Books with author Carolyn Rubin

In order to earn money to bring Fritz's momma and sisters from Sweden to America, the determined Fritz sets out to master a new skill, working as the youngest stonemason on the crew building the Stone Arch Bridge across the Mississippi River. Along the way, Fritz, always eager to learn, unlocks secrets of his new homeland from details of the river's geology and the area's animals to stories of brave stands against slavery and the dangers of flour milling.?He befriends Margaret, Metis girl whose family has called the region home for generations, and meets notable early settler Emily Goodridge Grey. Applying his developing stonecutting skills, he records these many lessons in the keystones of the bridge.?Working through the summer, Fritz grows in responsibility and stature. Best of all, soon after the bridge is complete, he is able to show off his handiwork to Mamma in person.

On any list of the world's most pressing problems, water scarcity and water quality inevitably rank high. These issues and their related concerns often emerge in the major topics of the day, including Walkerton, free trade and globalization debates and drought.Despite all the pessimism surrounding the future of the world's drinking water, many predicaments can be remedied with simple conservation methods. Home-based water conservation starts with How to Get Your Lawn Off Grass, the only North America-wide guide on how to convert your yard from a water-sucking source of pollution runoff to a flourishing, productive showcase of natural vegetation. While 1.3 billion people on the planet don't have access to safe drinking water, 60% of ours goes into conventional turf-grass lawns and ornamental, exotic gardens.Runoff from chemical treatment of lawns and gardens has seriously compromised groundwater supplies everywhere in the United States and Canada. We have put garden cosmetics ahead of our health.How to Get Your Lawn Off Grass teaches how to conserve water and prevent the pollution of groundwater. It covers how to cut, roll up and compost turf-grass lawn (and water-sucking, ornamental "exotic" garden plants) and how to replace them with gorgeous native ground covers: flowers, shrubs, trees and grasses that will need no fertilizers, no chemical controls for pests, no mowing and, after the first year, no watering. This is a vital publication for all North Americans who are concerned about water scarcity and water quality.

In order to earn money to bring Fritz's momma and sisters from Sweden to America, the determined Fritz sets out to master a new skill, working as the youngest stonemason on the crew building the Stone Arch Bridge across the Mississippi River. Along the way, Fritz, always eager to learn, unlocks secrets of his new homeland from details of the river's geology and the area's animals to stories of brave stands against slavery and the dangers of flour milling.He befriends Margaret, Metis girl whose family has called the region home for generations, and meets notable early settler Emily Goodridge Grey. Applying his developing stonecutting skills, he records these many lessons in the keystones of the bridge.Working through the summer, Fritz grows in responsibility and stature. Best of all, soon after the bridge is complete, he is able to show off his handiwork to Mamma in person.