Dandelions

Product Details

• Shape: New
• Notes: BUY WITH Belief, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and amenities to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed
• ISBN13: 9780152024079

Description

Embarking on a new life, Zoe and her family journey west to the Nebraska Territory in the 1800s.
When Zoe and her family arrive at their claim, nothing distinguishes it from the miles and miles of surrounding prairie. Even after they build their soddie, the home can't be seen from any distance. Zoe has never seen Papa so happy or Mama so sad. But when she takes a trip to the small prairie town with Papa, Zoe sees something that might make a difference to their new soddie, and to Mama's life, too.

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Customer Reviews

A Beautiful Story of Courageous Hope
Zoe, traveling with her family to Nebraska, knows her mother has doubts about moving to an unsettled territory, but her father is unable to provide for them back in Illinois where they lived with her grandparents. When they arrive at their staked-out territory and commence to digging a well and building their sod house, Mama's doubts continue to weigh on her and she pines for her old home. On Mama's birthday Papa takes Zoe to town for supplies and a small gift. As they leave the town, Zoe spies a clump of dandelions to be her gift. They carefully transplant them to the sod roof, but when morning comes the flowers are wilted and sad. Zoe pleads, "They'll bloom, Mama -- they're strong, just like us." Mama is quiet, and Zoe knows that somehow the conversation is about more than the flowers. Mama tells her she must be patient, it's hard for flowers to be transplanted, and the story ends with a visual scene of a little sod house on an open prairie, roof covered in yellow blooms.

This beautiful story captures the courage of Americans who risked everything to settle in unknown lands. It features a strong female protagonist who supports her father's leadership and shows genuine love toward her mother and sister. In a book of this length much is necessarily left out -- you will have to read On the Banks of Plum Creek (Little House) or Sod Houses on the Great Plains to learn how a soddie is built -- but Bunting's spare text gives just enough detail to evoke the feelings these settlers must have experienced, leaving the reader with the desire to learn more about this piece of American history.

The complex emotional themes of hope, loneliness and fear, with the symbolism of transplanted flowers to stand for Mama's loneliness, may require explanation for younger readers. This book is probably best suited for ages 5-8.

2010-05-09 | eyelevelbooks.com (Gaithersburg, MD) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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Not just any book but a piece of great literature
On its face, this is a wonderful story of a pioneer family that moves to Nebraska to claim vacant land that is being given away for free. But it is so much more than a quaint story, as the author adeptly paints for the reader a picture of who each character is, how they feel about the move, and the subtleties of how they interact with each other. The transplanted dandelions are a beautiful symbol of the difficulties of moving to a strange place and starting anew. And all is done through the eyes of one of the children.

A word of caution, though. Because of the subtleties and nuances of language in the book, I would not recommend the book for young children. Without an understanding of what is suggested and not expressly written, only the basic story can be grasped, which by itself would be a bit boring and would struggle to maintain a young child's attention.

2009-07-03 | honey bunny mom (Chicago, IL USA) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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dandy dandylions
Dandelions is one of the best books I have ever read. It tells about the historic events about everybody moving to the Great Plains. It shows the hardships the people back then had to go through. I was a very true book.

I also liked the characters, too.They had cool talents and were funny like when Rebecca said, "We really dug a hole to China?", the author made me feel sad for them. He explains the characters well, too. It is one of the best books I have ever read because of how good the author writes this book.

Tucker DME

2009-04-24 | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 5

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Dandelions Rule! :]
My favorite book buddy book is called "Dandelions". I like it because alot because it really makes me realise what i have.It's very touching story to read.I realise that how much I really have! I need to be greacous,I need to spend more time with my family,too.
It teaches me I need to work and play less.I don't need to ask for everything I see.Now I realize how much I have and that I need to love my family more and more,also appreciate them.This book is great.I love this book.
By:Gracen Kerr

2009-04-23 | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 4

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the dandelions of adventure
How you ever felt good of what you have accomplished? Well I have!The book Dandelions was very touching to me because people like me at my age should be thanking God because we don't have to move around and build sodies. It's sad because they had to dig a hole to get some water in a little water bucket. It is a lot of hard work to dig up a hole and get some water every day. Their house was made out of mud and water, sometimes snakes would come out of the walls!

