Books published by publisher David R Godine Pub

Friendship, resourcefulness, adventures! Here’s the classic tale of two families of children who band together against a common foe: an uncle who claims he’s too busy for his nieces.The Walker children (John, Susan, Titty and Roger) are on school holiday in the Lake District and are sailing a borrowed catboat named “Swallow,” when they meet the Blackett children (Nancy and Peggy), who sail the boat, “Amazon.” The children camp together on Wild Cat Island where a plot is hatched against the Blackett’s Uncle Jim who is too busy writing his memoirs to be disturbed. Fireworks—literally—ensue along with a dangerous contest, a run-in with houseboat burglars, and the theft of Uncle Jim’s manuscript. How all this is resolved makes for an exciting and very satisfying story. Uncle Jim ends up apologizing for missing his nieces’ adventures all summer—thankfully, readers won’t miss a thing. Arthur Ransome’s Swallows and Amazons series has stood the test of time. More than just great stories, each one celebrates independence and initiative with a colorful, large cast of characters. Like the entire series that follows, this book is for children or grownups, anyone captivated by a world of adventure and imagination, exploring and setting sail.

"The most engaging and cleverest reincarnation of Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson yet." The Horn Book Follow Inspector Mantis, of brilliant mind, supersensitive antennae, and iron grip, and his faithful sidekick Doctor Hopper, an accomplished violinist and long jumper, as they solve five entomological cases puzzling the populace of Victorian Bugland. Joe Servello's color and pen-and-ink drawings bring exquisite detail to these tales: steam engines, deerstalkers, fog, and mandibles have never been more lovingly crosshatched.

The uproarious true adventures of a dog who doesn’t understand that he’s a dog — and the boy who loved him. Funny, heartwarming, and true, this is a classic story of a very imaginative kid and one very unusual dog.Funny and poignant, The Dog Who Wouldn’t Be is a lively portrait of an unorthodox childhood and an unforgettable friendship. Growing up in on the frontier of Saskatoon, Canada, the legendary adventurer and naturalist, Farley Mowat, received a gift from his mom: a dog she bought for four cents. Farley quickly named him “Mutt.”Mutt displayed skills at hunting and retrieving that were either pure genius or just plain crazy — once going so far as to retrieve a plucked and trussed ruffed grouse from the grocer. Mutt also loved riding passenger in an open car wearing goggles and climbing both trees and ladders — the perfect companion for a child with a love for animals and misadventures.Originally published for young people, this is a memoir by the author Never Cry Wolf that will delight dog lovers of all ages.

It is a long time ago in a village near Germany's Black Forest, and Erich, a foundling, has been left in the care of the good and charitable Frau Goddhart. Or, at least the publicly good and charitable Frau Goddhart; at home it's quite another story. Erich's young life of work and little love changes when old Ula, the town's most skillful clockmaker, offers him a job as his helper. Ula is patient and very slow worker, which is why his cuckoo clocks are the best anywhere. Ula teaches Erich about clockmaking, playing the fiddle, and many other useful and wonderful things.One day as Ula works at his clockmaking and Erich looks one, Baron Balloon storms in demanding a clock. Ula refuses, and decided right then and there to make a clock for himself, a wondrous, beautiful clock that will be his last and best. The clock he makes - with Erich's help - is wonderful, beautiful, and magical, with a cheerful enchanted cuckoo bird that knows all the thirty-six songs of the birds of the Black Forest. Mary Stolz's story is alive with magic of art and creation and is sure to enchant, as are the warm pencil illustrations of Pamela Johnson.

Fields of Peace unites two remarkable talents in masterful volume. The text, written by the late Millen Brand, illuminates the history of the Pennsylvania German sects who were united in their rejection of infant baptism. He provides a sympathetic portrait of these fascinating people (often erroneously called "Pennsylvania Dutch") who emigrated from Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries, found a home in the sympathetic commonwealth of William Penn, and settled primarily in and around Lancaster County. Primarily Amish and Mennonites, these are quiet and modest people whose lives of determined simplicity and whose passion for land seem totally anomalous in modern America. They continue to live lives of determined simplicity and agrarian focus that have all but disappeared.The photographs by George Tice are some of the most compelling documentary imagery ever framed. In their unobtrusive vision, they capture the substance and the spirit of these self-reliant people. They also reflect over thirty years of gentle but persistent efforts to document their lives and record their customs. For George Tice, this has been a life work, and the breadth and generosity of his vision is manifest on every page.First published in 1970 and here entirely reset with 39 new images added and every photograph reshot for duotone reproduction (as well as a new foreword by Sue Bender and a new afterword by Tice), this is not a "revised edition" but an entirely new book; one that will surely take its place among the classic documentary works of this century.

From the distinguished author-illustrator of the maritime Tim series and winner of the Kate Greenaway medal comes this classic picture book that was recommended to our editor by a children s bookseller in Princeton, NJ. Please find out if Sarah and Simon and No Red Paint is still in print, she implored, and if it is not, please do all you can to publish it. With some difficulty we procured the book, which was indeed out of print, read it, and fell in love. Here is the story of two children, Sarah and Simon, whose father is a painter, and who live with their parents and baby brother in a big room called a Studio. Their father is talented, but unacknowledged, and so the family is poor, though very happy. When the story opens, the father is painting his masterpiece. Sarah and Simon are good little helpers and spend their time doing chores and visiting their favorite place in town: the old second-hand bookshop with its kind owner. Soon the masterpiece is almost finished, except for the bit of red paint needed to complete it, and even the dealer agrees to buy it if it were finished the next day. But there is no more red paint, and no more money left with which to buy it. So Sarah and Simon set out to help their father, and to their surprise, end up reconciling their family with an estranged uncle and restoring the family fortune as well all with the help and kind solicitation of the bookshop owner... Godine is proud to bring this classic with its detailed line drawings and delicate watercolor illustrations back into print, and our thanks to the good bookshop buyer who came to the rescue of this wonderful book.

This lovely retelling of one of the lesser known tales of the Saint Francis's lessons centers on the legend of the great wolf of Gubbio, a ferocious canine who terrorized the town and was slowly reducing it to penury and starvation. In nearby Assisi, Brother Francis heard of their plight and came to their rescue. Unbelievingly, the villagers watched from the ramparts as Brother Francis called to the wolf, tamed it with his tenderness, and made it pledge that if the people of Gubbio would care for it, he would do them no harm. He took the pledge and lived in harmony with the citizens of the city until his death.

Tom is so good at fooling around that he does little else. His Aunt Fidget Wonkham-Strong, who thinks this is too much like having fun, calls upon the fearsome Captain Najork and his hired sportsmen to teach him a lesson. So the Captain challenges Tom to three rounds of womble, muck, and sneedball, certain that he will win. However, when it comes to fooling around, Tom doesn't fool around, and his skills prove so polished that the results of the contest are completely unexpected. . .