We love all of Cynthia Rylant's books and series of books, and The Lighthouse Family series is our new favorite! We are anxious to read the next book as soon as it comes out so we can know what happens to Pandora the cat, Seabold the dog and their three little mice children. Rylant uses wonderful words in her books, painting a beautiful story of words. (the illustrations in this book are beautiful too!) This is for a little older readers than her Mr. Putter and Tabby, Henry and Mudge, Poppleton, or Little Whistle series, ALL of which I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!!

This is a great book with a message both kids and adults can relate to - be true to yourself. I love the characters and the illustrations are so cute. I'm messy too, and my mother always told me to clean up my room. After reading Lionel and Amelia I'm keeping my room just like I want to, though I can see my mother's point of view too. Highly recommended.

I logged on to the author's website too, which is fun. ...

The latest book by author, June Kirkpatrick, is a beautiful retelling of the history of the charming Loretto Chapel and its beloved staircase which is considered a joyous miracle. The story is told with warmth and love through the eyes and heart of the local church mouse. This lovely book, in words and pictures, came out shortly before Christmas, 2000 and when I read it to my students and gran grandchildren they all agreed that it gave them a wonderful feeling of love, joy and hope.

We are all looking for the next book from the talented author, June Kirkpatrick and the gifted artist, Michele M. K. Brokaw.

I've been reading this book to my 4 year old son since he was a young baby and he absolutely loves it. He still occasionally picks it out of the bookcase to be our nightly bedtime read. However, probably because he was so young when I started reading it to him, he used to grab the pop-up animals and has destroyed some of them. I'd love to buy another copy to read to my baby daughter now.

What child has not wondered what their pets or toys do at night once he or she has gone to sleep. In Cynthia Rylant's newest book she imagines just this. Little Whistle, a brown guinea pig lives in a toy store. During the day, he sleeps. At night, he awakens to play with the toys who come to life. On his first night in the store, he becomes cold, not having enough bedding to keep him warm. A sailor toy gives him his blue pea coat to wear. Little Whistle is appreciative and promises to return it one day. Children are often saddened at the thought of a toy being sold and leaving the store. Rylant alleviates those fears by saying that Little Whistle did not mind when someone was sold. "Toys love being sold to children who care for them. Little Whistle knew this and understood." I have owned guinea pigs all my life and their cute faces make me smile. I purchased this book saying it was for my class and our classroom pet but honestly it was purely for me!

Other reviews have said these books are rather treacly in flavor, but not so to children. In its own pleasing simple and kind words, these books tell the story of Little Whistle, a little guinea pig, who is the only live animal in a toy store. But magical things happen at night and the toys come to life and along with Little Whistle they play and listen to their good friend, Soldier's nightly stories.

In this third book, though, Little Whistle has to don his medical gear because Soldier cannot tell the bedtime story as he is ill with a headache.

Little Whistle comes to the rescue! After hopping into a toy train, he finds a toy first-aid kit and helps his friend with bandages and toy medicine. Little Whistle has cured his friend and Soldier is now able to tell his night stories to all the toys--and to Little Whistle.

Wonderful drawings and a wonderful book for children.

Bob Artley's LIVING WITH PIGS is a fun display of satire and farm animal insights. Artley's visions of life on the farm is applied to the pig in a series of cartoon panels which present pig insights, followed by short vignettes reflecting on their feeding, care, and psyche.

This book is an excellent and still pretty up-to-date book on PNG's many and varied dive sites. Good way to plan a dive trip, by seeing which site descriptions most appeal to you. PNG's dive sites are very variable; fabulous visibility one day can be down to murky on the next. Little explored country in terms of diving, new sites are being identified all the time. Hopefully they'll update the book in a few years to include the many sites not known at the time it was first published. All in all, a very helpful and thorough book.

Lots of natural history and photos make this much more than just another kid's animal book. Its about a deer mouse pup adopted by a white-footed mouse family. If your kid likes ecology, nature, and/or mice: buy this!!!

A seminal book about a WWII campaign that achieved nothing of strategic significance except to boost Gen. MacArthur's personal standing as well as diverting US military forces from a direct thrust at Japan. Oddly enough, only military operations from after Operation Cartwheel, which included the bloody Buna campaign, is covered. Interested readers on the related Australian operations including the Kokoda trail, as well as follow-on operations in the Philippines will have to look elsewhere. A clear prerequisite for reading and enjoying this book is to have read "American Caesar" by William Manchester which gives the background to the complex relationships between all the personalities involved. The almost deadly duel between MacArthur and Admiral King over overall strategy and logistics is highlighted, with Admiral Nimitz being pushed into the background. The race between MacArthur's and Nimitz's rival thrusts towards the Japanese Empire being one of the main themes here. The book constantly harps on MacArthur's obsession with getting back to the Philippines. Thus, in his race to beat the US Navy to the China-Luzon-Formosa area, MacArthur is criticised for moving too fast up the northern coast of PNG before securing his bases for staging the next amphibious landings. He doesn't appear to have endeared himself to the men doing the fighting but achieved his objectives in record time and with remarkably low casualty rates for the whole campaign. As MacArthur did not know about the Manhattan Project, he cannot be faulted for his strategic planning based largely on the then known technology as well as current US military capability. As it was, the atomic bombs were the strategic weapons that decisively ended the Pacific War. This remarkable book goes somewhere towards setting the record straight and giving due credit to the many forgotten servicemen who performed gallantly or gave their lives in this little-known campaign. The maps are clear, concise and relate well to the text.