Book Description

Reviews (44)

Excellent book
This is one of those books I read when I was a teenager and have read over and over again since. A fun, short read and one that gives insight into women's lives both in the past and today. One of the better books I have read that use the format of letter-writing to narrate a story too.

A Classic You Can Read in a Day
I've read this book a few times, and every time I come back to it, I can't put it down.It's short (around 200 pages) & sweet.The book was published in 1912, and is one-of-a-kind, as it consists almost entirely of letters written by Judy.Judy is an orphan from the John Grier Home, an orphange she was raised in since she was a baby.Her future seems very bleak until one day she is unexpectedly offered the opportunity for a paid college education to become an author by one of the orphanage's trustees.In return, she has to write monthly letters to the unknown trustee who is known as Mr. John Smith.She calls him "Daddy-Long-Legs" because she saw his tall shadow as he left the building.Her letters are very entertaining, and often impertinent.That is really all I want to tell of the story, but here are a couple of quotes from the book that I loved:

"It isn't the big troubles in life that require character.Anybody can rise to a crisis and face a crushing tragedy with courage, but to meet the petty hazards of the day with a laugh -- I really think that requires spirit."

"I think the most necessary quality for any person to have is imagination.It makes people able to put themselves in other people's places.It makes them kind and sympathetic and understanding.It ought to be cultivated in children."

strong female book
If any girl (5th grade and up) wants to read a book about a strong female lead, this is IT!Judy gets to go to college by an anonymous donor.She just has to write him a letter a month.No strings.See how Judy handles differences and the world around her.She is spunky!Great book for an independent read.I plan to use it in my classroom.

I loved this book!
Daddy-Long-Legs is an epistolary novel, written as a series of letters from Jerusha "Judy" Abbot to her anonymous benefactor, whom she calls Daddy-Long-Legs.A sixteen-year-old orphan earning her keep in the John Grier Foundling home, Jerusha has an active mind and pen.An anonymous benefactor sends her to college to become a writer, paying all her bills and providing a wardrobe and allowance, in exchange for monthly letters on her progress.Jerusha, having caught a glimpse of her extremely tall benefactor, begins addressing her letters to Daddy-Long-Legs.She tells him more than her academic progress in her chatty letters.She shares her insecurities about her social status, her crush on Jervis Pendleton, a floor mate's young uncle.She is outspoken and opinionated, never afraid to tell her "Daddy" about her political or moral views.She is a socialist, a suffragette, and a satirist.She lets him know when she is angry with him, and does not take his orders submissively.She questions everything.

The plot is very much based on a Cinderella tale-poor Judy Abbott, orphan, falls in love with the rich Jervis Pendleton.The set-up of the story is not entirely realistic, and the resolution of the love story plot is rushed at the end of the novel.Daddy-Long-Legs, who heretofore has only financed boys' education, decides to send Jerusha to college based on a funny essay criticizing the very orphanage of which he is trustee.Mrs. Lippet, head of the orphanage, tells Jerusha, "On the strength of that impertinent paper, he has offered to send you to college" (12).Based on Jerusha's observations of the dignity bordering on oppressiveness of the trustees, this decision seems to go against her characterization. The communication between Jerusha and her benefactor is strange-he does not want his identity to be revealed, and she cannot address him as "Mr. Smith."She immediately starts addressing her letters to Daddy-Long-Legs and often refers to him as simply "Daddy."He is obviously a father figure to Judy, which is disturbing when it is revealed that Daddy-Long-Legs is also her love-interest, Jervis Pendleton.After Daddy-Long-Legs' identity is revealed, Webster quickly ties up the novel in a few paragraphs, but never resolves the father-figure as love interest.Judy writes in her final letter concerning addressing her Daddy-Long-Legs as Jervis, "Just plain Jervie sounds disrespectful, and I can't be disrespectful to you!" (160).

The first person point-of-view of this novel allows the reader to get into the head of the main character, but limits characterization of others in the novel to Judy's impressions.She says of two of her classmates, "Sallie is the most entertaining person in the world-and Julia Rutledge Pendleton the least so. ...Sallie thinks everything is funny-even flunking-Julia is bored at everything.She never makes the slightest effort to be amiable.She believes that if you are a Pendleton, that fact alone admits you to heaven without any further examination.Julia and I were born to be enemies" (22).Despite the fact that Judy has such opinions of Julia, they become roommates, travel to New York City together, and Julia invites Judy to spend Christmas with her.
Through her attempts at friendship, Julia doesn't seem as bad as Judy writes.However, because the point-of-view is limited, Julia is an uninteresting snob.

