This story of a know-it-all rabbit is jumping with slapstick illustrations and has an energetic, egotistical monologue by "Uncle Podger" that will have pre-schoolers out-guessing and out-knowing this silly main character all the way through the story. The expressions on the rabbits' faces are very cleverly drawn and match the exclamations of the characters perfectly. This story, illustrated and adapted by Wallace Tripp, is an excerpt from "Three Men in a Boat" by Jerome K. Jerome.

My grandmother would read this to us when we would come over to her house, and it was always a instant favorite. Guaranteed to bring smiles to everyone!

I ran across this book entirely by accident when I was 21. I opened it up and read it in five minutes or less, and that was all it took for tears to well up! It is charming, unforgettable, and one of the best books I have ever come across to introduce children to the concept of old age. It concerns an old farm dog who is taken out to be shot - it is only because his old legs cannot walk as fast as the farmer's that he gets away. When he is taken to the pound a young boy picks him out, and they share a very special friendship. Again, sniffle, sniff, sniff!

This is a wonderful story of how an old dog about to be shot by a farmer because he's too old to work and "no good anymore" comes to be a little boy's best friend. Warning - don't try to read this to your child unless you're very VERY good at controlling that lump in your throat! It would be a great book to read to your kids before you visit the shelter to choose a pet. It teaches them to take a close look at the older dogs who may have more to offer than those unruly puppies. Again, a very lovely book. It's too bad it's out of print. It's well worth trying to track down.

This is another one of the American Girls Short Stories series about Josefina Montoya, a nine-year-old girl living in the New Mexico of 1824. In this book, when the family goes searching for pine nuts, Josefina's father offers a reward for the one who gathers the most, and Josefina can't wait to collect the most and impress her aunt Dolores. But, when she is ordered to stay at camp and watch her nephews, Josefina is crushed. She refuses to give in though, and seeks a way to do both what she is told, and what she wants to do!

The final chapter of this book looks at rancho life in 1824, and gives directions for making a pastel (a spicy pie that includes pine nuts). As always, Jean-Paul Tibbles has produced some excellent illustrations that add a great deal to this already excellent book. My daughter and I both highly enjoyed this book, and we recommend it to you.

"A Reward for Josefina" is the first Josefina short story that was published. It is set in the Fall shortly after Tia Dolores's arrival to Josefina's family, possibly putting it shortly before or during the time period in "Josefina Learns a Lesson". Tia Dolores is a new adult in the family, and Josefina desparately wants her to think of Josefina as being special. The family and their hired hands go out to gather pinon nuts (pine nuts from a Pinon tree), and as a motivator, a reward is offered to the one who gathers the most. Josefina hopes it will be her, until she is left behind to tend to her oldest sister's two young sons. Josefina and her three year old nephew, Juan, find a way to gather the biggest treasure of nuts without leaving their camp site. Somehow, the reward, a cone of sugar, has run off with a squirrel (in exchange for the nuts?), but Josefina finds the reward that she is looking for.

This is another in the American Girls Short Stories series about Samantha Parkington, a nine-year-old orphan girl living in the America of 1904. In this book, when Samatha's Uncle Gard and Aunt Cornelia present her with a beautiful new bicycle, she's overjoyed. However, when her she suffers an accident, she finds her love for the bike turned to fear. She wants to ride the bike, but what can she do?

The final chapter of this book is a wonderful look at bicycling in 1904. We found this so entertaining, that we had to share it with the whole family! This is a great book, with very good illustrations, and an excellent lesson. My eleven-year-old daughter and I loved reading it, and we think that you will too!

I first read "Samantha's Blue Bicycle" when I was 12, under a different title in American Girl magazine. This mini book takes place between Samantha's Surprise and Happy Birthday, Samantha!. Uncle Gard and Aunt Cornelia come back from their honeymoon with a present for Samantha..a blue bicycle. Samantha likes it at first, until she discovers that her skirts always get caught in the bike. Samantha refuses to ride her bike, but then gets help from an unexpected source. A great read!

Excellent book with short insights into dealing with mediocre teacher. Any administrator who would like practical and up date insight on how to make teachers better teachers should read this book.

I loved reading this book for all it taught me and for all the important things it reminded me of. . . . Arguing passionately and convincingly that supervisors must have competence, conviction, and control, the authors provide the information and the tools supervisors need to help teachers mired in mediocrity, that sometimes discouragingly long stretch of the continuum between the incompetent and the skillful. Absent an uncommon talent for denial, you cannot read this book without being transformed as a supervisor.

My GrandAunt Betty owns and operates a "Used-Book Store" and she came accross this little beauty of a book. She apparently thought that it looked sweet and inspirational(she didn't read the inside). Anyway, she gave it to my cousin Kim(musician/singer) as a present a few months ago for her birthday and sure as the probability of a hangover after drinking tequila all night, my cousin immediately looked for the dose of reality that corresponds with her birthday. It said, "your over thirty and you will probably never be a rockstar!" Needless to say Kim now hates the bastards who wrote the book but she still thinks they're funny.

This Book brings so much laughter to everyone I share it with...cynical, clever and oh so painfully true..there daily "meditations" will have you in stitches!!

If you haven't already heard about the American Girls Collection, it's about time you should! The A.G.C. deals with girls from the past, each girl a different series, covering 6 books... Addy is one of the best of the girls! a former slave, she excaped and made it to Philidelphia-- This play has to do with her life throughout the books, or to be more specific, a small scene out of an average day of her life... Not only do I highly recremend you buy this fun, educational skit-kit, I suggest you go and buy the series of her books as well-- Hand-in-hand they go together (altho' they are plenty enjoyable on their own!) , and make your daughter feel like she's right along in the time-period... Buy this Play-Kit and the American Girls Collection books of Addy today! :)

I loved this account of Aviators. Rock On

The postcard book features 5 cards per American Girl and features the bright, full-color illustraions featured in the books. I liked this set better than any of the ones currently out, which feature less cards per American girl.