Average customer rating:
- Good for adults and children
- Fun and Clever Barnyard Tale!
- Another favorite!
- Great addition to music curriculum
- Fun & funny!
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Dooby Dooby Moo
Doreen Cronin
Manufacturer: Atheneum
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Similar Items:
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Giggle, Giggle, Quack
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Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type
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Duck for President (New York Times Best Illustrated Books (Awards))
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Click, Clack, Splish, Splash: A Counting Adventure
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Library Lion
ASIN: 0689845073 |
Book Description
Duck and his friends are at it again.
This time they're pooling their considerable resources to win a local talent show, because first prize is a TRAMPOLINE.
The cows want to sing.
The sheep want to sing.
The pigs want to...dance. Dance?
And Duck? Duck just wants to win that trampoline. But first he has three small problems:
1. Farmer Brown 2. Farmer Brown 3. Farmer Brown
That remarkable, bestselling duo, Doreen Cronin and Betsy Lewin -- who brought you Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type; Giggle, Giggle, Quack; and Duck for President -- cordially invite you to the county fair, where the talent is truly wild.
Customer Reviews:
Good for adults and children.......2007-07-29
Doreen Cronin is a superb story teller for children, and also the adult reading it to them.
Fun and Clever Barnyard Tale!.......2007-07-28
"Dooby Dooby Moo" is the kids' equivalent of a light summer read. It's loads of fun, easy to follow, poses no great moral crises, and has a touch of suspence. Doreen Cronin's casual, sometimes silly tone is complemented by a wry narrative and visual wit, some smart references to pop culture, and appealingly informal watercolors with unexpected colors (especially in the shadings). Betsy Lewin excels at both minimalist pictures (e.g., two cows grazing), as well as panoramic landscapes (an exquisite night time overview of a county fair).
The plots goes something like this: Farmer Brown is suspicious (but ultimately without a clue) about the sounds coming from his barn. The animals snore with a Sinatra flair: "Dooby, dooby moo" (the cows). Fa, la, la, la, baaa(the sheep), and "Whacka, whacka quack (the duck). While this play on "Strangers in the Night" doesn't relate directly to the story, adult readers who enjoy the allusion. When the animals aren;t snoring, we discover, (although Farmer Brown doesn't know), they're praciticing for the county fair talent contest! THe cows and sheep sing--Here's the sheep's renditions of "Home on the Range":
"Baaa, baaa, baaa, baaabaaa.
Fa la baaa, fa la baaaa, baaaa baaa baaa!"
Cronin perfectly mimics the sounds! The pigs...well, the pigs practice "an interpretive dance," (shades of "Fantasia") which, unfortunately, puts everyone to sleep, including their tenacious singing and dancing coach, the duck. Farmer Brown, distrusting his noisy animals, takes them with him to the county fair, exactly what they wanted! Cronin and Lewin earn the gold medal for their parady of pre-performance routines. Duck, somewhat of an anxious perfectionist, paces back and forth, the precious pigs coif their hair, and the cows, acting very much the diva bovine, dainitly quoff their tea.
The judges generally love the singing (with the notable exception of one very grumpy cat), but even they fall asleep during the porcine dance. THere's a wonderful surprise ending as Duck (who's had his eye on the first prize trampoline) lets loose with his version of "Born to Be Wild!" RIght to the last page, Farmer Brown remains ignorant of his homegrown talent, and the new trampoline in his barn. The duo that produced the Caldecott Honor-winning "Click Clack, Moo: Cows That Type," and several other best selling and/or award-winning stories, have teamed for another delightful behind-the-scenes romp with farm animals. "Dooby, Dooby, Moo" is 35 pages of light, lively entertainment.
Another favorite!.......2007-07-06
My daughter loves these books and now that she is learning to read she seems to like them more.
Farmer Brown knows his animals are always up to something. As such he always keeps an eye on them. One thing that concerns him is the way they sleep. Dooby, dooby, moo.... the cows snore. Fa la, la, la baaaa the sheep snore. Whacka, whacka quack Duck snores.
Duck likes to read the newspaper before farmer Brown wakes up. He notices a talent show will happen at the county fair with the best prize ever. A trampoline.
Everybody decides to enter it and start practicing. The cows sing "Twinkle, twinkle, little star." The sheep sing "Home on the Range." The pigs do an interpretive dance!
Farmer Brown hears all this and starts watching them even more. Eventually, he decides they can't be left alone and so he puts them in a truck and takes them to the fair!
Duck steals the show with a rendition of Born to be wild!
The artwork is what makes the story fun! The singing is fun as well. Just remember to moo bah and quack to the songs!
Great addition to music curriculum.......2007-05-29
I have been using this book for my Kindergarten music classes this year and the children love it! First, I teach the songs that go with the different animals, then we read the story. They can't wait to join in on "Dooby Moo" or "Fa-la-la-baa", and are at the edge of their seats waiting for the "Boings" at the end. Students learn to listen for auditory cues and have fun singing.
Fun & funny!.......2007-03-09
My 6 and 3 year olds love Click, Clack, Moo, so we thought we would give this one a try. They don't like this one quite as much, they do enjoy it. Cute book for sure!
Book Description
For the millions who loved A Year by the Sea comes a memoir of a woman who awakens at midlife to find wisdom in a most unlikely place
In this lovely, unconventional, often funny memoir, we meet Catherine Goldhammer, newly separated and several tax brackets poorer, forced by circumstance to move from the affluent New England suburb of her daughter's childhood into a new, more rustic life by the sea. Against all logic, partly to please her daughter and partly for reasons not clear to her at the time, she begins this year of transition by purchasing six baby chickens-whose job, she comes to suspect, is to pull her and her daughter forward, out of one life and into another.
As she gradually transforms her new house, nine hundred feet from the sea-with its tawdry exterior but radiant soul-tile by tile, flower bed by flower bed, as she watches her precocious twelve-year-old daughter blossom into a stylish and sophisticated teenager, and as she tends to the needs of six enigmatic chickens, Catherine's life starts to slowly shift from chaos to grace. Beautifully written and ultimately inspiring, Still Life with Chickens is an unforgettable lesson in hope, in starting over, and in the transcendent wisdom that can often be found in the most unlikely of places.
Customer Reviews:
A spoiled, snob's life with chickens.......2007-10-02
After reading reviews for this book I expected to be moved and inspired. Instead, I was angry and insulted on behalf of all women. Catherine is obviously very wealthy and well-connected and comes out well in her divorce, seeing as how she doesn't need to work (other than directing some contractors to fix up her lovely house by the sea). She quits her part-time job as an aide in a wealthy school because a voice tells her, "Don't go in there!" As an inner city school teacher now for 15 years who has always supported herself, I would love to call it quits but that isn't an option because I would starve. Ms. Goldhammer insults all women who do it all and then some everyday and don't have "hundreds of people" behind their possible book, money for an agent and lots of connections in high places. If this isn't bad enough, Ms. Goldhammer continuously hammers us at every turn with more boasts and brags about her mediocre daughter. Rarely has a book left me so angry. I guess the only good thing about this book is it made me realize that next to Catherine Goldhammer, I must be Superwoman!
