From iconic children's author Jane Yolen, and renowned illustrator Bob Marstall, this stunning picture book is the first in a new Jane Yolen series created for the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, the world authority on birds. Based on the cumulative nursery rhyme and song, The Green Grass Grew All Around, this enchanting version features a boy and his dog who find a nest on a hill.
Two sisters are suddenly sent from their home in Brooklyn to Barbados to live with their grandmother, in Naomi Jackson’s stunning debut novel This lyrical novel of community, betrayal, and love centers on an unforgettable matriarchal family in Barbados. Two sisters, ages ten and sixteen, are exiled from Brooklyn to Bird Hill in Barbados after their mother can no longer care for them. The young Phaedra and her older sister, Dionne, live for the summer of 1989 with their grandmother Hyacinth, a midwife and practitioner of the local spiritual practice of obeah. Dionne spends the summer in search of love, testing her grandmother’s limits, and wanting to go home. Phaedra explores Bird Hill, where her family has lived for generations, accompanies her grandmother in her role as a midwife, and investigates their mother’s mysterious life. This tautly paced coming-of-age story builds to a crisis when the father they barely know comes to Bird Hill to reclaim his daughters, and both Phaedra and Dionne must choose between the Brooklyn they once knew and loved or the Barbados of their family. Naomi Jackson’s Barbados and her characters are singular, especially the wise Hyacinth and the heartbreaking young Phaedra, who is coming into her own as a young woman amid the tumult of her family. Praise for The Star Side of Bird Hill: “Once in a while, you’ll stumble onto a book like this, one so poetic in its descriptions and so alive with lovable, frustrating, painfully real characters, that your emotional response to it becomes almost physical. . . . The dual coming-of-age story alone could melt the sternest of hearts, but Jackson’s exquisite prose is a marvel too. . . . A gem of a book.” —Entertainment Weekly (A)
From iconic children's author Jane Yolen, and renowned illustrator Bob Marstall, this stunning picture book is the first in a new Jane Yolen series created for the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, the world authority on birds. Based on the cumulative nursery rhyme and song, The Green Grass Grew All Around, this enchanting version features a boy and his dog who find a nest on a hill.
Before her death in 1910, Nettie Cummings Maxim chronicled the people, landscapes, and animals of a typical Maine farm at Bird Hill in Bethel at the turn of the century. In a time before mass media, her world consisted almost entirely of her family and farm. This intimate familiarity with her immediate world and a degree of cultural isolation allowed Nettie to explore and capture on film the details of farm life through the seasons and the innocence and wisdom in the eyes of the children whose lives were so closely entwined with life on a rural Maine hill farm. After one look at her photographs, her innate artistic talent becomes immediately apparent: her use of natural light, the composition of her images, and her eye for detail lend a tremendously beautiful, evocative quality to her images. She turned the long exposures mandated by film at the turn of the century to her advantage, and somehow manages to create the illusion of motion in her photographs. Through her cameras, Nettie recorded the world that was so endearing to her, a world that has gone largely undocumented by photography. In doing so, she has given immortality to the people, buildings, and even the animals that were part of her life and her microcosm of society nearly a century ago, as well as giving us a rare insight into the intricacies of daily life in the nearby communities of Locke's Mills and Greenwood. Allow her to lead you back into life in rural Maine at the turn of the century: it is a journey worth making, and one that you will never forget.
"It may seem like clambakes, the Red Sox, and the Patriots define New England, but boy did the Pilgrims land in one very strange spot! These six states are filled with odd curiosities and bizarre legends, such as the elusive Vermont hum, the hibernating hill folk, hillside whale tales, and the Holy Land (yes, you read that right). Tongue-in-cheek and filled with dry wit, this is a journey you'll not soon forget."--P. [4] of cover.
New England has a lot to offer so it’s no surprise that it’s one of the top outdoor tourist destinations in the country. It sees many people traversing its land each year, and many are there specifically seeking outdoor adventure. And, with families spearheading the need to get outdoors with their little ones, there are places a-plenty for exploring with littles of all ages. Whether you live here or are simply traveling through, Hiking with Kids New England offers up new and exciting adventures for parents and their elementary school-age kids alike. Organized around location, for ease of knocking out all of those “bucket list” places, the book features 40-50 easily accessible day hike locations, with each hike featuring a color photo and a map. As is standard with FalconGuides, all the basic information—from trailhead GPS to best times to go to fees and contacts—will be there, along with trail descriptions geared directly for the kids. The book’s handy “Best Hikes For” chart in the beginning will identify the best hikes for water features, historic geographic features, views, cool flora/fauna, and more. Hiking with Kids New England will keep its young participants engaged with tips on cool scavenger hunts; how to identify various animals, bird calls, and more; fun facts about the history of the land; and more.
