"A beautiful tribute to a man and his art"---Review of Texas Books --

In case you've ever wondered, the walls at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue have eyes and ears -- and, what's more, they don't miss a thing. Now, listen up because the walls have a thing or two to tell you! During President John Tyler's presidency, the White House was such a mess that it was called the "Public Shabby House." President William Howard Taft was so large that he had to have a jumbo-size bathtub installed -- one big enough for four people. President Andrew Jackson's "open door" policy at the White House resulted in 20,000 people showing up for his inauguration party. (The new president escaped to the quiet of a nearby hotel!) President Abraham Lincoln didn't mind at all that his younger sons, Tad and Willie, kept pet goats in their White House bedrooms. Children all across the country sent in their own money to build an indoor swimming pool for wheelchair-bound President Franklin D. Roosevelt so that he could exercise. President Harry S. Truman knew it was time to renovate the White House after a leg on his daughter's piano broke right through the floor. Hear these funny, surprising stories and more about the most famous home in America and the extraordinary families who have lived in it.

If walls could talk, what would they say? Perhaps they would tell us who built them and why. Maybe they could even tell us about people's lives today or about how our ancestors lived thousands of years ago. In this book walls really do talk, and oh, the stories they tell.This new edition combines the beloved children's books Talking Walls and Talking Walls: The Stories Continue. Together, those titles sold more than 170,000 copies. This new edition, thoroughly revised by the author, makes the text more accessible to young readers and English Language Learners and produces a book that is ideal for reading aloud. The back matter includes a world map that helps readers locate the many walls described, as well as additional information about the walls, the places, and the people. The Talking Walls books have been much honored, including: Top 25 Non-Fiction Children's Books Boston Globe Children's Books of Distinction Hungry Mind Review Noteworthy Book from Parallel Cultures: Horn Book Paperback Plum Booklinks Notable Children's Trade Book in the Social Studies: Children's Book Council/National Council on the Social Studies Winner of a Mom's Choice Gold Award -- Picture Books category

Notable walls from six continents. Illustrated by Anne Sibley O'Brien. Text and notes explain walls and their context. Appended world maps. Great vehicle for discussing multicultural issues and barriers.

An activity book with an illustrated description of walls around the world and their significance, from the Great Wall of China to the Berlin Wall.

A triumphant tale of a young woman and her difficult childhood, The Glass Castle is a remarkable memoir of resilience, redemption, and a revelatory look into a family at once deeply dysfunctional and wonderfully vibrant. Jeannette Walls was the second of four children raised by anti-institutional parents in a household of extremes.