'twas cute.......2007-09-16
This is a cute, beach-type book. Doesn't take much concentration to read it - though the author tries to insert a few insights here and there. It is interesting enough to hold concentration, and there are a few smiles along the way....
10 stars.......2007-09-03
Since I am from the Boston area, I really wanted to read this book. It is beautiful. What a lovely simple story of a real woman and her daughter. It was fast and smooth reading. I would love to see a sequel! The writing reminded me of a writer named Gladys Tabor who wrote similar stories about 50 years ago. Read this wonderful book and enjoy!
Chickens keep you sane........2007-08-16
This book though it dealt with a topic plaguing this world today divorce, it was fast paced and a very enjoyable read. The divorce was not the topic but surviving was. It seemed to me that we all could enjoy this book and learn from it, what you amy ask, well find the funny and laugh, look to tomorrow if today is really bad and realize that if you sit still and see or hear what gives you pleasure or joy its okay to find peace in it
Great Book!.......2007-08-15
I love this book so much! I'm almost done and I don't want it to end. I don't want chickens but I like to read about people who do. And who could resist a place called "Dragonfly Farm"?
Amazon.com
In her previous cookbooks Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone and the classic Greens Cookbook, among others, Deborah Madison scored with savory yet sophisticated fare--the kind of food even meat lovers relish. Local Flavors: Cooking and Eating from America's Farmers' Markets finds Madison shopping those havens of quality, taste, and diversity, and devising recipes based on their seasonally available bounty. Among the 350 recipes--not all vegetarian--fans will immediately recognize the Madison hand in dishes like Soft Tacos with Roasted Green Chiles, Spinach and Green Garlic Soufflé, and Winter Squash "Pancake" with Mozzarella and Sage. There's more to the book, however: "Many people still think that the farmers' market is the place you go to for cheap food," says Madison. More to the point, they're a source for "truly local and therefore truly seasonal [food], quite likely raised by sound sustainable methods and by someone who might become your friend." It's a message most readers will embrace.
The book offers chapters deftly arranged by fruit and vegetable families as they appear in the markets, such as "The Vegetable Fruits of Summer: Eggplants, Tomatoes, and Peppers" and "A Cool Weather Miscellany," which includes recipes such as Sautéed Artichokes with Potatoes and Garlic Chives and a marvelous "essence-of" soup, Elixir of Fresh Peas. Madison also treats unfamiliar fruits and vegetables, presenting the likes of lamb quarters in a soup made with Sonoma Teleme cheese, and sugar loaf chicory simply grilled and dressed with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Recipes for delightful salads like Melon Salad with Thai Basil also appear, as do a selection of pastas and risotto, such as Winter Squash Risotto with Seared Radicchio, and sweets like White Peaches in Lemon Verbena Syrup and Date, Dried Cherry, and Chocolate Nut Torte. With sidebars like Atlanta's All-Organic Market: Late October and color photos throughout of vendors, produce, and many of the dishes, the book offers the perfect match of Madison and the markets. --Arthur Boehm
Book Description
In Local Flavors, bestselling cookbook author Deborah Madison takes readers along as she explores farmers’ markets across the country, sharing stories, recipes, and dozens of market-inspired menus. Her portraits of markets from Maine to Hawaii showcase the bounty of America’s family farms and reveal the sheer pleasure to be found in shopping for and cooking with local foods.
Deborah Madison follows the seasons in her cross-country journey, beginning with the first tender greens of spring and ending with those foods that keep. Recipes such as Chard and Cilantro Soup with Noodle Nests and Lamb’s-Quarters with Sonoma Teleme Cheese launch the market season, followed by such dishes as an Elixir of Fresh Peas or a Radish Sandwich. Recipes for Whole Little Cauliflowers with Crispy Breadcrumbs and White Beans with Black Kale and Savoy Cabbage illustrate the range of the robust crucifers, while herbs and alliums provide the inspiration for a lively Herb Salad, tisanes, and Sweet and Sour Onions with Dried Pluots and Rosemary.
Deborah Madison challenges the conventional view of what’s seasonal. A Young Root Vegetable Braise celebrates that early crop of delicate roots, while Braised Root Vegetables with Black Lentils and Red Wine Sauce offers an elegant centerpiece dish for the heartier roots of winter.
Superlative fresh eggs, along with handmade cheese, are featured players at the markets everywhere, and here they appear in such simple dishes as Fried Eggs with Sizzling Vinegar and Warm Ricotta Custard featuring fresh whole-milk ricotta. Because organically raised poultry and meats have an increasingly important presence in our farmers’ markets, they are included, too, paired with other market produce that highlights their flavors, as in Roast Chicken with Herbs Under the Skin.
Late summer corn and beans inspire Corn Fritters with Aged Cheddar and Arugula and Shelly Beans with Pasta and Sage. When markets are filled with squashes and melons, tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants, Deborah Madison shows us that they’re perfect ingredients for simple, vibrant dishes, such as Braised Farmers’ Long Eggplant Stuffed with Garlic or Tropical Melon Soup with Coconut Milk. For the happily overwhelmed cook, Platter Salads suggest how to go ahead and use all of the market’s bounty.
Fruits, another vital part of farmers’ markets, are generously featured. Huckleberries, unusual grapes, and figs; stone fruits like plums and peaches; heirloom apples, persimmons; winter citrus and subtropical fruits are all here. Fig Tart with Orange Flower Custard; Peach Shortcake on Ginger Biscuits; a Rustic Tart of Quinces, Apples, and Pears; and a Passion Fruit and Pineapple Compote are just a few of the luscious desserts. And, because the market features more than fresh foods of the moment, recipes based on dried fruits, oils, vinegars, preserves, and other long-keeping foods help the reader continue eating locally once the market season has ended.
By going behind the scenes to speak with the farmers and producers, Deborah Madison connects readers directly with the people who grow their food. Full-color photographs of gorgeous produce, mouthwatering dishes, and evocative scenes from the markets will entice every reader to cook from the farmers’ market as often as possible.
Customer Reviews:
Great Cookbook! And really fun to read.......2007-09-14
I purchased this book after reading about it in Barbara Kingsolver's "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" I shop at our local market a lot so I thought this book would be helpful. I LOVE reading Madison's stories and I agree with her advocation of local markets. This book is great for figuring out what to do with veggies when they are in season. The book is arranged by type of food for example - Greens, Nightshades, Stonefruits, which is both beautiful and useful. The only reason I didn't give it five stars is that I do find this organization a bit confusing if I want to make a whole meal. For example, the soups are spread across all of the chapters, so you need to know what your ingredients are, not that you want to make soup - but this is often how we shop at the market, so I think it will just take a bit of getting used to. Bottom line - if you love your market, you will love this book!
Fabulous Resource for Local Cooking.......2007-09-11
As a member of a Community Supported Agriculture program, I find "Local Flavors" (along with "From Asparagus to Zucchini...") to be a fabulous resource for exploring meal options for many of the unique produce items I receive. Deborah Madison's directions are clear and easy to follow, and the pictures are mouth-watering. As a non-vegetarian living with a vegetarian, I find that Deborah Madison's vegetarian recipes produce meals that satisfy meat-eaters and vegetarians alike.
