Follow the Drinking Gourd

Book Description

Illus. in full color. "Winter's story begins with a peg-leg sailor who aids slaves on their escape on the Underground Railroad. While working for plantation owners, Peg Leg Joe teaches the slaves a song about the drinking gourd (the Big Dipper). A couple, their son, and two others make their escape by following the song's directions. Rich paintings interpret the strong story in a clean, primitive style enhanced by bold colors. The rhythmic compositions have an energetic presence that's compelling. A fine rendering of history in picturebook format."--(starred) Booklist.

Customer Reviews:

A Peg-Legged Man and the Underground Railroad........2007-08-30

During the time of slavery in the United States, many slaves were able to escape and find their way north to freedom by following the Drinking Gourd--Big Dipper. As the note at the beginning of this historical children's book tells, slaves learned a folk song entitled "Follow the Drinking Gourd". Masters and overseers thought the song harmless, though nonsensical. The song actually embedded directions on how to escape from the South into freedom in the North. I had known all of this before reading FOLLOW THE DRINKING GOURD. What I didn't know was about legendary Underground Railroad conductor, Peg Leg Joe.

Using the lyrics of the song "Follow the Drinking Gourd" and the legend of Peg Leg Joe, Winter crafts a short tale about a slave family that follows the directions of the song that Joe teaches them to escape to freedom next spring. Accompanying the text are Winter's earth-toned illustrations displaying the family's escape and the dangers they endure on their journey.

The last page of the book contains the lyrics and music to the folk song "Following the Drinking Gourd."

FOLLOW THE DRINKING GOURD is an excellent tool in introducing children to the Underground Railroad. It's also a good story in teaching astronomy classes to illustrate how the stars have been used for different purposes throughout time.

Poor Illustrations.......2007-05-29

I have used this book and video in my music classes for years. After retiring, I lost my book and thought to replace it with this one advertised on Amazon. Please don't waste your money! The pictures in this booklet are so dark, dim, blurry (almost impressionistic), and faded, that I won't be able to share it with my classes (even small groups). One would guess it to be a "knock-off" of the real book. Perhaps the original publisher should be notified. I will now be looking for the original hardback. Again..........don't waste your time or money.

Wonderful Story.......2007-02-13

I love this book; I have the song on a seperate CD and the two together are awseome when telling the story. A must for parents, educators, or schools that want to teach about "The Underground Railroad" or "Harriet Tubman"!

Follow the Drinking Gourd.......2006-02-25

A wonderful story about a family escaping slavery using astronomy and song. Beautifully illustrated.

Song of freedom.......2002-01-27

This fine story teaches even the smallest of children about the evil of slavery in pre-Civil War America. It shows a desire for freedom so strong that men, women and children risked their lives to escape on the Underground Railroad, following the largest star in the Drinking Gourd of the title (The Big Dipper).

The book introduces the idea of slavery, the separation of families, the sale of human beings at auctions, and the difficulties that people endured to escape--hiding in trees to avoid hounds, sleeping by day, sometimes on empty stomachs, and walking at night, sometimes without stars to guide them. Sometimes people along the way were kind, providing bacon and corn bread to share, helping them across the Ohio River, and hiding them in the attics and barns of safe houses.

The story's dramatic simplicity grasps and holds children. They fasten to it, eager to learn about the bonds that once tied African-Americans and the freedom for which they naturally yearned.

The book is a song of freedom. Alyssa A. Lappen

The Complete Book Of Gourd Craft: 22 Projects * 55 Decorative Techniques * 300 Inspirational Designs
Average customer rating:

inspiring designs

Complete Book of Gourd Craft

Gourd crafts book

Gorge yourself on gourds!

