John Van Hecke

This mouthwatering book isn't about Laura. It is about her future husband, Almanzo Wilder, and told through his eyes. He works (hard) on his father's sucessful farm in upstate New York. As would be expected from the perspective of a hardworking young boy the book lingers on FOOD. They ate pretty well too! They have fresh fruits and vegatables, they make their own butter (some of which they sell for - about a buck a pound! - imagine that). The pies, the meat etc. etc. etc. Each is described just well enough that you want to make some for yourself.

One of the many books my wife discovered. After she read it aloud to the kids they wanted me to read it to them AGAIN at their nightly story time before bed. Though this novel is written for children I stayed up late to finish it myself after one such session! It takes place in England during the American Revolutionary War. The main character of the book is a captured American 'Rebel'. He is befriended by the children of the country house where he is held prisoner.

There are a plethora of resources for you to find out the plot of this book out on the web and in the bookstores (eg. Cliffs Notes!!). Many contain "spoilers". And this is OK - after all it's a classic. Moreover, the book is good even if you know what is going to happen. I had the enjoyable luxury of reading this book without having run across the spoilers and with no real knowledge of the plot. I was not required to read it in school - oh happy fault.

This book is now included in the Bethlehem Budget Book The Flying Ensign, also reviewed on this site.

I really liked this book. I can vouch for my wife's statement that this is a great read aloud. I read it to my children at bedtime (ages 3 through 9) - they were engaged... though the younger ones usually fell asleep. The older two LOVED it.

This kit is one of a number of kits aimed at giving children hands on experiments with electronics. It includes a battery holder, 2 capacitors, 2 resistors, 1 pot, 2 bipolar transistors, 2 leds, speaker, mike, motor, a variety of switches, 4 "IC's" and a few other parts.

This book is very good at what it does. However, you have to read the introduction to find out what it does. It is NOT a math textbook. And it is NOT a math program. You'd have to be a real geek to read it cover to cover. This is full of 1 (sometimes 2) page math things of all sorts. Little vignettes into the world of math. As such it introduces the reader to a number of things that he might not otherwise encounter. In fact, I am an engineer (lots'o'math) and I saw new and interesting things in here! Some of these are little games (answers in the back).