Great Recipies and Wonderful Pictures.......2007-07-16
Perhaps it is unsophisticated for me to enjoy pictures in cook books as much as I do - but I find it hard to cook without them. This book is full of lush vegetable and food photos. The recipies are true to the title, teaching the reader how to use ingredients from local farmers' markets and/or farm shares. The recipies range from simple to more advanced. I've already ordered more to give as gifts. This is one of the best books I've used in years. Local Flavors: Cooking and Eating from America's Farmers' Markets
Great Book for Farmers Market Neighbor. Very Good Read.......2005-04-05
`Local Flavors' by leading vegetarian cookbook author and teacher, Deborah Madison is quite a bit different from her most famous and critically successful book, `Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone' which I consider a candidate for top ten positioning in anyone's list of cookbooks and easily near the top of your list of vegetarian cookbooks.
As quite loudly proclaimed by the subtitle, this book is really all about regional, seasonal, and organic produce from farmers' markets. As such, it is very close to Jack Bishop's book, `A Year in the Vegetarian Kitchen', as the primary organization of chapters is a cross between the seasons and types of vegetables. This is not quite as awkward as it may seem, as most members of a particular vegetable class, such as the cabbages and the onions typically come into season at about the same time. The book may be either more or less valuable than Bishop's book, depending on how close you live to either a Farmer's Market or a Community Supported Agriculture cooperative. If either is within an hour's drive, this book will be a great resource in making the best of these organizations.
Part of my modest reaction to this book is based on the fact that I live within 10 to 40 minutes drive of seven different permanent or semi-permanent `farmer's market' organizations, and I believe but three of those seven sites' produce comes primarily from things grown by the chap behind the table, or a close family member of the chap behind the table. And, it is precisely this direct contact with the farmer that Madison believes is so valuable to the Farmer's Market experience. Even with these seven locations, the only produce from all these sites together which is truly local is the corn, the apples, the strawberries, some peaches, and some of the tomatoes. Almost all the other produce comes from Florida, California, or South America, with some summer stone fruits from the Carolinas and Georgia. So, almost everything Madison explains about getting the most out of your Farmer's Market experience is wasted on me.
Madison's most important service in this book aside from the seasonally organized recipes is the clarification of what is the value of our patronizing Farmer's Markets. It is definitely not price. I strongly concur on this, as my local corn farmer's stand charges 50% more than my favorite megamart, in spite of the fact that the stand is a mere 35 yards from the cornfields. The real values are from acquiring exquisitely fresh produce (a REALLY big issue with corn and tomatoes) which is, if so advertised, free of artificial pesticides and free of treatment by herbicides or, with chickens, treatment with growth hormones or antibiotics. Additional values accrue from the fact that while the farmer gets about 9% of the sale of the produce at the megamart, they get 100% of the sale at a Farmer's Market, less the fee to rent the stand and the time required to truck in the goods and set up the stand at some ungodly hour of the morning.
The value is also not in the acquisition of the most attractive produce. I often thought that the poor looking produce at farm stands was due to the absence of artificial fertilizer and pesticides. It turns out that the real reason may be due to the fact that the farmer is selling things at the stands that may fall below the standards of his commercial distributors.
I think Madison's second most important contribution to her readers with this book is the advice to plan to stay a fair length of time at the market to get the lay of the land and talk to the vendors and to fellow customers. I really think this is a pretty good measure of how well the producers know their stuff. Nothing turns me off of a store faster than asking a question of a salesperson and they simply have no clue of what you speak, and volunteer no opportunity to speak to the store owner or some other potential expert. This is clearly a sign that this store is not a store or stand with which I want to do business. And, I am often surprised at how few merchants are aware of this fact. Within a block of one another there are three Italian delis in Little Italy in Manhattan with very similar wares. They even look a lot alike. Two are practically empty of customers. The third, DiPalo's, is crowded enough to require you to take a number when you enter the little store. This is because the DiPalo family members behind the counter really know what they are talking about and go out of their way to be sure you get what you want.
Getting back to the book, I will suggest that you take a by on this one unless you are within acceptable driving distance of a genuine Farmer's Market. Many of the recipes and subjects are covered in much greater detail in `Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone' and, when I went to actually make one of the recipes, I found a fairly serious lapse in the instructions which neglected to tell me how to prep an onion for the cooking. If I would have followed directions literally, I would have put an unpeeled onion in a pot of hot olive oil.
On the positive side, I give Ms. Madison good marks for covering eggs and cheese and poultry in addition to the veggies. The bibliography and sources are slanted toward Farmers' Markets, but there is still a fair overlap to `Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone'.
If you are close to a Farmer's Market and fully intend to spend time there OR if you are an inveterate foodie who must have every title by important cookbook authors, then buy this book. Otherwise, buy `Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone' or `The Savory Way'.
Flawless must have cookbook if you shop at a farmers market.......2005-02-15
I bring out this cookbook every week after shopping at the farmers market, and it encouraged us to try unfamiliar looking greens and vegetables. Living in California, none of the ingredients are out of reach, and we find most if not all of the ingredients at our local market and grocery stores.
Unlike some other cookbooks, Crescent Dragonwagon for one, there are no faulty techniques, if you follow her instructions you get flawless results. And after a couple of tries, you can substitute and experiment. Her recipes do tend to be classic french with plenty of butter and other dairy, so as folks who watch their cholesterol, I have substituted olive oil for the butter and tofu for the eggs in some recipes with no ill effects. I would suggest that if you are a serious cook you would have an extensive herb garden of your own anyway, so that finding ingredients like marjoram, sage, lemon thyme and sorrel do not mean a trip to a specialty grocer.
Unlike the Chez Panisse cookbook, this one is suitable for vegetarians to use too, since while it does include recipes for market meats and fish, most veg recipes do not include meat stocks, bacon etc type of flavor enhancers like you find in the Chez Panisse cookbook. As a vegetarian myself, I always hesitate to adapt those wondering whether the results will be bland and missing the oomph when you are rushing to get a meal on the table.
Book Description
When Carol Drinkwater and her fiancé, Michel, are given the opportunity to purchase ten acres of an abandoned olive farm in the South of France, they find the region's splendor impossible to resist. Using their entire savings as a down payment, the couple embark on an adventure that brings them in contact with the charming countryside of Provence, its querulous personalities, petty bureaucracies, and extraordinary wildlife. From the glamour of Cannes and the Isles of Lérins to the charm of her own small plot of land-which she transforms from overgrown weeds into a thriving farm-Drinkwater triumphantly relates how she realized her dream of a peaceful, meaningful life.
