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FARM

Name: FARM
Author: Gary Paulsen
ISBN: 0133047741

A HISTORY AND CELEBRATION OF THE AMERICAN FARMER

by Gary Paulsen ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 20, 1977

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Hosannas for American farming as the biggest, the best, the most bountiful in the world—and a raspberry for those backward little guys in Europe and Asia about whose prodigies of production Paulsen evidently knows nothing at all. This is naked hucksterism, likable when Paulsen is recounting the crazy history of sheep-raising, questionable when he attributes the decimation of buffalo herds to an inexorable need for leather and prairie farmland, pernicious—and dead wrong—when he ascribes every agricultural advance,whether in stock breeding, equipment development, or cooperative organization, to American initiative. The last lapse is the outdated, reiterated assertion that "there is no surplus of food anywhere in the world"—which will be news to American farmers in 1977. But in this saga of conquest there are no falling incomes either, no subsidies, no Farmers Union, no Cargill or Del Monte or other agri-businesses. No index, for that matter, not that there'd be anything to look up.

Pub Date: Oct. 20, 1977

ISBN: 0133047741

Page Count: -

Publisher: Prentice Hall

Review Posted Online: Oct. 18, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1977

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
NORTHWIND
by Gary Paulsen

- BOOK REVIEW
HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DAD
by Gary Paulsen

- BOOK REVIEW
GONE TO THE WOODS
by Gary Paulsen

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NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

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This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)

Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996

ISBN: 0-15-100227-4

Page Count: 136

Publisher: Harcourt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

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An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.