LOVE IT

The Complete Book Of Gourd Craft: 22 Projects * 55 Decorative Techniques * 300 Inspirational Designs
Ginger Summit , and Jim Widess
Manufacturer: Sterling
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Decorating | Crafts & Hobbies | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
General | Crafts & Hobbies | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
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Ready-to-Use North American Indian Motifs: 391 Different Permission-Free Designs Printed One Side (Clip Art Series)

ASIN: 1887374558

Book Description

“This book covers growing, harvesting, and curing as well as crafting and finishing....The projects, are artistic and imaginative and cover all techniques of dealing with gourds.”—Library Journal. “Lots of inspiring gourd crafting techniques and ideas—I highly recommend The Complete Book of Gourd Craft...its 300 color photos... depict many...amazing things you can create...plenty of detailed information.”—Organic Gardening.

Customer Reviews:

inspiring designs.......2007-02-25

I'm a woodturner who likes to decorate the bowls I make. This book has given me several ideas that I've used successfully. I've gotten several copies for members of my woodturning club and one copy for the club library. We're always looking for new ways to enhance the simple wooden bowl and this book provides many useful ideas. Highly recommended.

Complete Book of Gourd Craft.......2007-02-17

Extremely good book, very well written and good art descriptions.

Gourd crafts book.......2007-01-20

The book was in excellent condition and arrived promptly. I was very pleased with the service, price and book.

Gorge yourself on gourds!.......2005-07-07

What a great book! I took a gourd coiling class and the instructor had this book. I couldn't wait to get my own copy! This book is so thorough. From cover to cover it's filled with information, pictures and ideas, you can't help but be inspired. I was, and now I'm "gourding" like crazy!

LOVE IT.......2002-12-01

This is a great book for beginners such as myself. It gives good project ideas and instruction to complete projects. Also a good section on gourd history.

Average customer rating:

Complete Book of Gourd Carving
HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS ONE
Adorável
Excellent book!

Complete Book of Gourd Carving
Jim Widess , and Ginger Summit
Manufacturer: Sterling
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Fun with Paper & Wood, Stones & Knives | Crafts & Hobbies | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

General | Crafts & Hobbies | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 1402704429

Book Description

Jim Widess and Ginger Summit, the best-selling authors of The Complete Book of Gourd Craft and Making Gourd Instruments, have done it again: they’ve produced another winner to delight the many crafters who work with gourds. Large, lavish, and astonishingly comprehensive, this breathtaking volume introduces every tool and every technique associated with gourd carving, offers fabulous projects that advance in difficulty, and presents a gallery of works designed to inspire. See how to choose and prepare a gourd, impress the surface with a design, and work with green gourds. The magnificent methods of decorative carving covered include fretwork, engraving, chip carving, carving with gouges, relief carving, inlay, and deep relief or sculptural carving. Throughout, color photographs of exquisite carved gourds present crafts styles from countries around the world. A Selection of the Crafters Choice Book Club.

Customer Reviews:

Complete Book of Gourd Carving.......2007-01-11

Great how to carving book. Great photos. Not just for the beginner.

HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS ONE.......2006-08-06

Having worked with gourds for quite a number of years now, I have of course collected quite a number of books on the subject. This work is certainly at the top of the list as to being useful. Most aspect of the art of carving gourds can be found in this wonderfully illustrated volume. Some of the subjects covered are fretwork, engraving, linear carving, chip carving, using gouges, relief carving, inlay techniques, deep relief or sculptural carving, supply sources and the use of high-speed grinder burrs and tips. There are hundreds of high quality color photographs. This work if of great value if for no other reason that it is a great sorce for new ideas. The text is well done and where applicable, step by step instructions are quite easy to follow. Recommend this one highly.

Adorável.......2006-07-03

Sorry, I don't write in English... I'm disease yes...
Adorei o Livro! Além de ter fotos muito ilustrativas, traz também os projetos de forma didática.
Parabens aos artistas. Este material serve de estímulo para minha família - que trabalha também com cabaças (gourds).
Thank you
Ana luiza

Excellent book!.......2005-07-29

I have been working with gourds for almost a year and have several books on gourds, but this book tops them all. This is a beautifully done book with excellent pictures and good instructions on carving gourds. What I like the most is how challenging and inspiring this book is. After looking through it once, I have so many ideas about how I can improve my designs and techniques, even though it will take me years to achieve the same level of quality. I definitely recommend this book to those who want to take their craft to the next level!