"A fantasy come true, as it will be for many of the readers who yearn to experience the magic of southern France." (Austin Chronicle)
"Good-humored and well written." (The Washington Post Book World)
"Following [Drinkwater's] engaging story is like driving the hairpin turns that climb the hills above the French Riviera: the views are breathtaking, the blind curves frightening, and the safe arrival to the top a joyous relief." (Library Journal)
Customer Reviews:
Delightful Read.......2007-01-29
The other night I was listening to an audio commentary which featured Robert Hardy and Carol Drinkwater. During the commentary Carol mentioned she had authored a series of books about she and her husbands experience rennovating/operating an olive farm in the south of France. Intriged by what Carol had said I checked the first book "The Olive Farm" out from the public library and began to read. First of all I must say the book is a delightful read. Carol has the ability to communicate on paper in the form of easy conversation, as two friends would have over a cup of tea. You will laugh and cry along with Carol as you read her story of restoring "Appassionata" to its former glory. I would love to see the BBC make a television series out of her books, they are a total delight!
Helen Harriot goes south.......2006-11-11
This is a wonderful book. If you have ever dreamed of running off and creating a brand new life filled with love, laughter and more than a few bumps along the way then this is a book that you'll love. In fact, I recommend all her books-they are that good.
Lyrical Tribute to Life in Cannes.......2006-07-05
The Olive Farm is a well-executed memoir in the fashion of Under the Tuscan Sun and A Year in Provence. In it, actress Carol Drinkwater and her fiance, Michel, a film producer, impetuously purchase a rundown olive farm in the south of France and begin the process of restoring it to comfort and fecundity.
This memoir will not disappoint-- Carol and her fiance face the difficulties of limited finances, needed repairs well in excess of initial estimates, and frustrations with the local workforce. All of these, of course, are transcended by the satisfactions of nursing the olive trees into production and the triumphs of beginning to restore the farmhouse to its previous grandeur.
This ground has been trodden before, but Carol Drinkwater tells her tale engagingly, drawing likable portraits of her family, friends and neighbors in Cannes. Sit back, relax and enjoy the journey to Drinkwater's Cannes.
The Olive Farm: A Memoir of Life, Love, and Olive Oil in the South of France.......2006-02-22
Ms Drinkwater writes a uncomplicated and enjoyable tale of her adventures in old houses,the French, olive oil and love. She brings the same pleasantness to the written word that she did to the small screen in All Creatures Great and Small.
More than just the South of France and Olives!.......2004-09-27
Initially, this book caught my eye because the story takes place in the French town where I was born and raised.
While I found interesting and informative to re-discover my hometown through the eyes of the writer, I was totally captured by the many sides to this book: the story about a foreigner adapting to a different culture (which I can relate to, having made my home in the USA...), a international love story between a French man and an English woman (I am French and my husband American), the author learning to become a stepmother, the huge task of nursing back to life a beautiful property which had been abandoned by its previous owners....
There are lots of stories within the main story... All so well written, I lost track of time a lot while reading this book...
I also, through her descriptions, recognized some of the characters!! (small town... VERY small town!!)
It was a true feast and I am ordering the sequel as soon as I am finished writing this review!!
Get this book, it will literally absorb you into its own world... Getting a glimpse of the South of France without leaving your armchair should be enticing enough... I could smell the lavender in the breeze, hear the ciccadas, and almost taste the local foods I so miss here in the US...
I recommend it to you all without any reservation!
Amazon.com
Jeanne Marie Laskas is 37, with a house, garden, dog, cat, flourishing writing career--all of the perfect ingredients, in fact, of a happy city-person's life--when a childhood dream resurfaces. It is a farm dream, this "song I couldn't get out of my head," and it would make more sense, she ruefully admits, if she were "at least the farm dream type. A person with some deep personal longing to churn butter." But not Laskas. She likes malls. She eats Lean Cuisine. She believes "very deeply in the power of air conditioning, microwave ovens, and very many things you plug in." Nonetheless, she spends weekends on make-believe "farm shopping" excursions with her boyfriend, Alex, who is another city person, a shrink and the owner of an honest-to-goodness poodle--a farm dream disqualifier, if ever there were one. Then, one summer afternoon, the perfect place appears, and it's very real: fifty acres, a pond, an Amish barn, and a magnificent view out over the rolling hills of Pennsylvania's Washington County. They fall in love. They buy the farm. Goodbye, city-person life.
But the scenery with which they fell in love is not quite like the scenery in postcards. Things need to be done to it, and all of these things involve buying and learning how to use different kinds of tractor attachments. And then there are the neighbors: the sheep farmer who shoots dogs, the curious proliferation of Joe Crowleys, everywhere the hunters. ("Congratulations on your ... dead deer," is all Alex can think to say to them.) Over the year that follows, the two city slickers find out a great deal about livestock, tractor attachments, and themselves; all of which is related in Laskas's funny, warm, conversational style. As she leaves behind her ordered, interior world for one that's gorgeously, chaotically exterior, Fifty Acres and a Poodle becomes much more than just a book about learning to live in the country; it is, in fact, a book about learning to live--dead groundhogs, emotional messes, and all. You don't need your own farm dream to fall in love with this witty and winning memoir, but it wouldn't hurt to look through the real estate pages, just in case. --Mary Park
Book Description
Jeanne Marie Laskas had a dream of fleeing her otherwise happy urban life for fresh air and open space — a dream she would discover was about something more than that. But she never expected her fantasy to come true — until a summer afternoon’s drive in the country.
That’s when she and her boyfriend, Alex — owner of Marley the poodle — stumble upon the place she thought existed only in her dreams. This pretty-as-a-picture-postcard farm with an Amish barn, a chestnut grove, and breathtaking vistas is real ... and for sale. And it’s where she knows her future begins.
But buying a postcard — fifty acres of scenery — and living on it are two entirely different matters. With wit and wisdom, Laskas chronicles the heartwarming and heartbreaking stories of the colorful two- and four-legged creatures she encounters on Sweetwater Farm.
Against a backdrop of brambles, a satellite dish, and sheep, she tells a tender, touching, and hilarious tale about life, love, and the unexpected complications of having your dream come true.
Customer Reviews:
Fifty Acres and a Poodle.......2007-08-16
I love this book and this author, I bought her second book and enjoyed it as well.
Heartwarming, comical and hard to put down!.......2007-07-16
Fifty Acres & A Poodle is about the author Jeanne Marie Laskas' dreams of farm living. She wants to get away from the urban way of life and move to a place with beauty and fresh air. She feels there is something missing from her life. She takes a drive one day and spots her dream place. She goes through doubts and fears but finally decides to go for her dream.
She and her boyfriend Alex move into the farmhouse, fix it up, get engaged and later married. They end up with a horse and a mule too! Not to mention they end up with some great friends.
More than the basic story, I found this about the author's search for God, her true self and a live filled with love. She wanted to love and be loved. Those were the very things she felt were missing in her life and she found them at her farm. I found myself identifing with Ms. Laskas through much of the book.
If you like memoir-type stories that are comical, honest, soul searching and about animals this book will not disappoint you. Invest in the hardcover as it's one book you probably will not want to part with after reading it.
Coming of Age - In Mid Life.......2007-04-09
Told in first person, with lots of humor, but a deep side as well. The big questions come to mind as this 30's something gal consideres a move from city dweller to farm hand, from girl friend to wife. Causes one to ponder about the meaning of love, life and friends. Well written, enjoyable story.
