Books published by publisher Down East Books

Donn Fendler's harrowing story of being lost in the Maine wilderness when he was just twelve, was made famous by the perennial best-seller, Lost on a Mountain in Maine. In Lost Trail, more than 70 years after the event, Donn tells the story of survival and rescue from his own perspective. Lost Trail is a masterfully illustrated graphic novel that tells the story of a twelve year old boyscout from a New York City suburb who climbs Maine,s mile-high Mt. Katahdin and in a sudden storm is separated from his friends and family. What follows is a nine-day adventure, in which Donn, lost and alone in the Maine wilderness with bugs, bears, and only a few berries to eat, struggles for survival.

Kids love making and creating things, especially fairy houses. Following her best-selling Fairy House and Fairy Garden handbooks, Liza Gardner Walsh presents a new dimension in fairy-themed activities—Crafts!Crafts abound in this delightful activity guide, all focusing on aspects of the fairy house world and with an emphasis on making crafts inspired by nature and with an artisanal quality as an antithesis to the sparkly, throw-away fairy materials inundating store shelves.Simple steps and easy-to-follow directions will have kids and parents creating a wide new range of crafts:Recycled fairy housesFairy house furnitureFairy clothingNature-themed giftsFairy decorations for your room

After a long winter’s rest with little to do,are the fairies ready to start something new,Do they use tiny brushes and oil pastelsto paint crocuses, lilacs, and daffodils?Everyone knows fairies love spring flowers and summer sun, but is it the fairies who wake up the earth as the snow melts? Do they entice the trees to turn green and the flowers to grow? In this charming follow up to Where Do Fairies Go When It Snows, Liza Gardner Walsh, acclaimed author of the Fairy House Handbook and Fairy Garden Handbook, explores the matter in a children's picture book of rhyming questions. Combined with delightful illustrations by Hazel Mitchell this whimsical book will help children discover the world of fairies and learn to enjoy and appreciate the outdoors.

The cultural phenomenon of “fairy houses” crafted solely from available natural materials apparently originated spontaneously on a few Maine islands, and in recent years, these charming, wee shelters made from leaves, moss, twigs, stones, bark, shells, feathers, and other found items have caught the imaginations of parents and children everywhere. Fairy Houses of the Maine Coast showcases outstanding examples of the miniature homes and delves into the history and folklore associated with garden and woods fairies.

The redoubtable Grandma-this book is a sequel to Grandma Drove the Garbage Truck-is at it again. In addition to collecting the town's garbage, Grandma and her sons also plow the roads in the winter. But what happens when a blizzard comes through, it's the day of the big town carol sing, and Grandma's sons are all stuck in the snow and unable to plow? Leave it to Grandma to clear the way to the church for the carol sing. With more help from her grandson Billy, she gets the streets clear and helps out her neighbors in the process, too. In fact, Grandma does such a good job with the plowing, she even beats Santa to the carol sing.

One hundred years ago, Henry Thoreau wrote of the charms and joys of simple living in the woods, away from the hectic nuisances of our city civilization. His philosophy has become part of our American heritage, as sound today as the day he first set it down. But his advice on the simple life has seemed too rugged for later generations, brought up in cities, pampered with conveniences and scared of nature.Vena and Brad Angier were fed up with their city bound existence and longtime readers and admirers of Thoreau, they set out to see if his discoveries were valid today. This is the account of two wilderness-loving tenderfeet, who headed for the tall timber on the banks of the Peace River, British Columbia. There near the trading post of Hudson Hope they found their Walden.How they made themselves ‘At Home in the Woods,’ stocked their cabin, met their interesting wilderness neighbors who helped them get settled and who saw them through their first winter makes honest and exciting reading. The city-bred Angiers found out that Thoreau was right when he wrote: “What people say you can not do, you try and find you can.”

This follow-up to the successful The Winter Visitors, traces the interactions between a family of bears and a human family during their summer stay at a lake cottage. Told primarily through illustration, with only a few dozen words in the book, children and parents (and grandparents) alike will delight in following the antics of the bumbling bears as they enjoy the comforts of cottage life, but also try to avoid detection by their human hosts.

Maine has a rich supernatural history and ghost stories from the state are as varied as they are prolific. Freelance writer and reporter Tom Verde first became interested in such eerie occurrences while researching first-hand encounters with ghosts for a series of public radio programs. This book recounts some of the spine-tingling tales he uncovered in his research, including:•The dagger-wielding shade who terrorized a Portland couple•The murdered Indian who revisited Means’s Tavern•Famed diva Lillian Nordica, whose voice still echoes through the Farmington auditorium named in her honor•The hostile spirit who tried to frighten the tenants out of an Orrington house•Even an entire phantom ship, bound eternally for FreeportThese are not fictitious creations of literary imagination. People from all walks of life—including many who were positive they would never believe in ghosts—attest to these encounters.

A Penny for a Hundred is beloved children's book author Ethel Pockocki's timeless tale of culture shock in rural Maine during the Second World War. It is 1944 and nine-year-old Clare will finally be able to help with the potato harvest—up until now, she was only able to earn the "penny a hundred" her father paid her to pick potato bugs off the plants. But this year, with so many local men off fighting the war, German POWs are brought in to help with the harvest. Clare's not sure what to expect from the strangers, but it soon becomes clear that these men are not so different from young American soldiers—they are relieved to be out of the fighting, but sad to be so far from home.For Christmas, Clare is determined to recreate at least one familiar tradition for Peter, a POW who has befriended her. Their gifts for one another strengthen the bonds of their friendship and help both the POWs and Clare's family enjoy a memorable Christmas Eve. Even amid the hardships of war, they find much to give each other.

Everyone knows fairies are hard workers who look after the flowers and other growing things. But it can’t be all work and no play. Do they ever get a vacation? How do they enjoy their favorite season, summer?Beloved fairy writer Liza Gardner Walsh explores the matter in a charming picture book of rhyming questions. Paired with warm and whimsical illustrations by Hazel Mitchell, this delightful book will help children discover just how fairies make the most of their busiest, most magical season of all. And while the fairies do love to add some fun to everything they do, there’s also a gentle reminder here of our human connection to nature and the importance of nurturing it.