Average customer rating:

The required coffee table book for any stoner.
WHAT A JOKE!!!
Close but not quite
GREAT COFFE TABLE BOOK:)
A unique and kooky book for everyone

Get Stoned and Read This Book
Gordon G. Gourd
Manufacturer: Gordon G Gourd Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

Photo Essays | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 096735370X

Book Description

"The coffee table book for pot-smokers." That's right. GET STONED AND READ THIS BOOK. A book entirely conceived and executed under the influence of marijuana. Lots of marijuana.

Written by the creative partnership known as Gordon G. Gourd, GET STONED is the culmination of five+ years of binging. Shot by Mr. Clancy, penned by Mr. Winter, GET STONED has been a labor of love. The book is self-published by Gordon G. Gourd, Inc. because established publishers felt the book was 'too esoteric'.

It's a pot book. It's supposed to be esoteric.

Publishers also felt that the title was too progressive for the likes of Barnes and Noble, and in order to sign us up, we would have to at least change the layout of the cover. Gordon felt the compromise was too great. "Screw it," we said. "Let's do it ourselves."

Six months later, we've got books. Printed through Acid Test Productions in California (publisher of many pieces on the Grateful Dead), the book itself is oversized, 10"x10", 72pp, with both full color and black and white imagery, printed on high-end glossy paper. The production quality is top-notch. The book itself is a series of loosely related full page spreads, each with a different image and idea, all created for the stoner by the stoner. It's some pretty whacked stuff.

Customer Reviews:

The required coffee table book for any stoner. .......2006-12-19

My girlfriend gave me this book and while I was skeptical while reading it sober I loved this book when i read it high & drunk!!!

While I'll admit putting it away when the parents come by, I love having it out during parties, a definite conversation starter. The pictures are pretty good as is most of the writing in it (not 100%, but enough to keep this pothead satisfied).

Lastly as another poster pointed out, a plain white surface can be very useful when rolling.....

WHAT A JOKE!!!.......2006-11-10

CANT BELEIVE SOMEONE WOULD EVEN PUBLISH THIS BOOK. ITS ABOUT ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH MARIJUANA,. JUST RANDOM STUPID PICTURES OF NOTHING. ID RATHER GET STONED AND STARE AT THE FLOOR THAN LOOK AT THIS BOOK AGAIN. HOW EMBARASSING. TOTAL RIPOFF!!!!!

Close but not quite.......2002-06-01

Kavity Kreep stole this book awhile back and it had been tempting me while collecting seeds and stems on his coffee table for the last couple of months. Hey, the book is white which makes for a convenient place to do your rolling. Anyway, writing a book about getting high for people to get high and read? Well, that's like selling a book about Andy Griffith during "Matlock" reruns. Too easy. So, a truer test was to pound a pint of schnapps and read this bad boy. Color me unimpressed and a little hungover, boys. Just wasn't that interesting. A few cool things, but not that cool. Probably was fun to write though. The NASCARS race that the Kreep was watching held my interest longer and that led to some seriously prolific beer drinking. After the race we went to KFC for a bucket and then played some video games. Besides, I wasn't holding that day anyway. Sure got drunk though.

GREAT COFFE TABLE BOOK:).......2002-05-18

I bought this book for my boyfriend for his birthday and he loves it. His friends also adore the book, I love the poems and pictures... an interesing fun, book.

A unique and kooky book for everyone.......2001-11-06

"Get Stoned and Read this Book" is a wonderfully unique look at the world through pictures in a beautiful coffee table book format. I think that people are misled by the title and get the image of Wayne and Garth getting stoned in the basement of their parent's house laughing at everything. They would enjoy this book immensly as well, but it really has some wonderful photos that help you to look at things in a new light that you never would have normally considered. This book is also a fabulous conversation piece, and a must-have on your coffee table at any party. Everyone I know (all well-educated, gainfully employed individuals) absolutely loves this book. The other reason that I think you should buy it is because it was self-published. With all of the mammoth publishers trampling over the "little guy" it's nice to see people finding a way to live their dreams. This book makes a wonderful gift, especially around the holidays, and it should make you happy to know that you are supporting people who deserve it!

