Sweet Memories Still - Softcover

"I grew up on a dairy farm in a region known as Vermont's Northeast Kingdom, along with one sister and three brothers in an area our Scottish ancestors settled almost two hundred years ago.

"Since graduating from Johnson State College Vermont with majors in both art and athletic training, I have worked as a coach, trainer, energy auditor for the Extension Service, and most recently as Elderhostel Director and cross-country ski instructor at the Craftsbury Sports Center before turning to writing full-time.

"I have many passions. I am an athlete, naturalist, artist, and a writer, and all of the things I do are rooted in the Northeast Kingdom. I run five to ten miles each morning, cross-country ski, mountain bike, swim, and play tennis. I also played field hockey all across the country for many years. I love the outdoors, and study and sketch birds and wildflowers which are most often the subjects of my watercolor paintings. For the past seven years, my husband, Tom, and I have been building a timber-frame house. We both enjoy working with wood, and Tom shares my love of the land, sports and animals: we have a Morgan horse, five dogs, and eight cats. We love gardening and have planted an orchard of old apple varieties. And I love histories and walking old cemeteries.

"My first children's book, The Canada Geese Quilt, grew out of my love and admiration for my grandmother, Helen Urie Rowell, and a special quilt the two of us made together. My grandmother began quilting when she was in her sixties, and over the next fifteen years she made over 230 quilts. I designed about twenty of them. Most of them are of birds, wildflowers and starry skies, but one is of Canada geese -- and that inspired the book.

"My husband and I live in Albany, Vermont, where I am always at work on new books."

copyright © 2000 by Penguin Putnam Books for Young Readers. All rights reserved.

When Shelby has to postpone her birthday party to go care for her ailing grandmother, she is angry and pouty, and even more annoyed when the elderly woman gives her an old-fashioned camera. In spite of her bad temper, Shelby is captivated by her grandmother's old photo albums and stories about long-dead relatives. When the house burns, along with the photos and all of her other possessions, Grandma comes to live with Shelby's family, and Shelby tries to make up for her loss by drawing pictures based on some of the old photographs. From Kinsey- Warnock (Wilderness Cat, 1992, etc.), an unusually facile set of characters and plotting. It's a wholesome story, but devoid of suspense and unsatisfying. Shelby's swings between affectionate behavior and petulance will make it hard for readers to like her, or even know her; they'll cringe when she starts yelling in the church parking lot about how shy she is. Once Grandma's house burns down, everybody learns a lesson: Shelby gets over her fears, becomes less selfish, and grows closer to her grandmother; the townspeople rebuild Grandma's house; and Shelby's father resolves to stop smoking. (b&w illustrations, not seen) (Fiction. 9+) -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.