Both the photographer and writer successfully transport you to the dreamy world of Fern House throughout the year. Evoking glimpses of the tranquil lifestyle so mant people associate with Vermont, it is a beautiful book, both to keep AND to give!

I think that this book is excellent and Jessie Hass did a very good job on it. I also thought that it was acculy her parents story and it happened when her mom was only eight.

John Elder, in this Credo Series book, intertwines observations of his three loves of - literature, nature and his family - into a celebration of life itself.

The book's title marks the moment between winter and spring when the tree frogs commence croaking, warning of the last maple tree sap good for distilling into syrup. The Credo Series offers contemporary American writers an opportunity to discuss the fluid and subtle issues of a world in constant change. Elder offers a message of hope; a hope grounded his lineage, literature and the land; how he found balance building a sugarhouse with his sons in the Vermont Woods.

My favorite essay in the collection is "Starting with the Psalms: A Reader's History" where he weaves memories of the 23rd Psalm into a discussion of John Milton's Paradise Lost with a little Annie Dillard, Robert Frost and Gary Snyder thrown in to season the discussion. Grounded in his experience as a professor and writer living in the Green Mountains of Vermont, Elder connects literature with the landscape that inspired it.

Elder is a treasure; a man who seamlessly weaves the dots of his existence into a portrait that honors his observations of his place on earth.

FROM ANOTHER ANGLE is for teachers and parents--brothers, sisters, aunts, and uncles--for any person who knows and loves a child--for anyone invested in helping that child reach his or her full potential as an ethical, creative, intellectual, spiritual, physical being. Pat Carini's compassionate vision of how we might begin to understand and teach our children shines through this collection on the Prospect School and the process of "Descriptive Review."

Margaret Himley has done an exceptional job of editing the volume, juxtaposing detailed descriptions of children and their learning styles with illuminating essays on the guiding philosophies of Prospect's processes.

The Descriptive Review of a Child is based on phenomenology, on the belief that all possible facets of human experience are valuable and important, worthy of inquiry and respectful contemplation. As Margaret Himley says, "Through description the person becomes more visible and real education begins, and it is, finally, this *taproot value of the person* that characterizes Prospect's particular ethical stance and that gives meaning to the descriptive processes. It is the ethical insistence on the hard work necessary to accord others--*all others*--the status of person, with all the complexity, capability, range of emotions and desires, and possibilities that we know ourselves to have."

Indeed, the actual Descriptive Reviews of Three Children--Gabriel, Victoria, and Nile--are at the heart of this remarable volume. Pat Carini and her Prospect colleagues believe curiosity is the core of all passionate learning. Students who are given the opportunity to pursue their natural interests are more inclined to take risks, to challenge themselves to work well beyond the expectations for their ages and grade levels."....

This thoughtful, cyclical work is the core of Prospect processes, a means of discovery that is neither singular nor static. In her lucid essay on the value of "Oral Inquiry," Margaret Himley reminds us that language must remain fluid, that we must resist the tendency of words to "fix" ideas in our minds or to "explain" things in terms too reductive to be helpful. By participating in dialogues with others, by pooling information, we keep ourselves alert and flexible, willing to interrogate our own biases and perceptions, able to see and celebrate the unique spirits and the limitless potential of our children, our parents, our friends, ourselves. The joyful work of description is an explosive affirmation of life itself, the never-ending miracle of creation.

For twenty-six years, the work of Pat Carini and her colleagues at the Prospect School in North Bennington, Vermont transformed the lives of children and their families. Though the school closed in 1991 when the fragile financial base finally gave way, the work at Prospect continues, and the bold vision of Pat Carini continues to fire the imaginations of all who have ears to hear, voices to describe and encourage, hands to help, and minds to remain forever open and alive and curious. We cannot love our children unless we know them; we cannot nuture their unique interests and gifts unless we allow ourselves to watch them with absolute attention and wonder. Teachers and parents who visit the Prospect School, who read Carini's and Himley's work, who embrace the difficult and rewarding endeavor of Descriptive Review, will be forever changed. There is great hope in this--for all of us.

FIVE STAR...By far, one of the best Civil War books I have ever read...Mr. Coffin's extensive research of newpapers and personal letters brings to life an often forgotten group of Civil War veterans. Previously, I was unfamiliar with the 2nd Vermont's spectacular role in the battle of Gettysburg. Mr. Coffin's easy to read, step-by-step approach to telling the 2nd Vermont's story from its inception thru its disbanding provides a wonderfully clear picture of what its brief tenure in the Army of the Potomac was like. I hope Mr. Coffin will take the time to write additional books on Vermont's role in the Civil War or other brigade histories. Great Book!!!!