Average customer rating:

African Fairytales
Fantastic Folklore
Generous cross-cultural package

The Magic Gourd (Aesop Prize (Awards))

Manufacturer: Scholastic Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | Ages 4-8 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

Folklore & Mythology | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

The Hunterman And The Crocodile
The Hatseller And The Monkeys
I Lost My Tooth In Africa
Jamari's Drum
Zomo the Rabbit: A Trickster Tale from West Africa

ASIN: 0439439604

Book Description

Draught and famine have come to the parched forest. And when a hungry Rabbit rescues Brother Chameleon from a thorny bush, Chameleon repays him tenfold with a magical gourd that always stays filled with food and water. But soon a greedy king steals the gourd to make gold and food for himself. Cleverly, Rabbit recovers his gourd, but still leaves plenty for the King. Surprised by Rabbit's kind act, the king begins to learn the importance of generosity and friendship. Exciting illustrations in bright ceramic plates, bowls and sculpture practically dance off of the pages.

Customer Reviews:

African Fairytales.......2005-11-30

This is a wonderful story for children, it helps to develop the imagination. Its a fairytale for all!!!
Highly recommended.

Fantastic Folklore.......2004-02-09

Diakite's retelling of this African folktale involving Brother Rabbit, Chameleon, a greedy king, a magic gourd and a magic rock is delightfully and originally illustrated with photographs of intricately painted ceramic bowls, platters and tiles that tell the story in detailed and relevant images. Further decorated at the edges with mud cloth patterns, Diakite has provided two pages of additional notes at the end of the book to help clarify the patterns' meanings as well as to give some background to his home of Mali, West Africa and some language translations.

While written in traditional picture book format, this book is best read to youngsters for both the joy of oral storytelling traditions which are so important to folk tales as well as because of the potential unfamiliarity of some words and the occasional irregularity of traditional English grammar. Besides, they will not be able to keep their eyes from the illustrations long enough to read a whole page! A fun family read.

Generous cross-cultural package.......2003-11-25

This tale from Mali teaches that generosity and friendship are more valuable than material wealth.

When Rabbit does a good deed for Chameleon, he is rewarded with a gourd that magically fills up with whatever its owner asks for. Rabbit requests carrots, couscous and other foods. Soon his family has sufficient food to invite friends and neighbors for meals.

Word of the gourd spreads until it reaches the ears of a greedy king, who has his soldiers forcibly take it from Rabbit. The ruler then spends his days commanding the gourd to fill with gold. Rabbit wants his gourd back, but how can he recover it?

In an "Author's Note," Diakite relates that he grew up in an extended family in rural Mali. The tales he heard around the fire at night kindled his imagination during days tending sheep and goats.

The illustrations--reproductions of Diakite's hand-painted ceramic tiles, plates and bowls--are bordered with traditional patterns, each with a specific meaning, used by Mali's Bamana people in creating a unique textile known as mud cloth.

The story, paintings, informational endnotes, even a dust-jacket photo of the author and his two daughters in traditional dress, work together to create a generous cross-cultural gift.

Calabash Cat
Average customer rating:

a good adventure story for young and old

A calabashian feline extraordinaire

A classic: simple story w/unique illustrations & good moral

Calabash Cat
James Rumford
Manufacturer: Houghton Mifflin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Fiction | Cats | Animals | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
Fiction | General | Animals | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
Picture Books | Ages 4-8 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0618224238

Book Description

Calabash Cat, a West African cat, sets out one day to find where the world ends. His adventures take him across a desert, grasslands, a jungle, and the ocean, until he finds what he is looking for. Illustrated in the style of the calabash engravers of the country of Chad, James Rumford's original tale will keep you thinking long after you have closed the covers of this bookabout our one world, and about seeking knowledge and finding wisdom.

Customer Reviews:

a good adventure story for young and old.......2006-06-19

First, the art is beautiful and engaging. The bold lines and beautiful patterns within the animals are unique for children's books and very interesting to look at.