Despite limitations, the voice and opinions revealed through the point of view seem authentic to the time and place of the novel.After learning her crush, Jervis, is a socialist, she decides to do some research on socialism.In her next letter to Daddy-Long-Legs, she writes, "Hooray!I'm a Fabian.That's a Socialist who's willing to wait.We don't want the social revolution to come tomorrow morning; it would be too upsetting" (119).The enthusiasm with which Judy embraces socialism, shopping, and Jervis Pendleton is typically adolescent.Her triumphs and failures expressed with enthusiasm or despair, and her letters reflect the vacillation of adolescent emotions.

Key adolescent experiences and problems include embarrassment concerning family background and the flush of first love.Judy is justifiably embarrassed by being an orphan and wary of sharing her background with her upper class schoolmates.Most teenagers experience a certain amount of family embarrassment.Of course, for most teenagers, being raised in an orphanage is not something that they are familiar with.Judy's infatuation with Jervis Pendleton is also typically adolescent-she loves him, but doesn't realize she loves him.She cannot stop writing about him, and thinks about him a lot.She doesn't realize she's in love until late in the novel.To the reader, Judy clearly has a crush.It is interesting to watch her deal with her crush as an observer, hoping she is brave enough to share her feelings, and knowing that she already has in her letters to Daddy-Long-Legs.

A lovely, nostalgic novel
This epistolary novel is an easy, quick read.Jerusha "Judy" Abbot comes to life in her letters to Daddy-Long-Legs, the anonymous benefactor who pays for her college education. (I particularly love the up-close look at women's higher education in the early 20th century--though the college is never stated, and is probably Vasser, I can imagine it is my own alma mater, Wells).Her hopes, fears, and frustrations are very real--from insecurity about being an orphan to her struggles with Latin.While some experiences and circumstances are dated, the emotions and life situations of Judy are timeless.Judy is an outspoken woman in a time when women didn't even have the right to vote; she is a socialist, a reformer, and an author.She is not perfect, but she is wonderful.This is a must read for any young woman! ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A "must read" for beginner beekeepers
Not too sexy, but has all the right stuff. This book is a timeless guide to modern-day beekeeping. The pictures are a little dated, and black-white, but the information is sound and professionally written. This book left me feeling well educated and confident. And at this price, it's a deal! ... Read more

Book Description

In his new preface Bernd Heinrich ranges from Maine to Alaska and north to the Arctic as he summarizes findings from continuing investigations over the past twenty-five years�by him and others�into the wondrous �energy economy� of bumblebees.Reviews of the previous edition:�This is a remarkable and rewarding book, complementary to, yet in some respects going far beyond, its predecessors. It is highly recommended.� �Caryl P. Haskins, New York Times Book Review�Extraordinary � the implications of work such as Heinrich�s seem to me more resonant than the promise of a rich harvest of new research.� �Fred Hapgood, Harper�s Magazine�A magnificent book that combines the best of both writing and science #� Heinrich has performed a masterful job of sharing his personal research efforts and those of others in his field. He has written an extremely interesting book and in the process has shown how one kind of organism can be used as a model to investigate behavior, physiology, ecology and evolution. Bumblebee Economics should serve as a model for good scientific writing.� �Matthew M. Douglas, Quarterly Review of Biology ... Read more

Reviews (4)

excellent meeting of biology and economics
I thoroughly enjoyed this book.Heinrich presents relevant and well-considered research and experimental design in an accessible and easy-to-understand fashion.Having come off a bio class in which we did an extensive lab portion on population structure and evolution, I really enjoyed seeing such fascinating data on social insects.I was not, until having read Heinrich's book, familiar with the very major differences between honey and bumblebees.This book not only presents an excellent overview of how bumblebee's function (thermoregulation of flight muscles and suchforth) but also the economic factors (in pollen and nectar) that form the trade-offs that dictate behavior.Heinrich's observation that bumblebees develop 'major and minor' flower specialties that they exploit preferentially is a fascinating bit of information that synthesizes two commonly concieved as different fields.

I'd highly recommend this book as not just beach reading for scientists but as a brilliant and accessible book on a very common pollinator.