I had to read all of them.......2007-01-10
I have been a fan of Jeanne Marie Laskas ever since she starting writing a column in Ladies Home Journal. After laughing my head off at one of the articles - it occured to me to see if she had any books. SCORE! I was so excited that she had three! I got the first one and read it in two sittings. I ordered the Exact Same Moon during a snack break on that first sitting and the minute that one "shipped" I ordered Growing Girls.
I loved every single one of them.
I've loaned them out so many times now - I don't know who has them and ended up buying another copy of each!
Must read!
What a tale!.......2006-11-06
I read the "sequel" first, so this book was even more interesting...I won't spoil it by telling you why! The author shares the story of a major shift in her life in a way that reads like fiction. The characters, the backdrop of a beautiful farm, the barely believable experiences all come together to spin a yarn of exceptional quality. It made me yearn to follow the same path - bumps, ruts, floods and all. Escapism at its very best - her attitude is honest, her writing exceptionaland the story itself makes you feel as though you have gained an invaluable friend. Be sure to read her next book - how wonderful to know you can continue along on her journey!
Average customer rating:
- Great Motivational book for children
- Almanzo's Childhood: Preparing for His Life and His Wife (His Bride)!
- Farmer Boy
- ...makes it impossible for readers to follow the saying 'early to bed, early to rise'...keeps you reading long into the night
- Read it aloud yourself, please.
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Farmer Boy (Little House)
Laura Ingalls Wilder
Manufacturer: HarperTrophy
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ASIN: 0064400034 |
Book Description
The story of a boy named
Almanzo Wilder . . .
While Laura Ingalls grows up in a little house on the western prairie, Almanzo Wilder is living on a big farm in New York State. Almanzo and his brother and sisters work at their chores from dawn to supper most days-no matter what the weather. There is still time for fun, though, especially with the horses, which Almanzo loves more than anything.
Farmer Boy is the third book in the Laura Years series.
From shearing sheep and milking cows to training young calves, Almanzo Wilder worked very hard on his family's farm in New York. But when his chores were all done, Almanzo could go to his favorite place in the whole world -- the Horse-Barn. Although his father wouldn't let him handle the frisky colts, Almanzo could still look at them and dream of one day having a horse all his own!
Customer Reviews:
Great Motivational book for children.......2007-05-17
If your kids complain that you give them too many chores to do and they never get any time to have fun this book should be a must read! Not only does it contain numerous lessons about farming techniques and problems but it also shows how much a little boy of 10 years is capable of doing and how willing and proud he is of doing it. I was very impressed with the book and found myself reading it on my own, without my child. Laura Ingalls Wilder has quite a talent in putting pictures down in words. Almanzo Wilder's one year in this book was facinating and enlightening. I have a much larger appreciation for both what times were like and how much easier they are now.
Almanzo's Childhood: Preparing for His Life and His Wife (His Bride)!.......2007-04-27
Of all the Laura Ingalls Wilder "Little House" books, FARMER BOY is, hands down, my very favorite.
The book covers a portion of the boyhood of Almanzo Wilder, who was to grow up to become Laura's husband. Almanzo grew up on a thriving, successful farm in New York state. Almanzo's father was especially known and respected for raising top-quality horses. Almanzo's mother had her own home business ventures and was known for making top-quality butter, fetching top dollar, to be served in some of the finest restaurants in New York City.
I could probably write a book about this book and why I love it so much. Through the examples of the Wilder family, its strengths and limitations, the author puts forth some enduring lessons about hard work, mutual respect, the value of time and money, hope... and more. FARMER BOY stands out among the other "Little House" books because: a) it is about Almanzo, long before he ever met Laura, ten years his junior (so Laura was not even born yet at the time this book starts its story); and b) the Wilder family, like the Ingalls family, faced hardships, but not to the relentless and ridiculous level that the Ingalls family seemed to do so, leaving more room to delineate normal, day-to-day life, which itself was incredibly rich and interesting.
During the time that Laura, many miles away, was an infant and young child, Almanzo was growing up in New York, developing his love of horses and skill in working with them. During the time he was a young man venturing out west, Laura herself was developing her love of horses and skill in riding them. That they were both "horse lovers" provided a lovely and important common ground later when they met, courted and married.
Almanzo James Wilder was born February 13, 1857 and died on October 23, 1949, at the age of 92. Laura Elizabeth Ingalls was born on February 7, 1867 and died on February 10, 1957, at age 90. They were married on August 25, 1885. These details mean that Almanzo was very much alive in 1933 when FARMER BOY was published, and presumably, very much available as a resource for his wife Laura, the author. To me, that is precious and relevant, for it attests to longevity (both of their marriage and their lives) and to the presumption of authenticity regarding this wonderful book. Highly recommended!
Farmer Boy.......2007-04-03
Farmer Boy
Do you like farms? Well, this boy certainly does! This boy named Almanzo is a boy who just loves the farm. Farmer Boy tells you how farming was done in the 1870's. It describes how they used to have to spend two weeks cutting hay, and how they had to wake up at three o'clock in the morning on Independence Day just to save the corn. It tells what it was like to live in the house with his two parents, and his annoying big brother and sisters! This is the life of a true farmer! I thought that this book was great, and I really encourage you to read it.
Farmer Boy is recommended for kids eight to twelve. Personally, I think that this book is great for people8 and older. I know s that still like it, and I know that I do! Even though a lot of people over twelve do not give it a chance, I hope that you will.
The words in this book are very easy to understand, and there is no inappropriate content either. For example, in the book it says, "The ice-house was built of boards with wide between. It was set high off the ground on wooden blocks, and looked like a big cage."(Sic) You can see just from this quote that it is easy to read, and Laura Ingalls Wilder did a great job of describing things.
Farmer Boy is also a good chapter book for visual learners. In every chapter there is at least one picture. This helps you visualize what is happening in the book, and it helps you understand what is going on.
I thought that Farmer Boy was a great book. I really learned a lot about life and farming in the 1870's. This book is perfect for people who love history and biographies. The best part of the book is at the end when Almanzo gets a big present; it is something that he has always wanted. The only way you will find out what it is is read the book!
...makes it impossible for readers to follow the saying 'early to bed, early to rise'...keeps you reading long into the night.......2007-01-24
Nine-year-old Almanzo "Manzo" Wilder has a delightful family, complete with three older siblings (Royal, Eliza Jane, and Alice), along with two loving parents, and never wants for anything - especially not food, as the table is always laden with lavish spreads of food, from mashed potatoes to chicken, and pumpkin pie to apples and onions. But now, as Manzo begins preparing for school, he realizes that there's something he wants more than anything, and that's a colt of his very own. Pa, however, doesn't believe that Almanzo is old enough to break a colt. He feels that Almanzo's duties lie more within weeding the fields, and training a team of young oxen to pull carts, and assist with the daily chores. So Almanzo decides to prove to his family that he has the strength, and the maturity, to have his own colt. From sun up, until sun down Almanzo works as much as he possibly can, helping his father with everything from seeding to weeding, and pulling to sheering. It is only, however, when the New York State resident realizes that skipping school all the time to work among a farm, and neglecting his studies to play with his friends and spend the day sledding, that Almanzo learns that proving your responsibility doesn't only take a lot of manual labor, but labor for your mind, as well.
