america

May was National Photo Month, so I picked up a few books light on words but chock-full of story.  Maddie on Things: A Super Serious Project About Dogs and Physics is like a pictorial version of a couple of my favorites, John Steinbeck’s Travels with Charley and William Least Heat Moon’s Blue Highways.  This is another take on touring the country to discover America.

Contrary to the subtitle, I didn’t learn much about dogs or physics, nor is it super serious.  Instead I got to witness Theron Humphrey’s heart-warming journey of discovery and growing fondness for Maddie, the rescue coonhound

My daughters and I found this book especially fun to read. We all enjoy baseball, but we also love to learn about Japan (we have family there). My girls love learning words in Japanese, besides the fun comparisons on each page of differences between Japan and America. The art is funky and and exciting. - See more at: http://jocolibrary.bibliocommons.com/item/show/1226618036_take_me_out_t…

When the recent British royal wedding occupied the air waves, everybody seemed interested in “everything British” once again.  There was a great deal of excitement over how a Prince fell in love with and married a Commoner, and America once again became fascinated with English royalty.

I recently came across a book that describes the earliest days of the American preoccupation with social ambition, royal rank, and the love of aristocratic titles.  This book could be considered a multiple biography in that it tells the story of three Jerome sisters, nicknamed Good, Witty and Beautiful. Their

After reading many news stories through the years about Ted Kennedy and his family, I looked forward to the release of his memoir. In the media, Ted Kennedy was often portrayed as a stereotypical, hard-drinking, womanizing politician. His father was portrayed as a philanderer, a power-hungry man who pushed his sons into politics and who was willing to play dirty in business and politics. True Compass provides insight into the man who maintained a fair degree of privacy while living in the public eye. In his memoir, he reveals himself to be a family man. As the youngest of the nine

I have added a new name to my list of heroes - Daniel Ellsberg. As a child, I remember hearing his name and knew that he was in some way connected with the Vietnam War and what was referred to as the Pentagon Papers. The Most Dangerous Man in America, (on DVD) tells the story of Daniel Ellsberg and the pivotal role he played in American history. in the 1950s, Ellsberg served as a Marine Corps officer, then went to work for the Rand Corp, a military thinktank. He earned a Ph.D in Economics from Harvard in 1962 and then worked at the Pentagon under Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara and in