For those of us surrounded by the omnipresent gray squirrel they seem banal and often a pest. But for my inner city Latino children in a bilingual first grade, this book made real the interaction of animals in a suburban neighborhood. They understood how the squirrel interacts with other animals - often stealing their food; how the squirrel helps grow trees by hiding acorns (we learned about acorns the same week). The picture of the squirrel eating acorns was perfect. We learned how birds depend on feeders for their food. The illustrations were lovely and inventive - they especially liked the photo of the squirrel sleeping with his tail over his head for a shade (we acted it out with our hands) and the dog chasing the squirrel and cat. The neighborhood was unfamiliar to them as the housing was very different but they loved the animals. This book was a most positive teaching aide.

The wine tasting is only one of many activities in Napa.

Wonderful green rolling hills are great for hiking.

This is a great book for anyone looking for hiking trails around there.

What a fun book! It's easy to read and informative. The descriptive language encourages you to visualize each entry. I plan to use it to encourage research at my elementary school with this book. Students studying Washington State, and environmental education will find this resource very helpful.

David Vokac's book, The Great Towns of Southern California, is a must, whether you use it as a destination guide or to consult it when you are passing nearby one of his "great towns." It is the perfect traveling companion.

When you are driving through So.California, rather than have an ordinary experience along the way, go the extra distance and spend a night and have a meal in a "great town." For example, drive a mere 10 miles off Highway 101 and visit Ojai, a charming little village in the Ventura/Santa Barbara area that also has appealing lodging and restaurants.

You don't have to settle for the mundane with this book!

This is a very different kind of travel book--and it happens to be one we enjoyed immensely on a week-long trip to eastern Oregon. Instead of a straight listing of sights to see, the author has selected her favorite areas and they come with plenty of recommended things to do and places to stay. It's rather like having a chance to sit down and ask a well-known travel writer to give the inside scoop on the very best locations. We hiked the high Wallowas and drove through Leslie Gulch, discovering fascinating places we never knew existed. We found this book to be inspiring and well-researched. The author has obviously spent time in these locations and this is a refreshing change from ordinary travel books that simply offer a list of attractions without help in putting together a vacation that is filled with a variety of great adventures.

The only sad thing about this atlas (or actually about all atlases of the GM Johnson) is that for some reason they are not available in the bookstores in the Silicon Valley.

I got my 1995 edition on a discount desk at Costco Mart and I liked it immediately. The colors are excellent, the size of the font and of the drawings are appropriate for reading contrary to the tiny, barely readable maps presented by the seemingly "only choice" on the shelf, the Thomas Bros Atlases. Especially I like the way in which the streets are being printed by GM Johnson using two dark borders and a white interior. Very good visible, serves well while driving. I retired my Thomas Guide immediately and forever. One weeknes which I see is a lack of a good indication when a particular page does not have a follow up to the left, right, up or down.

Sadly, I never again found a newer edition of this book till I made some serious steps to find out if the company is still publishing maps. The phone numbers in my 1995 edition are all outdated. Finally as I contacted the Etak. Inc. (the maker of the digital map used in this atlas) I got a friendly hint from them to lookup the web for GM Johnson products. Well, it is indeed so easy now to find books, why haven't I looked a bit earlier at Amazon for the newer edition?

This book is perfect for anyone interested in gardens in the northwest. It not only provides a complete guide with directions to each of the many gardens, but it also provides a review of the gardens and what you will find during each season. A perfect gift for a green thumb, this book will assist you in your touring of all of the northwest's finest gardens.

Without a doubt, the freedoms that our generation enjoy today are due to the fact that the U.S. won World War II. We won the war because of the likes of General John Henebry.
In his new book, "The Grim Reapers - At Work in the Pacific Theater," the daring and brave General John Henebry takes you in to the cockpit of his bomber to chronicle many of his 219 WWII combat missions. Beginning with his freshman year at Notre Dame in 1936 and concluding with the moving farewell and departure of 71 year-old General Douglas MacArthur from Japan in 1951, master storyteller General Henebry retells the incredible events of his life and his bravery during this period of do-or-die for our country. This outstanding book is about a group of brave flyers and military planners who had a job to do and did it with near perfection. A great read written by a true American war hero.

I found the guide to be "to the point" informative without overburdening the reader with useless commentary. The clear and precise photos are well chosen to show samples of what to expect in each park. The "National Geographic" maps are simple and easy to read showing park highlights along with well-defined topography, but again, without overburdening the reader with too much detail. These guides are especially good for travel planning when time is of the utmost and there is only a short window with which to enjoy the park(s).

This book contains everything that an experienced kayaker needs to know to plan a trip to Alaska's Inside Passage. For those who already know where they want to paddle, the first chapter and apendices still provide great local information and advice on gear, clothing, and techniques that are most appropriate for this area. Anyone who will be paddling in these waters should read these sections of the book not only because they will answer many of the difficult logistical questions but because they will make your trip safer and more enjoyable while helping reduce your impact on the area. For those seeking ideas on where to paddle, the rest of the book offers a wealth of suggested routes without getting so specific that you lose all sense of personal discovery.

As a sea kayak guide based in Gustavus I have paddled most of the northern routes described in Jim Howard's book over the past 20 years and I can report that his descriptions and advice are current and accurate.

Something that really bothers me about some guidebooks I have seen is that they name specific campsites and suggest day-by-day itineraries for a few selected routes; they are like a journal of the author's trip. This approach leads to over-use of a few areas and sites and diminishes the sense of discovery that is one of this wild area's greatest attractions; following one of those guidebooks is more like taking someone else's trip than one's own. Not only that, but many of the best sites along a route are (thankfully) NOT named in those guidebooks, so kayakers can have a better trip by ignoring those authors' detailed suggestions.

Jim Howard took a different approach. His routes cover most of the region and for each he gives a description of the area and an assessment of the difficulty of the trip. He names the hazards and gives helpful logistical advice and a general description of the route. This is just what I look for when visiting a new area. I want to know whether I am getting in over my head and how to get to the area. I don't want to know exactly where someone else paddled and camped and what they saw. Finding my own campsites, wildlife viewing areas, and special places is what sea kayaking in a wild place is all about.

Because Southeast Alaska is a wild place with plenty of hazards far from help, it's wise to have solid sea kayaking skills if you are alone or leading less experienced paddlers here. Therefore, this book doesn't cover basic sea kayaking and navigation. Beginners will need to find this information in one of the many other general sea kayaking books and by going with experienced paddlers.

Jim Howard does an excellent job of giving helpful area-specific information while preserving opportunities for wilderness self-discovery. I can tell he's explored the area thoroughly and talked to lots of local folks. Get this book if you're coming here.