It would be awesome to meet the people in the book if they were real. It would also be awesome if wagons were still here in modern time. If you sell it to someone who likes old history wagons,they would be interested. I think the book was inspiring to me because it would want to make me a better person. Papa said'Mama and I have to talk things over with you'. When I read that it made me want to read it again. It was very interesting.

Ruth
DME

2009-04-16 | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 5

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The Wall (Reading Rainbow Books)

Product Details

• Educate: New
• Notes: BUY WITH Certitude, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and use to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed
• ISBN13: 9780395629772

Description

A boy and his father visit the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial in Washington, D.C., in a work about memory and loss. Reprint. SLJ. H. AB. C. K.

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Customer Reviews

This is what Jordan had to say-- (3rd grade)
Have you ever seen your grandpa? Well in The Wall by Eve Bunting it teaches you that even though somebody you know died or if you never saw them doesn't mean you have to forget about them .The little boy didn't forget about his grandpa even though he never saw him and also by trying to find his name on the wall. The little boy and his dad go to the Vietnam War Wall. The wall has every soldier's name who died in the war. Flowers and other things are laid by the wall. The boy lays a picture of him by the wall and covers the edges with stone. Will they find his grandpa's name?

This reminds me of when I saw a man with no legs at the mall, like when the little boy saw a man with no legs. The two differences are that the guy I saw had no soldier suit on the man in The Wall does. Also the man I saw was at the mall not the wall.

Do you like sad stories? Well you'll like The Wall just like me. I like The Wall because it's sad. Like when his grandpa got shot. The boy didn't get to see his grandpa. I can also visualize it like when the author describes the wall as "black and shiny as a mirror you could see the bare trees behind."

2010-03-08 | Miss Barr | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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Emotions Run High
"The Wall" by Eve Bunting is a very emotional story about a young boy and his father who visit the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C. It creatively tells the story of a father and son who are looking for the name of a loved one on the wall. Although the story is written in simple language, it carries deep rooted emotion along with it. The language and pictures add so much to the emotion of the book. The fact that the memorial exists in real life is a great way to tie the story into a classroom full of young students eager to learn more. Bunting has produced a very well written book that touches the hearts of readers through a moving storyline which leaves readers with a sense of affection towards family and country.

2009-10-21 (Ohio, USA) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 4

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A stark memorial
So many things are accomplished in this haunting story of one dad and his son making that long trip to visit father/grandfather, whose name is etched into the Vietnam Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C. Eve Bunting and Ronald Himler are respectful, reverent, and nostalgic in telling this story in "The Wall."

I've been there and wondered how the pair would depict the memorial. What they put on paper is exactly what happens at the Wall, exactly! To make the experience wide-eyed and innocent, the author relays the story through this little boy's perspective. He's been prepared: he knows they have come to locate grandfather's name as one of 58,000 killed and missing in action.

Bunting chooses to by-pass the location catalog and simply use 1967, the year Grandfather died in the war. Once they find his name, Dad takes out paper to use with pencil to rub his father's name as a keepsake. They leave a picture of the grandson below the deceased soldier's name. The boy has already explored some of the items that relatives and friends leave at the base of the Wall.

The pair encounter four types of visitors: an elderly couple obviously visiting their son's name, a grandfather and grandson visiting the soldier-dad's name, and a group of girls on a field trip. Their behavior is proper, but not reflective of loss such as the others experience. The last visitor becomes the most deeply moving encounter. A man in a wheelchair with a blanket folded over where his legs should have been, an obvious veteran with a decorated ribbon, and obviously a Vietnam vet, rolls in. It is a chance meeting the boy will never forget.

When they leave, the boy is sad, but wiser. He's been to the memorial erected in his grandfather's honor, as well as the 58,000 companions. He would like a grandpa as the other boy had, but he is proud to know his grandfather served his country.

As an interesting side note, the father-son duo look to be Native American in an honorable tribute to an under-recognized minority who also participated in this war.

Not one sentence of the story is overstated, not one illustration false. Script and art work in tandem in presenting a quiet little story concerning an utterly cosmic wound in the American psyche.

2009-10-05 | Book Collector (Louisiana) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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Remembering in a Time of Forgetting
While I read, the quiet in my fifth grade room shifted from obligatory classroom quiet to a sense of solemn reverence. As with so many Eve Bunting books, this one is important and takes complex issues and breaks them down and gives younger children some excellent critical thinking opportunities. And it's particularly relevant now. We are a country engaged in two wars that aren't spoken about much these days. War has taken a place on the back pages of newspapers. And here we are again, forgetting veterans, forgetting soldiers, and repeating so many mistakes from the past. The book was as much for me as it was for my kids.

