David C. Whitney

Tongue-twisters abound in this quirky tale of twin siblings Willie and Winnie, who wish for excitement one windy day, and find themselves transported to the windmill of Wilma, the Wicked Witch. Here they find themselves in danger of being turned into Swiss Cheese, until they wish again, and find a helper in the form of Winston, the Witty Wizard. This magical practitioner comes to their aid, transforming Wilma into a not-so-wicked witch, and the twins then wish themselves home. Willie thinks they ought to refrain from wishing in the future, but wise Winnie opines that when they next wish, they should simply include Witty Winston in their calculations...

Published in 1967, Willie & Winnie & Wilma, The Wicked Witch was part of publisher Franklin Watts' See and Say Sounds Series - other titles include Blueberry the Bloodhound and Limpy the Lion - which featured easy-reading stories emphasizing the use of a specific letter combination. Here that combination is "wi," and words beginning with these two letter abound in the text, leading to some rather fun read-aloud shenanigans. I initially sought this one out because of its theme - witchy picture-books are a pet project of mine - but I did not have particularly high expectations of it. Fortunately, I was pleasantly surprised, finding the text from David C. Whitney lots of fun, and the artwork from Abner Graboff oddly appealing. I say oddly, because the style here - black and white drawings, enhanced by washes in a single color (green), with lots of white (or green) space on the page - is not usually to my taste. Here however, it just seems to work, complementing the oddball nature of the tale it accompanies. My favorite scene, visually speaking, was the final shot of Willie and Winnie, in their armchairs, considering the adventure they'd just had. Graboff uses collage here, with the chairs being created out of clippings from some kind of Hebrew (or perhaps Yiddish) text. I'm not sure that this one would have much appeal for today's children, given the fact that reading instruction has moved on, since its time of publication, but for readers interested in vintage picture-book/early-readers, it might have some interest. Those who love tongue-twisters might also want to seek it out.… (mehr)

I admit it, history didn't interest me very much while I was in school, and I've forgotten most of the little I learned. I thought it was high time I learned a bit more and that a high-level introduction to the presidents of the United States would be a good start. This book, the eleventh addition, fits the bill very well. Of course, a single volume covering all the presidents up to the current time has to cover each administration only in broad strokes.

Each section starts with the important dates of that president's life and political career. Important decisions and policies are included, along with background on those decisions. For such a compact book, there are also quite a few excerpts of speeches given by the presidents. There are about 35 pages of condensed information at the back of the book, and a portrait or photograph of each president. This eleventh edition ends with the election of Barack Obama.

All in all, this is a great book for someone who wants to brush up on U.S. Presidents before delving more deeply into any individual one, or someone like me who just didn't pay enough attention to history classes.… (mehr)

I bought this book used thinking it would be a decent read to learn about more of the obscure president's in our nation's past. I was wrong. It was a great read and I learned all kinds of stuff about our more famous presidents like Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, Truman, FDR, JFK, and Reagan. Additionally, I learned a bit about the obscure ones as well. The more famous presidents are given a lot more coverage than the lesser known ones, but I suppose that's fair in the grand scheme of things.

If nothing else, reading each bio told me whether or not I wanted to follow up with additional books on that particular president. I have gained a new interest in Andrew Jackson, Woodrow Wilson, Harry Truman, LBJ, and Ronald Reagan. I don't believe the author intended this to be an all-encompassing biography on each president, so if that's what you are looking for, look elsewhere. Think of the size of that book if it did exist! David McCullough's bio on Truman is almost 1000 pages and that's just one president, albeit my favorite Democrat one.

I suppose I could nitpick and say that certain things were left out of certain presidents and other unimportant things were included in the book, but that would be a matter of opinion. I can assure you that nothing major that I can recall was left out. All wars are mentioned along with any substantial legislation that occurred during their term. I highly recommend this book.… (mehr)