As an avid viewer of the "Little House On the Prairie" TV show, I wasn't exposed to the character of Almanzo Wilder until he was well out of childhood, and considered a man. So I was quite excited to have the opportunity to learn more about his quirks as a pre-pubescent boy growing up in northern New York State. Almanzo, even at the age of nine, was a responsible boy who grew up to be a responsible man. He worked hard, but never forgot to enjoy his youth by getting into all sorts of mischief - from overeating ice cream, to staining the family's parlor wall with blacking. His interactions with his older brother and sisters are comical, as he is treated like a baby more often than not, and appears to resent it more than anything. As strange as it sounds, I was a big fan of Almanzo's mother throughout the tale. Talk of her days and nights slaving over a stove, preparing the most mouth-watering meals known to man really gave me an accurate depiction of the amount of work that took place during the frontier years, while at the same time leaving me with a serious craving for a thick slice of pumpkin pie. As with the previous book in the series, LITTLE HOUSE IN THE BIG WOODS, FARMER BOY includes a biography about the author, Laura Ingalls Wilder, along with a brief history on two very important subjects (the county fair, and school days), the lyrics to a song (Yankee-Doodle), and a recipe (Pulled Molasses Candy). FARMER BOY makes it impossible for readers to follow the saying "early to bed, early to rise," for it will keep you reading long into the night.
Erika Sorocco
Freelance Reviewer
Read it aloud yourself, please........2006-11-29
I love all of the Little House books, and have since I was a little girl. I can spew out more information about the books than most readers, and have visited all the Little House sites. I love that I am getting to do this all over again with my daughter, and that she loves the books too.
That said, I do not like the CD versions of the books. There is an insincerity that comes across in the readings of the books, almost a mocking. Cherry Jones' accent is actually very distracting from the story. Her sense of the writing in the story, and how it would be delivered is very off. I'm not sure why anyone would have approved of the readings much less printed them and sold them at such a high price.
I know that Ms Jones is an accomplished actresses. That's why it's so sad that these wonderful stories are mangled by someone who should be able to give them the beauty they deserve.
Book Description
Reissue of this immortal, hilarious, and heartwarming classic about working a chicken farm in the Northwest.
Customer Reviews:
You've Come a Long Way, Baby!.......2007-09-28
Although Betty McDonald writes with a great deal of wry humor (some might say sarcasm) about her situation on a Washington chicken ranch in the late 1920s and early 1930s, there is a rather sad undercurrent to the story. This is the story of a woman who has been led to believe that her husband is the master and that she must follow blindly where he leads. Though her retrospection includes humorous description, the unraveling of her marriage is obvious thoughout the narrative.
For those who find her description of Native Americans offensive, one must recall the time when this was written. Americans weren't as "enlightened" (now there is sarcasm!!)as we are now. I don't agree with those who find her "snobbish" - Mrs. McDonald was a fish out of water and knew it but couldn't just walk away from it. She cares about her neighbors, the Kettles and the Hicks, but she just doesn't fit in with them.
She is definitely showing us that country life has a definite downside.
Her description of the natural surroundings is vivid and makes you feel the terrain with her.
I would recommend this book to young women today just to show how far they have come since that time.
Read it three times.......2007-09-04
I've read The Egg and I at least three times. The first
time I was about twelve, the second, maybe twenty-one
and the last time in the virtual dotage of sixty-two.
My ten year old self took this as a fabulous adventure
story and I wanted nothing more than to meet Gams and
the hyperactive grandma and eat a geoduck clam with
the MacDonalds.
At twenty-one, I laughed my head off. Being of an impractical
nature myself, I got anxious and then giggling at what
I took to be a hippies-in-the-woods story.
Last month, I nodded my head a lot as I read through my
mother's copy that was passed on through a few inheritances.
MacDonald looks to me now like an a woman who was sharp
before her time-a person who whose sense of adventure
and sense of humor allowed her to transcend the limited
choices she was offered in the 1950's and turn the egg she
was offered into a puffy, generous and thoroughly nutrisious
omellette.
-Lynn Hoffman, author of The New Short Course in Wine and a novel
about another original woman: bang BANG
Well hatched plot.......2007-05-06
" The Egg And I " has stood the test of time as a book about the most basic lifestyle, farming. The trials and tribulations that any farmer and his wife will have to go through remain unchanged through the decades. "The Egg And I " can be read in any century and the movie of the same name with Fred MacMurray and Claudette Colbert is eminently watchable decades after it was made. Every actor in that movie has long died but the life in the film , and the book, will reamin forever. The gentle writing style with strong believable characters makes this book a worthy template for any writer to aspire to.
So much for the romance of the pre-electric life.......2007-03-31
If you are thinking of living off the grid and going back to nature, this book is for you. Chicken farming for sure isn't like this any more, except for maybe those "uncaged hens" eggs you can buy at Whole Foods. Still a life without electricity or indoor plumbing in the dripping Northwest is not what I dream about at nights. On the other hand the woman stuck it out and with good humor none the less even having been branded a "reader" by the neighbors when they all did "tatting" or "needlepoint". All those doilies you see in a farm house? That's a farmer's wife going slowly nuts.
Anyway the descriptions of the Kettles is wonderful.
Depressing.......2007-02-16
What a hard life the author had when she was first married. Although she makes light of her dificulties by joking, I can see that it was terrible and I found the book most depressing.
It must also have been dificult to live in those years when everyone was so racist and unaccepting of different sorts of people. I'm surprised that she was comfortable being with the Kettles and uncomfortable with the Hicks. Based on her feelings of the native population I would think it was the other way around!
I recommend reading this book for the picture it gives of the era that it covers.
Amazon.com
Gene Logsdon offers an alternative to the decline of the family farm by explaining how to successfully engage in what he calls "cottage farming" part-time for enjoyment as well as profit. This book gives readers the tools and information they need to grow their own food in a sustainable and Earth-friendly fashion, but it also tells some great, hilarious stories and includes some truly beautiful and evocative writing. This is not a dry, "how-to" book; it's a really great read even if you haven't a clue about (or any interest in) farming.
Book Description
Gene Logsdon has become something of a rabble-rouser in progressive farm circles, stirring up debates and controversies with his popular New Farm magazine column, The Contrary Farmer. One of Logsdon's principle contrarieties is the opinion that—popular images of the vanishing American farmer, notwithstanding—greater numbers of people in the U.S. will soon be growing and raising a greater share of their own food than at any time since the last century. Instead of vanishing, more and more farmers will be cottage farming, part-time.
This detailed and personal account of how Logsdon's family uses the art and science of agriculture to achieve a reasonably happy and ecologically sane way of life in an example for all who seek a sustainable lifestyle. In The Contrary Farmer, Logsdon offers the tried-and-true, practical advice of a manual for the cottage farmer, as well as the subtler delights of a meditation in praise of work and pleasure. The Contrary Farmer will give its readers tools and tenets, but also hilarious commentaries and beautiful evocations of the Ohio countryside that Logsdon knows as his place in the universe.