Chris Bowen
Author of, "Our Kids: Building Relationships in the Classroom"

2009-03-15 | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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Excellent
This book was sent on time and received on time! It made a great addition to my classroom! Thank you so much!

2008-11-25 | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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Fly Away Home

Product Details

• Adapt: New
• ISBN13: 9780395664155
• Notes: BUY WITH Conviction, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and armed forces to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed

Description

A homeless boy who lives in an airport with his father, moving from terminal to terminal trying not to be noticed, is given hope when a trapped bird finally finds its freedom.

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Customer Reviews

It hits home...
This book hits home really hard. It gives children a chance to see a side of homeless people they never have seen before. It also sends a good message of hope. Eve Bunting has created a classic that I will use as a future teacher in my clasroom.

2009-03-05 | future teacher | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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The Gift of Empathy
The homeless are rarely portrayed as the diverse group they are. So often, we get smirky, "hobo" references or the easy sitcom joke. The whole mood of my classroom just drops when I read "Fly Away Home." There is, at first, some uncomfortable laughter. They simply are not emotionally equipped to take this one on. We trudge our way through, though. And no one gives this gift to kids better than Bunting. It is the opportunity to put real faces and figures to social issues. It is easy to dismiss a subject. It is much harder to dismiss a young boy living in an airport. Eve Bunting has literally become one of my greatest teaching tools over the years. And I thank her for it. Simply put, another great one.

Chris Bowen
Author of, "Our Kids: Building Relationships in the Classroom"

2009-01-21 | lateacher (California) | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 5

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I remember this book from Reading Rainbow
I am nearly 20 years old and I still remember seeing this book read on Reading Rainbow when I was very young. This book was an excellent introduction to the idea of homeless children for children with homes and would definitely make a child who is homeless not feel alone. I am going to be a social worker and play therapist, and this book is on my list for books to get in the future. People should remember though, that books like this are like books that bring up the idea or life of a child who is abused. If your child is healthy and well taken care of it might be confusing and a bit frightening, but it is not so psychologically damaging that some children learn about the different--and sometimes sad lifestyles of other children. This teaches them that they need to be compassionate and friendly to children who are homeless because they need a friend. Personally I don't think this book is anymore damaging than a "save the children" commerical picturing half-naked, starving toddlers climbing among trash. But in conclusion, I think this is a very good book, so much so that I remember it being read to me on TV.

2008-10-11 | Trixie (USA) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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Fly Away Home
This is a wonderful book about homelessness from a child's point of view. The child likens himself to a bird trapped in the busy airport where he and his father live very carefully as to be undetected. A job for his father will free them to fly away from their temporary home like the bird that finally flies away when an automatic door opens one day.

2007-09-24 (Wilmington, North Carolina) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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Great, realistic story..
This book is more true to life then may people would like to a admit. As a school teacher, I have been using this book for years to share the plight of the working homeless. I have also worked in the homeless shelters of Boston and can't tell you how many people are struggling just to get on their feet. This book is sad, however you would been amazed how much empathy and new awareness an older child has after reading is wonderful piece of literature!

2007-05-30 | Jesse (Connecticut) | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 5

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Going Home (Trophy Picture Books)

Product Details

• ISBN13: 9780064435093
• Train: New
• Notes: BUY WITH Boldness, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and professional care to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed

Description

Christmas is coming and Carlos and his family are going home-driving south across the border to Mexico. But Mexico doesn't seem like home to Carlos, even though he and his sisters were born there. Can home be a place you don't really remember?

At first, La Perla doesn't seem very different from the other villages they pass through. But then Carlos is swept into the festivities by Grandfather, Aunt Ana, and the whole village. Finally, Carlos begins to understand Mama and Papa's love for the place they left behind, and realizes that home can be anywhere, because it stays in the hearts of the people who love you.

Eve Bunting and David Diaz-the Caldecott Medal-winning team behind Smoky Night- collaborated once again to create a dazzling picture book that glows with holiday joy and the spirit of Mexico.

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With its remarkable illustrations and its affectionate portrait of a migrant family, Eve Bunting's latest book is a jewel. Carlos, his parents, and his sisters visit the family village in Mexico. Mama and Papa are very excited, but the kids don't know what all the fuss is about. If they really love Mexico, what could be the point of leaving for America just for "opportunities"?

