Books with author Jennifer Heyd Wharton

This entertaining and beautifully illustrated book introduces children to the basics of sailing. Adam, a young boy from the city, yearns to learn how to sail. When his aunt and uncle invite him to visit one summer, his cousin, Beth, takes him out in her sailboat. As they head for Dutch Ship Island, Beth shows Adam many of the things he will need to know to become a sailor—skills he must put into action when a thunderstorm arises. Here is a delightful adventure story that holds young readers’ interest while they absorb from labeled drawings many of the fundamentals necessary to begin sailing: basic nautical terms, points of sailing, channel markers and buoys, safety equipment, a few knots and bends, something about clouds and weather, anchoring, handling sails, and even crew overboard procedures. Middle grades–ages 10-13.

Little Suzette and her nursemaid enjoy daily walks in the handsome park near their home. Often, they see a tall, elegant lady strolling in the park with her tiny puppy. Then, a comical incident transforms Suzette and the puppy into friends. The time and place of this gentle story is Paris in the 1870s, when many fine artists were creating the exciting approach to painting called Impressionism. As it happens, little Suzette's Uncle Edgar is one of those artists. He is the famous Edgar Degas. One day, Uncle Edgar sends an artist to paint Suzette's picture. Imagine Suzette's surprise, when the artist turns out to be the tall lady from the park! And imagine Suzette's delight when the little puppy comes with her! The result of this enchanting meeting lives on to this day in an art masterpiece. For the woman was the major American artist, Mary Cassatt. Her painting of Suzette and the little dog, known as The Little Girl in the Blue Armchair, now hangs in the National Gallery of Art, in Washington, D.C. Among this book's many beautiful full-color illustrations is a reproduction of the story's painting.