Next, the story is very good. Like many good children's stories, this adventure of a cat can be both interesting and meaningful on the surface, for a young audience, as well as providing a deeper message for us adults most likely reading the story to children. Grown ups, I ask you after reading this book, "What boundaries have you set to make the perimeter of your world?"

Last but certainly not least, without being preachy or disgustingly PC, this book introduces a vital multicultural element. The art is inspired by art which the author/illustrator experienced in the country of Chad AND the text of this story is written in English and Arabic.

A calabashian feline extraordinaire.......2004-08-20

Prior to reading this book, if you had walked up to me and said, "List everything you know about the country of Chad" I could have come up with perhaps four facts. 1: It is in Africa. 2: The word Chad contains four letters. 3: If you spell it backwards "Chad" becomes "dahC". 4: A Chad in and of itself is no particular danger, but a hanging Chad might well throw a country into chaos. As you can see, my Chadian knowledge was lacking. Then I picked up "Calabash Cat and His Amazing Journey". This title had intrigued me for a couple reasons. For one thing, it was visually stunning. I'm a sucker for intricate linework, and "Calabash Cat" is awash in tiny details and clever little strokes of the pen. Also, I had heard that this tale was written in both English and Arabic. I am currently under the impression that there is a distinct lack of good Arabic books out there for kids in America to read. To my mind, a book like "Calabash Cat" might well fill a few gaps. So I picked it up for a look-see.

In this fable, we meet a calabash cat. One day, the cat decides to see exactly where the world ends. It stops at a desert and decides that this might well be the world's end. That is, until a camel informs the cat that this is not the world's end and that he will take the feline to the REAL end of the world. They travel to a grassland and the cat is just about to declare it the world's end when a horse informs him that he is mistaken. With that, the cat is on the back of the horse going to the REAL end of the world. From there the cat rides the back of a tiger through a jungle, the back of a whale through the ocean, and finally upon the back of an eagle. The eagle, wisest of all the creatures yet, simply says, "Climb up on my back and I will show you a world without end". Before returning to his home, the cat flies high above the land and we are treated to a magnificent two page spread of animals frolicking on the earth as cat and bird fly silhouetted against a geometric sun.

On the final page of this book, author James Rumford explains that he once bought a carved calabash gourd in the shape of a cat. Looking at the creature, Rumford couldn't help but wonder what other calabash animals his cat might meet and where they might go. Thus, the calabash cat's tale was born. The story contains a classic folktale quest, in this case the search for the farthest end of the world. Rumford has a good ear for repetition and tone. I'm not fluent in Chadian Arabic (no surprises there) so I can't vouch that the words in that language flow as well as they do in the English. Needless to say, it nice that they're there at all.

The illustrations in this story are modeled on the style of Chad's calabash engravers. The cat, for his part, has a large lizard and fish bedecking his body. In fact, each animal that comes with contact with our intrepid hero is illustrated in a similar manner. Against a brown mottled background, these animals are a beautiful array of black pen and ink, the occasional colored line appears behind them to set the scene. Therefore, the final rainbow infused shot in the book is a real delight, displaying not only the animals we already met in the story but some others that are wholly original. My first thought when I saw this illustrations was their similarity to other fine picture books out there. Books like "Rosie's Walk" by Pat Hutchins or "Drummer Hoff" by B. Emberley come to mind. Like "Calabash Cat", they too are filled with delicate lines and stoic protagonists. A storytime containing all three of these books would be an excellent idea, by the way.

If you'd like to introduce an African inspired picture book to your repetoire, but you're just so doggone tired of Anase tales, try your hand with this Chad inspired little number. I can guarantee you've never see anything to quite compare. From the heady illustrations to the classic nature of its tale, this is a book to treasure deeply. West African cats will never look the same again.