As they watch their parents with the family, and sneak a peek at the two of them dancing in the moonlight to a song only they can hear, Carlos understands. "They love it here because it's home. They have left home for us." With clarity, warmth, and very few words, Bunting has explained those ever-new American dreamers to yet another generation.

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Customer Reviews

Going Home, by Eve Bunting
As a grandfather, I have been impressed with many of the books which Eve Bunting, working with a variety of illustrators, has created for children. "Going Home" is one of these. With good drawings, and a simple, touching story, it is appropriate for almost any age. Recommended.

2010-02-15 (Oakland, CA USA) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 4

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Moving Story About Mexican-Americans Going Home
The country where you were born rarely stops being home. Especially if you lived there for very long. This book highlights a family from the United States whose parents come from Mexico. The parents still feel very strongly that Mexico is home though they are firmly planted in the US. The kids are very uncomfortable with the knowledge. They prefer to speak English and feel that the US is home. What is this place their parents call home? What if they want to stay there? How do their parents really about about home in the US which the kids consider home? It's a confusing dilemma for kids and parents have to have mixed feelings too.

2008-03-04 | The ESOL Teacher (Webster, NY United States) | Helpful Votes: 2 | Rating: 5

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Beautiful book for children and adults
Eve Bunting's books have a wisdom that transcends their simple stories. As an ESL teacher and a teacher in classes with immigrant students, I have often shared this book with middle school students and adults. In a brief and poetic narrative, it tells the universal story of parents sacrificing so their children will have a better life, through the eyes of a child. The adults in my ESL classes love it and take it home to read to their children.

2006-11-27 (Colorado) | Helpful Votes: 9 | Rating: 5

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Eve Bunting and David Diaz do it again!
Eve Bunting takes her readers on journey with a Mexican family going home for Christmas. The text she uses is elegantly written. Through the feelings expressed by Carlos and his family you get a real sense of the Mexican culture and the importance of family. David Diaz's illustrations lead you into the journey with Carlos and his family. With the use of collaged background and inset illustrations the pages come alive. The text of Bunting and the illustrations of Diaz give you the sense of being there. This is a book that a child of any age would enjoy.

2001-07-07 (Massillon, Ohio USA) | Helpful Votes: 14 | Rating: 5

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Excellent book!
This book is very touching...it sensitively portrays the sacrafices Mexican immigrants have to make to move to America for their children to have a better life. Very well done themes of parental love, long car trips, the sadness of leaving one's home country, sibling realtionships, husband and wife being romantic (tasteful and age-appropriate), and a child's growing understanding of the complexities of life. Buy and read it to every child (and adult) you know.

2000-06-22 | Helpful Votes: 15 | Rating: 5

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Train to Somewhere

Product Details

• ISBN13: 9780618040315
• Notes: BUY WITH Faith, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and marines to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed
• Requirement: New

Description

Marianne, heading west with fourteen other children on an Orphan Train, is sure her mother will show up at one of the stations along the way. When her mother left Marianne at the orphanage, hadn't she promised she'd come for her after making a new life in the West? Stop after stop goes by, and there's no sign of her mother in the crowds that come to look over the children. No one shows any interest in adopting shy, plain Marianne, either. But that's all right: She has to be free for her mother to claim her. Then the train pulls into its final stop, a town called Somewhere . . .

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Customer Reviews

Heartbreaking and hopeful...
Left at an orphanage by her mother, Marianne travels west on the orphan train, secretly hoping that her mother will be waiting to claim her. Each stop brings despair when her mother doesn't appear, and when no one else seems to want her. On the last stop, in a town named Somewhere, Marianne finally realizes that "sometimes what you get turns out to be better than what you wanted in the first place." Bunting's gentle text and Himler's beautiful illustrations provide younger children with an excellent introduction to this topic.

2009-07-12 | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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True story, my grandmother told me.
I enjoyed this book especially because my grandmother was a rider on an orphan train when she was around 11 years old. She is still spry at the age of 98. The story she tells me is almost identical, for she felt she was tall, plain and ugly. Her mother died in New York and her and all of her brothers and sisters (6 of them) came to Texas. I think everyone should know about this part of our history. Eve Bunting did a wonderful job of telling the story that so many orphan train riders will never have the opportunity to tell.

