Homer is a train caboose and one of the best in the business. He has a coat of red paint, and a gleam in his eye, and he carries himself with pride. The only trouble is that Homer's job as end man on the train causes him to ride backwards.

Provides articles covering children's literature from around the world as well as biographical and critical reviews of authors including Avi, C.S. Lewis, J.K. Rowling, and Anno Mitsumasa.

Unique in its coverage of contemporary American children's literature, this timely, single-volume reference covers the books our children are--or should be--reading now, from board books to young adult novels. Enriched with dozens of color illustrations and the voices of authors and illustrators themselves, it is a cornucopia of delight. 23 color, 153 b&w illustrations.

Close your eyes and picture September 16, 1914. A family member is murdered. What do you remember about the murder that day? This novel is about Alva C. “Tenil” Horr, who murdered his wife, Ida on that day in Danville, Illinois. Mr. Horr was arrested in August of the following year and swiftly tried the following month. He was sentence to Southern Illinois Penitentiary in Chester, Illinois for 25 years. He escaped from there in March of 1919. This novel is a time line of events before and after the murder. A great deal of effort has been taken to verify the sequence of events. The conversations that are illustrated in this novel are fictional. Some names have been changed. my family names have not. I do not mean to imply that I have written a novel about fictional characters. I have written a novel about real people who happen to live at a time somewhat removed from the present. Ida was my great aunt. She was born, Ida Meeker, October 10, 1879 in Bismark, Illinois. The pictures and documents illustrated in this novel help tell the story. This is Alva’s and Ida’s story, and also the story of a great many other individuals and families. There are many beginnings to Ida’s story. Born in one era, maturing in another, watching the century transform into the next, she was unaware of the changes it would bring to her life and the lives of many local residents in Danville, Illinois. Steven F. Meeker