Customer Reviews:
The Contrary Farmer.......2007-07-15
This book is full of advice that's as good as it gets! The humor and common sense are non stop!! Buy a copy for yourself and buy another one for any friend who smiles at the thought of farming!
Heavy on philosophy and light on How-to.......2007-07-11
I have read 3 books by this author and find them all to run a little thick on the philosophy side and much to thin on the how-to side. The authors passion and moral integrity literally drip from every page and if I was looking for a good read sprinkled with some general farming knowledge I would highly recommend this or any other books by the author. I was looking to compare his farming techniques to others so I needed more specific information which was unfortunately not included.
the best small farm book availabel.......2006-07-25
I've purchased every small farm book out there and this is the only book i'd recommend to anyone interested in starting a "small" farm. It gives you insight for pretty much everything you need to know to get started. Don't waste your time on any other books just get the Contrary farmer.
Fun to read and Honestly Inspirational.......2005-10-17
I enjoyed every page of The Contrary Farmer. The contents are true to thier purpose of informing the reader on a lifestyle. No time was spent on gloriying the way of life...just the plain and honest, wonderful truth. My only issue is that this book is native to the midwest in the specifics. This is wonderful for the folks in this area...not quite as helpful for this Southern Boy. Still, I enjoyed it!
Inspiring, but not for the bare-bones beginner.......2005-10-09
I am interested in starting up a small farm, and Logsdon's book offers a lot of old-friend advice on how to keep a farm without going broke or biting off more than you can chew. He draws from almost thirty years of experience to tell the reader the best way to raise livestock, maintain pasture and cultivated land, dig a pond, fell trees, and well, you get the idea. It makes me want to put into practice what I read as soon as possible. I look at the land in a whole different way thanks to this book. For those of you into the Bible, this book offers great instructions on being a steward of the land. If you take care of your trees and animals, they'll take care of you.
This book does leave me with a lot of questions, which is good and frustrating at the same time. Since Gene Logsdon grew up on a farm and has spent all his life writing for farmers, he might take for granted the knowledge he has that some of us new to agriculture might not. I still don't know what a combine is, or what a manure spreader looks like, or what keeps the layers warm in the henhouse over the winter. Logsdon mentions in the chapter about forestry that illustrations would best explain the safety precautions that he details with words. That makes me think that maybe there are no illustrations in the book because of restrictions set by the printer or editor.
I would also like to know what assets to look for when buying a farm, or how to go about buying one in the first place. Logsdon also lets on little about what his wife contributes to their 32-acre homestead. He refers to his work only in the first person singular, though obviously it takes at least two people to do the work.
In the end, though, these frustrations just make me want to read more books on the subject, which will make me a better-informed person for when it comes time to start a farm. I do think, though, that one should first take advantage of the apprenticeships that a lot of cottage farmers in Virginia and Maryland offer, if practical knowledge is lacking. It's hard to imagine putting into practice on a farm what we read from books without first getting a feel for it somewhere else.
Despite my frustrations and suggestions, this is definately a book to buy and not check out from the library if you plan on farming at all. It can serve as a valuable source of reference throughout the year.
Book Description
Farms have fences. People have boundaries. Mine began crumbling the day I knelt behind a male sheep, reached between his legs, and squeezed his testicles. This took place one blustery November day when I joined other shepherd-wannabees for a class on the basics of raising sheep. I was there with my partner Melissa, the woman I’d lived with for twelve years, because we were going to start a farm .
When self-confessed “urban bookworm” Catherine Friend’s partner of twelve years decides she wants to fulfill her lifelong dream of owning a farm, Catherine agrees. What ensues is a crash course in both living off and with the land that ultimately allows Catherine to help fulfill Melissa’s dreams while not losing sight of her own.
Hit by a Farm is a hilarious recounting of Catherine and Melissa’s trials of “getting back to the land.” It is also a coming-of (middle)-age story of a woman trying to cross the divide between who she is and who she wants to be, and the story of a couple who say “goodbye city life” — and learn more than they ever bargained for about love, land, and yes, sheep sex.
Customer Reviews:
A Book for Everyone.......2007-08-28
I read this book to my partner this summer as we took three day trips from the Twin Cities to small towns in Minnesota - first to Buffalo and St. Cloud; second to Mankato; third to Rochester. It was a fitting book to read as we rode through Minnesota farm country - the setting of this story. Every time we saw sheep or llamas, we laughed and contemplated whether the farmers had experienced any of the trials and tribulations in the book.
This is a great memoir from a skillful author. Not only is she committed to her partner, she also has a great sense of humor and knows how to laugh at herself. The book description, itself, is comical. However, nothing prepares the reader for the emotional highs and lows between the front and back covers. Each chapter is a story in itself. From sheep to chickens, goats, llamas, geese, grapes and writer's block, this is certainly a don't-miss book. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention - the book is full of tragedy (i.e., all living things eventually die), childlike elation (i.e., the sheep actually did have sex and we have lambs!), and very elaborate descriptions of some pretty gross stuff (i.e., sheep placenta and things stuck to the bottoms of shoes). If you're soft of heart or stomach, get prepared for a roller-coaster ride.
Extremely well written by a very likable author, I highly recommend this wonderful book to everyone. It's a book that can be enjoyed by all - gay or straight, farmer or not - and should be on every bookshelf.
Real. Funny. One of the most entertaining I've read of the "country" genre.......2007-04-27
Writer/bookworm Catherine Friend takes us along as she transforms into a REAL farmer (and still keeps writing and reading). Her writing style is engaging and easy to read, pulling you along for the ride from start to finish. I couldn't put it down.
Real humor, real struggles, real "back to the land" mentality without the moral pontificating of some authors. The dream of farming wasn't hers to begin with (it was her partner's), but she has made peace with it and maintained her sense of self while maintaining a long term relationship. Farming is a stressful business, and she addresses this aspect of it very well while sharing how she managed to work through her concerns and evolve into a better person.
The author's sense of humor was my favorite part. I will never look at soft serve the same way again after reading about the peacocks leaving "grayish swirls of poop the size of a Dairy Queen ice cream cone" which, well, you'll have to read the book to find out what happened, but the result had me rolling with laughter. Definitely a five star read.
Midwest Book Review, March 2007.......2007-03-02
No one was more surprised than Catherine Friend when her long-time partner informed her that she'd always dreamed of being a farmer. Early on in this hilarious memoir, the author writes, "Farming had never been my dream. My dream was to grow my writing career into something I could call 'successful,' whatever that was. I'd already sold two children's books and a handful of magazine stories. I was hungry for more" (p. 6).
But Melissa's dream had merit, and Catherine believed she could help the dream come true. And so, "The classic face of farming in Grant Wood's American Gothic was about to get a facelift: two thirty-something women in bib overalls holding pitchforks" (p. 6).
Devoting a great deal of time, energy, and work to their project, the two women researched farming, bought land in southern Minnesota, built a house, and settled in to raise sheep, chickens, and grapes for wine. Apparently that was the easy part. From auspicious beginnings, the road they embark upon is filled with a learning curve so steep that shoveling manure and mucking horse stalls might have been easier. While Melissa's dream ascended, the livestock, crops, and natural disasters seem to conspire to make Catherine's life miserable. Living off the land wasn't at all the romantic idyll so often put forth.