A classic: simple story w/unique illustrations & good moral.......2004-06-16

Calabash Cat starts in his African home and takes off on a walk to see where the world ends. Thinking maybe it ended at the start of the desert, he sits down. A camel happens by and notes how silly the cat is and says, "Climb up on my back, and I will show you where the world ends," and they walk across the desert. At the end of the desert and beginning of the grasslands, the camel says authoritatively, "Here, my friend, is where the world ends." However a horse happens by to let the cat know that the camel was small-minded to think it ended at the desert. And thus goes several iterations with the horse across the grasslands, the tiger through the jungle, the whale across the sea. The eagle teaches the final moral that the world is without end. My toddler loves the intricate African animal pictures, and I hope that over time he will absorb the lesson that people often only "know" what they've seen and that he should always seek to expand his horizons.

The Shattered Gourd: Yoruba Forms in Twentieth Century American Art (Samuel and Althea Stroum Book)

Average customer rating:

The Shattered Gourd: Yoruba Forms in Twentieth Century American Art (Samuel and Althea Stroum Book)
Moyosore B. Okediji , and Moyo Okediji
Manufacturer: University of Washington Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | History & Criticism | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

Modern | Schools, Periods & Styles | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

Folk Art | Schools, Periods & Styles | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

Nigeria | Africa | History | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0295981504

Book Description

The Shattered Gourd uses the lens of visual art to examine connections between the United States and the Yoruba region of western Nigeria.

In Yoruba legend, the sacred Calabash of Being contained the Water of Life; when the gourd was shattered, its fragments were scattered over the ground, death invaded the world, and imperfection crept into human affairs. In more modern times, the shattered gourd has symbolized the warfare and enslavement that culminated in the black diasporas.

The "re-membering" of the gourd is represented by the survival of people of African origin all over the Americas, and, in this volume, by their rediscovery of African art forms on the diaspora soil of the United States. Twentieth-century African American artists employing Yoruba images in their work have gone from protest art to the exploration and celebration of the self and the community. But because the social, economic, and political context of African art forms differs markedly from that of American culture, critical contradictions between form and meaning often appear in African American works that use African forms.

Book Description

The stars of the Big Dipper have led a runaway slave family to Deacon Fuller's house, a stop on the underground railroad. Will Tommy Fuller be able to hide the runaways from a search party -- or will the secret passengers be discovered and their hope for freedom destroyed?

Customer Reviews:

Good.......2003-04-18

I liked this book. It was one of my favorite books. It was a good thing they hid in the hay. They had to go to the under ground railroad. The under ground is a secret group of people who believe slavery is wicked. We need to obey all laws this book is a bout history.

Two different Worlds.......2000-05-05

This tale of the underground railroad told from the perspective of young, mischievious Tommy Fuller, blends history with a compelling adventure story. Tommy discovers a runaway slave family hiding in his father's barn. Little Jeff is Tommy's age but has had a very different life as a Southern child of slavery. The adventure is how Tommy and his father, Deacon Fuller, help this family escape to Canada and freedom. Includes a simple discussion between Tommy and his father about the fact that they have broken a law and that sometimes laws cannot be obeyed.

Average customer rating:

A Promising Series First
the gourdmother
Enjoyable, but put-off
Excellent
fine amateur sleuth who-done-it

The Gourdmother
Maggie Bruce
Manufacturer: Berkley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Mystery | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0425206610

Book Description

Brooklyn girl Lili Marino has found herself starting over in the tiny village of Walden Corners, New York, where she has the time and space to cultivate her first love: crafting gourds. She's also becoming surprisingly expert at cutting to the rotten heart of a mystery.

Lily is just starting to feel welcomed in Walden Corners when she finds the local high school football coach dead on the first day of hunting season. She had naively thought the most dangerous thing she would have to deal with was a moldy gourd--not a murderer.