Gamaliel Painter: Biography Of A Town Father is the story of how one adventurous pioneer transformed a cluster of log huts into a thriving village and one of Vermont's most influential towns. Gamaliel Painter, a man of forceful personality that combined daring, shrewdness and caution, arrived in Middlebury from Connecticut in the mid-eighteenth century. He took on many trades and professions including pioneer town founder, college founder, associate of Ethan Allen at the capture of Fort Ticonderoga, Captain of Artificers in the Continental Army, a two-fisted sheriff, judge, singer of Vermont's Declaration of Independence, legislator, surveyor, land speculator, industrialist, and toll-road tycoon. Biographer Storrs Lee has drawn upon a wealth of historical material to produce a vivid, lively, accurate, and impressive account of Gamaliel Patiner, a most remarkable and accomplished man who left a lasting imprint on Vermont's colonial and revolutionary history.

With "Gemini," Michael Burns has introduced himself to the world as an author whose breadth of imagination and depth of perception is without compare. Novels are all about character, and the characters with which Burns presents us are as vivid and as emotionally complex and believable as is possible in fiction. We love the characters for their good points, hate them for their flaws, blame them for the consequences of their actions and sympathize with them for their circumstances. Most importantly, however, is that these character's provide us with insight into what it means to be living in the world we do. The novel opens our minds to the realities of day to day life that we never seem to examine, and, in doing so, sheds light on what we all value and despise, and probes into the reasons why we do. I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in how we as humans live and interract with each other and anyone who understands what it is to suffer and deal with suffering.

There's a story told about a Buddhist monk who could look into your eyes and see your grandmother's soul. The collaboration between author Howard Frank Mosher and photographer John M. Miller, called "Granite & Cedar: The People and the Land of Vermont's Northeast Kingdom" gives the common reader a chance for a similar view. This remarkable book gives a profound opportunity to see into and beyond the familiar of "home."
"Granite & Cedar" is set in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom; the black and white photographs (most taken between 1971 and 1976) represent a simpler time when the region was a world unto itself. Then the Interstate rolled through, and it was suddenly easier to have second homes here. Long-time residents could come and go with ease, and the world of the Northeast Kingdom changed. Patterns of life shifted, and familiar traditions suddenly reappeared as people, places and ways that were different.
Mosher's haunting story of Aunt Jane Hubbell weaves through the photographs like hand washed thread turning into fine lace. The story opens in 1965 as the plans for the Interstate are introduced. Aunt Jane has fierce stubbornness and loyalty to family, both living and dead. Will she stand up to the engineers at the public hearing for the highway, or will she back down in deference to her 78 years and ancestors lying at rest? How will she be remembered?
We see the time-worn buildings standing tall beside symbols of an emerging era of rapid obsolescence; we see wool jackets and spruce boards holding their ground to synthetic fleece and vinyl siding; we see men and women whose lives and ways are somehow very familiar although today - they are gone.
We see into a place and time well used by those who lived off the land and were shaped by it and who like Aunt Jane were, above all, practical. Mosher and Miller have unwrapped the gift we thought unique to the legendary monk.
For those with connections to the Northeast Kingdom "Granite & Cedar" will be tenderly familiar. And yet strictly regional, this book is not. For those who only know Vermont's fringe from a distance, the connection to home will prevail.
"Granite & Cedar" is Mosher and Miller at their best.

I purchased this book, Green Mountain Troopers at a recent Conference. I have read it from cover to cover. The book was well researched and is excellent. It not only gives you the historical background, but it offers a young Criminal Justice Student writing about State Police organization will have a great reference book in the event he is interested in becoming a member of the Vermont State Police. Outstanding contribution by the Author to the Law Enforcement Community and the Reading Public. I enjoyed the read and recommend it highly.

This is the unpublished memoir and regimental history of Horace Knight Ide of the 1st Vermont Cavalry. Upon the breaking out of the Civil War in 1861, Ide enlisted as a corporal in Co. F on September 14, 1861. He served throughout Banks' Shenandoah Valley Campaign and the beginning of Pope's campaign until he was captured on July 16, 1862. After being exchanged in December, Ide was promoted to sergeant. He continued to serve with the unit throughout the Gettysburg and Rappahannock campaigns until he was wounded at Buckland. Returning to the unit, by May 1864, Ide was promoted to first sergeant, fighting in the Wilderness, Yellow Tavern, Haw's Shop and Wilson's Raid. In August, Ide was again wounded and did not return until December, at which time he discovered that he was promoted to first lieutenant. He rode as commander of Co. D and was at the front of his company when Lee surrendered at Appomattox. Ide was again promoted to captain on May 9th and was mustered out on June 21st.

The book includes three chapters written by Hoffman, covering those periods when Ide was away from the regiment; either wounded or as a prisoner: July 1862-December 1862; September 19, 1864-December 1864. Hoffman has relied on other letters and diaries to keep the primary source focus. A needed history of this regiment that served with distinction throughout the war; being involved in most all of the prominent actions in the eastern theater.