"Based on the screenplay 'Sunny's not-so-simple concert' by Jodi Reynolds."

This all-new storybook features the characters from Nickelodeon’s Sunny Day! Sunny, Rox, and Blair want to make a country star out of local singer Johnny-Ray, but will his music get lost in all the glitz and glam? Boys and girls ages 3 to 7 who like Nickelodeon’s Sunny Day will love this storybook. This Nickelodeon read-along contains audio narration.

Cooking Plain, Illinois Country Style by Helen Walker Linsenmeyer presents a collection of family recipes created prior to 1900 and perfected from generation to generation, mirroring the delicious and distinctive kind of cookery produced by the mix of people who settled the Illinois Country during this period. Some recipes reflect a certain New England or Southern influence, while others echo a European heritage. All hark back to a simpler style of living, when cooking was plain yet flavorful. The recipes specify the use of natural ingredients (including butter, lard, and suet) rather than synthetic or ready-mixed foods, which were unavailable in the 1800s. Cooking at the time was pure and unadulterated, and portions were large. Strength-giving food was essential to health and endurance; thus fare was pure, hearty, flavorful, and wholesome. The many treasures of Cooking Plain, Illinois Country Style include • basic recipes for mead, originally served to the militiamen of Jackson County; sumac lemonade, made the Indian way; root beer, as it was originally made; • soups of many kinds—from wholesome vegetable to savory sorrel leaf, enjoyed by the Kaskaskia French; • old-fashioned fried beefsteak, classic American pot roast and gravy, as well as secret marinades to tenderize the tougher but more flavorful cuts of meat; • methods for preparing and cooking rabbit, squirrel, wild turkey, venison, pheasant, rattlesnake, raccoon, buffalo, and fish; • over one hundred recipes for wheat breads, sweet breads, corn breads, and pancakes; • an array of delectable desserts and confections, including puddings, ice cream, taffy, and feathery-light cakes and pies; • sections on the uses of herbs, spices, roots, and weeds; instructions for making sausage, jerky, and smoked fish and for drying one’s own fruits and vegetables; and household hints on everything from making lye soap to cooking for the sick. And there are extra-special nuggets, too, for Mrs. Linsenmeyer laces her cookbook with interesting biographical notes on a number of the settlers and the origin of many of the foods they used. There is also a wealth of historical information on lifestyles and cooking before 1900, plus helpful tips on the use of old-fashioned cooking utensils. A working cookbook complete in its coverage of every area of food preparation, Cooking Plain, Illinois Country Style will be used and treasured as much today as its recipes were by families of an earlier century. The recipes are not gourmet, but they are certain to please today’s cooks, especially those interested in using local ingredients and getting back to a more natural way of cooking and eating.

The saga continues with Dr. Burels children moving west. His son James ledthe Mississippi-bound wagonsfrom South Carolina into another untamed frontier. Their first Christmas in Attalaville, Mississippi, was a grand celebration of their newfound life, only to have the New Year bring tragedy. Mississippis Golden Years brought prosperity to the pioneers as landowners and independent farmers. Too soonthe Civil War swept across their land leaving King Cotton reeling and survivors coping with shattered lives. Sympathetic eyes of the world watched as they searched for ways to survive the aftermath of total war. Lisbeth Burel struggled with the heartbreak of losing the war, her husband James, and her youngest son. Bracing to survive post-war defeat and economic ruination, Lisbeth and her oldest son learned to cope with the nagging pain and hatred of a useless war. With the burden of the world on William Rileys back, he turned to God and self-reliance to get them through the bleak future. Recovery was slow, and families joined hands to plant new fields of cotton, corn, and sorghum cane. Thirty years of worry and hard work turned William into an old, sick man long before his time. On a cold October morning, the stooped and frail man shuffled toward the sugarcane mill and furnace. Assuring the old family recipe and tradition continued, he taught his grandson how to cook molasses to be as smooth as silk. A couple months later Williams family celebrated the biggest Christmas since the war. Sadly, two days later the celebration was marred as his thirteen proud children mourned the loss of their Pa. After the war, William Riley took great pain to instill the belief that they, and their kind, were the moral fiber offering the best hope for rebuilding the New South. And they were.

Includes information on hotels and resorts, restaurants, beaches, walking and driving tours, nighttime entertainment, shopping, and sights of interest

In Shed Style, Selina Lake reveals how even the smallest garden can be home to an outdoor retreat. From the traditional gardener's potting shed to a writer's cabin to an artist's studio, Selina explores sheds, cabins, huts, greenhouses, pods and all manner of garden structures, providing ample inspiration for anyone dreaming of their own garden hideaway. She reveals how any existing shed, cabin or outbuilding can become a versatile work or social space rather than just somewhere to store the lawnmower. If you are short of space indoors, as so many of us are nowadays, a garden office, creative space, 'she shed' or work pod can provide a perfect solution. A greenhouse or potting shed will appeal to keen gardeners, while a cosy shepherd's hut, perhaps with a bijou wood-burning stove, can work as guest accommodation. In Shed Style, Selina reveals how to create the shed of your dreams, presenting hundreds of fresh ideas for decorating and styling both the interior and exterior as well as suggestions for lighting, fabrics, furniture and other accessories. Shed Style is perfect for anyone who wants to make the most of their outdoor space.