Brilliantly written, a classic
The author explains that Bumble-bee queens (which are not accompanied by a swarm of workers as are Honey-bees), must by themselves select and furnish a nest site, lay eggs and brood the resulting larva and then forage forpollen and nectar - whose sugar provides the energy needed for flying andnest warming.Heinrich brilliantly contrasts the foraging strategies ofthe bumble-bees with those of the plants which provide nectar and pollenand are in return cross-pollinated.He also explains how the bees controlthe heat flow from their thorax which contains the flight muscles, depending on whether they need to fly which requires a relatively highthorax temperature, or need merely to crawl, which allows them to dissipateless energy.The book concludes with a large set of references to theentomological literature at the time of publication, and a set of colorplates to help in identifying about fifty North and Central Americanspecies of Bumble bees.

Native Bee Keeping?
This study of the bumble bee was fascinating. (For a moment I wanted to go back to school and study entomology.)It may be of particular interest to those interested in native bee-keeping.Instructions for building a bumblebee nesting box, and how to get a colony started, is included in the appendices.

Science writing at its best
The bumblebee spends its days gathering the resources needed by the hive -- honey for energy and pollen for protein. This endeavor requires expenditure of nearly all the energy resources that the bee is capable of acquiring. Living on the edge as they do, energy requirements inform every aspect of the bees' lives -- from the way they choose flowers to harvest all the way to the way that blood flow may be redirected between the muscles of the thorax and the lower abdomen. It may sound as dry as an economics text when I tell it, but the author transports you to his summer home in Maine, where he sits and watches the bees and then devises simple but elegant experiments to tease out the subtle relationships between energy, anatomy and behavior, and the energy balances between the individual and the hive, and between the adults and the newborns. ... Read more

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One of the best books on butterflies in recent years!
A thorough treatise of all species known to occur in Ohio. This book should be of interest to anyone interested in butterflies and skippers throughout the region. The section on the history of butterfly research in Ohio is rich and without equal. Kudos to the authors and the Ohio Biological Survey for presenting such an accurate and detailed publication that is useful to everyone with an interest in butterflies! ... Read more

Book Description

"[In] a revision of the 1963 edition, [a] brief, clearly written text [tells of a young girl who] learns some interesting facts about fireflies from her grandfather.Alexander uses richly hued pastels for her illustrations of the young girl, her grandparents' farm, and the creatures of a summer night."—SLJ.

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Fireflies in the Night
This book is about a young girl who visits who grandparents during the summer. Her grandparents live on a farm and know a lot about fireflies including how to catch and how to handle them. The young girl learns some interesting facts about the fireflies and how people in other countries use the light that fireflies provide. The grandfather explains how fireflies make their light; as well as the different light signals that males and females produce. This book can make readers eager to finish the page they are on, so that they can turn to the next page and learn another fascinating fact. It is a splendid introduction to fireflies! ... Read more

Book Description

A carefully organized and written textbook and state-of-the-art survey of the physiology of insects, with comprehensive referencing to take the reader into the literature. Discusses the circulatory, digestive, excretory, respiratory, muscle, nervous, reproductive and exocrine systems, and also the integument, behavioral physiology, intermediary, metabolism, and hormonal aspects of development. ... Read more

Book Description

The Spider has a bad name - to most of us, she represents an odious, noxious animal, which every one hastens to crush under foot. Against this summary verdict the observer sets the beast's industry, its talent as a weaver, its wiliness in the chase, its tragic nuptials and other characteristics of great interest. Yes, the Spider is well worth studying, apart from any scientific reasons; but she is said to be poisonous and that is her crime and the primary cause of the repugnance wherewith she inspires us. Poisonous, if by that we understand that the animal is armed with two fangs which cause the immediate death of the little victims which it catches; but there is a wide difference between killing a Midge and harming a man. However immediate in its effects upon the insect entangled in the fatal web, the Spider's poison is not serious for us and causes less inconvenience than a Gnat-bite. That, at least, is what we can safely say as regards the great majority of the!Spiders of our regions. ... Read more

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This book shows a side of a spider never, ever fathomed B4.
I can't remember how this book "fell" into my hands, but I COULD NOT put it down once it had. As a lover of spiders since childhood, I sat agape, mouth in my lap as I read an entomologist's experiences observing various arachnid species on several continents. ... Read more