Erath County by Sheryl Reed Rascher
This book is part of Arcadia Publishing's Images of America series, eye-catching local history books with a single sepia-tone historic photograph on the cover. Sheryl Reed Rascher, a sixth-generation Erath County descendant and president of the Erath County Genealogical Society, is the ideal author for Texas' Erath County entry in the series.
Besides the cover, the book has 203 historic photographs plus a map of the county. Most of the photographs come from the Ralph and Dossie Rogers Historic Images Collection, some of which is digitized and available at the Portal to Texas History and in the Cross Timbers Historical Image Project at Tarleton State University's Dick Smith Library. In addition, Rascher's connections to the county enabled her to use images and stories from the Stephenville Historical House Museum, the Dublin Public Library, the Erath County Historical Commission, and the private collections of numerous members of these groups.
Along with the excellent selection of images, Rascher has provided detailed captions for each photograph. Where people can be identified, they have been, making the book a gold mine for anyone with Erath County settlers in their ancestry. An index would be helpful, but Arcadia's strict formatting requirements only allow 60 entries in an index, and there are far more persons and places identified in this book. Rather than an incomplete index, Rascher chose instead to include a bibliography of additional sources.
Fall of Poppies: Stories of Love and the Great War by Heather Webb, Jessica Brockmole, Hazel Gaynor, Evangeline Holland, Marci Jefferson, Kate Kerrigan, Jennifer Robson, Beatriz Williams, and Lauren Willig
I read this collection of historical fiction short stories because I've recently been reading works by some of its contributors: Heather Webb, Jessica Brockmole, Hazel Gaynor, Jennifer Robson, Beatriz Williams, and Lauren Willig. Like any collection of short stories, some are better than others.
The stories are all set around the time of Armistice Day, the end of World War I, November 11, 1918, and all involve some sort of love - romantic, maternal, etc. There's a good mix of characters and settings across the stories.
If I had to pick a favorite, it would be Jennifer Robson's "All for the Love of You," which was especially interesting as the story involved the creation of realistic masks for soldiers with facial wounds.
The other stories are: "The Daughter of Belgium" by Marci Jefferson, "The Record Set Right" by Lauren Willig, "After You've Gone" by Evangeline Holland, "Something Worth Landing For" by Jessica Brockmole, "Hour of the Bells" by Heather Webb, "An American Airman in Paris" by Beatriz Williams, "The Photograph" by Kate Kerrigan, and "Hush" by Hazel Gaynor. All worth reading.
Arthur Who Wrote Sherlock by Linda Bailey
This picture book biography by Linda Bailey of British author Arthur Conan Doyle focuses on Doyle's lively childhood as well as his most famous character, Sherlock Holmes. Isabelle Follath's soft pencil and watercolor illustrations (with "a pinch of Photoshop") effectively evoke the late Victorian and early 1900s atmosphere of the setting. There's a detailed three-page author's note at the end that includes a photograph of Doyle, as well as a page of sources. This book would work well for readers of many ages interested in Sherlock Holmes.
Shakespeare's Flowers by Jessica Kerr, illustrated by Anne Ophelia Dowden
Author Jessica Kerr discusses flowers mentioned in Shakespeare's plays and poems, what they are called today (if they still exist), and what they were used for in Shakespeare's time (as many had medicinal or other purposes besides being ornamental). Each short chapter begins with one of more quotes from Shakespeare's works in which the flowers being discussed in that chapter are mentioned. Each flower is gorgeously illustrated by renowned botanical artist Anne Ophelia Todd Dowden, most in soft watercolors and drawn from live specimens.
The book includes a bibliography of suggested further reading and other sources, an index of plants discussed in the book, as well as indices to the sources for the Shakespearean quotes and the plays and poems they came from. This book would be of interest to gardeners, Shakespeare enthusiasts, and anyone interested in the meanings of flowers.
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