writes about the interior lives of women as honestly or as effectively as this author does. And Memories is a prime example of Allen in peak form. Just a terrific book!

Mute Dog is set in pre-WWII Illinosis, not England, as
stated in the PW review quoted here.

I took this book to Mexico with me recently and was amazed by how well researched and authoritative it still was despite having been written a decade ago. The sisters have a great insight into the country and a sense of humor to go with it. I highly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in Mexico and its culture.

Professor Jeree Brissenden, UEA

I'm called a public health expert, but I am also a woman who has suffered from migraines! This book is perfect for everyone who has ever sought relief. Rita E. Watson, MPH

Actually, I saw the movie first and then read the book. Both were awesome! This has to be the first book to deal with the weird baby-sitter urban legend. A great thriller!!

I read this book for a literature class. I was given a list of books to choose from and I am glad I selected this one. This was a great story about a child who was passed around and finally rescued by May and Ob. They were older than the other classmates parents. When May passed away, Summer felt as if she was losing Ob also. A very annoying boy in her class help her and Ob carry on with the memories of May. This is an excellent story for someone who has lost a love one.

It is difficult to know where to begin. This book is a must have for any archaeologist who works in the Great Basin. However, It would be of benefit to anyone who works in North America. Beck put together a splendid volume that includes articles by many of the movers and shakers in Basin archaeology. The title describes the contents of the book, with a review of important archaeological questions and models that Basinists were dealing with in the past and how that leads up to what we are doing now. My copy is already well worn.

A witty story that amuses the reader as much as the listener. The illustrations are stick in the memory like classic tune, making it a family favorite. Why, oh why cannot all books be as good as this?

This book has one of the most perfect opening sentences in the English language: "One day Mrs. Goose found an egg and made a nest to put it in." What better mystery in a children's book than an egg? We know that *something* will hatch out of it, but what comes out of found eggs can be entirely unpredictable. And what better creature to find the egg than Mrs. Goose, who sensibly builds it a nest and sets out to protect it. Mrs. Goose certainly isn't worried about what will emerge from the mystery egg. Mrs. Goose, a comfortable, loving, sensible sort of mother sits on the egg and dreams of a little goose swimming behind her. The egg hatches, Mrs. Goose sees her not-very-goose-like baby, and two pink hearts surround her heart-felt "Honk." All Mrs. Goose ever says is "Honk", but she says it expressively, whether she is calling her child for a swim (the chick doesn't like water), or chasing off a dog from her baby, or watching her baby eat grain instead of grass. Voake's illustrations leave us in no doubt about these nuanced honks. Only once does Mrs. Goose look at her baby closely, but it is with no concern, and it is the narrator (not Mrs. Goose) who notes that the baby is not much like the mother. At night Mrs. Goose and her baby curl up together lovingly. During the day, children watch them walk together lovingly. And the narrator finally tells us what we already know -- "Mrs. Goose's baby was a CHICKEN!" We don't need to be told that the differences between them don't matter a whit to Mrs. Goose. Nor does the grownup reader need to be told that this is a book about adopted children. The text, illustrations, and love in this book, however, transcend the genre of book-for-adopted-kids. All children worry about being different from their parents and about whether or not their parents will love them in spite of these differences. *Mrs. Goose's Baby* belongs on everyone's shelf -- it has as much heart as any book I've read.