2006-10-08 (Texas, United States) | Helpful Votes: 13 | Rating: 5

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A Train to Somewere
Marrianne was sent to Saint Christophers and her mom said that she would be back for her. But she never came back. She was on a train with 14 orphans trying to find her mom. But she couldn't find her mom. My favorite part was the end when Marrianne met Mr and Mrs. Books and they adopted her. The story made me sad because her mom didn't want her and a little happy because she got adopted at the end of the train ride. The End.

2006-08-18 | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 3

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a train to somewhere
I thought it was good and sad. Sad because she didn't find her real mom. I think people should read it because it tells a lesson and it tells a happy ending.

2006-08-18 | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 2

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a train to somewhere
It was good because she found a new mother. Second, it made me feel happy because she was happy with her new family. She can visit people. You should read it because it was very nice and funny.

2006-08-18 | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 3

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One Candle

Product Details

• ISBN13: 9780060085605
• Notes: BUY WITH Self-confidence, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and worship army to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed
• Fit out: New

Description

For one family the traditional Hanukkah celebration has a deeper meaning. Amidst the food and the festivities, Grandma and Great-Aunt Rose begin their story -- the one they tell each year. They pass on to each generation a tale of perseverance during the darkest hours of the Holocaust, and the strength it took to continue to honor Hanukkah in the only way they could. Their story reaffirms the values of tradition and family, but also shows us that by continuing to honor the tragedies and the triumphs of the past there will always be hope for the future.

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Customer Reviews

We use Soy Sour Cream
I loved this book and have given it to my grand children.
The message of love and hope and enduring the unendurable makes it a wonderful Hanukkah story.
So much so that every Hanukkah we always fix a potato candle on the first night ....just to remember.
As for errors? perhaps the sour cream is not dairy. We use soy in my home!

2010-09-05 | Bronte (Florida) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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A mitzvah
I too, was curious about the placement of the candle in the window and my Temple confirmed that it is indeed a mitzvah to turn the menorrah toward the passer-by and the world outside so that they read it as one would light it. There is nothing amiss in the illustrations here. Mitzvah, yes!

2007-06-14 (New York) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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One Candle review
This book is a touching story about celebrating Hanukkah in a work camp with two young girls. It is a book od love, hope, and life. Younger kids would probably not understand all of it and it might bore some older kids. Overall it is a pretty good book. The pictures help you understand it even more.

2005-03-09 | Helpful Votes: 2 | Rating: 4

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Errors?
I find it appauling that simply because this is a non-kosher family being depicted (as my family is) it is considered an ERROR. Equally appauling is the fact that because there is one belief about how the candles should be lit, all other beliefs are suddenly invalidated. But most appauling of all is that we finally have a book that not only takes the holiday seriously but celebrates it with such sincerity and a sense of hope, and yet you sit there and try to find reasons to discredit it. I for one think this is a truly amazing book, and I am more than happy to share it with my family.

2002-12-03 | Helpful Votes: 6 | Rating: 5

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A Few Errors Can't Steal the Magic of this Book
I agree with other reviewers that it is a pity that Ms. Bunting's editors didn't assign someone knowledgeable to review the text and help the artist with moon phases and menorah placement. On the other hand, many of the Jews who love and celebrate Hanukkah do not practice strictly in accordance with dietary and other religious laws.

What makes this book special is showing a festive, cheerful holiday having such significance in the practice of one's religion and being one's true self that Grandma, as a young girl, risked death to observe it. Scholars have often been somewat dismissive of Hanukkah, regarding it as a minor holiday, and yet it is a favorite for many people. This story helps us understand why. There is a message of hope, since Grandma has survived and is surrounded by a loving family, but the deft characterization of Great-Aunt Rose shows that suffering a horror like the Holocaust stays with one for life.

As a school librarian, I'm finding this a powerful introduction to the Holocaust, as well as to Hanukkah. The children are baffled and horrified at the idea that anyone would be imprisoned, starved, killed, "just because..." - and even more aghast when we point out that the hate and killings continue now with Jews AND other ethnic/religious groups. The narrator's musings at the end of the story as to why Grandma wants to remember such a painful time in her life allow us to look at what we have to remember to keep it from happening again.

2002-11-30 (South Woodbury, VT USA) | Helpful Votes: 9 | Rating: 4

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