Patricia Lauber (1924–2010)

Cute, Terhune-esque story of a dog finally growing up in a crisis. Total spoilers, if you care: Champ is called Clown for his silly, puppyish tricks, though he's over a year old (a grown dog, or should be); he runs off instead of taking care of the sheep, hides things from his owners, and teases the working horse, Snowball. Hmm, no mention of how he regards Shep, the old sheepdog - who Clown is supposed to replace, as he's getting old. So his owner - the owner of the sheep ranch - finally show more decides that he must sell Clown and buy a better dog, despite his son's sorrow at the loss of his pal. But just then, the valley is about to flood when an old dam is cracking under the weight of heavy rainfall, so the family (and Shep) leave, leaving Snowball and the sheep to fend for themselves - and Clown, because he's run off again. Clown comes home to find no one there and the house is soon surrounded with water. Then a few lost sheep, trapped nearby, are bleating in despair - and somehow Clown grows up and into his responsibilities. There's a puma, later, as well, and Champ is badly wounded - but since this is Terhune-esque and not an Old Yeller story, Champ survives and the story ends with him being accepted back into the family, as the excellent working dog he should have been all along. The story is completely predictable, and written in very simple language - which doesn't detract from it at all; for what it is (a children's animal book), it's great. show less

This book is informative about the history of how people have slept over the years. The book does a swell job with sharing information in a light hearted and entertaining way. This is accomplished through the use of colorful illustrations, easy to follow text, and speech bubbles. The colorful illustrations create a clear visual of what the text is discussing. This is a great accomplishment. For example, part of the text says, "Everyone lived together under one roof- the lord of the manor and show more his family, servants, peasants, and sometimes livestock". The illustration that goes with this text shows a large room crowded with both people and animals sleeping on the floor. The content is organized through the use of titles for each section. The historical information is presented in an entertaining fashion through the use of speech bubbles. This helps historical facts come to life. For example, travelers had to sleep in the same bed during the Middle Ages. One of the travelers said, "Move over, you!" which shows how cramped the people felt. The main message of this story book is to inform readers on the history of beds, bedrooms, and pajamas. More importantly, it shares the message of appreciating the way we sleep today by comparing it to the lack of comfort people endured in the past. show less

A vintage book that has remained a favorite since my childhood. The story is a sweet simple story that brings out the very true message of maturity through times of trouble and in finding that our disastrous bad choices can lead to our strength in the end. And it is this message that persists throughout time.

Patricia does a beautiful job in putting us in a familiar background with her easy-to-read and simple plot. And the story is an actual good beginning story that moves along pretty quick show more while the simplistic illustrations add depth to the story for beginning readers. This will be a book that with the right audience will stay with you into future years. show less

A non-fiction Newbery Honor Book about the eruption of Mount St. Helens in 1980 and the area's subsequent regrowth. Eh. Clearly meant for kids, but it accomplishes this in simplistic language only. I mean, come on, this is a cool topic, so a book for kids about it should be more interesting than this one is. Also, the photos included were weirdly hard to figure out; for example, some of them were meant to focus on something that was *way* in the background of the actual photo, and a couple show more had blurbs that talked about features of the mountain that I could not find in the photo at all. Some sort of arrow pointing out said feature would have been great and seems like an obvious necessity to me. Anyway. I'll file this one in the Could Have Been Cool But Missed the Boat box. show less