Customer Reviews:

A Promising Series First.......2007-07-30

I found this book a very hopeful beginning of a new series. As for any series, there is a lot to introduce in the first one, and much gets glossed over, presumably to be fleshed out in later volumes. We meet the main character, Lili, a transplanted city gal now in a rural village, hoping to spend her time crafting beautiful objects from gourds. As a woodcarver and pyrographer myself, I found the references to gourds right on, and quite fascinating. We also meet Nora, whose husband is found dead early in the story.
Less well defined are three other woman friends of Nora's (and hopefully of Lili's), a mystery wheeler-dealer nobody has ever seen, a possible love-interest, and the local law enforcement contact - also a woman. I hope to see most of these characters given a lot more dimension in subsequent installments.
The mystery is a bit thin, and Lili does do a few really dumb things, but I don't read books like this for the mystery or for the great procedural accuracy - I leave those to other series actually dedicated to those sorts of things. I read these stories to enjoy a mild mystery and to enjoy getting to know the characters and their particular interests. For that, this little novel does just fine. I gave it only four stars, leaving somewhere to go for subsequent books.
I did find the proofreading distractingly lacking - wrong words, wrong tenses, missing words - all things an automatic spell checker would miss. I hereby volunteer to Ms. Bruce for her next installments, which I am eagerly anticipating.

the gourdmother.......2007-02-18

As far as cozies go, this book is probably one of the better ones. I just don't think the book was for me. I didn't really take to the gourds, and I found it to be a peculiar theme for a cozy. I actually thought the mystery got a little lost in the book, and the end was predictable. As usual, the heroine comes face to face with the killer, and she has to find a way out or something of the sort. That theme is just too played out in this genre.

I will say that I appreciated the mentions of 9/11 and the very real depiction of grief from Nora. I found her friends' reaction to be quite refreshing, as they were authentic. Again, the book was pretty good, but it just wasn't my style.

Enjoyable, but put-off.......2005-11-20

I really am enjoying the story line and characters of this book but am totally put-off by the absense of some of the prepositions and articles of normal writing. Is it the author or the proofers? I don't like having to inject words myself as I read. It breaks my concentration. Is the author a real person or is this a computer-generated story? I'm kind of put-off by all the "anonymous and pseudonym-type" authors today. Publishers, please proof-read and maybe you'll have a great series.

Excellent.......2005-10-08

It's been quite a while since I've read such a satisfying mystery. Nowadays I'm demanding more of them than just a puzzle with a dead body, and "The Gourdmother" delivers. Lili Martino, feeling her way in a new environment, remains steadfastly herself--loyal, generous and darn-near fearless. The tragedy of her best friend's husband's death spurs Lili into relationships and situations that uncover not only the mystery, but also Lili herself.

"The Gourdmother" is the perfect blend of characters and plot--and a riveting mystery as well. It's hard for me to believe that this is Maggie Bruce's first book. I'll certainly look for more from this talented author.

fine amateur sleuth who-done-it.......2005-09-07

Former long time Brooklyn resident Lili Marion wonders how a city gal can be street smart when she lives in a place without streets when she earned the cottage as remittance from Tom Ford for developing a mutual fund perspective. Besides her philosophical musings, she enjoys living in Walden Corners, New York though most of the residents remain leery of a city slicker. She makes friends with Nora Johnson and likes the open space for her to convert gourds into works of art or useful pretty functions.

On the first day of hunting season, someone kills Nora's husband Coach. Lili fears she heard the scream of death, which she originally assumed was a nightmare. As she gathers her wits about her, Lili decides to investigate the homicide of the spouse of her only upstate friend not realizing she sets herself up as a prime target.

Though readers will question why Lili had to investigate the murder even with her best local pal involved and threatened, fans will appreciate this fine amateur sleuth who-done-it. Lili brings her Brooklynese into her inquiries that drive the local police crazy as she interferes in their investigation. Readers will appreciate this urban take no prisoner protagonist as she seeks to uncover the identity of the killer while providing the audience with a glimpse including making a pendant into the world of gourds.

Harriet Klausner

Average customer rating:

The drinking gourd (An I can read book)
F. N Monjo
Manufacturer: Trumpet Club
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: 0440841577

Product Description

Runaway slaves are hiding in the barn, and Tommy's father has hidden them there. This is how Tommy learns of the underground railroad. Here is a book that brings American history to life in a suspenseful story of a young boy who helps a slave family escape, to Canada and freedam.

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