By turns hilarious and sobering, touching and surprising, Catherine Friend's memoir tells the tale of two thirty-somethings who not only have to learn to love the barn, but also to find their way back to one another after such a huge life-change nearly sideswipes them for good. It's a terrific story, very well-told, and is cram-packed full of humor, insight, and a zest for life that can't be vanquished. If you only read one memoir this year, make this be the one. I give it my highest recommendation.
Read this book!.......2007-02-19
This books was so fascinating I finished it in one sitting. It is well written and the subject matter keeps you interested, especially from my perspective: someone with no farming experience. Everything that happened next was unexpected!
wonderful, funny, true story-how an idea of living on a farm becomes reality.......2007-02-12
This is abook you will read until you are finished!
It is a true story, an ongoing look at starting a farm, raising sheep,
putting up fence, and all of the fun that goes with it.
My family thought I was nuts, because I would start laughing out loud!
Very good humor, very entertaining!
I have given many copies for gifts!
Book Description
A rich, colorful history of California centering on the untold story of America 's biggest farmer, J.G. Boswell, who controls more than $1 billion worth of water rights and real estate in the heart of the state.
J.G. Boswell is the biggest farmer in America. Over the past fifty years he has built a secret empire while thumbing his nose at nature, politicians, labor unions and every journalist who ever tried to lift the veil on the ultimate "factory in the fields." Now eighty years old, with an almost pathological bent toward privacy, Boswell has spent the past few years confiding one of the great stories of the American West to Mark Arax and Rick Wartzman. The King of California is the previously untold account of how a Georgia slave-owning family migrated to California in the early 1920s, drained one of America 's biggest lakes in an act of incredible hubris and carved out the richest cotton empire in the world. Indeed, the sophistication of Boswell 's agricultural operation--from lab to field to gin--is unrivaled anywhere.
Much more than a business story, this is a sweeping social history that details the saga of cotton growers who were chased from the South by the boll weevil and brought their black farmhands to California. It is a gripping read with cameos by a cast of famous characters, from Cecil B. DeMille to Cesar Chavez.
Customer Reviews:
The king of California.......2006-11-04
This book is way too long and somewhat redundant and boring. The basic story is good, but the author takes too much time and too many pages to tell it.
History, Biography and Expose?.......2006-06-23
I would recommend this book to anyone interested in politics, agriculture, or water rights. It is a well-written and very readable.
It follows four generations of the Boswell family to trace how they assembled the largest industrial farm in the world. Along the way, the authors explore the history of the San Joaquin valley and those who came there to farm it, those who left and those who got left behind. For every group that made a fortune, there were many others who were disappointed. There are plenty of interesting stories of Washington and Sacramento politics, and stories of common people following dreams.
The book examines the effect of large scale farming on farm owners, on those who work the farms now and those who worked them in the past. It provides some good background on the politics of water rights and government involvement in farming, and on the involvement of agriculture in local, state and federal politics.
If you are interested in the politics and history of water in the western states, Cadillac Desert by Marc Reisner is one of the best books I have read on any subject.
Overstuffed but Worth Reading.......2005-11-26
I grew up in Fresno, in the shadow of agribusiness. The story behind "King of California" is a fascinating and important one but I'm not sure this "biography" does it justice. I disliked the awkward mixture of history and journalism. Is this an expose, a biography or history? Its never really clear and the way the book is organized, around the four seasons, is particularly opaque. What does it mean to call a section, "winter?" when it is covering history spanning decades and contains interviews with living people? That said, the material is fascinating. From the role the Boswell's played in taming Tulare Lake, to the development of modern cotton farming, the politics of agriculture and the way big business in general got access and results in subsidies and favorable policy. Early on, Tulare Lake and by extension, the San Joaquin Valley in its pre-U.S. days is described with a vividness I've rarely read elsewhere. However, the description of the Boswell's roots in racism and its legacy in the Central Valley is definitely worth telling but I think it gets too little space here and competes with so many other subjects. Frankly, I'm surprised that this book has gotten the acclaim that it has. While its clearly well researched, the writing is spotty lucid in some places and sensationalized elsewhere. I think the book tries to cover far too many topics; Water politics, cotton farming, racism in California, family history, corporate intrigue, labor issues, flood control and company towns. Had it narrowed it focus to just water, cotton and corporate intrigue, I think it would have been a far more powerful book.
Surfaced and Harpooned.......2005-04-26
This far-reaching book is quite an accomplishment in biography and investigative journalism. Arax and Wartzman cover the history of the immense Boswell farming company of California, and the two guys named J.G. (the founding uncle and the current chairman, his nephew) who built the company into the largest cotton operation on Earth. Through cutthroat competitive instincts and political wheeling-and-dealing, the Boswells amassed tens of thousands of acres in California's Central Valley, and were instrumental in eliminating what was once the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi, as the former Tulare Lake was transformed into a festering network of levees, canals, and cesspools dedicated to the mass production of cotton. Thus, the Boswells built the area's environment, culture, and economics for their own profitability.
The book also serves as a great exploration of the business of factory farming, detailing the racism and poverty experienced by Black and Mexican workers, as well as the shifty agricultural and hydrological politics of Big Ag in California - as the Boswells and their competitors/allies buy politicians, stack laws and regulations in their favor, and claim flood control as a reason to alter the natural course of rivers and to completely drain the vast Tulare Lake. Best of all, we see how big business really works out West, with the hypocrisy of so-called rugged outdoorsmen (actually pampered CEO's) who incessantly rail against government interference while also taking in millions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies that are meant to help the little guy. This book is immensely informative but does often get tied up in unnecessary details, such as descriptions of petty political shenanigans in the construction of a nearby dam. But the motto of the Boswell clan has been that a whale can't be harpooned if it doesn't come to the surface (a legacy of silence and obfuscation), but Arax and Wartzman have deftly cracked into the wall of secrecy surrounding the Boswells and their often ill-gotten empire, [~doomsdayer520~]
Tremendous historical, political, and social epic.......2004-11-09
The book centers around three generations of Boswells as they migrated from Green County Georgia to Kings County California and became the largest producers of cotton in the world, without becoming a household name.
The book also tells of the natural, social, and political histories of the San Joaquin Valley from the days of indigenous peoples and the first Spanish invaders to the present day.
The epic is a fascinating study of twentieth century American history, society, economics, business, finance, management, politics, public policy, labor relations, mechanization, technology, modernization, and nature.
The more personal stories of family, romance, crime, and punishment read more like a good novel.
Some have found the authors liberally biased, but as a conservative, I found the authors well balanced in their presentations of all sides of the stories.
As others have said, the scope is huge and the research extensive. As someone who was born and raised in Kings County California, I found this heretofor unknown local history to be quite fascinating. Nevertheless, I believe this book will have broad appeal to many readers.
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- From So Simple a Beginning: Darwin's Four Great Books (Voyage of the Beagle, The Origin of Species, The Descent of Man, The Expression of Emotions in Man and Animals)
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