Books published by publisher New York: Thomas Y. Crowell.

This thrilling story of the California gold rush is not about the forty-niners, the prospectors who came rushing to the San Francisco area in 1849, but about the men and women who were there when it all began with the first discovery of gold in 1848, when San Francisco was a village of 900 people. These were the people who went up to the hills and came back staggering under the weight of the treasure they carried, and who began transforming San Francisco from a shantytown into one of the most brilliant cities in the world. This novel tells the unforgettable story of how these people walked into one of the most spectacular adventures in the world's history. They saw the first samples of gold brought to the quartermaster, who said they were flakes of yellow mica. They were there when the first people who saw the gold were laughed at and called "crackbrains." And they laid the foundation of the golden empire before the first forty-niners got there. Some of them could not meet the demands of this strange new world; others grew stronger and shared the greatness of the country they had helped build. Calico Palace is their story brought to vivid life.

Here is the perfect companion volume to Anne Rockwell's beloved The Three Bears and 15 Other Stories. This delightful collection of traditional tales and fables includes "The Three Sillies," "The Bremen Town Musicians," "The Fox and the Crow," "The Tortoise and the Hare," as well as "The Old Woman and Her Pig." Fresh, amusingly detailed watercolor illustrations light up every page. Anne Rockwell, distinguished author-artist of many popular picture-story books, has created an original yet classic treasury of simple, appealing retellings which will be enjoyed and shared by grown-ups and children alike.

1989, hardcover edition, Thomas Crowell, NY. Children's title, with exquisite full-color paintings by renowned artist Wendell Minor. The artist has illustrated many dust jackets over the years. Here he and writer Diane Siebert combine to evoke the land, animals and residents of the Middle West, in text, with superb illustrations. A perfect book to read aloud to your kids.